March 27, 200719 yr Why don't we wait to see if the other shoe drops tomorrow? There's probably at least a 50/50 chance we're looking at a new starting centerfielder by Wednesday afternoon.
March 27, 200719 yr i hope it is not sanchez , with redemption on the line the guy did not produce in any form or fashion....BUT i have a gut feeling Fredi will go with the safe play and chose mlb experience and go with sanchez ...i really hope my gut is wrong :banghead
March 27, 200719 yr I don't see it being Sanchez. If it is, then it wasn't really a competition during the pre-season, and Sanchez should've been announced as the starter immediately, because he didn't do anything to earn it this Spring.
March 27, 200719 yr Why don't we wait to see if the other shoe drops tomorrow? There's probably at least a 50/50 chance we're looking at a new starting centerfielder by Wednesday afternoon. Agreed. Let's get us an average to above average centerfielder and let's pray Julio has a career season. If both those things happen we're looking at a potential playoff berth.
March 27, 200719 yr If we trade for an "above average" centerfielder by or on Wednesday, I'll either buy you his jersey, or give you my seats for any game over the summer.
March 27, 200719 yr Why don't we wait to see if the other shoe drops tomorrow? There's probably at least a 50/50 chance we're looking at a new starting centerfielder by Wednesday afternoon. I'd love to see that happen.
March 27, 200719 yr Why don't we wait to see if the other shoe drops tomorrow? There's probably at least a 50/50 chance we're looking at a new starting centerfielder by Wednesday afternoon. I'd love to see that happen. AN THEN THEY WOKE UP lol
March 27, 200719 yr Gonzalez doesn't appear to think exactly like I think. He'll likely go with the best arm (and best performer in spring training) for closer and one of the essentially predestined CF candidates. My predictions on whom Gonzalez will choose: Closer: Owens CF: Reed Whom I would pick: Closer: Lindstrom CF: De Aza (assuming Borchard will be playing in RF) If Gonzalez is indeed platooning while Hermida is down, it will likely be of Borchard/De Aza in right and Reed in CF. owned cubed
March 27, 200719 yr If we trade for an "above average" centerfielder by or on Wednesday, I'll either buy you his jersey, or give you my seats for any game over the summer. I agree we probably won't get an above average centerfielder.
March 27, 200719 yr Just an abbreviated update on some centerfield candidates as we countdown until Fredi's self-imposed Wednesday roster deadline. Ths list is not meant to be comprehensive. LAA - Battle continues between CFers Reggie Willits and Tommy Murphy for one of the last roster spots. The mgr won't say but the thinking is there are really two battles going on, Pride and Gorneault who is having a tremendous spring for the corner backup job so Vlady and Anderson can do more DHing and Willits/Murphy to backup in center. Figgins going down would have made it easier for the Angels to trade one of their surplus young CFers. KC- Gathright continues to make it difficult to send him down which is where he seemed destined not too long ago, or traded. Doing everything asked and more in the last weeks to stick. Costa has a bad back that has cost most of spring training after winning a roster spot coming out of ST in '06 and respectable p/t numbers last summer with the parent club. Tore up AAA. Good winter league. A shame. Reggie Sanders is being shopped like crazy but at this point he's exclusively a corner outfield guy. Both LAA and KC have more CFers coming up through the system and have long term CFer already pre-ordained - Matthews and deJesus, so sooner or later some good talent gets moved. Dodgers - Bigbie, has a 96 hour window starting Weds where he can make his own deal and walk, having a very good ST but is another corner outfielder. Mentioned because Beinfest was rumored to want him last season. Loney can't make it, goes back to AAA. Red Sox - David Murphy sent down last week after mediocre spring. No one considers him a starting everyday MLer so keep your fingers crossed he doesn't wind up here. Giants - One last roster spot between two players afer Sweeney was given his release. Comes down to Niekro and Jason Ellison who is a quality CFer. Giants would like to find a way to keep both but they are both out of options. Theres lots more but a few to watch next 24 hours.
March 27, 200719 yr Mercury News - A club source said the Giants are so intent on keeping outfielder Jason Ellison and first baseman Lance Niekro, both of whom are out of options, that they are resigned to starting the season with just an 11-man pitching staff.
March 28, 200719 yr Today is the day. I can't wait to find out who is going to man CF for the lovely Florida Marlins.
March 28, 200719 yr While de Aza has been named the opening day centerfielder I'm just going to keep using this thread to post centerfield stuff either related to players mentioned as targets of the Marlins or mentioned here at MB.com as potential targets of people here. Jeremy Reed sent to minor league camp: Mariners optioned OF Jeremy Reed, C Rene Rivera, RHP Sean Green, LHP Eric O'Flaherty to Triple-A Tacoma; reassigned RHP Aaron Small to minor league camp. Reed was expected to make the team, but since he hit just .238/.273/.333, the Mariners decided it would be better to have him play regularly in Triple-A. It would seem to mean that either Mike Morse will make the team or the club will go with 13 pitchers. Maybe the waiver wire will bring in more bench help prior to Opening Day. Rotoworld Shin-Soo Choo-OF- Indians Mar. 28 - 1:16 pm et Indians optioned OF Shin-Soo Choo, OF Ben Francisco and LHP Juan Lara to Triple-A Buffalo; reassigned INF Luis Rivas to minor league camp. The Indians weren't going to keep Choo as a fifth outfielder. Maybe he'll get a starting job when Trot Nixon lands on the DL during the season. Rivas' departure indicates that Mike Rouse has won a bench job. The Indians' other reserves will be Ryan Garko, Jason Michaels and Kelly Shoppach. Rotoworld
March 28, 200719 yr Karim Garcia-OF- Phillies Mar. 28 - 2:28 pm et Phillies released outfielder Karim Garcia. Keeping alive the slim possibility that Michael Bourn could be kept as a reserve. As things stand now, Greg Dobbs would be the fifth outfielder behind the regulars and Jayson Werth. Also on the bench will be Abraham Nunez and Carlos Ruiz. Chris Coste should have the last spot if healthy. If not, Bourn would likely make the team. Garcia is getting dropped despite hitting .305 with a homer in 59 at-bats. rotoworld Only tangently important... Adam Stern-OF- Orioles Mar. 28 - 4:10 pm et Orioles optioned OF Adam Stern to Triple-A Ottawa and reassigned C Alberto Castillo to minor league camp. Stern's demotion would seem to make Freddie Bynum the Orioles' 25th man, but there's a pretty good chance the club will add someone else before the end of the week. Stern just wasn't ever healthy enough to make a case for a job this spring. He was also at a disadvatage as a left-handed hitter. rotoworld The only reason it has an vague importance to the Marlins is that the Orioles and Royals have been in discussions about trading Reggie Sanders and his $5 million contract to Baltimore. Moving Reggie means roster room for both Gathright and Costa, two players who a few weeks ago were reportedly destined for AAA, and thus one might think would have made good CF/OF trade candidates (Gathright has been playing some corner OF this spring and Costa plays all three positions). About the only thing that can be said about Jason Ellison's plight is no news is no news. The Giants are still struggling with carrying 11 pitchers or cutting Ellison as of this PM. If available he might provide some insurance, albeit probably at the cost of Cody Ross' roster spot.
March 29, 200719 yr I like What Ellison has shown this spring...if he is cut i would love to see what he can bring to the Marlins. Trade Cody
March 29, 200719 yr A few final (or close to final) centerfield options posted even though the Marlins' roster is set. Posted mostly to finish something I started. All from Rotoworld but much longer pieces available at news.google.com. One of our faves over the last season or so ain't gonna be playing a whole lot of ball for a while. Maybe we dodged a bullet. Maybe these things work out the way they do for a reason but... Chris Denorfia-OF-Reds Mar. 29 - 4:02 pm et The Reds learned Thursday that Chris Denorfia is going to require Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. Denorfia had been expected to win a spot on the bench. Now it looks like the opening will go to Chad Moeller or Norris Hopper. Denorfia is likely to miss the entire season, a definite setback to his chances of ever establishing himself in Cincinnati. Franklin Gutierrez-OF- Indians Mar. 29 - 9:05 am et Franklin Gutierrez (hamstring) is expected to begin the season on the disabled list. Gutierrez's injury made it easier for Ryan Garko to claim a spot on the Opening Day roster. from KC Star: Royals' roster virtually set after Gathright sent down to Omaha By BOB DUTTON The Kansas City Star SURPRISE, Ariz. | The Royals' 25-man roster is all but set after Thursday's decision to option outfielder Joey Gathright to Class AAA Omaha. The Royals spent much of the spring seeking to trade veteran outfielder Reggie Sanders in an effort to create a roster space for Gathright. Talks this week with Baltimore appeared sufficiently promising to keep Gathright in camp, but Thursday's roster move suggests a deal is unlikely. Gathright, 25, batted .370 this spring in 21 games after batting .262 last season in 79 games after arriving in a June 20 trade from Tampa Bay. Also Shane Costa (KC) was sent down as well, hitting .301 in abbreviated ST play returned for one or two games due to a back injury which cost him a roster spot and most of ST, before being sent with Gathright to Omaha. The only remaining would-be Marlins (players mentioned or linked to the Fish one place or another, or my own personal favorites) are on West Coast teams, LAA and the Giants, neither of which have set their rosters yet. I'm conflicted about Beinfest's performance on finding a CFer this off-season. Unlike a number of people here who wanted either a big-name or established or hyped to the moon next-great-thing I bought into and to a great degree still buy into Beinfest's refusal to trade away a flock of prospects because they were so unproven (rookie, A ball) that it was worth standing his ground until they had a year of AA under ther belts that would dramatically increase their value inside and outside the organization. And I think while Johnson's injury in ST really made it difficult to package a trade, the time it took to get Mitre up and running, and then Sean West undergoing surgery combined to tie his hands almost completely. No Tankersley and the three above froze any chance or consideration of softening of his no-trade position. He wasn't going to trade Chris Volstad or Thompson and no doubt everyone who had anyone of value had to start with Volstad. Had Johnson not gone down I believe things would have been different but no sense crying over spilled milk as the saying goes. All that said, and I've loved Murphy and Willits for a long time and while they haven't been cut yet, both may both stick. And Sabean seems to be doing everything possible to keep Ellison. Watching Joey Gathright go to the minors today (although that is a story in itself - see above and how hard the Royals tried to dump Sanders to make room) after two very good months at the end of last season and hitting .370 this spring really made me wish he was on his way to Dayton OH instead of Omaha NE. Or trading a prospect for prospect for Mitch Maier who will probably never see a regular season (not Sept) in KC, or Evans in LA or other guys who are about to get squeezed out of existence by a new crop of younger players coming up behind them. I certainly would have liked to Maier in an Isotopes' uni this summer but instead KC's AAA team will be sporting four centerfielders, two of whom could be playing in the bigs on Monday and then there's Butler but that's a completely different story. I use KC as an example. I know Lou liked someone out west, I don't remember the name, there are probably at least a dozen never going to make it to the bigs, blocked forever guys in the minors who could be starting in CF or being a fourth outfielder that would be an upgrade over Cody Ross. The reason for alot of the posts the last couple of days was me kind of me making a case why I think even though I understand the rationale for not trading pitchers who are going to double in value in a season, I'm disappointed that even a "small" deal didn't get done. I'm happy we didn't give up Olsen or Nolasco ++ for Upton or take the plunge with Rios and do something insane like trade for Milledge and lose Dontrelle or Olsen or Sanchez (no need to flame me you can tell me I'm wrong all you want, it really doesn't matter) but why haven't at least brought some positional prospects in baffles me. Some people seem to revel in giving the FO an F or even F- for the off-season, I'd say all things considered, I'd give them a C which could quickly change at mid-terms (little joke there) one way or the other. People seem to have ignored De Aza was the Mudcats' sole player selected for the Southern League All-Star team, the same all-star team Dan Uggla was a member of the year before. No comparison is being made there, but obviously, even flying under the radar for most if not all of us, he quickly emerged last summer as a talent to be reckoned with and his peers and the other managers in the league thought enough of his play to give him an accolade for his achievement. Maybe he's Hanley Redux, maybe he's just average or maybe he makes us yearn for Reggie again, I don't pretend to know what he'll do. But I do know that I wish Beinfest had done something to bring in a few positional players this off-season and he hasn't. Even on a small scale he could have done more.
March 29, 200719 yr If Sham's buddies are right we did the right thing by standing pat and letting De Aza take his shot at CF.
March 29, 200719 yr If Sham's buddies are right we did the right thing by standing pat and letting De Aza take his shot at CF. I have no problem with De Aza getting his shot more with us not moving a couple of pitching prospects in our top fifty for positional prospects in their top fifty's. Whether it be CF or corner outfielders, I think we should have done more to balance out our future resources.
April 1, 200719 yr Hmmm... Sunday, April 1, 2007 ? Last updated 12:42 p.m. PT Mariners acquire OF Ellison from Giants for P Blackley THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Seattle Mariners acquired outfielder Jason Ellison on Sunday from the San Francisco Giants for minor league pitcher Travis Blackley. Ellison, who turns 29 on Wednesday, was added to the Mariners' 25-man roster at Sunday's league deadline for regular season rosters. He batted .222 with two home runs and four RBIs in just 81 at bats while primarily a late-game defensive replacement last season for the Giants. His career-best season was in 2005 with San Francisco, when he appeared in 131 games and batted .264. Blackley, a 24-year-old native of Australia, started 25 games at Double-A San Antonio and two at Triple-A Tacoma last season. The one-time top Seattle prospect missed all of 2005 after surgery to repair torn labrum cartilage in his left, throwing shoulder. Blackley appeared in just two games during spring training for the Mariners and allowed four earned runs in 2 1/3 innings.
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