Baseball Rumor News

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.

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.

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.

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 a little disclaimer, these standout picks are a little bit behind schedule so they are really ‘April+the beginning of may’ standouts.

- The Giants have sent Brad Hennessey down to Triple-A. This in response to his performance of late, 23 earned runs and 38 hits allowed in 16 innings with an ERA of 12.94…ouch. Taking Hennessey’s spot will be Billy Sadler who was called up to replace him in the pen.

- MLB.com reports that the Phillies have picked up lefty reliever Stephen Randolph from the Astros. In return the Astros will get a player to be named later. Perhaps Randolph will be the lefty that the Phillies have been looking for. After Steve Kline didn’t work out, they were forced to continue looking outside the organization.

- Derrick Turnbow has been placed on waivers by the Milwaukee Brewers. There were a few trade possibilities that came up, but nobody wanted to pay Turnbow’s the $2.5 million owed to him. Now any team that wants him won’t have to give up players in exchange, but there is still the issue of that salary…

- The Astros have designated Tomas Perez for assignment. The move was necessary in order to make room for Jack Cassel who got called up from triple-A Round Rock .

- The Rockies announced in a press release yesterday that they have acquired RHP Sean Smith from the Cleveland Indians. Smith was the player to be named later after the Rockies sent infielder Jamey Carroll to Cleveland on December 8, 2007. The 24 year old Smith will be assigned to Triple-A Colorado Springs.

- According to The Washington Post, the Nationals have optioned relief pitcher Ray King to Triple-A and called up Mike O’Connor who was 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA for the Columbus Clippers. It doesn’t sound like King has any interest in Triple-A and he is most likely going to try and find another team that is interested in his services. If that doesn’t happen, he’ll probably retire.

Miguel Tejada is 33 years old. This would be no big deal, but the problem is that he has always told people he was two years younger. The Astros were under the impression that he was 31 years old. Tejada says that when he was 17, scouts advised him to lie in order to make him seem more advanced in development.

This is probably not that big of a deal, or that big of a surprise. Tejada is still performing very well, so I don’t think anybody really cares that much. I find it interesting that he waited until a few years after his big money contract to let the cat out of the bag. Where this development will probably come into play the most is when Tejada is ready to sign another contract. This doesn’t surprise me at all, particularly because Tejada is not what he seems. This is the 2nd time Tejada has been mentioned in a story about lying recently. His name also surfaced in the Mitchell Report for using banned substances.

- One more thing, if anybody is thinking that Miguel Tejada is the only player that has lied about his age, you are naive. This is probably very common, especially with players born outside the united states.

- Tim Byrdak: The lefty reliever was signed by the Astros according to The Detroit Free Press. It was thought that the Tigers and Byrdak would work something out, but he cleared waivers and signed elsewhere.

- Danny Graves: He has apparently signed a minor league deal with the Twins. He is considered a longshot to make the team.

- J.J. Putz: MLB.com reports that the All-Star closer was placed on the 15 day DL and there is no timetable for his return.