Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com notes (on Twitter) that the MLB owners meetings will be held in Denver later this week. They are expected to vote on the sale of the Padres, but the Athletics/Giants/San Jose issue is unlikely to be resolved. Here's the latest from around the league…
- The Giants, Orioles, Phillies, and Red Sox all had interest in Derek Lowe before he signed with the Yankees, tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports.
- The Mets have not yet put Scott Hairston on trade waivers, reports Ken Davidoff of The New York Post. Davidoff argues that the Amazin's should trade the outfielder this month.
- Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN.com says that it's lazy to blame the Twins' struggles on their payroll, particularly the $23MM owed to Joe Mauer on an annual basis.
- Josh Slagter of mLive.com says the Tigers should give top prospect Nick Castellanos a shot, similar to how the Orioles used Manny Machado to bolster their lineup.
- In today's Insider-only blog post, ESPN's Buster Olney mentions that he's heard Mark Kotsay's name pop-up as a future big league manager. The Padres signed the veteran to a one-year extension yesterday, so he's not ready to transition to coaching just yet.
YES! call up Castellanos and stick him in RF. platoon Boesch and Young at DH.
@LongGone6
Great Avatar! Had the pleasure as a kid to meet Mr. Kaline in a restaurant, was gracious enough to autograph a linen napkin for me. Some things stay with you
forever. Grew up a Yankees fan, but always rooted for him.
thank you
Has he ever played RF or the outfield in general?
He has played a total of 30 games in RF in his entire minor league career, all of which came in 2012…People are dreaming if they think Castellanos can positively impact the OF.
Learning how to adjust to major league hitting is hard enough… Asking a kid to learn a new position is going to make things worse.
Really? Nobody has ever switched positions in the minors? Castellanos is the first?
He’ll be fine. He’s better in eight than third anyway.
I assume you mean better in RF than at 3rd base?
9 is RF, 8 is CF.
It was auto corrected. I meant to say right.
Tell that to Manny Machado — 2 games at 3B in the minors, 3 homers in the majors.
But I understand the sentiment, I had (have) the same concerns for Manny.
The transition from SS to third base is not the same as going from third base to RF. Not even close.
Learning how to read the ball off the bat while playing RF is totally different than reading the ball of the bat at third base. It takes time to learn angles, first step, set up and throw..
Point being while the transition to third from SS has its challenges it isn’t as different as going from third to RF. Not trying to minimize Machado move.
Yes.
Yes, because hitting Major League pitching is the same as hitting Double A pitching.
it’s not exactly unheard of for a rookie to come in and handle mlb pitching. and i’d take my chances with him over Young and Boesch right now if i got to choose.
“Sweet Fancy Moses” – JS
Sandy Alderson signed Scott Hairston who was worth a combined 1.9 WAR in two seasons for the Mets, costing $1.1 million.
Omar Minaya signed Jason Bay who was worth a combined 1.1 WAR in three season for the Mets, costing $26.7 million. The Mets still owe Bay another $16 million for 2013.
Hairston was worth 1.5 WAR this season.
Bay was worth -1.3 WAR this season.
Your 26.7 MM doesn’t include any of the 16 MM he’s making this year. So it’s actually worse than you’ve laid out.
Either way, Omar Minaya is a genius.
It’s been 2 years already. Do we need to keep blaming Omar for everything? And it’s not his fault Bay has just completely lost it, no one expected that.
Omar Minaya was a terrible judge of talent and his spending spree has clearly affected Sandy Alderson’s rebuilding process. He spent money badly on veterans and stuck to slot in drafting.
The current team is a bunch of guys drafted and selected by Omar, mostly middling talent like Ruben Tejada and Josh Thole. And what explains the lack of impact outfielders in the farm system?
Omar could have drafted someone like Mike Trout but never did. He had a talent for drafting players from obscure schools.
Minaya also drafted Niese and signed Dickey. He also drafted Gee who has been a decent back-end rotation starter.
Minaya had no chance to draft Trout. The Angels selected him with the pick they received from the Yankees for Teixeira which was just before the pick they received from the Mets.
I was using Trout as an example of the kind of guy the Mets could use right now.
Trout is the kind of guy EVERYONE could use right now. That’s a pretty Captain Obvious kind of statement.
Minaya didn’t spend as badly as did Jimmy hendry, so look at the bright side.
“And it’s not his fault Bay has just completely lost it, no one expected that.”
What?! Are you revising history? A lot of people expected it. Fangraphs called it a bad deal in Jack Moore’s article from 2009.
Even Amazin’ Avenue was incredibly skeptical.
I just read the Fangraphs article from 2009. Most of the criticism of the deal was due to Bay’s defense and that he would be taking time away from Fernando Martinez. Moore wrote: “Bay’s bat combined with Reyes, Wright, and Beltran gives the Mets a scary top of the order for opposing pitchers.” So Moore clearly thought Bay would be productive offensively. Although he did state Bay would decline at a faster rate than most players, I seriously doubt he or anyone else expected Bay’s OPS to drop 172 points followed by a 50 point and 193 point drop over the next 2 seasons.
