Cafardo’s Latest: Young, Pedro, Red Sox, Hatteberg
The Phillies' health issues and the Red Sox' depth makes the two teams logical trade partners, says Nick Cafardo in his newest column for the Boston Globe. The Red Sox have spare infielders and outfielders they could offer Philadelphia to offset the injuries to Chase Utley and Domonic Brown. While the Sox and Phils are already the Vegas favorites to meet in the 2011 World Series, Cafardo wonders if a trade between the two sides could help that matchup happen. Here are the other items of interest from the Globe's Sunday Baseball Notes:
- If the Rangers were willing to eat some salary, a Michael Young deal "could be made" with the Cubs. As we heard this week, the Cubs probably can't afford to take on Young's contract, but, despite his defensive shortcomings, he would make some sense for Chicago at second base.
- Pedro Martinez says he's in good shape and has yet to rule out pitching somewhere in 2011. He thinks it would take him about six weeks to get ready if he were to make a comeback.
- Cafardo cautions that the Red Sox' starting pitching depth isn't as strong as it seems. Given Daisuke Matsuzaka's performance this spring, Cafardo thinks it would be prudent to keep Tim Wakefield around, just in case.
- The Red Sox are seeking a big-league-ready catcher they can keep in Triple-A in case of injury. Cafardo speculates that Rangers backstop Kevin Cash, a player the Sox have "always loved," could be a fit.
- Matt Albers is out of options, making him potential trade bait for the Red Sox. As Cafardo points out, the Sox would rather avoid exposing the right-hander on waivers to a team like the Rays.
- Scott Hatteberg is currently working as a special assistant to Billy Beane in Oakland. Agent Joe Urbon feels that Hatteberg's future could include a job as a manager, a possibility the former Athletic sounds willing to explore. "It’s something I could envision down the road," Hatteberg said. "As a catcher, you’re always involved in so many facets of the game that you get an idea of what it’s like."
Red Sox Open To Offers For Matsuzaka, Others?
7:51pm: One Red Sox official has called the ESPNBoston story "false," tweets Edes. According to Edes, however, his source was describing scenarios he'd been told by another Sox official. GM Theo Epstein also disputed the report, writes John Tomase of the Boston Herald.
5:49pm: The Red Sox moved a little closer to finalizing their Opening Day roster today by reassigning a number of players to minor league camp. Before April 1st rolls around, however, the club appears open to making more significant roster moves. Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston reports that the Red Sox "have let it be known" they'll listen to trade offers on a number of players expected to start the year with the team.
According to Edes' source, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, Mike Cameron, Darnell McDonald, and Marco Scutaro would be available in the right deal. Some of those players would likely draw more interest than others. Matsuzaka, for instance, in addition to having a full no-trade clause, is owed $10MM this season and has struggled so far this spring. So while Edes writes that the Red Sox would move the right-hander if they could "add to their young catching inventory," finding a deal that works could be tricky.
Cameron and Scutaro have been identified as potential trade candidates previously this winter, given Boston's depth at their respective positions. As for Wakefield, Edes' source says the 44-year-old is "on the bubble" and could be available for a left-handed reliever. Though his 2011 role with the Sox is up in the air, the knuckleballer said earlier this week that he can't imagine playing anywhere besides Boston.
Mike Cameron Unsure Of Future Beyond This Season
Since signing a two-year, $17.5MM deal with the Red Sox, outfielder Mike Cameron has hinted that it could be the final contract of his career. As he enters year two of that deal, Cameron says that he will wait to make any decisions about his career beyond 2011, writes Alex Speier of WEEI.com.
The veteran was limited in 2010 by a painful sports hernia and suggested at the end of last year that he would let his condition this season dictate his decision on his future. Following surgery and rehab, Cameron says that he is feeling a whole lot better than he was last season. This season he will be asked to take a reserve role behind starters J.D. Drew, Carl Crawford, and Jacoby Ellsbury.
Even though he played in just 48 games last season, the 38-year-old still hit .259/.328/.401 – respectable numbers, even though they're not quite up to par with his usual production. In 16 seasons with seven different ballclubs, Cameron owns a career .250/.340/.447 slash line.
