Earlier today we heard that the Nationals are discussing a contract extension with Ryan Zimmerman and that the agent for Cole Hamels doesn't think Jered Weaver's five-year $85MM deal is that relevant for his client. Here are some more notes on the NL East, starting with Hamels’ teammates in Philadelphia…
- GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said on MLB Network Radio that the Phillies are operating carefully because they’re up against the luxury tax, Jim Bowden tweets.
- Amaro said Ty Wigginton will play first base regularly until Ryan Howard returns from the disabled list, Bowden tweets. Jim Thome will also get occasional starts at first.
- Amaro said he expects to platoon John Mayberry Jr. and Laynce Nix in left field, Bowden tweets. Unless Domonic Brown wows his bosses in Spring Training, he’ll head to the Phillies' Triple-A club.
- There’s an expectation that the Marlins will try to trade Juan Carlos Oviedo, and the reliever told Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that he’s mentally prepared for a deal. “It's a business,” he said. “I'd like to stay in Miami, but those are things they decide.”
- Many baseball people still view the Nationals as the favorite to sign Prince Fielder, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets.
I dont think i will ever be able to switch from Leo Nunez to Juan Carlos Oviedo
“Why in God’s name are they paying Nunez?”
“Why in God’s name are they paying Oviedo?”
Huh, that was easy.
You would understand if you had to yell at him for years for blowing saves or leaving with the bases loaded and pinning the blown save on the next guy.
You think I haven’t been?
The NL East is really getting scary if the Nats do end up with Fielder.
It will be a 4 headed monster along with one disabled monster
That division would still be the Phillies to take, although it would be much harder. Ryan Howard can hit during regular season, postseason is another story.
.845 career postseason OPS.
While not bad, its a somewhat significant downgrade from regular season .928 OPS.
Smallish sample size notwithstanding
Everyone’s OPS goes down when you hit the postseason. Here is a hint: The pitching is better.
I still don’t see the logic in 6-7+ years on Fielder for the NL. I just doesn’t make sense from an organizational standpoint and although reports have said Prince looks “trim” as of late.. in all honesty – we all know which way his body is going to go in a few years.
DH is his career job towards the end of it all.
I wish the Yankees would go for Domonic Brown, he would look nice as the starting RF in 2013. Wonder what it would take to get him, I wouldn’t be so mad if Betances or Hughes were traded for him.
phillies can’t/shouldn’t trade any young offensive pieces.
I could see him going in a deal for a David Wright/Chase Headley type piece in a position of scarcity and need.
I wouldn’t mind having one of those Yankees pitching prospects or Phil Hughes as insurance in case Cole Hamels bolts next year, but at this point, the team needs to get younger offensively and Domonic Brown’s the only piece that allows them to accomplish that, so I’m with you I guess, although for the right deal, I’d part with him.
yah if its for an offensive piece I can see it happening..
Replacing Hamels could be an issue, but regardless, your rotation will be strong for the next few years. where as the offense is aging and declining, so it needs a shot in the arm from some young impact offensive players
I’d like the idea of having a young controllable pitcher to have as insurance in case Hamels bolts via free agency, in the event that May/Biddle/Pettibone/Colvin don’t develop into good MLB pitchers. Really like the Phil Hughes suggestion too, get him out of the AL East and he could put up solid #’s as a starter, not sure if the Yankees would do that deal, although it would give them $3 million for a DH.
I’m with Lunchbox though, I really don’t know if its wise for them to trade him unless they’re sold he won’t hit. This team’s getting old fast. They could probably dump Brown and sign a free agent long term but at some point the team needs to be injected with youth.
EDIT: What’s with disqus I thought this got deleted.
Wait a second. When did the Nationals become interested in Fielder? This is the first I am hearing of this. This is just coming out of nowhere. Complete shocker. I’m gonna need some confirmation that Nationals are interested. Anyone know where I could find some else on this?
you’re a tad late. its been on sports center for weeks and MLB traderumors has been saying the nationals and Rangers are in the lead the whole time even though Rizzo says Laroche will start
Its called sarcasm my friend, you should look that one up.
Bad sarcasm shouldn’t be acknowledged.
