Some links for Wednesday night…
- MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo released his list of the top 50 prospects in the game. Jason Heyward and Stephen Strasburg rank one-two.
- Livan Hernandez sent a contract proposal to Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo back in December, but he never received a response according to a tweet from MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
- MLB.com's Matthew Leach reports that Cardinals' GM John Mozeliak confirmed that any pickups from here on out would be on the offensive side of the roster.
- Scott Boras said that "The Yankees never even made an offer to me regarding Johnny Damon during the entire process," according to a tweet from Tyler Kepner of The New York Times. In a second tweet, Kepner says Boras indicated that the two-year, $14MM offer the team reportedly made was conditional on whether or not Nick Johnson would sign.
- ESPN's Jorge Arangure reports that 17-year-old righty Rafael DePaula is back on the market after being suspended for a year by MLB after lying about his age. His agent hopes to have him signed within the next 15-20 days, and Arangure mentions that both the Yankees and Red Sox are interested.
- Pirate relievers Anthony Claggett and Steven Jackson both cleared waivers according to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch, and have been outrighted to Triple-A Indianapolis. Claggett was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Octavio Dotel, Jackson for Ryan Church.
- Astros' GM Ed Wade said that signing Wandy Rodriguez to a long-term deal would become a "front-burner discussion for us" if he repeats his 2009 success in 2010, reports MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. Wandy had a 3.02 ERA with an 8.4 K/9 in 205.2 innings last season.
- Craig Calcaterra of NBCSports.com says that the Braves have discussed Johnny Damon recently, but came up with three reasons why he wasn't a fit.
- David Murphy of The Philadelphia Daily News lays out the Phillies' payroll commitments for the next four years. As of right now, the team stands to shed almost $70MM off the books following the 2011 season.
I think the Rays should give B.J. 5yrs/$18MM. Does anybody think that Carl Crawford should be traded before opening day to give Desmond Jennings the job in left. Or put Jennings in right and Zorilla at second.
Crawford will have equal trade value come midseason, possibly more with the alure of type A status and a good top 100 prospect
Upton is due about $3 million this year, so I’m guessing 5/18 would be nowhere near enough for him to sign considering it’s highly likely a rebound is in store (to me at least).
Well if you think that a comeback season is in store…They better get that contract done now rather than later when that breakout season is complete.
Upton was injured last year and never recovered at the plate. There does seem to be a maturity issue with him, he does not make an effort to run out ground balls and Maddon has had to bench him more then once. I would think he needs to show a bounce back season this year before a long term contract should be discussed. Crawford should stay on the club as long as the Rays are in contention for the division or wild card. You just do not know how a minor league player like Jennings will respond in the big leagues. They also have Matt Joyce who showed a little pop in his bat with the Tigers and he also deserves a shot in the lineup.
Upton was injured last year and never recovered at the plate. There does seem to be a maturity issue with him, he does not make an effort to run out ground balls and Maddon has had to bench him more then once. I would think he needs to show a bounce back season this year before a long term contract should be discussed. Crawford should stay on the club as long as the Rays are in contention for the division or wild card. You just do not know how a minor league player like Jennings will respond in the big leagues. They also have Matt Joyce who showed a little pop in his bat with the Tigers and he also deserves a shot in the lineup.
Desmond Jennings is an elite prospect, but the Rays just gave $7 million to Rafael Soriano among other things and seems to be in no position to deal one of baseball’s top young starts to give the job to an unproven rookie. If they are out of it on 7/31, that’s another matter…
If the Rays offered him that contract he would laugh in their faces. He will prob make something like 3 million this year so you expect him to give up 2 more years of arbitration and THEN 2 years of free agency for a total of 15 million? Not a snowballs chance in hell
Damon = NO
Thank you Frank.
These articles about how much payroll is coming off the books by the end of “x” years are just absurd.
Sure the Phillies will be down to $60m (not including arb raises). They also will need (1) Starting pitcher(s), (2) 1st Base, (3) Shortstop, (4) OFers, (5) An entire bullpen. That $60m payroll isn’t covering a whole heck of a lot.
