News out of the American League East..
- The Red Sox know that they won't be getting Brett Jackson or Josh Vitters from the Cubs in the compensation agreement but still hope to come away with a quality prospect, writes Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com.
- The Yankees considered considered taking Diego Moreno in the Rule 5 draft but already made two selections and didn't want to use another 40-man spot, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The Bombers viewed Moreno as one of the ten best prospects in the Bucs' system but knew that Pittsburgh didn't, Sherman tweets.
- More from Sherman (via Twitter), who writes that the Yankees don't think that Exicardo Cayones can make it in the majors if he doesn't add more power.
- Orioles left-hander Ryan Edell, who signed a minor league deal with the club, isn't expected in camp and it appears that he's going to retire, tweets Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Edell, 28, has pitched in the minors since 2005 for the Indians, Athletics, and Phillies.
All rational people knew the Sox weren’t getting Vitters or Jackson. Just have the Cubs write a check and be done with it.
I’d rather see them take a lottery ticket from the low minors (think Chris Balcom-Miller from the Delcarmen trade) than money.
Now it’s like nothing then.. Might as well have sent Epstein home for a season if he wanted to go to Chicago for a year and they getting nothing back and face it.. vitters was not much.. If they are ruling him out.. They are going to get less than an AAAA player that is all Balcom Miller ever would have become when they got him, much less the track he is on now.
He struggled a little when they bumped him up to AA this year, but he was only 22, and he’ll likely be in AAA as a 23 year old this year. While he doesn’t project to be a starter at the major league level (he tends to tire after a few innings) he has the potential to be a late inning reliever (he gets tons of ground balls with a really heavy fastball and above average change-up – could be what Masterson was when he was on the Sox, but doesn’t have the stamina to go 6-7 innings like Masterson can).
I’m thinking like a Dae-Eun Rhee, Zach Cates, or Ben Wells type.
Difference in Masterson and Miller was a little more than that.
Without going back Soxprospects and looking over his profile again.. Think he only throws upper 80’s and it’s hard to get away with any mistake pitches like that, where masterson (as a reliever) would hit 95 with his FB, coming side arm with regularity and was devastating vs RH hitters.
I do hope you are right and he develops and remember when they 1st got him and he seemed fair at the lower levels.. Who knows..
You did send the reminder out again how much Masterson is missed….
Well according to SoxProspects his fastball sits about 90mph as a starter, and most guys add 2-3mph as a reliever, so he could potential sit at 93mph out of the bullpen. I was talking about about the number of ground balls he induces when I compared him to Masterson though, both of them get a well above average number of GBs because both have major sink on their fastballs.
The one advantage CBM actually has over Masterson is his secondary pitch is a change up (and a good one at that) rather than a slider, so he wont struggle against opposite handed hitters like Masterson has (sliders have one of the most extreme platoon splits while change ups have no platoon split).
” because both have major sink on their fastballs.”
Right.. That was another thing about Masterson that made him so devastating, plus coming side armed AND throwing so hard when he was facing RH hitters.
Once again.. you have given more insight to one of their prospects than was familiar with.. I long for the days on hanging around camp at Chain O’ lakes stadium, as in the olden days and Joe Morgan, Rac Slider, several others.. Always getting insight on how guys were doing, plus watching them at the minor league fields all day when able..
Masterson devastating….. pa lease
Probably can’t post a fangraphs link here.. So won’t even try.. But will give basic highlights…
His K rate is 2x as high right vs lefties over his career. FIP is 1/2… xFIP is 2/3 lower…k/bb rate is 2x better..
If anyone ever watched masterson vs a single batter with his delivery, it would be inherently obvious he is far better vs RH hitters without bothering to even look up his stats…
Wasn’t aware that Josh Vitters was still considered a quality prospect
You don’t think a prospect can make it to the majors, yet you add him anyway?
Better to come away from a trade with a couple of bodies instead of just salary relief.
It’s not a surprise that the “prospects” from Pittsburgh are flawed. What else could the Yanks expect in return for A.J.?
I like the Yankees package in return, especially considering Burnett and his contract was an albatross. They got much needed salary relief, they are now free to add a designated hitter of their choice, they will be in the Jorge Soler sweepstakes, and they added a 25/26 year old reliever who throws in the upper 90’s.
