Rox acquire Guthrie in trade with Orioles

Veteran righty arrives in swap for hurlers Hammel, Lindstrom

By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com | 02/06/12 1:58 PM EST

The Rockies were looking for an experienced arm to put atop their young rotation, but not just any veteran would do.

"The right kind of guy," Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd said. "The list was pretty small."

One of those few names was Jeremy Guthrie, whom the Rockies acquired from the Orioles on Monday in exchange for right-handers Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom.

"We had interest in Jeremy for a while," O'Dowd said.

The 32-year-old right-hander, who went 9-17 with a 4.33 ERA in 32 starts for the Orioles last year, was eligible for salary arbitration this year.

Guthrie's hearing was scheduled for Monday, but he agreed to a one-year deal with the Rockies worth $8.2 million. He can become a free agent following the 2012 season.

"The Rockies have been one of those teams that has consistently had interest, and I guess that's the silver lining in the big change," Guthrie said. "I get a chance to go to a city and play for a team that's ready to win now and ready to go after it and doing everything in their power to do that. I'm excited to pitch meaningful games all season, right from the start."

Though trade rumors had swirled around Guthrie last summer, he was caught off guard Monday.

"The trade was very surprising," he said. "Especially the timing of it."

Guthrie was seeking $10.25 million in arbitration, with Baltimore submitting a $7.25 million figure when the numbers were turned in last month.

"I told [my agent] whatever, let's just work out a deal, let's get it done," Guthrie said of settling so quickly with the Rockies. "I don't think anybody at that point was prepared to get a hearing. We can move forward now without any distractions."

Guthrie led the American League in losses last year while pitching for the last-place Orioles, but there's a big difference between pitching in the AL East against teams like the Yankees and Red Sox and pitching in the National League West in pitcher-friendly ballparks in San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

"We know he's an outstanding competitor, as well as a great athlete," O'Dowd said. "We think the change of leagues will help him."

Guthrie is a workhorse, having averaged 202 innings pitched over the last four seasons. That is important for a Rockies rotation that figures to consist mainly of younger pitchers who will need to have their innings monitored.

The Rockies will try to sort out the rest of the rotation this spring from a group that consists of Jhoulys Chacin, Guillermo Moscoso, Josh Outman, Drew Pomeranz, Juan Nicasio, Alex White, Esmil Rogers, Jamie Moyer and Tyler Chatwood.

"We've got a lot of candidates, I know that," O'Dowd said. "I think the hardest part of our spring quite honestly is sorting through all of them and making good baseball decisions. Some of those guys could end up in our rotation, some could end up in the bullpen and some could end up in Triple-A."

Parting with Hammel and Lindstrom was not an easy decision for the Rockies. Both players will not be eligible for free agency until following the 2013 season.

Hammel was 7-13 with a 4.76 ERA in 27 starts for Colorado last year, while Lindstrom was 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA and a pair of saves in 63 relief appearances in 2011.

"We gave up two players that were part of this season and moving forward for us," O'Dowd said. "But you have to trade something to get something."

Well! Looks like Guthrie was available after all. I really wanted to see him back in Cleveland.

I think Guthrie would have been a better fit in Cleveland rather than in that rarified air in Colorado. Guthrie throws strikes and as a result surrenders a lot of homers especially solo homers. But how important is that stat really? Over the years, I've posted often that Guthrie puts up a lot of quality starts. I didn't really know how many so I did some digging.

2007 17 quality starts = 65% (claimed off waivers from Cleveland by Baltimore)
2008 19 quality starts = 63%
2009 15 quality starts = 45%
2010 20 quality starts = 63%
2011 16 quality starts = 50%

6 year totals 87 quality starts = 56%
league average over those 6 years = 46%

4 straight years with 200+ innings

Call him a stiff or whatever, I think we made a mistake by putting him on waivers. It was a tragedy that we received no compensation. He's had terrible won/lost records but he was also with a terrible team who couldn't score any runs.

I would have preferred Guthrie over Lowe. Since Guthrie was still available, it would have been nice to have some additional insurance against Carmona who probably won't be around this year.

Ahhhhh forget it !

Rockies are collecting Indians No. 1 draftees. Guthrie, White and Pomeranz could all be in their rotation. Pomeranz clearly the best of that bunch.

civ ollilavad wrote:Rockies are collecting Indians No. 1 draftees. Guthrie, White and Pomeranz could all be in their rotation. Pomeranz clearly the best of that bunch.

I remember tracking the first round draftees that Mark Shapiro collected from other teams. There were quite a few.

Appearing on ESPN 1000 in Chicago, manager Ozzie Guillen said that he and his coaching staff knew that Adam Dunn had major issues going into spring training last year.
"I looked at his swing and I told [bench coach] Joey Cora going home, ‘We’ve got a big problem','' Guillen said. ''It was painful to see him every at-bat and walk behind me [in the dugout] with a long face after striking out.'' Dunn, 32, managed just 44 RBI this past season and put an end to his streak of five consecutive seasons with 40-plus home runs. He is still owed $14 million next season and $15 million in 2013 and 2014.

