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Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Cubs, Tigers, Blue Jays

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On this date three years ago, the Red Sox fired manager Bobby Valentine, as Leo Panetta of NationalPastime.com writes. Valentine, who lasted only ten months in Boston, led the team to a 69-93 mark, the club’s worst campaign since 1965.

Here’s this week’s look around the baseball blogosphere..

Please send submissions to Zach at ZachBBWI@gmail.com.

Latest On Angels, Huston Street

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On Saturday night, Angels closer Huston Street had to be helped off the field after suffering a groin injury.  The team is still waiting for more information, but manager Mike Scioscia said the early prognosis is “not good,” as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes.  On Sunday, Scioscia added that the injury was “significant” (via Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times on Twitter) and that doesn’t leave a ton of room for optimism as the Angels wait for the MRI results.  Here’s the latest on Street and how the Angels might explore their limited options at this stage of the season…

Newest updates

  • Street told reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register) that he suffered a Grade 1 groin strain and will be out for the rest of the regular season.  Since a Grade 1 is the least-serious level of strain, however, there’s still a chance Street could return in the playoffs provided the Angels make it deep enough into the postseason.

Earlier today

  • Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (on Twitter) hears that there is “absolutely no chance” that 2014 first-round pick Sean Newcomb will come up to the Angels in reaction to the Street injury. The left-hander has worked his way up to Double-A this season. In total, Newcomb has 27 minor league starts to his credit with a 2.38 ERA, 11.1 K/9, and 5.0 BB/9.
  • Fletcher (on Twitter) hears that the Angels are trying to get a reliever from outside the organization to help bolster their bullpen.  However, at this point, they’re unlikely to get anyone of impact.  Furthermore, anyone they did acquire would not be eligible for postseason play.
  • Halos skipper Mike Scioscia confirmed that GM Bill Stoneman is looking “inside and outside the organization” for relief help, as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times tweets.
  • One possibility from within is Vinnie Pestano, Fletcher tweets. Pestano, who pitched to a 2.10 ERA with 11.0 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 at Triple-A, is not currently on the 40-man roster.

AL East Notes: Ramirez, Red Sox, Rays

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New Red Sox GM Mike Hazen joined MLB Network Radio (Twitter link) to talk about a wide range of topics, including the divvying up of responsibilities in the revamped front office.  Hazen explained that he’ll be more based in the office while senior VP Frank Wren will have a heavier hand in the evaluation of players.  Unsurprisingly, he says (link) that president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski will be making the “final decision” on all personnel matters.

Here’s more from the AL East..

  • Hazen (link) says that the Red Sox are tentatively planning to look at Hanley Ramirez as a first baseman in spring training.  Ramirez was recently shut down for the year with a shoulder injury.  He hit just .249/.291/.426 at the plate while advanced metrics labeled him as a weak defender.
  • This offseason, Dombrowski will have to figure out what he’ll do with is trio of major league-caliber catchers, Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal writes. Boston could use one of its backstops in a package to land a frontline starting pitcher, but Christian Vazquez’s health might throw that plan into flux.  In order to trade Blake Swihart, the Red Sox would have to have confidence in Vazquez’s recovery from surgery, but his situation could still be murky come December or January.
  • Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times took a position-by-position look at how the Rays look heading into 2016.  At first base, the Rays have James Loney signed at an $8MM salary, but Topkin wonders if they might be better off trading him, even if they have to eat some of his contract.  Tampa Bay, he writes, could give themselves additional flexibility while opening a spot for Richie Shaffer, who would need to be paired with a lefty hitter.
  • Rich Hill has been excellent this month for the Red Sox and he could be carving out a spot for himself in the rotation in 2016, as Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe writes.  However, the 35-year-old says that he’s not thinking that far ahead.  “I don’t want to even go there, really,” he said. “Just really kind of focus in on tomorrow and get ready for that next start. You want to get to the finish line and worry about [next year] when it comes around.”  Hill, who previously owned a 4.72 ERA over parts of ten big league seasons, has a 1.17 ERA over three starts with 30 strikeouts and just two walks.

Reds Claim Tyler Holt Off Waivers

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The Reds have claimed Tyler Holt off waivers from the Indians, as Jordan Bastian of MLB.com tweets.  Holt was designated for assignment last week by the Tribe to make room for catcher Adam Moore on the 40-man roster.

Holt, 26, has struggled in fairly minimal major league time over the past two years.  In 703 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, though, he has put up an interesting .304/.398/.382 slash line.  As that would suggest, Holt doesn’t have much pop — he has just six career MiLB home runs. But he does offer some speed, and has swiped 45 bags in the highest level of the minors.

To make room for Holt on their 40-man roster, the Reds placed infielder/outfielder Kristopher Negron on the 60-day disabled list.

David Ortiz Maxes Out 2016 Option At $16MM

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After taking plate appearance No. 600 on Sunday, David Ortiz’s 2016 salary has now maxed out at a value of $16MM.  The slugger first got his option to vest for 2016 at a value of $11MM when he reached 425 plate appearances back in August.  Since then, however, he has boosted that total by $1MM each time he hit 475, 500, 525, 575, and 600 PAs, respectively.

Ortiz, 40 in November, hasn’t slowed down much in his old age. After an up-and-down first half of the season, Ortiz has turned it up to bring his slash line to .270/.357/.546 (heading into today’s game) with a whopping 36 home runs on the year.  The only thing now standing between the veteran and his $16MM payout for next season is a physical, as the option is contingent on a clean bill of health.  However, he seems rather healthy as he turns in another stellar season as Boston’s DH.

