In this morning's column, Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe takes a look at some of the emerging storylines in the American League East. In New York, Francisco Cervelli is set to be the backup catcher, but could become trade bait for the Yankees with Austin Romine knocking on the door. The catching situation with Tampa Bay is also worth keeping an eye on as Jose Molina needs a backup. The Rays could pick up Ivan Rodriguez or deal from their pitching surplus to fill the vacancy. If they trade Jeff Niemann or Wade Davis, Cafardo writes that it would be for a catcher. Here's more from Cafardo..
- The Phillies are making it clear to teams that they would eat as much as $2MM of Joe Blanton’s $8MM deal in a trade. Moving Blanton would allow the Phillies to have payroll flexibility and bump Kyle Kendrick into the No. 5 spot in the rotation. Yesterday, Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos scouted the Phillies game and left after Blanton's exit.
- Meanwhile, the Nationals continue to dangle left-hander John Lannan. The club is spreading word that the 27-year-old is available in a deal, particularly one for a center fielder.
- The Braves are in need of a left field power bat and right-hander Jair Jurrjens could be the trade bait for one.
- At some point, Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar will have to move to second base to make room for Cuban shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria. Escobar loves being a shortstop, so there is a bit of trepidation among some in the organization as to how he will accept this.
- Meanwhile, many feel that the Marlins' Hanley Ramirez won't stay happy for long at third base and eventually will demand a trade.
- With several teams in the market for a center fielder, Cafardo asked a National League scout if the Yankees would entertain a deal for Brett Gardner. Gardner is currently slated to start in left field for the Yanks but a National League scout said that at some point the club might seek out a more traditional left field option.
- The Red Sox are impressed with Chris Carpenter's live fastball but privately they are not happy with what they wound up getting in exchange for Theo Epstein.
Dont the Phillies realize by now that nobody wants Joe Blanton?
If AA is scouting him, it means someone is interested. He’s been impressive this spring.
I’d love to see him in a Jays uniform.
Of course, I’m a Yankee fan and my motives are….less than pure.
AA scouts anyone if there is some talent. Due diligence and all.
Unless Philly is eating substantial salary, I doubt it is much of anything
“At some point, Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar will have to move to second base to make room for Cuban shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria.”
Why? Hechavarria can’t hit, and Yunel’s one of the best shortstops in the league. He can play the position well too, which makes him a rare commodity in today’s game. It doesn’t make any sense to move him unless Hechavarria takes off, which he probably won’t do.
Agree.
it’s true, it just isn’t anytime soon. hechavarria has a long way to go to push yunel out of his position. if anything, hechavarria will be playing 2nd for the Jays before he gets regular time at SS
I mostly agree. It’s a lovely problem to have and one that can be dealt with in a few seasons. Hardly anything to worry about short term, let the kid get his feet wet in the MLB and succeeding before deeming a crisis.
Look for the Phillies to flip Joe Blanton to Toronto in a package deal to get back Travis d’Arnaud, the catcher they traded away in the Roy Halladay deal. Amaro Jr. has come out publicly and said he wants d’Arnaud back with the Phillies. They think he could be the next big catcher after Ruiz is done.
With that being said, I like having Blanton around as the 5th starter. There is truth to the saying we hear all the time – you can never have enough starting pitching. We did sign a few guys in the off season, which could gives us some SP depth and they could replace Blanton.
The intriguing thing is that Oswalt is still out there. If the Phillies send Blanton in a package deal to Toronto and get d’Arnaud back, then sign Oswalt to round out the rotation – I like that move. It’s a win-win for the Phillies. However, if they send Blanton anywhere else and don’t get anything decent in return, I’d be a little more skeptical about the move. This could also be a move in anticipation of a bigger move later in the season closer to the trade deadline.
Moving Blanton to help make salary space for a Hamels extension, or Victorino extension doesn’t make sense since they are Blanton is a FA at the end of the season and will be coming off the books.
Interesting stuff here. Definitely something to keep an eye on. It’s moves like this that could really end up being game changers later in the season…sometimes good ones….sometimes no so good ones….
There’s no way on God’s green earth that Blanton nets them Travis d’Arnaud, unless the Phils add in Domonic Brown (and even that might not get it done, given how much Brown’s stock has fallen).
I think Blanton plus May or Biddle and Gillies/Brown is more like a deal that would at least get the Jays interested.
Blanton really is just a throw in, he has little value except to eat innings when healthy.
And eat everything else regardless of whether he’s healthy or not…
-C
Except it’s more likely the Jays deal JPA to keep D’Arnaud. The outfield is also crowded at the moment so unless one of those guys are infielders or starters it’s probably of little interest to the Jays.
