Baseball Rumor News

According to The Kansas City Star, Gil Meche is not on his way to Chicago.

“How’s that going to happen?” was what Meche had to say regarding a trade. He has a no trade clause and doesn’t seem to be interested in waving it. One team executive seemed to echo Meche’s sentiments “If we’re going to make a run at this thing in 2010, how are we going to do it without Gil Meche?”

The rumor never held much weight with me anyway. It was probably a combination of the cubs going after Meche when he was a free agent and the new rumor that the Cubs are after a starter. While I see where the connection is made, Meche really wouldn’t fit with the Cubs. He hasn’t been very good this season (3-8 with a 5.54 ERA) and wouldn’t fill the top of the rotation spot the Cubs seem to be aiming for. Then there is the problem of Meche having more than 3 years left on his contract…which he is being overpaid for.

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.

- The Royals have claimed Brayan Peña off waivers from the Atlanta Braves. The 26 year old switch hitting catcher defected from Cuba in 2000.

- Daisuke Matsuzaka is headed to the DL, according to MLB.com. He has been diagnosed with a strained right rotator cuff, but it doesn’t look to be that big of a deal as there is no structural damage.

- The A’s have DFA’d Jeff Fiorentino, Lenny DiNardo and Kevin Melillo today. These were just a few of the moves that the Oakland club made in a crazy day of call ups, send downs, and placing guys on the DL. DiNardo was really underperforming, so the move isn’t surprising. Melillo and Fiorentino were not really making any impact at all.

-Mark Mulder has told St. Louis Today that further surgery will not be an option. If surgery is needed once again to repair his throwing arm, he will opt for retirement. Mulder has only made three starts since 2006 and has been in a perpetual state of rehabilitation for a twice repaired left shoulder. While many critics pointed out that the Cardinals couldn’t work without Mulder or Chris Carpenter, their rotation so far this season has been nothing short of spectacular. If it turns out to be the case that Mulder does not return, I think that the other guys that have stepped up in the St. Louis rotation can tow the rope.

- The Kansas City Star reports that Royals DH Billy Butler has been sent down to Triple-A. He will be replaced by infielder Mike Aviles. Before the start of the season, lots of ‘experts’ raved about his fantasy value, as long as he started to hit for some power. Well, he didn’t, and he stopped hitting for average to top it off.

- Ray King is on the move again. After being DFA’d by the Nat’s, King had signed a minor league deal with the White Sox. He probably realized that he wouldn’t have a shot at cracking the major league team with Chicago and went looking elsewhere after only three appearances. Now, he has signed a minor league deal with the Astros. There is a much better chance of him making the club in Houston, in my opinion.

- MLB.com reports that the Twins have claimed Craig Breslow off waivers from the Cleveland Indians. Until this acquisition, Dennys Reyes had been the only lefty in Minnesota’s bullpen.

The Kansas City Star reports that the Royals have signed 28 year old starter Horacio Ramirez to a minor league deal. The lefty pitcher was released by the Mariners just before the start of the season. Once he gets his arm into shape, he will head to Triple-A.

In four seasons with the Braves, Ramirez was 30-22, so if he can regain his old form, he will be a solid backup plan should the Royals need to call someone up.

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.

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.

In two seperate moves today, the Colorado Rockies acquired both Jorge De La Rosa and Jason Grilli.

The Denver Post reports that De La Rosa is the player to be named later in the deal that sent Ramon Ramirez to Kansas City dating back to spring training. The left-hander will presumably fill the starter void that the Rockies having been dealing with since Franklin Morales was demoted to Triple-A. De La Rosa will most likely make his first start for the Rockies on Saturday.

In a completely separate move, the Rockies traded Zachary Simons to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for reliever Jason Grilli. Detroits motivation was to clear room for Francisco Cruceta, who will take Grilli’s spot in the pen. Simons will head to Detroit’s class A Lakeland, he has not been very impressive so far but he is only 22.

According to The Denver Post, the Rockies are considering acquiring Jorge de la Rosa from Kansas City to complete the spring training trade of reliever Ramon Ramirez. A need has arisen in Colorado for more starting pitching now that Kip Wells may have a serious hand injury and Franklin Morales got sent back down to Triple-A. While de la Rosa is an option, the Rockies may also decide to bring up Josh Towers. It seemed that Towers was signed during the offseason for a situation just like this. He can come up, make a spot start, and be sent back down if he doesn’t perform up to snuff. This season in four starts, Towers is 2-1, with a 6.15 ERA in Triple-A…so that might not be the best option.