The Nationals are willing to boost payroll midseason if the right opportunity emerges, principal owner Mark Lerner told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. “We’ve never let dollars get in the way of us making decisions that will help this organization,” Lerner said. “That will always be our philosophy.” Here’s more from Morosi, starting in Washington:
- Lerner said the Nationals “don’t want to get somebody who’s a rental player,” Morosi reports. The Nationals have a club-record payroll in the $90MM range for 2012.
- The Royals are now asking for a Major League piece in return for Jonathan Broxton, Morosi tweets. The Royals are open to moving Broxton, Morosi and Ken Rosenthal reported last night. The 28-year-old right-hander has a 1.99 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and 21 saves this year.
- Marco Scutaro is available, but the Rockies’ asking price remains high, Morosi tweets. Scutaro would prefer to stay in Colorado, Troy Renck of the Denver Post reported today.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Broxton in St. Louis to help with the bullpen, but I don’t know of a major leaguer I would be willing to give up for just him as a half season rental. Maybe Tyler Green for Brox and a low level pitching or SS/2B prospect?
What are the Royals supposed to do with Tyler Green?
The Royals could use someone with some plate discipline.
You mean like Billy Butler and Alex Gordon? They’re the youngest team in the league, and that’s not usually a recipe for plate discipline. They’re learning how to deal with MLB pitching…give them time.
That’s fair…but I’m not sure that the Royals system places an emphasis on plate discipline…and I don’t believe it’s an easy thing to learn on the job at the big league level.
Coming from a Royals fan, there seems to be some truth to the whole lack of emphasis on plate discipline thing.
If you look at players like Hosmer and Moustakas..really most of the top tier high school talents…when have they ever really needed to develop plate discipline? They could hit lower level pitches with authority no matter the location in or out of the zone.
Granted, though, plate discipline should improve with more exposure to big league pitching. You can’t fault an under-experienced batter for chasing a pitch he likely might have never seen at a lower level.
This might be the case for a guy like Hosmer or Moustakas right now…but Gordon is likely who he is…he’s short on “potential” at this point.
Yankees can trade david phelps for broxton lol
I wonder if Lerner’s talking about Matt Garza? He’s the only SP on the trade block who isn’t a rental.
Wouldn’t surprise me given that Rizzo said he won’t let Stras pitch in the postseason if they get there
Pirates need a shortstop, I was pegging Scutaro as a legitimate possibility if the price was right. A 36-year old player with an expiring contract, playing for a last place team that is 15 games out of contention at the All Star break will be available for much less in a few weeks. Consider the Derrek Lee trade last summer, where the Bucs gave up a fairly decent-hitting Aaron Baker (24-year old A level 1B/3B with minimal organizational commitment) for the same type of player. That is what Colorado should be expecting from a Scutaro deal.