Everyone *says* the Nats are interested. But rumor is that’s just Boras spreading more rumors to inflate the market for Fielder.
brown is over hyped, ala jeff jackson and reggie taylor
I disagree. I see a guy who was rushed to the Major Leagues twice and lost his confidence.
The only real hole in his game is his defense.
I agree with the comment on his defense but disagree he lost his confidence. Look at his July stats before he got sent down. .296 average and just under .400 OBP. That isn’t lost confidence. And didn’t he have an injury (hamate bone) early in the year? That could account for the slow start once he came back. I think he lost his confidence after the Phillies sent him back down. Just as you are starting to hit well you get replaced. That has to be frustrating for him.
I meant when he got sent to Lehigh Valley. I thought he was playing well enough before he was sent down I agree, personally, I wish they would have just released Ibanez and let Brown play.
Ok, that makes more sense. I totally agree as I would have thought they would release Ibanez as well. He wasn’t playing well and his contract was coming to an end so not much downside in letting him go.
I can see it being frustrating, but his defense was BAD…as in highlight-reel, make-Canseco-look-good kinds of bad. Fly balls hitting him in the face bad (yes it happened).
IMO it’s better for him to make those mistakes at AAA, out of the spotlight, than it is for him to do it in the bigs and have those highlights shown every time he makes a minor mistake. THAT would be a crushing blow to someone’s confidence.
Jason Heyward was overhyped. Maybe he can get back to form this year. Mike Stanton, on the other hand, flew under the radar thanks to Heyward and Brown taking the spotlight. That is, as long as they weren’t taking BP at the same time Stanton was.
Speaking of overhyped—Chris Coghlan fits the bill…last year he did so bad that not only did he get sent down, Coghlan was not a September callup for the Marlins.
You and I both know Coghlan was nowhere near as hyped as the other ROY contenders that year.
In fact, if you were a Florida Marlins player that pretty much guaranteed you could not be overhyped. You wouldn’t even have been in the conversation for most people.
LOL Stanton flew under the radar. Sure.
Being over hyped is the media’s issue not Browns.
Last year just as he was starting to get in a groove they
traded for Pence and sent him down. But look at how he was doing in July just before he got sent down.
He was hitting around .296 with an OBP just under .400 in 83 plate
appearances (yes small sample size but it is all we have). Of the 20
games he played in that month he had a hit in 15 of them and reached
base in all but 2 games. He power was zapped but he also had the hand injury early in the year which could account for the slow start and lack of power.
I think he has the makings of a solid MLB player. He just needs the opportunity to play.
Agree. Nice to see a nice response like that from a Braves fan. I feel like Heyward will break out this year as well.
Why on earth would you play Ty Wiggington over Thome?
Thome can’t play the field every day or close to everyday.
Thome is kinda old and everyday starts may be a little overwhelming for his old body
Thome has played a combined 28 innings in the field since the Phillies traded him back in 2005. That averages less than 5 innings a season, so it will be a LOT to ask of him to play first base. Not only because he is 41, but also because he has battled back problems over the years.
The last thing the Phillies need is for Jim to tweak his back scooping a ball in the dirt or whatever and wind up ineffective as a hitter.
Yikes, just 28 innings? I sort of assumed he’d been doing a dozen or so games in the field a year at least.
That does change things.
Why on Earth would you willingly trade/sign both guys who are pitchforks in the field?
Apparently Rube thought that the Phillies, not the Astros, would be moving to the AL
Because why would you pay for an expensive first baseman who you will only need for a month or two
Who said anything about expensive? There are plenty of legit stop gap first basement out there, but I would hardly consider either Thome or Wigginton to be that.
We also have Mayberry
These reasons y’all have given are good ones for not playing Thome every inning of every game.
But why–if you’ve signed a HoF-level thumper with power left in his bat to be your backup 1B/PH–would you not let the guy take three to five starts a week for two months when your cleanup hitting 1B goes down?Check Wiggington’s zone rating. It’s not like he’s any great shakes at 1B, either.
Because the chances of Thome making it through ONE month of playing three to five time a week are low. He was signed to be a power bat off the bench, they’re going to ask him to do a LITTLE more than that.
Asking him to start 3-5 a week, may as well put him on the DL before ST starts.
