Baseball Rumor News

The White Sox have announced in a press release that they have signed Esteban Loaiza. Loaiza, who was recently released by the Dodgers, will be returning to the team he pitched for during the 2003-2004 season…but not as a starter. The White Sox plan to use him as a reliever, which might be a good idea since he can’t cut it as a starter anymore.To make room for Loaiza, Ehren Wassermann will be sent down to Triple-A.

This definitely isn’t the huge shakeup that Guillen had demanded. It is a big name that will have very little impact. The bullpen has been very successful this season for Chicago, so he will not even be one of the most frequently used arms. I guess GM Kenny Williams was adding what he could, but its the offense that needs the improvement.

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 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.

- According to The L.A. Times, there is no deal in the works that would send Chone Figgins to the White Sox. Angels GM Tony Reagins said that he hasn’t even spoken to White Sox GM Kenny Williams.

- Cha Seung Baek has been DFA’d by the Mariners. Baek was also DFA’d last season by Seattle, but he cleared through waivers and was sent to Triple-A. There are so many teams that are desperate for starters this year, that he probably won’t clear waivers again.

- MLB.com reports that the Indians have claimed a relief pitcher off waivers from the White Sox. Oneli Perez will be added to their 40-man roster, where they have an opening due to Jason Tyner being DFA’d.

- The Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers have DFA’d Franklyn German. He had a high rate of allowing inherited runners to score, so Washington, the Rangers manager, had no confidence in the 28 year old reliever.

According to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, the White Sox may be looking at the Angels Chone Figgins to possibly fix a couple problems on the team. In particular, the White Sox want a legitimate lead off hitter and would probably use him at 2B. This is not the first time that the Angels super utility man has been talked about in trade rumors. This offseason, his name came up several times, and was even connected to the White Sox.

Most likely, the Sox have been after Figgins for a while. At this point in the season however, Cowley points out that it may be hard to get any significant deals done. When it comes to Figgins, I disagree. The Angels have done fine this season with Figgins on the DL. They have the infield depth to make him expendable. If the White Sox offer someone up that the Angels feel can strengthen their team even more, I don’t see them being to attached to Figgins.

”That’s an interesting name, and a name that I, yeah … not sure what that means, but White Sox GM said it in reference to Chone Figgins.

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.

- Ray King, who was recently DFA’d by the Nationals, has signed on with the Chicago White Sox. He will be going to Triple-A, which is interesting because he refused to play minor league ball for the Nats.

- The Providence Journal reports that the Red Sox have released lefty reliever Abe Alvarez. At one point he was considered a solid prospect but never lived up to expectations. This season he compiled a 6.46 earned-run average in 13 games. At age 25, he can probably find another team that wants to see if they can develop him further.

- Apparently the Red Sox and Rockies are still discussing a possible trade that would send Julian Tavarez over to Colorado. The Sox havn’t had much use for Tavarez this season and will soon need to find a spot for Bartolo Colon who is almost done rehabbing.

- The North County Times reports that the Padres have DFA’d Callix Crabbe to make room for utilityman Edgar Gonzalez. Edgar is the older brother of current Padres 1B Adrian Gonzalez and is hitting .297 in Triple-A.

Crabbe is a Rule 5 pick from the Brewers and the Pad’s can send him back to Milwaukee if he clears waivers or work out a trade to keep him in the Padre organization.

According to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, the White Sox are close to shaking things up by releasing player(s) today before the start of the series against the Twins. In the midst of manager Ozzie Guillen freaking out on the media, GM Kenny Williams seems ready to take it out on the team.

The most obvious candidate for an exit from Chicago is Juan Uribe. He has been terrible this year after being displaced to 2B, batting .181 on the season. He was awful last year as well, which caused questioning as to why he was resigned this year. If Cleveland and Detroit could stand to get rid of their under performers, the White Sox should follow their lead and give Uribe the boot. He isn’t the reason that the Sox’s offense is struggling, but he sure isn’t helping anything.

The White Sox have options and would probably be much better off with Alexei Ramirez at 2B. While he is considered very rough defensively, he will be an instant offensive upgrade.