Congratulations are in order for the Reds, who clinched their second NL Central title in the last three years with this afternoon's win over the Dodgers. Top offseason addition Mat Latos threw eight shutout innings in the win. Here's the latest from around the league as Saturday turns into Sunday…
- The Rangers will not trade Elvis Andrus this winter, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). They haven't had any talks about moving him and don't plan to.
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos told MLB.com Gregor Chisholm that Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow are the only starters guaranteed a rotation spot next year (Twitter link). Both pitchers are signed to guaranteed multiyear contract extensions.
- Astros GM Jeff Luhnow told Zachary Levine of The Houston Chronicle that he will meet with owner Jim Crane and other front office members on Monday to "gauge the pace" of their managerial search.
- Jeff Karstens has not started a game for the Pirates since August, and Rob Biertempfel of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says (on Sulia) that it could be because the front office wants to get a longer look at some other starters. Karstens will earn $3.1MM this year and is a non-tender candidate.
- Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times looked back at all the prospects traded by Ned Colletti during his tenure as Dodgers GM. Only two — Edwin Jackson and Steve Johnson — are playing important roles for contenders this year.
So having a contract guarantees a pitcher a rotation spot? Riiiiight.
Well if they didn’t have a contract, it would be kind of hard right? None of those other guys are being paid or are locked up like Morrow or Romero, so the other 3 spots are fair game for anyone already on the team or anyone acquired in the offseason. Plus with their rotation inexperience I don’t think anyone else is pushing those two for their spot. Do not discredit Romero for one bad year, there are plenty of other guys going through tough years as well and will be right back at it next year. Halladay, Lincecum, Lester, Haren, Jimenez
main difference is halladay, lincecum, lester and haren have a long history of success and some of the poor performance is due to age..
Romero may have a guaranteed spot to start the season, but if things start to head south again and he’s walking 5 a game, he’ll be hopping on that bus to buffalo
I’m aware of that, but one bad season wasn’t going to render him an instant demotion to AAA the following year. You have to let him start next year in the rotation to see if it wasn’t some freaky fluke. As for the age statement, that would only apply to half of those guys. Doc is 34 and Haren is 32. Lester, Lincecum and Ubaldo are all 1 year older than Ricky. I could be misinterpreting the ‘some’ in your statement but I just wanted to bring it up if not.
Romero has been lost this season. I would think if it continues into next season, his guaranteed rotation spot will be in Buffalo.
LOL of course AA spent alot of money/time. Of course he will say that.
So the Pirates would rather tank the season instead of using their second best starter? What a joke. Karstens needs to learn how to pitch a full season, and the starters actually have to go more than 4-5 innings if Hurdle wants them to get better. Jeff Locke was pitching great the other night yet they pulled him for no reason.
I disagree with the author on Jeff Karstens. Non tender candidate? He’s not by any means a great pitcher and if the Pirate can get someone better they should. But he’s definitely useful as a back end of rotation starter and worthy of a contract.
. Of course, nothing Pittsburgh does would surprise me so there’s that.
Next year they have Burnett, Rodriguez, and McDonald, and not much else.
I agree they would be best served keeping Karstens around. It’s also a shame that Gerritt Cole didn’t get a little bit of work. He could have been a stud out of the pen at least if they didn’t want to start him. Sick of looking back on what could have been.
Things are a little bizarre around Pirate land. They really ought to consider that Clint Hurdle may not be the manager to get them to the next level and that Navy Seal training ought to be reserved for um, Navy Seals.
I agree that taking a look at Gerritt Cole made a lot of sense and it’s a shame they didn’t do it.
Karstens will start to get a bit expensive if he is not going over 150 innings a season. His durability isn’t there to depend on for a good team.
So the Rangers won’t trade Andrus? Is that just Daniels trying to improve the return he gets? Either Andrus or Profar needs/seems to be dealt this offseason and why not say one/both aren’t available just to get the market up.
My bet, it’s part posturing and part serious. If the Rangers lose Hamilton and get a good young power hitting prospect and then some for Andrus, they’ll deal him right away. Even if they don’t lose Hamilton they’ll take the right deal. However, they’re not going to just deal Andrus for the sake of opening up a spot. They can always start Profar in the minors and wait for injuries to open a spot.
Yeah if Hamilton leaves that’s a lot of homers gone. They need to flip one of their MIF’s for a power bat unless they can rely on Beltre for 3-4 more seasons.
They need Hamilton back. That lineup loses almost all of it’s punch with his departure. Beltre would be the only middle of the order hitter, their lineup is dependent upon him, I have a hard time seeing them let him go.
I still think it makes sense to trade Andrus if Profar is ready. He is still cheap, and can net a pretty big return. It’s not a point keeping someone around that is ready, or even having them sit on the bench. Same thing i said last year with the angels and Bourjos. He was coming off a good year and had trade value. Get some prospects for down the road if you have extra depth in the majors, as long as it isn’t pitching.
how is he going to say right now “yeah, we’ll look at trading him”? the kid is out there in a pennant race; you can’t mess with him like that
in other words, no matter what the truth is, if you ask daniels that question right now, he has to give the answer he gave
they dont NEED to be delt, they could very easily move kinsler to left or right fieldI(his bat would still play well there, his arm is better suited for left) and have andrus or profar play 2nd with the other playing SS, keeping olt at 1st and trading cruz for someone to replace hamilton if he walks, IF hamilton does not walk than trade cruz for a pitcher its actually in their best interests to keep both players
It looks like they’re grooming Profar for 2B, so I would say Kinsler to the outfield at this point. Elvis just brings too much to the team (especially in clubhouse presence) to let him go for a power-hitting prospect that might do well. I see Elvis as the next face of the franchise, especially if Hamilton leaves in the offseason.
I’d argue that Edwin Jackson clone James McDonald played a key role in a contender’s collapse 🙂
At this point I have no issues with having Karstens take a back seat to Locke & McPherson. The Bucs need to know if they have to go shopping for starters or if either of those two are MLB caliber starters. They know what they have in Karstens, who is a #4-#5 on most teams.
Karstens is the best #5 starter in baseball. Not only does he throw strikes, work fast, and have a large arsenal of pitches, but he’s also usually pretty successful. I enjoy watching him pitch more than anyone else on the team. I hope they wouldn’t non-tender him. His little injuries are annoying, but he’d be worth the $4.5M or so that he’ll get next year.
$4.5M is starting to get expensive if he doesn’t fix his durability. His high for innings was last year at 162, and all other years its 122 or less. I’m kinda glad tabata didn’t work out too, just cause Nady was a pretty mediocre player.
Congratulations are also in order for the San Francisco Giants for clinching the NL West title, Mike.