Bullpen Roundup: Who Should Rays Get; Is Rauch Out In Arizona?
While Tampa Bay is still reeling from another loss due to a faulty bullpen, R.J. Anderson of DRaysBay.com has some suggested additions to the beleaguered group.
- Winston Abreu, currently dominating at Triple-A Durham, could simply be called up.
- Jason Grilli, recently designated for assignment by the Rockies, could be had for nothing.
- Joel Hanrahan, recently taken out of the closer's role by Washington, would require a trade.
Considering that Grant Balfour, Joe Nelson and Dan Wheeler all have ERAs of 5.50 or higher, some fresh arms in the Tampa Bay bullpen would certainly be welcome.
Meanwhile, a less-treasured member of a major-league bullpen is Jon Rauch, who had a closed-door meeting with manager A.J. Hinch after Saturday night's game.
Rauch is still only utilized in low-leverage situations, and it seems he's worn out his welcome in Arizona. But his ERA dropped from 9.31 in April to 3.46 in May, and he's pitched two scoreless innings so far in June.
Whether the Rays, desperately seeking saves, and Rauch, America's tallest reliever, get together remains to be seen. No smoke here yet, let alone fire, but this seems like a natural connection to make.
Rays Avoid Arb With Grant Balfour
According to Marc Topkin, the Rays avoided arbitration with reliever Grant Balfour by signing him for ’09 at $1.4MM. Balfour posted a 1.54 ERA in his breakout season.
Odds and Ends: Gammons, Kawakami, Buck
Links for Monday…
- Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik admitted to have a conversation with Ken Griffey Jr.‘s agent, but wouldn’t reveal anything else.
- One of Matthew Cerrone’s readers dug up a Primera Hora article saying the Mets have been scouting free agent reliever Fernando Cabrera.
- Bob Klapisch looks at Pedro Martinez‘s four-year, $53MM deal and asks: was it worth it?
- Rays Index notes that Grant Balfour will use WBC participation as a bargaining chip in contract negotiations (he’s eligible for arbitration).
- Marc Hulet of Baseball Analysts looks at top hitters for the Rule 5 draft.
- Fire Brand of the American League did a Q&A with ESPN’s Peter Gammons. Some good stuff in there.
- A few notes from Patrick Newman at NPB Tracker. The Hanshin Tigers are reportedly considering offering $20MM over four years to Kenshin Kawakami, while Yu Darvish had his contract renewed at $2.7MM for next year.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the Mets want to add one starter and push Jonathan Niese to the #5 spot.
- Rany Jazayerli notes that a John Buck trade would make sense for the Royals.
- I mentioned the Royals’ signing of J.R. House earlier, but should add that they also signed Franquelis Osoria and Matt Tupman to minor league deals.
Odds and Ends: LaRoche, Bradley, Burnett
Digging into today’s random links…
- Joel Sherman looks at what went wrong for the Yankees this year. Did they fall too in love with their farm system?
- At least six teams have called the Pirates about third baseman Andy LaRoche in recent weeks. If LaRoche pans out and Pedro Alvarez comes aboard, the Bucs could have a surplus at some point.
- Craig Harris examines the rise of D’Backs GM Josh Byrnes.
- Eddie Bajek updated the Elias rankings for the AL 1B/OF/DH category. They’re fluctuating wildly. Eddie also did catchers for both leagues; Ivan Rodriguez is headed into Type B territory. Gregg Zaun lost Type B status.
- Mike Hindman conducted a roundtable asking what kind of contract the Rangers should offer Milton Bradley.
- 29 teams passed on Rays reliever Grant Balfour last spring. Now he has a 1.62 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 50 innings. Balfour’s been through a lot.
- Joe McDonald and Sean McAdam don’t see the Red Sox signing A.J. Burnett (or any big-name free agent starter).
- Padres CEO Sandy Alderson scoffed at the idea of a $40MM payroll for ’09. I never heard that figure tossed around; Buster Olney suggested the $50MM range.
