As Nationals fans cross their fingers about Stephen Strasburg, here's some news from around the majors…
- Aaron Heilman is looking forward to his first taste of free agency, reports MLB.com's Andrew Pentis. Heilman said that he and his agent hadn't had any talks yet with the Diamondbacks about a new contract.
- Lyle Overbay thinks he has a chance of returning to the Blue Jays next season, writes Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Given the Overbay trade rumors we've been hearing all year, this would certainly be a surprise, especially since the Jays have given Adam Lind a few starts at first recently.
- Carlos Delgado has been placed on the seven-day disabled list by the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, reports Sportsnet New York's Ben Wagner (via Twitter). Delgado is experiencing soreness in his back and left hip, not his twice-operated on right hip. The slugger signed a minor league contract with Boston on August 7.
- Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News thinks the Reds should "make signing Bronson Arroyo a priority," implies that 2010 is Ramon Hernandez's last year in Cincinnati and gives some other opinions in a fan mailbag.
- Was Khalil Greene the biggest loss for the Rangers this season? Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News thinks so, given the team's ongoing depth problems.
- Ricky Nolasco's contract extension talks with the Marlins may be on hold. Josh Friedman and Craig Mish of The Ticket 790AM radio report (via Twitter) that the Florida right-hander may miss the rest of the season with a partially-torn meniscus.
- Dontrelle Willis has been promoted to Triple-A Fresno, and Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News tweets that Willis is a candidate to join the Giants when the rosters expand on September 1.
- LaTroy Hawkins will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder, reports MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. It's unknown if the scope will reveal more severe damage, but Hawkins says he plans on pitching in 2011. Since signing a two-year, $7.5MM contract with Milwaukee last December, the injury-plagued Hawkins has made just 18 appearances for the Brewers, posting an 8.44 ERA.
1. Please AA do not re-sign Lyle Overbay.
2. I think the biggest loss was Nelson Cruz missing almost half of the season.
Kinsler too. If they had Nelli and Kinsler healthy the entire season they’d be up on the Angels by 15 games.
And the A’s by 14
The fact that Aaron Heilman has managed to pitch on a ML roster for more than a month blows my mind. I feel like every time I see him pitch he gives up runs.
Agreed. He will be lucky to get a 1 year Major League deal. He will end up getting a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training, and perhaps some performance incentives thrown in.
Overbay is hitting .298/.383/.525 since May29 and has under 1.75m on his contract, so I can’t understand why no contender values his services. He’s been hitting better (and has always been a better fielder than) Berkman, Lee, and Cantu, and yet Overbay clears waivers. Weird.
AA was asking for Montero and Kelly for Scott Downs- maybe AA’s asking price is even worse for Overbay.
He asked for Miguel Montero and Kelly Johnson? Since when?
people make stuff up too much.
I posted a reply with the link to a previous story from MLBTR but it wasn’t accepted for some reason. I didn’t make anything up, poor wording maybe, but didn’t make it up.
George King reported that Toronto wanted Joba or Montero for Downs, or Iglesis or Kelly for Downs. If you look back to July 28th the story will be there on this site.
Surely he is not that delusional. That would be more than what he got for Halladay.
Sounds like someone is bitter about not getting Scott Downs
Well, no. The asking price for Downs was so high because he’s going to be a Type A free agent. Overbay will bring no draft pick compensation as a FA and so could be had for much cheaper than Downs, I’m sure. That said, AA isn’t going to make a trade just to make a trade. It needs to be something that makes the organization better and the cost of trading Lyle is 40 games with Lind’s poor glove at 1B.
He’s not terrible, but the first base position is so deep that he wouldn’t be an upgrade on any contending team. Just a quality bench bat. Same with Adam LaRoche.
I disagree. He could help the Red Sox at 1B and the Rays at DH…
I think it will be explored further with the red sox, lyle has put his game on display nicely in boston this weekend. Delgado is already injured, so perhaps a deal is made. The sox are running out of times and games to get close.
Overbay is “ok”….not as good (or great) as Wilner professes….(still have to laugh at how last year…Wilner called Overbay the best hitter on Jays)…but…not as bad as his detractors claim.
I thought his biggest weakness the past few years was left handed pitchers….He was too weak against lefties to be in the heart of the order….However, he seems to have corrected the problem this year….got two dingers against Lester the other night..
They could also help the Twins at 1B with Cuddyer sliding to 3B, especially since Morneau’s status is far from certain for the time being.
The same goes for the White Sox…they would both be an updgrade defensively over Konerko, or could DH. The Sox have been looking for a LH bat for some time now.
damn concussions.. such an innocent looking play too.
Khalil Greene was far from being a certainty to help us out this season. There are NO guarantees he would have done anything beneficial for us. He didn’t light the world on fire in Stl. last season.
Blanco has been solid all season. He is the perfect utility infielder with above average defense at SS, 2B, and 3B. He is a solid ballplayer, having to fill an everyday day role for the time being.
To top it off he is a switch-hitting .250 hitter. That isn’t spectacular but it is more than adequate for a utility infielder.
I think Dontrelle may be more suited to being a Reliever at this point. He may have to be a LOOGY to be sucessful.
I do wonder if Dave Duncan could have helped him out at all. St. Louis seems to take flyers on pitchers in simlar situations as Dontrelle all the time, because of Duncan’s track record.
Dontrelle walks too many batters to be an effective relief pitcher, in my mind. If he were to fix that, I don’t see any reason he couldn’t still be an effective starter. Without it, he won’t be effective at anything.
It’s somewhat a mystery why a team like the Cardinals don’t take a flier, but maybe that’s an indication that it’s not a purely mechanical issue. Completely losing your control is almost certainly SOMEHOW mechanical, but maybe it’s so much a psychological thing that his mechanics aren’t repeatably wrong.
It seems like every time Hawkins get’s some semblence of contractual security he gets injured. Everytime he is on a one yearminor league deal he is lights out.
I like the guy and think it is just bad luck, but that has been his track record for the last 4-5 years.
You know I like strasburg, but I knew this was coming when Rizzio was a bone head at the trading deadline it’s called Karma.
I knew that was going to happen once I realized the Nats werent using pitch counts on him, they just let him loose not realizing young kids throw way too hard and dont consider that they are potentially hurting themselves.
poor Delgado, I was really pulling for that guy..seems September is going further and further away for him…man makes you wonder what players could do to protect their hips, once they go out you decline rapidly..like a pitcher and his shoulders.
Bronson Arroyo is worth $10MM a year or so. He’s ever so slightly overpaid. But with his age I think he’d be a good extension case with the option that’s increased to $13MM and a another 2 years tacked on at $20MM. 3 years/$33MM seems like a great contract for Arroyo. Very fair.