Red Sox Notes: Bergmann, Wakefield
A couple of items from Beantown..
- The Red Sox have voided the minor league contract of Jason Bergmann, according to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. The hurler came to camp with a shoulder injury and has been unable to pitch. Boston signed the right-hander in December after he posted a 2.84 ERA with 9.9 K/9 in 43 relief appearances for Washington's Triple-A affiliate in 2010. The 29-year-old has a 5.04 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 across parts of six seasons with the Nats.
- Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield’s age and recent results make one wonder about his role on the 2011 Red Sox, writes Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe. The club already has five starters and the 44-year-old isn't really geared to come out of the bullpen. Wakefield is guaranteed $1.5MM this season.
Quick Hits: Chipper, Nix, Trout, Rockies
Here's a potpourri of news items as we head into the weekend…
- Chipper Jones talks to MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince about his recovery from knee surgery and his future in baseball. Jones was thinking of retirement last summer before, as Castrovince writes, "he started to hit like Chipper Jones again….And where the knee injury might have been the straw that broke the camel's back in June, in August, it served as a motivating factor to keep going."
- Laynce Nix has the been the subject of trade rumors, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson. Nix has a .251/.293/.445 career slash line against right-handed pitching and the Astros are reportedly in the market for a left-handed bench bat. Nix is currently in the Nationals' Spring Training camp on a minor league contract.
- Star prospect Mike Trout is turning heads at the Angels' Spring Training camp, reports MLB.com's Lyle Spencer.
- The Rockies will look internally to replace the injured Aaron Cook, reports Troy Renck of the Denver Post. Already suffering from shoulder inflammation, Cook will be out until at least May due to a broken finger on his throwing hand.
- Tyler Kepner of the New York Times looks at the Rangers' offseason and how the team had a more-than-adequate "plan B" (Adrian Beltre) in mind when they failed to re-sign Cliff Lee.
- Jake Odorizzi might end up being the most important piece of the trade package the Royals received for Zack Greinke, says MLB.com's Dick Kaegel.
- Mariners manager Eric Wedge has brought a number of former Indians coaches and players with him to Seattle, writes Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
- Brandon Wood has struggled this spring, while Mark Trumbo has had a big camp for the Angels. Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com thinks Trumbo's emergence means that the out-of-options Wood's "days in an Angels uniform appear to be numbered."
- It was almost a year ago that Red Sox prospect Ryan Westmoreland underwent life-threatening brain surgery. Today, MLB.com's Evan Drellich writes that "doctors have already been amazed at the speed of his recovery" as Westmoreland is trying hard to regain both his basic motor skills and his baseball abilities.
Quick Hits: Rangers, Bumgarner, Crawford, Stanton
Links for Friday, as teams continue trimming their rosters down…
- Chuck Greenberg will no longer be part of the Rangers organization, but he leaves with $20-25MM in profit, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter)
- The Giants renewed Madison Bumgarner's contract for 2011, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). That means the sides did not agree to terms on a deal, but it doesn't change the timetable for Bumgarner's arbitration or free agency.
- As Alex Speier of WEEI.com explains, the only two outfielders ever to sign free agent contracts with an average annual value of $20MM have opposite styles of play. The Red Sox signed Manny Ramirez for his power, and they signed Carl Crawford for his overall offensive output, baserunning and defense.
- Marlins outfielder Mike Stanton has a creative approach to addressing weaknesses in his swing, as Yahoo's Steve Henson explains.
- Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post offers up a must-read profile of Nationals phenom Bryce Harper.
AL East Clubs Face Varied Challenges In 2011 Draft
When you hear talk of disparity in baseball, people often point to the AL East, home to two of the biggest spenders in MLB and one of its poorest teams. But as the Rays have shown, small market clubs can offset uneven payrolls by drafting and developing players successfully.
After an offseason in which Tampa Bay saw one ranked free agent after another sign elsewhere, including Boston and New York, the Rays face what could be the most critical amateur draft in their franchise's history. This June, the Rays have an unprecedented number of early picks – they select 12 players in the first two rounds (90 picks). The challenge for executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and scouting director R.J. Harrison will be selecting future major leaguers with those picks.
