Happy birthday, Jayson Werth! Let's celebrate by reading these news items…
- FOXSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi outlines the unique contract situation of right-hander Chris Resop, who has been a revelation as a starting pitcher this season for Atlanta's Triple-A team.
- A bit further down the FOX Sports Buzz page, Morosi notes that Mat Gamel's time playing first base during his rehab assignment isn't necessarily a hint about Prince Fielder's fate in Milwaukee.
- In response to a piece about the Dodgers' spending under Frank McCourt, Fanhouse's Tom Krasovic relates how L.A. shipped Carlos Santana to Cleveland in the Casey Blake deal rather than pick up $2MM of Blake's salary. If Santana becomes the star catcher that he's projected to be for the Tribe, Dodger fans might be regretting that $2MM worth of savings for a long time.
- Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says the Giants may have Eric Hacker replace the struggling Todd Wellemeyer in the rotation. Star prospect Madison Bumgarner has pitched well in Triple-A this season, but Schulman thinks the Giants want the young left-hander to have more innings at that level before they bring him up to the majors.
- Troy Renck of The Denver Post writes that the recently DFA'ed Willy Taveras worked out in Houston this week. The Astros offered Taveras a minor league deal over the winter, so Taveras' workout could represent a rekindling of the club's interest, or it could've just been a courtesy extended to a former Astro.
- Terry Pluto of The Cleveland Plain Dealer thinks Michael Brantley and the Indians would both be better served by having the outfield prospect back in the majors. Pluto points out that if the Tribe are trying to stall Brantley's service time, then they shouldn't have had him start with the club on Opening Day.
- The Rays have had almost as many key injuries as the Yankees this season, but Tampa Bay's depth made them better prepared to deal with it, writes Steve Slowinski of the DRaysBay blog.
- Speaking of those Yankee injuries, Brian Cashman said today that the club would look within their system to fill the holes, reports Chad Jennings of The Journal News.
I hate Ned Colletti and Frank McCourt so much! I will be reminded for the next 15 years about how we messed up with Santana because McCourt is a cheap SoB
I think this was much more of McCourt than Colletti. Frank is a cheap bastard. The city, maybe even the county, should start something to have Frank removed as owner and to have the O’Malleys run the team again. Anyone who thinks trading away a blue chip catching prospect to save $2 mil just so they can paint the seats at Dodger Stadium pastel colors should not own a baseball team.
Why did they even trade for Blake to begin with? He’s a decent complimentary player but nothing more.
We had a blackhole at 3B. Our top prospect, LaRoche, was hurt and when healthy, sucked. We had Nomar… and he sucked. His calf was never healthy. We had a flux of prospects/vets try to play 3B, and they didnt work. He served as a stopgap to a black hole. (also, we apparently had out eyes on Blake for a while. We were talking about a deal that involved Jamey Carroll, CC, and Blake, but it would have cost us Santana and one of Kemp or Billz). We never thought he’d be an all star, at least I hope they didnt, but he was a solid player and a great clubhouse guy… still, not worth anything close to Santana…
Oh, and of course, the trade for Blake let us use LaRoche in the Manny deal
I agree hacker for now, because I believe that the Madbum still needs a little more time. If he can fully develop his cutter, he will be very nasty especially with his odd delivery.
I definitely cant say I agree with the DRays Bay article he says the Rays have had equal injuries because the positions are the same but thats way to simplistic. Loosing Shoppach is not like losing Posada just because they play the same position. Thats like me saying that the if Ike Davis and Pujols were both out then the Mets and Cards would be on equal injury footing but that wouldnt be the case. The Yankees lost their starting CFer whos a 30 hr guy and plays above average defense(average at the very least) and they compare that to loosing Matt Joyce? Zobrist was there opening day starting RFer and still seems to be. Regardless he fails to mention Swisher being out also, the Rays are playing with there full outfield compliment not their 4th/5th string Ofers.Also not having a DH do to injury and having one that sucks due to incompetence are not the same thing.The Rays have youth and certainly more depth but to say they have suffered as many key or more key injuries as the Yankees is fiction. They have suffered one true key injury and that was to JP Howell their excellent setupman. The Rays are terrific team and exciting to watch, theres no need to artificially inflate their status.
Not so sure either Tampa, or the NYY have much to gripe about with injuries in the Al east. Boston has been without Ellsbury and Cameron since right after the 1st week of the season. Beckett made like 3 starts with a healthy back, Matsuzaka has made 4 starts since coming back from rehabbing his own ST injury woes.
Gamel playing first has a lot more to do with his own defensive limitations than it has to do with Prince being on the block. If the Mets start playing Wilmer Flores at third, it doesn’t mean Wright is on the block. It means Flores can’t stick at short and they’re moving on with his development.
LongJohnSilver — The Yankees have lost an All-Star catcher and a stellar CF, two guys who were in the middle of their lineup 5-6 or 6-7. Those are significant losses to injury. Ellsbury is a big loss for the Sawx, but Cameron is a strikeout machine who was signed more for his defense than his prodigious ability to swing and miss. Dicey-K has been nothing but a hugely overpaid bum for more than a year now and Beckett wasn’t doing so well when his back was healthy. While Beckett should recover his form, to think the losing Dicey-K is significant is fairly delusional. Or weren’t you watching last season?
Man, what are they putting in the water over in Japan? First Colby Lewis leaves and comes back and has been ok so far, now Resop is back and dealing in Triple-A. He was not very good with the Braves in 2008 his first time around. I don’t see him playing for them this year unless someone else goes down with an injury in the rotation.
Wellemeyer needs to go now. Give Hacker a few starts, then Joe Martinez if Hacker doesn’t pan out.
Madbum after the allstar break!
The worst part of the Carlos Santana trade – from the Dodgers perspective – is that is was likely the move that prevented them from acquiring Cliff Lee the following season.
If the Dodgers held on to Carlos Santana (and traded a more marginal prospect for Casey Blake, taking on his salary), and then used him as the centerpiece for a Cliff Lee trade at the ’09 trade deadline. That would’ve forced the Phillies into trading (and likely overpaying) for Halladay at the ’09 deadline, instead of last off-season. And then who knows how the Dodgers ’09 postseason would’ve worked out, but they would have had a far better rotation this year.
“If Santana becomes the star catcher that he’s projected to be for the Tribe, Dodger fans might be regretting that $2MM worth of savings for a long time. ”
I’m kind of thinking Dodger fans had zero to do with this sketchy trade and McCourt will be the one regretting the move. If Frank ponies up the $2 mil or Ned looks elsewhere, maybe acquiring Ronnie Belliard 1 season earlier, Carloos could be in LA right now playing 3B. Of course the Dodger Brass would have had to move Carlos back to 3B. This deal was the classic case of a GM and Owner both taking the wrong path to solve a problem.
Tx