Let's check out some links as Saturday turns into Sunday..
- Outfielder Xavier Paul has signed with the Reds and will report to Triple-A Louisville, according to his agency Paragon Sports International on Twitter. Paul was granted free agency by the Nationals earlier this week.
- Cody Ross told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter) that he rejected a multi-year offer from the Braves to sign a one-year deal with the Red Sox this winter. Ross has a .275/.352/.560 slash line in 220 plate appearances this year.
- The Giants signed left-hander Clayton Tanner and assigned him to Triple-A after he was released by the Reds, according to the Fresno Grizzlies' tranactions page. Tanner, 24, spent several years in the Giants organization before being designated for assignment last summer.
- There is concern for the Angels that there could be distractions if Vernon Wells either grumbles about a lack of playing time upon his return or other players grumble about him taking at-bats away from Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo, writes Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. Wells is set to earn $21MM in each season through 2014 and moving him would be far from easy.
- Russell Martin's slump this year could cost him a great deal of money, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The catcher is believed to have rejected a three-year, $24MM offer from the Yankees this offseason, instead choosing to bet on himself.
- Orioles General Manager Dan Duquette confirmed to Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com that the club won't be signing Korean high school pitcher Seong-Min Kim. The O's signing of Kim this winter got them in hot water with the Korean Baseball Association which led to their $550K agreement being voided.
Glad Ross rejected the deal idk where he’d play for Atlanta right now.
We would’ve had to trade Prado.
That wouldn’t have happened, even in a down year for Prado. Still a better year than Ross.
Down year for Prado.. Dude is hitting at a 320 clip and its a down year.. Ross wishes he could have a down year and still hit 320..
guess he’ll just have to settle for the NLCS MVP trophy and World Series ring
I think you meant in an up year.
He would have been a solid bench player this year, but possibly a starter next year if we don’t resign Bourn and Prado moves to third with Chipper retiring.
Take heart, Cody Ross. Your value increases once you play for the Braves, stink it up, then go somewhere else (i.e. Melky Cabrera, Rick Ankiel, Gregor Blanco, etc.). The rule does not apply if you haven’t worn the uniform.
Adrian Beltre would like to have a word with you sir.
I wasn’t commenting on BOS as much as I was on how the Braves seem to get to players during their lowest value and that trend upwards after they’re in ATL.
fair enough kind sir, fully understand now
Don’t forget D. Lowe, Salty, Frenchy, J. Schaffer, Gorkys H. Seems the Braves organization is much more patient with their pitching prospects rather than the bats.
The Angels need to trade Wells and eat half the salary to a team who can use a decent power bat. If a team is willing to pay $11 million a year and trade a upper level prospect then get it done. Time to move on and im sure he will help out another team make a post season run. The Angels can use another good arm in the pen.
I still don’t understand why the Angels traded for him.
Former GM Tony Reagins was desperate to get a big bat In 2010 and was under pressure to make a deal. As you may know, Reagins was fired for this trade as this deal will go down as one of the worst moves ever in MLB. Im sure most people would agree.
he actually wasnt “fired”… he resigned because he still works with the team
and that was/is one of the top 5 worst trades
He was forced to resign
Fired from his GM job. No way he is still getting paid what he was. Totally friable offense. On the flip side…..the GM in Toronto should get a $10 million bonus for making that deal…seriously.
No way that the Angels can get both an upper level prospect and a team to eat $11mm per year for Wells. I’d be surprised if they could find a team to take him without a prospect returned even if the Halos do eat half of the salary. I’m an Angels fan but Wells would be pretty hard to trade for anything of value at this point.
Seriously… They aren’t getting a good prospect if they pay the whole salary…
I’m pretty sure they can get a pitcher in AA with an ERA up around 5 for Wells, plus all but 1-2 million of his contract.
So, essentially, you agree.
If that pitcher is over thirty years old, and is pitching to a career best 5 era.
Agree
They may even need to eat up to 2/3’s of the salary. He’s rusting on the side of the road in Anaheim.
Wrong. Nobody is spending $8MM on 18 empty home runs and no glove. Vlad git $5MM and nobody would even give him a guaranteed deal after that.
angels need to trade wells for a year supply of bubble gum and call it a day
At least bubble gum provides sugar.
I think the Angels will have to release him, if no one would bite on Soriano who has been a better player for the past two seasons with the Cubs supposedly willing to eat nearly all the contract, I see no reason for a team to trade for Wells. He can field ok and has a little pop, but his average is horrible and he can’t get on base to save his life. OBP’s under .250 are generally reserved for pitchers, not 25M a year hitters.
Decent depth signing in Xavier Paul.
