A few notes to pass along as Tuesday becomes Wednesday …
- The Red Sox haven't ruled out signing Roy Oswalt, tweets Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, although sources say the right-hander is not a priority for them. Earlier today we heard that interest in Oswalt has spiked significantly since he's been telling teams he's willing to sign for a one-year deal.
- It seemed inevitable that Yankees would re-sign Andruw Jones earlier this offseason, but Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports the camps have not made much progress and that the outfielder is garnering interest from other teams, including the Red Sox.
- The Nationals are among the final three suitors for free agent pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs, a source tells Bill Ladson of MLB.com, who adds that the Marlins are reported to be in the mix, as well.
- Rockies outfielder Michael Cuddyer told reporters, including Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities radio, that he and the Twins never had discussions about re-signing once they reached agreement with Josh Willingham (Twitter link).
- The Braves thought they may have been close to trading Jair Jurrjens to the Reds last weekend until Cincinnati instead acquired Mat Latos from the Padres, writes MLB.com's Mark Bowman in a mailbag.
- In an interesting thinkpiece at Baseball Prospectus, Ben Lindbergh examines why it's becoming increasingly difficult for a GM to stand out from his peers.
wait so theres a 3 team bidding war underway for greg dobbs? lol?
the pinch hitter… he doesn’t even have a position…
“The Red Sox haven’t ruled out signing Roy Oswalt (yes!), tweets Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, although sources say the right-hander is not a priority for them (no!).”
“Our single biggest area of need is not a priority.” I know Cherington hasn’t been the GM for very long, but so far I have to say he really sucks at it.
That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think, “. . . he really sucks at it. . .”
I’ll grant you it seems as though Cherington and company are moving very slowly, at a snail’s pace, even, but, look at what he has done:
1) Picked up Scutaro’s option, a good thing; 2) declined Wheeler’s option, also a good thing; 3) Initially declined Atchison’s option and then offered him arbitration, both good things; 4) Offered arbitration to (drum roll, please) David Ortiz, a very good thing; 5) Offered arbitration to Wheeler, not such a good thing; 6) With the three stooge-like owners, hired Valentine, no comment; 7) Signed Kelly Shoppach, a good thing; 8) Traded Lowrie and Weiland for Melancon, even though I’m a huge Lowrie fan, this was a good move for the team; 9) Signed Nick Punto, another very good thing; 10) Re-signed RHP Matt Albers, not sure; 11) Non-tendered Rich Hill who is recovering from TJ surgery, rather cold, but, there’s still time to rectify that.
So, there you have the laundry list of Cherington’s activities. Not exactly Herculean, but nothing to sneeze at either. Slow, yes. Sucks, no.
Mostly, I’m just frustrated that we’re seeing teams like the Angels and the Rangers and the Marlins (of all teams) getting better, while the Red Sox only have three real starters and the biggest real “splash” we’ve made since the September collapse iis signing Bobby Valentine -_-
I was expecting to see us going hard after guys like Mark Buehrle who have a history of durability, quality stuff, and good clubhouse presence. As it stands, we’re just sort of spinning our wheels. This is the same sort of “understated” nonsense that led to mediocrity on in 2010. We needed to made a splash somehow, but at least all the news makes it sound like Cherington isn’t interested in making one at all.
This team won 89 games last year. Lackey had a negative WAR and he won’t pitch this year! Only minor fixes are needed. The Red Sox don’t need Pujols, Reyes, CJ Wilson, Darvish, etc. Madston and Cordero ARE STILL AVAILABLE! And their prices are only coming down.
At present, the Red Sox are only marginally a playoff team. If I had to make objective postseason selections based on the present-day rosters, I really couldn’t see picking them as my Wild Card team. Here’s my projected pitching staff if we had to start the season tomorrow:
SP: Lester
SP: Beckett
SP: Buchholz
SP: Bard (apparently?)
