Links for Friday as the Rangers prepare for a crucial game 3 tomorrow night..
- Carlos Lee could be attractive to a team in need of a designated hitter, says MLB.com's Brian McTaggart.
- Ed Price of Fanhouse details the long and strange journey taken by Colby Lewis.
- MLB.com's Jordan Bastian writes that with Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, and Kevin Gregg all eligible for free agency this winter, the Blue Jays' bullpen could get a lot younger.
- It's unlikely that the Phillies would bring back Jamie Moyer on anything other than a non-guaranteed deal, writes Todd Zolecki of MLB.com.
- The Orioles have agreed to hire Rick Adair as their bullpen coach and Jim Presley as hitting coach, reports Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun. Both men have agreed to two-year deals though some contractual language is still being worked out.
- Yanks GM Brian Cashman will talk to Triple-A pitching coach Scott Aldred and bullpen coach Mike Harkey about filling the Yanks' pitching coach vacancy, writes Anthony McCarron of the Daily News. However, Cashman cautions that a hire will likely be made "later rather than sooner."
I know I’ve stressed this a lot, but 3 guys that I know from AA Trystan Magnuson, Danny Farquahar, and Alan Farina (25, 23, and 24) respectively were all dominant in relief roles this summer for New Hampshire.
Magnuson, 6-7 has a Fastball that he commands real well and throws it in the 89-93 range. He doesn’t throw hard, but he is really good with his command and setting up for the 9th inning. He also has a Curve like 76-80 and a change up.
Farquahar 6’0-6’2 has the best stuff of the group and has a fastball from the 92-95 range with good bore. He has a slider and a curve as well that are both in the high 70’s and low 80’s. He has slight command issues but is Major League Ready, as are all 3 of these guys.
Farina, 5’11-6’0 has really good stuff as well. A good fastball with command he throws it from 92-94 and a curveball that he also had good command of. He gets a lot of K’s and some ground balls as well…He is currently pitching in the AFL
All 3 guys are great guys…Really nice and good people and I wish all 3 the best I just hope that they can get a shot during Spring Training. Especially if the Jays sign a lot of guys to Minor League Deals a la Michael Hill.
I doubt Jays will pencil any of them in the opening roster and it wouldn’t surprise me if they made a trade for a young reliever or sign some non-tender candidates. You can always sign type B relievers as well who wouldn’t cost a pick. Those guys will certainly battle with opening spots. A guy like Purcey isn’t guaranteed a spot either and Tallet will be gone as well (though I think Zep takes that spot).Thanks for the scouting report.
Zep in my opinion should definetly get a spot but I’m willing to say that one of my guys gets an Opening Day spot. I say Magnuson.
I think really like the way the bluejays have set themselves up for this draft. With all the guys leaving that will def get jobs they should reap in the pick. Along with with a epic draft class and the great scouting they have great chance to really pick up the organization.
I have a hard time believing that the Jays won’t exervise at least one of Gregg’s 2 options. He wouldn’t be overpriced, and would have decent trade value at the deadline worst case. It would also force some of these younger relievers to ‘take’ the closing role from him.
Considering his inconsistent career and even this season was inconsistent, I’d prefer a draft pick and go the safe route instead of picking up his option and seeing if he can provide good trade value. If he did provide good trade value, he likely would have been dealt this trade deadline.
Absolutley. Their draft was best in Baseball this year in my opinion.
Aaron Sanchez
Dayton Marze
Asher Wojciechowski
Griffin Murphy
Deck McGuire
Sam Dyson
Noah Syndergaard
Justin Nicolino
are all guys who I have high hopes for.
I hated the McGuire pick at first but when I thought about it logically, it was a pretty good move. He is a guy that has 4 good pitches and throws pretty well and projects to be a #3 starter and while he may not have ace potential, he is a guy that has solid tools to become a good major league starter and considering the fact Jays have guys like Romero, Morrow and Drabek who could all evolve to aces, McGuire on a staff this deep would be a 5th starter at best who can pitch like a #3 starter which is a good thing.
Problem with taking a guy with huge upside is that there is huge chance he can also bust like Sanchez for example. His upside is great and he could be an ace or he could never pitch in the bigs.
But yeah, it was a great draft overall. I remember reading somewhere on baseballamerica saying Wojciehowski could be the sleeper of the draft which is saying something. If I remember correctly, he has 2 good pitches, fastball and slider but is in a similar situation like Stewart. If he can get a 3rd pitch he could be a #2 starter and if he doesn’t, he could become a closer or set-up man.
