April 2009 Rumors Archive

Jason Churchill of espn.com has some good notes about available prospects for the 2009 draft in his latest blog entry:

• While Tyler Matzek, Matt Purke, Shelby Miller and Zach Wheeler have been dominating the press for high school pitchers, Churchill reminds us that Jacob Tuner could be a top-15 selection.  He has hit 92-96 consistently and has great size at 6'4" and 205 lbs. 
• Shelby Miller reached 95 in his latest start
• High school catching prospect Luke Bailey will return to playing shortly after a bout with strep throat.
• After a difficult start, USC shortstop Grant Green has looked better recently.
• A west coast scout listed the following players as "Day 1" selections (top 111 picks).  Not in a positive light, but that they do not excite him and would fall, but not out of Day 1.
  • Casey Haerther, UCLA
  • Brett Jackson, Cal
  • Jeff Inman, Stanford
  • Ryan Wheeler, Loyola Marymount
  • Ryan Ortiz, Oregon St.

Let's take a look at the latest article from Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal:

• Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is not interested in acquiring any of the available relievers despite the early struggles of the bullpen. The plan is to let the relievers continue to pitch and means Joba Chamberlain will stay in the rotation.
• Nationals manager Manny Acta might not finish the season, but is unlikely to be fired anytime soon.
• David Ortiz had an interesting comment about free agent pitcher Pedro Martinez: "When I saw him pitch, I had hot flashes of when he was here."
• Rosenthal comments on how Albert Pujols' seven year, $100M contract. "The seven-year, $100 million contract that Pujols signed in Feb. 2004 pays him an average of $15.75 million in what would have been his first four free-agent years. The Cardinals hold a $16 million option for 2011, after which he can hit the open market. If Alex Rodriguez is worth $27.5 million per season ... you get the picture."

Kieth Law of espn.com gave us a nice update on five "top three round candidates" for the upcoming 2009 MLB Draft.\

• Kyle Heckathorn: Expected to go within the top 60 to 70 picks. At 6'6" and 240 lbs, he has a great body for a pitcher, but is not a good athlete. Heckathorn lacks good control or command of his pitches, something that is a product of his poor delivery mechanics. However, because of his excellent arm strength (consistently throws 91-93 and gets up to 95) he'll still be a top three round pick.
• Brody Colvin: An excellent 89-93 mph fastball with "good life up in the zone" puts Colvin into the top 100 picks, but the lack of a consistent second pick keeps him out of the top tier of pitchers available.
• Wil Myers: Myers is a tremendous athlete who has spent time all over the diamond for Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point, North Carolina including significant stints at catcher, third, short and pitcher. Law predicts his future career as a catcher, but feels he could also play third base at the professional level. However, as a top of the line offensive catcher, Myers could go in the top 20 picks.
• Brian Goodwin: Another very good high school athlete, Goodwin has above average speed and will likely end up an outfielder. He already shows good range with above average arm strength in the outfield, but needs to improve his ball tracking. Though rumored to be difficult to sign, he projects as a 1st round sandwich pick draftee.
• Madison Younginer: One of the strongest arms in the draft, this high schooler can hit 93-95 consistently and flirt with 97. Younginer also brings an above average 72-74 curveball and an 80 mph change up. However, Younginer mechanics make his professional ceiling as a reliever or closer.

The Nationals Ryan Zimmerman has agreed to a five year, $45M extension with the Washington Nationals Chico Harlan of The Washington Post reports. The new contract wipes out the deal that Zimmerman and the Nationals had agreed to prior to the start of the season which would have paid Zimmerman $3.325M for 2009. Here's Zimmerman on why he signed with Washington and why now: "It just gets to the point where you think, 'How much [money] do you really need? How much do you need, and do you really want to be here?' I think that's the most important thing...The whole point of being a free agent and having a negotiating power is to play where you want to want to play. And I don't really need to go into that. I'm happy here."

David Pinto of Baseball Musings gives his take on Zimmerman's extension.

After Sunday's embarrassing loss where the bullpen gave up a run in the eighth and four in the ninth to lose 7-4 to the Florida Marlins, Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo changed almost one fifth of the teams' roster, moving three pitchers and a catcher reports Chico Harlan of The Washington Post.

Here's what went down:

• Wil Ledezma: designated for assignment
• Steven Shell: designated for assignment
• Saul Rivera: optioned to AAA
• Josh Bard: optioned to AAA

In their place, Garrett Mock, Jason Bergmann, Kip Wells and Jordan Zimmermann were added to the roster.

Nationals manager Manny Acta had some heated comments about the situation:

"I think it's embarrassing. I think it's unacceptable. I think our fans have every right to be mad, like we are right now. And it's not going to be tolerated. We're going to have a brand new bullpen tomorrow, and if those guys that come in don't get it done, we're going to continue getting guys out of here. Because I think all of us deserve better... The fact is, you have to throw strikes. This is the big leagues, and they're big league pitchers, and you win with pitching. We had a chance to win three games in a row, we couldn't do it, and it's not going to be tolerated. So starting tomorrow we're going to have a brand new bullpen. Plenty of moves, and more to come."

