Buchholz And Bowden On Boston Rotation
WEDNESDAY: WEEI's DJ Bean talked to Buchholz, who clarified his comments from earlier this week. The young pitcher explained, "My goal is to pitch in Boston." Maybe Buchholz won't squeeze his way in this year, but I imagine at the worst he'll have a spot in the 2010 rotation.
MONDAY: Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden both believe their impressive starts at Triple A Pawtucket would translate into big-league success. Buchholz told Mike Giardi of NECN.com that he's ready to help Boston, but said "if not that team, I want to be in the big leagues and I do want to go somewhere where I'll be able to play and pitch every fifth day." Buchholz did not suggest that he's hoping for a trade, but he's clearly eager to return to the majors. Check out Joe Haggerty's transcript on Hacks with Haggs.
Discussion: The Reds
John Fay at the Cincinnati Enquirer got a hold of Reds president Bob Castellini and wondered if the Reds would add any payroll through a trade. Castellini's response:
"We've got some flexibility. We're not looking. We've got some key guys in sick bay right now."
The "key guys" he's referring to are Joey Votto, who's supposedly on track for a rehab assignment, Edwin Encarnacion, and Edinson Volquez. All are due back before the All-Star break.
After a win tonight, the Reds stand two games above .500 at 33-31, but they're still in good enough shape for the NL Central, where they're only three games behind the first-place Brewers and two games behind the Wild Card-leading Cardinals (pending tonight's results). While their team ERA sits at a stellar 3.86, good for fifth in the league, their team OPS sits at fifth-to-last in the majors at .710.
If you're the Reds GM, are Votto and Encarnacion the answers to your offensive woes? Or should they pursue a bat such as, say, Aubrey Huff or Luke Scott, as suggested by Jon Paul Morosi, or Mark DeRosa, as put forth by SI's Tom Verducci? Or something completely different altogether? Discuss your take.
Odds & Ends: Cubs, Brewers, Twins
Some notes from around the horn as another top potential trade piece, Erik Bedard, hits the DL:
- Dave Cameron at Fangraphs gives a neat Pitch/FX examination of Mark DiFelice's stellar year.
- ESPN relays an AP report on the Cubs sale, with a rep from the Ricketts family calling stories that the conversations were stalling "untrue."
- Ken Davidoff at Newsday believes the market for starting pitching is thinning, as he sees Jarrod Washburn as the top option available.
- The Twins signed a couple draft picks today, including second-round pick P Billy Bullock, says Tyler Mason at MLB.com.
- The Indians also inked five more of their draftees today, says Dennis Manoloff at the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.
- A Pirates 26th-round high school draftee, one Matt Dermody, struck out every batter he faced in a six-inning perfect game. His teammate threw a no-hitter immediately after in the double-header.
Manuel Wants Arms for Phillies
Scott Lauber at the Delaware News-Journal got a hold of Phillies manager Charlie Manuel and asked if the manager would rather obtain a starter or a reliever. Manuel says he wants both, but would probably prefer a starter.
"But what I'm talking about is a horse. I'm not talking about a guy who's just going to fill out our rotation," Manuel said.
Lauber surmises that Manuel wants a Jake Peavy or Roy Oswalt-type, though Peavy is hurt and probably isn't an option, and the Astros aren't completely out of it just yet. Do the Phillies need a bullpen or rotation arm more? Or something else? Who should they go after?
Padres Acquire Mike O’Connor
Bill Ladson at MLB.com reports that the Nationals have traded lefty Mike O'Connor to the Padres for a player to be named later. The Nationals reportedly made the move to clear roster space at Triple-A Syracuse, though it's unclear who would take his spot.
The 28-year-old O'Connor was once considered one of the top Nats pitching prospects. It's not certain where he'll fit in to the Padres' plans just yet. He hasn't pitched since last year, but has accumulated a 5.45 ERA and a 63/56 K/BB ratio in 114 major-league innings.
Pedro In Talks With Cubs, Rays?
The Associated Press talked to Pedro Martinez, who says he has had discussions with the Cubs and Rays.
"There's a good chance I'll be signing soon, but there still isn't anything firm," Martinez said.
This fits in with reports last week that Pedro had worked out with the teams, though Marc Topkin at the St. Petersburg Times talked with a Rays official who said it was "very unlikely" anything would come of it. Martinez also said he wants to pitch for a contender, because he needs the "emotion of competition."
Where will he land? Keep up with all the latest coverage of Pedro Martinez here.
Possible Type B Free Agents
Yesterday we listed the projected Type A free agents. Today let's take a look at the projected Type B free agents, based on work done by Eddie Bajek for MLB Trade Rumors.
