Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Red Sox Rumors

AL East Notes: Reyes, Rays, Francona, Montero

By | at

All eyes will be on a trio of AL East matchups today, as the Rays take on the Blue Jays while the Yankees and Red Sox play a split doubleheader in the Bronx. By the end of the day, we could see a massive swing one way or the other in the Wild Card race. If the Sox sweep the doubleheader and the Rays fall to Toronto, Boston would clinch at least a tie of the Wild Card. On the other hand, if the Rays beat the Jays and the Yanks win a pair at home, Tampa Bay and Boston will be tied heading into the season's final series. While we look forward to today's slate of games, let's check out the latest links from the division….

  • The Rays asked the Mets about Jose Reyes' availability in June, according to Newsday's Ken Davidoff. Reyes' stock was incredibly high at the time – he was healthy and hit .352/.397/.529 through the season's first three months – so the Mets turned away the Rays' inquiries.
  • Within Davidoff's piece, Rays GM Andrew Friedman said his team won't feel the need to trade any starting pitching this winter: "We can't be cavalier about the depth that we have right now."
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports takes a look at Terry Francona's future in Boston, wondering whether the skipper will be the scapegoat if the Red Sox miss the playoffs.
  • The Yankees should give Jesus Montero a chance to catch the season's last few games to see if he's a viable option behind the plate, argues Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News.

Quick Hits: Capuano, Nunez, Ramirez, Jackson

By | at

Some links on this Saturday evening…

Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke

East Notes: Collins, Epstein, Phillies

By | at

Yankees GM Brian Cashman's remarks regarding his feigned pursuit of Carl Crawford are creating some buzz today, unsurprisingly. Here are some other items of note out of the east …

  • The Mets will decide whether they'll exercise manager Terry Collins' 2013 option within the next 10 days, a source tells Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. The club will also have to decide on whether to bring back all of Collins' coaches, whose contracts are expiring, except for hitting coach Dave Hudgens.
  • Red Sox GM Theo Epstein told ESPNBoston.com that there's no "disconnect" between him and manager Terry Francona. The latter's job security has been a hot topic on talk radio shows and the like this week, what with the Red Sox owning just a two-game lead over the Rays in both the AL East and the AL Wild Card entering Friday's action. Boston, of course, appeared to be a lock for the postseason only a month ago.
  • The Phillies will lead the Major Leagues in attendance in 2011, writes Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. With the second highest payroll in the big leagues at $175MM, the great turnout will certainly help pay some of the bills. The Phils sold out their 204th consecutive home game on Thursday, a stretch that dates back to 2009, according to Salisbury.

Cashman: We Tried To Drive Crawford’s Price Up

By | at

When the Yankees wined and dined Carl Crawford during last December's winter meetings, most assumed he was their backup plan to Cliff Lee. Crawford agreed to a deal with the Red Sox before the end of the meetings and Lee eventually went back to the Phillies, but GM Brian Cashman told ESPN New York he was never really interested in signing the outfielder in the first place…

"I actually had dinner with the agent to pretend that we were actually involved and drive the price up," said Cashman. "The outfield wasn't an area of need, but everybody kept writing Crawford, Crawford, Crawford, Crawford. And I was like, 'I feel like we've got Carl Crawford in Brett Gardner, except he costs more than $100 million less, with less experience.'"

Interestingly enough, Crawford said he didn't believe the Yankees were serious about signing him back in March. "If the Yankees want somebody they go out and get them, don't they?," he asked, and aside from Lee, he's generally correct. Crawford is hitting .259/.295/.410 with only 18 steals in the first year of his seven-year, $142MM contract. Gardner, on the other hand, is hitting .261/.347/.374 with an AL leading 46 stolen bases. He also leads all players in UZR (regardless of position) for the second straight year, and will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter.

Within the same ESPN NY piece, Cashman acknowledged that his offseason moves turned out better than expected. "What I said was accurate: The Red Sox had a great winter, and I had a bad winter," he said. "But as it turned out, I had a better winter than anybody would've expected, including myself." Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia have combined for a 3.90 ERA in one out shy of 300 innings, the main reasons Cashman's offseason was surprisingly successful.

Boston’s Starting Pitching Options

By | at

Boston’s late-season slide isn’t so shocking when you consider that Red Sox pitchers have allowed 6.5 runs per game this month. With just six regular season games remaining, Boston’s lead has diminished to 2.5 games over the Angels and Rays. Baseball Prospectus still gives the Red Sox a 91.5% chance of advancing, but there’s zero doubt that Red Sox fans and front office members are unsettled by the team’s play.

