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Archives for May 2008

The Second Baseman Market

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Is your team weak at second base?  Perhaps you’ve been suffering through Asdrubal Cabrera and his .506 OPS?  Take a gander at MLBTR’s list of available second basemen, and make a deal.  Are we missing anyone?

  • Brian Roberts, Orioles.  There have been rumblings that Roberts may be off the market.  He should be available come July, though.  The asking price will be high.
  • Ray Durham, Giants.  Sure, you can have him. The power’s gone, but he does have a .366 OBP.  Since Durham makes $7.5MM, this will just be a salary dump.
  • Ronny Cedeno, Cubs.  Cedeno can handle short, too.  He seems to be progressing and could be a nice trade chip for the Cubs.  Mike Fontenot might be more expendable, though, since he can’t play short.
  • Mark Grudzielanek, Royals. Same old Grudzielanek, hitting his standard .300.  He’s earning $4MM this year.
  • Tadahito Iguchi, Padres.  Seemed rejuvenated by last year’s trade, maybe it’ll happen again.
  • Mark Ellis, Athletics. Impending free agent, fine defense. He’s a borderline Type A free agent, so it’d take something decent to acquire him.
  • Felipe Lopez and Ron Belliard, Nationals.  Neither is doing much with the bat.
  • Mark Loretta, Astros.  He’s more expendable now that Kaz Matsui is back.  They might want to keep him around until Ty Wigginton settles in.
  • Juan Uribe, White Sox.  He was placed on waivers in March, and was a rumored possible cut earlier this month.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: 2008 Amateur Draft

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With last year’s top pick, David Price, making his pro debut yesterday, we are now two weeks from the 2008 "Rule 4 Draft" and the top of the draft is not as clear this time around. There are five candidates that could go in the top slot: Buster Posey, the FSU catcher; Vanderbilt’s third baseman Pedro Alvarez; San Diego lefty Brian Matusz; Southern California high school catcher Kyle Skipworth, and Georgia high school shortstop Tim Beckham. Earlier this week we heard that the Rays were leaning towards Posey or Alvarez, while the Pirates were said to be torn between Alvarez and Beckham with the second pick. Recent mock drafts from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, have Beckham going to the Rays with the top pick.

Let’s take a look at what is being said about the upcoming draft in the Blogosphere…

  • Minor League Ball ranks the top 30 prospects, with Posey and Beckham at the top of the board, while Alvarez’ injury knocks him down to #8.
  • Baseball Mastermind would like to see a push for a little more hype in the baseball draft and feels that baseball fans would benefit from more debate on the merits of the available talent. They also can’t see the Rays taking Alvarez with the top pick now that they have Evan Longoria locked up to a long-term deal.
  • DRays Bay wonders if recent reports of the Rays drafting Beckham or Posey were just smoke-screens to lower the price on Alvarez, who is a Scott Boras client.
  • Rays of Light note that Alvarez would be the ideal choice, but believe signability may be too big of a factor to ignore, making Posey more attractive.
  • Bucs Dugout feels a team should select the best available player with the second pick, but suggests that a team like the Pirates, that is still several years away from contending, may be better off drafting high school talent. The idea is that an Alvarez will not help a Bucs club in ’09 or ’10 while a Beckham will remain under the team’s control for more years.
  • Camden Depot doesn’t sound very excited about the prospect of the Orioles drafting Matusz.
  • McCovey Chronicles is hoping that Alvarez falls to the Giants at #5.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Odds and Ends: Kershaw, Medders, Tavarez

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Hopefully they’ll let you leave work early today in anticipation of the holiday weekend.  Before you go, here are some random links.

Rangers Talking Long-Term Deal For Hamilton

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According to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, the Rangers have discussed a long-term deal for center fielder Josh Hamilton internally as well as with his agent.  Hamilton, 27, has to be considered the current frontrunner for the AL MVP award.  No pair of teammates in the AL has combined for more offensive production than Hamilton and Milton Bradley.

Hamilton’s arbitration years will be from 2010-12.  The Rangers shouldn’t be in a huge rush, as Hamilton will make less than a million bucks in ’09. 

