Heyman On Peavy, Pedro, Blalock
Jon Heyman of SI.com has a number of rumors in his latest column:
- He believes the Cubs and Brewers have the best shot at acquiring Jake Peavy, because of the pitcher's preference for the National League and his desire to play in "middle America." Heyman believes Peavy would accept a deal to either team, but there are never guarantees with a no-trade clause.
- The Yankees and Indians both say they cannot add payroll.
- One AL executive believes Pedro Martinez would sign for $3MM plus incentives at this point.
- The Rangers would listen to offers for Hank Blalock and ask for relief help in return.
Odds & Ends: Boras, Francoeur, Cubs
Links for Tuesday…
- This week's chat will be held tomorrow at 2pm CST.
- MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo discusses the Scott Boras effect on this year's draft, while Baseball America's John Manuel provides a draft overview.
- SI's Tom Verducci explains why the Rangers are for real. At 23-14, they're in first place (4 games ahead of the Angels).
- Andrew Beaton of Hot Foot provides a rebuttal to The Jonathan Sanchez Paradox: Oliver Perez.
- Padres exec Paul DePodesta talks about recently acquired shortstop Josh Wilson.
- MLB.com's Mark Bowman writes about the Jeff Francoeur situation.
- According to Ameet Sachdev of the Chicago Tribune, actors Bill Murray, Jim Belushi, and John Cusack have met separately with Tom Ricketts about investing in the Cubs.
- RotoAuthority looks at the groundball rate leaderboard…did you know Gil Meche is second?
Discussion: What Should The Rangers Do?
We're only a quarter the way through the season but with an improved defense and their usual offensive attack the Texas Rangers are 8 games over .500 for the first time since June 2005. At 22-14, they are leading the AL West, 3.5 games ahead of the Angels. They're currently on a 6 game win streak without the relief of Frank Francisco. And they've accomplished this without much help from Josh Hamilton.
Can they sustain this? What can they do to improve their chances? Should they wait it out and assess their needs at the deadline? Or go for broke and make whatever moves necessary to widen the gap with the Angels? What would you do in G.M. Jon Daniels' shoes?
- Sign Ben Sheets? Rangers pitchers are 17th in the majors with a 4.66 team ERA. Sheets has been sighted at The Ballpark in Arlington with Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux as recently as May 15. The Rangers are considered the favorites to land the ace who had flexor tendon elbow surgery on February 13th and hopes to begin a throwing program soon. Could he provide a valuable late season boost?
- Sign Pedro Martinez? Or stay with internal options such as Derek Holland or Neftali Feliz?
- Shop Kevin Millwood, who is in a contract year and needs 180 innings for a $12MM guaranteed salary for next season? Millwood is currently third in innings pitched with 58.1, behind only Roy Halladay and Zack Greinke. He's sporting a 2.93 ERA, their only starter with an ERA below 4.
- Shop Marlon Byrd? In 64 AB, Andruw Jones has a 1.035 OPS giving the Rangers four everyday outfielders. Byrd is in a contract year making $3.06MM this season. Could he be a valuable trade chip?
Are the Rangers legit? What should Jon Daniels do?
Verducci: “It’s A Young Man’s Game”
SI.com's Tom Verducci links two of the year's most-discussed trends: the demand for young players and the demand for good defense, writing that "the renewed emphasis on defense hasn't helped the value of older players." As a result, teams are reluctant to sign older free agents like Frank Thomas and Jim Edmonds. Many of the older players who signed contracts this offseason are struggling; Verducci mentions Edgar Renteria and Orlando Cabrera among others. Of course it's too early in the season to make sweeping generalizations, but Verducci concludes that baseball's "a young man's game."
Ben Sheets Sighting
We have a Ben Sheets sighting, courtesy of MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. Sheets appeared at The Ballpark In Arlington today to visit with Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux. The free agent pitcher spoke of an upcoming meeting with Dr. James Andrews after which he hopes to be cleared to begin a throwing program (he had flexor tendon elbow surgery on February 13th).