- Maury Brown heard a rumor that Thomas Ricketts won the bid for the Cubs.
Percival Return Will Cause Roster Crunch
MLB.com’s Bill Chastain writes of an impending Rays roster crunch. Closer Troy Percival can come off the DL Friday. Percival’s replacement, Grant Balfour, doesn’t deserve a demotion. He’s out of options, and the Rays would have to sneak him through waivers to get him back to Triple A. Balfour did clear waivers in April. Given his situation and success this year, perhaps we can add Balfour to our Reliever Market list.
The Rays acquired Balfour from the Brewers for Seth McClung last July. He’s endured all kinds of injury problems but seems on track in ’08. DRays Bay suggests keeping Balfour and either cutting Gary Glover or trading Jason Hammel.
Odds And Ends: Eaton, Balfour, McAnulty
Couple of minor notes for this Friday afternoon:
- Paul McAnulty, who is out of options, is going to make the Padres 25-man roster. With Scott Hairston filling in for injured Jim Edmonds in center, McAnulty could get a fair share of playing time in left. The other candidate for playing time is Jody Gerut.
- It appears the Rays have decided on their final bullpen spot, giving the job to Scott Dohmann. The loser in this deal is Grant Balfour, who is out of options. The Australian reliever has some promise, and I would imagine will be claimed on waivers.
- Not that it’s a trade rumor, but there are whispers that Adam Eaton may have pitched his way out of the Phillies five slot. There isn’t mention of a replacement, but it could be Chad Durbin.
Posted by Joe Pawlikowski.
Devil Rays Swap Seth McClung For Grant Balfour
Drays Bay broke the story tonight: the Devil Rays sent Seth McClung to Milwaukee for Grant Balfour. A change of scenery isn’t a bad idea for either player.
McClung gets a lot of attention for his ability to light up the radar gun. The Devil Rays were wishcasting him as their closer as recently as last year. The problem for a while now has been his ridiculously bad control. He’s 26 now. Let’s see what Mike Maddux can do with him. Or at least what Stan Kyles can do with him.
Balfour has spent a ton of time under the knife; I covered his travails in this post. He’s 29 presently. Given the Devil Rays’ bullpen, he could be closing by year’s end (said with tongue only half in cheek).
Basically, a live arm was swapped for another live arm. We’ll see if anything comes of it.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Andruw, Lidge, Gwynn Jr.
Ken Rosenthal has a new Full Count video up at FOXSports for your viewing pleasure.
- Rosenthal believes that despite Andruw Jones‘s lousy May and June, he’ll still cash in this winter as the best available center fielder. He’ll still provide more offense than Torii Hunter in the long run.
- The Nationals are still asking for the moon in trade talks. If Jim Bowden does start acting reasonable, Dmitri Young, Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch, and Ryan Church could be dealt. Word via Bill Ladson of MLB.com is that only the Braves have inquired on Young.
- Brad Lidge is expected to remain an Astro. The main reason: Drayton McLane still doesn’t think his team is out of it. Most simulations a 2% chance or less of reaching the playoffs. If the Astros finally do acknowledge reality, they’d prefer to trade relievers other than Lidge (ie, Dan Wheeler or Chad Qualls).
- The Rangers and Brewers were close to a trade: Akinori Otsuka to the Brewers for Tony Gwynn Jr. Rosenthal seemed to dislike it, but I think it made sense for the Crew. Regardless, Bill Hall‘s injury thwarted the deal as Gwynn will be needed to man center.
- The new plan for the Brewers is to call up 29 year-old Grant Balfour, who’s dominated in the minors. He endured elbow and shoulder woes before undergoing Tommy John surgery in May of ’05. In the midst of his TJ recovery, Balfour developed the need for shoulder surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and labrum. This guy would be pumping gas if he’d been born a few decades earlier. After the surgeries, the Twins cut Balfour and the Reds snagged him. Balfour rehabbed with the Reds but never made it to the bigs; the Brewers claimed him off waivers in October of ’06. He’s all the way back; Johnny Estrada was singing his praises back in February.