The Dodgers are in need of a run producer and the Astros' Carlos Lee is the latest name to surface on the club's radar, writes Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. The veteran has the ability to block trades to 14 teams, and the Dodgers are on that list. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that Lee doesn't want to play in Los Angeles Almost all of the teams on that list are high-revenue teams, providing the first baseman with leverage. More from around baseball on this Thursday night..
- With the Pirates on the lookout for offense, Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com (via Twitter) wouldn't be surprised to see them check in on Ryan Kalish or Cody Ross when Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford return to the Red Sox.
- David Ortiz hasn't been happy with the Red Sox for some time and people that have heard his complaints strongly doubt that he would want to return to Boston after this year, writes Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com.
- Both the A's and the Giants have had a revolving door at first base for some time, writes John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Giants have used 24 players at first since J.T. Snow left, and the A's have used 41 since Jason Giambi left the first time.
- A's skipper Bob Melvin insists that the promotion of Derek Norris isn't about creating trade bait when it comes to Kurt Suzuki, writes Jane Lee of MLB.com. Earlier this week, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wrote that Oakland would probably like to move the catcher and his $6.45MM salary.
- Carlos Beltran says that the Royals never made him a concrete, multi-year offer to keep him during his time there, writes MLB.com's Dick Kaegel. "I don't really recall getting a real offer. I knew they talked about having something done, but we never got to the point where we were serious about it," the outfielder said.
The Dodgers already have Bobby abreu *cough*cough* i mean Carlos lee
*cough*cough*loneyisawful*cough. 🙂
If that’s true about Ortiz (yes, I’m a bit skeptical) then they really should just hang onto Youkilis.
I was watching a local news station earlier where they had an interview with Ortiz with the headline “Ortiz angry with the Red Sox”. A whatever named sub-average intelligence sports reporter comes on with a huge grin, announces Ortiz is lashing out against the team and Boston as a whole. Then he plays the interview with Ortiz where Ortiz is clearly saying he’s tired of the media making issues out of every little thing they hear. During the interview the reporter asks something like “well who do you blame” and Ortiz replies by saying something like “Well who’s writing all this bull.”
It’s clear that Ortiz is simply tired of the media jumping from theory to theory about why the Sox are having a bad year. He’s having a great year yet I’ve seen multiple article questioning his inability to lead and his lack of commitment to the team.
I do agree, I’m skeptical about Ortiz wanting to leave the team. But I also agree if the rumor is true, then keep Youk to be the primary DH next year which will give the Sox flexibility to rotate Youk, Middlebrooks, and Gonzalez.
Yep, my thoughts exactly. All of it.
The one thing I do know is that Ortiz wanted a multiple year contract in the offseason, and was supposedly upset when he didn’t get it. But he said that it didn’t bother him, and said that he wanted to finish his career in Boston after that was all over with, so who knows if that is even the truth.
I have to believe that the Red Sox would know how true any of this is, so they would have an idea of whether he’ll be back or not, and since they are trying to move Youkilis I would guess that either they believe Ortiz will be back, or they have some other plan for DH next year – Lavarnway maybe, but Youkilis is definitely the most logical fit is Ortiz leaves.
Youk’s stats have fallen off to a point that I’m not sure he’d be worth the $13MM option, though. While his BABIP suggests that he has been unlucky, his 8.7 BB% and 24.2 K% this season are massively concerning. He’s also very slow and hitting 51% of his batted balls on the ground. There’s still a small chance that he will turn it around, but I’d much rather cut ties with him as well as Ortiz and pick up a DH on the cheap, thereby allowing the Sox to use the money saved on a starting pitcher and/or a couple shutdown relievers.
He really doesn’t even have a large enough sample size for any of his offensive stats to have stabilized yet this year, so it’s hard to say whether any of that will hold up, and he’s been walking more and striking out less recently.
And anyway, next year is an option for him, so if they believe that Ortiz is going to end up somewhere else next year, they can hang on to Youkilis for the rest of this year and see how well he finishes the year, and make the decision about whether to pick up the option or not at that point. If Youkilis can even hit the way he did last year he makes too much sense at DH for them to let go of him now (assuming Ortiz is gone after this year obviously).
I wholeheartedly agree that he’d be a great DH if he could reproduce 2010. Unfortunately, contact rate stabilizes after 100 PA and strikeout and line drive rates stabilize after 150 PA; Youkilis has 161 PA, which is enough cause for worry. He’s also 39 PA away from his walk and GB rates stabilizing.
I’d rather take the $13MM owed on the option and put it towards pitching. I’d love to see Saltalamacchia catch and Lavarnway DH versus righties, and Lavarnway catch and sign a lefty masher to play against lefties. If the lefty-mashing free agent DH can serve as an extra outfielder or infielder, all the better.
The Giants finally have a long-term 1B in Brandon Belt, who has been raking the past couple weeks. Unfortunately with the A’s, they really don’t have any first base prospects in their farm system that are near-ready. Hopefully Moss can continue to fort 1st base for the remainder of the season and be a good comeback story.
Hopefully Moss has that JoeyBats gene.. lol
Boston needs a RH bat who is producing well and then would move Ross? Then think of moving another very young potential CF in Kalish who has been injured for over 1 season that could bridge the gap from a FA Ellsbury to Bradley?
Yeah..Right Edes.. Tweet something that makes some kind of sense the next time. Ross is someone they should be thinking of signing on a short term deal.
Ryan Kalish? Cody Ross? For real? I’m thinking we would look for a better upgrade then that.
Why offer Carlos Beltran an extension when you have a deal for future hall of famer Mark Teahen up your sleeve?