Back in October, we posted the 2009 MLB Draft Order. Baseball America has since updated the draft order to include the free agent compensation changes.

1) Nationals (59-102)
2) Mariners (61-101)
3) Padres (63-99)
4) Pirates (67-95)
5) Orioles (68-93)
6) Giants (72-90)
7) Braves (72-90)
8) Reds (74-88)
9) Tigers (74-88)
10) Nationals (compensation for failure to sign 2008 first round selection, Aaron Crow)
11) Rockies (74-88)
12) Royals (75-87)
13) Athletics (75-86)
14) Rangers (79-83)
15) Indians (81-81)
16) Diamondbacks (82-80)
17) Diamondbacks (compensation from Dodgers for Orlando Hudson)
18) Marlins (84-77)
19) Cardinals (86-76)
20) Blue Jays (86-76)
21) Astros (86-75)
22) Twins (88-75)
23) White Sox (89-74)
24) Angels (compensation from Mets for Francisco Rodriguez)
25) Angels (compensation from Yankees for Mark Teixeira).
26) Brewers (90-72)
27) Mariners (compensation from Phillies for Raul Ibanez)
28) Red Sox (95-67)
29) Yankees (compensation for failure to sign 2008 first round selection, Gerrit Cole)
30) Rays (97-65)
31) Cubs (97-64)
32) Rockies (compensation from Angels for Brian Fuentes)

When teams finish with the same record, the tiebreaker (and higher pick) goes to the club with the worst record the previous year.

Supplemental First-Round Picks
33. Mariners (compensation for loss of Raul Ibanez)
34. Rockies (compensation for loss of Brian Fuentes)
35. Diamondbacks (compensation for loss of Orlando Hudson)
36. Dodgers (compensation for loss of Derek Lowe)
37. Blue Jays (compensation for loss of AJ Burnett)
38. White Sox (compensation for loss of Orlando Cabrera)
39. Brewers (compensation for loss of CC Sabathia)
40. Angels (compensation for loss of Mark Teixeira)
41. Diamondbacks (compensation for loss of Juan Cruz)
42. Angels (compensation for loss of Francisco Rodriguez)
43. Reds (compensation for loss of Jeremy Affeldt)
44. Rangers (compensation for loss of Milton Bradley)
45. Diamondbacks (compensation for loss of Brandon Lyon)
46. Twins (compensation for loss of Dennys Reyes)
47. Brewers (compensation for loss of Brian Shouse)
48. Angels (compensation for loss of Jon Garland)
49. Pirates (for failure to sign 2008 second-rounder Tanner Scheppers)

Second-Round Changes
56. Dodgers (compensation from Braves for Derek Lowe)
60. Diamondbacks (compensation from Royals for Juan Cruz)
61. White Sox (compensation from Athletics for Orlando Cabrera)
73. Brewers (compensation from Yankees for CC Sabathia)
76. Yankees (for failure to sign 2008 second-rounder Scott Bittle)

Third-Round Changes
104. Blue Jays (compensation from Yankees for AJ Burnett)

Supplemental Third-Round Picks
111. Astros (for failure to sign 2008 third-rounder Chase Davidson)

Kieth Law of espn.com provided a scouting analysis of three players thought to be high draft picks in MLB's draft this June.

• Angelo Songco: Great bat speed with poor bat control.  Above-average raw power, average speed, likely limited to left field
• Ryan Wheeler: Short to the ball with good bat speed, but does not drive the ball as well as he should.  A below-average runner, but good mobility for a first baseman.
• Tommy Mendonca: One of the best defensive infielders of the draft.  High strikeout rate is due to poor hand location during his swing which leads to poor plate coverage.  Possibly could be converted to catcher.

Despite a rash of pre-season injuries to John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar Angels general manager Tony Reagins felt the team could contend with what it had in-house.  Even after the tragic death of Nick Adenhart, Reagins is sticking to that philosophy despite overtures from Pedro Martinez to Reagins and the Angels to let them know that he's available.  Other available free agents include Mark Mulder, Orlando Hernandez, Odalis Perez and Paul Byrd.

A few quick notes about the Giants this morning:

• They signed Dallas McPherson to a minor league contact last week reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. 
• Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News laments the Giants decision to sign Edgar Renteria to a two-year, $18M contract instead of going after Orlando Hudson who landed with the rival Dodgers for one-year and $3.4M.

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated has a new column up:

• When the Marlins traded Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen to the Nationals this past November one of the players they receieved in return was Emilio Bonifacio.  Heyman notes that prior to Bonifacio's spectacular start to the season, he had been declining in the eyes of many talent evaluators and most thought that the Diamondbacks got a deal when they traded him to the Nationals for Jon Rauch last year.  The Marlins scouts wanted to move him from second base to third base and the change has clearly been beneficial. 
• Heyman does not believe that the Giants are no closer to signing Tim Lincecum.
• While there is no official opt out clause in Freddy Garcia's contract with the Mets, it's largely understood that if another team would give him a legitimate shot, the Mets would let him out of his deal.