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AL East Notes: Price, E-Rod, Rays, Posey, Blue Jays

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Here’s the latest from around the AL East…

  • David Price insists that his seven-year, $217MM contract with the Red Sox isn’t playing any part in his struggles this season, the star lefty told reporters (including the Boston Herald’s Evan Drellich).  “Every 14 or 15 days when we get paid, I don’t know what my paycheck looks like,” Price said. “I’m not going to ask my agent. I’m not going to sit down and do the math. I don’t spend money. I don’t live a lavish lifestyle….I’m the same guy. I’m not going to let my struggles affect me. The amount of money that I make, I’m not going to change.”  Price’s Red Sox career is off to a rough beginning, though he feels he may have discovered a mechanical reason for his problems thanks to a tip from Dustin Pedroia.
  • Boston manager John Farrell said it’s possible Eduardo Rodriguez’s next outing could be with the Red Sox, Stephen Hewitt of the Boston Herald writes.  Rodriguez is still working his way back from a knee injury that sidelined him for around a month during Spring Training and greatly set back his offseason training.  The southpaw tossed his third rehab start in the minors today, and Farrell said the club will speak to Rodriguez tomorrow to gauge whether he’s ready to escape the DL.
  • Catcher has been an area of need for the Rays throughout virtually their entire franchise history, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes in a look at how the Rays have tried many methods of acquiring or developing a solid everyday catcher with little success.  While Tampa is far from the only team who has struggled to find consistent help behind the plate, the Rays’ decision to take Tim Beckham ahead of Buster Posey in the 2008 draft looms as perhaps the franchise’s biggest what-if scenario.  “To me, there’s no draft miss like the Posey miss in the last decade….Anyway, no one with the Rays ever has admitted it, but it feels like the organization has been trying to make up for it ever since,” Baseball America editor-in-chief John Manuel tells Topkin.
  • The Blue Jays suffered another late-game breakdown today, and bullpen help could soon become a need for the club unless the relief corps improves, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes.  Drew Storen and Brett Cecil, expected to be Toronto’s chief setup men, have instead struggled badly — Storen has an even 9.00 ERA over 11 innings after allowing two runs today, while Cecil has a 5.59 ERA over 9 2/3 frames.

East Notes: Price, D. Murphy, d’Arnaud

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Red Sox southpaw David Price’s start Saturday against the Yankees was another rough outing for the longtime ace, who allowed six earned runs, seven hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings of an 8-2 defeat. After signing a record-setting contract with Boston over the winter, Price has gotten discouraging results in four of his first seven starts with his new club while posting a bloated 6.75 ERA. Along with Price’s subpar run prevention, his velocity is down this season, leading John Tomase of WEEI to wonder if there’s an issue with the 30-year-old. Both Price and manager John Farrell insist he’s healthy, though pitching coach Carl Willis acknowledged Price’s downturn in velocity Saturday. “Really, we just haven’t seen the velocity at this point that he’s had before,” he said (via Roger Rubin of ESPN.com). “It is May 7, so power pitchers tend to get it a little later, and we’re starting to get into May now.” Even with his velocity-related troubles, Price has still put up an 11.54 K/9, 2.93 FIP and 2.94 xFIP, indicating that a turnaround could be on the way.

Now for a quick look at the NL East…

  • Thanks in part to his ridiculously hot start this season (.402/.448/.654 with four home runs in 116 plate appearances), Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy has compiled a 142 wRC+ over the past calendar year, including playoffs, to put himself in company with stars like Buster Posey and Anthony Rizzo. His resounding success is no accident, writes FanGraphs’ Dave Cameron, who points to some meaningful adjustments Murphy has made to facilitate his offensive explosion. For one, Murphy has changed his stance, as tweeted by Mike Petriello of MLB.com, and is now both less upright and closer to the plate than he previously was. He has also markedly increased his pull percentage each year since 2013 and is hitting fewer balls on the ground, leading to more line drives and extra-base hits. While Cameron doesn’t expect Murphy to be the best offensive second baseman in the game going forward, it seems the Nats may have gotten themselves a bargain when they signed the ex-Met to a three-year, $37.5MM deal in the offseason.
  • Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud has been on the disabled list since April 26 with a rotator cuff strain and doesn’t appear primed to return in the near future, as he felt discomfort while trying to throw a ball Saturday, Adam Rubin of ESPN.com was among those to report. “Pretty discouraging for him and us,” said manager Terry Collins. Mets catchers Kevin Plawecki and Rene Rivera have collected just eight hits in 46 at-bats while filling in for d’Arnaud this year. Prior to landing on the DL, d’Arnaud also got off to a forgettable start (.196/.288/.261 in 52 plate appearances) and contributed to the Mets’ offensive woes behind the plate. Mets backstops have thus far posted a 60 wRC+, the ninth-worst mark in the majors.

