The Yankees, Red Sox, and the rest of the AL East have been overshadowed this morning by a big spender out west, but here's what's going on in the division:
- The Orioles designated reliever Willie Eyre for assignment to make room on the roster for Dana Eveland, announced the team. The 33-year-old would have been arbitration eligible. The O's also announced second baseman Greg Miclat will go the Texas as the player to be named later in the Taylor Teagarden deal.
- The Blue Jays have designated Brian Jeroloman for assignment, tweets MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm. The move clears a roster spot for the returning Kelly Johnson.
- Greg Golson has been released by the Yankees, tweets MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. Having added two players in this morning's Rule 5 draft, the Yanks needed space on their roster, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
- The Yankees are close to signing former Indians prospect Adam Miller to a minor league deal, tweets Sherman. Miller ranked among Baseball America's top 100 prospects for five straight years from 2005 to 2009.
- The Rays are open-minded about listening to trade offers, even for players like James Shields or Jeremy Hellickson, tweets Jon Heyman of MLB Network. However, they'd need a very large return for their high-end pitchers.
- Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal looks at a few Red Sox trade chips, as the team searches for pitching help.
Now send Mathis to AAA and sign a backup for JP.
/sarcasm
Jeroloyoyoman
Jeroloman’s a great guy. Met him when I was an intern at the Fisher Cats.
Open-minded to dealing a top starter sounds like a step in the right direction towards making a move for the Rays.
If I were them, I’d offer a not so great prospect for Kendrys Morales since they’re going to release him anyways. They might as well get something for him. Only problem is that other teams are probably thinking the same thing. If the Rays can’t get Morales, I would think they’d be more willing to trade James Shields, possibly for Yonder Alonso plus a catching prospect from the Reds, rather than a younger, cheaper Jeremy Hellickson.
Angels have said they are keeping Morales as DH option. They will try Trumbo at 3B but if he doesn’t cut it there they may have to a decision to make on who DH’s and who gets dealt. I don’t expect the Angels will deal Morales for a below value return and if they trade anybody it won’t be until after the season begins.
That’s kinda what I was thinking, which is why, as much as it would hurt to lose him, I could see the Rays trading James Shields to the Reds for a Yonder Alonso and one of their top catching prospects.
Step 1) The Pirates should claim Brian Jeroloman and then designate him for assignment so the Jays could claim him again.
Step 2) Repeat Step 1
So much for the socalled insiders on MLB. They are no more inside than we are!!
rosenthal is the biggest joke of them all!!! he jumps on everything even though its not true, like a dog in heat
I’d be more open to the idea of moving James Shields rather than moving Jeremy Hellickson, at this point. Hellboy is under team control for the forseable future at a much cheaper cost, not that Shields is overly expensive, but still. I could see James shipped to Cincy for Yonder Alonso and one of their top catching prospects. Or maybe they just hold onto all of their starters and sign Kendrys Morales after he gets dumped by the LAA…
The market for Shields right now is thin. Teams don’t buy his 2011 season so they are giving offers as if he’s a #2 starter. Keep Shields for 1 more season and his trade value will go up AND he gives the Rays the best chance of contending for a WS title this year.
Believe me, I don’t want the Rays to lose James, but I have heard a lot of talk about the Reds willing to trade Yonder Alonso, who the Rays could greatly use, plus a top catching prospect for Big Game James. The only problem: the Rays don’t want to give up Shields. I think the market is fine for a deal to get done, if the Rays want to make something happen. I totally aggree with everything else you said though. I’d much rather keep James and his complete games around for a title run.
Is Greg Golson the 1 that threw out Crawford 2 years ago trying to tag up from 2nd?
thx for the updates
“It’s not hard to imagine the Red Sox packaging — just as an example — Bowden, Doubront and Lowrie together for a cornerstone-type player like Chicago starter John Danks, New York Mets starter Jonathon Niese or Oakland reliever Andrew Bailey.”
Pretty sure it’s gonna take more than Lowrie/Doubront/Bowden to get a Danks or Bailey..
Unrelated; but here’s a proposal for the Jays which Might work, but all would have to fall in place:
Jays Sign Prince Fielder for 5 years with vesting options for 6 and 7; which would negate criticisms about his weight.
To TB:
Adam Lind
Prospect? (if needed)
To TOR:
Joel Peralta
JP Howell
Jays Move JP Arenciba to Part time DH/1B, alternating with Prince.
Jays call up D’Arnaud for full-time starting duty.
Potential Lineup
SS Escobar
LF/CF/RF Thames/Snider
3B/2B Lawrie
RF/3B Bautista
1B/DH Fielder
CF Rasmus
DH/1B/C Arencibia
2B/LF Johnson
C D’Arnaud
Bench
C Mathis
DH/1B/3B (hopefully not 3B) Encarnacion
2B/SS Valbuena
OF/PR Davis
Rotation
SP Romero
SP Morrow
SP Alvarez
SP McGowan
SP Cecil/Drabek/FA Acquisition
Bullpen
RP Janssen
RP Villanueva
RP Howell
RP Peralta
RP Carreno
RP Perez
CP Santos
(with maybe a FA Aquisition as a RP)
Seems to be a contending lineup to me.
Thoughts?
(note to mods: posted this elsewhere, seeking feedback!)