The Red Sox made multiple inquiries about Chris Capuano, though it doesn’t appear that they’ll reach a deal with the Mets. Capuano would be ineligible for Boston’s postseason roster, but GM Theo Epstein and his front office are focused on the immediate future: three games in Yankee Stadium against the AL East Champions followed by three games at Camden Yards against the Orioles.

Jon Lester is set to pitch tomorrow, with 45-year-old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield scheduled to take the ball Saturday and John Lackey and his 6.49 ERA set to wrap the series up Sunday. Clearly, there’s room for improvement. Ideally, the Red Sox would have been able to turn to Clay Buchholz and Daisuke Matsuzaka, who are injured, or Rich Harden, whose medicals scared Boston away, or a more productive version of Lackey. But those options aren’t there, so the Red Sox are looking at alternatives.

If they move on from Capuano to other potentially available starters, they aren’t likely to encounter many pleasing options. Pitchers like Bruce Chen and Rodrigo Lopez aren’t clear upgrades and if the Red Sox considered Kevin Millwood a viable starter in the AL East, they would have held onto him earlier in the season.

They could ask Padres GM and longtime Red Sox executive Jed Hoyer about Aaron Harang, who has put together a nice season in San Diego (3.82 ERA, 6.6 K/9, 3.2 BB/9). No Yankee regular other than Russell Martin has had much exposure to Harang, and five of the team’s regulars (Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, Derek Jeter, Brett Gardner, Jorge Posada) have never faced him in a regular season game, so the Red Sox would have the element of surprise on their side. But even if they were comfortable bringing a fly ball pitcher into Yankee Stadium, the third most homer-friendly ballpark in baseball, they’d have to convince the Padres to part with Harang. The sides have a mutual option for 2012 and Harang projects as a Type B free agent in the offseason, so he still has value to San Diego. 

There’s Javier Vazquez, the Marlins right-hander who has been pitching at the top of his game for the past half-season (1.93 ERA, 8.3 K/9, 1.4 BB/9 in the last three months). In theory, the Red Sox could bring him in to start in place of Lackey on three days’ rest Sunday. It would be a significant upgrade, but Vazquez has a no-trade clause and appears ready to announce his retirement, so it seems unlikely that he’d agree to uproot himself. Plus, it's not as if Vazquez has had much success in Yankee Stadium.

In other words, the odds may be on Boston’s side, but the trade market isn’t. It appears that their chances of reaching the postseason depend entirely on the players they currently have.

Red Sox Tried For Capuano; Deal Unlikely

By | at

The slumping Red Sox are looking for pitching reinforcements and spent many days trying to obtain left-hander Chris Capuano from the Mets for cash, according to John Tomase of the Boston Herald. Boston’s lead over the Rays and Angels has shrunk to just 2.5 games after a 5-16 September slide. 

The Red Sox would start Capuano Sunday against the Yankees if they complete a deal, but it appears that the Mets will keep the 33-year-old, who has a 4.47 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 175 1/3 innings this year. Rob Bradford of WEEI.com hears that the Red Sox aren't lkely to make any deals and Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston.com hears that talks are "dead." Boston wouldn’t be able to use Capuano in the playoffs – they’re simply interested in boosting their chances of reaching the postseason.

Jon Lester pitches Friday's series opener and he'll be followed by Tim Wakefield and John Lackey barring a change of plans.

Rosenthal On Moneyball

By | at

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports spoke to a slew of top executives about Moneyball, with the movie coming out Friday.  Here are a few highlights.

  • Executives Dave Dombrowski (Tigers) and Mark Shapiro (Indians) agree that the stark line drawn by the 2003 book between scouting and statistics is not present today.  I've yet to find a baseball executive who doesn't prefer a blend.
  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman admits that the Red Sox "were having a great deal of success with players of lesser ability," adding, "I studied what they were doing to some degree, adjusted accordingly, brought the Yankees up to speed, brought us into the 21st century."
  • Shapiro, president of the Indians, expects further dominance of big-market teams in the next five to seven years.  He added, "That doesn’t preclude small-market teams from winning. But they’re going to go in and out, go through cycles of winning, then violently remaking their rosters." 
  • Paul DePodesta told Rosenthal he thinks the explosion of information in baseball would have happened without Moneyball, but Cashman and Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. noted that they were pleased to see Oakland's methods revealed in the book.
  • Braves president John Schuerholz doesn't think so-called Moneyball teams have been successful, saying, "I think everyone looked and I don’t think many considered it a better mousetrap. You look at the won-loss records of the teams that adopted and the teams that didn’t, I don’t think you’ll find much of a difference in the impact."
  • Brewers GM Doug Melvin is losing some faith, based on "some bad experiences with possible deals that I might have made based off numbers."
  • Athletics GM Billy Beane believes injuries represent a current opportunity, if a team can create an advantage in prevention and treatment.  DePodesta noted that inefficiencies arise every five or six years, when a new collective bargaining agreement is reached.

Quick Hits: Epstein, Ozzie, Beltran

By | at

Links for Tuesday, as the Red Sox and Braves try to fend off several wild card challengers…

  • Red Sox GM Theo Epstein failed to accumulate the necessary pitching depth, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.  Epstein has become a popular target this month, but the criticism holds more water for me if the author was pointing out the team's depth issues before the season or in July.  Morosi, to his credit, questioned Boston's rotation in April.
  • On a similar note, the John Lackey contract looks ugly right now.  But it wasn't regarded that way when Lackey signed in December of 2009.  In fact, ESPN's Jayson Stark did a poll of "20 wise baseball men" prior to the 2010 season, and Lackey's contract was voted the best signing of the offseason (right before Chone Figgins).  
  • White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen hopes to learn about his future before leaving for a trip to Spain in early October, he told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune.  Guillen has a year left on his contract, so the White Sox don't necessarily have to follow that timeline.
  • Scott Boras will have lunch with the Giants' Carlos Beltran today to determine the right fielder's free agency goals, he told the Associated Press yesterday at the Moneyball premiere.
  • ESPN's Buster Olney tells stories of how Padres GM Randy Smith came to acquire Trevor Hoffman from the Marlins, and how the Yankees considered trading Mariano Rivera before they realized what they had.

AL East Notes: Epstein, Crawford, Yankees

By | at

The Rays and Orioles are technically division rivals, but tonight they're on the same side. Baltimore beat the Red Sox in the first game of today's double-header and Rays fans are hoping for a second Orioles win this evening. A Baltimore sweep would shrink the gap between Tampa Bay and Boston to one game in the American League Wild Card race. Here are today's links…

  • Congratulations to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who became the all-time saves leader when he shut the Twins down earlier today. The future Hall of Famer now has 602 career saves.
  • Yahoo's Jeff Passan says signing John Lackey was the worst blunder of Theo Eptsein's career and argues that the Red Sox GM deserves all of the criticism he is facing for Boston's fading pitching staff.
  • Not sure whether you agree with Passan? Check out every move Epstein has made with the help of our Transaction Tracker.
  • Carl Crawford, who signed a $142MM contract with the Red Sox last offseason, apologized to fans for his season in a blog post at ESPNBoston.com. "I'm sorry for the year I've had,” he said. “You guys have been really supportive and I appreciate that. Hopefully when we get into these playoffs, I can be the real Carl Crawford that I know I am."
  • Ray Bartoszek, a former commodities trader, bought a minority share of the Yankees, according to the Star-Ledger.

Heyman On Fielder, Rollins, Madson

By | at

SI's Jon Heyman leads his column by ranking the favorites for Prince Fielder, putting the Brewers sixth while noting that owner Mark Attanasio "should never be counted out and is expected to make one final run" to retain his slugger.  Heyman's other notes:

  • The Phillies "very much" want to re-sign shortstop Jimmy Rollins.  Heyman thinks the Phillies are willing to do a three-year contract while Rollins is expected to seek four or five.  Rollins, 33 in November, is hitting .268/.338/.395 in 582 plate appearances this year.  UZR continues to rate his defense as above average, and it seems likely Rollins will score an eight-figure salary for the first time in his career.
  • The Red Sox "are thought to have interest" in Phillies closer Ryan Madson.  Madson, a 31-year-old Scott Boras client, has a 2.54 ERA, 8.9 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 0.32 HR/9, and 50% groundball rate in 56 2/3 innings this year.  Last week MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith explained that Madson will probably cost another team a draft pick, but a three-year deal appears likely.  In March, Madson said he wanted to finish his career with the Phillies.

 

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top