Discussion: NL Cy Young
The NL Cy Young might be a close race this year. Tim Lincecum is the leader, but plenty of others merit consideration: Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Matt Cain, and Dan Haren. Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Johnson, Javier Vazquez, Clayton Kershaw, Jair Jurrjens, Joel Pineiro, Randy Wolf, and Wandy Rodriguez are having strong seasons as well. We've got about a month to go, keep in mind.
The last few NL Cy Young winners: Lincecum, Jake Peavy, Brandon Webb, and Carpenter.
Free Agent Market: Catchers
Today let's take a look at the free agent market for catchers. As usual, plenty of backups will be eligible for free agency after the season. As far as those who have been used as starters in recent years, we have Rod Barajas, Josh Bard, Ramon Hernandez, Jason Kendall, Bengie Molina, Miguel Olivo, Ivan Rodriguez, Brian Schneider, Yorvit Torrealba, Jason Varitek, and Gregg Zaun. It's safe to assume Boston will exercise Victor Martinez's $7.7MM club option for 2010.
- Looking for OBP? Zaun is your best bet at .355 this year. After that you get to Kendall, Hernandez, and Varitek in the .330 range.
- Power? Olivo is slugging .467, though his OBP is just .276. Bengie Molina and Barajas have similar numbers.
- Durability? Bengie Molina's played 114 games this year (though he's hurting currently), Kendall 112.
- Olivo (31), Bard (32), and Torrealba (31) are the youngest free agent catchers.
- In shutting down the running game, Pudge leads with a 32.7% caught stealing rate. Barajas is next at a 29%. Bengie Molina leads in volume with 23 runners cut down. Ramon Castro and Henry Blanco have strong rates in limited playing time.
- Zero passed balls for Varitek, with Kendall and Bengie Molina allowing only three.
- Here's an interesting attempt to measure catcher defense that puts Pudge at the top of the free agent list. And in The Fielding Bible II, John Dewan's top defensive catchers who are also free agents are Jose Molina, Kendall, Barajas, Bengie Molina, and Pudge in that order.
- Possible free agent compensation: Varitek, Pudge, Barajas, Olivo, Hernandez, Kendall, and Schneider project as Type Bs (Varitek, Olivo, and Hernandez have options). Aside from V-Mart, Bengie Molina projects as the lone Type A. He earned $6MM this year.
Odds & Ends: Astros, Royals, Abreu
Let's kick off the day with links…
- Yahoo's David Brown caught up with Pedro Martinez as part of his Answer Man series.
- Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle writes about the Astros' mistake of ignoring pitching.
- Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle notes that the Michael Bourn–Brad Lidge swap no longer looks lopsided. The Astros sent Lidge and Eric Bruntlett to Philly for Bourn, Geoff Geary, and Mike Costanzo in November of 2007.
- Rany Jazayerli has an open letter to Royals owner David Glass regarding the Dayton Moore extension.
- Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times writes about Bobby Abreu's influence on the Angels' other hitters. In the article, Abreu says, "I definitely want to come back."
- Chuck Finder of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette discusses the legend of Garrett Jones. The 28 year-old Rookie of the Year contender has crushed 18 home runs in 237 plate appearances. What kind of numbers do you see him putting up next year?
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post feels that Johnny Damon makes more sense for the Yankees next year than Hideki Matsui.
Odds & Ends: Johnson, Peavy, Nelson
Links for Thursday…
- Pitching prospect Steve Johnson, part of the trade that sent George Sherrill to the Dodgers, found out about the deal via MLB Trade Rumors. Very cool! Tom Sedlacek of the Bowie Baysox did the interview with Johnson.
- MLB.com's Scott Merkin has comments from Jake Peavy about the failed Cubs trade and the two White Sox trades.
- Rays reliever Joe Nelson cleared waivers and accepted a minor league assignment, according to Marc Lancaster of the Tampa Tribune.
- The Phillies designated pitcher Steven Register and catcher Joel Naughton for assignment, according to David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News.
Rangers Acquire Danny Gutierrez
The Rangers acquired pitching prospect Danny Gutierrez from the Royals for catcher Manuel Pina and outfielder Tim Smith, according to Greg Schaum of 610 Sports in Kansas City (via Twitter).
Gutierrez, a 22 year-old righty, has a 1.65 ERA in 27.3 High A ball innings this year. Coming into the season he was ranked the Royals' #7 prospect by Baseball America and #6 by Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus. Why has Gutierrez pitched so little this year? In part due to a shoulder injury, and in part due to off-field issues and a disagreement with the Royals (Schaum tells me).
Pina is a Double A catcher with a .259/.313/.393 line, while Smith hit .309/.380/.439 at the same level.
Rosenthal On Cameron, Penny, Dye
Time for a look at the latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…
- The Yankees and Brewers discussed a Mike Cameron trade (again) in August, but never came close to a deal. We learned earlier today from ESPN's Jayson Stark that the Marlins were also interested. Cameron, however, hopes to remain with the Brewers past this season.
