The Astros have loaned massive first baseman Japhet Amador to the Diablos Rojos of the Mexican League, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. Amador was signed away from his new club this past August, and appeared at both Triple-A (where he has struggled mightily) and the Arizona Fall League (where he slashed .284/.286/.507). As Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle explains (Twitter links), Amador’s contract had a clause that required the team to decide by May 3 whether to purchase his contract, and the team was not going to do so. Nevertheless, Amador’s agent, Oscar Suarez, says that there is some hope that the 27-year-old could return to the Houston organization (possibly with another AFL stint). Here’s more from the American League:
- While talks have been put on hold with the season well underway, the Red Sox seemingly remain quite interested in keeping Jon Lester in the fold, as Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports on Twitter. “Every effort is going to be made to make sure that Jon remains in a Red Sox uniform,” said manager John Farrell. “We’re hopeful that takes place.”
- The Tigers’ trade for Alex Gonzalez raised some questions at the time it was made, and that only increased as he struggled and was ultimately released. MLB.com’s Jason Beck writes that the deal was unquestionably a miss, but says that GM Dave Dombrowski took a calculated risk based on the assessments of the same scouts that have supported other risks that worked out for the club. Another stop-gap acquisition at short is unlikely at this point, Beck adds.
The comment by Farrell about the Sox making every effort to re-sign Lester sounds more like PR designed for their fans ears.
That’s not wrong, but it’s also something that every team does. They’re obviously not making “every effort,” as he’s not been offered Kershaw’s deal but it’s good that the negotiations don’t appear to be completely tabled either.
Seems talks are done till the offsesason, if the Sox insult him with another lowball offer he’s gone.
I wouldn’t say that necessarily. They’ll likely talk at the All Star Break. I’m sure much of the front office is focused on the draft right now.
I don’t know if there are or will be talks going on during the season. What I do know is that Lester has said he didn’t want extension talks to drag on during the season. I also know that if Lester does make it to free agency it will cost the Red Sox more then it would have otherwise. Had they been able to sign him before then.
That all depends on what Lester wants. If he wants top dollar, the Red Sox aren’t going to be the team to sign him. That’s always been the case.
Negotiations with Lester are all about offering him something fair. Other teams will overpay in free agency for a player like Lester. I think 5/110 is the max they’ll offer and that’s not likely to change much.
I don’t think many teams if any will offer him more then that on an AAV basis. I could see some club or 2 going with a 6th year but still staying in the $20 to $22MM per AAV range.
Someone will offer 6 years and 130M. Thats a no-brainer, barring injury. Your skewered opinion is the only thing that says he won’t get it. Statistically he has pitched like an Ace in ’13 and ’14.
281 innings, 1.25 WHIP, 3.35 ERA. Since the start of last season, including playoffs. The guy’s a workhorse plain and simple. The fact that you’re quick to point out Buchholz frailty, and don’t give any credit for Lester’s stamina and clutch pitching shows your bias.
Rev, keep in mind the Red Sox have Peavy also becoming a FA after this year. They need to re-sign Lester. They can not afford to lose both Lester and Peavy to FA. That would leave them with just Buchholz, Lackey and Doubront coming back. All of those players are and have been inconsistent for one reason or another. And no amount of untested, unproven prospects are going to replace Lester and Peavy.
So they would need to possibly ver pay Lester, just because Peavy is also a FA? Am I missing something there?
Workman takes 1 spot, RDLR/Ranaudo/Barnes, or Webster could possibly slide into the other. While none are Lester, this isn’t any scenario where you go out and over pay because your team has no prospects that can step up and slide into the rotation.
Lets face facts Workman isn’t very good. I don’t know about the others you are talking about but do you really think a starting rotation in 2015 of:
Buchholz, the unreliable and often injured
Lackey , the inconsistent
Doubront, a #5 starter at best
and any 2 of the others is something the Red Sox should do. That rotation is a receipt for disaster in the AL East.
“Workman isn’t very good”
Because 48 innings of big league ball is all anyone needs, to tell you exactly how good he’ll be.
Agreed. Besides pitching in the WS, including being included on all the post season rosters, while Matt Thornton was left off.. Workman was VERY good as a starter last year and has been good in every season as a profesional thus far.
I find it hilarious when some post here that Workman is either not good, or a reliever when he has done very well at every level, including the majors.
He will get the 1st shot at an open slot and it will be his to lose.
That’s a Yankees fan view of Red Sox rotation.
Red Sox fan view of Yankees rotation in ’15:
Sabathia: Washed Up
Kuroda: Retired
Nova: Recovering from TJ Surgery, could be out 18 months
Tanaka: 29 innings too soon to make a call, but looks good so far
Pineda: “the unreliable and often injured” (copied from Buchholz comment above)
Preseason ranking of top 160 Prospects: (pitchers only)
Red Sox: Owens (48), Barnes (89), Webster (94), Ball (107), Ranaudo (127)
Yankees: Banuelos (141), Clarkin (149), Ramirez (159)
*Red Sox have 5 pitchers ranked BEFORE the first Yankee pitching prospect.
