The latest from the AL East, as Derek Jeter deflects Hank Steinbrenner's criticism…
- ESPN.com's Jayson Stark argues quite convincingly that Jose Bautista is the face of the Blue Jays. Toronto manager John Farrell compared Bautista to Jayson Werth, another late bloomer who signed a big contract this offseason.
- The Red Sox intend to pick up Terry Francona's two-year option at the end of the year, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). Francona says he doesn't know how the Red Sox intend to approach the option, which is worth a total of $9MM.
- John Tomase of the Boston Herald re-imagines the 1988 draft and suggests Tim Wakefield, then a first base prospect with some power, would have been worthy of a seventh overall selection. The Pirates drafted the future Red Sox knuckleballer in the eighth round.
- Former Blue Jays and Yankees DH Josh Phelps signed with the Italian Baseball League team Telemarket Rimini according to mister-baseball.com. The 32-year-old former top prospect hit 64 homers in the majors, including 20 for the 2003 Blue Jays.
- ESPN.com's Keith Law includes Blue Jays prospect Brett Lawrie on his list of young players who are ready for the majors in one respect, but who need development in other areas. Lawrie's bat is nearly ready, but the Blue Jays need to figure out his future position.
The Lawrie for Marcum trade could be the best trade this offseason as far as needs for each team goes, guess well find out in a year ish.
So we’re going to get a call from Josh Phelps during dinner time? a@@hole! haha
He has a great deal on long distance service, he just wants to know, who do you currently have and how much can he save you?
I think Lawrie’s future position is totally dependent on what they decide to do with Aaron Hill.
Not exactly. Hill is an excellent fielder at 2B and should stay there, with lawrie manning 3B. I think the question is what they do with Escobar and hechavarria, which could impact both hill and lawrie
They already said lawrie is going to be working as a 3rd baseman, so it might have nothing to do with aaron hill.
If the jays think that an infield of heck. escobar and hill is better for the future, they could move lawrie to the outfield
I see Hill being traded once Hech is ready. Escobar 2b, Hech SS, Lawrie 3b.
One can only dream, but I’d like to see the Jays pry Votto away, and Hill could be a big peice in that trade.
Lawrie 3b, Hech SS, Escobar 2b Votto 1b….damn
Sorry but thats not realistic at all, in respect to getting Votto.
So was trading Vernon wells.
Completely different. There the Jays traded away a useless player. Votto isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
I think he meant someone actually taking Vernon wasn’t realistic. Different or not, it is true.
But yes, Votto isn’t going anywhere at least for 3 years.
Lawrie in the OF (assuming average fielding) isn’t much above average. He is a top prospect at 2B, good prospect at 3B, but average to barely above average in a corner OF spot.
ummm no….
ummm yes….
I think that has everything to do with Aaron Hill.
It means they will keep him at 2B.
Does that Mean it has everything to do with every player he DOESNT replace or move to another position? It tells you they would like to have Bautista in Rf once Lawrie is ready, and until then Jb will be at 3b. Does it have everything to do with Rajai davis to because it must mean there keeping him in center as well?
No, what I’m trying to say is that Aaron Hill’s position directly affects what Lawrie plays because if Hill isn’t at 2B, Lawrie will be. Their decision to keep Aaron Hill at 2B, means they have to move Lawrie to a different position.
So he has nothing to do Rajai Davis, and you are trying to compare apples to oranges.
They actually moved Lawrie to 3rd because there has always been questions if he can handle 2nd base in the majors because he doesn’t have to greatest range. Even though Lawrie is a top prospect at 2nd, he has always figured to be a 3rd baseman in the bigs or even an outfielder.
So when the genius John Tomase with his stellar 20/20 hindsight revisits the 1999 draft, I wonder where he thinks Albert Pujols should of been selected.
“Lawrie’s bat is nearly ready”
Lol
I don’t get the joke
The bat is currently getting carved out and shaped up to Brett Lawrie’s demands. Then he will be ready to use it.
After being explained its still lame lol
I heard he carved it out of a bigger bat..
I hear he borrowed his sister’s wooden leg.
“The latest from the AL East, as Derek Jeter deflects Hank Steinbrenner’s criticism…”
Please…continue…
How is Lawrie’s bat ML ready? He has yet to reach his power potential (.164 ISO in AA), hasn’t hit in AAA, and his minor league numbers at AA last year we held up by a .350 BABIP (which probably isn’t too unsustainable since he appears to have decent speed but I’d still expect him to have a BABIP in the .320-.330 range in the majors). Plus he has a just below average walk rate for his league and a high K rate. Maybe I’m nitpicking but that doesn’t seem ML ready to me
“Lawrie’s bat is NEARLY ready”
gah I’m an idiot for skimming.
You don’t have to play in AAA to be MLB ready. I’ll also add that his BABIP may have been a result of little fly balls [I really don’t know]. But if that’s the case, then that would explain why his home run totals were so low. He needs to learn how to work the count better, but there aren’t many holes in his batting.
Congrats Tito.
Bautista may be compared to Werth today, in the end, he’ll be compared to Gary Mathews Jr.
i wonder which is going to be the worse abortion of a contract, Werth’s or GMJr’s
The worst thing that ever happened to Phelps is he got moved from catcher.
Career .273 BA, .343 OBP, .472 SLG, .815 OPS doesn’t stand at first base but would make for a pretty good catcher.