Quick Hits: Guillen, Royals, Harden, Tribe
The Nationals have announced the passing of shortstop prospect Yewri Guillen due to bacterial meningitis. Guillen, 18, was signed by Washington in February and was playing at the club's Dominican Republic academy. He was honored with a moment of silence before tonight's Brewers/Nationals game. MLBTR sends our condolences to Guillen's friends and family.
Some news from around the majors…
- Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star discussed potential call-ups and other roster moves for the Royals in a chat with fans this afternoon.
- Rich Harden has suffered an injury to his teres major muscle that will likely elongate his stay on the disabled list, reports MLB.com's Eric Gilmore. Harden, who signed a one-year, $1.5MM deal with the Athletics in December, has been on the DL with an injury to his throwing shoulder.
- Are the surprising Indians for real? Probably not, says Fangraphs' Steve Slowinski, but the Tribe has so many young players on the roster that it's hard to calculate if these players will drastically fall off or if some are just developing. Slowinski also notes that Cleveland is winning despite slow starts from expected stars like Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana.
- The White Sox closer will be "whoever is there in the ninth inning," Ozzie Guillen tells Dave van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune. We didn't get a chance to see a save situation tonight as Chicago lost to the Angels, but keep following @CloserNews (MLBTR's sister Twitter feed) for the latest on who will be finishing games for the Pale Hose.
Draft Notes: Cole, Rendon, Hultzen, Gray
It's far too early in the spring for teams to have their draft boards finalized, as Keith Law pointed out at ESPN.com this week. With nearly two months remaining between now and the draft, a lot can change, but that doesn't stop Law from passing along the latest on the early intentions of some teams with high picks:
- Law hears that the Mariners will take either Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon with the second pick in the draft, depending on which player is available after the Pirates select first overall.
- The D'Backs, who pick third, covet Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen, according to Law.
- The Orioles are 'extremely likely' to take a college pitcher with the fourth overall pick. They could take Hultzen or Georgia Tech left-hander Jed Bradley.
- The Royals (5th pick) are also likely to take a college arn and they're interested in UConn right-hander Matt Barnes, Hultzen and Bradley.
- The D'Backs (7th pick) and Cubs (9th pick) have Vanderbilt right-hander Sonny Gray high on their internal rankings, according to Law.
Heyman On Hamilton, Young, Felix, Royals
Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton is out for six to eight weeks after enduring a non-displaced fracture of his right shoulder and, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com, some people in Cincinnati may not be completely surprised. After the 2007 season, Reds medical people strongly suggested that the front office should trade Hamilton because of his health reports. Here’s the latest on the Rangers and other notes from around the league:
- The Rangers were “extremely close” to sending Michael Young to Colorado about a month before Spring Training, according to Heyman. The Rockies loved Young and he would have welcomed a trade to Denver or to either L.A. team. The infielder has since reconciled himself to his role in Texas.
- A rival GM says he’d trade Felix Hernandez to the Yankees for Ivan Nova, Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos and Jesus Montero if he were running the Mariners.
- One GM says Royals GM Dayton Moore did a good job of ‘bottom feeding’ this winter to come up with left-handers Bruce Chen and Jeff Francis on affordable deals.
- Andres Torres suffered an Achilles injury, so the Giants need outfield depth and are unlikely to release Aaron Rowand soon. Rowand has a .923 OPS so far including two hits yesterday.
Cardinals Acquire Victor Marte
The Cardinals acquired reliever Victor Marte from the Royals for future considerations, tweets Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Marte, 30, posted a 3.32 ERA, 6.4 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, and 0.7 HR/9 in 40 2/3 Triple-A relief innings last year. Marte was signed by the Royals as an amateur free agent over ten years ago; he logged time in Japan at one point.
Stark On Edwin Jackson, Royals, Playoffs
The latest from ESPN's Jayson Stark…
- Stark writes that Mark Buehrle is "widely expected to re-up with the White Sox," leaving a thin free agent market for starting pitchers next winter if Roy Oswalt and Chris Carpenter have their options picked up and C.J. Wilson re-signs with the Rangers. As I suggested last month, Scott Boras client Edwin Jackson could move to the head of the non-Sabathia class. One NL executive said to Stark, "Scott will make him sound like Walter Johnson. But how many teams has this guy been on?"
- The Royals' payroll could eventually rise as the Twins' did if all goes according to plan, team officials have been telling people in the game.
- Regarding the current labor negotiations, Stark hears that owners want a one-game playoff between the two wild card teams, while the players want a best-of-three. Which would you prefer?
Quick Hits: Buchholz, Duaner Sanchez, Royals
Links for Monday, as Angels number two prospect Tyler Chatwood prepares for his big league debut against the first place Indians…
- The Red Sox were non-negotiable on getting two club options on Clay Buchholz's contract, reports Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. Buchholz explained, "If it was me and I didn’t have a wife and a kid that I had to take care of, it might have been a decision that we would have thought about a little bit more."
- Teams are locking up their best players earlier and placing increased emphasis on club options, writes Dave Cameron of FanGraphs, and the result may be that "the best players in the game are going to be significantly underpaid during their primes," while the free agent market could become even more inflated.
- Reliever Duaner Sanchez signed with the Long Island Ducks, the team announced. Sanchez hasn't pitched in the Majors since May of '09, his career derailed by a July '06 taxi cab accident. His Ducks teammates include Ruddy Lugo, J.R. House, Lew Ford, and John Rodriguez.
- Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star writes about how Royals owner David Glass changed his tightfisted ways upon hiring Dayton Moore as GM about five years ago. Glass won't rule out keeping his talented wave of top prospects together on long-term deals "regardless of who their agent is."
