Here's a look at some items from around the league on this Friday evening..
- Catcher Jason Varitek hopes to remain with the Red Sox in some capacity, but it may take him some time to determine an appropriate role, writes Jerry Spar of WEEI.com.
- When Kevin Towers was asked specifically about extensions for Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson, the Diamondbacks GM didn’t nix the idea, writes Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. Towers hasn’t talked to the agents for either player yet but suggested that he might feel them out to see if there is interest in a long-term deal.
- The Angels' Mark Trumbo has been the subject of trade rumors for the bulk of the offseason, but the slugger appears to be settling in at third base nicely, writes Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. A January poll showed that MLBTR readers think that the Halos should look to deal Kendrys Morales before Trumbo.
- Jeff Suppan wants to pitch for as long as he can, but isn't yet sure if that will extend beyond 2012, writes Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The veteran inked a minor league deal with the Padres this winter.
- Craig Kimbrel’s salary is the highest ever for a Braves player with less than two years of service time but the pitcher is well worth it, writes David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Winning the National League Rookie of the Year and receiving votes for Cy Young and Rolaids Relief Man awards took Kimbrel’s salary from $419K in 2011 to $590K in 2012.
Going until I win the award that I deserve!
Planning on pitching in the Indy league, or in Japan in the near term?
That is a pretty big raise for a pre arb guy. Can’t say he doesn’t deserve it though. Kimbrel my boy!
Imagine what he will get in arb
nobody in the angels want to trade trumbo then why people keep talking about trading him?
Because people are tired of the Bourjos rumors that aren’t going to amount to anything? I don’t know…
I don’t know why people would think they’d move those players when in the next 5 years they’ll have the best Pujols will offer them, CJ, Weaver, Haren, Kendrick, Trout, Bourjos, Trumbo, and possibly even Kendrys Morales to play with him.
Good move for the Braves to give Kimbrel award incentives in his contract per-arbitration. Definitely something clubs should do more often. If I was a player and was shown that loyalty, I’d certainly be more motivated to sign a long-term deal with my team prior to Free Agency!
If Trumbo works at 3rd then they don’t have to move anybody. Morales has a far greater upside so if he is healthy he should stay. They won’t know for sure about either until the end games of ST or the beginning of the season though. As far as Variteks concerned it would probably be best to start him off as a talent scout for pitchers and catchers/Prospect coach. Then when an opportunity comes around for a AA or AAA team they can get him some experience down there. Eventually they can then move him to a AA or AAA manager like Sandberg for Chicago and then with some luck and hard work (What V-Tek is all about) he could one day become the Sox manager or a manager for another team.
If Trumbo works at 3rd then they don’t have to move anybody. Morales has a far greater upside so if he is healthy he should stay. They won’t know for sure about either until the end games of ST or the beginning of the season though. As far as Variteks concerned it would probably be best to start him off as a talent scout for pitchers and catchers/Prospect coach. Then when an opportunity comes around for a AA or AAA team they can get him some experience down there. Eventually they can then move him to a AA or AAA manager like Sandberg for Chicago and then with some luck and hard work (What V-Tek is all about) he could one day become the Sox manager or a manager for another team.
Would love to see Varitek possibly manage AAA Pawtucket, then move to the Sox as bench coach/3B coach. Manager in 3-5 years.
Statistically Callaspo was worlds better than Trumbo so I am not sure why it matters. I figure if they can convince the league that Trumbo can play the corners they might extract more value in a trade.
If Kimbrel has another year like he did this past one then I say he gets a multi-year extension
Kimbrel is awesome but you don’t give extensions to closers when they have 5 years of arbitration left (4 years after this season). To much injury risk. Go year to year wth him. He’s under team control for 5 more years. The only way I would do it is if he would take 5 for 30 million and two team options in his firest two free agent years at 10 million per.
Or teams really don’t want him because a .290 OBP kinda sucks