Week in Review: 4/24/11 – 4/30/11
April is officially in the books! Let's take a look back at the week that was:
- Major League Baseball appointed former Rangers president Tom Schieffer as MLB's Dodgers trustee. Schieffer served as Rangers' president from 1991-1999.
- Frank McCourt snapped back, calling the move "un-American" on MLB's behalf, and vowed to remain in control of the team. McCourt claimed to have a deal with FOX worth nearly $300MM, but says that MLB vetoed it.
- The Orioles acquired catcher John Hester from the D'Backs to complete the Mark Reynolds trade. Baltimore sent David Hernandez and Kam Mickolio to Arizona in exchange for Reynolds and a player to be named later.
- The Pirates returned Josh Rodriguez, the #1 overall pick in this year's Rule 5 Draft, back to the Indians. Rodriguez saw only 14 PAs with Pittsburgh, and will report to Cleveland's Triple-A affiliate. The Buccos also claimed Xavier Paul from the Dodgers this week.
- The Red Sox continue to eye catching help in the wake of the struggles of Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jason Varitek. Bengie Molina, Chris Snyder, and Ivan Rodriguez are on their radar.
- The Giants have made Nate Schierholtz available to other clubs for the right price. Schierholtz hasn't done much offensively yet in the Major Leagues, but is a plus defender and has seen minor league success with the bat.
- In need of help at the hot corner, the Marlins considered making a run at Mark DeRosa. DeRosa hit the disabled list this week, though, so that idea will be tabled for the time being.
- Several bullpen transactions this week, including the Indians designating right-hander Jess Todd for assignment, the Rangers signing Justin Miller, the Astros releasing Cesar Carillo, and the Rockies DFA'ing Alan Johnson. For all of the week's minor moves and transactions, check out our Transactions tag or use MLBTR's Transaction Tracker.
- One week after signing a minor league deal with the Marlins, Gabe Gross decided his heart was no longer in it and officially retired. He'll take a career line of .239/.330/.385 with him. Best of luck after baseball.
East Notes: Braves, Rays
Some links pertaining to a few Eastern division teams for your Sunday reading:
- MLB has suspended Braves' pitching coach Roger McDowell for two weeks without pay and fined him following his controversial interactions with a fan on April 23, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
- The Rays' 10 picks in the first 60 of this year's draft are the most since Montreal had 11 of 84 in 1990, writes Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. Tampa is currently in the midst of a massive scouting effort to prepare for their unprecedented amount of draft picks. Hopefully their picks turn out better than the Expos' — Rondell White was the most notable player of the bunch.
- In a separate article, Topkin examines the slow starts of several former Rays including Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Rafael Soriano, and Joaquin Benoit.
Tomase’s Latest: Felix, Hawpe, Rays
John Tomase from the Boston Herald has some notes about several Major League topics in his latest article:
- Tomase reminds us that at the 2009 deadline, the Red Sox reportedly offered the Mariners any five of the following prospects in exchange for Felix Hernandez: Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Michael Bowden, Josh Reddick, Yamaico Navarro, Nick Hagadone, Felix Doubront, and Justin Masterson. While a Boston official disputed the specific names, Tomase says the reports were in the ballpark.
- Regarding a trade though, Tomase quotes King Felix himself as saying that he wants to stay in Seattle: "I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m not trying to think about it. I’d love to stay here (with the Mariners). I’m part of Seattle now and I’d like to be in Seattle."
- San Diego's Anthony Rizzo, acquired in the Adrian Gonzalez trade, is off to a blazing start at Triple-A. Rizzo has posted a monstrous line of .400/.471/.744 with seven homers, eight doubles, and a triple through 102 PAs, but despite that production the Padres aren't giving up on Brad Hawpe yet. Manager Bud Black cites Hawpe's career success, but it'll be hard to ignore his .149/.194/.194 line much longer.
- Manny Ramirez's abrupt retirement had many questioning a Rays' lineup that was struggling to score runs, but as Tomase points out, the Rays have gone 14-5 since Manny called it quits. The Rays were 0-6 with Manny on board.
Tomase's article also features several more quotes from Felix on his appreciation for Seattle as well and is a good read all-around.
