Cafardo On Fielder, Wood, DeJesus
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe would like to see the Red Sox acquire a marquee player in his prime. Let's dive in and check out the tidbits that he has for us today..
- The Red Sox will shed a great deal of payroll this offseason thanks in large part to David Ortiz and Mike Lowell coming off of the books. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes examined the team's 2011 contract issues recently, suggesting $40MM could be freed up. With that newfound breathing room, Cafardo writes that the BoSox would like to zero in on one of three elite first basemen this winter. While he anticipates Albert Pujols remaining in St. Louis, he says that Prince Fielder and Adrian Gonzalez could be acquired via in-season trades.
- If Kerry Wood can show that he's healthy, he should be able to attract a contending team as we approach the trade deadline. Wood was recalled from his rehab assignment in Akron on Friday. The 32-year-old is set to make $10.5MM this season but if a team were to trade for him they would only have to assume the prorated portion of that.
- David DeJesus is "more than available" for teams seeking a lefty outfield bat. In return, the Royals would seek bullpen help and a positional prospect. Kansas City was said to be expecting serious interest in DeJesus this winter. The 31-year-old earns $4.5MM this season with a $6MM option for next season.
- While there's still some skepticism in Houston that Lance Berkman would really leave the organization, one Astros organizational person opined that the 34-year-old would "fit Boston like a fiddle". However, considering his advanced age and his offensive struggles this season, he's an unlikely fit for the club at present. Meanwhile, Cafardo mentions the Mariners and White Sox as teams that could really use a bat like Berkman's.
- Meanwhile, Jeremy Hermida is an outfielder that would seem to fit Seattle, though it doesn't appear that the Red Sox would entertain offers for him right now.
Olney’s Latest: Oswalt, Berkman, Rays, Wood
In today's blog post at ESPN, Buster Olney discusses the trade value of Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman, which might not be as good as owner Drayton McLane would like. One GM noted that Houston's ace battled back trouble last year, which makes him a scary investment because of the potential to underperform and/or breakdown.
Another executive noted that the contracts of both players might be prohibitive. Oswalt is guaranteed $33MM through 2011, while Berkman is making $15MM this season with a $2MM buyout of his $15MM club option for next season. It's also worth noting that the first baseman is hitting just .185/.290/.352 in 62 plate appearances since coming off the disabled list. If McLane decides to move one of his franchise players, it might be a tough pill to swallow since the return is expected to be less than stellar.
Here's the rest of Olney's rumors…
- Despite having the game's best record and run differential, the Rays need a righthanded reliever and lefty hitting designated hitter. The latter will likely have to come from outside the organization, and the opportunity to acquire such a player will assuredly arise during the summer. Remember, the Rays do have Hank Blalock hitting .388/.448/.541 in Triple-A.
- Olney speculates that the team could use top prospect Jeremy Hellickson as that righty reliever, though it might compromise their rotation depth since he's effectively their sixth starter.
- Kerry Wood's injury probably increased the chances that he'll be traded, because now his $11MM option for next season is unlikely to vest.
Odds & Ends: Santana, Red Sox, Lee, Saunders
Thursday night linkage..
- Indians catching prospect Carlos Santana is making major strides behind the plate, writes The Plain Dealer's Doug Lesmerises.
- Boston GM Theo Epstein doesn't believe that personnel changes in May can make much of an impact, writes Scott Lauber of The Boston Herald.
- Astros outfielder Carlos Lee says that he may retire following the 2012 season, writes Bernardo Fallas of The Houston Chronicle. Lee is due to make $18.5MM in each of the next three seasons.
- The Mariners have promoted Michael Saunders after placing Milton Bradley on the restricted list, tweets Shannon Drayer of ESPN Radio Seattle.
- Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com spoke to Scott Podsednik, who said that he wasn't surprised that the White Sox didn't come up with an offer strong enough to keep him. After months of negotiation, Scotty Pods signed a one-year, $1.75MM deal with Kansas City, which included a 2011 club option.
White Sox Sign Luis Rodriguez
The White Sox signed infielder Luis Rodriguez to a minor league deal, reports Baseball America's Matt Eddy. Rodriguez had signed with the Indians earlier in the offseason, but was recently released.
Rodriguez, 29, hit .202/.319/.260 in 251 plate appearances for the Padres last year, with the fourth-worst OPS in baseball for a player with that many PAs. He was considered the team's starting shortstop at one point, but lost his job to Everth Cabrera.
