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AL East Notes: Red Sox, Maddon, Darvish, Ortiz

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Some interesting items to pass along from around the AL "Beast" …

  • The Red Sox were gauging trade interest in some of their out-of-options pitchers at the GM Meetings this week, a source tells Alex Speier of WEEI.com. Franklin Morales, Andrew Miller, Felix Doubront, Michael Bowden and Scott Atchison are all out of options but aren't locks to make next year's bullpen, according to Speier, so Boston may decide to add or remove some of these players from the 40-man roster based on relative trade interest.
  • The Rays are hopeful of extending the contract of manager Joe Maddon, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.com. Maddon is entering the final year of a three-year extension he signed in 2009.
  • The Yankees may shy away from pursuing Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish if he's posted because of the club's history with busts Hideki Irabu and Kei Igawa, opines Heyman (Twitter link), although owner Hal Steinbrenner told reporters, such as the New York Post's Joel Sherman and Newsday's Ken Davidoff, that the team will evaluate each player on a case-by-case basis.
  • The Blue Jays are interested in free agent DH David Ortiz, tweets Scott Miller of CBSSports.com.
  • Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano said that last month's rumors that he was angling for a contract extension was the result of a joke gone awry, according to Spanish-language Web site DiarioLibre.com. “I’m not thinking about the contract. My lawyer told a journalist as a joke that I was looking for a contract extension, and that’s what got published… I’m not thinking about that. The team has a $14MM option for next year." Thanks to MLBTR's Nick Collias for the translation.
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  3. With the additions of the second wild card I look forward to see the excitement that we’ll experience down the road. It’s fairly possible we’ll see the Rays, Red Sox and Yankees battling out for 3 of the five playoff spots, can’t wait!!!!

    • fairly possible? im a yankee fan and as much as i hate the red sox there not going anywhere and niether are the rays its almost a given at this point

    • Wouldn’t count the Blue Jays out, maybe not next season, but definitely soon. 

      • i can see them in it if they sign both bronxton and nathan to 1 year incencitive deals with a 2nd year mutual option i have a gut feelingthat if darvish is posted they get him maybe a trade for kendry morales if the “price” i s low 

        • First time I’ve seen the idea of going for Morales and I actually really like it.  The price can’t be too high since he just missed a whole year.  He was becoming a top 1st basemen in the league before his injury and if we can get him for the right price, we could either get a great #4 bat in the lineup, or a backup 1B/DH.  Seems like the angels would want to trade him too since they have Trumbo and just drafted CJ Cron.  

          • He hasn’t play in 2 years and you want trade for him AND bat him 4th?

            • buying low on a guy whos done nothing for 2 years sounds like an AA move

              • AA has bought low on players being mishandled (morrow) or having clubhouse issues (rasmus, escobar,) Don’t really see how this fits in the mold since there are serious health concerns, not playing in 2 years from an injury that usually takes 6 months is a bad sign

                Plus with Dipoto as GM, do we really think he is satisfied with Trumbos .287 OBP?

      • I’ve become a believer in Tebow, but not the Jays, there not close to the Sox, Yanks, or Rays at this point. They just traded away alot of pitching. I don’t know what they were thinking geting rid of Marcum. Now they’re scrammbling to ge pitching, not to mention all the pitchers they gave to the Cards. While AA was making those trades Detriot was getting Fister.

        • So you believe in the worst and most overhyped quarterback maybe ever more than a young promising baseball team. Lowrie was a huge return for Marcum and the spare parts given away to the Cards won’t hurt in the long run. You aren’t thinking before you make posts like this one. 

        • Yeah cause Lawrie just some nobody we picked up!! Marcum was the price. Alot of pitchers????? Halladay Marcum and Zach Stewart. All the pitchers AA traded to St Louis were expendable relievers that had no future in Toronto. With the exception of Zep who was a dependable reliever and Stewart was the price to get Rasmus.
           But To make my point, AA is looking for a top (controlable) SP. Trading Halladay and Marcum brought back a haul of talent and made the team alot younger. Theyre both in their 30’s and weren’t considered in the plans for when they can compete. It makes sense to have a core group of players the same age to compete together for the next 5 years .

  4. Braves have a recent history with making the Yankees their {female dog} in trades so how about Jair Jurrjens for Nick Swisher? If you need pitching so badly then go ahead and gamble!!

      • but see that’s the thing, we got away with only giving them Boone Logan along with Vasquez and we got a treasure chest in return.

        • Swisher for Jurrjens… I honestly can’t tell if you’re being funny or serious.
          That trade makes no sense to me.

