Seven years ago today, the Cubs traded Kyle Farnsworth to the Tigers for Scott Moore, Roberto Novoa, and Bo Flowers. Farnsworth spent half-a-season in Detroit before being traded to the Braves at the deadline. Here's the latest on baseball's two central divisions…
- Alex Gordon told Rustin Dodd of The Kansas City Star that he and his agent wanted to work out a one-year deal for 2012 before discussing a longer contract (Twitter link). He also confirmed that the Royals have offered him a long-term deal. Gordon avoided arbitration with a one-year pact earlier today.
- "I love the city. I love the fans, I love the park. But it's out of my hands," said Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch when asked about a new contract (Twitter links). "Whatever they like to do is how it is … They let Albert [Pujols] go. It's business for the team, too. It's out of my hands." Molina can become a free agent after the season.
- "We're very active in terms of looking at transactions that are happening out there," said Astros GM Jeff Luhnow to Examiner.com's Stephen Goff. "Right now, most of the free agents have signed. Roy Oswalt is probably the last guy out there. We've got our fingers in everything. Are we actively looking to move a player or sign somebody at this point? No. We have got 61 guys coming to camp. From that group of 61, we believe we can get a real good 25-man roster to start the season."
- Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter) that the arbitrator in Ryan Braun's case won't be limited to the usual 25-day window, so a decision isn't necessarily expected by this Sunday. The Brewers slugger is appealing his failed banned substance test.
Resigning Yadier Molina should be the #1 priority for St. Louis before he becomes a free agent. The last thing St. Louis needs is another superstar leaving Missouri like Albert did. Cardinals should go all out in an attempt to sign him and should top every offer he’s given
Yadier is a great player but def not a superstar. Guys topped a OPS of 749 only once, this past season
Then to the Angels Yadi goes next year
I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up playing with Albert.
That’s exactly where he’ll be (if not signed to an extension) and could actually take a pay cut to do so. They were that close
If they were that close then why didn’t Pujols stay for less in St Louis?
Might have something to do with the no trade clause? Or also might have to do with personal pride..i mean if he stayed with Cards he would be getting paid less than M.Tex..Maybe because when he is done fielding he would still like to hit balls therefor he moves to DH in the AL? Could also be the fact that Angels gave him a guaranteed job for the next 20 years? Idk i’m just assuming here..I have no idea why AP didn’t take a huge pay cut for the Cards for 9 years..Those are just baseball mysteries no one will ever know about..=/
Because after making $300+m, he DEFINITELY needed to worry about having a job after his contract expires.
He loves baseball..Haven’t you seen guys like Magic Johnson? Guys like that have passion for the game and never want to leave it.. Cards should have done a better job locking him up..They should have offered him at least a no trade clause along with 10 years if they really cared about him
He will leave for more money… not a pay cut. But he will leave.
this wouldnt surprise me at all.. esp since both brothers played for scioscia in years past
When was this? Real question, I honestly don’t know.
Bengie Molina was the Angels’ starting catcher from 2000-05, and Jose Molina was the Angels’ backup catcher from 2001-07.
A lot of his value is tied to the fact that he is the best defensive catcher in the game. His bat comes second.
Now, I agree that he’s no ‘superstar’, but he is still an incredibly valuable player. And he’ll likely fetch between 12-15 mil per year on the open market.
I agree. Very valuable.
So OPS isn’t his strength, big deal. He has a bigger role on the team and that’s guiding the pitching staff. Having Molina in Stl in is important especially when the young pitching prospects arrive to the majors. And who better to learn from then one of the best catchers in the game
Oswalt picking a team, and the Theo compensation are the new “Will Brett Favre retire?”.
It would be great for the Royals to get Gordon locked up for about 3-4 more years. Make it happen, Dayton!
I don’t get it, I really don’t get it… how can anyone say “it’s out of my hands” like that as if it’s not their choice if they want to play here or not? maybe Molina plays for money or for guaranteed years and maybe the Cardinals won’t be able to afford as many as he’s expecting but he can’t treat this like Albert did, Albert had the choice, he made the choice. Molina is not Albert, Molina can make his own decisions and if he really wants to play in Saint Louis then he should! it’s his choice! he shouldn’t choose to play somewhere else just because the Cardinals won’t pay him what he wants, he should play somewhere else because he wants to play there! I am sick and tired of players keep calling baseball a “business”, yes there’s money involved and contracts and stuff but the bottom line is that the final choice is up to the player to accept the terms of whatever contracts he is offered by whatever teams are offering, nowhere is there a rule that says a player MUST choose the highest paying team’s contract offer to sign. Baseball players are on a bad trend (I suppose it’s been trending this way for decades though…), they’re getting greedier and greedier and they think it’s all about them, but there will be a day, maybe 10, 20 or 50 years from now when players have inflated the ticket prices so high that nobody will be able to afford to go to games anymore and then who’s going to pay their salaries? I like Molina, I really do, I just hope he makes the right decision and gets this stupid “baseball is business” mentality out of his head and hope every other player does the same!
