In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe ranks every manager in the majors, one through 30. Cafardo's top five skippers in the game for 2012 are Joe Maddon (Rays), Jim Leyland (Tigers), Mike Scioscia (Angels), Charlie Manuel (Phillies), and Joe Girardi (Yankees). Here's more from Cafardo..
- While the Mets were considering releasing right-hander Mike Pelfrey, they likely won’t do that because there should be a trade market for the veteran. The 28-year-old makes $5.6MM on a non-guaranteed deal and the Mets may be able to get something from a club looking for a back-end starter.
- White Sox left-hander Matt Thornton is a player who always draws interest, though other clubs wish he didn’t make $12MM over the next two years. With Hector Santiago and Will Ohman on the team, the closer could again be trade bait.
- The Cubs may eat some money to move outfielder Marlon Byrd, who is scheduled to earn $6.5MM this season. They may have suitors in the Braves, Phillies, and others. A National League scout indicated that Byrd’s name is being mentioned more and more as the end of spring training approaches.
- Orioles reliever Kevin Gregg is available as the O's try to rid themselves of extraneous players and save money. Gregg makes $5.6MM this year, and the Orioles don’t want his 2013 contract to kick in at $6MM if he finishes 50 games in 2012.
- Cafardo expects long-term extension talks between Cole Hamels and the Phillies to move slowly.
- One American League owner said of the Padres, "They’re probably a half-billion to $700MM purchase. And I don’t believe that many, or any, of the finalists for the Dodgers would be interested."
Pelfrey and turner for alex avila no loopholes just straight up deal
Nope. The assistant GM’s son will not be going anywhere. Especially with 5 more years of team control. Avilla is one of the rare untouchables in the Tigers system and that offer of yours was a pretty ridiculous low ball. Avilla would be worth his weight in gold if he we’re on the market and two fringe guys wouldn’t even be a start
1) it’s not a straight up deal when 3 or more players are involved.
2) *facepalm*
3) ????
4) no profit
Yeah, a SP you are ready to cut and a below average 2B for a 25 year old catcher that hit .295/.389/.506 last year in 464 ABs. I am in no way a Tiger fan, but I can hear their GM laughing.
ok maybe throw in parnell instead of turner
or maybe parnell and pelf for bio and cash
They are not go to trade a possible great catcher 5 years from free agency for peanuts. Filling a catcher void is really hard. When was the last time a potential great catcher was traded early in his career? Montero probably does not count as the Yankees saw him as a DH/1B.
Mets dont need a catcher
things that make you say duh
Interesting on the list of managers rankings and just going to leave Valentine out, but how Cafardo ranked psychopaths high and a person who has no clue how to use a pitching staff so high (Baker) over someone who does know how to (Gonzalez) vs 1 season where he did not with Atlanta perhaps and he did a marvelous job with the marlins where he didn’t have any BP to speak of.
Agreed on the value of the Padres. Only way that team increases if there is an out clause allowing them to leave the area and move to Las vegas, NC, SC, or someplace where they can actually find a base to support them.
valentine is ranked 15th. That is about right considering he hasnt managed a game since 2002.
Oh I wasn’t saying anything about Valentine. Just leaving him out as am a red Sox fan. was saying something about Gonzalez being ranked so low and Guillen so high. Then John Farrell perhaps being ranked so low, there were others. Showalter fairly high.. The list is all over the place.
Gonzalez took low to no payroll teams to decent records, yet got no recognition, where Showalter at least had high $$$ teams at NY where he won. Maybe he didn’t in his 1 time, but he was a flop the next season.
the list is just up and down, like picking the writer’s favorites.
Will Ohman… Will Ohman…. wasn’t he the fellow that Ozzie Guillen clearly stated they Will Ohman needs to get his head out of his….
Will Ohman isn’t very good.
Also, who in their right mind is going to trade for Kevin Gregg? The thing is the Orioles never came out who was responsible for signing Kevin Gregg in the first place! Was it Andy MacPhail? Buck Showalter? Mystery Man? I mean they showed no learning curve after signing Mike Gonzalez to a two year deal. Then apparently money was burning a hole in Angelos’s pocket so they signed Kevin Gregg and even sweetened the pot to do so because he asked for more and got it. So all this propaganda about Gregg being available is really mind boggling to me. They should have gone out signed Grant Balfour and said to heck with the draft pick. At least Grant can pitch unlike Gregg who nibbles and gives free passes to those he doesn’t think he can get out.