Source: ESPN Chicago Feb 11 - 12:45 PM

Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports reports that the A's have signed Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle says the deal is worth $36 million over four years, beating the record six-year, $30.25 million contract that the Reds handed left-hander Aroldis Chapman in January 2010 by a wide margin. It's an incredibly surprising move by the supposedly cash-strapped A's. Cespedes carries great hype and has the potential to contribute at the major league level in his first year, but Oakland has quite a few holes to patch before they can be considered competitive. And the "prospect" they just signed is already 26 years old.


Related: Athletics
Source: Susan Slusser on Twitter Feb 13 - 12:11 PM

Gary Carter, Hall of Fame catcher, dies of brain cancer at 57
By Mike Dodd, USA TODAY Updated 1h 3m ago
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Even as the world watched the Grade 4 brain cancer wither his body, Gary Carter was still, and is always, Kid. It is a testament to Carter's passion for the game, and for life, that the nickname that at times was applied derisively by crusty veterans ended up on his Hall of Fame plaque.

'The Kid' was an 11-time All-Star and a durable, consistent slugger for the Montreal Expos and the New York Mets, and he ranks among the most beloved players in the history of both of those franchises," Commissioner Bud Selg said in a statement. "Like all baseball fans, I will always remember his leadership for the '86 Mets and his pivotal role in one of the greatest World Series ever played."
Many stars come to New York and shrink on the big stage. Carter seized the platform from his very first game.

On Opening Day 1985, the newly-acquired catcher hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets won 98 games that season, but finished three games behind the Cards.

The next year, they blew away the division, winning 108 games and taking the NL East by 21½ games, as Carter won his fifth Silver Slugger award and finished third in NL Most Valuable Player voting.

He struggled at the plate in the '86 postseason, but still contributed several crucial, and historic, hits. His game-winning single in the bottom of the 12th of Game 5 of the NL Championship Series against Houston gave the Mets a 3-2 series lead, setting the stage for the now-legendary 16-inning win in Game 6. He homered twice in Game 4 of the World Series, helping the Mets win and pull even with the Boston Red Sox at two games apiece.

And he is the man who started the Mets' historic rally in Game 6 of the Series. With his team trailing 5-3 with two out and nobody on in the bottom of the 10th, Carter lined a single to center off Calvin Schiraldi.
Three batters later, Mookie Wilson hit a ground ball that went through Boston first baseman Bill Buckner's legs, giving the Mets one of the most improbable victories in World Series history. They won the championship two nights later.

"You just expected that out of him. When he was playing for me, I always knew good things were coming. He was awfully clutch," says Davey Johnson, the Mets' manager during Carter's five-year stint in New York.

"He was just a perfectionist. He wanted to be the best, and he was the best."

A fan favorite, Carter never shied from the limelight (prompting a less well-known nickname, "Camera"). He was viewed in some quarters of the clubhouse as too friendly with the media, considered self-promotion. His cheerleading demeanor and straight-arrow lifestyle —- he never smoked, rarely drank and was a devoted family man — left him outside many of the cliques in the free-wheeling Mets' clubhouse.

"His nickname 'The Kid' captured how Gary approached life," the Mets said in a statement. "He did everything with enthusiasm and with gusto on and off the field. His smile was infectious. … He was a Hall of Famer in everything he did."

Bob Klapisch, a columnist for The Record in New Jersey who covered the Mets in the '80s, wrote that Carter was never part of the team's inner circle:

"Kid, Nails, Mex, Straw, Doc — it didn't matter whether they signed autographs or not, because the Mets ruled the world — including the bars and clubs — on the other side of midnight," Klapisch wrote in a column after Carter was first diagnosed last spring.

"Carter didn't live that way. Like Mookie Wilson, he was happily married, faithful to his wife, Sandy, didn't drink, didn't touch drugs. That made Carter an outcast in the clubhouse. Carter knew he often was mocked by Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry, among others. But The Kid never returned fire, either on or off the record, instead concentrating on playing hard and interacting with the media."

Jeff Pearlman, author of a 2004 book on the '86 Mets titled The Bad Guys Won!, wrote in January this year that he felt the need to apologize to Carter for his portrayal of the catcher.

"It was a celebratory look at a team I loved as a boy, and while I praised the uproarious antics of men like Gooden, Strawberry and Dykstra, I juvenilely needled (OK, mocked) Carter. Why, the first sentence of Chapter 6 reads, "Gary Carter is a geek" —-- a reference to his Boy Scout ways and Theodore Cleaver goodness."