I do not like them speaking on behalf of Cayones future as the kid is only 20 years old. Yes, you can judge a player to light a fire under his belly, but they JUST acquired him, let him play first under YOUR coaching and then make an assessment. If you were not sure of him from the start, negotiate to get something better, yes sometimes you have to be realistic and accept their “flawed” prospects but the Yankees were holding out for better for a long time in the discussions and if they just settled even on this one player, they should have tried that much harder to bring in someone they were more certain about.
A good trade for both sides, but why the need to judge him so quickly?
I guess you missed the “…if he doesn’t add more power” part.
I did see that part and I’ve seen his stats and they said what they said because It doesn’t look like he has much power to speak of. He has put up respectable OPS. Hopefully he can tap into some since he is still young. The decision to talk before the trade has even been officially finalized is too premature in my opinion.
Ok. It just seemed like you were jumping the gun a bit in your previous comment.
The Red Sox really blew it on this whole situation… I wouldn’t have given up Theo until I got at least good compensation, maybe not what I wanted but at least something good. The Cubs didn’t hold the leverage, we did, we had Theo, and they needed a president, along with a new GM. We could of put Theo in a corner for a year and told Ben to take over as GM and held Theo here, we didn’t have to give up Theo, we could of made both him and the Cubs wait!
easy there cowboy
“could’ve” is an abbreviation of “could have”
“could of” is nonsense.
(Sorry, but this one really bothers me.)
Lol sorry I was just going ranting I really didn’t care about my grammar at that very moment.
amen
There was something pushing the Red Sox to let Theo go-he had what amounted to an additional roster bonus (I think $3.8MM) for the last year of his contract. So, if you are the Red Sox, you have just had a monumental collapse which included a clubhouse failure, it isn’t the worst thing in the world to clean house completely-and rid yourself of a very expensive piece that you aren’t sure you really wanted to keep.
I 100% completely agree, however they let Theo go because they thought that in return they were going to get “significant” compensation for him. If they were expecting significant compensation and obviously they had an idea of what that meant, then they should of gotten that compensation whatever it may have been and then let Theo go. It’s like selling someone a house and trusting the person to receive the house and then asking for the money for it 6 months later … Do you really expect the person to give you the money for it when it’s already theirs?
I take your point. This should have been settled up front-either with a specific player, or a list of players to be chosen later. Selig’s first mistake was letting it happen without have defined those parameters. One of the unknowns here is the “significant compensation” trope, which has been coming steadily from the Boston press for a couple of months, but for which there is no independent verification as far as I can see. Now, it’s irrelevant, because Selig’s second mistake will certainly be in the ultimate decision-whatever he does is going to be perceived as biased by the “loser”. Wouldn’t surprise me if he twists a few arms for silence by the two front offices, but that’s not going to stop the press or fans. It’s really neither the Red Sox or Cubs fault-it’s Selig’s, for letting the deal go through in the first place. I’m not optimistic this is going to end well.
Theo is the reason we’re in payroll trouble. I’m glad he’s gone.
Ryan Edell: Two Choices, A) Play for the O’s or B) Retire….I guess he chose the latter because he didn’t feel he could compete with Dana Eveland.
PS His stats in the minors weren’t that bad. I am surprised he never got even a cup of coffee in the majors as a late season/September call.
I liked Edell. The Mets could have used him in Buffalo this year, maybe even a spot start in the majors given the weakness in the rotation.
This whole compensation BS should have been settled long ago. What’s Selig going, wait til World Series time? He’s such a slug.
Time for him to retire
Moreno doesn’t sniff the top 30 Yankee prospects. I’m not sure why Sherman is glamorizing a lottery ticket of the scratch-er variety.
“Moreno doesn’t sniff the top 30 Yankee prospects.”
He didn’t even sniff the top 30 of the Pirates either. That the Yanks view him in the top 10 would worry me if I’m a Yankee fan. But I’m willing to bet that statement was made to make the return SEEM much better than it actually is.
is he glamorizing or simply passing on what someone else said about the Yanks view on Moreno? Geesh.
Has anyone really looked at the guys numbers? I don’t see anything other than a 7 inning sample size in 2010 and a 11 inning sample size that says he’s reached his level and won’t flourish past AA.
sox should get Trey Mcnutt.
Four years from now, when they ride Theo out of Chicago on a rail, we will fully understand why Bud Selig authorized such low level compensation for releasing Epstein from his Red Sox contract.