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Quick Hits: Collins, Red Sox, K-Rod, Dodgers

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Links for Thursday, as the minor league season opens and Bryce Harper and others make their pro debuts…

  • Yahoo's Jeff Passan explains how 5'7" left-hander Tim Collins went from being an aspiring carpenter to a promising rookie in the Royals' 'pen.
  • Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports know the winless Red Sox aren't as bad as they've seemed for the first five games of the season, but he argues they aren't as good as they seemed in January.
  • The Mets and Francisco Rodriguez continue to say they aren't worried about the reliever's vesting option for 2012, according to Dan Martin of the New York Post. Rodriguez finished his first game of the season last night and with 54 more games finished, he'll have his $17.5MM option vest.
  • MLB’s main concern with the deal Dodgers owner Frank McCourt recently proposed is that it would relieve McCourt’s debt without necessarily improving the product on the field at Dodger Stadium, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney.
  • ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick anticipates some milestones that players may reach in 2011.

Rangers Close To Signing Leon’ys Martin

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12:57pm: However, Peter Gammons hears that the Red Sox offered less than $2MM for Martin (Twitter link).

THURSDAY, 12:44pm: The Red Sox offered Martin over $12MM and the Rangers topped that offer, according to Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. Knobler hears good things about Martin from a scout whose team dropped out of the bidding.

WEDNESDAY: The Rangers are close to signing Cuban center fielder Leon'ys Martin to a Major League deal, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The 23-year-old defected from Cuba last year and hit free agency last month. If the Rangers complete the signing, Martin will start his career in the minor leagues.

Baseball America's John Manuel described Martin as a speedy outfielder who plays strong defense. He was a bench player for Cuba in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and is "considered an elite prospect," according to ESPN.com's Jorge Arangure Jr.

Outrighted To Triple-A: Ekstrom, Wagner, Ishikawa

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The Pacific Coast League's transactions page gives us the update on three recently-designated players.

Heyman On Orioles, Young, Thome, Red Sox

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Orioles president Andy MacPhail told Jon Heyman of SI.com that Baltimore can contend if their young rotation continues pitching well. "If our starting pitchers pitch the way they did the last two months [of 2010] and the first four games [of 2011], of course we'll be a contender.'' The O’s are eyeing back-of-the-rotation help, just in case. Here are the rest of Heyman’s rumors: 

  • The Rangers may have enough hitting to be able to afford trading Michael Young for a starting pitcher. With three starters on the DL, the Rangers may already have some of the pitching they need. Rangers GM Jon Daniels said this week that the club is not discussing possible deals involving Young or anyone else.
  • The Marlins will likely need a third baseman, as Donnie Murphy has not proven he’s more than a part-time player.
  • Jim Thome does not assume that he’ll retire after 2011. "Why not keep going as long as you can do it?'' Thome asked.
  • The Red Sox say they aren’t concerned about Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Heyman hears that the catcher has until June to prove he belongs in Boston.

Revisiting Early Managerial Changes

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When should Terry Francona go? Obviously, whenever he wants. The two-time World Series winner isn't going anywhere; nor should he.

Still, with the Boston Red Sox starting 0-4, the worry in some corners of New England is palpable well beyond the Massachusetts border. Other Boston fans have a more sanguine view, as one observer I spoke to noted: "I've seen the Red Sox lose a road series before."

A four-game losing streak could even be taken as an omen for the Red Sox. In 2007, Boston's last World Series victory, the team had three such losing streaks. In 2004, the Red Sox lost five straight to start the month of May, then another four straight from May 31 through June 4. (They also lost three in a row to begin the ALCS against the Yankees.)

Still, if Theo Epstein goes against every parameter that has marked his successful tenure and rashly fires his manager on the basis of a ludicrously small sample, should he expect huge changes? Let's look at some examples.

Back in 2002, the Detroit Tigers believed Phil Garner was the right man to pilot their team. But after an 0-6 start, all of that changed somehow. Garner got the ax, and Luis Pujols took the helm. Rejuvenated, the Tigers won 55 games – but also, lost 100. Still, the evidence is clear: Detroit avoided a 0-162 record (Garner's pace) with the change.

In 1985, the New York Yankees struggled to a 6-10 start under Yogi Berra. George Steinbrenner fired the living legend and replaced him with Billy Martin, who helped New York to a 91-54 finish. The team's 97 wins came within two victories of first place. If only Steinbrenner had been more impulsive, it might have been enough to give the Yankees a pennant.

That's not to say an earlier firing always works. For instance, Steinbrenner also fired Bob Lemon after just 14 games, and a 6-8 record, in 1982. Gene Michael (44-42) and Clyde King (29-33) didn't do much better. Perhaps Lemon needed to go sooner, or this needed to be one of the five times Steinbrenner hired Martin. Or perhaps replacing Reggie Jackson with Dave Collins wasn't an inspired idea.

Still, rashly firing the manager can happen too early. Back in 1954, Phil Cavaretta got his walking papers in Spring Training after apparently expressing pessimism to the owner. Despite the change to Stan Hack, Chicago finished 64-90.

So as the Red Sox (or, more accurately, some callers into WEEI) mull the change, they must be careful. Unjustly firing the manager over a very small body of work is as much an art as it is a science.

Josh Beckett’s Extension One Year Later

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When Josh Beckett makes his first start of the season tomorrow, exactly one year will have passed since the Red Sox locked him up for $68MM over four years. Now Boston's fourth starter, Beckett is trying to recover from what was arguably the worst season of his ten-year career.

