Quick Hits: Twins, Ellis, Cole, Hultzen
The Mets released Wily Mo Pena on this date two years ago. The slugger resurfaced with the D'Backs yesterday, when he homered in his first MLB game since 2008. Here are some links for Wednesday night as Pena attempts to hit another homer or two…
- A scout tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that the Twins seem less likely to become sellers than they were a few weeks ago (Twitter link). Minnesota has re-entered the playoff race thanks to a 14-3 tear.
- Joe Stiglich of the Bay Area News Group hears that the Giants are not one of the six teams on Mark Ellis’ no-trade list (Twitter link). Ellis has lost his starting second base job in Oakland and the Giants have had internal talks about obtaining him.
- Jon Heyman of SI.com hears that top draft choices Gerrit Cole (Pirates) and Danny Hultzen (Mariners) will sign for roughly $10MM or so. Two high school arms, Archie Bradley (D’Backs) and Dylan Bundy (Orioles), will likely obtain $6-7MM and some executives see high school outfielder Bubba Starling (Royals) signing for more than Cole or Hultzen.
- ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick examines the case for expanding active rosters to 26 players. Teams now have sprawling bullpens and demanding travel schedules, so there's support for bigger rosters from Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd, Marlins infielder Wes Helms and others.
NL East Notes: Reyes, Werth, McKeon
The Phillies and Braves began the day ranked first and second in MLB in run prevention. The Phillies (240 runs allowed as of this morning) have Cliff Lee on the hill tonight and the Braves (252 runs allowed) surrendered just a single run against the Blue Jays this afternoon. Here's the latest on the other NL East clubs:
- As Joel Sherman of the New York Post explains, Mets GM Sandy Alderson has clearly become more enamored with Jose Reyes as the season has gone on and the shortstop has showed off his defense and athleticism.
- Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth told Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post that agent Scott Boras did not solicit him before Werth left the Beverly Hills Sports Council for Boras late last season. "In no way was I being harassed or bothered or anything other than what I wanted," Werth said, in response to Jayson Stark’s recent ESPN article.
- Click here to see how Werth is faring relative to other new members of baseball's $100MM club and click here to check out our Agency Database.
- Managers around the league, including Terry Francona of the Red Sox and Mike Scioscia of the Angels, tell Joe Frisaro of MLB.com that they're impressed with Marlins skipper Jack McKeon, who is managing at the age of 80.
Rockies Could Look To Trade For Pitching
GM Dan O'Dowd told Thomas Harding of MLB.com that the Rockies may be looking for pitching help later this summer. The Rockies will use the next four weeks to determine whether to look outside of the organization to replenish a pitching staff that saw Jorge de la Rosa and Esmil Rogers hit the disabled list in May.
"I said all along, even when we were struggling offensively for so long, I still feel the issues with our club are going to come down to our pitching,” O'Dowd said. "If we were out looking for anything, it would be to continue to improve our pitching."
The 37-36 Rockies are 2.5 games out of the NL West lead despite a rotation that has faltered without De La Rosa and Rogers. Rockies starters rank 22nd in MLB in ERA (3.99), 21st in innings (440 1.3) and 28th in BB/9 (3.6). MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes recently previewed the market for starting pitchers, left-handed relievers and right-handed relievers.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Accardo
Here's our list of outrighted players heading for Triple-A…
- Jeremy Accardo accepted a minor league assignment from the Orioles, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun. The Orioles designated the right-hander for assignment last week and Accardo chose the Triple-A assignment (and his salary) over free agency.
AL East Notes: Red Sox, Accardo, Blue Jays
Wade Boggs hit his first MLB home run on this date 29 years ago. Power wasn't an essential part of Boggs' game, but he won five batting titles and collected 3,010 hits in his 18-year career with the Yankees, Red Sox and Devil Rays. Here's the latest on Boggs' former division:
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports knows there's no perfect team in baseball, but he says the Red Sox are as close as it gets. Only Philadelphia has a better record than Boston, which entered today's action with an AL-best 44-29 record.
- Jeremy Accardo could be a free agent by tomorrow. The Orioles reliever has to choose between an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk with a big league salary or free agency and uncertain job prospects, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter).
- Blue Jays manager John Farrell told Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca that the Blue Jays will consider possible changes before opening their series against the Cardinals (Twitter link). “We need a spark, that’s clear,” Farrell said. “How we look to do that we’ll examine in this room first.” The Braves just swept the 36-39 Jays out of Atlanta.
Checking In On The Newest $100MM Players
Every year a few select players join baseball’s exclusive $100MM club with free agent deals and mega-extensions. Last offseason was no different – we saw six players sign nine figure deals. The contracts were all for five years or more, so it’s far too early to call them successes or failures. But as the season approaches its halfway point, let’s check in on baseball’s newest $100MM players:
- Troy Tulowitzki, ten-year, $157.75MM extension – Tulo has slowed down after a scorching start, but he's still having an excellent season. His .274/.339/.491 line and 13 homers look especially good when you consider that he's a good defensive shortstop.
- Adrian Gonzalez, seven-year, $154MM extension – Red Sox fans dreamed of a season like this when Theo Epstein acquired Gonzalez from the Padres in December. The first baseman is a leading MVP candidate with a .350/.403/.603 line and 15 home runs.
- Carl Crawford, seven-year, $142MM contract – Crawford was heating up before he hit the disabled list, but his numbers are poor overall. He has a .243/.275/.384 batting line, just 8 stolen bases and his lowest walk rate (3.2%) since 2002, his rookie season.
- Jayson Werth, seven-year, $126MM contract – Werth is hitting just .233/.334/.409, though he has 10 home runs. Nationals fans may be consoled by the fact that Werth erupted in the second half last year and has traditionally produced better after the All-Star break.
- Cliff Lee, five-year, $120MM contract – The prize of the offseason free agent market, Lee has a 3.12 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 104 innings. The lefty is in the midst of another fantastic season and this time he doesn't have to worry about being traded.
- Ryan Braun, five-year, $105MM extension – Braun is having a monster year. He has a .310/.397/.555 line with 15 homers and a career-best 12.1% walk rate for the first-place Brewers.
It's fair to expect Werth and Crawford to turn their seasons around and produce as they did before signing nine figure free agent contracts. The other four additions to the $100MM club are justifying the deals, at least to the extent that it's possible in less than three months.
Cardinals Release Miguel Batista
The Cardinals announced that they have released Miguel Batista (Twitter link). In a related move, St. Louis called up Lance Lynn from Triple-A. Lynn was already on the 40-man roster, so the move opens up a 40-man spot for the Cardinals.
Batista was part of yesterday's bullpen implosion against the Phillies. The Cardinals allowed nine runs in the eighth inning and Batista didn't help, allowing two walks and a single to the three batters he faced. The 40-year-old pitched 29 1/3 innings for the Cardinals this year, posting a 4.60 ERA with more walks (19) than strikeouts (16). Batista's ground ball rate dropped from his usual 50% figure to 36.8% this year, but his average fastball velocity remains respectable. Even after 17 seasons in the majors, the righty averages 92.6 mph.
Quick Hits: Royals, Brewers, Hanley, Mets
Paul Konerko homered for the fifth consecutive game tonight, which gives him a total of 21 on the season and a share of the MLB lead. Here are tonight's links from around the Major Leagues…
- Royals GM Dayton Moore told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that he'll remain open-minded about trades that will improve the Royals in 2011 and put them in a better long-term position. Mike Aviles, Wilson Betemit and Melky Cabrera are among the Royals who could appeal to other teams this summer.
- MLB officials have had internal discussions about 15 team leagues with no divisions, but the idea hasn't been discussed in collective bargaining with the MLBPA, according to Yahoo's Jeff Passan (Twitter links). MLB is reluctant to push for such drastic change, but Passan hears that an NL team “will” move to the AL to even the leagues out at 15 clubs apiece.
- Brewers scouting director Bruce Seid told Adam McCalvy and Audrey Snider of MLB.com that Milwaukee has talked to top pick Taylor Jungmann since selecting him 12th overall and is prepared to continue negotiations in depth.
- Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest told Greg Stoda of the Palm Beach Post that he doesn’t want to speculate about Hanley Ramirez as a possible trade candidate. “We do say that some players are more or less likely to be traded than others, but we don't ever talk about anybody specific," Beinfest said.
- Mets GM Sandy Alderson told Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com that he wasn’t surprised to hear that Jose Reyes has decided against negotiating a possible deal in-season.
- Alderson added that the Mets’ record won’t necessarily dictate their willingness to trade Reyes (Twitter link). "Whether we’re winning or losing is a lot less relevant in Jose’s case,” he said.
