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.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Phillies may be willing to move Shane Victorino now that Jason Werth is performing in CF. While it would thin out their OF, the Phillies may try to ‘just get by’ which they could most likely do with Werth and Jenkins. They may find that it is more in the best interest of the team to beef up the rotation.

Victorino will likely draw interest from several teams, especially the Marlins and Padres. The Marlins might not have the pitching to trade right now, but they have been interested in Victorino in the past. The Padres could be a great match, with several veteran pitchers to offer once they call it a season.

- According to The Star-Tribune, the Minnesota Twins have claimed infielder Sergio Santos off waivers from the Blue Jays. Santos will head to the Twins’ Triple-A team.

- The Philadelphia Daily News reports that the Phillies are not ready to sign staff ace Cole Hamels to an extension. You may recall that Hamels was one of the young stars that was upset with his compensation for his play.

- The Rangers have waived Ben Broussard. It seems nobody was interested in picking up the $3.85 million owed to him.

- The Indians have designated OF Jason Tyner for assignment. They needed to open up space for lefty Jeremy Sowers who will be needed to make a spot start for the tribe.

- The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Cardinals reliever Jason Isringhausen is headed to the DL. This isn’t surprising as, the once dominant closer has really fallen apart this season.

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

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies may be interested in signing both OF Pat Burrell and closer Brad Lidge to extensions before the end of the season. This goes against GM Pat Gillick’s normal strategy of waiting until the offseason to negotiate, but since he plans on leaving the team after this season he might need to get contracts worked out sooner than that.

“I’d say at this point they’re both having above-average seasons,” Gillick said. “They probably would be somebody we would have to consider retaining.”

The organization hasn’t talked to either player yet, but it sounds like they are planning on getting the ball rolling. Burrell has said that he wants to stay with the Phillies and Lidge has regained his dominance at the closer spot in Philly. I would think that the Phillies have a much better chance of holding on to both guys if they move now rather than let them test the open market.

- 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…

- According to The Philly Inquirer, Mike Lieberthal is going to sign a one day contract to officially retire as a Phillie on June 1st.

- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that the Mariners are set to call up Jeff Clement to the majors any day now. He is doing well at Triple-A, the only question is what his role will be. Most likely they will use him at DH and occasionally as a catcher.

-Hideo Nomo was released by the Royals. He has pitched very poorly this season, which means this is probably the end of his career.

- Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies is claiming that his recent strained right calf isn’t as bad as his previous injuries, but it is bad enough to land him on the 15 day DL. It caused some shuffling in the Phillies OF today and caused Geoff Jenkins to lead off for the first time in his career.

- Dontrelle Willis has been placed on the DL for the first time in his career. This is a result of a hyper-extended knee suffered in the first inning the other day against the White Sox.

- Tom Glavine left todays game against the Nats after throwing only 16 pitches because of a strained right hamstring. Like Willis, Glavine has never before been on the DL, but unlike Willis, Glavine is hoping to keep it that way. It goes without saying how impressive it is that someone who has pitched as long as Glavine has gone an entire career without injury.

According to The Boston Herald, the Red Sox are looking to trade reliever Kyle Snyder. The right-hander was designated for assignment on Sunday, and if he can not be traded he will have to be placed on waivers. So far, the teams that have expressed interest in Snyder are the Tigers, Rays and Phillies.

I expect that the Tigers will be expressing interest in any relievers that become available as there bullpen is one of the reasons that they have gotten off to such a terrible start. If something is going to get worked out for Snyder, it has to happen soon as there isn’t much time before he needs to be placed on waivers. I wonder how much interest there can be in him now that the Phillies have picked up Steve Kline and nobody was interested in Robinson Tejeda. Teams don’t seem excited about putting questionable relievers on their rosters.

According to MLB.com, lefty reliever Steve Kline has signed a minor league deal with Philadelphia. It had come out a few weeks ago that the Phillies were considering signing the 35 year old veteran, but once the Giants released him at the end of spring training, he became a free agent. Now the Phillies got him without having to give anyone up in exchange…not that it would have required much as Kline didn’t have any real trade value.

Kline has had a few good years in the past, but last year he was pretty much awful. The Phillies don’t have much as far as left handed relief pitchers go, so it is possible that he could get called up somewhere down the road if the need arises, but I would consider it a long shot.