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Odds and Ends: Lee, Rogers, Beltre, Darvish

By Tim Dierkes [September 17, 2008 at 1:27pm CST]

Today's random linkage...

The Indians signed 21 year-old pitcher Chen-Chang Lee out of Taiwan. Anthony Castrovince has the scouting report. East Windup Chronicle says the bonus is in the $350-400K range.
Kenny Rogers suggested Jim Leyland remove him from the rotation. Rogers still thinks he can pitch effectively next year at 44, however.
Geoff Baker notes an extra benefit to delaying Adrian Beltre's surgery - the playing time could nudge him toward Type A status when he reaches free agency after the '09 season.
Ken Davidoff of Newsday says Yu Darvish will probably not be posted this winter but could be after the '09 season. Davidoff says the Giants, Orioles, and D'Backs have been heavily scouting Japan this year.
The Cubs are looking at contract extensions for Lou Piniella and Jim Hendry, according to Gordon Wittenmeyer.

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The Orioles scouting Japan heavily is a big shocker. One of their biggest criticisms over the last 10 to 20 years is their failure to bring in international talent. They lack in almost every area and I had not even heard they were looking there. And hopefully in the end they have something to show for. Not necessarely Darvish the Yankees fans are "entitled" to have him because of the massive amounts of cash they can pay for him and the fact that Angelos won't pay a buck despite all of the money he has. But just somebody like a Akinori Iwamura who is a solid player and can provide a good average or in a pitchers case ERA.

Go O's

Posted by: rebuilding | September 17, 2008 at 03:46 PM

One of the biggest reasons why the Os have scaled back the ML budget is because MacPhail is re-organizing International scouting. They just opened a major complex in Latin America to upgrade their presence there. And Asian scouting has become a priority too. Since the Os traditionally do have legit funds, perhaps they do a splashy big popular signing to support their scouting mission like Omar did with signing Pedro, Beltran, and Delgado to put the Mets on the map in the eyes of up and coming Latin prospects?

Posted by: basemonkey | September 17, 2008 at 06:25 PM

Except the Japanese version? Yu Darvish would qualify as that. For someone familiar with the Yu Darvish story and Japanese baseball, signing Darvish would be a larger coup than Dice-K was. Why? Ability-wise we can all go back and forth arguing that point. The fact that Darvish is younger and throws harder might hedge it his direction, but, the biggest difference between the two is that Darvish is a pop culture star in Japan being engaged to Saeko, a popular starlet actress in Japan.

Posted by: basemonkey | September 17, 2008 at 06:32 PM

As hopeless as the O's future seems, I actually think their should be some hope there. First of all, just look at Rays, that should offer some hope. And on top of that they have a massive stable of young talent.

With Nick Markakis established as one of the best outfielders in baseball, as well as Adam Jones looking like a possible superstar, the Orioles already have some blocks in place. They have Brian Roberts, who once again should have a lot of trade value this winter and I think should be moved for young talent, as well as Melvin Mora, Aubrey Huff and Luke Scott, who should all have value after the season's they've had, or at the very least the O's should be able to dump their contracts now.

They got Matt Wieters coming up quickly and he looks scary good. They got Nolan Reimold who's practically ready, and some other bats like Billy Rowell and Brandon Snyder.

And although their pitching at the highest level has been awful outside of Jeremy Guthrie, the minors does offer some hope. Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman and Jake Arrieta are three of the best arms in the minors. Radhames Liz, Troy Patton, Brandon Erbe, Chorye Spoone and Pedro Beato offer some serious upside.

I'd just be happy to see the team show a definitive direction after toiling in mediocrity for years.

Posted by: scribbletone | September 17, 2008 at 06:36 PM

Indians sign CC!!! O wait...not that CC....d'oh...

Ha, so how tall is this kid? The Indians writer says he's 5'7" and the other report says he's 5'11"....that's a pretty big difference....

Posted by: Hermie13 | September 17, 2008 at 06:58 PM

Honestly, Darvish makes ridiculous sense in Los Angeles, even if he doesn't come here. The combination of the massive Iranian and Japanese populations would create a new Nomo/Fernandomania.

Posted by: AA | September 17, 2008 at 08:51 PM

He's probably 5'7" without spikes, and 5'11" when he puts on some weird Asian spikes. So my guess is he'll be around 5'9" when he wears American shoes. Let's hope he turns out to be a good one for the Tribe.

Posted by: ilulic | September 17, 2008 at 09:55 PM

"He's probably 5'7" without spikes, and 5'11" when he puts on some weird Asian spikes."

I doubt they play baseball with high heels in Japan. It's just not logical..

Posted by: scribbletone | September 17, 2008 at 10:16 PM

Odds and Ends: Lee, Rogers, Beltre, Darvish

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