Four of the five American League East teams could use starting pitching depth and though the Rays have enviable rotation depth, they need a bat or two. Here are the details on the division, starting with Tampa Bay…
- Coco Crisp, who agreed to a two-year, $14MM deal with the Athletics yesterday, told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that the Rays were a finalist for him (Twitter links). Tampa Bay was “in heavy on” the outfielder, but Oakland presented the better offer, according to Slusser.
- Carlos Silva would earn a base salary of $1MM if he makes his way onto Boston’s roster, according to Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald. Silva, whose minor league deal with the Red Sox was announced yesterday, “will be part of a competition in Spring Training” GM Ben Cherington said.
- The Red Sox have scouted both Yoenis Cespedes and Jorge Soler, but they’re likely to pass on Cespedes and bid for Soler instead, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. The Red Sox are intrigued by Soler’s talent and they don’t like Cespedes’ asking price.
- Japanese infielder Hiroyuki Nakajima appears to seek a couple of million dollars per season on a multiyear deal, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). Heyman points out that Eric Chavez is an alternative for the Yankees if they don't work out a deal with Nakajima by this Friday's deadline.
- Click here for details on the Orioles.
my team the red sox should stop being cheap and go after cespedes.
How are we being cheap if we’re already almost at the luxury tax? We don’t need to spend tons of money for an unproven commodity who would be a superfluous part on one of the best offenses in the majors.
No way, Cespedes’ value is tied pretty tightly to his being able to play CF (which is questionable) and the Sox already have a pretty decent center fielder (<~ intentional understatement). I would much prefer them to go after Soler, and spend the money for this year on someone other than Cespedes.
Funny. I was going to say that as frustrating as it is, it’s great that the Sox aren’t balls deep in YouTube hype. Don’t get me wrong- Cespedes is talented and may be a stud- but the Sox learned their lesson with Daisuke. Success and intelligence/financial savvy aren’t mutually exclusive, and I’m glad the Sox are cutting their spending a bit
Reports are really mixed on whether Cespedes can stick in center, he’s already 27 (young and in his prime, but doesn’t have a few years to polish his game), he is a very aggressive hitter who strikes out quite a bit (and that would only get worse in the majors).
In an article on ESPNBoston they used the ZIPs projection system to project Cespedes’ future performance and it came out to .270/.331/.435 which would be pretty good for a good defensive CF, but it’s not very if his defense relegates him to LF (his arm is only supposed to be average, so RF may be out of the question too). And I know that ZIPs are far from perfect, especially when you are projecting someone from the Cuban leagues, but that line seems to jive pretty well with what scouts have said about his offense.
Soler on the other hand is much younger, and according to some has a lot more potential (but would take a few years in the minors to be ready), Callis even suggested that Soler could have gone #4 overall in the 2010 draft if he had been eligible (behind Harper, Taillon, and Machado, but ahead of Colon and Pomeranz).
very happy to hear they’re not interested in cespedes. i’ll be even happier if they get soler, but i don’t see it happening
Me either, but here’s hoping.
EDIT: I guess I actually kinda could see it happening, the Sox have always loved stockpiling talent, and it’s their last chance to use their monetary advantage in the international market. I’d assume it would take a major league deal to get it done, so it would count against the luxury tax which seems to be against their plan this offseason, but I think Soler is the kind of guy you break the bank for. I’m still not overly optimistic about the chances, but I could see them being seriously involved.
i’m still sore over josh bell. they owe me
Haha, I hear ya
What was it with the draft and being aggressive this season?
from 1 season to the next it’s look and look, they will be very aggressive, then have a draft like this year and sit back in many ways with more “safer” picks
Then, like last year when they were really aggressive with a weak overall draft and took so many high upside people from rounds 1-8, other than the sole safe pick in Ramos. it’s hard to figure from 1 season to the next just how they are going to go..
Eh, they didn’t take a chance on Bell (and I really wish they had), but they took several other risky picks; the toughest signs being Swihart (who signed) and Golson (who didn’t), but others like Lake (didn’t), Betts (did), Owens (did), and Bradley (did) were also considered tough signings.
God I hope the O’s get Soler.
Red Sox and cheap dont go together. You’re spoiled.
You know if the Sox get under the 178 million luxury tax threshold this year, they go back to level 1 next year and get taxed at 17.5% instead of 50% if they went over again this year. Yankees are trying to do the same.
