Jacoby Ellsbury clubbed two homers today as the Red Sox beat the Orioles 4-0. All eyes will be on Jonathan Papelbon and David Ortiz this winter, but it'll also be interesting to see what happens to Ellsbury, who's arbitration eligible for the second time after the season. He has a career-high 15 homers with 28 stolen bases and a .316/.375/.509 line so far in 2011. In other words, he's getting a big raise from his current $2.4MM salary. Here's the latest on the AL East…
- The Rays are reluctant to tear down their roster to the point where they’re no longer competitive, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Rosenthal suggests the Rays have no compelling reason to deal James Shields now and that an offseason move is more likely.
- The Orioles appear to be open for business, according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Many teams are interested in Jim Johnson and the Tigers are among the clubs interested in Jeremy Guthrie.
- Orioles scouting director Joe Jordan told Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun that he has had “periodic conversations” with Dylan Bundy, the high school right-hander the Orioles selected fourth overall in this year’s draft. Jordan, who has offers out to just about all Baltimore’s draftees, expects dialogue with Bundy to pick up before the August 15th deadline for teams to sign their picks.
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Newsday’s Ken Davidoff that he isn’t looking for offense, but will consider anything that will make the club better.
