Here are some of the highlights from the latest Sunday notes column by Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe…
- The White Sox will have “a lot of interest” in free agent outfielder Nori Aoki, Cafardo predicts.
- David Ross was told by Red Sox GM Ben Cherington earlier this week that the club “wanted to see how the roster shook out before making a commitment to” bring back the veteran catcher. Cafardo speculates that Cherington could be keeping his options open in regards to the team’s need for a left-handed hitting bat; if one can’t be found at another position, the Sox could look to add one at catcher.
- Now that Joe Maddon is managing the Cubs, Cafardo wonders if Andrew Friedman will regret sticking with Don Mattingly in Los Angeles and not making a move to bring Maddon to the Dodgers. “I think it will be a case of, ‘Why didn’t I do what the Cubs did?’ ” a baseball executive tells Cafardo. “Joe Maddon seems to be the hot manager out there and guys like that aren’t available very often. When Maddon is out there you don’t need a long, drawn-out managerial search. If you can afford him, you hire him.”
- Rays bench coach Dave Martinez has been mentioned as a prime candidate to become the team’s next manager, and will surely be on the team’s list of interview candidates. That said, “the feeling is that if…[Martinez] was going to get the job, he would have gotten it by now,” Cafardo writes.
- Nelson Cruz‘s free agency “will test the Orioles‘ commitment to winning.” In Cafardo’s opinion, the team has “no excuses” for not re-signing such a key part of their lineup, especially with extra revenues coming in from TV and increased attendance.
I don’t understand Cafardo’s logic at all. If Friedman reallly wanted Maddon he would’ve fired Mattingly then and made sure to hire Maddon then and there; he knew Maddon would go elsewhere. Why would he suddenly now regret it because Maddon was “the hot manager out there.”?
Maybe Friedman didn’t view Maddon as one of the best managers in MLB? Maybe they didn’t get along as well as was presented?
The entire situation in Tampa Bay – starting with the team having to allegedly tell Maddon that he had an ‘opt out clause’ in his contract while negotiating with his veteran agent (35 years in the business) stinks to high heaven. His agent went into negotiations not knowing about the clause? Really? There’s going to be a lot more coming out on this, but it will take months for it to surface.
At first I was one of those saying get Maddon now people, but it occurred to me that Maddon has yet to obtain a ring, as well. The truth is the Dodgers already have a manager that can get the team to the playoffs.
Glad someone said this. I know the payroll is high in LA but about 50M is overpaid salary anyway just to get back from the McCourt era. Mattingly has led his team to a better record every year.
Agree. Friedman knows Maddon as well as anyone in the game. Could it be possible that Friedman didn’t view Maddon as the best fit to manage the Dodgers? Or that Maddon wasn’t interested in managing the Dodgers.
However, I do find it funny that just because Friedman is managing in a large market, the media is already looking for reasons to second guess him.
I had a response for you on an article a few days ago in which you brought up Metheny getting the Cardinals into the playoffs, but I knew you wouldn’t be looking back. Here goes…
I don’t think the NL Central was very good the past few years – this year in particular. As an aside – and I mentioned this to a friend – how could so many of their young pitchers regress so much in 2014? I don’t know if it’s Metheny, the pitching coach, Yadi being injured, or what – but no one is bringing up why a team with enviable pitching in 2013 (to the point of looking at their AAA club for a starting pitcher they could trade for) is out at the trading deadline happily bringing in a John Lackey, and worse yet – an injured Justin Masterson.
From what I see in the NL Central, the Cubs can be a legitimate contender in 2015. All the teams have major holes.
Miller was the only young pitcher to regress. Lance Lynn took a big step forward in 2014. They were just leaning far too heavily on young arms and couldn’t get the innings needed from the starting pitching, especially once Wacha went on the DL. The biggest difference between the 2013 Cardinals and the 2014 Cardinals is they didn’t bat .330 with RISP, which was to be expected. But I’m really not sure what this is in response to?
But I never said Matheny got the Cardinals to the playoffs. What the Cardinals have done shows that a manager is not that important.
Second guessing by others comes with the Business as GM or Mgr. Make a decision and live with it, if you start second guessing your self your in trouble.
? I’m just saying it’s funny that he could do no wrong in Tampa. He makes one non-move in LA and people are questioning it. I really doubt Friedman cares who is second guessing.
It’s the off-season now, and it’s the American sports media with a lot of space to fill, so there you go. 😉
I think Friedman simply didn’t want to 1) increase payroll and 2) upset the clubhouse in his first days on the job. He’s signed onto the Dodgers to analyze what they should do, not so they can have build themselves a Los Angeles Rays team.
