Opening Day is just ten days away! Our latest collection of links:
- As first mentioned on Twitter, MLBTR learned that Tigers infielder Carlos Guillen switched agencies this spring, from Peter Greenberg to Octagon. Our new Agency Database has all the goods.
- Dennys Reyes' opt-out date with the Red Sox is Friday, tweets WEEI's Rob Bradford. The lefty has allowed one run in seven strong innings this spring.
- With the Mets eating $12MM to release Oliver Perez today, ESPN's Adam Rubin looks at the other big contracts the Mets have gobbled up to make a player go away.
- The Tigers and White Sox have better pitching staffs than the Twins, explains Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
- Kirby Arnold of the Everett Herald projects the Mariners' 25-man roster.
It’s shaping up that Dennys Reyes’ is going to make the team, Okajima has’nt looked to good and Miller looked awful yesterday, and i think Hills got the other lefty spot locked up.
I would agree that Reyes seems likely to make the opening-day pen but Re: Hill… 1) there is no certainty that there are going to be two lefties in the pen and 2) Hill has options left so I really doubt he will start the season with the big league team. Albers is more likely considering he is also out of options and has pitched well. The real question now is whether Wakefield has a guaranteed spot in the pen or not..
Wakefield will get it out of respect, i wonder how short of a leash he will be on. As for hill and albers they have had good springs and if wakefield was’nt on the roster they would both stand a good chance of makeing the team. Hills AAA stats from last season look promising, im rooting for the home town guy though.
Well, what’s interesting about the “respect” issue is that Wakefield has previously expressed his displeasure with being in the pen and his desire to start. For that reason, one could imagine a possible scenario of Wakefield being stashed away in AAA (or put on the DL for something) until his services are needed as a starter – something that is all but guaranteed to happen at some point during the season. In other words, giving him a guaranteed spot in the pen isn’t necessarily the most “respectful” move for the team to make. Though, to be honest, I am purely speculating and have no idea how Wakefield would feel starting the season in AAA or the DL.
The Tigers and White Sox have better pitching staffs than the Twins. In other news the grass is green, the sky…….
…is blue, and the Twins will win the central. Was that where you were going?
Don’t be so sure…a lot rides on Nathan and Morneau coming back strong…they’re not in as good a place as the Tigers or White Sox, who seem to be pretty solid.
Great season to shape up in the AL Central this year–time to get back to having the Wild Card come out of the Central this year…which would require someone to beat an East team!
Lets not get carried away…
Yeah, that is a good point. We were absolutely terrible without those two last year.
But the Tigers and White Sox kind of sucked a little bit last year. Now both of us are good teams. So….
Remind me again how the Tigers improved?
Vic? Fangraphs projects him at a 3.2 WAR player. Congrats, you’ll win 84 games this year.
WAR doesn’t accuratley predict a teams outcome. We also added Benoit and Penny. Not to mention that WAR is very flawed. I’ll tell you right now, the Tigers would have been a lot worse off without Miguel Cabrera than just the 5.9 games fangraphs has. Cabrera is a lot more valuable to his team than Kevin Youkilis is to the Sox even though he is listed with a higher WAR.
I agree regarding WAR. I share your skepticism of it.
I’m just pointing out that Vic is really your “impact signing”, and he’s not much of an impact. He’s a very good hitting catcher… except he isn’t catching much anymore, and is an average DH. Miggy was a one-man offense once Magglio went down, and Vic is going to be pressed into hitting #5, when he’d be hitting dang-near 7th for the Twins or Sox.
A back-of-the-rotation starter and bullpen arm weren’t the missing parts last year. Bats were. Dombrowski failed to get the complimentary bat he needed when he missed on Beltre/Werth/Crawford.
You’ve got to show me the Twins and White Sox order and who would be that far ahead of V-Mart. You honestly think he would be batting 7th for the Twins? He would be batting 5th for both teams.
He had an OPS of .844. In Fenway. That’s not terribly impressive. And it’s right around his career average.
Twins DH, Thome, hasn’t had an OPS that low since, quite literally, 1995. He’d have therefore hit 6th for the Twins last year, quite possibly 7th behind Young, or even 8th behind Cuddyer too (depending on L/R pitching matchup).
As for the Sox, I’ll let one of their fans speak for them.
Ok. Let’s compare him to one of the greatest hitters of the last 30 years. That seem’s fair.
Hey bro, you’re the one who asked to see the depth chart.
Span
*whoever*
Mauer
Morneau
Young
Thome
Cuddyer
Valencia
*whoever*
Does Vic hit 5th for the Twins? Probably not.
Fair. I might see Young in the 2 spot and Vic hitting 5th. The point is that Victor Martinez is a good offensive player and worth a little more credit than is being given by you guys.
Sounded like a guarantee that Nishioka will be #2 and Casilla will be #9.
And who did you add to improve your team that has MLB expirence.
We won the division without Morneau and Nathan for the lion’s share of the season. Bringing them back (and both seemingly healthy and VERY effective in camp so far) is like adding 2 All-Stars to a defending Central champ.
We didn’t need to bring in any outside help. C’mon, son, everyone knows this.
