The Red Sox haven't made a formal offer to shortstop Stephen Drew, a source tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. Per multiple sources, the Red Sox’ strategy continues to be to wait for Drew to find what his market might result in before looping back in with him. Here's more out of the AL East..
- The Orioles have a two-year offer out to Grant Balfour, tweets Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Earlier today, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported that the O's have an offer out to the reliever.
- A report from Japanese outlet Sponichi (Japanese link) indicates that submariner Shunsuke Watanabe is expected to sign a minor league deal with the Red Sox. Special thanks to Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker for posting the report along via Twitter.
- The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Thad Weber has been granted his release and has signed a contract with the NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization. The club now has 39 players on the 40-man roster.
Shunsuke want to be
balfour would be a decent pick for baltimore. Wouldn’t you think baltimore would
look into moving markakis? I know he’s coming off of a bad year and is making a
lot of money. He has a team option in 2015, with a buyout. I don’t know what their
minor league looks like. If they could trade him maybe with some cash for the buy out
it would open a lot more money. I realize they probably woudn’t get back what they
wanted. but it would be an extra 15 million or so.
I think you answered your own question.
What’s the sense in trading an expensive player coming off a bad year?
I like the potential of Markakis bouncing back a lot more than I like whatever junk prospect the O’s might get for him.
Without eating the contract, what could the O’s honestly expect to gain in return? Markakis is coming off of his worst year in terms of power. He’s going into a contract walk season. This does not line up well for Baltimore to make any sort of a deal to move Markakis,
i get that. the O’s aren’t my team, but i’ve always followed them .
i’m a big markakis fan. I alway thought he was under valued.
Last year granted was a bad year. i do hope he can rebound.
I was looking more for freeing up some money. They were so close
last year.
There is not one, single, solitary chance in the world that these Orioles trade Markakis. He is of Greek heritage, and as long as Peter Angelos owns the team, he will never, ever approve any kind of deal involving Markakis. I’m just hoping they don’t pick up the option for 2015.
It would be great to see the Orioles bite the bullet and sign Shin-Soo Choo, go with a $50 million outfield this year, then save some money when Nick comes off the books. One can dream.
can they afford it.
what will it cost to keep davis and hardy?
Hardy’s good seasons are countered by his advancing age, keeping his salary in the same $7M range as his current deal. Davis essentially gets what Brian Roberts got, with free agency after 2015 foretelling a big salary bump–but if he shows that 2013 wasn’t a fluke, he can put enough runs on the board and fannies in the seats to justify the big money. And putting Choo at the top of the order gives Machado, Davis and Jones a chance to drive in 100 runs apiece.
Evening out the payroll to an extent could come from promoting Gausman and Bundy to the rotation by 2015, and bringing along Schoop for 2nd base, with all three and Machado under team control through at least 2018.
And then there’s Wieters….and Boras.
i don’t think there’s any chance hardy signs for that. next year
weak for ss. after the contracts this year hardy could make
a lot more than that. He could always take the discount,.
but it depends on what o’s want to do
Must be GM dinner time.
I’m not sure why I think this… But I really have this guy feeling that the Sox are going to make a major trade and my gut is telling me it will be on the left side of the infield.
“guy feeling” :o theres really no 3B options on the trade market that make sense for the sox.
Just offer Drew 3/ 36 and call it a day!
i think they do what they did with napoli. wait to see what drew gets
then offer a two year deal at more per year. i don’t think they go
3 with drew. i think they hope he will want to come back even though
he has a slightly better offer. it worked for napoli.
That would be good but look who his agent is!
i know. didn’t boras make enough already this year.
As a Red Sox fan it won’t happen. They will probably sign Drew and that’s it. That feeling might be that you gotta go to the bathroom or something but don’t hold your breath or get your hopes up.
Watanabe is 37 and hasnt had a good season since he was 30. I guess they have nothing to lose but what can you realistically expect from a guy who consistently puts up an era above 4 in Japan.
Has never come across MLB players, could be a gem for at least one season. Okijima type. Early success, but hitters figured him out eventually.