Orioles can get Butler for a lot less. Play him at 1B (he hits far better when playing the field and is a decent MLB 1B), DH Davis, and put Steve Pearce back in LF where he belongs. Better D all around. Playing in Camden Yards as opposed to the K will magically bring Butler’s power back (as playing at Safeco will see much of Cruz’s power disappear).
Well, the other thing is Ben, Butler’s approach at the plate. He likes to hit line drives up the middle. It’s not so much the park, it’s his approach.
I think it is the park. All the Royals hitters try to hit up the middle – especially Escobar – partially due to that big park. I saw at least 80% of the Royals games this year, and Butler seemed to change his approach at home – trying to hit liners into the OF gaps.
I like the Royals, the Orioles and Butler. I think he’d fit very well for the O’s playing 1B most of the time. And on even a 2-3 year contract, IMO he’ll outperform Cruz for far less money.
Our park is big, but we don’t try to hit up the middle. Escobar pulls the ball a lot, and Moose get’s the shift and Hosmer drives everything and Perez when he’s on hits everywhere. Butler pulls everything, but he had a bad year this year, he did do good in the post season. There’s no way we could pay him 12.5 million for this last season, we need a power hitter not a DH that hits for average.
Do you see the Royals potentially going after V-Mart/Cruz to fill their void at DH or do they look to a younger cheaper alternative?
I’d love to see us get Cruz but coming off his 40 home run season he’s probably out of our rage, we should’ve took a shot at him last year when he was cheap. That’s what’s bad about us is our owner is cheap, I wish he’d see the team. That’s why it took us 29 years to get back to the playoffs. V-Mart would be nice and after having only one good year he’d be cheap it would be a good move to get him. Good thing about our run is we should be able to get a good hitter to come in. With a improved Moose and Hosmer, we should be a favorite again. Moose and Hosmer didn’t have good regular seasons, just imagine what the Royals could do if they did!
Imo V-Mart would be the best fit for the Royals DH spot because he brings in a ton of postseason experience which should come in handy if the Royals can make it back again, they did that even though the majority of their team didn’t have real playoff experience. But it would be smart on the Royals part to try to extend Cain now so they can get him on a cheaper deal.
Playoff experience means nothing.
This year proved that the postseason is an enormous crap shoot.
All but one of the DS Series were won by the teams that were clearly inferior on paper. KC beat Baltimore in the ALCS on a series of broken bat doubles and weird infield hits. The World Series was between two Wild Card teams.
The Giants previous exprience had nothing to do with their World Series win. You know what did? Madison Bumgarner.
KC needs to do whatever is necessary to improve their starting rotation. That’s the only thing that will get them back to October.
I know that experience won’t win a WS but an experienced Vet can help a team when they get down into tough spots such as a Game 7 or a prolonged losing streak. Also if the Royals want to contend they should try and get mid tier arms such as Santana and possibly Masterson or McCarthy and get an outfield bat such as Markakis and a solid DH bat and then I think they can win the Division.
The cool thing about the AL right now is that with the Yanks and Red Sox down there’s no one super team.
It looked like that mantle might have passed to Texas or Detroit, but neither of them got it done in October.
Regarding Detroit, it looks like the Verlander era is over. Will they be able to replace V-Mart’s bat if he signs elsewhere? Was J.D. Martinez a one year wonder? Will they keep Scherzer? How long can Cabrera keep it up as he approaches his 32nd birthday?
We all know what happened in Texas this year. How will they come back in 2015?
All of the AL divisions are very much up for grabs, and KC does have the start of a solid rotation with Ventura and Duffy looking to be solid pieces for a long time. Who can they bring in to bolster the rotation? Can they keep Shields? Would a Masterson or a McCarthy be enough to replace him?
I would like to get Markakis if we let Aoki go, or I even herd Hunter. Our pitching will be fine. Ventura, Gunthrie, Vargas, Duffy, probably Finnigan. Maybe they’ll add someone and keep Finnigan in the pen. Our pitching isn’t the problem.
Plus, don’t forget Cruz wasn’t thinking sacrifice fly in Game one. If he had been maybe no extra innings and the O’s would have won in nine innings. Situational hitting was a bit of a problem for the O’s as well.
Our rotation is fine. We only need our guys to go five or 6 innings then the pen comes in and shuts it down. Bumgarner just shut us down. We need a legit home run hitter, we also quit being who we are . We stopped running and we stopped bunting. How we’re we so inferior when we had the biggest win streak in the season we barley lost our division. We’re a good team, we had been all season.
