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Cafardo On Epstein, Red Sox, Sabathia, Rays

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If Theo Epstein winds up taking the Cubs' GM job, then the spotlight again will be directed at Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  Even if the club tabbed longtime exec Ben Cherington as general manager, it would take time before Cherington would have complete control over the operations.  Here's more from Cafardo..

  • There's growing sentiment that C.C. Sabathia will opt out of his contract with the Yankees.  The Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, Tigers, and Giants are among the usual suspects if the lefty hits the open market.  Boston, however, might have doubts about Sabathia.  Cafardo wonders if the front office would take on another sizeable pitching contract and add another overweight pitcher.
  • The Rays will be able to make their rotation even scarier by adding 22-year-old Matt Moore to it.  Tampa Bay also has righty Alex Cobb and lefty Alex Torres ready for the majors.  The Rays could parlay their pitching depth into offense by trading Cobb, Torres, Jeff Niemann or Wade Davis if need be.
  • The feeling is that Padres skipper Bud Black has a real chance of becoming the Angels next GM.  Black, who is good friends with Mike Scioscia, doesn’t have front office experience but has a pitching expertise that would make him valuable in that position.
  • Former Mets GM Omar Minaya thinks that Willie Randolph, Chip Hale, Tim Wallach, and Ryne Sandberg would all be good fits to manage in Boston.  Minaya is currently an analyst for the MLB Network and is mulling over a few offers to return to baseball as an adviser to a GM.  He expects to make a decision as the winter unfolds.
  • Red Sox third base coach Tim Bogar could be retained when a new manager is named.  There has also been speculation that Bogar is a candidate for bench coach under new White Sox manager Robin Ventura.  Cafardo gives the White Sox credit for being decisive and hiring Robin Ventura rather than wait for a big name like Tony La Russa.
  • Former Red Sox coach John McLaren is managing the Chinese national team and might be a candidate to become bench coach with the Mets.

This Date In Transactions History: Colby Lewis

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357110601021_Rangers_at_Rays The Rangers and Tigers kicked off their ALCS matchup tonight, but that's not the only thing tying these two teams together. Our Transaction Tracker shows that GMs Dave Dombrowski and Jon Daniels have gotten together for four trades, most notably the Gerald Laird swap. A seven-year-old waiver claim is the more interesting transaction though; on this date in 2004, the Tigers claimed Colby Lewis off waivers from the Rangers.

Lewis, slated to start Game Three for Texas on Tuesday, was little more than a failed prospect back then. He made three starts in 2004 before requiring rotator cuff surgery, and he'd pitched to a 6.83 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 5.6 BB/9 in 176 2/3 innings for the Rangers before Detroit claimed him. The Tigers got nothing, literally zero innings, out of Lewis in 2005 (majors and minors) because of the shoulder, then he spent the majority of 2006 in Triple-A before making two late season appearances in the big leagues.

That is the extent of Lewis' career with the Tigers, just three innings across two appearances. The team granted him free agency after the season, and he soon caught on with the Nationals. The 2007 calendar year saw the right-hander spend time with the Nats, Athletics, and Royals, but he didn't do enough to stick around. Lewis then headed to Japan and pitched very well for the Hiroshima Carp in 2008 and 2009, putting himself back on the map.

Lewis' performance with the Carp earned him a two-year deal worth $5MM with the Rangers prior to last season, the team that originally drafted him in 1999. The Tigers claimed him seven years ago today hoping he'd realize his potential and help a pitching staff that had just allowed the third most runs in the league. It took a trip to Japan before Lewis figured things out, and in a few days he'll start for the team that waived him and against the team that claimed him.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

How The Tigers Acquired Their Newest Additions

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A year after finishing with a disappointing .500 record, the Tigers won 95 regular season games and have advanced to the American League Championship Series. With an aggressive approach in free agency and some successful midseason trades, GM Dave Dombrowski turned the the Tigers into a playoff team.

MLBTR’s Transaction Tracker offers a chronological look at the players Detroit has acquired in the last calendar year. The Tigers have acquired dozens of players since them, but we’re limiting our focus to those who made the ALDS roster:

New Additions

Free Agents Who Re-signed

Dombrowski was one of the most pro-active general managers in baseball last offseason and had signed Benoit, Martinez, Peralta and Inge before many teams had started their winter shopping. Though the Tigers had to demote Inge to Triple-A Toledo earlier in the season, the three other deals could hardly be going better.

The Tigers’ midseason trades have also been critical to their success and there is no better example than last night. Fister allowed just one run in five innings and Young picked up two hits, including his third home run of the series. Without Fister’s emergence and Young’s late-season hot streak, it's doubtful that the Tigers would have advanced this far.

