Odds & Ends: D’Backs, Mauer, Options
Links for Wednesday…
- RotoAuthority recommends Jordan Zimmermann as a fantasy league pickup.
- Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News explains his paragraph about the Giants putting out feelers to see what they could get for Matt Cain.
- Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes told MLB.com's Steve Gilbert he wants a little more time before deciding whether to trade off veterans. At 11.5 games out, the D'Backs have a 2-6% chance of making the playoffs according to Baseball Prospectus.
- Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe dreams of the Red Sox signing Joe Mauer to a ten-year, $200MM free agent deal after the 2010 season.
- Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues discusses option years, with help from a Keith Law ESPN chat.
Odds & Ends: Boras, Francoeur, Cubs
Links for Tuesday…
- This week's chat will be held tomorrow at 2pm CST.
- MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo discusses the Scott Boras effect on this year's draft, while Baseball America's John Manuel provides a draft overview.
- SI's Tom Verducci explains why the Rangers are for real. At 23-14, they're in first place (4 games ahead of the Angels).
- Andrew Beaton of Hot Foot provides a rebuttal to The Jonathan Sanchez Paradox: Oliver Perez.
- Padres exec Paul DePodesta talks about recently acquired shortstop Josh Wilson.
- MLB.com's Mark Bowman writes about the Jeff Francoeur situation.
- According to Ameet Sachdev of the Chicago Tribune, actors Bill Murray, Jim Belushi, and John Cusack have met separately with Tom Ricketts about investing in the Cubs.
- RotoAuthority looks at the groundball rate leaderboard…did you know Gil Meche is second?
Odds & Ends: Sheets, Blanco, Coghlan
Links for Friday…
- RotoAuthority talks about the popular fantasy pickups this week.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels says Ben Sheets is "watching from a distance" while recovering from elbow surgery, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan says the Rangers "apparently are in position to sign Guillermo Pimentel, a top outfield prospect from the Dominican Republic" for $1.5-2MM.
- Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe says Red Sox reliever Javier Lopez cleared waivers and will head to Triple A.
- Sam Miller of the OC Register assembled a lineup/slideshow of prospects who deserve a big league shot.
- Henry Blanco isn't sure why he wasn't able to re-sign with the Cubs, according to the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan.
- Nick Yohanek, the fan who caught Chris Coghlan's first big league home run, explains his side of the story in asking for the following for the ball: a signed Coghlan game bat, a signed Coghlan ball, and a Hanley Ramirez game bat. What's your take on this?
Odds & Ends: Byrd, Fox, Kobayashi
Links for Monday…
- MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince says the Indians signed 31 year-old reliever Blaine Neal to a minor league deal. Here's a look at Neal's minor league work – nice job for the Tigers' Triple A club last year.
- Masahide Kobayashi explains why he's struggled in the U.S., talking to Dennis Manoloff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
- MLB.com's Joe Frisaro wrote on Thursday that free agent pitcher Paul Byrd has a $3MM asking price.
- It might be time for Chad Fox to hang up the spikes. He owns a 3.79 ERA in 228 career innings. Would've been 3.45, without his Cubs career.
- Michael O'Keefe of the New York Daily News runs through the list of Scott Boras clients linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
- Rany Jazayerli likes Pedro Martinez as a comparable for Zack Greinke.
- A.J. Hinch's contract runs through 2012.
- RotoAuthority looks at the pitchers who have improved their walk rate the most this year.
- MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo gives an overview of this year's draft.
- Current members of the Newark Bears: Rob Mackowiak, Keith Foulke, Shawn Chacon, Abraham Nunez, Carl Everett, Jay Gibbons, and Michael Tucker.
Odds & Ends: Crow, Matsuzaka, Harrington
Links for Monday…
- I hosted a fantasy baseball roundtable question: what is your single biggest regret so far?
- Talking real baseball, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has his list of possible offseason-related regrets.
- Jim Callis of Baseball America says Aaron Crow and Tanner Scheppers will make their independent league debuts today. MLB.com's Bill Ladson says the Jim Bowden-less Nationals haven't ruled out taking Crow at #10, and they'll scout him today.
- Kirk Kenney wrote about the possibility of Stephen Strasburg skipping the minors.
- David Waldstein of the New York Times discovers how the Seibu Lions spent the $51.1MM posting fee from Daisuke Matsuzaka.
- Sadly, Tony Jackson was let go by the L.A. Daily News. Diamond Leung talks about Jackson, while Jon Weisman notes that the Dodgers are now down to two full-time beat writers.
- Weisman also writes about the Saturday night gathering involving Kim Ng and others.