Dodgers Notes: McCourt, Selig, Cuban
If Dodgers owner Frank McCourt doesn't make payroll at the end of the month, the commissioner's office would have the power to take control of the team and put it on the market. Here's the latest on the Dodgers, who had their proposed TV deal rejected by Bud Selig yesterday:
- Bob Sacks, an attorney for McCourt, hinted to Bill Shaikin of the LA Times that MLB could find itself in a legal "showdown" with the Dodgers and explained that there's "the possibility of some fairly acrimonious and extreme litigation going forward." McCourt's representatives are asking to sit down with Selig and negotiate their way through the Dodgers' financial issues. MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred says he's confident in the league's legal position.
- Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said on TMZ that he would have interest in buying the Dodgers under the right circumstances. But Cuban suggests it could be a while – maybe 20 years – before the Dodgers are on the right track again. “It's just such a mess, right,” Cuban said. “I can’t imagine that it’s not going to be such a mess that it’s going to make it hard to turn around.”
- Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball says Cuban's stock has risen because his Mavericks won the NBA Championship, but ESPN.com's Keith Law doubts MLB would approve Cuban as an owner (Twitter link).
Finding Backup Catchers Who Can Hit
Nearly a month after Buster Posey last suited up for them, the Giants are still searching for catching depth. They signed Max Ramirez today, but he figures to provide organizational depth at Triple-A, not an immediate impact in San Francisco.
Eli Whiteside (pictured) continues playing regularly for the Giants, though his offense remains inadequate and the Giants continue seeking reinforcements. A look at backups around the league provides insight into why Whiteside continues playing so often despite his struggles throwing out opposing base stealers and paltry .190 average.
Few teams, if any, have the catching depth to withstand the loss of a player like Posey. The league average catcher is hitting .241/.314/.378 so far in 2011 and that slash line includes starters as well as reserves. The job of a catcher includes calling pitches, blocking balls in the dirt and throwing runners out as well as hitting, but for the sake of simplicity we’ll focus on offense as we examine the caliber of backup catching in MLB.
Victor Martinez (.324/.373/.498 slash line) and Mike Napoli (.221/.344/.493 before he hit the disabled list) are technically backup catchers, though both DH and play first as well. Ramon Hernandez is one of the few backup catchers who can match Martinez and Napoli in terms of offensive production this year. The 35-year-old has seven homers and a .302/.368/.504 line in 155 plate appearances (Ryan Hanigan now starts for the Reds most days). Royals backup Brayan Pena is another one of the reserves with an acceptable batting line this year: .250/.310/.400 in 113 trips to the plate.
Evaluating backups who have fewer than 100 plate appearances is dangerous, since the sample sizes are generally too small to be reliable. With that in mind, here are some other backstops off to decent starts with the bat: Ramon Castro of the White Sox (.211/.274/.404 slash line in 62 plate appearances), Kyle Phillips of the Padres (.239/.327/.413 in 52 PA), Henry Blanco of the D’Backs (.229/.302/.521 in 53 PA), Ronny Paulino of the Mets (.317/.371/.390 in 89 PA), David Ross of the Braves (.327/.411/.551 in 56 PA), Jose Molina of the Blue Jays (.304/.389/.456 in 91 PA), Brett Hayes of the Marlins (.298/.353/.511 in 52 PA) and the injured Jose Morales of the Rockies (.267/.352/.317 in 71 PA).
Those backups are solid hitters, though certainly not Victor Martinez-like offensive forces, and the're best of the bunch. Most teams are getting far less offensive production from their second catcher and many don't even have one catcher who makes significant contributions at the plate.
There aren’t many options for the Giants or any other club that decides to take on the unenviable task of finding catching help this summer. San Francisco is looking to the Rangers for catching depth, since Texas could make a move once Napoli is healthy enough to play. Wilson Ramos’ performance has led to plenty of discussion and speculation about Ivan Rodriguez, though he’s not the most interesting catcher to watch between now and July 31st.
Ramon Hernandez’s .872 OPS will surely appeal to teams and, unlike most clubs, the Reds could conceivably part with a catcher. Hanigan’s emergence has continued this year and Devin Mesoraco, who entered the season as Baseball America's #64 prospect, is destroying Triple-A pitching. The former first rounder has a .322/.402/.546 line for Louisville after a similarly impressive showing in 2010.
Given the Reds’ depth – they also have highly-touted prospect Yasmani Grandal in the lower minors – and the shortage of catching in MLB, I won’t be surprised if GM Walt Jocketty hears from a number of interested teams this summer. Only so many catchers can hit and Hernandez is a known commodity who’s playing well.
Photo courtesy Icon SMI.