Three of baseball's hottest teams reside in the NL Central, where the Reds (15 wins in their last 17 games) hold a two-game lead over the Pirates (15-6 in their last 21 games) and a 5.5 game lead over the Cardinals (seven wins in their last eight games). Let's check out the latest from both leagues' Central divisions…
- The improved performance of the Cardinals' rotation "takes a little pressure off in terms of feeling like we have to do something," GM John Mozeliak tells MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch. "If you were to go after a starter, who are you really bouncing out? And how are you improving? That's why I don't think the urgency is quite there for rotational help as maybe it was, say, three or four weeks ago." It seems as if St. Louis will trade for a reliever if they do make a deadline move for pitching, Langosch notes, though the bullpen has also recently been better.
- The Reds are looking to start their trade deadline shopping, with a leadoff man atop their wishlist, writes MLB.com's Mark Sheldon.
- The Indians were only willing to offer two guaranteed years to Josh Willingham last winter given the slugger's injury woes, reports MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. Willingham ended up signing a three-year contract with the Twins and is enjoying a superb season, while the Tribe is still looking for a big right-handed bat for their lineup.
- Twins interim GM Terry Ryan told Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities that he hasn't spoken to team owner Carl Pohlad about taking over the position on a permanent basis. "We haven't talked about it at all and I don't anticipate talking about it until we get to the latter part of this year," Ryan said. "We have not had a good year. We've got a lot of work to do here. I'm not in any position to say that interim is going to be off me."
- "It's business as usual" for the Royals heading into the deadline, GM Dayton Moore tells MLB.com's Dick Kaegel. Moore wouldn't comment on rumors about Jonathan Broxton, Yuniesky Betancourt, Jeff Francoeur or Jose Mijares.
Span get it done Jocketty!
WAY TOO EXPENSIVE for the Reds, cost controlled for 4 years, the package would be immense, B Hamilton will be ready by 2014 ST, so we need a Victorino or NOTHING.
Vicotrinos numbers are not that great. I wouldn’t give anything of value. Billy Hamilton can play 2nd move Phillips to third! I don’t know just thinking out loud. Hell Hamilton could play center span in left Bruce in Right. Stubbs the 4th outfielder or move him later.
Hamilton won’t be a big league 2nd baseman, IMO. I could be wrong, but I don’t see it. I think he’s the CF of the future.
No no no no no on the “Phillips to third!”. You don’t move a GG 2B just for sake of doing so. 3B will also be where Fraizer is playing. Heisey or Stubbs would be traded in a Span deal, so Stubbs wouldn’t be a 4th outfielder.
Yeah he’d be expensive but the guy is exactly what the Reds need and the best there is of the rumored available lead off bats. When you add in that he is under control on a below market contract for multiple years … it just makes all the more sense. I’d be willing to part with a Corcino/Sulbaran + package to get Span. I gotta keep one of our two top starting prospects if I am Walt.
I like how you put Corcino and Sulbaran on the same level like they’re equal in value. That is far from the truth.
Do you always make it a habit to assume comparisons that aren’t there? You’d be better off asking me if that is what I am implying instead of stating it as fact.
“I’d be willing to part with a Corcino/Sulbaran +”
That is defiantly implying that they are on the same value level by making it one or the other with the ‘/’. In general, that / means one or the other.
Uh no … that is “your” interpretation of it which is an assumption on your part.
*Facepalm*
Yeah that was my thought when I figured that anyone with a little common sense knows that Corcino is a much better prospect. But I guess you need to have your sentences formatted in a certain way so that you don’t get confused
Victorino is making 9.5 million this season. Sure, it’ll be pro-rated and will come down to less than 4 million for the rest of the season, but Philadelphia wants way too much. If they had just wanted Ondrusek, I probably would have pulled the trigger, but from what I’ve read they wanted Ondrusek and a prospect. Ridiculous.
Please dayton, do something. Frenchy is killing us. Yuni won’t take two steps to get to a ball, Jose is replaceable and Broxton thinks its a joke to scare the KC fans.
Uh, is Terry Ryan a necromancer? Because I’m pretty sure Carl Pohlad died in 2009 and his son Jim controls the team checkbook.
I hope Terry stays as the GM. Hopefully he can get the franchise out of this losing funk. He’s done it once, and he can do it again.
It seems a lot of people blame him for the lost years of the Bill Smith era which are the cause of our teams recent struggles. The moves Ryan has made since coming back have been very successful (Doumit, Willingham, Burton, and extending Perkins). I am glad he is back and hope we can keep him around for a long time.
And the Marquis signing and the Capps re-singing (and the loss of picks) and selling Slowey for pennies while the rotation was a mess were also good moves? The medical situation and the waiting a week to put people on DL has not changed. He is the leader of a team that is about to lose 90+ games. He is at fault. Smith made some bad moves, but his deadline moves in 2009 won the Twins the division. Also any respectability in the farm system is because of Smith’s draft and Latin American signings. Not any top 20 prospects who are not Smith’s doing. Ryan has been around too long. This team needs fresh minds and approaches to be a winning team…
How could I forget to mention the budget constricting move of signing Jason Marquis, and the the cripple trade of Kevin Slowey (who owns a 5+ ERA in AAA). Amusing that you are upset with Ryan for resigning Capps when it was Smith who at the deadline traded Ramos for him in the first place. All of Ryans positive moves have paid huge dividends and all his negative moves have had zero consequence on the team.
You do know that teams can retroactively place players on the DL right? It means that if a team waits to assess the players health the games missed will count towards their time on the DL.
Did you expect Ryan to take over a team that lost the second most games in the MLB last year and turn them into contenders in one year? If so than you are delusional.
I think David Kahn should take over, he is at least makes a lot of moves!
It’s ought to be obvious that the Indians made a huge mistake by not being willing to go the extra year for Willingham. His right handed bat could have made the difference for them this year.
the Indians continue to make me sad.
Willingham quietly throws together .260/.360/.460 and 20-25 HR a year, almost every year. Never gets the recognition.