Peter Gammons - 64Jazzbass
Peter Gammons stops by Fire Brand to answer a few questions. He cautions not to write off David Ortiz and muses about an Eric Byrnes and Miguel Montero to Boston trade.
Read more | 39 Comments | Tags: Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox, MLB, Texas Rangers
Wes Littleton - Brent and MariLynn
In a move that may be the clearest yet that the Red Sox are moving towards having Justin Masterson and Clay Buchholz battle it out for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, the Red Sox have acquired reliever Wes Littleton from the Texas Rangers in exchange for two players to be named later or cash.
Littleton, 26, has a career 3.69 ERA in 102.1 career innings. A sidearmer, his current claim to fame is notching the save in the Rangers' 30-3 drubbing of the Baltimore Orioles in 2007, pitching three innings to close out the game.
Read more | 28 Comments | Tags: Boston Red Sox, MLB, Texas Rangers
Reminder: Baseball Time in Arlington has moved! Please update your bookmarks to www.bbtia.com at your earliest convenience.We'll be keeping it short and sweet this morning, because a long, stressful drive in Thanksgiving traffic to central Texas tomorrow awaits:● The Mariners are expected to name Texas Rangers minor league pitching coordinator Rick Adair as the successor to bullpen coach Norm Charlton, who has been ousted from his post by new manager Don Wakamatsu; former Rangers bullpen coach Dom Chiti, a current special assistant to the general manager in Atlanta, will evidently be named Seattle's pitching coach (Geoff Baker, Seattle Times)[Yeah, this one stings. Adair's stock has grown appreciably during the four years he has spent overseeing the Rangers' robust and burgeoning collection of young pitching talent, and it should come as no great surprise to anyone that he has now evolved into a highly sought-after commodity. Still, though, being forced to...
Reminder: Baseball Time in Arlington has moved! Please update your bookmarks to www.bbtia.com at your earliest convenience. A (very) early morning question for you all, should you choose to answer it: How did this... TOKYO (Oct. 30) -- Junichi Tazawa, a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher [...] whose fastball reaches 97 mph [...], was passed over by Japan's 12 professional teams in Thursday's amateur draft. ...turn into this... [Tazawa] has good command of his fastball and slurve, but he lacks velocity, stamina and the ability to keep the ball down [...] at 22, Tazawa is unlikely to throw much harder than he does now; his fastball barely tops 90 mph when he is rested, and he struggled to hit 88 mph at the end of last season. (Jim Allen, ESPN.com) ...and, more recently, this? The person I talked with suggested Tazawa's fastball is more in the 87-90 mph range. My guy indicated...
Reminder: Baseball Time in Arlington has moved! Please update your bookmarks to www.bbtia.com at your earliest convenience. Alright, so let me see if I've got all of this straight:...if the Boston Red Sox pony up the $50 million-plus necessary to sign an A.J. Burnett or a Derek Lowe and reinforce their starting rotation (which is already comprised of Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield)......and if the Red Sox choose to part ways with captain Jason Varitek, whom they have reportedly offered a one-year contract that "[doesn't] approach the annual average ($13.1 million) commanded by Jorge Posada" (Varitek's base salary in 2008 was $9 million, so it seems quite within the realm of possibility that Boston is offering him no raise, or is perhaps even requesting that he take a pay cut in order to stay in Beantown)... ...and if the Red Sox make the determination that they...
Reminder: Baseball Time in Arlington has moved! Please update your bookmarks to www.bbtia.com at your earliest convenience.When general manager Jon Daniels recently affirmed that the Texas Rangers would not be pursuing southpaw John Rheinecker after they removed the injury-beset reliever from their 40-man roster back on October 1st (thus granting him free agency and making him eligible to sign with whomever he wishes), it closed the book on a once-controversial trade that was, at the time of its consummation, widely perceived as a potentially ruinous swap for Texas. That three-way deal, completed and announced less than 72 hours before the first pitch of the 2006 season was tossed by Opening Day starter Kevin Millwood, expelled the Rangers' probable No. 5 starter from the picture after he spent six-plus years toiling within the organization's ranks, and was comprised of the following moving parts: Chicago Cubs traded John Koronka and cash to...
