Action-packed links for Wednesday…
- NL offense rankings are up at RotoAuthority, courtesy of CHONE projections and the Baseball Musings lineup analysis tool. The Rockies are on top and the Padres bring up the rear, but plenty will change as the season unfolds.
- Two closers were named in recent days, and our Twitter account @CloserNews passed along the info instantly to allow you to make the winning fantasy pickups.
- The Rangers are attempting to work out a trade with the Giants that will allow them to retain Rule 5 lefty Ben Snyder, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Snyder already cleared waivers, reports MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. Sullivan also notes that Matt Treanor chose not to exercise his out clause; he's headed to Triple A.
- WEEI's Rob Bradford writes that although the Rangers are scouting Mike Lowell today and they're more interested in him than any other club, a deal is unlikely now and the Rangers would want the Red Sox to pay almost all of his salary. Bradford also notes that earlier this offseason, the Rangers expressed interest in Jed Lowrie.
- Free agent Kevin Millar hopes to continue his playing career, he explained on ESPN's Waddle & Silvy show.
- Diamondbacks second baseman Kelly Johnson strongly considered offers from the Blue Jays, Pirates, and Indians, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.
- The A's feel that out of options players Eric Patterson and Jake Fox would not clear waivers, so they're likely to send Landon Powell and Adam Rosales down (Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reporting).
- Baseball America's Matt Eddy offers analysis and predictions for seven out of options pitchers.
- The Orioles are looking for a suitor for catcher Chad Moeller, who is "shocked and disappointed" about not making the team according to Dan Connolly and Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltmore Sun. Peter Schmuck feels that Moeller was a better choice than Craig Tatum.
- Jeff Suppan explained to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy that he's not dealing with a phantom neck injury, despite the convenient timing.
- Though they could've saved $750K, the Nationals chose not to cut Scott Olsen according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs knows the Mariners, and he analyzes the organization's health in this article.
If the Sox are still looking for infielders, I nominate Millar
I say we trade both Lowrie and Lowell for a nice bag of poo at this point and just let everyone get on with their lives already
Haha, terrific idea. That bag of poo will probably get some time at third and first and couple probably throw up some respectable numbers.
On a more serious note, I don’t think we will be hearing too much more about this Lowell situation as the season nears its start. The Rangers pretty much want Lowell to be handed to them, and the Sox don’t seem to be inclined to oblige them. Since no deal seems to be in line the Sox are going to be stuck with him as the season starts. I still think the Rangers are going to pick up someone else who they can get on the cheap and without giving up any players. Millar doesn’t seem to be an option though, since I have been led to believe that the Rangers want someone who can play both infield corners.
In regards to Jed Lowrie, now that the Sox have Scutaro on board for a couple years, it seems to me that they may use Lowrie as a trade chip at the deadline this year. It will give them time to see if Scutaro can perform in Boston and to see if Lowrie can produce a solid line in Triple A.
well considering he is now on the disabled list, again, his value is once again nothing. its hard to sell Lowrie when he gets hurt every week.
quick, someone take Cito Gaston on vacation before he realizes Kevin millar is a free agent
i didnt say that Lowell was poo, i like Lowell, but he isnt useful to the team now. He COULD throw up decent numbers, but his range has vanished at third and the last thing we need is another “can play 1st but doesnt play there everyday” first baseman. Give Lowell a chance on another team, he will get annoyed being a bench player, the fans will get annoyed and so will management because of the 12 million he is owed. I love Lowell, and I hope when he ends up in Texas, ans he will, he puts up good numbers when Vlad hits the DL, which he also will do soon enough.
As for Lowrie, i liked him and his skill at short as a defender, but he cant stay healthy from one day to the next, he is the Kerry Wood of short stop prospects. We have Marco to play this year and maybe the next, then we have Jose to play in the future, hopefully. Lowrie had his chance, it passed him by, now we are just wasting our and his time by pretending we are going to do anything with him.
Like I said
Texas Gets: Lowell and Lowrie
Boston Gets: Poo
I know you didn’t say that, I was just joking around with the proposal that Boston gets a bag of poo for Lowell.
I do understand what you’re saying, and the Sox would be best be served to take what they can get for him as you say, but I still don’t think the Sox are going to give him away as you suggest they should.
Lowrie has been a mess of injuries lately and that’s why I think think you keep him for to start the year and see if can’t turn himself into someone that can be used as a potential trade chip. I think giving up Lowell and Lowrie in a trade to Texas in which the Red Sox would receive “Poo” would be a waste. Lowrie has most certainly been limited by his injuries, but he still does have some potential. It may not be limitless but the Sox might be able to throw him into a deal to get something of use at the deadline.
Well, the Sox have made it more than public that they don’t want Lowell and they need to free up a roster spot, it would be very unwise for any team to offer any player in return. Boston has no leverage right now, and everyone knows it
Well they may not have any leverage, but if they were so desperate to get rid of him they would’ve just released him. Either way they’re going to end up eating just about all of his salary.
Weren’t the Giants looking for middle infield help? The Rangers could give the Giants Gregorio Petit.
I don’t think the Giants really want him. They just gave up Frandsen. I think they’re both very similar players although I could be mistaken. The Giants confuse me though. I’m not sure though. I guess they just sent Frandsen packing because of his attitude and the fact that he didn’t want to be a bench player or something.
The Giants already have Freddy Sanchez, Emmanuel Burriss, Juan Uribe, Ryan Rohlinger, Matt Downs and Eugenio Velez who can all play middle infield positions.
As far as Frandsen goes, he is a perfect change of scenery guy. The Giants didn’t see him progressing as they would have liked, and his coming home early from winter league ball didn’t help – though he did have a quad injury.
True enough, but Sanchez and Buriss are out with injuries. As for Downs and Rohlinger they have very little ML experience, that leaves Velez and Uribe. I don’t know that seems good enough to me though. If Velez and/or Uribe get hurt then maybe it would make sense to go after someone like Petit or maybe Augie Ojeda.
I doubt the Dbacks would make an interdivision trade with Ojeda. Besides, Sanchez and Burriss’ injuries won’t keep them out long. While you are correct that Rohlinger and Downs possess little ML experience, they would still be a suitable stopgap. A trade for someone in a position of surperflicity would be both myopic and shortsighted.
The DBack would probably prefer not to make an inter-division trade, but for someone like Ojeda I don’t think they would completely rule it out if they got an offer they liked.
Still I said that Uribe and Velez are adequate until Sanchez and Buriss return. I agree that trading for someone wouldn’t be wise unless one of those two guys went down before early May when the two aforementioned players are due to return.
That Cameron post was really bad. I thought it was rough reading about how bad he thinks the Angels are. It was worse, reading how good he thinks the M’s will be. I normally enjoy reading Cameron’s thoughts but this organizational ranking has been a mess. Granted he isn’t solely responsible for the rankings but man … some are just real head scratchers.
Fool!! They have Nintendo and Jack Z. They rule.
Fool!! They have Nintendo and Jack Z. They rule.