Yesterday, Jayson Stark of ESPN.com surveyed two National League executives on Robinson Cano and his value as he inches closer to hitting the open market. Both supported the Yankees spending big on the second baseman and one even said that he has a legitimate case for a $200MM extension. Here's more on the Yankees and other AL East items..
- David Ortiz told reporters, including the Boston Herald's Scott Lauber, that he may not play again for the Red Sox this year because of his strained right Achilles. "To be honest with you, what I’m looking for right now is to make sure I heal up the right way," Ortiz said. "I pushed it once. Didn’t work. So I’m not going to push it again." Ortiz, who has played only once since July 16, received a platelet-rich plasma injection nearly two weeks ago that has left him feeling “totally different.” But, he is still wearing a protective boot on his right foot and won’t attempt any baseball activities until at least Tuesday when he’s expected to have it removed.
- The Orioles' Nick Markakis is expected to undergo surgery tomorrow to insert a plate into his broken left thumb, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN.com. The surgery could speed up the recovery process, so the Orioles remain optimistic Markakis could return if they go deep into the playoffs, writes Kubatko.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post looks at five personnel decisions that backfired on the Yankees this season. Sherman writes that the trade of Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda was among the club's biggest mistakes. Although Pineda could bounce back from injury and fulfill his potential, Montero could have been a long-term answer for the Yankees in the event that Russell Martin leaves via free agency.
- Theo Epstein only deserves some of the blame for the situation that the Red Sox are in and not all of it, opines John Tomase of the Boston Herald. While Epstein made the big money deals that tied up the club's payroll, owners John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino had final say over all of them.
- Daisuke Matsuzaka's next start with the Red Sox could be his last with the club, writes Michael Vega of the Boston Globe. "Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll be wearing this Red Sox uniform next year," Matsuzaka said through his interpreter, Jeff Cutler. "As I’ve said before, it’s an honor to be able to wear this Red Sox uniform, but it hasn’t been an added stress for me."
- Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine told NESN's Tom Caron that the criticism that has been directed at him stems from personal gripes, writes Alex Speier of WEEI.com. Valentine believes that he has always received unfair criticism and anticipated more of it when he arrived in Boston.
Edward Creech also contributed to this post.
that’s a difficult case for sherman to make, given that montero has provided in 100+ games the same production that pineda has to the yankees in zero games
i’m not a big pineda fan, but they also got jose campos in the trade. the injuries to both aren’t good, but the amount of potential there is still enormous
I agree with you. When I first saw the trade I was surprised but then liked it. Montero is a mediocre catcher, sure you can teach him 1B but they already had Teixera there. They had to make the trade because of their lack of young starting pitching, and the fact that it’s easier to fill the dh spot than to get a top end young starter. I don’t think Seattle even views him as a long term catcher.
The rest of the article is bad too. Kontos for stewart? Kontos has had a bad fip for awhile. Even his xfip this year has him at 3.40 era. Nothing spectacular for a reliever. Getting rid of Maxwell and keeping jones at the beginning of the year. Lets see, a career journeyman or someone who had a .247/.356/.495 line last year. Dropping Dewayne for Ichiro. A 34 yearold outfielder with a career .230/.267/.392 line for ichiro. Ichiro has somewhat turned it around and his obp this year with the Yankees is .318. Who knows if Dewayne wise would have got hot with the yankees like he had done with the sox. Quintana? Sure it would have been nice, but he 22 and still in A ball. I’m sure that there were alot more players that looked more worthy protecting.
We all can look back at the past, but most of these moves that the yankees made baseball sense.
@LazerTown
Hindsight is 20/20. You may be interested to know that in the spring, Sherman was singing the praises of the Pineda/Campos for Montero trade. He went on about how the jury was still out on Montero’s future as an everyday catcher and how the pitchers were just what the Yankees needed.
The jury is still out on the trade. A season is no where near enough time to make an assessment with young players and he knows that. It’s just that it would not be a good fit to the story.
Sherman’s article is so lazy and I wonder if he has an axe to grind since he and Girardi got into it recently. He acts as if Montero is a more rare commodity than Pineda. Montero IS a special player who I loved as a prospect but the fact is, at the time they had Martin who was coming off of a good season, a servicable Cervelli and Romine near mlb ready with Sanchez and Murphy 2-4 years away also. Meanwhile, how often do you have the chance to acquire a young mlb pitcher w/ 1 year success under his belt?
Sherman is a joke.
If I understand correctly, the Girardi-Sherman tiff was a result of Girardi getting upset at Sherman asking a legitimate question about Sabathia’s health. Don’t know if that’s true or not, but it sounds like a Girardi move.
Sherman asked three different questions about his health, not one. THAT is what annoyed Girardi.
Did Girardi duck the questions or did Sherman think that Girardi was not telling the truth about Sabathia’s health?
As an aside, the Orioles broadcasters on Saturday said CC was 6’5″, 315 lbs. Have the Jets come calling yet?
He’s working on it. He’s gone on the Red Sox diet- chicken and beer!
he responded all 3 times that he’s healthy, and finally told him he’s not lying. Sabathia also said he was healthy.
If Bobby V actually did anticipate more bad criticism coming to Boston, then why does he not take the high road with the media? He sets himself up for ridicule for how he’s been interviewing and if you go to Fenway, the crowds are now chanting “fire Bobby!” So he gets it at the home ballpark which is sad, but it’s all on him because he didn’t give fans, media, or players a chance to even want to take his side.
He is a delicate flower.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that it always seems to be everyone else’s fault when people have a history of not working well with others. Maybe, as you seem to suggest, he should look in the mirror and see what Bobby can do to get along better? However, it’s also true that winning cures many things; so, it’d be interesting to see how things might have been if they were playing well.
“Matsuzaka said through his interpreter, Jeff Cutler…” He’s been here since December, 2006! That’s 69 months. And he still needs an interpreter? Doesn’t show much desire to fit in, but that’s my opinion.
uh huh. i know that’s what’s been holding ichiro back all these years
Sometimes they use an interpreter because it helps them have a more legible interview. English and Japanese is much harder than Learning German or Spanish for someone that speaks english. It is different language family, different sounds, different written characters.
As long as he’s not talking to his teammates using an interpreter then it doesn’t really matter does it?
Wieters learned a bit of Chinese so he could talk to Wei-Yin Chen on the mound during games. Just saying.
Yea but it probably isn’t anymore than a few phrases. Nice, but is different. In interviews you have to understand abstract questions and answer them.
Yeah, Dice-K’s inability (or just lack of motivation) to fully learn English has always bothered me as well.
Maybe he just has Sammy Sosa moments during interviews and forgets every word of English he knows.
All they talked about for the last number of years was what a great prospect Montero was developing into, even back when Posada was able to catch. I still think it was a complete mistake trading him away because catchers with a full arsenal seem to be the rarest of commodities out there. Besides, starting pitchers play once a week.
I really don’t know about giving Cano a $200MM contract starting at his age 31 season. They may have to do it, though.
Joel Sherman must be ignoring that Montero has no business starting behind the plate.
Is Montero Piazza-level bad or just mediocre-level bad?
Piazza level bad if not worse, slow pop up time, bad arm strength, bad fundamentals, and poor recieving. Once Zunino gets up to Seattle in 2013 he will just be a full time DH.
No kidding about that one.. But hey according to any NY writer the Yanks prospects are the best in baseball every year.