In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that there are some General Managers who have a few regrets regarding last winter. Red Sox GM Ben Cherington wishes he had done more for the rotation. Angels GM Jerry Dipoto probably would have liked to boost the bullpen more during the team's spending frenzy which netted Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson. Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd was asked to assess his own mistakes and said, “How long is this article? Just kidding. We all have regrets. When you make the amount of decisions we do, you make mistakes. So this year [Jeremy] Guthrie was acquired to give us innings, but Coors [Field] got him and that hurt us. We had such a lack of experience everywhere else. There was no margin for error, and I screwed up.” Here's more from today's column..
- Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson will be trade bait, despite talk to the contrary. Miami could get a ton from teams like the Orioles, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Royals, Rangers, Twins, and Dodgers. On the whole, the Marlins look like they're ready to clean house again.
- Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano would make a lot of sense for the Rays as a DH, especially since the Cubs would pick up the bulk of his final two years under contract. Soriano could also help the Blue Jays, Orioles, or Indians.
- Indians GM Chris Antonetti says that he expects Shin-Shoo Choo to be back with Cleveland next season as he enters his walk year, but he will also listen to offers for the 30-year-old. Choo could make sense for Boston as they face a similar situation with Jacoby Ellsbury. Cafardo suggests a deal involving a pitcher like Justin Masterson.
- Teams have offered the moon for Felix Hernandez in the past but there’s no chance that Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik is going to trade him now. King Felix is under contract through 2014 and the M's have the money to keep him beyond that. For his part, Hernandez is well-paid and loves playing in Seattle.
- Josh Hamilton says that he won't take a discount to stay with the Rangers, but that's where he's likely to land as it's hard to read the market for him. The Tigers, Nationals, Pirates, Phillies, Angels, Mariners, Blue Jays, and Orioles shouldn't be ruled out. The Yankees and Red Sox also can't be crossed off the list but neither market is a strong fit for Hamilton.
- Jake Peavy would appear to be a target for the Red Sox once his $22MM option is declined by the White Sox. The 31-year-old could also end up staying put in Chicago or returning to the NL.
- Former catcher Brad Ausmus, currently serving as a special assistant to the GM in San Diego, said that he would have interest in the Red Sox managerial vacancy. As of Friday, however, he has yet to be contacted. Ausmus turned down a chance to be interviewed for the Astros job earlier this fall.
- The Red Sox are pursuing John Farrell, but Ryne Sandberg could be on their list, even though he was just named as the Phillies' third base coach and is likely being groomed for Charlie Manuel's job. Cherington tried to get Sandberg to take Boston's Triple- A job a couple of years ago.
- While some have accused Bobby Valentine of ignoring advanced scouting reporters, Cafardo says that he saw the manager reading them every time he visited his office.
Interesting that with the Orioles in the playoffs, the rumor scribes now consider them a player in trade and free agent moves. This time last year it was continued doom and gloom because no one wanted to come here. Gotta love it!
Amazing what a playoff berth can do for a franchise that has been abysmal for the better part of two decades.
Going after Josh Johnson would be a mistake for any club imo
How so? He’s one of the best players in baseball
H’es a great pitcher but has only started more than 30 games twice in his career. The Marlins are going to demand a steep price for him and he’s an injury waiting to happen.
If he can ever stay healthy.
you say that so i’m guessing you didn’t have him on your fantasy baseball team this year.
Really wish Boston would just go after Ryno instead of pursuing Farrell. Their list seems to be 1. John Farrell. 2. everybody else.
I personally have Farrell as my #1 choice by Ryno as my 2nd… everyone else is a distant 3rd.
I’d like Ryno, Sandy Alomar Jr, Dave Martinez, even Brad Ausmus before Farrell. In the past I was a huge Farrell fan but he did not do enough with Toronto to warrant giving up anything for him. Nothing he did there makes me believe that he can turn it around in Boston.
The junk that TOR has trotted out on the field HAS to be taken into consideration when evaluating Farrell’s tenure.
While I agree they trotted out some junk, mostly their starting pitchers half way through the year.. That being said I am guessing you never watched any Jays games at all, cause if you did you would realize that Farrell and his late game decisions were awful..
I think Farrell may have done something decent this year had his entire rotation not blown their shoulders out over the course of a week. It’s really kind of hard to recover from that sort of injury plague. Couple that with their best hitter missing a large chunk of time as well, and you can see how 2012 ended the way it did. That being said, can’t really speak to his other years there.
No offense – Why do people see Farrell as the first option for Boston? It would require compensation and he’s done nothing in Toronto that makes you think he is anything more than an average (at best) manager.
In my opinion. I think Farrell would be the best choice for one reason; Respect. The FO respects & knows him, the players respect & know him. Not to mention before he was the pitching coach he had a Front Office position. He’s a known commodity that was being groomed to be Francona’s successor before he left for TOR.
He knows the organization from top to bottom, he knows the city and the media and he carries the cache (right or wrong) of being the pitching coach the made Lester and Buchholz top pitching talents and has a 07 World Series ring to boot.
I can’t take what he did in TOR too seriously. He’s had a roster full of retreads and guys with a history of behavior issues (ie: Encarnacion, Escobar & Snider) The only “legit” pitcher he’s really had in his rotation was Romero and frankly, IMO, he was never that great. I think it’s more an issue of his “stuff” being figured out.
