A’s Fire Geren, Hire Melvin
Mired in a nine-game losing streak, the Athletics are making changes. They announced this morning that they have relieved manager Bob Geren of his duties and hired former MLB manager Bob Melvin to take his place as the interim manager for the rest of the season.
Geren, a longtime friend of A's GM Billy Beane, rose through Oakland's system as a minor league manager before taking over the big league club. The A's had a 334-376 record in four-plus seasons under Geren, never finishing above .500. The 2011 Athletics are 27-36 after last night's loss to Baltimore.
The A's have dealt with a number of injuries this year – Mark Ellis, Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden, Rich Harden, Brandon McCarthy and Tyson Ross are currently on the disabled list. Earlier in the season, Brian Fuentes and former A's reliever Huston Street publicly criticized Geren.
Melvin has experience managing the Mariners (2003-04) and D'Backs (2005-09) and had been working as a special advisor in Arizona's front office this year. The 2007 NL Manager of the Year has a 493-508 record in seven seasons as a skipper.
Olney On Padres, Wood, Pirates
Teams like the Yankees, Rangers and Cardinals may not have to wait much longer for bullpen help. There will probably be relievers available immediately, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney. Here’s the latest on the relief market and other notes from Olney:
- The industry-wide expectation is that the Padres will trade Heath Bell soon.
- Executives wonder if the Padres will decide to take advantage of Mike Adams' substantial trade value and trade him now. The setup man is under team control through 2012.
- Rival teams will presumably call the Cubs to see if Kerry Wood would accept a trade. The right-hander signed a discounted $1.5MM contract last offseason because he wanted to return to Chicago.
- Grant Balfour, Luke Gregerson and Michael Wuertz are other possible trade candidates, according to Olney.
- Though the Pirates have developed more top talent under Neal Huntington, it’s an important year for the GM, who doesn’t have a contract after 2011. The Pirates drafted aggressively once again this year, so Huntington and his scouting staff will have a number of tough signs this summer, such as high schooler Josh Bell.
AL East Notes: Barnes, Wakefield, Orioles
The latest from the AL East before the first-place Red Sox attempt to complete a sweep of the Yankees in New York…
- Red Sox first rounder Matt Barnes grew up rooting for the Yankees, according to Nicole Auerbach of the Boston Globe. Barnes is preparing to switch his allegiances and he doesn't expect the change to be too difficult, since he has "always respected" the Red Sox.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says he was wrong to question Tim Wakefield's place on the Boston roster earlier this spring. The knuckleballer has a 4.84 ERA with 4.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 through 48 1/3 innings this year and is a Hall of Famer in the eyes of Robinson Cano.
- Jim Callis of Baseball America gives the Orioles high marks on their draft, according to MASNsports' Steve Melewski. "They got the best pitcher in the draft and depth after that," Callis said. "They got tremendous quality and quantity."
- Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun says he would have interest in signing J.J. Hardy to a two-year extension if he were running the Orioles. Hardy has a .276/.346/.457 line 131 plate appearances into the season.
A’s Notes: Geren, Willingham, Boras
The Athletics lost their ninth consecutive game last night, falling 3-2 to the Orioles. Here's the latest on the slumping A's, who are now nine games below .500…
- Questions about the job security of manager Bob Geren will only intensify if the A's keep losing, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle points out. It's considered unlikely that A's GM Billy Beane would fire Geren, a longtime friend, during the season, according to Slusser. The skipper is signed through 2011.
- The A's haven't had talks with Josh Willingham about signing a long-term deal, according to Slusser. The outfielder would draw interest if the A's made him available, as he has ten homers and a .239/.317/.438 line. Alternatively, the A's could avoid the trade rumors and lock Willingham up long-term, like the Brewers did with Corey Hart last summer.
- As we noted last night, the A's selected Shane Boras, the son of agent Scott Boras, in this year's draft. Slusser reports that the A's draftee will have a different advisor than you might expect: his mother, Boras' wife Jeanette.
