Baseball Rumor News

Once again, I have to put the fight on here. This one is actually pretty entertaining. Both Crisp and Shields miss with hay makers, but the pile up is pretty cool to watch. I love baseball fights.

- Scott Munter is back with the Giants after signing a minor league deal. Munter, now 28, was recently released by the Rays Triple-A affiliate. In 2005, Munter was a solid performer for the Giants, coming away with a 2.56 ERA.

- A partial tear of a tendon sheath in his left wrist will sideline Bostons DH, David Ortiz, for a minimum of 2 weeks, according to USA Today. This should create more playing time for Jacoby Ellsbury and Coco Crisp, who have been splitting OF time. It could also result in Manny spending time at the DH spot.

- OK, this one happened a few days ago, but I missed it and decided to put it in anyway…The Daily Herald reports that Jim Brower was sent to the Cubs from the Reds for cash considerations. Its not really a big deal, but the journeyman reliever has pitched for 8 teams throughout his career and had some success in the majors at a few points. With a very overworked bullpen in Chicago, Brower may only be an injury or two away from a shot at the big league team.

- The New York Yankees Kei Igawa is homesick. Igawa asked the Yankees if they could send him back to Japan, but they couldn’t find any takers. He has not performed since coming to America and probably misses succeeding, but for now, he’s stuck in New York while the Yankees are stuck paying him $11 million.

Jonathan Mayo now has his predictions for the upcoming draft for picks 1-30. Some have changed, but for those of you that haven’t been keeping up with the predictions here is a list:

1. Tampa Bay Rays: Tim Beckham, SS, Griffin HS, Griffin, Ga.
2. Pittsburgh Pirates: Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Vanderbilt
3. Kansas City Royals: Eric Hosmer, 1B, American Heritage HS, Plantation, Fla.
4. Baltimore Orioles: Aaron Crow, RHP, University of Missouri
5. San Francisco Giants: Buster Posey, C, Florida State
6. Florida Marlins: Brian Matusz, LHP, University of San Diego
7. Cincinnati Reds: Yonder Alonso, 1B, University of Miami
8. Chicago White Sox: Gordon Beckham, SS, University of Georgia
9. Washington Nationals: Kyle Skipworth, C, Patriot HS, Riverside, Calif.
10. Houston Astros: Justin Smoak, 1B, University of South Carolina
11. Texas Rangers: Andrew Cashner, RHP, Texas Christian
12. Oakland A’s: Aaron Hicks, OF/RHP, Woodrow Wilson HS, Long Beach, Calif.
13. St. Louis Cardinals: Ryan Perry, RHP, University of Arizona
14. Minnesota Twins: Christian Friedrich, LHP, Eastern Kentucky
15. Los Angeles Dodgers: Zach Collier, OF, Chino Hills HS, Calif.
16. Milwaukee Brewers: Brett Lawrie, C/3B, Brookswood SS, Langley, B.C.
17. Toronto Blue Jays: Brett Wallace, 1B/3B, Arizona State
18. New York Mets: Ike Davis, OF, Arizona State
19. Chicago Cubs: Casey Kelly, SS, Sarasota HS, Fla.
20. Seattle Mariners: Shooter Hunt, RHP, Tulane
21. Detroit Tigers: Ethan Martin, RHP, Stephens County HS, Toccoa, Ga.
22. New York Mets: Jason Castro, C, Stanford
23. San Diego Padres: Daniel Schlereth, LHP, University of Arizona
24. Philadelphia Phillies: Anthony Hewitt, SS, Salisbury School, Conn
25. Colorado Rockies: Jake Odorizzi, RHP, Highland HS, Ill.
26. Arizona Diamondbacks: Josh Fields, RHP, University of Georgia
27. Minnesota Twins: Brett DeVall, LHP, Niceville HS, Fla.
28. New York Yankees: Brett Hunter, RHP, Pepperdine University
29. Cleveland Indians: Jemile Weeks, 2B, University of Miami
30. Boston Red Sox: Lance Lynn, RHP, University of Mississippi

Those are the predictions, but we’ll find out for sure in two days.

As the MLB draft approaches, these are going to keep popping up, but this mock draft comes from Jim Callis of Baseball America. They specialize in prospects and other young talent, so you can expect that the closest to reality prediction will probably be this one…
You can see that most of the picks are the same as Mayo’s.

