Rockies Release Chad Moeller
The Rockies have released catcher Chad Moeller, reports Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post (as tweeted by his Post colleague Troy Renck). According to the club's official Twitter feed, the move was made so Moeller "can seek more playing time with another team."
Moeller, 36, signed a minor league deal with Colorado in January. The 11-year veteran has also played for the Twins, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Reds, Dodgers, and Orioles in his career, plus two stints with the Yankees, including nine games with the Bombers last season.
Moeller has never provided much pop (a .640 career OPS) but it wouldn't be a surprise seeing him sign with another team that is in need of an experienced catcher. Two clubs in the last week alone have had vacancies open up behind the plate — the Astros (in the wake of Jason Castro's season-ending injury) and the Padres (now that Gregg Zaun has retired).
Kyle McClellan’s Role In St. Louis
After spending three years in the Cardinals' bullpen, Kyle McClellan has become the favorite to win the fifth starter's job in their rotation. The 26-year-old entered the spring as a setup man, started auditioning for a rotation spot when Adam Wainwright injured his elbow and has pitched well enough to have a realistic chance of becoming a starter for the first time in his MLB career.
McClellan started 51 minor league games, then moved primarily to the bullpen after undergoing the same operation as Wainwright – Tommy John surgery – in 2005. The transition worked well for the right-hander, who thrived in the bullpen for three years, averaging 73 innings, a 3.23 ERA, 7.0 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 from 2008-10.
Though McClellan has never started a major league game, the Cardinals have stretched him out at times. He worked 19 outings of at least four outs last year and logged at least two innings ten times.
As a reliever, McClellan has used either his fastball or his curveball 77% of the time, but he does have a change-up and a slider to complete the traditional four-pitch mix. It's possible that hitters will adjust to McClellan's repertoire when they see him for the second or third time in a game and at this point it looks like the Cardinals are willing to take that risk.
Moving McClellan to the rotation would weaken the Cardinals' bullpen and could motivate a trade for bullpen help at some point this summer. The Yankees, Blue Jays, Athletics and Rockies come to mind as teams with deep bullpens, but St. Louis may not be interested in striking a deal and the market for relievers can shift quickly.
The Cardinals were never going to replace Wainwright, one of the top pitchers in the league, but McClellan and his 50% ground ball rate could make the loss more bearable by becoming a passable fifth starter. If not, the Cardinals can move him him back to the bullpen and use the trade chips or cash they otherwise might have saved to trade for or sign a starting pitcher such as Kevin Slowey or Kevin Millwood.
Quick Hits: Rangers, Bumgarner, Crawford, Stanton
Links for Friday, as teams continue trimming their rosters down…
- Chuck Greenberg will no longer be part of the Rangers organization, but he leaves with $20-25MM in profit, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter)
- The Giants renewed Madison Bumgarner's contract for 2011, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). That means the sides did not agree to terms on a deal, but it doesn't change the timetable for Bumgarner's arbitration or free agency.
- As Alex Speier of WEEI.com explains, the only two outfielders ever to sign free agent contracts with an average annual value of $20MM have opposite styles of play. The Red Sox signed Manny Ramirez for his power, and they signed Carl Crawford for his overall offensive output, baserunning and defense.
- Marlins outfielder Mike Stanton has a creative approach to addressing weaknesses in his swing, as Yahoo's Steve Henson explains.
- Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post offers up a must-read profile of Nationals phenom Bryce Harper.
NL Central Notes: Brewers, Cubs, Hendry, Pujols
Notes from the NL Central as we wish the best of luck to all those affected by the earthquake in Japan…
- Brewers reliever Takashi Saito won't have to return to Japan, since his family has been safely accounted for, according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy (on Twitter).
- Outfielder Brett Jackson headlines MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo's list of the top 10 prospects in the Cubs organization.
- Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times shows that the Cubs–White Sox rivalry doesn't seem fierce now, since White Sox GM Kenny Williams supports the Cubs and Cubs GM Jim Hendry has nice things to say about the White Sox.
- Baseball writers at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch weigh in on the following question: will Albert Pujols play even better than usual in 2011? The Cardinals slugger is months away from hitting free agency for the first time in his career.
AL East Clubs Face Varied Challenges In 2011 Draft
When you hear talk of disparity in baseball, people often point to the AL East, home to two of the biggest spenders in MLB and one of its poorest teams. But as the Rays have shown, small market clubs can offset uneven payrolls by drafting and developing players successfully.
After an offseason in which Tampa Bay saw one ranked free agent after another sign elsewhere, including Boston and New York, the Rays face what could be the most critical amateur draft in their franchise's history. This June, the Rays have an unprecedented number of early picks – they select 12 players in the first two rounds (90 picks). The challenge for executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and scouting director R.J. Harrison will be selecting future major leaguers with those picks.
Though the Red Sox and Blue Jays aren't close to matching the Rays' record total, they have considerably more picks than average. The Blue Jays have seven picks before the third round and the Red Sox have five, so they face a similar challenge to the one the Rays do: convert their extra picks into potential major leaguers.
Tampa and Boston are two of the six teams (along with the D'Backs, Nationals, Padres and Brewers) that have multiple first round picks, which means seven of the draft's first 33 selections will head to what's arguably baseball's best division.
