On this date 27 years ago, the Padres signed Sandy Alomar Jr. as an amateur free agent. Now, the former catcher is one of four finalists for the Blue Jays managerial opening. Here are today's links, as the Phillies send the NLCS back to Philadelphia…
- Joe Beimel tells Troy Renck of the Denver Post that he'd like to return to Colorado next year: "The Rockies are my first choice. I definitely want to be back. But after the last two offseasons, it's hard to know what to expect."
- The Angels promoted Ric Wilson, making him their new scouting director, reports Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.
- Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon says the team completed its initial round of interviews and will narrow the group of candidates "by early next week," according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com.
- Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski says he's "optimistic" about reaching a deal with Jhonny Peralta, according to MLB.com's Jason Beck. The Tigers have a $7MM option for the infielder's services in 2011.
- Now that Detroit is presumably out of the running for Adrian Beltre, Jon Heyman of SI.com says the Tigers look like real players for Adam Dunn (Twitter link).
- Remember Larry Bigbie, the former first rounder who played parts of six seasons in the major leagues? He's making a comeback and was recently named to Baseball America's 2010 All-Independent Leagues Team.
- The Marlins outrighted Jay Buente, according to Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel (on Twitter). That means the 27-year-old righty is no longer on the 40-man roster.
Dunn and Cabrera would make the middle of that Tigers lineup pretty scary. It will be interesting to see how much they offer, and if Dunn would prefer a different destination so he could play some at 1B.
Why on Earth are the Pirates getting serious about John Gibbons? I know they’re the Pirates, but John Gibbons is not a good fit for this team!
Lol luckily he’s pulled himself out which is great for the Pirates because… well, he blows.
Dunn should get more respect for what he does at the plate. 40 HR’s and 100 RBI’s EVERY YEAR!? Dude is as consistent as they come. I say someone give him 3 years/$45MM already. He deserves it. As for being a Tiger…I dunno. They seem clogged in their line up. He’d probably fit better on a club with more glaring needs- like the Giants (despite their success this year).
How do the Tigers seem “clogged” in their lineup?
They have Jackson at the top….then Miggy in the middle. The rest is nothing special. There’s a reason Cabrera was intentionally walked so much. No one fears anything else in that lineup.
The #1 off-season priority for the Tigers MUST BE to get Cabrera a legimate bat for protection. Whether it’s Dunn, Martinez (and batting him behind Cabrera), or someone else can be debated, but the Tigers can’t let another year go by without a bat behind Cabrera with all that money they’re paying him.
Dunn is a horrific fit for the Giants unless they let LaRoche go…and even then, he makes little sense. Dunn needs to go to an AL team, period.
It will be interesting to see what Dunn will do. He has stated many times that he doesn’t want to DH.
In an interview with the Washington Post:
“I could care less about what people say,” Dunn said. “I know what I want to do. I know I don’t want to go DH. I like playing the field. DH-ing is awesome during interleague, because it gives you a little break. But I couldn’t do it full time. I won’t do it full time. You can write that out right now.”
I know sometimes people have to do what they don’t want to do, but it looks like signing with an American League team would be a last resort for him.
i think you mean Huff, not LaRoche
Tigers shouldn’t pursue Crawford and I’m betting/hoping they don’t. Crawford’s prime asset is also the one most likely to fade with time, speed. He’ll cost too much over and above the draft pick. The Tigers can use Raburn, Wells, Boesch, maybe others in left field for about $100M less, and plug that cash into other holes.
VMart isn’t without his faults, especially his throwing. But he’s a switch hitter who’s way better than his peer group at the plate. That’s a better use of the money.
speed actually lasts longer then most other facets of a players game. Look at guys like Kenny Lofton. Not sure why people have been saying speed fades a lot over time. It fades less then power and as a line drive hitting guy Crawford imo should age pretty nicely.
Agreed jwredsox. Another example is Ichiro. At age 37 and 10 years into his American baseball career, he managed to steal 42 bases, his 4th highest total. He stole more bases and had a much better ratio of steals to being thrown out than he did in 2002 when he was 29 years old.
Top 10 SB leaders for 2010 in all of MLB:
#1) Juan Pierre- 33 years old- 68 SB
#2) Michael Bourn- 27 years old- 52 SB
#3) Rajai Davis- 30 years old- 50 SB
#4) Brett Gardner- 27 years old- 47 SB
#5) Carl Crawford- 29 years old- 47 SB
#6) BJ Upton- 26 years old- 42 SB
#7) Ichiro Suzuki- 37 years old- 42 SB
#8) Chone Figgins- 32 years old- 42 SB
#9) Angel Pagan- 29 years old- 37 SB
#10) Scott Podsednik- 34 years old- 35 SB
Out of the top 10, only one is younger than 27 and half of them are over 30 years old. I know stolen bases isn’t the only indicator of speed, but I think the list is kind of telling.
Interesting comments on Peralta. I still say the smartest thing the tigers can do is decline Peralta’s option and then offer arbitration. If he accepts, he’ll be cheaper than his $7M option. He only made $4.6M this year, not getting over a 50% raise with an OPS barely over .700.
If he declines, you can still sign him for cheaper than $7M as no one in their right mind (or even not in their right mind) would give him $7M.
And if he does leave…..Tigers get a 1st round sandwich pick for him as he projects as a Type B free agent.
Declining the option is a win-win for the Tigers. Either they get a high draft pick, or they get Peralta for cheaper.