An official of a team that once had interest in Manny Ramirez tells Jayson Stark of ESPN.com that he doesn’t think the slugger has much left. Ramirez, who hits free agency this offseason, hasn’t picked up an extra base hit since joining the White Sox and the official says that’s “a major indication he might not have a whole lot left in the tank." Here are the rest of Stark’s rumors.
- There are indications that the Rockies wouldn’t offer Jeff Francis more than a modest one-year deal with incentives. The Rockies seem likely to decline the $7MM option they have for the lefty.
- One GM says any team with interest in Jorge de la Rosa needs to do its homework. "He could be [the next] Oliver Perez," the GM said. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes drew that comparison in an April article, but noted De Le Rosa's higher groundball rate.
- There are “vibes” that the Angels will make Mike Napoli available this winter.
- The Phillies could combine Domonic Brown with a right-handed hitting veteran, but GM Ruben Amaro Jr. says that’s just one possible solution. Brown doesn't have a guaranteed everyday job on next year’s team, even if Jayson Werth signs elsewhere, as expected.
- One scout who covered Royals prospect and former Miami Dolphins quarterback Pat White in high school, says we shouldn’t be surprised if Dayton Moore’s gamble pays off and White’s athleticism translates well to pro baseball.
GM that talked to Stark=Omar Minaya
Too easy since Ollie P’s name is attached to it.
I think its quite obvious that Napoli will be available in the offseason or at the next tradeline. Conger is the catcher of the future and either Mathis and/or Wilson will be sufficient for a back up unit. Catchers are a hot commodity and its useless to carry a high potential one when we already have Conger ready for the baton.
However, I really hope we don’t let him go for nothing just “because”. A couple of arms will do but a high level prospect would be ideal. He isn’t arb eligible until after next year and a free agent after 2013. I really do think that we can someone in the high B range.
But can you believe in any Angel “of the future” given the recent track record? It’s a fine organization except it doesn’t seem to have the ability to bring many of its AAA star position players to the next level. Mathis is one of many examples of players who mere presence in the organization triggered premature trades or releases of established players who continued to contribute to their new teams while their young, hyped replacements floundered.
Totally inaccurate. Erik Aybar, Mike Napoli, Kendry Morales, Howie Kendrick. All home grown. Everyone focuses on two BIG busts in Dallas Mchperson and Brandon Wood. The Angels have a fine track record with both pitchers and position players.
I can believe in any Angel “of the future” given the organization’s track record of Kendry Morales, Jered Weaver, Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana, Mike Napoli, with Peter Bourjos, Conger and Trout in the pipeline to succeed.
I’m not touting the Angels system as the best, it’s far from it, but please give credit where it’s due, don’t fault their scouting department because Wood has been a bust thus far, he was hyped a lot because they let Figgy earn his big contract elsewhere.
Wood’s development has been hindered by thinking too much, a shitty hitting coach (mickey hatcher), and not having enough grooming time because Scioscia loves veterans. The jury is still out on how well of a big leaguer Wood can be.
Wood was destined to fail because like Mathis he can’t hit a major league breaking ball. That is truly the only reason.
As far as being the best, that Angels are one of the best if not the statistical best in developing front line starters. Santana and Weaver are awesome and the staff got Saunders to pitch way over his head. They dont get enough credit because outside of Kendry, none of the Angels prospects have been deemed sexy. Trout though has the opp to be that guy.
The Angels are nowhere near the best at developing talent statistically. Weaver and Morales are solid, Kendrick and Aybar are sup 1 War guys right now, Santana has great stuff, but AJ Burnett consistancy, Napoli could put up solid numbers if they decided to play him over the meek bat of Mathis, and Saunders sucks. Angels prospects get mocked because Kotchman, Dallas, Wood and Kendrick were praised so highly and at best have mediocre numbers.