Beckett

Poor performance and poor health turned Beckett from one of the most dependable starters in the league to one of the most perplexing. A lower back injury sent him to the disabled list and limited him to 21 starts, his lowest total since 2002. When he did pitch, the results weren't pretty. Of the 140 MLB pitchers who threw 100 innings last year, Beckett ranked 137th with a 5.78 ERA. 

Beckett would have been a free agent after last year if the Red Sox hadn't locked him up and it's easy to see why GM Theo Epstein and the Red Sox front office wanted to keep him in Boston. He was among American League leaders in a number of categories including strikeouts per nine innings (8.4 K/9), walks per nine innings (2.3 BB/9) and innings (212 1/3) in 2009 and was coming off of a season filled with personal bests. Plus, Beckett had a standout postseason record and was one of two pitchers in baseball to record at least 150 strikeouts every season from 2003-09.

His free agent stock would have tumbled after the 2010 season and he would have been lucky to sign for half of what Boston committed to him last April. Though interested teams would have liked Beckett's 93.5 mph fastball, 45.8% ground ball rate and typically strong strikeout and walk numbers (8.2 K/9, 3.2 BB/9), he would have represented a risky investment given his back injury and lackluster results.

Beckett has bounced back from disappointing seasons to prove doubters wrong before. He followed up his discouraging Boston debut with 20 wins and a second place finish in the 2007 Cy Young voting. And at 30 years of age, he is certainly not old. 

The extension kicks in this year (and will pay Beckett $15.75MM annually through 2014), so it's too early to label it a bust or a success. But one year after its completion, the contract looks like a definite overpay and the Red Sox are hoping Beckett rebounds once again.

Photo courtesy Icon SMI.

Quick Hits: Zito, Orioles, Meyer, Cardinals

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Links for Sunday, as Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler become the first set of teammates in MLB history to homer in each of their team's first three games…

Tribe, Red Sox, Cubs Release Former High Draft Picks

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SUNDAY: The Indians also released a former high pick according to this report from the AP (via ESPN), cutting ties with Preston Mattingly. The son of former AL MVP and current Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, Preston was drafted 31st overall by the Dodgers in 2006. The Indians acquired him in a minor league trade on Sept. 26 this past season.

The high school shortstop signed a $1MM bonus out of the draft, but has since been converted to an outfielder and tallied just a .232/.275/.334 line through 1,667 minor league plate appearances. At the time, Baseball America described him as a "well-kept secret … with bat speed, pop and an advanced approach. "

FRIDAY: The Red Sox have released outfielder Jason Place and the Cubs have released right-hander Aaron Shafer, MLBTR has learned. Neither player was among their team's top 30 prospects according to Baseball America's Prospect Handbook.

Place, 22, was the 27th overall pick in the 2006 draft and signed for $1.3MM. He had a fine professional debut that season (.292/.386/.442 in 132 rookie ball plate appearances), but has struggled in the four years since. He climbed as high as Double-A, and is a .234/.315/390 career hitter.

Shafer, 24, was a second round pick in 2008 (65th overall). He signed for $625K. Shafer picked well in relief last year (2.68 ERA in 80 2/3 IP), but that's only because he dominated Single-A (0.96 ERA in 46 2/3 IP) while getting hammered in Double-A (5.03 ERA in 34 IP).

MLBTR's Steve Adams also contributed to this post.

Red Sox Send Pedro Perez To Tigers To Complete Deal

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The Red Sox have sent right-hander Pedro Perez to the Tigers to complete the trade for Triple-A infielder Brent Dlugach, according to Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe.  Perez spent last season with Boston's Single-A Greenville affiliate.

Perez, who will turn 23 in May, turned in a 3.94 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 28 games last season in Greenville.  The right-hander made just two starts last season but has 30 starts to his credit in five minor league seasons.  The Tigers have assigned him to their Connecticut Short-Season Class A affiliate, according to Steve Kornacki of MLive.com.

The Red Sox acquired Dlugach in November for cash considerations or a player to be named later.  The 28-year-old owns a career .274/.325/.401 slash line in Triple-A.

Minor Moves: Braves, Red Sox, White Sox

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A few minor league moves of note as organizations continue to shuffle their affiliates' rosters…

  • The Braves released left-hander Brett DeVall, a sandwich-round pick in 2008 (40th overall), tweets Matt Eddy of Baseball America. DeVall is still only 21, but elbow troubles limited him to just 160 innings at Class A Rome the past two seasons, according to Eddy. For his career, DeVall has a 3.92 ERA, 6.3 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9. Atlanta selected DeVall with the pick it received for the loss of Ron Mahay – whom it acquired with Mark Teixeira from Texas – to free agency following the 2007 campaign.
  • The Braves have acquired utilityman Marcus Lemon from the Rangers for a player to be named, tweets Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus. Lemon, 23 in June, was a fourth-round pick of Texas in 2006, and has a career .274/.348/.372 line in five minor league campaigns, topping out at Double-A Frisco the past two seasons. He was drafted as a shortstop but began moving around the diamond in 2009.
  • The Red Sox released right-handed reliever Bryce Cox, tweets Eddy. Bryce was a third-round pick out of Rice in 2006, and he was ultimately felled by a 5.7 K/9 and 4.8 BB/9 in 96 career outings with Double-A Portland, according to Eddy.
  • The Red Sox also released first baseman Aaron Bates, utility man Ryan Khoury and right-hander Adam Mills, writes Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. Bates (who had a cup of coffee with Boston in 2009) and Khoury were selected in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, in the third and 12th rounds, respectively, while Mills went in the ninth round in 2007.
  • The White Sox released infielder C.J. Retherford, tweets Eddy. Retherford, 25, was a fairly promising prospect at Class A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham in 2008 and '09, respectively, but he struggled at two stops last season, notes Eddy. For his four-year minor league career, he has a .273/.327/.442 line.
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