Rainfall on the East Coast has already postponed a couple games on Friday night, but here's some items of note to hold you over …
- Mets third baseman David Wright's days in New York may be winding down, writes Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. The Mets, who may be in full-on rebuild mode as soon as midseason, could opt to trade Wright because he is signed to team-favorable terms through 2013 and would therefore yield a better haul in a trade than Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran or Francisco Rodriguez, writes Rubin. That the Mets could entertain this is indicative of how far they've fallen the past couple years; it once seemed likely Wright would spend his entire career in Queens.
- Red Sox catchers Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jason Varitek have struggled so far this season, writes Alex Speier of WEEI.com, but with underwhelming and unready in-house options and limited trade or free-agent targets out there, a move is not imminent. Bengie Molina, 36, is still unsigned, but as Speier points out, would he be much of an improvement?
- The Nationals have purchased the contract of infielder Brian Bixler from Triple-A Syracuse, tweets Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com. A corresponding move on the 40-man roster was to be announced. Bixler, a second-round pick of the Pirates in 2004 out of Eastern Michigan, last appeared in the bigs in 2009. In 166 career plate appearances, he has a .178/.238/.237 line.
- Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has hired Steve Loy of Gaylord Sports Management to handle his marketing. As our Agency Tracker shows, A-Rod has not officially announced an agent since parting ways with Scott Boras, and he may not need one for a while considering he's signed through age 42. For a complete list of Scott Boras clients, click here.
The one thing I love about the Sky dome… no rain outs!
The one and only good thing to like about the Rogers Centre.
Thanks for repeating what I said
Wright’s deal isn’t that team friendly.
If you land him today you are looking at either a 2/$30m deal or 3/$45. His last 2 years (1500 PA’s) have him right around 3.5 – 4.0 WAR / season. Using WAR, his value is pegged somewhere between $15 and $20m/season.
Factor in that his worst 2 seasons since he was installed as a regular have occurred in 2009 and 2010 and that 2011 is off to slow start and I would say there are legitimate questions as to whether his value on the field will exceed what the team is paying him.
It’s team friendly from the aspect of it being only 2 more guaranteed years but there is no way I would pay a high bounty of prospects and take on his contract.
How many general managers place any value on sabermetric stats?
Every GM knows and understands WAR. Whether they buy into it is a whole other story. Certainly, there are plenty of old-school GM’s who value sabermetrics less than some of the new guys.
Right, so that’s what I’m asking. How many of them buy into it? If not many of them buy into sabermetrics, then I doubt Wright’s WAR matters much.
It’s hard to peg which organizations place a very high value on sabermetrics. However, WAR is just one calculation. You can look at even the basic stats and see regression.
David Wright’s name is what will bring in a large return – not his recent play.
Welcome to the Angels Mr. Wright.
Welcome to the Mets Mr. Trout?
Right.
Keep dreaming pal.
Why do you value potential so much? Wright is already a proven top 3 at 3b. As far as we know Trout may not ever be a top 3 outfielder. He may even be a 4th outfielder, who knows…
wright hasn’t been a top 3 third basemen since 2008
He is still a very very very good thirdbasemen. Better than anyone on the angles. It’s not his fault he was hurt then moved into a park that kills everyones power.
i would limit it to one “very”, but yes
So a line of 283/354/503 with 29HRs in a ‘down’ year doesn’t deserve a couple extra ‘very’s in your opinion? Either you’re trolling, or just insane lol
third basemen have to play defense too. how many extra very’s would you give for the 3B who were much better than wright that year? sounds annoying
0 very’s -> just above average
1 very -> david wright
3+ very’s -> zimmerman, longoria, beltre
lol I’ll agree that any more than 1 ‘very’ sounds a little annoying in any sentence, but why you consider Wright a Top 4 third basemen instead of Top 3 (Beltre? Really?) is beyond me. Just looking at the stats (O and D), and also considering Wright plays at Citi Field with no protection, I think there’s an argument there that he may be the best of the bunch.
