The Dodgers signed 26-year-old right-hander Hideo Nomo on this date 17 years ago. Armed with an exceptionally deceptive delivery, Nomo struck out 236 batters and was named NL Rookie of the Year in 1995. Here are tonight's links, starting in L.A…
- Michael Heisley, a billionaire who owns the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA, is bidding on the Dodgers, Bill Shaikin of the LA Times reports. The 75-year-old led one of the 11 bids that made it through the first round of cuts, Shaikin writes.
- The Padres have the top farm system in baseball even though they don’t have a top-25 prospect, ESPN.com’s Keith Law writes. The Rays and Blue Jays round out Law’s top three and the White Sox rank 30th.
- Jonathan Papelbon, Prince Fielder and Heath Bell make appearances on Dave Cameron’s list of the ten worst offseason moves at FanGraphs.
- Free agent left-hander Horacio Ramirez will throw in front of scouts in Arizona tomorrow, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets. The 32-year-old appeared in 12 games for the Angels last year, spending most of the season with their Triple-A affiliate.
- Marlins officials met with Yoenis Cespedes in Miami today, showing him around the city and providing him with a tour of their new park, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com writes. Cespedes is currently blocked by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, though MLB has declared him a free agent.
Can I get a tour of the new park?
Yeah, just buy season tickets. I think a 10-game pass will get you a tour. Even talking about buying season tickets will get you a tour.
Where did Law have Houston on his list?
#27 – probably a little generous
Do you know the Yankees ranking?
10th.
Thanks. Figured it would be around there because of the Montero trade. Last year I think it was 6th
Do you know where he had the Dbacks?
He had them quite high actually, coming in at number 6 overall.
Just go on Google and sites will come out exposing his Insider info with the rankkings.
Top 10:
Padres
Rays
Jays
Cardinals
Royals
DBacks
Rangers
Pirates
A’s
Yankees
At least the Orioles moved up a spot from last year (they are at 17th).
Bottom 5 teams
Giants
Astros
Marlins
Indians
White Sox
And Law even mentioned that the White Sox are not even close to being #29.
… which is totally true.
I guess I have to say nice things about Keith Law now that there are new comment rules… What a swell guy, I think that this analysis is the bee’s knees!
You can criticize him if its in a constructed manner.
I can construct a lot of criticisms!
The Bee’s Knees!… now that is something I didn’t expect to read by someone that goes by the name of Keith Law Sucks!
Very Funny. I am not sure how he came to the conclusion that the White Sox are 30th…I was thinking they should be 28th or 29th. Clearly not 30th.
Having Hawk Harrelson as your announcer should be worth something.
CWS are a clear cut 30 by a wide margin for me. Let’s just face it, there’s hardly anything there at the moment.
where did the a’s land on the list?
9th. They were apparently a bottom 10 team before the trades of Cahill, Gonzalez, and Bailey.
There will be wide variations as various people rate farm system before ST begins. Law rated Boston as 18th for example, BA 10th and Sickels 11th.. Several more will be coming out.
so far from what i’ve gathered, BA has the a’s like, 18th, sickels has them 10th, and law has them 9th, and bullpen banter has them 13th/14th
wow paps,FIELDER and bell were one of the worst off season moves? I wouldnt say the worst, but it wasnt the smartest.
Matt Capps deal is worse than Jaosn Kubel’s? ( I say that because Capps made the list at #10 but not Kubel).
Yeah, I thought the Reyes deal should have been on there, considering the money involved and the injury risk that Jose comes with.
Where were the Rockies on Keith Law’s list?
I can’t really put Fielder on a list of worst signings. The only reason is that I can’t differentiate between Detroit Tiger money and Mike Ilitch money.
The Fielder signing has about much of a chance of crippling the Tigers after 2015 as much as the franchise has of staying in the Ilitch family and continuing to pursue free agents, draft signees and trade targets without the Fielder deal having any influence.
Figures that the Marlins being uncharacteristically big spenders this offseason, their decisions would come into question.
Buehrle wasn’t signed as an alternative to Wilson. The Marlins needed a left-handed pitcher. Undoubtedly, they would’ve liked to have Wilson. But Buehrle has a good history with the new manager, has shown he’s a dependable pitcher, and is a soft-throwing lefty who kills hitters in the NL East. It’s how Jamie Moyer managed to stay pitching for so long. Plus, look at their rotation last season. They had three good starters: JJ, Nolasco, and Sanchez. Vasquez was more than likely retiring, and the fifth closer situation is better not talked about. Even if they signed Wilson, they would’ve needed another, preferably lefty starter in the rotation to compete with the Phillies and Braves, instead of throwing every fifth game to chance.
And any Marlins fan knows the closer situation. Phillies fans pan the Papelbon signing, but Papelbon would’ve been a tremendous improvement in Miami. The closer hasn’t been a strong position in the Marlins bullpen since ’03. In recent memory, we Marlins fans have had to put up with Matt Lindstrom, Kevin Gregg, and the closer formerly known as Leo Nunez. Having an established closer, and having that stability for three seasons, is a huge improvement for the Marlins bullpen. Plus, it allows potential future closers like Steve Cishek develop in the bullpen, possibly setting up for Bell, without the pressure of closing games.
“The Padres have the top farm system in baseball even though they don’t have a top-25 prospect.”
Yeah, our top 25 prospects are already on our 25-man roster. It’s gonna be a long season down here.