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Archives for September 2014

Minor Moves: Cory Burns, Matt Hague

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Here are today’s minor moves:

  • The Blue Jays have claimed right-handed reliever Cory Burns from the Rays. Toronto announced the move via press release. Burns, who will turn 27 on October 9, has a 4.60 ERA in 29 1/3 Major League innings. He spent the entirety of 2014 in the minors, splitting time between the Rays and Rangers organizations.
  • Also via press release, the Blue Jays have selected the contract of first baseman Matt Hague. The 28-year-old was acquired off waivers from the Pirates in mid-August. Since joining Toronto, Hague has hit .377/.411/.566 in 56 Triple-A plate appearances. He managed two major league plate appearances with the Pirates, going 0-for-2. Melky Cabrera and Chad Jenkins were moved to the 60 day disabled list to clear room for the pair.

Cafardo On Moore, Hart, Wotus, Hughes

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In today’s column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe looks at nine managers and GMs to watch. The Braves search for a new GM features prominently on the list. While Royals owner David Glass won’t prevent GM Dayton Moore from pursuing the opening in Atlanta, the matter of compensation could still complicate a move. When the Red Sox traded Theo Epstein to the Cubs, they only acquired an unaccomplished reliever in Chris Carpenter. The Royals would want more in return for Moore.

  • If Atlanta’s interim GM John Hart decides to pass on the permanent position, he’ll be heavily involved in picking his successor. Hart helped groom several future GMs like Ben Cherington, Neal Huntington, and Mark Shapiro. Assistant GM John Coppolella could be next on the list.
  • It’s surprising Giants bench coach Ron Wotus isn’t connected to more managerial searches. Wotus is Bruce Bochy’s right-hand man and a former PCL manager of the year. My personal observation: the trend of hiring recently retired players has hurt the visibility of Wotus.
  • A poll of 12 GMs found in favor of paying Phil Hughes the $500,000 bonus for reaching 210 innings. He fell one-third of an inning short due to a rain delay. He also had another start affected by rain earlier in September. Eight GMs were in favor of paying Hughes with four opposed. Those against the idea cited contractual reasons. As we learned earlier this week, the CBA prevents the Twins from simply paying the bonus to Hughes without restructuring his contract.

NL East Notes: Phillies, Gattis, Marlins

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The Phillies are expected to add depth this offseason in the hopes that increased rest will help the production of Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz, and Marlon Byrd, writes Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Both manager Ryne Sandberg and interim team president Pat Gillick have hinted that more rest could help the performance of their elder statesmen. The team has received almost no production this month from it’s aging core. The club is also eager to add younger players.

  • Utley is disappointed with his year, according to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. He also seems to imply that the daily grind of the season is to blame for the club’s disappointing finish. He points to full seasons from Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and an elite bullpen as reasons for optimism in 2015. On the subject of a Hamels trade, he’s firmly against the idea.
  • Today might be Evan Gattis’ last game with the Atlanta Braves, says David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Christian Bethancourt is viewed as the catcher of the future in Atlanta and appears ready for regular work. Since Gattis is not yet arbitration eligible, the Braves could keep him to split time with Bethancourt and serve as a cheap outfielder. Any outfield with Gattis would be a defensive liability since either Justin Upton or Jason Heyward would need to man center field. Gattis is thought to fit best with AL clubs.
  • The Marlins have added two experienced scouts in Dominic Viola and David Keller, writes Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Since the front office was reorganized following the 2013 season, the club has focused on adding experience to its scouting department. Those moves helped to shape two midseason trades which netted Bryan Morris, Jarred Cosart, and Enrique Hernandez.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Red Sox, Lovullo

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Yankees GM Brian Cashman believes the 2014 season to have been a worst-case scenario, reports John Harper of the New York Daily News. When asked about the club’s poor performance, Cashman said, “I honestly believe if you repeated this season 100 times, you would not get this result.” Here’s more from New York and the AL East.

  • Also from Harper, injuries were the biggest surprise for the Yankees. While some losses must be expected from an aging roster, the Yankees did lose most of their top veterans for some stretch of time. Growing fan apathy could affect New York’s offseason plans, especially with Derek Jeter’s imminent retirement. Harper suggests the club re-sign David Robertson and Brandon McCarthy. Rather than target a shortstop like J.J. Hardy, the Yankees could look at Victor Martinez to provide punch in the lineup.
  • It’s widely accepted that the Red Sox failure this season can be traced to an over reliance on prospects. John Tomase of the Boston Herald discussed a few other warning signs in his latest column. With the exception of a couple veterans, the club was complacent in spring training. Boston lacked the depth to deal with injuries and underpeformance. Poor leadership left youngsters like Will Middlebrooks, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Xander Bogaerts under intense media scrutiny during their slumps, which likely exacerbated the problem.
  • Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo is ready to manage in the majors, writes Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe. Lovullo is on the Astros list of potential managerial candidates, although it’s unclear if he fits their analytical approach. He’s interviewed for three separate posts in the past and could be busy this offseason. Lovullo’s resume includes playing in parts of eight major league seasons for seven teams, managing for nine years in the minors, and coaching for the Blue Jays and Red Sox.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Navarro, Blue Jays, D’Backs

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On this date in 1995, Greg Harris became the first post-1900 major leaguer to pitch ambidextrously.  In the ninth inning, the Expos reliever blanked the Reds as he faced four batters – two as a right-hander (his natural side) and the other two as a southpaw.  Here’s this week’s look around the baseball blogosphere..

Please send submissions to Zach at ZachBBWI@gmail.com.

