NL Central Notes: Burnett, Sveum, Aoki
Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett could be making his last career start when he takes the hill tonight against the Reds. The Pirates have clinched a playoff spot, of course, but they're extremely likely to end up in a one-game playoff, also against Cincinnati. Francisco Liriano figures to start that game, and if the Pirates lose it, their season would be over. Burnett recently told the press he was "50-50" about whether he would play in 2014, although the Pirates have shown strong interest in bringing him back. Here are more notes from the NL Central.
- Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and the Cubs are likely to make a decision about manager Dale Sveum and his coaching staff by Monday, Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com reports (via Twitter). Sveum's status has been uncertain for weeks now, with rumblings that the Cubs always considered him a placeholder until they were ready to compete. A strong year for the Cubs' top prospects may have convinced Epstein and Hoyer to be more aggressive in finding a manager for next season. The Cubs have gone 66-93 while rebuilding in 2013.
- The Brewers will exercise outfielder Norichika Aoki's option, MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports (via Twitter). Aoki's option is only for $1.5MM (with a $250K buyout) and so, as McCalvy notes, the decision was likely an easy one for Milwaukee. Aoki has produced a combined 4.2 WAR in his two seasons with the Brewers, including 1.7 in a 2013 season in which he's hit .287/.357/.368.
Rays Designate J.D. Martin For Assignment
MONDAY: The Rays have officially activated Crain and designated Martin for assignment, tweets Mooney.
SUNDAY: The Rays will designate pitcher J.D. Martin for assignment on Monday, Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune reports (on Twitter). The move will clear space for fellow pitcher Jesse Crain, who is on the 60-day DL.
Martin was outstanding in 160 1/3 innings for Triple-A Durham this year, posting a 2.75 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 and winning International League Most Valuable Pitcher honors. The 30-year-old has not pitched in the Majors since 2010, when he started nine games for the Nationals. The Rays promoted him before Sunday's game in order to have him available in the bullpen.
As is the case with all DFAs, Martin's status can be monitored using MLBTR's DFA Tracker.
Steve Adams contributed to this post.
Quick Hits: Rangers, A’s, Jeter, Nationals, Phillies
In an attempt to compensate for the looming loss of Nelson Cruz to his 50-game suspension, the Rangers tried to swing a big trade for Justin Upton at the July trade deadline, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. The Braves refused a package of Matt Garza, Joe Nathan and David Murphy. If those are the only three players the Rangers offered, it's not a surprise that the Braves passed — Garza and Murphy are eligible for free agency after the season, while Upton is a good young player who is under contract through 2015. Eventually, of course, the Rangers acquired Alex Rios in August. Here are more notes from around the Majors.
- The Athletics clinched their second AL West title in a row with an 11-7 win over the Twins on Sunday, and GM Billy Beane says the team's depth has been the key to their smooth season, John Hickey of InsideBayArea.com reports. "We knew going in this was the deepest roster we’d ever had here," says Beane. "We needed that depth, and it paid for itself." As Hickey points out, the Athletics hardly missed a beat all season, even though Brett Anderson, Josh Reddick, John Jaso and Derek Norris all missed significant time. Here are more notes from around the Majors. A quietly brilliant season from Josh Donaldson surely helped, but the A's got solid offensive and defensive performances from most of their hitters, and other than Anderson, their starting rotation mostly stayed healthy.
- After taking in the ceremony for Mariano Rivera and the applause for Andy Pettitte on Sunday, it dawned on injured Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter that he had played his final game with his two retiring teammates, Andy McCullough of the Star Ledger reports. "I’m going to miss them a lot," says Jeter. "These guys have been brothers to me. We’ve been through quite a bit together. Pretty much everything you can experience on a field. In my whole professional career, I’ve been playing with at least one of them." The three had their rookie seasons together with the 1995 Yankees, and Jeter and Pettitte also played on many of the same minor-league teams, including Class A Greensboro in 1992 and and Triple-A Columbus in 1994 and 1995.
