The Giants clinched the NL West Division title this past weekend, despite having lost Melky Cabrera for the remainder of the regular season due to a failed drug test. As the 2010 World Champs gear up to make a run at a second title in three years, here are some links surrounding the division…
- Sergio Romo appeared on "Inside Pitch" with Casey Stern and Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM and said the Giants would welcome Cabrera back with open arms if he returned to the team during the playoffs. "Why wouldn't we want him on our team?" asked Romo, before going onto call Cabrera a "great teammate" whose talent would improve the team's chances of winning it all.
- Padres first baseman Yonder Alonso was on a trip to Spain with his sister and friends (including Manny Machado) last winter when he learned of his trade, writes MLB.com's Corey Brock. Alonso was there courtesy of his team at the time, the Reds, to watch his favorite soccer team — Real Madrid. Brock's article is a terrific look at how trades can affect players on a personal level, and contains quotes from Alonso, Machado, and GMs Walt Jocketty (Reds) and Josh Byrnes (Padres).
- Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario is the best rookie that no one is talking about, writes Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Heyman suggests that Rosario is could be outperforming other, more commonly discussed candidates.
Rosario is a Coors Field product. His home/away splits are terrible.
A .747 OPS for a catcher is “terrible?”
His numbers are helped by Coors of course, but he’s also good. Even after you adjust for park factors the only catchers better offensively this year have been Posey, Ruiz, Mauer, Molina, Montero, Santana, Pierzynski, Napoli and Ellis. Being a top 10 offensive catcher (better than Wieters, Doumit, Avila, Montero, McCann, Martin and a lot more) is pretty impressive for a rookie.
Problem with Rosario is he’s a terrible catcher. He might be able tobhit a bit, but as a backstop? Fuggedaboutit.
Sergio Romo may have said the Giants would welcome Melky back, but the Giants front office has made it pretty clear that won’t happen. Melky probably cost himself a 2-3 years and $30M-$40M on his next contract, not to mention a chance to play in the post season. I’d be shocked if he signed more than a two year deal in the off-season, and he may have been downgraded to a fourth outfielder in the eyes of some evaluators.
Well your right to an extent. the front office is pissed. and yes he lost millions of dollars. he won’t get 2 years. the giants will and if they want give him a 1 year deal for far less than he’s making and prove himself. that would be the only way.
The Marlins could use a stop-gap in LF/CF while they wait for Christian Yelich. I could see them signing Melky for 2 years.
Rosario is a defensive liability. They’ve tried him at 3rd and 1st as well as catcher. He can’t stop a pitch in the dirt to save his life and has 20 passed balls to boot (literally). Very talented offensively. Maybe a DH spot in the AL will be his niche. Either that or he needs to work a lot, lot more on defense.
Yup. That’s why Mike Piazza and Jorge Posada never made it in the Majors.
I don’t know about that. A passed ball or an overthrow on a steal can make a big difference in Coors. Anything that extends an inning in that ballpark is bad news. That’s the perspective you have to take. Also, giving up free runs because a runner on third can score on pitches getting by the catcher is no bueno.
Rosario has to get better defensively but he has a very good arm. Give him some time to get in sync with an every day 2B/SS combo next year before writing him off. The kid was expected to get about 250PA tops this year he is a little over 2 years from a knee injury lets see if he can get better. At this age most Catchers are in the minors.
I don’t have any doubt that he’ll gradually improve. My post was directed towards Robert who was disregarding Rosario’s defense as being essential.