In today's column, Jayson Stark of ESPN.com put together his "All-Most-Immovable team" with help from front office executives from around the league. Predictable names such as Carl Crawford, Alfonso Soriano, and Barry Zito are on the list, but Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder also made the cut. Pujols wouldn't be a tough sell because of his slow start, according to one AL exec, but rather because of the money due to the slugger on the back end of the deal. Here's more from Stark..
- If the Rays and Giants shop for third basemen to replace Evan Longoria and Pablo Sandoval, they might not find many viable options. The only potentially available names Stark has heard are the Orioles' Mark Reynolds and the Twins' Danny Valencia. One exec said that the Rays are more likely to go after someone with versatility that they can slide into a different spot upon Longoria's return.
- The Phillies are also looking for a young third baseman and the club is working to put together a list of potential replacements for impending free agent Placido Polanco.
- While some execs say that they would be wary of giving Andre Ethier a sizable deal for fear that he is in salary-drive mode, others think that the Dodgers have no other choice. The cost of finding another right field, middle of the order bat will likely be just as high and alternatives such as Josh Hamilton, Nick Swisher or Torii Hunter don't appear to be more trustworthy.
- A number of clubs are bearing down on the Astros, but reviews are mixed on Wandy Rodriguez thanks in large part to his contract. The pitcher will earn $10MM this year, $13MM in 2013, and can be bought out of his $13MM club option for 2014 with a $2.5MM payment.
- If Bryce Harper and Tyler Moore continue to look sharp, the Nationals might not be in the market for a center fielder.
- Stark asked a few executives if they'd roll the dice on Delmon Young as a relative free agent bargain next winter and the typical response was that they would not. Young avoided arbitration with the Tigers this winter by agreeing to a one-year, $6.75MM deal.
Does Casey Blake have any value as a third baseman anymore?
Nope, his body is wrecked. Back and neck injuries.
“If the Giants shop around to replace Pablo Sandoval…”
Have you MET the Giants? It’s gonna be all Conor Gillaspie and finger crossing for the next six weeks.
Sounds like “Fun” [Daily] 🙁
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I don’t see the Twins trading Danny V. unless he can bring in a good return. We don’t have much depth at third, and with Sano still a few years away, i’m sure Danny won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Unless the return is a decent starting pitcher and two prospects, the Twins shouldn’t move Danny V until Sano is ready.
Despite the complaints, Danny is a capable right handed hitter but most importantly, he is durable. The Twins really need some stability in the infield and he provides it
I wouldn’t be too upset if they moved Danny for some prospects. Could always slide Carroll over to 3B and see what Dozier can do at SS.
Unless the Twins get something of use, there’s no point in trading Danny when he is fully capable of being an average 3B. If course, I would’t object to an infield of Valencia-Dozier-Carroll-Morneau, which would push Casilla into the utility spot. Just for reference, Carroll has 430 starts at 2B, 242 more than at SS.
Chase Headley to TB? He would fit nicely, even after Longoria’s return, b/c he’s got experience in LF. SD could then move Gyorko back to 3B.
I’m surprised Joey Votto and $251m left on his deal didn’t make the “All-Most-Immovable team”.
callaspo and izturis on the angels can play 3b and move around when longoria returns… we need bullpen help!
I think Wandy is more of a 2 than a 4.
I agree with what than “infamous not named scout” said, only he’s more of a #2 in the NL and would be a 4-5 on about any AL team where he has to face tougher overall lineups and a DH.
I agree….I found it hilarious that the scout said he was pitching like a no.2… I mean a 1.64 ERA really looks like no.1 numbers to me. I don’t really think he is a no.1 but clearly he is better than a no.4. I wonder what this scout wants a no.1 pitchers numbers to look like? I think John needs to talk to other scouts sometime. I really wish the Yankees would take him just to see what he can do.
betances for wandy? or sanchez, custodio, phelp. Betances and custodio
If it was not division rivals.. Youk would be mentioned as a possibility for TB. They could let him play 3b while Longo is out, move him to DH and backup 3b/1b when he gets back and then after the season walk as a FA if don’t want to pick up his 13m option.. *but* Boston isn’t about to help Tampa out of this jam.
Can we add scott rolen to the list of available thirdbasemen? Please?
The Nats may not need a center fielder, but it would be good business for them to get some good black American players. I saw two games this week, great team, nice park, too many empty seats. There’s a large black population in DC that — not that they don’t appreciate Zimm, Desmond, Harper, etc, –but might relate to Adam Jones too. It is an odd situation–when I was growing up, half the superstars in the game were black Americans, now not so much. I understand the reason. But in some markets, it would be a good business decision.
I hope they’ll be a major player when/if Michael Bourn becomes a free agent next offseason
FYI, Desmond is half African-American and considers himself AA. Similar to Obama.
Good point. Still, from what I have seen there is a tendency to look at white-black mixed race people of African descent differently in United States – both by whites and blacks – and for some people of African descent the connotation is not always a favorable one. :/
There was a chart on this a year or 2 back with how the free for all of African American players has fallen in the MLB over the last 35+ years and it’s got nothing to do with the game itself, but more and more going to the NFL, NBA etc.. There was (memory of course) a drop from around 25% in late 70’s to less than 5% in the mid 2000’s.
It also laid some of the blame on competition from far more latin players of course, as there is a much larger latin base now as there was in the mid 70’s also, but FB and basketball both had an increase in % of African American players over that time.. Quicker time for players to get to the “top” level if they made it etc..
One thing to beware of if the Nats to get too heavy on an extreme base like that is that they have to sell tickets. Not anything negative intended there, but the franchise is a business and has to be ran as such.
Wasn’t there an mostly black (but not all American) Pirates team back in ’79 that won a Series? That was over 30 yrs ago so maybe folks are more open-minded than they used to be (at least in some regions, but certainly not all. I am aware of at least one socially progressive city with a fan base that isn’t all that open-minded about diversity). Also a lot of folks who follow baseball also follow other sports where it isn’t unusual to see lots of diversity on the field/court. Maybe it doesn’t matter?
I don’t have the answers to these questions, but it’s a shame that they even have to be asked!
Absolutely on those “We are Family” Pirates teams of the late 70’s. A couple were latin, few were caucasian, but mostly all were african american and that was one of my favorite teams.
Did they draw well? Another story.. I see 15 teams out drawing them in ‘79.20 in 78.. They still did not draw.
Yeah…that’s why I have to ask. I just don’t know (and I know that I don’t know!).
Still…30+ years later, who knows?!
Still asking questions…ya know? 🙂
It might have been the uniforms that chase fans away also, rather than the tremendous teams they had that stopped people from coming to the stadium. They had some funny comment regarding the pants, which were yellow.. Like almost totally yellow at 1st and they disliked them.. Maybe the fans did also and those painter style caps with stars for achieving accomplishments sewed onto them.
I remember some players near the end of summer would have those stars covering nearly the entire hat. It was sort of comical the way, especially the home uniforms looked a few years.