– you brought up 2010 stats, not me
– if it changed anything at all, protection would only change his walk rate
– there is reasonable argument that wright is even on the same plane as zimmerman and longoria, let alone above it. wright hasn’t been better than a 4-win guy since 2008
Beltre in the same tier as Zimmerman and Longoria? You definitely aren’t serious on that one.
read carefully. he was talking about the year 2010
Sort of agree to kind of disagree I guess? I mean, the real argument would be which of Longoria, Zimmerman or Wright do you think is best looking… and if that factors into it at all lol I know… just blew your mind.
I will take Wright over Zimmerman any and every day
Tko11 3 years ago in reply to notsureifsrs
If Wright goes to the Angels, chances are that Trout is going to the Mets.
false
Why do you add a file to everything you say?
perhaps you can help solve a mystery
I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw the article. What kind of haul could the Mets get from LAA? Trout is pipe dream, and I don’t know much else about their system.
i could see something around Segura/Amarista + Richards+ Reckling + another small piece maybe. not really sure though
No way would it be Segura + Richards + Reckling.
Segura + another B level prospect would be it I think. The guy is a top 50 prospect in all of baseball.
Maybe Amarista + Reckling + another prospect would be an option as well. I just don’t see the Angels giving up Segura, Richards, or Trout.
Segura + a B-Prospect is no where near enough for a premier 3B who is controlled for this season and the two after that. Padres got more than that for just 1 year of A-Gonz.
Like the red sox would make that deal if they weren’t certain agonz would sign an extension.
Nothing was certain. A handshake agreement means nothing until it is set to paper. Gonzalez could have decided to go to free agency when he finally got to Boston.
I think Agonz would be smart enough to know that if he went back on his word he would have gotten eaten alive by the fans and media!
Salty and V-Tek’s struggles just look worse thanks to some major stars in the lineup still having trouble as well. Once Crawford picks up, A-Gon and Youk get hot, etc., Salty’s anemic bat won’t matter anymore.
I hope V-Tek isn’t completely dead at the plate though; he’s been a huge part of calming this rotation down.
he’s dead against right-handers and has been for about four years. salty has never hit lefties well
seems simple enough. but this idea that varitek is responsible for the good pitching performances of beckett and matsuzaka is throwing off what should be a fairly straightforward platoon situation
having said that, molina is not an upgrade
Salty hit .405 in spring training and threw out a few base-runners. I hope that he starts hitting soon and doesn’t continue to sail throws to 2nd before Varitek’s body breaks down more.
he’ll hit and his defense will be fine. but he won’t hit very well and his defense won’t be great
It is going to take time to bring Salty along. Since being called up to Atlanta as a 20-year old he has been mishandled by managers and front office people. Injuries, demotions, phychological traumas, plus marrying early have all had their effect on this man’s ego and physical abilities. Now he as the weight of the entire Red Sox network, the fate of team’s erratic pitching staff, the memory of a capable, but much younger Jason Veritek on his shoulders and a Boston press corps that look at every possible Red Sox weakness as an opportunity to project themselves a little further into the national media limelight. I wouldn’t want Jarrod’s present circumstances for all of Gonzo’s millions.
Yet, every day, this 25-year old man comes to the ballpark, with a smile on his face, ready to give his team the best that he has to offer. He doesn’t complain, transfer blame or do anything other than try to be the best that he can be… Lets take his success or failure one game at a time, can we? Yesterday, in LA, he caught John Lester for 6 shutout inings. He went 1-3, did not give up a stolen base, and was not responsibel for the runs given up, late in the game, by Boston’s corps of relievers…. the game’s final score was 4-3 with 1 LA run being unearned…… not to shabby..
Lets hope tmorrow is as good or, even a better day for the team and for Salty. And, then we can move forward from there…
“Yesterday, in LA, he caught John Lester for 6 shutout inings. He went 1-3, did not give up a stolen base, and was not responsibel for the runs given up, late in the game, by Boston’s corps of relievers”
you either didn’t watch the game or are lying. saltalamacchia nearly blew the game all by himself in the late innings last night. it is a wonder any of the relievers were able to keep their composure enough to throw strikes at all with the crap he pulled back there
the pitch on which abreu advanced to second in the 8th was ruled a wild pitch but was entirely preventable by a decent defensive catcher. not only did salty subsequently allow a passed ball on pitch in the freakin’ strike zone, but he allowed bobby abreu to score from second on the error to make it a one-run game. just horribly embarrassing stuff
and though a couple of them were basically defensive indifference, salty also allowed 5 stolen bases last night, throwing out 0 baserunners and nearly throwing the ball into the outfield (again) twice
he shouldn’t be replaced at this point, but the people who praise him like you have here are just as crazy as the people who want him sent to pawtucket. he’s a very messy work in progress right now
that pic is incredible
Bronson Sardinha played excellent defense and hit over .400 for the Yankees in 2009. He was released the same year. Spring training stats mean nothing, even more so for non prospects and players with a few years under their belt
It’s nice to hear someone else say that, re: pitching performance. Every book, blog and article I have ever read has said there is no statistical evidence for a catcher “calling a good game”. Granted, I read this some time ago and maybe my knowledge is out of date. This is a topic I would love to learn more about though.
