It was on this day in 1953 that the Dodgers promoted their Triple-A manager to take over the Major League job on a one-year contract. Walter Alston remained in the Dodgers' dugout for the next 23 years, winning 2,040 games and leading the club to four World Series titles.
Some news from around the Majors as everyone lets the turkey settle…
- The new Super Two regulations in the new collective bargaining agreement shouldn't have much impact on Nationals uber-prospect Bryce Harper, writes Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.
- Drew Storen will only become more valuable to the Nationals as the price of closers continues to rise, opines Ben Goessling of MASNsports.com, though "there's a logical argument to be made for moving Storen at the height of his value."
- The Mets are "still in [the] exploratory stage" of their offseason moves and "aren't close on anything," reports Andy Martino of the New York Daily News (via Twitter).
- Royals general manager Dayton Moore tells Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star that he doesn't think his team will be negatively affected by the new CBA. Dutton notes that the Royals spent much more than usual on draft signings and international prospects in the last year since the club was anticipating both avenues to be limited under baseball's new labor rules.
I hope the Mets’ “exploratory stage” means Reyes, Reyes, and Reyes. People complain about the lack of FA signings, but there isn’t anyone worth signing.
I dont want Reyes personally. We can use that money in other places.
Let history repeat itself, Tim Wallach should take over as skipper of the Dodgers.
Why? I thought Mattingly did a fine job given the circumstances he was in.
I can see Drew Storen & SS Desmond going to the Rays for BJ Upton
What about Matt Capps though?
That would be nice but I am guessing it won’t happen. With his value going up I would think the cost for him will be too much for the Twins. Plus with the holes the Twins have right now I think there are more urgent things to fix.
Never overpay in a trade to acquire a closer. They tried it once before and it failed when they shouldn’t have for the price it was. Don’t do it again.
If Mauer and Morneau can stay healthy, they would add 7 or 8 wins. When you play that many games without your two best hitters, there’s a problem.
re: “he’s good, but not Kimbrel good”
Let’s let Kimbrel prove himself before he’s anointed savior of the bullpen in the years to come. He still has to recovery from shoulder surgery first, not to mention remain on the roster (consider in the past two weeks he’s gone Washington to Toronto then back to Washington via waiver claims). In time he could prove to be what some expect, and at that point in time the team can address “which reliever to trade” questions.