Olney’s Latest: Smoak, Davis, Ripken, Mathis, Lowell
In today's blog post at ESPN (Insider required and recommended), Buster Olney writes that Rangers' first base prospect Justin Smoak is off to a strong start in Triple-A and could push Chris Davis either out the door or onto the bench. Smoak is hitting .300/.475/.567 with two homers in 40 plate appearances so far this year, while Davis is off to a .194/.265/.290 start with 10 strikeouts in 34 plate appearances.
Here's the rest of Olney's rumors…
- A possible reason why Orioles owner Peter Angelos declined to hire Cal Ripken Jr. is because of "concern about whether the addition of the legend would lead to office politics and ugly fallout."
- With the Angels carrying three catchers, Olney speculates that Boston could be a trade match for Jeff Mathis, and wonders if the talks could be expanded to include Mike Lowell given the Halos' troubles at the hot corner. Red Sox catchers have thrown out just one of 17 base stealers this season, and Mathis has thrown out 23% of would-be base stealers in his career.
Gammons On The Red Sox
Peter Gammons appeared today on WEEI's Big Show, and addressed a few Red Sox-centric topics. Ethan Landy of WEEI has the transcript, which includes these highlights:
- Victor Martinez continues to struggle throwing out opposing base-stealers, leading Gammons to speculate that the Red Sox may eventually have to call up Mark Wagner or look outside the organization for a defensive catcher. Otherwise, teams will run wild on Boston all season.
- The Sox may also need to look into acquiring middle relief help at some point this year. Gammons says that the club doesn't have any obvious minor league arms that they could bring up to pitch in important situations, like they did with Daniel Bard last season.
- If David Ortiz continues to struggle, Gammons thinks the Sox will have to seriously consider releasing him: "I don’t think they are going to keep him here and sit him on the bench."
Odds & Ends: Penn, Veras, Beimel, Mientkiewicz
Links for Friday…
- Hayden Penn cleared waivers and now has until Monday to decide whether to report to Triple A or become a free agent, according to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch (via Twitter). The Pirates designated Penn for assignment Monday.
- Jose Veras, who was designated for assignment Wednesday, has been outrighted to Triple A by the Marlins, according to Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post (Twitter link). This presumably means Veras cleared waivers.
- The Rockies called up Joe Beimel, according to the team. Beimel's deal pays him $850K in the major leagues.
- ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick heard that Bret Boone is trying to recruit Doug Mientkiewicz and Bobby Kielty for his Golden League team (Twitter link).
- ESPN.com's Keith Law offers updates on some of the top prospects eligible for this June's draft, including Bryce Brentz, an outfielder who Law considers "one of the top college bats in this draft."
- Fred Lewis and his representatives had been asking the Giants for a trade for nearly a year, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- FanGraphs' Jack Moore calls the Lewis deal a no-brainer for the Blue Jays and a head-scratcher for the Giants.
- Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun takes us on a must-read behind the scenes look at the Adeiny Hechavarria signing.
- Recent injuries to Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron will test Boston's depth, says WEEI.com's Alex Speier.
- Matt Eddy of Baseball America brings us up to date on the latest round of minor league transactions. Among the notable players released: Brady Clark and Curtis Thigpen.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Strasburg, Collusion, Cain
On this day ten years ago, Indians' starter Chuck Finley struck out Tom Evans, Royce Clayton, Chad Curtis, and Rafael Palmeiro in the same inning after Curtis reached base on a passed ball. There have been 50 instances in baseball history where a pitcher struck out four men in one inning, but Finley did it three times, the only guy to do it more than once. Scot Shields is the last pitcher to strike out four in one frame, doing it less than a week after Scott Baker accomplished the same feat in June of 2008.
Let's take a look at what's being written around the baseball blogosphere…
- Titletahn wrote about the experience of seeing Stephen Strasburg's first professional start in person.
- MLB Fan Nation wonders if teams are colluding against free agents, or if they're just getting smarter.
- Statistician Magician ranks all 30 organization, with the Red Sox coming in first and the Royals placing last.
- Ladies… looks at some old faces in new places.
- The Baseball Opinion thinks there might be a fallout from the Matt Cain extension.
- Gear Up For Reds Baseball reviews Cincinnati's draft history.
- Blogging Mets looks at some active players who may be on their way to the Hall of Fame.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
Red Sox Claim Santo Luis
The Red Sox claimed righty Santo Luis off waivers from the White Sox, according to a team press release. Luis was then optioned to Double A. Jed Lowrie was placed on the 60-day DL to clear a spot for Luis.
Luis, 26, posted a 4.34 ERA, 12.7 K/9, and 3.7 BB/9 in 56 High A relief innings last year, allowing 11 home runs. He saved 14 games for Joe McEwing's Winston-Salem Dash. The Sox had claimed Luis from the Astros in '07 in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft.
Odds & Ends: Antonetti, Harper, Embree
Links for Wednesday…
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick looks at nine revolving door positions for various teams, such as Red Sox shortstop and Braves' left fielder.
- RotoAuthority looks at a few potential buy-low candidates on the young fantasy season.
- Murray Chass takes USA Today to task for publishing inaccurate salary data.