there are valuable things catchers can do that are not yet reflected in the statistics we have (e.g. framing -> baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=12965)
there are conceivable differences in the comfort level/confidence of pitcher’s with different catcher
there are some shoddy attempts to measure a catcher’s impact on pitcher’s performance (CERA – catcher’s ERA)
but we don’t yet have any evidence strong enough to make starting a totally incapable hitter instead of a capable one seem like a sound decision
parentheses screwed up that link: baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=12965
The only problem with CERA is that there is really no evidence to suggest the correlation is that big. And whether most of CERA is determined by the quality of pitcher rather than catcher’s game-calling ability. Because obviously if Felix had a personal catcher that catcher would be near the top of CERA.
well right, it may be the “only” problem, but it is an enormous, debilitating, useless-rendering problem
I wasn’t sure if you were supporting CERA so I didn’t want to totally call it out lol. But imo CERA is crap
“But imo CERA is crap” To make a small joke.. So has the Sox catching thus far this season from both Tek and Salty and am in agreement with an above poster that Salty is BOUND to get better as he at least has the tools to succeed with tek’s on the severe downward spiral at this point of his career.
That said, last nights game with Salty mis playing 3 balls, 2 at his feet and those being called wild pitches and the one PB going to the back stop ticking off of his glove and was almost a strike and he couldn’t even find once it reach the backstop? Salty looks plain scared behind the plate now IMO..
Did anyone notice the game I *think* was vs the A’s when he threw the ball back to the pitcher and it went almost 15′ to the right of him? He then got another ball and “lolli pop” threw the next ball back. He is lacking confidence now, possibly from a new staff and just needs to get over it. I hope they don’t demote him and dump the load on Tek, cause that will spell horrible trouble for the team as a whole.
David Wright for Aaron Hill, Zack Stewart, Jason Frasor and Travis D’arnaud?
Assuming that Stewart is likely to become a RP I think it would take a little more than that given Hill’s struggles. I would think it would be a good package if you swapped out Stewart with a pitcher with a pretty good chance of sticking at SP.
What makes you believe that he will become a relief pitcher??
He has 3 solid pitches with a 4th passable pitch, strong arm, able to go deep in to games and induces a lot of ground balls.
Sounds like a starter, smells like a starter, looks like a starter.. probably is a starter
From what I’ve read it’s very up in the air. He has a nice fastball-slider combo but his change-up isn’t very good at all. If his change-up doesn’t develop he will be a RP.
He was unbelievable the second half of last season..
I think he’ll be a pretty good mid rotation starter. or a lights out reliever.
That I can agree with (Example of a pretty successful fastball-slider guy – Edwin Jackson) but I was making the argument from the Met’s side if they feel Stewart is better relegated as a closer. Because for David Wright I would figure it would take more than decent 2B (with his recent struggles), mid-rotation starter, a solid RP, upside catcher (He would be the center of the package I would assume). Just my opinion but for Wright I would want a guy who atleast has a decent chance of being a top of the rotation starter but not necessarily an ace.
yah, I didn’t think it would get it done, just wanted to gauging what other people thought it would take.. I included Hill because presumably if you add a 3B you move Lawrie back to 2B
I figure the Mets would want Hill too. They have no (good) internal options there and I’m not sure how the mark for 2B will be the next 2 years but Hill would be pretty good if he keeps his LD% up.
I have no clue what to make of him anymore.. I’m willing to write off a bad year as a bad year, but so far no signs that he could return to even 75% of what he was 2 years ago..
