Astros GM Jeff Luhnow was in attendance for North Carolina State pitcher Carlos Rodon's start Friday, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports. The left-hander is widely considered the top talent in this summer's draft. In his outing, Rodon allowed two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings, walking four but striking out 12. While Luhnow wouldn't discuss Rodon specifically, he commented that the trip "made me miss my scouting days." Here are two more AL West notes:
- A source tells MLB Daily Dish's Chris Cotillo that the Mariners feel "no urgency" to trade infielder Nick Franklin, who appears to be without a position following the Robinson Cano signing. There's healthy interest in Franklin after the 23-year-old flashed promise in his 2013 Major League debut, but a trade "doesn't seem like a given at this point," Cotillo writes.
- Joe Blanton could change minds in the Angels organization with another strong start, Bill Shaikin writes for the Los Angeles Times. The team previously "did not even pretend" that Blanton was in competition for a rotation job, and he struggled in his early spring outings. The Angels' limited pitching depth will likely be a factor in their ultimate decision on Blanton.
- Alternately, If the right-hander continues to show improvement and the Angels begin receiving calls on him, they would probably eat most of his salary in a trade, Shaikin says.
I’m surprised that the ms are reluctant of keeping nick
I’m just wondering what would it take to get Nick Franklin, at least from a jays perspective?
I would imagine the M’s would ask for Stroman. The Jays might be able to get away with one of Davis/Nay and Nolin.
I doubt the Jays would include any pitching prospects, especially Stroman. But yeah, that’s probably what the Mariners would ask for.
Why would the M’s trade a 23 year old switch hitter with nice power and major league experience who has minor league options left and who’s value is only likely to increase? They would be nuts to trade him now, unless they were blown away by an offer.
His value is only likely to decrease, not increase. Nothing about going down to the PCL, no matter how he does there, is going to make him more valuable. And meanwhile he’ll be a year older. M’s keep telling reporters there’s lots of interest in him, but I suspect that’s a lie. I don’t think teams are willing to give up much of anything for him. His small frame and big swing are generally not a good ML success formula.
They were saying that his big swing was due to the fact of trying to make up for Ks by hitting more home runs after he started striking out more. I think his contact rate will go up this yr and he should be seeing more pitches.
He’s 6’1″ and 200lbs, he’s not exactly small. He just looks it because he would wear those “Great Gazoo” minor league batting helmets.
The Seattle front office is notorious for not telling the media anything. There was little advance notice of any Mariner deal in the past four years. The media reports I’ve read have not attributed the “interest” information to Seattle sources, named or unnamed.
If the Mariners stash Nick Franklin at Tacoma until a September call-up, his value could increase because of the added year of team control (Franklin has 126 days of MLB service). The issue would be whether his age 23 season at the MLB level would be more or less valuable than his age 29 season at the MLB level.
They were talking about it on the broadcast today. Sims said when he was told what some of the offers were, he was said, “you have got to be kidding”. He has some value, it would be nice if we could get a real OF’er for him that is MLB ready. There are some out there that are blocked. I am not sure why they can’t reach a deal though. It does scare me to have Z trade for an OF’er his track record is pretty bad. Almonte at the moment looks like his best acquisition in the OF. We will see how that turns out.
Franklin Gutierrez says hello.
Keep Nick. Someone in the IF could go down or struggle and it’s nice to have someone like that ready to go. If they get really crazy they could let him play some OF games in Tacoma as well. It’s good to be versatile.
I’d maybe put him at third too, to expand his versatility. He’s got a strong arm, and injuries happen. It could also open up the option to possibly trade Seager. Always good to have options.
I hooe the Mariners do keep Nick. Unless the right trade came along of course. I would also like to see Romero get called up at some point this yr.
They should send Franklin and someone else to the Dodgers for Joc Peterson.
I could see this as a potential match. However… Look up Nick’s AA stats and compare to Joc’s. Same age, same level. The same, except Nick was better. Now remember that Nick is two years ahead in development and plays middle infield. The dodgers are the ones adding pieces.
Keep in mind the Dodgers $25m for that shortstop from Cuba. Not major league ready right now but will soon thus Franklin isn’t really a need for them right now.
Don’t know how anxious they are to acquire another left handed bat.
What would the Tigers have to give up to get him?
Austin Jackson… Max Scherzer… Are those two guys blocking anyone? I kind of doubt Detroit would want to trade proven guys for unproven guys at this point though, and Seattle doesn’t have the luxury of trading proven guys, but Scherzer was mentioned as a trade candidate this off season no?
There is no way that Franklin (plus any other Mariner prospect) is going to bring Max Scherzer or Austin Jackson. Both of those guys are proven and very likely long-term stars, and Franklin is just a question-mark (with different opinions on long-term success).
I think it’s totally reasonable to ask for Scherzer or Jackson as the return for a package surrounding Franklin. Just last year Wil Myers, another question mark, was traded for James Shields.
Blanton is so bad. I would take Scalabrine to pitch instead of him
Angels should trade Blanton to Astros. I would love to see Blanton’s Era there.