Reminder: Baseball Time in Arlington has moved! Please update your bookmarks to www.bbtia.com at your earliest convenience.On the heels of Jayson Stark's curious Thursday free-agent speculation (which is probably of little relevance to the Texas Rangers anyway, given that they're evidently working against an owner-imposed payroll cap and presently appear to have all the financial flexibility of General Motors), here are a few early-morning tidbits that may or may not merit close monitoring going forward:● Barring a dramatic plunge in the asking prices of free-agent third basemen Casey Blake and Joe Crede, the Rangers will not have the available capital to make a legitimate run at either (T.R. Sullivan, MLB.com)[Not even Crede? Wow, times really ARE tough.] ● The Padres may be willing to trade third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff to clear room for a return to the hot corner for talented 24-year-old outfielder Chase Headley, but Texas doesn't seem...
Reminder: Baseball Time in Arlington has moved! Please update your bookmarks to www.bbtia.com at your earliest convenience.For those interested in the current state of the new website, we've streamlined the entire process of joining BBTiA by improving the Login page and introducing a new Registration page, which makes it incredibly simple to sign up for a new user account.Additionally, we've rolled out a new Prospect Map page -- made possible through the technological miracle that is Google Maps -- that will, in time, feature placemarks and biographical data for many of the Texas Rangers' prospects and graphically portray just how diverse this farm system truly is. Stay tuned. ● Mike Hindman of the Dallas Morning News seems moderately pleased, if not deliriously overjoyed, by yesterday's John Mayberry-for-Greg Golson swap, correctly suggesting that athletic, defensively adept outfielders with even a flicker of power are usually attractive trade chips and implying...
The latest buzz served up from baseball's Hot Stove League. Ten of the hottest stories, moves and rumors from the past week: The Giants are the dark horse to be big time players this offseason.Out of nowhere, rumors swirled that the Giants would be inserting themselves into the CC Sabathia chase. San Francisco already went out and signed one of the better lefty relievers on the market. Besides Sabathia, the Giants are after Edgar Renteria and might jump into the fray on another higher end infielder to fill their middle infield needs. If the Giants land Sabathia, they would instantly be contenders in the National League West. Mike Mussina retires!We can move on from the discussion of will Mike Mussina return to the Yankees or not for 2009 since he officially announced his retirement this week. The 270-game winner now will be discussed based on his merits for Hall of...Read more
Read more | Discuss | Tags: Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, CC Sabathia, Chase Utley, Edgar Renteria, Francisco Rodriguez, Joe Beimel, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mike Hampton, Mike Mussina, MLB, MLB Playoffs, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Ramon Vazquez, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Trever Miller
Ben Sheets - Scott Ableman
The Texas Rangers had the league's most explosive offense. Unfortunately, they had the league's most explosive pitching, and I don't mean the good kind. The Rangers have a lot of changes in store for them... at least they would if I was at the helm of the Rangers.Read more
A lot of attention has been paid to speculation about the big name free agents: Manny Ramirez, C.C. Sabathia, and Mark Teixeira. While they are surely important players, I'm amazed at how little ink we've seen regarding two very attractive but lesser free agents in Ben Sheets and Adam Dunn. Both have their flaws, but also their upside. In Sheet's case, the flaw is injury. He's been chronically unable to stay healthy over the past few seasons, and finished his spectacular 2008 campaign on the shelf with a minor elbow injury. He should be ready for spring training, but he obviously brings a lot of uncertainty.Sheets is unlikely to be able to command a major long term commitment. No team expects his body to hold consistently over 4 or 5 years. That said, he's also an excellent gamble: Sheets is an ace when healthy. It seems to be like we...Read more
Read more | 2 Comments | Tags: Adam Dunn, Ben Sheets, Hot Stove, MLB, Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays
Check MVN Outsider ever Friday for the ten hottest rumors during the Hot Stove League and a recap of all of the latest moves in Major League Baseball: Peavy's days numbered in San Diego. Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves highlight possible destinations. As San Diego Padres GM has stated, the Jake Peavy "train has kind of left the station." Since the Peavy rumors started, he has informed the Padres that he will lift his no-trade clause for seven teams -- the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. Of that group, the Braves and Cubs have emerged as the front-runners. The Braves seem to be dangling Yunel Escobar and young pitching but not prospect Tommy Hanson who the Padres have been rumored to be interested in. Also, the talk of Escobar being part of the deal has Peavy concerned about Atlanta's...Read more
Read more | Discuss | Tags: Andy Sonnanstine, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Coco Crisp, Colorado Rockies, Edwin Jackson, Hot Stove, Jake Peavy, Jason Varitek, Junichi Tazawa, Matt Holliday, MLB, New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers
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