Here are some links to close out the week…
- The Padres are one of several teams to request Noah Lowry's medical records, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock. In a tweet, Brock notes that the team isn't likely to bring Khalil Greene back, and instead will likely wait for an out-of-options player in Spring Training.
- Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News tweets that Rangers are "still pushing" on Jermaine Dye, and team officials met with him last week.
- Grant at McCovey Chronicles ranks the ten biggest "future free agent mistakes" for Giants' fans.
- Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel mentions that Brewers' GM Doug Melvin and his staff are traveling to Phoenix next week to meet with Mark Mulder and decide if it makes sense to offer him a minor league deal with incentives. Haudricourt previously said we should "expect a signing," and earlier this week we learned that Milwaukee may not have enough payroll room left to add another starter.
- MLB.com's Brian McTaggart looks at the Astros' rotation now that Brett Myers is on board.
- Meanwhile, Alyson Footer of MLB.com tweets that Houston officially announced their deal with Josh Banks, and has renewed the contracts of pre-arbitration eligible players J.R. Towles and Chris Johnson.
- Steve Gilbert of MLB.com has some more details on Bobby Howry's contract with Arizona. Howry can void the $3MM club option for 2011 if he's traded during the upcoming season.
- Tigers' GM Dave Dombrowski said his team "did not really pursue" Scott Podsednik, according to MLB.com's Jason Beck. Scotty Pods had been connected to Detroit earlier this offseason.
If Mulder doesn’t sign with the Brewers, I’d love to see him sign with the Mets.
I just think it would be cool if Mulder could put his career back anywhere.
That would be a risk, but with a potential reward for someone. I would be nice to see.
i’d love to see the Tigers take a low risk contract shot at Rick Ankiel. He may provide some power to a power-drained lineup. Bat him clean-up next to Miguel Cabrera, and he might see some pitches he likes. He hit 25 homers in 2008. By no means, will this push the tigers to a division title, but at the right low price, he might be a nice gamble. They need a centerfielder anyway, to give Austin Jackson more time to develop. one things for sure, they would have the worst defensive OF in the league with Guillen, Ankiel, and Magglio, but its a rebuilding year so we’ll see. Randy Winn would be a nice 1-year gamble, but he could prove more expensive.
The only problem being Ankiel won’t come cheap, and therefore you can’t give him a “low-risk” contract.
comeback player of year in 2010….mulder
I think it might just be Noah Lowry.
Kinda expected the Brewers to have a bit more money to work with after trading Hardy and cutting loose Looper. Maybe Wolf cost a bit more than they expected? Or maybe Mulder wants too much? My guess is that Melvin is just posturing, making sure Mulder knows he’s not going to get a big deal.
First time I ever agreed with a cubs fan! I was thinking the same thing about having more payroll after getting rid of JJ. I think the only reason we wouldn’t have much flexability is we still have a bunch of guys up for arby and Melvin is taking that into consideration.
I don’t know if Ankiel would necessarily be that expensive. He is coming off a down season. There are not a lot of teams left looking for starting CF’s and he would be guaranteed a starting job in Detroit. and for a guy who switched from a pitcher to an OF in order to keep playing, I would be surprised to see him pass up an opportunity to play regularly. That being said, I see your point, in the sense that Scott Boras is his agent, and he would prefer someone to pay twice as much as Detroit offers, so that Ankiel can platoon. If they can’t get Ankiel, I hope they grab Endy Chavez at a minor league deal.
“Still seeing support out there for the #Padres to sign Khalil Greene. Not going to happen. Will likely wait for out-of-options guy in ST”
That would not bother me at all if the Padres signed Jerry Hairston Jr. then there would be no need to sign Greene.
Where will greene end up?? Who needs a shortstop?
Shame that Greene probably won’t be able to go back to SD. perfect low pressure situation for him.
Is Ankiel now the next player for Boras to butcher/lowball after Damon, since he has already finished hacking Beltre’s 2010 salary? Guess nady will follow up Damon and Ankiel, he’ll probably end up with 1M and signing in ST, after Boras demands a 2yr contract (or whatever) he is currently trying to get him.
I disagree with the 10 ten worst moves the giants can make, especially with number one. He listed all the options we have as a club, it makes me wonder why someone would shoot them ALL down. What would make him happy? Some giants fans don’t express frustration well, I guess.
really! i would actually like to see nady and laroche
The rub with Nady is when will he see the field and do we realy want another over 30 injury risk player on teh 25 man at this point?
I agree, even though I know nothing about the Giants. Reading on here, those did seem like the best options out there for the Giants, so if anything I guess he’s saying there aren’t any good options…but I would like to see a list of his 10 best moves he thinks the Giants could make; that would be interesting.
The team would be probably be better served with slapping DeRosa at first base. That money and roster spots are already committed. The team had a very cheap version of LaRoche in Garko but he was cut so this figures into the frustration among the McCoven as well. These are all topics the site has posted 1000’s of comments on a certain consensus points have been made by the different camps. One of those points is we see the talent level the 2010 Giants some as around a 500 team and none of these remaining moves is a dramatic improvement over what is already on hand to merit spend much money and roster spots on.
Add to it last year’s offense ran on Sandoval’s 943 OPS and Uribes career year and things look really dicey when filling in Rowand, Renteria, Fred Sanchez, DeRosa and LaRoche as regulars. That is 5 players with starter’s roles that don’t have that great of chance to be significantly better than they were the last 2 seasons. Even if LaRoche settles for $6m a year that is $18MM between the last three for production that may very well not even be average. And still no part time catcher or #5 starter yet they front office is crying about budget.
It also commits’ 5 of the position player spots in the 2010 & 2011 rosters to guys over 30. As long as Bochey is the manger these guys will not lose playing time without being DLed and as long as Sabean is here they will not be cut if they have more than 3 months on their contracts.
Wade LeBlanc is Noah Lowry lite. But Lowry is a veteran I guess. Don’t see the point beyond depth.
You cant have enough pitching.
so Grant is telling us to get no more bats…I would like a Laroche
People of the McCoven complain about everything. I think that maybe a year or two ago this site was actually a decent place to discuss our favorite team. Sadly it has been completely taken over by absolute morons who feel the need to bash not only every move made by the Giants, but also anyone that is not a regular. It has become a site more dedicated to off-topic comments and completely asinine remarks. As evidenced by his last post, it also seems that Grant, who I used to really appreciate as a contributor/moderator has fallen into the trap of complaining about everything because it is the “cool” thing to do. By not sticking your neck out and making any serious positive calls, you will always be right when someone falters because you said they would stink anyways. I think there are plenty of better places to discuss Giants baseball.
you know what would be a decent move by Sabean? Trading Rowand for Carlos Guillen of the Tigers. Both have horrible contracts, but both also fit the other teams needs. Rowands contract at 3 years and 36 million is worse than Guillen’s with 2 years and 24MM. But Rowand is a better player. However, Rowands contract has tied down the Giants for some time, and getting rid of that 1 extra year would greatly increase their chances of keeping the lincecum-cain bond in tact. Detroit needs a CF, and while they are cash-strapped, it is basically the same money they would be paying Guillen, only for one more year. It gives them time to develop A-Jax more, and if A-Jax is ready before Rowand is gone (likely), they could shift Rowand to right or left Field.