NL Central Notes: Cardinals, Braun, Pena, Pirates
After losing five of their first seven games, the Cardinals went 14-5 to finish April with a two-game lead in the NL Central. As the Cards attempt to extend their current winning streak to five games this afternoon behind Jaime Garcia, here's a roundup of today's NL Central-related links:
- The ninth inning carousel in St. Louis has been the team's achilles heel so far, says Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ryan Franklin is out as the closer and is in the final year of his contract, but GM John Mozeliak doesn't know who the Cardinals' closer of the future is yet. "This season will dictate if [Mitchell] Boggs or [Jason] Motte or [Eduardo] Sanchez is the answer," he said. "It's a little early to render that verdict."
- Farm director John Vuch tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the Cardinals have placed an emphasis on acquiring power arms in recent years.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports digs into the specifics of Ryan Braun's long-term contract extension with the Brewers.
- Carlos Pena isn't the first big free agent bat to get off to a slow start for the Cubs, writes Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Despite a poor April, Pena still believes he can be a "huge contributor" in Chicago.
- The promotion of former fourth overall pick Danny Moskos gives the Pirates two left-handed relievers, something that manager Clint Hurdle was hoping for heading into the season, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Kevin Millwood Opts Out Of Contract
11:23am: ESPN.com's Buster Olney confirms (via Twitter) that Millwood has opted out of his contract with the Yankees.
11:10am: The Yankees have received surprising contributions from veteran starting pitching additions like Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia so far this year, but it appears that not all their offseason gambles will pan out. The Yanks expect Kevin Millwood to opt out of his contract and become a free agent today, tweets Jack Curry of the YES Network.
Millwood signed an incentive-heavy minor league deal with the Yankees late in Spring Training that included the option to opt out by today if he hadn't been promoted to the bigs. Curry adds in a second tweet that Millwood's final Triple-A start, in which he lasted just two innings, likely squashed his chances of a call-up.
Cafardo’s Latest: Ortiz, Red Sox, Martin, Angels
In today's column for the Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo wonders what the future holds for David Ortiz after his contract expires at the end of this season. An American League official says the Red Sox should be "looking at keeping his salary level around the same if his production maintains steady." Ortiz, who is earning $12MM in 2011, would like to retire with the Sox, and acknowledges that signing with a National League club is unlikely: "I would have to consider it. I don’t think people want me for that, because I’m a hitter." Here are a few of Cafardo's other notes:
- In the short term, Marco Scutaro, who has been discussed internally by the Phillies, could be valuable to a team looking for a middle infielder. Down the line, the Sox could still have an excess of infielders – Cafardo says Jose Iglesias should be ready to be a full-time MLB shortstop in 2012, meaning Boston may not have enough room in its lineup for him, Jed Lowrie, and Kevin Youkilis. If I'm the Red Sox, I view that as a good problem to have, and address it if and when it comes to that.
- A Dodgers official concedes that Russell Martin is "playing great" for the Yankees. "Better than he played for us," adds the official. However, he cautions that Martin tends to fade in the second half, which has to be of some concern for the Yanks. While Martin's career batting splits don't fully back up that assertion, the backstop did miss most of the second half in 2010 with a hip injury.
- The Angels have been exploring potential trades involving their catchers since Spring Training. They'd likely prefer dealing Bobby Wilson to Jeff Mathis, and may be seeking a left-handed outfield bat in return.
New York Notes: Lowe, Reyes, Mets Ownership
The Yankees will send Ivan Nova to the hill today in the rubber match against the Blue Jays, while the Mets will need to beat Cliff Lee tonight to avoid a sweep in Philadelphia. Before those games get underway, let's check out the latest on New York's two teams….
- The Braves could look to trade Derek Lowe even if they're still in the playoff hunt, according to a scout who follows the team. Ken Davidoff of Newsday says the Yankees, who "negotiated seriously" with Lowe when he was a free agent, would be an obvious candidate to kick the tires on the right-hander if he's available.
- Another scout told Davidoff that it's been years since he's seen Jose Reyes, who can be a free agent at season's end, play as hard as he's playing now.
- Through the season's first month, both the Yankees and Mets are receiving production from unlikely sources, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
- Discussing the Yankees' unexpected production from veteran players, GM Brian Cashman told Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News, "When I fix things on the run I have a lot more success than doing the obvious slam-dunk things."
- Vitaminwater co-founder Mike Repole likely isn't interested in investing in the Mets unless 100% of the team is for sale, he tells Dylan Butler of the New York Post.
- According to Newsday's Steven Marcus, the Mets' future minority partner would be in position to take over the team if the Wilpons eventually decided to give up control of the franchise.