- The Yankees had "serious interest" in Brad Penny as well, but the big righty preferred the NL and the Giants' ballpark. Penny recently said he'd be willing to return to the AL East, but the smart money's on him signing in the NL after the season.
- Rosenthal learned that Jermaine Dye had the right to convert his $12MM mutual option into a player option if traded. That was probably one of several reasons the Giants did not pursue him. We learned from Stark that the White Sox "wanted something good" for Dye.
- Rosenthal expects Astros manager Cecil Cooper to be fired even though he's under contract through next year. He believes former Phillies manager Jim Fregosi could be a candidate to replace him.
Discussion: AL Cy Young
Next up in our awards discussion, the AL Cy Young. The candidates: Zack Greinke, Felix Hernandez, C.C. Sabathia, Roy Halladay, Edwin Jackson, and Justin Verlander. Jon Lester could enter the mix with a huge September. Mariano Rivera is another name to consider, if you like closers for this award. Here's the question: can you make a legitimate argument for anyone other than Greinke, without bringing up win totals?
The last few AL Cy Young winners: Cliff Lee, Sabathia, Johan Santana, and Bartolo Colon.
MLBTR Looking For Writers
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- Ability to analyze articles and craft intelligent, well-written posts summing up the news in a few paragraphs. I want the best of both worlds, as you have to be able to do this very quickly after the source article is published. It's preferred that you add value to the article with your own insight, numbers, or links to other relevant articles.
- Attention to detail – absolutely no spelling errors, especially for player and journalist names. Ability to follow the MLBTR style and tone. Also it is important to avoid duplicating content previously covered on the site and avoid posting about topics MLBTR does not cover.
- Ability to use an RSS feed reader such as Google Reader. Ability to use Twitter. Both of these are crucial.
- Blogging experience is preferred. We use TypePad, which is easy to use if you have blogged before.
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- If you're interested, email mlbtrhelp@gmail.com and explain your qualifications. Also, within the body of your email (not as an attachment) write one sample, fictional MLBTR post using real players. For this sample post, come up with something that could actually happen.
- Please don't send anything to my other email address. Usually we receive a few hundred inquiries, so unfortunately I cannot reply to all or even most. Thanks.
Cameron Might Take Discount To Stay In Milwaukee
Center fielder Mike Cameron "would be willing to make a sacrifice" to remain with the Brewers beyond this year, according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. (Hat tip to Aaron Gleeman, and check out his analysis as well). McCalvy notes Cameron's $10MM salary and likely Type B status. Gleeman writes of Cameron's continued defensive prowess, and says the center fielder is already a bargain at 10 mil. FanGraphs agrees.
The free agent market does not have many legitimate starting center fielders. Beyond Cameron, Marlon Byrd may be the best bet. Coco Crisp is another decent possibility, should the Royals decline his $8MM option. Rick Ankiel will be out there, though the Boras client has not impressed in his contract year.
Stark On Lackey, Rays, Jeter
More from Jayson Stark's Rumblings and Grumblings column at ESPN.com…
- One of Stark's sources says the Angels' acquisition of Scott Kazmir is not linked to John Lackey's future. Lackey is said to have dropped his price from the C.C. Sabathia range ($161MM over seven years) to A.J. Burnett money ($82.5MM over five years) due to his recent injury history. The Angels will attempt to re-sign Lackey, but they have their limit. Stark's suggestion that Lackey had a "Sabathia-esque" price tag in Spring Training runs counter to Mike DiGiovanna's report that the pitcher wanted Burnett money at that time.
- Stark feels that the Rays' trade of Kazmir will help them allocate money toward retaining Carl Crawford and/or Carlos Pena. Crawford's 2010 club option is worth between $10-11.5MM. Pena is signed at $10.125MM for '10 and is represented by Scott Boras. One positive: the slugging first baseman inked a below-market deal in January of '08.
- Derek Jeter is not talking about his next contract, but Stark feels the Yankees will take care of him. They may wait until after next season, when Jeter finishes his current deal.
- Rockies manager Jim Tracy is familiar with Brad Penny, and his opinion might have caused the team to back off. And the Yankees cooled Jon Garland because they didn't see him as a difference-maker in the AL East.
- The Marlins were in on Mike Cameron, but the Brewers decided to keep their players and win as many games as possible.
- The White Sox "wanted something good" for Jermaine Dye, according to one Stark source. He would not have been as easy to pry away as Jim Thome and Jose Contreras were.
- A couple of sources are skeptical that the Red Sox will shop closer Jonathan Papelbon this winter.
- Stark notes that only two players – Ryan Franklin and David Eckstein – signed extensions in-season. These days it makes more sense to talk during the exclusive negotiation period after the season. Plus, there were many bargains to be had on the free agent market last offseason.