Here’s a look back at how the Rangers, the Tigers' ALCS opponents, adapted last year’s team.

Ordonez Nearly Retired Midseason

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Magglio Ordonez went 3-for-3 today in the Tigers' victory over the Yankees in Game 2 of the ALDS, but he almost didn't have the opportunity to do so. The longtime Tiger told Danny Knobler of CBS Sports that he almost retired a few months ago due to lingering issues in his surgically-repaired right ankle.

"When I was playing, I didn't enjoy the game," he said. "And I play with my heart."

Ordonez told Knobler he "almost hung it up" at that point. However, he talked with his family and decided to stick with it. As Knobler points out, Ordonez hit .365/.377/.459 over his final 21 games. The power that made Ordonez such a terror to his opponents in the early and mid-2000s is no longer there, but the 37-year-old now says his ankle feels "normal" like it did before the injury.

Ordonez debuted with the White Sox in 1997 and played there from age 23-30, but joined the rival Tigers as a free agent only to see Chicago win it all in its first year without him. Now, his persistence has positioned him for another shot at a World Series title. He won't sign another eight-figure contract like last offseason's one-year, $10MM deal with the Tigers if he decides he can play again in 2012, but that's probably the last thing on the veteran's mind right now.

Quick Hits: Pettitte, Granderson, Alomar Jr.

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Some late-night linkage for your reading pleasure as the Phillies and Rangers celebrate victories, and the Yankees appear poised to join them …

  • Former Yankees lefty Andy Pettitte is enjoying retirement is highly unlikely to return to pitching, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. "I feel the desire [to play] is gone," Pettitte said. "I am retired. I would never say never, but God would literally have to give me desire again… I’m really doing good. I just had a good peace about [retiring]."
  • Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News has an in-depth look at the three-way trade between the Yankees, Tigers and Diamondbacks following the 2009 season. There are some interesting insights within the piece regarding the relationships between the general managers, Brian Cashman, Dave Dombrowski and Josh Byrnes, and how they met face-to-face to complete the deal.
  • The White Sox will likely consider Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. for their managerial vacancy, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.com. We learned earlier today that Rays bench coach Dave Martinez is among the South Siders' primary targets.

Central Notes: Fister, Pence, Cubs

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A few items of note regarding teams from MLB's Central divisions, as the Cards fall behind the Phils in Game 1 of the NLDS.

  • The Tigers preferred Doug Fister to Ubaldo Jimenez when they were shopping for a pitcher before the trade deadline, according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com. Whether that's true, we'll probably never know, but Fister certainly pitched better for Detroit than Jimenez did for Cleveland after the deadline. The Mariners were originally hesitant to move Fister, according to Knobler, but Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski was persistent in pursuing the right-hander.
  • The Reds tried to acquire Hunter Pence from the Astros, according to Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News, and GM Walt Jocketty has said he thought he made a better offer to Houston than the one it eventually accepted from the Phillies. McCoy reports that the Astros wanted Devin Mesoraco and adds that lefty Aroldis Chapman was not available.
  • The Cubs remain in limbo while waiting to hire a new general manager, writes Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, who notes that the fates of manager Mike Quade, his coaches, and several players are up in the air until someone takes the helm. The Cubs are unlikely to spend lavishly this offseason, according to Sullivan.

How The AL Playoff Starters Were Acquired

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As important as it is during the regular season, starting pitching becomes even more crucial in the postseason. Rotations are trimmed to three or four pitchers, and – particularly in a short series, when an ace can start twice in five games – the team with the starting pitching advantage is often the favorite.

Between unpredictable weather conditions and the possibility of three-game sweeps, there's no guarantee these are the 16 starters we'll see in the ALDS. However, at the moment, they're the guys penciled in to attempt to win at least one playoff game this week. So let's take a look at how the four American League postseason qualifiers assembled their October rotations.

Rays

Matt Moore: Selected in the 2007 draft (8th round).
James Shields: Selected in the 2000 draft (16th round).
David Price: Selected in the 2007 draft (1st round, 1st overall).
Jeremy Hellickson: Selected in the 2005 draft (4th round).

Not only are the Rays the only AL playoff team with four homegrown pitchers expected to start – no other club has more than two. Of the four Rays starters, only Price was a first round selection, a testament to the team's ability to make the most of its mid-round picks.

Rangers

C.J. Wilson: Selected in the 2001 draft (6th round).
Derek Holland: Selected in the 2006 draft (25th round).
Colby Lewis: Signed for two years, $5MM in January 2010.
Matt Harrison: Acquired from the Braves in July 2007.