AL East Notes: Anthopoulos, Benintendi, Yankees

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The Dodgers are currently playing a series against the Blue Jays in Toronto, which means that former Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos (currently the Dodgers’ vice president of baseball operations) is back in town. Anthopoulos spoke to reporters, including MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm, about his time with the Jays organization. Anthopoulos notes that one trade he wonders about not making was for Ben Zobrist, who the Jays evidently were close to acquiring from Oakland last season before he ultimately went to Kansas City. He also looks back on one trade he did make, sending Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud to New York in his famous 2012 deal for R.A. Dickey. Syndergaard, of course, has emerged as a phenom, but Anthopoulos defends the deal from the Blue Jays’ perspective. The team had two sluggers in their primes, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, and faced a tough decision about whether to build around them or consider trading them and resetting for the future. The Jays opted for the former. “The thought was three years in a row, and beyond, to be able to get the playoffs and win the World Series,” Anthopoulos says. “The thought was always that it could be what it is today in terms of attendance, TV ratings, fan interest. The belief was there. It was almost like a wick and you needed to light it.” Here’s more from the AL East.

  • The Red Sox could soon consider promoting top outfield prospect Andrew Benintendi from Class A+ Salem to a higher level, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald writes. The seventh overall pick in the 2015 draft has continued his torrid hitting from last season — he’s currently batting a ridiculous .381/.442/.648 for Salem and currently has a .337/.425/.587 line for his minor-league career. Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski says he has no hard-and-fast criteria for the timings of minor-league promotions, instead treating them on a “case-by-case basis.” Of Benintendi, Dombowski says, “I don’t think it’s worth really speculating, but I could have to say it’s at least a situation that I’m sure will merit attention.”
  • Yankees manager Joe Girardi says Alex Rodriguez’s hamstring strain is a grade “one-plus,” MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweets. There had been optimism that Rodriguez could return from the DL on May 19, the first day he’s eligible, but that might be unlikely. Carlos Beltran has played DH in Rodriguez’s absence, with Aaron Hicks in right field.
  • Meanwhile, Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia is optimistic he can return from the DL in the minimum amount of time, tweets Hoch. Sabathia was placed on the DL yesterday with a groin strain, but he doesn’t believe it’s severe. Ivan Nova is replacing Sabathia in the Yankees’ rotation.

AL East Notes: Gallardo, Sandoval, Swisher, Sowers

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Orioles right-hander Yovani Gallardo tells reporters, including Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link), that there’s still no timetable for him to begin throwing. However, the 30-year-old did somewhat vaguely say he believes his return to throwing to be just “around the corner.” Gallardo hit the disabled list back on April 23 due to shoulder tendinitis and was originally projected to miss around four weeks. It’s been nearly two weeks since that time, though, so it’s looking like he may miss that window by a bit, as one has to figure that he’ll require a minor league rehab assignment after not throwing for several weeks. Gallardo agreed to a three-year deal with the Orioles this winter but saw that reduced to a two-year, $22MM pact over concerns with the same shoulder that now has him on the disabled list.

