Links for Tuesday…
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin tells MLB.com's Adam McCalvy that there's "no sense of urgency" to the Prince Fielder extension talks, since Fielder's "not going anywhere" for now.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets that Chris Young (the Padres' version) could be a trade candidate this year, but that the right-hander would be better served staying in the National League.
- Morosi also lays out the decision facing the White Sox as A.J. Pierzynski's contract approaches its end. We discussed the catcher's next contract here.
- Daisuke Matsuzaka wants to play in the majors for at least another decade, according to WEEI's Rob Bradford.
- SI's Tom Verducci explains a radical floating realignment concept that was discussed by Bud Selig's "special committee for on-field matters."
- Joe Posnanski describes Aroldis Chapman's spring debut in this SI column.
- Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog reports that the Mets re-signed pitcher Kyle Snyder to a minor league deal. Snyder posted a 4.23 ERA, 6.4 K/9, and 2.8 BB/9 in 104.3 Triple A innings last year.
- Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch explores the recent pattern of the Cardinals acquiring rejected Red Sox players.
- ESPN's Keith Law opines that "if the season started this week, [Kyle Farnsworth would] have to be a candidate for unconditional release."
- MLB.com's Jason Beck caught up with Blue Jays pitcher Casey Fien, who bounced around between three clubs in a short span this winter.
- Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald says the 2007 Marlins-Tigers Miguel Cabrera blockbuster hasn't panned out as planned so far.
Easy there, Keith. Don’t let Farnsy hear you say that or he’ll start punching things again.
I’d give Farnsworth a shot in the Rotation for a month or two. Once Crow is ready, that rotation will be better but if they do release Farnsworth, I think Disco Hayes deserves a shot in the pen.
As for Chapman, Let him be in the 5th spot in the opening day rotation! No one can discount what he did yesterday and he really does deserve a shot.
It’s also spring training and hitters aren’t nearly as good as they are on opening day.
Give him a year in the minors is what I say.
It’s also spring training and hitters aren’t nearly as good as they are on opening day.
Give him a year in the minors is what I say.
“No one can discount what he did yesterday”
Yes you can, it was 2 innings. Yes he throws 100, you need more than that if you want to succeed. No reason to rush him.
Actually, I disagree. A starting pitcher doesn’t need to throw in the upper 90’s. A starter needs to locate and throw different pitches. If Chapman can throw mid-low 90’s but locate his fastball, he should be great. Especially if he has a good change-up, 2 seamer, Curve and/or Slider.
I agree, let the kid start in the Majors. The sooner Dusty can start ruining that arm, the better.
I’d give Farnsworth a shot in the Rotation for a month or two. Once Crow is ready, that rotation will be better but if they do release Farnsworth, I think Disco Hayes deserves a shot in the pen.
As for Chapman, Let him be in the 5th spot in the opening day rotation! No one can discount what he did yesterday and he really does deserve a shot.
Lowell might actually help St. louis some with his bat and quite possibly will be a salary dump pretty soon, but I would not expect him to be given away for a Chris duncan discard type player like the hapless Lugo was. Lowell may have little to no range anymore, but still carries a lethal bat and has that leadership quality that on a team such as the cardinals, could possibly make a difference. If the Cards are perhaps willing to give up someone, of the quality of Max Ramirez whom Texas was prepared to earlier, then ca see the Sox eating most of his contract and moving him soon. otherwise he will stay as RH DH and 1b/3B backup until that time comes.
Am curious how man Cardinal fans would of rather seen that 7M given to Brad Penny saved for Pinero. Not that don’t think Penny can have success in St.Louis, because him being back in the NL was just what he needed after his arm troubles were finally figured out getting out of LA.
All things being equal, I would have preferred Pineiro over Penny. Penny has the bigger upside if he stays healthy, but the Cards aren’t supposed to be in a position where we need tons of starting pitching. Wainwright, Carp, Lohse and two .500 guys should be enough to win with the offense the FO has acquired. We needed a durable and consistent #4-5 guy and Penny doesn’t seem to fit that bill, though it’s still only early March.
We do have a catcher of Max caliber in Brian Anderson, who was injured all of last year, but has a really solid bat and just needs to be a better catcher. Anderson is pretty redundant now that we have Stock who I believe is a much better hitter, and ofcourse there is still Molina. We don’t really need Lowell though with the huge glut of infielders we have.
