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Angels, ChiSox, D’Backs, Giants Showing Early Interest In Tim Lincecum

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The Angels, Diamondbacks, Giants and White Sox are the four teams who have been the quickest to show interest in Tim Lincecum, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports.  The Padres are also expected to join the hunt to sign the two-time Cy Young Award winner.  Given that the majority of MLB teams had scouts in attendance at Lincecum’s showcase on Friday, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more clubs emerge.

Lincecum has long been considered as a possibility to return to the Giants and there is mutual interest between the two sides, though it’s still unclear whether the club is adamant about using Lincecum only as a reliever or (as he prefers) as a starting pitcher.  The Padres and Angels have also been linked to Lincecum, and given how both teams have been plagued by rotation injuries this season, they seem likely to be more open to using Lincecum as a starter.

The White Sox are a logical suitor for Lincecum given the club’s desire for rotation depth in the wake of John Danks’ release.  Erik Johnson, Miguel Gonzalez, Jacob Turner and Chris Beck are all on hand as fifth starter options for Chicago, though Lincecum offers much more upside if he can even partially resemble his old Cy Young form.  While Lincecum could be intrigued by the idea of joining the first-place Pale Hose, geography could be an issue if (as the Orioles’ Dan Duquette noted this morning) Lincecum indeed prefers to pitch for a team “west of the Mississippi.”

The D’Backs are a new name in the Lincecum sweepstakes.  Arizona starters entered today’s action with a 5.41 ERA, the second-highest rotation ERA of any club in baseball.  Zack Greinke sports a 5.15 ERA (though advanced metrics indicate that he has been unlucky), Shelby Miller has pitched very poorly and none of Patrick Corbin, Rubby De La Rosa and Robbie Ray have looked much more than average.  Pitching at Chase Field could be something of a hard sell for Lincecum given that he would likely prefer to rebuild his value in a less hitter-friendly ballpark; he has a 4.72 ERA in 76 1/3 career innings at Chase Field against the Diamondbacks.

Cafardo’s Latest: Reddick, Lovullo, Teheran, Swihart, Ellsbury

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We’ve already checked in with the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo once today, with his report that the White Sox and Angels could both be looking to acquire one of several notable outfielders before this summer’s trade deadline.  Here’s some more from Cafardo’s weekly Sunday notes piece and a separate column…

  • Josh Reddick is another addition to the list of left-handed hitting outfielders who could be targeted by the White Sox, or perhaps even the Cubs given Reddick’s past history with Theo Epstein.  Reddick will be a free agent this winter and there doesn’t appear to be much progress between he and the Athletics on an extension.  The A’s are 14-18 after today’s loss in Baltimore and Reddick stands out as a big trade candidate should Oakland continue to lag behind in the AL West race.
  • If the Braves decide to make a change at manager, Cafardo suggests that Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo would be a good fit for the rebuilding club due to Lovullo’s experience in dealing with younger players.  Lovullo posted a winning record while serving as Boston’s interim manager last year and received quite a bit of credit for helping end 2015 on a positive note after the disastrous first few months of the Sox season.
  • Many scouts and front offices feel Julio Teheran will be made available before the trade deadline.  The Braves had some talks with the Giants and Cubs about Teheran last winter, and the 25-year-old righty has likely elevated his value with a good start to his season after he struggled in the first half of 2015.
  • One AL general manager thinks the Red Sox would be willing to include Blake Swihart in a trade package for “a No. 2 type pitcher.”  Though Swihart has struggled defensively behind the plate and has been demoted to Triple-A, the former top prospect still has a lot of trade value.  Swihart’s hitting potential makes him a bigger trade target than fellow Boston catcher Christian Vazquez for most teams, as Vazquez is a much better defender but is a question mark at the plate.
  • It has become clear that the Red Sox made the right choice in choosing Jackie Bradley Jr. over Jacoby Ellsbury, Cafardo opines.  Bradley is starting to show signs that he can be a consistent big league hitter and he’s always displayed an outstanding glove, while Ellsbury has battled injuries and declining performance since signing a seven-year/$153MM deal with the Yankees in the 2013-14 offseason.

Poll: Should The Angels Consider Trading Mike Trout?

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The Angels entered the season with some uncertainty surrounding their roster, and though we’re only a week into May, the 13-18 Halos may be facing an uphill battle to get back into contention.  Injuries have ravaged the pitching staff, and the loss of ace Garrett Richards to Tommy John surgery is a particularly crushing blow that will hurt the Angels both this season and next, as Richards likely won’t return until late in the 2017 campaign.  With closer Huston Street also on the DL and the lineup producing middling numbers in most offensive categories,

Compounding the problem for Anaheim is that the club is spending a lot of money (an Opening Day payroll of roughly $164.67MM) for this underwhelming performance, and the Angels’ farm system is widely considered to be by far the weakest in baseball.  Some payroll relief will come when C.J. Wilson and Jered Weaver are off the books this winter as free agents, though the minor league system is in such dire straits that the Angels will realistically need a few years of strong drafts to replenish their stock of prospects.

The rumor mill is already beginning to swirl around the Angels as a possible trade deadline seller, and perhaps inevitably, there has been speculation that the Halos could completely shake things up by dealing Mike Trout.  Needless to say, a Trout trade would be a milestone transaction for baseball as a whole, there’s almost no limit to what the Angels could demand in return for a player whose early-career exploits have put him alongside some of baseball’s all-time greats.

Trout would fetch, at minimum, a multi-player package of several blue chip prospects and slightly more developed talents who are close to the big leagues.  A deal could also includes one or more established Major Leaguers.  Could the Angels even look to move Albert Pujols’ increasingly-burdensome contract by attaching it to Trout’s services?  That last scenario may be perhaps a bit too far-fetched, though it’s hard to really gauge what a Trout market would look like given how rare it is for a superstar player in his prime to be shopped.

Angels owner Arte Moreno and GM Billy Eppler, unsurprisingly, have both flatly denied that the Angels have any inclination of dealing Trout.  Even if this season goes completely off the rails for Anaheim, you would think that it would take another rough year in 2017 for the Angels to even begin considering a Trout trade given his importance to the franchise…and even then, the Angels are free of Josh Hamilton’s contract after 2017 so they’d have even more available funds for a reload rather than a rebuild.  Furthermore, Trout’s six-year, $144.5MM deal that runs through the 2020 season contains a full no-trade clause, so the superstar would have the final say on whether or not he left for another team.

Even the vague idea of Trout being swapped has inspired quite a bit of debate amongst pundits.  Sports On Earth’s Brian Kenny and ESPN’s Buster Olney argue that the Angels would be foolish to deal such a once-in-a-generation talent, with Olney adding the caveat that the club might reconsider if Trout were to tell the Angels that he wasn’t going to re-sign after his current contract is up.  Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron and ESPN’s David Schoenfield, on the other hand, think the idea isn’t completely absurd given how dire Cameron feels the Angels’ long-term situation is and (as Schoenfield illustrates) the incredible potential trade packages Anaheim could command.

While trading Trout is a complex question, let’s boil it down to a simple yes or no question.  Is Trout the definition of an untouchable player, or are the Angels’ problems severe enough that they need a drastic move like a Trout deal to reinvigorate the franchise?  (MLBTR app users can weigh in here)

AL East Notes: Price, E-Rod, Rays, Posey, Blue Jays

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Here’s the latest from around the AL East…

  • David Price insists that his seven-year, $217MM contract with the Red Sox isn’t playing any part in his struggles this season, the star lefty told reporters (including the Boston Herald’s Evan Drellich).  “Every 14 or 15 days when we get paid, I don’t know what my paycheck looks like,” Price said. “I’m not going to ask my agent. I’m not going to sit down and do the math. I don’t spend money. I don’t live a lavish lifestyle….I’m the same guy. I’m not going to let my struggles affect me. The amount of money that I make, I’m not going to change.”  Price’s Red Sox career is off to a rough beginning, though he feels he may have discovered a mechanical reason for his problems thanks to a tip from Dustin Pedroia.
  • Boston manager John Farrell said it’s possible Eduardo Rodriguez’s next outing could be with the Red Sox, Stephen Hewitt of the Boston Herald writes.  Rodriguez is still working his way back from a knee injury that sidelined him for around a month during Spring Training and greatly set back his offseason training.  The southpaw tossed his third rehab start in the minors today, and Farrell said the club will speak to Rodriguez tomorrow to gauge whether he’s ready to escape the DL.
  • Catcher has been an area of need for the Rays throughout virtually their entire franchise history, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes in a look at how the Rays have tried many methods of acquiring or developing a solid everyday catcher with little success.  While Tampa is far from the only team who has struggled to find consistent help behind the plate, the Rays’ decision to take Tim Beckham ahead of Buster Posey in the 2008 draft looms as perhaps the franchise’s biggest what-if scenario.  “To me, there’s no draft miss like the Posey miss in the last decade….Anyway, no one with the Rays ever has admitted it, but it feels like the organization has been trying to make up for it ever since,” Baseball America editor-in-chief John Manuel tells Topkin.
  • The Blue Jays suffered another late-game breakdown today, and bullpen help could soon become a need for the club unless the relief corps improves, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes.  Drew Storen and Brett Cecil, expected to be Toronto’s chief setup men, have instead struggled badly — Storen has an even 9.00 ERA over 11 innings after allowing two runs today, while Cecil has a 5.59 ERA over 9 2/3 frames.

NL Notes: Cardinals, Belt, Bucs, Lincecum

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In 2012, before shortstop Aledmys Diaz had left Cuba, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak wondered why the Redbirds hadn’t been active in the Cuban market and pushed for organizational changes, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch details. “I was trying to find different ways to look at the future, and we were hearing a lot about Cubans signing, all the time, and not hearing much from us,” Mozeliak said. He added that the Cardinals “needed boots on the ground wherever a Cuban team played. We needed more information. We needed to learn more about the market so we could make better decisions.” The organization’s newfound focus on Cuba eventually led it to Diaz, whom it signed to a four-year, $8MM deal in March 2014. The Cardinals were patient with Diaz (now 25) – as evidenced by the fact that he didn’t make his major league debut until this year – which was a factor in his decision to sign with them. “I think in the end you’re looking for a good bonus, a good contract, but you also want a good reason (to sign),” Diaz said. “They showed me a lot. They gave me a lot of time.” Diaz has repaid the Cardinals’ patience with an astounding .400/.436/.695 batting line, five home runs and nearly as many walks (six) as strikeouts (eight) through his first 101 major league plate appearances.

More from the National League:

  • With a .324/.447/.552 line in 132 PAs, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt has been one of the majors’ premier hitters this year. Belt has long been a terrific offensive player, but he’s easily on track for his best season and his 2016 outburst has come thanks to some notable changes, writes FanGraphs’ Owen Watson. Belt has shown remarkable strike zone mastery in walking 18.9 percent of the time and striking out at a 14.4 percent rate. Those marks are significantly better than his career rates (10.3 percent and 23.8 percent, respectively). He’s also swinging at far fewer pitches outside the strike zone (and fewer pitches in general) while making more contact with the offerings at which he does swing. The 28-year-old now clearly holds his hands lower than he used to before the ball is thrown and isn’t standing as upright – two adjustments that could be helping him see the pitch longer – Watson notes. Belt’s also combating defensive shifts, which teams commonly deploy against him, by hitting the ball to the opposite field more often.
  • The Pirates sent a scout to watch Tim Lincecum’s showcase Friday and have done their “due diligence” on the free agent right-hander, general manager Neal Huntington said Sunday (Twitter link via Dan Zangrilli of 93.7 The Fan). Given Ray Searage’s reputation for reviving pitchers, it would be fascinating to see how Lincecum would fare as a Pirate. A Searage-Lincecum union probably isn’t in the offing, though, as Orioles GM Dan Duquette said earlier Sunday that Lincecum is likely to sign west of the Mississippi. That would obviously rule out Pittsburgh.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/8/16

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Here are Sunday’s minor moves from around the majors:

  • The Padres announced that they have placed second baseman Jemile Weeks on the 15-day DL with a right hamstring strain and recalled Jose Pirela. Prior to suffering the injury Saturday, Weeks collected 57 PAs and hit just .140/.204/.200. Pirela, also a second baseman, has slashed .306/.352/.447 at the Triple-A level in 2016. He was with the Padres earlier this season and appeared in four games, racking up five PAs and a double.
  • Catcher Adam Moore, whom the Indians designated for assignment earlier this week, will stay in the organization after accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus, tweets Tribeinsider.
  • The Astros reinstated catcher Max Stassi from the DL and optioned him to Triple-A Fresno, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle was among those to report (Twitter link). Prior to undergoing surgery on the hamate bone in his left wrist in mid-March, Stassi was expected to team with Jason Castro to form the Astros’ catching tandem. The club is now preparing Evan Gattis for a role behind the plate, however, lessening the need for Stassi – whom Baseball America ranked as Houston’s 19th-best prospect entering the season.
  • The Cubs have activated right-hander Neil Ramirez from the bereavement list and optioned righty Spencer Patton to Triple-A Iowa, the team announced. Ramirez has amassed six innings of three-run ball this year (seven strikeouts, four walks), while Patton made his sole big league appearance of the year Saturday and faced two batters – one of whom walked, the other of whom doubled.
  • The Athletics have optioned right-hander Jesse Hahn to Triple-A Nashville and recalled righty J.B. Wendelken, per a team announcement. Hahn threw 17 2/3 innings in the minors this year before the A’s recalled him at the end of last month. He made two starts with Oakland, allowing four earned runs in 12 innings while walking six and striking out four. Hahn had a rough start Saturday, surrendering eight hits, four earned runs and four walks in 5 1/3 innings of work in a loss to Baltimore. Wendelken, 23, is now in position to make his major league debut after racking up 315 2/3 innings in the minors, where he has posted a 4.08 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9.
  • The Reds announced that they have sent outfielder Scott Schebler to Triple-A Louisville and recalled outfielder/first baseman Kyle Waldrop. Schebler’s demotion is the result of the Reds wanting to give him playing time, which he hadn’t been receiving enough of in the majors lately because of the success of left fielder Adam Duvall. Schebler hit just .188/.246/.344 with a home run in 69 plate appearances prior to his demotion. Waldrop, not to be confused with the former major league reliever of the same name, has hit .276/.322/.437 in 2,445 career minor league PAs. The 24-year-old got his first taste of big league action last season, though he accrued only one at-bat.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Glasnow, Goldschmidt, Harper

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Here’s this week’s look around the baseball blogosphere:

  • The Point Of Pittsburgh analyzes why the Pirates haven’t yet promoted elite pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow and determines that their decision to wait, although painful now, will pay long-term dividends.
  • NatsGM has a podcast interview with FiveThirtyEight writer Ben Lindbergh, the author of “The Only Rule Is It Has To Work,” which details the experience Lindbergh and Baseball Prospectus’ Sam Miller had running the baseball operations of an independent league team last year.
  • About Sports chats with ESPN’s Buster Olney.
  • Jays From The Couch highlights what has gone wrong offensively for Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin this year and provides an answer regarding whether panic is in order.
  • Inside The ’Zona features a similar piece concerning Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who hasn’t quite been himself early this season.
  • Super Two Sports applauds Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper’s “Make Baseball Fun Again” campaign.
  • BP Toronto sees Fantex as good for players and bad for front offices.
  • Chin Music Baseball names the six most disappointing players of the young season.
  • The Runner Sports explains that it might make sense for the Astros to promote dominant Double-A pitching prospect Joseph Musgrove to the majors, noting that the team set a precedent last year by bringing up two now-prominent starters from that level.
  • Pirates Breakdown wonders why the Bucs are shifting less this year, which correlates with (and could be partially to blame for) a downturn in performance by their pitchers.
  • MLB DFS Weather examines what the weather projections for this summer could mean for offense around baseball.
  • OutfieldFlyRule lists ways Major League Baseball can reach out to the next generation of fans.
  • Camden Depot offers an outside-the-box way for the Orioles to fix their biggest flaw: their starting pitching.
  • Same Page Team goes 25 deep with the Blue Jays and delves into the struggles of shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and reliever Brett Cecil.
  • Big Three Sports profiles the Pirates’ two best pitching prospects – the aforementioned Glasnow and Jameson Taillon – and provides insight on when the two will make their major league debuts.
  • Think Blue PC interviews Dodgers pitching prospect Chase De Jong.
  • Pinstriped Prospects writes that 26-year-old Double-A pitcher David Kubiak is living the dream as a member of the Yankees organization.
  • Outside Pitch MLB is perplexed by the underrating of Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts.
  • Innings Eaters weighs in on whether the rebuilding Braves should trade first baseman Freddie Freeman.
  • Sports Heaven looks at Giants ace Madison Bumgarner’s chances of going down as the best hitting pitcher in the history of baseball.
  • RSN Stats evaluates some of the numbers the Red Sox have put up during their solid start.
  • FantasyPros doesn’t think there’s anything fluky about Mets outfielder Michael Conforto’s early season excellence.
  • Notes From The Sally scouts Giants right-hander Phil Bickford.
  • Chris Zantow reminisces fondly on the 10th anniversary of then-Brewer Bill Hall’s Mother’s Day walk-off home run in 2006.
  • Baseball Hot Corner believes more playing time is in order for Blue Jays first baseman Justin Smoak.
  • The Wayniac Nation explains that the surprising Phillies must not lose sight of the future.
  • isportsweb investigates what’s in store for those Phillies in May.
  • Jays Journal has a favorable opinion of Blue Jays backup catcher Josh Thole.