  • Red Sox chairman Tom Werner elaborated on the lack of insurance on Pablo Sandoval’s contract earlier this week in an appearance on WEEI’s Ordway, Merloni and Fauria show, writes Rob Bradford. Werner said that the decisions to take out insurance policies on contracts are made on a case-by-case basis and that while the club does have insurance on some contracts, Sandoval’s five-year, $95MM deal isn’t one of them. “The fact is this guy played in 157 games with the Giants the year before we signed a deal with him, and that doesn’t include postseason,” said Werner. “…You know there is wear and tear. You could look at an MRI on 80 percent of players and there would be something that you would notice. … We don’t know what happened. I’m going to surmise that he did something this year that injured it because he woke up one day and he couldn’t lift his arm above his stomach. He’s not saying at the moment.”
  • Nick Swisher is off to a solid start with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, batting .299/.324/.463 with three homers in 71 plate appearances, but the 34-year-old is having some difficulty running, one evaluator told the New York Post’s George A. King III. The person to whom King spoke described Swisher’s running as “hard to look at,” which is perhaps unsurprising for a player of his age coming off multiple knee surgeries. Nonetheless, the limited mobility likely restricts Swisher to first base, King writes, so the likeliest means by which Swisher could be recalled would be in the event of an injury to Mark Teixeira, although even than New York could turn to Dustin Ackley, King notes.
  • Fangraphs’ David Laurila interviews former MLB left-hander Jeremy Sowers, who is now working for the Rays after obtaining an MBA from the University of North Carloina. Sowers discusses the end of his career, his transition to the other side of the game, his future in front offices and the openness he has to data and analytics as a new way of looking at pitching in an excellent Q&A with Laurila. “After about two weeks with the Rays, and hearing some of the information they could bring to me, I kind of began wishing I had approached pitching differently,” said Sowers of the Rays’ use of data and analytics. “…It was just another way of thinking about first-pitch strikes, or trusting my breaking ball, or understanding sink versus carry. It’s all stuff you could think about in 2009, but not in the same way we can look at it now. … I’m not going to look at data and say that it is, for lack of a better word, ‘crap.’ I’m going to try to understand what it means.” The entire interview is well worth a read.

AL East Notes: A-Rod, Phelps, Hanley, Rays

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A strained hamstring will send Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez to the 15-day disabled list, writes MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Rodriguez, who had previously been slowed by an oblique injury, expressed frustration at the timing of the injury, as he’d begun to emerge from an early slump. Over the past 12 games, the 40-year-old Rodriguez is hitting .262/.311/.619, and he’d homered in three of his five games as well. Hoch notes that the brief hiatus could give the Yankees the opportunity to play Carlos Beltran at DH and get offseason acquisition Aaron Hicks some extra time in the outfield, which would be a defensive upgrade. Left-handed reliever James Pazos was recalled from Triple-A to fill Rodriguez’s spot on the roster for the time being.

Checking in elsewhere in the division…

  • The trade that sent Martin Prado and David Phelps from the Yankees to the Marlins looked to be a win for New York as recently as last August, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post, but early 2016 results for those involved serve as a reminder that judging the “winner” of a trade is a long-term (and imperfect) process. Last year, right-hander Nathan Eovaldi had taken some steps forward, while the main components sent to Miami had delivered solid but inferior returns. However, Eovaldi has struggled this season, while Prado is leading the NL in hitting and Phelps has blossomed under the tutelage of pitching guru Jim Benedict (hired by the Marlins from the Pirates this winter). Sherman writes that the Yankees would probably do the trade again even today, as they still believe in Eovaldi’s upside, but Phelps’ emergence and remaining club control (through the 2018 season) bode quite well for the Fish. Phelps has allowed just two runs through 16 innings with a 19-to-7 K/BB ratio and a fastball that is 2.5 miles per hour faster than it was in his New York days. Marlins assistant GM Mike Berger spoke to Sherman about Phelps’ breakout, favorably drawing some parallels with another former Yankee farmhand: Mark Melancon.
  • Red Sox first baseman Hanley Ramirez nearly had shoulder surgery late last year, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports. He ended up taking a rehab approach, which seems to have worked out, but did undergo a similar procedure to teammate Pablo Sandoval back in 2011. “The hardest thing is not the surgery. The hardest thing is the rehab,” Ramirez explained. “My advice to Pablo is that it’s going to take a lot of work. A lot of work, a lot of education and a lot of discipline because you use your shoulder for everything. I know that he can do it.”
  • Right-hander Erasmo Ramirez has pitched so well in relief that the Rays may not move him back to the rotation, even though that was the initial plan, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. “Once we were going to go to a four-man rotation, we knew that we were going to use Erasmo in some pretty high-leverage situations,” manager Kevin Cash tells Topkin. “I don’t think any of us could have said he was going to be pitching this good at this point. Not discounting him at all, he’s just been unbelievable.” Ramirez has fired 10 1/3 innings of one-run ball since April 19, striking out seven hitters against just one walk with a 60.7 percent ground-ball ratio. His overall relief numbers are even more impressive, as Ramirez has tossed 16 1/3 innings out of the bullpen this year and yielded just three runs on 11 hits and a walk with 13 strikeouts. The Rays have Alex Cobb on the mend and could could turn to Blake Snell or Matt Andriese as rotation options in the interim. If Ramirez can sustain his success, it’ll only be a boon for a Tampa Bay ’pen that is also on the verge of getting closer Brad Boxberger back as well. Boxberger is nearing a return from offseason hernia surgery.

