Twelve years ago today, the Cardinals traded Kent Bottenfield and Adam Kennedy to the Angels for Jim Edmonds. Edmonds went on to hit .285/.393/.555 in eight years with St. Louis, a stint that included six Gold Gloves, three All-Star Game appearances, two top-five finishes in the MVP voting, two NL pennants, and one World Series title. Here's the latest from baseball's two Central divisions…
- Tigers manager Jim Leyland isn't ready to call it a career, writes MLB.com's Jason Beck. The 67-year-old Leyland is going year-to-year with his contract so "there's no issues whatsoever."
- White Sox GM Kenny Williams told MLB.com's Scott Merkin that he has no regrets about taking chances on big name players who haven't worked out, specifically Jake Peavy, Adam Dunn, and Alex Rios. "If it doesn't work, I know at the end of the day we tried the best," said the GM.
- Injuries have already taken a toll on the Indians' outfield, and manager Manny Acta told Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain-Dealer that any left field candidates "need to hit … We can't have a pecking order for defensive left fielders here. We need to see some stuff, some offense, some production."
- The Reds still haven't made a decision about whether Aroldis Chapman will be a starter or reliever this season, writes MLB.com's Mark Bowman. "We're close," said manager Dusty Baker. "You'll be notified when we make our decision on what's happening. Right now, we don't know."
Chapman wil start out season in AAA
Bet you my semesters worth of tuition on that.
By the time they make Chapman a starter, he’ll be ready for free agency and fly the coop. Good one, Dusty.
Don’t mess up Chapman like the Yankees messed up Joba.
Exactly. He could be an elite closer or set-up man.
Hahaha
Something about being from Chicago and not held accountable for mistakes ;-(
Anyway… Rios and Peavy are probably beyond help and money down the tubes, but I would expect Dunn to have a rocket type turn around and most in the game probably never thought he would have had the type of horrible year he had last year anyway. The strong track record is something rios didn’t have, he was on the decline and even Peavy.. he was dominant for a few seasons, but not for nearly as long consecutively as Dunn.
I hope Dunn has a monster year this year. He has always been one of my favorite players.