On this date in 1983, the Blue Jays traded Leon Roberts to the Royals for a minor leaguer by the name of Cecil Fielder. Fielder made his Major League debut in 1985 and played for the Blue Jays through 1989 before having his contract sold to the Hanshin Tigers. Fielder returned to MLB with the Detroit Tigers in 1990 where he made three All-Star appearances in his first four years with the club. Here's a look at tonight's links..
- Andy Martino of the New York Daily News (via Twitter) points out that the Mets had been eyeing Rick Ankiel, who signed with the Nats earlier today. The Mets are in search of a left-handed bat off of the bench and have also been linked to Kosuke Fukudome, Raul Ibanez, and Johnny Damon.
- Clubs that have been interested in Hong-Chih Kuo believe that he'll wind up signing with the Mariners, tweets Jayson Stark of ESPN.com. Earlier today, agent Alan Chang told Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times that his client is close to deciding on a team.
- Reds GM Walt Jocketty told John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer that it would be tough to clear the payroll space necessary to sign Roy Oswalt. Fay writes that the only tradeable member of the Reds' rotation making significant money is Homer Bailey. Moving Bailey's $2.425MM contract to make room for one year of Oswalt would be risky, but the club has exhibited an all-in attitude recently.
- If GM Mike Rizzo doesn't add another center fielder, Rick Ankiel should have a decent opportunity to win a spot in the Nationals' Opening Day lineup and perhaps platoon with fellow veteran Mike Cameron in center field, writes Mark Zuckerman of Nats Insider.
- Earlier this offseason, sources said there was a feeling within the organization that Ankiel might not be able to maintain the offensive productivity he showed in spurts last season if he's primarily coming off of the bench, writes Amanda Comak of The Washington Times.
A combination of Ankiel/Cameron in CF? Harper can’t come up soon enough…
I’m really wondering what the Nats are going to to do in 2013 if Rendon is ready to play in the bigs.
If they sign (couple good ones in FA next offseason) or trade for a CF and have Harper and Werth in the corners where does Rendon play? Davey likes Desmond a lot and he’s a good clubhouse guy and with Rendon playing 3rd in the minors it’s seems like they may want to move Zimmerman to 1st. Where does Morse fit in?
If I were the Nats, when Rendon is close to ready I’d trade Morse for whatever is the most pressing need at the time. That way you can get some value for him while having Zimmerman and Rendon at 1B/3B, and have Harper and Werth in LF/RF without having to worry about one of those four or Morse on the bench.
If Rendon and Harper turn into the elite bats they’re projected to be its a problem I’m perfectly fine with having.
You don’t keep Desmond in your lineup over Rendon by any stretch of the imagination. Move Espinosa to short, stick Rendon at 2B, Morse at first, Werth/Harper at the corners, and try to sign a centerfielder in the 2013 class like Upton or Bourne.
You don’t move one of the best defensive 3B in the game to 1B to allow a prospect, regardless of how good he is, into the lineup.
The chances of Rendon being as good as or better than Zimmerman are less than 5%. That’s his absolute best case scenario sans injuries.
I didn’t say I would move Zimmerman, but anything could happen (injuries, a couple years of age somehow hurting him) and his fielding could go down. I simply said Zimmerman and Rendon would cover the corner IF spots, I agree Rendon would be the one to move to 1st as of right now, but if for some reason Rendon becomes a much better fielder than Zimmerman than you move Zimmerman to 1st. Neither is a definite right now (Rendon moving to 1st or another position is much more likely), but having both as the corner IFs and getting something else for Morse is the most likely scenario and the best one IMO.
I put him at 2B, move Espinosa to SS and move Desmond. Davey isn’t going to be managing the team past this season and as much as I like Desmond, I just don’t think he’ll be as good as Espinosa and Rendon(when he’s called up)
Bourne would be the ideal pickup next year and if things go as you say, people stay healthy, and by the end of 2013 the Nationals could be looking like
Bourne CF
Werth LF
Zimmerman 3B
Morse 1B
Harper RF
Ramos C
Espinosa SS
Rendon 2B
Pitcher
That would be quite the lineup
I put him at 2B, move Espinosa to SS and move Desmond. Davey isn’t going to be managing the team past this season and as much as I like Desmond, I just don’t think he’ll be as good as Espinosa and Rendon(when he’s called up)
Bourne would be the ideal pickup next year and if things go as you say, people stay healthy, and by the end of 2013 the Nationals could be looking like
Bourne CF
Werth LF
Zimmerman 3B
Morse 1B
Harper RF
Ramos C
Espinosa SS
Rendon 2B
Pitcher
That would be quite the lineup
If you could make one bet, just one, what would be a better bet? Roy Oswalt for one year and $10 million, or Jon Papelbon for 4 years and $50 million? Just curious.
No reliever is worth 12 million a season. All that closers do is get the last 3 outs of the game. Big deal. Lots of games are saved in the 7th inning and not the 9th
Walt please do not trade Homer. Oswalt and Homer are basically the same pitcher at this point in boths career. Homer is cheaper and has not reached his ceiling
If Bourne turns in a big year in Atlanta it’s going to take Carl Crawford/Jason Werth Money to get him and that’s risky for a speed guy…after/if the legs go then what? If Atlanta is in it he’s not going anywhere this year and paying big cash for him next season is going to be a problem with Jordan Z. due an extension, Ryan Z. looking at free agency, Werth’s contract, Gio, and all of the other pay increases through arbitration assuming decent years for guys like Ramos, Desi, Espy, etc…Just doesn’t make sense to me but…
Boy that late 80s lineup in KC would have been Scary with Tartabull, Bo Jackson and Cecil Fielder that is a lo of HR and a lot of Ks
There for a few seasons, Hal McRae would have blocked Fielder. Can’t blame the Royals much, though, Fielder did end up playing in Japan before he really did much or got a shot with the Jays.
They’d have also had Steve Balboni in the mix for a little of that era.