Let's round up the latest from the AL East…
- Red Sox GM Ben Cherington said there was nothing new to report as far as their pursuit of pitching, reports Scott Lauber of The Boston Herald (on Twitter).
- The Red Sox avoided arbitration with Jacoby Ellsbury by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $8.05MM today, and WEEI.com's Rob Bradford says that Cherington confirmed the two sides did not discuss a multiyear contract.
- Cherington confirmed that Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left wrist and may not be ready for Opening Day, reports Bradford.
- Rays executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times that being unable to avoid arbitration with Jeff Niemann is "definitely a sub-optimal outcome." (Twitter link)
- Rays owner Stuart Sternberg met with St. Petersburg mayor Bill Foster for two hours today to discuss the future of baseball in the city, reports The Tampa Bay Times. The team asked the city to allow them to speak to Hillsborough officials about a new stadium in the county.
Wait, what? What happened to Crawford?
He was playing wii
Sadly, I wasn’t totally sure if this was true when you posted it. People like Joel Zumaya make me realize stupid injuries happen… I mean how did he hurt himself playing Guitar Hero? Wii seems far more reasonable than that sadly..
Latos injured himself when sneezing…
Didn’t Geoff Blum do that too?
EDIT: Oh wait, I think he hurt himself trying to put on his shirt. Even worse…
Dustin Penner, a hockey player hurt himself eating pancakes.
EDIT: didn’t Brian Tallet also injure himself while sneezing?
Paging Glenallen Hill…..Glenallen Hill please
Sadly, I wasn’t totally sure if this was true when you posted it. People like Joel Zumaya make me realize stupid injuries happen… I mean how did he hurt himself playing Guitar Hero? Wii seems far more reasonable than that sadly..
He was playing wii
He felt some pain during workouts.
I guess it is something that he has experienced off and on for a few years, including part of last year, but he felt it during off-season workouts this year which has never happened before, so he had it checked out and they decided to perform surgery to take care of the problem for good. They still aren’t ruling out him being ready for opening day, but it’s not a certainty. Just the fact that he might be back for opening day leads me to believe that even if he isn’t it wont be too long after opening day.
Yeah, just read a story on the globe. Doesn’t seem serious and there is no real history of post surgery issues with this kind of procedure. Still not great to know however that for everything that’s happened this offseason, that Darnell McDonald could be your opening day LF’r even if its for a short period.
I’m hoping they call up Lin to play in the outfield of Crawford isn’t ready for opening day; I’d play Lin in RF and put the Sweeney/McDonald platoon in LF until Crawford is ready. Honestly I’m wishing they would call him up to play in the outfield even if Crawford is ready (play him in RF instead of the Sweeney/McDonald platoon). Obviously it would be foolish to expect anyone with a similar skill-set to come up and be as good as Brett Gardner, but he really does have a very similar skill-set to Gardner plus an arm that would be plus-plus even in RF.
He wouldn’t be your prototypical right fielder – he hits for very little power – but he maintains a good OBP despite a low batting average, he steels tons of bases, his defense is plus even in CF, and his throwing arm is said to be plus-plus in both strength and accuracy. On a team that gets plenty of power from other positions, I think his superb defense, decent OBP, and very good speed, would be more than enough to earn him an every day spot.
(I also can’t help but dream about essentially having three center fielders manning the outfield with Crawford, Ellsbury, and Lin out there)
We agree there on Lin.
I am anxious to see if he can play the corner in RF and let Sweeney handle RF at least until CC comes back.
Seems no big moves via the OF are forth coming and that is the best outcome in my mind, at least without hammering the other RH outfielder on the roster yet again.
Maybe Lin can show case himself and show he belongs there more after CC comes back and remain as the #4 with his glove and speed, as it seems he will get the chance now.
Assuming Crawford is out for opening day I’d be a little surprised if Lin doesn’t make the roster. It wouldn’t require a 40-man roster move and he’s considered to be a solid defensive outfielder. My guess is Lin will be competing with McDonald during ST to platoon in right.
I hope you’re right, I just find it a little funny that his name has never even been mentioned when the outfield is being talked about.
A guy who’s defense is described as “Exceptional glove and range in center to go along with plus plus arm strength and accuracy. One teammate commented positively on Lin’s range, stating that it looks like Lin is ‘gliding on roller skates’ in the outfield” would be a perfect fit for Fenway’s RF IMO. When you add in the baserunning and on-base skills and I don’t know how he doesn’t get the job (until Kalish is deemed ready at least).
The reason his name doesn’t come up is he’s pretty much universally seen as a future 4th outfielder.
That said I do agree that his defense alone should be a reason why he should get at least a shot at platooning. Fenway is considered by many to be a very difficult outfield to defensively master.
I love you Friedman but you keep getting more cyrptic and at this point, I don’t understand what you said.
I think he was just trying to say going to arbitration with Niemann is not ideal and he would have likely preferred an agreement outside of a hearing, which apparently isn’t going to happen.
I really hope the Rays get out of their commitment to tropicana and get to move out of that awful location. A nice new ballpark with easier access will go along way in attracting fans and allowing Friedman more money to spend.
” move out of that awful location.”
You really have to see it for it to “settle in” Lunch box.. The seating reeks, even after they redid it and renamed it several years back from the “Thunderdome” to try and get fans to give it a new chance..Nothing changed..
The only thing positive about it from a fans perspective? You can see baseball better than you can Hockey.. The Lightning were there year 1 and it was AWFUL watching hockey from nosebleed seats.
I really hope the Rays get out of their commitment to tropicana and get to move out of that awful location. A nice new ballpark with easier access will go along way in attracting fans and allowing Friedman more money to spend.
That Carl Crawford contract is the gift that keeps on giving.
I’m not saying Crawford is going to come back and make that contract look like a bargain or anything, but I think people are writing that off as a terrible contract a little too early.
I thought from day one (before last season even started) that the contract was too much money. Having said that, I also think that almost every free agent contract signed for as long as I can remember has been too much money; that’s the price you pay for playing in the free agent market, and there is no way that Crawford just sucks now. I fully expect Crawford to come back and be the guy he has been for the past decade for a least a few more years, and by the end of the deal I really believe that fans will look back fondly at the time he spends in Boston. He was never going to be worth the contract, and after last year it is more of an overpay, but that doesn’t mean he wont be a good player in Boston.
I hope the surgery improves Crawford’s reads on flyballs, his plate discipline, and his ability to make contact harder than a five-year-old hitting off a tee. Dare to dream…
were you asleep for the last decade or just a new baseball fan?
I think this question is more appropriately directed at the Red Sox front office. The fact that Crawford’s suckitude is old news doesn’t mean I can’t hope his skills are boosted by a bionic wrist.
Niemann doesn’t deserve arbitration.
I think Rays didn’t try very hard with Neimann, seeing as he would be one of the easiest to agree with. This guy posting this right now sees Jeff Niemann being traded. Neimann or Davis gotta go and I just like Davis more, when he gets injured, its like 2 week, Neimann gets hurt for officially a month but pitches hurt for over 2 months. Rays obviously prefer him also, Wade Davis is signed through 2018 while we didn’t even bother to agree on arbitration with Neimann. Also, back to that 2018 thing, I seriously doubt we trade a guy we extended that long.
Anyway, Rays were waiting to see the Price and Upton salary before signing Pena/some other bat. They never cared about Neimann, not to mention that they know his 2 possible salaries anyway.