Earlier this evening, Braves General Manager Frank Wren confirmed that he is on the lookout for a shortstop. "We’re moving along. Hopefully in the next day or so we’ll get to the end of it," said the GM, according to David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). Here's more from around baseball..
- The Blue Jays are more focused on improving their starting rotation than their bullpen right now but are interested in upgrading both, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Toronto is said to be among the clubs interested in Cubs starter Matt Garza.
- Buster Olney of ESPN.com (via Twitter) speculates that Alfonso Soriano would be an interesting get for the Rays if the Cubs were willing to absorb about 90 percent of the money owed to him.
- Angels pitcher Jered Weaver has no regrets about staying with the Halos for less money than he could have gotten elsewhere on the open market this offseason, writes Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
- Phillies assistant GM Marti Wolever isn't “overly disappointed” about not signing second-round pick Alec Rash, writes Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. “We’ll get an extra second-rounder next year,” he said of the right-hander. “We liked [Rash], but he didn’t pitch well this summer. We made a fair offer. He’s going to school."
Wow Soriano to the Rays for a pair of very very good pitching prospects in high A ball should do it if the cubs paid 75% of his remaining contract money for Fonzie.
He straight mashed the ball today 2 homers 2 doubles and it looked like he was running fine.
Prado is playing SS tonight for an already injured (though day-to-day) Jack Wilson. If he is serviceable out there, why not just keep him in this position for the 4 weeks until Simmons is back. The available SS names aren’t very enticing anyway.
For those of you who will quickly shoot this down, I have another outlandish idea! Keep Prado at SS and trade Minor + prospects for Soriano and Garza. Depending on how much $$ is absorbed by Chicago determines the quality of additional prospects. Then next year you can have Prado full time at 3B and keep Soriano in left.
But then Soriano’s in left.
Indeed
We can afford/do a lot better than Soriano in our OF next year.
A year and two months of a #2 starter for a guy who’s nearly pitched his way back to AAA and spare change? Where do we sign up?
Umm…I don’t think anyone in the Cubs camp actually wants Mike Minor. The only way they’d take him is if he’s one of the MUCH lesser pieces in the deal. Sorry if people aren’t interested in buying into a 5.97 ERA, 5.42 FIP, and poor attitude for maybe having to be in the bullpen because he’s a crappy SP.
Yet all braves fans eem to think he is extremely valuable. He is 24 and has alot of talent, but if i am a gm, i’m not going to see him as valuable because he hasn’t gotten it done in the majors for 3 straight years. I’d rather take a card on someone younger.
Minor always has ONE bad inning. That’s his problem. Doesn’t have an attitude problem.
We have one of those already, his name’s Chris Volstad.
I thought for sure Volstad to the Cubs was a sure win for them over Zambrano. He was someone always liked and had that issue with the Fish as well.
Maybe he just needs to pitch somewhere like Safeco, SanDiego, Citi Field, or at LA to keep his “long ones” in the yard.. Hard to see also.. Good curve, fair FB, just like you said and probably seen.. He will be cruising and just lose it all at once.
Minor’s best performance, imo, was his 12-strikeout (1 BB) at Wrigley in 2010 during a spot start. Striking out 12 Cubbies as a rookie. I thought he was good for doing that, but I’m just thinking CHC was that bad.
I don’t know why everyone is so down on the guy. He has flashes of greatness and if he can just limit the walks, which he’s done up until this year for the most part, he’ll strike guys out. He’s had a problem keeping the ball down and it’s affected his BB/ER via HR. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see his 2012 ERA end up below 4.
Garza has a 4.32 ERA, he isn’t exactly an ace, but he has a track record and his xfip is 3.69.
Look Minor is a good pitcher, but as most young starters are, inconsistant, if he had a 3.00 ERA why would they need Garza. They are in the middle of a playoff run, so they are willing to sacrifice some of the future for present performance.
Randall Delgado is another option.
A legitimate consideration with the Cubs would be to see if they’d cheaply trade Darwin Barney. He’s normally a 2B, but he can handle short for a few weeks, then serve as a decent-enough utility MI off the bench for the rest of the season.
Buster Olney of ESPN (via Twitter) speculates that Alfonso Soriano would be an interesting get for the Rays
Boy, I tell you Buster, that’s exactly what the Rays need another strike out king!
The Rays were leading the AL in strike outs (hitters) with the Orioles 4 behind.
The O’s might have caught up tonight.
Which is really impressive considering the O’s have both Chris Davis AND Mark Reynolds.
Ah thats cause Marky hasn’t played in 25% of the games. Something about how he strikes out too much.
