Yovani Gallardo threw a bullpen session this morning, the first time he has thrown off a mound since hitting the DL a month ago with shoulder tendinitis. Gallardo and Orioles manager Buck Showalter told reporters (including MLB.com’s Fabian Ardaya) that the righty could toss another bullpen and then a simulated game later this week, though much will depend on how Gallardo is feeling in the wake of today’s session. Here’s more from around the AL East…
- Erasmo Ramirez has been a boon to the Rays in an old-school “fireman” relief role, able to pitch multiple innings at any point late in a game. R.J. Anderson of CBSSports.com explores why Ramirez has been an ideal fit for this role and how the Rays’ usage of the righty could inspire other teams to turn their own relievers into firemen.
- It looks like the Red Sox made a mistake in letting Rich Hill get away in free agent last winter given how the veteran has pitched since joining the A’s, Peter Gammons writes in his latest GammonsDaily.com piece. With the A’s struggling and Hill standing out as possible deadline trade bait, Gammons suggests the Sox could re-acquire Hill to bolster the back half of their rotation.
- The Hill-to-Boston scenario is also explored by ESPN’s Buster Olney in his latest subscription-only column, and he also opines that Yankees setup man Andrew Miller would be a great fit for the Giants. Miller is signed through 2018 so San Francisco would gain a long-term bullpen piece to guard against any of all of their top relievers (Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez, Sergio Romo) leaving in free agency this winter. Miller’s availability could depend on whether or not the Yankees are still in a pennant race themselves, though Olney notes that New York has enough elite bullpen depth to shop Miller or Aroldis Chapman even if the club is in contention.
- In other AL East news from earlier today, the Blue Jays have made Drew Storen available and the Red Sox are prepared to spend on midseason upgrades if necessary.
Would like to see the giants go after storen
Storen would be dope and probably less costly than Miller, but I’d rather have the latter. Left handed, nasty as dog dook and would add a southpaw piece that can get both lefties and righties out. Just not sure what it would take to bring him in. Probably a lot.
The Giants already have Osich and Okert, who are both younger lefties who can get righties out. They’re promising, but certainly not at Miller’s level. It would take a lot to get him, but the Giants will have to overhaul the bullpen for 2017 anyway with the Core Three’s expiring contracts and expanding ages.
Except the bullpen is not an issue for the Red Sox so I doubt Storen would be a target for them. . They’ll go after a starter.
Stores how about the halos
Autocorrect did the “Stores” number on me too.
Damn autocorrect.
I hope the yanks don’t trade Miller.
I don’t really see it happening unless someone is willing to overpay by a ton. Even if the Yankees aren’t in it this year, there’s no reason they can’t reload and compete next year. Chapman is a more obvious piece to move.
Hill I guess makes some sense for the Red Sox, but really they’d have to be willing to pull the trigger and take Buchholz out of the rotation. Or they could just wait for ERod to get healthy and use him as a Buch replacement.. Price isn’t going anywhere, and both Porcello and Wright have pitched well enough to stay in the rotation. Kelly pitched really really well in his return Saturday night. So that just leaves one prominent weak spot. And there’s the part where Hill has a history of not being able to stay healthy and has only thrown over 100 innings in a season once.
Dombrowski already showed his hand when he was willing to bench Sandoval for Shaw. I would not be surprised to see Buc moved to the pen if he’s thought to be the weakest part of the rotation
I’ll believe it when I see it. Buch has been allowed to be horrible before and never faced any repercussions. Granted that was pre-Dombrowski, but still. I really wish Henry Owens had made the decision to drop him back to AAA a lot harder.
Price had a rocky start and appears to have turned things around when a mechanical flaw was found. Can’t say the same about Buc. As much as I want to believe in him he’s not even a good back end starter right now. The Red Sox as they are now are a solid team to make it into the playoffs. But in the playoffs great pitching is what’s needed over great hitting. At this point the Sox just need a more consistent starter. I still think bite the bullet and pay the price to get Shields.
A fly ball pitcher is not the answer in fenway. Shields is a bad fit for them. I think that if Buch continues to struggle which he likely will, that a Hill trade could very well happen if he’s still producing and is healthy, but only if the risk is low enough.
Also Price has pitched one game since the mechanical flaw was found. Time will tell if he’s truly turned that corner for good, or whether he’s still in the middle. I have no doubt he will, but it’s too early to call yet.
It be a great option if he didn’t walk so many batters
Owens would be a great option if he didn’t walk so many batters….he’s not ready yet
Erasmo Ramirez has not appeared in the majors since 2007. Is he working as a volunteer firefighter for the Rays?
What are you talking about? Erasmo Ramirez tossed more than 160 innings for the Rays last year and has been a big part of their pitching staff this year.
Ramirez wss with the mariners the last few years. A couple years ago he pitched so well in ST he made the club after pitching AA the year before. I did not like us getting rid odd him he was a decent starter but rushed a bit. Seems like the rays found a good place for him.
Throw Buchholz into a package of players to send to Milwaukee for Ryan Braun, to play LF, and C Johnathan Lucroy.
Or, throw his name into a list of players for Atlanta to chose from for SP Julio Teheran, OF Nick Markakis and RP Arodys Vizcaino