Pablo Sandoval Out For Season After Shoulder Surgery

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TODAY: Sandoval underwent the repair of a labrum tear as well as a general clean-up of his rotator cuff, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). He will miss the entire rest of the season.

YESTERDAY: Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval will undergo surgery on his left shoulder, the club announced. He’s unlikely to return to action in 2016 after undergoing a “significant,” “reconstructive” procedure, according to reports from Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe (via Twitter) and ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Twitter link).

Boston says it will provide more information on the precise nature of the surgery once it is completed by Dr. James Andrews in the coming days. Sandoval has been on the DL since April 13th with somewhat vague shoulder issues; in the announcement, the team labels the injury a “strain.”

The hope will be that the procedure, and the time away that it will afford the 29-year-old, can help spark a turnaround. Quite apart from his shoulder difficulties, Sandoval has long been dogged by struggles to keep his weight in check, and that has increasingly seemed to be a major problem since he signed with Boston.

Sandoval lost his starting third base job to Travis Shaw out of camp, just one season after joining the Red Sox on a five-year, $95MM free agent contract. He was hitless in seven plate appearances in a reserve capacity in the early going in 2016.

In 505 plate appearances last year, Sandoval slashed just .245/.292/.366 and didn’t appear to be headed for much improvement this spring. He also received terrible ratings from both UZR and DRS for his glovework at third in 2015 after previously rating as an average or better defender. Before that, Sandoval was long a quality performer for the Giants; he compiled a .294/.346/.465 batting line in just over 3,500 plate appearances over seven seasons with San Francisco.

Boston, of course, remains on the hook for Sandoval’s contract, which includes $17MM this year and $58MM more thereafter, including a buyout on the club’s 2020 option. (The team does not have an insurance policy on the deal, as Rob Bradford of WEEI.com has indicated and as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.) That looks like wasted payroll space as things stand, but Sandoval is young enough and has a long enough track record of success to believe that some value can still be reaped if he can get his mind and body back into playing shape.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Headley, Blue Jays, Smith, Harvey, Britton

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Less than one-sixth of the season is in the books, but the Yankees already find themselves looking at a six-game gap in the AL East. GM Brian Cashman acknowledged that the start is concerning, telling Ken Davidoff of the New York Post that “we urgently need to stop the bleeding now.” But doing that is more a matter of minor adjustments and improvements than significant changes to the roster or field staff, the veteran executive suggests — at least for now. “We’ll continue to do the work necessary to put ourselves in position to succeed, and eventually that worm will turn. In the event things don’t turn I’m going to have to make it turn and be forced to do things that weren’t part of the game plan, whatever that would be,” Cashman said. “The best answer would come from this mix of players.”

  • Perhaps no Yankees player has scuffled as badly as third baseman Chase Headley, who has been among the worst regulars in baseball. In Cashman’s view, Headley isn’t so much a victim of batted ball luck as he is simply struggling to hit the ball with authority (as his lack of a single extra-base hit would suggest). “He’s getting his walks, and thank God for that because it would be worse [without them],” said Cashman. “He has not been able to impact the baseball like he’s capable of. We have problems all over, but … he’s definitely someone you can point to and say we have to figure it out. He’s struggling the most.” While Headley has dealt with back issues at times, Cashman says that’s “definitely not an issue” right now. Headley is in the second season of a four-year, $52MM free agent contract.
  • The Blue Jays are in better position than their division rivals from New York, but also have played beneath their high expectations in the early going. That doesn’t mean that manager John Gibbons is at risk, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Instead, Toronto’s new front office is focused on finding a way to improve the results from the bullpen, per Heyman. Gibbons is under contract through 2017 under a reworked deal he agreed to this winter.
  • The Red Sox are finally in position to call upon reliever Carson Smith, as he’s officially been activated from the DL. Smith has been expected to hold down a significant late-inning role since coming over this winter via trade, but first had to battle through a flexor strain. Boston will undoubtedly hope that Smith can avoid further elbow complications.
  • Orioles pitching prospect Hunter Harvey will be delayed yet again, Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports, as he will undergo sports hernia surgery this week. Now, it’s not clear that Harvey will have a shot at making his next regular season, minor league appearance before passing the two-year anniversary of his last. Harvey is still just 21, and remains a highly-regarded prospect, but has yet to move past the Class A level due to a litany of injuries. He’s expected to begin working back to action in July.
  • Meanwhile, the Orioles got promising news on closer Zach Britton, as MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli reports (via Twitter) that an MRI revealed no major cause for concern. The southpaw relief ace is hopeful that he’ll avoid the DL entirely after turning his ankle recently.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Rays, Paredes, Smith

