The Cardinals took a 2-1 series lead over the Giants in the NLCS after a three-and-a-half hour rain delay brought the game to a halt in the seventh inning. Meanwhile, the Yankees and Tigers will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to kick off Game 4 of their series due to the threat of storms headed towards Comerica Park. Here's tonight's look around baseball..
- Some see the Indians, with new manager Terry Francona in the fold, as a threat to sign Kevin Youkilis, writes Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. The White Sox are expected to decline the veteran's $13MM option for 2013 but would like to have him back in the clubhouse next season.
- Matt Eddy of Baseball America looks at the best surprises to come from minor league free agents this season. At the top of the list are Gregor Blanco of the Giants and Miguel Gonzalez of the Orioles.
- Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter) doesn't think that the Dodgers should expect third baseman Luis Cruz to have a repeat of his success next season, but he also doesn't view Alex Rodriguez as a solution either, given his declining slugging percentage dating back to 2007. As Rodriguez continues to struggle in New York, some have speculated that the spend-happy Dodgers could have interest in him this offseason.
- Jane Lee of MLB.com previewed the Athletics heading into the 2013 season and notes that the return of Stephen Drew would create heavy competition around him at second and third base. Drew has a $10MM mutual option for next year.
A-Rod has zero chance of going to LA. I could only see him going to Miami or Tampa via a 3-way with the Phillies, on an exchange of bloated contracts ( Heath Bell, Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee, Mark Buerhle, etc).
A-Rod isn’t going to Tampa unless its for free, completely free. I can assure you of that.
tampa?? the team that has the best third baseman in the league and has to cut payroll by 20 million going in to next year?
“tampa?? the team that has the best third baseman in the league”
The Rays have Miggy?
defense doesn’t count for anything these days i guess
I never said it doesn’t count for anything. All I said was, Miggy was the best third basemen in the league. And heck even Longoria this year had a negative UZR and UZR/150
Given that A-Rod holds all the cards, I would be shocked if he played anywhere other than NYY or MIA next year. And I would still put it at 10:1 that he is a Yankeee, no matter how hard the organization tries to unload him in order to get youth on the field and money off the books.
Red Sox fans felt the same last July/Aug.–Toronto fans probably felt the same about Wells. Someone will feel ARod can be reclaimed if the price is right, How about ARod , Phelps, Nova, Nunez and the the top minor league pitching prospect for Bell and Buerhle and NO CASH FROM THE YANKEES on ARod’s salary?
None of those are from Tampa…
Wherever (if ever) A-Rod is dealt, it will either have to be to an A.L. team, or Alex is going to have to accept being a first baseman eventually. No DH in the N.L. + A-Rod’s age and injury history? No way the Dodgers or Marlins take him. With Gonzalez on the Dodgers, A-Rod can’t even take 1B. Nobody else can afford him. The Yankees are learning what Boston did….sign players to eternal contracts after they’re 25 and you pay the piper.
Don’t throw lee in there with Howard. Lee had a very good year that didn’t show up in the win column due to a horrid Philly offense. Lee stays Howard can go to an AL team far away and the phillies can stay far away from any trade that involves Arods name.
everyone is so fast to call the Dodgers spend happy when all the upgrades that have been made are paying guys market value, or below, given their positions and production…
Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett say hi.
Beckett was very good pitching for LA. We will have to see about Crawford.
So do the contracts of Bourn, Hamilton and Swisher that will be signed in the next couple months. They will all sign for as much or more than Crawford has left. As long as the Dodgers let him get healthy, he has a chance to be worth it. Beckett pitched to a sub 3 ERA. If he gives us even a 3.5 ERA, he’ll be worth the 15M he’ll get
3.5 era…. seems like its worth $15m…..
I said market value, aka what teams will pay. Watch how much someone like Peavy gets. Had a 3.4 ERA, and he will get minimum of 16+M per, for two years… basically Becketts remaining contract.
beckett had no where near the year peavy had. not sure what you are getting at
I said if Beckett pitched to a 3.5 ERA. He pitched to a 2.9 in LA. Peavy pitched to an ERA slightly below 3.5. I said to watch the contract of Peavy, a guy who is expected to give you a 3.5. Aka market value
I’d give the ball to Beckett over anybody not named Kershaw next year. Well worth the monopoly money that the Dodgers are playing with.
crawford may come back to being a good player, but he’ll be overpaid for the rest of this contract.
if he is close to his TB days, he’ll be worth close to it. And he will be paid at or near market value
incorrect.
It’s absolutely correct. CC posted 13.5 WAR in his final 2 seasons with the Rays. If he’s anywhere close to that, I’m ok at $20 million a year. That said, I am a Dodgers fan and even I don’t see that happening.
20 million dollars a year is overpaid.
and no one has factor in regression due to age, which will happen
theres nothing to argue, he will not be worth his contract.
When you say overpaid, do you mean his future production will not be enough to compensate for his lack of 2011 – 2012 production?
Or do you mean his future production cannot match his future salary, while ignoring his 2011 – 2012 seasons?
If it’s the former, then I agree.
If it’s the later, I think Crawford has a chance of being worth it.
