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Draft Notes: Stilson, Rays, Astros, Nationals, Bundy

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This year’s draft is deep, particularly in terms of power pitchers. Here are the details on some draft-eligible players and the teams that are eyeing them…

  • Texas A&M righty Josh Stilson received a second opinion on his injured shoulder from Dr. James Andrews, who believes surgery can be avoided with a six-week rehab program according to Baseball America's Jim Callis. Stilson, a projected first round pick, suffered a SLAP tear in his throwing shoulder and will miss the rest of the season.
  • ESPN's Jerry Crasnick wrote about Rocco Baldelli's front office job with the Rays, which involves evaluating amateur position players for the draft.
  • Astros assistant GM and scouting director Bobby Heck told MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that he has been impressed with the crop of power arms in this year's draft.
  • Odds are the Astros will take a pitcher with the 11th overall pick, according to Stephen Goff of the Houston Astros Examiner (Twitter links). High school pitcher Archie Bradley told Goff that "the Astros have been in pretty good contact" with him.
  • High school right-hander Dylan Bundy is a fitness freak who is mature beyond his years, as Nick Piecoro shows at the Arizona Republic. Bundy's pre-season goals? "To hit 100 mph, have a zero ERA and not walk anybody." His fastball touched 100 and he posted a 0.25 ERA with a 158K/5BB ratio.
  • MLB.com's Bill Ladson hears that the Nationals, who select sixth overall, are looking at Bundy, Danny Hultzen, Bubba Starling, Jed Bradley, Trevor Bauer and Alex Meyer.
  • The Royals entered the season with the best farm system in the game, yet GM Dayton Moore told MLB.com's Dick Kaegel that there are many areas in which the organization's prospect depth can improve.
  • The Rays have 12 of the first 89 selections this year and executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman says those selections boost the team's odds of finding elite talent. "The more arrows you have, the more likely you are to hit the bulls-eye," Friedman told Bill Chastain of MLB.com.
  • The Padres, who have five of the first 58 picks in the draft, are looking forward to their selections with equal enthusiasm, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock. GM Jed Hoyer says the Padres need to get their picks right.
  • The Red Sox, Hoyer's former team, also have extra picks, something that GM Theo Epstein is looking forward to. “I think it energizes the scouting staff the whole year because they know going in and seeing players, there’s a much better chance you can actually get a guy," he told Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com.
  • The Twins will look to add pitching early on, according to MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger.
  • Mets executives Paul DePodesta and Sandy Alderson agree with the consensus that the draft is deep in pitching, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.

New York Notes: Colon, Reyes, Beltran, Wright

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Six Yankees lead All-Star balloting at their respective positions in the early going: Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson (who's second among outfielders to Jose Bautista). Here's the latest on the Yankees and their cross-town rivals:

  • Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record points out that the Yankees have no incentive to dig for answers from Bartolo Colon, who had stem cells injected into his shouder and elbow before signing with them last offseason. The commissioner's office seems to know that Colon is beyond their reach, but MLB officials believe Colon should have disclosed what had happened when he signed with the Yankees. 
  • One GM suggested to Joel Sherman of the New York Post that Mets fans shouldn't expect too much in possible trades for Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. The return for players on the brink of free agency hasn't historically been overwhelming, the GM said, pointing to the 2008 deal that sent Teixeira from Atlanta to the Angels for Casey Kotchman. On the other hand, Matt Holliday was traded for Brett Wallace the next summer.
  • Maybe Fred Wilpon was on point when he said David Wright is not a superstar. Rival executives tell Sherman that the third baseman would work best as the third or fourth-best player in a lineup.

Heyman On Dodgers, Mets, Rendon, Red Sox

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The Dodgers have had unofficial conversations with Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier about long-term deals, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com. GM Ned Colletti would like to lock both outfielders up instead of letting them hit free agency after the 2012 season. Here are the rest of Heyman’s rumors: 

