Andrew Miller’s transition from the Red Sox to the Orioles has gone smoothly, Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com reports. “There’s a ton of differences. Things in general match up,” says Miller, for whom the Orioles traded at last month’s deadline. “The winning teams I’ve been on have a nice, loose clubhouse that expects to win.” Miller has pitched brilliantly in his first 7 1/3 innings with the Orioles, striking out 11 and walking three while allowing just two hits and one run. Here’s more from around the AL East.
- Carlos Beltran will see a doctor after feeling something wrong with his elbow while swinging last night, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweets. The Yankees scratched Beltran from their lineup tonight. It’s been a rough season for Beltran, who’s hit .233/.291/.416 (weak numbers for a DH/OF with little defensive value) while battling injury in the first year of a $45MM deal.
- Jon Lester is not likely to return to the Red Sox this offseason, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports. Instead, the Yankees and Cubs could emerge as possible suitors. It is, perhaps, no surprise that the Red Sox aren’t considered the favorites to sign him — they just traded him, and reportedly weren’t close in extension negotiations before that. Lester should be able to get a six- or seven-year deal in free agency, Heyman writes, and the Red Sox are likely to consider that to be too risky. Heyman does note, however, that the Red Sox may have been prepared to offer Lester five years and $100MM last month.
- The Blue Jays have promoted top outfield prospect Dalton Pompey to Triple-A Buffalo. Pompey, 21, hit .295/.378/.473 in 127 plate appearances at Double-A New Hampshire. MLB.com ranks Pompey the No. 3 prospect in the Jays’ system (behind Daniel Norris and Aaron Sanchez), praising his plate discipline and speed.
With Richards posible tearing his ACL look for the Angels to try for Lester
Richards will be ready for the start of next season. No question about it.
That is FAR from a sure thing. You never know what he will do for the Angels next season. Skaggs is also out for next season… Derek Holland has taken over 7 months to come back from his Knee surgery.
I am not even sure Richards will pitch next season. You should not expect Richards to come back and repeat his performance of this year. If you do… and he does not come back which is a possibility, we would have a horrible rotation with NO depth.
Beltran is looking more and more like Carl Pavano. The signing was rich, but you didn’t expect it to go south so rapidly.
Beltran is 37, I don’t get how anyone didn’t see it going south quickly. Yankees made a lot of bad moves last off-season. Made an old club older.
Beltran is old and has a history of injury, so a few DL stints throughout the season were not going to surprise anyone. However, what has surprised everyone is his lack of offensive production when he IS healthy.
The last two years he played in nearly 150 games each season and that was in the NL where he had to play the field, so he has been healthy. I thought that a move to DH and playing in Yankee Stadium might save his career but this is looking like a bad signing. Hopefully they can clean up his elbow as he looks to rebound in 2015.
The difference is Beltran’s career up to signing had been successful. Before signing with the Yankees, Carl Pavano was coming off just one great season and was under .500 as a starting pitcher for his career. I know wins and losses aren’t the be all, end all stat for starting pitchers but it still should have been a warning sign for the Yankees but his signing was indicative of the unrestrained spending of the Yankees of that time.
The fact that Lester won’t cost a pick should instantly put the Dodgers at the top of the Lester sweepstakes.
I was thinking about the same thing about the Yankees and Brian Cashman: Cashman didn’t want to surrender Corey Black last season to get Alfonso Soriano. He loves his young players. Really, every GM is going to love that about Lester. Even teams with a protected first round pick, like the Cubs–great, you don’t have to surrender your second round pick. There’s usually a good amount of talent available in the second round.
Granderson and Beltran have the same contract except that Curtis has an extra year of $15 mill. I never understood why the yankees did not offer him the same contract along with Curtis being younger then Beltran.
I guess they had a better feeling about Beltran coming off a .296/.339/.491 season than Granderson, coming off a ..229/.317/.407 season. And it’s worth noting that even though he’s been healthy all season, he’s hitting only .222/.326/.372. Still, yeah, partially because he would not have cost the Yankees a draft pick, I would have favored bringing him back. My plan was Cano, Granderson, McCann and trading for David Freese, for third base. As it turns out, my plan might not have worked out any better than the one they went through with.
If the sox don’t resign Lester or trade for hamels, they’ll be just as bad next year as they are this year. Cherington got lucky last year. The team has no pitching and from what I’ve seen from some of the prospects, I’m not even close to confident they’ll be good. Honeslty the team has a bunch of #4-5 type starters. Pitching wins and without it the sox are a below average team.
Their pitching prospects seem to be more legit than their positional players, I will give them that. But if it was up to me, I would definitely bring in an ace to take the pressure off of younger players like Rubby, Owens, Ranuado… who all have number 2 potential.
