On this date in 2005, the Mets signed Carlos Beltran to a seven-year, $119MM contract. Beltran enjoyed some tremendous seasons and endured some difficult moments with the Mets, who traded him to San Francisco last summer. Here are today's links…
- An extra wild card team is far from a sure thing for 2012, tweets ESPN's Jayson Stark, as "big scheduling obstacles remain" to be worked out before baseball can expand its playoffs for this fall.
- Tony La Russa has been "informally offered" Joe Torre's old job as MLB's executive vice president for baseball operations, reports USA Today's Bob Nightengale (via Twitter). La Russa has given no indication that he is interested in the job.
- Magglio Ordonez intends to play in 2012, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports. The free agent outfielder is making progress in his recovery from right ankle surgery.
- Kerry Wood said on the Waddle & Silvy Show on ESPN 1000 that there's "nothing new" to report on his near-deal with the Cubs.
- Dan Johnson, the unlikely hero of the Rays’ exhilarating comeback in the final game of the regular season, tells Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he’s still looking for a job.
- Dodgers scout Carl Loewnstine continues working as he battles bone cancer, Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes. Loewnstine will be honored this weekend at a banquet benefiting the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation in California.
- Red Sox GM Ben Cherington and David Laurila of FanGraphs discussed the role of information in the decision making process of an MLB front office.
- The Red Sox don’t expect to offer guaranteed deals to free agent pitchers, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. The asking price for Hiroki Kuroda and Roy Oswalt is dropping, but those pitchers aren’t likely to sign in Boston, Heyman writes.
Who’s going to take Maggs? He’s a DH only player at this point in his career, and as we’ve seen, those one dimensional players just aren’t getting jobs anymore.
If Magglio can handle RF still and his ankle is good Sox should try snagging him to platoon with Sweeney.
that’s what i was thinking & he could spell Papi every now & again
“The asking price for Hiroki Kuroda and Roy Oswalt is dropping, but those pitchers aren’t likely to sign in Boston, Heyman writes.”
See what happens when you ban fried chicken and beer in the club house. You can’t sign any decent FA’s.
Those fried chicken
Those fried chicken jokes never seem to get old. Oh wait, they did. Especially coming from a Yankees fan? Did you hear the one about the team that has the most expensive payroll in baseball, who’s ace pitcher looks like he could be the spokesperson for KFC? You did? Man, I’m slow
It’s rich hearing a red sox fan whine about spending….
Holy cow, eat more chicken!
Would that be the same team that has made the post season 16 out of the last 17 years. Won 5 World Series Titles and appeared in 7 during that time.
And had the best chemists in MLB to boot!
The Sox and the Jets are the most self destructing teams of all times.
I still don’t know why the Yankees haven’t picked up Oswalt. Why is a 1yr/8 million contract such a huge risk? Yes, he’s had his history of back problems. Imagine the reward this guy could have though. Based on the potential reward alone, Oswalt is so worth it. Plus, he costs less than Kuroda (a bit overrated in my opinion) and Jackson (could potentially earn a 2yr/25 mill contract). He’s a gamble worth taking. CC, Roy, Nova, Hughes, and AJ would be a pretty good rotation.
Come on now, they are the Yankees! They should grab both Kuroda and Oswalt for that chump change. That would suck if they did.
Tony LaRussa has absolutely indicated interest in Torre’s old job during a radio interview with 101.1 ESPN radio in STL.