Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (video link) caught up with Josh Hamilton in Kansas City and asked him which team he'll be representing this time next year at Citi Field. "Hopefully an American League team, and hopefully back with the Rangers, that'd be nice," said the outfielder. Here's more out of the American League West..
- The Angels will look to improve their bullpen this month but they have no interest in bringing back struggling left-hander Brian Fuentes, tweets Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. Fuentes was released by the A's earlier today.
- Mike Napoli, who is in his contract year with the Rangers, says that he prefers to catch, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. “I’d rather catch than play first base,” he said. "Sometimes, at first base, I feel a little lost. I just want to make the routine play. Knock it down and flip it to the pitcher — that’s basically my mindset," Napoli explained.
- Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times (via Twitter) is a bit suspicious that the Mariners won't be starting Jason Vargas this weekend during their homestand and are instead pushing him to Monday in Kansas City. Baker theorizes that this could be to show that the left-hander can pitch on the road for interested teams. Ben Nicholson-Smith recently examined Vargas as a trade candidate.
Josh Hamilton will be a Tiger next Year!!!
I think this Tigers fan is getting a bad case of yankee fan-itis.
Josh – Good PC answer, but the CORRECT answer is The Los Angeles Dodgers.
Aw man, I was hoping another AL West team would sign Fuentes
LOL. Ur A’s already got to beat up on him when he pitched for Anaheim.. Let some other division share in the booty and get their fair share… Wait until Baltimore releases Kevin Gregg and maybe an AL West team will sign him.. He has been in the AL East and every NL division.. Just the AL Central and West, so ur A’s are due at a crack with him..
He came up with the Angels.
rockies
Mariners
exactly Fuentes was acquired in the Cirillo trade
Nobody has interesting in Fuentes because Fuentes is atrocious
Why would Napoli say this in a contract year? Teams like versatility….especially when it’s a catcher. Why risk losing money? He should be saying I think I can play LF and RF as well as C and 1B…maybe even pitch an inning! (a little exaggerated but you get my point)
his numbers compare more favorably to other catchers as opposed to first basemen, that’s pretty much all
Glad the Angels aren’t stupid enough to sign him AGAIN.
Coming from a Royals fan, the Mariners are smart to wait until Monday to pitch Vargas against the Royals. There’s no better chance to make him look better to other teams than to pitch him against us……
Don’t take it personally sir. The truth hurts sometimes. Take it from a Red Sox fan who has to sit and list to people suggest trading Beckett to teams for top prospects.
As a baseball fan, Red Sox fans don’t have much room to talk in the dept. of buying a bunch of players.
That is just it…. Josh doesnt think like this…. He seems to think that the Rangers owe it to him, by the comments he has made (retracked in some cases too). His head is just in the clouds. Not making a pot reference, more so, he thinks he is better than everyone else.
I will be disappointed the day his skills as a ball player leaves Arlington. But won’t miss the arrogant attitude, injury history/concerns, and questionable future one bit at all.
The Rangers new TV contract kicks in for 2015 so they’d want the deal back-loaded to better match with that new revenue stream. All that said, I don’t think they will resign him as another team will most likely be so enamored with the potential short term energy he could inject into a team’s fan base which would inflate his price beyond their comfort level.
I think he any team considering him will be most likely hire his “accountability partner” and look at it as a minor trade off for protecting their long term investment. As a professional athlete he can find trouble anywhere he wants to, so big market/heavy media coverage etc, it won’t make a difference in his ability to stay sober.
That’s exactly what you should be worried about.
If Pujols starts hitting like Soriano (which is pretty much what you just described), that contract looks like a real albatross.
Paying what you paid for Pujols is great if he’s gonna hit 40/120 with a .300/.400/.550 slash line. Not so much if he’s gonna be hitting 20/80 with a .270/.330/.450 slash line.
Yup. That was my point.