Obviously the De La Rosa trash talker wants De La Rosa. Any pitcher could be the next stinker.
yes, but some pitchers are just more stable than others…
consistency, injury history, walk rates… changes in major stats or velocity…
Not Roy Halladay
So De La Rosa could be the next Satchel Paige too?
Is Manny Ramirez next year’s Jermaine Dye?
Manny is so crazy you never know. I could see him either demanding more than $15m+ or playing for next to the minimum with incentives. You just never know what he will do. I think he likes baseball too much to just sit out though.
Next year’s Jermaine Dye will probably be Jermaine Dye
What’s Napoli like at 1st base? The only game I have watched the Angels this year he was playing 1st. What would it take to get him?
If the Sox don’t resign Vmart, Napoli to Sox is a major possibility. They did claim him this year.
bluecatuli–Hes made a few errors…but hes not altogether terrible..hes the home run leader of the angels right now.I think its a stupid decision to let him go. Everyone keeps jumping the gun wanting to get rid of all of our players the second they think that someones ready for the leap from AAA. I think its a bad idea. Get rid of Mathis. Keep Napoli unless the bidding on him becomes insane. His homers this year combined with the fact that he didnt even play every game are great. Decent batting average, and if he would have been paired with morales all year I think that the angels would have done better for sure. There is obviously a “riff” between Mike and Mike…
Napoli will pull a SIGNIFICANT haul. He has had success and first base and surprising range. His fielding metrics at catcher have been exaggerated (the bad) and he can still be a .300 30-35 hr guy. He should pull a top prospect + low arm with no haggling.
.280, 25-30 HR guy.
-wtk
Question: When has he ever come close to hitting .300 in the Majors?
Answer: Never
Doesn’t mean he’s not one hell of an offensive catcher, of course.
Well, he was hitting .300 with a .905 OPS August of last season the day the Angels had nine men in the lineup hitting .300 or better. He touched .300 in May and July as well, so “Never” is a strong word.
But realistically, when Napoli is played full-time, he is a 270/360/500 guy — very streaky, but capable of putting up 30-35 HRs in a full season.
Nothing wrong with that.
I know the Red Sox will probably make a run at him. Any idea what the Angels will be looking for position wise?
Recent rumors have Ellsbury at the core of any trade. The Angels need a new leftfielder, and more speed and athleticism overall. (He would be a cheaper alternative to Crawford, clearly.) Given Ellsbury’s recent injuries, he’s lost a little value this season. The Angels also need lefthanded pitching and a thirdbaseman.
Ellsbury and a solid, if not elite, LHP prospect would probably do it for Napoli.
What do the Angels want in return?
Tell me which team you are representing, then we can negotiate
What is De La Rosa’s Type A/B status? Is he either?
As a Rox fan I don’t feel comfortable signing him long term. And I like him.
I think the Rox sign Francis to a cheap 1 year, keep Cook and start 2011 with Hammell, Ubaldo, Cook, Francis and Chacin penciled in. If they are in contention they take the big step for them and deal a package of minor leaguers (Charles Blackmon, Tim Wheeler plus maybe an EYJ) for a top shelf rental.
The latest Ellias Rankings has him as an A… which I’m having a lot of trouble believing.
I’ve only seen a few W/Sox games since Manny arrived and only a handful of his at bats, but is it me or does he look disinterested?
even when he was hitting he looked that way
Hasn’t Manny always looked disinterested?
Interesting bit of information on D.Brown and the Phillies…
I know Jayson Werth isn’t resigning with us, and I’ve accepted that, but what other veteran outfielders do we know of… (Jermaine Dye)
I guess the problem with him is that he’s going to demand money and years. I can’t think of a good right handed hitting one-year deal outfielder at the moment. I guess platoon with Francisco?
Reed Johnson or Marcus Thames would make good platoon partners, especially Thames in that bandbox.
Blah, double post.
Thames with a glove is a scary thing.
Thames with a bat against a LHP is a pretty scary thing too.