Maybe someone like James Shields on a shorter deal than what Lester will command. I think that would be a great addition for that team.
I’m not sure, Swihart and Betts seem really good in the minors. Also hopefully Xander comes back because he has all the tools at a very young age. They’re ceilings are higher but I totally agree, the sox need an ace because we truly don’t know what a full 2015 season with Rubby and Ranuado would bring. If this is the pitching staff we’re bringing into next year, we currently have no #1 or #2 starter with a lot of shaky #3-5 starters. I just don’t see us being successful with this pitching staff as it currently stands.
Yes, I agree. The Red Sox got lucky last year.
Zac….. Maybe you’re right with Cherington getting lucky last year, but it resulted in a World Championship….the GMs of the rest of MLB and the millions of fans of the other teams would welcome that type of good fortune.
I don’t get your point. Unless it’s the obvious one that every team, and their GM, and their fans, would like to win the world series… which is pretty obvious, no?
Or are you suggesting the Sox should just hope for good fortune next year?
I don’t understand.
Yes but I’d like the team to compete every year. My point was that if Ben doesn’t bring in an ace, he’ll be making the same mistake he did this year by relying on rookies. Do you feel comfortable going into next year with the rotation of (Buch, Ruby, Ranaudo, Webster, and possibly Workman)? My gut feeling is that Hamels will be coming to town but Ben can’t sit back like he did last off season.
Red Sox will not offer Lester more than 5/$95MM ($20MM for the first four years and $15MM for the fifth year) with a vestable option for a sixth year at $10MM or a $5MM buyout. The Cubs will offer 6/$135MM and the only way that any other team other than these two get him is to offer 7/$161 or more.
With the Cubs and Theo Epstein in the mix, the Red Sox can lowball Lester with the knowledge that any seriously contending team that wants him is going to have to dramatically overpay to get him. I predict that he goes to the Cubs, but would not be shocked if he takes less money to go back to the Red Sox. If I am wrong and the Yankees can get him for 6/$150, I will be very happy.
I hope the Cubs don’t sign him for 6 or 7 years.
With Sabathia in mind, I’m weary of going 7 years for any starting pitcher especially one over the age of 30 (Lester is 6 days younger than me….that makes me feel old). I guess there’s not much choice for the Yankees but there’s just so much wear and tear starting pitchers go through.
I don’t disagree. I took a second look at the money that was due Hamels going forward and used that as my guide for determining what the Cubs would offer. I originally thought that he had 6 years and $135MM left on his deal, but it turns out that it is only 5/$110. If that is the ceiling for the Cubs, then it is possible that another team could get him for 6/$150, which makes more sense.
I’m not sure Hamels’ deal is a fair comparison. That was a team friendly deal. Although, it seems to have been signed at a time when teams were more willing to loosen the purse strings so maybe those two things even out.
I only use the money due Hamels as a gauge of what the Cubs are willing to spend for a pitcher of comparable talent and value. That said, the Cubs would have also have had to have given up players in a trade with the Phillies, so it is possible that Lester’s cash value to the Cubs is actually greater than the money due Lester.
If so, then that would probably put their winning bid somewhere in the 6/$135MM-$150MM range, which would, once again, probably force the rest of the market to go to a 7th year to be able to compete with them if Theo Epstein’s presence with the Cubs is as big of a factor as it seems to be.
If Lester signs with the Cubs, Price will follow for the 2016 season.
Lester
Price
Arietta
Hendricks /Turner
Wood
SS – Russell
2B – Baez
1B – Rizzo
LF – Castro
3B – Bryant
RF – Soler
CF – Alcantara
C – Castillo
Looking Good !
I would like to see a rotation of Price/Lester/Scherzer/Wood/ with the 5th spot for Hendricks,Edwards, or Turner.
That’s assuming a lot, to think that you’re going to land one of the biggest free agent pitchers on the open market 2 years in a row. Who was the last team to do that?
It’s definitely a pipe dream but not impossible. All their young position players are playing for dirt cheap for the next 4-8 years. With Soriano off the books, I would hope they have a ton of money to be spending. I guess convincing these guys to come play for the Cubs would be the hardest part.
Damn I forgot Arrieta. Delete Wood and add Arrieta. I don’t think Wood will be that great anyway
If I were the Cubs and I believed in the combo of Russell/Baez/Bryant that much, I might deal Castro and his money to another team rather than move him to left. I don’t think he’s ever going to show the power that a contending team would want from a corner outfielder and a team might be willing to deal a pretty nice prospect or two for him.
I would agree he may be flipped for some pitching. If not, I see him going to 3rd, Bryant in RF, and Soler in LF.