Over the years, writers and his former teammates changed their view.

"Gary figured it out way before we did how to treat people," former Mets infielder Wally Backman told Klapisch. "We used to make fun of him, the way he'd sign every damn autograph. We had to hold the bus for him sometimes, because he didn't know how to say no. He didn't want to say no. But you know what? He was right. He really loved the game."

And he proved an invaluable cog for the Mets' championship club. Ron Darling, the Mets' No. 2 starter behind Gooden in that era, said Carter was "the missing piece" for the club, an invaluable resource for he and Gooden. Before the days of Moneyball, says Darling, Carter was a walking computer program on the tendencies of opposing hitters.

"Gary had all that in his brain. He had the entire National League," said Darling at a fund-raising dinner in January. "For a young pitching staff, we never had to go over pages and pages of documents. All we had to do was listen to Gary. It made it pretty easy."

For all his highlights in Mets pinstripes, Carter's Hall of Fame plaque features him wearing a Montreal Expos cap. And no one complains.

He played 10-plus seasons with the Expos before being traded to the Mets, and closed his career with them in 1992 (after one-year tours with the Dodgers and Giants). Of his 324 career home runs, 220 came in an Expos uniform.

He was the face of the Canadian franchise for years, making seven of his 11 All-Star appearances with Montreal. In 1981, he led the Expos to the only playoff appearance in franchise history. (They lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS).

After a September call-up in 1974, Carter broke in with the Expos in '75, playing the majority of his rookie season in right field because the Expos had first-round draft pick Barry Foote behind the plate.

Carter's arrival was much heralded, and by some accounts, a less-than-flattering origin of his nickname. Pearlman writes that veteran Expos used to goad Foote about the gung-ho rookie, mockingly saying, "Look at the kid's hustle!"

Veteran New York baseball writer Marty Noble of mlb.com says it's his understanding the nickname came because Carter never played cards and as such was often unoccupied in the pre-game clubhouse. When the card-playing veterans wanted coffee, they'd say, "Let the kid get it." After the nickname was established, it became just "Kid."

Carter took over fulltime behind the plate in 1977 and never moved again (although he played a little first base at the end of his career).

For his career, he is fourth all-time, and first in NL history, in both games caught and putouts as a catcher. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2003, his sixth year on the ballot.

The baseball world was stunned last May when Carter revealed he'd been diagnosed with Grade 4 glioblastoma, a rapidly-growing cancer. Characteristically, he vowed to fight it aggressively, but his family announced in late January that his condition had worsened, as more tumors were found.

Skankees signed Ibañez.

Cubs send relief pitcher Chris Carpenter to Sox as compensation
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Theo Epstein's worth to the Boston Red Sox was easy to gauge. A quick glance at the two World Series trophies at Fenway Park settles that.

Determining his value to the Chicago Cubs, another title-starved franchise desperately hoping to be saved by the Boy Wonder, turned out to be a much more complicated issue. Turns out the architect of a two-time champion who restored pride to a franchise that had long been known for choking in the biggest moments was worth a 26-year-old reliever and a player to be named later.

The two teams finally announced a deal Tuesday that settles a four-month dispute over what Boston should get as compensation when Epstein left for Chicago. The Cubs sent right-handed reliever Chris Carpenter and a player to be named later to the Red Sox for a player to be named later -- and Epstein.

"I guess my name will go down in history," Carpenter said.

After the Red Sox blew a nine-game lead in the AL East by going 7-20 in the final month of last season, Epstein started to look for a new challenge. He became Chicago's president of baseball operations and got a five-year, $18.5 million deal in October.

But completing the deal proved to be much more than a formality as both sides grappled with comparing the skill set of an executive on the suite level with what a player brings on the diamond. The teams were not able to agree on compensation and wound up submitting arguments to Commissioner Bud Selig.

"I think it took this long because it was a unique circumstance," said Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, who served under Epstein before succeeding him. "We talk to teams all the time about trades and it's player-for-player and it's ... easier to assign value and figure out what's fair, what's not fair. In this case it was just tougher because it involved not just an executive but a friend."

It had to make for awkward conversations. Would Cherington throw out a name, only to have Epstein say, `No, I'm not worth that much'?

"It was just difficult because these things don't normally happen," Cherington said with a chuckle. "It's hard to figure out what was appropriate. In the end both teams compromised and we feel really good about the guy we're getting and we're happy it was resolved and we were able to resolve it between the teams without the commissioner getting involved."

For one deal, at least, Epstein went from talent evaluator to the actual talent being acquired.

"I am relieved that this process is over and particularly pleased that the teams were able to reach agreement on their own without intervention from MLB," he said in a statement released by the team. "I truly hope and believe that this resolution will benefit both clubs, as well as Chris, who is an extremely talented reliever joining a great organization at a time when there's some opportunity in the major league bullpen."

