Some items to wrap up the week…
- The Pirates were close to a trade for J.J. Hardy on Thursday night, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com. Pittsburgh is known to have an interest in Hardy and could still work out a deal given that the Twins tendered Hardy a contract.
- There is "mutual interest" between Nick Punto and the Indians, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. (Twitter link) The two sides will continue their talks during the winter meetings.
- Yahoo Sports' Big League Stew blog collects some of the Washington media's reaction to Adam Dunn leaving town, and it isn't very positive.
- It's looking increasingly unlikely that Arizona will trade Justin Upton, but if Upton is moved, it won't be to Florida, writes Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Rodriguez says the Marlins are looking for a left-handed bench bat and possibly a left-handed reliever, though the club is unlikely to re-sign Will Ohman.
- Phillies assistant GM Scott Proefrock tells Fox Sports Radio's Jim Bowden (Twitter link) that his club isn't interested in bringing back Cliff Lee. "That ship has sailed," Proefrock said.
- Erik Bedard tells Larry Larue of the Tacoma News Tribune that he was offered a guaranteed deal from another club but turned it down to sign a non-guaranteed contract with Seattle.
- The Mariners "are becoming a West Coast version of the Orioles, a place top-tier free agents avoid because the stench of losing is overwhelming," writes Yahoo's Steve Henson in his winter meetings preview.
The Mariners have what, six winning seasons in the last ten? And at least four of those were 90 win seasons.
The O’s haven’t had a winning season since 1998. And they haven’t even had a faint glimmer of hope in all that time.
Sorry, but to call the Mariners the Orioles of the west is an insult to how bad the O’s have been.
I agree. The stench of losing is unbearable….are you kidding me?? It was 2 years ago the mariners had a record over .500! The orioles on the other hand, have had their problems, but still whats with the disrespect!?!?!? I guess you can expect this from someone at Yahoo Sports (They are all mostly jokes). Keep hopin Mariners fans such as I! DONT GIVE IN TO THIS!
Who the hell is Steve Henson? Hey there Steve. Might wanna check your facts first.
Steve Henson is a joke, noone really cares what he thinks. Another nobody who thinks he knows something about baseball.
Who in the he’ll is not interested in Lee, come on guys. They should have kept him when they had the chance. They didn’t need to trade him when they did.
You are kdding me right?? The mariners shouldn;t have traded Cliff Lee? So they should have kept someone and still have a losing record, only to lose him the next season? Obviously trading him for young talent (That people need to give time and stop giving up on…) was a big mistake. I would rather have just lost him for nothing in return….*cough* If you are speaking of the phillies, then it could be seen as a mistake. It was really worry they couldn;t afford both guys, although Amaro kind of disproved his point signing Blanton….
The O’s would be a lot better if they were out of the AL East.
so would the jays, and rays, and red sox, and yankees, whats your point? if any one of those teams were out of the al east there record could only improve.
Grownice, completely agree.He has no point… and switching leagues does not decide if a club is one of the worst of the league, to playoff bound. If the orioles were in contention every year, say as the yanks, red sox, and rays (blue jays sometimes) Then I see how a division change would matter.
Oops. Didn’t mean to “Like” that. Especially since it’s one of the classic O’s cop outs.
“They would be better if they weren’t in the AL East. They would be better if they could spend with the Yankees and Red Sox. They would be better if this and if that and if that.”
No. Not at all. The Orioles would be better if their owner was committed to put a winning team on the field. The Orioles would be better if they had a competent GM. Division schmivision. The only thing that matters is a commitment to winning, and the O’s don’t have that.
Stop toying with my emotions Neal!!! Get Hardy right now!
The pirates aquiring some Major league talent. I am a mariners fan, but it has got me excited!
The Twins are really stupid if they trade Hardy. Unless they get good value for Hardy, why would they trade him. Their 2009 team had a major hole in it because of the offense of their middle inf. They acq. Hardy for 2010 and not that he had stellar season but he was alot better than letting Punto and Casilla play on an everyday basis. I know Hardy has his problems staying on the field and producing with the bat also. But I would rather have him around than to trust my starting middle inf. to Nishioka and Casilla. The Twins will not win their division next year if they trade Hardy. You heard it here first.
Agreed, Hardy was great when healthy. The wrist problem was really the only thing holding him back…and that was a deep bone bruise. That’s not a recurring injury.
I will be so mad if they trade Hardy. He’s their best SS since Gagne. He needs to get a multi-year deal with the Twins.
Before I say this, I am an intelligent Twins fan, and if the Pirates were wanting to do a deal that included Evan Meek or Joel Hanrahan for Hardy, then accept that deal and I would be very happy with it. We need speed and Hardy does not have it. I’d be fine with Casilla at SS and Tsuyoshi at 2B.
Knaw. Unless we got a good starting pitching prospect included with Meek or Hanrahan, I still wouldn’t make that deal.
Knaw. Unless we got a good starting pitching prospect included with Meek or Hanrahan, I still wouldn’t make that deal.
The only problem with letting Hardy go is what happens if Casilla or Nishioka get hurt.. Nishioka has a lengthy injury history in Japan. Other than Trevor Plouffe, who’s future some see at second, we don’t have a natural shortstop.
The Twins need speed in the OF and they need to realize that. If Hardy goes, it’s a guaranteed downgrade on defense. Casilla may do well there, but he’s no Hardy. There is also no guarantee that the good version of Casilla will show up.
The Twins could end up with a downgraded MI. Yoshi and Casilla are two unknowns. And as Mauerneau said, one of them gets hurt and there goes the speed you wanted anyway.
There is no guarantee that Casilla or Yoshi can get on base enough to even utilize their speed. Get speed to the OF and you improve team speed and OF defense. OF defense is a way bigger problem than team speed, but those two things can be improved at the same time, while getting rid of Hardy makes the D worse.
Twins have speedy outfielders in the farm system that will be in the pros in about 3 yrs so that will have to wait (Revere, Hicks, Morales). But I think the MI would be fine with Casilla and Tsuyoshi. They both have great range and solid arms. Hardy is good when healthy but he’s been injured the last two years and for the 6 million he’ll get paid he’s probably not worth that. And it would have to be Meeks for Hardy and probably a C- prospect of ours considering Hardy would be a one-year guy. Meeks is still a mid-20s reliever who has been clocked at 98 mph with a good slider. I would take that deal and be completely satisfied.
Agreed. We traded Santana for Gomez and other parts because we couldn’t keep Santana, Gomez for Hardy because Gomez wasn’t improving, and now that we finally have a successful, affordable player we’re going to trade him again? Doesn’t make any sense.
Amaro, essentially said the same thing, days before the Phillies acquired Halladay.
I am seattle fan and have been for my whole life and to hear this spill on how the mariners are the O’s of the west is complete and utmost disrepect to the city of Seattle and to Baltimore…..this man sits behind a desk rights like he is king tut at his job……I tell you now the O’s and the M’s wont be laughers when we build are farm system and create a surplus of talent….which down the line will create a solid homegrown team for both clubs. Just like Tampa and Cincinnati
So far I am surprisingly unimpressed with Jack Z. as GM in Seattle. Did a great job helping to build Milwaukee’s young core but he seems to be having a difficult time running the show. Not that it’s all his fault but some of his moves aren’t quite what I would have expected after showing such consistently decent judgment with the Brewers. I expect Seattle to draft well for the next few years, but they need something in the meantime…