The Yankees, on the other hand, are one of four clubs that don't select before the supplementary first round (along with the White Sox, Phillies and, last but not least, the Tigers, who don't select until 75 players are off the board). The Orioles select fourth overall, but, like the Yankees, only have two picks in the first two rounds.
That's not to say that the O's and Yankees can't acquire young talent, however. They can, in theory, spend more money on fewer players in an attempt to lure a select number of top amateurs to their organization. Or they can sign players on the international market and build their farm systems with an aggressive approach abroad (the Yankees recently committed supplemental round money to Dominican righty Juan Carlos Paniagua).
The Rays, Blue Jays and Red Sox will select 24 of the first 90 players in this year's draft (27%). That doesn't mean they'll have productive drafts or that the Yankees and Orioles won't. But for at least a couple of days this June, the Yankees will watch and the Rays will be the ones with the power to acquire top players.
Nationals Release Cla Meredith
The Nationals announced that they have released Cla Meredith. The Nationals signed the 27-year-old right-hander to a minor league deal in February and he underwent Tommy John surgery last week.
Meredith posted a 5.40 ERA with 4.2 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 21 relief apppearances for Baltimore last year. He was a key member of the Padres' bullpen from 2006-09, when he posted a 3.26 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 237 1/3 total innings.
Meredith, a sixth round selection of Boston's in the 2004 draft, reached the majors the following season when he made a three-appearance cameo with the Red Sox. He has appeared in the big leagues every season since his 2005 debut, averaging 57 outings per year and a 3.43 ERA in that time.
Phillies Release Robb Quinlan
The Phillies granted Robb Quinlan his release after he asked for it, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki (on Twitter). They signed Quinlan to a minor league deal in December.
The eight-year veteran has spent his entire MLB career with the Angels as a backup at the corner infield and outfield positions. He has a .276/.322/.401 career line, but fell off to .121/.171/.182 last year and the Angels released him.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Rollins, Jackson, Latos, Rays
The first game in Petco Park history was played seven years ago today. Led by head coach Tony Gwynn, the San Diego State Aztecs defeated the University of Hawaii by a score of 4-0. The teams shattered the attendance record for a college baseball game, drawing 40,106 fans. The previous record was just short of 28,000 fans.
I don't think we're going to break any records with these links, but let's give it a shot…
- Through The Fence Baseball interviewed umpire Mike Di Muro.
- Crashburn Alley thinks about a contract extension for Jimmy Rollins.
- The Todd Van Poppel Rookie Card Retirement Plan explains why March 15th is an important date for Conor Jackson.
- Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness wishes former Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng good luck with her new job.
- The Friarhood thinks that the Padres' desperation could hurt Mat Latos' future.
- DRays Bay lists Andrew Friedman's worst moves.
- We Should Be GMs provides some disheartening facts about the Phillies offense.
- Blue Jays Rant wonders if Jose Bautista could be traded this season.
- Cubs Billy Goat Blog explored the battle for a Cubs rotation spot.
- The Yankee Analysts looked at A.J. Burnett's pitches on a month-by-month basis.
- The Shea Faithful calls Jonathon Niese a breakout candidate.
- D'Backs Central isn't very concerned about Joe Saunders' poor spring.
- The Mennella Line discussed Carlos Beltran's gait.
- Randall on Baseball lists some AL West rookies who could contribute in 2011.
- Fantasy Baseball Recon forecasts the 2011 home run champion.
- Congrats, You Found My Blog! introduces us to Salary+, a way of comparing a player's salary to the league average.
- Beyond The Box Score tallies up the number of Major League deals each writer broke this offseason.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here. Only one email per week, please.
Chuck Greenberg Out As Rangers CEO
11:03am: The Rangers have officially announced that Greenberg will no longer be a part of the organization, according to Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (on Twitter). Nolan Ryan will take over as team CEO.
7:50am: Rangers managing general partner and CEO Chuck Greenberg will no longer be part of Texas' managing team, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (on Twitter). Greenberg upset a number of people as managing partner, but his undoing came when he bothered team president Nolan Ryan, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com, who confirms the news (on Twitter).
Greenberg's group took over the Rangers in August. He launched an aggressive pursuit of Cliff Lee this winter and later claimed that he out-foxed the Yankees in pursuit of the left-hander, who signed in Philadelphia.
Astros Wanted Drew Butera
Twins catcher Drew Butera was the Astros' first choice to replace the injured Jason Castro, according to Peter Gammons of MLB Network (on Twitter). However, the Twins won't trade Butera, according to Gammons.
Butera appeared in 49 games as a rookie last year. The 27-year-old caught 16 of 37 would-be base stealers (43%) but hit just .197/.237/.296 in 155 Major League plate apperances. In the five minor league seasons since the Mets selected him in the fifth round of the 2005 draft, Butera has a .214/.296/.317 line.
The Astros are on the lookout for catching help and though they were initially interested in Nationals backstop Jesus Flores, they have tempered their pursuit of him. Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggested earlier today that Francisco Cervelli could become a trade chip midseason, depending on how the Yankees' catching situation develops.