Congratulations to Tim Wakefield, who won his 200th career game tonight. Here are this evening's links, starting with updates on two players who were traded for one another 13 years ago…
- White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports that he might retire after 2013, when his current contract expires. The 35-year-old has a terrific .308/.395/.528 line with 29 homers in the first season of the three-year, $37.5MM deal he signed last offseason.
- The Marlins released Mike Cameron because of conduct detrimental to the team, according to MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro.
- The Braves have increased the responsibilities of three front office members following the departure of director of player personnel Kurt Kemp, according to Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Assistant GM Bruce Manno will oversee player development, Ronnie Richardson was promoted to director of minor league operations and John Coppolella was promoted to director of professional scouting.
- Troy Renck of the Denver Post can see the Rockies pursuing Michael Cuddyer and Josh Willingham this offseason (Twitter links).
- Renck also suggests Jason Hammel is available. Hammel's strikeout rate (5.0 K/9) and ground ball rate (43.5%) dropped this season, while his ERA (4.91) and walk rate (3.7 BB/9) rose, so his trade value is considerably lower than it would have been last winter. The 29-year-old is under contract for $4.75MM in 2012.
- Fernando Rodney told Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com that he would have liked more chances to close with the Angels this year. The right-hander will look to sign with a team that can provide him with more regular work when his two-year contract expires after the season.
For teams in need of SP Jason Hammel has to be on the radar. The two years prior to 2011 Hammel was an extremely solid pitcher who was pitching better than his ERA suggested.
He hasn’t had any loss of velocity so perhaps all he needs is a good spring training to work out some kinks. Hammel will be very cheap and will be getting out of Coors. He would be a solid back of the rotation starter.
So in other words he hasn’t pitched well in three years??
Fernando Rodney had every opportunity to close for the Angels the past 2 years; he was a disaster, making some of us miss Brian Fuentes.
He is no worse than Walden
sure he is. he’s had as many meltdowns (9) as walden this year in fewer and lower-leverage opportunities. he’s blown 4 of 7 save opportunities and pitched to a 4.7 FIP. last year he had 13 meltdowns to 31 shutdowns and blew half his save opportunities
walden has blown 9 of 39 save opps (his 9 meltdowns) but already had 34 shutdowns with the highest average leverage index (meaning the most pressure situations) in the league this year. he’s still pitched to a fantastic 2.35 FIP
for some perspective, mariano rivera has 7 meltdowns this season. is rodney only a little bit worse than him?
the closers with the fewers meltdowns this year are papelbon (2), valverde (4), rivera (7), and feliz (7). rivera is the only one with an average leverage index anywhere close to walden’s
Congrats Wake!
…bout time…
his old pitching coach helped him out tonight!
If the Sox lost that game with a 13 run lead then they would have deserved an early vacation.
nothing cures the blues like terrible AAA relievers!
And 9 RBIs by you 1-2-3 hitters.
hopefully the bats have something left in them for tomorrow..
I want that guaranteed first round pick next year
Seriously, it looked like Farrell did his best to give the game away. Morrow out for the 6th? Uhh why? He sucks against them and sucked against them tonight. Perez coming in for relief when in his last appearance he got rocked harddddddddd by the Red Sox who took him out of the starting role.
Game was out of reach but seriously, Mills…? A soft tossing lefty against Boston with their 1-2-3 hitters coming up. Brilliant!
I’m okay with the result. I think the jays should continue to lose and I’m actually rooting for the sox to win…
You’ve gone to the dark side!
But seriously, how can you root the Red Sox? Ugh. I dislike them more than the Yankees.
I just like a lot of their players, lester, ellsbury, gonzalez are some of my fave players…
and plus, the way I look at it is.. if the red sox end up choking and not making the playoffs, epstein will face a lot of pressure in the off season to improve even more.. we don’t really have to worry about the rays making a huge trade or splash in free agency..
Don’t see them making a big splash in the market this off season either way. it is really, really weak with anything that they could use.
Pujols plays a position they have covered and SP is led by a guy (Wilson) who is going to get really over paid and who knows if he will ever be able to repeat his last 2 seasons as a SP when he’ll be 32.
They could target Cj Wilson, or Jose Reyes
So you want them to target a pitcher that will cost far to much or a DL machine. How do either of them improve the Jays. And i think SS is taken care of.
he was talking about the red sox, readingrainbow
perez is my favorite pitcher ever
For what Josh Willingham has done on an offensively anemic team like the A’s, he deserves a FAT contract- relatively speaking, of course. 3 years/$22.5MM seems appropriate.
Josh deserves a nice contract was sad to see him leave the Nats. But to see him patrolling LF in Colorado? Ugh. They’d need a rover like in softball to help him out.
Ummm.. Hey, Rodney.. You did close for the Halo’s.. You just sucked
So does Walden but the just let him blow save after save
Congrats Tim on win #200. Now retire!
What did Mike Cameron do that was so detrimental?
He told people that he wanted to help win in Florida.
The Rockies might make Jason Hammel available but I could see him being back with the uncertainties in the rotation – Jorge De La Rosa will be coming off surgery, Juan Nicasio will be coming back from a near-death experience and injury and as of now, the Rockies don’t know if Kevin Millwood will return, if Alex White can pitch in Denver, if Drew Pomeranz will finish strong and prove worthy of a spot breaking spring training. Hammel just has to be better down the stretch and in spring training. Maybe a tall order but he’s capable.
Todd Helton is back and Jason Giambi has performed well but a long-time underrated player is Paul Konerko. Too bad the Rockies couldn’t find a way to get him to Denver to seriously help that offense and offer protection and assistance for Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez.
Colorado Rockies Prospects Report (google)
and
Colorado Rockie’ Analyst (google)
Dan O’Dowd has discussed first base and has said he is waiting till after next season to look for something. Why replace a .300 hitter in Helton? He doesn’t have the power that some say a team needs at 1B but that position is far from the Rockies needs right now. Other issues need to be attended to and desperately.
Note to Fernando Rodney: Don’t waste your day sitting by the phone, waiting for it to ring. Go see a movie.
All the Angel fans here seem to be forgetting that Walden is the closer there. He sucks so much I can see why Rodney thought he should get another shot.
A couple of his blown saves were coming in in the eighth with less than two out and runner in scoring position with a one run lead. And I think only one of the BS was with more than a 1 run lead.
Cameron was released for “conduct detrimental to the team.” Cameron was probably in the clubhouse saying to some of the younger, up & coming stars, “Man! Wait until you hit free agency, you’re going to strike it rich and be paid paid like a superstar!” Succeedingly, Jefferey Loria’s wallet blinked red and emitted a siren. Cameron was then let go.