Jason Vargas and Zach Britton both threw nine shutout innings in a remarkable pitcher's duel tonight in Baltimore. After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the 12th, the Orioles came back to win the game in the bottom half of the inning on a bases-loaded single from J.J. Hardy.
Some news from around the majors…
- "The C.C. Sabathia opt out situation is sure to be messy," predicts Mike Axisa of the River Avenue Blues blog, but Axisa thinks Brian Cashman's upcoming contract negotiations with the Yankees "will be messier." Cashman is in the last year of his deal with New York and, as per club policy, the team won't discuss an extension in mid-season. There has been some speculation about Cashman's future in the Bronx given his disagreements with upper management about the Rafael Soriano and Derek Jeter signings last winter, but Axisa thinks those signings give Cashman the leverage in negotiations, "plus the fact that there’s no ready-made, in-house replacement available."
- As for Sabathia, Axisa thinks he will almost surely opt out of his contract, and the southpaw will look at Cliff Lee's five-year, $120MM deal with Philadelphia "as a starting point."
- The Blue Jays lost Scott Downs to free agency last winter, but as MLB.com's Arden Zwelling writes, Marc Rzepczynski has been a superb fit as Downs' replacement in Toronto's bullpen.
- Fangraphs' Reed MacPhail wonders why teams are still paying top-dollar for relief pitching.
- When the sale of the Astros to Jim Crane is finalized, Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle reports that former Houston Rockets president George Postolos will be the Astros' new CEO. Justice also speculates that Crane may try to get Andrew Friedman to return to his hometown to become the Astros' new GM, but it's extremely doubtful Friedman would leave Tampa Bay just to start another rebuilding process elsewhere.
- In his latest chat with fans, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star would be "astounded" if the Royals didn't quickly pursue signing Eric Hosmer to a long-term extension, though it could be "a tough sell" given that Scott Boras is Hosmer's agent. Earlier today, Dutton's Star colleague Sam Mellinger, proposed a six-year, $25MM extension for Hosmer (with three option years and possibly $40MM more added on), though MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith pointed out that Hosmer and Boras would surely turn down such an offer.
Opt out clauses are bad business for teams. Sabbathia is most likely going to prove that teams would be better off forking over a few million more up front to forgo to opt-out. When are players going to give teams the chance to opt out? Would the Yankees have opted out of Burnett’s contract after last season if they had the chance? Too much demand, not enough supply. This may be a small but convincing argument in defense of contraction. That and the fact that Casey Coleman got yet another start in the big leagues today.
I don’t like any talk of contraction, but if it comes to that, why not start with the teams that have gone the longest period of time without a championship? This way we eliminate the losers.
“That and the fact that Casey Coleman got yet another start in the big leagues today.”
Sounds like you have a Hendry problem, not a contraction problem. The Reds lost two starters to start the season and never marched a guy like Coleman to the mound.
From what I understand the opt clause helped the yanks sign Sabathia. It gave him the option to leave the team if he wasn’t acclimating to New York. Opt out clauses are incentives that help teams sign a player.
I doubt Sabathia will leave NY, I doubt he even officially opts out. His agent will probably go to Cashman at the end of the season, get an extension of 3-5 years at his current yearly salary, and then it’ll be done with. Yanks will have their team ace, Sabathia will have job security, and Sabathia’s agent gets another pay day. Everyone goes off happily.
I agree w/ the reason why the opt out was offered. It was well talked about at the time. I feel Cash knew that the Angels were ready to make an offer to CC as soon as they settled on the Tex situation. CC asked Cash to visit at his home and Cash was intent on getting a deal done before he left. I really don’t think this is going to be as big of an issues as ppl make it out to be.
I do love me some Scrabble!
they should have kept him in the rotation!
I agree, but you can’t deny he’s been their most solid reliever thus far.
of course but jo jo reyes is a starter, c’mon
Completely agree. It’s because Zep has been so good in his role, Farrell won’t take him out. If he’s taken out of that specialty role, who takes his spot. IMO Zep has always had good enough stuff to take that 5th spot. Which is where he belongs.
Especially since he’s handled both righties and lefties so far in the pen.
His value is so much higher as a starter, if they need a Loogy in the pen they can just call up Mills or Rommie Lewis..
Sure that would be a step down in the pen but the upgrade of the rotation outweighs that
The only reason Sabbathia is gonna opt out is because he wants to play “I want what Cliff Lee got” game.
“There has been some speculation about Cashman’s future in the Bronx given his disagreements with upper management about the Rafael Soriano and Derek Jetersignings last winter”
Funny because most people would say those disagreements indicate signs of a good GM.
Hey Polishuk… the guy at River Ave Blues is not a news source. This is ridiculous.
Mike writes for this website.
I stop biting my nails when zep comes out of the pen. He’s been superb so far.