Odds & Ends: Padres, Molina, Cubs, Unit
Another round of links for the afternoon…
- ESPN.com's Rob Neyer would like to see big market teams share more revenue with their small market rivals. Still, he says MLB has been competitive compared to football, basketball and hockey.
- Padres CEO Jeff Moorad was non-committal about GM Kevin Towers' future on XX 1090 in San Diego, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (via Twitter). Moorad said Towers is the GM now, and added that the Padres are evaluating all levels of the organization.
- Towers said in no uncertain terms that he wants to be in San Diego.
- Bengie Molina's agent tells the AP that his client wants to return to San Francisco (via ESPN). We heard in late August that Molina wants to sign a two-year deal. ESPN.com's Keith Law says the Giants should pass.
- Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball notes that the Cubs have drawn three million fans for the sixth straight season. Along with the Cubs, only the Angels, Dodgers, Yankees and Cardinals have accomplished the feat.
- Randy Johnson tells the AP (via the East Valley Tribune) that he's in no rush to decide on his future.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hands out his postseason awards and issues a number of apologies to people around the game.
Odds & Ends: Padres, Molina, Cubs, Unit
Another round of links for the afternoon…
- ESPN.com's Rob Neyer would like to see big market teams share more revenue with their small market rivals. Still, he says MLB has been competitive compared to football, basketball and hockey.
- Padres CEO Jeff Moorad was non-committal about GM Kevin Towers' future on XX 1090 in San Diego, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (via Twitter). Moorad said Towers is the GM now, and added that the Padres are evaluating all levels of the organization.
- Towers said in no uncertain terms that he wants to be in San Diego.
- Bengie Molina's agent tells the AP that his client wants to return to San Francisco (via ESPN). We heard in late August that Molina wants to sign a two-year deal. ESPN.com's Keith Law says the Giants should pass.
- Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball notes that the Cubs have drawn three million fans for the sixth straight season. Along with the Cubs, only the Angels, Dodgers, Yankees and Cardinals have accomplished the feat.
- Randy Johnson tells the AP (via the East Valley Tribune) that he's in no rush to decide on his future.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hands out his postseason awards and issues a number of apologies to people around the game.
Gammons On Wedge, Halladay, Giants
ESPN.com's Peter Gammons describes how hard it is to win when there's no room for error. It's tough for small-market teams like the Indians and Blue Jays to win when every mistake and injury costs them. Here are Gammons' latest rumors:
- Indians GM Mark Shapiro never felt that the club's disappointing season was manager Eric Wedge's fault, but someone had to go. Shapiro still fired Wedge, but could any manager have done much better with a team that traded its veterans (most notably Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee) and endured an injury-plagued season from its best player (Grady Sizemore)?
- If the Blue Jays can't sign Roy Halladay long-term, they can expect to get 60% of what J.P. Ricciardi could have obtained if he had dealt the Jays' ace within the AL East back in July.
- Gammons finds it hard to believe that there are questions remaining about Giants GM Brian Sabean, whose future in San Francisco remains uncertain. In spite of some over-zealous spending (Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito come to mind), there's a lot to like about the Giants.
- Mets ownership doesn't like the team to spend above-slot on its draft picks, which weakens the team's minor league system. Gammons says their system has become deeper, however.
Odds & Ends: Kikuchi, Bengie Molina, Marlon Byrd
Links for Wednesday…
- NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman says reports suggest the Rangers may be the top suitor for high school lefty Yusei Kikuchi. Newman adds a new team to the mix for Kikuchi based on comments from GM Ed Wade: the Astros.
- More from Newman, on what he calls "an interesting counter-point to the Kikuchi situation." Well-regarded Dominican righty Rafael DePaula, who has been suspended by MLB for misrepresenting his age, might head to Japan to begin his professional career.
- Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News talked to Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, who hopes the team re-signs catcher Bengie Molina. John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle thinks Molina might be the best catcher in San Francisco Giants history. Molina has a .278/.302/.440 line in his three seasons with the team. He projects as a Type A free agent.
- Michael Young says the Rangers have to re-sign outfielder Marlon Byrd, according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. Byrd, 32, has a .280/.325/.479 line in 590 plate appearances and projects as a Type B free agent.
- Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star adds Zack Greinke's recent New York-related quote to a list of Greinke gems.
Brad Penny Reflects On Time With Giants
Brad Penny was greeted rudely by the American League this year, but he pitched well in four of five starts for the Giants after being released by the Red Sox in late August. Penny had kind words for the Giants, speaking to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. Penny's thoughts on re-signing with San Francisco:
"We'll see. I've loved it here, but I haven't thought about next year yet."
Baggarly notes that Penny does prefer to pitch for a West Coast team. A return to the Dodgers is presumably out, so if Penny wants to stay in the NL and sticks to his geographic preference he's looking at the Giants or Padres. Baggarly senses Penny will "let market forces determine his fate." Despite a 5.15 ERA in 164.3 innings this year, Penny remains intriguing and will be guaranteed millions. With a 94.0 mph average fastball velocity this year, he's easily the hardest-throwing free agent starter.
Will Yusei Kikuchi Choose MLB?
Yusei Kikuchi may decide this week between Japanese baseball and MLB, according to Bobbie Dittmeier of MLB.com. As Dittmeier says, the hard-throwing 18-year-old southpaw would "become the first high school player to bypass Japan's draft and sign with a Major League organization."