- Baseball America links: Conor Glassey chatted with potential top draft pick Anthony Rendon, while J.J. Cooper lists the youngest players in every league.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has details on the iPads Carl Crawford's agent Brian Peters distributed as a promotional tool early in the outfielder's free agency. Though GM Theo Epstein said the iPad didn't change his evaluation of Crawford, he was compelled to return the favor with some Red Sox Beats By Dre headphones. First Dr. Dre mention in MLBTR history?
Olney On Castro, Escobar, Wells, Pineda
The Red Sox should complete a seven-year extension worth $154MM or so with Adrian Gonzalez at some point in the next ten days, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reminds us. On a lighter note, Olney points out that Boston appears to be functioning despite a winless week for the Red Sox. Here are the rest of Olney’s rumors.
- Starlin Castro has “made the adjustment” to the big leagues and is no longer phased to be playing at the highest level, Cubs GM Jim Hendry says.
- Another young shortstop, Alcides Escobar of the Royals, may be the best defensive shortstop in the American League, according to at least one scout.
- Angels fans may not like hearing it, but one evaluator says that in sending Mike Napoli elsewhere they “traded a player who would've given them similar production to what they'll get out of Vernon Wells , except it'll cost them about $75 million more."
- Instead of delaying Michael Pineda’s service time and/or arbitration, the Mariners called him up to start the season in Seattle. "He earned the right to be on the club," GM Jack Zduriencik said. "We actually talked about calling him up last September."
Minor League Transactions
There was a slew of minor league transactions from March 30 to April 5, and Matt Eddy of Baseball America has written them up and included info on some noteworthy names. Here's more on those …
- The Cubs released righty Chris Huseby, an 11th-round draft pick in 2006 who signed for a hefty $1.3MM. Huseby wasn't panning out as a pitcher and saw action in the outfield in recent seasons.
- The Indians released third baseman Matt Cusick, one of the two players they received from the Yankees in last season's swap for Kerry Wood. The other player – Andrew Shive – had been previously released.
- The Rockies released reliever Craig Baker, who led the Minors in saves in 2009 with 33. A fourth-round pick 2006, Baker's 2010 was derailed by the injuries that haunted him earlier in his career.
- The Astros released reliever Bubbie Buzachero, who is among the active career leaders in minor league saves.
- The Royals released speedy outfielder Hilton Richardson, a seventh-round pick in 2007 who has 77 steals in the minors in 100 attempts. The Braves then signed Richardson.
- The Dodgers released lefty reliever James Adkins, a sandwich-round pick in 2007 out of Tennessee. The southpaw is the Volunteers' career leader in strikeouts but has struggled with control and against righties in the minors.
- The Brewers released hard-throwing lefty Evan Frederickson, the 35th overall pick in 2008. Frederickson has been excessively wild in his minors career, never walking fewer than 7.6 batters per nine, according to Eddy.
- Twins righty Chris Province, acquired from the Red Sox in the Boof Bonser trade in 2009, voluntarily retired. Province surrendered a lot of hits in 2010, but seeing as he posted solid groundball rates for two poor teams, Eddy wonders whether he might have fared better with a better defense behind him.
- The Padres released catcher Mitch Canham, the 57th overall pick in 2007. The Friars hoped Canham would develop into an offense-first backstop, but he was abused by basestealers, and his production with the bat didn't hold up at other positions.
- The Giants released righty Craig Whitaker, a supplemental-round pick in 2003. Whitaker, as Eddy notes, is something of a rarity as an unsuccessful power arm drafted by San Francisco. Outfielder Ben Copeland, the Giants' first pick (fourth round) in 2005, was also released.
- The Rangers released righty Danny Gutierrez, formerly one of their top-10 prospects. Gutierrez had been acquired from the Royals, but his stuff has diminished and was suspended 50 games for amphetamines prior to the 2010 season.
- The Blue Jays released speedy outfielder Eric Eiland, a second-round pick in 2007. Eiland has been an efficient basestealer but has struggled overall offensively.
Quick Hits: Collins, Red Sox, K-Rod, Dodgers
Links for Thursday, as the minor league season opens and Bryce Harper and others make their pro debuts…
- Yahoo's Jeff Passan explains how 5'7" left-hander Tim Collins went from being an aspiring carpenter to a promising rookie in the Royals' 'pen.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports know the winless Red Sox aren't as bad as they've seemed for the first five games of the season, but he argues they aren't as good as they seemed in January.
- The Mets and Francisco Rodriguez continue to say they aren't worried about the reliever's vesting option for 2012, according to Dan Martin of the New York Post. Rodriguez finished his first game of the season last night and with 54 more games finished, he'll have his $17.5MM option vest.
- MLB’s main concern with the deal Dodgers owner Frank McCourt recently proposed is that it would relieve McCourt’s debt without necessarily improving the product on the field at Dodger Stadium, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney.
- ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick anticipates some milestones that players may reach in 2011.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Ekstrom, Wagner, Ishikawa
The Pacific Coast League's transactions page gives us the update on three recently-designated players.
- Rays reliever Mike Ekstrom has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A according to the transactions page on the team's official site. Ekstrom was designated for assignment three days ago.
- Red Sox catcher Mark Wagner cleared waivers and was assigned to extended Spring Training, according to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. The Red Sox designated him for assignment on March 29th.
- Travis Ishikawa cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, the Giants announced (on Twitter).
- The Dodgers outrighted pitchers Jon Link and John Lindsey to the Albuquerque Isotopes. They'd been designated for assignment in late March.
- Catcher Lucas May, designated for assignment by the Royals on March 30th, cleared waivers and was outrighted to the Omaha Storm Chasers.