SP: Aceves
RP: Albers
RP: Doubront
RP: Miller
RP: Atchison
RP: Morales
RP: Jenks
CL: Melancon
All the talk is about Andrew Bailey and Francisco Cordero and such, but the bullpen is not the place where we need to be shopping for. The primary reason for why the bullpen is so horribly underwhelming is because we currently have two of the best bullpen pieces (Bard and Aceves) starting, since we only have three real starters on the team. Assuming that 2/5 of the rotation isn’t a guaranteed mess already, I can’t imagine that bullpen doing a great job when 40% of our staff inevitably struggles to make 5 innings per game. For anyone to suggest that Oswalt isn’t a priority is absurd (and actually, I kind of would’ve liked to lock him up more cheaply for a couple years, but oh well).
It’s time to go hard after Oswalt and Kuroda, and use I guess Saunders as a backup plan.
They have a better top three than most other teams in the AL, and arguably the top offense. Warm bodies for the 4-5 spots in the rotation would make them contenders for the playoffs.
I have no idea as to whether what you typed is true or not. BoSoxFan’s comment below gives all of us bloggers sound and logical reasons as to why it might “Not” be true.
However, you sound like me on what kind of job Duquette is doing for the O’s, so I found what you typed to be funny!
Thumbs Up!
It’s not a lack of Cheringtons inability, it’s the fact that ownership has him by his balls. I don’t care what anybody wants to say, they’re not letting him do ALL of his own work until they’re completely comfortable with him. They don’t want to make the big splash this year, and there is no need to. One year deals on a couple big names are probably possible, and would help greatly, but we’ll see.
Not trying to pile on here, really, just giving my perspective.
1) We don’t really know how much Cherington is running things, and how much of this comes from Lucchino and the owners, so even if you don’t like what’s happened so far, we don’t know who to “blame” it on.
2) They would never say that they were making Oswalt a priority even if he was their #1 priority.
3) If they miss out on Oswalt he will be the first person to sign that I am upset about them missing out on, so it’s not like they are missing a bunch of chances.
4) They seem to be (and said they were going to) let the market come to them; if they had signed Oswalt three weeks ago it would have taken a 3 year deal, now if they sign him it could be for a one year deal (Beltran’s demands seem to have come down some as well, if he is a guy you like).
Again, really not trying to pile on here, and I can understand where the sentiment comes from because they haven’t done much other than retain a few guys from last year, and a couple minor additions.
The Natinals seem to be following the Marlins around with regards to players. Oh well, Natinals gonna be 0-3 with Buehrle, Dobbs, and Gio.
Andruw is #2 all-time in defensive WAR. He’s got the ten Gold Gloves, of course. Five-time All-Star.
420 HR…
Gotta be a Hall of Famer, right?
So far disappointed by Nats off season. Hope they land Fielder, Oswalt, or Span/Upton.
If the Yankees don’t re-sign Jones, then who do they go after? Beltran? It’s like they have no interest in anyone or anything this offseason. I know the pitching wasn’t exactly a stellar crop of sure-things (asides from Buehrle), but there were some good bats out there.
well they said they were happy offensively, and I think if an amazing deal falls on their lap of course they’ll sign, but they don’t have any reason to splurge on a bat, they need to focus on pitching and they nkow that. They haven’t made any signings, but I won’t complain until the season starts because anything can happen including trades.
But I keep thinking of the post-season and to me the problem wasn’t the pitching. It could have been better (it always can be better), but the hitting to me was the huge let down for us. An impact bat injected into the lineup I think would be good. Someone with a high BA and is good with RISP.
I say no to Beltran. The last thing the yankees need is another DL prone guy.
It’s the Pedro Feliciano Effect…
Agreed 100%. The reason the hitting went sour is because our lineup is old enough to remember the K-T comet impact. Let’s get that kid out of Cuba if we’re going for bats, then make Eduardo Nunez available to all the teams that have told us they want him as part of a package for a pitcher.
“Someone with a high BA and is good with RISP.”
You mean someone like Robinson Cano or Curtis Granderson?