Quick Hits: D’Backs, Figgins, Tejada, McCourt
As Anthony Rizzo prepares for his Major League debut tomorrow with the Padres, it was one year ago today that Stephen Strasburg and Mike Stanton both made their first appearances in the majors. Both star prospects lived up to the hype — Strasburg recorded 14 strikeouts and no walks in seven innings against the Pirates, while Stanton went 3-for-5 (all singles) and scored twice against the Phillies.
Some items from around the league…
- The Diamondbacks were judged as the biggest winners of the amateur draft, writes Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. Mayo spoke to a number of scouts to produce a list of the five teams who had the best drafts, with three AL East teams making the cut.
- Fangraphs' Joe Pawlikowski wonders how long the Mariners can afford to keep putting Chone Figgins in the lineup. Pawlikowski also predicts that the Giants will release Miguel Tejada once Pablo Sandoval returns from the DL.
- Dodgers owner Frank McCourt will be able to meet the team's payroll on June 15, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
- In a radio appearance on the Mut & Merloni Show today, Peter Gammons noted the lack of top-quality arms available at this year's trade deadline. Gammons said a pitching-needy team like the Yankees would have to look at pitchers like Brett Myers or Edwin Jackson, while he shoots down the idea that Felix Hernandez, Francisco Liriano or any of the Athletics' young arms would be on the market. WEEI's Jerry Spar has the full transcript of Gammons' appearance here.
East Notes: Phillies, Lawrie, Fox, Uggla
Some items from the eastern divisions….
- "You will not see a major move this year," Phillies GM Ruben Amaro tells Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com about his team's trade deadline plans. Amaro feels the Phils are already good enough to compete and it's just a matter of the club finding its peak form. He also notes that the team has very little payroll flexibility, but "for $170 MM-plus, we should be good enough to be a World Series contender.”
- Blue Jays prospect Brett Lawrie will be out for two-to-four weeks with a non-displaced fracture in his left hand, tweets Rogers Sportsnet's Arash Madani. Lawrie was tentatively scheduled to make his Major League debut last week before being hit by a pitch in a Triple-A game.
- Jake Fox was put on waivers by the Orioles earlier today and he might get some attention from the Pirates. Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review notes that the Pirates had some interest in Fox during Spring Training, and the Bucs might have need for a catcher since Chris Snyder left today's game with a back injury. (Twitter link)
- The Dan Uggla trade hasn't panned out well for either the Braves or the Marlins thus far, writes Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.
Athletics Notes: Weeks, Matsui, Anderson, Draft
Jemile Weeks collects walks just like his older brother Rickie, but while the elder Weeks hits for power, Jemile is more of a contact hitter, writes Fangraphs' Jack Moore in his analysis of the two Weeks brothers. Jemile went 0-for-4 in his Major League debut last night for the A's, leading off and playing second base.
Here are some more items from Oakland, courtesy of Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle…
- "Hideki Matsui's future is cloudy" with the A's, but the veteran may get one more stint of regular playing time to see if he can turn around his disappointing season. As Slusser notes, Matsui has been a better hitter in the second half of the season (a career .855 OPS after the All-Star break), but the team might not want to wait that long. I'd suggest Oakland could probably trade Matsui to a contender for a low-profile prospect rather than release him for nothing.
- Right-hander Graham Godfrey will make his Major League debut in a start against the White Sox on Friday. The A's will have to make a 40-man roster move to make room for Godfrey and Slusser guesses the team will have to designate someone for assignment. That is, unless, the A's have already gotten word that Brett Anderson will need Tommy John surgery and he can be moved to the 60-day DL. Anderson will get a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews next week.
- While the A's are struggling right now, "I don't see Billy Beane pulling the plug in early June no matter how many injuries they've absorbed, or even if Anderson does need Tommy John surgery." Slusser notes that "Josh Willingham's name is definitely out there" in terms of trade rumors.
