Odds & Ends: Nationals, Towers, Marlins
A few links on the second to last day of the regular season…
- Even though they'll finish with the worst record in baseball, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo indicated that it's not a lock the team will draft Bryce Harper first overall next year, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. Says Rizzo: "I haven't seen him yet. He certainly hasn't separated himself like [pitcher] Stephen Strasburg did last year."
- CBSSports.com reports that Kevin Towers said he wasn't given a specific reason for his termination, but KT did say that he's "been around long enough to know why."
- Juan C. Rodriguez of The Sun Sentinel says that Florida's final 2009 payroll was just under $35.6MM. Hanley Ramirez ($5.5MM) and Dan Uggla ($5.35MM) were the only Marlins to make more than $3.5MM this year.
- Matthew Carruth at FanGraphs weighs in with his opinion of the Towers and J.P. Ricciardi firings.
Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Indians Manager, Johnson, Padres GM, Crawford, Mauer
Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com has a new Full Count video up this afternoon, so let's see what he's got for us…
- The Indians plan to conduct 8-10 phone interviews for their managerial vacancy, then bring in 3-5 finalists by the third week of October, presumably for formal interviews. Bobby Valentine will be "on the short list," and will almost certainly get an interview. Buck Showalter will not be a candidate.
- Cleveland is proceeding with the search as if Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell will not be a candidate, however that could change quickly if Farrell expresses interest in the job. At that point, the three parties involved would need to discuss a way around the clause in the Farrell's contract that prohibits him from seeking a managerial job elsewhere.
- Signing Josh Johnson long-term is the Marlins' top priority this offseason. In order to get a deal done, Florida will need to "exceed significantly" the four year, $38MM deal the Royals gave Zack Greinke, who was at a similar service time level last offseason.
- If a deal doesn't get done, Johnson will almost certainly not sign an extension next offseason, when he'd be just one year away from free agency. At that point, the Fish would need to trade him.
- Who will replace Kevin Towers as Padres GM? Paul DePodesta, a special assistant to Towers and former GM of the Dodgers, is not interested in the job. Pat Gillick doesn't figure to be a candidate either.
- The leading candidate might be Diamondbacks' exec Jerry DiPoto, but the Padres would need approval from the commissioner's office to get him. CEO Jeff Moorad left the D-Backs just last December, and the league frowns upon executives raiding their former teams for front office talent.
- However, DiPoto has already interviewed for openings with the Nationals and Mariners, so it would be difficult for the D-Backs to make much of a fuss.
- Carl Crawford is "well intentioned" when he says he wants to sign a long-term extension with Tampa Bay. The problem is that the team probably won't offer him enough to keep him from becoming a free agent at the end of 2010.
- The bigger question is Joe Mauer, who can also hit free agency next winter. Mauer told The NY Times earlier this week that he is not interested in becoming the highest paid player in the game, even though he probably deserves to be. He is represented by Ron Shapiro, the same agent that kept Cal Ripken Jr. in Baltimore and Kirby Puckett in Minnesota. Shapiro clearly understands the value of a player staying with one team his entire career.
- Shapiro, father of Indians GM Mark Shapiro, would be "sticking it to his son" a bit by keeping Mauer in the AL Central. That's my phrase, not Rosenthal's.
Odds & Ends: Towers, Ricciardi, Trembley
Saturday afternoon linkage…
- Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune reflects fondly on Kevin Towers' 14-year tenure with the Padres. "Whatever you might think of his baseball decisions," Sullivan writes, "no one in the game can work a room more charismatically."
- Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News believes J.P. Ricciardi's biggest blunder — "and the one that most likely did him in" — was not trading Roy Halladay this summer. Other infractions of the Ricciardi era include massive contracts tendered to Vernon Wells and B.J. Ryan, and the trading of Jayson Werth for Jason Frasor.
- Tom Krasovic of Inside The Padres is beginning to hear names for the Padres' GM opening. Red Sox assistant general manager Jed Hoyer is a new one.
- Kevin Cowherd of the Baltimore Sun doesn't understand why the Orioles opted to pick up manager Dave Trembley's 2010 option. "I don't understand," Cowherd writes, "how you stand pat with your manager after another horrible collapse that includes a 13-game losing streak and a possible 100-loss finish."
Odds & Ends: Towers, Ricciardi, Jenks, Barajas
Some links on a surprisingly busy Saturday morning…
- Here's a link to this morning's post containing comments from Padres CEO Jeff Moorad about the firing of Kevin Towers. It was quickly buried by the news of J.P. Ricciardi being let go, so you may have missed it.
- FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says that Towers "should be relieved to be out of an organization in which he constantly faced ownership interference, payroll reductions and other forms of nonsense."
- Stoeten at Drunk Jays Fans provides some fan reaction to the Ricciardi move. Moral of the story: it was a move that had to be made, but what took so long?
- MLB.com's Scott Merkin says that we could once again hear Bobby Jenks' name mentioned in trade rumors this offseason. The team has a capable replacement in Matt Thornton, and Jenks figures to get a raise on his $5.6MM salary through arbitration.
- Rod Barajas has interest in returning to Toronto next season, and indicated that he wasn't sure if the rift between players and manager Cito Gaston would influence his decision, according to MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.
