Matt Cain signed a five-year extension today and Joey Votto is nearing a long-term deal of his own. Here are some more links from around MLB…
- Alex Rodriguez spoke glowingly about Miami and the Marlins' new stadium this weekend, as Steve Henson of Yahoo Sports writes. The Miami native didn't hold back, uttering phrases like "such a beautiful stadium," "I get chills," "a very special day" and "the Marlins do a phenomenal job." Henson wonders if the Marlins could trade for Rodriguez at some point before 2017, when his contract with the Yankees expires.
- Indians outfielder Ryan Spilborghs will report to Triple-A tomorrow, unless he finds a job in the Major Leagues today, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs discusses the Votto contract talks, writing that "you have to wonder if the Reds got inspired to kick things into high gear after they saw what the new owners were willing to invest in Los Angeles."
- ESPN.com's Buster Olney points out that Cole Hamels gained tremendous negotiating leverage with Matt Cain's $112.5MM extension (Twitter link).
“Henson wonders if the Marlins could trade for Rodriguez at some point before 2017, when his contract with the Yankees expires.”
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Especially with his injury issues now, what makes Henson think Arod will even be a serviceable player in a few years?
“He won’t touch the topic publicly, but it seemed as if one day A-Rod wouldn’t be averse to being traded to the Marlins”
I hope that day never comes and looks doomed anyway.. NO DH in the NL and adds 1 good reason (for me) to keep it that way.. No reason to add another prima donna to the team after Hanley Ramirez, much less the biggest ego in baseball.
So eliminate one for the other…trade Ramirez for A-Rod and his massive publicity draw as he strives for the HR crown..have the Yanks throw in 8 million per year or so…perfect match!A-Rods demise at 3rd base is greatly exaggerated,much like Jeter’s has been for 3 years now…
TAKE HIM MARLINS. please. I love A-Rod and all, but i’ll let Eduardo Nunez play third base this year if it means getting rid of that contract.
Could you imagine what they could do with that free 30 mil?
Probably sign one reliever.
….So that they can have a shut-down 5th inning reliever.
Buster has been stuck on repeat regarding Hamels for the past 2 weeks.
“Henson wonders if the Marlins could trade for Rodriguez at some point before 2017, when his contract with the Yankees expires.”
Talk about jumping to conclusions…
The Marlins will trade for Rodriguez when he’s in the Austin Kearns or Aaron Rowand stage of his career.
At the end of 2017, A-Rod will be a 42 year old corner infielder, a history of knee and hip injuries, and if he signs with Miami, will play a majority of his games without the DH role.
Nope. Not a chance, but there could be hope that one day becomes a coach.
Doubt Angels would be receptive to a Hamels and Brown offer for Mike Trout, especially with their payroll and their control over Trout. Phillies strength is pitching with two or three a year or two away so signing a young bat makes sense and allows Phillies the money to extend both Pence and Victorino. Trouble is, I don’t see another Trout (or Harper) out there.
It’s only a matter of time before the NL gets a DH IMO. They cannot keep losing big bat all stars to the AL. I just think it’d be better for the game.
The NL will never adopt the DH. No one wants to see 5 hour nine inning games. It’s a horrible rule and only benefits teams with big payrolls. Make a deal with the MLBPA and get rid of it.
The DH isn’t the cause of longer games. Longer games occur because you have teams the preach great plate discipline and driving up pitch counts. There’s no reason whatsoever that NL games couldn’t run as long if their teams were as disciplined as the Red Sox and Yankees in this regard.
Why would the games take 5 hours long because of a DH? Just because Yanks/Red Sox games are long, doesn’t mean all the other AL teams play very long games.
Without having to pinch hit and double switch all the time for the pitcher, I would imagine the game would go quicker.
That’s baloney. Just saw a Phils/Yanks game with Philly using Thome as DH. Four hour game. Saw Red Sox last year have to play 3 NL games and trust me no 4 hour games. Having pitcher bat changes everything. Nothing wrong with that especially if it’s Cliff Lee or CC.
If they faze out the DH and allow a 26th or 27th player on rosters they can negotiate with the MLBPA. You’re right about the reason why it was adopted. No need now.
I agree that it’d be better for the game. I think players should be able to play a position to play baseball not just hit. Or in some cases if a player’s hitting is enough to outweigh his errors on the field then be it but as long as that player is on the field. I also wouldn’t mind seeing pitchers take some batting practice because some of those guys look beyond terrible at the plate.
The greatest 3B of all time doesn’t need to DH if he’s traded into the NL.
Longest games in baseball are Sox/Yanks. Ignore any game that has ball players that know how to be selective at the plate (most on the Sox/Yanks are) and you will have a long game.
Umpires can scream all they want about speeding up the game and Joe West can think he can by forcing players who know how to play the game, instead of bellowing and hollering and trying to force them to swing at pitches not strikes.. But when a team has people like Youk, Gonzalez, Pedroia, Tex, Rodriquez that don’t go out and hack at everything like many of the other 28 teams? People like West had better just stick to umpiring in games with 28 other teams and preaching about speeding those games up.