Ohman is that player the O’s coveted for a lot of years then they got him and he put up a 1.60 whip for the O’s. He’s a decent pitcher but he had a “Gregg”arious whip when he was here.
Ohman had 3.5 times the WAR 0.7 versus 0.2 with BAL for 1/4 of Kevin Gregg’s salary. Making him 14 times more valuable than Gregg.
“who in their right mind is going to trade for Kevin Gregg?”
I hear the Cubs want him back, just so they can team him up with Marmol again and they can form the wildest relief tandem in the game.. Form a Chicago walk-a-thon.
Can we just release Gregg already? Right now he is not as good as players we are going to send down (O’Day, Neshek, and/or Phillips), and we’ve already lost Simon because of him. Not that I’m a big Simon fan, but Gregg will never be a quality pitcher until he grows a set and quits trying to throw every pitch a half-inch outside. He’s got major league stuff and a junior varsity mindset. If they can’t find a taker for him (and they should be willing to eat $4MM of that salary), then they should just release him. Please.
No correlation between Gregg and Simon really. They both are gone by the end of Spring Training because we have too many out of option players. Simon was loved here because he throws hard and could start, but honestly he only looked good because the rest of our pitching staff is awful.
Gregg for Pelf. Make it happen.
Gregg for waivers and in return we take on his contract for the year. I think its a fair trade.
This is a quasi reply to all.
Gregg for Pelfrey… Alderson would be run out of town by Mets fans. I know they don’t like Pelfrey, but I can’t imagine them feeling any better if they got Gregg. Especially, when they need starting pitching.
As for Simon, he has a live arm and I would have converted him back to a closer. I just would have had him drop two of his four pitches (fastball and splitter) would be the ones I would keep.
Ohman still stinks, plus he was hurt half the time when the O’s had him. The only thing that might possible work is Gregg for Thornton. But the O’s save no money if they do that.
PS I loved Simon’s potential and it’s a shame that the O’s could not do something to keep him.
mets don’t need relievers they have rauch, francisco, Ramirez, and parnell
Please for the love of God trade Byrd, his RBI numbers are ridiculous and we have a rookie of the year candidate in Brett Jackson waiting for some room.
i think even with a Byrd trade Jackson would be in the minors till all star break. tho it would be nice to have Campana back in the majors.
How is Bud Black so low?
Gio Gonzalez, Jason Donald, Travis D’arnaud, & now Marlon Byrd? Man the Phillies need to stop trading for players they already traded away.
I bet Cafardo has Bobby V. placed last on his list of the “best” managers in MLB…. because the list is really his friends versus enemies list….and it is a given that Nick doesn’t think there is room enough in Boston for three big shot sportsmen of Italian heritage…. You know, him, Tito, and Bobby V.. Bobby is odd man out as far as he and his hero, Curt Schilling, are concerned..
why in the world would the brewers even entertain such a ludicrous idea .. he’s not going to suddenly be a good pitcher if you take him out of the ninth
Agreed. Gregg reeked equally as bad in the setup role earlier in his career. the only thing he was better at was his control, but really. could anyone see Gregg going willfully back to being a setup guy ATM right now, without kicking and screaming the entire time?
You are 100% right, it does sound crazy.
The problem is that you are preventing someone who is better than Gregg from being on the roster and helping the O’s.
At this point, $5 of salary relief is enough.
I get it. You’re a Gregg fan. It can be the only reason why you don’t see how awful he is and how there are at least four different pitchers that should be on the roster instead of him.
I don’t think his value will ever get to the point where someone will actively seek us out to get him. There is no “sell high” point on him. If we’re talking simple economics, then there is a difference between “sunk cost” and “replacement cost”. The sunk cost, Gregg’s contract for the year, will be paid no matter what. The replacement cost is the salary of the pitcher who replaces him on the roster, preferably Neshek. Is that amount worth the added value he brings to the team by replacing Gregg? I believe it does.
There really isn’t any bounce-back potential. He has a 1.90 whip in spring training and his stats have remained fairly even most his career. We aren’t selling low, we are releasing him.