- ESPN's Amy K. Nelson has an excellent story on Matt Harrington, who is out of baseball now.
- Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball looks at a bunch of young players who were locked up through their arbitration years.
Odds & Ends: Nationals, Teixeira, Ligtenberg
Links for Friday…
- RotoAuthority looks at the April offensive stat leaders.
- Jim Callis of Baseball America discussed Jim Bowden's Stephen Strasburg comments. Bowden says the Nationals' decision to draft Strasburg has been made, and predicts they'll sign him for around $15MM minutes before the deadline.
- ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. talked to Nats interim GM Mike Rizzo about their revamped Latin American plan.
- Mark Teixeira talked to Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times about his decision to sign with the Yankees.
- Brian Stensaas of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes about Kerry Ligtenberg, who is attempting a comeback with the St. Paul Saints.
- SI.com's Tom Verducci spoke with one GM who points to struggling older teams and says "it's better to be young these days."
- Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press writes that the Tigers are being patient with pitchers Ryan Perry and Rick Porcello.
- MLB.com's Corey Brock doesn't expect GM Kevin Towers to sit back and watch if the Padres continues to struggle.
- Here's Baseball America's list of the hottest prospects in the minors right now.
- ESPN.com's Keith Law scouts a pair of college players who could turn up on BA's list next year: Tim Wheeler and Drew Storen.
- Twins reliever Juan Morillo cleared waivers, so he'll head to Triple A according to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Odds & Ends: Glavine, Thorman, Sheffield
Links for Tuesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- ESPN's Buster Olney talked to Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi, who has no plans to pursue the available free agent pitchers.
- MLB.com's Mark Bowman has the latest on Tom Glavine's shoulder rehab. Glavine seems more optimistic than when he last addressed the media.
- Jamey Newberg says the Rangers released first baseman Scott Thorman after 32 Triple A at-bats.
- Steve Lombardi at WasWatching.com did a Q&A with Tyler Kepner of the New York Times.
- Jorge Says No! creates a roster of the worst free agent contracts of 2000-04.
- Benjamin Kabak of River Ave. Blues says the Gary Sheffield-Tigers trade was still a win for the Yankees even though the prospects haven't panned out.
- Over at RotoAuthority, I talked about three pitchers I drafted but already gave up on.
Odds & Ends: Nady, Doumit, Boyer
Links for Tuesday…
- SI.com's Jon Heyman says Xavier Nady will not require elbow surgery and may return within a month.
- Bad news for the Pirates: Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says catcher Ryan Doumit will likely miss 8-10 weeks due to wrist surgery.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs says Matt Murton belongs in the Majors.
- Wallace Matthews and Ken Davidoff of Newsday each write about Jason Giambi's time in New York.
- With news that Demetri Martin will play Paul DePodesta in the Moneyball movie, Jon Weisman says not to judge the film before watching it. Personally I am looking forward to the movie. Martin is hilarious and Brad Pitt can be very good (12 Monkeys being the best example).
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post wonders why the Mets paid Fernando Tatis $1.7MM if they weren't committed to using him.
- Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has quotes from Cardinals GM John Mozeliak about the Brian Barton–Blaine Boyer swap.
- Via NPB Tracker, a comeback for Hideki Irabu?
- RotoAuthority looks at Geovany Soto's slow start.
Odds & Ends: Closers, Holliday, Kent
Links for Wednesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- Interesting diary entry from an anonymous pro scout over at Baseball America. Don't bug these guys at games.
- Digging for saves? RotoAuthority has the latest Closer Report.
- Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker looks at the Japanese free agents for the 2009-10 offseason.
- Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN wrote about Matt Holliday's future.
- Justin Murphy of Seamheads.com examines the three Jeff Kent trades.
- Curtis Granderson wrote an article for Yahoo about protecting his identity.
Odds & Ends: Wells, Gaudin, Projections
Links for Monday…
- Ken Kadokura, briefly with the Cubs, is headed to Korea according to NPB Tracker.
- Jill Painter of the L.A. Daily News has Frank McCourt's unrevealing comments about Ned Colletti's future.
- Baseball America's Matt Eddy has the latest minor league transactions, including plenty of releases.
- The AP reports that David Wells has signed a multiyear deal as a TBS analyst.
- We snagged a mention in ESPN The Magazine, due to our sponsorship of Matt Holliday's Baseball-Reference page.
- Chad Gaudin told MLB.com's Sandy Burgin "as many as 11 teams" made inquiries before he signed with the Padres. He signed with San Diego for the opportunity to be a starting pitcher.
- Matt Swartz of Statistically Speaking finds the strengths and weaknesses of various projection systems.
- Admit it…you're starting to panic about certain members of your fantasy team.