The suspension appeal for Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley has been delayed, reports the Associated Press. Utley was suspended two games for his role in the play that broke Ruben Tejada’s leg in Game 2 of the NLDS. However, with the Dodgers eliminated from the postseason, there is less urgency to conduct the appeal immediately. This is the first notable example of a player being suspended for overzealously attempting to break-up a double play. If the suspension is ultimately upheld, Utley will be suspended for the first two contest of 2016. The Dodgers hold a club option on Utley valued between $5MM and $11MM, based on days spent on the disabled list.
Here’s more from the West divisions..
- Utley’s hearing will be postponed until later this year or possibly next spring, sources tell Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter links). The CBA mandates that the hearing must take place within 14 days after the player has filed the appeal, but the hearings can be postponed upon mutual agreement between the parties involved. The appeal will be heard by MLB’s John McHale, not an independent arbitrator.
- A package of three Astros pitchers – Francis Martes, Josh Hader, and Joseph Musgrove – most likely would have the convinced the Padres to part with closer Craig Kimbrel, a baseball source told Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. However, a third piece, thought to be Musgrove, was too rich for Houston’s blood. The Padres could very well make Kimbrel available once again this winter.
- Meanwhile, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow believes that his club has an opportunity to become an annual contender. “We’re in a great position as an organization because our payroll’s going to continue to increase as revenues increase,” Luhnow said. “Our young players are going to continue to come through the system, and we have some assets. We’ve got some benefits, some advantages that other clubs maybe don’t have. We’ve got one of the top farm systems in baseball still while having a young team at the major league level that’s already competing. That’s the ideal situation. Now, we want to maintain that for a long time to come.”
Wow, that package for Kimbrel seems really light. There’s a ton of teams with 3 minor leaguers of that quality who would trade them for Kimbrel in a second.
It’s just speculation. Woulda, coulda nonsense. Nothing to give any credence to.
Tell that to “Hacksaw”…since Mighty 1090 fired him, he’s been doing local sports on some channel I cant remember..
But tonight..yea, that would be Oct 25th…he mentions this same rumor, and proceeds to call it a “blockbuster trade”, as ONLY Hacksaw could do, lol..
I, literally, had to turn over every Padre rumor, this past week, to find this. This is just a rumor, and nowhere near, being a blockbuster. A blockbuster would be something that involved Correa or Springer in the same trade for Kimbrel…and we know thats not happening.
If there are a ton of teams that would have made that trade, why didn’t any of them do it? The truth is three decent prospects for a reliever is way too much.
Preller obviously didn’t think so…
No doubt Red Sox would be one of those in on Kimbrel for three prospects
doubtful when the prospect lists come out and Francis Martes is in a lot of top 40’s to 25s. Easy mid to up 90’s at a very young age, who could break camp in double A.
The best thing the MLB can do about the Utley situation right now is to bury it. If the Dodgers won it would be one thing but since the Mets won it’s a dead issue. Talk about changing the takeout slide rule in the winter and that will be done.
Agreed. When Scott Cousins hurt Posey, they didn’t suspend him, they just made a rule that would prevent it from happening again.
I always say, “if a team REALLY wants to win a WS, they’ll make a trade to acquire a dominant closer, and they dont look back”
well, lets see what happened…Houston stuck with Gregerson, and it came back to bite ’em the butt. Much like it did, when he went to the playoffs with the A’s, and gave it up in a big spot.
Ive been a adre fan for too many yrs to remember, and one thing I know, seeing him here in SD, Luke Gregerson is NOT the shut down closer that you need to come thru in situations where the air gets thick and its hard to breathe. He is NOT that guy. Yea, I know he got 30 REGULAR SEASON SAVES..but he is not the dude you get amped about when your team gets a post season berth, and you’re standing there looking at all your guys in the clubhouse, thinking, “yea, we’re untouchable”.
Kimbrel, probably would have changed the dynamics of that series with the Royals, in my opinion. And the thing thats even more ironic, is how its been proven more than once, that doing what you have to do to damn near ensure a deep post season berth, pays off.
Florida had the best overall pick in Adrian Gonzalez, back in 2000…2003 rolls around, and he could have been the face of that franchise for a lotta yrs. him and Miguel Cabrera…we know what he is…a 25-40 hr guy, 100 ribbies every yr, with GG glove. Well, they traded him to Texas without blinking, to get a bonafide closer, in Ugeth Urbina…and the rest is history, for the Fish in 2003.
as deep as the Astros farm system is, you mean to tell me, they didnt feel like coughing up 3 pitchers or whatever it was Preller wanted?…oh, ok. Well, I guess we can find them on a golf course, somewhere right now.
One of those pitchers is 22, went thru 3 levels this season and posted a 1.80 era with a 12-1 record and is now in Double a.Another is 19, went thru 3 levels this year, is now in double a, and posted a 2.00 era with a 8-3 record. The other is 21, in double a and hasn’t posted over a 3.30 era in his four minor league seasons. They aren’t highly rated pitchers but they have extremely high upside. While yes they probably would’ve been better off this year with kimbrel, they still have so much time and so much depth to make game changing moves. And kimbrels still under contract until 2017 with an option for 18′ so I think they just need to work a few things out and they just didn’t want to rush into anything where they might lose three future MLB pitchers for one
Martes is extremely highly rated at this point. He was probably one of the top 3 breakout prospects of the year.
The response to your explanation about why they didnt make the Kimbrel trade is simple…”do you want to win the WS?”…thats it, and thats all.
Houston has arguably, the best system in the game. And STILL, there is no team, in either league, that has an infinite number of oppurtunities, to win a WS.
With that in mind, Houston had a chance to get the best closer in the game. If Kimbrel was an Astro, they win that game against KC, that their bullpen blew, costing them the series, in the bottom of the 8th..
So, I sympathize with your losing. But they couldve pulled the trigger on a trade that may have had them playing in a WS, as we speak. Some scenarios like this arent so clear cut…but this one is.
tough for me to believe Craig Kimbrel wouldve mattered.
To question the Astros moves at this point, is pretty insane. The cornerstone of that rumored deal was what the Marlins considered a throw in player in the Cosart trade. A trade that netted the Astros, Jake Marisnick, Colin Moran, Martes and a comp pick, whose slot money and position netted the Astros the 5th best player in the draft Daz Cameron.
It’s those kinds of trades that gave the incredible depth the Astros have today. You can continue to stem those players from the original hunter pence trade. When they got Jared Cosart, Jon singleton, and Domingo Santana. In a nutshell, for giving up hunter pence they basically received Jon Singleton, Frances Martes, Jake Marisnick, Colin Moran, Daz Cameron, and half of Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers. It won’t go down in history as one of the best trades bc it wasn’t just one deal but those combinations of trades has helped completely revamp their farm system and has given them so much leverage when it comes to finding the perfect piece they have in mind for their future
Your team blows a lead in the bottom of the 8th, with your bullpen collapsing, and the best explanation you can put together is, “Kimbrel wouldnt have mattered”, tells me two things…1) you dont have much faith in your team to fight back…and 2) you’re delusional if you dont think Kimbrel couldve saved the game your pen, blew..if he did, your team moves on to a pennant.
So, he “wouldnt have mattered”??…and youre calling ME insane, lol.
Its hard to save face, when your team OBVIOUSLY passed on a difference making trade….I get it. But common sense, is free of charge, last I checked.
Francis Martes has probably climbed to the top of the Astros prospect food chain. He probably is the teams top prospect at this point. I think the Astros need to either move Appel to the bullpen or package him in a deal with Vince Velasquez/Feliz for Ken Giles or Carter Capps.