Timely hitting isn’t something you just “fix” because it’s entirely coincidental. A hitter doesn’t suddenly become better when there’s runners in scoring position, contrary to popular belief.
For that matter, it’s not like the Yankees didn’t plate any runs in that series, they scored 28 runs for crying out loud, four of them off of Justin Verlander. If they had anything resembling pitching depth, they wouldn’t have had Freddy Garcia starting game 2 and they probably would’ve at least won that series. Heck, even barring that, had Sabathia managed to hold on to the lead his offense spotted him in game three, they’d have won the series too.
All of their problems in the ALDS boil down to one thing: poor pitching, not offense. Sure, you could say “If only they’d managed to score 30 runs in a five game series,” but that’s just a ridiculous thing to say when their pitching failed to get the job done. When your offense manages to get to Verlander AND lucks out in getting a rain delay to avoid facing him in game one of a short series, your pitching’s got to step up.
I respect your opinion, but Cano and Granderson are just two players. I’m also not saying anything about scoring getting easier when runners are on. I’m not exactly sure where that came from?
I don’t disagree that Freddy had no business being out there in Game 2, but if we don’t bring back Jones then what is the problem with grabbing someone else who has an impact bat?
“I respect your opinion, but Cano and Granderson are just two players.”
They’re simply the only players I noted. The only hitter in the Yankees lineup last year who was outright “bad” was Martin and he had a few hot streaks. The Yankees have, without question, a top three offense in the MLB, there’s really not much you can add to it and there was no way to improve on it this offseason without doing something extraordinarily drastic (Like making Teixeira a bench player and signing Pujols).
“I’m not exactly sure where that came from?”
“good with RISP”
Basically I’m saying guys who are good with RISP aren’t really something you can shop for as guys who are good with RISP are typically an aberation that’s dictated more their overall stats than anything.
“if we don’t bring back Jones then what is the problem with grabbing someone else who has an impact bat?”
Because it’s a monumental waste of resources and it doesn’t really serve any purpose. Your outfield consists of Swisher, Granderson and Gardner, three of the best outfielders in the AL. Beltran isn’t a definitive upgrade over any of them except MAYBE Swisher and Swisher would make an awful fourth outfielder (He’s a terrible defender and he’s incredibly streaky). Even then, you’re probably better off trying to convert Montero to RF than bringing in Beltran.
There wasn’t a single “impact bat” on the market who would be a definitive upgrade for the Yankees that wouldn’t involve either putting a potential All Star player on the bench or trading someone off at a probable loss.
True good point.
With respect to a very well-structured and learned argument, I’m not sure it’s always *entirely* true that “[a] hitter doesn’t suddenly become better when there’s runners in scoring position.” I think there are genuinely professional hitters out there whose plate discipline is such that they get better pitches when the guy on the mound is more motivated to avoid another walk.
It would be interesting to me to check this (and indeed I haven’t, so there’s plenty of room for me to be wrong), but I’d be curious to see what the BA’s of Dustin Pedroia, Chipper Jones, and Chase Utley look like, bases-empty vs. RISP.
BA (wOBA)
pedroia
empty .306 (.375)
RISP .293 (.341)
jones
empty .296 (.387)
RISP .305 (.396)
utley
empty .277 (.376)
RISP .290 (.369)
Jesus, if only there was a player who can be in that lineup all year who they were without most of last year.
You don’t need an All Star at every position and what you’re arguing for is an All Star at every position AND on the bench. The Yankees already have one of the best outfield offenses in the majors, what in the world do they need another big bat for the outfield for?
I was more so thinking about getting another impact bat and then trading Swisher which has been somewhat mentioned this offseason as a possibility in an effort to get a starting pitcher. I doubt it would happen but, never know. Not really looking for All Star talent at every position and the bench. Just looking at the names still out there.
Beltran would fit that potentially, but as I noted, you’re probably better off trying to convert Montero to RF than signing a guy like Beltran to multiple years. Even if his defense is poor (And I doubt it can be much worse than Swisher’s, the guy was about the only way of not improving on Abreu out there), his bat would probably justify him being out there.