- Pitcher Dan Haren thinks the Nationals should aim to keep their team together, writes MLB.com's Andrew Simon. "Last year they had a great year and this year we’ve shown a lot of fight here the last few months. I think as close as things could stay to the guys in this room, I think the better," Haren says. He also appears to support bench coach Randy Knorr for the Nationals' managerial position, which will be open when Davey Johnson retires after the season. Haren himself is a free agent, of course, and he seems aware that he might not be part of the 2014 Nationals, even if they ultimately go with a similar roster: "I know there’ll be some subtle changes, me probably being one of them."
- Now that the Phillies have settled on Ryne Sandberg as their manager, they'll now turn their attention to their coaching staff, MLB.com's Todd Zolecki reports. With a new manager, it's typical to have at least some change in the rest of the coaching staff. Zolecki mentions that one potential change might be re-hiring former manager Larry Bowa in some capacity.
- A "winter of discontent" is on the way for Phillies fans, writes Bob Ford of the Inquirer. After a recent streak of successful seasons, Ford says, a team elsewhere might "get a standing ovation and then be allowed to attempt its rebuilding with patient if not fervent support. That might be the case here as well, if only the team would get on with the rebuilding." Instead, the Phils will head into the offseason expecting to keep aging veterans Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Cliff Lee. They might also go into 2014 with Carlos Ruiz still at catcher, and perhaps also with Roy Halladay in the rotation. Ford compares the Phillies to a rock band who are still touring long past the point where they've lost relevance, "dyeing their hair and wearing hearing aids."
Free Agent Faceoff: Nelson Cruz vs. Carlos Beltran
In this installment of the Free Agent Faceoff series, we look at two aging, but powerful, outfielders in Nelson Cruz and Carlos Beltran. Both players provide poor defense but good bats in a market that has only a handful of the latter.
Cruz is currently serving the tail end of a 50-game suspension for his role in the Biogenesis scandal, working out in Arizona in preparation to potentially rejoin the Rangers for the playoffs if they happen to win one of the Wild Card spots. Cruz is very limited defensively, which explains how he has posted just 1.3, 1.1 and 1.6 fWAR the past three seasons. Still, his bat can provide a big boost, and the Rangers' struggles since his suspension may show how important his hitting was to their lineup — Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently went so far as to say that Cruz has "killed" the Rangers with his absence (which might be an exaggeration, given that Alex Rios has filled in capably since Cruz's suspension). Cruz is set to hit the free agent market after coming to the end of a two-year, $16MM deal with the Rangers that bought out his last two arbitration seasons.
At 36, Beltran is three years older than Cruz, but he has a similar profile, in that his still-excellent offense is increasingly offset by his defense, resulting this season in a pedestrian 1.7 fWAR despite a .297/.337/.491 batting line. That rather low fWAR may have at least something to do with variance in single-season defensive statistics, but Beltran has fallen far down the defensive spectrum, and at his age, his defensive numbers might not get more than a dead-cat bounce. Beltran is finishing out a two-year, $26MM contract with the Cardinals. He'll aim to play at least a few more seasons, and hopefully give himself a clear shot at Hall of Fame induction in the process.
At this point in their careers, both players would probably be best suited for situations in which they can play DH at least a couple times a week. Beltran would have rejected that possibility two years ago, saying in 2011 that he wanted to remain in the National League so he could avoid the DH. We'll see if he retains that stance next offseason. Still, if nothing else, both have middle-of-the-lineup bats. Leaving aside the consideration of qualifying offers (Beltran might well get one, and we'll see about Cruz), which player would you rather have?
Which outfielder would you rather sign?
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Carlos Beltran 69% (7,889)
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Nelson Cruz 31% (3,482)
Total votes: 11,371
East Notes: Yankees, Rays, Loria
The impending retirements of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte mark the end of an era for which Yankees fans should be grateful, Joel Sherman of the New York Post argues. The Yankees have been over .500 for 21 straight seasons, and have gone to the playoffs in 17 of the last 18 seasons. Their success, however, came with "impossible standards," with former owner George Steinbrenner imposing a "championship-or-humiliation doctrine." The Yankees' enormous payrolls competitors help them, Sherman admits, but other franchises (the Phillies, Angels and Blue Jays, for example) have spent lots on payroll and had far less success. And the Yankees' superb homegrown core of Derek Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada has been an enormous part of the Yankees' winning ways, too. Here are more notes from the East divisions.
- The Rays will likely try to address first base, left field, designated hitter and their bench this winter, writes the Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin in a preview of the months to come. The Rays' decisions to pick up their 2014 options for middle infielders Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar will be "obvious," leaving the Rays set at those positions.
- Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria isn't listening to president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest as much as he used to, because Beinfest isn't afraid to tell Loria when he doesn't like his player-acquisition ideas, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. As an example, Jackson says that when Beinfest recently recommended that the Marlins promote second baseman Derek Dietrich, Loria refused, because he was angry at Dietrich's accusations of abusive behavior by ex-hitting coach coach Tino Martinez. But then assistant GM Dan Jennings made the same suggestion about promoting Dietrich, and Loria relented.
Angels Outright David Carpenter, Daniel Stange
The Angels have outrighted pitchers David Carpenter and Daniel Stange, according to the team's transaction page. Carpenter has been sent to Double-A Arkansas, Stange to Triple-A Salt Lake.
Carpenter pitched in 28 games for the Angels in 2012, but only one in 2013. He suffered through a poor season in the minors in 2013, pitching a total 60 2/3 innings for Arkansas and Salt Lake and posting a 6.53 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 5.2 BB/9.
Stange appeared in three games with the Angels in late July and early August. He pitched a total of 65 2/3 innings in Triple-A in 2013, playing for Salt Lake and for the Padres' Tucson affiliate, and he posted a combined 4.52 ERA with 10.0 K/9 and 5.1 BB/9.
Week In Review: 9/15/13 – 9/21/13
Here's a look back at this week at MLBTR.
- Hiroshi Yamauchi, the majority owner of the Mariners, passed away at age 85.
- The Phillies removed Ryne Sandberg's "interim" tag, making him their next manager.
- Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte will retire after the season.
- Padres outfielder Mark Kotsay will retire after the season.
- Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett is still considering whether to retire after the season.
- The Brewers claimed pitcher Josh Ravin from the Reds. To make room on their roster, they designated C/1B Blake Lalli for assignment.
- The Reds designated pitcher Kyle Lotzkar for assignment.
- The Orioles designated utilityman Wilson Betemit for assignment.
- The Yankees outrighted pitcher Jim Miller.
- The Royals promoted pitcher and top prospect Yordano Ventura.
- The Nationals received pitcher Matthew Spann from the Rays to complete the David DeJesus trade.
- The White Sox acquired pitcher Frank De Los Santos from the Rays for cash considerations.
- The Tigers signed pitcher Justin Miller to a minor-league deal.
Reactions To The Ryne Sandberg Hire
Earlier today, the Phillies announced that Ryne Sandberg had signed a three-year deal to be their new manager, meaning that he has shed the "interim" tag that he took when he took over for Charlie Manuel last month. Here are a few reactions from elsewhere on the web.
- GM Ruben Amaro Jr. says the Phillies have found the "right guy," Matt Gelb of the Inquirer reports (via Sulia). When asked why he did not do a managerial search, Amaro said, "Ryne has a pretty good understanding after having been in our organization and other organizations about the continuity and the importance of working top to bottom and bottom to top in the organization."
- Sandberg's hire was "a mere formality," writes Gelb. "[F]rom the moment Sandberg was hired prior to the 2011 season as the manager of triple-A Lehigh Valley, it was assumed he would succeed Charlie Manuel," says Gelb.
- Some Hall of Fame players don't take to the grind of managing in the minors, but Sandberg stuck with it, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com writes. Salisbury compares Sandberg's case to that of Mike Schmidt, who managed for the Phillies' Class A+ Clearwater team in 2004 but quit after one season. Sandberg, on the other hand, managed in Class A for two years, in the Cubs organization, before being promoted to Double-A, then Triple-A. That dedication set Sandberg on the course that led to the Phillies' managerial job, Salisbury argues.
