In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that Mariano Rivera is arguably the most important player in the American League East. The Yankees will look to in-house solutions in the back of their bullpen for now, but other teams in need of relievers will start combing the market for answers. The Cubs would obviously part with Carlos Marmol. The Pirates could move Joel Hanrahan, but the price would be steep. The White Sox might trade left-hander Matt Thornton and the Astros could be willing to deal Brett Myers.
Teams are looking to see whether the Mets would deal Bobby Parnell and whether the Royals move Jonathan Broxton. Kansas City, however, would need to receive his permission since he was signed as a free agent and otherwise couldn’t be moved until after June 15th. Here's more from Cafardo..
- Phillies people insist that they are not on the lookout for a third baseman/left fielder with Placido Polanco struggling. "We’re just trying to hold our heads above water until we get our guys back," a Phillies official told Cafardo.
- Twins center fielder Denard Span remains on the Nationals' radar, but with closer Drew Storen sidelined, a deal is on hold for a while.
- According to an Orioles source, they have received calls on Kevin Gregg and Matt Lindstrom. The O's would love to move part of Gregg's $5.8MM deal for 2012. Lindstrom, meanwhile, will earn $3.6MM with a $4MM option for 2013.
- The Astros will hang on to Wandy Rodriguez until late July when they can get the best possible deal for him.
- Even though White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski is reaching the end of his contract and is 35, don’t be surprised if the club talks about keeping him for another year or two. Many in Chicago feel the mantle will be passed to Tyler Flowers, but Jerry Reinsdorf is very loyal to his veteran players.
- First baseman Derrek Lee is definitely on the Brewers’ radar with Mat Gamel out for the season. They’re thinking about moving Corey Hart from right field to first, but there may be outside options. The Red Sox’s Lars Anderson and the Orioles’ Mark Reynolds could be two names to consider.
- The Red Sox expect to have Andrew Bailey, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford, Kevin Youkilis, and Daisuke Matsuzaka back at some point this summer. General Manager Ben Cherington believes, "that would be better than anything we could do in a trade deadline deal."
General Manager Ben Cherington believes, “that would be better than anything we could do in a trade deadline deal.”
No doubt, especially if you consider the trades would have to be made by Cherrington…
Yeah, I would be pumped to get Crawford and Dice-K back…
Twins can’t wait to get their hands on another Nats closer? Hilarious.
A very good closer who had an 8.84 K/9 and a 1.02 WHIP last year. What you have to remember is that Capps was one of the better relievers available at the time of the trade, and that Bill Smith was out GM.
This time around, a trade should be more even since Terry Ryan is our GM, and not Bill Smith.
I think they mean the Twins are not going any where this year so why trade for a closer. It would be a dumb move since the Twins look like they are in a rebuilding season and should go younger.
I doubt Nats trade him, given our bullpen isn’t exactly all star level as we expected with Clip struggling a little bit and Lidge out, in addition to we being in the hunt. Harper has been called up and we expect Morse back in a month or so. Don’t see we going for Span or any other CF right now.
I’m sure they won’t. If the Nats are contenders, they’ll want to (obviously) keep their bullpen intact.
I don’t think Parnell will (or should, for that matter) be traded. They’d probably be willing to trade their veteran relievers like Rauch and Francisco.
We yeah they’d be more willing to trade those two but Parnell is more valuable. Francisco hasn’t exactly been lighting it up though he’s been ok in save situations. If you want any kind of value Parnell is the only one of those that might realistically bring it to you.
Gregg for a bus ticket, no takesy backsies.
Ok I am going to stop bashing Gregg now that he’s played well for two straight extra inning games.
Oh goodness…I used an extra “r” while spelling the name of a guy that is responsible for this pitching staff. I’m so sorry Serious Sam. He failed at roster construction this year, and if you think Dice and Craw are going to save you, then you probably also believe Ells is going to be back soon too. Pay attention Chumbles, rotation build was a full out failure. Four starter was the strength of a bad pen and five starter is an out of options mess. That’s about as definitive as having your new, much heralded set up man demoted to Pawtucket in the second week of the season with an ERA approaching 50 – or signing an oft injured closer and finding him on the dl. There is bad luck, and there is such a thing as a bad approach. You can choose the answer you want that makes you happiest. Then feel free to dance to Sweet Caroline this afternoon.
capps should be throwing batting practice
He is.
If the Orioles can get a bag of baseballs for Kevin Gregg, I’d take it.
The Red Sox need some work on the pitching side of things. The bats are going to be there all season but you will not win without the pitching. It’s insane how bad they’ve been.
Cafardo lost me on “Rivera is arguably the most important player in the AL East”.
Yeah, I have no idea what he is smoking. Rivera’s injury is even less important because the Yankees have two good potential closers in their pen.
Why would the Yankees be looking at Marmol or Myers when they’ve got Soriano and Robertson in the wings? I would think they’d look for cheaper options for the bullpen. Then again, it is the Yankees we’re talking about.