Draft Update: Giants, Mariners, Braves, Nats
ESPN.com's Keith Law has an update on various teams and players as the June draft approaches. Here are some highlights; the original article has more detail.
- The Giants are strongly considering taking a high school pitcher with their sixth overall pick.
- Expect the Mariners to take Dustin Ackley, North Carolina's first baseman, with their first rounder.
- Ackley's teammate, righty Alex White, pitched in front of four GMs Thursday: Brian Sabean (Giants), Neal Huntington (Pirates), Jack Zdurencik (Mariners) and Mike Rizzo (Nationals).
- ESPN.com's Jason A. Churchill reports that White did not impress. Check out Churchill's article for more analysis of some top amateur players.
- The Braves are expected to take Zack Wheeler, a local prep star.
- The Nationals don't get a compensation pick if they fail to sign the player they draft with their tenth overall pick because that pick is itself compensation for failure to sign Aaron Crow last year. Nats GM Mike Rizzo says he's going to draft the best available player there, regardless of signability.
- Some teams are losing interest in Kentucky lefty James Paxton, who chose Scott Boras as his advisor and pitched poorly afterwards.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Trades Possibilities
On this date 11 years ago, the Marlins traded Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson and two others to the Dodgers for Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile. Piazza's tenure with the Marlins would last five games in which he was 5-18 with a triple and 5 RBI. Seven days later he was traded to the Mets for Preston Wilson and two minor league pitchers that would combine for 5 career appearances. To this day, Mike Francessa of WFAN in New York City will tell anybody that listens that he was responsible for convincing the Mets to make the deal. So far this season we have seen a couple of minor deals. Let's take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- Feeling Dodger Blue feels now is a good time to trade James Loney and wonders if Jorge Cantu can be had.
- Fire Brand of the American League addresses the possibility of the Red Sox trading Brad Penny and looks at some players the Red Sox might pursue.
- 6 Pound 8 Ounce Baby Joba takes an early look at the teams that might be buyers and sellers at the deadline.
- Around the Majors takes a look at the 2010 free agents that are represented by Scott Boras.
- Jorge Says No! discusses whether Koji Uehara was the best free agent signing this year.
- The Bottom Line wonders if the Red Sox missed an opportunity to sign Jason Bay to an extension.
- El Lefty Malo takes a look at several players the Giants let go and whether the moves were smart in hindsight.
- Goat Riders of the Apocalypse proposes some names that can be brought in to fix the Cubs bullpen.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here, and followed on Twitter here.
Odds & Ends: Proctor, Dunn, Contreras
Links for Tuesday…
- According to Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Marlins reliever Scott Proctor is out for the season with Tommy John surgery. So that's $750K down the tubes, though Rodriguez wonders if they might re-sign him to an incentive-laden deal after the season.
- New blog post at Live to Play, Play to Live chronicling Miguel Angel Sano's 16th birthday party. His day began with a tryout for the Giants.
- Sports Illustrated names the game's best and worst owners.
- WEEI's Alex Speier says that if Daniel Bard never returns to the minors, he'll eventually be the second player to achieve Super Two status under Theo Epstein.
- Sam Miller of the OC Register asks who hangs up on a Jonathan Sanchez for Brandon Wood swap.
- I noticed that Preston Wilson surfaced with the Long Island Ducks. Brad Halsey, Dan Miceli, Ken Ray, and Lew Ford are also on the team, which is managed by Gary Carter.
- Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has a bunch of new info on the Moneyball movie, which comes out in 2011.
- Adam Dunn told John Shea of the Chronicle that he was open to signing with the Giants but did not hear from them.
- Jose Contreras cleared waivers, which is not a surprise given the $8MM+ left on his contract.
Odds & Ends: Isringhausen, Sturtze, Molina
Some Sunday morning Odds & Ends:
- So, whatever happened to Tanyon Sturtze? Sturtze never caught on with the Dodgers and was granted his release on May Day last week. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says he is now considering retirement to spend time with his kids.
- In the same piece, Cafardo reports Giants catching prospect Buster Posey has busted five homeruns and notched 22 RBI already in Single A San Jose, putting him on "a fast track to the big leagues." With Bengie Molina entering free agency, the Giants will not feel forced to re-sign him. According to Cafardo, the team would love to retain Molina to act as a mentor for Posey but for the fact that "Molina isn't ready for the mentoring role." Molina told reporters he'll seek a starting job. Finding one should be no trouble whatsoever.