- Oakland's late-round draft picks included Brett Geren (manager Bob Geren's son) in the 42nd round and Shane Boras (son of agent Scott Boras) in the 39th round. Shane is the second Boras child to be drafted in this year's amateur draft; his brother Trent was taken in the 30th round by the Brewers.
- Andy LaRoche has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A, Slusser tweets. LaRoche was designated for assignment by the Athletics on Monday.
New York Notes: Posada, Reyes, Citi Field
As Paul McCartney gets ready to make his debut at the new Yankee Stadium, here's the latest news from the Big Apple…
- The Yankees "don't want to release [Jorge Posada] at all," but they may be forced into such a move if Posada's hitting doesn't pick up by the All-Star Break, writes ESPNNewYork.com's Ian O'Connor. For now, there is no talk of a Posada release since the club wants to keep him on the roster until Derek Jeter reaches the 3000-hit plateau. Of course, baseball is the last thing on Posada's mind today as his 11-year-old son underwent his latest surgery to attempt to correct a birth defect in his skull. We at MLBTR send our best wishes to the entire Posada family.
- Can the Mets afford the fan backlash that will come from trading Jose Reyes? Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal asks the question, and also gets this interesting quote from author Vince Gennaro: "The odds that this is the new [Reyes] and that he's going to have a five-year run that even remotely resembles this are miniscule….But that's not where the fan base is going to come from. They're going to look at this as one more sign, if he gets dealt, of a lack of commitment by ownership."
- The Mets may explore moving in the fences at Citi Field this winter, reports Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. “There’s always going to be a preferred class, whether it’s pitchers or hitters, in situations like this, but I want to make sure it’s a fair ballpark,” said GM Sandy Alderson.
- Tyler Clippard and Mark Melancon are two of the ex-Yankee relievers who are having fine seasons in 2011, writes Mike Axisa of the River Ave Blues blog.
Ivan Rodriguez Not “The Answer” For Giants
The Giants "don't consider [Ivan Rodriguez] the answer" for their catching problems, tweets USA Today's Bob Nightengale. San Francisco at least asked the Nationals about Rodriguez when Buster Posey was lost to a season-ending injury and are known to be looking for other options behind the plate.
Rodriguez is hitting just .205/.255/.330 in 95 plate appearances this season, while the man he'd be replacing, Eli Whiteside, collected two hits today to raise his line up to .190/.284/.293 in 67 plate appearances. While Whiteside is obviously nowhere close to Rodriguez's stature in career numbers, the negligble difference in what the two men have produced in 2011 makes it no surprise that the Giants aren't interested in matching Washington's reported high asking price for their veteran catcher.
Central Notes: Humber, Cubs, Rasmus, Draft
The Central divisions are home to not just the four worst records in baseball (the Twins, Astros, Cubs and Royals) but also to the Cardinals and their MLB-best 37-25 record. Here's some news from the middle of the baseball map…
- Phil Humber's improbable journey from being a third overall pick to injury-riddled obscurity to a star in the White Sox rotation is chronicled by ESPNChicago's Jon Greenberg.
- The Cubs have no plans to rush Brett Jackson to the Major Leagues, reports MLB.com's Carrie Muskat. Jackson just recently returned to action after a finger injury. Muskat's piece also contains updates on several other Cubs prospects.
- The Cardinals would be "crazy" to think about dealing Colby Rasmus, writes Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- The Tigers took position players with 10 of their first 11 draft picks, and 24 of their first 29 picks were college players. Baseball America's John Wagner looks at how both trends were a departure from Detroit's recent draft strategies.
- Bill Hall has cleared waivers and is now a free agent, tweets Steve Campbell of the Houston Chronicle. Hall was put on release waivers by the Astros on Monday.
- The Astros can also claim the first signing of the 2011 Amateur Draft, as 44th-round pick Blake Ford told Stephen Goff of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link) that he will sign tonight. Ford, a right-hander from Lamar University, happened to have tickets to tonight's Astros-Cardinals game so he figured he would take care of his contract while at the ballpark. Also from Goff, the Astros have already signed two other draft picks.