Everyone thought Bay was overpaid and was a bad fit for a NL team in a big park being that it would sap his power and he was a lousy OF. NO one could have anticipated a complete lack of ANY of his skills that he displayed in the years prior to joining the Mets and NO one could’ve anticipated his inability to stay healthy. Aside from his decent BB% there isn’t a single redeeming quality about Jason Bay. Big difference between being overpaid vs being completely useless. Blame Minaya for the signing but blame the player for not even performing up to the standards of a AAA replacement level player.
Can someone please explain to me the purpose of trade waivers, I’m kinda confused with it haha
It’s quite a mystery, but if you ask around Google, you might find the answer you seek.
ok thanks haha
A quick search on this site turned up this six year old (but still informative) article.
mlbtraderumors.com/2006/08/waiver_trade_ru.html
Real simple. Before deadline you can trade who you want, to whoever you want w/ out anyone stopping you. After the deadline a player has to be offered to each and every other team and if they all pass then you can trade him to whomever you want, demote him to the minors or just release him. If he is claimed then you have to either negotiate with that team for a trade, release him to that team or pull him back and not do anything with him at all.
oh wow that is simple. Thanks for the help
Slagter article is not worth much. None of the other prospects called up have “just” under gone a position switch.
To say that these guys performed well after being called up justify calling up Nick C on that basis shows a very poor grasp of baseball.
This kid is still learning and hasn’t faired well the last 2 weeks at the plate.
No need to start his time this season he will not give us more than the current guys.
Moral of article: when reading mlive read Chris Iott excellent Tiger writer, ignore Slagter.
None of those players had a position change? Manny Machado ring a bell?
see my response to Orangecards below.
As a Phillies fan, I can think of no good reason why there was any interest in Lowe. There are about a half-dozen guys in AAA that I would rather see pitch as we play out this miserable season over Lowe.
That Twins story is dead on. Baker is the only one worth having (then barely) and his contract expires after this season. he isn’t worth more than 3-4m next year and no way do they give him another multi year deal. They need to unload Blackburn, Capps (FA) Pavano(FA), Nishioka (ugh), Marquis (FA) and they instantly unload close to 30m in dead payroll.
It is bad thinking to blame the twins troubles On Mauer. Sure he is making 23m for another 5 seasons, but at least he produces.
Make contingency plans if they allow Morneau to walk that lets him go to 1b even and stops him from getting beat up behind the dish even.
Agreed on the article, but there is no way the Twins will be able to unload Nishioka or Blackburn. The Twins fans that are upset about how much Mauer is getting paid are ridiculous. It doesn’t matter if he is overpaid a bit, he is very productive and the team would be even worse today if they let him walk. I am tired of hearing the fans whine about cheap ownership and demand that ever person in the FO and coaching staff be fired. The Twins are losing because of a league worst rotation, some of which can be attributed to injuries (Baker, Gibson and Wimmers).
Some Twins fans probably despise me, but it is bearing fruit and I have been saying this for years…
The twins just kept on accumulating a rotation full of nothing but rubbish throwers, even picking up marquis, when he was of no use in the NL even was baffling.. Blackburn, Pavano, Baker.. they just kept piling them on and was it ever so hard to understand from this prospective.
I do understand that moving Nisioka will be impossible, it was why put the (ugh) next to his name in the above post. that is one contract which will have to be eaten. Blackburn? I dunno.. Maybe try and work with the Marlins and acquire Ricky nolasco in some kind of salary moving deal with multiple players involved. nolasco has FAR more talent than Blackburn and at least has 1 out pitch in a sweet curve ball that when is working makes him 1 tough cookie, but he also is set to make 11.5m next year.. Possibly the twins could move Blackburn and another waste of a roster space for him, after all.. The new marlins stadium plays awful for hitters and could help Blackburn’s game.
1 other possibility.. The Marlins have a useless catcher in John Buck signed for next year at 6m.. they could send him straight up for Blackburn *if* morneau is moved over the winter and the twins do think of preserving the career of Mauer by moving him to 1b.
Myself? I thought it made sense at the deadline to move Morneau to the LAD when they needed something (anything) to replace Loney at 1b and give them the offensive threat they need there.
morneau has done a really good job of establihing himself again after the conciussion issues and probably could get the twins a decent prospect 9or 2) over the winter.
I agree with you about acquiring mediocre starting pitching over the years. Even in the Johan days the rest of the rotation was below average. Probably why I admire Gardy and his staff more than most because I have always felt their pitchers would over-perform more often than not.Thats why when Liriano was coming up it was exciting because we might have had a capable 1-2 punch. Though I think you underestimate Baker, he is a very capable pitcher when healthy. I would even go as far to say a 2/3.
