Heyman On Pedro, Pudge, Andruw
SI.com's Jon Heyman has a new column.
- Heyman believes the Mets offered Pedro Martinez a $1-2MM base salary, but he's still looking for $5MM. Not happenin'. ESPN's Jayson Stark suggests Pedro is asking for $6-8MM.
- Heyman takes Astros GM Ed Wade to task for seemingly lying to MLB.com beat writer Alyson Footer about the team's pursuit of Ivan Rodriguez. The Pudge deal will be official once his physical is complete.
- Andruw Jones must decide by Friday whether to stay with the Rangers (presumably he'd head to Triple A if he does not opt out). In talking to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, Andruw said he doesn't know yet and needs to talk to Scott Boras.
Andruw Jones Unlikely To Make Rangers
WEDNESDAY, 10:51am: Jones indicated to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he feels comfortable in the Rangers' system and has developed a strong relationship with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo:
"These guys have the system," Jones said. "The hitting coach they’ve got, they work on the things they want to. We’ll see what happens."
TUESDAY, 10:27pm: According to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, outfielder Andruw Jones is unlikely to break camp with the Rangers. Marlon Byrd seems to have a leg up on the fourth outfielder role (he's quieted concerns about his surgically-repaired knee). Sullivan explains the Jones situation:
Technically, the Rangers have to decide by Friday if they'll put him on the Major League roster, but it seems quite clear they have no interest in doing that.
The question is, will Andruw head to Triple A for the Rangers to prove he can still contribute?
Offseason In Review: Texas Rangers
Next up in our Offseason In Review series, the Rangers. Here’s what we wrote about them on September 23rd. Changes for 2009:
Additions: Hank Blalock (exercised option), Omar Vizquel, Andruw Jones, Kris Benson, Brendan Donnelly, Eddie Guardado (re-signed), Jason Jennings, Derrick Turnbow, Greg Golson, Elizardo Ramirez, Guillermo Moscoso, Adam Melhuse
Subtractions: Milton Bradley, Ramon Vazquez, Gerald Laird, Chris Shelton, Franklyn German, Sidney Ponson (midseason), John Mayberry
GM Jon Daniels gave the middle finger to free agency this winter, signing players only on minor league deals (he did come close on Ben Sheets though). The main offseason change was the losses of Bradley and Laird. For Bradley the Rangers received the 44th pick in the June draft, and for Laird they snagged two pitching prospects from Detroit.
The ’08 Rangers led the AL by a wide margin with 5.56 runs scored per game. The ’09 squad won’t match that, but CHONE projections and the lineup analysis tool suggest the team could score 5.07 per game with good health. That would’ve ranked fourth in the league.
The problem, of course, is the pitching staff. It was the worst in the league in ’08 and doesn’t look much better for ’09. The Rangers have the best farm system in baseball, but advanced pitching prospects Neftali Feliz and Derek Holland can’t be expected to lead the staff as rookies. The bullpen will have a somewhat different look in ’09, but it’s a crapshoot.
The Rangers did not profile well defensively last year, ranking 11th in the AL according to The Fielding Bible II. There are gains to be made by switching Young to third base and using Andrus or Vizquel at shortstop.
If the Rangers allow runs like they did last year, they’re looking at 68 wins. But just with better defense at a few positions and a couple of halfway decent starting pitching performances they could trim 100 runs allowed and win 77 games. They still seem a long shot for .500 ball though.
Bottom line: Knowing the fruits of his top-ranked farm system won’t be realized in 2009, Jon Daniels held off on spending money this offseason. Veterans such as Blalock, Guardado, Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Frank Catalanotto, and Marlon Byrd may serve as midseason trade bait.
Gammons On Sheffield, Tazawa, Kearns
ESPN’s Peter Gammons posted a new blog entry last night. Let’s take a look.
- Gammons sees Gary Sheffield as a "serious comeback player of the year candidate."
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels told Gammons his team bid $7MM for Junichi Tazawa, but the Red Sox signed him for $3MM due to their presence in Japan. According to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times, the Rangers also offered more money to reliever Chad Cordero but he preferred the West Coast.
- Kicking Jim Bowden while he’s down: Gammons says Nationals outfielder Austin Kearns was claimed on waivers last summer but the Nationals pulled him back.
Jennings Competing For Rotation Spot
Jason Jennings is trying to make a comeback after two consecutive injury riddled seasons reports Jeff Wilson of the Forth Worth Star Telegram. Good news for the Rangers who are trying to maintain as much starting pitching depth as they can. Wilson writes,
"The former Mesquite Poteet and Baylor star remains willing to open the season in the minor leagues to build up arm strength if he’s unable to do so over the final three weeks of spring training.
But the minor league contract Jennings signed last month has two opt-out dates – April 1 and April 25. Plenty of scouts have seen him pitch, and more will watch him as those dates draw near."
Jennings’ flexor tendon has torn each of the last two seasons. This spring, there’s added velocity to his fastball, now recorded in the upper 80s. Rangers Manager Ron Washington is optimistic and expects it to reach 90mph by the time the club breaks camp.
As recently as 2006, Jennings recorded a 3.78 ERA and held opponents to a .258 average over 212 IP while playing half of his games for the Rockies in Coors Field.
Odds & Ends: Pedro, Boras, Bonds, Fielding
Links for Friday…
- Which players have the biggest differences in fantasy draft position, comparing Yahoo and ESPN?
- Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram does not find it likely that the Rangers will release Frank Catalanotto and eat the $6MM owed to him.
- Gil LeBreton of the Star-Telegram suggests Rangers GM Jon Daniels will have some tough trade decisions to make as the team inches closer to contention.
- Amy Martinez of the Seattle Times examines the economic impact of Ken Griffey Jr.
- Jose Reyes says Pedro Martinez would like to pitch for the Mets, talking to MLB.com’s Marty Noble.
- Amusing article about Scott Boras by Matt Taibbi in Men’s Journal.
- The Twins again made it clear they’ll pass on Barry Bonds. Three other teams have also publicly rejected his agent’s advances.
- Fielding Bible guru John Dewan says defense is worth roughly half as much as offense.
- Hat tip to Baseball Think Factory’s excellent Baseball Newsstand for several of today’s links.
- Sorry about the three double-posts on the site. I am still waiting for TypePad to fix the issue.
Milton Bradley Comments
Milton Bradley‘s comments to Gil Lebreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram are causing a mini-stir. He spoke about how the Rangers wouldn’t commit to him:
"My agent was saying that Jon Daniels was telling him, ‘There are days when he doesn’t want to play because of his health.’ Well, you can get a healthy guy to go out there and play 162 games, but he won’t do what I did in 120."
As Lebreton said, the comment was "crudely self-serving" but "mostly right" given his production last year. Worse, though, Bradley seemed to admit to prioritizing his stats:
"If I’m being paid, and I’ve got the commitment to me that I give to them, you make more of an effort to be out there every day. When you’re on one-year deals constantly, you’ve got to put up as good numbers as you can. When you have days where you’re not feeling like you can contribute, you’re not going to go out there, because you’re not going to want your numbers to suck. So, if you’re in a situation like I am now, if they want me to go out there when I’m feeling a little banged up, I’ve got no problem doing that because they’ve made the commitment to me."
Sheets Rehabbing In Texas
According to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez, free agent righty Ben Sheets is rehabbing in Arlington, Texas at a facility owned by the Rangers’ team doctor Keith Meister. While the Rangers remain interested in Sheets, GM Jon Daniels cautioned that he did not advise Sheets to work with Meister and said "There’s not a connection there." Sheets had surgery on a torn flexor tendon in his elbow on February 13th and will probably return after the All-Star break.
Odds & Ends: Crosby, Vizcaino, Andruw
Links for Tuesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- RotoAuthority sums up the stats you should target in each category for your fantasy league.
- The Braves released pitcher Anthony Lerew, according to Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- Rany Jazayerli says the Royals will be better just by subtracting Ross Gload, Tony Pena Jr., and Joey Gathright. Here’s my Offseason In Review for the club, if you’re interested.
- A’s manager Bob Geren "chuckled and said no" when asked if Bobby Crosby is being showcased at third base for the Yankees, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Crosby is learning third in part because Eric Chavez is injured again.
- Speaking of Crosby, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune wonders if the Cubs could work out a deal involving reliever Luis Vizcaino. Despite the $4MM owed to Vizcaino, he’s not a lock for the Cubs’ bullpen. We learned last week that the Cubs do not appear interested in Crosby.
- Slusser also has an article about young A’s pitcher Michael Ynoa, who believes he can be in the Majors in two years at age 19.
- Andruw Jones apologized to Dodgers fans in this Bill Plaschke article.
- Talking to Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel sees Jayson Werth missing no more than 15-20 games this year. Geoff Jenkins, with $8MM left on his contract, looks like the odd man out.
Padres Looking For Pitching
Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes about the Padres’ intention to add pitching to the organization. He learned that the Nationals inquired about Padres first base prospect Kyle Blanks, but were not willing to trade their own top prospect Jordan Zimmermann. Would’ve been interesting to see.
Krasovic says the Padres are focused on out of options pitchers, and in particular inquired on Arizona’s Juan Gutierrez. Krasovic tosses out names of other out of options hurlers on the D’Backs and Angels: Jason Bulger, Shane Loux, Dustin Moseley, Yusmeiro Petit, and Travis Blackley. Two more possibilities: Giants Rule 5 pick Luis Perdomo and Rangers veteran Jason Jennings. I don’t know whether the Padres are interested, but a few more out of options pitchers include David Pauley, Hayden Penn, Dustin Nippert, Jeff Niemann, and Jason Hammel.
According to Krasovic, GM Kevin Towers is focused exclusively on pitching this month. Krasovic adds:
Some Padres evaluators have become dismayed, according to other clubs, by a perceived dearth of power arms high in the organization and are wondering if the club’s four-year emphasis on “pitchability” got overdone.