Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com has some hot stove items to share in his latest Full Count video…
- Contract negotiations between Dan Uggla and the Marlins are "not off to a great start." Rosenthal reports that the Marlins are offering a three-year contract but Uggla wants a five-year pact. We heard last week that the Marlins were offering a three-year, $30MM deal, but Rosenthal guesses that Uggla is looking for something in the range of $55-60MM over the desired five years.
- The Cubs' "number-one need" in the offseason is a left-handed power bat at either first base or right field, with Tyler Colvin available to play the other position.
- Starting pitching is also a need for the Cubs, as Rosenthal says the team wants to bring in at least one new starter "regardless of what they do with Carlos Zambrano." One option could be to bring back a recently-traded ace — Rosenthal says Chicago "still has a lot of interest in Ted Lilly."
- Arizona president and CEO Derrick Hall says "it would be crazy" to not interview other manager and general manager candidates despite the fact that he's happy with the work done by interim manager Kirk Gibson and interim GM Jerry Dipoto. Hall says he will start a GM search at the beginning of September, with Dipoto "at the top of [the] list." Rosenthal expects Kevin Towers, Dodgers assistant GM Logan White and Yankees vice-president Damon Oppenheimer to all draw interest from the Diamondbacks, though New York would have to grant Arizona permission to talk to Oppenheimer.
- Now that Manny Ramirez is off the disabled list, Rosenthal provided an update to his news from last week about the possibility of Ramirez on the waiver wire. The Dodgers will wait to put Ramirez on waivers since teams will want to make sure that he is both healthy and hitting well. Rosenthal repeats that the White Sox are the club "most likely" to put in a claim for Ramirez, since the Sox "don't like Brad Hawpe all that much" and they doubt that Detroit would trade them Johnny Damon.
Castro SS
DeWitt 2B
Ramirez 3B
Branyan 1B
Byrd CF
Soriano LF
Colvin RF
Soto C
Dumpster
Zambrano
Wells
Gorzelanny
Cashner
Not very pretty…about an 83-win team?
Why did you put their best hitter 8th?
bc Ryno is gonna be a terrible manager?
Need to add Dunn and Vazquez. Then we can talk about pushing for the playoffs.
Vazquez?? LOL you do realize they have no #1 pitcher, dempster is an ok #2 and then they have a bunch of average #4-5s…vazquez would not put this team into any type of playoff talk and neither would Dunn if they only add him. Dunn + Cliff Lee might.
Dunn and Lee are unrealistic.
Vazquez pitched like an ace in Atlanta in 2009. So a return to the NL should help his stock.
Legit #1 aces are so hard to come by. But with Vazquez,Dempster, and Zambrano. The Cubs would have 3 very solid #3’s. Add in Gorzy and that is an above average 1-4. Then you can let Silva,Wells and Jay Jackson battle out the 5th spot in ST. Wells and Jackson both have options left. So you can stash them in Iowa and have 7 deep of quality starters.
Not as bad as some want to make it out to be.
there was a report out a week ago saying that Vazquez’ velocity was down to 86-88mph….not very promising
Dunn and Lilly, plus a few quality relievers (there’s a solid free agent class of relievers, too) would be a big step. But again, to have a chance at winning, they probably need to move Z and Fukudome and use whatever savings you can get to sign another starting pitcher. And then they need Ramirez to return to around his career line.
And Colvin, Castro, and DeWitt need to progress. And they need to stay healthy.
But yeah, I’m penciling in a World Series.
I’d be hesitant to offer any big money to bullpen guys. Just so seldom works out except for elite level closers.
With Marmol, Marshall, Grabow, Samjay, Gray, Stevens, Caridad, Cales, Cashner?, Berg, Shlitter, Gaub
You should be able to work out a use-able 7 man pen. You would always have the wild card of a Archer or McNutt being able to pitch down there if a pennant race need arose.
Not big-time money. But the market will be so flooded that guys like Jon Rauch should be affordable. But to be honest, Marmol, Marshall, and a healthy Grabow are the only pitchers you mentioned who have demonstrated any real ability to get outs in the majors. Some of them (plus James Russell) have been decent at times, but none have been anything close to inspiring, or even promising, except maybe Cashner, who should probably go back to being a starter. I’d think the addition of one, maybe two veterans, at a reasonable cost, just moves everyone down in the order in the bullpen, meaning you only need two or three of the guys to progress to being consistent, decent major-league pitchers, as opposed to four or five.
I would love to see the Marlins lock up Uggla for 5 years.
Ted ain’t coming back..
I would love to lock up Uggla…..but 5 years?? He’s already 30. I wouldn’t go more than 4 years.
I agree. 3, maybe 4 years, but he deserves more than 10M per also. He is making 7.8M this year, 5yr player and should easily get 10M in arbitration. fish are the ones behind the 8-ball in these negotiations and not Uggla. Compare his offensive numbers to Pedroia, Utley and Cano, which is what a smart agent will be doing.
One of the top 3-4 2nd baseman in the game, better than Brian Roberts if he never regains his health fully, tho for sure not better defensively than any of those above.
3-4 years and 12-13M per if Luria wants to keep him IMO.
I’ll take Lilly back but not at the $ he will want in the off season.
Cubs should see about offering Carlos Pena a three or four year deal. If they can’t sign him for reasonable money, then let him go. The Cubs won’t be able to compete realistically for another two years at least. The way I see it, let the kids play and develop for now, and if a player comes along who they can sign for decent money and still have them contribute when the kids are ready, that’s all well and good. If Pena signs, the Cubs could have a pretty decent line-up, however:
1 Castro SS
2 Byrd CF
3 Pena 1B
4 Ramirez 3B
5 Colvin RF
6 Soriano LF
7 Soto C
8 DeWitt 2B
Dempster
Gorzellany
Silva
Wells
Zambrano/Cashner
Cubs don’t need to sign anyone, and if they can’t sign players who will still be able to contribute and make a difference two or three years from now, they really shouldn’t.
I think you should switch Pena and A-Ram in the lineup.
the reason I have them in the order they’re in is because to keep Colvin and Pena, the two power-hitting lefties the Cubs have, away from eachother. and personally, I’d rather have Pena as my third hitter than ARam at this point
AZ should hire Bobby V as manager.
Great opportunity for the Dodgers to add some AAA depth by getting rid of Manny. Of course we won’t though, Ned’s still adding players.
Cubs need a good fielding/left handed/rbi bat to replace Lee at first. I think Adam Laroche should be near the top of the list. He could slide under the radar without a whole lot of hype. He’s a relatively young veteran. 30 yrs. Plus you could save a lot of money here instead of overpaying for Pena or Dunn(terrible terrible defense remember) and spend it on a rotation arm or BULLPEN guys. I would rather swallow razor blades than watch Berg or Russell in the bullpen another year.
If they lose out on Cliff Lee to be the clear ace of the rotation, they could resign Lilly as a great clubhouse guy and a solid lefty ace on the staff.
Jon Rauch could be a great right hand option in the pen opposite Sean Marshall.
Castro
Colvin
Byrd
Ramirez
LaRoche
Soriano
Soto
Dewitt
Dempster
Zambrano
Lilly/Lee
Gorzallany
Wells
Silva
Rauch
Marshall
Cashner
Marmol
Manny Ramirez to:
Rays?
White Sox?
Who knows with all of the hurdles involved, but if the Dodgers can get more than a draft pick for him, they should do what ever it takes to move him out of LA. Who do you think will take the chance? I’m thinking the Rays might be a good place for Rent a Ram.