Some links as we wonder what to make of the red-hot Padres…
- Ace Walker was the pitcher of the year in the independent Northern League last year, but he didn't get any calls from MLB teams over the winter, reports Adam Wazny of the Winnipeg Free Press.
- High schooler Tony Wolters, who was one of the top shortstops available in this year's draft, has been ruled ineligible, according to John Manuel of Baseball America.
- Rays manager Joe Maddon told Scott Miller of CBS Sports that the Rays have to operate with "one eye on the present and one on the future" to win with their budget.
- MLB.com's Chris Haft suggests the Giants could put Aubrey Huff in left field to make room for Buster Posey's bat at first base.
- RotoAuthority explains why it's a little early to talk about a Barry Zito renaissance.
- The Rangers would only consider trading Justin Smoak for a player who would put them "over the top," in the opinion of Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
- Joe Posnanski notes that Dayton Moore fired Trey Hillman days after praising him and suggests that the decision wasn't Moore's.
- Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told Marc Carig of the Star Ledger that the Tigers were always confident in Austin Jackson's defense.
- The Nationals have the resources to make midseason moves if necessary, writes ESPN.com's Buster Olney.
- James Paxton, a sandwich pick the Blue Jays failed to sign last year, makes his independent league debut tonight. One scout told John Manuel of Baseball America that Paxton threw 88-90 mph and looked rusty in exhibition games.
Smoak + for Fielder maybe?
I don’t think the Rangers will make any moves untill the ownership mess gets resolved, its getting ugly and I feel bad for the players and Ranger fans as they have a chance to have a very good year.
I mean, I would really cheer for that deal as an A’s fan.
Why would the Rangers do that?
it took the giants this long to come up with that idea? could of saved a few million by not signing derosa and doing this from the beginning.
Posey should be behind the plate only. IMO trade Bengie NOW while his stock is up. There are a few teams out there that could use a catcher.
but what if posey isn’t ready to catch? a catcher is more important than just hitting and if he catch like molina can, bringing him up and trading molina could hurt the giants way more than it would help.
Letting Aubrey Huff roam in LF probably hurts much more than letting Posey catch.
i don’t disagree with you. i’d like to see a trial by fire just putting posey behind the plate. but not send molina packing.
I totally agree with 2425, it doesn’t make sense for the Giants to trade Molina if Posey isn’t ready to catch this staff yet. Remember a lot of our pitchers have extreme movement on their pitches. Posey will need to learn pitch placement as well as hitter tendencies, which Molina or the Majors can definitely teach him. The Posey countdown is coming to an end, and I don’t see why the Giants won’t have him up in the near future. Especially since we are carrying a dead weight on the bench…Travis Ishikawa anyone? Not a knock against him, but like FLew, he can benefit by playing somewhere else.
Why would you trade Smoak ? He’s gonna be a beast.
What would the Rangers gain by trading away Justin Smoak? His numbers have the potential to put him among the top 10 first baseman in baseball. They also have Chris Davis in the minors, who’s still only like 25, and he’s a terrific defensive first baseman. If his hitting comes around (and I suspect it will after a season at AAA), the Rangers will have no need for offensive upgrades. They probably won’t resign Vlad after this year, so they could put Smoak at DH and Davis at first. That is an awesome potential lineup for next year, or even later this year if Vlad or Hamilton goes on the DL.
If Hamilton wasn’t so fragile, he would be tops at his position.
Yankee fans already do.
Yankees spend too much money to miss anybody for all that long.
Can you clarify the Wolters line? Its kind of confusing. Is he ineligible for the draft?
No, just his college team.
He’s in high school.
He’s in high school.
Berkman and Oswalt for Smoak and Holland. A win now move for the Rangers and a building move for the Astros.
Not only would the Rangers not give up those two for the shell of Berkman and Oswalt, how exactly would the Rangers add $29MM to their payroll?
Yeah that Wolters line is really misleading.
Why? He has shown no development of power, k’s at a 30% clip, doesn’t walk and is living off his unsubstantial .500 babip. Gardner actually profiles better as he also has no power, but much better plate discipline and contact guy.
His Ks should go down with time. Good defense, and knows how to put the ball in play. Who knows, maybe his power will come later on. I’m not arguing with you, just saying, it’s still early to have a definite idea of what kind of player A-Jax will be.
I’m just going off his numbers. Even in the minors he gave little hope to developing the power some thought he would, hitting just 4 HRs in over 500 PA last year in AAA. In every level he has had high k% and mediocre OBP skills. Honestly he seems to fit the same mold as Gardner, just not as good. Anything could happen though, I don’t doubt that.