Yankees Starting Rotation in ’15, Tanaka and pray for 4 days of rain.
Peavy becoming a FA isn’t a problem. If they can’t extend/sign Lester by the time of the qualifying offers all they have to do is offer one to both Lester and Peavy. That guarantees Peavy will be back on a 1 year deal pretty much and gives them bargaining power against Lester who if signs elsewhere will also net them a pick.
Also, if they really didn’t want to pay Peavy 1 year 15 they could sign another reliable SP that would require less money than Lester like Masterson.
My friend you are talking like the Red Sox are a small market team or the Indians of the AL East. Sure they can make qualifying offers to both those players and then get the picks although I doubt a team would give up a draft pick to sign Peavy and pay him as well. Masterson’s a nice pitcher but he’s not as good as Lester. And what if the Sox get the picks when those guys move on do you really want to put your eggs so to speak in a basket of draft picks that more then likely will never contribute significantly to the team because the team was to cost conscious to keep it’s best starter. I’m not saying they have to or should significantly overpay any player(s) but they shouldn’t act like a small or mid market team either.
All I am saying is I would rather pay Peavy 1 year 15 million and get a draft pick from Lester Walking or Pay Masterson 3 years 50 million then have to pay more than 5 110 for Lester.
Obviously the Red Sox are not a small or mid market team but I think the big market teams can learn a lot from smaller market teams particularly when it comes to not overpaying for players in their thirties on long term deals and I think that Cherington has learned that lesson and has a max amount he is willing to go and if Lester wants more he is going to walk.
Good news is the Red Sox have a lot of pitching talent, including some that may be as good as Lester one day. Young pitching is the key to today’s game with fewer aging starters consistently getting results.
Not sure who your “friends” are, but you’re the one always insisting the Red Sox and the Yankees are the same financial beasts, at least, at this website. Maybe your friends are just trying to contrast your extreme view with their own extreme opposite view.
I don’t think anyone is losing sleep over the possibility of losing Peavy. He’s looked good so far, but he makes more than money than he’s worth. Not much more, but it’s not a big deal.
Plus Lackey’s salary goes to the league minimum. That’s more than 45 million to find two starters. Finding other pitchers is not a big deal and we have plenty of young arms.
If they allow Peavy and Lester to leave, they certainly would bring in another elite pitcher through FA or trade.
Watching tonight’s game, I certainly hope the Red Sox keep Lester around for lots of money and years!
I guess it’s a good thing the Sox don’t miss Ellsbury.
I don’t miss him. It’s only a matter of time before he gets one of his signature injuries and he’s a speedster on the wrong side of 30 with a big contract.
The contract is way too much money, no one can argue with that but the two other points you bring up are weak.
1. He only had two significant injuries and both involved extreme plays that are unlikely to be repeated.
2. Elite speed doesn’t decline very fast in a players 30s. It is actually a skill that ages quite well.
I’ve heard the exact opposite about fast player’s aging. That they age poorly. Not sure which is true.
Google Yankees Sign Jacoby Ellsbury:Bet on Speed Aging Well Fangraphs or The Slow Decline of Sppedy Outfielders by Fangraphs.
Links and quotes can’t be posted.
A lot of harping about Gonzalez trade, which is fine, but it’s inconsequential… Lombardozzi isn’t a player the Tigers want/need anyway. The thing is, that bad trade is completely negated by the Andrew Romine deal, which is looking like a real steal for the Tigers… acquired for nothing and has played very well.
He was experienced insurance for Castellanos and Worth/Romine. It was no sure thing Castellanos could hit at this level or field a position he hasn’t played in two years. It has only been three weeks but he looks fine. As you pointed out Romine has been solid and Worth has shown his solid spring was no fluke and deserves a shot.
If you buy homeowners insurance and you don’t need it, I guess you can say that was money wasted.
Romine was traded for out Minor league pitcher of the year. How is that a steal for someone that will not have a position next year.
C’mon Tigers! The exact same organization that employed Yuniesky Betancourt all of last year even had enough sense to recognize Alex Gonzalez was pretty much done as a major leaguer.
This is the first time I have heard of an MLB team “loaning” a player to a non-affiliated team/league. Obviously this is done in other sports such as soccer, but can anyone shed some light as to how this is done in Baseball, and more specifically for the MLB? Any links / suggested reading would be great…
The “John Ferrell” link to Baseball-reference.com goes to a 23 year old
John Farrell in the Tampa Bay farm system. This is the correct link for
The manager John Farrell. baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=farrel…