Though the Red Sox and Blue Jays aren't close to matching the Rays' record total, they have considerably more picks than average. The Blue Jays have seven picks before the third round and the Red Sox have five, so they face a similar challenge to the one the Rays do: convert their extra picks into potential major leaguers.
Tampa and Boston are two of the six teams (along with the D'Backs, Nationals, Padres and Brewers) that have multiple first round picks, which means seven of the draft's first 33 selections will head to what's arguably baseball's best division.
The Yankees, on the other hand, are one of four clubs that don't select before the supplementary first round (along with the White Sox, Phillies and, last but not least, the Tigers, who don't select until 75 players are off the board). The Orioles select fourth overall, but, like the Yankees, only have two picks in the first two rounds.
That's not to say that the O's and Yankees can't acquire young talent, however. They can, in theory, spend more money on fewer players in an attempt to lure a select number of top amateurs to their organization. Or they can sign players on the international market and build their farm systems with an aggressive approach abroad (the Yankees recently committed supplemental round money to Dominican righty Juan Carlos Paniagua).
The Rays, Blue Jays and Red Sox will select 24 of the first 90 players in this year's draft (27%). That doesn't mean they'll have productive drafts or that the Yankees and Orioles won't. But for at least a couple of days this June, the Yankees will watch and the Rays will be the ones with the power to acquire top players.
Red Sox Notes: Crawford, Damon, Reyes
The latest on the Red Sox, as Joe Maddon tells Tim Britton of the Providence Journal that the Red Sox have "an edge right now" and are "the number one contender in a sense," heading into the season…
- Carl Crawford told Alex Speier of WEEI.com that he hopes Rays fans don't consider him the "villain" when he plays against his former team. Crawford, who says he still loves Rays fans, drew a mostly positive reaction from Rays fans this afternoon.
- Johnny Damon told Speier that he vetoed last summer's trade to the Red Sox because he thought it was a "slam dunk" that the Tigers would want to retain him for 2011 (Twitter link).
- Damon also says he thinks Crawford will win a championship during his tenure with the Red Sox.
- John Tomase of the Boston Herald has a must-read piece on Red Sox left-hander Dennys Reyes and how dependent he is on his non-pitching hand.
AL East Links: Yankees, Anderson, Slowey
The Yankees aren't actively pursuing pitching help now, but GM Brian Cashman told Chad Jennings of the Journal News that pitchers with no options remaining and/or bad contract tend to become available later in the spring. Here's the latest on the Yankees' rotation plus other notes from the AL East…
- Mariano Rivera told Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork that Manny Banuelos is the greatest pitching prospect he has ever seen. "I like everything about him," Rivera said. Cashman says the left-hander, who turns 20 this weekend, will not start the year higher than Double-A.
- Red Sox prospect Lars Anderson told Tim Britton of the Providence Journal that he was "bummed" when the Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez, but only because they traded away Anthony Rizzo and Casey Kelly, two of his friends and former teammates. Anderson says he considers Gonzalez a potential teacher at first base.
- Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star examines the Blue Jays' rumored interest in Kevin Slowey and suggests that "the only reason that would make sense for [GM Alex] Anthopoulos in terms of trading for Slowey would be if it was to set up another deal that involved one of the Jays' current" starters. I examined the possible fit between the Jays and the Twins earlier tonight.
Teams Calling About Mike Cameron
Rival teams are already calling the Red Sox about Mike Cameron, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. However, Boston probably won’t accept an offer unless they’re blown away and teams aren’t likely to make overwhelming proposals for a 38-year-old player who’s set to earn $8MM this year.
The Red Sox can use Cameron, a right-handed hitter, to complement left-handed outfielders Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury and J.D. Drew. And at this point, the Red Sox don’t have glaring needs in other areas, so they don't have to acquire new players. “They’re in a good position with the depth they’ve created,’’ an AL executive told Cafardo.
Though the Red Sox could express interest in Joe Blanton if a starter goes down, the right-hander isn’t a fit for Boston now, according to Cafardo. It’s conceivable that the Phillies called about Cameron, since Domonic Brown will miss the beginning of the season with wrist surgery. For what it's worth, Cameron says he'd prefer not to be traded.