          Also, can anyone tell me why Darvish is so special? He throws strikes, which is good. His stuff however, doesn’t seem all that imposing. If Ted Williams were still alive and in his prime, I don’t think he would just bat .406 against these kinds of pitchers, he would bat at least .506 and I am being serious! 

          • Totally serious. Yankees need pitching and Braves need a power outfielder. I would assume Swisher can play left.

            • Honestly, I don’t know if Swisher could play left field. What I do know is that he drives me crazy and destroys the Orioles. The O’s have no answer for him.

                • He is implying if the Braves took Swisher from the Yankees. The Braves don’t need a RF

                  • Have you been paying attention to the conversation? Lefty was saying that he doesn’t know if Swisher could play left, then Alex said that Swisher plays well in right so the transition to left would be an easy one. Paying attention the #1 step to understanding.

          • What exactly are you talking about when you say “these kind of pitchers”?
            Yu Darvish is not like other Japanese pitchers. His fastball is comparable to most MLB pitchers.
            And get real please…Ted Williams would not bat .506 against “these kind of pitchers”…

  7. Who would be the back-up Ortiz or EE?

    Actually stupid question because of pay but then what would we do with EE? If he does good early do we trade him?

    I dont think we should go for him.

    • Yes.

      Or some kind of trade that either sends Lind packaged with something which gives EE chance at 1B. He is quite a decent fielder, just dont ask him to throw and he is pretty quick!

      • Ortiz full time DH

        Lind VS RHP
        EE   VS LHP

        17th pick + sangwich pick to the sox.. X

          • I just don’t see what Lind or EE could fetch us in a trade, prob more worth while to keep em

            they’d be a pretty good platoon

            Lind Vs RHP . 771 OPS
            EE vs LHP . 845 OPS

            but I dont want to sign Ortiz, you’re give a first round pick to a division rival known for going overslot in the draft… You could end up losing a Casey Kelly (30) Ranaudo (39)  Bard (28) Buchholz (42) Ellsbury (23) to a close competitor

            • They don’t always go overslot now. Vitek (20) Fuentes (28).. Situation and who is available usually determines that.

              • Ortiz isn’t going to make the Blue Jays win now. You yourself JUST said that the Jays don’t look close to New York, Tampa and Boston.

                The Blue Jays signing Ortiz would be completely idiotic unless compensation were completely upended, which all indications say isn’t happening.

            • You should sign Jason Varitek too. You need a backup catcher, right?

              (Not that I honestly think the Sox will offer him arbitration anyway)

              • if Type B compensation continues, I can see AA signing a Type B catcher to a one year deal to get a chance for an additional sandwich pick.

              • We have a young defensive catcher that we can plug in…

                AA in inquire on Varitek, he wanted to wear a Toronto Maple Leafs Jersey with a ‘C’ on it behind the plate. His demands were just too high

    • The latter means the former doesn’t make sense. If the D’Backs are likely to non-tender Saunders, why bother giving up guy we could use for him? We’d be better off non-tendering Bowden (Doubront is a year younger and a lefty) and signing Saunders once he’s non-tendered.

        • How does that make any sense in context of my remark?

          We’re not looking to pry Upton away for a package centerpieced by Doubront, I’m just saying there’s no point giving up something of even minimal value for a guy who will very likely be non-tendered anyway.

          For one, I don’t much want Saunders, that aside, though, there are two ways of acquiring him here:

          Give up a prospect and take his entire bloated salary.
          Wait until he gets non-tendered, hold onto your prospect to package for something worthwhile and maybe get Saunders for cheaper on the open market.

          There is absolutely no logic to what was suggested.

  9. “The Yankees may shy away from pursuing Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish if he’s posted because of the club’s history with busts Hideki Irabu and Kei Igawa, opines Heyman (Twitter link), although owner Hal Steinbrenner told reporters, such as the New York Post’s Joel Sherman and Newsday’s Ken Davidoff, that the team will evaluate each player on a case-by-case basis.”

    I kind of dont understand this. It’s like saying the Yankees will shy away from white players because AJ Burnett was a bust.

    • um, japanese is not a color. its a nationality. and players from japan have tended to struggle adapting to major league baseball (with a few glaring exceptions). aj burnett, as bad as he is at baseball, is an american. and there are many many more americans who have been successful at this level.

      • Do you really want him to say “It’s like saying the Yankees will shy away from caucazoids because AJ was a bust”?  Relax.  Not only is his point a valid one, but you come off as a massively pretentious D.