They are in a much BETTER place! Are you kidding me? Twins lineup and overall talent is far superior than the white sox and tigers. Why are the Twins ALWAYS discounted before every season and at the end of every season they wind up winning the central. Twins are the team to beat, period.
Without Nathan and Morneau, this is essentially the same team that had no problem winning the Central last year.
With Nathan OR Morneau, it should be their again.
With both… look out.
We won the Central last year without Morneau and Nathan. I think we’ll be fine.
Twins will finish third. Especially with Morneau’s concussion. Has he even played a spring game yet? I remember when it happened and the headlines read, “Morneau listed day to day after hard slide vs. Blue Jays….”
Yes. He’s played in four games plus minor league games. He’s up to 4-5 AB’s a game and has been playing every other day but they’re about ready to ramp that up. He’s made nice defensive plays. He’s slid into home plate, not head first of course, but still slid. I believe he got hit with a pitch today while batting. It didn’t seem to bother him (not sure where he was hit, but it sounded like he didn’t flinch or anything).
I wouldn’t trust mlb articles, or any articles on predicting a brain injury. Even doctors can’t predict how a player is going to react. Morneau isn’t the only player to get a concussion and not return last year (Jason Bay “minor concussion” on July 25th, did not return for the season).
Nevermind the fact that this is Morneau’s fifth or sixth concussion, not his first. They get worse the more you get them. Surprisingly the one he had previously in 2005, he only missed two weeks and that was from a fastball to the head.
It’s hard to tell what will happen. I’m not sure that he will ever recover to the point of where he was before. The way it has been reported by Twin’s officials, it almost sounds like he is afraid of playing/getting hurt again. This may or not be true but it is not a good situation for him none the less.
Where have you read that? Because that is not the case at least not as of recently. It was the case way early in spring training before he began playing, but that was a long time ago now (several weeks). For the last week or two he’s going harder and harder every day. He hasn’t been afraid to play that I’ve seen. He’s been grinning like a fool since he started playing. He loves it and he’s doing well.
He wanted doctors clearance that he wasn’t at more risk than anyone else in MLB. He got that clearance and now he’s on a schedule of when he’s played. So far it’s been every other day, but right now they’ve got him playing in the next two games which would make it three in a row.
He hasn’t shown any signs of being afraid since he started playing in games. He’s doing everything he’s always done. You’re probably recalling things from weeks/months ago.
Didn’t you just get done saying that he was on concussion number 5 or 6? Now your saying that he was just as at risk as anyone. Getting 5 or 6 concussions usually means that you are more vulnerable in some way, shape, or form.
I was quoting Morneau who was quoting his doctor. “The doctor said that I’m not at risk more than anyone else that’s out there,” Morneau said. “So that’s kind of what it came down to.”
Sure, if he actually gets hit…it will be bad, because of prior injuries. But just going out there every day it’s not like the ball has some kind of missile guidance system that finds where Morneau’s head is and attacks.
I was saying, he can do everything like normal without fear of making the injury worse. Meaning the fogginess and everything he was experiencing many weeks in the past will not be worse and he can go full blown. He can train and act like any other MLB player. He’s way past having to worry about it.
I’d be upset, but I’m used to hearing that we will finish third. I think that’s been the spring prediction for a decade now.
Last year was the first year I ever heard that.
That’s exactly what I was gonna say. I’m a Twins fan, but I know the Tigers and White Sox have better rotations then ours.
So you know you have hit rock bottom when you been traded or released by the mets who knew.
so what does that say for the teams picking up their trash ?
There Gullible
Where?!
The Detroit pitching staff is going to surprise a lot of people this year. They are absolutely dominating this spring and appear to be much deeper in minor leaguers with legitimate talent than initially thought. They have been really impressive on all levels this spring.
I completely agree…national media seemed to be counting the Tigers out early this year, but I see them really giving this division a run for it’s money. They look really REALLY good right now, and they seem to have a deeper pitching staff than really anyone anticipated. I’m really excited for this year.
Even their prospects have been dominating big league hitting–they are much better than advertised.
If verlander let’s this success roll and he can skip his dreaded month of April, the tiggy’s should come out of the gate swinging. I don’t care if it is just spring, but you start off a year with 20IP, 21k’s, and only 2 ER, he’s looking like a beast already.
I think all if those young guys are coming out with something to prove. It sure is looking like an incredible pitching staff this early though.
You feel like the Tigers are getting shorted?
I feel like the coverage is pretty consistently “Twins-Tigers-Chicago… toss up”. And I’d actually say the Tigers being in that conversation is VERY optimistic for the Tigers. My concern with Detroit is you really only added Vic. Is Vic the difference in that offense? Not really. His best years are probably behind him, and he’s not the caliber of protection Miggy needed. Werth or Crawford in that lineup would have put Detroit in the “Best in AL Central” conversation; as it is, I just don’t see anything in terms of offensive upgrades.
You’re one drunken relapse away from having Cleveland put up more runs.
Scherzer was underated, he has 200 IP 200 K potential this season. Porcello needs to take a step foward if they want to win the division.
