Good stuff from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports; let's get into it…
- The Marlins have made Jorge Cantu and Cody Ross available, but are currently holding off on Dan Uggla and Ricky Nolasco. Rosenthal finds Cantu to be a fine fit for the Rockies, although it might leave Melvin Mora without much of a role. President Larry Beinfest said yesterday that the Marlins will be active one way or another, but their moves will not be financially motivated. I'll still note that Cantu, a free agent after the season, has $2.74MM left on his contract. He's just below Type B status at the moment. Ross has $2.03MM left on his contract this year and is under team control through 2011.
- Unlike nearby teams such as the Giants and Padres, the Angels prefer a rental player if they are to acquire a first baseman. One reason is that Kendry Morales will be back next year, and the other is that the Halos "intend to pursue Carl Crawford as a free agent." A blockbuster signing of that nature would push Bobby Abreu to the DH spot.
- The Dodgers would like to add a reliever and a starter, though they may look internally at Kenley Jansen for the 'pen.
how many positions can cantu really play? i know first and third, is he a viable option at 2nd still and has he every played the outfield? he seems like he’d be a really good bench option/super utility player on a world series contender
Cantu hasnt played anywhere but 1st and 3rd since he joined the Marlins in ’08.
This is off topic, but in my MLB10: The Show franchise, the Rays traded Desmond Jennings and Matt Joyce to the Rockies for Melvin Mora. That is by far the worst trade I have ever heard of.
LOL!
jajaja, I was plating Arizona the other day and I was facing Pujols. And also the Red Sox traded Lester for 2 made up rookies. lol
C’mon Dodgers, you know you want Kerry Wood and Jake Westbrook. See how well Blake for Santana has worked out for both teams.
Yet another reason why the Abreu signing was bad. Having a guy with a sub 800 OPS as your DH (plus the fact you are paying him $9m/year) is a bad plan.
The team would be much better off trading Abreu, freeing up that money, and bring in a big bopper to DH.
Of course, that all hinges on signing Crawford. Something I don’t think is remotely feasible. You’ll have the Yankees going hard on him. The Tigers have about $100m coming off the payroll (OK – slight exaggeration) and could really use him. Banking on getting Crawford is a poor strategy.
Red Sox have a lot of money coming off the books too and a need in the outfield.
So who is going to take Abreu and his $9M salary?
With the (lack of) production they are getting out of Abreu/Matsui, I think it is time to bring up Bourjos, plug him in center field and move Torii to LF. Abreu/Matsui/Rivera rotate in the RF/DH positions.
The Angels will instantly get younger, faster and will have better defense. They probably won’t sacrafice too much hitting either.
Ross makes sense for either the Padres or Giants, though his power numbers are down this season. Still, when you’re giving playing time to Chris Denorfia, just about anything is an upgrade.
What would it take to pry Cantu away from the Marlins?
Maybe 1 C+ prospect/projectable reliever type
If that’s all it takes, wouldn’t the Cardinals make sense for a little more of a jolt in the middle IF? I know he hasn’t played 2B since joining the Marlins but if I read it correctly, he has over 200 career starts at 2B.
Delgado as a DH would be interesting in Yankee Stadium
No! The Angels will not sign Carl Crawford! He is already a proud 2011 member of the Detroit Tigers baseball club. The Tigers will have roughly $50M coming off the books next year (and that assumes the $15M Ordonez option kicks in), and you have to imagine that the payroll is going to stay roughly the same. Illitch wants to win a championship before he kicks it and the dude is 80.
It’s pretty amazing what they’ll be able to get for the amount of money they were using this year to essentially pay the salaries of Dontrelle Willis, Nate Robertson, Jeremy Bonderman, and Gerald Laird. Assuming nothing huge happens at the trading deadline this year, and assuming that Boesch keeps hitting, and that Avila steps up next year a little, and that they give Inge a one-year extension at $5M, they’ll have $45M to sign/trade for the OF, lefty P and SS they need. Crawford, Cliff Lee, and Stephen Drew — come to Dombrowski. Or at least Crawford.
And then Ordonez and Guillen come off the books after 2011, freeing another $28M! Dombrowski would have to be the worst GM in history to mess the Motown 2011-2012 dynasty up.
I hope he’s ready. My only concern is that he’s only been pitching recently. Granted he was a catcher before switching positions so he knows how to call his own game, but the pressures of being a pitcher in a jam are a lot different than being a catcher in a jam.
I remember him catching in the WBC for the Netherlands and hosing runners at 2nd. I haven’t seen him pitch yet but I remember him having a cannon behind the dish.
His numbers look impressive, but jumping a pitcher from the low-A’s to the big club is a real risk — especially for a guy who was a catcher until this year.
Yeah one guy he nailed was Willy Taveras (currently resting in Atlanta between releases).
Wouldn’t anyone with a pulse making above league minimum who would be starting for any other team be perfect for the Yankees…as a bench player, of course?
No question he’s off to a good start, but I’d hate to see him advanced too quickly and end up being bounced back to the minors (like Ely).
Pretty much.
They could even use Don Zimmer on the bench for whenever an opposing pitcher loses his cool!