Links for Wednesday, before the Giants ask Tim Lincecum to help extend their NL West lead…
- Lawyers from the MLB Players Association and MLB will meet in New York tomorrow to discuss the union's grievance with the Mets. As the AP reports, the sides will discuss the team's decision to place Francisco Rodriguez on the disqualified list.
- Top prospect Mike Moustakas told reporters that he and other Royals minor leaguers welcome the attention they're attracting this year.
- The Angels let scouting director Eddie Bane go, according to John Manuel of Baseball America. Bane was a candidate for the D'Backs GM job earlier in the month.
- Japanese outfielder Hitoshi Tamura has interest in playing major league baseball, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. The 33-year-old has 27 homers this year and represented the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks at the All-Star game.
- Jason Varitek told reporters, including MLB.com's Ian Browne, that he's well aware of the fact that he may only have a handful of games remaining in a Red Sox uniform.
- Through an interpreter, Hideki Matsui told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that he'd consider signing with the A's if they expressed interest in him this offseason.
- Todd Helton made it clear to Troy Renck of the Denver Post that he isn't retiring after the season.
- Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic heard that Brandon Webb was throwing just 81 mph in his instructional league outing (Twitter link). Webb told MLB.com's Steve Gilbert that he had fun and felt good.
- The D'Backs, who will see Webb and Rodrigo Lopez hit free agency this winter, will look to add starting pitching, but GM Kevin Towers told MLB.com's Steve Gilbert that he believes starters may be easier to obtain through trades than major league free agency.
Oh boy Todd Helton. Blocking us from having a 40 HR 1B booo
Who is this 40 HR 1B you speak of.
does it matter? its coors field…
you’re only 8 years late
What about a Garza/Shields to Arizona deal?
Or would they be looking for cheap innings eaters?
Dear Todd, you’re the greatest Rockie player ever but your time is up. Please do not hold up the team and retire gracefully. We still love you, man.
I´m sure that Matsui will sign with the M´s, his swing is designed for Safeco Field, Branyan is good, but his injuries are concerning, I prefer Matsui over Branyan and over Peña too, maybe they need a SS like Tejada or Uribe and the offense will be much better than this year, IN JACK WE TRUST,
ICHIRO
FIGGY
Matsui
Uribe
Smoak
Guti
Saunders
Moore/Buck/Varitek
Ackley
Switch Figgins and Ackley and you got a done deal.
True or not, there’s a belief that Ichiro and Matsui dislike each other and their respective fans in Japan hate each other so much they will never be on the same team.
True. In Japan, Suzuki was the flamoyant star that always played second fiddle to the quiet Matsui, who was the mega superstar-Godzilla. They have always been cordial here in the states partly due to cultural ties, but they are not real tight.
Varitek better hope he has more than a few more games in a Red Sox uniform because I cant imagine another team offering a .230 hitting catcher with a huge ego and sense of entitlement who is a Scott Boras client and who is useless behind the plate a contract.
how does he have a big ego? He’s one of the most humble players in the game.
Because he made such a big deal about being a backup this year! Oh wait…he didn’t.
I watched video of Mike Moustakas in the Double-A Texas League and saw him play in person many times at ONEOK Field (Drillers, Rockies affiliate). He is just as good a hitter as anyone in the minors and there was just no stopping him this season. You came to his games expecting to see him get a big hit or lead his team to victory.
What’s even scarier is the fact that Eric Hosmer looked scary-good also, picking up right where Moustakas left off as he was called up to Triple-A Omaha. Those two guys are beasts and offer the Royals quite a bit of talent at the corner infield positions should both play up to 2010 levels in the future.
In short, they deserve every bit of attention and praise they get. It’s nice to see people are paying more attention. Moustakas should rightfully be the #1 prospect in 2011.
Matsui has racked up more meaningless stats than anyone I know. When we needed him most he was absent. Now that we are out of the race he has picked it up and played well. I’m really disappointed that his signing didn’t turn out better.
Also surprised about Bane. Like others, I thought he was relatively safe. I sure hope the Halos know what they are doing.
You cant blame Matsui and his performance. It just happens that Matsui started off slow and heated up as he got more playing time, which was too late since the Angels fell out of contention pretty early due to injuries.
I don’t know man. He never seemed part of the team, if you know what I mean. He started heating up when he saw his career was in jeopardy, if he had not heated up his MLB service would of certainly come to an end. He has set himself up to play at least one more year, that means more money to feed the Godzilla. Good riddance…
for all the dumb things the royals do, i think not playing Moustakas this year is one of the dumbest. Guy just dominates, plain n’ simple and you won’t call him up even in September? What, so Wilson Betemit can get more at bats?
careful what you ask for
Uhmm…. if you actually knew what your talking about then maybe you wouldnt sound so stupid…
-Moustakas isn’t up in September because he is on Team USA and in order to be on that team, he cant be on a MLB teams active roster… He has only been in AAA for about 2 months… He needs a little bit more seasoning before the MLB… You’ll see him up in June 2011, Hosmer is more like September 2011, if that..
4 MORE DAYS FOR BLOODY MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!
FIRE OMAR
FIRE JERRY
FIRE
FIRE
FIRE
4 MORE DAYS FOR BLOODY MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!
FIRE OMAR
FIRE JERRY
FIRE
FIRE
FIRE
How would a trade of K-Rod, Bay and cash for Papelbon and Lackey sound?
Matsui to Oakland?! I’d love that. Maybe he can be our DH and replace that hack Jack Cust? He can also bring great fans like Ichiro in Seattle. I’d buy his jersey if he does come.