Odds And Ends: Hinch, Manny, Longoria
Links for Friday…
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports believes the D'Backs' new manager, A.J. Hinch, is a "strange choice" because he has no managerial or coaching experience.
- Newsday's Ken Davidoff says signing Manny Ramirez was the best move the Mets never made.
- MLB.com's Doug Miller and Ken Gurnick sift through a year's worth of Ramirez-related drama.
- Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune wonders if the Dodgers will have enough payroll flexibility to take on Jake Peavy's contract, now that Manny has been suspended without pay.
- Kirk Kenney of the Union-Tribune asks where Stephen Strasburg belongs in college baseball history.
- Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle has a plan to fix the Astros. He'd like to see them trade veterans like Jose Valverde and Carlos Lee and try to win with youth, even if it means losing first.
- Tyler Kepner of the New York Times says the contrast between what the Yankees owe Alex Rodriguez and what the Rays owe Evan Longoria illustrates the difference between the AL East rivals.
- Buster Olney profiled Longoria for ESPN the Magazine.
- More sad news for baseball: Dom Dimaggio died this morning, as MLB.com's Bobbie Dittmeier reports.
Stark On Pitchers, Vlad, Sabathia, Crawford
More from Jayson Stark's Rumblings and Grumblings column today…
- Stark rattles off a bunch of starting pitchers teams are "tracking" in advance of the trade deadline: Roy Halladay, Jake Peavy, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Aaron Harang, Erik Bedard, Kevin Millwood, Mark Buehrle, Doug Davis, Chris Young, Andy Pettitte, Bronson Arroyo, Jonathan Sanchez, Andy Sonnanstine, Jeff Niemann, Jason Marquis, Vicente Padilla, Jeff Suppan, and Russ Ortiz. Not all of these guys are actually available, so check out the article for more analysis.
- Teams are "backpedaling away" from Vladimir Guerrero as a free agent option after the season. One scout sees Vlad as a DH right now.
- C.C. Sabathia downplayed the importance of the out clause in his contract, talking to Stark. Sabathia said it was "just something my agent came up with, and I just went with it." Stark is skeptical though; he thinks the clause was specific to New York.
- Stark talked to a baseball man familiar with the Rays' thinking who sees "zero chance" they don't exercise Carl Crawford's $10.125MM option for 2010. The Rays have a three-year outlook on the budget.
- With Jason Isringhausen ready within a few weeks, the Rays may have a surplus in the bullpen. Stark doesn't expect Dan Wheeler or J.P. Howell to be moved, but teams are tracking them.
- Stark sees Jorge Cantu as a trade candidate after the season. He figures to make $5-6MM through arbitration.
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.
2010 Options: Tampa Bay Rays
Let's take a look at the 2010 options facing the Rays.
- Carl Crawford – $10MM+ club option with a $1.25MM buyout. According to Cot's, Crawford's 2010 option may increase to $11.5MM with escalators. His defense may make him worth the money even if his bat doesn't bounce back. He'll turn 28 in August.
- Akinori Iwamura – $4.25MM+ club option with a $250K+ buyout. With a typical Iwamura season, this figures to be exercised. If not, Iwamura can become a free agent despite having only three years service time (a typical arrangement for Japanese players here).
- Brian Shouse – $1.9MM club option with a $200K buyout. So far Shouse has done his job shutting down lefties. He turns 41 in September.
Rays Looking To Brazil For Talent
According to Kevin Kaduk from Yahoo Sports, the Rays are planning on becoming the first team to open a training center in Brazil. The Rays will invest $6.5MM in the camp, located in Marilia, over the next five years. Up to 4,000 young people will have the chance to learn baseball in a free after-school program.
Kaduk points out that strides have been made in other new regions of the world, including China and the Pirates' recent signings from India.
Andres Reiner, the Rays' special director of development, mentions the athleticism of Brazilian soccer players, and wonders if that athleticism could transfer over into baseball as well:
Offseason In Review: Tampa Bay Rays
Next up in the Offseason In Review series, the Rays. Here's what we wrote about them on October 30th. Changes for 2009:
Additions: Pat Burrell, Lance Cormier, Jason Isringhausen, Joe Nelson, Brian Shouse, Matt Joyce, Gabe Kapler, Aneury Rodriguez, Adam Kennedy
Subtractions: Edwin Jackson, Jason Hammel, Jonny Gomes, Cliff Floyd, Trever Miller, Eric Hinske, Rocco Baldelli, Al Reyes
The Rays rose up last year to win the AL pennant. The offseason went according to plan – sign a righthanded slugger, tweak the bullpen, and get value for excess starting pitchers. Let's take a closer look.
Last year the Rays ranked 9th in the AL with 4.78 runs scored per game. This year's lineup subtracts Hinske and adds Kapler, while also slotting Burrell into the middle of the order. Burrell's two-year, $16MM deal was widely applauded when he signed on January 5th. The new lineup projects to score 5.23 runs per game, according to CHONE projections and the Baseball Musings lineup analysis tool. That seems optimistic, but the Rays should score more runs this year.
The Rays' '08 rotation ranked 2nd in the AL last year with a 3.95 ERA in 973.3 innings. The '09 rotation subtracts Jackson in favor of a probable Jeff Niemann/David Price fifth starter combo. It should be stellar once again, projecting at 3.98 or so. And unlike most teams, the Rays have the depth to cover injuries. Highly regarded prospect Wade Davis awaits his turn.