The Rangers may have assembled the most unlikely rotation of the four AL contenders. As recently as 2009, Wilson was a setup man and Lewis was pitching in Japan. Meanwhile, Holland was a 25th-round pick and Harrison was often the forgotten man in the Mark Teixeira trade that also sent Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to Texas.

Yankees

C.C. Sabathia: Signed for seven years, $161MM in December 2008.
Ivan Nova: Signed as amateur free agent in 2004.
Freddy Garcia: Signed a minor league deal in January 2011.
A.J. Burnett: Signed for five years, $82.5MM in December 2008.

After last night's postponement, it appears the Yankees will have to scrap their plan for a three-man ALDS rotation, meaning that one December 2008 signing (Sabathia) may log significant innings in Game 3 only, while their other '08 signing (Burnett) could be pressed into a Game 4 start.

Tigers

Justin Verlander: Selected in the 2004 draft (1st round, 2nd overall).
Doug Fister: Acquired from the Mariners in July 2011.
Max Scherzer: Acquired from the Diamondbacks in December 2009.
Rick Porcello: Selected in the 2007 draft (1st overall, 27nd overall).

The Scherzer trade could have a tremendous impact on the 2011 postseason. All three teams involved in the deal qualified for the playoffs and will be relying heavily on players they acquired, including Curtis Granderson for the Yankees and Ian Kennedy for the D'Backs. As for the 2011 trade that most affects the postseason, the Tigers are hoping it's their July acquisition of Fister, who posted a 1.79 ERA after coming to Detroit.

In-Season Trades By The 2011 Playoff Teams

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It's hard to fake your way through 162 games, so most MLB playoff teams have earned the right to play in October. Once every few years, a team in a weak division slips into the playoffs with a mediocre record, but teams like the 2005 Padres and 2006 Cardinals are exceptions.

Now that this year's postseason lineup has been determined, we have the chance to look back at the trades the eight playoff teams made this year. Here's a summary of the in-season acquisitions that made an impact for one of MLB's 2011 playoff teams (linked team names go to our Transaction Tracker):

National League

American League

All four National League teams added valuable contributors in midsummer trades. The Rangers improved their bullpen with a pair of highly-coveted late-inning relievers and the Tigers acquired Doug Fister, who posted a 1.79 ERA with a 57K/5BB ratio in 70 1/3 innings down the stretch and is arguably the acquisition of the season.

After months of rumors about the Yankees' interest in starting pitching, GM Brian Cashman remained quiet on the trade front. The Wild Card Rays were also inactive despite constant rumors about B.J. Upton, James Shields, Johnny Damon and others. Tampa Bay's midseason acquisitions came from the minor leagues, where Desmond Jennings and Matt Moore began the season.

The Yankees and Rays are not averse to trading players – Cashman nearly acquired Cliff Lee last summer and Friedman makes major trades just about every year. Similarly, the Tigers and Brewers aren't this aggressive every year – they simply saw potential upgrades on the market. If there's a lesson here it's that the significance of the trade market varies wildly from year to year and from team to team. 

Cafardo’s Latest: Fielder, Orioles, Wilson, Capuano

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Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe discusses player conditioning and expanded rosters in his latest column, before sharing a few notes and rumors from around the league. Here are a few highlights from the piece:

  • While the Brewers have been all but ruled out of the Prince Fielder sweepstakes in some corners, Cafardo hears from big league sources that the Brew Crew may make a bid to retain their first baseman after all.
  • It appears Buck Showalter will have a significant infuence on Orioles' moves and decisions going forward. If Andy MacPhail leaves the team this winter, the O's may hire someone to hold the general manager title, but have Showalter acting as the de facto GM.
  • Cafardo speculates that the Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees, Twins, Tigers, and Cardinals could all be in on C.J. Wilson this offseason.
  • "Nobody has any real answer" about why the Red Sox and Mets couldn't reach an agreement on a Chris Capuano trade. We heard earlier this week that the Sox tried to acquire Capuano to help them clinch a playoff spot, but that talks were dead.
  • Although Manny Ramirez has mentioned the possibility of playing in Japan, Cafardo doesn't think a Japanese team would be willing to take on a two-time PED user.
  • Cafardo has heard Bobby Valentine mentioned as a potential replacement if the Red Sox and Terry Francona part ways. Earlier today, FOX's Ken Rosenthal looked into whether or not Francona's job is in jeopardy.

Central Notes: Indians, La Russa, Verlander

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A few links to pass along regarding clubs in the Central divisions …

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