Here's the latest from around the league as Saturday turns into Sunday…
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.com (video link) says talks between the Cubs and Matt Garza about a potential contract extension are going "very well." Jeff Samardzija's emergence has the club excited about possibly having two power righties in the rotation long-term.
- The Orioles are expected to designate Dana Eveland for assignment tomorrow, reports Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com (on Twitter). Eveland made a spot start earlier this week and the move would create room on the roster for outfield prospect Xavier Avery, who will be called up.
- Adam Rubin of ESPN New York explains why the Mets must sign David Wright to a long-term extension. The team holds a $16MM club option for their third baseman for 2013 and he'll become a free agent after that season.
- MLB.com's Mike Bauman says the Red Sox have not gotten what they've paid for out of Josh Beckett. The right-hander signed a four-year, $68MM contract early in 2010.
- “Stable management with good leadership is what you look for in companies,” said Brewers owner Mark Attanasio to Tyler Kepner of The New York Times about his front office. GM Doug Melvin and manager Ron Roenicke recently received contract extensions.
Just because the Cubs extend Garza doesn’t mean they won’t trade him. Just that they won’t lose leverage. But, I will say that if Garza and Samardzija can be legit top of the rotation pitchers for the next, say, 4 or 5 years, (by that I mean anywhere from legit 1-3 starters) then that mean’s they’re only 3 good pitchers away from contending. So maybe that would fit into the long-term plan as well.
But, until Theo has a full offseason in charge, with freed money, it’s still so hard to tell what exactly the plan is for the next few years. I guess we’ll see.
The Cubs have an option on Maholm for next year, and if he keeps pitching like he has been, it could be a very solid 1 – 3 in the rotation. Maybe they could also get some nice solid pitching prospects by trading Dempster by the deadline?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I really think the Cubs are going to be in hard on Hamels. I can’t say how it will turn out since it seems like a lot of teams are going to be seriously interested, but the Cubs definitely have the money, they definitely have an immediate need and in fact, he fills a need that the farm is least equipped to fill. That’s exactly the time you want to consider a big free agent.
Hamels-Garza-Samardzija (even with regression)-Maholm is an awfully good start to a major league pitching staff. That can hang tough with most teams in the majors.
I don’t know. I am not against getting Hamels, but it doesn’t really appear to be the Cubs MO at this point. I can envision the Cubs trying to get guys like T. Wood, Volstad, Coleman, Rusin, etc to fill those other spots. Volstad has just been awful this year, but I doubt they give up on him too quick. Whitenack and McNutt are also another couple of names coming up. With the #6 pick in the draft, maybe one of the big 3 pitching prospects will fall to them as well …
Oh, I certainly hope we can snag a big pitching prospect but that starts to help in what — two years if we’re being REALLY optimistic, three more realistically, and four or more wouldn’t be out of line? That’s a big chunk of a Hamels contract.
McNutt I just don’t believe in that much, and from what I’ve seen from Baseball Prospectus and such there is a lot of doubt that he’ll end up as a starter. Hopefully he’s up this year and we can see what we’ve got, but right now I’m not counting on him. Coleman and Volstad are #5s at best, Travis Wood isn’t looking a lot better than that. I’m not familiar enough with Rusin to comment.
In other words, even being optimistic about how these guys turn out the farm still lacks impact starters. A legitimate ace has been a need of the Cubs’ since Zambrano stopped being good years ago (though I admit that Garza has been very good for us). We’re likely to be bad enough this year that our draft pick will be protected. It’s still worth consideration. Young ace-quality lefties don’t grow on trees.
How can the Cubs have a MO at this point?Jed and Theo have been a part of the Org for like 6 months and had 1 offseason. Not to mention there were no SP available like Hamels this past offseason.
Matt you DO NOT want to lose your best years in the cubs!!!
And you know this how? Perhaps he likes playing in Chicago!
Hopefully Avery replaces Chavez for good
Why is Avery being brought up? He’s not tearing up the Tides. He does have a high OPS but nothing else that jumps out.
I don’t know about that. He leads the Tides with his five HRs, and is tied for second with his 16 RBI. His OPS is 842 and is 8-8 in steals. What’s more, he is considered a well above defensive OF who can play all three positions. His continued progress is the main reason why the Orioles were able to let Angle and Hudson go. All three are similar types of players, but Avery brings some extra base power to the equation. Plus, he’s the grand old age of 22.
Matt Garza is totally bada@@! I’m glad he got moved out of Minnesota, he would have never had success trying to pitch the Twins way.
Hopefully Beckett get’s ran out of Boston and they are willing to do a Soriano trade straight up. One can wish!
No to Soriano, doesn’t even make sense