Ryan I’m a Phil’s fan, and I even I know that Blanton for darnaud is the most delusional thing I’ve heard in a long time.
Did you guys not hear “package deal”?
If there’s a package to be put together for D’Arnaud to return to the Phils it’d have little to do with Joe Blanton.
Shocking proposal
The Jays will wind up trading JP or D’Arnaud but for A LOT more than Blanton.
Theres no reason to think either will ever be traded.
I disagree. Neither are going to be a DH but both should be starting catchers. They may deal one of them for another TOR starter or a stud OF prospect if they don’t see anything out of Snider and Gose doesnt cut down the strike outs.
The way I see it is they have 3B, C, SS, CF, LF/RF, and a number 1 pitcher locked up for a long time. If they were offered a 2B or OF prospect that was a top 20 prospect, I’m sure they’d think about it.
Anythings possible, but they’re not in any hurry to trade either since theres no timetable for D’Arnaud and teams don’t make trades based on minor league surplus.
Having two young promising catchers is a great problem to have. It’s too bad the Reds has Their catcher of the future already because a D’Arnaud for Votto swap would have made some sense (if they still had Alonso). Although, they are going for it all this year so I doubt it would have happened
arencibia’s bat doesn’t play anywhere but catcher
Arencibia or D’Arnaud can learn 1B or DH.
…arencibia’s bat doesn’t play anywhere but catcher. that doesn’t mean “he doesn’t know how to play another position”; it means he doesn’t hit well enough to be a valuable at another position
and unless anthopolous recently contracted Reagins Disease, the jays aren’t moving d’arnaud off catcher
When D’Arnaud is ready to catch MLB then we’ll see how Arencibia hits as a 1B.
I don’t think he’s reached his ceiling yet.
I figure Bautista will be on 1B in a couple of years. Hopefully by then the Jays have Gose and Marisnick in the OF
He could improve enough to be a passable first base option. It’s very likely he’s dealt for a 2b prospect or something since his value is much higher as a catcher.
Sorry, when writing this I was thinking of Blanton in a package with other players. I just didn’t actually write it in the post.
Yeah, there is no way it’s a one for one trade.
You’re right. A more likely scenario would be Toronto taking on most of Blantons salary (Philly paying 2M/8.5) in exchange for a fringe low A player.
I guess everyones entitled to dream a little!!
Realisticly though, Toronto has no interest in anything Philly has in exchange for D’Arnaud unless there name is Halladay/Lee or Hamels.
Enough said, never gonna happen.
But we can all dream, right??!!
ludicrous. blanton for the Jays top prospect? laughable
OK, dreamy dreamerson
the phils might get Chase D’Arnaud for blanton
You think the jays would trade d’araund for blanton and I am assuming some really good prospects. You have to be nuts, this is the team that did not want to go all in to get Latos, Gonzalez and Cahill. There is no way they would trade their top prospect for an average pitcher, AA is way to smart.
“The Phillies are making it clear to teams that they would eat as much as $2MM of Joe Blanton’s $8MM deal in a trade.”
Eating even 6m of Blanton’s deal probably wouldn’t be enough for many teams. lets not forget he is coming off of a season where he had health issues and 2 seasons in the NL, where pitchers go to get better and still went downhill.
Edit:
On the note of Carpenter’s FB.. he hit 95 on the gun the game saw him in and more impressive to me? Bard was still clicking 95-96.. This early in ST.. at the pitch mark of 45+ on a couple of occasions..
If Mainesox notices this here.. I am impressed.. Maybe another JJ (Josh Johnson) eventually who can still tick it up eventually to the “upper reaches” (97-98) around the high 80’s pitch count once he gets game ready?
High velocity doesn’t always work for starters. He will have to use his off speed stuff way more now as a starter.
His game was also broadcast on MLBTV (cable) and his slurve was breaking nicely. Changeup wasn’t shabby either.. he actually was looking good over 3IP as a starter and the 50pitches and as wrote..Clicking along at 95-96mph in his 2nd start.. Hitters were sitting flat footed with his slurve breaking over the heart of the plate, then busting his 95+ heater in on them.. I was duly impressed.. It was seeing the 1IP Bard, over 3IP that start..
So far?? It’s what maineSox said it would be and I saw bard throw on TV at NC way back once.. it actually looked like that kid again last night, ex. he threw a poor curve back then.
Most of those pitches that looked like his slider (or slurve) were actually his change up. His change has quite a bit more drop than his slider; he said he only threw two or three sliders the whole game and was trying to work on his change a lot.
