There are two intra-divisional matchups between NL and AL West rivals slated for tonight. The Rockies face the Diamondbacks at Chase Field while the Mariners host the Rangers. Here are some tidbits from the western divisions…
- "There is discussion in the [Giants'] executive offices as to how long they can stay with [Miguel] Tejada and Pat Burrell," reports Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle. Jose Reyes has been mentioned as a trade target for the Giants, though Brian Sabean denied his club's interest yesterday.
- Thanks to Justin Smoak's emergence, the Mariners seem to have gotten the best of the three recent Cliff Lee trade packages, writes Larry Stone of the Seattle Times.
- If Mark Trumbo keeps hitting and Kendrys Morales is out of action for most of the season, Eric Denton of the LA Angels Insider blog notes that the Angels could face a tough choice this offseason. Denton suggests the Halos could even non-tender Morales, but if they do choose to move the first baseman, surely you'd think the team could find a trade partner.
- We know the Diamondbacks have an interest in UCLA prospect Gerrit Cole with the third pick of the upcoming amateur draft, but Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic adds a couple of other interesting nuggets about the right-hander. Arizona also has the seventh overall pick, but Piecoro notes that since that pick is unprotected, the D'Backs "almost certainly couldn’t risk drafting him" at that spot if they pass on him at #3. Cole is represented by Scott Boras and could be a difficult signing.
- Cole was drafted 28th overall by the Yankees in the 2008 draft but he didn't sign. Piecoro "got the sense from talking with other scouts and executives that there are still some people in the game harboring a grudge toward Cole" since Cole didn't let it be known that he wasn't interested in signing back in 2008.
- MLB.com's Corey Brock profiles A.J. Hinch, the former D'Backs manager who is now the Padres' vice president of professional scouting.
- Julio Borbon welcomes the center field competition of newly-signed Rangers prospect Leonys Martin, reports Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com.
I know Belt has been hitting great in triple A and playing the outfields. I wouldn’t mind seeing the giants calling him up and playing him in RF ahead of Burrell.
As a Giants fan, I’d really like to move on from Tejada as soon as possible, really a terrible signing, didn’t like it when they did it, hate it even more now. As for Burrell I wouldn’t mind him on the bunch, but as a starter, no thanks. He already has 29 strikeouts this season and his defense is atrocious.
Yeah, same here on the Tejada signing. I couldn’t believe guys like Mycheal Urban were acting like it was a good move at the time. He clearly isn’t a short stop anymore and his bat isn’t close to what it was. During the offseason I was hoping for the Giants to trade for Jason Bartlett or JJ Hardy but obviously that didn’t happen.
Sadly, neither Bartlett nor Hardy are playing any better than Tejada, actually, I think Hardy is doing worse. I would not mind giving up Zach Wheeler + mid level prospect for Jose Reyes IF we are able to sign him to an extension.
Alderson would never make that trade and Reyes is going FA. The only way he signs an extension is if he get $20MM per year and at least 5 years. Not certain the Giants would pay that amount.Reyes still wants to play in NY, the Mets could receive a home town discount, but no other team should expect any conciderations.
They paid that amount to Barry Zito, what makes you think they wouldn’t pay Reyes?
Lincecum, Bumgarden, Posey, J. Sanchez, Belt are all going to require mucho bucks in the next few years. Zito was about the only large contract the Giants have ever carried. With all these guys coming of age, that’s not going to be the case in the next several years.
Stand corrected, I can’t believe I forgot Bonds’s contract. Still that wasn’t an enormous contract and he made $22MM and $18MM and then it declined to a ‘reasonable’ $15MM. Still Reyes will seek more than that as will the ‘Freak’ and the others won’y lag too far behind in the ensuing years.
I think that trading Wheeler for Reyes just wouldn’t be worth it at all. I mean, after 2012, Sanchez and Cain will be free agents, along with Wilson. So if all the contracts get too expensive, and we can only either Sanchez or Cain, then we’ll have a hole in our rotation. And who can fill that hole? After Wheeler, basically nobody. So unless the Giants can select a good SP in the draft who won’t take too long to develop, then they’d have no other SP’s who have any major league potential.