Ortiz is a veteran of 19 seasons€“ – six with the Twins and 13 with Boston. The Mariners originally signed him as an amateur free agent back in 1992.  Over the course of his career, Oritz has earned nine All-Star selections and, more importantly, helped the Red Sox to three World Series championships.

MLBTR Originals

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A look back at the original reporting and analysis found on MLBTR the last seven days:

Cafardo On Cueto, Angels, Red Sox

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In today’s column, Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe looks at the recent phenomenon of teams installing various layers of upper management.  Lately, teams have taken to employing a president of baseball operations, a GM, and then one or two assistant GMs underneath that person.  In baseball circles, this has become known as “title inflation,” Cafardo writes.  One source says that small market teams don’t like this trend, presumably because the larger market teams are able to pluck execs away with fancier titles that really amount to a lateral move.

Here’s more from today’s column..

  • One AL exec told Cafardo that he stayed away from Johnny Cueto at the trade deadline because of a possible elbow issue.  Many believed that Cueto’s elbow didn’t dampen his trade value this summer since he returned to action for the Reds and continued to pitch well, but we know now that it was a turnoff for at least one club.  Since coming over to the Royals, Cueto owns a 4.99 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 across eleven starts, and one can’t help but wonder if the elbow is a factor.  MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes recently dropped Cueto to eighth in his 2016 Free Agent Power Rankings.
  • Many believe the biggest factor in the Angels’ GM search will be the ability of each candidate to co-exist with manager Mike Scioscia, Cafardo writes. Scioscia, the longtime Halos skipper, has had a fair amount of say in personnel decisions over the years.  Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler has a “good shot” at getting the job, per Cafardo.
  • Cafardo wonders aloud if the Red Sox will allow Torey Lovullo to pursue managerial opportunities this winter.  Lovullo has managed the Red Sox in Farrell’s absence and now has the managerial experience that teams were previously concerned about.
  • Former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire appears ready to get back into managing, Cafardo writes.
  • Jason Varitek, currently serving as a special assistant for the Red Sox, has been mentioned as a managerial candidate.  However, the former catcher’s top priority right now is his family, so it’s not clear if he’d be ready for that kind of grind and commitment.

Red Sox To Appoint Sam Kennedy As President

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The Red Sox announced that Chief Operating Officer Sam Kennedy will take over as club President on October 16th.  Meanwhile, Larry Lucchino has been named President/CEO Emeritus.  “Lucchino will be an active participant in the strategic direction of the franchise and will participate in various issues facing Major League Baseball,” according to the press release, and will remain a member of the Red Sox’s ownership group.

“Larry has helped write a new chapter in the storied history of this franchise,” said Principal Owner John W. Henry in the press release. “He has brought boldness, vision, and intensity each day to Fenway Park. He has also assembled an outstanding team around him, the hallmark of a great CEO.”

Of course, Kennedy will not be involved on the baseball side of things the same way that Lucchino was.  Dave Dombrowski, hired as President of Baseball Operations over the summer, will have control over everything on the field while Kennedy is expected to deal more with business operations.  In the press release, Henry notes that Kennedy has been the heir apparent to Lucchino’s title since 2012.  Team chairman Tom Werner also offered a strong endorsement of Kennedy.

“I have known and worked with Sam for nearly 20 years. We have marveled at his growth and development as one of the top young executives in the sports industry. We could not be happier to entrust him with this position and look forward to working with him on the day-to-day operation of the club,” Werner said.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Blue Jays, Jimenez, Alvarez

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Here’s a look at the best of the baseball blogosphere from this week..

Please send submissions to Zach at ZachBBWI@gmail.com.

Brewers Name David Stearns General Manager

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1:15pm: The Brewers have announced Stearns at a press conference (you can follow along the live video stream of the conference here).

SEPT. 21, 9:43am: Stearns will be introduced as the new general manager today at 1pm CT, tweets MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy.

SEPT. 20: The Brewers are expected to name Astros assistant GM David Stearns as their new GM, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.  Stearns will indeed be the next GM in Milwaukee, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com tweets, and he adds that a formal announcement will come on Monday.

David Stearns

Stearns, 30, will now become the youngest GM in baseball.  He is, in fact, younger than seven players on the Brewers’ current roster (Ryan Braun, Matt Garza, Kyle Lohse, Adam Lind, Nevin Ashley, Francisco Rodriguez and Cesar Jimenez).  As an assistant GM in Houston, he was tasked with assisting GM Jeff Luhnow in “all baseball operations capacities including player evaluations, player transactions, and contract negotiations,” per his site bio.  The Harvard grad served as the director of baseball operations for the Indians in 2011/12 and has previously worked in the baseball operations departments of the Mets and Pirates.

Stearns is “adored by his colleagues,” Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets.  Despite his academic background, Passan notes that he is “far from an all-analytics guy.”

In August, it was announced that longtime Brewers GM Doug Melvin would move to an advisory position within the organization.  Melvin, 63, became Milwaukee’s general manager nearly 13 years ago and prior to that spent eight years as GM of the Rangers. He was the GM in Texas for the team’s first three postseason appearances and helped to construct a pair of playoff teams during his Brewers tenure as well, including a 96-win team that made it to Game 6 of the NLCS against the Cardinals in 2011.

The Brewers have conducted an exhaustive search to fill their GM vacancy, but it seems that they have found their man before the official end to the season.  The team was known to be focusing on candidates who were both younger and had an analytics background.  Rays VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, Pirates director of player development Tyrone Brooks, A’s assistant GM Dan Kantrovitz and the Brewers’ own scouting director Ray Montgomery were all names linked to Milwaukee’s GM opening.

Photo courtesy of the Brewers media relations department.

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