As I said in my other post just a minute ago, last night was encouraging if for no other reason than because his change up seemed to be accomplishing what you hope a change up would do; people were ahead of it and/or over the top of it, or they watched it go by without swinging, and when he missed his location with it he missed down for the most part, which is exactly where you want to miss with a change if you’re going to miss.
I really liked the comment he made the other day (I wish I could remember where I saw it) when he said that he could be as good as any pitcher on the team. I don’t necessarily think that he will ever be as good as Lester or Beckett, but I’m glad to hear that he thinks he can be.
He’s definitely a guy who could reach back and hit high 90’s a few times during a game, but I think he’d be best served to sit 95-96 as a starter. He’s not a high effort pitcher, so I don’t think 97-98 would necessarily be tough on his arm, but he seems to be able to spot his pitches better when he’s not sitting in the upper reaches of his velocity.
Last night was pretty encouraging though, he was mostly working fastball-change up (he said he only threw 2-3 sliders, and was working his change up in in counts when he normally wouldn’t just so he could get more comfortable with it) and he looked good doing it, so it gives some hope that his change can actually be a usable third pitch (fourth pitch actually, he says he’s going to work his 2-seamer in a lot more as a starter as well).
Read that ESPn article also and I thought his change was decent and even what *thought* was his slurve a couple times was nice there.
Bobby V has in that article he expects more velocity, but like you wrote? if he can work at 95-96 over the 1st 5-6 IP of a game, maybe reach back for 97 a few times and eventually get to go 7IP.. get his change where he wants it and we know he has that knee bender slurve,,
i’ll know you had it pegged right from the beginning and I was 100% incorrect on the Bard to the rotation 🙂
Sure would like to see him turn into a healthy JJ though.. Then they would have an unstoppable 1-4.
Yeah, I’m excited to see what he does when he is given 6 innings and starts working all of his pitches in and works pitch sequences like he would in a real game. Most of my questions about him at this point are about how deep he can go into games early in the season and how deep he can go into the season itself; I’m not really worried about how his ‘stuff’ translates to starting at this point.
what i would be most concerned about with him is that he hasn’t started a game since 2007. And his stats as a starter that year were not the best.
He could do good, but i have trouble seeing him being able to go from 70 innings to 170-200 that they will need from him.
I’m not saying that he will flounder (so dont rub it in later), im just saying that he is risky, in that he could be a solid pitcher, or he could not work out.
Aceves is another story, he is a great reliever, but was rough on him last year throwing 120 innings.
His stats as a starter from 5 years ago as a 20yo in his first season in pro ball when they were messing with his mechanics and before they converted his below average curve into a plus slider mean absolutely nothing.
And your point about him going from 70 innings to 200 innings is the exact point I was making when I said “how deep he can go into the season.” But if they limit his innings whenever possible and skip his turn in the rotation occasionally they can probably get him all the way through the season on 150-160 innings, and there are plenty of examples of guys converting from the ‘pen to the rotation and pitching a similar number of innings.
Also, I reserve the right to rub it in later.
Why is your name MaineSox?
Because I live in Maine and I’m a Sox fan
Which Sox? Red or White?
Red
every person from maine ive met is a rsox fan…..
Me too, that’s why I didn’t think it was necessary to put anything more than just “Sox” but oh well.
subtle
Too subtle apparently
It would be a terrible decision for the Yankees to trade Gardner. As a Bomber fan, I believe they need to have the speed on the base paths, not just for the SB category, but as a distraction to opposing pitchers. Gardner is a great fit and will make an excellent lead-off hitter once Jeter retires or Granderson is moved to the 4,5,6 hole. If it were me, my lineup would be: Gardner, Jeter, Cano, Teixeira, Granderson, Rodriquez.
Agreed I would have Gardner at the top. Gardner, Curtis, cano, teix, arod, Martin, ibanez, jeter
I think that Gardner is the best at the top, the rest of the lineup I want to get as many at bats. Jeter shouldn’t be at the top although joe will probably put him there.
gardner and granderson should really swap positions though
“The Red Sox are impressed with Chris Carpenter’s live fastball but privately they are not happy with what they wound up getting in exchange for Theo Epstein.”
Privately? This is the Internet, nothing is private.
further, this is boston media. it doesn’t even have to be real to be public
not only that, but it really wasn’t private from the get go. as soon as the announcement was made reports came out that they were displeased.
Didn’t they agree to the compensation? I know it had gone to the commissioner’s office, but the reports I saw, including a statement from Selig, said that the teams resolved it themselves.
