Odds And Ends: Beckham, Rangers, Peterson, Drew
A few more minor notes from the MLBiverse…
- Marc Lancaster is reporting that Tim Beckham, the top pick of the Rule 4 draft, will be visiting Tropicana Field at the end of the week and his father believes that a deal will be in place by the end of the weekend. The rest of the first rounders could sign quickly once Beckham and the Rays set the benchmark.
- Jamey Newberg wonders if the Rangers will have a hard time making trades because their farm system is so deep. The Rays might have the same problem.
- Jeff Passan names his All-Overpaid and All-Underpaid teams.
- Could Rick Peterson reunite with Barry Zito in San Francisco?
- Dave Cameron says J.D. Drew was worth the money.
- A reader emailed in saying he saw Mets scout Jerry Krause at the White Sox-Pirates game. Krause might be the game’s most publicly recognizable scout.
Odds & Ends: Beckham, Bedard, Bonds, Mulder
Lots of high profile players in today’s Odds & Ends:
- The Rays have opened contract discussions with first overall pick Tim Beckham, says Marc Topkin.
- Phil Rogers of the Chicago Sports Tribune suggests we add Erik Bedard to the list of starting pitchers who may be available at the trade deadline. More appropriately, Rogers also notes the M’s will most likely hold on to Bedard through 2009, a far more likely outcome.
- Also in the longshot rumor department, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle speculates on Barry Bonds playing for the Red Sox. Personally, I would predict there’s a 0.0% chance Bonds plays in Boston.
- In that same piece by John Shea, Mark Mulder could be done. He’s rejecting the idea of a third surgery and attempting to alter his delivery to remain effective and pain free.
- Will Carroll reports Jeremy Bonderman has undergone surgery to overcome Thoracic Outlet Syndrome – as I understand it, a pinched vein causing a blood clot – and will need a minimum of 6 months to a year of recovery time. This should keep Armando Gallaraga and Dontrelle Willis in the rotation.
By Nat Boyle
Draft Day Roundup
The draft is just four hours away. We’ll be live-blogging it here at MLBTR. Here are today’s draft links.
- Baseball America’s brand new top 30 projections.
- According to Keith Law, Mariners doctors gave the thumbs up on Tanner Scheppers and the team could take him at #20.
- Law says the Nationals seem to be debating between Kyle Skipworth and Aaron Crow at #9.
- Law adds that first baseman Yonder Alonso has an $8MM rumored asking price, which could cause him to drop. Alonso is roughly the 11th-best player in the draft, combining various expert rankings.
- Speaking of huge demands, Buster Posey‘s people are floating $12MM. Perhaps for that reason, the Rays will go with Tim Beckham.
- The Pirates seem a near-lock to take Pedro Alvarez at #2.
- Jonathan Mayo is "fairly certain" the Reds will take Gordon Beckham at #7.
- Nick Piecoro tosses out some possibilities for the D’Backs at #26.
- Tom Haudricourt has three names for the Brewers at #16.
Beckham A Top Two Lock?
Dejan Kovacevic talked to Tim Beckham‘s father, Jimmy. Jimmy Beckham says the family has met only with the Rays and Pirates, and he expects his son to be drafted by one of those two clubs.
I’m surprised they are so certain. Isn’t it possible that the Rays draft Buster Posey and the Bucs opt for Pedro Alvarez?
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: 2008 Amateur Draft
With last year’s top pick, David Price, making his pro debut yesterday, we are now two weeks from the 2008 "Rule 4 Draft" and the top of the draft is not as clear this time around. There are five candidates that could go in the top slot: Buster Posey, the FSU catcher; Vanderbilt’s third baseman Pedro Alvarez; San Diego lefty Brian Matusz; Southern California high school catcher Kyle Skipworth, and Georgia high school shortstop Tim Beckham. Earlier this week we heard that the Rays were leaning towards Posey or Alvarez, while the Pirates were said to be torn between Alvarez and Beckham with the second pick. Recent mock drafts from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, have Beckham going to the Rays with the top pick.