I thought Dom brown was supposed to be a super prospect? why would they limit his development by letting him ride the pine
I don’t know if any of these right handed, platoon outfielders that Ruben Amaro is talking about are available. The most appealing of which are probably Pat Burrell, Bill Hall, Austin Kearns, Andruw Jones… and none of them hit left handed pitching particularly well. Lol. Ruben should be more concerned with making Werth a decent offer to see if he stays at home.
EDIT: Missed Marcus Thames. He’d be a nice platoon partner.
Reed Johnson kills lefties. Not much power, but otherwise respectable numbers.
Missed him too. Lol. You’re right, he’d be a great platoon partner for Brown as well.
If I’m Ruben, and sometimes I wish I were, I’d go with what you said. I would rather have a right handed hitting outfielder to bat behind Ryan Howard who makes contact against lefties and gets on base then have a righty who is all power and strikes out as much as Ryan.
I’m not saying that the latter is Jayson Werth, I’m just saying that when he bolts this offseason, I want what I said above.
Yeah, I definitely agree, but it’s either Jayson Werth or now, seemingly, Domonic Brown and a right handed platoon partner. I don’t see any free agent outfielders that fit the bill Werth does, at least not in the 2011 free agent class. After next season is a different story though. In a perfect world, you have a breakout, lefthanded star in Domonic Brown, and you can add a free agent, righthanded outfielder in Jose Bautista, Jonny Gomes, Josh Willingham… Guys like that. I don’t know though…
I think that Jayson Werth is the Phillies’ guy. Offer him a three or four year deal. Pay the man. I don’t think there are many teams that are going to go past that, and the guy is the prototypical Phillies player. Ibanez walks in a year, and the Phillies are set in the outfield. If the owners will expand their wallets for one season, the Phillies are a complete team.
What I really worry about is adding pieces to the bullpen… but that’s another story. Lol
If the Phillies won’t resign Werth, they certainly won’t get Bautista, with all of these homeruns he’s hitting this year.
But we’re forgetting that if Werth does walk, we still have Ben Fransisco!
Plus I read recently that the name Ruben Amaro dropped to platoon with D.Brown was Ross Gload, who hasn’t played more than 50-100 games in his career in right field. I worry about our GM sometimes.
The Bullpen? Promoting from within seems the way to go next year… With a lot of players getting raises from their contracts, resigning or signing anyone will be difficult.
Manny would just be hitting his prime if he could still juice.
Even though he is 2 years removed from his “amazing” stretch run in 2008, I do not think anyone has made a stronger case than Manny that the drugs were performance enhancing.
Napoli would make sense to the Rockies. They could use another RH threat (Tulo is all we have). They have also been said to have interest in a RH 1B, and might need a catcher as well.
They wouldn’t need Napoli if they’d just play Iannetta everyday. Olivo’s great half-season notwithstanding, but CI should be the everyday guy – though I’m beginning to wonder if there is an issue between Iannetta and Tracy similar to Napoli and Scioscia. There was talk of having CI play some 1B as well – no idea what happened to that idea.
Tulo is all you need! Best ss in baseball.
I agree and I’m a Padres fan
Magglio Ordonez would look reallygood in Phillies Pinstripes….
Please Jack Z, trade for Napoli… Napoli for Rob Johnson or something
Hell no. Get Cliff Lee back, then we’ll trade Naps for Lee
Having seen every AB since Manny joined the Sox, I can tell you that either he has in fact run out of gas or hes incredibly stupid. I doubt that hes that stupid though.
He had a perfect venue to showcase himself with the Sox. In the AL…a DH..with a team that was contending. He has fallen flat on his face. He cant catch up with fastballs over 92-93 mph…cant hit any breaking balls on the outside part of the plate…cant get his hands out in front of inside pitches.
