Links for Halloween Sunday, as we prepare to take in our last October baseball game of 2010….
- SI.com's Jon Heyman says (via Twitter) the early feeling is that Francisco Rodriguez will be back with the Mets this year. There has been speculation that they would try to trade the closer following his late-season arrest, but that would have proven difficult with his contract.
- John Gibbons has informed the Mets that he's not a candidate for their managerial opening, tweets Bob Klapisch of The Bergen Record. The former Blue Jays' manager is happy with his role as Kansas City's bench coach.
- The Mets are still trying to lure J.P. Ricciardi to their new front office, reports ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin.
- Steve Melewski of MASNSports.com notes that it doesn't appear as if the Orioles have made much of an attempt to keep Koji Uehara. Uehara finished 2010 as the team's closer, but he is scheduled to be a free agent in the not-too-distant future.
- Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun recaps the Orioles' coaching situation, and tells us that if Don Wakamatsu doesn't land a managerial job, he'll likely be Buck Showalter's bench coach. Showalter would like the coaching staff to be finalized by mid-week.
- Dave Eiland, who was fired as the Yankees' pitching coach last week, told Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger that a reported falling out between he and Joe Girardi was "totally, absolutely false," and "ridiculous."
- How potential free agents have been performing, and continue to perform, in the postseason will have an impact on the Giants' offseason decisions, Brian Sabean tells Tyler Kepner of the New York Times. Aubrey Huff, Juan Uribe, and Pat Burrell are a few Giants who are facing possible free agency.
- Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer reminds Phillies fans that if Jayson Werth signs elsewhere, it wouldn't be the first time the club has lost a star outfielder to free agency. As Brookover notes, things turned out pretty well for the Phils in 2007, when Aaron Rowand signed with the Giants after having a career year in Philadelphia.
- In a piece for the Detroit Free Press, Josh Huebner explains why signing Carl Crawford should be the Tigers' number one priority this winter.
- Derek Jeter will likely still be playing shortstop in New York in 2011, but as Bill Madden of the New York Daily News writes, the Yankees view Eduardo Nunez as Jeter's eventual successor.
Koji Uehara’s K/BB ratio was ridiculous this season… Assuming Baltimore doesn’t resign him, I think he would be an interesting piece for any team. He could add plenty of depth to any teams staff, whether it be in the pen or in the rotation.
Koji Uehara will not last three starts in any team’s rotation.
Hopefully you are referring to his past injuries, his numbers as a starter in 2009 were pretty decent for a 3-5 starter. He doesn’t K many batters, but he doesn’t walk many either. Posting a 4.05 ERA in your first season in the A.L East isn’t too bad, I could see a NL team giving him a chance. However, I do think he is best suited out of the pen.
Yes, I was referring to his endurance. He can be great in short appearances; I liked him as Baltimore’s closer (as long as he was mixing up his pitches). As a starter, he’s proved himself unreliable because he just doesn’t seem healthy enough to go more than twice through the order, or to put together more than four or five starts without needing a DL stint.
He’s a bullpen guy all the way. Any team that wants to make him a starter is fooling itself.
BB-Rod will be pitching for his contract this season. Could work out well for Mets bullpen.
agreed he was largely lights out this year but getting around that 55 games vesting option could prove tricky though. No way they can pay him $17.5 in ’12 and not have it hurt them.
The problem with Brookover’s article is the application of selective history. While it’s absolutely true that letting Rowand go was a very smart move, that’s just a single example. There are plenty of other examples where holes were created and the young players simply couldn’t step in and live up to their potential.
I think Dominic Brown is going to be a stud and you have give him a shot to play. However, you can ask any Angels fan who was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Brandon Wood era to begin how that went. Like Brown, Wood was considered a top prospect in baseball. He was groomed for the position and the team let their incumbent walk via FA. All Wood did was come in and suck it up. His season was historically bad and easily cost the team 4 or 5 wins (between his negative contributions + the reasonable contributions of a good player).
Point is, letting an established (and very good) FA player walk is always a huge risk, regardless of the talent level of the rookie that is slotted to come take his place. In some cases it works out well. In more cases than not, the move is either just OK or a disaster. That’s the nature of young talent.
I think you are reading a bit to far into the article.
The point Bob is making is that the Phillies let a 27 HR, right-handed bat leave after 2007, and they won the World Series in 2008.
They let another power hitting righty oufielder (Pat Burrell) leave after 2008, and they were back in the Series without him in 2009.
The main idea here is that if Jayson Werth leaves, there is enough talent on the roster that the end of the world will not occur when he inks his next contract. I don’t mean to take a shot at them here, but the Phillies will not become the Pirates, post-Bonds, if/when Werth leaves.
Don’t forget, however, that Jason Werth was a huge part of both of those teams from the World Series. Everyone knew that Rowand was not going to improve on his season with the Phils and Burrell was pretty much done as a starting OF. You cannot say the same for Werth who is at his peak. Plus the 2 other OF (Ibanez is sliding and Victorino is holding steady as a nice CF with OPS+ around 105 – not great compared to Weth’s 145). And speaking of Ibanez and Victorino, BOTH of them were nice surprises, you can’t count on that every time you let someone go. Especially someone of Werth’s level. Now if saving money is a requirement, then that is the only reasonable excuse for letting Werth go, NOT because someone is waiting in the wings. If anything, Brown should take Ibanez’ place,a nd the Phils should keep Werth.
^Good point. Add on the fact that Brown is a lefty and without Werth there would be no big right handed bat in the lineup.
I just think that an all left handed platoon in left with Ibanez and Brown, Victorino in center, and Werth in right would be fine.
But knowing the history of the team and their money, you truly never know. Who predicted Ryan Howard’s pay day this year? IMO, they have the money. The question is, do they want to bring back one of their best players?
Maybe once Ricciardi and Gibbons are brought in to the mets organization, they can also hire Cito in a consulting role.
Dear Aubrey Huff,
What the hell man?
Sincerely,
The city of Detroit
Dear Jarrod Washburn,
WTF?
-Detroit
Include Renteria too
Include Renteria too