Odds & Ends: Mariners, Orioles, Indians
If you're up reading, we're up writing!
- MLB.com's Jim Street takes questions about the Mariners. Among other things, he believes the Mariners will find a veteran catcher to at least split time with prospect Adam Moore.
- Street's Baltimore counterpart, MLB.com's Spencer Fordin, believes the Orioles will move Koji Uehara to short relief and look to acquire another veteran starter.
- The Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Paul Hoynes has very positive things to say about Manny Acta, the new Indians' manager.
- Manny Corpas looks strong in Instructional League play, according to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, and Corpas will play winter ball as well. A Corpas revival gives the Rockies some alternatives if they don't want to face a big arbitration number from Huston Street, or pick up the $5.4MM option of Rafael Betancourt.
Discussion: Angels Face Big Decisions
Yes, the return flight from New York has barely touched down, but the Angels are already facing a large number of difficult decisions, and the writers who cover them have wasted no time in evaluating them.
MLB.com's Lyle Spencer rates the various chances that 2009's Angels hitting free agency will return in 2010, with Bobby Abreu and Darren Oliver 50-50 to return, and several other players, such as John Lackey, far less than even money.
Meanwhile, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times speculates that free agent Aroldis Chapman might be who the Angels use to replace Lackey.
What would you do? Would you keep any, or all of the free agents? And should the Angels reach for Chapman?
Odds & Ends: Astros, Athletics, Blue Jays
With baseball dark until Wednesday, let MLBTradeRumors.com light the way for you…
- Rob Neyer has a must-read piece about the Astros refusing to give Manny Acta a three-year contract offer. As Neyer writes, "If you think it's silly to give a manager a three-year contract but don't mind throwing $100 million of your ill-gotten gains at Carlos Lee, you probably need to have your head examined (though of course something similar might be said of half the owners in the majors)."
- MLB.com A's beat reporter Mychael Urban explains why Oakland dealt Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi and Orlando Cabrera– but kept Nomar Garciaparra around.
- Toronto added a pair of senior baseball men, both named Mel, to the front office.
Hoyer “Closer” To Becoming Padres GM
THURSDAY, 9:09am: Chris Jenkins of the San Diego Union-Tribune describes the Hoyer hiring as "imminent," but says no announcement is scheduled for today.
WEDNESDAY, 2:25pm: Both MLB.com's Corey Brock and ESPN's Buster Olney are reporting that San Diego is moving closer to naming Boston Assistant General Manager Jed Hoyer as their next General Manager.
Hoyer and Los Angeles Assistant GM Kim Ng have both been interviewed. It is unclear if anyone else has been interviewed, with San Diego staying quiet about the search.
Padres' CEO Jeff Moorad has said he'd like to name a GM prior to the World Series, so it is reasonable to expect an announcement sooner than later.
As for Kevin Towers, whom Hoyer would be succeeding, his destination remains unclear. Olney wrote last week that "it figures that Towers will take a job with the Yankees as a special assistant in the months ahead."
But Brock reports that Towers could "conceivably take a spot in the Red Sox front office — possibly as a special assistant or in the scouting department — if Hoyer is indeed hired by the Padres."
Odds & Ends: Yankees, Cardinals, Astros
Here are some links to take you through the end of your workday, instead of, you know, working.
- The Yankees aren't satisfied to simply win the 2009 World Series. They are concurrently planning to take 2010 as well, with Jon Heyman reporting that they are atop Matt Holliday's preferred list of teams, and Lohud.com's Chad Jennings writing that the Yankees should be meeting with Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman soon, though GM Brian Cashman wouldn't confirm it.
- Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that Jason LaRue would be a good fit for the Cardinals in 2010, and breaks down the other catching candidates as well.
- Manny Acta had his second interview for the Astros' managing job, while Bobby Valentine and Bob Melvin are candidates to take Acta's former position as skipper for Washington.
- Tim Wakefield had successful back surgery for the Red Sox, who have a number of 2010 contract options to consider, include Wakefield's. Alex Speier of WEEI.com runs it down nicely.
- The Rays hired Derek Shelton as their new hitting coach. Shelton had been the hitting coach for Cleveland.