I got the two Martinez’s mixed up, I was thinking the one from Houston that got cut and they picked him up and he had a great year. That’s why I said he’d be cheap coming off that one good year, but now I know who you’re talking about. Yeah he’d be great to get, we got Infante so maybe he would come over. I know we’ll save money, cause we won’t even get into the bidding war with Shields. Yeah we need to lock up Cain on a friendly team contract. Then again they need to do the same to Gordon, and Hosmer and Moose. Our owner has to spend money or he will have empty stadiums again if he let’s those guys go for nothing. Remember we had Damon, Dye, and Beltran and we let them go for nothing!
“only one good year”? Really?! Victor Martinez has been one of the Best Hitters in Baseball for quite some time. He hits with runners in scoring position, hits equally well from both sides of the plate, hits better late in games, and hits better with TWO STRIKES ON HIM. Yes, he missed time with an injury, yet he is getting a qualifying offer. Please describe your definition of “cheap” for me.
Read again said I got the two Martinez mixed up, was talking about JD.. We’re talking Royals cheap, so dirt cheap lol!
VMART won’t be cheap………4/60.
Cruz hit 25 homers on the road this year compared to 4 for Butler
Butler has hit a total of 13 HR on the road the last two years combined (11 at home). He doesn’t hit homers anywhere
Seeing all this talk about Butler is amusing as he has to be one of the most over rated players in baseball. He is going to get a ton of money from someone to hit average
If I were the Orioles I’d keep up with this buy low method in getting bats. It always seems to work out like it did with Cruz. And if it doesn’t, the Orioles already have plenty, PLENTY of bats so it would not be catastrophic if it does not work out.
Cruz v. VMART….
Cruz is expected to get more $s than VMART, but most rank VMART higher. VMART is only a year older.
Why should Cruz get more? Keep in mind that VMART has played 35 games at 1st base. He is not a strict DH.
Well Cruz played 70 or 71 games in the outfield for the O’s.
Baseball Reference is too confusing to know which is correct.
Anyway, if the O’s resign Cruz fine. If they don’t fine.
I want Butler and Lowrie and possibly Miller. While Miller was lights out for the O’s, it’s a coin toss to see if he can keep it up. He did have control issues for awhile.
What do the O’s do with Lowrie with Schoop at second, Hardy at short and Manny at third?
Lowrie didn’t hit much this year, and his defense is suspect at best at every position he plays. Might as well just keep Flaherty in the utility role for a fraction of the cost.
The O’s really should have upgraded at 2B before the trade deadline in 2014. Schoop may or may not develop into an adequate 2B in the future, but it was obvious he was by no means an adequate 2B for a playoff team.
Correct, but either way, both guys are “mostly DHs” at this point and VMART is only a year older. Who will get the bigger contract in your opinion?
B-R is not confusing. Nelson Cruz played 70 games in the outfield starting 60 in left and 10 in right. One game because of substitutions he moved from left to right which is where you found that extra game.
Hey BG pumping up V Mart is not going to make it easier for the Tigers to sign him up. Has he agreed to give you a cut of the new contract-lol
I think Aoki and Davis would be a good platoon for Right Field in Detroit.
I’m hoping they put Davis back in LF, where his weak arm, and so-so routes won’t be so apparent. Tyler Collins could platoon with Davis and be the defensive replacement. They can move J.D. to RF. With limited funds available for bringing in an outside free agent, I expect their money being saved for the pitching staff. Nothing is available in FA for CF, so that will have to be filled thru a trade. I like the Aoki idea. I just don’t think that will be their first option, and I don’t think he’ll still be available, when they get to that point.
The direction of all future moves will be based on Detroit signing or not signing V Mart. My guess is they have $25-30 mill to spend on FA to keep payroll around 170-175 mil. .
JD in RF makes sense as it is smaller than LF. Davis’s speed can be better utilized in LF.
Bourjos or Bradley Jr. are the perfect fit for CF defensively.
Bourjos was my second choice behind Span (who did get his option). Not sure St.Louis will deal either Jay(third choice) or Bourios after sadly losing their star rookie. Need someone to cover lots of ground to help our corner fielders. I think it is too much to ask any of the rookies (Collins or Moya) to fill in if Detriot wants to compete in 2015 with or without V Mart.
