No Roster Moves Imminent For Red Sox
While the Red Sox's struggles so far this season have not been lost on GM Theo Epstein, the club doesn't plan to make any major moves at this time, writes Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal. Even though there still areas in which the club can improve, any additions likely will have to come from within the organization until after June 1st.
“A lot of it is dictated by opportunity,” the GM said. “You’re not going to make a blockbuster trade in April, for the most part, or May. Usually that’s something for the middle third of the season.”
The Red Sox could likely use an upgrade behind the plate, but Epstein isn't terribly concerned, citing that other clubs aren't receiving high offensive production from their catchers either. Backstops Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jason Varitek have a combined slash line of .181/.246/.244 thus far.
Nationals Overloaded In The Outfield
Nats centerfielder Rick Ankiel may not be able to return to action when he's able to come off the disabled list next week. From the standpoint of delaying decisions, that might be a good thing, writes Ben Goessling of MASNSports.com.
Roger Bernadina has filled in at leadoff hitter and center fielder, and manager Jim Riggleman says that he'd like to keep it that way. If he remains in that role, it would leave Ankiel, Laynce Nix and Michael Morse to fight over playing time in left.
Other than optioning Bernadina back to Triple-A Syracuse, the club won't have many ways to fit everyone in. Riggleman says that the club will figure things out when Ankiel is healthy, a point that could be approaching soon.
Camden Riversharks Sign Pedro Feliz
Major league veteran Pedro Feliz has officially signed with the Camden Riversharks of the Atlantic League, according to Mike Ashmore of the Hunterdon County Democrat (via Twitter). Feliz, 36, has played 11 seasons in MLB with four different clubs.
Feliz appeared in 137 games for the Astros and Cardinals last season, posting a slash line of .218/.240/.293. The Royals signed him to a minor league deal back in February, but the two sides parted ways in late March when it was apparent that he wouldn't make the big league club.
Quick Hits: Feliz, Oswalt, Dodgers
A few items to close out this weekend..
- Given his recent mind-changing history, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter) suggests not reading too much into Neftali Feliz's thoughts on starting next season. Earlier today, Feliz said that he wants to continue finishing games for the rest of his career, before backtracking later on.
- Buster Olney of ESPN tweets that of all the players he has ever written about, he would say that Roy Oswalt is among those most likely to leave baseball whenever he felt it necessary.
- Tom Schieffer is a good pick to oversee the Dodgers, writes Olney. Olney writes that Schieffer is, by all accounts, a tough negotiator and someone who will make budgetary decisions and stick to them.
Feliz Might Not Want To Start Next Season
Earlier today, Rangers closer Neftali Feliz said that he wants to continue finishing games for the rest of his career in an interview with USA Today's Jorge L. Ortiz. After Texas faced the Athletics today, Feliz backtracked from that statement, writes T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com.
"Right now, I'm focused on being healthy and getting back to being the closer," said Feliz, who will turn 23 years old tomorrow.
Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told USA Today that the team intends to keep Feliz as its closer for the rest of the season, then consider his role for 2012 in the offseason. If Feliz does stick to his guns and decide that he wants to continue to close, Daniels says that they'll weigh that in their decision.
"We'll take his feelings, as well as team need and other factors, into consideration over the winter,'' Daniels wrote via e-mail. "He actually makes a pretty good case for starting by suggesting relieving is more physically demanding. We'll look at that in the offseason.''
Before the start of the season, the Rangers considered moving Feliz into the 2011 rotation. Recently, Daniels said that the organization definitely believes that the youngster has the stuff to start. A March MLBTR poll showed that readers were pretty evenly split on whether or not Feliz should start.
MLBTR Originals
Here's a rundown of MLBTR's original content from the past week….
- Our Draft Prospect Q&A series rolled on as Ben Nicholson-Smith chatted with Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon.
- We looked at the arbitration records for starting pitchers and catchers.
- Eating money in trades or by releasing players is never ideal, but sometimes it's a necessary evil. Mike Axisa took a look at the teams that are paying players to play elsewhere this season.
- Did you miss out on Tim Dierkes' Wednesday chat? Well, turn that frown upside down because you can read the transcript right here.
- The Rangers, Rays, Reds, and Giants were profiled in our 2012 contract issues series this week.
- Earlier that day, Tim released his analysis of the 2013 free agent class. Here's our freshly published 2013 free agent list.
- On Friday we brought you an update on this year's Rule 5 picks. Eight of the 19 players selected in the Major League phase of last offseason's Rule 5 draft are back where they started.
- It's early in the season but Ben Nicholson-Smith updated us on the value of impending free agents.
- Check out our list of baseball's longest tenured GMs.
- Howard Megdal pointed out the shocking baseball transgressions in The Babe and investigated how teams have dealt with suddenly losing players historically.
