B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and Casey Kotchman all homered for the Rays tonight as Tampa Bay defeated Boston, 9-2, in the opener of a big four-game series. The Red Sox now have just a three-game lead over the Rays (and a four-game lead over the idle Angels) for the AL Wild Card.
Some notes from around the league….
- If Drew Storen is traded, Tyler Clippard shouldn't become the Nationals' closer since he's proven to be invaluable as the team's go-to reliever, argues Ben Goessling of MASNsports.com. It could be a moot point, though, since Goessling says it's "unlikely" that the Nats deal Storen.
- The Rays were the first team to discover Jacoby Ellsbury, drafting him in the 23rd round of the 2002 draft. Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal talks to the scouts who pushed for Tampa Bay to pick Ellsbury, who instead decided to attend Oregon State.
- Frank Wren tells David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that no decision has been made about Alex Gonzalez's future with the Braves, but both the club and the shortstop sound open to Gonzalez returning in 2012. Gonzalez is popular in the clubhouse and would be an ideal bridge at shortstop to prospect Tyler Pastornicky.
- Mike Newman of Fangraphs profiles Braves minor league left-hander Ronan Pacheco, who "is simply too perfect an example of a pitcher who bucks just about every prospect stereotype on both the statistical and scouting sides to not discuss."
- Matt Eddy of Baseball America recaps this week's minor league transactions.
- David DeJesus "appears the least likely to return" of the Athletics' three free agent outfielders, writes MLB.com's Jane Lee. Josh Willingham and Coco Crisp are also free agents this winter and Willingham said earlier today that he would like to stay with Oakland.
- Angels GM Tony Reagins tells Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register that he doesn't regret giving Bobby Abreu the $9MM option for 2012 that vested in July.
reagin is an idiot
I love the Sox, but the Rays have to do this. To see them with that payroll of pocket change come out and run down one of the big dogs is fun to watch and great baseball.
I wonder how Ellsbury would of had end up as Ray…
hmm
would have played well and been traded…just like everybody else
Or could’ve signed a deal 3 years ago like Shields and Longo. Imagine Upton, Ellsbury, Jennings…wow!
Tony REagins is a freaking idiot! How Him and Jeff Mathis have a job is beyond me… TOny needs to be fired asap. I can’t wait to hear all the bull crap this guy spits out his mouth in the offseason. What a joke
Of course Reagin’s doesn’t regret Abreu’s option. This is the same man who thought it was a good idea to acquire Vernon Wells’ contract.
Why are we still talking about trading Storen
you noticed that too? i thought that was over with….if there is heyman or rosenthal running amok, the rumor will always be there
Reagins needs to wake up! It makes me sick knowing that Vernon is pulling in $26 million this year alone. And I have to watch this guy hobble around our outfield or DH through 2014? What a slap in the face to some of our great rookies we heavily rely on (trumbo, bourjos and walden) who are making just over $400k.
Something needs to happen soon, there’s no excuse to have the 4th highest payroll in the MLB and not easily win the AL West.
-We have depth at the catcher position, mathis needs to go (he’s had way too many chances.)
-Fernando Rodney needs to go (seriously, $5.5 million??), Walden has proved he deserves to be in there.
-The focus does NOT need to be on picking up more outfielders. We need a third baseman with a heavy bat. We haven’t had a slugging third baseman since Troy Glaus, which no surprise is when we won the world series. Callaspo can go, Izturis is a great utility man that we can rely on if we have injuries or certain infielders need a day off.
There you go Reagins…$10 million in dead weight off the books. Go do something useful (without drinking at the bar first). I wish I could shave off the $26 million for Vernon Wells, but you’re stuck with that one…nobody will pick up that tab my friend.
LA ANGELS People that MUST GO! AND PLAYERS WE MUST SIGN!!!
Abreu must go and Mathis must go and Angels must sign Martin signing Russel would be perfect fit for Angels and Martin.. Why coz we need a catcher with offense and he brings that….also he is just as good as Mathis D… Russel loves socal and we love him we need him!!!
Id say sign Aramis but no coz he will want a long term deal since he will be 34 and we don’t need another mistake like Abreu..
So off season sign Martin, sign Chad Qualls or anyone with his type of ability to bring more depth to the pen also trade Alberto..
3rd Base
There’s 2 ways to play out 3rd base.. 1)Try out Trumbo 2) take that risk and sign Ramirez which id prefer not to..Hopefully Morales is 110% for next season and Trumbo does a solid job at 3rd so we can have both of there bats in the lineup!!
Starters
We will have Weav, Haren, Santi, Williams, and then try Richards,Chatty,Shoemaker, and maybe even Bell to see who gets that 5th spot and if Williams doesn’t do good then try others out for the 4th spot i dont think they should go out and sign starters this offseason
Reagins reactions to criticism mirror G.W. Bush, strangely enough.