Condolences go out to the family of Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, who passed away today following a long bout with cancer. He was 57. Carter hit .262/.335/.439 and made eleven All-Star Games in his 19 seasons, 12 of which came with the Expos. He backstopped the Mets to the 1986 World Championship. Here is some news from around the league…
- The 142 players who filed for arbitration last month averaged a 112% raise reports the AP (via ESPN). That's down from 123% last offseason and the lowest average raise since 106% in 2007. Check out our Arbitration Tracker for the answers to all of your arbitration questions.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels reiterated that contract extension talks with Josh Hamilton are on hold, reports Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas. "The priority needs to be his recovery and his family and, secondarily, getting ready for the season," said the GM. "We're not going to get in the way of those things with contract talk.
- The Diamondbacks have signed 16-year-old Dominican right-hander Luis Castillo for $80K according to a release, which said his fastball sits 84-87 mph. He also throws a curveball and a changeup.
- The trade market is likely to heat up as the season progresses, writes MLB.com's Richard Justice. As he explains, most GMs feel confident in their team this time of year and prefer to take their time evaluating needs.
- Scott Kazmir, who had been scheduled to pitch in front of scouts yesterday, won’t audition until Friday, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets. The left-handed free agent is feeling well, Olney writes.
- Brandon Webb is throwing painlessly off of flat ground, agent Jonathan Maurer told Olney. Webb will throw in front of scouts at some point, Olney tweets.
- Newsday’s Ken Davidoff adds up teams’ payroll commitments for 2015 and beyond and finds that nine clubs — the Orioles, Cubs, Indians, Astros, Royals, Mets, Padres, Giants and Mariners — haven’t committed a thing for ’15 or beyond.
- Yahoo’s Jeff Passan examines the market for the top remaining free agents, including Roy Oswalt, Mike Gonzalez and a crowd of designated hitters.
- Joe Jordan, the Phillies' new director of player development, breaks down a number of the team's top prospects with Joe Berkery of the Philadelphia Daily News.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
Red Sox should sign Brandon Webb. If he goes back to what he used to be, it would be one great signing and pitching problems could be solved.
The Red Sox are not going to have anymore room for these tryout pitchers. They may actually have too much pitching, unfortunately the majority of that pitching isn’t quality pitching…
You know? With Oswalt playing games and Boston really having 3 iffy lefties (Morales/Miller/Doubrant) I’d like to see them throw a 1-2m offer with a short ‘take it or leave it” tag at Boras for Shaky Gonzalez.
Shaky can still be a shut down lefty and also a top notch setup guy. while have nothing against those other 3 and always liked Miller? Take the chance and let all 3 be exposed to waivers at the end of ST. Shaky is something those other 3 are not…
Most (all?) of the minor league signings they have handed out have been non-guaranteed, so they could just drop a couple of them if they aren’t working out and they don’t have enough roster space for all of them.
Agreed, assuming he could be had on short money (which seems likely – who’s going to give him more than 1mil at this point?) there really isn’t any downside. It’s a major long shot, but if he can regain even some of his former form he could be a huge boon for the Sox, and if he doesn’t just send him packing.
I forgot all about Brandon Webb
Don’t feel bad. Even his mother has written him off by now.
Brandon who?
Watch out for the Giants during the next few off seasons. They, and the Mets, are the two most glaring teams on that list with deep pockets.
A big chunk of that will probably go toward keeping Lincecum and Cain, still probably $80-90 million a year left if they both sign extensions.
A big chunk of that will probably go toward keeping Lincecum and Cain, still probably $80-90 million a year left if they both sign extensions.
And after they’re finally done paying Pac Bell/SBC/AT&T park in 2017 their pockets will only deepen. They’re already ranked I think 6 right now in terms of overall payroll this season. Trailing only New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Angels, and Tigers. If the A’s move out of the Bay Area the Giants will have control of one of the biggest baseball markets. Their reach extends to Nevada, all of Nor Cal to Fresno and a little after that too.
Both Chicago teams were ahead of the Giants last year, while the Tigers were about a Barry Zito behind.
But the A’s would likely be moving to San Jose or thereabouts. That’s all Giants territory now. Gaining a few fans in Oakland won’t be worth nearly as much as losing Silicon Valley.
Fun fact for Yankees fans, and I thought Jayson Werth was bad:
A-Rod hit .276/16/62 in 99 games last year and has 6 years for $143 million left entering his age 36 season.
That horse has been beaten to a bloody mess already.
That horse has been beaten to a bloody mess already.
They will be saying the same about pujols in 5-6 years unfortunately.
Yeah, but then people will already know that he was 39 when he originally signed
ya that is pretty funny
Hey it’s not like the Giants don’t have any overpaid players of their own. How’s Barry Zito? Well fortunately for you guys you only have him another 2 or 3 years.
R.I.P. Kid, baseball fans will never forget what you have done for the sport…
R.I.P. Kid, baseball fans will never forget what you have done for the sport…
Congratulations Ken Davidoff. I too can access Cot’s Baseball Contracts.
RIP. You will always be a legend
Sad to hear about Gary Carter. I recommend you all watch the 86 Mets music video on youtube. You can see Carter rocking a white sport coat and see Kevin Mitchell looking like ODB.
With all the young, unproven pitchers that my Rox has stockpiled; I’d like to see them take a look at Kazmir or Webb. The only sure thing we have is Guthrie (and maybe Chacin).
Young and unproven is better than guys who’ve proven they either can’t take the mound or can’t do it well anymore. You’d rather have future good than past good.
Mr. Carter. I fondly remember watching you on TV as a kid as I fell in love with the game. Staying up late on school nights with the sound off and the brightness turned down on my TV so my mom didn’t know I was awake was a daily ritual for me. I only saw you play during the tale end of your career but the back of your baseball card speaks loudly to anyone who looks as to why just on a statistical level you rightfully got “the call”. Your hard work, excellent play and leadership should be the standard for all people not just athletes. As great of a player as you were Gary…you were an even better person and as I look back remembering you as a player I humbly celebrate the way that you lived your life as a man.
R.I.P.
#8 “The Kid”
RIP Gary. You did massive amounts of damage to my Phillies in the 80’s, but I always respected your game as a kid, and tried to copy you when I was a young catcher. You will be missed by all.
Hypothetically, what would Gary be worth in today’s game?
From 79-86 he was worth an AVERAGE of 5.9 WAR during that eight season period.
$25 million per? 8 years and 200 mil? I would think this is the floor.
They don’t make ’em like this anymore.
Well, he more or less had six peak years after his first six years. So if he signed that contract as a free agent, it would have only had two bust years in it. That’s a lot better than most mega-contracts.
Gary Carter just wasn’t cool.Especially in his era, he was kind of a nerd-jock, California rah-rah guy when a ‘dazzling urbanite’ was the new thing to be in Major League Baseball.That might be why there were always rumours teammates merely tolerated him.If it was, that would be his only flaw. Gary Carter was a beast: big-time hitter, arm, smarts, athletic, clutch; the kind of catcher that is now a fantasty-league dream. Check out my photo. obviously I have bias. (coolest baseball uni ever!) I hated that 1986 New York Mets team, but was happy that Carter got to play in the spotlight of NYC and win a World Series. I was also at the 1981 ‘Black Monday’ game in Montreal (a last-minute, late-night road trip that ended the Expos’ — and fans — World Series dream. and proved to be the last chance for my favourite Expo, Steve Rogers)
RIP at 57