Well, the thing that I can see with the Penny decision is that Pineiro nets us a draft pick, which is utterly fantastic for us since our farm system is devastatingly shallow. Pineiro was also not very good down the stretch last season. You can attribute some of that to fatigue, but I wasn’t willing to pay for 2 years of it. Penny is a short and sweet investment that could pay off very well, or it could just hurt the franchise minimally. Pineiro was probably going to be more consistent, but if Everything goes as planned, including Penny being a very good starter, that’s a hell of a 3 man rotation, which was probably the main focus of this signing.
It’s hard to say. Piniero wasn’t stellar before he came over to the Cards. Hopefully Duncan works his magic with Penny and this won’t be a conversation anymore. I’d say Penny wins 12 games for the Cards at least. Youngsters (McClellan too) look sharp this early. A 12-10 Penny and .500 rookie sounds great.
I would rather have Lowell patrolling 3B and hitting 7th than Freese. Let Freese get a season on the STL bench this year filling in at 3b and 1b.
Penny’s problems while with Boston, was his complete inability to command his curve ball. he was throwing 95-98MPH consistently and his arm seemed to be fine, once they properly diagnose what his problems were after signing him after the ’08 season.
If Duncan can get Penny to locate his CB once again, see no reason why he cannot be superior to what Pinero was, but that is the scary part, because Penny’s FB has -0- movement. A 1 pitch pitcher, even in the NL is not going to stay on the mound for very long.
^Exactly right.
Penny doesn’t have very good command with his fastball, but he throws it very hard. When he can throw the curve for strikes, he’s able to get by on his stuff — sometimes very well. But when his curve is dirtball-or-meatball as it usually was last year, both it AND his hard fastball are HR Derby pitches.
I don’t see him winning 12 games for STL.
I’m excited to see what Davey Duncan can do for Penny. The man’s track record is w/o reproach.
No doubt. I shouldn’t be confused for wanting less than the best for Penny. I’d love to see a return to form.
Nice article on my boy Chapman!
Chapman is certainly bringing the press with him the spring, which is nice. I still think he’s going to start in the minors till June at the earliest, simply to insure he avoids being arbitration eligible after three years (and invoking an expensive clause in his contract). But if the Reds can stay in the Central race for the first few months, he could be the boost they need come summertime!
I agree. I think He’ll be down in the minors at least until Mid-May/June. But that is if he pitches well.
It’s awesome to actually see a Reds player that people are talking about and is getting on the MLB Network and ESPN.
I agree. I think He’ll be down in the minors at least until Mid-May/June. But that is if he pitches well.
It’s awesome to actually see a Reds player that people are talking about and is getting on the MLB Network and ESPN.
Nice article on my boy Chapman!
even if in your heart of hearts you believe lackey isn’t a big loss, please don’t go spouting off about it. foot, big toe first, in mouth please. the angels have a hard enough time continuing their season past the Bostoners (prior to last year of course) without giving playoff starters a reason to stick it them more so.
disclaimer: unless he was misquoted/lead in that direction by the plethora of BS that all reporters use and abuse.
Right? Them grapes is sour.
I’m guessing he was responding to the question, “What are you going to do now that you lost your best pitcher and don’t have a true #1 ?”
After hearing that question for the thousandenth time this was the response. I don’t think it was intended to slight Lackey (who was universally loved by Angels management) as much as a statement that the team has a very solid 1-5 and that Lackey’s loss has been mitigated.
even if in your heart of hearts you believe lackey isn’t a big loss, please don’t go spouting off about it. foot, big toe first, in mouth please. the angels have a hard enough time continuing their season past the Bostoners (prior to last year of course) without giving playoff starters a reason to stick it them more so.
disclaimer: unless he was misquoted/lead in that direction by the plethora of BS that all reporters use and abuse.
Really, who is “better served” in AL?
Chris Young for Brad Holt and Kirk Nieunweiss?
I am not sure if that would be a deal the Mets would make. The Padres would like to see if Holt could regain some of his old stuff, but I am sure the Mets would as well. If the Padres moved Young it wouldn’t take that much, like just Holt for him. The Padres would move the contract owed to him (14.75 million over the next two years) and his injury history. (Which also makes me doubt that Mets would be a bidder for him)
Gotcha. I’m just saying if the Mets could acquire someone like Young who is effective when healthy (when healthy) they would really benefit. Like maybe a trade for Bronson Arroyo or Ian Snell. Chris Young on the other hand needs to pitch a full half-season (if that makes any sense) before anyone talks trades with the Padres. If he does, I expect Jed Hoyer to get more than a few phone calls.
