Royce Clayton Rumors

Crasnick On Remaining Free Agents

ESPN's Jerry Crasnick examines the status of nine free agents: Sammy Sosa, Kenny Lofton, Reggie Sanders, Jeff Cirillo, Royce Clayton, Steve Finley, Freddy Garcia, David Wells, and Damian Miller.

• Lofton is likely to find a job; he's healthy and played reasonably well last year.  The Cubs still might be a fit.
• Seems that Garcia probably won't reach a big league mound until September; auditioning for teams may take place in July.
• Miller received calls from the Yankees and Padres, but he's still taking a Brewers or nothing stance.

---

Minor Moves: Cirillo, Elarton, Clayton

Some minor moves occurred recently.  Let's catch up.

• The Diamondbacks claimed 37 year-old infielder Jeff Cirillo off waivers from the Twins.  I still remember when Cirillo was a perennial .320 hitter and regular third baseman for the Brewers and Rockies.  This looks like a salary dump, with the Twins not wanting to pay the $550,000 or so due to Cirillo for the remainder of the season. 
• The Indians signed Scott Elarton to a minor league contract.  Elarton was last semi-useful in Cleveland back in '05, when he posted a 4.61 ERA in 181 innings.  Currently, southpaw groundballer Aaron Laffey is looking to secure the fifth starter job.
• The Blue Jays designated Royce Clayton for assignment.  Looking for an aging backup shortstop with no discernible talents?  Clayton is your man.

---

Jays Sign Clayton

Ken Rosenthal reports that the Blue Jays signed Royce Clayton today to be their starting shortstop, at a price of $1.5MM.

As Rosenthal suggests, Clayton's main skill, defense, has been deteriorating.  He isn't much range-wise and probably shouldn't be starting for anyone.  At least when the Red Sox went with Alex Gonzalez last year, he truly was saving runs with glovework.

While I don't love the signing, the Blue Jays will still field a fine club in 2007 once they add some starting pitching.   

---

Lijit Search

---

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner