Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe wonders how the Red Sox will approach Jacoby Ellsbury, now that he is injured for the second time in three years? The Sox could be thinking longer-term with players like Daniel Bard, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Andrew Bailey but Ellsbury's health is a concern. However, it might not make a big difference one way or another as Ellsbury is a Scott Boras client. Here's more from Cafardo..
- The Brewers took a hit when they couldn’t retain Prince Fielder, and owner Mark Attanasio is very competitive. That could spark the club to get a deal worked out with right-hander Zack Greinke, even though the two sides recently put discussions on hold. Greinke, however, needs to have a strong season and show consistency from one year to the next to get the big-money deal he’s after. Greinke could be after a Matt Cain-type deal (six years, $127.5MM) but the numbers may not support that.
- There hasn't been much talk between the Brewers and Shaun Marcum either, but Milwaukee should have extra incentive to get a deal done after giving up Brett Lawrie to land him.
- Could the Indians slow offensive start have sparked them to sign Johnny Damon? Cafardo writes that GM Chris Antonetti came to the conclusion that the Tribe could use Damon, especially after the club hit .176 on its opening five-game homestand.
- Scouts seem to have split opinons on Alex Rodriguez as some say that his bat has slowed down significantly and others believe that he looks as physically sound as he has in three years. Cafardo agrees with the latter. Including this season, Rodriguez has six years remaining on his ten-year, $275MM deal.
Disagree with Cafardo (again) on LT contracts.. No chance would do anything with Salty, other than go year to year. Bailey? maybe, if it was very team friendly and only covered option years past the 3rd season and Bard? That’s a toughie with him starting now. Bard as a reliever (middle) was an easy LT contract, but just starting to start is almost impossible to gauge his worth.
Bard could be minimal (Setup guy) or off the charts (Josh Johnson) and both sides really should wait until at least the season is over before doing anything, if not even later.
Salty just screams mediocrity. Think in another couple of seasons they will have another patchwork guy developed and let him go. He’s just not that good anyway.. league average and not worth any long term investment.
I agree with you on everything you said, i just have a fun fact for you, did you know that the Red Sox catching tandem of Salty & Tek led the majors in HR & RBI? I didn’t know that & found it surprising, totally agree with you though
” did you know that the Red Sox catching tandem of Salty & Tek led the majors in HR & RBI”
Yes. I was and tek is gone because he couldn’t throw, Salty learned to throw and is getting much better on defense, but his OBP skills are still not that good.
My reasons for not paying him and letting him go?
Boston has in it’s system several decent catchers:
Lavarnway
Swihart
Vazquez
Even Dan Butler
Catching is a position they are not weak at and if there is a position where they can save money (since they already are talking of letting youk’s option go) I can easily see them pinching money here, where they have someone who can be replaced.
Yeah, my guess would be that Salty is done in Boston once he becomes a free agent after ’13.
If Damon waited a week, could he have been a red sox?
This keeps coming up and Damon is no longer an OF, except in “break glass” situations.
They might as well call up Boras client JD Drew if they want one of his OF Clients and that would not have happened either, but more of a chance.. At least Drew could have HELPED the team by actually playing decent defense in the OF and not losing flyballs in the OF….
If Manny could play lf at fenway all those years I think Damon could handle it and Crawford could have played center when he came back
Jim Rice did also and he wasn’t very good.. Jason Bay.. Have seen many not so good LF over the years patrol LF. They were not all GG’ers like Yaz.
Damon has health issues to go along with his awful arm.. He has issues with vertigo and age.. He loses balls sometimes. Now who wants that in the OF?
It’s why nobody sticks him in the OF anymore, unless “break glass” situation.
Wait! Ellsbury slides into second base and shortstop, Brigniac deposits himself on Jacoby’s back, driving the man’s shoulder into the ground to break his clavicle (or whatever). And this makes Ells injury prone? Ridiculous! This injury could have happened to anyone trying to slide into second base. The Ray’s player could be accused of intentionally injuring Ellbury, IMHO. Even though it was hard to determine that while watching the play, Brigniac did seem to shift his weight to the right as he came down on the prone Red Sox player’s torso. Why not write about the Ray’s player’s headhunting tactics after losing 3 straight at Fenway?
Prediction: Once Salty warms up….. .280/24/70