There’s pretty much no way the Sox are under the luxury tax in 2012; I think their aim is to get under the limit in 2013 (which would also reset their tax rate).
Rays a finalist on Crisp? then he and Shields could have finished off the fight they started a few years back huh?
Glad he didn’t sign with them and also.. so much for him saying he wanted to play for a “winner” as he said.. Now he will be buried, with the Athletics in a 2 team fight for the AL West cellar, along with the mariners.
Excluding Silva’s 30.1-inning 2009, he was worth 3.5 WAR over his past two seasons. To match his salary, he must only put up 0.2 WAR for the Sox this year. I think it’s a good deal.
WAR does not work that way. Consider opportunity cost.
I will take the plus from this. The Rays actually have spending money. Maybe they can use it to bring back Pena for a year.
Signing Crisp would have made no sense. Upton makes the same amount and is an overall better player. We need POWER, not speed/leadoff hitter.
Signing Crisp with the intention of trading Upton could have made sense. Crisp is a good overall player (though without the upside of Upton), so I would say that Crisp + prospects > Upton
Agreed, Upton and Jennings are both much better, even with this likely being Upton’s last year with us. I would imagine when Upton exits, Jennings goes to center and then Guyer gets a real chance. Hopefully we make a deal with the Angels and pick up either Trumbo or Morales for some thump at 1B.
Is it really worth parting with prospects when you can just sign Pena for chump change and get similar production?
I could see losing one middle of the pack prospect along with either Jeff Neiman or Wade Davis. We have 6 starting pitchers now (really 7 if you count Alex Cobb) so we can stand to lose one. A rotation of Price/Shields/Hellickson/Moore/whoever doesn’t get traded looks pretty dominating to me. Pena will be able to get more from the Brewers or Indians than the Rays will be willing to offer for his .200 batting average.
But it’s not like Trumbo or Morales (unless you’re predicting a completely full comeback) are going to put up vastly superior numbers, or better numbers at all.
Even if it’s a middling prospect, I can’t imagine being a fan of the Rays and preferring losing young talent to acquire mediocrity when they could offer an additional $1-2M and take Pena back.
No arguments from me that their rotation looks great, so I’d say either sign Pena and upgrade offensively elsewhere by trading pitching or target a better 1B in a trade than Trumbo/Morales if you’re really averse to Pena.
“Click here for details on the Orioles.”
LOL, in a site where minutae is presented multiple times a day, the Orioles are not worth the space I guess.
“The Red Sox have scouted both Yoenis Cespedes and Jorge Soler, but they’re likely to pass on Cespedes and bid for Soler instead.”
I’ve been waiting all off-season to see that exact sentence, the only thing that worries me is that it was Cafardo who wrote it…
Not sure why you were worried, I already figured there was about a 0.1% chance they make a remotely competitive bid on Cespedes. Too much money tied up already to commit $40M+ on someone whose never played a game in the majors.
I am a little excited to hear about the interest in Soler, however mildy credible the source might be.
Yeah, it wasn’t the not bidding on Cespedes that I was waiting to hear, it’s the potential bidding on Soler that I wanted to hear. The kid has the potential to be an outstanding player (much more so than Cespedes), and I would love for the Sox to sign him.
It’s also too much money to give to a 3B who has never played in the majors, but the Evan Longoria contract is considered the most team friendly contract in the game. It really depends on how the Cepedes contract gets structured.
A signing bonus on par with previous upper first round picks, with a Longoria style deal that buys out arb years with team options, could be a very good deal for the team that gets Cespedes, and probably worth the risk.
Except there’s a huge difference between a stud prospect that’s been in your minor league system for years so you have a strong handle on what kind of player he is and an international prospect that you only have a smattering of scouting reports on who plays against mostly much weaker competition.
There’s obviously plenty of risk no matter what, but signing Cespedes is much more akin to giving a more polished college player a guaranteed $40M contract than the Longoria deal.
Longoria was in their system for 1 1/2 years and had 128 PA in AAA before they inked the deal. I don’t think A or AA ball is better than Cuba, considering they have dominated the international game for the past 60 years.
I’m sure the team that eventually signs him will have more than a smattering of scouting reports, and they’ll definitely not be basing him off a video.
