Red Sox slugger David Ortiz has hit his 500th career home run. Ortiz, 39, entered the day with 498 home runs. He bashed a pair of homers off southpaw Matt Moore at notoriously pitcher friendly Tropicana Field. He now has 33 home runs at that venue per Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune (via Twitter). He’s the 27th player in major league history to reach the vaunted milestone. He could pass Eddie Murray (504 home runs) before the end of the season. Gary Sheffield (509 home runs) may be a stretch.
- The Orioles will probably make a push to re-sign outfielder Gerardo Parra, opines Brittany Ghirolli of MLB.com. The O’s acquired the then hot-hitting Parra from the Brewers at the trade deadline. Since the trade, he’s batted just .227/.256/.380. He’s also popped five home runs with 23 runs scored and 13 RBI in 159 plate appearances. His defensive ability and versatility are bonus points in his favor. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd recently evaluated Parra’s free agent stock, concluding that it was too early to handicap the market for Parra.
- It’s possible that Baltimore won’t re-sign any of their impending free agents, writes Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. The club may find more dollar-for-dollar value by passing on Matt Wieters. Chris Davis is sure to cost a boatload, while Wei-Yin Chen should be in demand as a reliable, left-handed starter. Darren O’Day is coming off an All-Star appearance that could buff his potential earnings. Re-signing Parra will likely depend on the demand for his services. Lastly, the club may view Steve Pearce’s role as replaceable via a club-controlled asset.
- The Red Sox planned to ride a wave of youthful stars to the pennant in 2014, writes Richard Justice of MLB.com. When Plan A failed, they acquired Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez, and Rick Porcello to reinforce the 2015 roster and beyond. As we know, the club has also failed this season. Luckily, the youth wave of 2014 is still mostly with the club and starting to make good on its promise. Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Rusney Castillo, and Blake Swihart have all hit well this year – particularly since July 30. While the Sox undoubtedly have a busy offseason ahead of them, the club-controlled core should provide plenty of flexibility and optimism for 2016.
Very happy for Big Papi.
The Sox really don’t have that much flexibility for 2016 unless they raise payroll. They have 125 million committed to 10 players. Obviously factoring in Betts, Bogaerts, JBJ, and Swihart won’t add up to much, but a top tier pitcher is basically going to take all their available funds.
For my money their best bet is to sign two or three good relievers and make a trade for a young starter. There is just too much payroll tied up already in 2016-2018 to expect them to sign an ace at $200 million.
Could be right. Bad deal swap for Shields with Sandoval might be an only option and hope. We’ll see.
I’m still waiting for those people who were hollering for the Sox to sign him have been at since April. Nothing about him was ever worth anything remotely close to 75-80m, Much less the 100m he got.
A Panda-for-Shields swap, a trade for Tyson Ross, a trade for Kimbrel, and signing O’Day would sure fix things in a hurry. Of course, it’s a lot harder than it sounds, but it would fill holes and not spend too much money. I would say it’d be hard to trust Holt as a full-time third baseman (unless Shaw?), but he’d probably be better than Sandoval.
They can go up to 189 million and Henry said even more would be possible in season Theres a chance Miley and Hangian are traded so that could clear up a little more money. They also have three top 100 prospects that could easily be traded.
Sox are 3rd in baseball in runs scored on the year. They are also 2nd in ERA following the All Star break. Things seem to be headed in the right direction once again.
The bullpen has, for the most part, killed them this year (even Tazawa who should have been their go-to guy). They need to try to add some combination of O’Day, Badenhop, or Jim Johnson and deal for either Chapman or Kimbrel. That would be a start anyways.
Sorry, you’re not getting O’Day. He’s one of Showalter’s favorites, going all the way to their days together in Texas. The Orioles also learned their lesson in letting a lock-down late inning reliever go to a division opponent in Andrew Miller. Everyone in Baltimore thinks O’Day re-signs here.
Markakis was a favorite and they let him walk. One of their biggest mistakes ever
Sounds like the Orioles are going to go back to their pre 2012 days of being back in the basement of the AL East.