Some links for Wednesday night…
- The Marlins have no interest in trading Jorge Cantu to save money, even if they don't trade Dan Uggla before the season, tweets Clark Spencer of The Miami Herald. Yesterday we heard the team may "start taking calls" about Cantu if they can't unload Uggla.
- Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times says that the Dodgers are among the 14 teams that have asked for Noah Lowry's medical records according to his agent Damon Lara. We first heard of their interest in the lefty way back in early December.
- Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said he is still looking for starting pitching and to improve his team's defense, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
- MLB.com's Mark Bowman says that Braves' team president John Schuerholz indicated the team's payroll "won't be diminished at all." Bowman's rough estimate has the team's 2010 payroll at about $87MM after they spent roughly $95MM in 2009.
- MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports (via Twitter) that the Brewers have outrighted pitcher Omar Aguilar to Triple-A, however assistant GM Gord Ash said the team has no move in the works to the fill the vacated 40-man roster spot according to Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel (again, via Twitter).
- In response to a fan on Twitter, C.J. Wilson tweets that the Rangers have never offered him a long-term deal.
- Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News says there's a chance Juan Uribe could be the Giants' starting third baseman, shifting Mark DeRosa to the outfield. He adds that the team plans to make more moves, however their lack of pitching depth will make it tough to swing a trade.
- Alex Speier of WEEI.com examines how the recent moves by the Red Sox impact their payroll with regard to the luxury tax.
- The Diamondbacks have released minor league righthander Tony Barnette so he can pursue opportunities in Japan, according to MLB.com's Steve Gilbert (via Twitter).
Wait the Giants have lack of pitching depth?
Of major league ready starters…Madison Bumgarner probably should start the season in AAA but will most likely be the #5. If they traded Sanchez, Joe Martinez or Kelvin Pucetas would have to step up forcing Madison to the #4. Not a good idea IMO. Giants would have to sign a FA to be #4.
rainypere, they do because they don’t have any “pitchers” after Cain, Lincecum, Sanchez, and Zito.
All I gotta say to this is that Lincecum is great, Cain is Good and Sanchez and Zito both Suck. The best pitcher from the old A’s staff by the numbers is Hudson, granted he didnt have the 20 win season, but He has been the most consistant
Oh, as if we fans really care about the Sox’ luxury tax. If that is what it takes to produce a winner then so be it. I mean, the Red Sox organization charges fans for tickets at or near the top of the “expensive” list. It is nor un American to want to win…and win now!!
Hey, but I think if they are only a couple mm over the tax, it would make sense to figure out those few trades to get under it. If they were 20-25 million over, obviously they’re not going to try to cut it down that much. Next year for example, they may go considerably over if they actually win the bidding for any of the major FAs…
The Giants have a great starting staff and bullpen, and are lucky that they have a young talent like Bumgarner to fill the #5 slot. The issue is that they don’t have a lot of options beyond their 25-man roster. If one of them goes down, they’re short on options, thus making Sanchez that much more of an immovable piece right now.
Depth typically means the #6, #7, or #8 starters that they need for injury insurance. So, I know nothing about the giants…how are they doing in that regard?
Well, the Giants’ 1-4 rotation of Lincecum, Zito, Cain, and Sanchez has been set pretty much since the 2009 All-Star Break, right after Sanchez’s no-hitter. After Randy Johnson went to the DL, the Giants saw Ryan Sadowski, Joe Martinez, and Brad Penny in the 5-spot. Joe Martinez is better suited to a long-reliever role, Brad Penny went to the Cardinals through free agency, and Ryan Sadowski went to… uh, Korea.
Martinez and the Big Sadowski were both stop-gaps at best… Started decently, but rarely finished six innings, and got lit up a number of times. And given the Giants’ offensive woes, it was tough to win on these days. Kevin Pucetas did decently in AAA in 2009 (10-6, 5.04 ERA, 159 IP, 96 SO, 1.41 WHIP… You get the idea), but whether or not he can cut it at the major league level is unclear.
Other than that, you have Bumgarner, who was the top pitching prospect in the minors last year, pretty much. 20 years old, 2 years in the minors at advanced A and AA where he absolutely manhandled the competition (career 27-5, 1.65 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 0.974 WHIP), but his fastball velocity was down at the end of last season. Despite this, he handled his first major league start and 3 relief appearance decently well.
So the Giants have Pucetas, Martinez, and Bumgarner, pretty much, and they wanted to start Bumgarner at AAA this season, but he’s looking like our #5 right now.
