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Odds & Ends: Church, Macha, Farrell

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Some more reading for the last Friday night of the 2009 regular season….

  • Mark Bowman of MLB.com wonders if Ryan Church has played his last game for the Braves. Bowman thinks, because of Church's back injuries, the Braves may not want to pay for a salary bump through arbitration.
  • Brewers GM Doug Melvin has not yet met with Ken Macha to discuss his future in Milwaukee, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. It looks as if Macha will be back in the Brewers' dugout in 2010, but Melvin probably won't make it official until after Sunday's finale.
  • Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell attempts to dispel rumors that he'll be the next manager in Cleveland, via Anthony Castrovince at MLB.com.
  • ESPN.com's Rob Neyer looks at the AL Rookie of the Year race and concludes that the candidate he'd most like to have for the next few seasons is Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus.
  • Jon Heyman of SI.com (via Twitter) is surprised the Orioles picked up Dave Trembley's 2010 option.
  • If Bobby Jenks is back in Chicago in 2010, White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper expects a better season out of the closer, according to MLB.com's Scott Merkin.
  • Daniel Barbarisi of the Providence Journal writes that the Indians are still feeling the "punch to the gut" of losing Victor Martinez.
  • T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com notes that it's not certain whether Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo will be back in Texas in 2010.

Odds & Ends: Church, Macha, Farrell

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Some more reading for the last Friday night of the 2009 regular season….

  • Mark Bowman of MLB.com wonders if Ryan Church has played his last game for the Braves. Bowman thinks, because of Church's back injuries, the Braves may not want to pay for a salary bump through arbitration.
  • Brewers GM Doug Melvin has not yet met with Ken Macha to discuss his future in Milwaukee, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. It looks as if Macha will be back in the Brewers' dugout in 2010, but Melvin probably won't make it official until after Sunday's finale.
  • Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell attempts to dispel rumors that he'll be the next manager in Cleveland, via Anthony Castrovince at MLB.com.
  • ESPN.com's Rob Neyer looks at the AL Rookie of the Year race and concludes that the candidate he'd most like to have for the next few seasons is Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus.
  • Jon Heyman of SI.com (via Twitter) is surprised the Orioles picked up Dave Trembley's 2010 option.
  • If Bobby Jenks is back in Chicago in 2010, White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper expects a better season out of the closer, according to MLB.com's Scott Merkin.
  • Daniel Barbarisi of the Providence Journal writes that the Indians are still feeling the "punch to the gut" of losing Victor Martinez.
  • T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com notes that it's not certain whether Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo will be back in Texas in 2010.

Odds & Ends: Red Sox, Indians, Braves

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Who says October is just for postseason?

  • Victor Martinez will face his former team, the Indians, this weekend. How's that trade working out for Boston so far? V-Mart is .332/.402/.492 as a member of the Red Sox, so pretty well.
  • Speaking of Red Sox-Indians, with Cleveland manager Eric Wedge now former Cleveland manager Eric Wedge, speculation is focused on Boston's pitching coach John Farrell as a possible replacement. Farrell has a clause in his contract that doesn't allow him to become a manager until 2011, but as a league official told the Boston Globe, “All it does is create a compensation opportunity for the Red Sox."
  • David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says that the Braves are serious about acquiring a right-handed power bat.

Odds & Ends: Nationals, Ankiel, V-Mart

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Another round of links as we head into the evening…

  • Nationals team president Stan Kasten told Bill Ladson of MLB.com Saturday that he feels his organization is headed in the right direction.  "I'm not happy about the season," said Kasten, "and it signifies a horrible year on the field, but it has not been a horrible year in terms of progress toward our goal."  The Nats are hoping to find a veteran arm on the free agent market this winter.
  • Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch believes super agent Scott Boras will be able to convince a GM to "wildly overpay" Rick Ankiel in a new contract this winter.  Boras is apparently trying to spin the outfielder as "a combination of Willie Mays,  Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio,[and] Duke Snider."
  • SI.com's Jon Heyman calls the Red Sox's acquisition of Victor Martinez "the best move any AL team made this summer."  V-Mart is batting .335/.403/.505 since arriving in Boston and has 102 RBI on the year.

Odds & Ends: Reynolds, Gammons, Orioles

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Some late night links after Jake Peavy allowed three runs in five innings in his first start for the White Sox…

  • Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic notes that Mark Reynolds is likely to fall short of qualifying as a Super Two, meaning he'll have to wait until after 2010 to become arbitration eligible. He also says that it "does not appear there have been any discussions about a long-term deal with Reynolds, but the club does not seem averse to the idea of an extension."
  • ESPN's Peter Gammons writes about how great Victor Martinez has been for the Red Sox since being acquired at the trade deadline. He also praises Casey Kotchman, but I think I'd rather have Adam LaRoche, who has a 1.053 OPS since the trade.
  • Orioles Manager Dave Trembley indicated that the team needs someone to hit behind Nick Markakis until some younger players like Matt Wieters and Adam Jones are ready to do it, according to MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko. 
  • If you aren't already, make sure you follow MLBTR on Twitter.

