Phones across the country were ringing off the hook today, but it doesn't appear that was the case in Milwaukee. Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin said, "I didn’t have any calls from a General Manager all day," according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (via Twitter). Here's more from around baseball as we head into August..
- Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle says that the club had inquired about Gaby Sanchez and Chad Qualls in each of past two offseasons, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
- A's assistant GM David Forst says that while the club had "plenty of conversations" leading up to the deadline, nothing was really close to happening, writes Jane Lee of MLB.com. Forst implied that Oakland will look to make a waiver deal if a solid opportunity arises.
- Reliever Jonathan Broxton strikes Keith Law of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req'd) as an odd fit for the Reds. Law notes that the Reds' bullpen is strong while they really could have used help at the top of the lineup.
- Travis Snider chose not to blame the Blue Jays for his shortcomings on the diamond and says that he is looking forward to a fresh start with the Pirates, writes Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com. The outfielder was sent to Pittsburgh for right-hander Brad Lincoln earlier today.
- After a busy July, Astros manager Brad Mills was glad to see the deadline pass without having to say goodbye to more players, writes Brian McTaggart of MLB.com.
You mean nobody wanted K-Rod or Wolf and their under-performances, nor wanted to meet our high demands on Ramirez or Hart? Who would have thunk…
Here’s a novel idea Doug–why not try initiating some phone calls instead of waiting for other teams to come to you?
he’s shy
Maybe his calling plan only allows him to receive incoming calls.
im trying to get some value for broxton now while he is still at 100% ownership before people realize he won’t be closing anymore lol
looking back at the snider saga, now that its all said and done.. and you realize how terribly the jays messed that situation up. he was the best hitting prospect in our system since delgado.
he should flourish in a new environment
Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin said, “I didn’t have any calls from a General Manager all day,”
I laughed when I read that.
I laughed too. Then I said aloud: did you pay your phone bill?
Melvin probably put word out he was looking to move Rickie Weeks.. He of the higher K% than slugging %, yet owed 25m through 2014.
Fairly disappointed that the A’s didn’t make a move for a SS, but really, if it was going to come at the expense of Straily + other prospects, then I’m less upset that nothing happened. Unfortunately Yunel probably won’t make it to the A’s through waivers and Rollins might not accept coming to the A’s, so there’s not much they could do. That leaves Drew and that’s not really exciting…at least he has good defense though, it’s hard watching Hicks butcher routine grounders
Oakland’s greatest need (SS) was hurt also because that need is one of the diminished fields in the sport right now and Beane is one of the smartest GM’s around (like Duquette) who isn’t known for over paying for talent and therefore, wasn’t going to pay the extra premium based on the general shortage at the position.
San Francisco went and paid a bit too too much (example) with Culberson. He at least could eventually end up as a utility IF and Scutaro already cost the SF a game in his 1st played by booting a ball in the 8th inning vs the NYM when the scored 4 runs.
Scuttaro wasn’t really worth much, his range is poor (all over the IF) and his bat even went downhill moving to Coors field. Beane realized that and it appears was not interested much.
Maybe someone else will pop up and become available as more teams fall out of the WC race.
my sentiments exactly, and the jays had no reason to trade yunel (I don’t buy Hechavarria’s bat) /the phillies no real reason to trade jimmy rollins.
And until Pennington comes back, I’d rather Sogard get 100% of the reps at SS and Hicks get like none. they both can’t hit (except for the random big hit), so let’s let the one that can field get the reps.
ed. note: i’m a hardcore dan straily fanboy. so i miiigghht be overvaluing him when i say i’m glad he didn’t get moved for hanram.
Agree. And, it’s not like either Rollins or the now average Escobar (though upgrades) would have been the last piece. The A’s have dead spots in the batting order at 3B, 2B and C, too. Sprakplug Crisp is injured again and Moss has cooled.
So glad Beane hasn’t (yet) thrown away a great prospect (Eithier, CarGo) for a Milton Bradley-type rental.
Off topic, but HATS OFF to Tim, Mark, BNS and rest of staff; it’s got to feel like mid-terms are over or something, call in some temps and grab a beer (or 12 hrs of sleep). Same to to the Beat-Tweets, who didn’t have twitter to depend on, because they were sending them.
Love the trades for my pirates today, no rentals, a couple possibilities that we get a ‘core’ type young player to fit in with our young players. Only time will tell, but we didnt trade any of our top 50 prospects either.
Yep, you guys win in my estimation too.
I even like the Qualls move-simply because the guys they have picked up for the pen have mostly performed quite well-even better than expected. Time to trust the Pirates on this one and see how he does.
Gaby Sanchez’s biggest hit so far in the majors?
When he laid out Nyjer Morgan with a clothesline.
For sure it is.. One of the greatest and funniest slams of a outright. …. ball player ever,
For those interested? Google it. There is a nice video easily available where you can see “poor Nyjer” make the mistake of charging Volstad and getting laid out like a lamb to slaughter.
I forgot about that, I’m gonna have to tell him how happy he made me when he did that.
“After a busy July, Astros manager Brad Mills was glad to see the deadline pass without having to say goodbye to more players”
Let’s face it, he’s probably more glad to have a job at this point.
I don’t know-have you seen how bad the Astros are?
I can’t figure out why the Pirates, with their fantastic bullpen, and good options at AAA to fill a slot or two, would be remotely interested in Chad Qualls…
Qualls has a low BB rate and a good GB rate. He’s all or nothing. When he’s off (20% of the time) he gets shelled, leading to ridiculous ERA/WHIP. When he’s on (80% of the time) he can be useful. Similar to Resop that way, which isn’t awful (much as Bucs fans hate Resop, he’s actually decent most of the time). Qualls was a high-leverage guy once. It’s not much, but it’s something and Neal/Hurdle have done very well with picking up bullpen help off the trash heap.
I love the Snider trade for the Pirates. Giving up a reliever, albeit a very good one, for a player with that kind of upside and power potential who isn’t a free agent until 2016. It’s a much better deal than going all out to acquire Pence and his 110 OPS+ and paying a ton of money the next year.
Not necessarily. Snider’s Major League performance is a huge question mark. If he does not perform at a league average level next year, he is out of options, and will likely be moved to another team. With Pence, you know what you are going to get, although I will agree for a small market team like the Pirates it could have been a slight misallocation of resources. That being said, they were also in on the Victorino trade, and were rumoured to have offered lincoln in that deal as well. From what I am gathering, most Pirates fans are upset at giving up one of their better relievers in the middle of a playoff race.