« Poll: Which Position Players Will Be Traded? | Main | Rosenthal On Cliff Lee, MacDougal, Dunn, Valentine »

Odds & Ends: A-Rod, Beltre, Athletics, Rockies

Links for Tuesday, as Tigers reliever Casey Fien returns to the Majors after spending the offseason in waiver wire hell...

• The home run milestone incentives in Alex Rodriguez's contract were the brainchild of Warren Buffett, writes Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.  The milestones start with home run #660; A-Rod currently has 594. 
• WEEI's Alex Speier has the interesting story of the Dodgers signing Adrian Beltre in 1994 at age 15 by way of falsified documents, including the player's recollection of the situation.  I swapped emails with Fred Claire, who was Dodgers GM at the time.  Claire takes responsibility for the incident, but "had no awareness that Beltre's birth date had been altered in any way, shape or form" and "would never have approved such an act." 
• Joe Stiglich of the Contra Costa Times talked with scouts about the Athletics' trade chips.  At least one scout prefers Ben Sheets to Kevin Millwood.
• Dave Cameron's presciption for the Rockies in this FanGraphs article: move Brad Hawpe to first base and acquire Dan Uggla.  Another good read from Cameron is his takedown of the theory that Russell Branyan will bring protection for other Mariners hitters.  Speaking of Branyan, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says Seattle's acquisition "stunned" rival executives. 
• Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues looks at Octavio Dotel as a potential Yankees trade target, and prefers they do not pursue a reunion.
• Howard Megdal of SNY is "reluctant to deal any significant part of the Mets' future for a rental of Cliff Lee."  Megdal feels that the team's window to win extends beyond 2010.

---

Lijit Search

---

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner