It appears the Rangers are at least looking into an impactful pitching addition. MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan says (Twitter links) that the club has pursued Jose Fernandez, Shelby Miller, and Drew Smyly on the trade market, but “couldn’t make headway” on any of those players. The club is, however, holding a line of dialogue with the Indians on their rotation arms. Meanwhile, Texas has “neither funds nor interest level” to take a run at Japanese righty Kenta Maeda, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports on Twitter.
Here’s more on the pitching market:
- The Giants have some interest in Maeda, skipper Bruce Bochy told reporters including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). And the team has scouted him previously in Japan, colleague Henry Schulman adds on Twitter. Of course, Bochy also added that the club expects Maeda to draw wide interest, and didn’t make clear just how strong of a draw he represents.
- With uncertainty abounding, the Dodgers are holding internal discussions on what to do about the team’s prospective trade for Reds lefty Aroldis Chapman, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports via Twitter. It’s possible that the club could “pivot” to some other acquisition targets or that it might allow the situation to play out before committing in either direction, he adds.
- Recently non-tendered righty Craig Stammen is “100% recovered” from his arm surgery, a source tells MLBTR’s Zach Links (via) Twitter. Stammen, a stalwart of the Nationals pen for several years, was non-tendered recently. He’ll be entering his age-32 season after producing a 2.88 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 in 246 2/3 innings over 2012-15.
- The Blue Jays are considering an array of options as they look at pen additions, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets. Toronto is considering everything from the best remaining free agent relievers to “bounce-back types,” he says.
- While a lefty reliever isn’t the Pirates’ top priority, the team has reached to free agent Matt Thornton, Stephen Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on Twitter.
- The Pirates have shown interest in free agenty righty Kyle Kendrick, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (via Twitter). Kendrick struggled last year for the Rockies, but he’s still just 31 years old and has had success at times in a swingman capacity. Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review broke down the Bucs’ efforts to find starters in a piece yesterday.
- Japanese reliever Hideki Okajima is eyeing a return to the majors for his age-40 campaign, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com tweets. The long-time Red Sox southpaw last appeared in the bigs in 2013 with the Athletics and has played in Japan for the last two years.
just say no to Kendricks NH. Look I get the cost of pitching is thru the roof but there are much much better options out there that won’t be that much more expensive. And the thing about reviving people’s careers is they have actually be good, something the Kyle is not. I’ll be tweaked if they trade Morton/Locke and end up signing Kyle. Hard hard pass.
Low risk High reward. It’s an easy sign 1yr/maybe a few million. It would be stupid not to do it. Don’t expect the Pirates to sign any free agent reliever that is above average, it is not their biggest concern as of now.
Just remembered he is a SP not a reliever, but still could do better than Locke and possibly Morton.
High Risk? I dont see anything about Kendricks career 4.63 ERA or 4.93 K/9 that says high risk. Ill take Morton and Locke over Kyle every time. Outside of 114.2 innings way back in 2011 Kyle has been awful. If the Pirates wanted a soft tossing righty, they were better off with Worley
I’d be fine with Kendricks in the Pen but Kyle has proven that when he is starting he isn’t any better than our worst options currently on the roster. In 27 starts 6 of them where considered quality. averaged 5.25 innings and probably his best start was after he left after an inning with no ERs (sarcasm)
If they could get him at you know 4 million or less (doubtful) and think they know what to do to make him better.. sure take a chance.. it is worth a shot.. i mean Edison Volquez was just about as bad ended up working out well so worth a shot if the price is right.
Signing him to pitch out of the pen is one thing, but no contending team should be trotting him out there every 5th day. Youre right that NH has done well if those bottom of the barrel signings and has definitely earned the benefit out the doubt but I see no redeeming qualities or hope that they can turn Hendricks into a viable starter. For that 4 million (which i know is just an estimate) id rather them have kept Worley and Snider
Yeah i agree with the Worley and snider idea.. i liked them but Worley burnt his bridges with management :-(
If the Rangers could get Jose Fernandez that rotation will be in good shape heading to next season with Cole Hamels,Darvish,Holland, Perez and Fernandez .
Fun to think about but I imagine they were just kicking the tires like everyone else. I’d rather see them find a right handed bat. (preferably a young catcher) for the line up and a cheap veteran to eat innings at the back of the rotation. The bullpen is solid and these super rotations we’ve seen from a few teams haven’t worked out to this point.
Good rotation that would be the best in baseball darcish fernadez and hamels would be the most elite 3 in the game plus holland is serious
I know we’re all about rumors here and everything, but a player/player’s agent who won’t even be publicly identified telling someone that he’s fully recovered from a surgery is about four steps down from rumor and ranks more as “a series of meaningless words mildly related to baseball.”
Maybe Okajima is thinking many new hitters in the league can fool with his serious head drop/fake when he winds up on the mound will work again for a couple of years, just like it did the last time. His “okie-dokie” change up was his best pitch, by far and had serious fade to it.
He does come back over to the states? Fans to games PLEASE watch him during games as he warms his wrist up during games with a large table tennis like paddle. Twirling it back and forth in a lightning fast motion, it’s like a blur he does it so fast with his left wrist getting it loosened up. Saw this several times when he came to Tampa.
Hamels,darvish Fernandez,Perez,Lewis and trade Derek holland profar Moreland Joey Gallo and chi chi Gonzales and one more prospect