Links for Saturday…
- David Ortiz said he isn't letting his contract situation get to him, writes ESPN Boston's Gordon Edes. Big Papi will earn $12.5MM this year, and the Red Sox hold an option at the same salary for 2011 with no buyout. Tough to see them picking that one up.
- An interesting point raised by MLB.com's Adam McCalvy: The Brewers essentially traded Hernan Iribarren to the Rangers for Joe Inglett. Milwaukee picked up Inglett in January after he was waived by Texas. Mat Gamel and Inglett are now in the mix for the Brewers' final bench spot.
- Edward Salcedo was officially introduced to Braves reporters this morning, writes Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The 18-year-old Dominican shortstop said that Atlanta was the only organization to show significant interest in him over the past two years.
- Jim Edmonds may be playing his way into a role with the Brewers, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
- Both the Diamondbacks and Mariners had interest in Dana Eveland before he was acquired by the Blue Jays, tweets MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com spoke to a scout who wouldn't be surprised if the Marlins traded lefty Andrew Miller (link goes to Twitter).
- David Murphy is just biding his time on Texas' bench, writes Anthony Andro of The Star-Telegram. Murphy is a .278/.336/.465 career hitter, but he might get too expensive for a bench job as he enters his first arbitration year after 2010.
- Ben Shpigel of The New York Times reports that Yankees' hitting coach Kevin Long was analyzing videotape of Curtis Granderson to help him improve against lefthanders way back in November, a month before the team traded for him.
If in fact the Marlins do trade Andrew Miller, they need either bullpen or rotation help.
I’d like the Dbacks take a look at him, but I’m not sure what they’d want. We’re shallow in the rotation, but maybe they’d want a power bullpen arm? Esmerling Vasquez? This is probably not enough, though.
I’m not good with making up trades.
If only Daniel Schlereth was still a D-Back, the Marlins would certainly want him.
Dana Eveland might be better in Arizona. I’m not sure if he would be good in Seattle. He might do good in Toronto. Maybe even a starter
I think Mat Gamel should be the starting 3rd baseman over Casey McGhee.
For all of the hype surrounding Gamel, he really hasn’t put it together at the upper levels (AAA and in Milwaukee). I realize it has been a small sample size with the big club, but why would you go with him when McGehee had a fine rookie season at the plate? His UZR wasn’t great, but that was a far too small sample size to judge him by. Not to mention, Gamel has had a grand total of 1 at bat this spring and can’t stay healthy. Sure, there’s a chance that McGehee played above his head last year, but why wouldn’t you at least see if he can keep it up? Especially since Gamel is far from a sure thing right now.
Gotta disagree. Gamel hasn’t proven anything and isn’t really to pretty to watch over at 3B, while McGhee put together a nice season – unless McGhee falters, the job should be his. Another player shouldn’t receive it simply based on hype.
I’d like to see Andrew Miller on the Pirates. He seems like the kind of reclamation project Huntington would want, and could take over a rotation spot if Duke/Maholm are traded.
That’s what I was thinking but I’m kind getting tired of acquiring these types until I see a few of them plan out. There’s already enough failed prospects on this team, and I’d hate to trade a valuable chip for a guy who can’t crack it somewhere where young talent blossoms every season.
Yeah, I don’t know, just a thought. If everyone progresses as they should, then the Pirates won’t be so dependent on acquiring hit or miss guys like Miller. Hopefully that progression occurs sooner rather than later.
I would LOVE to trade Andrew Miller! Trade him for mid-level prospects and then use the money that we would normally use to pay him to sign Jarrod Washburn to a 1-year deal so we can get a somewhat stable veteran in our rotation.
David Ortiz will hit 54 home runs this year. No but seriously, he lost like 30-40 pounds. Wonder if he’ll be able to carry his second half season of last year into this first half. I’ll say he’ll hit 40 or so bombs if he is able to.
Doubtful, Ortiz got caught on peds(even though he was very clear about not using and how he feels about the type that do use, hypocrite) and dropped off, I Doubt he hits even close to 40, my guess is he hits like 20 ish then is traded at the dead line.
In fact we can almost prove he wont hit 40 because He, V-mart, Kevin Youlk, Beltre, Bill Hall, Lowell, and Veritek will all be rotation around the DH position
agreed that he won’t hit 40 because he won’t get enough AB’s. That being said his decline last season was not a sudden thing. Ever since he injured his wrist his power has dropped and his bat has slowed. Even in the second half last season he couldn’t hit good pitching, or just about anything off speed that wasn’t a mistake.
As for the idea that he would be traded mid-season, that’s absolutely absurd. He doesn’t want to go anywhere and he has 10-5 no trade protection.
So if he’s able to hit 20 or so homeruns in the first half like he did in the second half last year, you think he could hit 40 or so on the season?
That’s deep.