2011 Vesting Options Update
We entered the season with nine 2011 vesting option situations to watch. With one month in the books, several have already been pretty much decided. Let's take a look.
- Brian Fuentes, Angels. A back strain put Fuentes on the DL for a little while, making it unlikely he reaches 55 games finished. He'd need 51 in the team's remaining 136 games to cause his $9MM option to vest.
- Billy Wagner, Braves. Wagner's $6.5MM option vests with 50 games finished. He's finished eight games so far, and would have a shot at 50. However, the 38-year-old lefty recently told Braves manager Bobby Cox he'll retire after the season.
- Trever Miller, Cardinals. His $2MM option vests with 45 games, and he's appeared in seven so far. That's behind Miller's typical pace; he's averaged 71 the last three years. It's probably random, and Miller should still reach 45 games.
- Matt Cain, Giants. The $6.25MM option probably would've vested, but the Giants decided to guarantee Cain's 2011 salary at $7MM as part of an extension.
- Kerry Wood, Indians. His $11MM option vests with 55 games finished, but a back injury has Wood just now approaching his 2010 big league debut.
- Alex Cora, Mets. His $2MM option vests with 80 starts. He's started ten games so far. With Luis Castillo and Jose Reyes in the Mets' middle infield, we can't rule this one out yet.
- Darren Oliver, Rangers. His $3.25MM option vests with 59 appearances. He's already made a dozen, so this is looking likely.
- Ramon Hernandez, Reds. His $3.25MM option vests with 120 games played. Hernandez is at 16 so far, with the red-hot Ryan Hanigan getting more playing time recently.
- Magglio Ordonez, Tigers. His $15MM option vests with 135 starts or 540 plate appearances. He's at 25 games started and 113 plate appearances, so he'll get there barring injury.
- We're down to five vesting options to monitor: Miller, Cora, Oliver, Hernandez, and Ordonez. Also keep an eye on Francisco Rodriguez, whose scary $17.5MM option for 2012 vests with 100 games finished in 2010-11, 55 games finished in '11, and a successful physical after the '11 season. K-Rod has finished nine games on the young season.
Odds & Ends: Red Sox, Adrian, Strasburg, Mets, Zito
Links for Saturday…
- The time Scott Schoeneweis spent with the Brewers in Spring Training likely gave him a leg up on Alan Embree this season, writes Ian Browne of MLB.com. Embree was DFA'd yesterday by the BoSox in order to make room for Daisuke Matsuzaka.
- Dodgers prospect Andrew Lambo was suspended 50 games for his second violation of baseball's drug policy, tweets Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. Prior to the 2009 season, the outfielder ranked 49th on Baseball America's top 100 prospects list.
- Jim Bowden of XM Radio (via Twitter) spoke to Adrian Gonzalez, who says that he's not looking at Ryan Howard's new contract.
- With a good outing for Double-A Harrisburg tomorrow, the Nats will promote Stephen Strasburg to Triple-A Syracuse, writes MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
- The Mets' Triple-A affiliate cut lefty Travis Blackley loose, tweets Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. The move will make room for the returning Elmer Dessens.
- ESPN's Buster Olney notes that Barry Zito has reinvented himself this season, and is starting to deliver a little of what the Giants were expecting when they signed him for $126MM.
- Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution doesn't believe the Braves can compete with the lineup as constructed.
- Within this piece, Richard Justice of The Houston Chronicle mentions that prior to trading Brad Lidge to the Phillies, the Indians were willing to part with Cliff Lee to obtain the All-Star closer. That was the offseason prior to Lee's breakout Cy Young season.
- In an article for ESPN Boston, Mike Andrews of SoxProspects.com looks at the Red Sox depth and what the backup plans are should any of the regulars get injured.
Boston Acquires Niuman Romero
The Red Sox have acquired infielder Niuman Romero from the Indians for cash considerations, tweets Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer. The 25-year-old has been in Cleveland's farm system since 2005.
Romero made his major league debut in September of last season, appearing in 10 games for the Tribe. He saw his first promotions to Double-A and Triple-A in 2009, where he was less than stellar offensively. The native of Venezuela hit .240/.306/.292 in his stops in Akron and Columbus.
The acquisition comes days after the BoSox DFA'd Kevin Frandsen, who was claimed by the Angels.
Odds & Ends: Stanton, Mariners, Indians, Salome
Friday night linkage..
- John Sickels of Minor League Ball looked at interesting high school hitters in the 2010 draft. Sickels portioned out the goodness in two parts: part one and part two.