Let’s take a look at what is being said about the upcoming draft in the Blogosphere…
- Minor League Ball ranks the top 30 prospects, with Posey and Beckham at the top of the board, while Alvarez’ injury knocks him down to #8.
- Baseball Mastermind would like to see a push for a little more hype in the baseball draft and feels that baseball fans would benefit from more debate on the merits of the available talent. They also can’t see the Rays taking Alvarez with the top pick now that they have Evan Longoria locked up to a long-term deal.
- DRays Bay wonders if recent reports of the Rays drafting Beckham or Posey were just smoke-screens to lower the price on Alvarez, who is a Scott Boras client.
- Rays of Light note that Alvarez would be the ideal choice, but believe signability may be too big of a factor to ignore, making Posey more attractive.
- Bucs Dugout feels a team should select the best available player with the second pick, but suggests that a team like the Pirates, that is still several years away from contending, may be better off drafting high school talent. The idea is that an Alvarez will not help a Bucs club in ’09 or ’10 while a Beckham will remain under the team’s control for more years.
- Camden Depot doesn’t sound very excited about the prospect of the Orioles drafting Matusz.
- McCovey Chronicles is hoping that Alvarez falls to the Giants at #5.
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.
Odds and Ends: Griffey, Baek, German, Wells
Here’s today’s link collection.
- Hal McCoy seems fairly certain that Ken Griffey Jr. will play out the season with the Reds.
- Dejan Kovacevic has heard that the Pirates are torn between Pedro Alvarez and Tim Beckham at #2.
- Cha Seung Baek has been DFA’d, and this time he might be claimed. He could have a career as a fifth starter somewhere.
- John Brattain explains why he feels teams are colluding against Barry Bonds.
- The Rangers DFA’d reliever Franklyn German; Evan Grant explains why.
- The Indians claimed reliever Oneli Perez from the White Sox. Baseball America says the six-fingered pitcher has attitude questions.
- According to Buster Olney, David Wells is still waiting by the phone hoping for a team to call.
- RotoAuthority examines Daniel Cabrera‘s hot start.
Rays Could Take Catcher No. 1 Overall
In a recent blog post, ESPN’s Peter Gammons told us not to be surprised if the Rays take Florida State catcher Buster Posey first overall in the June draft. Posey, a former shortstop, has the skills and frame to behind the plate in his career.
Baseball America’s Jim Callis recently analyzed the Rays’ most likely options (print issue 0809). He doesn’t see the Rays choosing Boras-represented corner infielder Pedro Alvarez. Pitchers Brian Matusz and Aaron Crow and shortstop Tim Beckham are the top talents after Alvarez. Callis, like Gammons, notes that the Rays could go for Posey if they choose to draft for their "biggest organizational weakness."
It seems that the experts’ expectation for the Rays’ pick is Beckham, but we’ll keep you updated in the coming months.
Odds and Ends: Alfonzo, Hill, Kline, Reitsma
Time for a link roundup.
- SI.com’s Jon Heyman says the Mets have talked with Edgardo Alfonzo. Alfonzo, 34, came up a Met and snagged MVP votes in 2000 with a .967 OPS.
- Seems like Aaron Hill‘s contract extension may wait until after the season, when his offensive value is more clearly established.
- No interest in Steve Kline yet…teams will probably wait the Giants out so they don’t have to pay his $1.75MM salary.
- If Chris Reitsma doesn’t make a decision soon about heading to Triple A, the Ms could place him on the restricted list.
- Dejan Kovacevic hasn’t heard anything about Adam LaRoche as a trade candidate, even though extension talks fizzled.
- Kevin Goldstein believes shortstop Tim Beckham is the "top talent in the draft."
June Draft Order
Baseball America’s Jim Callis has the June ’08 draft order, with supplemental and compensation picks accounted for. The Rays have another #1 pick – who’s it going to be? Baseball Prospectus’ Kevin Goldstein expects the Rays to pick corner infielder Pedro Alvarez, shortstop Tim Beckham, or starter Aaron Crow. Here’s a scouting perspective on Crow, by the way.