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Draft Notes: Cole, Rendon, Hultzen, Gray

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It's far too early in the spring for teams to have their draft boards finalized, as Keith Law pointed out at ESPN.com this week. With nearly two months remaining between now and the draft, a lot can change, but that doesn't stop Law from passing along the latest on the early intentions of some teams with high picks:

  • Law hears that the Mariners will take either Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon with the second pick in the draft, depending on which player is available after the Pirates select first overall.
  • The D'Backs, who pick third, covet Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen, according to Law. 
  • The Orioles are 'extremely likely' to take a college pitcher with the fourth overall pick. They could take Hultzen or Georgia Tech left-hander Jed Bradley.
  • The Royals (5th pick) are also likely to take a college arn and they're interested in UConn right-hander Matt Barnes, Hultzen and Bradley.
  • The D'Backs (7th pick) and Cubs (9th pick) have Vanderbilt right-hander Sonny Gray high on their internal rankings, according to Law.

Minor Deals: Mattingly, Mariners, Yankees

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Let's take a look at a few minor deals courtesy of Baseball America's Matt Eddy..

  • The Dodgers welcomed back outfielder Preston Mattingly after he was released by the Indians.  The son of the Dodgers skipper was the club's first-round selection (31st overall) in the 2006 draft.
  • Mariners right-hander Nolan Gallagher has voluntarily retired after injuries limited him to just 22 appearances over the last three seasons.  The 25-year-old was the M's fourth round selection in 2007.
  • The Yankees have signed 24-year-old right-hander Reinier Casanova.  The Cuban-born hurler defected following the 2009 season.

Heyman On Hamilton, Young, Felix, Royals

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Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton is out for six to eight weeks after enduring a non-displaced fracture of his right shoulder and, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com, some people in Cincinnati may not be completely surprised. After the 2007 season, Reds medical people strongly suggested that the front office should trade Hamilton because of his health reports. Here’s the latest on the Rangers and other notes from around the league:

  • The Rangers were “extremely close” to sending Michael Young to Colorado about a month before Spring Training, according to Heyman. The Rockies loved Young and he would have welcomed a trade to Denver or to either L.A. team. The infielder has since reconciled himself to his role in Texas.
  • A rival GM says he’d trade Felix Hernandez to the Yankees for Ivan Nova, Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos and Jesus Montero if he were running the Mariners.
  • One GM says Royals GM Dayton Moore did a good job of ‘bottom feeding’ this winter to come up with left-handers Bruce Chen and Jeff Francis on affordable deals.
  • Andres Torres suffered an Achilles injury, so the Giants need outfield depth and are unlikely to release Aaron Rowand soon. Rowand has a .923 OPS so far including two hits yesterday.

Quick Hits: Villanueva, Looper, Red Sox, Wilson

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As the Giants raise their World Series banner with an assist from the Say Hey Kid, here's some news from around the majors…

  • The Brewers received cash, rather than a player to be named later, from the Blue Jays to complete the Carlos Villanueva trade, reports the team (and passed on by MLB.com's Adam McCalvy).
  • The Cubs aren't considering trying to lure Braden Looper out of retirement, reports ESPNChicago.com's Bruce Levine.  Looper retired when he didn't make Chicago's Opening Day roster.  With right-handers Andrew Cashner and Randy Wells on the disabled list, the Cubs have a sudden lack of pitching depth, but the team will turn to internal options like Casey Coleman, who will start on Sunday. 
  • The Red Sox got their first win of the season today, but there's still plenty of talk about Boston's slow start.  SI's Tom Verducci thinks there are legitimate reasons for worry, namely that Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka "have to suddenly reverse the downward trends of their careers in their 30s."
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com also questions Boston's pitching, pointing out that barring rebound years from Beckett, Lackey and Matsuzaka, "they’re essentially the same team as the Yankees — terrific offense, deep bullpen, weak back of the rotation."  Rosenthal, however, thinks it is far too early in the season for the Sox and their fans to panic.
  • Jack Wilson asked to be taken out of the Mariners' 7-3 loss to the Rangers on Wednesday, Seattle manager Eric Wedge told reporters today.  Wilson implied that Wedge had removed him from the game, which upset Wedge, tweets Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times.  The Twitter feed of the Brock & Salk radio show on 710 ESPN Seattle reports that Wedge described Wilson's actions as "unspeakable" and wouldn't discuss the veteran infielder's status with the club.
  • Pirates right-hander Tyler Yates has a torn flexor tendon in his throwing elbow, reports Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.  Yates hasn't pitched since 2009 due to Tommy John surgery, and Langosch reports that this latest injury might convince Yates to retire, a decision he's already considered earlier in his career.
  • The Diamondbacks are looking at Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rendon and Danny Hultzen with the third pick in this June's amateur draft, says Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.  Sources on other teams think this trio will be the first three players taken in the draft, though perhaps not in that order.  Arizona also has the seventh overall pick, and Piecoro notes that the D-Backs' priority with that pick is to draft a player they can sign.  Vanderbilt's Sonny Grey and high schoolers Dylan Bundy and Taylor Guerrieri are some of the players Piecoro hears connected with this pick.   
  • Doug Davis held another workout today, tweets Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.  Five or six teams were present, down from the eight clubs that watched Davis throw two weeks ago. 