I agree. Young can be a solid #2/3 starter when healthy, but health has been his major problem. He also has a massive home/road split due to the fact he is a flyball pitcher, but Citi would be a good place for him, as long as the Mets can field a decent defensive team in the outfield. But he will only be moved if he can prove his health for more then a 2 month span, which has been the problem the last two year. But I think if he can stay healthy to the deadline this year, some team in need of pitching might come calling.
Chris Young for Brad Holt and Kirk Nieunweiss?
I think DiceK should worry about pitching 6 innings a start before he worries about pitching for 10 years
I’m hopeful that as last year was the year he learned he cannot sustain MLB performance on his previous training style without significant wear-and-tear, this will be the year he learns he cannot sustain MLB performance on his previous PITCHING style.
The days of 180 pitch quality starts are long gone. Throw strikes, learn to pitch to contact in certain situations, and MIX-IN your plus off-speed stuff rather than starting from it. The guy’s ceiling is still pretty high. With his stuff and command, he’s capable of dominance. He’s just got to concede that the old way doesn’t cut it here and devote himself to perfecting a new approach.
Interesting article about the Marlins-Tigers trade. Cabrera gets drunk one weekend, and they act like he’s been a plague since he became a Tiger. They mention how he went 0-4 a game while drunk, but don’t mention how it was a 5-1 loss anyways. If he truly was heavily drinking all last season, those are damn good numbers and since he’s sober now he would have to be the MVP favorite this season. No way Mauer repeats that performance.
Perhaps if he hadn’t gone 0-4 it wouldn’t have been a 5-1 loss, that’s the whole point. He had some costly mental errors during that game as well. Had he put the same effort into preparing for the game as he did beating the hell out of his wife it may have been a different story.
Cabrera left 6 on base in that game, 3 of whom were in scoring position, and he had the rally killing double play to end the 8th. Though Miguel Cabrera’s alcoholism was more of a side note of the article. The real point of the article was pretty much what Bones says below.
If he was truly drunk all the time last year like the article suggests, I’d have a Crown Royal footlocker installed for him.
It’s absolutely ludicrous for this writer, or any other for that matter, to judge a player on one 0-4 game. The Tigers aren’t in game 163 last year (or anywhere close to it) without Miguel Cabrera, period.
/ Why couldn’t he? Mauer can be even better. He didn’t play a full season last year.
In the 4 seasons prior to 2009, the highest OPS posted by Mauer was 936. He averaged an OPS of 852 over that time period (2200+ PA’s). Reaching or eclipsing an OPS of 1030+ is an awful tall order and not likely.
In the 4 seasons prior to 2009, the highest OPS posted by Mauer was 936. He averaged an OPS of 852 over that time period (2200+ PA’s). Reaching or eclipsing an OPS of 1030+ is an awful tall order and not likely.
The article about the Florida-Detroit exchange is a nice piece which further exemplifies the folly of getting all hung up on prospects. People want to hang onto all prospects which come through the system & garner a favourable rating by XYZ organisation, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of these players will never pan out.
A proven commodity is always more valuable than speculation, whether it’s prospects in baseball or draft picks in other sports. If an individual who currently succeeds at the highest level can be acquired for something which may never will, the trigger has to be pulled. Not to say there are extremely stupid exchanges that should never be made (Victor Zambrano for Scott Kazmir), but that’s an entirely different topic.
gotta love prospects how many people are on a teams roster from the mlb on down to low A ball upwards of 200+ and how many guys on an MLB team are good…10-15 how many are great 5-8 how many are all stars 1-2..
Let’s see, Chapman has a 102 mph fastball that he can locate. He also throws a changeup for strikes and has a slider that can drop off a table 2 feet that he throws for strikes. Yeah, there’s nothing at all to like about him. The people still doubting him are the haters, as they do not sound very informed about the game of baseball.
lets not forget dusty baker will be his manager if i were a reds fan i want this guy in the minors untill dusty is gone…dusty will ruin this young potential ace…and lets not forget this is all done in spring training so dont think too much about it the smartest thing sfor this guy and the team is the first few weeks in at least AA
If you guys were going to read the article, it was written by a MIAMI writer, therefore, this wasn’t a Detroit guy complaining about Cabrera. So I don’t get where you people are coming from.
However, Maybin has ALOT of potential, very similar to Rasmus in fact. He puts it together, they could have a 2 cheap superstars in Morrison and Maybin to go along with all the solid options they have.