Using that same method the Angels will be down to $33m and by the end of 2013 they will be down to $0. Pretty pointless exercise.
Well I think they have SOME value, but I see your point.
As you said, they’ll need to fill:
1 SP (if Kendrick earns and KEEPS the spot this year, this is taken off)
1B
SS
LF
RF
bullpen
bench
I believe this is a good illustration of why the Lee trade had to happen. I’ll explain.
IMO:
At least one, possibly both OF slots should be filled internally (Brown/Gillies/Gose). Unless he poops the sheets, Brown is probably in RF next season.
They’ll be looking to fill at least two prominent bullpen slots internally (Aumont/Bastardo/Escalona/Flande/Ramirez/Mathieson)
If the Lee trade had NOT happened, the chances of filling BOTH OF slots PLUS bullpen help was slim to none. Adding Gillies, Aumont and Ramirez greatly improved the chances…and improved them within a timeframe that two draft picks would not fit.
SS and 1B will have to be FA’s, Rollins/Howard or others…BUT if they can get BOTH OF’s AND a good chunk of the bullpen from the farm, they have the money to compete for the best FA’s in at least one of those slots.
NOW, for the conspiracy portion of my post…the Cliff Lee deal signaled the end of Jimmy Rollins’ Phillies career:
It’s been noted recently that the Phils TURNED DOWN Michael Saunders, a highly-touted, gap-slugger SEA OF prospect (coming off a tough MLB debut, admittedly) and INSISTED on Tyson Gillies, though Gillies was considered a less valuable prospect by most evaluators. The reason for this in my conspiracy theory is they desperately want a new leadoff hitter, and adding Gillies to the mix with Gose doubled their chances of getting one. (both guys have been rated 80 speed on the 80-20 scale, Gillies stealing 44 bases last year, Gose 76)
If one of those two pans out, the Phils will let Rollins walk and fill SS with a defensively-solid, 6-8 hole type FA. This would leave them the money to resign Howard, or pursue another expensive 1B (Fielder, notably).
Now, excuse me while I finish my tinfoil chapeau construction.
Well I think they have SOME value, but I see your point.
As you said, they’ll need to fill:
1 SP (if Kendrick earns and KEEPS the spot this year, this is taken off)
1B
SS
LF
RF
bullpen
bench
I believe this is a good illustration of why the Lee trade had to happen. I’ll explain.
IMO:
At least one, possibly both OF slots should be filled internally (Brown/Gillies/Gose). Unless he poops the sheets, Brown is probably in RF next season.
They’ll be looking to fill at least two prominent bullpen slots internally (Aumont/Bastardo/Escalona/Flande/Ramirez/Mathieson)
If the Lee trade had NOT happened, the chances of filling BOTH OF slots PLUS bullpen help was slim to none. Adding Gillies, Aumont and Ramirez greatly improved the chances…and improved them within a timeframe that two draft picks would not fit.
SS and 1B will have to be FA’s, Rollins/Howard or others…BUT if they can get BOTH OF’s AND a good chunk of the bullpen from the farm, they have the money to compete for the best FA’s in at least one of those slots.
NOW, for the conspiracy portion of my post…the Cliff Lee deal signaled the end of Jimmy Rollins’ Phillies career:
It’s been noted recently that the Phils TURNED DOWN Michael Saunders, a highly-touted, gap-slugger SEA OF prospect (coming off a tough MLB debut, admittedly) and INSISTED on Tyson Gillies, though Gillies was considered a less valuable prospect by most evaluators. The reason for this in my conspiracy theory is they desperately want a new leadoff hitter, and adding Gillies to the mix with Gose doubled their chances of getting one. (both guys have been rated 80 speed on the 80-20 scale, Gillies stealing 44 bases last year, Gose 76)
If one of those two pans out, the Phils will let Rollins walk and fill SS with a defensively-solid, 6-8 hole type FA. This would leave them the money to resign Howard, or pursue another expensive 1B (Fielder, notably).