Selig said he was glad he didn't have to get involved.

"I am pleased that the Cubs and the Red Sox have resolved this matter," Selig said in a statement. "It has always been my preference that Clubs resolve matters like this amongst themselves, as they understand their unique circumstances better than anyone else could. Though the matter required time, both clubs demonstrated professionalism throughout their discussions, and I appreciate their persistence in finding common ground."

Carpenter was a third-round draft pick by the Cubs in 2008. He made 42 relief appearances between Double-A Tennessee, Triple-A Iowa and the Cubs. He spent four years in the minors before seeing his first major league action last season, when he posted no record and a 2.79 ERA in 10 appearances.

"If you're going to pick two teams to play for, why not the Cubs and the Red Sox?" Carpenter said. "You can't complain about that."

The Red Sox bullpen is in a state of flux and it's one of new manager Bobby Valentine's chief concerns this spring. Andrew Bailey was acquired from Oakland in December to replace closer Jonathan Papelbon and setup man Daniel Bard has been moved to the starting rotation. The Red Sox have 36 pitchers in camp, hoping that the numbers will help them bolster the depth of the relief corps.

The Cubs, meanwhile, can finally close the book on their biggest acquisition in years.

"Now we can just move forward with the spring without worrying about the compensation," Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said in Mesa, Ariz., at Chicago's spring training complex. "Chris is a very good reliever. He's a difficult guy to lose. I think we all realized we were going to lose something of significant value when Theo came over here, and this doesn't change that.

"I hope Chris has a lot of success over there. Obviously the Cubs are really excited about the new management team with Theo leading it, so there was a price to be paid for that."

As for the players to be named later, Hoyer called it a "procedural" thing to meet MLB transaction rules.

According to ESPN's Karl Ravech, Ryan Braun won his PED suspension appeal on a revelation that a courier did not take his urine sample immediately to FedEx because he thought it was closed on Saturday nights.
The sample sat in the courier's fridge for two days, violating the normal protocol for the handling of PED tests. It might sound like a ridiculous out for Braun, but it's an absolute must that the testing process is conducted according to the policies that have been agreed upon between the players' union and the commissioner's office. Braun will be in camp on Friday.

Defense a priority for Rangers' pitchers

SURPRISE, Ariz. --

Rangers pitchers were given the word from manager Ron Washington before their first workout on Thursday. They need to do a better job of fielding their position this season.

Known around baseball as "PFP," pitchers' fielding practice is a big part of every team's early spring workouts. But Rangers pitchers committed 16 errors last season, fourth most in the American League, and Washington, who always stresses defense, wants that fixed. But it's not only errors but little ground balls, choppers and rollers that end up going for hits because the pitcher did not get to the baseball in time.

"There is going to be a lot of attention on PFP and I want it done right," Washington said. "That was the message. If we do it right, we won't be on the field long. If we don't do it right, we'll be out there a long time."

The Rangers have hired Greg Maddux as a special assistant, and he won 18 Gold Gloves for his defensive work on the mound. He might be able to tell the pitchers a few things about fielding their position.

Pitching coach Mike Maddux has worked hard in the past to get his pitchers to understand the importance of fielding their position. But he was glad to hear Washington bring it up before the first workout.

"The good news is getting a voice from Wash," Mike Maddux said. "They hear it from me all the time, but when the manager stands up and makes it a priority, it makes a big impression."

Washington's first meeting with the pitchers was mainly about PFP and staying healthy this spring. His first real message to the team will come on Sunday before the first full-squad workout.

Fundamentals is a beautiful thing when it works.

Baseball's language not lost in translation

SURPRISE, Ariz. --

Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux is trying to improve his communication with his Japanese pitchers.

"I've got a book 'Japanese For Dummies' with my name all over it," Maddux said. "But I've had some Japanese pitchers in the past. I had Tomo Ohka in Milwaukee. This is not my first rodeo. Baseball is a universal language whether you are playing in Caracas, Venezuela, Tokyo, Japan, or Arlington, Texas. Whether it's changeup, fastball or slider, we all use the same language."

Maddux even knows what to say when a pitcher gives up a home run.

"'Keep the ball in the yard, Meat,'" Maddux said. "'Wash is getting mad."

The one Rangers player who should know at least a few words in Japanese is pitcher Colby Lewis. He spent two years pitching in Japan, but he didn't pick up many words.

"Enough to get by and order food off a menu," Lewis said. "I feel I should know more than I do but I don't. American players are spoiled over there. We had one translator for every two players. It was easy to get by."

Manager Ron Washington actually has the Rosetta Stone software program for learning Japanese on his desk back in Arlington.

"I've got it, but I don't think I can put it in my ear and learn it," Washington said. "I'm sure I'll pick up a few words during the season. I don't want to trash their language. I'll just use universal baseball language. I already trash English."