Angels GM Jerry Dipoto recently said that it's unlikely the club will work out an extension with Erick Aybar before Opening Day. However, Dipoto acknowledged that it's very much a possibility that the club will work out a new deal with the shortstop. Here's more on Aybar and other notes from around the baseball…
- Zack Greinke helped the Brewers evaluate pitchers prior to the draft according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy, asking to see video of prospects before the team chose hurlers Taylor Jungmann and Jed Bradley in the first round. Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel says (on Twitter) that Greinke is at Arizona State scouting right-hander Brady Rodgers with Craig Counsell tonight.
- Within this article comparing the Phillies to the late-90s Indians, Sam Donnellon of The Philadelphia Daily News says the Tribe had a deal in place to acquire Curt Schilling in 2000. "I banged hard on that one," said then-Indians GM John Hart when asked how he felt after the deal fell through.
- Aybar told reporters that he hopes to remain with the Angels beyond this season, writes Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. The 28-year-old declined to go into details about the kind of deal he’s looking for, but the Halos might not be willing to shell out major money for him with prospect Jean Segura in the fold.
- The Mets were the only club to watch Scott Kazmir throw yesterday and Sandy Alderson didn't exactly offer a ringing endorsement of the pitcher, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. A reunion between the club and left-hander is unlikely, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter).
- Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (via Twitter) spoke with someone that said Hideki Matsui isn't close to signing anywhere. The veteran will likely wait and see which teams have needs as spring training goes on.
Does this mean the Angels could trade Aybar for prospects?
Probably not this year, but if segura does well above AA during the year I could see aybar’s name being floated around
I don’t know much about Segura. What kind of player is he?
I remember watching kazmir in tampa and thinking wow this guy has awesome stuff..
funny what a couple years will do to you .
Same here.. He was the franchise for a few years.
Another oddity about kaz and the Mets seeming to be the only team with interest.. Anyone else see the connection with Ollie Perez? Didn’t they get their fill of power pitchers who lost it all with him?
perez signed a big contract with high expectations, and he sucked. kazmir already lost it all, and if he were to sign it would be a low-dollar minor league deal. i dont see the connection at all.
Can the mets please get some talent!
Players won’t agree to be paid in “Schrute Bucks”, they want real money, which the Mets don’t have because Wilpon gave it all to Madoff who stole it all
and Madoff hid it somewhere, but he gave Wilpon a crate of “Schrute Bucks” as an apology.
The Mets aren’t interested in Kazmir after watching him again.
Does anyone else think it’s funny that Greinke is out evaluating prospects for the Brewers? lol
i guess, but he is a very intelligent guy. I know he is very much into sabermetrics. When his playing career is over I could easily see him becoming a GM.
He may be in over his head though. Rumor is he’s trying to trade for Ricardo Rincon.
I do think it’s funny that everyone is in spring training and he’s going out to scout.
Personally I find it to be completely and totally awesome.
Agreed
Greinke’s at Spring Training too, Arizona State is only a short drive from the Brewers complex. Just something for him and Counsell to do after workouts are done. I think it’s a cool idea.
Brady Rodgers sounds like an NFL guy or two
LOL. I thought that name sounded familiar.
I think it’s one of the most awesome things I’ve read this whole spring. None of this ‘best shape of his life’ nonsense for Greinke-nope, he’s going to be the Brewers next director of scouting.
Does anyone even play that God Father game?