AL West Notes: Langerhans, Bedard, Rangers
The versatile Howie Kendrick has kept the Angels' offense afloat despite injuries and poor performance from key players. The Angels rank 10th in MLB in runs scored and, more importantly, are atop their division with a 21-16 record. Here's the latest on their AL West rivals…
- Ryan Langerhans cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to Triple-A Tacoma, according to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times (on Twitter). Seattle designated him for assignment Monday.
- Stone reflects on the trade that sent Erik Bedard to Seattle for Chris Tillman, Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Kam Mickolio and others. Stone's conclusion three years later: a bad Mariners trade isn't quite as bad as it once seemed.
- Earlier tonight, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark noted that Bedard could be a trade chip again this summer (though the return would be considerably less impressive this time).
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels told Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com that though Texas is "not playing real well," he doesn't want to make an irrational knee-jerk move. The Rangers believe in their team, but are considering ways of making it better, including possible call ups, according to Daniels.
Stark On Pirates, Royals, Bedard, K-Rod
Pirates GM Neal Huntington told Jayson Stark of ESPN.com that he wants “to fight that mentality of, 'We're .500, so we're really on our way.'" Huntington points out that it takes years to develop an elite team and an elite farm system and says one season of .500 ball isn't going to satisfy the Pittsburgh front office. Here are the rest of Stark's rumors from around the league:
- People in the game suggest the Royals' decision to call Eric Hosmer up early may mean they intend to compete in the AL Central this year. Stark hears that the Royals will have money to spend in July if necessary (remember that Gil Meche retired instead of collecting the $12MM he was scheduled to earn).
- The Royals believe Triple-A pitchers Danny Duffy and Mike Montgomery are nearly MLB-ready, so GM Dayton Moore may talk about moving Kyle Davies and Jeff Francis within a few weeks. The Royals probably wouldn't get much for Davies, but Francis could draw interest.
- Erik Bedard could be an attractive trade chip this summer, but one NL executive says the left-hander needs to “prove he can log innings.” Tim Dierkes suggested a month ago that Bedard could have lots of appeal at the deadline.
- Left-hander Randy Flores can opt out of his minor league deal on Sunday if the Padres don't call him up from Triple-A. Cory Luebke is the lone left-hander in the Padres' 'pen at the moment, so they could consider calling on Flores instead of cutting him loose.
- Teams are still skeptical of Francisco Rodriguez, despite his 10 saves and 1.10 ERA. K-Rod has walked 10 of the 73 batters he has faced (16 1/3 innings).
- Stark points out that it's been a while since Giants GM Brian Sabean made win-now midseason trades that cost him top prospects.
Erik Bedard: This Summer’s Available Ace?
I've recently opined that it's difficult to identify an ace starter likely to hit the trading block in July. However, in most years a few would-be contenders are surprisingly bad and a few pitchers have breakout or unexpected seasons, giving the trade market some semblance of an available #1 or #2 starter.
Could the Mariners' Erik Bedard be that pitcher in 2011? As MLB.com's Cash Kruth notes, Bedard will take a Major League mound today for the first time since July 25th, 2009. He had multiple surgeries in the interim, as doctors repaired a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. The 32-year-old made it through Spring Training unscathed, and pitched well aside from his final outing.
Bedard's Seattle career to date consists of 30 starts spread across two seasons. Though he was working through shoulder issues, the numbers are strong: a 3.24 ERA, 8.9 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 in 164 innings, with only 135 hits allowed. Bedard averaged fewer than 5.5 innings per start, so he'll be most effective on a club with a strong bullpen.
Bedard is not the #1 starter he was in 2007 with the Orioles, but he could still be the best available at the trade deadline. We've seen injuries kill his trade value before, so there's no point in getting serious about suitors until July. Still, the Yankees would make sense, assuming the two front offices can put aside any bad blood from last year's Cliff Lee talks. Otherwise, we'll have to wait to see which contenders develop rotation needs three months from now.