I don’t think Seattle has enough pieces that they can give up to the Phillies, but Brown would be a nice cap to the off-season for them. Brown was a bit mishandled and rushed to the majors. A year learning with the rest of the Emerald City Kitties might do him and the M’s in the long run some good. But I don’t see there being a match as far as the Phillies are concerned.
Instead of spending that money which was burning a hole in his pocket on overpaying for a relief pitcher who MIGHT throw 60 innings, maybe addressing the holes at 1B, 3B, and in LF…..you know, positions that someone needs to man in EVERY inning, might have been a better use?
I don’t know, seems to make sense to me, anyone else?
What the hell are you talking about? Those positions are filled.
They are filled in the sense that someone will take the glove and stand at the position. None of those warm bodies are particularly exciting options however, with the exception of Mayberry, none should be expected to put up better than average numbers at the plate.
Ryan Howard is still a damn good hitter, or did you forget that
Howard/Mayberry/Wiggington/Thome, Valdez/Polly/Wiggington, Mayberry/Nix/Brown. They have them covered. I would have liked a 3B, but that will come in the offseason next year.
Howard..DL
Valdez..Offensively Challenged (sub .300 OBP 4-Life)
Polly..DL, if not now, soon.
Brown..AAA
Nix..Useless vs. LHP
Thome..Once a week player.
That leaves Wigginton, Mayberry, and Wigginton again.
Starting to see the problem?
Valdez had a .370 avg with RISP. I think you need to stop being a pessimist.
What Third Baseman do you want him to get?
What 1st baseman do you want him to get? Casey Kotchman? He isn’t going to sign up to be a bench player once Howard comes back.
In left field? They want that spot open for Brown and the combination numbers between Mayberry/Nix are good enough to bat 7th or so in the line up.
There is a number of guys who signed minor league deals at all of those positions, with more experience than who we have. Rube jumped the gun, and now we are left with a bunch of has-beens, to go with the has-beens we already had.
I would not be shocked at all to see the Phils miss the playoffs this year, and I am a Phillies fan.
A team that hasn’t changed significantly since last year is suddenly going to go from 102 wins to not making the playoffs with another Wild card position. What are you smoking? Go start rooting for the Mets if you want to think your team is a loser.
I don’t see anyway this team misses the playoffs unless two of Halladay, Lee, or Hamels gets hurt.
I don’t think he jumped the gun at all. You can use the “guys who signed minor league deals at all of those positions” line but you didn’t give any names, nor did you keep in mind that these guys aren’t going to get any playing time here because of the Manager, so they have no intentions of signing with the Phillies.
It’s hard to find bench players who want to play for the Phillies. With Wiggington, they got Cuddyer light for about $2 million bucks (?), they signed a valueable platoon bat who hit 16 home runs off right handed pitchers last year to go along with Mayberry. Their platoon slugging percentages are amazing combined. I don’t think they’re has beens at all. They’re all good bench guys.
You really don’t think this team can win 88 games?
BTW, vis a vis Oviedo, I am surprised that the Marlins even tendered Oviedo. What team would trade for him not knowing if he could get a work visa to pitch in the majors this season?
BTW, if he spends all season on the restricted list, would his contract be tolled into 2013?
If the Marlins do trade Oviedo, what could they get for him? What positions would they be targeting? Their lineup, assuming they get Cespedes and don’t make a move at 1B is set and their rotation seems solid.
If the Phils don’t think Mayberry can play every day, they must be planning to give Brown a real shot at the LF job. It’s hard to imagine that a team with a $170M payroll will start Nix (career .296 OBP vs. RHP) in LF most days. Hopefully they’re just trying to motivate Domonic by saying he’ll have to tear it up in spring training to make the team.
They are planning on putting Brown in LF and moving JMJ to CF, when Shane’s contract is up at the end of 2012. Phils need Brown to step up as we have to lower our payroll and can’t sign someone to replace Victorino.
Why in the world did the Marlins tender that absolute turd Leo Nunez aka Oviedo? Then he runs his mouth and says ” its a business, blah blah blah” I’d have non-tendered him instantly. If the guy lies about his name for years and years how can you trust him to do anything? He basically should be in prison for identify theft and deceiving authorities.
i hope the marlins are not thinking they will get the haul they were being offered at the deadline last year for jaun carlos. if they wait till the deadline again, maybe; but, probably not.