AL East Notes: Red Sox, Upton, Snider
Adrian Gonzalez won the AL Player of the Week Award for last week after homering five times in seven days. Here's the latest from a division that includes a number of prominent MVP candidates, including Gonzalez…
- Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com argues that Red Sox manager Terry Francona deserves more credit. The skipper has never won AL Manager of the Year, but Edes says he deserves it this year for the work he has done leading the Red Sox to an AL-best 82-51 record.
- B.J. Upton told Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times that he's happy the Rays chose to hold onto him instead of trading him. The outfielder, who will be arbitration eligible for the final time this offseason, says he'd "love" to be back in Tampa Bay in 2012.
- Travis Snider acknowledged to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca that his position in the Blue Jays organization has changed in recent years. The Jays demoted the former first rounder twice this season and he has lost ground on the depth chart to Eric Thames and others. Snider's resting his right wrist now and looking forward to the 2012 campaign.
B.J. Upton Claimed; No Deal
MONDAY: The deadline to trade Upton has passed, notes Topkin, so he's staying with the Rays.
SATURDAY: B.J. Upton has been claimed off trade waivers by an unknown team, reports Marc Topkin of The St. Petersburg Times. The Rays have until Monday to work out a trade with the claiming team or pull their center fielder back, and Topkin says a deal seems unlikely as of right now.
Upton, who just turned 27, was a popular name before the trade deadline as teams looked for alternatives to the pricier Hunter Pence and Carlos Beltran. The Braves, Indians, Phillies, Giants, Pirates, and Nationals all had interest in July, though the first five teams ended up with other outfielders. The Nats may still have interest, though again we don't know which team actually made the claim.
Scheduled to become a free agent after 2012, Upton is being paid $4.825MM this season and will be arbitration-eligible again this winter. He's hitting just .224/.304/.390 with 17 homers in 495 plate appearances this year, but as always a big chunk of his value comes from his legs (26 steals) and defense (fourth best UZR among all center fielders since 2009).
Quick Hits: Red Sox, Indians
A couple notes regarding the Red Sox and Indians, who both won on Saturday night (in Boston's case, twice) …
- The Red Sox wanted to trade for both Erik Bedard and Rich Harden once their attempt to acquire Hiroki Kuroda from the Dodgers fell through, tweets Peter Gammons. Bedard, of course, ended up in Boston, while the acquisition of Harden was nixed by Red Sox medical staff.
- It's unclear whether the Indians were the team that placed a waiver claim on the Rays' B.J. Upton, writes Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, but it'd make sense for the Tribe to do so. Outfielders Michael Brantley and Shin-Soo Choo are banged up, and the Indians were one of the teams interested in Upton prior to the non-waiver trade deadline, according to Hoynes.
- Lost in the shuffle of Jim Thome's first homer since rejoining the Indians was the Major League debut of reliever Nick Hagadone, writes Hoynes. Hagadone, a lefty, was acquired along with Justin Masterson in the deal that sent Victor Martinez to Boston in 2009. That doesn't look like such a bad swap in retrospect, especially if Hagadone turns out to be a solid member of the Tribe's bullpen.
Quick Hits: Kubel, Bell, Marlins, Upton
Hurricane Irene has resulted in the cancellation of five Saturday games, but we still have plenty of news for your to pore over..
- The Indians and Twins did exchange names on a potential Jason Kubel deal but Minnesota wanted more than the Tribe was willing to give for a short-term rental, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter).
- More from Rosenthal (via Twitter) as he says that the talks between the Padres and Giants on Heath Bell never got very far. The claim was more than just a block, but the Giants didn't want to give up real value for the closer.
- The Marlins preference is to hire a manager who they believe will hold that job for years to come rather than keep Jack McKeon, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com. McKeon will celebrate his 81st birthday this fall.
- No surprise here but Olney tweets that it's unlikely that we'll see B.J. Upton traded following the waiver claim. The Rays would probably be benefit from listening to multiple teams this winter.
Upton Feels He Won’t Be Back With Rays Next Season
Rays centerfielder B.J. Upton told reporters that he doesn't expect to be back with the club in 2012, according to Roger Mooney of The Tampa Tribune.
“I hope not, but I don’t see why I wouldn’t be with all the talks at the deadline, and with this [waiver claim], I don’t see why there wouldn’t be that possibility,” the 27-year-old said. “I don’t want to go anywhere, but if that’s what they want to do it’s out of my hands.”