West Notes: Angels Stadium, Dodgers TV, Astros

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The Angels probably won’t leave Anaheim, opines Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. We found out yesterday that the Angels cut off talks on a new ballpark lease with the city of Anaheim. Politics play into the situation, so the tabled negotiations with Anaheim may not be revived until after the election. In the mean time, the club will explore sites in Tustin. A move would presumably be funded by owner Arte Moreno. As Shaiken notes when suggesting the club would remain in Anaheim, “you don’t become a billionaire by spending hundreds of millions of dollars if you don’t have to.”

  • Also per Shaikin, the battle between Time Warner Cable and DirecTV over Dodger carriage fees could soon be moot. Currently, DirecTV subscribers do not have access to Dodgers games. While the two parties are at an irreconcilable impasse, they may be under new ownership by mid-winter. If federal regulators approve Comcast’s take over of TWC and AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV, then it’s much more likely that the two parties could come to terms.
  • The Astros have a narrow lead on the Diamondbacks and other major league clubs in the search for a new manager, writes Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. GM Jeff Luhnow had this to say on their head start: “I’m not sure being first is a huge advantage, but certainly we’re moving as fast as we can.”

AL East Notes: Yankees, Rodriguez, Cespedes

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Derek Jeter left today’s game with a hamstring injury, but the Yankees outgoing icon will play tomorrow in his final professional game. As the Jeter era comes to a close, New York will have to re-adjust to a familiar dilemma – what to do with Alex Rodriguez. Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes that Rodriguez is a symbol of “expense, uncertainty, and awkwardness” for the Yankees.

  • Also per Sherman, Rodriguez is not interested in playing winter ball, which will make it hard for the Yankees to project his role in 2015. The former star is owed $61MM for his age 39 through 41 seasons. His presence, along with other expensive, injury prone players like Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira, will make GM Brian Cashman’s job difficult (assuming Cashman is extended, his contract is up on October 31). Retaining Chase Headley while also addressing rotation, bullpen, and outfield depth could be difficult due to Rodriguez’s contract.
  • Joe Girardi believes Dellin Betances is ready to take over as the Yankees closer, reports George A. King III of the New York Post. David Robertson, the current ninth inning man, is a free agent at the end of the season. It’s thought the Yankees could extend a qualifying offer to Robertson and may pursue re-signing him to a multi-year deal. If those plans fall through the cracks, Betances represents an attractive alternative.
  • Yoenis Cespedes is unsure if he wants to pursue a contract extension with the Red Sox, writes Tim Britton of the Providence Journal. Boston is dealing with a lot of fluidity with their future. Deciding the role of Cespedes will likely influence many of their offseason decisions.

Minor Moves: Rusin

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Here are the minor moves of the evening:

  • The Rockies have claimed left-handed pitcher Chris Rusin off waivers from the Cubs, according to the MLB.com transactions page. From 2012 through 2014, Rusin pitched to a 4.97 ERA in 108 and two-thirds innings for the Cubs, including 20 starts and four relief appearances. The relief outings all came this season, in which he contributed a 7.11 ERA in 12 and two-third innings. The 27-year-old also made 23 starts this year for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate.

NL Notes: Brewers, Marlins

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Earlier today, we learned the Brewers will conduct an offseason review of the club. Owner Mark Attanasio and GM Doug Melvin met with media moments ago to discuss the state of the franchise. As part of the press conference, we learned that Melvin’s job is safe, tweets Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

  • Manager Ron Roenicke and the rest of the coaching staff will be evaluated after the season, according to Rosiak (also on Twitter). Melvin explained that the club will evaluate the team’s play at home (tweet). He also expressed some concern about clubhouse attitudes, saying, “I’m going find out about who cares about winning and losing (tweet).”
  • Attanasio will also be involved in the evaluation process. He’ll meet with select players to learn what the club is missing, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Per Attanasio, “if we’re not making any changes, we’d better have a damn good reason for why.”
  • It’s been 11 years since the Marlins have reached the postseason, and club president David Samson views Giancarlo Stanton as crucial  to an October return, writes Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. The Marlins, who haven’t seen postseason action since 2003, now possess the third longest playoff drought after the Blue Jays (1993) and Mariners (2001). As for locking up Stanton, Samson had this to say on the subject: “I’m very much looking forward to sitting down and talking to Giancarlo at the end of the season, which we promised to do and we want to do.”

East Notes: Yankees, Red Sox, Lester, Papelbon

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Compared to the problems the Yankees face this offseason, the Red Sox’ issues aren’t so bad, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal writes. With a huge number of ugly contracts on the books (including those of C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Brian McCann, Alex Rodriguez and Carlos Beltran), they’ll be limited in their ability to upgrade. They will, however, get a modest boost in that Derek Jeter’s $12MM salary will come off the books. The Red Sox don’t have as many onerous commitments as the Yankees, and they also have more interesting young players, so if they were to trade a veteran, they would be able to replace him with a young player like Mookie Betts. Here’s more from the East divisions.

  • Being traded from the Red Sox to the Athletics helped reduce the amount of speculation surrounding Jon Lester as he approached free agency, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports. “Everybody knows it’s two months and then probably not sign a contract with the Oakland A’s. We’re going to go our separate ways and go into free agency,” Lester says. In Boston, Lester faced months of questions about his impending free agency and whether he would re-sign with the Red Sox, but there are no such questions with Oakland. Now he’s about to enter free agency as one of the market’s top pitchers — MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes recently rated Lester the second overall free agent, behind Max Scherzer.
  • Jonathan Papelbon’s age and contract give the Phillies reasons to try to trade him this offseason, but Papelbon says he would not mind staying in Philadelphia, writes MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “I’ve said the perfect ending to this equation would be me on this team righting this ship and possibly closing out a World Series or getting in the playoffs and making a nice run and seeing what happens from there,” says Papelbon. “I think that would be a fairy tale ending if there is one.” Papelbon had previously said he wanted to play for a contender and was willing to waive his limited no-trade clause to do so.

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