Rays prospect Chris Archer will make his Major League debut on Wednesday against the Nationals, filling in while Jeremy Hellickson is on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder fatigue. Archer was ranked as the 89th-best prospect in the game by Baseball America before the season, though that was down from a #27 ranking the year prior due to Archer's fairly unimpressive 2011 campaign at Double-A. This season, Archer has a 4.81 ERA, a 10.6 K/9 rate and 90 strikeouts (against 45 walks) in 14 starts for Triple-A Durham.
Here's some other news from around the AL East…
- Rafael Soriano's success as the Yankees' closer could lead to him opting out of his contract for 2013 and becoming a free agent, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Soriano is set to earn $14MM from the Yankees in 2013, but could opt out in search of a longer-term commitment and a full-time closer's job, as Soriano will again be Mariano Rivera's set-up man if he stays in New York. Sherman argues that Soriano's experience in high-pressure AL East games could help him find the multiyear deal that eluded most closers last offseason.
- Red Sox chairman Tom Werner (in an interview with WEEI's The Big Show, as partially recapped by WEEI.com's Paul Flannery) denied Theo Epstein's recent statements about ownership pressure contributing to free agency decisions during Epstein's tenure as the team's general manager. "We don't dictate who Theo or Ben [Cherington] should sign," Werner said. "What we do is we try to give them the resources to be successful. There's a sense that non-baseball people are telling baseball people what to do, but what we do is we try to create the revenue streams for our baseball operations people to be successful."
- The Blue Jays have "been most active" in trade negotiations for Rockies' right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post. We heard about Toronto's interest in Guthrie over the weekend but now that Guthrie has been moved to Colorado's bullpen, it will no doubt affect his trade value.
- Former Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail deserves some of the credit for the team's early-season success, argues Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun.
- The Orioles haven't made any progress with top two draft picks Kevin Gausman (4th overall) and Branden Kline (65th overall), tweets Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. Connolly "wouldn't be surprised if [negotiations] take a while" between the team and the two right-handers.
He could get more money, when valued as a closer. Do the yankees get draft picks if they offer him $10M because last year that wasnt the case after new cba. Could really help Y’s cut costs.
They have to offer him the equivalent of the average of the highest 150 MLB salaries. I believe last year it was $12 million, so I would expect it to be at least that, if not slightly higher. (At least that is my understanding of the new rules)
I believe it’s $12.5MM and that’s somewhat interesting because if the Yankees offer him that amount, he’ll walk, as that in effect is a pay cut. But if that’s how the system works, the Yankees should receive a draft pick.
I think the smart teams are waking up to the inefficiency of high-dollar, multi-year deals for closers. We’re not going to see many more deals like the one Papelbon got from Philly.
we shouldn’t even have seen it last year, that was a massive mistep
I called that a few weeks back on this site. Soriano’s walking a thin line if he decides to opt out. He’s going to need to be lights out if he’s thinking that the pay day is going to be huge. $14MM is a lot to pay for a Closer, even one named Rivera.
Mariano will come back and may receive at least that much, Soriano will most likely not get that and shouldn’t expect a long term contract for that type of money.
With Robertson in the wings, the Yankees could very well let Soriano walk. Keep in mind that his overall performance in Pinstripes has been underwhelming, so far.
Boras, not doubt will tell him to test the FA waters, but he does so at a bit of a risk.
Assuming Mo comes back, I think Soriano opting out is actually not a bad thing for the Yankees. Aardmsa – Wade – Joba – Robertson – Mo. Not so bad. Yes you have to question Joba and Aardmsa but both will be back this year and we shall see how they do.
I have never seen closers worth that much anyways, a good reliever often only gets max 5M, why does a closer that usually faces the same type of batters get more because it is the last 3 outs. It really isn’t that much different. Holds should be considered much more to almost = to saves.
Former Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail deserves some of the credit for the team’s early-season success, argues Peter S.
Peter S doesn’t have to argue that. It’s absolutely shocking that I feel this way, because Andy Mac annoyed me many, many times. However, he did bring in
Adam Jones, Robert Andino, Manny Machado (prospect), JJ Hardy, Pedro Strop and many others. Quite frankly Andy MacPhail is a big part of the O’s success this year. Although with Hardy he got lucky, we were pretty close to getting Jason Bartlett during the 2010/11 off season. That would have been bad if we had. I am glad to see Peter S is writing columns again. I can’t tell anymore now that the Baltimore Sun had circled the wagons and closed blogging to subscribers only. 😛
Also, if signing Kevin Gausman was going to be a pain! Why did we draft him?
If the O’s do sign him, we need a fitness clause to be agreed upon. The man likes donuts and that doesn’t really appeal to me. So he needs to end the whole donut thing! The best way to get in shape is to stay in shape! It should not be apart of a pitchers diet.
PS Still a bit annoyed that Boras’s advisee/client Appel didnt want to take the 6 million and sign with the Astros. I would have loved to have gotten Correa!
Lefty, you should make your own Orioles blog. You seem like you have a lot to say about the team.
Do the Rays not have anyone better in the minors that can start?
Guessing that if they did, they would have brought him up…
They could have probably gone with wade davis i would think, prior years he was a starter.
Kline turned down a little over 1m in 2009 from Boston to attend UV after being drafted in the 5th round and did a pretty decent job at UV. Can’t see him signing for any less.. probably a bit more if anything and that 2nd round slot money is more than likely a little less than the 1m area he declined 3 years ago.
Have a feeling Kline may be looking for that 1m+ on principle only here, since he was pretty effective and the bonus he was looking for may have been what led to his sliding as far as he did.