This day in baseball history saw the birth of the Blue Jays in 1943…the Philadelphia Blue Jays, that is. The Phillies adopted the 'Blue Jays' nickname in what new team president Bob Carpenter saw as a break from the club's largely mediocre history. The nickname didn't stick, however, and it wasn't until the Toronto expansion franchise came into being that the Blue Jays name returned to Major League Baseball.
Some news items to take us into the weekend…
- Bobby Abreu's $9MM option for 2012 will vest if he makes 433 plate appearances this season. As Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com points out, the Angels could face a tough playing-time decision since the veteran is coming off his worst full season, yet can still be productive. MLBTR's Mike Axisa recently profiled Abreu as a make-or-break year player, though given Abreu's durability, his status for 2012 shouldn't be in question as long as the Halos play him.
- Juan Uribe tells Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times that the Dodgers contacted his agent almost every day before finally signing him to a three-year, $21MM contract.
- Stephen Goff of the Houston Examiner profiles Anthony Rendon, who may be the first overall pick in June's amateur draft.
- Right-hander Brian Sanches is out of options and is battling for the last spot in the Marlins' bullpen, writes Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. Sanches has a 2.40 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 120 innings for Florida over the last two seasons, so he'll definitely draw interest if the Marlins put him on waivers or try to trade him.
- Steve Slowinski of Fangraphs.com looks at the 10 completed and about-to-be-completed $100MM contracts in baseball history. Of those 10 players, only four played consistently well enough to make those contracts a wise investment — Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez. (Rangers fans may argue that last one, but Slowinski is strictly looking at player performance.)
- The Orioles agreed to terms with all of their pre-arbitration players except for right-hander Jason Berken, whose contract was renewed, reports Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun. Berken also had his deal renewed last season.
- Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com lists the top 10 prospects in the Padres' system. Mayo puts three pitchers (Casey Kelly, Simon Castro, Cory Luebke) in San Diego's top four, as he notes the emphasis the team puts on developing young arms.
- In a chat with fans on ESPNChicago.com, Bruce Levine notes that scouts were in attendance to see Carlos Silva during his six-run first inning and subsequent dugout altercation with Aramis Ramirez on Wednesday. Levine says that the Cubs would probably be able to trade Silva, not release him, if they wanted to part ways. There's also the $11.5MM salary Silva is owed for this season that the Cubs would have to swallow if they released the right-hander.
I would think a “wise investment” would be defined as one that pays dividends for the club that issued the contract. Paying A-Rod to go play for the Yankees just doesn’t make me feel like we got our money’s worth out of him
Although watching him strikeout to send us to the WS last year kind of made up for it. Just a little
The Arod deal would not have hurt Texas so much if they had done a much better job at developing their pitchers as much as they did their hitters (Agonz, Texieira, Irod, Hafner, Carlos Pena, etc). They managed to pay a lot to the wrong FA pitchers (Chan Ho Park), hang on to the wrong pitching prospects and trade the wrong ones (Danks).
It’s often said that Texas was unable to surround Arod with talent, but that’s not true. They had plenty of talent. During his 3 year span he was teammates with Irod, Palmeiro, Young, Sierra, Andres Galaragga, Caminiti, Greer, Carlos Pena, JuanGonz, Ruben Rivera, Carl Everett, Hank Blalock, Ryan Ludwick, Travis Hafner, Teixeira and missed playing with AGonz by a year.
During that span of 3 years, Arod was teammates w/ exactly 4 pitchers that threw 100 IP + had an ERA under 5.00 and they each did it exactly once over that 3 year period. That’s just amazing.
Arod was not the albatross. They simply could not afford to cover up for their massive mistakes whether it was poor free agent signings or bad trades like Agonz and Chris Young for basically Adam Eaton who was a #4/#5 for the freakin’ San Diego Padres!!!!
Smaller market teams like that can afford a major star like Arod but they have to do a superior job with the rest of the roster and that’s something they weren’t able to do and something the Cardinals better learn to do better if they end up extending Pujols.
I know hindsight is 20/20 but how different would it have been if they made a concerted effort to draft the best available arm instead of a bat in the 1st rnd?
Imagine if instead of drafting Carlos Pena @ #10 in ’98 they would’ve taken Sabathia who went @ #20? Or instead of a C named Scott Heard @ #25 they selected Adam Wainright @ #29 in 2000? Or instead of Drew Meyer @ #10 they went after Kazmir who went @ #15 or Cain who went @ #25?
I know all GMs miss in the drafts and the Yanks are a great example prior to 2005, but how can a franchize with such a horrible pitching staff NOT think pitching with their early round picks and how do they manage to get such miserable returns like Ryan Drese and Adam Eaton for top hitting prospects like Hafner and AGonz who were both top 50 prospects?
Don’t blame Arod and his contract. Blame the GM who did such a horrible job of crafting a team so lopsidedly focused on offense.
In fairness to the Eaton trade they also got Otsuka who turned out to be one of their best relievers and for that matter one of their best pitchers for 2 years.
But yes, you’re right. The real problem with the Rangers over the last several years has been an utter lack of pitching.
There’s a really good article on fangraphs about the A-Rod contract, and comparing the WAR to dollars of the 2002 Rangers and the 2001 Mariners. Astounding
in all fairness those guys you listed were either on the down side of their careers or simply had not broken through yet example Pena didnt show anything other than a glove untill he went to tampa which is why he was a bust for texas and detroit. ryan ludwick was a prospect who didnt break out untill going to the STL. Yes he missed out on Gonzo by a year but gonzo was nothing more than a prospect when he was shipped to SD.
And for the whole drafting argument “Imagine if instead of drafting Carlos Pena @ #10 in ’98 they would’ve taken Sabathia who went @ #20?” you can make this agrument about literally every team….what if said team had drafted Albert Pujols and not the cards, remember albert went in like the 30th round…..you cannot use that argument to justify anything.
Silva’s salary is indeed $11.5MM this year, but the Mariners are sending $5.5MM to the Cubs this year for him. They could easily pass that amount along to a potential trade partner and still break even in dollars, clear up the starting pitching crunch and hopefully get a little something in return.
If there is somebody willing to take him, the Cubs should bite. Assuming, of course, that at least one of the Cubs’ young pitchers step up enough to win a roster spot.
I like the idea of moving Silva also. There are a handful of teams who could use a viable backend starter and at 6M (if they include Seattle’s money) if they get the first half Silva from last year it would be pretty good. I think that you might have to wait for more injuries to happen before a true market opens up for him though since i believe that Millwood and maybe even Washburn would rank ahead of him right now based on the fact that they are likely cheaper and you dont have to give anything up to get him.
If it was my decision I would leave him as the 5th starter and hope that i can get about 2 good months out of him while Andrew Cashner works on his secondary pitches as a starter in AAA then whoever is going better on June 1st gets the 5th spot.
I wonder if there’s been a team that has made money off of eating salaries. I.e. the Mariners eat 5.5 mill when sending to the Cubs, but the Cubs only eat 4 mill when trading him to the next team.
i believe silva is a great player but if the cubs could get someone good in return such as another outfielder or maybe even an infeilder i bet the cubs will be a better rounded team
You believe Silva is a great player? What planet are you from? This guy is clearly not good (4.68 career ERA). He is a fat, overpaid head-case that no one wants.