Rangers assistant GM Thad Levine and A’s executive Billy Beane appeared on the MLB Network Radio show with Jim Bowden to discuss offseason rumors (tweets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Levine spoke broadly about Texas’ approach in free agency, saying “we’ll stay in touch with all the agents for the existing free agents. If something does fall into our lap, we’ll be poised to strike.” Reports suggest the Rangers have some budgetary constraints in play, but the roster is already is decent shape.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Rangers have not offered pitching prospect Chi Chi Gonzalez to the Marlins for outfielder Marcell Ozuna. There is “no truth to the rumor,” per Levine, although he does confirm that the Rangers have talked shop with the Marlins and other clubs. Earlier today, we heard that Don Mattingly and Barry Bonds hoped to keep Ozuna with the Marlins.
- Levine and associates are long time admirers of Justin Upton. The aforementioned budget constraints restrict the club from making a long term commitment. However, they’ll continue to monitor the status of his market.
- The A’s have “resisted some pretty aggressive suitors” for starting pitcher Sonny Gray, per Beane. “We’ve been adamant with teams that we want to hang on to Gray.” He’s coming off arguably his best season in which he posted a 2.3 ERA, 7.31 K/9, 2.55 BB/9, and a 53 percent ground ball rate over 208 innings. Throughout his three season career, the 26-year-old has relied on inducing weak contact to keep runners off the bases. He’s under club control for four more seasons.
- While outsiders often consider January to be a slow baseball month, Beane maintains that it can be very productive. The A’s are still trying to improve the club via trade. It’s also possible a free agent or two could slip through the cracks.
- The Mets had interest in signing Denard Span before he agreed to terms with the Giants, writes John Harper of the New York Daily News. Per GM Sandy Alderson, payroll wasn’t a deterrent. “The biggest issue for us was the injury.” The Mets have not had a splashy offseason, but the additions of Neil Walker, Alejandro De Aza, and Asdrubal Cabrera feel similar to those of Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe during the season. While Johnson and Uribe were just role players, their arrival on the roster coincided with a surge in the standings. In particular, the addition of De Aza gives the club flexibility to take advantage of any free agents looking for a pillow contract with a contender – perhaps like crowd favorite Yoenis Cespedes.
Why no posts on Oh to the Cardinals? Don’t trust the sources?
I tell ya. It just sounds so odd to hear that Mattingly is the manager and Bonds his hitting coach. Forget about the race issue. That’s unimportant. They are polar opposites in terms of the way they played the game, their personalities, their approach to the game. I wish them both well tho.
How are their approaches to the game different? Having followed teams both were on they seem very similar.
Yeah, neither of them ever got a ring.
The problem with Grant Brisbee’s analysis is that he isn’t factoring things like Pence being out 100 games last season and so forth. The Giants stand to gain more than 8 wins if they play well, might even win close to 100.
He was only comparing the free agents the Giants signed compared to the players they replaced. His analysis says they will gain 8 wins simply from the production of their new players. Pence and a full season of Duffy at 3rd will of course provide an additional couple of wins overall. I think 100 is a big stretch for any team in that division. The top 3 have strong rosters and the Padres still have a solid rotation and could play better with an entire year to mesh as a team behind them. The Rockies will continue to be the Rockies and will get beaten regularly away from Coors.
Is there a way to listen to this interview if you don’t have satellite radio?
I’m tired of this self-imposed budget limit for the Texas Rangers. Mostly because, if you do the math, the new owners are only shelling out as much money as Tom Hicks did. Roughly $135M budget minus $80M TV deal equals $55M… it’s just so frustrating knowing this
Same in STL. At least stl made offers this season although they were rebuffed
If upton drops to being a one year mercenary, it wouldn’t surprise me to see STL get involved. They obviously need power/RH stick, and they’d be picking up a motivated player. Unless they think Upton can no longer handle RF, his primary position with AZ, then I don’t see why STL wouldn’t look into him on a 1 yr pillow salary with incentives based deal.
I really want to see what team will trade away the farm for sonny gray