Astros scouts haven't been told to watch specific teams or players, so Roy Oswalt doesn't need to start preparing for life after Houston just yet. ESPN.com's Jayson Stark has the details on Oswalt and more rumblings from around the major leagues:
- Oswalt has told friends he'd love to play in St. Louis and it's believed that he would be interested in joining the Dodgers and Braves.
- We've heard lots about the $29MM remaining on Oswalt's deal, but the Angels have some money, according to an official Stark spoke to. The Nationals may be "the one team that would pay the whole freight on the contract."
- GM Andrew Friedman says he wasn't sure how Rafael Soriano's National League experience would translate to the American League East when the Rays dealt for him last offseason. Needless to say, the Rays have been pleased with Soriano's dominant start to the season.
- Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. tells Stark that other teams offered Jose Contreras "much more money" last winter.
- Braves GM Frank Wren says he's pleased with Eric Hinske's play and notes that teams probably don't pay enough attention to their benches.
- Wren says the Braves would not have interest in adding a starting pitcher. Besides their current rotation, they have the injured Jair Jurrjens and Triple A pitcher Chris Resop.
- GM Jon Daniels says the Rangers saw "a guy with major league ability and pedigree" when they scouted Colby Lewis in Japan last year.
- One scout says the Blue Jays are definitely tracking Fausto Carmona and have watched his last 12 starts.
- The Red Sox have tried trading Mike Lowell unsuccessfully, but they aren't eager to eat the $8MM-plus remaining on his salary.
- Rival clubs say the Yankees haven't decided what their trade deadline needs are, though they're showing some interest in versatile outfield bats.
Talk about pitching depth, Chris Resop!!! He is a lock for what, 4-5 Cy Young awards!!! (Note the sarcasm!!!) He has been great in AAA, but I have heard he struggles to get past the 5th inning most likely because he spent most of, if not all his time as a reliever. Still the Braves already have two pitchers that can’t make it past the 5th, do they really need to call up a 3rd? If Chavez stays inconsistent, maybe Resop could be the new mop up guy…
What would Dave Duncan do with a veteran pitcher who doesn’t need fixing? Sneak in a nap every fifth day?
Resop isn’t really the safety net, Medlen is. You see how he has performed in the absence of Jurrjens, 1 ER in 2 starts. Resop is just extra insurance in case a string of injuries hit. Bottom line, adding 29 mil in salary for a starting pitcher makes little to no sense for the Braves.
Only way that Oswalt come to Atlanta is if Kawakami goes to Houston. I think Atlanta would do Kawakami+Vizcaino swap for Oswalt+$8 million but i doubt Drayton would be interested in only getting one top prospect if he’s still footing a $8 milion plus the ~$13 million Kenshin still has.
If Drayton is taking on that much money, the Astros better be getting MUCH more than one top prospect. Oswalt for Vizcaino would be a fair trade if no or very little money was exchanging hands. 1.5 years of Oswalt for 10MM total (31-13-8) is an absolute steal and can bring back multiple top prospects in a trade. Kawakami has very little value to a team that won’t be contending anytime soon.
It is interesting that Oswalt and the Cardinals keep being linked. It would be great to have Oswalt on the Cards, but I’m still not sure how the money and prospects would work out. If the Cardinals have the financial flexibility to take on a significant amount of Oswalt’s salary, then maybe their lack of elite trade chips would allow a trade to happen. I can’t imagine Houston wants to send Oswalt within the division, but the upside would be that they might get some high ticket sale games when Oswalt comes back to Houston to pitch, even if he’s pitching for the Cardinals.
Just very interesting that the connection keeps coming up. Oswalt seems to really be making a push to join St. Louis.
I doubt a deciding factor will be hoping to sale a few extra tickets when Roy comes back to town. No way he will go to St. Louis. Never going to happen.
The Blue Jays have been following Carmona for his last 12 starts?
So….spring training? Winter ball? Last year? Cause he doesn’t have 12 starts this year.
Carmona is pretty close to as untouchable as they likely come in Cleveland right now. He’s finally getting back on track and they can keep him til 2014 if they want.
They also have well over $20M coming off the books this winter so even with money issues, there’s no need to dump salary like there was last year.
Either the Blue Jays are really, really being wishful thinkers on him being made availalble or they are being creepy stalkers, lol.
Via KFFL.com: The Toronto Blue Jays are keeping their eye on Cleveland Indians SP Fausto Carmona, according to ESPN’s Jayson Stark. ‘They’re definitely tracking Carmona,’ one scout said. ‘They’ve probably watched a dozen Carmona starts in a row, going back to Spring Training.
So yeah, from Spring Training.
I’ve said this before, but Austin Kearns is a good fit in NY. Indians wouldn’t ask for much and the guy is hitting. He’ll come back down to earth but a good low-risk for the Yanks. Can play all 3 outfield spots too and would be an instant upgrade over Winn.
Winn’s playing time will go way down once Granderson is back (tomorrow I think) and I think Russo/Thames can handle DH until Posada is back and healthy so I don’t see a glaring need for Kearns, but I’d welcome him as our 4th OF if the trade was fair.
That is “IF” Grandy can rebound as he was playing pretty bad before the injury. Kearns would be more an insurance to that. Indians wouldn’t expect any top 10 prospects back for him, so don’t think you’d have to worry about the deal being fair.
True, Granderson’s numbers were nothing to brag about prior to his injury, but I’m inclined to give a guy more than 91 PA to show me how he’s gonna do for the year.
If Kearns can be had for cheap I’m all for it, his .412 BABIP and 31.5 K% worry me a bit, but if he can come in and be a 4th OF and put up a respectable .270/.345/.430 then I’d take it.
Indians fans – what would you realistically want in return for Carmona?
As a Jays fan, I’d love to see them pursue him.
I’d want a lot. Not like 3 of your top 6 prospects but something close. The guy was arguably the best pitcher in the AL in 2007. He got hurt in 2008 then fell apart. He looks back now. Not an Ace but he’s looking more and more like a stud #2, almost like a poor man’s Matt Cain if he can keep this up (BIG if though).
Tribe shouldn’t trade him unless the return blows them away. There is no benefit to otherwise.
I’m with you. I don’t think the Tribe should trade him either. You have to listen to offers though.
Hm… well realistically, I can’t see the Jays offering up something close to 3 of their top 6 prospects. Not when they’re rebuilding. And Carmona is pretty risky.
It’s kind of tough to peg Carmona’s value.
I wonder if the Indians would even have any interest in moving him.
Fausto Carmona stinks. He doesn’t strike guys out, he has poor command, and he relies on the spacious Prog to keep the ball in the park when he isn’t killing worms. Those were also facts when he was “arguably the best pitcher in the AL in 2007” (he was nowhere close). The Blue Jays shouldn’t give up ANY of their top 6 prospects (Drabek, Hechevarria, Wallace, DArnaud, Arencibia, Alvarez) for the privilege of paying a #4 starter 6m. I’d rather watch Jesse Litsch & Marc Rzepczynski for 500k and have the team spend money elsewhere, like an actual 3B.
osawlt to the Yanks?