Dittmeier says the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Tigers, Braves, Rangers, Mariners and Indians have reportedly scouted Kikuchi. She passes along a Kyodo News quote from Kikuchi's high school coach indicating the pitcher is 50-50 on his decision.
NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman has covered Kikuchi extensively. Back in May, Newman explained to MLBTR the differences between Kikuchi and Junichi Tazawa.
Odds & Ends: Pirates, Sabean, Weeks
Tuesday linkage:
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette spoke with commissioner Bud Selig, who was adamant that the Pirates are not pocketing their profits.
- Pirates starter Zach Duke was pulled last night from an 11-1 game, one out away from a complete game, with 103 pitches thrown. Talking to Kovacevic, team president Frank Coonelly "strongly rejected" the idea that manager John Russell made the move to weaken Duke's bargaining position at the arbitration table. Joe Posnanski questions Russell's explanation of his decision.
- Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News feels that Giants managing partner Bill Neukom will retain GM Brian Sabean when that decision comes due in a week.
- Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks is strongly opposed to moving to center field, according to Anthony Witrado of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Weeks has explained his stance to GM Doug Melvin.
- Nomar Garciaparra told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle he hasn't thought about whether he'll play next year. Slusser says Nomar won't be back in Oakland, regardless.
- Reliever Doug Brocail is also undecided about 2010, according to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. An upcoming MRI on Brocail's shoulder will influence his decision.
Odds & Ends: Chapman, Indians, Dye, Cubs
Let's take a look at the wire…
- Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times talked to Angels scouting director Eddie Bane about his level of interest in Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman. Bane once again stated that he is intrigued by the 21-year-old lefty, but must see him face live batting before considering making an offer.
- A clause in Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell's contract prevents him from accepting an outside managerial position until after the 2010 season, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Farrell, who served as Cleveland's farm director before joining the BoSox, was expected to be a candidate to manage the Indians if Eric Wedge is not brought back.
- More from Ken Rosenthal as he reports that the Brewers are "seemingly on the verge" of retaining Ken Macha and are considering hiring pitching coach Rick Peterson. Macha and Peterson were on the Oakland staff together from 1999-2003. Peterson served under Macha in 2003, his first year as the A's skipper.
- MLB.com's Scott Merkin reports that Ozzie Guillen hopes "it's not the end" for him and Jermaine Dye, as 2010 marks a mutual option year. Dye wants to return but the White Sox are unlikely to pick up the 35-year-old's $12MM option.
- Carrie Muskat of MLB.com reports that Lou Piniella doesn't expect the Cubs roster to change too much. "Last year we had about 10 changes here," Piniella said. "If we have half that, that's a nice number. Some changes [last year] were out of necessity. I see us being selective in what we do."
- Toronto's Jose Bautista is improving his stock heading into arbitration, writes MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.
- Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News writes in his blog that Brian Sabean denied telling season-ticket holders that he would "undoubtedly" look to pick up Freddy Sanchez's option, but said that the Giants want to hang on to him.
Juan Uribe Lobbying To Stay With Giants
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Juan Uribe, who has pieced together a strong year for the Giants, wants to stay on board in 2010. The 30-year-old's numbers have exploded in the last month as he has been brought into the everyday lineup, hitting his way to an OPS of 1.091.
Uribe proved to be a great value as he inked a $1MM minor league deal with the Giants in late January. Fangraphs estimates his worth in 2009 to be $12.8MM. The Dominican Republic native has recorded his best slash line since his rookie year, posting .298/.336/.507 in 116 games. Brian Sabean believes that Uribe can produce at a similar level with a more regular workload.
With the Giants holding an $8MM option on 31-year-old second baseman Freddy Sanchez, they could conceivably let Sanchez walk and put Uribe in his place. In 110 games this year at the position, Sanchez posted a UZR/150 of 5.8 compared to Uribe's 11.1 over 38 games. Offensively, Sanchez has posted an OPS to top Uribe's 2009 mark just once.
As the Giants, would you extend a multi-year offer to Uribe, or would you let another team allow him to cash in?
Odds & Ends: Astros, Mateo, Aurilia, Rays
Some more links on this Sunday afternoon…
- The Chicago Tribune's Phil Rogers writes that Tim Bogar and Manny Acta are early front-runners for the Astros managerial job. Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio could get called in for interviews by general manager Ed Wade.
- Joe Strauss gives us an overview of the dispute the Cardinals are having with recently signed Dominican outfielder Wagner Mateo.
- Veteran Rich Aurilia doesn't expect to be a part of the Giants' plans in 2010 according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- Mike Hargrove, who last managed the Seattle Mariners, could land a job this winter, says Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com.
- Marc Topkin tells us, via Twitter, that Rays' manager Joe Maddon will talk with his coaching staff immediately after the season, but doesn't anticipate any changes. Tampa's playoff hopes plummeted when they dropped 14 of their first 16 games in September.
- Even at the age of 42, Omar Vizquel would still like to return for another season, according the AP. Can you think of any teams in need of the veterans services? Omar's only logged 189.2 innings at shortstop, but it's no surprise to see a tremendous 21.6 UZR/150.
- Dejan Kovacevic checks in with the latest and greatest from Pirates' GM Neal Huntington, who once again stresses that the Buccos will not be spending money just to spend money this offseason.