One major league source told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe that a lot of lefty relievers were blocked by teams and never got through waivers in August. The price tag on most of them was steep so most teams bit the bullet and decided to go with what they had. The Giants were one of those clubs as GM Brian Sabean opted to stick with Javy Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt. Here are some other highlights from Cafardo's column..
- The Mariners re-upped GM Jack Zduriencik this week and Cafardo wonders if Seattle will be in the mix with Prince Fielder this offseason, even though they already have Justin Smoak at first. It's hard to predict how much the M's will be willing to spend and it's possible that the four-year, $36MM deal given to Chone Figgins in December 2009 could make ownership gun-shy.
- The Twins didn’t seem to have anything major working for Joe Nathan at the deadline, but they asked him to waive his trade-veto rights just in case and Nathan declined. Nathan's future with the club is uncertain as he heads into free agency but he has a shot at staying if he accepts a hometown discount. It's unlikely that the Twins will pick up his $12MM option this winter. The club can buy him out for just $2MM.
- Cafardo writes that Brewers rightfielder Corey Hart would fit nicely with the Red Sox. However, it seems likely that they'll lose Fielder this summer so they probably won't entertain a deal involving Hart.
- Twins GM Bill Smith says that Joe Mauer will be a catcher for the foreseeable future, but he continues to leave the door open for a possible shift of positions down the road. There are also no plans for the Giants to move Buster Posey elsewhere, according to Sabean.
Trade Mauer and get some prospects back for him
I wouldnt want his contract!
I would love to have his contract!
Are you out of your mind??? Players like Mauer come along once or twice in a blue moon…
Players like mauer? You mean high average high on base no power Injury prone catchers? Yep once in a blue moon
Consistent 6-7 WAR catchers who have 1 really bad injury? Yes, that is once in a blue moon
Jason Kendall. I’m not saying it’s a perfect comparison, but I’m just throwing it out there.
Are you talking to your kid brother who is playing The Show?
Maybe…but seriously why not? The twins aren’t going anywhere get som pitching for him
Some whoopsie
Maybe you missed that gigantic contract he just signed and the fact that he is the ultimate hometown guy in baseball.
Ya I did I’m 12 so I looked past the whole contract without really thinking Bout it pity
And then you linked us to the wrong Javy Lopez.
ruined your day i bet
Yep. Hit the bottle pretty hard after this post.
Yeah, another lefty reliever really would have propelled the Giants past the Diamondbacks …
i try to picture nick cafardo sitting down writing these articles of his every week and man does it make me want to punch him in the face
That same feeling with majority of the globe writers.
Could you picture Shaughnessy, or worse… Charles Pirece getting a featured bit like this every week? All of a sudden Cafardo becomes a whole lot better and obvious choice as to why he has this featured bit on Sunday.
Joe Mauer wont be catching regularly for the foreseeable future, just like Bill Smith wont be our GM in the near future
Bill Smith says Mauer will remain at catcher for now but he’ll “leave the door open for a position change down the road.”
Is that after Mauer becomes so badly injured and worn down from catching that his health compromises his value elsewhere on the field?
Move Mauer NOW. And while you’re at it, Bill, move on….doesn’t matter where….just move yourself on NOW.
Twins obviously aren’t interested in winning if they keep Smith around after the growing record of mistakes he has compiled.
So, Cafardo doesn’t pay attention to the standings much, I assume. Why would the Brewers trade Hart away when he’s under contract affordably through 2013, and when their entire postseason bound team, sans Fielder obviously, will be back next year? Wishful thinking? Pence was on a team that wasn’t going to be going anywhere in the next couple of years, so at least that had a chance of happening.
So, Cafardo doesn’t pay attention to the standings much, I assume. Why would the Brewers trade Hart away when he’s under contract affordably through 2013, and when their entire postseason bound team, sans Fielder obviously, will be back next year? Wishful thinking? Pence was on a team that wasn’t going to be going anywhere in the next couple of years, so at least that had a chance of happening.
You miss on a lot of stuff. Guys like Trayvon, Wells, Carp even Smoak don’t block a player like Prince Fielder. If that’s your thinking then I’m sure glad your just some guy in a comments section. I’ll guarantee you that we don’t go into next season with the full allotment of outfielders we have now, some are getting traded, and if we have the opportunity to sign Fielder than even more WILL be traded.
I believe that we will put in a serious effort on Fielder, hell we have the SD and regional scout that drafted and signed him as our GM and SD right now. I believe that if he’s interested the Ms ownership will let the payroll swell for 1 season, or the Ms could backload the deal with Ichiro’s $18m coming off after 2012.
If this was a 2 part plan by Jack, which he’s going to claim it was if it ends up working, then phase 1 is complete. The farm is completely revamped to quite possibly all-time highs in Ms history. Now Z needs to start adding talent at the Major League level. It starts with Fielder.
Trayvon is only in the majors because the M’s have nothing to lose, are you watching him as much as me? no patience at the plate, they just letting him feel out mlb pitchers and then all next spring go over video and then he has a whole year to develop at AAA Tacoma, Carp could be an infielder anywhere on the diamond, my whole point is the M’s do need Fielder, put him at 1st, and later at DH, everyone thinks he is a DH anyways because of his size, only thing that will stop the M’s is price, if someone offers him over 120 million, he will go there, and power to him, but his bat is needed at Safeco.
There’s no correlation between one signing and another. These are all independent cases and 1 ‘bad’ signing has no causation on another signing to end up bad. Hell, 100 previous bad signings mean nothing. Ironically, your example of a bad signing was a player, that by WAR, was worth more than his actual salary in all but 1 season in Seattle and is probably going to the hall of fame some day. How horrible!!
Furthermore, I love the types of people that will bring up the 1 or 2 guys that got away, especially the ones that were never highly thought of and never made top 100 prospect lists. You were probably one of those guys in 2007 still screaming that Seattle traded mike hampton for eric anthony. OMG!! I’m just glad you have someone new to scream about. Listen, every organization lets guys go they ‘shouldn’t’ have in retrospect. The other side of the coin is that player may not have ever developed into the same player they did in the new location. Would Asdrubal still hit 22+ homers in seattle? he’s played professional ball since 2004 and never had more than 8 in a season. I’m guessing no, he would struggle to hit double digits in Safeco.
Asdrubal was a guy named Bill Bavasi, he was, and will go down as the worst GM ever, I mean he didn’t have one solid trade. Here is a free education about Safeco and why the M’s screwed up in the late 90’s, you see if you look at your name there, its a play on the greatest Mariner ever, and you see in the late 90’s he powered a gritty team to playoffs and upset the Yankees in 95, point is they built a new stadium for that very guy, a power hitting LEFT HANDER, then he and A-Rod didnt get along and they traded their franchise to keep the real Lebron James of baseball (shot at Bryce Harper) only for that said player to shoot them down and sign (and later bankrupt) the Texas Rangers, so in the end, Prince Fielder being a power hitting LEFT HANDER should fare very well in Safeco, because it was built for lefties. (Thanks Griffey)