Stark’s Latest: Young Players, Giles, DeJesus

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Jayson Stark’s latest Rumblings and Grumblings column is chock full of information.

  • Stark rattles off Dan Uggla, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, B.J. Upton, Justin Upton, Russell Martin, Zack Greinke, Prince Fielder, Felix Hernandez, Jeff Francoeur, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, and Dustin Pedroia as youngsters who do not have long-term deals in the works.  With Uggla and Greinke, the opposition seems more on the team’s side.  With Hamels and Howard neither side wants a long-term deal.  With the rest, the player is resisting.
  • The Padres’ top trading chip is probably Brian Giles, though a deal would further deplete a weak offense.
  • The A’s are willing to deal, with pitching considered the surplus.  Billy Beane might be able to snag one good prospect for Rich Harden.
  • There’s some doubt as to whether the Rockies will make Matt Holliday this year’s Mark Teixeira as we approach the deadline.
  • Teams other than the Royals are speculating that center fielder David DeJesus might be available.
  • The Marlins and Hanley Ramirez battled over a no-trade clause…and the Fish won.  He has none.

The First Baseman Market

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Next up in the Trade Market series, first basemen.  Which ones might be available in the coming months?  Let me know in the comments if you have anyone to add.

  • Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young, Nationals.  Johnson will be out for roughly a month with a torn wrist tendon, while Young just returned from the DL after a lower back strain.  It’ll be tough for Jim Bowden to move either of them.
  • Rich Aurilia, Giants.  He’s heating up this month.  He’s being paid $4.5MM this year, and it wouldn’t take much.
  • Kevin Millar, Orioles.  Millar seems to enjoy playing in Baltimore, and the O’s are only two games out of the wild card.  He’s not hitting much yet anyway.
  • Richie Sexson, Mariners and Carlos Delgado, Mets.  Both seem more likely to be designated for assignment than traded.  Their salaries have kept them afloat so far.
  • Paul Konerko, White Sox.  Logic says Konerko stays put.  A sore wrist has contributed to a slow start, he has 10 and 5 rights, and he earns $12MM annually through 2010.
  • Adam LaRoche, Pirates.  Seems to have shaken off his typical slow start.  Extension talks fizzled.
  • Scott Hatteberg, Reds.  He seems likely to go, and would probably prefer it.  Hatteberg may be the first order of business for Walt Jocketty. 
  • Chris Duncan, Cardinals.  The Cards can probably get by in the outfield without him.  The 27 year-old has a career line of .271/.359/.512.
  • Kendry Morales, Angels.  Morales, 25 in June, is hitting .298/.341/.470 in Triple A (nothing special).
  • Chad Tracy, Diamondbacks.  With Mark Reynolds and Conor Jackson manning the corners in Arizona, Tracy isn’t needed.  He could return within a week, finishing a long recovery from microfracture knee surgery.

Odds and Ends: Griffey, Baek, German, Wells

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Here’s today’s link collection.

Pedro Not Considering Retirement

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THURSDAY: Martinez cleared the air today, saying he hasn’t considered retirement and (barring a major injury) he wants to pitch two or three more years.

TUESDAY: Mets starter Pedro Martinez explained his thinking to Roger Rubin of the New York Daily News.  Pedro is feeling good and should be back with the Mets this month.  However, he is not under contract past 2008 and retirement is an option.  Martinez’s father has brain cancer, and he wants to be there for him.

Mets starters are fifth in the NL with a 3.89 ERA.  Johan Santana and John Maine make a great 1-2 punch, and Oliver Perez is doing fine.  A healthy Pedro should give the Mets one of the league’s better rotations.  They’re currently just a game back of the Marlins.

Rays Leaning Toward Posey Or Alvarez?

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Today from Buster Olney’s blog:

I talked to a couple of folks with rival teams who say that their understanding is that Tampa Bay is leaning toward picking either Florida State catcher Buster Posey or Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez.

Olney apparently hasn’t heard much about the Rays considering shortstop Tim Beckham, though other insiders such as Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo have him in the mix.  Mayo says "it’s still very much in the air" among five candidates for the Rays.

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