- Also in that same piece, former player Troy O'Leary is developing a baseball reality TV show…
- According to Marc Lancaster, Jason Isringhausen is healthy. His rehab assignment is up May 19 but the Rays seem hesitant to call him up until then. With 10 days to determine what to do with him, it's expected Izzy will slot into the bullpen for Triple-A Durham until the Rays have to make a decision.
- Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com says Luis Vizcaino will join the Indians bullpen this week rather than go through a minor league stint in Triple-A Columbus. Vizcaino hasn't pitched in a game since April 21, right before the Cubs designated him for assignment and released him. Who gets sent down instead? Jensen Lewis or Tony Sipp both have options. Masa Kobayashi is a candidate to be released altogether, says Castrovince.
Bengie Molina Talks About Future
FRIDAY, 2:42pm: Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports that Molina wants to return to the Giants, but won't discuss any extensions after the All-Star break. After that Molina wants to focus on the season and deal with free agency afterwards.
THURSDAY, 3:27pm: ESPN.com's Rob Neyer writes that the Giants need to get the most production possible out of Molina while he's on their team, even if that means suggesting they're more serious about discussing an extension than they really are.
9:18am: Talking to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, Giants catcher Bengie Molina discussed the future. Molina is earning $6MM in the last year of his contract. He considers himself a starting catcher for another two or three years and wants to finish his career with the Giants. However, Molina knows Giants prospect Buster Posey may be ready for the Majors as soon as 2010.
Schulman learned that Molina isn't offended that the Giants haven't discussed an extension with him, but he would like to have a conversation soon. Molina said:
"I'm not afraid of going to free agency. What I've done for this organization, I've left my heart out there every night, day in and day out. All I want is, when the time comes, they come forward and tell me what their plans are."
Molina's gotten a nice chance to bat in the middle of the order in his Giants career, boosting his RBI totals. His high contact approach leads to strong batting averages but low walk totals.
Rosenthal On Mariners, A’s, Putz
The latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…
- The Mariners and A's are not thinking about selling off veterans at the trade deadline. Both clubs plan to go for it.
- Tough decision for the Mets after the season: do they exercise J.J. Putz's $9.1MM option for 2010? Cot's Baseball Contracts says it's an $8.6MM club option with a $1MM buyout.
- Rosenthal says one GM views the recent DL trips for Dontrelle Willis, Chien-Ming Wang, and Daisuke Matsuzaka as possible abuse of the system.
- Will Barry Zito continue to be decent this year? His control and groundball rate have been much improved and his average fastball velocity is up by 1.6 mph. The .250 BABIP doesn't figure to last though. Zito is owed $87.5MM for 2009-13, plus he has an $18MM option for 2014 that may vest.
Odds & Ends: Nationals, Garcia, Bonds
Links for Wednesday…
- Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com grilled various Nationals about the possibility of the team signing Stephen Strasburg for big bucks.
- Righty Steven Shell elected free agency, while Nats reliever Wil Ledezma accepted a Triple A assignment according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. Chico Harlan of the Washington Post discusses the Nationals' bullpen construction in this post.
- Yahoo's Gordon Edes chatted with Evan Longoria as part of his article about David Price and Matt Wieters starting the season in Triple A.
- White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen commented about free agent Freddy Garcia, talking to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
- Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star thinks the Royals should sign Barry Bonds, and current team members seem receptive to the idea. In separate columns, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle and Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News try to figure out why Bonds hasn't retired.
Barry Bonds Refuses To Retire
Barry Bonds attended last night's Giants game, and provided his typical nonsensical comments. Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News has a transcript. Baggarly learned that Bonds is not retired, and his offseason injury was related to his quad rather than his hip.
Odds & Ends: Young, Morillo, Soria
Links for Thursday…
- Delwyn Young talks about his trade to the Pirates, and GM Neal Huntington also commented to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- Tracy Ringolsby of Inside The Rockies says hard-throwing reliever Juan Morillo is now on waivers.
- El Lefty Malo notes that the Giants aren't a lock to be competitive in 2010.
- Yahoo's David Brown spoke to Royals relief ace Joakim Soria.
Giants Looking To Unload Rowand?
According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times:
The San Francisco Giants are looking to unload the $44 million they still owe Aaron Rowand through 2012. The one problem? The Giants would have to be willing to pick up a big chunk of the deal to even get [White Sox GM Ken] Williams on the phone.
I'd venture to say the Giants would have to assume at least half of Rowand's contract to make it viable to the White Sox. The Sox were reportedly in on Rowand when he was a free agent in December of '07. Cowley also does a little speculating, suggesting the Sox should instead bring Washington's Willie Harris back to Chicago once he's healthy. What do you think the Sox should do about center field?