The Orioles announced today that they have selected the contract of first base prospect Christian Walker for the final few games of the season. Walker, 23, was Baltimore’s fourth-round pick in 2013 and batted a combined .288/.357/.489 between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk this season. As Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com explains, Baltimore will take a look at Walker while resting Steve Pearce over the remainder of the regular season. The team was hesitant to add Walker to the 40-man roster, as he did not need to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft this winter, but they decided to give him a mini-audition of sorts (Twitter links). No moves were needed to clear a spot in light of the suspension of Chris Davis, tweets Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com.
Here’s more from the American League East…
- The Red Sox have interest in Japanese hurler Kenta Maeda, tweets Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, but that interest is similar to their interest in many free agent starters, including Francisco Liriano. That is to say, according to Bradford, that Boston considers him a middle-of-the-rotation arm rather than an ace to slot atop the team’s starting five.
- The struggles of Koji Uehara have not changed the interest of the Red Sox in bringing him back, GM Ben Cherington tells Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). After showing excellent form for much of the season, Uehara’s age-39 campaign took a quick downturn from mid-August onward. He remains a tantalizing free agent, however, given his recent track record of dominance.
- For the time being, of course, all eyes will be on Rusney Castillo tonight as he makes his debut for the Red Sox. But with so little time left in the season, his real work will come over the winter, as Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports. Castillo is expected to play in both the Arizona Fall League and the Puerto Rican Winter League as he looks to dial in his play in anticipation of competing for a starting job next spring.
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos expects Melky Cabrera to test the free agent market rather than sign an extension, writes Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. While reports have indicated that Cabrera will receive a qualifying offer and Toronto hopes to retain him on a new multi-year deal, Anthopoulos said that it just makes sense for most players who get to this point to see what’s out there. Anthopoulos added that he’s open to bringing back any of the team’s pending free agents if it makes financial sense.
- The Rays’ immediate future is not promising, in the opinion of Gary Shelton of the Tampa Bay Times. With the team expected to oversee a drop in payroll, it will take bounce-backs from several key players (such as Wil Myers and Evan Longoria) to improve the team moving forward. For his part, skipper Joe Maddon says that he foresees a return to form for Tampa, especially given the team’s talented pitching staff. “I just want to believe it’ll be more offensive,” Maddon said of next year’s club. “Whether it’s with the guys who are here or potential acquisitions.”
What are the Blue Jays waiting for?! Re-signing Melky is a no brainer!
In a glorious world where other teams can’t make ridiculously high offers, yes, it would be a no-brainer. Hopefully Melky will give the Jays on opportunity to offer a competitive deal after seeing what he could possibly get elsewhere.
He wants to stay here too… I don’t see him going anywhere else.
He will if the Jays don’t give him a competitive offer. It’s really on them.
Except to the place that beats the Jays’ offer.
Anthopoulos is waiting for a number by ownership on how much to spend for next season, the payroll should go up based on how well TV ratings (entire TV network owned by Rogers) did this season.
Blue Jays payroll goes up when Blue Jays increase their revenue. That’s it.
The other businesses are not related.
Yes, because high television ratings don’t increase Rogers overall pocketbook right? Owners don’t like making more money when one of two things are correlated right?
Also, they already said payroll is going up for next year so this argument is already non-void as long as they own up to their earlier statement.
When they increased payroll in late 2012 they issued this statement.
The Rogers-owned baseball team’s payroll swelled from $83.7 million to $119.3 million over the winter, but executives explained that if the new talent made the Jays a playoff team, increased viewership would boost ratings and revenues at Sportsnet, which broadcasts all the Jays’ games.
The two are directly correlated.
I would be a little scared if the Sox signed Maeda and they already have plenty of guys that can be middle of the rotation starters. Also they haven’t had a good history recently with signing Japanese starters. And also I am on the fence about Koji because of how they used him the last 1.5 seasons. I mean if they can get from less than 10 MM then that is fine with me.
Christian Walker has a chance at being a plus power guy, with a balanced swing. Not an all-or-nothing guy. He’s a legit 1B prospect, and he will factor into plans around what they do with Davis eventually.
realize that although Davis is better off at first base, he could still factor into a corner outfield spot long term or even a permanent DH. If any of these were too happen, Walker would have a clear path to the majors. You let on that what the O’s do with walker is decided on Davis’ future with the team being if he is still on the team or if he is on another ball club. I am saying there could be an opportunity for both to remain with the O’s long term
I’m not sure what you assuming.
If Chris Davis is an Oriole, he stays at 1B. He has an excellent glove at 1B. The reason why he may not remain an Oriole longterm is because he’s due to hit free agency along with a pile of other core players like Hardy, Wieters, etc all about the same time.
Melky owes it to himself to see what the market offers, he owes it to the Blue Jays to re-sign given his tumourous 2013 campaign. Given his like for the team and the city, and the Blue Jays and their fans’ appreciation of Melky, I expect him to be signed for $15 to $17 million, for a 4 to 5 year contract with some options, performance targets built in. If the Blue Jays want him, few have resources to outbid. But AA is right, if market says he’s worth $20 million for 5 years the Blue Jays could be forced to walk away. In that case, they could look at Yasmani Tomas and trade Gose for BP help.
They need Melky’s reliable bat and a few more reliable bats. They also need an ace, perhaps a Lester or Scherzer splurge. Adding James Shields for his 200 innings would also let them move Mark Buehrle to the bullpen from which he can contribute to many more games and get any mid-season rest required. Then they can cultivate their excellent young arms through BP roles.
Buying free agent Pablo Sandoval to play third base lets the Blue Jays move injury-prone Brett Lawrie to 2B. Back-ups at SS/2B could be Kawasaki and Goins.
The Blue Jays have been too streaky in the wrong way so need reliable bats to join the signed core. I see higher salary spending and a lot of faces leaving, including Francisco, Tolleson, Valencia.
That’s quite a shopping list.
And a rather unrealistic one.
I see Francisco and Tolleson going, but I’m unsure about Valencia.
You know how much payroll adding that is?
Why would Buehrle move to the bullpen?
He was never what he was in the early season, but he is still a 200 inning 4.00 era type pitcher. That may not be great, but pretty much every team would be happy to have that in their #5 spot.
Not sure why Sox should really be looking at someone who most say is at best a mid rotation starter. They have quite a few pitchers, but really nobody to front that rotation.
Is Maeda a true free agent? He doesn’t need to be posted, is that correct? He’s not worth a posting fee from what I can tell. I would imagine they would see him as a possible 4-5 starter with the bullpen to fall back on.