Catchers
- Rod Barajas
- Ivan Rodriguez
- Ramon Hernandez*
- Brian Schneider
- Jason Kendall
First Base/Outfield/DH
- Vladimir Guerrero
- Hideki Matsui
- Carl Crawford*
- Marlon Byrd
- Hank Blalock
- Carlos Delgado
- Brian Giles
- Garret Anderson
- Jerry Hairston Jr.
- Reed Johnson
- Mike Cameron
- Rick Ankiel
- Nick Johnson
Second Base/Third Base/Shortstop
- Placido Polanco
- Adrian Beltre
- Mark DeRosa
- Pedro Feliz*
- Freddy Sanchez*
- Felipe Lopez
Starting Pitchers
- John Lackey
- Andy Pettitte
- Erik Bedard
- Tim Wakefield*
- Justin Duchscherer
- Randy Johnson
- Randy Wolf
- Todd Wellemeyer
- Doug Davis
- Braden Looper*
Relievers
- Darren Oliver
- Brian Shouse*
- Rafael Betancourt
- Luis Ayala
- Troy Percival
- Fernando Rodney
- Russ Springer
- LaTroy Hawkins
- Will Ohman
- Scott Eyre
- J.J. Putz*
- Joe Beimel
- Trever Miller
* denotes a 2010 option.
Keep in mind that there is a lot of time left for these designations to change. Free agents on the border between Type B and nothing: Ramon Castro, Mike Redmond, Gregg Zaun, Jose Molina, John Smoltz, Jamey Wright, Chad Bradford, Brandon Lyon, Eddie Guardado, Fernando Tatis, Jack Wilson, Brett Myers, Jon Garland, Jason Marquis, Ron Villone, Chan Ho Park, and Bob Howry.
Edes On Tejada, Nationals, Shapiro
Yahoo's Gordon Edes updates us on the Cardinals' search for a bat and more in his most recent column. Here are the details:
- The Cardinals aren't interested in Miguel Tejada, but they are looking to add offensive help at third or in the outfield.
- Some have criticized the Pirates for taking Tony Sanchez fourth overall, but Edes hears they chose him because they like his tools and believe he's polished enough to reach the majors before most players in the draft.
- The Nationals would move Elijah Dukes or Lastings Milledge. Ryan Zimmerman is their only untouchable player.
- The Rangers have interest in Nick Johnson.
- There is speculation that Indians GM Mark Shaprio could be promoted to club president, with Chris Antonetti becoming GM. Edes hears that we won't see an in-season shake-up.
- Bill Lajoie, one of the decision-makers behind the deal that sent Hanley Ramirez to Florida, doesn't second guess the move.
- Edes heard from one scouting director who believes Bryce Harper is stronger than Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez or Manny Ramirez when they were in high school. However, some scouts wonder whether Harper would be better if he didn't rush to the majors.
Odds And Ends: Strasburg, Guillen, Smoltz
Links for Wednesday afternoon…
- Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball points out that a $5MM annual salary would place Stephen Strasburg within the top third of arbitration-eligible pitchers from last offseason.
- John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press reports that Carlos Guillen will have to undergo season-ending surgery if his shoulder doesn't heal soon.
- Alex Speier of WEEI.com looks at the impact John Smoltz's return will have on each of the five other Boston starters.
- In an article for SI.com Joel Sherman argues the Indians shouldn't trade Cliff Lee this year. They can contend with Lee in 2010, if not this year, so Sherman says it makes sense to try to win with him.
- Jorge Says No! outlines possible fire sales for the Nationals and Orioles.
- Yankees first rounder Slade Heathcott and his agent were in New York last night, but the Yankees aren't expected to sign their selection quickly, according to Peter Abraham.
Arbitration
Today's MLBTR Glossary entry:
Arbitration exists to help teams and players settle on contracts. The two sides usually come to an agreement without having to go to an arbitration hearing, but if they can't, each side submits a figure and a panel of three arbitrators chooses one of them.
When a player has between three and six years service time or qualifies as a Super Two, he's arbitration eligible, but isn't yet free to negotiate with other teams. Here's how arbitration works:
- Generally speaking, players almost never receive pay cuts through arbitration, and usually receive raises.
- Teams must offer contracts to players under team control by the non-tender deadline (typically in December) or see them become free agents.
- Players file for arbitration in January, with figures due to be exchanged a few days later. Some teams, nicknamed "File and Trial" clubs, choose to automatically go to a hearing if they reach the figure exchange date without an agreement.
- Teams and players can continue to negotiate up until the scheduled hearing.
- Only a handful of hearings occur each year, in February. Each side has one hour for initial presentation, and then a half-hour for rebuttal and summation. At the end, the three-person arbitration panel chooses one side's salary figure.
Tim Dierkes contributed to this post. Updated 11-11-13.