- Dan Mennella looked at a major Trade Candidate, Francisco Rodriguez.
- David Price and Clayton Kershaw are likely going to redefine the market with their next contracts.
- We updated our list of the largest contracts in draft history.
- Here's some of the best baseball analysis from around the web in this week's edition of Baseball Blogs Weigh In.
- Ben Nicholson-Smith reflected on Ryan Howard's extension, one year later.
Pedro Martinez On His Way To Retirement
Right-hander Pedro Martinez has virtually ruled out a return to the major leagues and says he is on his way to retirement, according to the Associated Press. In an interview that was broadcast today in the Dominican Republic, Martinez said that he has stayed in shape, but not with his eye on a return.
"I keep active because I have not announced my retirement, because that is something that takes time and you have to plan it. Plus, it is something that the Dominican people expected," the three-time Cy Young award-winner said.
Just three weeks ago, Martinez seemed to hint that he was looking to return to baseball and preferably for the Boston Red Sox. However, the Dominican hurler now says that his comments were misinterpreted. Martinez also dropped the Yankees in conversation, but the Bombers probably wouldn't have been interested in him anyway.
Quick Hits: Minaya, Weaver, Danks, Zimmerman
Emilio "Millito" Navarro, believed to be the oldest living professional baseball player at 105, passed away in Puerto Rico today. The former Negro Leaguer also played in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico during his career. Our condolences go out to his family.
- Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain-Dealer reports that former Mets GM Omar Minaya has spent the past two days on a "friendly visit" with Indians GM Chris Antonetti, president Mark Shapiro, and manager Manny Acta. Cleveland interviewed former Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes during the offseason, and Hoynes says Antonetti has "made [it] no secret that he'd like to add the right person to the front office."
- While researching the impending free agency of young stars, SI's Jon Heyman (via Twitter) learned that we can count on Jered Weaver and John Danks filing after 2012.
- It's been a bad day for star third basemen, writes Justin Sablich of the New York Times. The Giants lost Pablo Sandoval for 4-6 weeks with a broken bone in his right wrist and the Nationals announced that Ryan Zimmerman, who has been on the disabled list since April 12, will miss at least an another six weeks. If both players return within those timeframes, it's unlikely that either squad will look for an out-of-house fill-in.
- Matt Klaassen of Fangraphs questions the Blue Jays' wisdom in demoting Travis Snider to work on his hitting after just 99 plate appearances in 2011.
Orioles Acquire Hester To Complete Reynolds Trade
The Orioles have received catcher John Hester from the Diamondbacks to complete the Mark Reynolds trade, according to a team press release. Hester, a 13th-round selection out of Stanford University by the Diamondbacks in 2006, will be assigned to Triple-A Norfolk.
Hester, 27, played in 53 big league games for Arizona in 2009 and 2010, hitting .220/.294/.366 with three homers. The catcher has spent the bulk of the last three seasons in Triple-A where he owns a slash line of .335/.390/.562.
The O's acquired Reynolds in December of 2010 and a player to be named later or cash considerations for relievers David Hernandez and Kam Mickolio.
Rosenthal On Reyes, Rodriguez, Nationals, Orioles
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports brings us some interesting tidbits in this week's installment of Full Count..
- The Mets will not sign Jose Reyes to a monster contract similar to the one given to Carl Crawford (seven-years, $142MM). However, despite the Mets' financial troubles, keeping Reyes is not out of the question if he's willing to accept a shorter deal in the vicinity of three-years, $45-50MM. Reyes, if healthy, will get more than that on the open market but it's still not a sure thing that the club will deal him. They'll have to consider their position in the standings, how it would impact attendance, and what the return in a trade would be versus the high draft picks they would get if Reyes left via free agency.
- The Mets won't have to worry about Francisco Rodriguez finishing 55 games if they deal him to a club that would use him as a set-up man as opposed to a closer. The Rangers, for example, have Neftali Feliz (if healthy) to finish games. K-Rod can block deals to as many as ten clubs as part of his deal but the Mets, to facilitate this deal, would gladly pick up the $3.5MM buyout to get rid of him.
- Nationals manager Jim Riggleman is one of a handful of managers whose future is uncertain beyond this season. The club has yet to pick up his option for '12 even though most in the game say that the Nats are on the right track. Riggleman's agent told Rosenthal that he is hopeful that the club will either exercise the option or sign him to a multi-year deal by Father's Day.
- The Orioles collected a number of veterans on one-year deals thinking that, at the very least, they'd have trade chips at the deadline. General Manager Andy MacPhail & Co. may need to think again as Derrek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero have done very little at the plate and J.J. Hardy has missed most of the year with an oblique injury. All of this could change, but Rosenthal wonders if manager Buck Showalter and owner Peter Angelos would even approve of a sell-off.