Moorad Comments On Kevin Towers Firing
Kevin Towers, the longest-tenured general manager in baseball, was let go by the Padres last night. He was at the helm for 498 of Trevor Hoffman's saves and 740 of Tony Gwynn's hits, but the team went 1,107-1,160 under his watch. There is still one more year left on his contract, which Cot's says makes him "one of the top five or six highest-paid GMs."
Tim Sullivan of The San Diego Union Tribune spoke to team CEO Jeff Moorad about the situation, who was very complimentary of Towers, as you'd expect.
“The organization is indebted to Kevin for not only the 14 years he served as general manager, but for the fact that the club is well-positioned to go forward into the future,” Moorad told the Union-Tribune in an exclusive interview before Friday night's game at Petco Park. “I think we need to build a better baseball operations department, better skilled at the areas we're committed to going forward.
“I admire (Towers') skills very much and respect his relationships that exist around the game. But I think over the next period of time, our focus is on more of a strategic approach to drafting and development that has a chance to compete in the division year-in and year-out.”
Although he did not mention specific candidates, Moorad said his search for a replacement has not been internal and indicated that it could take weeks, rather than days. Sullivan lists Diamondbacks VP Jerry DiPoto and the "semi-retired" Pat Gillick as possible replacements.
Padres To Fire Kevin Towers
The San Diego Padres will part ways with general manager Kevin Towers, according to Corey Brock of MLB.com (via Twitter). Brock tweets that, while no official announcement has been made yet, the Padres will let the longest-tenured GM in the majors go.
The ownership transition in San Diego, from John Moores to Jeff Moorad, likely spelled the end for Towers. ESPN.com's Rob Neyer speculated earlier today that Moorad wanted to bring in "his own guy" for the position.
Towers has been San Diego's GM since 1995, and saw the team win four division titles during the stint. The Padres made one World Series during Towers' tenure, losing to the Yankees in 1998.
It remains to be seen if Towers is the only casualty in San Diego, or if more of the staff will follow him out of town.
Odds & Ends: Padres, Jays, Giants
A few links to start the evening….
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today believes the Padres would be making an epic mistake if they let GM Kevin Towers go. The odds of Towers being retained look "very slim," according to Corey Brock of MLB.com (via Twitter).
- Earlier today we discussed reports of tension in the Blue Jays' clubhouse between players and manager Cito Gaston. Jordan Bastian of MLB.com relays reaction quotes on his Twitter from those involved. Vernon Wells says it's never been this bad in Toronto in the past.
- Keith Law of ESPN.com opines that Buster Posey's only weakness is his game-calling, which could only be fixed by gaining major-league experience with the Giants' staff. He suggests San Francisco save the money they could spend on Bengie Molina and hand the catching reins to Posey in 2010.
- As Tom Verducci of SI.com points out, the game now has a dominant group of young pitchers such as Felix Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw.
- Houston owner Drayton McLane tells MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that rumors of the Astros being for sale are "absolutely untrue."
Odds & Ends: Padres, Jays, Giants
A few links to start the evening….
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today believes the Padres would be making an epic mistake if they let GM Kevin Towers go. The odds of Towers being retained look "very slim," according to Corey Brock of MLB.com (via Twitter).
- Earlier today we discussed reports of tension in the Blue Jays' clubhouse between players and manager Cito Gaston. Jordan Bastian of MLB.com relays reaction quotes on his Twitter from those involved. Vernon Wells says it's never been this bad in Toronto in the past.
- Keith Law of ESPN.com opines that Buster Posey's only weakness is his game-calling, which could only be fixed by gaining major-league experience with the Giants' staff. He suggests San Francisco save the money they could spend on Bengie Molina and hand the catching reins to Posey in 2010.
- As Tom Verducci of SI.com points out, the game now has a dominant group of young pitchers such as Felix Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw.
- Houston owner Drayton McLane tells MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that rumors of the Astros being for sale are "absolutely untrue."
Odds & Ends: Sandberg, Yanks, Padres, Upton
Some links to read before the final weekend of the regular season…
- Ryne Sandberg tells Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times that his "ideal job" would be managing the Cubs.
- Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News says C.C. Sabathia and Mike Mussina are the only two Yankee pitchers of the decade to deliver big seasons right after signing big free agent contracts.
- Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune says there's still a lot of uncertainty surrounding Padres GM Kevin Towers.
- USA Today's Bob Nightengale says (via Twitter) that the Giants expect Randy Johnson to retire after the season.
- Nightengale says teams expect the Rays to deal B.J. Upton this winter.
- Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle says the Giants need Bengie Molina and Buster Posey next year.
- Justin Masterson tells John Tomase of the Boston Herald that his former pitching coach, John Farrell, would make a good manager.
Brian Giles Wants To Keep Playing
Chris Jenkins of the San Diego Union-Tribune points out that this could be the final weekend of Brian Giles' professional career. Giles says his body still feels good enough to play, but he realizes he'll have a limited role if he stays with the Padres, so he's open to other clubs.
"I still think I could be a good, productive major league player," Giles said. "If it's not in San Diego, then I have a feeling it's going to be somewhere else. I've got to believe there are teams willing to take a chance as long as you're healthy."
The 38-year-old raves about his time in San Diego, his hometown, but understands the Padres may move on. Giles posted a .191/.277/.271 line in 254 plate appearances this year and played suspect right field defense, posting a -14.5 UZR/150 in 500 innings. If Giles wants to play again he'll probably have to sign a minor league deal.