Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Lowell, D’Backs
FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal has a new Full Count video up, so let's dive in…
- If the Red Sox decide to give Mike Lowell more at-bats at the expense of David Ortiz, don't be surprised if it happens soon. Just six of their next 26 games are on the road, and Lowell is a .303/.361/.513 career hitter at Fenway. Yesterday we heard that the Sox would probably release Ortiz before keeping him on the bench.
- Should the Orioles decide to part ways with manager Dave Trembley, Rosenthal calls Greg Maddux an outside the box replacement candidate. Andy MacPhail has long admired Maddux's baseball smarts, and thinks he could succeed in any role. Keep in mind that the 355 game winner is currently working for Cubs GM Jim Hendry, and his only tie to the O's is MacPhail, his former GM with Chicago.
- The Diamondbacks' rotation depth remains an issue, but they have minimal interest in Jarrod Washburn. They only have so much money to spend, and Washburn is coming off knee surgery and hasn't been through Spring Training. Arizona believes they're better off waiting until other teams fall out of the race and the trade market begins to develop.
- The concern in Atlanta is about Bobby Cox's bullpen management. The 38-year-old Billy Wagner and 40-year-old Takashi Saito have been worked hard in the early going.
Ramon A. Ramirez Clears Waivers
BoSox reliever Ramon A. Ramirez cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket, writes Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. The move leaves 39 men on Boston's 40-man roster.
Ramirez has just 16 big league games to his credit, but pitched decently while with the Reds' Triple-A affiliate. In 31 appearances last season (20 of which were starts), Ramirez posted a 4.03 ERA with 5.5 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9. His 39.1 innings pitched in the majors yielded a 2.97 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9.
The move also clears up confusion within the Boston clubhouse as they have another reliever by the name of Ramon Ramirez. He was acquired in 2008 when Theo Epstein & Co. sent Coco Crisp to the Royals. As they said in the Highlander, there can be only one.
Embree Doesn’t Opt Out Of Red Sox Contract
SATURDAY, 3:17pm: Embree has agreed to push his opt-out date back from April 15th to April 30th, a team source tells Rob Bradford of WEEI. If the 40-year-old is not on the 25-man roster by that date, he is eligible to become a free agent.
The lefty reliever told Pawtucket Red Sox broadcaster Dan Hoard that he will "go home" if he is not promoted by the Red Sox or presented with another enticing opportunity. Under his minor league deal with Boston, Embree can earn up to $1.1MM if he is brought up to the big show.
Embree had appeared in more than 60 games for ten straight seasons before a freak injury ended his 2009 campaign prematurely. He has been less-than-stellar with Pawtucket, though 3.1 innings is hardly a fair sample size.
THURSDAY, 9:43pm: Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe reports (via Twitter) that LHP Alan Embree won't yet exercise the opt-out clause in his Red Sox contract. Embree was eligible to opt out as of today since he isn't on the major league roster. WEEI's Alex Speier adds that Embree will spend "a few more weeks" in Triple-A Pawtucket before deciding his next move.
The 40-year-old reliever didn't sign with Boston until March 21, so it's likely he's using his time in the minors as an extended spring training to work himself into proper game shape. Delaying the opt-out clause also gives Embree more time for agent Chris Leible to search the market for a new contract. Embree could join these relievers as possible pick-ups for a team in need of bullpen help.
Largest Contracts In Team History
We've already looked at the largest contracts by service time and position, so let's now dig up the largest contracts ever given out by each of the 30 teams. These are in terms of guaranteed money only, but some could end up being even larger because of incentives and option years.
- Angels: Torii Hunter, five years, $90MM
- Astros: Carlos Lee, six years, $100MM
- Athletics: Eric Chavez, six years, $66MM
- Blue Jays: Vernon Wells, seven years, $126MM
- Braves: Chipper Jones, six years, $90MM
- Brewers: Ryan Braun, eight years, $45MM
- Cardinals: Matt Holliday, seven years, $120MM
- Cubs: Alfonso Soriano, eight years, $136MM
- Diamondbacks: Randy Johnson, four years, $53.4MM
- Dodgers: Kevin Brown, seven years, $105MM
- Giants: Barry Zito, seven years, $126MM
- Indians: Travis Hafner, four years, $57MM
- Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki, five years, $90MM
- Marlins: Hanley Ramirez, six years, $70MM
- Mets: Johan Santana, six years, $137.5MM
- Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman, five years, $45MM
- Orioles: Miguel Tejada, six years, $72MM
- Padres: Jake Peavy, three years, $52MM
- Phillies: Chase Utley, seven years, $85MM
- Pirates: Jason Kendall, six years, $60MM
- Rangers: Alex Rodriguez, ten years, $252MM
- Rays: Wilson Alvarez, five years, $35MM
- Reds: Ken Griffey Jr., nine years, $116.5MM
- Red Sox: Manny Ramirez, eight years, $160MM
- Rockies: Todd Helton, nine years, $141.5MM
- Royals: Gil Meche & Mike Sweeney, both five years, $55MM
- Tigers: Miguel Cabrera, eight years, $152.3MM
- Twins: Joe Mauer, eight years, $184MM
- White Sox: Frank Thomas, seven years, $64.4MM
- Yankees: Alex Rodriguez, ten years, $275MM
Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.
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.