The Rangers are the obvious favorites to sign Sheets later this year, especially if they remain in contention. But Sheets says he hasn't started worrying about where he'll sign yet.
Rangers To Sign Mike Hinckley
According to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com, the Rangers are close to inking left-hander Mike Hinckley to a minor league contract.
Odds & Ends: Sheets, Blanco, Coghlan
Links for Friday…
- RotoAuthority talks about the popular fantasy pickups this week.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels says Ben Sheets is "watching from a distance" while recovering from elbow surgery, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan says the Rangers "apparently are in position to sign Guillermo Pimentel, a top outfield prospect from the Dominican Republic" for $1.5-2MM.
- Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe says Red Sox reliever Javier Lopez cleared waivers and will head to Triple A.
- Sam Miller of the OC Register assembled a lineup/slideshow of prospects who deserve a big league shot.
- Henry Blanco isn't sure why he wasn't able to re-sign with the Cubs, according to the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan.
- Nick Yohanek, the fan who caught Chris Coghlan's first big league home run, explains his side of the story in asking for the following for the ball: a signed Coghlan game bat, a signed Coghlan ball, and a Hanley Ramirez game bat. What's your take on this?
Heyman On Teixeira, Melvin
A couple of hot stove highlights from Jon Heyman's latest…
- Heyman gives props to Rangers GM Jon Daniels for his Mark Teixeira haul from 2007: Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, Neftali Feliz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Beau Jones (the Rangers also gave up Ron Mahay). The Braves ended up acquiring Casey Kotchman and Stephen Marek from the Angels for Tex and drafting lefty Brett DeVall as a compensation pick for Mahay. Heyman says Daniels also talked to the Red Sox, Angels, Yankees, Dodgers, and Diamondbacks about Teixeira at the '07 trade deadline.
- Bob Melvin knew for two days he was going to be fired before the D'Backs announced the move publicly. He handled the situation with class. Arizona brass considered John Farrell and Brett Butler before going with A.J. Hinch.
2010 Options: Texas Rangers
Let's take a look at the 2010 options facing the Rangers.
- Ron Washington – club option. Back on April 20th, GM Jon Daniels said there had been "zero discussions" about firing Washington despite media speculation. Things have changed for the better since then; the 17-14 Rangers are in first place in the AL West. I'll speculate that an over-.500 finish could result in Washington's option being exercised.
- Kevin Millwood – $12MM 2010 salary becomes guaranteed with 180 innings pitched in 2009. Nice timing for Millwood, who is second in baseball right now with 52.3 innings pitched. He needs only 127.6 innings, maybe 20 more starts, for his 2010 salary to become guaranteed. Tom Hicks said in March that he wanted Millwood to reach the innings target. The 34 year-old has been the subject of trade speculation, but it doesn't make sense with the team in contention.
- Vicente Padilla – $12MM club option with a $1.75MM buyout. It's difficult to imagine the Rangers exercising this option. Padilla's level of production can be found more cheaply on the open market.
Odds And Ends: Manny, Rangers, Pie
Links for Saturday morning…
- On ESPN Radio, Keith Law says no team would pass on Manny Ramirez if he's available for $5MM in the near future, regardless of his suspension. He won't be available at that rate this offseason, as he has a $20MM player option for 2010.
- Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News passes on a quote from Dodgers GM Ned Colletti: "My concern is still with the pitching."
- Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune believes the Dodgers' pitching will carry them while Manny serves his suspension.
- Jamey Newberg suggests on the Newberg Report that the Braves would deal the haul they received for Mark Teixeira– Casey Kotchman and Stephen Marek– for any one of four players they gave up to get Tex- Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, Neftali Feliz or Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
- The Chicago Tribune suggests the Orioles may try to sneak Felix Pie to Triple-A through waivers.