Russell Martin has got to be kicking himself right about now. I don’t think there is any team crazy enough out there to offer him the deal that he supposedly turned down from the Yankees.
Of course some team would offer him a one-year deal just based on his history and 2011’s decent enough year. His 2012 has just been horrific to watch.
I doubt Martin will be back. Cervelli can’t be any worst than Martin
I know Yankees fans don’t value defense when it comes to catchers but Russell Martin is light years ahead than Cervelli. Don’t even kid yourself.
This is one Yanks fan that does value ‘D’. I’ve posted before on my appreciation of the high quality of defense that Martin has brought to the catching position with his arrival. After enduring the poor defense that Yankees fans were witnessing during Posada’s last years, which was average at best, during his prime years, Martin has been a Godsend behind the plate. I’m only sorry that he gambled that he could do better than the offer that was offered last year.
The issues he’s having behind the plate are due to the fact that he’s playing with back problems. He’s being a stand-up guy and not using it as an excuse and trying to play through it. The Yankees are doing what they
do when it comes to injuries, and that is not reveal the true extent of the problem. The Yanks consider them to be state secrets, so they let out the minimal amount of information they can.
Right now, Martin is using his upper body and arms to swing. Look at when he bats and watch how he doesn’t use his legs or lower back to try to generate any type of leverage or power. I saw Mattingly go through a similar situation in his later years and I’m really hoping that it doesn’t end up the same way
” After enduring the poor defense that Yankees fans were witnessing during Posada’s last years,”
At least *your* catcher could hit..
Off topic, but-
After last night, I never want to hear you complain that Darnell McDonald has been of no use to the Red Sox!
Hey… Too late for buyer’s remorse now and there is no warranty on products with multiple defects either 😉
sign bourn, trade uggla, move prado to second, sign quentin,headley problem solved.
Why not trade for Felix Hernandez too? Sign Hamels this offseason too.
The grumbles will be much louder from the fans if Wells takes at bats away from any of the current OFs…even Bourjos. I know this has been said before but not in this thread: find a suitor, eat what you salary you need to, get your garbage “prospects”, and pretend that money is going towards Trout and Trumbo.
I’ve been pretty vocal about Rolen taking AB’s away from Frazier but man I couldn’t begin to imagine how you Angels fans feel about Vernon Wells.
Let’s just say the Angels’ 2nd most valuable player behind Trout at this point is the second base bag Vernon broke his finger on. ALL HAIL BAG!!!
The Mets were also interested in Cody Ross in the off-season. Unlike the Andres Torres trade, I think it would have been a good signing and smart move by the current front office.
Angels just need to swallow their pride and give Wells the pink slip.
The Angels trade for Wells might be worse than the famous Bartolo Colon for 3 future all-stars trade.
I think the Toronto organization is a little fishy, think about it Joey Bats stunk up until 3 years ago and all of a sudden he averages 50 HR a year, then Alex Gonzalez starts off with a breakout year until he was traded to Atlanta, Vernon Wells hit like 30 HR’s a year then he stunk when he was traded to the Angels, John Buck had a breakout year a few years ago and hasn’t been as good, now Edwin Encarnacion has already more home runs (22) and RBI’s (55) than he would have in an average season and it is halfway through the season, Colby Rasmus is having a breakout season…idk it seems juicy to me
I use to suspect the Blue Jays organization and not was not really convinced with their explanation as well, but I think Chief00 has it correct. Just about everything he posted is spot on, especially with Lind. That was the example that came to my mind as well.
The reason I buy into the Jays theory is that my team has a player that has altered his swing and made dramatic improvement as well. Curtis Granderson was a proven power hitter when he came to the Yankees, hitting 40 homers with the Tigers, but couldn’t hit lefties to save his life.
After struggling the 1st half of the season in his first year, he made some changes in his stance and swing and immeditely made tremendous strides against lefties. He was a HR hitter before, but after the change he started to hit them against lefthanders as well, both at home and on the road.
No one suspects him as a juicer and his change was as dramatic as Bautista & Co. Some players mature later and can adapt to different techniques while others can’t. Baseball has infinite possibilities, so anything is possible.
Brightside, Ross is putting up more production than JD Drew would of had
Kind of funny that some that Ross would have a terrible year. He is having one of his best seasons and probably his best if he didn’t get injured. Him playing in that bandbox with a number of other bandboxes in that division was a guarantee for success.
Boy am I glad Russel Martin rejected that offer
So far this year, the most productive play for the Angels this year is when Wells hurt himself sliding into second. If they have insurance on his contract, they need to make sure he doesn’t get better for a couple of years.