Links for Saturday….
- Nick Green, who was designated for assignment by the Dodgers, has cleared waivers and accepted a minor league assignment, writes MLB.com's Ken Gurnick.
- WEEI's Alex Speier explains why trading for Adrian Gonzalez appears less and less likely for the Red Sox.
- Lance Berkman's agent is telling teams that his client will approve a trade in which his $15MM option for 2011 is picked up, tweets Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated. No teams are willing to do that but if the demand is dropped, Heyman says that the Angels are a match.
- Joe Frisaro of MLB.com says that while no exact date has been set for the major league debut of Mike Stanton, speculation is that he could get the call as soon as Tuesday when the Marlins head to Philadelphia.
- Alex Rodriguez now has some say in the fate of his former team after being named to the Rangers creditors' committee, tweets Heyman. Texas owes A-Rod $24.9MM in deferred compensation.
- Tyler Kepner of the New York Times writes that Jaime Garcia would have been an Oriole if not for a translation mishap.
- Hank Blalock is happy to be in Tampa Bay, writes Drew Davison of the Dallas Morning News.
Blalock might be happy but at a 588 OPS from him, I doubt the Rays are.
Remember when people were drooling over his AAA numbers? That was funny
Not so sure he still isn’t an improvement over Pat Burrell and he is “capable” of playing 1B/3B until he gets hurt yet again. of course, if the rays would actually spend 2-3M they could find a REAL replacement, but then most know this is one of the most tight fisted ownerships in baseball not named the Marlins.
Just about anyone would be an improvement over Burrell, which is why that’s not a useful measure.
Where would Stanton start?
Looks like Maybin’s going back down. There’s also been talk of Maybin/Coghlan platoon, but they seem to have ruled that out now. If Maybin, Coghlan, and Stanton all come around, then the Marlins seem to have their OF set for a while. At least until they start costing to much, because we all know the Marlins won’t keep semi-expensive players.
Talk was of sending down Mayben or Coghlan, but Coghlan has finally started hitting the last few weeks. My guess is Mayben, who has really been struggling this year, with Cody Ross going over to CF and Stanton sliding over to RF.
Where exactly would Adrian gonzalez play? When this rumor started in the offseason, I didnt see the logic in it. The Red Sox should get a Catcher who can actually throw out a baserunner. Being a Twins fan, I see some logic in the Red Sox and Twins getting together on a Wilson Ramos deal. Twins could grab some of that young pitching.
(I assume) If Casey Kelly is off-limits, who do the red sox have in prospects that matches Wilson Ramos’ value?
No way they trade kelly. The next pitcher in their farm system would be Felix Doubrout, hes ranked 6th in their entire system. He’s probably not enough. Tazawa comes after Doubrout but hes injured for a while I believe.
The will survive with Martinez. He has raised his percentage to around 19% (10/51) with some practice which a team can live with and this should improve seeing as his first like 10+ made it without fail. (During the two WS years of ’04 and ’07 Varitek threw out only 23% and 24% of base runners respectively) Besides like you said about Agonz, where will Ramos play? We’ve already established in the Agonz situation that DH, 1B and 3B are set so where would Victor play? Sure he started off slowly with the bat but he is still a very good hitter and is heating up a bit. If they’re looking to the future I see more of Expisito (wow spelled that badly), or another in house guy/cheap who won’t cost them a top prospect.
Sox also recently signed Adelberto Ibarra too. He was clocked at having a release time to second well below MLB average. He has a 5 year contract and is a little older (I figure he will be in AAA when he is assigned) so I think the Sox would prefer he be more in the short term plans with a possible stop gap catcher for a year or two. I think the sox have enough options that they don’t /have/ to go out and get Ramos unless he comes cheap, which he won’t.
Edit: Ibarra has a Major League deal according to ESPN and will reportedly will be added to the 40 man roster when he is done with extended spring training and the deal is made final and he is supposed to have a ML ready bat but needs some work behind the plate. So he probably won’t be 100% guaranteed to stay at catcher because he has played other positions but I think the Sox will want to play him there.
God I hate Boston sports media.
They feel compelled to cater to the pink hat fans who don’t understand why a team battling for first place in the NL West won’t trade their best player to a team who already has a Gold Glove highly productive first baseman.
100% correct.
Finally some Sox fans that understand the truth.
Padres being near the top of the NL West is a good thing anyway for Boston fans.. Should mean that the Padres under pressure to hold onto him at least this year and hope they hang onto him over the off season and next year as well and can contend, since doubtful any team (other than NYY with highly paid 1b already) will be in market of a 1B and able to afford the kind of salary numbers being thrown about by Gonzalez, then Fielder will be available as well and should be a plan “B” after 2011 and a little cheaper FA wise if Milwaukee does not move him beforehand.
well it’s not that they feel compelled to cater to those fans, it’s the media’s fault. The whole second half of last year and offseason, all we heard anywhere in Boston from the media was “they need Adrian Gonzalez. The Padres suck, they won’t contend.” So now that the Red Sox don’t need Adrian Gonzalez and the Padres don’t suck, they need to explain that to the Boston population that doesn’t really follow things besides the Red Sox winning.
But aren’t they a big part of the “media” you say whose fault it is?
They’re really positive. OMFG, failing to sign Teixeira was a failure! I have always liked that one. (:
They’re really positive. OMFG, failing to sign Teixeira was a failure! I have always liked that one. (:
what about berkman to the giants? for someone like molina. we could put posey behind the plate full time. have huff in left and berkman at 1st.
That’s what I was thinking. Berkman would be someone who would improve the Giants lineup without costing any top prospects. With Berkman playing first, Posey could shift to playing catcher, while Huff stays in left, in which Molina would probably become trade bait. Maybe something like Berkman + B prospect for Bengie Molina, Clayton Tanner, Brandon Crawford, Roger Kieschnick, and Henry Sosa. Bengie Molina would fill the catcher’s spot the Astros desperately need while getting some minor league depth the Astros could also use. Meanwhile the Giants would get someone who could fill in at the clean-up spot in the lineup:
RF Torres
2B Sanchez
3B Sandoval
1B Berkman
LF Huff
SS Uribe
C Posey
CF Rowand
That offense, combined with their dominant pitching could easily bring them to the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Derosa might have trouble finding playing time once he comes back, but he may not be back for awhile given his wrist troubles.
I don’t understand Berkman’s demands. He’s at that stage in his career where he should face it, he’s not worth 15 million a year anymore. If he wants out of Houston and wants what’s best for that franchise, then he’d waive his ridiculous demands.
The Angels are a fit, until September or October when Kendry Morales is back. There’s no way the Angels have any use for Berkman next year when Napoli is primed for DH and backup C/1B.
You dont understand his demands? Really? He has a NTC, so he has leverage, if you want him you have to accept the option. Guys get NTC for a reason, if they just accept a trade to any team the fans want then there was no point of getting a NTC, he has a NTC so he’s going to use it in order to get an extra 15m.
You don’t understand why a person who may never see 15m a year again wants guaranteed 15m next season? Quite frankly, I don’t understand how you don’t understand the simplicity of it.