They are really bare in #6-8 starters’ spots. Madison should be in AAA , in my opinion, but the Giants have Martinez and then the team is looking at the likes of Pucetas, Sosa (hope he heals back up in time) and maybe Criag Clark ( he threw the regular season in high A and was on the AA post season roster). Sadowski is out of the organization. Not exactly a lot of high probability of good enough things happening there by June to make it at the MLB level.
Do you think Madison will be starting the years with the Giants or does he need more seasoning?
From what I understand, he is going into ST as the presumptive fifth starter. If they sign a fifth starter on the cheap (probably not someone even of Jon Garland quality), he’ll probably start the season in AAA, but might replace Joe Martinez after a month or two as their long reliever. This would be to add some left-handed depth to the bullpen and ease the strain on Jeremy Affeldt, who they’ll want well-rested down the stretch.
he should’ve elaborated better when he said giants’ pitching lacks depth. That sounds like a general statement so it had me at wtf. From back to back cy young winner Lincecum to Jeremy Affeldt who was the best game holder off the bullpen and sergio romo was also dominant. Then there’s our closer wilson who brought down his era by 2 whole points. Now, I’m assuming he’s talking about the #5 pitcher. But the only two runs bumgardner allowed were homers on a windy night. He should be the #5 guy. Stay with the youth movement, and get laroche. I dun care wat the la-douche thinks about sf wall dimensions. He’ll lose 7 homers, a few rbis, but money talks and when you’re playing on a winning team you’ll lose sight of rigging your own stats for the sake of the team.
My concern about Bumgarner is that he hasn’t thrown more than 140 innings in his two seasons in the minors. I think he could be ready for a starting role at the major league level, but I don’t want to hurt his arm, and if I hear anyone mention “Madison Rules” I swear to God I’m going to punch them in the mouth.
Romo is sick! Nastiest slider i’ve seen
Up until last year, the Red Sox lead the league for, I think, 13 consecutive year in ticket prices. The Yankees with their new stadium passed them for the first time during that span in 2009. So yes, there is not a legitimate excuse why the Sox can’t raise payroll.
Sure there is, like every other team, to pocket as much money as possible.
Sure there is, like every other team, to pocket as much money as possible.
Or the fact that ticket prices aren’t a team’s entire source of revenue, nor even their largest really. The Sox spend a whole lot of money commensurate with their revenue stream.
It intrigues me as to how Japanese baseball clubs choose the players they are interested in. Do they poll the multitude of fringe MLB talent to see who is willing to move to the other side of the globe? If you were a 28 year old career minor leaguer that has had a couple cups of coffee in the bigs, would you take double or triple the money you were making to play in Japan for a year or two?
If I can build up my value in japan, which is very likely to happen, I’ll do it. You won’t get hammered by the big guys like in MLB. Your confidence builds up too seeing your numbers improve.
If I can build up my value in japan, which is very likely to happen, I’ll do it. You won’t get hammered by the big guys like in MLB. Your confidence builds up too seeing your numbers improve.
It intrigues me as to how Japanese baseball clubs choose the players they are interested in. Do they poll the multitude of fringe MLB talent to see who is willing to move to the other side of the globe? If you were a 28 year old career minor leaguer that has had a couple cups of coffee in the bigs, would you take double or triple the money you were making to play in Japan for a year or two?
i honestly have no idea who the giants will bring in. it was almost a given to see derosa as a giant next season. i don’t know who’ll they’ll add before next season.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here… you hate the Dodgers.
i do. although i’ve met some of their players that i like as a person. i still hate them as a whole. either is one of the nicest guys i’ve met and i will always hate martin. that dude is a jackass.
I’ve thought about getting a poster of Eugenio Velez taking out Russell Martin’s legs during that horrible series in July. Just because the image is absurd in itself. I know it was circumstantial, but Velez could get blown over by a strong wind.
i liked seeing martin’s face after he was getting up. lol. they showed it again on the mlb network dodgers episode of 30/30. i laughed. i was a bat boy for the giants triple a team. it was fun and i got to meet a lot of cool players. like nomar when he was rehabing. my locker was next to his. broxton is a jerk. kemp is cool. and that idiot that plays for pittsburgh now, he played for the dodgers.
taking out martin? he hardly took him out buddy.
He’s a hit to who they’ll add: he’ll be old, overrated, and expensive. See: DeRosa, Mark
You forgot he can’t play a position that there is even a remote in house answer for.
i honestly have no idea who the giants will bring in. it was almost a given to see derosa as a giant next season. i don’t know who’ll they’ll add before next season.
Can Cantu play LF? If he could, I’d like to see him on the Yankees. But then again, he wasnt too great in the AL East.
He can, but not very well. Cantu will not be a Yankee.
yeah i know. im just trying to look at every possibility. we’ll probably just go with Gardner if LF, but i hope not. i’d like to at least get Reed Johnson.
