Links for Sunday….
- Matthew Carruth at FanGraphs says that Dontrelle Willis could go from being a big sunk cost to a valuable investment if he flees to an NL club for the league minimum.
- Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Tribune reminds us that A.J. Pierzynski's ten-and-five rights kick in on June 14th, just over two weeks away. At that point the catcher will be able to veto any trade.
- Baseball America's Jim Callis says (via Twitter) that he remains unconvinced that the Mets would exceed MLB's recommended slot bonus in next month's draft. The Amazin's hold the seventh overall pick.
- Chad Jennings of The Journal News chronicles the story of Yankees' DH Juan Miranda, who wasn't able to successfully defect from Cuba until his seventh attempt.
- In his latest Inbox column at MLB.com, Joe Frisaro says that if the Marlins look to make any additions prior to this year's deadline, they will likely come in the form of bullpen arms. Florida's rotation has compiled a 3.65 ERA this season, but its bullpen ranks 11th in the NL at 4.46.
- More bad news for Indians fans from MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince: Grady Sizemore will undergo knee surgery that could potentially end his season.
- After being designated for assignment, Willis would like to play for a West Coast team, according to FOX Sports' Jon Paul Morosi. Morosi says the Diamondbacks are Willis' first choice.
- In a pair of tweets, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times discusses the Paul Konerko-to-the-Angels speculation we mentioned this morning.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post expects the Yankees to sign Cliff Lee after this season, and ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Insider-only link) agrees. One AL exec tells Sherman that he has "no doubt" the Yanks will sign the left-hander.
- Within the same ESPN.com piece, Olney opines that the Tigers could be the most logical fit for Roy Oswalt. Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press would like to see the Tigers make a run at the Astros' ace, while Morosi (via Twitter) thinks Lee makes more sense for the Tigers.
- Scott Schoeneweis cleared waivers and is now a free agent, tweets Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe. The Red Sox designated the lefty for assignment earlier this month.
- Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer examines the challenge Chris Antonetti will face when he takes over as the Indians' GM after this season.
- Adeiny Hechavarria is making a strong first impression at Single-A Dunedin, according to the Toronto Sun's Bob Elliott.
This makes sense, because the Yankees desperately need Lee after giving a billion dollars to another left-hander in the 2008 offseason…
Willis would fit right in with the Diamondbacks.
yeah! that would be great news to the rest of the NL west.
Shocker that the Yanks would go after the top pitching FA
I think if Brandon Webb was healthy he would no doubt be the top pitcher available,
Right, and if Greg Maddux were in his prime, he’s fetch 10/300…
Your sarcasim is horriable. If brandon Webb was healthy this year and last he would have been hands down the best pitcher in the FA this year,
Would it shock you if the Red Sox did that too? Considering they did do that this year with Lackey.
Not exactly, Boston tends to go after the weak pitching classes top pitcher.
Insert obligatory “yanks are ruining baseball, no they’re not, yes they are, no they aren’t” argument.
I love it when the Yanks sign everyone and fail to win… makes me feel better as a Twins fan.
But yet there have more homegrown talent on there mlb roster than most teams
I love when my team pockets the 35 MIL they receive from MLB.com’s website every year…and then cry poverty when their best pitcher is headed towards free-agency..
the money they save sure helps me pay for my yacht
makes everybody whose not a yankee fan feel a little warm inside.
I love it when this is our strategy, and we win. You know, like last year.
Can someone explain why Grady Sizemore gets so much hype every year? What does he really bring to the table? He has a .272 career average, never hit over .300, he’s averaged 20hrs, and 60rbi a year. (129 hrs, 426 rbi over 7 years). I mean, I get that he’s a great fielder, and his career OPS (not OBP, sorry for the mistype Venn177, I value your input, you’re one of my favorite commenters on here) is an .840, but there isn’t really much special about him. Am I the only person who doesn’t really see why he’s consistantly named a top 5 player, especially from a fantasy standpoint?
Sizemore had a great start to his career but has really tailed off the past two seasons. Injuries are obviously a big part but last year he still played 100 games but his offensive skills really fell off.
I just went back to look at his stats because I was never hugely impressed with him, mainly because he hasn’t done much lately. He really did have some awesome seasons his first 3-4 years in the league. The batting average was never amazing, but around .280 is very good when he contributes in a ton of other categories like home runs and steals.
Not sure if he’ll make it back to what he used to be though, so now he is living off hype.
If his OBP was .840, he’d be getting paid $40MM/year.
have you seen his commercial?…..he slept on his glove as a kid!!
Because well, batting average is relatively meaningless and well, Sizemore had a .907 OPS as a 23 year-old. As for his being a top-5 fantasy guy, that’s a thing of the past…
Did you guys hear the Yankees are going to trAde ramiro pena and vazquez for Adam wainwright and chris carpenter as well? At least that’s what joel Sherman said and he is a credible source of info.
highly doubt the cards are going to part with one let alone two in the same trade. i don’t care who they’re getting.
Your detection for sarcasm is off.
I wouldn’t mind if the Nats signed Willis to the league minimum ! It would be good if he could get back into Marlins era form !
I think he would get back to his normal form if he went back to the Marlins.Cardinals would be an option too.
Going back to the marlins isn’t going to bring back 5mph to his fastball
Who said it would ???
No one.
But u said go back to normal form, and re-discovering his fastball would be a big part of that.
watch the whitesox pick up willis. Ozzie seems to love making kenny give contracts to his old players and if im not mistaken willis and ozzie were player and coach on the WS team right? I will tell you now, once he clears waivers he will be either on the marlins roster or the whitesox…probably the whitesox…and hey why not maybe cooper can work his magic and fix willis and get him close to marlins form, if this is true he cant be any worse the sweaty freddy
…or peavy, buehrle, floyd for that matter haha
Sweaty Freddy has been a quiet success story in a disappointing year. His wins this year have been against the Twins, Tigers and Rays. He has been as good as any 5th starter right now.
It sucks what happened to Schoenweis… I really do hope the best for that man.
As for Willis, I hope to see Arizona maybe take a flyer on him to help out with the pitching, but I really dont expect it to actually happen. More than likely however, one of these NL teams is gonna show interest. Dave Duncan and St Louis? Could be a great fit.
Could D-Train get a Cubs homecoming? Could be worth it for the league minimum.