Not sure if Tigers should or should NOT go after VMART. Why not get the draft pick and pick up a second tier guy? It may help them in 2019 or 2020…
To compete in 2015-16 they need V Mart. A switch hitter who personally will eat up 20-30% of a starting pitcher’s pitch count. There is nobody available that makes as much contact, hits for average and a RBI machine.If not him then, Adam Laroche could be the guy.Left handed, power, can play First in April while Miggy recovers,and then platoon as DH.
The counter argument is that Miggy needs the DH both short and long term. VMART is blocking him from it…. and the Tigers have bad defense… Why have a “3 DH team” (Miggy, VMART and Castellanos).
Why not get Headley (5 years younger) at a lower cost and dramatically upgrade the 3rd base defense?
Then put Castallanos in LF and also have him share that DH slot with Miggy?
No one player in a nine man lineup eats up 20 to 30 percent of a pitcher’s 100 pitches over the course of a year. You need to stop spreading that around. LOL, Rickey Henderson walked a ton and led off in an era of free swingers. He never burned up 20 percent of starting pitchers pitches for a year. Neither did Wade Boggs.
V mart is a foul ball machine and can easily get 7-9 pitches per PA.. Top of the league in 2 strike hits, had 641PA/42SO/70BB/32HR. That is only 10 more strikeouts than HR. He could eat up 20-30 pitches in any game he felt it was necessary. Walking has nothing to do with it.
VMART is due to hit a wall, this is a guy that has had very few seasons where he has played the majority of the time and also he is 35. Unless he is juicing, he is likely to hit a big wall in a season or two, the you have a giant hole in your lineup that is also costing you millions to have that hole with no possibility of trade.
I’ll be critical of O’s ownership if they DO compete for Cruz based on his current demands (4 years, $15MM+ per).
Let’s not forgot that Cruz is 35, has a long history of injuries, and essentially disappeared for the summer, hitting .214 with a .681 OPS from June 1 through August 31.
I’d love to see Cruz back on a two year deal, maybe with a performance-based option for a third year. But if the bidding gets crazy, I’ll be happy to pass.
Aoki fine as a 4th outfielder…but as a starter no thank you
Aoki is an above-average OF’er, leave him alone.
I’m not a big fan of his bat(although it seemed like he got a hit every time he up to bat vs us). But his defense from Viciedo would be a plus.
Id like to sign him just for the fact it will get Viciedo out of the OF.
I might be in the minority on this but here goes. I would consider a one year deal plus a 2nd year team option on 41 year old right fielder Ichiro Suzuki. He is still in great shape, hit .284 last year with 15 steals and continued solid defense. The 1-2 years would give the Sox a nice #2 hitter and buy time for the arrival of Courtney Hawkins. He would also bring in the Japanese market not to mention publicity as he is only 156 hits shy of 3000 hits in the states. Sox could also save money to pursue other areas of need. A left handed dh (Dominic Brown?) and a left handed hitting catcher (Jason Castro) would be nice along with maybe Luke (Gregerson) and (Zach) Duke, Cotts or Gorzelanny. What are your thoughts?
Wow don’t wish that on your own team. Akoi would be a much better defender and 2nd hitter than Ichiro. Castro had an awful year last year and may or may not be better than Flowers. Dominic Brown has had one decent month and has been bad outside of June 2013………stay away from him. Gregerson would help any bullpen.
So you are saying there’s a chance? All kidding aside, i respect your comments Flash. Brown had a great year in 2013, and I believe the Sox are targeting bigger than him anyway. Castro had 1 bad year and he might be the trade that Rick Hahn said fell apart before the non waiver deadline. Ichiro would be much cheaper than Aoki (who hadwent something like 26-58 with 6 walks against the Sox this year. Take away the #’s against the ChiSox and he probably hit .220 against everyone else), still be productive, put fannies in the seats, and there would be the extra national following as he chases 3000 hits. Its also a great way to have the young stars on our team see how the game is fundamentally played. In Japan, they execute bunts, run bases like they know what they’re doing, hit the cutoff man, etc. He would be another coach on the team. Bottom line though, Courtney Hawkins arrival in 2016-17.
I just sense Aoki is one of those ‘Well he has killed us, so lets get him’ kind of wants, which typically make no sense. BUT if he is playing LF and is a lefty hitter.. maybe that is what the Sox need. I doubt he will go for mad money that guys like Cruz, Cabrera, and Lowrie will go for, and he likely also has less baggage than those guys.
I do not see a point in the Red Sox signing David Ross back unless it is to be a stopgap until Blake Swihart is ready. The Sox already have a terrific defensive catcher in Christian Vazquez, and he even hits better than Ross too, so I wouldn’t want to commit to Ross unless it was under my terms if I were the Red Sox.