I actually find Scherzer to be a darkhorse Cy Young candidate. He could be scary good.
And I think it’s evident this spring that Porcello has stepped it up a bit, whether that translates to the regular season we’ll see, but the pitching looks really really solid right now. And they just keep winning, they won again today, 9-1. I know the games don’t count, but you got to figure it counts for something towards how ready they are for the start of the season.
The funniest part of the article on the AL Central was when he ranked the top five pitchers in the division. Obviously Verlander was an easy choice for first but Danks and Buehrle being clear cut ahead of Liriano? You could make an argument for Scherzer being #2 but you have White Sox colored glasses on if you think Liriano isn’t a top three SP in the AL Central.
Does Octagon specialize in representation for players on the DL?
Oh, I see what you did there.
Oh, now I see what YOU did there. You did the “I see what you did there” joke that everyone is doing these days.
Nothing wrong with that joke. It’s no homer, but it’s a solid single up the middle.
Come on RedSox, you keep adding to the revamped bullpen over there. Why dont you pick up Perez as well and throw him down to single/double-A and transfer him into a batboy.
Seriously though league minimum to pick him up try to get him and put him in double/triple-A for a month and see what happens.
Minnesota Twins are the team to beat and should once again win the central division.
Twins fans, consider the source, JON PAUL MOROSI, former writer for the detroit free press. Gee, I wonder if a we should get an opinion from a Minnesota sports writer??!? Wonder if his opinion would be any different? Morosi’s column is flat out biased nonsense.
I don’t think you read the article. It wasn’t very insightful, but it wasn’t biased either. He even said whenever there is any doubt, he pick the Twins. Is it really that unreasonable to say the Twins are not the clear cut favorite to win the division this season, and that they could slip to 3rd? I wouldn’t be surprised at all at this point to see any of the 3 teams win the division.
Royals, WORLD SERIES! Book it!
God help us all in a few years when Detroit Minnesota and Chicago are all battling for second with the Royals owning the division.
When the Royals show they can actually retain some of their talent (i.e., Grienke, Butler), I’ll start to get worried. They just lost their best pitcher while their best pitching prospect is still a year or two away. They’re about to lose their best hitter before Hosmer ever gets a callup.
“When the Royals show they can actually retain some of their talent (i.e., Grienke, Butler), I’ll start to get worried. They just lost their best pitcher while their best pitching prospect is still a year or two away. They’re about to lose their best hitter before Hosmer ever gets a callup.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Butler was signed to an extension earlier this offseason through the 2014 season.
Come on clown, he was talking about John Buck! Oh he is gone…that’s embarassing…
The critique of Morosi’s article isn’t “He’s a homer!”.
The critique is that “When have the Twins EVER had the best pitching staff in the division?” Morosi is pointing out the Twins perennial flaw, and acting like it’s going to make a huge difference this year. Nobody has ever looked at the Twins rotation OR bullpen and said, “Yes, that’s why they’re favorites!” A couple years of Johan aside, the Twinks have never had flamethrowers featured in their rotation.
Exactly. Rick Reed was our wins leader in ’02 and Baker was in ’09. We have never had a feared rotation, but we keep winning.
I think the Tigers have the best pitching. Morosi says Buehrle is the third best pitcher on the Tigers, Twins and White Sox. He’s not even the third best pitcher on the White Sox.
Yeah Scherzer, Verlander, Danks, Peavy, Liriano, Floyd, and maybe even Baker could definitely argue with that.
I don’t put much stock into predictions or things on paper. It’s fun to speculate and all that, but usually the predictions are wrong. I think it was Baseball America that predicted the Tigers and Twins to tie for the division at 83 wins in 2011. Really? It’s not the tie that’s surprising (though I doubt it happens), it’s the 83 wins. I see that as being the third place team…not the first.
The only way they land at 83 games is if the Royals have a big year (70+ wins) and the Twins-Tigers-Sox beat the snot out of each other. No way they perform that poorly out of division (Tampa/Anaheim taking a step backwards, nobody else but Boston really improving from last year).
Yeah, I didn’t think so either. I was thinking more like 90 wins for the Twins. I’m not going to predict the others because I don’t care, but 90 seems right for the Twins. Maybe more depending on Nathan/Morneau…who I believe will both be good/great.
I’m not ready to declare 90 W for our hometown boys, but I don’t see 83 games being the best in the division. SOMEBODY is going to win 90, be it us, Chicago, or Detroit.
True, that’s just where I’d put them if I had to. But my main point was the same as yours, somebody is going to win 90. It’s not going to be this 83 crap that wins the division.
i agree with jon morosi the “twins simpl lost to many improtant relievers .” therefor they will finish in third place.
I can’t wait for Jesse Crain to pitch against the Twins in a tight game and implode like he does every single time there is pressure. You can probably count the number of Twins fans sad to see him go on one hand.
I like the fact that I can now call him crainwreck and be happy about it.
After reading a bit of an argument about who’s better in the central, can Tigers and White Sox fan’s unite to kill the Twins and then fight it out in September while we look in the rear view mirror laughing at the Twins. Thank you.