Odds & Ends: Marte, Wilkerson, Bowden
Links for Wednesday as we enter the short post-Manny phase of the offseason…
- RotoAuthority has 18 undrafted players to watch for mixed leagues.
- WEEI’s Rob Bradford talked to Bill Lajoie, who was behind Boston’s acquisition of Andy Marte while Theo Epstein was on hiatus. Lajoie admitted he acquired Marte with the intent of flipping him.
- SI.com’s Melissa Segura writes about fraud involving Dominican prospects.
- Nothing cooking yet with the Red Sox and Jason Bay, says Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe.
- Jorge Says No! says shortstops Bobby Crosby and Khalil Greene are at the crossroads of their careers.
- WEEI’s Alex Speier notes that Boston outfielders Jeff Bailey and Brad Wilkerson have opt-out clauses if they’re not in the bigs by certain dates.
- Fire Jim Bowden has the ten best moves of their namesake GM.
- Nick Piecoro wonders if Randy Johnson took a subtle jab at Chris Snyder.
- Updated June draft order at Baseball America.
- Ken Davidoff of Newsday looks at each team’s 2012 commitments.
Cardinals Sign Mitch Harris
According to of Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Cardinals have signed pitcher Mitch Harris to a minor-league deal.
Harris was selected in the 13th round of the most recent draft. His contract will take affect after Harris serves the required five years of active duty for the Navy.
Harris averaged 11.78 strikeouts per nine innings in his four-year pitching career at Navy, while posting a 2.51 ERA.
Cards Sign 17 Pre-Arb Players
MLB.com’s Matthew Leach reports that the Cardinals have agreed to contracts with 17 pre-arbitration players, including Skip Schumaker, Chris Perez and Brendan Ryan.
Albert Pujols: A Lifetime Cardinal?
According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, the Cardinals plan on doing all they can to retain Albert Pujols for the rest of his career.
"If there’s a way to keep Albert a lifetime Cardinal, that makes a lot of sense for everyone," GM John Mozeliak told Heyman. "He’s very much an iconic player there, and if he wants to stay, we’re going to try to find a way to make that happen."
MLBTR has covered the topic at length this offseason. Pujols has two years and a team option remaining on his current deal, so the Cardinals don’t have to get serious for quite some time. "We’ve had casual mentions, but nothing in depth," said team owner Bill DeWitt.
Pujols, 29, has a career line of .334/.425/.624 and 319 home runs over eight major league seasons.
Odds and Ends: Bordick, Sheets, Bowden
Here are your Thursday links…
- Former MLB shortstop Mike Bordick has been hired by the Blue Jays as a minor league infield instructor.
- Richard Durett of the Dallas Morning News has the transcript of a radio interview with Rangers owner Tom Hicks. It sounds like his club will make another run at Ben Sheets once he’s back to full health.
- The Orioles and Cardinals might share players this spring, according to Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun. "My gut is there would be nothing wrong with it,” said St. Louis manager Tony La Russa. "We’re in different leagues." UPDATE: That idea was shot down pretty quickly.
- Mark DeRosa told Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com that he left the Cubs on good terms. There were rumors of a feud between he and manager Lou Piniella.
- Contrary to some reports, the Nationals have absolutely not contacted Blue Jays assistant GM Tony LaCava about possibly replacing Jim Bowden.
- Check out Tim’s interview with "The Yankees: Minors to Majors," a blog.
Cardinals Rumors: Hudson, Schumaker, Ryan
In a blog update for the Daily News, Tony Jackson reports that, according to the second baseman himself, "several other teams" had multi-year offers out to Orlando Hudson. Who were those teams?
According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals may have been one of them. Strauss has a quote from Cardinals’ GM John Mozeliak: “We checked it out because we obviously are looking at ways to fill the position, and somewhat to gauge where the market was going."
As for what the Cardinals plan to do with second base in the near future, Strauss writes:
The Cardinals continue to audition Skip Schumaker at the position with Brendan Ryan and Joe Thurston representing his primary competition.
“I’m comfortable with what we have in camp,” Mozeliak said. “Ultimately, if we have to address it, we have another five or six weeks to do so.”
I understand the Cardinals’ perspective here, but I still wonder if Mozeliak isn’t even thinking about calling the agent of Mark Grudzielanek.
Odds And Ends: Royals, Zimmerman, A-Rod
Links for Saturday…
- ESPN.com’s Buster Olney breaks down the 2009 Royals and considers them an improvement over last year’s team.
- According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Brendan Ryan is not yet out of options because of the time he spent on the DL back in 2006.
- Yahoo’s Tim Brown writes that the Nationals lack stability. He wonders "if the organization really is getting anywhere."
- Chico Harlan of the Washington Post heard that Ryan Zimmerman thinks the time is right for a long-term deal with the Nats, despite the weakened market and his 2008 injuries.
- Wallace Matthews of Newsday thinks Hank Steinbrenner should have let Alex Rodriguez sign elsewhere after 2007 because the slugger’s become a "toxic mortgage" to the team. Say what you will about A-Rod, it’s hard to match his production.
- The Tigers don’t have the organizational depth they did when they dealt for Miguel Cabrera, but FanGraphs examines what’s left in the minors.
Orlando Hudson Rumors: Thursday
Yesterday we learned from MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick that Dodgers GM Ned Colletti has ongoing talks for free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson. Today, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the Dodgers appear to be the front-runner for Hudson. Signing him wouldn’t affect their chances of locking up Manny Ramirez. MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick says Colletti has also not ruled out relief help from guys like Joe Beimel, Dennys Reyes, or Jason Isringhausen.
Even as divisional rivals the D’Backs may be rooting for the Dodgers to sign Hudson, since they’d receive L.A.’s #17 pick in the June draft as part of the compensation. Rosenthal says the Royals and other unknown clubs remain in the mix for him, with the White Sox, Cardinals, Yankees, and Mets seemingly not seriously involved. Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star discusses the Royals angle in a column today.
Cardinals May Have Interest In Juan Cruz
According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals took note of the recent sign-and-trade allowance by MLB. They’re said to have a "passing interest" in Juan Cruz. Wouldn’t hurt to add another power arm to the bullpen if the price is right.
Strauss doesn’t say it, but the Cards could also look to pull off a sign-and-trade for Orlando Hudson (pure speculation on my part). The Cardinals have not been linked to Hudson in recent days; the Dodgers and Royals are the rumored suitors.
Cardinals Finish Arbitration Cases
The Cardinals have reached agreements with their five arbitration-eligible players. Here are the details, courtesy of Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball:
|
2009 Cardinals Players in Salary Arbitration
|
|||||
|
#
|
Date
|
Player Name
|
Service Time
|
Position
|
Agreement
|
|
1
|
1/19/09
|
Chris Duncan |
2.144
|
OF
|
1/$825K
|
|
2
|
1/19/09
|
Todd Wellemeyer |
5.009
|
RP
|
1/$4.05M
|
|
3
|
1/20/09
|
Brad Thompson
|
3.11
|
RP
|
1/$650K
|
|
4
|
2/12/09
|
‡ Rick Ankiel
|
5.033
|
OF
|
1/$2.825M
|
|
5
|
2/16/09
|
‡ Ryan Ludwick |
3.109
|
OF
|
1/$3.7M
|
‡ Settlement reached after player exchanged figures with club