  • Though it’s hard to imagine Dodgers owner Frank McCourt signing either player long-term given his current financial issues, MLB seems hopeful that they can find a new owner for the team if and when it's necessary.
  • Proposed Mets limited partner David Einhorn will have the chance to increase his share of the team from 33% to 60% after five years, according to Heyman. Majority owner Fred Wilpon could then block Einhorn and repay him his $200MM while allowing him to keep 16.5% of the team. Heyman hears that the Wilpons won’t allow Einhorn to become majority owner. Various reports about the value of the deal circulated over the weekend.
  • Anthony Rendon’s draft stock is again rising, according to Heyman. The Mariners, who select second, could choose the Rice third baseman if the Pirates pick UCLA righty Gerrit Cole first overall. If the Pirates take Virginia lefty Danny Hultzen with the top pick, Rendon and Cole figure to be Seattle’s top choices.
  • The Red Sox could look to acquire an outfielder if J.D. Drew’s nagging injuries persist.
  • The Nationals are suggesting that they will have a high asking price for Ivan Rodriguez.

NL Central Notes: Lyles, Reyes, Doumit

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Here's the latest from around the NL Central, with an emphasis Jordan Lyles. The Astros' right-hander debuted against the Cubs tonight and pitched seven-plus innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with four strikeouts and no walks….

  • Astros manager Brad Mills pointed out that Lyles could be with Houston for two starts or 20 years, according to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. Lyles' debut may be the most anticipated in Astros history since Hunter Pence's 2007 debut, according to McTaggart.
  • Lyles' promotion represents a victory for assistant GM and amateur scouting director Bobby Heck, according to Stephen Goff of the Houston Astros Examiner. 
  • I examined the service time implications for Lyles earlier tonight.
  • Reds GM Walt Jocketty told John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he hasn’t had talks with the Mets. That means speculation linking the Reds to Jose Reyes is unfounded at this point (though the Reds could have had internal discussions about the shortstop). 
  • Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit has fractured his left ankle and will miss at least a month, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (on Twitter). Doumit, a potential trade target, would have a few weeks to re-establish his value before the trade deadline if he makes a speedy return. But his $5.1MM salary could clear waivers, which would enable the Pirates to deal him in August.

Mets Could Deal Wright Instead Of Reyes

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8:00pm: A source with knowledge of the situation told Andy Martino of the New York Daily News that the Mets have had no serious internal discussions about trading Wright (Twitter links). Though the Mets haven't ruled out signing Reyes, they won't be interested in making a $130-140MM commitment, according to Martino.

7:14pm: There has been plenty of speculation about a potential Jose Reyes trade this summer, but a source told Adam Rubin of ESPN New York that the Mets could choose to trade David Wright instead. That doesn't mean it'll be easy, despite what we can assume would be tremendous interest.

"It will be a very ticklish situation because of what David has meant to the team for so long, but that's not a concern of Sandy [Alderson]," said the source. "There will be some capital there to spend on Reyes if they choose to go that direction. Now, he can't obviously get monster money. If Reyes wants monster money, no, the Mets won't keep him."

Rubin says that the biggest obstacle in a Wright trade would be convincing COO Jeff Wilpon to sign off on a deal given his strong regard for the third baseman, both on and off the field. The source added:

"If they wanted to move Wright, there's no better time to move him than now, because there still will be teams out there thinking, 'Well, David Wright was sabotaged by the stadium. He's still a good player. He'd be a good fit where he doesn't have to be the guy,' which he's been here for so long. So they can get some return on Wright. Plus the fact that he has two years left on his deal, so you're not talking about long-term financial damage for any team that does pick him up."

The source also told Rubin that the most likely scenario has both Wright and Reyes ending the season with the Amazins, then they could try to re-sign Reyes to a deal of five years or less. Their hope, as unrealistic as it may be, is three years. If no deal can be reached, they would simply take the two drafts picks. Rubin notes that Reyes has reasons to stay in New York, namely the easy flights to the Dominican Republic and the fact that his kids are in school there.

We've looked at both Wright and Reyes at trade candidates recently, and also broke down what Fred Wilpon's recent comments meant for both.

