Links for Tuesday, as Tim Lincecum reclaims the MLB strikeout lead…
- Marc Topkin of The St. Petersburg Times spoke to Crawford, who said he was misquoted in the upcoming Sports Illustrated piece mentioned below. "Nothing's changed, no decisions," he said. "I don't know what Carlos [Pena] is doing.''
- Pirates' GM Neil Huntington told Chuck Finder of The Pittsburgh Post Gazette that he tried to made a deal with the Marlins that would allow Rule 5 pick John Raynor to remain with the Pirates, but to no avail. Raynor was returned to Florida today.
- John Lackey said he wasn't surprised when the Angels let him depart as a free agent given their trade record with letting home grown players leave, according to Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles. "It's different," said Lackey. "The way they preach the team game and giving it up for the team. That's a little suspect. You're supposed to give it up for the team. When the time comes, they might not want to give it up for you. But I totally knew that was a possibility. I was prepared for that. That's the nature of the game today."
- Stephen Strasburg has been promoted and will make his Triple A debut Friday against Freddie Freeman and the Gwinnett Braves, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson. ESPN's Rob Neyer notes that Strasburg seems to be on the Mark Prior path to the bigs, perhaps delayed a few weeks for cost savings.
- MASN's Ben Goessling says Nats 2006 first-round pick Colton Willems has decided to retire. The team has the pitcher on the restricted list in case he changes his mind.
- An upcoming Sports lllustrated piece on Carlos Pena features this quote from Carl Crawford: "This core group is going to still be together, me and Carlos are the only two guys that are going to be leaving."
- The Royals granted reliever Roman Colon his release so he can sign with the Kia Tigers of Korea, according to the team. Just three months ago, Colon and Juan Cruz were in the mix to be Joakim Soria's primary setup man. The Royals' bullpen sports an AL-worst 5.56 ERA in 81 innings.
- White Sox GM Kenny Williams wouldn't rule out a fire sale at a later date, but said the team's aggressive nature will probably prevent it (Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reporting).
- ESPN's Buster Olney explains that his Saturday story about Cliff Lee being likely to reach free agency was prompted by a call Olney made to Lee's agent.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Blue Jays attempted to sign Kelly Johnson to play left field during the offseason, offering more than the $2.35MM Johnson received from Arizona. Johnson told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic in March that he strongly considered offers from the Blue Jays, Pirates, and Indians.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post points out that the upon acquiring Javier Vazquez, the Yankees considered two 2011 draft picks part of the deal. Already, Vazquez's Type A status and arbitration offer are in question. We'll be able to give you Vazquez's exact Elias standing later this month, when Eddie Bajek makes his first pass at 2009-10 rankings.
- Dejan Kovacevic's latest article for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests the Pirates were overly optimistic about Akinori Iwamura, currently their highest-paid player.
- Click here to listen to my radio appearance on KFNS St. Louis from earlier today.
If Vazquez turns in a solid year he might be a Type A – but I would doubt the Yankees offer arbitration (certainly not their MO over the past few years). If Vazquez sucks he won’t be netting 2 top picks and the probability of offering arb decreases even further.
Lincecum, and Halladay looking up at Ubaldo wow!!!!!!
Because you REALLY want to compare your stud pitching prospect to Mark Prior.
That means slow down and leave him in AAA for a while.
Prior was a stud pitching prospect too. His path to the majors has nothing to do with his unfortunate injury history.
Prior was also older and more physically mature than Strasburg before breaking down. I’d hate to be the guy who rushes this immense talent to the bigs, only to blow him out.
You can make the case that Doc Gooden — a 19 year-old rookie — only registered 9 effective (and personally troubled) seasons in his career. The Nats don’t need a decade from this kid, they need more.
Lets just hope for the Nats sake that Strasburg’s career doesnt end up like Prior’s.
Its like Crawford and Pena are certain there ganna get traded/not re-signed.
They will not be traded, but they most likely will not be resigned. The Rays are good enough to will the WS, Crawford and Pena are going nowhere while they’re in contention.
Seriously…everyone thinks the Rays will eventually just fall out of contention and trade these horses away. The Rays have talent and they’ve got it in spades. They aren’t going anywhere. I fully expect both Crawford and Pena to remain with the club until the end of the season, when they’ll be offered arbitration and the Rays will have a kick ass set of draft picks staring at them for next year.
i wouldn’t mind if that potential white sox firesale led to konerko taking over for glaus in atl. the braves really need a good rh bat in that lineup.
just remembered he has no-trade rights. anyone think he’d waive them to move to the nl and play for cox?
…play for Cox for 5 months? Probably not likely, though it wouldn’t be a bad deal to play for Terry Pendleton next season.
might as well while you can. any reason will do for me. the main thing is the braves need a good righty bat. if he’d allow a trade, for any reason, i’d be pretty happy about that.
Mind-numbing sports talk radio.
Ah, Carl Crawford: One more person who realizes that the Rays will be just fine when they don’t re-sign Carl Crawford.
all he said is the core group would still be there. he didnt say that they would be good.
it also shows you he feels the organization has made him feel as if he is not part of that core group, which he obviously is
He refers to the core of the best team in baseball as not including him. I stand by my interpretation.
your interjecting your opinion into his statement. while you may consider them the best team in baseball it doesnt mean he is implying they are the best team in baseball. all he says is the core will still be together. that is the only fact.
your interpretation is still wrong
They ARE currently the best team in baseball. They have the best record and run differential in baseball while playing in probably the toughest division. He says the core will still be together. I don’t know what else to tell you other than that you mean “you’re” not “your.”
That’s just you’re opinion. =P
They still lost their only series to the Yankees.
And three games determine what exactly? Unless you would say the Yankees are worse than any team they lose a series to, the point is ridiculous.
I’m not really a Tampa fan, but I can’t imagine that team without Carl Crawford. It seems like he’s been there forever, and been such an important part of the team as they were developing.
You think maybe the Giants will make a play for him? He’d be a great addition for them and fill a need for some speed.
It’d be nice to have him, but knowing Sabean, he either doesn’t even try to get somebody or tries too hard to get somebody and he ends up overvaluing the player he’s getting and trades the wrong prospects away.
lackey should just shut up and try to pitch up to the money they r giving him, not what he is worth
I hope Freddie takes him deep every time he faces him that game