- Jim Callis ranks Baseball America's #1 prospects from the last ten years, putting Jason Heyward behind only Matt Wieters and Josh Beckett.
- MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince looks at the background of the Indians' GM-in-waiting, Chris Antonetti.
- ESPN's Keith Law agrees with Ben Goessling of MASN, saying the Nationals have "more or less settled on Bryce Harper." Law says the Nats would be nuts to take someone else.
- MLB.com's Ian Browne tweets that Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has been in touch with Alan Embree's agent, perhaps regarding the lefty's April 15th out-out date.
- Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star notes that the Blue Jays have to place Adeiny Hechavarria on the 2013 25-man Opening Day 2013 roster, or else place him on waivers.
- SI's Melissa Segura tweets that the Twins were impressed by outfielder Vicmal de la Cruz, "perhaps the jewel of the 2010 July 2 class." Click here to view Kiley McDaniel's video of the kid.
Cafardo On Gonzalez, Oswalt, Crawford, Granderson
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe is now on Twitter, under the handle @nickcafardo, so be sure to follow him. In the meantime, Cafardo also has a new column up for the Globe, in which he addresses the possibility of an Adrian Gonzalez trade and touches on a few other hot stove topics. Let's check out the highlights….
- Cafardo isn't bullish on the Red Sox' chances of acquiring Gonzalez, noting that a trade would deplete Boston's farm system. Plus, they should face stiff competition from teams like the Mariners and Orioles.
- The consensus among a few baseball people who spoke to Cafardo is that Padres GM Jed Hoyer will field trade offers for Gonzalez but won't necessarily deal the slugger. The situation could be similar to the Jays shopping Roy Halladay at last year's deadline, when Toronto wasn't sufficiently blown away by any offer.
- The Padres are more likely to move Chris Young and Heath Bell.
- Assuming the Sox don't land Gonzalez, Cafardo wonders if Carlos Pena might be an offseason target for Theo Epstein.
- Roy Oswalt could be an attractive trade chip for the Astros, given the lack of top starting pitchers that will be available during the season. Cafardo thinks Houston will move their ace if they have to, adding that "it looks like they may have to."
- The Brewers' extension of Yovani Gallardo is a good sign that they'll be aggressive in attempting to lock up Prince Fielder, though it will likely take a Mark Teixeira-esque contract to get it done.
- Cafardo's "dark horse candidate" in this winter's Carl Crawford sweepstakes? The Angels.
- The Red Sox looked into acquiring Curtis Granderson to replace Jason Bay, but were outbid by the Yankees.
Lowell Plans To Retire After This Season
Mike Lowell said today that he will almost certainly retire from baseball when his deal expires at the end of the year, tweets Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe.
The BoSox agreed to deal the 36-year-old to the Rangers for catcher Max Ramirez back in December. However, the deal was called off when Texas discovered that Lowell had a torn ligament in his right thumb.
For his major league career, Lowell has hit .280/.343/.468 with 218 HRs.
Odds & Ends: Britton, Beckett, Crawford, Blue Jays
Links for Friday…
- If you play fantasy baseball, follow @closernews on Twitter as your guide to all things saves-related.
- Righty reliever Chris Britton has signed with the Lincoln Salt Dogs of the independent American Association according to a team press release. The 27-year-old last appeared in the big leagues with the Yankees in 2008, and spent last season in the Padres' minor league system.
- WEEI.com's Ethan Landy provides a transcript of Peter Gammons' appearance on The Big Show earlier today. Among other topics, he discussed how quickly the Josh Beckett deal came together.
- Satchel Price at Beyond The Box Score looks at some players making big money who are candidates to be released. MLBTR covered the same topic about a month ago.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports considers possible suitors for Carl Crawford once he reaches free agency.
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos comments on his hire of stat expert Tom Tango, in this article by Colby Cosh of Maclean's.
- MLB.com's Peter Gammons analyzes Jason Heyward's impact on the city of Atlanta.
- Yahoo's Alex Remington presents the Tommy John All-Stars, comprised of pitchers who had success after the elbow surgery.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Norris, Braves, Yankees
One year ago today, 22-year-old Angels' starter Nick Adenhart was killed by a drunk driver just hours after shutting out the A's for six innings. The lone survivor from Adenhart's car, his friend and Cal State Fullerton catcher Jon Wilhite, recovered from his injuries well enough to throw out the first pitch at an A's game in July. The drunk driver, 23-year-old Andrew Thomas Gallo, is still awaiting trial. Tom Krasovic of AOL FanHouse recently spoke to a few members of the Angels about the Adenhart tragedy.
On a much less somber note, here's a look at what's being written around the web during the season's first week…
- The Dodgerhater sat down for a chat with Astros pitcher Bud Norris.
- Capitol Avenue Club looks at ten players the Braves could attempt to lock up to long-term deals.
- At Home Plate wonders if the Yankees' big money deals will come back to haunt them.
- El Lefty Malo muses about the Giants' poor track record for developing position players.
- Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke? is excited for what they call "the first true season of the Neal Huntington era."
- The Cubs Reporter looks at the Cubs' ownership history.
- South Side Sox has some fun with retired numbers.
- Fenway Nation doesn't like the lack of speed on Boston's bench.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.