        • actually, his point is not valid. repeatedly getting screwed signing pitchers from an obviously inferior league is a very good reason to avoid signing more pitchers from that league (and i think darvish could end up being very good). no one is saying the yankees should shy away from signing “yellow” players because they have gotten burned by “yellow” players. it is simply being suggested that they may be cautious about signing more “japanese” players because having faced lesser competition their entire lives, they tend to be overmatched transitioning to the major leagues. white, black, yellow, red has nothing to do with it. 

          •  just because you put something in quotations doesn’t make it any less offensive.

            • what color is acceptable to describe an asian player? please enlighten me. typical of people losing an argument- start calling the other guy a racist. what a joke.

              • there is no colour acceptable to describe an asian player.

                calling aj burnette white isn’t ‘racist’ , while the guy who posted above used it as a nationality which is incorrect, its not racist, its in various legislation and a socially acceptable and defined term.

                • well since i am not writing with any racist intent, i am not going to allow you to bully me into accepting YOUR determinination of what colors are acceptable to describe people of varying nationalities- especially since im not the one who brought race up in the 1st place.

                  • It’s not my determination, its societies, and I’m positive that when a mod sees that post they will remove it. Call up one of your asian friends, call them that colour and gauge the reaction.

                    • i used the word “yellow” to illustrate that japanese isnt a color any more than white is a nationality. and seeing as im such an ardent racist, what makes you think i have any “asian friends” to call?

                  • I’m not sure it’s the racist intent anyone has an issue with. It’s more the ignorance of the fact that no matter how you phrase or “quote” or suger coat the word, it is still offensive.

                    Hang on, I feel like Meathead from all in the family. I guess that would make you Archie…

          • It has nothing to do with color though.  High-profile Japanese players coming over to play in the MLB have been busts for the most part when you consider the amount of money paid to each player and weigh it against the production.

            The fact that you can’t realize that the word “white” isn’t racist, but “yellow” is really draws any credibility away from whatever point it is that you’re trying to make, by the way.

            • can you even go back to the original post and realize you just made my point for me in the first paragraph you wrote.

              • your original point wasn’t that you’re a racist, but aren’t allowing anybody else to be a racist, which makes you a hypocrite too?

      • his point is still valid. Just because Justin Morneau or Brett Lawrie
        are good Canadian players, doesn’t mean all Canadians are going to find
        success, vice versa on players who failed. . Players should be looked
        at on a personal basis, not incorporated  in to one big clump… Should
        we all get japanese hitters and assume that they will be Ichiro and
        Matsui?

        • jesus christ i said there were exceptions because i knew someone would bring up ichiro. he made a point about COLOR. i was making a point about level of competition.

          • Okay, so maybe the Angels should stop calling up players who dominated AAA because Brandon Wood dominated AAA and flopped in the bigs?

              • did it cost the angels 10’s of millions of dollars in a posting fee and 10’s of millions more in a multi- year contract to find out that brandon wood was not a very good baseball player?

                •  sounds like its more a problem of not properly assessing the talent level and worth of a players services rather than blacklisting an entire region because of 2 flops.

                  • yep, keep trying to twist what i said to fit your continually changing argument.

                    • “repeatedly getting screwed signing pitchers from an obviously inferior league is a very good reason to avoid signing more pitchers from that
                      league”

                      So if the pitchers were 10 bucks each and both flopped would you feel the yankees should still avoid players from that league?

      • If you look at Darvish numbers and compare them to Irabu and Igawa, you will soon notice that both players had worse performances at the NPB, far lower ceiling than Darvish and were older than he is. Hell, Matsuzaka, who compares better to Darvish than the other two (but was still not as good in Japan), has been an overall reliable MLB starter, injuries aside. So yes, betting on Darvish is risky, but comparing him to Irabu or Igawa is ridiculous.

        Also, leaving the debate aside for a moment… Hideki Irabu died this year?!?

          • You know, it always calls my attention the fact that some people are so quick to dismiss attitude problems in players as “press blowing things out of proportion”. Irabu always had a notorious personality, to say the least, and seeing him end like this makes me worry about what could be the future of guys like Lastlings Milledge, Milton Bradley, Elijah Dukes, Carlos Zambrano, Miguel Cabrera and even Nyjer Morgan. And no, before someone calls me, I’m not listing them because I think black and latin players are the only ones with problems, I’m just going from the top of my head about players that have had temperament issues in recent years. I think the league has to do something about this, just getting them out of MLB (which is the current way they deal with this) is irresponsible.

            • its nuts because as fans we think they have it all, money, fame, they don’t have to deal with mundane office jobs and stuff

              the one that really stuck out for me was wade belak’s suicide (hockey player). Such a happy, funny go lucky guy, but that ended up not being what it seemed. definetely shocking though. Irabu had a wife and 2 kids, can’t imagine a persons state of mind to leave a family behind.

