Some links from around the AL East for your Monday reading pleasure…
- David Ortiz is still looking for two years and $25-30MM, according to the Boston Herald's John Tomase. Ortiz told Tomase that he expects the Red Sox to reach out to his representatives at SFX next week.
- Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com cautions Orioles fans not to buy into any rumblings that Ortiz could end up in Baltimore if he doesn't re-sign with the Red Sox. Dubroff notes that manager Buck Showalter felt handicapped by Vladimir Guerrero's inability to play in the field the last time the team had a strict DH in 2011.
- In his latest mailbag, MLB.com's Bill Chastain tells one reader that Joel Peralta is so intent on returning to the Rays that he will likely deal with them exclusively before talking to other teams. Chastain does opine that a multi-year deal from an outside team could sway Peralta's thinking.
- Chastain also says he believes that the Rays will open the season with Ben Zobrist as the shortstop, as Hak-Ju Lee may not be ready from an offensive standpoint yet.
- Danny Knobler of CBS Sports tweets that the Blue Jays had nine different scouts in attendance for Edwin Jackson's final three regular season starts. Jackson will be a free agent this offseason, and while he'd like to return to the Nationals, he could end up elsewhere. The Jays are planning to shop aggressively this offseason.
jays are doing a lot of talking on “shopping aggressively”… they better mean it
I bet you it’s overblown by the media. ‘Aggressively’ probably isn’t going to mean what you believe.
Please no David Ortiz. I do NOT want him as an Oriole.
Pay pappi. 2 for 22 with bonus kickers for games played and a 3rd yr for 8 player option
Good by Big Papi!!!
Jim Thome isn’t a strict DH?
They O’s only had Jim Thome for half the season, and he was not an everyday player either when he was with them
None the less, the fact that they were willing to have Thome on their roster seems to be going against the idea that the Orioles would be opposed to having a guy whose sole job is to DH/PH… That being said, I would agree that they arent likely to give Ortiz 2 years and 30 million to do that job
I would resign Ortiz for another year or two if the Sox are going to be aggressive in the FA market. However if this is going to be a building year and they don’t plan to get into the Hamilton, Upton and one or two starting pitchers sweepstakes, I would say let him walk and perhaps platoon or rotate to rest starters.
Just give Ortiz 2/28. It’ll probably be his last contract. His value to the organization as a representative after that is high enough to warrant it. Plus, morale, and showing FA’s that we don’t actually just ditch everyone we commit money to.
2/24 give him incentives for up to $28 mil.
One reason overlooked is that Guerrero wasn’t 100% healthy with the O’s and they had epically lousy play at 3B and LF in 2011, plus other issues. Showalter didn’t want to take Vlad’s bat out of the lineup more than the problem of him not playing OF. After all, it took Buck 100+ games to realize Reynolds wasn’t a 3B man, if he is anything at all.