The Red Sox announced the passing of longtime executive Lou Gorman, who built Boston's 1986 American League Championship team. Our condolences to Gorman's family and friends. Here are this evening's links…
- Giants GM Brian Sabean confirmed to Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News that right-hander Marc Kroon has an out-clause in his contract that can be triggered on June 1st (Twitter link). The Japanese league vet will head to Triple-A after signing a minor league deal earlier this year.
- Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker passes along a report indicating that Romulo Sanchez has signed with the Rakuten Golden Eagles for $475K plus bonuses (Twitter links). The Yankees released Sanchez so he could purse a job in Japan last week.
- Maury Brown at The Biz of Baseball reports that 234 players (27.7%) on MLB rosters on Opening Day were born outside of the United States. The all-time record is 29.2% in 2005.
- Cubs chairmam Tom Ricketts told Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune that he's okay with eating the $11.5MM left on Carlos Silva's deal in order to release the right-hander. "We knew it was a possibility that there might not be a spot for him, and that’s just the way it is," said Ricketts. "You’ve got to have the best team on the field, and that’s what counts."
- Baseball America's Matt Eddy rounded up all of last week's minor league transactions. See what familiar names were signed and released as teams finalize their minor league rosters.
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette challenges Pirates leaders to change the perception that the team is focused on profit, destined never to compete.
- Cork Gaines of Rays Index shows that the Rays' payroll dropped 41.7% from last year, all the way down to $41.9MM. The Rays committed $12.6MM to Wade Davis yesterday, an especially substantial investment for a team on such a limited budget.
- White Sox director of international scouting Jerry Krause is stepping down to join the Diamondbacks, according Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. The former Chicago Bulls GM will assist Arizana executive Jerry DiPoto.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports says the Dodgers can overcome surrounding distractions to become a playoff team in 2011. In fact, he predicts an NL West title for the Dodgers.
It’s too bad former Pirates GM Dave Littlefield can’t be indicted for crimes against baseball.
Seeya Krause, you won’t be missed.
Apparently Jon Paul Morosi has a case of Temporary Sanity.
Why is it insane? You want him to be like the rest of the sports writers and pick the Giants or the Rockies? Maybe he realized that the likely hood of the the team leading in the NL west wont drop 13 games in the last month so the Giants cant make it to the playoffs again. Or maybe he saw last night’s game when the Dodgers beat the current World Series “Chumps”
in all fairness, 311, he said “sanity” not “insanity.”
and i agree. on paper the giants and rockies aren’t any better than the dodgers.
Crap!!! your right!!! im SORRY Gumby = (
Ha ha it’s all good :D
I’d call it a tossup between the three teams. The NLW could be one of the more exciting races in baseball this year.
I think its a toss up as well. Im not even counting the Padres out.
1. Dodgers
2. Rockies
3. Giants
4. Diamondbacks
5. Padres
I’d switch D’backs and Padres but other than that I agree
Padres are just an ornery bunch that’s going to irritate teams all year; if you look at their roster, they aren’t the trainwreck you’d expect after shipping off AGon.
thats a lineup full of 7 8 9 hitters. lol
Isn’t that a lofty goal for the dodgers though? I would say it’s truly down to the Giants and Rockies mostly because of depth. Lets be honest, the dodgers only real chances of anything higher than finishing third are if they make some smart acquisitions AND if someone big goes on the DL for either Giants or Rockies…
Speaking of mistakes, it’s a mistake to look at the last half of 2010, when the wheels flew off for the Dodgers, as a way of predicting the outcome in 2011. The talent is there, they just need some good hops.
Really? I’m not even a Dodgers fan and I laugh at your comment. They have a strong lineup, great rotation, and a re-amped bullpen with Guerrier, Kuo, and Broxton at the back-end.
As long as everyone plays to what is expected of them, they will certainly be in the fold of things come September.
“As long as everyone plays to what is expected of them…”
And I’m sure everyone expects a lot from Mark Reynolds, JJ Hardy, Derrek Lee, and Vlad in Baltimore.
The O’s won’t finish last in the East and a big part of it is because of those players you named.
Every team expects their players to play at a certain level due to the amount of talent on the team. Some expectations are higher because of more talent. The Padres aren’t expecting to be at the top of the division because they lost a lot of talent in A-Gonz and Garland. The Dodgers, however, expect to be at the top because of how much talent is on the team in Kemp, Eithier, Kershaw, Uribe, etc.
Do you understand what I’m saying or would you like to question another statement I have made? Oh and I love the quotes…I love reading my own statements twice.
Rockies pitching is mediocre behind Jimenez. 3rd place finish.
I think we all made the mistake of counting out the Padres last year. It’s unlikely that they’ll be competitive again, but you never know.