Now, excuse me while I finish my tinfoil chapeau construction.
Wren is a cold hearted person he wont even try to put together a good team for bobbys last season.
Good thing your arguement is so persuasive. Wren has put together a very dangerous team and maintained a top five farm system. What more could you ask?
Yeah I think he purposedly dealt Javier Vazquez just to spit Bobby Cox. He also didn’t sign Matt Holliday and John Lackey not due to having a budget, but becaues he has a personal vendetta against Cox.
Where do people get this stuff?
At least now I can stop obsessing about whether or not Anthony Clagett would clear waivers. Wheehhh…that was a close one.
Scott Boras said that “The Yankees never even made an offer to me regarding Johnny Damon during the entire process,”
and from Bob Klapisch twitter:
Cashman responds to Boras: “On Dec 17, we were told not to make an offer for a penny less than $13 million a year for two years.”
More Cashman: “Boras told me I wouldn’t find a No. 2 hitter for less than $13 million. I found one for half that (Nick Johnson).”
I love it!! The biggest spenders in baseball told Scott Boras to shove it!! This could put Boras out of business.
Haha, maybe Boras should have taken 15 sec and gone to baseball-reference.com to look at Johnson’s OBP. If I can do it I’m sure he can too.
After getting a 7r/126mil dollar deal for Holliday, I think Boras will be fine.
Its great for sure, but Boras is the highest t paid man in baseball
Its great for sure, but Boras is the highest t paid man in baseball
Well it won’t put him out of business, but it’s nice to see a GM call that slimeball on his latest version of “truth”. Kudos to Cashman
Well it won’t put him out of business, but it’s nice to see a GM call that slimeball on his latest version of “truth”. Kudos to Cashman
I love the some of the quotes from the NBC article on Braves & Damon:
“(a) his arm just won’t play in the Turner Field outfield; (b) he’s just not versatile enough to move around, and the Braves want to be able to move around their outfielders this year; and (c) he’s going to want too much money.”
“They’d reconsider if he went cheaper, but they just don’t care enough for him to think about making a bid.”
I’m glad my team is being run by some people who know what they are doing.
how can the cards not go after more pitching? something tells me we’re relying way too much on carp being healthy. if he goes down (a very possible scenario) we’re totally screwed.
Santana is ranked 11? The Dodgers’ front office really botched it this time.
Santana is ranked 11? The Dodgers’ front office really botched it this time.
I’m shocked Montero wasn’t a top 10 listing. His defense is shakey but he has to be a top 3 hitting prospect.
As am I. Hate on the Yankees all you want, Montero has the bat to make him at least a top 5 overall prospect.
Not only that, but he is #19! Wallace’s bat isn’t nearly as good and he projects to be an average 1B at best, how does he rank above Montero? Alvarez, again, a worse bat and he projects to have to swtich to1B as well. Escobar is still all-field, average hit in his ML projections – quite frankly, the entire list is a joke.
As am I. Hate on the Yankees all you want, Montero has the bat to make him at least a top 5 overall prospect.
Not only that, but he is #19! Wallace’s bat isn’t nearly as good and he projects to be an average 1B at best, how does he rank above Montero? Alvarez, again, a worse bat and he projects to have to swtich to1B as well. Escobar is still all-field, average hit in his ML projections – quite frankly, the entire list is a joke.
Like all prospect ranking systems, it’s subjective.
Like all prospect ranking systems, it’s subjective.
I’m shocked Montero wasn’t a top 10 listing. His defense is shakey but he has to be a top 3 hitting prospect.