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With the Yankees off to a woeful 8-15 start to the season, the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff opines that it’s time to make some significant changes to the lineup. Chief among them, writes Davidoff, is the benching of struggling third baseman Chase Headley in favor of Ronald Torreyes. While he notes that such a move wouldn’t be a long-term fit, Davidoff feels Torreyes would provide quality at-bats on a more consistent basis. Davidoff also calls for a demotion for right-hander Luis Severino if his struggles persist much longer, writes that aging veterans (Carlos Beltran, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira) should receive less playing time and adds that the Yankees should make it known that they’ll eat a large portion of Jacoby Ellsbury’s salary in a trade.

While the Yankees could certainly look to move Ellsbury, that’s far easier said than done, even if they’re eating a huge portion of his contract. Ellsbury has nearly $107MM remaining on his contract through the end of the 2020 season (including the $5MM buyout on his 2021 option). While the Dodgers were able to move Matt Kemp with nearly an identical amount remaining on his deal, Kemp was significantly more productive at the plate prior to his trade, and the Dodgers still had to eat $32MM of his deal. L.A.’s inability to move Carl Crawford and the longtime struggles the Braves faced in trying to shed Melvin Upton Jr. serve as reminders that it would be exceptionally difficult to move Ellsbury.

More from the AL East…

  • Fangraphs’ David Laurila spoke with Headley about his struggles at Yankee Stadium. Headley explained that he’s in somewhat of a catch-22, as with the exception of the short porch in right field, Yankee Stadium plays fairly large. His swing from the left side is more geared for power to center field or to left field, which negates some of the advantages of hitting left-handed there. However, because of the increased shifting against him, he does feel the need to try to hit the ball in the air, which has resulted in a number of fl-ball outs. Headley tells Laurila that he’s working on pulling the ball in the air with more authority, though clearly he’s still enduring some troubles at the plate.
  • Also within Laurila’s notes column, he speaks to Rays right-hander Danny Farquhar about the increase of data that he’s received now that he’s in the Tampa Bay organization. “They’re presenting me with more than anyone I’ve been with,” said Farquhar. The former Mariners setup man feels that the increased data is good information to have to provide context when he’s struggling.
  • Orioles infielder/DH Jimmy Paredes will see his minor league rehab assignment end in two weeks, and Baltimore will face a decision on the out-of-options 27-year-old at that point, writes MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko. Kubatko doesn’t see how the O’s can keep Paredes on the roster unless they view him as their backup second baseman over Ryan Flaherty, who is expected to be recalled from Triple-A this week. It does indeed seem as if Baltimore has some trepidation about playing Paredes in the field with any form of regularity. Last season, he logged just 72 2/3 innings in the field despite appearing in more than 100 games. The Orioles, in fact, elected to play Steve Pearce at second base over Paredes despite a complete lack of experience for Pearce at the position. With Pedro Alvarez locked in at DH, Paredes does appear to be squeezed out of a role unless the club feels comfortable with his glove, which hasn’t been the case in the past.
  • The Red Sox optioned infielder Marco Hernandez to Triple-A, which will clear a spot on the 25-man roster for right-hander Carson Smith to be activated from the disabled list tomorrow, tweets ESPN Boston’s Scott Lauber. As the Boston Herald’s Evan Drellich writes, manager John Farrell explains that he plans to be careful with Smith early in his season. “We’ve got to be mindful that Carson comes back to us with a limited rehab (stint), so we’ve got to be careful on his frequency of use,” said Farrell. “It’s not being ruled out that we would go with an extra pitcher for the short term.”

