On this date 20 years ago the Mets sent right-hander David Cone to the Blue Jays for 24-year-old second baseman Jeff Kent. Cone helped Toronto win the first of two consecutive World Series titles and Kent went on to become a borderline Hall of Famer (though he spent his most productive seasons in San Francisco). Here are today’s links as we await the next major trade of the 2012 season…
- Alan Blondin of the Houston Chronicle writes that Roger Clemens called his recent performance for the Sugar Land Skeeters a favor to Skeeters manager Gary Gaetti. Clemens told Blondin he doesn't have plans for further pitching performances, but cautioned, "That could change in a couple days."
- Twins general manager Terry Ryan feels that now is the time for Trevor Plouffe to step up and establish himself as the team's long-term answer at third base, writes Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN. Mackey quotes Ryan as saying Plouffe "[has] the rest of the year" to show the Twins that third base isn't a position they need to address.
- Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson and general manager Kevin Towers told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that they don’t regret trading Stephen Drew to Oakland, even though Willie Bloomquist experienced a setback in his return from a back injury. “No. We wanted to see what [Jake] Elmore was capable of doing,” Towers said. “He’s held his own, I think, defensively out there.”
- David Ortiz, a free agent this offseason, wants to re-sign with the Red Sox, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com. “This is what I know and this is something I want to be part of,” Ortiz said.
- The Athletics and Astros have improved their farm systems considerably in the last year, Jim Callis of Baseball America writes in this week’s edition of Ask BA.
- The Blue Jays should have publicly told the Red Sox that manager John Farrell is off-limits long ago, Shi Davidi writes at Sportsnet.ca. The Blue Jays have failed to limit speculation about the possibility of Farrell returning to Boston, Davidi writes. Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos has said the Blue Jays won’t announce an extension with Farrell, even if the sides agree to one.
Steve Adams contributed to this post.
The Great John Farrell War, begun it has. Someone wake me when he manages a team to a winning record.
With that injury depleted rotation? I’d wish anyone the best of luck.
guess you were sleeping during baseball 101
Somebody wake me when he’s given a competitive roster.
he still makes questionable pre game/in game decisions.
but he’s really good with the media and handling of the players, for the most part. and at the very least he knows hes not perfect and tries to work on things as he goes along.
…that isn’t injured all at once (Bautista, Lawrie, Arencibia, Escobar, most recently Rasmus and Morrow) or underperforming (Romero, Escobar, Johnson, Alvarez). In what was originally supposed to be a promising year turned into disaster in a mere 2 and a half months. It’s not solely Farrell’s fault he’s out there working with a AAA lineup right now.
he was, its on the dl
Kent’s a HOF and one of the most productive 2B of all time. Keep in mind he played in AT&T, Dodger Stadium, and Candlestick.
He might not be 1st ballot but I think he gets in eventually.
Yeah, I wouldn’t use the word “borderline” there at all. To me he’s an easy first ballot guy.
Yeah it would only be true if it weren’t for the competition he’ll be facing. It all depends if the voters keep the steroid era players out or not.
I actually haven’t been really clear why people have been thinking that the Dodgers trade meant Ortiz would be a guaranteed goner. They don’t have to worry about paying his salary and frankly it makes him the uncontested team leader. Also if there’s a single bulletproof player on the Red Sox at the moment, it’s Big Papi.
I’d be very pleased to see him back and honestly very happy if he retires wearing the Red Sox uniform.
Translation: Roger Clemens quietly announces he’s available for a publicity stunt.
and kids birthday parties
Bonus points for the excellent zinger.
Given the choice of people that might make a good manager is the son of a great college coach at the Univ. of Maine and former Yankee executive Jack Butterfield–currently a coach with the Jays, Brian Butterfield.
I like Farrell but I think Butterfield has the makings of a fine manager for the Sox. I just wouldn’t pay the compensation to get Farrell.
doesn’t it seem that he kinda wants out at this point though?
Ortiz is not worth 2/$25m…but if the Sox don’t mind overpaying by a year and a few million then they can do whatever.
I would let him test the open market. If he can get a multi year deal from someone, let him walk and take the draft pick. If he can’t get a deal then the Red Sox get him cheap. It’s a win/win.
I like Ortiz but I’d like to see some of the position players start rotating through the DH spot instead of just getting the night off, especially as younger guys start cracking the lineup and need major league at bats.
They should not offer him arb and let him see how much he really is worth on the free market. Highly doubtful he’d get a two year deal at his age and his injury troubles this year.
Ok, sure you have the obvious: unhappy with the ownership and the media. However anytime the media said anything bad about Ortiz this year the first response from a majority of Red Sox fans was “back off Ortiz.” As for the ownership issue, don’t you think that could be mitigated by no other team would dare offer a DH a salary exceeding $10M?
Add to that, I think there’s a single point that people forget regarding Red Sox fans and Ortiz. Ortiz is a statuesque god in Boston, he isn’t in every other city.
Ortiz is a charismatic guy who’s been with the team since 2003, been one of the most vocal players with the press, and is considered to be the most important Red Sox leader over the last several years who’s not named Jason Varitek.
Tell me again, which team do you closely follow?
When Manny left Ortiz had that year and a half that he went into his shell and didn’t talk to the media as much (also didn’t help that was when he was hitting poorly at the beginning of the years and every question he got was if he was done) at this point Pedy stepped up to a leadership role as far as the media is concerned, as he was the media face of the organization
he’d make a lot of sense for toronto, and him and bautista are pretty close.
if he’s not offered arbitration or if they have a protected pick. Rays, A’s, Indians, a few other teams could be in play.