Ugh is a great way to describe Nishioka. As far as Blackburn is concerned I do not share your optimism that he could be moved. The Twins coaching staff love him for some reason despite being the worst pitcher in the majors this year and he is owed 5.5 million next year. I doubt the Marlins would 1.) take on his salary and 2.) give up something of use like Nolasco because the Twins have no use for Buck with Doumit as a capable/cheap backup. Blacky is also a GB pitcher (supposedly) and not sure if having a better park would improve his game.
I think the Twins made the right decision with Morneau. He was starting to warm up before the deadline and he has exploded since. He may fetch a nice haul this Winter if he continues his hot stretch.
Understand about Blackburn being useless for the twins and Buck is pretty useless for the marlins. They even took on Zambrano last year when probably nobody else in the game would, though the Cubs of course paid him.
If the Twins were just looking to “be rid” so to speak of Blackburn, Buck might be a possibility. there are going to be lots of more people around the league probably making 5-6m, Buck is just the one who comes to mind right away and is about of the same use to a team ATM.
Baker does have some use, wasn’t totally underselling him in the above topic. i see him as about the best of the lot in the twins rotation, but I wouldn’t go off and give him any more long term deals either. Just my opinion.
It is amazing how Morneau got super hot starting up around.. Late Jun/early July?? Adrian Gonzalez finally did also after a terrible start. maybe both found a different watering hole to drink from. LOL
Any Twins fan who blames Mauer for their troubles is an !diot. With the exception being last year, he’s performed up to his usual standard since signing the big contract. 2011’s off numbers can be attributed to injuries so I can give him a pass for that.
The biggest issue, and you mentioned it, is the fact that for the most part they have run a bunch of soft tossers out to the mound and most were a collection of #3, #4 types at that, with Johan and Liriano being the exceptions. Also, the injuries to Monrneau really, really hurt them too. It’s a shame because he simply hasn’t been the same since the concussion.
I wonder why the Twins were more of a seller before the deadline? They need as much young talent in the system as possible.
Agree fully. The only reason Mauer is being paid so much is because he is a hometown player and to prevent him from walking (he was going to get paid—the only question being: who, and whether or not it would be to catch or to play first base). If Twins fans are angry, they should be angry at the pitching rotation, which has been nothing short of wretched.
Most rational Twins fans understand everything said in the article and on here. The ones that are blaming their woes on a cheap owner are the ones who get their opinions from the local sports talk radio. It is constantly negative and delusional (one suggested the Twins needed to sign a 200 innings pitcher with an upper 90’s fb and a 4:1 k/bb ratio for only $10 million for 3 years).
There never seemed to be much questioning about switching positions when Mauer first signed the extension. He was coming off arguably the greatest season for a catcher. It was the season that followed that the injuries piled up and the power disappeared that it became an immediate concern.
Not sure why the Phillies would express any interest in Derek Lowe… I’d rather give Pettibone a look during September.
The same reason why the Yanks signed him would be the exact reason why the Phillies SHOULD NOT have. Two teams going in completely different directions. I would’ve scratched my head had they picked him up.
4 scoreless innings against the Texas Rangers and a save for Derek Lowe. Not a bad Pinstriple debut.
Absolutely. No one should have expected Lowe to be anything spectacular but if you can pick up a vet for a prorated portion of league minimum then you do it and HOPE to get at least a couple of good games out of him. I suspect he won’t always look that good but as long as you manage this risks then small rewards wouldn’t be a surprise.
Great job Derek Lowe. Hope you keep it up.
I don’t think that every hyped AA player should be called up now that Machado had success. He’s a special talent, and thats why he was able to transition already.
I would be shocked if Hairston cleared waivers.
Cashman has been wise and has been very lucky to get the kind of results he’s been getting from vets like Chavez, Ibanez, Jones, Nix, Ichiro, McGhee and for at least one game, Lowe. It would be silly to expect them ALL to keep this up but as long as you don’t overuse them we should be ok.
Also, despite the high profile prospects struggling (Betances, Brackman, Montero) or being injured (Banuelos, Romine) or recovering from injuries (Santana, Heathcott). The Yanks have shown a unique ability to produce good, if not spectacular, young, cheep and useful players as evident by the number of relatively low profile prospects (not top 100 guys) who are holding down jobs in the majors.
Ivan Nova, David Phelps, Zack McAllister, David Robertson, Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn and Jeff Karstens.
Now, another intelligent move by RS management not signing Lowe. Inept GM/ownership. Cherry boy should be fired for that alone.
@Tom Russell.
You should not automatically blame Ben. Lowe had several options besides the Yanks. Keep in mind that after the being cut by the Indians, there would be most likely very few opportunities to pitch again, much less with a contender. Given the choice and the realities, where would you’ve signed?
In all fairness to Ben Cherington, the Red Sox are probably not making the playoffs this season, despite their acquisition of Craig Breslow at the deadline – best to prepare for 2013.