- Tom D'Angelo of the Palm Beach Post spoke to Larry Beinfest, Marlins' baseball operations president, who doesn't sound as though he's in a rush to call up Mike Stanton.
- Rather than place Jesus Colome on waivers, the Mariners optioned Shawn Kelley to Triple-A Tacoma to make room for Cliff Lee. M's manager Don Wakamatsu told Ryan Divish of The News Tribune (via Twitter) that there was "not a chance" that Colome could have cleared waivers.
- The Indians have called up righty Hector Ambriz, whom they selected from Arizona in the Rule 5 draft, writes Dennis Manoloff of The Plain Dealer. The Tribe had until May 8th, the end of his rehab assignment, to decide what to do with him.
- Brewers catching prospect Angel Salome will be given additional time off following the birth of his child, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel.
Odds & Ends: Rangers, Chapman, Capps, Choo
Links for Thursday, as Kelly Johnson and Paul Konerko jockey for the MLB home run lead…
- Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas takes a look at what the Rangers could do with their roster once Ian Kinsler returns from the disabled list tomorrow.
- Reds' GM Walt Jocketty said that the team doesn't have a timetable for Aroldis Chapman's arrival in the Majors, says John Fay of The Cincinnati Enquirer.
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wonders why the Pirates didn't retain Matt Capps in hopes that he'd rebuild value. Capps is generating attention as MLB's saves (and save opportunity) leader. The righty told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times it was a pretty close competition between the Cubs and Nationals for his services, once he was non-tendered.
- Yahoo's Tim Brown profiles Shin-Soo Choo, who his agent Scott Boras feels "has a chance to be the best Pacific Rim player ever over the course of his career."
- SI's Ann Killion writes about Barry Zito's apparent redemption. Zito is rocking a 1.32 ERA, an improved groundball rate, and an unsustainable .203 batting average on balls in play through four starts. If Zito can continue to keep the walks down, he could have his best year as a Giant. Of course, he flashed a similar walk rate in July and August of last year.
- Matt Kemp's agent Dave Stewart discussed Ned Colletti's recent comments on ESPN's Mason & Ireland show, saying the public criticism "should never have happened."
- Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times notes that the Mariners made the right call in not signing Jarrod Washburn.
- Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein does a mock draft of the first ten picks this year.
- Mark Zuckerman talked to a high-ranking Nationals official who finds Goldstein's criticism of Bryce Harper's makeup "way overblown." Meanwhile, Byron Kerr of MASNSports.com spoke to Harper's college coach about those same makeup concerns.
Stark On Fielder, Howard, Sizemore, Frasor
Jayson Stark's latest Rumblings and Grumblings column is hot off the press at ESPN.com. Let's take a look.
- Stark explains that the potentially legendary 2012 first base free agent class may be further depleted, as Albert Pujols is expected to stay in St. Louis and Adrian Gonzalez could be traded and extended by his new team. Even Lance Berkman might stay put, leaving Prince Fielder as the remaining big name. There are some who rank Fielder below Ryan Howard, writes Stark.
- Stark says the Phillies signed Howard now because they felt a Pujols extension would drive up Howard's price. For an explanation straight from the horse's mouth, check out Todd Zolecki's MLB.com chat with Ruben Amaro Jr. and Pat Gillick.
- If the 2012 first base free agent class is loaded, will there be enough teams willing to shell out massive contracts? Stark says yes, naming a dozen teams he figures could be in the mix. Don't forget the Nationals and Orioles, two clubs that made huge bids for Mark Teixeira.
- Jayson Werth's agent Jeff Borris named the Jason Bay and Matt Holliday deals as frames of reference for his client. Stark takes that to mean Werth will be looking in the $16-17MM range. My question: does he get five years?
- One source of Stark's says the Indians have shown zero inclination to trade Grady Sizemore. Sizemore's $10MM club option for 2012 becomes a player option upon a trade, and Stark feels Sizemore would "almost certainly" exercise it – decreasing his trade value. That assumes, of course, that Sizemore doesn't turn things around anytime soon.
- Stark doesn't think the Red Sox have reached a desperation point regarding acquiring a catcher who can throw. Bringing in a Chris Snyder or a Gerald Laird might necessitate releasing David Ortiz or Mike Lowell.
- The Orioles have interest in Blue Jays reliever Jason Frasor.
- In a table, Stark provides an interesting look at teams' guaranteed money rankings for 2011 and '12. The Dodgers, interestingly, are very light on '12 commitments ($3.3MM).