Links for Tuesday…
- SI's Tom Verducci lists his 13 most interesting non-roster invitees.
- Aaron Boone has officially retired and joined ESPN as an analyst. USA Today's Bob Nightengale first reported in October that Boone was likely to hang up the spikes.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says that John Smoltz currently prefers to start, but he'll be more open to relieving if he signs midseason. The Cardinals apparently do not have the funds to re-sign Smoltz.
- MLB.com's Bill Ladson tweets that Kris Benson is no longer talking to the Nationals, despite the pitcher's assertion yesterday.
- WEEI's Alex Speier tweets that the Red Sox released southpaw Jose Capellan.
- MLB.com's transactions page says Boston also released righty Edwin Moreno, who they signed to a minor league deal a month ago. Augusto Cardenas first tweeted of the move on Thursday, saying that Moreno will play in Mexico instead.
- Speier also has an article about David Ortiz reaching a career crossroads. Speier finds it unlikely that the Sox exercise Ortiz's $12.5MM club option for 2011.
Well, I guess it’s Boone’s time to go now but he gave it a really good fight. Happy trails…!
If I was Kris Benson I would be talking to every team possible.
If I was Benson, I’d take the first deal on the table or else give up. He’s got plenty of money but he’s not much of an asset anymore. He should just take whatever job is offered to him or retire.
Believe it or not, the guy is broke & I don’t mean physically.
“Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez won’t think about his opt-out until after the season”
After the season for the Cubs is June.
Aramis has the easiest decision in baseball. After looking at what Free Agents are getting i would say a 14 mil option is a pretty easy decision
I disagree. Something like three years and $36 mil, which might be attainable, could be preferable.
interesting. He will have to play over 145 games to prove health coming off an injury plagued season. Unless Vitters is accelerated I’m thinking the Cubbies would be hoping to keep him around for one more year and then hand the job over to Vitters in 2012
If he doesnt opt-out he will make 30.6 over 2 seasons and will likely be able to reach a 1 year, 5 MM deal for 2013 from someone. The risk involved in chasing the 3/36 you say is possible isnt worth the fact he will almost certainly receive that amount if he doesnt opt-out.
I say he says no to the opt-out on the condition the Cubs to pick up the 2012 option and ends up making more money from 2011-2013 then what you say he might be able to get on the open market by opting out.
The “Listen Live” link on 590 the Fan never works.
I don’t think there’s really any way that the Sox exercise Ortiz’s option for 12.5 million. But…what if Ortiz hits 30+ Home Runs and drives in 120, do the Sox bring Ortiz back? I imagine it would depend on any mid-season trades and whether or not they extend Victor Martinez.
If he does that, they’ll offer him a small contract for PR purposes. He’s at the tail end of his career and he’s overpaid for a DH to begin with. The biggest problem with Ortiz’s current contract is that it was offered in a much higher economy. If Ortiz was willing to take a one year $4-5MM year deal (Or a $1-2MM incentive laden deal) I could picture them bringing him back to stay as a dedicated DH, but anything more than that and it’s a no chance scenario.
Aaron BOOOOOOOOONE!
There’s no way the Sox bring Papi back for 2011. The Sox are positioning themselves to acquire A-Gon within the next few months and will need financial flexibility to extend his contract long-term. Keeping Papi and V-Mart restricts the Sox from bringing on A-Gon.
Considering the Pad’s GM knows the RSox system as well as Theo does, what do you think the Sox would have to give up for AGon? There will be no fooling the guy and selling high on the Lars Anderson’s of the system and Theo hates to give up the guys he loves (Kelly, Westmoreland), so I am personally not sure the Sox are the team to get it done.
K Man, you’re right that the Pads aren’t gonna give A-Gon to the Sox. The Sox will have to pay dearly for him, especially sine the Pads GM is a former underling of Theo. But don’t think that, if push comes to shove, Theo won’t pull the trigger. He coveted V-Mart last year and in my opinion gave up quite a bit to get him (Masterson, Nick Hagadone, Bryan Price).
It was much easier for Boston to give up those pitchers when they also had Buchholz, Tazawa, Bowden, Bard and Kelly.
Now, if they made moves, they’d presumably deal from their strengths, which are primarily in the outfield (Westmoreland, Kalish, Reddick, Fuentes, Hissey, Lin), at first base (Anderson, Rizzo), and at shortstop (Iglesias, Tejeda, Gibson, Renfroe, Navarro).
Obviously, with Blanks in tow, Anderson and Rizzo won’t be too appealing to San Diego.
But I believe that they could make a good enough package to tempt San Diego if they’re willing to include Kelly or Westmoreland along with a few of their other second-tier prospects.
ortiz is going to be done unless he swallows his pride and accepts a one year deal well below 10 million dollars. teams dont value plodding DH’s who clog the bases and have deteriorating skills nearly as much anymore.
Leyland, you’re right. I think the biggest problem is the fact that the league is changing towards faster, more athletic players who can play different positions. Even at the DH spot, teams are looking for someone who can at least field a position at a decent level. No one is going to pay 10 million dollars to a 35 year old DH who is on the decline. If Papi has a good season, I can see them offering Papi a deal between 3-5 million.
José Capellán, whom the Red Sox released, is righthanded (unless he changed throwing arms in recent years).
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=2236&position=P
Never mind, I no longer like this. Well, actually I still like it b/c in theory it’s funny but apparently there are three individuals named Jose Capellan & the one released was indeed a lefty.
Remembre when the Jose Capellan linked to on the Fan Graphs page was supposed to be the next big arm?
I remember … and thanks for correcting me on Jose Capellan.
José Capellán, whom the Red Sox released, is righthanded (unless he changed throwing arms in recent years).
Based upon what we know about St. Louis’ available money, the fact that they cannot afford Smoltz means either he’s asking an exorbitant sum or they have something special planned. I’d lean towards the latter.
Was there actually some thought that Boston might pick up that option? Come now, man.