- Sandberg's hire rules out the possibility that Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who is originally from the Philadelphia area, will come back to Pennsylvania to manage the Phillies, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets.
Pirates To Make Strong Push To Keep A.J. Burnett
Pirates GM Neal Huntington says his team will do "everything in our power" to keep starting pitcher A.J. Burnett, provided Burnett determines he does not want to retire, Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune-Review tweets. Burnett, who is a free agent after the season, recently said he was "50-50" about the possibility of pitching in 2014, and that he wanted to retire as a Pirate.
Since coming to Pittsburgh via a trade with the Yankees before the 2012 season, Burnett has been the most consistent pitcher in the Pirates' rotation, and with 10.0 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, a 3.39 ERA, and a devastating curveball, he appears to have more left in the tank. After a 12-strikeout performance against the Reds Saturday night, Burnett has 203 strikeouts for the year, becoming the first Pirate to clear 200 strikeouts in a season since Oliver Perez did it in 2004.
Quick Hits: Beckham, Lind, Tejada, Sveum, Ravin
Tim Beckham, the first overall pick in the 2008 Draft, entered the Rays' game as a pinch-hitter against the Rangers Thursday night and singled in his first big-league at-bat. It marked a milestone for the infielder, who crawled through the minor leagues, never hitting all that impressively at any level, before posting a line of .276/.342/.387 in 2013 for Triple-A Durham. All of the 20 players drafted immediately after Beckham made it to the big leagues before he did. (Many, of course, were drafted out of college; Beckham came out of high school.) Remarkably, as Baseball America's John Manuel notes (via Twitter), Beckham is the first player drafted by the Rays since 2007 to make it to the big leagues with them. That's surprising, given how vital young players are to a low-payroll team like the Rays and how successful they've been in recent years. Here are more notes from around the Majors.
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has implied to first baseman Adam Lind that there's a good chance the team will pick up Lind's 2014 option, but nothing is certain yet, SportsNet.ca's Shi Davidi reports. "You know Alex pretty well, it’s pretty much the explanation I anticipated," says Lind, who will get either $7MM to play for the Jays or a $2MM buyout. The Jays also have options on Lind's services for 2015 and 2016. Lind has hit .282/.352/.486 so far this season. The team isn't required to make a decision about his option until shortly after the World Series ends.
- Mets manager Terry Collins wants Ruben Tejada to take command of the shortstop position next season, Anthony DiComo and Chris Iseman of MLB.com write. "My message is real simple: this job is his," says Collins. "But he's got to show everybody that he wants it desperately." That doesn't rule out the possibility that the Mets could pursue a shortstop from outside the organization. The offseason free-agent market isn't a strong one, but a trade might be a possibility. Tejada has hit .202/.259/.260 in 227 plate appearances this season.
- The Cubs aren't ready to say whether Dale Sveum will remain their manager in 2014, but the notion that the Cubs would fire Sveum is "laughable," says Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times. Morrissey raises the possibility that the Cubs hesitation on Sveum may have something to do with big-name managers like Joe Girardi and Ron Gardenhire being free agents this offseason. He argues that Sveum shouldn't be blamed for the struggles of Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro this season, suggesting that the pair might simply not be as good as the Cubs and their fans hoped.
- The Brewers claimed pitcher Josh Ravin off waivers from the Reds today, and MLB.com's Adam McCalvy compares Ravin to Joe Nathan, noting that Ravin can throw in triple digits (Twitter link). Ravin wouldn't be the first player to find success as a reliever in the Majors after an unimpressive minor-league career, but Joe Nathan is a lofty name to drop when discussing a 25-year-old who posted a 5.82 ERA with 6.7 BB/9 in the minors this year.
- Dodgers lefty Onelki Garcia is now represented by BHS Sports Council, CBS Sports' Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). Garcia posted a 2.90 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 5.1 BB/9 in the upper levels of the minors in 2013, and he made his big-league debut last week.