              • I just read that apparently he was going through a separation and that it might have triggered it. Still, it’s amazing to see that a guy going through that situation probably didn’t had any friend to turn to (at least on the States). Still, this is mostly speculation from my part, but it’s a shame nonetheless.

        • god, i cant get away from this discussion. i never compared darvish to irabu or igawa. in fact i said just about the opposite- if you would scroll down a little and read the rest of the comments you’d see that. sorry it doesnt fit your little narrative about the point im trying to make.

          • You absolutely can get away from this conversation, just stop talking

          • You are saying that the NPB is an “inferior” league because in the past, singing players from that league has been a bad investment, particularly for the Yankees. While it’s admissible that the league has a level that could be classifiable as “AAAA” when compared to MLB, and yes, they should be very careful before spending 100 million dollars on Darvish just because he is a young Greg Maddux in that league, Darvish is something to be analyzed very thoroughly. Caution is required, but there is a difference between being cautious and being irrational. You can’t judge then NPB only for those two and leave out Nomo, Kuroda or even Matsuzaka. Rational analysis tells you that Darvish floor is a reliable fourth starter (4.00 ERA, 2.5 WAR, 180 innings) and his ceiling is ace-high… Anyway, deep down I think we are trying to make the same point, but differ in perspective and maybe they way we express it.

      •  But, there is a huge sample size difference: compare the numbers from Japan and from the US. How many prospects from the US alone sizzle out? Free agents? A lot more.

        I think it should always be a case by case basis.

    • I think what they’re trying to say is that they have a history of signing busts for enormous contracts. It wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t have to pay the huge fee and the contract.
      But when history shows they don’t often have the same success in MLB as in Japan then perhaps it’s probably a good idea to evaluate each player closely.
      You can’t really compare it with anything else because it’s not a race issue it’s a money issue.

    • They may shy away from him not because he’s Japanese, but because his training comes from Japanese baseball where the pitchers generally only pitch once a week, use different sized baseballs, have shorter seasons, opposing managers have a tendency to play for one run, and the line-ups aren’t as deep as they are in MLB.  If he was from North America, or from Latin America, yet he was raised playing Japanese baseball then they would have the same concerns.  It’s not because he’s Japanese, but because of how he’s been trained as there has been transition issues for starting pitchers making the move.  Read what Heyman wrote and what Hal Steinbrenner told Davidoff and nowhere in there does it say they’d shy away from him because he’s Japanese.

      I should add, btw, that if the Yankees planned to aggressively pursue Darvish then they’d be saying exactly what they’re saying, which is they don’t have much interest.  If they express public interest, that would only serve to up other teams’ posting bids, which would work against the Yankees.

      I think the Yankees have a lot of interest in Darvish.

  10. im really beginning to wish i had chosen to respond to the joe saunders for felix dubront comment instead. have a good night everyone…

    • Don’t worry about it, Lunchbox has a pretty bad reputation on this site for attacking everyone for everything. At least you didn’t slight Alex Anthopoulos or he might have shown up at your house.

      • Yes because calling asian people yellow should be tolerated, if that gives me a bad reputation so be it. Thanks for reading my posts though. Stay classy.

      • Lunchbox’s only reputation is for making intelligent, well thought out comments.

          • Thanks.  I wouldn’t have questioned it if he were talking about me though, I know I’m an A-hole sometimes.

            • ahh…we “all” have our human moments…they just need to be judged within the framework of the person’s general makeup

      • These Jays fans emit an arrogance like they have won the last 10 World Series. I must be missing something.

        • These fans of other teams seem to think that their team having won a title or two makes their opinions more valid than those of other fans.

        • Don’t you know??? Toronto’s the center of the universe!!

        • We are just confident in the process being used by AA.  It is moving the team down the right path and we are enjoying the journey.

          • Getting lucky with Jose Bautista finally getting it right may have helped your “process” better than any move by AA.

            • seriously?? So because Jose Bautista turned in a super star he brought the farm system from bottom 3 to top 3 ?
              Wow jose bautistas WAR must be like 710.6

      • “Don’t worry about it, Lunchbox has a pretty bad reputation on this site for attacking everyone for everything.”

        Yeah, I hate that guy. Lousy Canadians. Probably a commie or something.

        Seriously, it’s hard to argue that there’s any level of disdain for an individual who’s currently sporting the second highest amount of likes on this website, he’s a wrist injury to notsureifsrs away from being MLBTR’s proverbial Prom King (Do they have Prom Kings in Canada? You guys still dig monarchies, right?)