I was hoping they would sign Bryant but oh well, great draft overall.
Your exactly right about everything you said and I remember in the chat when callis said that about Wojo.
I’m not trying to make comparisons, but which other pitcher in Baseball throws a 95 Fastball and a 85 slider and is 6’5+?
That’s right, Josh Johnson
How could you forget Dickie Thon Jr?
And Magnuson is Canadian, so thats a double bonus
My bad I forgot dickie. He has tremendous upside.
Farquahar is iffy to me. He has decent stuff, but his command issues could be related to him using 3 arm angles.
Farina had some godly numbers in AA this year, but I don’t think he’ll make the team out of spring training due to him being injured for a while.
Magnuson has a legit shot at breaking the club.
The Phillies would be silly not to offer Jamie Moyer an invite to Spring Training. In my opinion, he’s more likely to accept a minor league deal than to play on a team that isn’t in contention, just looking for a veteran presence. You can never have too much starting pitching. Phillies need the depth.
The way I figure it… 4 more years and Moyer can get win number 300.
“The Phillies would be silly not to offer Jamie Moyer an invite to Spring Training.”
Why? He’s toast. You got a rotation already. What do you want from Moyer?
The guy still wants to pitch, he’s in winter ball right now. He was still passable in ’10, why not see if he can do it again? No harm in giving him an invite, not guaranteeing him anything, just bring him back and see what you’ve got. Look what he did in ’08 at age 45, if he can approximate that again he’ll be valuable.
For what, though? I can see if they were in need of starting pitching, but they’re fine in that department. Where would he fit in?
You never have enough pitching.
They should just sign him to be like a second pitching coach who gets a spot start here and there. You might as well have as many good or formerly good pitchers around as possible. Maybe one of them can teach Kyle Kendrick how to pitch…
Because an organization is not made up of five starting pitchers. Somewhere along the line, you’re going to have to have some depth. Behind Halladay, Hamels, and Oswalt, the only other certainty is Joe Blanton. Kyle Kendrick is by no means guaranteed a spot in the rotation. At this point, their only other realistic option in that case is Vance Worley. With that in mind, why not invite Jamie to Spring Traning, and have those guys compete for the fifth spot? Jamie is the type of guy to either win the job, or understand he’s got nothing left. That’s where I disagree with you though. Jamie still has something to offer.
I dont pretend to know everything about every MLB teams minor league guys but other than Worley whatever happened to Bastardo being a starter instead of a reliever. and dont they also have a couple other guys at AAA (Drew Carpenter and Scott Mathieson) that deserve a shot at a 5th starter spot more than Moyer who is coming off a pretty severe elbow injury.
Mathieson’s had roughly a bajillion arm surgeries, so the rest of his career will be in the bullpen. Carpenter really isn’t anything special, been leap-frogged by guys like Worley and Kendrick over the last few years. Bastardo doesn’t have the stuff to be a regular in the rotation, and a lot of fans even think he needs a lot of work to be a good reliever.
It’s no secret the Phillies don’t have talent in the high minor leagues right now. A spring invite for Moyer would be solid (as long as it doesn’t result in a two year, 16 million dollar deal)
He was absolutely fantastic for 90% of his starts before his injury. Despite getting blown up at times he was incredibly fun to watch and he if the run support for him was better he could have had 12-15 wins before injury.
“Carlos Lee could be attractive to a team in need of a designated hitter”
Teams want an extremely overpaid 34-year old who had a .291 OBP? Even if the team eats most of his contract, you can find better DH on the market.
Kind of makes me wonder if Brian McTaggart gets a kickback from Carlos Lee’s agent.
Good for Adair. I trust the O’s will announce Wakamatsu as their bench coach soon. Good coaches that got stuck in a horrible ownership situation deserve a second chance.
I’m not entirely sold on Wakamatsu, but Rick Adair is a good pitching coach. I was surprised when the Mariners fired him.
I like him as bench/1B/3B/etc coach. He doesn’t have the skills to be a manager. I think he proved this year that he cannot “manage” the players. But he would be a decent coach. You’re right though, there isn’t a lot of information to really be sold on him even as a coach. What everyone says is that he is a knowledgeable baseball guy and had a good relationship with the Buck.
Adair was a shock. Pitching was far from the Mariner’s concern.
Agreed.
moyer wants to test free agency first. he still might return to the phillies but free agency just started so we don’t know yet.