There’s no chance. Crawford was overpaid the first day he made that contract. Have you seen his career .OBP? He’s not a guy that should ever be worth that much, even disregarding his 2011 and 2012 seasons.
no one said reckless spending. spend-happy simply means…spend happy.
When mentioning Arod and the Dodgers, there is an implication…
Crawford isnt at market level…
I wonder if the “some” who have speculated about A-rod going to the Dodgers includes anyone but that guy at the Boston Globe.
I’d like Drew and the A’s to either accept their options or sign a new contract. With Drew/Pennington, you have a 2nd baseman with a gun and a #9 hitter. Drew can hit anywhere from 1-9. With Pennington/Weeks, you have weak defense at 2B and basically two #9 hitters. Weeks doesn’t really belong at the top of the order with Crisp leading off, and having Weeks and Pennington hit 8/9 is a serious weak patch in the lineup.
If Drew leaves, I’d love to see Weeks packaged for a quality SS not named Yunel.
Weeks value doesn’t = a premium SS at this point, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him traded. Pennington will likely compete with Grant Green and Sizemore? at 2nd base next year and that makes jemile completely unnecessary. Package him with Barton and Taylor for your SS. Melvin loves Drew, but $10 million for an average player in a walk year?
I expect Luis Cruz to perform next year just like he did this year. I have confidence in him.
I do too. I think he’s one of those guys that had a longer learning curve than most and finally figured it out.
I also like the fact that his body language always shows confidence. If LA lets him go, they are going to regret it.
it’s hard to say if he will. that being said. if the dodgers are weak offensively at 3B or SS (some combination of Hanley & Cruz/Gordon) it’s not the end of the world. It’s a pretty strong offense on paper.
Youkilis to Oakland? Wonder if Billy wants his Greek God of Walks…
Well that would stand to reason for Depo to get him to be a Met, or the mythical Peter Brand to have him appear on Allen Gregory.
I feel like if Johan Hill put his weight back on and went to all the playoff games, the A’s would still be playing right now. As long as Brad Pitt didn’t jinx them and watch the games.
No one should take A-Rod. He can’t hit anymore. Let him cause misery to the Yankees, Everyone says the Yankees can buy anyone they want and that it’s unfair, but this time they pay for it, and teams actually want to help them by taking a third baseman who can’t hit? Forget about it.
Just like your team paid for it? Not to mention Arod finished 8th this yr in Wrc+….
Yes lets nit pick some stats that make Arod still look like hes worth something!
At the immensity of his contract AROd is worthless but if the Yankees pickup a ton of the money on the contract ARod will have value to other teams.
In what way? Benchwarming? Since he’s been off the roids, A-Rod, like Manny Ramirez, will do virtually nothing to help the team. There’s been rumours he’s been roiding since high school and we know his history. With the laws today, there’s no way he could go back to using roids to produce. A-Rod’s done.
Right so he only won 2 mvp awards without it, and those rumors of his roiding were based off canseco saying he benched alot….
Regardless, the fact of the matter is A-Rod can’t hit reliably anymore.
Except that isn’t true…
He can still hit, but not to the potential contract that he has.
Saying he’s top 8th in Woba and wrc+ is not nit picking… Those are good offensive numbers and not something the yankees should pay him to do elsewhere.
It is, because people who watched him play have seen how drastically he has declined. Decline at his age is normal but the problem is the contract. Unless the Yankees absorb most of the contract he wont be going anywhere. At this point they would be basically shopping a guy who hits about 17 homers .270 average and about a .770 ops and plays bad defense. Not to mention that his OPS and batting average are each about .40 points higher at home. These playoffs didnt help him either I mean what was he like 0-18 with 15ks vs right handers? Yeah, 8th in whatever stat doesnt mean hes still a good offensive player.
So you’re using a month of data where all of asudden he struggled against righties coming off a hand injury, and im the one nit picking? Okay…
At least you admit to nit picking…Im not using that data, I just said that because of the spotlight that is the playoffs and Arod struggling, it has caused lots of negative and sometimes even an over exaggerated response from not only baseball fans but also other gms making him less desirable. I mean just look at how much the entire Arod struggling getting benched fiasco is overshadowing the Tigers sweeping the Yankees.
There’s an important part about A-Rod that people are missing. He’s not a 3B, he’s only bec. of Jeter. To get a SS that can hit .275 With about 25 HR’s (assuming he stays healthy) is still valuable. It’s not $24 Mil a Yr valuable but that’s worth maybe $50-$55 Mil over the next 4 Years. Meaning if the Yanks agree to pay $50-$60 Mil then the team that’s getting A-Rod would get a good deal. And if the Yanks are willing to take a bad contract back too then it would be an awesome deal for some team.
What do you mean? Yeah, the Red Sox also signed some horrible contracts under Epstein’s tenure, but we got incredibly lucky. And in this case, for the Yankees, it’s far worse because A-Rod has the biggest contract. Let the powerful fall I say. (The Red Sox, my team, have already done this).
“Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter) doesn’t think that the Dodgers should expect third baseman Luis Cruz to have a repeat of his success next season” Yeah, I trust and base all my baseball decisions on the opinions of a LA Times beat reporter.
Shaikin is no beat reporter.
okay, he’s a staff writer? Still wouldn’t trust his opinion over an organization (i.e. GM or Scout) employee