If hes simply disinterested, hes also incredibly stupid by being that way. Im sure the Sox wont offer him a contract and since he can no longer play the outfield without hurting himself, his pool of future employers is quite small.
If Boras asks for any kind of guaranteed money, Manny wont be playing next year. There may be some team willing to take a chance with him on a incentive based contract. Thats about all he will get.
Maybe hes just tired of playing and wont even try to hook up with anyone next year…but knowing Boras, he will try to sell the past to some naive GM
Napoli, its time to spread your wings and fly far far away.
I’ve always been a Napoli fan and its sad to see his power potential limited because Scioscia has designated him as the bench watchman.
I hope that Napoli has success wherever he goes, he’s a good offensive player and deserves to be an everyday player because of it.
ya he does…its one of my peevs with scioscia…
there is no reason he shouldnt have played every game…
he could have had 30 homers easy
raise my ticket prices 10% and keep Werth and have Brown in left field after next year. End of story.
On another note, a Napoli-Ellsbury trade would not be bad. If Napoli (+ prospects) could be traded to the Nats for Zimmerman, the Angels would have it made. All we would need is to trade Rivera for a better LF.
Zimmerman isn’t going anywhere for a long time.
Give me Zimmerman!
for rob johnson? i hope you are kidding
The ex NFL quarterback?
“If the owners will expand their wallets for one season, the Phillies are a complete team.”
They didn’t do it for “you-know-who” they won’t do it for Werth. Does everyone forget about Benny? I like him in the OF and as a platoon with Dombrown.
I could see Napoli coming to Boston for someone like Dice-K or even Papelbon or some prospects like Bowden and Reddick,but Ellsbury, hell no! Theo loves Napoli and he would hit, at a minimum, 20 hrs a year in Fenway!
angels dont need a closer..
especially one like papelbon with an attitude issue…we already got rid of that “krap-rod”
lol
Ellsbury seems so injury prone though…
Besides the Sox are loaded with outfield talent, as we’ve seen with all of these injuries and callups.
can people stop bringing up Dice-K in trade discussions..he has a full no trade clause in his contract, which has been brought up a lot on MLBTR..Papelbon will demand way too much money and as stated before, they dont need a closer..im a huge Sox fan and i love their farm..i have the luxury of going to a lot of Sea Dogs games and watch these kids coming up..but Bowden and Reddick would not be enough..Bowden is another Justin Masterson..effective out of the pen, but not enough to be an effective starter..i have a hard time seeing Reddick being a real producer in the bigs..i can see him being more of a 4th outfielder/platoon role somewhere, whether its Boston or not..but in my honest opinion, i dont think these 2 prospects alone are enough for a guy like Napoli..
can people stop bringing up Dice-K in trade discussions..he has a full no trade clause in his contract, which has been brought up a lot on MLBTR..Papelbon will demand way too much money and as stated before, they dont need a closer..im a huge Sox fan and i love their farm..i have the luxury of going to a lot of Sea Dogs games and watch these kids coming up..but Bowden and Reddick would not be enough..Bowden is another Justin Masterson..effective out of the pen, but not enough to be an effective starter..i have a hard time seeing Reddick being a real producer in the bigs..i can see him being more of a 4th outfielder/platoon role somewhere, whether its Boston or not..but in my honest opinion, i dont think these 2 prospects alone are enough for a guy like Napoli..
The phils shouldn’t open up the bank for werth. If for some reason he doesn’t get the offers we expect him to get, than you offer him something in that lower range. I just have a feeling he will have an underwhelming career after he gets this next contract. This guy is a sulker and one of the worst with runners in scoring position. Get a cheap vet to platoon with Dom Brown.
The phils shouldn’t open up the bank for werth. If for some reason he doesn’t get the offers we expect him to get, than you offer him something in that lower range. I just have a feeling he will have an underwhelming career after he gets this next contract. This guy is a sulker and one of the worst with runners in scoring position. Get a cheap vet to platoon with Dom Brown.