If there were any doubts about how much trade deadline acquisitions can affect the postseason, last night's Giants/Braves contest silenced them. A pair of former Royals, Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth, helped lead Atlanta to victory, while ex-Red Sox Ramon Ramirez gave up Ankiel's game-winning blast. As we prepare for another round of playoff baseball tonight, let's check out a few links….
- Casey Blake hit just .248/.320/.407 this season, but MLB.com's Sarah Morris thinks Ned Colletti has more pressing needs than finding a new third baseman.
- Meanwhile, Steve Dilbeck of The Los Angeles Times says that today's Matt Kemp-Nationals rumor won't be the last time the centerfielder's name comes up on the rumor circuit this winter.
- The Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec expects the Orioles to buy out Mark Hendrickson's $1.2MM option for $200K. Hendrickson could return to the team at a lower price, according to Zrebiec.
- Carlos Matias (now known as Carlos Martinez) has received Visa approval and completed his $1.5MM deal with the Cardinals, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes (Twitter link). The Dominican right-hander agreed to terms with St. Louis in June, and has been outstanding in the Dominican Summer League (0.76 ERA, 11.9 K/9).
- The Red Sox have outrighted Rich Hill to the minors, reports Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. The lefty will become a free agent five days after the World Series.
- In his latest appearance on WEEI, Peter Gammons discussed Cliff Lee, Boston's bullpen, and how the purchase of Liverpool FC affects the Red Sox.
- As David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, Billy Wagner's strained oblique will keep him out of the NLDS and, if the Braves advance, the NLCS. With the left-hander still planning to retire, Wagner may have made his final big league appearance last night.
Don’t forget, it was Alex Gonzalez and Derrek Lee who put the other runs up on the board. Both acquired mid-season as well.
Good job Mr. Ankiel, well deserved.
Good to see Matias, errr Martinez’s papers get approved.
giants
“How much of Tom Hicks’ debt do they have to take in this? …”
The most important and eye opening thing in the entire Gammons article and something I never figured on, since thought/hoped the new ownership would have to pay for what that dead beat owed the league.
Here’s hoping Rich Hill can salvage some type of MLB career. He’s not going to fulfill all the promise he had at one time but it’d be nice to see him get his control in order and get a regular job in the bigs, earn a descent living and be able to retire comfortably. He’s a talented guy, great curve ball, it’s tough to see someone lose out on that simply because of some mental inability to throw strikes.
I went ahead and linked to that article, and it seems the Red Sox are willing to give him a chance next year, but he’s going to have to sign a minor league deal to do it, work his way back onto the roster, and they may give him a chance. The Sox did the same kind of deal with Fernando Cabrera and he was put on the roster parts of the 2009 and 2010 seasons. So I guess if they feel Hill earns a spot they’ll call him up. I guess it will come down to if someone else will give him a 40 man spot.
You guys know me by Ian_Smell, but I also go by Ian_Olor.
Good job Ramon Ramirez, way to show your new team what you were doing in Boston.
I’m hoping the Sox try to keep Hill around, giving him a shot to win a bullpen spot. He pitched decently in Pawtucket and didn’t really suck in his few appearances in Boston… which is more than I can say about most of the pen.
What an unfortunate way for Wagner’s career to end.
what is truly funny about kemp was that after 2008 there were whispers about a trade for cano (granted kemp still was a “major prospect” and cano had a hiccup).
Everyone agreed that there was no way the dodgers would do that. I bet they would now.
Kemp is still a damn good player. He had a down year this year but he’s still young. Though no Cano, it does make sense that they wouldn’t want to do that. At least its not nearly as bad a the Rangers taking Arias over Cano.
yeah probably not, but the rangers also had Ian Kinsler in their system at that time as well so their is still some merit to that decision.
How did having Kinsler make picking Arias over Cano a better decision? Cano and Arias both played the same positions.
no they didn’t. Cano is a second baseman, Arias was brought up as a shortstop.
Case Blake. Great return on Carlos Santana Ned Colleti. Probably one of the worst trades in recent memory.
Especially when you consider the lack of a top prospect like Carlos Santana is probably what prevented them from acquiring Cliff Lee the following year. I imagine the Indians would’ve gone for Santana, Bell, McDonald, DeWitt and another pitching prospect (maybe Elbert) over the Phillies package in ’09.
You guys offered Santana for CC that year too. Tribe was going to trade CC and Blake (and some rumors had Carroll) for Santana, McDonald and a handful of other prospects but the deal fell through for whatever reason. Tribe traded CC to the Brewers….then 3 weeks later still got Santana. Love it.
I still blame McCourt, not Colletti, for this. We couldn’t add payroll so Ned had to give up a lot to both get a player AND have the trading team cover his whole contract.
I have little doubt that Matt Kemp is going to be a good-great player going forward.
please, explain
I’m just kind of amazed the Dodgers seem like they are willing to “sell low” on Kemp. Do you think it has anything to do with arbitration?
Considering Kemp is signed for 2011, I’d say no. More like most of these rumors are BS.
Kemp is signed for 2011, but he is still arbitration eligible in 2012 so the Dodgers will have to go through that again.
I disagree that these rumors are BS. What if the Cards said they’d be willing to do some kind of Rasmus-Kemp swap? You’d have to at least consider it.
Or if the Indians came calling for Kemp and Blake for Sizemore and Cord Phelps (and maybe a pitcher). Would have to at least listen and consider.
I do think Kemp will be back with the Dodgers, but never hurts to explore your options.
Would if the Orioles were to sign Erik Bedard to a 1 year deal and see how he turns out. He did good in the past here. If he can stay healthy he could be a great ace. If he does turn out to be great this year then we should offer him a 2-3 year extension. If we do get Bedard I still think we should get Garland too. Rotation 1: Garland 2: Bedard 3: Guthrie 4: Matusz 5: Bergy. And if Bedard can’t stay healthy then we put Arrieta in his spot. Then we offer the Padres Pie, Tillman, Egan, Snyder and Albers for AG. But AG has to agree to sign a long term deal. Sign Izzy SS, Inge 3B and Benoit for bullpen help. Looks good to me!
I’m sorry but I dont want us to block our young pitching for Bedard who is injury prone and on the decline.
Inge is a terrible option because he just isnt that good period.
Izturis can be replaced with Andino (Andino is also cheaper)
John Garland would get rocked in Camden Yards and prolly have an ERA over 5 in the AL.
The Rotation should be
Guthrie
Matusz
Bergy
Arrieta
5th spot for Britton when he is ready.
In the meantime we go out and get a guy like Ted Lilly to maybe Anchor the rotation
Carlos Matias or Now forever Carlos Martinez? Either way he’s a stud.
With all due respect for Sarah Morris, MLBTR really shouldn’t waste it’s time posting her articles. At least not with the billing of “MLB.com” writer. Sarah’s a fan, not a writer. It’s nice the Dodgers give her this opportunity, but I wouldn’t take a ton of stock in what she says.
His name is Matias but he apparently decided to change it to Martinez so it should be more along the Ortiz/Arias deal.
Martinez was the last name of his father but he used the alias of Matias, his mother’s old last name, when he originally signed with the redsox with an incorrect birth certificate. So technically, his last name was always Martinez, but it is now official.