Stark On Twins, Reyes, Beltran, Draft

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Jose Bautista and Josh Beckett are the player and starting pitcher of the month for ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark. Here are Stark's latest rumblings from around the league:

  • Barring a miracle, the Twins will be sellers this July, but they aren’t ready to trade anyone yet.
  • One rival executive says they will eventually talk about trading prospective free agents including Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Jim Thome and Matt Capps. The Twins would have interest in re-signing some of those players after the season and could conceivably do so even after trading them (the Indians did that with Austin Kearns last year).
  • Though Jose Reyes is the Mets’ most exciting player, the consensus is that the Mets are going to have an easier time trading Carlos Beltran, partly because they will feel the need to get more in return for Reyes.
  • The draft could be significantly different under a new collective bargaining agreement (baseball’s current CBA expires in December) and one scouting director says MLB needs to make changes, including a possible worldwide draft. "The dollars that are being asked now in Latin America are a joke,” the director said. “And this is the only way to address it."
  • One small-market official says a slotting system would hurt small market clubs, since it would prevent them from out-spending deep-pocketed teams on draft picks.
  • One GM suggests moving the draft back to the All-Star break and making it more of an event.

NL East Notes: Pudge, Einhorn

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Here are a couple items of note out of the NL East as the Mets kick off their series against the Pirates without the services of Jose Reyes, who was added to the bereavement list Monday.

  • Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said he's not actively shopping Ivan Rodriguez and that the catcher won't be dealt for a "pittance," writes Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. Pudge's name surfaced in rumors last week in the wake of Giants backstop Buster Posey's season-ending injury.
  • Mets soon-to-be part-owner David Einhorn spoke to reporters Monday, and Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com has the highlights.
  • The purchase of Einhorn's stake of in the Mets should be finalized "within weeks, and certainly by the end of June," writes Rubin.
  • Einhorn thinks the agreement is fair for both him and the Wilpons.
  • No assurances were issued by Einhorn as to whether the state of the Mets' finances would improve in the coming years: It'll be what it'll be. It's not that people aren't going to try really hard to avoid that sort of a circumstance, but the future is uncertain. And there is a wide range of possible outcomes of all sorts of things. That's true in life in general. And it's true in this circumstance as well.

Quick Hits: Reyes, Webb, Posey

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Babe Ruth played his last MLB game on this date in 1935. The slugger played one inning against the Phillies and grounded out in his final at bat. Here's the boxscore from that game and here are today's links. Happy Memorial Day!

Quick Hits: Pirates, Reyes, Mariners, Galarraga

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Links for Sunday, after John Danks was unable to get his first win of 2011 this afternoon….

  • It seems likely that the Pirates will place Ryan Doumit on the disabled list after he injured his ankle today, and Rob Biertempfel of The Pittsburgh-Tribune Review says (on Twitter) that Dusty Brown would get called up to replace him since Jason Jaramillo is also hurt. Pittsburgh's 40-man roster is full, so a move will have to be made to accommodate Brown.
  • Andy McCullough of The Star-Ledger reports (on Twitter) that Mets shortstop Jose Reyes was again asked about his contract following today's game. "I've told you like a million times already," said Reyes, an impending free agent. "If [an extension] comes, it comes. If not, I'm going to continue to play."
  • Larry Stone of The Seattle Times spoke to Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik about the upcoming draft, who indicated that he will not draft based on team need and that they have a group of about five players they're specifically targeting for the second overall pick.
  • Bob Cohn of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote about the importance that decision-making plays into the success of small market teams.
  • Armando Galarraga wasn't pleased about his demotion to Triple-A, writes Chris Gabel of the Reno Gazette-Journal. The right-hander was blunt about why he stayed in the Diamondbacks' organization and accepted his minor league assignment: "The money. They have to pay me $2.3MM to come here."
  • The trade pulled off by the Yankees, Tigers, and Diamondbacks in 2009 was the rare three-way deal that worked out for each team, says Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
  • Asked whether the Indians could pursue Jim Thome this summer, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer points out that if the Twins make him available, it likely won't be until after he hits his 600th home run. Hoynes doubts that the veteran slugger is a fit for the Tribe anyway.
  • While the Red Sox committed over $300MM to Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez this year, their smaller investments are also paying dividends, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
  • P.J. Walters was removed from the Cardinals' 40-man roster and cleared waivers earlier this weekend, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

New York Notes: Reyes, Felix, Hughes, Jeter

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Even before reports of David Einhorn's $200MM investment in the Mets surfaced, things could've been worse in Queens, writes Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post. Vaccaro points out that New York's baseball history includes plenty of stretches more dismal than the one endured by the present-day Mets, and breaks down his top five. Here are some other Sunday morning notes on the Mets and Yankees:

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