I don’t believe a word Boras says. It was widely reported that the Yanks offered Damon a 2/14 deal. The fact that Boras was asking for a much bigger deal than that and constantly alluded to mystery teams probably caused Cashman to not extend any further offers but CLEARLY Damon was the Yanks top choice for the LF spot from the beginning. Boras is a revisionist who will color histor to suit his needs and protect his own a.ss
I don’t believe a word Boras says. It was widely reported that the Yanks offered Damon a 2/14 deal. The fact that Boras was asking for a much bigger deal than that and constantly alluded to mystery teams probably caused Cashman to not extend any further offers but CLEARLY Damon was the Yanks top choice for the LF spot from the beginning. Boras is a revisionist who will color histor to suit his needs and protect his own a.ss
Really surprised that Ethan Martin was ahead of Chris Withrow.
Really surprised that Ethan Martin was ahead of Chris Withrow.
That prospect list is entirely out of whack. I will just highlight some of the players above Jenry Mejia mentioned over at Amazin Avenue courtesy of Sam Page.
•51. Tyler Maztek, who has yet to throw a pro pitch
•49. Ethan Martin, good stuff but control problems kept him in Lo-A. One year older than Mejia
•47. Phillipe Aumont, a reliever who couldn’t throw strikes in AA. One year older than Mejia
•44. Jhoulys Chacin, a starter who had a good, not great year in AA and got promoted to the majors as a September call up. Two years older than Mejia
•43. Mike Montgomery, a starter who pitched between Rookie and A-Ball. A few months older than Mejia, Montgomery was successful by allowing no homeruns at a level where Mejia was successful by blowing everyone away.
•42. Jacob Turner, a high school draft pick with no pro experience. Oh, his fastball sits at 92. How projectable
•41. Aaron Crow, who is 3 years older than Mejia and has thrown all of 18 minor league innings due to two contract holdouts
•40. Drew Storen, a reliever, who is two years older than Mejia
•39. Tanner Scheppers, who is also 3 years older than Mejia and has not pitched yet due to a contract holdout. I think he pitched in some indy league last season.
•34. Julio Teheran, an 18-year-old with success in rookie league (Jenrry Mejia a season ago)
•28. Casey Kelly, a pitcher/short stop, who had success pitching in A-ball at Mejia’s age
Considering all of these guys are older or at Mejia’s and at a lower level kinda negates this Top 50 list. With Law putting the Mets at number 15 and Sickels also ranking their farm system a little above average makes Mayo’s projections even more silly.
You missed an important part of Page’s analysis: He admits his bias. As for Page’s statement of Mejia “dominating” AA hitters, he left out Mejia’s 4.7 BB/9 and his 1.51 WHIP in the same level. Before you can argue that as irrelevant, Page argues Aumont “couldn’t throw strikes in AA” yet had a higher K/9 than Mejia. Also Chacin did have a very good year in AA (despite Page’s attempts to tone it down), better than Mejia and is at a higher level than Mejia. Turner has been compared to Porcello explaining his rank. Etc.
Now before you blast me as a Mets basher (though I do seem to deserve that title as I tend to criticize them more than most teams), I’m not stating Mejia isn’t a top 50 prospect. Simply put, I have no clue since I never heard of the guy before your post. I’m simply pointing out other reasons why Mejia isn’t ranked where you want him to be. Rankings are subjective and take in multiple factors (yes, including hype). Even if a group of scouts had every conceivable piece of data on every prospect there would be only a few similarities between their lists.
You do tend to blast them a decent amount, but that is besides the point. There is bias obviously by both sam and i, but Law and Sickels both have Mejia and Fmart ranked higher than most of these guys. You also didn’t take into consideration Mejias age, and look at his Pitch f/x and you will see how high his potential is. Some of these guys I understand (Crow especially) why they are ranked higher, but omitting Mejia is an obvious mistake by Mayo.
Everyone on that list has high potential. Matzek, Chacin, Turner, Kelly, etc all have some group of scouts saying they’re going to be #1 or #2 arms. And we’re not talking about the difference between an 18 year old and a 25 year old, in most cases the age difference is less than a year, Teheran is a year younger even. Again, subjective. Some will see age as a liability rather than an asset. Younger also means immaturity of character, rushing a young kid through the system has rarely turned out to be a good idea. If you’re going to quote a higher level at a younger age as a good thing then how does that reflect on Strasburg who is 21?
