According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, lefty Royce Ring was placed on waivers by the Cardinals. If he clears, he'll have the option of heading to Triple A or electing free agency. The Cards don't have a need for Ring given the presence of Trever Miller and Dennys Reyes.
Royce Ring
Cardinals Sign Royce Ring
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals signed lefty reliever Royce Ring to a one-year deal. He joins fellow southpaw imports Charlie Manning and Trever Miller. Ring hasn’t really shut down lefthanded hitters in recent years.
Odds And Ends: Royals, Rockies, Rhodes, Braves
Let’s round up some remaining links in this lazy Saturday afternoon:
- The Royals DFA’d Yasuhiko Yabuta. The White Sox had tried to sign the Japanese reliever last winter but were unsuccessful. Yabuta was 1-3 with a 5.46 ERA and had signed a two-year, $6MM deal with Kansas City.
- The Rockies tried desperately to acquire a fifth starter before the non-waiver deadline but couldn’t match-up with the Mariners for Jarrod Washburn or the Nationals for Tim Redding; and Paul Byrd had Colorado on his no-trade list. The Rockies will continue to look for a starter via waiver wire claims.
- Arthur Rhodes was shocked when he learned he had been traded to the Marlins. ”There had been a lot of talk about me being traded to a couple of other teams, but I guess Florida wanted me more."
- The Braves DFA’d back-up catcher Corky Miller yesterday, and Royce Ring today.
- Also today (and in that Ring link), the Astros DFA’d Chad Paronto.
Alejandro A. Leal writes for UmpBump.com. Post-deadline rumors? Comments? alexo05 [at] umpbump [daught] com.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Loretta, Ensberg, Lopez, Ring
Ken Rosenthal has some Spring Training odds and ends this morning.
- Rosenthal adds Mark Loretta as a possible third base acquisition for the Dodgers. Given their desire for a relatively affordable guy who can also handle second, Rosenthal has linked them to Ron Belliard and Esteban German previously. Loretta shouldn’t be too hard to pry away from the Astros. Though he can’t play second, Morgan Ensberg could be an option if the Yankees let him leave.
- The Nats are shopping Felipe Lopez, who’s said he wouldn’t be content on the bench. Rosenthal says the Nationals have their eye on awful shortstop Angel Berroa as a possible replacement, which is strange on multiple levels. Not only is Berroa not a Major Leaguer at this point, but the Nats plan to use Cristian Guzman at short.
- Royce Ring is said to be "perhaps the most available of the Braves’ out of options relievers." Who needs a lefty?
Braves Acquire Royce Ring
Alright, blog service is back up. Booyah. As you may know, a bunch of southpaws were swapped today: the Braves got Royce Ring from the Padres for Will Startup and Wil Ledezma.
Should be nice to have Ring around in case things don’t work out with Ron Mahay. Still, it would’ve been nice to see John Schuerholz come up with some kind of starter for the back end of the rotation. Maybe in August.
Startup’s been solid in Triple A, and the Padres might be able to coax some goodness out of the twice-traded Ledezma.
With so many decent lefties floating around at minimal cost, you have to wonder why a team would ever sign Mike Stanton. But that’s why they’re GMs and I’m just a guy who blogs until he gets carpal tunnel.
