The latest procedural notes…
- D'Backs manager Kirk Gibson told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that Tony Abreu cleared waivers and is going to Triple-A (Twitter link).
- The Royals told Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star that Gregor Blanco cleared waivers and will be outrighted to Triple-A (Twitter link).
- Outfielder Nick Evans cleared waivers yesterday, GM Sandy Alderson told Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (on Twitter). The Mets outrighted Evans when he didn't make the Opening Day roster.
- Another Mets player, Luis Hernandez cleared waivers, reports MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. He's unsure whether he'll accept a minor league assignment.
- Cubs catcher Max Ramirez cleared waivers and was outrighted to minor league camp, tweets MLB.com's Carrie Muskat.
- The Tigers outrighted infielder Audy Ciriaco to create a 40-man spot for reliever Enrique Gonzalez, tweets MLB.com's Jason Beck.
- Retired reliever Billy Wagner was removed from the Braves' 40-man roster today, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Wagner has no plans to come out of retirement, but if he did he'd have to play for the Braves in 2011. The AP has details.
- Orioles righty Rick Vandenhurk cleared waivers, tweets Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun.
- Mets reliever Jason Isringhausen, who didn't make the club out of Spring Training, agreed to spend two weeks in Port St. Lucie. According to ESPN's Adam Rubin, one condition of the extended Spring Training agreement is that "if another team approaches Isringhausen in the interim about a major league opportunity, the Mets must either call up Izzy or let him depart." The Mets chose Blaine Boyer over Isringhausen for the Opening Day roster, which so far has allowed them to retain both relievers.
- Outfielder Brandon Boggs, outrighted by the Brewers yesterday, accepted his Triple-A assignment according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
buys the Mets 2 weeks to work out a trade with Baltimore for Beato
why would the mets trade beato back to the o’s? he’s a feel-good story and has been relatively solid in camp and in AA last year as a reliever.
i’d rather the mets realize manny acosta kinda sucks and let him go in favor of giving izzy a spot.
He’s not saying trade Beato back to the O’s, he’s saying it gives the Mets time to trade for Beato to eliminate his status as a rule-5 pick. That way, they can send him to the minors and such if they don’t like his performance and so they don’t have to waste a roster spot if he sucks. Think of what the Twins just did with Scott Diamond.
Anyway, I figured Ciriaco would be the one getting outrighted. What are the chances another team picks him up and who?
hm… thanks for the explanation. i guess i don’t get the logic though because if he sucks like you said, why bother giving up anything for him at all? they determined he’s good enough to earn a spot on the roster (i think as much or more through merit more than rule 5 status), if he falls on his face, offer him back, no?
i mean i can see why it might be done sometimes, i just don’t get why it would fit this situation.
I’m not saying he sucks, I don’t know anything about him so I can’t make that judgement.
The Mets, however, liked him enough to make him their rule-5 pick. The thought is, if they have to keep him on the 25-man roster and IF he does suck during the season, they’d rather be able to send him to the minors then have to send him back to Baltimore. They like him enough, so they want to make sure they’re able to keep him if his major league introduction doesn’t go so swimmingly.
Basically, they’ve seen what he is capable of doing, and they like it. Now that’s not to say that a situation won’t come up where he needs to work on some things in the minors or maybe the Mets want to send him down for roster flexibility at some point this year. The back end of bullpens are usually fairly fluid, so being able to utilize one of his options this year could avoid some log jams.
You mean give up a better prospect just to keep this one? Well, I guess it is the Mets we’re talking about…….
Nice that Cubs get to hang onto Ramirez. With him and Castillo on board, I wonder where he’ll play. They could send him all the way back to AA, make him a backup, share time somehow…maybe move him to first?
I am really surprised that Billy Wagner couldn’t be convinced to play another year. He’s going out with 37 saves, a 1.43 era, and .865 WHIP in 69 1/3 innings last year.
I guess he figures no matter what he does he’ll end up behind Rivera and Hoffman legacy-wise and doesn’t care to bother.
He’s going out like Seinfeld – on top. Except his final episode was amazing instead of really, really, really disappointing.
Wagner got injured in his final appearance
I don’t know, in his last episode he went 1.1 innings giving up an earned run, 2 hits and a walk…. although he did have 4 K’s and got the save. Certainly not as bad as Seinfeld, but I was hoping for a better last episode from Wagner.