Randy Johnson Rumors
By Tim Dierkes [November 23, 2009 at 3:43pm CST]
Links for Monday... Former GM Kevin Towers will attend the Winter Meetings and meet with three or four teams about possible employment, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Towers prefers the American League. Randy Johnson is undecided about pitching in 2010, say Rosenthal and Morosi. MLB.com's Mark Bowman tells readers in his latest mailbag that he wouldn't be surprised to see the Braves trade Jordan Schafer. Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues speculates on what the Yankees would have to give up for Josh Johnson. ESPN's Buster Olney compares a potential Joe Mauer extension to...
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By Ben Nicholson-Smith [November 10, 2009 at 4:17pm CST]
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports that the Giants are open to bringing Bengie Molina back, but prepared in case the catcher signs elsewhere. Here are the details: The Giants won't likely offer Molina much more than the $6MM he made this year. Molina wants a two-year deal, so Baggarly says the 35-year-old is unlikely to re-sign with the Giants. The Mets could have interest, and Baggarly says an unnamed AL team expects to get involved, too. Baggarly expects the Giants to offer Molina arbitration, but would be surprised to see the team extend similar offers to...
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By Ben Nicholson-Smith [October 2, 2009 at 9:02am CST]
Some links to read before the final weekend of the regular season... Ryne Sandberg tells Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times that his "ideal job" would be managing the Cubs. Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News says C.C. Sabathia and Mike Mussina are the only two Yankee pitchers of the decade to deliver big seasons right after signing big free agent contracts. Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune says there's still a lot of uncertainty surrounding Padres GM Kevin Towers. USA Today's Bob Nightengale says (via Twitter) that the Giants expect Randy Johnson to retire after...
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By Howard Megdal [October 1, 2009 at 5:34pm CST]
The San Francisco Giants will bring both General Manager Brian Sabean and Manager Bruce Bochy back for the 2010 season, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. Sabean is completing his thirteenth season at the helm, while Bochy has been skipper for three seasons. Both have been the subject of rumors, but the unexpected challenge by the Giants for the Wild Card has likely been their savior. Giants' Managing General Partner Bill Neukom also said he expected San Francisco's payroll to rise in 2010. The Giants have about $28MM coming off the books for 2010, between Dave Roberts,...
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By Ben Nicholson-Smith [October 1, 2009 at 4:00pm CST]
Another round of links for the afternoon... ESPN.com's Rob Neyer would like to see big market teams share more revenue with their small market rivals. Still, he says MLB has been competitive compared to football, basketball and hockey. Padres CEO Jeff Moorad was non-committal about GM Kevin Towers' future on XX 1090 in San Diego, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (via Twitter). Moorad said Towers is the GM now, and added that the Padres are evaluating all levels of the organization. Towers said in no uncertain terms that he wants to be in San Diego. Bengie Molina's agent tells the...
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By Mike Axisa [September 11, 2009 at 1:41pm CST]
"I don't think there's one pitcher in this entire group I'd invest a lot of money in. Not one," said one general manager to ESPN's Jayson Stark. This year's collection of free agent pitchers doesn't have the star power that last year's CC Sabathia highlighted crop had, or that next year's group led by Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee will have, but there will still be plenty of money thrown around. As Stark explains, club officials seem to be down on available starters this year, describing them as "risky," "weak," "terrible," and "mediocre" among other things. One AL executive said...
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By Ben Nicholson-Smith [August 31, 2009 at 2:21pm CST]
More links as we await the next waiver trade... The Brewers put off J.J. Hardy's free agency until after 2011 by keeping him in the minors for 20 days, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel points out. This should boost Hardy's trade value after the season, when the Brewers will presumably listen to trade offers, now that Alcides Escobar is contributing in the majors. Randy Johnson expects to return to the Giants as a reliever, according to the AP (via FOX Sports). MLB.com's Marty Noble suggests Jayson Werth and Derrek Lee would be good fits for the Mets...
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By Ben Nicholson-Smith [April 25, 2009 at 12:51pm CST]
Links for Saturday... Baseball America's John Manuel reports that 22-year-old Twins first base prospect Henry Sanchez has been suspended 50 games for violating minor league baseball's drug policy. Sanchez was the 39th overall pick in the 2005 draft. John Maffei of the North County Times reports on Stephen Strasburg's latest start, one in which the top prospect struck out 14, though he did allow a home run (hat tip to Buster Olney). His strikeout to walk ratio now exceeds 10-1. Ever wonder how much Japanese teams spend on their players? Ryo Shinkawa of NPB Tracker has the figures and their...
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By Tim Dierkes [March 17, 2009 at 8:51am CST]
Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times talked to Giants starter Randy Johnson, who is 45 years old. The Big Unit doesn't seem ready to hang up his spikes after reaching 300 wins: "Who's to say that I can't pitch just because I'm 50 years old? If I'm 48 years old and I'm still throwing 93 [mph] and still winning 10 or 12 games and still having fun and still being competitive, why would age matter? I'll retire when I feel like the fire had gone out of my belly. But I still have that fire and that will to compete....
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By Tim Dierkes [March 4, 2009 at 12:37pm CST]
Links for Wednesday as we enter the short post-Manny phase of the offseason... RotoAuthority has 18 undrafted players to watch for mixed leagues. WEEI's Rob Bradford talked to Bill Lajoie, who was behind Boston's acquisition of Andy Marte while Theo Epstein was on hiatus. Lajoie admitted he acquired Marte with the intent of flipping him. SI.com's Melissa Segura writes about fraud involving Dominican prospects. Nothing cooking yet with the Red Sox and Jason Bay, says Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe. Jorge Says No! says shortstops Bobby Crosby and Khalil Greene are at the crossroads of their careers. WEEI's Alex...
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