Andrew Friedman did not rest on his laurels in regard to the bullpen, which was good for a 3.55 ERA in 484.3 innings last year. He traded Hammel to the Rockies and let Miller go while importing Nelson, Shouse, Cormier, and Isringhausen. They may not be able to match last year's ERA, but still project well at 3.72.
According to The Fielding Bible II, the Rays' defense ranked 4th in the AL last year. There's no reason to expect any less in 2009.
Can the Rays win 97 games again? The projections suggest they can, though as I said 847 runs scored seems optimistic. Still, if the Rays are behind the Yankees and Red Sox, it's not by much. It's a shame that one of these three teams won't make the playoffs.
Bottom line: Friedman stretched a limited budget to bring in Burrell, and made other bargain signings as well. He moved surplus pitching for value and still has plenty to spare. The Rays look very strong once again.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Opening Day Payrolls
On this date 33 years ago, Andy Messersmith signed a three-year, $1M contract with the Atlanta Braves after being granted free agency by an arbitrator in the Seitz Decision. This move was historic in that the ruling effectively nullified baseball's reserve clause, seven years after Curt Flood first challenged the clause. This led to the inclusion of free agency after six years of service in the next collective bargaining agreement, a rule still in place today. Since then, payrolls have skyrocketed. Let's take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- The Biz of Baseball takes a closer look at opening day payroll, the highest paid players in baseball and which teams have the highest average player salaries.
- Astros Country breaks down the Astros' 2009 payroll.
- Bleed Cubbie Blue has details on the Cubs' payroll.
- Rays Index breaks down the Rays' opening day payroll.
- YanksBlog tries resolve different reports of the Yankees opening day payroll.
- Purple Row takes a look at service time and options remaining on the Rockies' roster, among other things.
- Baseball Analysts takes a look at payroll efficiency for the last three years.
- On a side note, The Sports Banter put together a list of the best off-season moves, and the worst.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here and followed on Twitter.
Stark On Olsen, Willingham, Millwood, Peavy
ESPN's Jayson Stark has a new column up.
- Stark looks at a few trades that didn't happen. Aside from the Angels' run at Aaron Harang at the end of Spring Training, they also talked to the Nationals about Scott Olsen. Stark says Dustin Moseley, Shane Loux, and Jason Bulger were three names kicked around in the Olsen talks.
- Earlier this spring, the Rays inquired on Washington's Josh Willingham, apparently dangling Jason Hammel. Willingham is currently unhappy about being on the Nationals' bench, a situation that probably would not have improved in Tampa Bay.
- Kevin Millwood could be attractive midseason trade bait, if his Opening Day start was any indication. Millwood's contract allows the club to decline his $12MM 2010 option unless he pitches 180 innings this year. He also has a limited no-trade clause.
- Stark talked to an executive of a team that has Jake Peavy on its radar. This exec noted that teams did not overpay in deals for Rich Harden and Johan Santana, so the Padres may not be able to demand a ridiculous bounty for Peavy.
Odds & Ends: A’s, Hammel, Manny, McPherson
Links for Tuesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- Yahoo's Tim Brown says there was never a mandate from A's owner Lew Wolff to remake the team into a contender. The strategy this winter was Billy Beane's idea.
- Tyler Hissey of Around The Majors examines the Jason Hammel trade from both sides.
- Manny Ramirez responds to Ken Rosenthal's comments, talking to T.J. Simers of the L.A. Times.
- The SoftBank Hawks seek a foreign third baseman, and Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker suggests Dallas McPherson.
- A look at the slugging percentage leaders of Spring Training 2009.
- In a Wall Street Journal article, Russell Adams and Tim Marchman write about newspapers cutting money spent on the baseball beat.
Rays, Rox Agree On Deal For Hammel
SUNDAY 1:02pm: Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times reports Jason Hammel has been notified that he's been dealt to the Rockies. Jeff Niemann will be the Rays fifth starter.
11:00am: Renck is reporting, "The Rockies and Rays have agreed on the parameters of a deal that would land Colorado right-handed reliever Jason Hammel, but Tampa Bay is still mulling other offers." The agreement is still involving Aneury Rodriguez.
SATURDAY 7:21pm: Renck says there "is growing momentum" behind the deal. Hammel would apparently be used as a reliever initially, and could also spot start.
6:03pm: Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times notes that Hammel is scheduled to pitch in a minor league game on Sunday morning. The Rockies and Rays could be waiting for that outing to conclude, as to not throw off his schedule.
5:01pm: Tracy Ringolsby of Inside The Rockies has learned from a Tampa Bay source that the sides are currently working out the details of the deal. He has confirmed that the Rays would get Rodriguez in return.
1:52pm: Troy Renck of the Denver Post says there is "growing momentum for a trade to transpire between Tampa Bay and the Rockies involving Hammel." The Rays are thought to be eyeing Double-A starter Aneury Rodriguez.
11:49am: According to Ed Price of MLB Fanhouse trade talks between the Rays and Rockies have resumed. Jason Hammel or Jeff Niemann could be dealt to the Rockies this weekend, according to Price's sources.