Injury Updates: Hardy, Britton, Hamilton, Alvarez, Kelly

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Here’s the latest on some injury situations around baseball…

  • J.J. Hardy fouled a ball off his left foot today, leaving behind an injury that is being termed as just a contusion for now since x-rays were negative.  The Orioles shortstop will undergo a CT scan on Monday to check for any further damage, manager Buck Showalter told reporters (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko).  Hardy was plagued by injuries last season and already missed some time this season with calf and shoulder issues.  Hardy is hitting .244/.291/.410 with two homers in 86 plate appearances.
  • In other Orioles injury news, closer Zach Britton will undergo an MRI on his left ankle on Monday.  X-rays were negative on Britton’s ankle, which he sprained during Saturday’s game.  Showalter hinted that the O’s will use a closer-by-committee based on situations, though if Britton has to miss a significant amount of a time, you would think ideally a single reliever may emerge as the top replacement closer.  Be sure to follow @CloserNews (MLBTR’s sister Twitter site) for more on Britton’s status and news about all ninth-inning situations around baseball.
  • Josh Hamilton felt soreness in his left knee while running the bases in a rehab game today, as Rangers GM Jon Daniels told reporters (including Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram).  Hamilton was pulled from the game and given a cortisone shot, with an eye towards getting back on the field next week.  Hamilton’s bothersome left knee has undergone two operations within the last eight months and this latest setback is another ominous sign for the former AL MVP.
  • Henderson Alvarez looked good in a rehab start on Saturday, and Athletics manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including MLB.com’s Willie Bans) that the righty could be ready to make his A’s debut during a mid-May homestand.  Alvarez missed most of 2015 due to shoulder problems that required required last July, and after the Marlins non-tendered him, the A’s inked Alvarez to a one-year deal worth $4MM in guaranteed money.
  • Joe Kelly tells WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford that his right shoulder is feeling much better after he began strengthening exercises targeting the muscles around his labrum.  The Red Sox righty is hopeful that these new exercises will get him back from the DL in due course and also help solve what has been a long-term nagging injury for Kelly over his career.

Cafardo’s Latest: Hanley, Kemp, Braun, Hill, Panda

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Red Sox first baseman Hanley Ramirez, Padres right fielder Matt Kemp and Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun have all helped their respective trade values early this season, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Ramirez is the only one of the three whose offensive production was subpar in April, but Cafardo points to his hustle, enthusiasm and dedication to the team this year as reasons for his improved stock. The 31-year-old Kemp – signed through 2019 at $21.5MM annually – is the most available of the trio, per Cafardo, who adds that he could be a target of the Red Sox if Chris Young doesn’t start playing better. On the notion of acquiring any of them, a National League general manager told Cafardo, “Are they all $20 million-plus players? I’d say not. You’d have to be able to get them for $10 million-$15 million. There are different ways to reach that number through negotiation and the caliber of players you’d have to give up.”

Here’s more from Cafardo:

  • Athletics left-hander Rich Hill followed last season’s torrid September with a great April, during which he threw 26 innings of 2.42 ERA ball while striking out 12.81 batters per nine. Assuming he continues to serve as a quality rotation option, the 36-year-old will be a sought-after arm around the trade deadline, Cafardo reports. Hill is scheduled for free agency at year’s end, but the AL West doesn’t look like a division anyone will run away with and the A’s could be inclined to keep him if they remain in the hunt.
  • Dr. James Andrews’ Monday examination of Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval’s injured shoulder will be “huge” for both the player and the team, Cafardo writes. He doesn’t rule out a club, perhaps the Padres, having interest in Sandoval if the injury is minor. That certainly seems like a long shot, though, given that Sandoval will collect $75MM through 2020 – including a $5MM buyout – has been worth minus-2.2 fWAR in 129 games dating back to last season, and has a major weight problem.
  • Outfielder Grady Sizemore remains a free agent and has not retired, agent Joe Urban told Cafardo. The 33-year-old posted an .800-plus OPS during the second half of 2015, but he has been a minus player according to fWAR in each of the previous two seasons.
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