The comparison between Francona’s PHI teams and Farrell’s TOR teams is great… except Francona had better teams than Farrell has had!
They quit grooming their former players who had the strong making of a manager for some reason. Rocco Baldelli had the makings of a good manager and gave it a shot for a season, but wanted to come back and try playing the OF for a season. Boston probably should have given him that chance also and then rehired him as a manager like Tampa now has.
Rocco will be a strong candidate one day for either a manager, or FO personality Boston let get away.
I think you are confusing Rocco Baldelli with Gabe Kapler. It was Kapler who retired to manage A Ball then came back as a reserve outfielder after managing for one season.
Yes.. Correct.. confused them often during their playing days.
Thanks 🙂
I have him number one too, as pitching coach. I can’t see why they’d pass some great baseball minds up this time around. No experience doesn’t mean anything IMO. Most of these rookie managers have played the game and know how it works. They can handle it, so give them a chance.
+100000 on Peavy to the Red Sox! He’s one of those guys I’ve been hoping the Red Sox go after for a little while now. The obvious issues are his health… So that would have to be addressed in ANY deal.
Seems like he got through this year mostly fine. And wasn’t the most recent major injury he suffered one of the flukiest things to ever happen to a pitcher? Maybe I’m thinking of someone else. I’d love to see him in the Boston rotation.
I wonder if Reyes still really believes he went to a better situation in Miami. That team is in shambles.
He is happy still, he just looks at that $100m+ check everytime he questions his situation.
that only works if miami was the only place that was going to pay him
Would it surprise anyone to see Peavy sign with the Cubs? That’s where he wanted to go when he left San Diego.
he prob wants to win, he’s a crazy competitor out there and i’m sure he’d find the same dough with a winner over the cubs, but i’m sure they’d take him if he picked up the phone.
“4. Have received inquiries lately about whether it’s time for the Red Sox to select a minority manager. Of course it is.”
Boston had one manager in waiting prospect/coach groomed for decades, but he was let go after John Henry bought the team.
whether or not he wasn’t one of Francona’s “pets” to be hired, or was a target of ridicule amongst fans during the time he did serve as 3b coach and never forgotten is the question why he was not retained.
Harper had a decent Sox career, 2 coaching tenures and was thought to have been a potential manager candidate at one time.
Think it is dumb to put it out there like that. I don’t think it would be wrong for them to hire a minority manager, I just think their decision should be based on who they feel will lead the team the best.
I find it interesting that Ausmus would like to manage the Red Sox, after declining to interview for the Astros job. He played for the Astros, won a couple of gold gloves while with them, was part of their 6 playoff runs in 8 years, and yet he turned down that opportunity due to “personal reasons”. Although the Red Sox job is more attractive from a big baseball market perspective, I can’t find any reason why the Red Sox would seriously consider him. I’m fairly certain the Astros would have given their job to Bo Porter in any case, as the characteristics of the manager they are looking for fit Porter to a tee but at least Ausmus may have been seriously considered. Best of luck, Brad, but you blew it.
Might be tougher on a first time manager dealing with a situation like Houston where you’re expected to teach a bunch of young players. Then again, some people just have a knack for teaching and would rather have that position as opposed to a coaching experienced players. Hard to say.
Situation in boston is really not any better.
yes, it is.
I just read that Ausmus is from Connecticut, so has ties to the Boston area. Seems as if he only wants to manage in Southern California or East Coast. I predict that if he truly wants to manage, he’s going to need to be a bit less selective.
He’s from Cheshire, which tends to be more Yankees-friendly (being in the western part of the state). Connecticut’s pretty much split by a diagonal line from northwest to southeast (although I don’t know of any Yankees fans east of the Connecticut River).
lol there is no room on the angels roster for hamilton
Cafardo is wrong, they should be ruled out along with about half of the teams he says not too.
I wouldn’t go that far. If his price falls you can be certain that alot of those teams would jump in. They aren’t all paying $24M aav, but there is still interest.
Haha there is a better chance of Willie Stargell playing for the Pirates then Josh Hamilton
There is no way on God’s green earth that the Nationals express any interest in Hamilton. Mike Rizzo will never go there. If he adds an outfielder it will be one who is younger, healthier, and drama free.
Column didn’t express interest, it just says they can’t be ruled out, and it’s true. If the bidding for Hamilton ever dropped to maybe 5/85 they would jump in. It won’t go that low, but anytime there is a free agent regardless you want to figure out a number that you would be willing to pay. Some free agents your number would be extremely low and thus would mostly miss out on them.
Orioles ain’t going after Johnson unless they’ll take someone not named Machado and Bundy.
Hamilton is a great player, but I find his attitude somewhat odd. He seems to think that FOs have no right to examine his past history (injury/other). And he’s not exactly making cooing noises at either Texas ownership or Texas fans. Maybe it’s a negotiating strategy. I agree with those people who say that it only takes one owner to make for an overpay, but he’s not a perfect fit for a lot of teams. I guess we will see
Advanced scouting reporters? Haven’t heard of that job.
I swear, half of the Mariner Trade Rumors are “Teams have asked about/interested in Felix” and “Jack Z says no to any trade for Felix.”
why are the Pirates on that list lol? Hamilton is sure to make like 120 million…. but i guess by dont rule them out that means They could be sold to Mark Cuban