So if they’re unhappy, they’re basically unhappy that they were outnegotiated.
oh I must have missed that part, I thought I read it was decided for them after both teams had the chance to make their cases. either way I do know the response from the red sox team was quick that they were displeased with the level of compensation they received, cause for some reason they thought they were getting a top prospect.
I really, really don’t understand the Lannan trade talk. The Nats are definite contenders. Lannan isn’t realistically going to bring back any superior option at CF or SS (only exception would be an out of options trade at the end of ST), and he isn’t some giant albatross.
Expecting Wang to pitch a full season and Strasburg to top 180 IP is unrealistic. Lannan is probably better than Detwiler, and there will be plenty of innings for both of them.
Unless there’s another near MLB ready SP prospect I’m missing.
one of the reasons they should keep lannan is that he always kills the braves. That’s a few “guarenteed” wins that they are possibly getting rid of.
I agree with you about not trading Lannan. Even contenders need more than five pitchers and our backup starters right now are Ross and Tom G. I trade Lannan only if we get one of our immediate needs filled.
The Nats shud trade Lannan for Middlebrooks, Anderson, Brentz, Fields, Doubront,Iglesias and Miller and Darnell McDonald and he could take over CF for them
wut?
You don’t think that Trade would work?
No, that’s a ridiculous trade. You proposed that package for Hanley Ramirez and then you add another player and want to trade it for Lannan? The Marlins would say no to that trade for Hanley because (while there is some good talent there) it’s more quantity over quality, and the Red Sox would definitely say no to trading that for Lannan.
What about Delmon Young, Drew Smyly, and another prospect for Martin Prado and Jair Jurrjens. The Braves get a power bat and a young left handed arm and the Tigers get a needed starter and good defensive second baseman. They can then move Raburn to left and use the DH to rest guys.
even if that trade were even, the braves are not in need of young pitching or a mediocre DH
He’s not a DH. He’s a mediocre left fielder with a some power.
in 6000 innings over about 5 seasons, he has cost his teams somewhere between 50-70 runs defensively. only brad hawpe and adam dunn have been worse
he is a DH playing left field. and come to think of it, he’s not even mediocre as a DH; he’s just bad. his bat has been below league average in 4 out of 5 seasons in his career – including last year
If the Braves send Jurrjens and Prado to DET they would expect (and should get) Nick Castellanos among others in return.
You sound like Bart Simpson. “Dad, I’ll trade you this delicious doorstop for your crummy old danish.” In this situation, Delmon Young is the doorstop and Jair Jurrjens is the danish.
And that’s why there is Smyly and another decent prospect. Reading comprehension is not your strong suite.
Who’s the other decent prospect? Smyly doesn’t make that trade nearly fair. A front of the rotation starter for an OK pitching prospect and a non-tender candidate OF/DH doesn’t make sense. Castellanos makes it make more sense.
Also, the irony of “Reading comprehension is not your strong suite” is rich.
Braves don’t really need power or young pitching. They especially don’t need more awful defense……
John Lannan + Henry Rodriguez + Stephen Lombardozzi + Eury Perez + Cash = Adam Jones. Your Welcome Baltimore
It’s “you’re” not “your” and Baltimore would never thank you for trading one of their most talented players for a grab bag of “meh.”
Being Baltimore’s most talented player isn’t saying much. He’s good but not great. We all know that they will hold hold on to him long after his peak value has gone and they will continue to suck. YOUR overvaluing him.
” Being Baltimore’s most talented player”
Matt Weiters says hello..
That poster only said “one of” not the most.. Weiters was and AS and GG winner last season and unlike some recent GG winners.. Weiter’s earned his..
That guy could start on 25+ teams..
I meant to add the “one of”. Wieters is def a top 5 player at his position.
Apologies.. I should have known that also. you know a good deal abut the game also as have seen here and when saw that above.. Couldn’t believe had considered Jones the best player on the orioles when Weiter’s was the catcher. LOL
it’s all good 🙂
Regardless of what is a good/fair deal or not, you simply don’t have an understanding of Baltimore’s asking price for Jones.
At this point, it isn’t Hanley ‘rumors’ anymore. It is more like blind speculation at best, evil desires at worst.
They just want to clear Blantons money to sign Oswalt. Its obvious.
Jays should trade either Eric Thames or Travis Snider and a first-round pick this year for Jair Jurrjens.
You can’t trade draft picks.
And people wonder why Americans make fun of Canadian fans…
I’m so embarassed
I’m Canadian.
“The catching situation with Tampa Bay is also worth keeping an eye on as Jose Molina needs a backup. ”
You mean Jose Molina needs a starter.