- Former Mets' first base coach Tom Nieto is the new manager for Rochester, Minnesota's Triple-A farm team, among other minor-league hires.
Rangers Cut Grilli, Richardson
3:46pm: MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan reports the Rangers have also taken catcher Kevin Richardson off the 40-man roster, and are trying to sign him to a minor-league contract.
2:39pm: Per Jason Grilli's Twitter page, the Texas Rangers have removed the 32-year-old pitcher from their roster.
Grilli wrote, "My day just got more interesting-as said earlier tweet-A leader can't lead until he knows where he is going-Texas took me off the roster".
Grilli is an interesting buy-low candidate for a number of teams. While his ERA jumped from 3.00 in 2008 to 5.32 in 2009, that is highly deceiving. He posted a Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) ERA of just 3.93 in 2009, and has been under 4 each of the past three seasons.
Grilli has also been roughly as effective against lefties and righties throughout his career, allowing a .271 batting average to righties, .265 to lefties.
If Grilli is to be believed, he'll be in terrific shape for someone in 2010. He wrote on a follow-up tweet, "Gonna be some Rocky Balboa training commence".
Marlins Notes: De Aza Claimed, St. Claire Could Return
Lots going on with the Marlins, who certainly aren't waiting for the end of the playoffs to start their retooling.
- Alejandro De Aza was claimed off of waivers by the Chicago White Sox, according to Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The Marlins may miss De Aza, still only 25, and who posted an .876 OPS in Triple-A this season. Rodriguez reports that the move leaves Florida with 37 men on their 40-man roster.
- Randy St. Claire, who was fired by Washington in June, is in the mix to be Florida's next pitching coach.
- MLB.com's Marlins beat reporter Joe Frisaro answers a number of reader questions, from whether Jorge Cantu will be back in 2010 (Frisaro thinks so) to whether Dan Uggla will be traded (Frisaro also thinks so).
Mets Roundup: Madoff, Catchers, Jauss
The Yankees may be one win from the World Series, but there is a lot going on with New York's other team today.
- Ray Ratto of CBSSports.com writes about the news from court filings this week that the Mets may have gained $48MM in the Bernie Madoff swindle, rather than lost a previously-reported range of $300MM to $700MM. Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily good news. Those who lost money to Madoff are in the process of suing the Madoff winners, and the uncertainty over $48MM could complicate offseason plans for the Mets.
- Metsblog's Matt Cerrone believes the Mets will return Josh Thole to Triple-A for more seasoning, and find a defense-first catcher to split time with Omir Santos. He mentioned Rod Barajas specifically, who seems like the best fit for a team that could use some offense from the position, too.
- Licey Tigers manager Dave Jauss was in New York on Monday to discuss a position with the Mets. Jauss managed in the Montreal system, receiving the honor of Eastern League Manager of the Year in 1994.
Freese Is Cardinals’ First Choice For Third Base
According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, David Freese should get first crack at the Cardinals' third base job next season.
Freese was impressive in his 225 plate appearances with Triple-A Memphis, posting an .894 OPS, and hit well in a very small major-league sample as well (.837 OPS in 34 plate appearances).
Should Freese excel, it would be a welcome change from 2009 for the Cardinals, when eight different players held down the hot corner.
"I think we would like to give him a shot to play every day," St. Louis GM John Mozeliak said. "If we need to ramp up the offense in another way, we have plenty of time. But given what he accomplished this year, I definitely think (Freese) deserves that chance."
The decision to give Freese first crack at the third base job complicates any efforts to sign free agent Mark DeRosa, who wants an every day job in 2010.
Strauss added that the Cardinals have little interest in any other free agent third basemen.
Odds & Ends: Pirates, Rockies, Brewers
What, two playoff games isn't enough baseball for you? Us either…
- Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com discusses the many problems with the Pirates. She doesn't think any of the traded Pirates are coming back, and addresses the improvement Pittsburgh needs to make in the starting rotation and up the middle.
- MLB.com's Thomas Harding dissects the state of the Rockies, position-by-position.
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says there will be no pitching coach hiring announced today for the Brewers, in case you were staying up late waiting for that announcement.
- Boston Red Sox coaches Brad Mills and Tim Bogar interviewed for the Houston managerial vacancy.