Links for Tuesday, as the GM Meetings commence in Orlando and we await the announcement of the NL Cy Young winner…
- The Pirates' top free agent target is Jorge de la Rosa, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The Brewers, Rangers, Nationals, Yankees, and Rockies have also been linked to the lefty. Correct me if I'm wrong, Pirates fans, but aside from Yoslan Herrera it seems the team's last multiyear free agent pitcher signing was Pete Schourek in December of 1998.
- The Mariners are expected to be limited to bargain bin shopping this winter, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. They've got plenty of needs, but expensive free agents don't make sense until they're closer to contention.
- Meanwhile the Softbank Hawks are working on signing Marcus Thames, according to a Sponichi report passed along by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman on Twitter. Thames, 34 in March, was productive in a part-time role for the Yankees this year.
- Brandon Backe intends to pitch in 2011, his agent told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter link). He's recovering from a rotator cuff injury.
- The Rockies will keep an eye on Bartolo Colon in the Dominican Republic, GM Dan O'Dowd told Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, but Renck finds a signing a long shot (Twitter link). MLBTR's Nick Collias filled us in on Colon yesterday.
- The Chiba Lotte Marines re-signed pitchers Hayden Penn and Bill Murphy, tweets Jason Coskrey of the Japan Times.
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman ruled out Leo Mazzone but not Rick Peterson for the team's new pitching coach, reports Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post muses on how the Mets should handle well-paid veterans Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, and Jose Reyes.
Marcus Thames would be primed supplant Tuffy Rhodes at the single-season NPB homerun champ.
Does Thames really think he can’t get a major league job. He had a decent season.
Wouldn’t mind seeing him back in pinstripes, me’self….
I am a die hard pirates fan i am actually thinking we might be be able to land de la rosa because of the past of Clint hurdle of rockies maybe we can pull him in idk that be something if we did since he is the second best lefty of the market it be nice to see the pirates in top headlines..
I also think pirates should look into james loney if dodgers sayin he is available see whats his value shouldnt be that high i think we could get a deal done. that be nice for first base compare to jeff clement last year garrent jones should be traded for pitching in the rotation he should go to tampa bay for prospects or someone good.
De la rosa
Mcdonald
i honestly dont know are rotation cause duke maholm oldendorf lincoln i haave no clue! any help people????
Pirates412:
As of right now, the Pirates’ starting rotation shakes out like this(before any trades, free agent signings, or possible non-tenders):
Paul Maholm
Zach Duke
Ross Ohlendorf
James McDonald
Brad Lincoln
Charlie Morton
So, there are 6 guys for 5 spots. Now, if the Pirates could sign De la Rosa, that would be fantastic. He would take over as the immediate #1 starter, and provide an important bridge between the present and 2-3 years down the road, when some of their young SP prospects(Allie, Heredia, and Tallion) are ready to hit the majors(it may be sooner than that, but they certainly won’t be hitting their ceilings as prospects the first year or two anyway, most likely).
It also seems likely that the Pirates will non-tender Zach Duke in early December before the deadline to do so, releasing him from their contractual control and making him a free agent. If De La Rosa was signed, the new depth chart at SP would look like this:
Jorge De La Rosa
Paul Maholm
Ross Ohlendorf
James McDonald
Brad Lincoln
Charlie Morton
And, without understating it, that would be be–without question–the best Pirates’ rotation in years, with room to get better. Morton would no doubt be the odd man out, becoming a long reliever/spot starter in case of injury, but that’s good for the Pirates, as it removes him from the regular rotation.
And that’s a rotation they could live with for 2011, and as their young talent matures, they’ll be able to replace from within. Maholm would be the first to go, no doubt, as he’ll be a free agent after 2011. Hopefully, someone would be ready by early 2012.
If they don’t sign De La Rosa, then replace De La Rosa at #1 with Maholm, move everyone up 1 spot, and put Morton at the 5th spot. That’s not great, but maybe they could still sign someone like Kevin Millwood or Jon Garland to eat innings and leave Morton in the bullpen?
I guess we’ll see.
perez/castillo dropped on the last day of spring trainingbeltran traded to the red sox for cameron/dice-k ( assuming dice-k agrees and waives NTCreyes resigned to a 5 year 71 million dollar deal. with a team option bringing the potential deal up to 91 mil. reyes will be 28 next season and 33 when the contract is up. essentially u can look at it like a 4 year 60 mil deal since his option was exercised this year. 2011 – 11 mil2012 – 15 mil2013 – 15 mil2014 – 15 mil2015 – 15 miloption year 2016 – 20 mil for those that think reyes wont command 4/60 on a free-agent market…look at the list of teams that may need a SS for 2012.philliesyankeesangelsdodgersoriolesgiantsmarinersbraves
People keep saying that DLR will be the next Oliver Perez, which hopefully will be the ’04 version of Perez.
would like to see Thames in a Twins uniform in ’11, perfect 4th outfielder, RH platoon at DH with Kubel, and back-up at 1B (especially with Cuddy covering there for Morneau if he can’t go next year).
Thames seems like a unimportant piece, but the Yankees should re-sign him. Not too many guys have given the Yanks punch off the bench over a full season.
Typically, they end up renting guys at the end of the year – and they did this year, too, with Kearns and Berkman. But that’s no reason to ignore a right handed bat that produced regularly all year long.