As Albert Pujols joins the 400-homer club, here are some items of note…
- White Sox GM Kenny Williams hinted that his club may be pursuing a lower-profile waiver wire target than Manny Ramirez, reports MLB.com's Scott Merkin. This target, however, is apparently not Trevor Hoffman. Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com writes that Williams denied a report saying that the Sox put in a claim on Hoffman, but were unable to work out a trade with the Brewers.
- The Orioles are "increasingly less likely" to call up left-hander Zach Britton in September, reports MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli. Britton, ranked as the 63rd-best prospect in the game by Baseball America's preseason rankings, would only be in line to start every six or seven days given Baltimore's full staff and a number of September off-days. Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun adds that Britton is already nearing his 2010 innings limit.
- The Cubs interviewed Eric Wedge today for their open manager's job, reports Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com. Levine mentions that Fredi Gonzalez, Pat Listach and Ryne Sandberg are all slated for interviews, and Chicago GM Jim Hendry wants a new manager hired before the team's November organizational meetings.
- It's "unlikely at this point" that the Diamondbacks will be making any more trades, a team executive tells Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com.
- The Pirates were wise to get Jameson Taillon signed at an over-slot price rather than take their chances with two top-3 picks in the 2011 amateur draft, writes Chuck Finder of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- Jeff Bagwell isn't sure if he wants to return as Houston's hitting coach next season, says MLB.com's Alyson Footer.
for the price of tailon you could have had matt purke and gerrit cole. and like most college pitchers, they are very likely to make it to the majors, and make it there in a short amount of time. the stupid pirates are at it again
drafting low upside college pitchers who sign for slot is what made the pirates bad in the first place.
error
Jameson Taillon might be the best high school pitcher ever. Gerrit Cole and Matt Purke aren’t as good and Tai has more upside.
I’d rather have Rendon and Taillon than Purke and Cole.
Gerritt Cole is far from low upside and won’t come cheap. Most thought he was a top 5 pick out of HS when the Yanks drafted him in the 1s rnd. He turned down 4 mil to got to UCLA so I doubt w/ Boras as an agent and coming off of a great season @ UCLA (11-4, 3.37 ERA w/ 153 KO and 52 walks in 123 IP) I doubt he’s coming cheap. Purke has already turned down $4 mil from the Rangers when he was drafted last year and so far has showed nothing but domincance at TCU so don’t expect him to be cheap either. In fact down be surprised if either pitcher gets $4 to $6 mil when they’re ready to come out.
As far as I’m concerned, the Pirates made the right decision signing Taillon and Allie instead of collecting draft picks for next season. Although these two aren’t as polished as the college pitchers and will probably take longer to reach the bigs, their potential is higher than Purke & Cole. Besides, who knows how Purke & Cole will fare next season. They could underperform or be injured, or perform so well that the Bucs won’t be able to sign both players.