Its somewhat realistic to think he becomes an FA after this year
He’s certainly an odd player. He brought his average and BABIP up this year but has shown no power at all. And his OBP hasn’t been impressive either
he has a condition that makes him allergic to walks.
His single to right field (on a sweet ‘one-handed’ swing) in the game against NY was great to see. Hill’s always been a hacker, but he only became a pure dead-pull hitter a couple seasons ago. His SO/BB was pretty much career avg, so some of the ridiculously low babip might’ve been due to outside corner singles to right turning into a ton of lazy fly balls to left center field. Dunno, always thought he and Lind were both 20HR 290/330/400 guys that should be playing in the 2 or 6 holes being hurt by Murph’s overly aggressive approach and added pressure.
He struggled early on and just when he was starting to get hot, he gets injured.
I still think he can be that 09 type Hill except I don’t think you will see him hit 35+ homeruns. 25 could be realistic though.
Think Hill was a much better 15-20HR 750 OPS solid no. 2 hitter than the fluke ’09(Al-lStar slugger) and ’10(lucky he doesn’t have a nn like E5) seasons. Hope he realizes that and settles somewhere closer to the ’07 Hill, and he should be fine… to trade for David Wright lol
david wright to oakland is what i think
I think Billy Beane would be all over David Wright. He’s been desperately trying to replace Kouzmanoff since the end of last season. What kind of package from Oakland would get it done?
Man would I love that, but I don’t think that Oakland really has that much depth in the minors right now. If they were to give up Green, Choice, Taylor, and whoever else it would take, then they would be left with nothing. But man I would love to see Wright in green and gold.
david wright would be worth it
Mr. Wright welcome to Seattle
thanks. now please trade me. i’d like to be able to hit more than 3 home runs per year at home
Why? he needs the 4 that Citi Field will let him have?
citifield is no hitter’s paradise, but safeco is measurably worse for right-handed hitters (and for home runs in general). so while it probably isn’t much better for him to stay where he is, he could do better than a trade to the mariners
they would have to cut figgins’ value in half to make room for wright anyway
[Insert typical idiot Red Sox/Yankees fan offering absurd package for Wright to DH for their team here]
David Wright & Mike Pelfry to Boston for… Marco Scutaro, Hideki Matsuzaka, David Ortiz and $5M
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
i thought 420 was over
It’s the 12 days of 420….
I have a hard time getting my mind around David Wright playing anywhere but for the Mets. I know it’s going to happen, but it makes me kind of sad.
On the other hand, I absolutely can see Jose Reyes being a great fit for the Cincinnati Reds. They have enough excess on their farm to make it happen.
A-Rod doesn’t need an agent…Like the article said he’s signed through age 42. By then he’ll probably look to get into coaching or some other avenue..Great article!
I have no understanding as to why the Red Sox never developed a future top-level catcher. Varitek hasn’t exactly gotten old all of the sudden. He’s been old, and getting older, for some time. What a joke, as much as I want Salty to produce, he’s probably still got another year or two of developing. And that doesn’t necessarily mean hitting, it means getting comfortable and smart as a catcher in terms of pitching. That’s one thing Varitek still seems to have. Regardless, I wish they’d just give Salty more regular playing time, I think he can turn out at least a .250/.320 year, which would be great in my book all things considered
You say that like they just grow on trees. If only the Red Sox could go to the store and pick out a nice top-level catcher, then they would be set!
the sox have had all the time in the world to figure out and breed a future replacement for Varitek. instead, they took it lazily, waited till Varitek started to crumble offensively, and then decided to put their money on a faux-catcher that never would have fit permanently in Boston
Look at all the catchers they have drafted in recent years. The hardest position to fill with a top-level player is catcher. Hell, the only top-level catcher to make it to free agency in the past couple years that I can remember is V-Mart who wouldn’t be catching at the end of his deal likely. It’s not like there are any draftable players where the sox are picking that are bonafied top catchers, they all go top 10 (See Posey, Weiters, Mauer). Look across the league, how many teams have really good catchers? Not many. So should we get on them for not developing some scrub into a top catcher? To blame the Sox for not developing a top-level catcher is just hilarious.
No rain outs is awesome with the roof. Great article.