This morning it was reported that Upton was claimed off of trade waivers by an unknown team. Upon hearing the news, Upton said that he wasn't concerned about it and appropriately termed the move "business as usual". Rays Executive Vice President Andrew Friedman would neither confirm nor deny the report.
Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Wandy, Reds, Rays
Here's the latest Full Count video clip from Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com:
- The Astros may place lefty Wandy Rodriguez on waivers next week, and it's possible but unlikely that Rodriguez will be claimed by another team. He stands to earn $36MM over the next three seasons, which could be a deterrent for teams considering a claim, but if he clears, the Diamondbacks and other teams may show interest in working out a trade.
- The Reds have not seen a significant spike in attendance coming off last season's division title and will likely be relatively inactive this offseason.
- The Rays considered trading center fielder B.J. Upton in July, but they may hold him this offseason and allow him to walk in free agency after 2012. The Rays value Upton highly and think they may not be able to spend his 2012 salary, which Rosenthal estimates will be roughly $7MM, any better on another player or players.
- Tampa might be more willing to trade righty James Shields, who would probably yield a greater return than Upton.
- The Yankees will not release catcher Jorge Posada, which is why they're having trouble squeezing prospect Jesus Montero to the big leagues. The Yanks do not want to go to an 11-man pitching staff, which they'd have to do if they called up Montero.
AL East Notes: Bundy, Cervelli, Upton, Red Sox
Some news from the AL East…
- The Orioles have begun negotiations with fourth-overall draft pick Dylan Bundy, reports Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com. Denver Bundy, Dylan's father and also part of his representation team from BBI Sports Group, said today's meeting was "a feeling out process" and the two sides would hopefully discuss figures at their next session on August 10.
- The Yankees and Pirates almost agreed to a deal that would've seen Francisco Cervelli go to Pittsburgh in exchange for right-hander Brad Lincoln, reports George A. King of the New York Post. King hears from a Pirates source that the trade "was very close but [the teams] couldn’t agree on the value of the players." Such a move would have given the Yankees room to call up Jesus Montero as both a backup catcher and as a potential DH platoon partner for Jorge Posada. Brian Cashman said Montero could potentially be called up once the rosters expand in September.
- The trade deadline has passed and B.J. Upton is still wearing a Rays uniform, so Steve Slowinski of the DRaysBay blog is already thinking about what a potential Upton extension might cost Tampa Bay.
- With the Red Sox facing a crunch of prospects for 40-man roster spots this winter, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal wasn't surprised that the Sox moved three of those on-the-bubble prospects in the Erik Bedard trade. Boston would've risked losing Chih-Hsien Chiang, Tim Federowicz, and Stephen Fife for nothing in the Rule 5 draft had the club not been able to send Chiang to the Mariners and Federowicz/Fife to the Dodgers.
- By acquiring two first basemen (Chris Davis and prospect Aaron Baker) from their deadline deals, the Orioles appear to be taking themselves out of the Prince Fielder sweepstakes this winter, writes Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun. I respectfully disagree with Schmuck — if the O's have a chance at Fielder, they won't hesitate to sign him for the sake of Davis (who has struggled against lefties at the Major League level) or a minor prospect like Baker. Davis could also be moved into a DH role, or moved to third base while Mark Reynolds become the designated hitter.
Nationals, Twins Not Close On Span Trade
2:46pm: The teams are not close on a Span trade, tweets Jon Paul Morosi.
12:29pm: The Twins don't currently believe this deal can get done, tweets Yahoo's Tim Brown. The Nationals so far will not include Storen, tweets Scott Miller.
9:43am: ESPN's Tim Kurkjian tweets that the chances of a Storen/Span deal are less than 50/50. The Nationals are still in the mix for B.J. Upton.
7:59am: Nationals closer Drew Storen is in the Denard Span trade with the Twins, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, but the hangup is over the other players in the deal. Yesterday we heard names such as Roger Bernadina and Stephen Lombardozzi of the Nationals.
B.J. Upton Likely To Stay Put
The latest on Rays center fielder B.J. Upton, who is hitting .226/.308/.398 on the season and is owed $1.59MM prior to his last arbitration year in 2012…
- Though Upton is expected to stay, the Reds, Pirates, and Indians are kicking the tires, tweets Heyman.
- Upton appears likely to stay put, tweets SI's Jon Heyman.
Latest On Braves’ Outfield Targets
The Braves are expected to add an outfielder today; here's the latest…
- The Athletics' asking price for Coco Crisp was a bit much, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. We know the Braves are looking at Houston's Michael Bourn, and O'Brien says they're still in on B.J. Upton of the Rays as well.