        • lol I lol’d so hard at this

          but seriously, notsureifsrs  is too well infront, he’s the barry bonds of these boards, someone should have him tested for PED’s.. I’m more like Pete Rose, lots of hits but also a lot of PA, and people hate me… I also currently have a really bad haircut.

    • You want to know the worst part?  You could have made a reasonable, intelligent argument, but you chose not to.  Instead you chose to point out a ridiculously insignificant mistake in the original comment, and then you proceeded to argue about that.

      • yeah, that or i called a guy on something i thought was complete crap and others decided to argue about it with me.

        • You “called a guy” on using a players color instead of his race, but you’re right, that’s super important.

  11. this whole notion that the yankees are going to shy away from Yu is insane. Just because some random sports writer, who most of us dont take seriously anyway, thought in his down time the yankees would shy away because of TWO count them TWO pitchers in the past is nuts. These two pitchers debuted at 28 and 32 respectively. Darvish would be 24 or 25 depending on when he actually makes his first MLB start. putting him right on par with most mlb players. Also Darvish is more highly touted then either of these players. If darvish is treated correctly, not rushed and allowed some time, maybe even a full year in the minors he will be just fine. As long as he is not expected to be the second coming of Cy Young and is allowed to mature at a reasonable rate he will be a fine pitcher for an MLB team. He should be given at minimum half a season in AAA to adjust to American life style and the American version of the game. Remember this Nomo was good, Kuroda is good, dice-k over the course of his deal was good, yes he recently had issues that I think are more injury related than anything. But over the course of his deal Dice-k has actually paid off. Ichiro is still great(down year should bounce back) Kaz matsui was good, Iguchi was very good for the white sox. Koske was actually pretty decent, the cubs just didnt know how to use him, not great but not bad. Hideki  matsui was always a great hitter and is still good, Saito and Uehara are both very good relievers….all good players. These is no reason to believe that Darvish’s game wont translate, even at 50% he is still a good MLB pitcher…

    And if you think that because of two Japanese players teams should shy away from other new comers then the opposite approach could be used for canadian players  then because of Votto, Lawrie, Morneau, Jessi Crain, Axford, russel martin, depmster…teams should be foaming at the mouth to draft guys from our upstairs neighbors…

    • I remember the days when young canadian baseball fans only had Larry Walker and Matt Stairs to look up to.  Pretty impressive list now. 

      • If darvish waits until next season they don’t have to do a posting fee for him. Everyone wins, except the Ham Fighters.

      • You are showing your age kid….Ferguson Jenkins, Reggie Cleveland, Claude Raymond, Dave Pagan, and Pete Ward

    • Don’t forget about how Darvish is ripping up the NPB, his lifetime ERA there is below 2. His NPB career is much better than Matsuzaka’s was when he was posted.

    • A year or two ago, one of the Baseball America writers/scouts rated Darvish as 3rd in their 2008 Top List.  That makes him equivalent to David Price.

  12. AL East notes and there is absolutely nothing pertaining to the Orioles. The last major news is that the Orioles (via Dan Duquette) is looking to add bench players such as a back up catcher, a middle infielder, and another outfielder. So not only are we not going after top free agents, but we also aren’t addressing the glaring weakness of this team which is the horrendous starting pitching.

    It is tough to be an O’s fan. At least we have the cartoon bird logo back. Weee!

    • Do the O’s really want to go after SP in a market that is so shallow it could give CJ Wilson $100MM?
      They’re trying to build that team up and spending big and overpaying guys isn’t going to help them right now. They need to be developing their own pitchers.

      • Kyle, the Orioles HAVE been trying to develop their own pitchers. Do you know what the results of that has been? 14 consecutive losing seasons, and bank on a 15th if they try to do it again this season.

  13.  Ortiz would be a perfect fit for this team
     
    Lineup:
     
    1- Rasmus CF
    2- K.Johnson 2b
    3- Bautista RF
    4- Ortiz DH
    5- Lind 1b
    6- Lawrie 3b
    7- Snyder LF
    8- JP C
    9- Escobar SS
     
    Bench:
     
    Teahan UT
    M.McCoy UT
    Encarcion 1b/3b
    Wise CF
    Jerolamon C
     
    Rotation:
     
    LHP Romero
    RHP Morrow
    LHP Cecil
    RHP Drabek
    RHP McGowan
     
    Bullpen:

    H.Street(v/trade), J.Rauch, S.Camp, C.Villanueva, Jannsen, Litsch

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