There’s a few options besides Wheeler. Dan Runzler can be a starter and we have a couple plays in our minors that could have bright futures such as Eric Surkamp, Clayton Tanner, Ryan Verdugo, Craig Westcott, Kelvin Marte, and Chris Heston. All of these players are young have shown promise.
I have a feeling the Giants would keep Cain over Sanchez, though Sanchez shouldn’t get too expensive since he can’t seem to fix his walk problem.
The Giants are building with thier team with the farm system. It would be foolish to trade top prospects for rent-a-players. Reyes agent said that he will not sign a contract extension. He will test the free agent market and he is asking for a Carl Crawford contract of 7 years, 142 mil.
PS. I don’t like the idea of trading top starting pitching prospects. Starting pitchers are the hardest thing to replace. Elite starting pitchers can win a World Championship for a team, as the Giants showed in last years playoffs.
Well, you know if Morales or Trumbo goes on the market, the Rays are definitely going to be in the mix.
Oh, boy. Morales injury has to have been a lot worse than everyone thought-it seems he should be back by now. I would not non tender him. They shouldn’t have to. Even with the injury problem someone would give you a player to take a chance on him. I just wonder if maybe he’s a lot older than everyone thinks he is, and that’s part of his problem trying to get back on the field. It wouldn’t be the first time a foreign born player didn’t have his birth records in order.
I also don’t understand how the Giants thought that moving from Renteria (which I thought they should) to Tejada was an upgrade. If they thought Tejada was the answer, I’d love to know what the question was.
I almost did a spit take when I read that the Angels could consider non-tendering Morales.
D-Backs,Cubs, Rays, Rockies, Mariners, Orioles, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Nationals, Brewers, Mets are teams that just pop up in my head who could want Morales. The package in return the Angels could defently give them a good SP and help in the farm system. Plus if the Angels are serious about extending Weaver they would be smart to let Morales go especially if Trumbo can hit like this as only a rookie!!
Morales doesn’t even make $3M and isn’t likely to get a big raise in arby since the guy isn’t even on the field. He isn’t the guy that needs to go to try and keep Weaver around.
Not to mention that Morales will not get you a good SP ‘and’ help in the farm system. Maybe (and it’s a big maybe) he gets you one of those. Even in his good year (2009) he only walked 46 times…and again, that’s the only season he had 200 at-bats. You’d be better off signing Russell Branyan next winter for a minor league deal if you’re a club than trading for Morales (and giving up what some Angel fans seem to think he’s worth).
are you actually being for real right now? Morales was fifth in MVP voting in 2009. 2010 he showed no signs of decline or fluke. Morales is no fluke but when you have two guys who are the same type of players, you trade one. Morales’ stock is still high and he has been playing good baseball in batting practice and defense drills and as soon as he can run hard at 100% he will be back at 1B destroying again. So the Angels can get a good package for him if they are still saying they have a hard choice to make to either hold onto Trumbo or Morales, or its just that Trumbo is that good?
No Morales stock is not that high. He’d get LAA maybe two middle of the road prospects with moderate upside right now. Even last year before he got hurt it wouldn’t have been as much as LAA fans think because players with only one good year don’t have as high of trade value as players who are consistent for a few years.
if kendrys get healthy one month before playoffs, the angels will be automatic world series champs.
How so?
They will not be non-tendering Morales. That is ridiculous. If he can’t move around that well, but can still swing the bat, then they’ll just DH him until they HAVE to make a decision…yeah you have Abreu but he can be traded too if the Angels fall out of it. They have Morales under control through next season so I don’t see them just giving him up for nothing. They have a lot of depth in OF with Trout in the wings but Trumbo can also play the OF…and we are still in early May so maybe he doesn’t keep this up all year. What Trumbo’s hitting does is give
the Angels a nice problem to have…and it just gives them more depth
and options.
Maybe he should go back to being Kendry…..It seems Kendrys can’t heal his leg, man I bet he wishes he never hit that home run.
On another note, I still think the Phillies received the best package for Cliff Lee, that Aumont guy is going to be filthy LOL….