You missed an important part of Page’s analysis: He admits his bias. As for Page’s statement of Mejia “dominating” AA hitters, he left out Mejia’s 4.7 BB/9 and his 1.51 WHIP in the same level. Before you can argue that as irrelevant, Page argues Aumont “couldn’t throw strikes in AA” yet had a higher K/9 than Mejia. Also Chacin did have a very good year in AA (despite Page’s attempts to tone it down), better than Mejia and is at a higher level than Mejia. Turner has been compared to Porcello explaining his rank. Etc.
Now before you blast me as a Mets basher (though I do seem to deserve that title as I tend to criticize them more than most teams), I’m not stating Mejia isn’t a top 50 prospect. Simply put, I have no clue since I never heard of the guy before your post. I’m simply pointing out other reasons why Mejia isn’t ranked where you want him to be. Rankings are subjective and take in multiple factors (yes, including hype). Even if a group of scouts had every conceivable piece of data on every prospect there would be only a few similarities between their lists.
That prospect list is entirely out of whack. I will just highlight some of the players above Jenry Mejia mentioned over at Amazin Avenue courtesy of Sam Page.
•51. Tyler Maztek, who has yet to throw a pro pitch
•49. Ethan Martin, good stuff but control problems kept him in Lo-A. One year older than Mejia
•47. Phillipe Aumont, a reliever who couldn’t throw strikes in AA. One year older than Mejia
•44. Jhoulys Chacin, a starter who had a good, not great year in AA and got promoted to the majors as a September call up. Two years older than Mejia
•43. Mike Montgomery, a starter who pitched between Rookie and A-Ball. A few months older than Mejia, Montgomery was successful by allowing no homeruns at a level where Mejia was successful by blowing everyone away.
•42. Jacob Turner, a high school draft pick with no pro experience. Oh, his fastball sits at 92. How projectable
•41. Aaron Crow, who is 3 years older than Mejia and has thrown all of 18 minor league innings due to two contract holdouts
•40. Drew Storen, a reliever, who is two years older than Mejia
•39. Tanner Scheppers, who is also 3 years older than Mejia and has not pitched yet due to a contract holdout. I think he pitched in some indy league last season.
•34. Julio Teheran, an 18-year-old with success in rookie league (Jenrry Mejia a season ago)
•28. Casey Kelly, a pitcher/short stop, who had success pitching in A-ball at Mejia’s age
Considering all of these guys are older or at Mejia’s and at a lower level kinda negates this Top 50 list. With Law putting the Mets at number 15 and Sickels also ranking their farm system a little above average makes Mayo’s projections even more silly.
“Scott Boras said that “The Yankees never even made an offer to me regarding Johnny Damon during the entire process,”and from Bob Klapisch twitter:Cashman responds to Boras: “On Dec 17, we were told not to make an offer for a penny less than $13 million a year for two years.”More Cashman: “Boras told me I wouldn’t find a No. 2 hitter for less than $13 million. I found one for half that (Nick Johnson).”++++++++++++++++++++LOL, love it. Boras bluff got called and Cashman told him to kiss his ar$e. I believe Boras said that about the #2 hitter thing, because when I heard him talking in regards to Damon, that is all he kept going on about how he fit the #2 hole, almost as though the Yankees need Damon more than he needed them. Well lets see the #2 spot next season, since a number two hitters job is to get on base ahead of the sluggersJohnny Damon – 550 at bats, 155 H, 71 BB, 2 HBP, 98 K (228 times on base)Nick Johnson – 457 at bats, 133 H, 99 BB, 12 HBP, 84 K (244 times on base)Nick Johnson was on base 16 more times than Damon in 103 less at bats. Put a base runner on base 16 more times in front of Tex and Arod and that is extra runs and rbi’s over a season. Now look at defense in Left Field next seasonDamon