Rosenthal On Astros, Marquis, DeRosa, Francoeur
Let's take a look at the latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- Rosenthal recommends the Astros trade veterans to improve their bottom-ranked farm system. He'd especially like to see Houston make Roy Oswalt available. They'd have take Oswalt's no-trade clause into consideration.
- The Phillies continue to seek a starter, and they made an inquiry on Colorado's Jason Marquis. Rosenthal finds Erik Bedard "perhaps the most intriguing fit" and notes that the Phils probably have flexibility to add payroll. This question came up in a recent chat…I do think the Phillies have the pieces to pull off a Bedard trade.
- The Brewers are not going after Cleveland's Mark DeRosa, as they cannot spare Major League pitching for him. Rosenthal also finds Jake Peavy unlikely, as the Brewers probably couldn't pull off a deal without creating a new need. Of Peavy, Rosenthal says, "He will not leave easily."
- The Mets are interested in Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson, who is off to a .338/.445/.471 start.
- The Royals might be the top suitor for Jeff Francoeur if the Braves shop him, but not everyone in Kansas City's front office is keen on him. The Red Sox are known to have an eye on Francoeur.
- Rosenthal's heard speculation that the Sox could trade Daniel Bard, whose value may be at a high point.
- Rather than acquire someone like Yuniesky Betancourt, the Padres will stick with in-house options at shortstop (mainly Luis Rodriguez and Everth Cabrera, once they're healthy).
Knobler On Braves, Peavy, Holliday
CBS Sports' Danny Knobler thinks the Jake Peavy drama this past week helped kick-start some discussion on team needs. He's got a couple interesting bullets:
- The Braves are shopping hard for a right-handed hitter and are said to be dangling Jeff Francoeur, though Mark Bowman speculated last week that they might release him. His value can't be too high now. We discussed the Braves' woes last week.
- Though they might have interest in Mark DeRosa and Peavy, the Brewers want to prove they can be a contending team before they make any big moves.
- Knobler reiterates the Marlins' willingness to hear offers on Dan Uggla and Jorge Cantu.
- With Matt Holliday's woes at the plate, scouts say the A's can't expect to get as much as they might've hoped. "He's so easy to pitch to right now it's unbelievable," one of Knobler's sources said.
What To Do With The Braves Outfield?
In his blog over at MLB.com, Mark Bowman lays out the offensive woes of the Atlanta outfield, and in the comments section, Bowman even ponders the potential release of Jeff Francoeur:
Here's some of the unfortunate "highlights" of the Braves' struggles, if you can call them that:
- In 12 games since being activated from the DL, Garret Anderson is hitting .283/.321/.326 with just one extra base hit – a double. All this comes along with limited range in the outfield.
- In 66 May at-bats, Francoeur is hitting .197/.214/.273.
- For his career, Francoeur has averaged 630 ABs per season. Over his last 631 ABs, dating back to May 6, 2009, Francoeur is hitting .235/.287/.341 with 11 HR. Over that time, among players with 500 ABs, only Michael Bourn, Chone Figgins, Bobby Crosby, Willy Taveras, and Jason Kendall have lower slugging percentages, and only Chris Young of Arizona has a lower OBP. Ouch.
- Rookie Jordan Schafer's .660 OPS is the highest of any of the three Braves outfielders mentioned thus far.
So what's Frank Wren to do? He's clearly in need of immediate upgrades in the outfield, and Atlanta would seem to have the pitching to spare. Let's hear some suggestions from the MLBTR world: How can Wren save this situation?
Odds And Ends: Beltre, Rusch, Percival, Price
Links for Friday evening…
- As Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times explains, Adrian Beltre's trade value is diminishing because teams are no longer confident that he'll be a Type A free agent. This means the team that trades for Beltre can't expect two compensation picks for losing the third baseman to free agency.
- MLB.com's Mark Bowman argues that the Braves need to make an immediate change to their outfield and says there's an "indication that we'll begin to see it in the near future." He says the Braves must consider dealing the powerless Jeff Francoeur, or at least finding a more productive outfielder.
- According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post Glendon Rusch is staying at home instead of reporting to Triple A Colorado Springs. The Rockies are expected to put him on the restricted list.
- Via Twitter, Marc Lancaster of the Tampa Tribune reports that Troy Percival, who was just placed on the DL, has gone home to ponder a future "which could be in doubt." Joe Maddon has said he "wouldn't be surprised" to see Percival hang it up, according to Marc Lancaster.
- Another piece of Rays news from the same Lancaster report – With Scott Kazmir headed to the DL, it's likely that David Price will make his long-awaited season debut in Kazmir's place on Monday.
- As MLB.com's Brian Hoch reports, Chien-Ming Wang is returning to the Yankees as a long reliever because of the team's depleted bullpen.
Braves Talk: Infante, Francoeur
MLB.com's Mark Bowman has a new blog post about the Braves' current situation.
- Utility man Omar Infante is out six to eight weeks after Manny Corpas broke a bone in his hand with a fastball. There is a trickle-down effect on the trade market – the Braves have less depth now, and probably can't move a guy like Kelly Johnson.
- Bowman adds that the Braves are likely to shop Jeff Francoeur, but the prospects are grim given his performance in recent times. The Braves are still hurting for power at the corner outfield spots.
Return of Tim Hudson Scheduled for August
Tim Hudson, recovering from Tommy John surgery, believe he can rejoin the Atlanta Braves sometime in August, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com.
"I feel really good about where I'm at right now," Hudson said. "I haven't thrown breaking balls, splits or changeups or anything like that. But how I feel right now, it's hard to think that it's going to take me three months to get ready to pitch in a game."
Hudson could encounter a logjam when he returns, between starters Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez and Jair Jurrjens, not to mention prospects Tommy Hanson, Kris Medlen and the old standby Tom Glavine.
But the real question is this: just how well would Hudson have to pitch in the season's final month for the Braves to pick up his $12MM option? Hard to imagine anything short of a Greinke would lead the Braves to do so. They have, as an alternative, a $1MM buyout.
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?
Draft Update: Giants, Mariners, Braves, Nats
ESPN.com's Keith Law has an update on various teams and players as the June draft approaches. Here are some highlights; the original article has more detail.
- The Giants are strongly considering taking a high school pitcher with their sixth overall pick.
- Expect the Mariners to take Dustin Ackley, North Carolina's first baseman, with their first rounder.
- Ackley's teammate, righty Alex White, pitched in front of four GMs Thursday: Brian Sabean (Giants), Neal Huntington (Pirates), Jack Zdurencik (Mariners) and Mike Rizzo (Nationals).
- ESPN.com's Jason A. Churchill reports that White did not impress. Check out Churchill's article for more analysis of some top amateur players.
- The Braves are expected to take Zack Wheeler, a local prep star.
- The Nationals don't get a compensation pick if they fail to sign the player they draft with their tenth overall pick because that pick is itself compensation for failure to sign Aaron Crow last year. Nats GM Mike Rizzo says he's going to draft the best available player there, regardless of signability.
- Some teams are losing interest in Kentucky lefty James Paxton, who chose Scott Boras as his advisor and pitched poorly afterwards.
Discussion: Possible Braves Trades
MLB.com's Mark Bowman does a little trade speculatin' in his latest blog post:
The Braves are going to be looking to find some power before the trade deadline and with a surplus of arms, there may be a number of teams interested in Charlie Morton, who has allowed just four earned runs in his past 27 innings with Triple-A Gwinnett.
And don't forget what Ken Rosenthal wrote on Tuesday:
If the Braves need more offense, they will have the pitching depth to get it. Right-hander Tommy Hanson is untouchable, but he's not the team's only hot pitcher at Class AAA. Two other right-handers — Kris Medlen and Morton — figure to be coveted by other clubs, and the Braves have additional prospects at Class AA.
About that Braves' offense…my 4.93 runs per game projection hasn't been matched so far. Kelly Johnson, Garret Anderson, and Jeff Francoeur are off to slow starts, leaving the team 11th in the NL with 4.47 runs scored per game. The Braves might be OK at second with Omar Infante and Martin Prado as options, but an outfield addition would make sense. Who could add the power the Braves crave? Just to throw out a few names: Carlos Lee, Josh Willingham, Rick Ankiel, Brad Hawpe, Jermaine Dye, Austin Kearns, Aubrey Huff, and Magglio Ordonez. The majority of these would not justify giving up top young arms, though. Who would you like to see the Braves pursue?
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.