The Yankees likely play a platoon at that position or have an open competition for a bench spot. As it is, you have Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson in right and center, and Brett Gardner in left if Jones isn’t re-signed (Jones would be the fourth outfielder) and Dickerson as a reserve.
Good point. The outfield is really good with the guys we have. I was thinking about who could replace Jones if he didn’t re-sign really. I also forgot that Beltran would probably prefer to start and not platoon. Plus he would command a multi-year deal for money I’m sure the Yankees don’t want to give him.
Attention All Orioles Bloggers and Fans!
I have an announcement to make!
You know who would really help the Orioles?
I am sure by this point you’re wondering “Who” Lefty, “Who”????
Well I well tell you, Roy Oswalt of course!
You gotta give the fans what they want! =P
Oddly enough Andruw would really help the Braves
Jones would add some serious pop against lefties that the Sox lack.
You may be right, but I also think that, for the Sox this year, that’d be like saying the Titanic could do with a fresh coat of paint. You guys need to throw *stupid* money at your starting rotation or the question of adding pop against lefties is gonna look like a fairly Pyrrhic victory. Dice-K gone until mid-season and Lackey all year (?good riddance?) with Tommy John; Wakefield just qualified for his AARP card (and is by the way un-signed), and Daniel Bard’s career ERA as a starter is, like, a friggin’ *million*.
Buh wha?
Red Sox 2011 OPS Split:
Righties: .811
Lefties: .807
League average against lefties was .737 in the AL. They were #2 in the league against lefties, not too far behind the Yankees’ .827 mark.
Their lefties K a lot against lefty pitchers. Jones wouldn’t hurt them.
I don’t disagree that Jones would be a valuable addition, he’d be incredibly useful, but as a team, they hit lefties overall very well.
A better argument is how useful he’d be in our outfield in general, Ellsbury’s the only guy we’ve got out there right now I trust to hit lefties.
Dobbs would be a solid bench signing
Priorities priorities.. How can a veteran pitcher who is calm, cool and collective not be a priority esp with how the clubhouse was last year? Get off your soapbox Ben. Sign Oswalt and Cordero. Both are veterans who Get The Job Done. ‘Nuff said.
the marlins will sign dobbs at a average annual salery of about 7 mill
post of the year award finalist right here
Prob the same one offered for Latos, maybe minus Alonso.
They were probably sending UPS ground, Braves probably wanted Fed-Ex overnight delivery. Reds wouldn’t give…
It’s interesting that because the Jair trade fell through, the Rockies trade also fell through. My guess is that one of the players that the Braves would have received is a utility infielder who can handle 3B…maybe Todd Frazier. I don’t think the Braves want to trade Prado unless they can get a solid back-up 3B.
hence why he said minus Alonso
Why? Latos>Jurrjens. By a lot.
A guy with a K/9 hovering around 6 and a GB% under 45% isn’t going to keep a sub-3.00 ERA for long. Jurrjens absolutely isn’t worth Alonso.
Nope. I think one reason CIN paid so handsomely is because ATL wanted not the Latos package, but someone they weren’t willing to part with, and decided to overpay for Latos, who looks worth the risk.
While I do think Latos’ upside is more than Jurrjens’, I’m willing to bet that ATL never asked for Alonso. I doubt he was the breaking point. And don’t underestimate Jurrjens, everyone keeps saying those numbers won’t be replicated, but he proves critics wrong…when he’s healthy. CIN needs that in their park. Let’s see if Latos’ numbers will be anywhere near what they were going from the most pitcher-friendly park to one of the most hitter-friendly parks in MLB.
Latos is going to regress there, but not nearly as bad as Jurrjens would. His ground ball rate wouldn’t be of as much concern if his K/9 weren’t in the toilet, but the amount of balls put in the air on him would more than likely get the better of him in extended time there. SSS, but his splits agree considering his awful numbers there in the past.
oh, i saw it as “There’s no way Alonso is in the deal”