had 5 errors vs 0 errors for WinnDamon’s arm is -4.2 runs below average vs Winn’s 1.4 runs above averageDamon’s range is -3.7 runs below average vs Winn’s 13.8 runs above averageDamon’s UZR is -9.2 runs below average vs Winn’s 16.5 runs above averageDamon’s UZR/150 games is -12.1 runs below average vs Winn’s 20.1 runs above averageWinn is infinitely better in the field and its not even close, that is a plus when added to this lineupWinn even as a #9 hitter can still handle the bat. Johnny Damon had 550 at bats vs 538 at bats for WinnDamon had 155 Hits vs 141 hits for WinnDamon had 36 doubles vs 33 doubles for WinnDamon had 3 triples vs 5 triples for WinnDamon had 24 homeruns (17 at home, 7 away) vs 2 HR for WinnDamon had 12 steals vs 16 steals for WinnDamon is the better player on offense but the Yankees aren’t using Winn in the same role on offense as Damon. Damon was the Yankees 2 hitter, while Winn will be #9 at best. So lets see Winn will give for 1 year and 2 million dollars way better defensejust as much speedhitting in the #9 holeless offense but not clueless with the bat at all (i.e. an automatic out in the 9 hole)He will still get his share of hits and doubles while getting on in front of Jeter and JohnsonThis is all in addition to Cashman Trading for GrandersonTrading for Vazquez Signing Nick Johnsonand telling Boras to go to he!!, love it.
“Scott Boras said that “The Yankees never even made an offer to me regarding Johnny Damon during the entire process,”and from Bob Klapisch twitter:Cashman responds to Boras: “On Dec 17, we were told not to make an offer for a penny less than $13 million a year for two years.”More Cashman: “Boras told me I wouldn’t find a No. 2 hitter for less than $13 million. I found one for half that (Nick Johnson).”++++++++++++++++++++LOL, love it. Boras bluff got called and Cashman told him to kiss his ar$e. I believe Boras said that about the #2 hitter thing, because when I heard him talking in regards to Damon, that is all he kept going on about how he fit the #2 hole, almost as though the Yankees need Damon more than he needed them. Well lets see the #2 spot next season, since a number two hitters job is to get on base ahead of the sluggersJohnny Damon – 550 at bats, 155 H, 71 BB, 2 HBP, 98 K (228 times on base)Nick Johnson – 457 at bats, 133 H, 99 BB, 12 HBP, 84 K (244 times on base)Nick Johnson was on base 16 more times than Damon in 103 less at bats. Put a base runner on base 16 more times in front of Tex and Arod and that is extra runs and rbi’s over a season. Now look at defense in Left Field next seasonDamon had 5 errors vs 0 errors for WinnDamon’s arm is -4.2 runs below average vs Winn’s 1.4 runs above averageDamon’s range is -3.7 runs below average vs Winn’s 13.8 runs above averageDamon’s UZR is -9.2 runs below average vs Winn’s 16.5 runs above averageDamon’s UZR/150 games is -12.1 runs below average vs Winn’s 20.1 runs above averageWinn is infinitely better in the field and its not even close, that is a plus when added to this lineupWinn even as a #9 hitter can still handle the bat. Johnny Damon had 550 at bats vs 538 at bats for WinnDamon had 155 Hits vs 141 hits for WinnDamon had 36 doubles vs 33 doubles for WinnDamon had 3 triples vs 5 triples for WinnDamon had 24 homeruns (17 at home, 7 away) vs 2 HR for WinnDamon had 12 steals vs 16 steals for WinnDamon is the better player on offense but the Yankees aren’t using Winn in the same role on offense as Damon. Damon was the Yankees 2 hitter, while Winn will be #9 at best. So lets see Winn will give for 1 year and 2 million dollars way better defensejust as much speedhitting in the #9 holeless offense but not clueless with the bat at all (i.e. an automatic out in the 9 hole)He will still get his share of hits and doubles while getting on in front of Jeter and JohnsonThis is all in addition to Cashman Trading for GrandersonTrading for Vazquez Signing Nick Johnsonand telling Boras to go to he!!, love it.