Four years ago today, the Devil Rays traded Russell Branyan to the Padres for Evan Meek and a player to be named later (Dale Thayer). Meek would be taken from the Rays by the Pirates in the '07 Rule 5 draft but was designated for assignment the following May. Meek cleared waivers and the Rays rejected his return, taking cash considerations from the Bucs. This year, Meek represented the Pirates at the All-Star game. Today's links:
- Rickie Weeks chose Greg Genske of Legacy Sports as his new agent after his previous representative, Lon Babby, became president of the Phoenix Suns, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- A Mets official told ESPN's Adam Rubin the team won't be pursuing Cliff Lee in the offseason.
- Giants assistant GM Bobby Evans confirmed to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle that they claimed Cody Ross in part to block him from going to the Padres.
- Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia talked to WEEI's Rob Bradford about why they signed long-term extensions. Youkilis knows he could've made more as a free agent after this season, but he points out that he's making more money than he ever thought he would. Youk believes players should go through arbitration at least once, as he did. For more on players who would've been eligible for free agency after this season had they not signed extensions, check out our August 16th article.
- Bradford's colleague Alex Speier looks at Boston's recent history of acquiring players despite being included in their no-trade clauses.
- Joe Posnanski explains that pitchers with Hall of Fame stuff getting beaten by injuries is the rule, not the exception.
would the mets have money to spend in the offseason??
Good,now Weeks should look for an extension with the brewers,he deserves the money.30/30 player potential is hard to find especially at second base.
how much money do you want the mets to waste?
The Mess need to save money to waste on some over-hyped under-performing FA, not a proven stud like Lee.
doesnt it seem like a new york team (mets , yankees ) are always linked to all the big name free agent?? the general manager or the owner has to tell reporters we are not going after this guy
Why do the Yankees/Mets HAVE to tell the public their plans?
the reporters in new york are like a big hive of bees they r all over the place asking r u signing cliff lee if they say no the next question is are u signing carl crawford
Well first of all, teams cannot comment about players under contract on other teams.
Second, there will always be questions, if not Lee, then Crawford, then Werth, then Lilly, then Soriano, then everyone else.
Third, again why would a team give make their plan public? That loses leverage with the players you want either in FA or in a trade.
the mets gave there plan on not going to go after lee
Great, then what are you complaining about? Your organization said they aren’t going after Lee, he wasn’t going to the Mets anyways,
Why would they try to sign Cliff Lee? The Mets have been a mess ever since Jimmy Rollins called them out in 2007 and might be looking at a rebuilding situation in the near future. I think their front office is smart enough to realize that they can’t win a title with this group of players.
Well they pretty much signed Jason Bay as THE solution for everything that ails the team, and expected results. That’s not what a FO that’s “smart enough to realize that they can’t win a title with this group of players,” looks like.
Why would the Giants block Ross from going to the Padres. The Giants are going to pass the Padres and easily coast to the NL west crown – just ask Jonathan Sanchez.
It’s going to be close if things stay the way they are now, but they have a chance to be the WC.Worst-case scenario, Ross is a solid outfielder that can take Rowand’s place on the team or become part of a trade with some pitchers in the offseason for a real SS/bat.Teams always need a strong defensive OF with speed, and Ross has the ability to be that with 15-20 HR every season. Not too bad considering he was exactly what they should have signed instead of Rowand a few years ago when he was coming into his prime AND he was hitting in a mammoth field down in Florida.
where do you mean close the race is over Padres going to be NL champions I smell it.
WC= wild card…
Padres and Giants play something like 8 more times head-to-head and the Giants are 1 out of the WC, which is pretty close……and don’t count on the Padres yet, they have too much young pitching to make it a sure thing.
Padres and Giants play 7 games 4 in SD and 3 in SF and you said to young pitching you batter say to winning pitching how about that.
Cute. Lots of teams have winning pitching, don’t put all your eggs in one basket until it’s a little closer. One month is a long time as the Rockies have reminded the West in two of the past three seasons
Do any teams have more winning pitching than the padres? No. Doesnt matter how many out the Giants are in the WC while they are playing the padres it matters when they play the leader of the WC. Also if you think the Giants have a real chance in the west check their recent starting pitching numbers and if that doesnt convince you with the 7 games left with the Padres have lost 2 out of the season series. People have been saying the padres have too young of a pitching staff all season, why would it stop now?
It always matters when you’re trying to pick up games in the division and the WC, regardless of who you’re playing. If you win and the leader loses, guess what? You move up.
The Padres have been great and people are skeptical of their pitching for some very specific and time-tested reasons. Young pitching starts to wither at the end of the season where veterans don’t. Young pitchers aren’t used to throwing a full-season of innings when they are as new as Latos, Richard, and LeBlanc are and outside of Garland/Correia/Bell nobody has that much experience.
They may do it and be fine til the end, that would be the exception to the rule though.
As far as the whole season series thing, the Giants’ roster has changed quite a bit over the season and they were a run away from winning the most recent series with the newer collection of players. The starting pitchers aren’t great right now, but their hitting is much better. That puts the team in about the same spot as they were when they couldn’t hit and only gave up a run or two per game.
Posnanski’s article was fantastic. Terrific read, really makes you think a lot about these up and coming pitchers, and for me it brought back some heart-breaking memories of seeing Kerry Wood and Mark Prior get injured. I really really really hope Strasburg gets through this and never sees the DL again. It is worrying though considering he already has 2 DL trips in just 68 innings, even more so is the fact that he has gone to the DL twice while being protected so much.
It’s a good thing that Youk and Pedroia see their contracts in that light… The Sox could be really hurting if Youk and Pedroia were going through arbitration along with some of the questionable long term commitments they’ve made this last offseason (Lackey, Beckett, and Cameron).
Actually, The Yankees don’t tell anyone what they are going to do. It’s just that since it is the Yankees, it’s kind of predictable, and remember, the media/press over there is crazy. There are flocks of reporters around the Yankees office, and Yankee stadium every day.