Two years ago today, both Stephen Strasburg and Giancarlo Stanton made their Major League debuts. Strasburg famously struck out 14 Pirates in his first career start and has pitched to a 2.46 ERA with 11.2 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 157 innings and 28 starts since. Stanton went 3-for-5 against the Phillies in his debut and has hit .267/.349/.535 with 70 homers in the show. Here's the latest from the baseball corner of the blogosphere…
- Phillies Nation interviewed Cole Hamels and asked about his upcoming free agency. The interview begins at the 6:30 mark of the video and the free agency talk at 10:20.
- Pirates Prospects says Pittsburgh will have a tough time signing eighth overall pick Mark Appel.
- NASORB doesn't believe third overall pick Mike Zunino deserves Jeff Clement comparisons.
- Yanks Go Yard analyzed the Yankees' approach to this week's draft.
- 85% Sports wrote about a possible work-around in the new draft pool system.
- MLB Prospect Watch explored a possible return for Carlos Quentin.
- FanSpeak thinks the Orioles should consider trading for Justin Morneau.
- Sports of Boston wrote about a potential Kevin Youkilis trade.
- Red Sox Post listed three potential landing spots for Youkilis.
- BoSox Injection thinks the Red Sox should avoid Matt Garza.
- The True Fan's Sports Blog tries to figure out where Bryan LaHair will end up.
- Baseball Reality Tour lists some potential trade targets for contenders.
- Rising Apple listed some small changes the Mets could make to their roster.
- Warehouse Worthy listed some potential free agent targets for the Orioles.
- I-70 Baseball wonders if the Cardinals should buy or stand pat.
- The Daily Statesman thinks Shelby Miller could help the Cardinals' bullpen.
- Did The Tribe Win Last Night? mused about Jason Kipnis and the All-Star Game.
- Blog Red Machine wrote about Billy Hamilton's race towards history.
- MLB Reports wrote about Aroldis Chapman's unbelievable season.
- Lasorda's Lair is worried about the Dodgers without Matt Kemp.
- Call to the Pen thinks the end is near for Jim Thome.
- M.C. Antil listed the 40 best pitchers never to throw a no-hitter for the Mets.
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That post about Appel and the Pirates is the best explanation of the new draft rules I’ve found yet. Also, it makes me really like the new format, at least in theory (if for no other reason than the fact that it saps all of Boras’s power, muahahaha).
Your comment got me to read that article and I completely agree. Thanks!
An agent and especially one like Boras who plays hardline is pretty much out of a job with the new CBA..
Have looked over and watched how Toronto and Boston went about the draft.. They did attempt to circumvent the new rules by picking multiple College seniors 9in rounds 2-10.. Some baseball people predict those will ink for as little as 5k.. Do the math on how much of that slot money will go towards higher monetary people..
Haven’t looked over teams like Pittsburgh, but Toronto has already signed Smoral at 2x slot..2m..Boston took (without going to look at exact numbers) 5 college SR’s in rounds 1-10 and 1 is even slated to join the Army next fall.. An Army grad who will sign and play through the summer in round 10..
They left holes in the new CBA and would like to see how many teams exploited it.. I (for one) was not paying much attention on draft day 2 when other teams were selecting, but did notice the Sox selecting a pile of seniors sprinkled in with some high upside picks..
This could be the way teams have to go about getting around the next 5 years who intend to spend, as they did in the past without penalty.
Maybe a topic here with the amount of college senior picked in rounds 1-10 perhaps guys??
A team would have to over pay for LaHair, as he is not a 3 month rental. The Cubs have every reason to keep him if they think he can move to the outfield. Even if they pretend to think he can play the outfield, it will drive the price up. Finding a cost controlled LF or 1B that can hit .280 with 25-30HR and 80-90RBI on a Last place team isn’t easy.
I don’t want them to trade Lahair, he looked fine in the OF last year. Granted it was a short period of him playing there, but if the Cubs have survived this long with Soriano in the OF it certainly cant hurt.
I know, I don’t understand the Clement comps just because they were the same pick and same position. I think Zunino will work out fine for us.
I’m sorry, but after watching Appel get murdered by Florida State in the College World Series, I wouldn’t sign him.
I’d rather take the two first round picks in next year’s draft than fork him over $4-5 million
Oh man. I just read the article, and not signing Appel could hurt the Pirates more than benefit them.
Agree accept keep Dejesus, besides Lahair he is the only other person on the team that realizes you can actually get on base by walking.