Baseball Rumor News

- The New York Post reports that the Yankees have released Morgan Ensberg. He was DFA’d a week ago and the are just going to be stuck paying his $1.75 million.

- The Tigers have demoted Dontrelle Willis to A-Ball following the worst start of his career. They say that they just want him to get back to form, but this is looking like one poor acquisition. Injuries aside, Willis has not even resembled a shadow of his ability from early on in his career.

- According to The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Brewers GM Doug Melvin is denying that there is any truth to the rumor the Brewers are interested in Brian Roberts.

- In a Mets press release, the club has announced that they have DFA’d catcher Raul Casanova. Recently he had been on the been on the Bereavement List from June 4th-June 6th.

- 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.

MLB.com has an interesting story concerning the possible future of Roger Clemens. The owner of the Astros has not ruled out Clemens returning to pitch this season. It seems more that Clemens is waiting out the storm brought on by all his legal trouble.

“That doesn’t mean he’s going to pitch, he’s just undetermined and wants to see where all this is going,” McLane said.

The Astros could use additional starting pitching, as would Clemens’ other team of choice, the Yankees. The question is, would he actually bring any positives to a team that hires him on late in the season for a playoff push. Keep in mind that he was fully ineffective with the Yankees his last time out and definitely didn’t earn his paycheck. My thinking is that once all the legal issues are over, Clemens will be physically unable to Pitch in the majors.

Kenshin Kawakami, a 33 year old starting pitcher currently playing for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan, plans on coming to the MLB next season. This is not news to most, but it recently came out that a few teams may be leading the pack to acquire his services as a free agent. He has already completed his free agent application, so now it is a matter of where he will play in the U.S., not if he will play.

Fortunately for you, we can translate this article for you into English (If you can read Japanese check it out here) and I will just point out a few of the interesting points. Kawakami has been scouted by both New York teams for some time, due to his impressive cutter. While the Mets and Yankees are both interested, Kawakami seems to be leaning towards Boston. He has an established relationship with someone in the organization and he says he is looking forward to talking with them more. The person he is referring to is on the management level, but I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that both Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima are on the team and could ease his transition to the United States.

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 New York Post, David Wells feels that he would be a great fit with the New York Yankees…again. The lefty starting pitcher is currently a free agent and about to turn 45 years old. While I’m sure he’d like to return to the Yankees, it might not be such a great idea. He won’t be the savior of a pitching staff that has a completely weak back end. He could give the Yankees more options and come on the cheap, but he won’t be a huge addition. OK, he is huge, but that’s not what I meant.

“I’ve thought about it,” Steinbrenner told The Post. “I saw him on TV, and I did think about it when I was watching.”

So maybe the interest is on both sides. More than likely, the Yankees will just stay with in-house options such as Darrell Rasner and Kei Igawa until Phil Hughes is ready to return.

According to The Dallas Morning News, the Rangers will likely look to trade both catcher Gerald Laird and 1B/DH Frank Catalanotto. I have no doubt that the Rangers would WANT to move both of them, as they will almost certainly be a ’seller’ as the season progresses, but both might not actually draw interest.

Gerald Laird is a very capable defensive catcher and will probably looked at by every team with a deficiency at catcher as the deadline approaches. With Saltalamacchia having been called up, Laird’s time is probably drawing near with the Rangers. It is no secret that Salty is the teams plan for the future which makes Laird expendable.

Catalanotto is a left handed bat who can play a little 1B or LF, but is primarily a DH. It seems to me that DH’s are not desperately needed around the league, especially ones like Catalanotto who’s bats are not overly impressive (he’s batting .271 with 2HR’s so far). The idea is that he could be paired with Laird to make a more interesting trade package. Catalanotto is a native New Yorker and could draw some interest from the Yankees as they are not strong at 1B. If Laird was also part of the deal, it could make a lot of sense for New York because they seem very thin at the catcher spot. With the injury to Posada, I would think that they would be certain to shore up the hole at catcher in case he doesn’t recover as expected.

- According to The Rocky Mountain News, the Rockies have signed left-hander Aaron Fultz. He will spend some time at extended spring training in an audition for making the big league team.

- The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the Indians have signed Bronson Sardinha to a minor league deal. He was a No.1 pick of the Yankees back in 2001, but has failed to play up to that level so far.

- The Seattle Times clears up some rumors regarding Ken Griffey Jr. today. While his name is being tossed around as a trade candidate, the Mariners have said that they are not currently close to acquiring Griffey.

Mariners president Chuck Armstrong was quoted saying: “I think everybody in Seattle would like to see him retire in a Mariners uniform. He was born a Mariner and I’d like to see him finish up as a Mariner.”

This did not mean that the Mariners even had interest, but it got everybody talking. He was just saying it would be nice to see from a personal level, so take it easy.