Some links on this Wednesday evening…
- Yorvit Torrealba could end up with the Giants, according to Chris Haft of MLB.com. However, Torrealba may prefer to wait until after the weekend to sign with any club as his Venezuelan Winter League team is still active in the postseason.
- Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times tweets that in addition to Matt Kemp, the Dodgers are talking about multiyear deals with Jonathan Broxton and Andre Ethier.
- Carlos Beltran will have to refrain from baseball activities for twelve weeks after having his knee scoped, according to a Mets press release passed along by MetsBlog. The story was first reported by the New York Post's Joel Sherman (via Twitter). If all goes well with his rehabilitation, the center fielder should only miss a small amount of games to start the year.
- Free agent lefty Doug Davis is attracting interest from four teams, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The Twins, Brewers, Mets, and Nationals are all interested in the 34-year-old, who posted a 4.22 ERA with 6.7 K/9 over the last three years in Arizona.
- Fernando Tatis' agent told Thomas Harding of MLB.com that the Rockies had preliminary discussions with his client earlier this week. About a week ago, we heard that the Rockies were eyeing the 35-year-old for a bench role. Also, two major league sources tell Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports that the Mariners are interested as well.
- Former Brewers closer Derrick Turnbow will audition for at least 16 teams on Friday in Phoenix, according to a report from ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. The 31-year-old demanded his release from the Rangers back in May.
- If the Nats are able to sign Orlando Hudson or Adam Kennedy to play second base, Cristian Guzman and his $8MM salary are unlikely to be moved elsewhere, writes Bill Ladson of MLB.com. Guzman would remain at shortstop, where his agent insists that he is still valuable despite shoulder surgery.
- Pittsburgh's signing of Ryan Church could pay huge dividends for the club, says ESPN's Rob Neyer. If Church is healthy and generates interest from other clubs, the Pirates will be able to move him for a more valuable commodity.
I guess we have to trust Neil Huntington…
“If Church is healthy and generates interest from other clubs, the Pirates will be able to move him for a more valuable commodity”
Like Jeff Francoeur!
Rejoice Pittsburgh fans! Yes, you have a Triple A team, but at least you’ve got a pretty good AAA team! That said, I’m still picking Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to win the North division. The Pirates aren’t THAT good.
Better than if we stayed with that Jerk Littlefield! He was horrible at scouting prospects!
Big thumbs up to Neil Huntington with the moves he’s made this offseason!
I have to say, as a Nats fan who always liked Ryan Church, that it is sad that Neyer is talking about moving him for a more valuable commodity before the season even starts. I would like to consider the possibility that he might be a valuable commodity of his own right, and might turn out to be more useful for Pittsburgh than Lastings Milledge.
It’s sad that the Pirates are now generally seen as a minor league team for the big market ball clubs. I’d like to think that if Church actually has a good year, they will keep him and see how things play out. He will still be under team control.
Someone tell Rob Neyer it’s Ryan Church, not Grady Sizemore.
The Mets are going to miss out on Orlando Hudson. I say the Nats sign him to a 2 yr deal. O-Dog has already shown interest in Washington.
Geez, 16 teams are interested in Turnblow? Don’t expect much. The guy was successful for all of about a season and a half. He was great in ’05, great in the first half of ’06, sucked badly (21.32 ERA in July) in the second half of ’06, and was removed from the closer role. He struggled a lot in ’07, and was so bad he got DFA’d in ’08. In the minors in ’08 he suffered a “near-total command meltdown”, caused by a slight labrum tear, and he hasn’t been the same since.
As I said, don’t expect much. I’m rooting for him, but I really wouldn’t expect much.
Tatis is not a bad idea for the M’s as long as he doesn’t cost much. A better version of Bill Hall too be honest.
I believe this is a better way of handling the injury rather than posting its own subject about Beltran’s injury – although I still question why I have never seen other news reports of injuries or any other mishappenings besides rumors of trades.
They frequently post other transactions besides trades. They also frequently make posts about the disabled list (just do a search for “disabled list” on the side if you’d like). They’re not out to get the Mets or anyone else.
What a way for the Mets to start the season. So much for getting healthier this year. Not sure why he wouldnt have gotten this done sooner. I think instead of signing the team should be dumping. I would have traded everyone except Santana, Wright and Francouer. I have a feeling they are gonna pay Bay to help them be a third place team.
They should claim he voided his contract and therefore is out of it, goodbye injury liability.
If the Mets are going to try and compete this year why dont they go for Lowell and put him at first. I dont think he would kill them in the power department at that ball park and would be killer defensively. Of course this is all contingent on the Red Sox paying 9 mill of his salary.
I like where you are going with this as long as we can give up basically nothing.
Castillo? That’s probably worth about nothing imo…
At this point i’ll go on a very wild tangent and say sign Lowell put him at first and put Murph into CF. Yes, Angel Pagan was the backup CF but his base running problems clearly did not sit well with the Mets so this, although a very odd solution, could be intersting – though I obviously think there is 0 chance this happens.
So much for Beltrán’s glove making up for Bay’s sub-par range & defense…at least for now.
The O’s have a spare CFer in Pie to deal. MacPhail won’t give him away, but chances are, Beltran isn’t going to be playing CF when he does come back with his knee issues so the Mets need a CFer for the future.
And FMart is more of a corner OFer.
Ah yes…Felix Pie and his glove. The problem is it’s preferable to have offense along with your defense at CF, and that .244/.305/.383 career line of his does not hold much promise in that department.
As a Cards fan, I have wished that Cards would get rid of both Ryans (Ludwick and Franklin) ever since they turned down chances to play for Team USA last March because they were newly appointed RF starter and closer respectively!! I don’t know if they would have helped to get a better result for Americans but their refusals seem very self-absorbed decisions. Made me disgusted and hate to see them wearing birds on the bat on their jersey. So send them to Colorado with a pitching prospect or two in exchange for Brad Hawpe. Then sign Dotel and Calero(beware of shoulder issues with him)then team would be all set to carry the season through to championship regardless how ( inexpensive) youngsters performed at 3rd base and 5th starter
Rick Ankiel just became more attractive.
Ankeil can play RF if/when Frenchy goes back to his Braves way or Ankiel can compete w/ Pagan for CF until/if Beltran comes back.
I’d sign Baldelli before Ankiel… If the mets are at all confident in Beltran coming back sooner rather than later, they won’t have to worry about Baldelli falling prey to fatigue. He’s a good ball player and probably a good guy to have in the dugout. Then when Beltan comes back, you have options with him, Francouer and Pagan… although maybe too many OF options.
This bites! That’s 8-12 weeks before RESUMING BASEBALL ACTIVITIES!!!! That means he still has to play rehab games after that. Best-case-scenario Beltran comes back the the major league team late April, and that’s wishful thinking.
I rather the Dodgers offer Bills a deal than Ethier, unless they plan on him being there for a long time. Oh and this makes me extremely happy if they are really serious about it.