West Notes: Rollins, Giants, Lucroy, Astros, Angels

The Giants had interest in Jimmy Rollins before the veteran infielder ultimately agreed to a minor league deal with the White Sox, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. Rosenthal adds that the Giants would have used Rollins as a super utility player, taking advantage of his ability to switch-hit. Via Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area (on Twitter), Giants GM Bobby Evans has confirmed the Giants were quite interested in Rollins, although they couldn’t promise the kind of playing time he would be able to get in Chicago (which has a considerably less stable shortstop situation). Here’s more from the West divisions.

• In other news about player acquisitions that never came to be, Rosenthal tweets that the Astros tried to acquire Jonathan Lucroy from the Brewers last month but were not able to come to terms. Jason Castro is eligible for free agency following the 2016 and Lucroy is controllable for an additional year (and for a very modest $5.25MM or a $250K buyout), so perhaps it’s no surprise that David Stearns’ former employers called him about a possible trade.
• The Angels would prefer to have more lefty relief help, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes. They’re without a lefty specialist, and the only lefty who currently figures to be in their bullpen is Jose Alvarez. The team does have additional lefty bullpen candidates in Lucas Luetge and Rob Rasmussen. “To have a lefty specialist available is a tool you’d like you to have in bullpen, but we’ll see where we are,” says manager Mike Scioscia. Fletcher doesn’t say whether the Angels actually plan to pursue more lefties, but even if they do, perhaps the issue isn’t so pressing. Unsurprisingly, the free agent market is a bit thin, and Scioscia and the Angels have gotten very good results with heavily right-handed bullpens in the past, such as their 2003 and 2004 ’pens, which were elite very limited contributions from left-handers.