Olney On Castro, Escobar, Wells, Pineda

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The Red Sox should complete a seven-year extension worth $154MM or so with Adrian Gonzalez at some point in the next ten days, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reminds us. On a lighter note, Olney points out that Boston appears to be functioning despite a winless week for the Red Sox. Here are the rest of Olney’s rumors.

  • Starlin Castro has “made the adjustment” to the big leagues and is no longer phased to be playing at the highest level, Cubs GM Jim Hendry says. 
  • Another young shortstop, Alcides Escobar of the Royals, may be the best defensive shortstop in the American League, according to at least one scout. 
  • Angels fans may not like hearing it, but one evaluator says that in sending Mike Napoli elsewhere they “traded a player who would've given them similar production to what they'll get out of Vernon Wells , except it'll cost them about $75 million more." 
  • Instead of delaying Michael Pineda’s service time and/or arbitration, the Mariners called him up to start the season in Seattle. "He earned the right to be on the club," GM Jack Zduriencik said. "We actually talked about calling him up last September."

Quick Hits: Pelfrey, Wandy, Beato, Bennett

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Links for Monday, before Josh Beckett makes his 2011 debut. Will he live up to his extension?

Erik Bedard: This Summer’s Available Ace?

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I've recently opined that it's difficult to identify an ace starter likely to hit the trading block in July.  However, in most years a few would-be contenders are surprisingly bad and a few pitchers have breakout or unexpected seasons, giving the trade market some semblance of an available #1 or #2 starter.

Bedard

Could the Mariners' Erik Bedard be that pitcher in 2011?  As MLB.com's Cash Kruth notes, Bedard will take a Major League mound today for the first time since July 25th, 2009.  He had multiple surgeries in the interim, as doctors repaired a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder.  The 32-year-old made it through Spring Training unscathed, and pitched well aside from his final outing.

Bedard's Seattle career to date consists of 30 starts spread across two seasons.  Though he was working through shoulder issues, the numbers are strong: a 3.24 ERA, 8.9 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 in 164 innings, with only 135 hits allowed.  Bedard averaged fewer than 5.5 innings per start, so he'll be most effective on a club with a strong bullpen. 

Bedard is not the #1 starter he was in 2007 with the Orioles, but he could still be the best available at the trade deadline.  We've seen injuries kill his trade value before, so there's no point in getting serious about suitors until July.  Still, the Yankees would make sense, assuming the two front offices can put aside any bad blood from last year's Cliff Lee talks.  Otherwise, we'll have to wait to see which contenders develop rotation needs three months from now.

Quick Hits: Aardsma, Angels, Padres

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Saturday Night Links..

Ichiro Hints At Prolonged Career With Mariners

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Ichiro Suzuki hinted to John Hickey of Sportspress Northwest that he wants to re-sign with the Mariners after his current contract expires. Ichiro, whose contract expires after the 2012 season, is now 37, but he says age is more of a distraction than a limitation. 

“Take the talk of age. It’s something that I will have to battle," Ichiro said. “When you have to think about something like that, it’s not a positive for you. I mean, it’s something you don’t have to think about, but when you have people around you talking about it, you don’t want the negatives to get in.”

There were lots of positives for Ichiro in 2010. He led the league in hits, reached the 200 hit plateau for the tenth consecutive season and stole 42 bases, hitting .315/.359/.394. As Ichiro points out he can still play though, “there are players who are 25 who play already like they’re 40.”

He has 2,244 hits as a Major Leaguer, so the 3,000 hit plateau is within reach, even though he didn’t make his MLB debut until he was 27. Ichiro admits that his goals were once personal, but says they have become more team-oriented as he has become a fixture in the game and, especially, in Seattle.

“For me, it’s about going to the playoffs with the Mariners,” Ichiro said. “It’s all the time you’ve spent getting there."

Today’s Outrights: Marquez, Mather, Rizzotti, Misch

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Several players cleared waivers and were removed from the 40-man roster today by way of an outright assignment.  The latest:

  • Jeff Marquez of the White Sox cleared waivers and is headed for Triple-A, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter).
  • Braves utility player Joe Mather cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A, according to David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (on Twitter).
  • The Phillies removed Matt Rizzotti from the 40-man roster and outrighted him to the minor leagues, according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer (on Twitter).
  • Mets lefty Pat Misch was outrighted to Triple-A, tweets Andy McCullough of the Newark Star-Ledger.  He's expected to accept the assignment.  Misch, 29, posted a 3.82 ERA, 5.5 K/9, 1.0 BB/9, 1.0 HR/9, and 52.0% groundball rate in 37 2/3 innings for the Mets last year, tossing another 150 2/3 innings across 23 starts in Triple-A.
  • Brewers outfielder Brandon Boggs was outrighted to Triple-A Nashville, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.  Boggs, 28, hit .290/.406/.470 in 439 Triple-A plate appearances last year while playing all three outfield positions.  He has until Wednesday to decide whether to accept the assignment or elect free agency, tweets Haudricourt.
  • The Mariners outrighted southpaw Cesar Jimenez, tweets ESPN's Shannon Drayer.  Jimenez, 26, missed most of the 2010 season recovering from labrum surgery.
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