Some links to read as the Rays eye Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero and even Mike Napoli…
- Todd Helton told Troy Renck of the Denver Post that he plans to play for three more seasons. He's under contract through 2013.
- Josh Hamilton isn't under contract for 2011 yet, but he tells Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com that he's bracing himself for an arbitration hearing with the Rangers. The club could look to extend the reigning MVP instead.
- Starlin Castro and Andrew McCutchen are among the players on Jayson Stark's list of the most underrated players in baseball (link at ESPN.com).
- Meanwhile, ESPN.com's Buster Olney includes Jose Reyes and Nate McLouth on his list of players at a career crossroads.
- Rays executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told Peter Gammons of MLB Network that he's looking forward to the coming draft, when the Rays will select ten times before the second round. I previewed the Rays' 2011 draft yesterday.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports argues that John Danks would be better off not signing an extension at this point.
- The Giants' 2011 payroll will likely be in the $115MM range, writes Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News.
As a Rockies fan, I’m kind of ashamed that my reaction is, “THREE more years?”
i guarantee you if helton puts up something like 275/350/400 or less the rockies will begin to look elsewhere, no worries
No worries? Where is the 60 million or whatever it is they owe him gonna go? He will sit on the bench and collect, no worries.
they could trade him to the pirates they’ll take anyone they’d probably eat 75% of his salary
Your knowledge of baseball seeps through this comment. Amazing.
I didn’t like Stark’s article. Most of the players mentioned were definitely not underrated. Braun? really, if you follow baseball you know he’s been a star since he got called up.
Yeah, I kinda thought the article was weak. Not sure how Dunn, Kinsler, Zimmerman, Braun, Johnson, or Soria are considered underrated. Want underrated, try players like Choo or Huff, etc.
Off season filler. Any baseball fan with a pulse wants Braun batting third for their team.
There are a couple teams in the AL East with better…
Actually, I like Carlos Gonzalez batting 3rd.
Kinsler isn’t getting any love in mock drafts this year.
Todd Helton needs to learn a thing or two from Gil Meche.
Stark’s article gets a big fat “WTF”… all a bunch of star players and then Carlos Ruiz (justified) and Michael Cuddyer, who’s as overrated as they come. Martin Prado, Shin-Soo Choo, and several others say “Uhhh hello?”
Todd Helton hit over .320 2 years ago, and was plagued by injuries last year. He has been the face of the franchise for a long time, and it would be catastrophic if he was dealt. Agreed, we might be able to find someone with better offensive numbers, but he can still play good baseball, and I’m glad he’s going to be a Rockies for the next couple of years. He has been my favorite Rockie since I can remember watching baseball. So if ya’ll don’t pay attention to the Rockies, don’t try acting like you know them.
Oh Helton, my Helton.