Heyman’s Latest: Mets, D-Backs, Indians

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Jon Heyman takes a look at three teams that underachieved this season and how each might approach the off-season…

New York Mets

  • Heyman thinks the payroll will be about the same next season, noting that any attempt to lower the payroll would be a tough sell to the fans.
  • Needs include left fielder, first baseman, catcher, starting pitcher and overall depth.
  • Mets are looking at Matt Holliday and Jason Bay and could target Adrian Gonzalez and Bengie Molina.
  • Starting pitchers the Mets may pursue include Randy Wolf, Jon Garland and Jason Marquis as well as Roy Halladay if he's available.
  • Mets may try to move Luis Castillo and replace him with Orlando Hudson.

Arizona Diamondbacks

  • Heyman hears the D-Backs will try to sign Brandon Webb to a new deal at slightly less than the $8.5MM option they have for next season.
  • The D-Backs may try to re-sign Doug Davis, but that will still leave a couple of holes in the rotation.
  • Arizona may try to fill the second base job via trade. Heyman suggests that Eric Byrnes and Chris Snyder could be trade bait and feels Byrnes could be moved for Castillo.

Cleveland Indians

  • Heyman says the Indians need to replace Carl Pavano's ability to eat innings. 
  • The Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee deals saved the Indians $21MM, some of which could be used in free agency.

Other notes…

  • It looks like Andy Pettitte will reach most of the incentives in his contract, nearly doubling his base salary of $5.5MM.
  • Dan Uggla feels he will be traded this off-season and Heyman says the Marlins won't want to pay his arbitration figure.

Odds & Ends: Brewers, Sizemore, Gomes

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Curious about how untouchable Grady Sizemore is? I had to create a category for him just for this post. In the entire history of MLBTR, no one ever bothered to write any rumors about him…

  • ESPN's Keith Law writes that the Brewers "are closer to noncontention than contention, and trying to prop the playoff window open for another year or two could lead to a miserable bottoming-out not far down the road." He suggests they trade megastar Prince Fielder to help fill other holes, and build the team around Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo.
  • Jim Ingraham of The News Herald believes that the recent trades of Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez have effectively shortened the Indians' window to win with Grady Sizemore. Sizemore's contract runs through 2011 with a dirt cheap option for 2012, but Ingraham says there's "no reason to believe when Sizemore becomes a free agent after the 2012 season he won't leave whatever team he is with and sign a monstrous contract with one of the big-market teams."
  • Jonny Gomes is open to returning to the Reds next season, but says he'll "go where I can get the most at-bats," according to Hal McCoy of The Dayton Daily News. Gomes is making $600K this season and is arbitration eligible next year, so he can expect a hefty raise thanks to his .281/.355/.555 batting line.

Odds & Ends: Vazquez, Millwood, Red Sox

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Some more links to check out as you wait for America's other pastime to kick off it's season…

  • Jeff Schultz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that the Braves may be forced to trade Javier Vazquez this offseason because it might not make sense financially to keep him and Tim Hudson around next year.
  • T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports that the Rangers will not sit starter Kevin Millwood just to keep his 2010 option from vesting. Texas GM Jon Daniels said "We don't let clauses in contracts determine who is in the starting lineup or in the rotation." Millwood needs to throw just eight more innings this season to lock in his $12MM option for next year.
  • MLB.com's Ian Browne answered a bunch of Red Sox related questions in his mailbag today. He thinks Tim Wakefield will return next year, and said that he'd "be surprised" if the club exercised Jason Varitek's $5MM option now that Victor Martinez is on board. Varitek holds a $3MM option of his own, however.
  • Remember Ezequiel Astacio? The Cubs signed him out of San Angelo if the independent United League according to Baseball America's minor league transactions.

Cafardo On Boston’s Catchers

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Ever since the Red Sox acquired Victor Martinez, we've assumed that they'll pick up his $7MM option for next season. Other than that, the team's plans at catcher are unclear, so Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe breaks down their options going forward. Here's the latest:

  • Red Sox scouts have been scouring the league for catchers in case the team decides not to bring Jason Varitek back next year. The club can exercise his 2010 option for $5MM, but even if they choose not to, Varitek can trigger a player option that pays him $3MM, plus incentives.
  • The Red Sox may consider extending Martinez. He's hitting well and fitting in with Boston's staff, so they could consider making him their long-term backstop.
  • Like Joe Mauer and A.J. Pierzynski, Martinez should hit free agency after the 2010 season.
  • Mauer could likely command $20MM on the open market. How much could V-Mart make?

Indians Rumors: Debt, Shapiro, Wedge

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Terry Pluto of The Cleveland Plain Dealer sat down for a chat with Indians team president Paul Dolan and some other front office personnel. Lots of interesting information came to light, so let's dig in…

  • Dolan indicated that the team was $16MM in the red in July and headed towards $20MM. The trades of Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, and Carl Pavano bring that number down to about $12MM.
  • Jake Westbrook's injury will actually save the team money because insurance will cover about 50% of his $11MM salary.
  • Had the Tribe not made any moves at the deadline, they would have been looking at about $30MM in losses next year because of declining attendance.
  • Dolan has "no plans" to sell the team, nor has he received any serious offers.
  • "Mark Shapiro will be the general manager next year; that has never been in question," said Dolan. "He has done a very good job of rebuilding the franchise once after the 1990s. Our fans may not realize it, but our franchise is viewed around baseball as one of the better ones in the game."
  • The future of manager Eric Wedge will be decided after the season, and the $1.3MM owed to him in 2010 will "not be factor."
  • Pluto also provides some notes about several Tribe prospects, including Carlos Carrasco and Michael Brantley. Carrasco was acquired in the Lee trade, Brantley in last year's CC Sabathia deal.
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