Some Quick Hits for Friday night..
- The Rangers never made a formal offer to Darren Oliver before the reliever agreed to sign with Toronto, writes Drew Davison of the Star-Telegram. The 41-year-old's deal is for one-year with a club option for 2013.
- The Cubs have made a good deal of moves so far this offseason but they've quietly made major changes to their scouting department as well, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com. The team hired former Red Sox major league scout Kyle Evans to oversee Chicago's revamped video and advance scouting. President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein also plucked amateur scout Matt Dorey from Boston but subsequently agreed not to hire any other BoSox front office personnel until December 2014.
- Yesterday, ESPN.com's Buster Olney suggested that the Red Sox and Nationals could have interest in Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd. Eric Seidman of Fangraphs believes that Olney was right to link the Nats to the veteran outfielder but argues that the club should be thinking bigger.
- Cuban outfielder Guillermo Aviles is a name to keep in mind down the road, writes Ben Badler of Baseball America. Aviles, 19 in January, stands at 6-foot-1 and scouts say he shows a good deal of promise. The left-handed outfielder remains a resident of Cuba and its not known when or if he might look to make the jump to the Majors.
The Rangers likely won’t be offering anybody anything until the day after Darvish signs and then the offers will fly. By then the suckers will have cleared out and the Rangers can pick up some bargain free agents and sign all their guys to extensions. Except maybe Josh, who I don’t expect to re-sign.
“By then the suckers will have cleared out and the Rangers can pick up some bargain free agent”
The remaining market is not exactly loaded, unless you are thinking of any of the Boras guys who just might be last ones standing, like Madson while other teams have fixed holes.
True! They need to get a less expensive left power hitter! How about getting Carlos Pena 4 three years 50m! Then they can resign Napoli and Hamilton!
? for the Ranger fans would you rather the Rangers re-sign Josh Hamilton or sign prince fielder now and let Hamilton walk? you cant have both.
Congrats BNS!
kudos to being ranked ahead of mike wilner!!
Congratulations Ben!
Washington had enough depth in the farm to overpay for Gio. However, they don’t have enough to let the Rays pillage the farm for Upton.
Give a low level, fringe prospect to the Cubs.
Byrd is just the kind of guy they could use until they’re rolling on all cylinders.
The Nats have a great core. They’ll be competitive sooner rather than later.
If the Phillies don’t have interest in Byrd, they should…Going into 2012 with just Mayberry and Nix to hold down LF is kind of scary.
Way to go Ben. I was just thinking to myself yesterday, as I perused one of your articles, “This guy is a fantastic writer.” Congratulations and keep up the great work. Oh Canada!!!
Rangers would do well to sign Prince and get rid of Josh Hamilton. He will be constantly on the DL and is going to want 20 million a year. Might as well sign Prince instead.
Why would the Sox have interest in Byrd? They already have Sweeney, Drew, Crawford, and Elsbury. They should be all in on pitching at this point…
I think you need to recheck Drew’s status…
The Cubs owe the sox comp for Theo, Byrd should be that guy. He and Sweeney would give the sox above avg def, plus two decent OBP guys who’s power is more doubles witch plays well at Fenway. Byrd had a down yr last season, but 2010 his splits vs LH pitching was solid to good. You could argue they don’t have more then avg arms for Fenway, but they are athletic enough to play there. Byrd contract at 6.5 mil is a bit high but the sox could throw them a low prospect and get the Cubs to pick up half. This I think works well for the lineup and the bench, both Byrd and Sweeney can play CF.
I think that would be fair for both teams.
Drew dude to u even follow baseball, plus they are all LH
Byrd makes sense for Boston for a year and at half-salary (Cubs swallow the other half). A Sweeney/DMac platoon does not.
Byrd doen’t make sense for the Nats, they should try and get Upton if not put Werth in center and Harper in left. Byrd would be a good fit with the Sox.
Fly, fly away Marlin Byrd. Eliminate a huge hole in center.
I sure hope Fidel Castro doesn’t subscribe to mlbtraderumors.com.