The Mets have decided to place both Ike Davis and Lucas Duda on their Opening Day roster, Kristie Ackert of New York Daily News writes. GM Sandy Alderson did not confirm which of the two would start at first base. Davis, in particular, has frequently been the subject of trade rumors, and the Pirates have been connected to Davis and have a notably unsettled first-base situation. But it appears Davis may remain a Met for now. Here are more notes from the East divisions.
- The Nationals are one of several teams to touch base with infielder Kevin Frandsen, Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post tweets. Frandsen recently opted for free agency after the Phillies outrighted him. Frandsen hit .234/.296/.341 in 278 plate appearances while playing every infield position but shortstop for Philadelphia last year.
- The trade of Alex Gonzalez to the Tigers was a "gem" from the Orioles' perspective, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun writes. The move demonstrates one reason it makes sense for organizations to sign lots of players to minor-league deals, Connolly suggests — the Orioles signed Gonzalez with little risk, then were able to flip him for a potentially useful, versatile, cost-controlled player in Lombardozzi.
I keep hearing what a great deal Lombardozzi was for the Orioles, as though he were some sort of terrific player. He had rwo HR and 22 RBI last year. Let’s not get carried away.
He is more of an on-base guy, and a rally starter. He brought a tough and hard working mentality. He would always do something to contribute. A lot is not recorded in the books.
That’s not the point. The reason people are upset is because he is a cheap, young, switch hitting utility player that is capable of playing both the infield and outfield positions for a over the hill SS that has been pretty bad for years.
The O’s got someone that the Tigers valued highly to be one of three pieces in the Doug Fister trade(even though most people thought it was awful) for a 37 year old SS on a minor league deal. It was a great trade.
Yeah the Tigers talked up Lombardozzi a ton as being depth and super utility. Now when they need both an OF and a SS they send him off for a NRI. So yeah, bad value for Detroit.
Lombardozzi really isn’t someone you want playing in the OF or at SS.
That is true, but it’s funny that Detroit’s management was talking about him being that kind of fill-in guy when he really was not.
Yeah, it just makes that trade seem even more bizarre.
Lombardozzi is and always was that kind of useful roster guy. Some people didn’t understand that, just like they can’t understand now that Gonzalez has value, even if he didn’t cost the O’s anything.
Omar Vizquel, the Tigers new infield coach, saw him play winter ball and said he can still play SS and would improve the Tigers roster. He could be wrong, but, I’ll take his word for it over any fan or reporter. Smart move by the O’s.
He’s a hometown boy who hit for a good avg and stole a few in the minors.And if he take over 2b it gives us someone who take over for Roberts
No one thinks he is the second coming, but in terms of degrees, its amazing the O’s could get him for a song, especially after getting David Lough earlier in the offseason for nothing as well.
Getting David Lough for nothing? I understand you may not be a Valencia fan – but you must be valuing Lough too high as well. What Baltimore paid for Lough…is pretty much what he’s worth. A platoon 3b for a 4th OF.
Ehhhh….David Lough was a 2.7 WAR player in his rookie season last year and is cost controlled through 2017. He plays plus defense and batted .286 with a 96 OPS+ last year. I think that qualifies him as a player with much more value than Valencia, who the O’s got for straight cash from the Redsox and is nothing more than a platoon 3b who hits lefties well.
Yes. You have apparently read the stats page on Lough. Congrats.
As a Royals fan who has been following him for years – you’ve seen the best. Solid enough player – but low ceiling – and if he’s anything other than a backup OF on your team – you’ve got issues.
Nothing against you personally – I’ve just been surprised how many O’s fans think they got more than they did in Lough.
Where do I start? A) He was a .300 hitter throughout your minor league system, including some of his best hitting done at the advanced levels, so I’m not sure where you have ground to say his .286 in his rookie year is DEFINITIVELY the best we’ve seen of him. B) He’s always been a plus defender. Always. C) Pretty sure Lough came in last year after his call up and was your everyday outfielder (as in much more than a backup OF) and the Royals won 86 games, the most they’ve won in quite a while, now granted, you play in the weakest division in baseball, but that’s still a pretty good everyday outfielder on a pretty good team.
