Eleven year ago today, the Ken Griffey Jr. era came to an end in Seattle. The Mariners traded their franchise player to the Reds for a four player package highlighted by Mike Cameron and Brett Tomko, and later that day Junior signed a nine-year, $116.5MM contract.
Here's a few links for the evening…
- Remember Ryan Drese? He signed with the Orioles according to this week's edition of minor league transactions, courtesy of Matt Eddy of Baseball America. Drese, a 14-game winner with the Rangers in 2004, last pitched in the big leagues in 2006. He spent last year in the independent Atlantic League.
- Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic hears that Kelly Johnson's arbitration hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Phoenix. Our Arbitration Tracker shows that Johnson filed for $6.5MM, and the team countered with $4.7MM.
- Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall chatted with fans at MLB.com today, and said he believes "the roster is set for the most part."
- WEEI.com's Alex Speier spoke to Manny Delcarmen's agent, who confirmed that his client had a Major League contract offer from a NL club, but choose the Mariners because of opportunity.
- MLB.com's Spencer Fordin spoke to Jose Reyes at a charity event today, and the shortstop said he's not thinking about his contract right now. Reyes can become a free agent for the first time after 2011.
Where do you guys think Reyes go? I could see him going to Boston maybe packaged with Beltran? Maybe a package of Ellbury and some of there pitcher prospects? Maybe their ss igleisis?
Why would the Red Sox want Beltran or Reyes, nevermind both. Sure, Reyes is a nice player but they have a very affordable and productive SS in Scutaro with Iglesias on the rise. They’ll take their chances with Iglesias before trading him (if for some reason he doesn’t pan out whatsoever). As for Beltran, why? We already have an outfielder making big money on the bench and we’re going to add another one…? Don’t know why you would do either part of that trade.
Actually the only reason I don’t see Reyes going to Boston is because of Igelsias. If they didn’t have Iglesias in their system I would imagine they would be huge players for Reyes but Iglesias is their guy and isn’t going anywhere, so Reyes isn’t really a fit.
But you gotta love the idea of Ells, Reyes, and Crawford all in the same lineup. If they trade for Bourn as well they’d set a team record for steals by June.
Or Rajai Davis!
He never led the league in steals.
But if I’m going crazy with imagination add in Chone Figgins at third, Brian Roberts at DH, and hire Rickey Henderson as a coach.
Reyes – 05′, 06′, 07′ led the NL in steals…. 06′ & 07′ led MLB
I’m well aware. Davis on the other hand has not led the league.
C: Jason Kendall
1B: Casey Kotchman?
2B: Howie Kendrick?
3B: Chone Figgins
SS: Jose Reyes
LF: Carl Crawford
CF: Jacoby Ellisbury
RF: Michael Bourn
DH: Brian Roberts?
of course the question marks mean I couldn’t think of anyone faster, buuuut that’s probably the fastest lineup (with everyone in their normal positions except Brian Roberts)
Yeah, but you still need an RBI guy so Pujols at first and let’s say Yadier Molina behind the plate so no one else can steal (adds insult to injury).
Bourn would definitely be playing center over Ellsbury.
Ellsbury doesn’t have the arm to play right.
The game isn’t about stealing bases anymore, it’s about power and on base %, and pitching.
The game has come down from being about power. There are not many great “power hitters” left in todays game. It’s more about the little things now, actually.
What makes you think Reyes won’t resign?
The fact the Mets are in epic financial trouble. Re-signing Reyes would be idiotic when the correct action for the team is to go into rebuild mode for a couple of years.
I have a Ryan Drese autographed baseball from when I saw him throwing/working out near my high school….that should totally bring in the big $$$$’s
Ryan Drese is the poster boy for the popular game, Baseball Mogul. Just a bit of trivia for people.
Never noticed thanks for the fact. I love BM 2011
In that BA transaction link, it says the Blue Jays lost a pretty good starting pitching prospect (Chuck Huggins) to retirement, whats up with that? Why did he retire? He had nice numbers so far in his career.
Quick, we need Michael Young Rumors Friday.
At what point can we say that we’ve learned enough about pitching to stop referring to them as a “so-and-so game winner?” Who cares how many wins they received in some year? Pitching wins tell us next to nothing about how they pitched that season or throughout the course of their career. It’s a worthless stat.
Good pitchers can have bad W/L records but bad pitchers rarely have good W/L records for very long, it always catches up with them Yeah wins aren’t the most useful stat, but if someone is a 22 game winner, that tells you everything you need to know.
No it doesn’t. It tells you nothing other than his team won 22 times while he was in the game. It tells you nothing about how well he pitched.
“who confirmed that his client had a Major League contract offer from a NL club, but choose the Mariners because of opportunity. ”
Translation: My client was looking for a pitchers’ park.
My bet is that the offer was from the Phillies or Reds.
The Mets won’t resign Reyes he has missed too much playing time and will cost too much. He is at a crossroad in his career, he will need to play well for the Mets to get somebody good for him.
It seems his career is taking the same path as Grady Sizemore which is unfortunate since both are superb talents.
everyone realizes he did play in a 130 games last year right. Also, before 2010 he had 4 straight seasons 150 games played. yes he was hurt early on his his career but that was 7 years ago and he was 20 and 21 respectively. Jose Reyes is awesome. I don’t see how losing Reyes makes the Mets better. If anyone thinks that it does they’re stupid.
here’s to hoping reyes and beltran have huge first halfs of the season. if they’re on par with their career numbers, the mets could really bring in a lot of top talent by trading them