Soriano is not as bad of a leftfielder as people say he is. He’s just not, go look at the stats, at the analysis done by the different statistical organizations. Bloggers just repeat what they read or heard without knowing a thing. Acting like they know something. That being said, he doesn’t look like a natural outfielder at all. He’s late on his jumps occasionally, he looks a little uncomfortable catching line drives. But he makes almost all of the plays and at 36 is actually improving. Seeing him throw Chipper out at the plate the other day was awesome. Also, earlier this year, he started using a lighter bat. Wow, who’da thunk it, his bat speed improved dramatically, and his numbers are approaching a level he hasn’t reached in years, and he’s healthier than he ever has been as a Cub. If the Cubs are willing to pay a considerable portion of his future salary & can’t get at least 2 decent lower level prospects for him, they should just keep him. It’s not like he’s a clubhouse cancer like Zambrano was for them, and they don’t exactly have loads of OF prospects waiting to take his spot.
Maybe not this year, but Soriano has made some terrible, bone head plays in left field over the past few years. He’s better fit for a DH spot in the AL. The issue is that he is blocking Brett Jackson, but he hasn’t exactly shined in Iowa this year. If they can get a taker, I still think he’ll be traded.
He is not blocking Brett Jackson. Brett Jackson is blocking himself by averaging 2 K’s a game in AAA!
And that’s fine, let Tony Campana play in left!
Thank God Im not alone. Move Soriano and most of his money to tampa for a C level arm and start Campana. Tony plays his absolute hardest everyday, and his speed is exiting to watch. He could be a poor mans Juan Pierre. If he were to ever develop his bat a little more, he would be invaluable at the top of a promising lineup in 3-4 years.
I would put Campana in CF, Lahair in LF and Dejesus in RF!
that’s the thing though… fans see the errors and assume they make him a bad fielder but he has way above average range and takes away a lot of singles and doubles that the average left fielder doesn’t get to… doesn’t look fast but his long legs and long stride over a lot of ground… fans don’t notice the 3 plays he makes look easy by covering ground they only notice the one play that he drops a ball that got in the wind and hold onto that all season. i’d take him
Just think, the Braves had Elvis Andress
I’d say a guy like ryan carpenter and a lesser prospect for soriano would be fair
Ok, before anyone thinks this is gonna become some big thing…I think the Braves will acquire some decent player tomorrow and he’ll be the starting SS until Simmons comes back with Jack Wilson coming in every now and then when Simmons is back, decide whether to release either Wilson or whoever we acquire.
Release Wilson, the answer is always release Wilson.
Hell, I can play a better SS than he can.
Cubs fans are delirious if they think they will get anything valuable for Soriano. He’s having a bounce back season and he is still one of the worst every day left fielders in the league. I guess they can always hope for a Carlos Santana for Casey Blake level bonehead decision.
I bet them Dodgers wish they still had Santana right about now lol.
We aren’t looking for anything of value. I will be happy with one C level prospect. Anything better than that and we will have robbed the other team. I just want Soriano gone.
You are the only one I’ve seen say anything about a high return.
Strange post.
Jared Weaver sounds like a great all around guy, Angels are lucky to have him
While I agree, he does seem a little too attached to his family. For all the talk about Greinke’s “anxiety disorder” it makes me wonder if Weaver could handle pitching in a city like New York if his mom and dad aren’t there. Weird how attached players are to their parents. When Hamilton’s parents left him alone, that’s where his downhill troubles started a decade or so ago.
Yeah it’s totally weird to be attached to your parents….freaks
When you’re a grown man and can’t go somewhere for yourself, because your parents might not be there or w/ in 10 miles, yeah.
Could they be a match for the Twins? Maybe Brian Dozier for one of the Braves pitching prospects in the minor leagues. They wouldn’t have to give up the farm for somebody like Drew, Reyes, or Escobar. Hasn’t Teheran’s stock dropped, or is he still one of the Braves top pitchers? Dozier/Teheran?
Yeah that’s what we’re going to do. Trade our best pitching prospect for a stopgap ss
Yes, Teheran is still a top prospect. The Braves won’t be trading him for a fill-in shortstop.
Is Jared Weaver Jered Weever and Jeff Weaver’s evil brother? Like Peter Griffin’s brother Thadeus?
Alfonso Soriano and Matt Garza for Gary Brown, Kyle Crick and Clayton Blackburn. Seems to be a good deal for both sides. Cubs find the CF of the future since Brett Jackson is stinking up in AAA (Ks every AB) and get 2 young high ceiling pitchers. Giants get a SP they need (since Lincecum is washed up) and a pop hitter in Soriano.
Throw in Zito, and neither side puts down any money, and I call that even.
Would the Pirates absorb 30% of Soriano’s contract?
Sure… if the Cubs throw in Starlin Castro!
He’s got a solid bat for less than 6 million. Plus, what would it cost in prospects? I doubt much… Seems a better plan than upton.