Two Cuban Veterans To Work Out For ML Scouts

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Two Cuban veterans, outfielder Alexei Bell and infielder Ramon Lunar, will work out for major league scouts in Cancun a week from Monday, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (Twitter link). Bell previously held a February showcase for scouts in Mexico, where 13 big league clubs sent representatives to take in his workout.

Bell, who isn’t a free agent yet, left his homeland in January in hopes of landing in the majors. Because of his age (32) and vast experience playing in Cuba, Bell won’t be subject to international bonus restrictions after hitting .319/.417/.547 in 3,441 career plate appearances with Serie Nacional. Bell helped his cause in Cuba by demonstrating a mastery of the strike zone, walking just eight fewer times (431) than he struck out (439). His production declined last season as a member of the Capitales of Quebec, a Canadian-American Association club, as he slashed .317/.363/.424 with two home runs, 24 strikeouts and 14 walks. Defensively, he has a plus arm and could fit in right field, Ben Badler of Baseball America wrote in January 2015.

Lunar is already a free agent, and his age (29) and playing experience in Cuba also make him exempt from international bonus restrictions. Lunar has played both corner infield positions – as well as left field – and he posted quality offensive numbers with Serie Nacional, batting .313/.414/.489 in parts of seven seasons. Impressively, he bettered Bell in Cuba by walking more than he struck out (244 to 238). Lunar is now playing for Los Tigres de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League, where he has hit a robust .458/.567/.542 with six walks and a single strikeout in his first 30 trips to the plate this season.

Big-Name Rumors: Chicago, Braun, Angels, Orioles, Lincecum

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The latest rumblings on a slew of established players who could change uniforms in the coming months:

  • The White Sox have $13MM to spend as a result of Adam LaRoche’s March retirement and are in need of another left-handed bat, which means they’re a potential fit for outfielders Jay Bruce, Brett Gardner, Carlos Gonzalez, Seth Smith and Nick Markakis, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. The Angels could also be in on those players, per Cafardo. It’s difficult to imagine a pitching-devoid team with a barren farm system dealing assets for an outfielder, however, especially considering the respective price tags those five players carry. The least expensive player of the group is Smith, who is making $6.75MM this season and has a $7MM club option for 2017, but he’s a solid part of a first-place Seattle team that’s trying to break a 14-year playoff drought and fend off the Angels, among others, in the AL West.
  • Like their crosstown rivals, the Cubs could also pursue Bruce, Gonzalez and Markakis, in addition to Ryan Braun and Josh Reddick, reports ESPN’s Jim Bowden. The 23-6 Cubs don’t look like a team in need of a major acquisition, though they did lose a highly useful outfield cog early in the season when Kyle Schwarber suffered a catastrophic knee injury. In Schwarber’s absence, the depth-laden Cubs have divvied up left field playing time among star third baseman Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler and Matt Szczur.
  • Orioles general manager Dan Duquette told Bowden on MLB Network Radio that the team is monitoring the Tim Lincecum market, but he expects the two-time Cy Young Award winner to sign somewhere west of the Mississippi (Twitter links).

Rangers Place A.J. Griffin On DL With Shoulder Stiffness

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The Rangers have placed right-hander A.J. Griffin on the disabled list with shoulder stiffness, tweets the team’s executive vice president of communications, John Blake. In a corresponding move, Texas recalled left-handed reliever Alex Claudio from Triple-A Round Rock.

Griffin will undergo an examination Monday in Arlington, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter link), after exiting his start in the third inning Saturday. Injury troubles are nothing new for Griffin, who missed the previous two seasons because of elbow and shoulder problems. Griffin bounced back well prior to his latest issue, posting a 2.94 ERA, 7.49 K/9 and 3.74 BB/9 in 33 2/3 innings, and will leave a void in a Rangers rotation whose results (3.57 ERA) have been vastly superior to its peripherals (4.52 FIP, 4.67 xFIP).

With Griffin unavailable for what might be an extended period of time, the Rangers could aggressively pursue free agent Kyle Lohse, in whom they’re reportedly interested.

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