Can’t wait until Joey Votto takes a paycut to play for his home team…
Pretty funny how you have yourself convinced against reality.
Yadi should just “get this stupid ‘baseball is business’ mentality out of his head?” But why? The owners never will.
The system in place right now is far more preferable for the players than the way it was before free agency, when players were simply owned by teams for their entire careers and were paid whatever the owners felt like paying them. Players have finite careers, and the ones who get a chance at a huge payday that will set their families up for generations should take that chance.
“We’ve got our fingers in everything.” That’s what he said?
To finish the lead story in this thread…..
Farnsworth was traded by the Tigers to the Braves for Zach Miner and Roman Colon(cancer).
Miner had a few good seasons with the Tigers as a swingman, doing a very good job starting and mixed results as a long man out of the pen. Leyland was convinced that his sinker would make him ideal coming in with runners on base, but it never worked that way.
Colon got into a fight in AAA Toledo with the team’s closer, broke the guy’s face and was charged with assault and battery. He was traded to the Royals for some guy named Christensen, who never saw the light of day with Detroit.
Farnsworth went 10- 0 as the Braves closer, but got lit up in the post season and was let go that off season. He shunned the Tigers offers in the off season and signed with the Yankees, only to be traded to Detroit again, for Pudge Rodriguez.
And now you know…… the rest of the story.
By “real good” do they means better than a triple-A team? Because that is a pretty big upgrade.
As a Cardinal fan, I’d just like to say that anyone who thinks Yadi is re-signing in Saint Louis is completely delusional.
The Cardinals will likely be scouting J.P. Arencibia, Russell Martin, Miguel Montero, and Chris Iannetta throughout 2012. Possibly even Ryan Doumit as a last resort.
i also think he will leave which sucks, but with our minors i think we can trade for someone our even give cruz or anderson a shot, might as well see what they can do
I hope they make Braun serve the suspension. I don’t care if it’s “medicinal” or whatever… if you don’t follow the proper procedures… tough.
thankfully it’s the arbitrator’s judgment and not yours that matters
We’ll see how it plays out.
Yadi is in the driver’s seat in the negotiations. The Cards have little in the way of catching prospects in the system and there won’t be many, if any, catchers available via trade or free agency that can match him defensively or the way he can handle a pitching staff. The Cards need to lock him up soon before he can even sniff free agency. If he makes it to free agency, the Cards don’t stand a chance unfortunately. I would to love to see Yadi remain a Cardinal for life, but the odds get stacked higher against it the longer they wait to extend him.
I have to disagree with you about the Cardinals catching prospects. Tony Cruz and Steven Hill are pretty good catching prospects. They don’t have Molina’s potential, but they’re definately servicable. And if Anderson could get his defense in order, he’d be a great catcher. But Yadi is a star player and he is definately in the drivers seat. For him to say, “It’s out of my hands,” is flat out cowardly. The fans aren’t so dumb that they don’t realize money drives the players.
with our multi early draft picks, think the cards take a stud catcher? wouldnt help right away but could be huge in a couple years i like cruz too and have thought anderson has always gotten the shaft, really matt pagnozzi over him a couple years ago, but i also think anderson could be good, molina is great and he knows it but the cards have shown they wont over pay if they dont have to
Tony Cruz is a solid defensive prospect, but doesn’t offer much with the bat. Steven Hill is not a good catching prospect at all on any planet, I have no idea why you would think he is. Bryan Anderson will never be good enough defensively to be an everyday catcher and his bat isn’t close to being good enough to ignore his defense. Robert Stock was a high pick, but he appears to be a bust right now. Cody Stanley doesn’t appear to be a serious catching prospect either.
JamesOrLurch was dead on accurate in saying the Cards don’t have much in the way of catching prospects. Luckily there are some attractive options in free agency and trade.
I don’t know why it just hit me, but it scares me that seven years ago was 2005…
Disappoints me that the Royals have offered Gordon a multi-year deal, but I’m glad they haven’t come to terms yet.
Wouldn’t have a problem signing him later this year if he shows that last year wasn’t a fluke…but jumping on a mult-year deal when you control him for two more years is bad in my opinion. Even if he costs more at the end of the year, at least you’ll know he wasn’t a one-year wonder.
What? Most teams that give out extensions do so during arbitration years. Wouldn’t be a “bad decision”. However, I do agree that it would be better to show this wasn’t a fluke. Doubt it is, since this is what he was suppose to have shown when he arrived to the ML. Most one year wonders weren’t the No. 2 prospect in baseball.
Agree, except that Gordon has – what – four bad years and one good one?
Approach with caution…DM really needs to pay attention right now as the team borders on being competitive.
Mota great to have yah around another year! Mota can pitch!
Yadi, at least be original. Nobody believed that “out of my hands” crap when Albert said it and they don’t believe it when you say it either. Sign or don’t sign; but at least own up to your decisions, bro.
cards should sign him to a good 4 year/50 million extention (12.5 mill/yr)…it would probably satisfy the molina side and be a nice win for the organization
I could live with this even though it’s probably a little more than I’d like to pay. I think he’ll get 5/$60-65 million on the open market