As Cooperstown welcomes Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven into the Hall of Fame, some of these news items concern a few of Alomar and Blyleven's former teams and teammates…
- Jim Thome is said to be looking for a one-year deal worth as much as $8MM, reports ESPN.com's Jason A. Churchill. Thome's strong 2010 season notwithstanding, that would represent a whopping increase over the $1.5MM contract he signed with Minnesota last year. The Twins have been considered the favorites to re-sign Thome, but if the team balks at that asking price, Churchill suggests they could instead turn to Vladimir Guerrero as a DH option. Churchill adds that Tampa Bay could also be interested in Guerrero if the price is right.
- Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos "conceded that it's looking more likely that" Jose Bautista will be Toronto's Opening Day third baseman rather than its right fielder, reports Shi Davidi of The Canadian Press. Anthopoulos noted that the club is still looking at other third base/right field options and also may still be in the market for another reliever. The Blue Jays have added Octavio Dotel, Chad Cordero and Wil Ledezma to their bullpen mix over the past two days.
- Carlos Gonzalez had a lengthy meeting with agent Scott Boras in December to discuss a possible extension with the Rockies, so the agreed-upon deal wasn't at all "an impulse decision," tweets The Denver Post's Troy Renck.
- Also from Renck (Twitter link), the Rockies are "not totally out" of the bidding for Joe Beimel, but other clubs "have shown stronger interest." We heard last month that the Rockies weren't one of several teams who had made Beimel a contract offer.
- The Pirates' desire to add left-handed relievers has only grown in the wake of Ledezma going to Toronto, tweets Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- Speaking of the Pirates, Bucs president Frank Coonelly discussed the team's relief options and other topics in his monthly chat with fans on MLB.com.
- With so many intriguing designated hitter possibilities on the market, Chad Jennings of the LoHud Yankees blog notes that it's an unfortunate time for the Yankees to be shifting Jorge Posada into the full-time DH spot.
I like Vlad as an option for the Twins. He can provide a right handed threat inbetween Morneau and Mauer. I believe Cuddyer would have less pressure batting lower in the lineup and it would result in better numbers.
No offense, but would almost guarantee that Posada will not only be the DH this year, but will be resigned next year also as one of the “career Yankees” and clog up the lineup even if better options are available like this year.
Sometimes letting veterans go is better for the LT health of a team and hopefully they will do it. Boston chose to resign Varitek for yet another season and he can’t even hit anymore, much less throw anybody out, so they need to learn the lesson as well.
Except Posada can still hit.
Not sure how I feel about resigning Posada because he’ll probably ask for a lot. Even though he can still hit, there are just so many other options for DH.
He’s almost 40 so maybe he might retire…
Riiigght! Tek and Wake are gonna drag the Sox down even though every important player on the team is either entering or in their prime! Big diferrence between backups and starters(posada,jeter, arod and mo!)
Tek did very well offensively last year as a back up before he was injured.
Gotta agree with Chad there… the Yankees have a lot of money to burn right now and it would hugely surprise me if Posada out-performed any of Thome, Guerrero or Manny offensively in 2011.
I’m all for loyalty and being good to your boys, but Posada won’t scare me like the others would in a lineup. I suppose it’s possible the Yankees jump on one anyway and let injuries/poor performance sort out the log jam.
Ugh. Jose Bautista as the Jays full-time third baseman means a full year of Rajai Davis starting in right field.
Ugh. Jose Bautista as the Jays full-time third baseman means a full year of Rajai Davis starting in right field.
Unless Mastroianni, Loewen or Patterson tear the cover off the ball in spring training, thats how it looks. I’m OK with Davis playing everyday, just to get the speed in the line-up.
(I can see it happening dozens of times this year) Davis leads off beating out an infeild single. Steals second. Escobar drops down a bunt to advance Davis to third. Lind strikes out. Well pops up to short. Bautista cracks a hommer to the upper deck and stairs down the pitcher. Jays up 2-0!!
So in your hypothetical scenario here, you have Davis getting on base but Lind strikes out??
Also if you have a runner on 2nd with no out in the first why would you sacrifice bunt?
And I’ve only seen Bautista stare down a pitcher once all of last year and that was when nova threw at him the previous at bat.
Davis as a starter and leading off is just, well its just terrible.
Holy, way to shoot down my daydream at work! Geesh. I’ll go back to my excell spreadsheets.
You also already had 3 outs in that inning. May want to check your work again.
You also already had 3 outs in that inning. May want to check your work again.
hahaha!
You should see what my spreadsheets look like!!! (and I get paid for these)
Wouldn’t surprise me. Davis is a few points away from being a Type B player in Elias rankings. It looks like AA has plans to convert him into a draft pick.
I like Vlad as someone who Minnesota should take a strong look at. Their number one priority should be another starter but with Mauer and Morneau they could ust a RH bat like Vlads in between them allowing them to hit Young and Cuddyer lower in the order with less pressure. I know they have Kubel but he might be someone who could be moved for a 4-5 type starter or some bullpen help.
I love the idea of Thome to Tampa. If he lowers his price some. He can help regain some of the lost production of Pena’s departure and could even outproduce him. With quite a few of their guys in the lineup being RH (Longoria, Upton and Jennings to name 3) adding a LH like Thome would also help with the balance in the lineup.
They would still need a decent 1B because i dont think Dan Johnson is the answer. Perhaps Jorge Cantu or maybe take a flier on Lastings Milledge or a Scott Hairston and play Zobrist at 1st.