D) We traded DANNY VALENCIA. We literally bought him from the Redsox. Read that again and say it out loud. The ORIOLES bought him from the REDSOX. He’s a 30 year old below average fielding 3B who can only hit lefties at a decent clip. Outside of last year, he hasn’t been an above replacement level player since his rookie year.
Valencia is a platoon player. If used properly, he can be effective in a limited role. I’ve got no false illusions about him. And by the way – we’ve seen plenty of him – he’s played most of his career in this division.
As for Lough – I certainly hope I’m wrong. But in following him all these years – there just isn’t much that says every day player on a good team. There’s a reason he’s never really been considered a prospect. The Royals have close to no OF prospects – and sold high. There’s probably a reason for those things.
Again, hopefully I’m wrong – but just a warning – don’t glance at a players minor league numbers and assume you know what a player is.
Oh for crying out loud. This is Steve Lombardozzi we’re talking about people. There is no “gem” upside here for Baltimore. The ceiling here is “decent little move” and “utility”.
Look at his minor league stats. Young, cheap, solid utility player for a spring training invite player at the end of his career. Not sure why you are trivializing it. These types of useful pieces are building blocks of good teams.
That new coaching staff in Detroit is incredible. They turned a “dime a dozen no hit no field utility infielder who can’t even play shortstop” acquired in the Fister trade into a” useful, versatile, cost-controlled player” in just a few weeks of spring training.
The Nats retarded Lombardozzi’s development by rushing him. He had good numbers in AA/AAA at a young age (21/22) which suggest that he is better than what he has shown thus far, and in the 2nd half last year he hit over 300 (SSS). Coming off his age 24 season, there is some upside.
I agree with you. I just thought it odd that when we got him in the Fister trade everyone said he was a dime a dozen limited ability throw in. A few months later we trade him to Baltimore and everyone says he’s a valuable roster addition.
The sad thing is one wonders of the Tigers were swayed by Lombardozzi’s poor ST stats and Alex Gonzalez good ST stats.
No. They don’t operate that way. They liked Lombo a lot, but Iggy out for the year changed everything. They were swayed by Lombo not being very good at SS and Omar Vizquel seeing Gonzalez in winter ball and saying he can still play SS. They had 2 scouts check him out and both say his range is diminished somewhat from what it was, but he was an upgrade offensively and defensively over what we had.
You guys ever see the episode of the office where they have a garage sale? Through the art of the trade, Dwight takes a thumbtack and ends up with the finest item at the sale? That’s what Dan Duquette reminds me of.
Signing him in the first place was the brilliant move, not the trade. A better analogy would be going to a garage sale and buying a near mint Mickey Mantle BB card for a buck that others passed over.
Mmmmmm…..not really. A) Alex Gonzalez has next to no value. He’s a 37 year old who can barely play SS and has only played 65 games over the last 2 seasons and managed only a .177 BA in a weak NL Central last year. He’s the thumb tack in this situation. Likening him to a near mint Mickey Mantle is quite a stretch. B) That being the case, the better analogy is that the trade surprisingly yielded something of value in return. I’m not saying Steve Lombardozzi is a Mickey Mantle either, but he certainly has value. A 25 year old cost controlled utility player who bats closer to .280 has value. Hence the office analogy.
Well, I can trust you or Omar Vizquel, Buck Schowalter and the Tiger scouts. Guess I’ll trust them until they’re proven wrong.
Well, to be fair, Buck Showalter was the one who traded him away and the Tiger scouts were the ones who didn’t even sign him to a minor league deal this offseason. If he was worth anything why not bring him in on an minor league deal in the offseason? Is it smart to not have a backup plan if a player gets injured? They couldn’t have even rolled the dice on a minor league deal for a plan B? I get it, Omar Vizquel said he looked good. But let’s call it what it is, Omar Vizquel is neither a scout nor a GM, he’s a 2nd year 1st base coach. There’s a lot of people around baseball who think this trade was a slam dunk for the Orioles, I’ll take their word and Dan Duquette’s over Omar Vizquel’s.
Josh Satin. That is all.
He’ll likely be platooning with either of Duda/Davis. Neither can hit lefties and Satin has shown the ability to hit them.