Here are some items of note on this Thursday, a day on which the Reds and Rangers each settled with one of their arbitration-eligible players. Remember to refer to our handy Arbitration Tracker, as those cases will continue to pop up in the coming weeks …
- The Astros were thought to be mulling the idea of trading Jeff Keppinger this offseason, but the utility infielder is scheduled to undergo left foot surgery next week and will likely miss the start of the regular season, writes Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. This offseason, Houston acquired Bill Hall to play second base and Clint Barmes to man shortstop, so Keppinger has become expendable, but the injury should put a significant dent in the likelihood of him being dealt before the season. Keppinger enjoyed a career year in 2010, hitting .288/.351/.391 in 575 plate appearances. The Astros and Yankees briefly discussed a swap for Keppinger, but those talks went nowhere.
- The Yankees are willing to offer $12MM or $13MM to Andy Pettitte and are awaiting a decision from the lefty, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.com. As Heyman notes, either of those figures would represent a modest raise for Pettitte, who earned $11.75MM in 2010, according to Cot's Baseball Contracts. Pettitte, who has been playing on one-year deals in each of the past four seasons, will probably either re-sign with the Yankees or retire.
- Padres closer Heath Bell hopes to remain in San Diego with a multiyear contract, writes Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Bell is in his final year of arbitration eligibility, and, having turned 33 in September, wants to garner long-term security, notes Center. Padres GM Jed Hoyer didn't offer much, saying that he and Bell's agent have "touched on it."
- After splitting 2010 between the Giants and Rangers, free-agent catcher Bengie Molina is seeking the "right fit," and one scenario that interests him is backing up his brother Yadier with the Cardinals, tweets Heyman. However, St. Louis already has a solid backup backstop in Gerald Laird, who signed a one-year deal with the Cards in December, so that seems unlikely.
First of all Dan, if you read this, Green Bay’s going down, thus, your playoff predics are for not :)
Second of all, way to patent “quick hits”, your very own!
Dave, Rodgers will have his revenge … Thanks, as always, for the kind words!
Haha! We’ll see…
Wait a minute. According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cards thoroughly questioned Benjie about his desire to back up Yadier. Benjie did not want to back up anyone, he wanted to play or retire. Did he suddenly change his mind? I’m puzzled, the brothers are pretty close and I don’t think they would do each other that way.
If it came from Strauss, there’s your answer right there.
I would assume that if the Cardinals thought there was any decent chance of getting Benjie as a backup, they would not have gotten Laird. It would have been sweet to see a Molina to Molina double play! (Yadi moves to first during the 9th inning of a blow out game, Benji comes in to catch, batter strikes out and Benji throws to first to pick off the runner!)
Funny you should say that. This site gets most of it’s “rumors” from Joe Strauss.
He prob has changed his mind after realizing that no one is willing to give him a starting job. I like Bengie Molina, but he’s not as young as he used to be. Looks like he missed out.
Love how the team names are bolded- minor change that makes this site so much easier to glance over! Keep up the good work MLBTR!!
I wish the Red Sox looked into Bengie Kind of, I’d like him better than Salty.
No reports that Epstein is bidding 2/30ish to drive the market for Pettite?
The Astros should really hold on to Keppinger. Maybe the injury forces their hand a bit.