I think Gardner batting 9th and playing in left isnt a bad idea really.
The team scores 4000 runs a season, its okay dude/.
I know man. I’d just like to see a right handed bat at the end of our lineup. We’re stacked with left handed and switch hit batter, but I guess thats not necessarily a bad thing.
Noah Lowry? Million Dollars? Okay lets do it..
idk how reliable Ken Rosenthal on MLB Network is but he said the only place he sees being a suitor for Orlando Hudson is Washington. Isn’t defense his forte? That’s what they’re looking for…thoughts?
I hope Rosenthal is right, and in that case, I hope Hudson just gives in and signs with my Nats. I have to say that the item by Bill Ladson hardly qualifies as news, but it is good to check in with Mike Rizzo every once in a while to hear that yes, the team is still looking to make more signings.
They certainly can afford to.
I’d like to see Hudson on a 1 year deal. He’s clearly on the decline, so we don’t want to be stuck with him next year. Once Desmond gets some seasoning at AAA, I think he’ll be ready to take over SS at the trade deadline, and either Guzman or Hudson can be traded.
What I’d really like to see is one more pitcher – a guy like Washburn would really improve this team and it doesn’t look like he’s asking for much money.
Sorry for the random comment, but I have 10 points! (YAY me.) Does anyone know what the heck points are for DISQUS? Is there a leader board somewhere? If I get 500 points do i win a toaster? (Does anyone have an extra toaster? Mine doesn’t work unless you jiggle the handle for 5 minutes!)
You win nothing and you’ll like it.
Says the man with 4 points! SCOREBOARD MOFO!!!
I have an extra toaster. I’m selling it for 50 points.
I’d love to see Cantu or Uggla as a Met, but unfortunately that’ll never happen.
And why is that? Because it would take so much to acquire a scrub like Cantu?
You expect Mets fans to have reason arguments??? Next you’ll ask why Yankees fans feel so entitled or why Cubs fans are defeatist. Just be glad he didn’t offer a Johnson for Perez swap!
There a guy really good in my softball league, would save the Dodgers a ton of money. They dropped a scout’s salary from 18k to 10k last year.
Always wondered why the Giants wouldnt just hold on to Lowry (he is still only 29), even on a super cheap deal, to see if he ends up recovering from the 2 years of strange injuries. If 14 teams are interested in him at some level or another…there must be some glimmer of hope that he could return to the Majors again. Imagine if they still had him…. Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Zito an Lowry (circa 05-07) Either way, wish him the best…he was a class act with the Giants organization.
Well, when Lowry’s agent threatened to sue the Giants for misdiagnosing his injuries… It probably burned a bridge or four.
This is so very true…amongst friends, we have started calling any undiagnosed injury/surgery “The Noah Lowry Surgery”
You saw it here on MLBTR first, the Dodgers officially change their name to The Scrap Heapers. Things will be fine in 2018, when all of Andruw’s and Juan’s and Manny’s deferred money is all done with and Frank and Jamie are talking to each other again. And if they don’t lock up Kemp to a long term deal, expect a riot that would impress Rodney King. Listen to Coletti’s voice in interviews, you can tell the dude’s strung up like a side of beef in the Philadelphia cold storage facility used by Rocky. At least the Mets with all their problems can still put themselves out there on somebody like Bay. Sorry, popping a valium now …
someone can have Lowry for free as long as he’s outta SF. His arm is held together by threads. Anybody else remember his last game? 7 walks before he left with an injury in the 1st. Nooooo thank you. Liriano is in much better shape and he still can’t get it going
It may be that his last year in SF was marred by Lowry pitching injured-but still, he always looked like a back of the rotation guy. Two years out injured, and now a very risky player going forward, (this was not Tommy John surgery, where you have a fairly clear timeline on if you’re going to be okay or not) and “dozens” of teams want him? And one of those teams is the Dodgers? My, how the mighty have fallen.
Nookster,
I loved your post. So true about the dodgers. As soon as all there young talent becomes free agents you will never see them again in a Dodger uniform. Throw in not signing any top prospects so McCourt could pocket the money and you have a club that will be worse then an expansion club. It will take new ownership and a decade to correct.
Giants can have Luke Scott if we get
Dan Runzler, Thomas Neal, and Eric Surkamp
or
Dan Runzler, Thomas Neal, and Ehire Adrianza or Brandon Crawford
so if the atl has anywhere near 8 mill left, which is all up in the air now as to if they do or dont……damon leadoff followed by mclouth would be a huge upgrade over last year when nate was pushed into a leadoff, which he isnt….some people just need to be 2 hole hitters and left alone….
I guess 5 OF’s will compete for LF if we don’t have enought money.