Red Sox manager John Farrell says you have to take the good with the bad when it comes to mid-season acquisition Yoenis Cespedes. “With it will come some quick outs, but at the same time the ability to impact the baseball is a result of the aggressiveness as well,” Farrell said of Cespedes’ plate approach, writes Katie Morrison of WEEI.com. “He hasn’t become more aggressive since coming over here. This is the player we were well aware of and pursued heavily. We’re fully accepting of the style of player he is.” So far with Boston, Cespedes has a .219/.231/.406 line. Here’s more out of the AL East..
- Orioles skipper Buck Showalter announced that the club is moving Ubaldo Jimenez to the bullpen, Britt Ghiroli of MLB.com writes. Needless to say, this isn’t how the O’s expected things to pan out when they signed Jimenez to a four-year, $50MM deal this winter.
- Earlier today, Red Sox GM Ben Cherington said that he would consider trading prospects this winter in the right deal. With that in mind, Jason Mastrodonato of The Springfield Republican looks at some of the youngsters Cherington could possibly part with. If the Red Sox can’t find a way to utilize catcher Blake Swihart, who is doing well at the plate in the minors and catching 48% of base stealers, he could be made available in a deal. Right-hander Anthony Ranaudo is another promising prospect, but there’s already tons of young rotation talent in the organization.
- It was unthinkable just months ago, but Yankees catcher Brian McCann couldn’t be given away for free right now, writes Mike Petriello of Fangraphs. It’s unknown whether McCann has been placed on waivers, but no team would risk putting in a claim on him and getting stuck with his $17MM annual salary, Petriello opines. So far this year, McCann has a .235/.291/.380 slash line.
- The deal the Rays made on July 31 will always and forever be known as the day they traded away David Price, but, someday, it could also be known as the day they got Willy Adames, writes Marc Topkin for Baseball America. “The guy that’s really intriguing to me is Adames,’’ manager Joe Maddon said. “That’s the kind of guy there, when you make a trade like this, people are always going to look at who’s coming to the big leagues primarily, but you got to look under the surface. … To be that young and that proficient, he sounds very exciting.’’
Remember in the offseason when the QO was killing Jimenez’ massive contract?
Boston and Philly will definitely be talking about a Hamels deal in the offseason. Makes a lot of sense for both teams.
The Red Sox don’t want to get burned again with big contract to a 30 year old pitcher. If they wanted a 30 year old pitcher with a big contract, they could sign a free agent
It’s actually a reasonable contract for a 30 year old in terms if years (only 4). It’s the money plus the prospects that would be tough. I think Phillies would eat some money in the end. Four years of Hamels at around $20 million would be a steal for them in my opinion.
There is a very good chance that a 30 year old pitcher won’t be healthy and productive. It is reported that the Phillies will not eat salary. Teams have better options. They can sign a free agent or trade prospects for a younger pitcher. You could be stuck with a bad contract and have nothing to show for the prospects you traded for him.
Last time I checked, 30 years old is prime. We’re not talking about a 35 year old pitcher here.
There have been a lot of 30 year old pitchers that have had career ending injuries.
Players of all ages have had career ending injuries. Mine happened at 15.
And there have been even more to go on and have a successful 3-5 years of pitching.
Nothing personal. I love to debate baseball with people.
That’s fine, but I just can’t see Hamels age as a hindrance. If anything it adds to his value. What hurts his value is that he’s going to cost a lot in prospect AND money for a team to acquire. Either one is fine, but both prospects and money is tough for a team. His contract is fair.
Ruben Amaro had a heavy asking price for his players at the trade deadline. I don’t see Boston trading for Hamels unless it’s a clear win for them. He’s not Giancarlo Stanton, they won’t bid much for Hamels.
If the Red Sox don’t want to give Lester a big contract, I don’t see them taking on Hamels big contract AND giving up top prospects for Hamels.
Needless to say, this isn’t how the O’s expected things to pan out when
they signed Jimenez to a four-year, $50MM deal this winter.
You got that right! All, I know is he was throwing 95 MPH in the second half of last season. He was burgeoning with confidence. His stuff was nasty.
I haven’t the foggiest as to why we have only seen flashes of this this year.
Heck, I don’t think he’s even it 95 once this year.
He’s healthy, but he’s just not simply pitching well
Shout out to Hawk Harrelson for getting an ice bath on live tv tonight!
I just hope he doesn’t catch cold. I would have done it during the day, when the sun was shining. Anyway kudos!
He hit mid-90s around Opening Day. It’s been down since. This is just year 1 in a 4 year deal. He just might be an albatross overall, but he just ran out of time in a penant race this year to work things out. I hope he’s off the playoff roster. Right now I can’t imagine him being more than a wasted slot, for a long man like TJ MacFarland who is a valuable arm in a playoff game.
Next year he might get back a rotation slot if he has a good Spring and/or has a run of dominance in the pen a la Tommy Hunter. He may get a velocity boost there. If not, I think he gets plenty of chances to right himself in all sorts of convolutions, but at some point the roster spot is worth more than bad performance, in which case the Os might rather cut bait on him before the contract is up. Maybe they swap bad deals with another club for the “change of scenery” deal? To me, that’s the trade equivalent of a Hail Mary haha
This isn’t how the Os expected it to pan out, but credit them for calling it what it is: a bad deal that hasn’t worked out (yet, if ever).
Sometimes teams try to save face, and hold onto hope on a player, to prove a signing right. But here, the Os aren’t risking a playoff appearance over it. They’re, in effect, calling it a failure, for the time being, and moving on focussing on the playoffs. I expect this type of ruthless honesty from Showalter. At the end of the day, you can’t hide from results.
Huge Braves fan, loved what Mac did for us, it wasnt unthinkable at all to see this situation coming with him. In fact, if you just simply looked at the numbers, it was spelled out pretty clearly.
Tough to see BMac struggle, but I’m glad the Braves didn’t resign him.
All sorts of red flags with McCann, and there had been for two years. High-mileage catcher, starting to get injuries, showing offensive inconsistency and with a declining walk rate. I couldn’t believe the Yankees gave him that contract. He’s still a decent player as a .230 hitter, because of his defense, but in two years he’s going to be a .180 hitter, and then you’re paying $17 million for David Ross. This is going to end right up there with Vernon Wells and Barry Zito in the pantheon of terrible FA contracts.
I really had high hopes for Unaldo this year. Have a few close Orioles friends that always ask me about moves because they know I follow baseball and stats a lot more than they do. I was telling them that he was a great signing. If the O’s weren’t leading the East I probably would’ve gotten ragged by a couple friends.
Really disappointed. And his periphs aren’t even that good
Red Sox can trade any prospects except Owens and Swihart
Swihart is a switch hitter and has the arm to play 3 B not unlike Josh Donaldson. He also has some power and what team wouldn’t like to carry a 3rd catcher with that kind of versatility. If you are in need of a catcher he throws out 40 %, or better, of base stealers. I would be more inclined, if I’m BenC, to hold onto Swihart and trade pitchers, which the Sox seem to have more of.
at least the yanks are spending money and signing FA’s to make the fans feel good