Odds & Ends: Hardy, Punto, Dunn, Marlins, Lee
Some items to wrap up the week…
- The Pirates were close to a trade for J.J. Hardy on Thursday night, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com. Pittsburgh is known to have an interest in Hardy and could still work out a deal given that the Twins tendered Hardy a contract.
- There is "mutual interest" between Nick Punto and the Indians, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. (Twitter link) The two sides will continue their talks during the winter meetings.
- Yahoo Sports' Big League Stew blog collects some of the Washington media's reaction to Adam Dunn leaving town, and it isn't very positive.
- It's looking increasingly unlikely that Arizona will trade Justin Upton, but if Upton is moved, it won't be to Florida, writes Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Rodriguez says the Marlins are looking for a left-handed bench bat and possibly a left-handed reliever, though the club is unlikely to re-sign Will Ohman.
- Phillies assistant GM Scott Proefrock tells Fox Sports Radio's Jim Bowden (Twitter link) that his club isn't interested in bringing back Cliff Lee. "That ship has sailed," Proefrock said.
- Erik Bedard tells Larry Larue of the Tacoma News Tribune that he was offered a guaranteed deal from another club but turned it down to sign a non-guaranteed contract with Seattle.
- The Mariners "are becoming a West Coast version of the Orioles, a place top-tier free agents avoid because the stench of losing is overwhelming," writes Yahoo's Steve Henson in his winter meetings preview.
Mariners Re-Sign Erik Bedard
The Mariners re-signed Erik Bedard to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract, the team announced. The 31-year-old left-hander did not pitch in the Majors in 2010 and has had season-ending shoulder surgery in each of the last two seasons.
The Mariners parted with Adam Jones to acquire Bedard and, when the lefty's healthy it's not hard to see why it cost so much to acquire him from the Orioles. He has posted a 3.24 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in parts of two seasons in Seattle, but he has yet to make more than 15 starts in a season for the Mariners. The team declined an $8MM option for Bedard's services earlier in the offseason.
Mariners Decline Options; D’Backs Claim Sweeney
The Mariners declined their 2011 options for Erik Bedard, Russell Branyan and Jose Lopez. The Mariners had a $5MM mutual option with Branyan and an $8MM mutual option with Bedard. Lopez is still arbitration-eligible, but he’s a candidate to be non-tendered next month.
The Mariners also announced that the Diamondbacks claimed righty Brian Sweeney off of waivers. Kevin Towers’ bullpen reconstruction has begun. Sweeney, 36, pitched for the Padres in 2004 and 2006 when Towers was the GM in San Diego. More recently, the right-hander posted a 3.16 ERA with 3.4 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 in 37 innings for the Mariners this year.
Outfielder Ryan Langerhans and catcher Guillermo Quiroz elected free agency after the Mariners outrighted them to Triple-A. The Mariners also outrighted lefty Ryan Feierabend, lefty Chris Seddon and righty Sean White to Triple-A and all three can become free agents.
Cafardo On Baylor, Haren, Konerko, Bedard
With the Marlins and Orioles searching for new managers, Don Baylor wonders why he isn't being considered for either job, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Baylor would love a chance to manage Baltimore, the franchise that drafted him over four decades ago, in the second round of the 1967 amateur draft. Let's check out Cafardo's other notes….
- The Yankees, Twins, Nationals, Cardinals, and Tigers had scouts watching Dan Haren's most recent start.
- There were a few teams hoping Paul Konerko would be available this summer, but with the White Sox suddenly just a game and a half out of first place, they obviously don't plan to trade their home run leader.
- Cliff Lee may not be the only Seattle left-hander on the trade block next month. Erik Bedard is due back soon, and Cafardo thinks that the Mariners could try to move him if he looks healthy in July.
- Scott Schoeneweis would like to catch on with a club as a situational lefty, but "his phone isn't ringing."
- D.J. Carrasco could be traded before the deadline. Carrasco's numbers this season haven't been overly impressive (4.12 ERA, 1.76 K/BB), but if the relief market is as thin as Buster Olney indicated this morning, the right-hander should draw some interest.
Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Orioles, Griffey, Braves
FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal has a new Full Count video up, so let's see what he has for us…
- The Orioles will almost certainly be the first team to fire their manager this season, and both Bob Melvin and Bobby Valentine came up in past internal discussions. Bigger jobs are in store for Valentine, but Buck Showalter might also be a candidate. Rosenthal reminds us that the team doesn't have anyone in-house with prior big league managing experience.
- The Mariners expect Cliff Lee back on Friday and Erik Bedard back in four weeks, but the focus will remain on the offense and Ken Griffey Jr.'s .238/.289/.262 performance. Rosenthal says not to expect anything to happen with him anytime soon; Seattle has five Griffey-centric promotions scheduled for the first half.
- The Braves are a logical landing spot for Adrian Gonzalez, but they're also very high on first base prospect Freddie Freeman. The last time they traded for a first baseman with a year-plus left on his contract, they basically rebuilt the Texas Rangers.
- The Nationals made a run at Jermaine Dye and had more than one conversation with Gary Sheffield's agent, but GM Mike Rizzo said those talks were just to gauge interest. For now, they're happy with the a platoon of Willie Harris and Justin Maxwell because of their defensive abilities, and Rizzo says that will remain a point of emphasis as the team moves forward.
- Rosenthal expects the Nats to get better as the season progresses. They'll be adding Stephen Strasburg, Drew Storen, Chien-Ming Wang, Ross Detwiler, and Jordan Zimmermann to their pitching staff at various points this year.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Braves, Scutaro, Carroll
On this date eight years ago, Major League Baseball acquired the Montreal Expos from owner Jeffrey Loria for $120MM, who then purchased the Marlins for $158MM. Loria took everything not nailed down in Montreal with him to Florida, including manager Jeff Torborg. MLB ran the Expos for the next four-plus years until ownership was transferred to Ted Lerner in July 2006.
Here's a look at what's being written around the web…
- Capitol Avenue Club analyzes the players the Braves are bringing to Spring Training as non-roster invitees.
- The Bottom Line wonders if Marco Scutaro is going to be the next Julio Lugo.
- Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness thinks the Dodgers jumped the gun when they signed Jamey Carroll.
- Mets Merized looks at the best of what's left on the free agent market.
- Camden Crazies tries to make sense of the Orioles' interest in Jarrod Washburn.
- U.S.S. Mariner breaks down the incentives in Erik Bedard's contract.
- TAUNTR touched on the Tigers' reported offer to Johnny Damon.
- Fantasy Rundown links to every prospect ranking you can think of.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
Odds & Ends: Lincecum, Jackson, Blalock, Bedard
Some Tuesday night links…
- Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports tweets that neither Tim Lincecum nor the Giants have budged in their negotiations, and his arbitration hearing is set for Friday.
- MLB.com's Steve Gilbert reports (via Twitter) that the Diamondbacks and Edwin Jackson still haven't made any progress towards an agreement. Their arbitration hearing is now just eight days away.
- In addition to having interest in Russell Branyan and Jermaine Dye, the Indians are also talking to Hank Blalock, reports Rosenthal. He adds that the Blue Jays are also in on Branyan.
- In a pair of tweets, Rosenthal passes along the incentives in Erik Bedard's contract. They lefty could bring in $500K each for 14, 17, 20, 23, and 26 starts, plus $600K for every 25 innings after 75.
- Meanwhile, Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com report that Damon hasn't moved off his demand of a two-year deal. Good luck with that, Johnny.
- Morosi and Rosenthal also report that the Rangers and Mets appear to be "hamstrung by complications at the ownership level," meaning they're approaching their payroll limits.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick tweets that Astros' GM Ed Wade said the team has some interest in bringing Willy Taveras back on a minor league deal. Oakland released Taveras today.
- Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun (via Peter Schmuck) spoke to Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail, who indicated that the team has not had recent talks with the agents for Jarrod Washburn or Chien-Ming Wang. The O's were linked to both pitchers earlier today.
- MLB.com's Corey Brock says (via Twitter) that it's "highly unlikely" that the Padres will sign Japanese lefty Hisanori Takahashi. Several teams reportedly offered the southpaw a minor league contract.