1. Rays - Tim Beckham, SS.
2. Pirates - Pedro Alvarez, 3B.
3. Royals - Buster Posey, C.
4. Orioles - Brian Matusz, LHP.
5. Giants - Justin Smoak, 1B.
6. Marlins - Kyle Skipworth, C.
7. Reds - Aaron Crow, RHP.
8. White Sox - Gordon Beckham, SS.
9. Nationals - Yonder Alonso, 1B.
10. Astros - Shooter Hunt, RHP.

The Rays have signed Scott Kazmir to a 4 year extension, reports MLB.com. Actually, its a 3 year deal worth $28.5 million, with a club option on a fourth year that could bring the maximum value up to $39.5 million.

There is no reason not to like this deal. The Rays are making sure that they keep a guy around that led the AL in K’s last season. Kazmir has had some injury issues in the past, but that is why they made the smart move of not giving a pitcher more than 3-years guaranteed. The Rays have a few more young players to lock up and they will be comfortably set for the foreseeable future.

- The Chicago Cubs have signed Korean high schooler Lee Hak-ju. He is a shortstop that scouts estimate would have been a first rounder if he had been drafted. One scout familiar with him said that he has better tools at this age than Jeter did.

- According to MLB.com, the Tigers were unable to find any takers for Jacque Jones, so they have placed him on waivers. It is expected he’ll clear and then the Tigers will release him, at which time they will pay him the $5 million he is owed. Jones has said that he would prefer to play for the Marlins, which is his likely destination. They are always good for picking up a veteran on the cheap to compliment there young talent.

- Inside Rays Baseball reports that Tampa Bay has DFA’d righty reliever Scott Dohmann in order to make room for Al Reyes, who was activated from the DL today.

Even though the MLB First Year Player Draft isn’t until June 5th, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com has some early predictions for the top 10 picks. He admits that the order is basically a stab in the dark, but this gives a good look at who will be around the first to go.

1. Tampa Bay Rays: Buster Posey, C, Florida State
2. Pittsburgh Pirates: Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Vanderbilt
3. Kansas City Royals: Eric Hosmer, 1B, American Heritage HS, Plantation, Fla.
4. Baltimore Orioles: Brian Matusz, LHP, University of San Diego
5. San Francisco Giants: Tim Beckham, SS, Griffin HS, Griffin, Ga.
6. Florida Marlins: Kyle Skipworth, C, Patriot HS, Riverside, Calif.
7. Cincinnati Reds: Aaron Crow, RHP, University of Missouri
8. Chicago White Sox: Gordon Beckham, SS, University of Georgia
9. Washington Nationals: Justin Smoak, 1B, University of South Carolina
10. Houston Astros: Tanner Scheppers, RHP, Fresno State

He also lists a couple wildcards that should be somewhere near the top: Stanford catcher Jason Castro and Casey Kelly, son of Reds coach Pat Kelly.

Is there anybody you think he missed?

Just like the NL picks, consider these standouts through about 5/10/08, not just April.

- Derrick Turnbow cleared waivers today and will head to Triple-A. Looks like nobody was interested in touching that $3.2 million owed to him.

- The Padres claimed left-handed pitcher Sean Henn off waivers from the Yankees. The 27 year old was designated for assignment last week.

- The Rays designated Nathan Haynes for assignment. He was just an extra OF that they didn’t have room for. The Rays originally got Haynes off waivers from the Angels before the start of the season.

- The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Twins reliever Pat Neshek will miss the rest of the season. He came into relief against the White Sox yesterday but had to leave with what was thought to be a strain in his elbow. After further examination, it became apparent that he had suffered an acute partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. This is bad news for the AL Central leading Twins. Neshek is a huge part of their pen and is probably irreplaceable this season.

According to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates are hoping to work out a deal that will allow them to keep Rule 5 pick in their system. Evan Meek, a reliever, would have to be sent back to Tampa Bay if no trade can be agreed upon. He was recently DFA’d to clear a spot for Sean Burnett to be called up. The Pirates can either make a trade, pay cash to keep Meek, or they will have to give him back.

“Our hope is that we can keep Evan,” Huntington said.