The Tigers extended their winning streak to 12 games with a comeback victory against the White Sox today. Here are this evening's links…
- Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that scouting director Tim Wilken is scheduled to meet with Cubs ownership about an extension similar to the four-year deal farm director Oneri Fleita recently signed. Former Cubs GM Jim Hendry recently met with commissioner Bud Selig and could resurface in a high-profile job before long, according to Wittenmyer.
- MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes provided the latest Cubs updates this morning and we heard later in the day that the Reds intend to keep Walt Jocketty in Cincinnati.
- Kevin Millwood told Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post that he hopes to pitch in the Major Leagues again next year. Rockies manager Jim Tracy says he can imagine Millwood returning to the organization in 2012.
- Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald hears that the Marlins released Mike Cameron after he got into a "verbal altercation" with a flight attendant that prompted the charter company to complain.
Put Cameron on the ‘roids list.
Cameron must have said bomb on an airplane.
He must have been talking about the dump he took after boarding, as we all know he hasn’t hit one recently enough to be talking about it.
“I said I wanted TWO bags of peanuts, b***h”
Peanuts: what Cameron will be playing for next year.
He actually wasn’t too bad with the Marlins.
Still managed a .700 OPS
that was because his 85 mph fastball hadn’t even been productive at the minor league level. declining to promote him wasn’t a statement about his ability to pitch against the padres and dodgers and marlins, but against AL East competition
so yea, no hard feelings – good luck to him. but nyy and bos were probably right
Millwood’s got some pretty ugly peripherals to go with that SSS low ERA. His HR/FB and HR/9 rate are at a career high, his K/9 is awful and his strand rate is unsustainably high. The only thing he’s really got going for him is a fantastic BB/9.
I hate to play the AL East card, but he’d get absolutely demolished with peripherals like that pitching out here.
Because, Fleita and Wilken are both a huge part of the new facility in the Dominican Republic. Besides that, it’s worked into Fleita’s contract, and probably will be for Wilken’s, that a new GM can move them to new positions. There was a recent article where one baseball executive said it would actually hurt the Cubs and deter most GM candidates from coming if Fleita were to have gone to Detroit, which was a very real possibility. The reports that signing these to to extended contracts will keep GM candidates from wanting the Cubs job is a myth.
Agreed. I’ve been told that the Fleita extension wouldn’t affect who comes in GM. In fact, from what I’ve gathered most everyone would have kept him on anyway.
And look at it this way. The Cubs are probably waiting on Epstein and others who will be in the playoffs. That means the decision may not be made until late Oct. or even early November. If you were to bring in a GM who wanted to hire his own entire staff, how in the heck are you supposed to catch them up on the organization in time for roster decisions/free agency/winter meetings? It’ll be hard enough for a GM to do that with guys like Fleita and Wilken who know the system like the back of their hand, can you even imagine taking the time to hire an entire new staff and then giving them a crash course just before all the activity begins? It’s a recipe for failure. It makes sense to retain these guys. One, they’re very well respected and 2) They’ll know multitudes more about the organization than any guy they try to bring in last minute.
If they’re going to bring in a guy and give him complete control like Epstein, then 2011 isn’t the time to start a mass change over of staff anyway. That can wait until 2012 and at that point they can either keep Fleita and Wilken in their current positions or re-assign them. Way, way too much was made out of these extensions.