Rich Aurilia isn't ready to retire, reports Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. The 38-year-old corner infielder is seeking a minor league deal, and he'd like to play for the Yankees or Mets. Baggarly notes that Aurilia and new Yankee Randy Winn are old friends.
Aurilia signed a minor league deal with the Giants in February of last year and proceeded to have a rough 133 plate appearances. He doesn't blame injuries – in fact, Aurilia's trips to the DL were for phantom injuries (at the Giants' request).
Why not, right?
A waste of a 40 man roster slot that’s why.
I think Moebarguy was being sarcastic ( at least i am assuming so).
Correct. I would just make sense in terms of the direction this team is being led in.
Phantom Injuries.. oh okay.
Phantom Injuries:
1. Playing catch with your teenager and throwing out your elbow
2. Walking upstairs and pulling a groin muscle
3. Trying to spice up the bedroom and throwing out your back
lol
Thanks,but no thanks.
Minor League deal aint bad at all, Yanks probably take him.
Although they really can give Kevin Russo or Ramiro Pena a chance. Knowing Minaya, he will jump right at him since he missed out on John Lackey, Ben Sheets, Joel Pineiro, Bengie Molina, Rich Harden, Jon Garland, Doug Davis and Randy Wolfy.
Did I miss anyone? oh Yeah they actually signed like three catchers that are in the range of 38-41 years old, great offseason for the Metropolitans.
Phantom injuries…are we talking Andruw Jones here?
No thanks from this Yankee fan.
Oh, that’s “Rich!”
Pass.
Wish in one hand, crap in the other… see which one gets filled first.
I dont get it… The one with the wishes in it?
Rush Limbaugh named Rich Aurillia ‘the Scott Brown of washed-up 1B’
Why not for the Yankees? Minor league deal, see if it works out in spring training, if not, then you cut. If he works out, you use as a backup 1st/3rd baseman, and possibley outfield. No reason to not give him a chance.
No Thanks for both the Mets and Yankees.
as a yankees i say yes because it gives pena more time in the minors to play the outfield (joe wanted him to learn left) and if Rich doesnt good in the spring then cut him and you have pena no harm done
i would love it if aurilia signs with the mets. because i am a braves fan.
Rich Aurillia is still alive?
Phantom injuries? That’s not exactly legal, right?… Is baseball ever going to do something about disabled list dishonesty?
My thoughts exactly. That sounded quite unethical.
I watched the same thing happen with the Cubs last year. It was just so blatant. “Somebody has to come off the DL soon and the Cubs have to make a hard deci–OH WAIT, LOOK, ANOTHER INJURY!”Hell, look at David Patton. Rule 5 pick, but not really earning his roster spot. OH GOSH, INJURY! He’s on the major-league DL fo the rest of the year and we get to keep him! Cha-ching!It’s really crazy, and I say that as a Cubs fan. Aurillia basically called them out, and there needs to be repercussions for it. I don’t know that there is ultimately any solution to stop the problem from occurring; perhaps MLB should review medical records on suspicious DL stints and ask the player under oath if it was true at some point. It would require a pretty hefty fine worked into the next CBA. Some players would be willing to lie but many others wouldn’t. Either way, there needs to be consequences when people do get caught.
I know the Dodgers might of done it last year when Kershaw played chicken with the wall and lost.
that was because he didnt want to square off against Lincecum.. I remember that clearly.. Kershaw and Lincecum were set to battle against each other in the first game of a weekend series, I believe at AT&T Park.. and then a couple days before the game it was reported that he was hurt and would skip his next start.. lol.. b*tch.
but in regards to Aurilia basically calling them out about it, since he made it well known that he was unhappy about the situation and basically said to ask the team about the injury when he was approached by reporters, he should have been grateful that the team decided to put him on the 15-day DL as opposed to DFA’ing him.. they did him a favor since they wanted him to finish out the season with the Giants and ride off into the sunset retiring as a Giant.
As a Giants fan, I’ll explain. Late in the season, after we traded for F Sanchez and Ryan Garko, we needed someone off the 25 man roster. Aurilia was able to avoid being DFA by staying on the DL. It was a way for a fan favorite like Aurilia to respectfully leave SF.
He should have announced his retirement at the last Giants game. It’s painful to watch him play.
Teams do it all the time.
The Mets finally find the piece they needed.
Id like the Mets to give him a camp invite and/or a minor league deal. He plays multiple positions and in 2008 he hit .321 and had a .908 ops in 137 AB’s against lefties and his career numbers aginst lefties are .283/.340/.487 with an .827 ops. Sounds like a good bench bat and if he still has something he could platoon with Murphy at first against some lefties.
he may sound like a good bench bat but he really isnt anymore.. good luck with that, though.. he did have some great years in SF and we thank him for his services.. I do hope he goes to the Yanks so he has a shot at a ring, he deserves one.
No shot.
If the Mets buy into the “hometown guy” aspect, then they should have went after Julio Lugo at the deadline last year. Look what he did for STL. I only had to stare at his jersey in my high school gym for 4 years.
Chill out jealous guy. Julio Lugo is just a better guy than you. Deal with it. So a player wanting to sign with his hometown team is bullshit because of Lugo. Lugo has been shite for 5 years now, Aurilia was decent in 2008.
A woman sitting in front of us called Richie’s 7th inning shot off of Wainwright to give the Giants a win this past May in SF. My ten year old couldn’t believe it. Always enjoyed Aurilia’s game, that being said I’d be stunned if he made a big league club. He can’t run and barely hit’s anymore.
big rich aurila fan, great guy, met him a few years ago, local ny guy, would be a good fit with the yankees, better option than cody ransom was at 3rd base