And I also don’t think he’ll get $40M guarenteed. I’m thinking more like an $8M Bonus/ $1M/$1.5M/$2M/$4M/$6M/ Team Options at $8M/$11M/$13M With a $3M buyout. $25.5M guarenteed on a $54.5M potential 8 year contract.
1.5 years is not insignificant at all, and AA ball is absolutely better than Cuban leagues… I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone that disagreed with that.
I also believe he will get something in the $40M range, and I don’t want to sound like I don’t think Cespedes could be successful, it’s just a tough risk for a team like the Red Sox who are so close to the luxury tax threshold to take, especially given their offensive strength and other needs.
It is a shame that Tampa Bay doesn’t trade with teams in the AL east. I’m sure a deal could be arranged, sending Encarnacion or Lind to Tampa for Hellickson plus a minor or two involved. Tampa gets their first baseman and Toronto adds another pitcher that is a fraction of the cost of Garza or one of the free agents. It also opens up the DH slot for Snider, or one of the top prospects later in the season. Lind is signed to a team friendly 5M in 2012, plus his later years of the contract fit in nicely with Tampa’s payroll structure and Encarnacion is signed for 3.5M in 2012, also benefitting the Rays. Trading Hellickson gives the Jays another mid-starter that is team controlled for four more years.
If the Rays traded Hellickson for Lind and Encarnacion, let alone one of them, their entire front office should be fired. And that’s saying a lot, considering how well they’ve done so far.
Trading Hellickson would be one of the dumbest moves we could make. WD-40 or Niemann would be gone before we even thought of trading Hellickson
It should be interesting to see which of Shields, Price, Davis, Neimann, or Hellickson is in the bullpen in 2012, since Moore needs a spot and one of those guys has lost his job. Tampa either trades one of the starters or Moore stays in the minors.
Wade Davis isn’t blocking anyone from joining the rotation…
Click here! for details on the Orioles. Maybe there’s a “Big” surprise or surprises if you click on it!
The Possibilities could be:
1.) A GM who knows what he is doing
2.) Peter Angelos announces he’s selling the team and moving to Hawaii
3.) Duquette grows some stones and finally decides to trade Adam Jones! Oh wait there’s a couple of caveats
a.) We need a Centerfielder if we trade Jones
b.) If you knew how pissed I was about that false rumor about Coco Crisp coming to “Charm City”…….
c.) Oh wait there’s no Center Fielders available really
4.) Trade Adam Jones to the Marlins and get Hanley Ramirez and Coglan
5.) Jones to the Pods for Maybin, Rizzo, and Headley. Pods get something else too. Jones for all three doesn’t seem fair. I like one for one trades not 1 for 5 either way. They really don’t work, it’s a fallacy that they do.
6.) Keep Jones and sign Oswalt and Kuroda
7.) Duquette realizes the credit cards of the Yankees and Red Sox are maxed out and Angelos’s heart grows three times the size and decides “Green Light” a spending spree that hasnt been seen since 1996 and 1997.
My Guess is none of which I stated will happen and the Orioles won’t even be able to compete with ther Astros for free agent scraps once everyone is done buying. This is why the O’s are largely ignored by everyone, they are a joke!
Boooooo to you Duquette and Angelos, Boooooooo to the both of you!
This is how I feel when I read this…
Well if that’s how you feel, then the bottom line is you obviously haven’t acquired my taste in blogging yet! =)
Do you have a blog lefty?
Mine’s WarehouseWorthy.blogspot (insert appropriate www’s and .com’s)
No, LOL! Are you kidding me?
I thought you might recognize the paraphrase of what Gregg said last season.
the bottom line is you obviously haven’t acquired my taste in pitching yet!
I switched blogging for pitching
Well if that’s how you feel, then the bottom line is you obviously haven’t acquired my taste in blogging yet! =)
Crisp wanted to go to a contender. So he went to Oakland, who traded two of their best starters and their ROY closer and lost their most productive hitter to free agency?
Crisp must have not gotten the memo.
Actually, it looks like he ran out of options. No takers besides A’s.
Actually, this very article stated that the Rays were a finalist for him.
Carlos Silva. I thought for sure he would have retired. Especially after that $52 Million contract.
Typical Twins pitcher. Good command, but very hittable. Even led the league in HRs allowed once I think. I’m sure the rest of the AL East is hoping he makes it to the Sox big league team.
So does that mean Crisp and Joe Maddon kissed and made up?