Delmon carried the offense as a #3 hitter. Look for a Span-Mauer-Young-Morneau-Cuddyer-Kubel lineup if Nishi/Casilla fail to provide some pop in the 2-hole. That’s R-L-R-L-R-L.
We’ve already got a potent bat in Valencia pushed way down in the order. Delmon rightly should be a #3 or #5 hitter, based on last year’s performance. He’ll get the chance.
Nobody outside Minnesota seems to understand we don’t need a DH. We have Kubel. We need a bench bat. Thome was never signed as a DH last year – he fell into it by default when Morneau went down.
Last year Delmon hardly carried the team as a #3 hitter. He hit 6th or 7th the majority of the time. Out of 153 games played only 14 of them did he bat 3rd. I dont consider that “carrying the offense as a #3 hitter”. And there have been times when you take a younger hitter out of his comfort zone and he struggles in a higher pressure spot in the order.
Ideally it’ll be Span-Nishioka-Mauer-Morneau-Cuddyer-Young-Kubel and so on.
And nowhere in there do i say that they need Vlad. all i said was that they should take a look and see if the price is right. Cause if it is i think Vlad provides a deeper more balanced lineup than Kubel does.
Nothing against Jason Kubel but he hasnt been good against LHP and you still dont know what youre going to get from Morneau coming off his concussion and Kubel could probably get you a nice piece for the pen if they wanted to move him.
isn’t it more likely that Davis is in LF with Snider in RF? or is Davis in RF with Snider in LF? either way I would have an OF of Davis/Wells/Snider and Bautista at 3B. actually personally I’d prefer to have Bautista starting on another team with the Jays trading him. I don’t believe for one second about what Bautista did in 2010, and the Jays should cash in on those numbers.
regardless of Bautista, Davis deserves to be starting in the OF and bat leadoff. the Jays can have Davis/Escobar 1/2. Davis has the speed to make things happen on the base paths and force the pitcher to throw better pitches to allow the catcher better chance at throwing him out, better pitches for the hitters to take advantage of.
If the Jays offer up Bautista, it would be like admitting he cant do it again.. so then why would another team pay for a 50 HR hitter, if his home club is selling him? So in a sense you wouldn’t be getting much for him…
And where do you get the Davis deserves to lead off and start from? Why are people so blinded with speed for? You can be as fast as Usain Bolt, but if you can’t get on base its just wasted. . What part of his career .330 OBP leads you to believe he deserves anything?
i think davis will lead off more from a lack of available candidates than anything. the only other guy who could possibly lead off is escobar, but for me he is a perfect number 2 hitter with his good eye, contact skills, bunting ability and his ability to drive in runs.
other than him, the pickings are slim and davis prevents someone like travis snider from being taken out of his comfort zone to bat leadoff.
i think davis will lead off more from a lack of available candidates than anything. the only other guy who could possibly lead off is escobar, but for me he is a perfect number 2 hitter with his good eye, contact skills, bunting ability and his ability to drive in runs.
other than him, the pickings are slim and davis prevents someone like travis snider from being taken out of his comfort zone to bat leadoff.
I’m not saying get rid of Bautista for whatever you can get. I’m sure there are teams out there that could/would be looking for a potential power bat. the Jays have enough potential power bats even without Bautista. because he can play multiple positions like OF/3B/1B that makes him more appealing to other teams. I have no idea what specific players I would target for him. I’m just saying trading him could be a better option than keeping him, IF you can get something good that helps you now and for the future. I don’t think he is going to be bad in 2011, I just highly doubt he can come close to repeating 2010. I’d be surprised if he had 30 HR. even if he can be good in 2011, how much longer will he be good? the Jays are unlikely to contend in 2011, it could/would be better to use someone like Bautista to bring in a young player that is going to help more for the future for when the Jays are likely to contend. Bautista is now 30 years old, and he has never been more of a bench bat before 2010.
as for Davis. who else could leadoff? Snider? he’s a lot worse than Davis would be. maybe Escobar, but I think he fits better in the 2 spot. while Davis might not be awesome, he can be good enough. his speed can change the game.
I’d bet everything I have that Davis has a better chance at 50+ in SB than Bautista does at 50+ in HR.
As the roster stands, right now, today:
C – Mauer
1B – Morneau
2B – Nishi
SS – Casilla
3B – Valencia
LF – Young
CF – Span
RF – Cuddyer
DH – ***KUBEL***
Note the “DH – Kubel”. The ONLY reason Thome became an everyday player last year is Morneau went down. He was signed as a bench bat. Therefore, he was paid as a bench bat.
The Twins DO NOT NEED a DH. They need a bench bat. They won’t be paying Jim $8M or Vlad $5M. Unless one of those guys is willing to lower their asking price considerably, and accept a position as a bench bat who may get regular playing time if there’s an injury, neither will be signing.
Taylor Tankersly and Royce Ring are the two guys that the Pirates should target
Thomes days in Minny appear to be finished.
I think the Jays shouldn’t mess with Bautista and his comfort level. Clearly something clicked last year for him playing the OF. He never hit consistently as a 3b. I’d do my best to leave him in RF.
I think the Jays shouldn’t mess with Bautista and his comfort level. Clearly something clicked last year for him playing the OF. He never hit consistently as a 3b. I’d do my best to leave him in RF.
I thought vlad wanted to stay on the west coast?