Tampa Bay is now open Sandy!

J.R. wrote:I'm in Sarasota now, and Maddon's leaving is big news down here, of course. Nobody expected it.

Seems like the national press has been talking about the general manager and manager leaving for about 2 months now.

The feeling around here, according to the reports I've seen, was that Maddon would work out a long term deal to stay.

Two other reasons the Red Sox are open to dealing Cespedes are his open disenchantment with Boston and his refusal to pay any heed to their coaches. “He marches to his own drum and the coaches all hate him,” said a Red Sox insider.

JoeZ wet dream!!

Wow, sounds like Puig !

Phillips tops in fielding among all NL 2B to ever play

Reds second baseman narrowly edges Sandberg after '14 season

CINCINNATI --

For the time being, at least, Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips has the best fielding percentage among all the National Leaguers to ever play the position.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau on Tuesday, Phillips has taken over the all-time lead in fielding percentage by NL second basemen at .990 from the previous leader, Ryne Sandberg. The Hall of Famer and former Cub had a .989 career fielding percentage.

Phillips' lead in that category will be noted in the 2015 edition of the Elias record book.
Since joining the Reds in 2006, Phillips has played 1,307 games at second base. He has committed 65 errors in 6,195 total chances.

Phillips is a four-time NL Gold Glove Award winner and is a finalist for his fifth Gold Glove this season.

Red Sox people dispute notion coaches 'all hate' Yoenis Cespedes

October 28, 2014 2:26 pm ET

Red Sox people strongly deny the report their coaches "all hate" Yoenis Cespedes, and at the very least, that word choice seems like quite the exaggeration.

A Red Sox person told CBSSports.com it is "totally untrue" the coaches hate Cespedes, and Red Sox manager John Farrell called the report "completely unfounded" on MLB Network Radio.

There have been suggestions the Red Sox may look to trade Cespedes, who's a free agent after next year. So it is fair to point out that Red Sox people obviously wouldn't want it out there that they hate Cespedes.

But while Red Sox people may not love Cespedes' pedestrian on-base numbers, they say they need his power. Furthermore, while they don't rule out a trade of Cespedes, they don't suggest it is likely due to the team's overall need for power.

There actually is no evidence anyone hates Cespedes, and in this case it seems more likely that there is simply frustration on the part of a coach or two over Cespedes' alleged unwillingness to work extra time to acclimate himself to the left field wall in Fenway Park.

What's unusual in this case is that the trade of Cespedes was blamed by many for Oakland's second-half slump, but apparently it hasn't been received perfectly in Boston, either.

Just as it's a stretch to say the loss of Cespedes triggered Oakland's decline, as was written here, reports of him being a problem in Boston appear to be at least somewhat overblown.

in re: Brandon the Greatest 2nd baseman ever

Jeffrey Allen Stevens is a retired American professional baseball pitcher who is currently an area scout for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball.

Re Boston denying Cespedes "hated by all the coaches".

Of course they're denying it. They're trying to trade him. You wait till he's out the door before you badmouth him.

I did not hear anything negative on the time he spent in Oakland. At least not on the Boston level of negativity.

BA looks at the World Series the way you would expect, by taking the prospect perspective. Following their Game 7 win Wednesday night that gave them their third World Series championship in five seasons, BA flashes back to the Giants in January 2009 following a fourth-place finish in 2008. It appeared the Giants had bottomed out but their top prospects entering 2009 were Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey. Andy Baggarly had the story, which ran in our 2009 Prospect Handbook.


TOP TEN PROSPECTS
1. Madison Bumgarner, lhp
2. Buster Posey, c
3. Angel Villalona, 1b
4. Tim Alderson, rhp
5. Nick Noonan, 2b
6. Ehire Adrianza, ss
7. Conor Gillaspie, 3b
8. Rafael Rodriguez, of
9. Scott Barnes, lhp [Major Tribe pickup]
10. Sergio Romo, rhp

The Giants hit just 94 home runs last year, the fewest by a major league club in a non-strike-shortened season since the expansion Marlins in 1993. It was a depressing lack of power for a fan base accustomed to cheering Barry Bonds.

San Francisco took plenty of souvenir baseballs out of play, though. Fifteen players made their major league debuts before Sept. 1, the most by a club since the 1954 Philadelphia Athletics, and seemingly hardly a day went by without someone registering their first hit.

After the 162-game experiment ran its course, the Giants identified a few players—Fred Lewis, Sergio Romo, Pablo Sandoval, Brian Wilson—who could be part of their next contender. They also eliminated many others.

Tim Lincecum shined brightest of all. The undersized righthander elevated himself among the game’s elite pitchers, winning the National League Cy Young Award and becoming the first Giant to lead the majors in strikeouts.

The end result was a 72-90 record and a fourth consecutive losing season, a run of shame San Francisco hadn’t experienced since 1974-77, among the darkest of ages at Candlestick Park.

Yet there’s hope deeper in the system and the Giants might not be down for long. First-year scouting director John Barr redirected the club’s former pitching-heavy philosophy and took college bats with his top four draft picks. None made a bigger statement than catcher Buster Posey, Baseball America’s College Player of the Year and the Golden Spikes Award winner, who signed at the Aug. 15 deadline for $6.2 million.

That was the largest up-front bonus in draft history and nearly triple the previous franchise record ($2.1 million to Angel Villalona in 2006). It also underscored a significant change that began the previous season under longtime general manager Brian Sabean. Instead of borrowing from the player-development budget to sign veteran free agents, the Giants reduced payroll and spent more on prospects. They also invested in another top-flight international talent, signing 16-year-old Dominican outfielder Rafael Rodriguez for $2.55 million in mid-July.

Most of the system’s top talent is at least a year or two away, however, so 2009 promises to be interesting in San Francisco. Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy have contracts that expire after the season, and new managing partner Bill Neukom doesn’t believe in public votes of confidence. That may be why the team spent $37.25 million in guaranteed money on several free agents in the offseason, most notably Edgar Renteria.

Major League Baseball approved Neukom in August to replace Peter Magowan, whose departure was termed charitably as a retirement. Magowan solidified the Giants’ place in San Francisco, and his ballpark vision was realized with the construction of a modern classic on the waterfront. But the Mitchell Report characterized him as a steroids enabler, forever staining his reputation, and there were indications the club’s disastrous $126 million signing of Barry Zito made him unpopular with club investors.

Magowan approached his role from a fan’s perspective, often making impetuous moves such as the Zito contract. Neukom, the former chief legal mind at Microsoft, plans to take a measured, analytical approach while prioritizing player development and a “Giants Way” of competing both on and off the field.

Neukom said he expects San Francisco to be competitive in 2009 and contend the following season, all while bringing his “Microsoft meritocracy” to the front office. Even if the Giants show improvement, Neukom could decide he wants a baseball architect with a more modern perspective than Sabean, who isn’t known to squint at a laptop screen.

Pirates dump Jeanmar Gomez as well as Axford. Anyone want them back? Gomez could be useful as a depth starter. Axford is worthless.

Carlos Rivero floating on the edges of 40-man rosters dropped by the Red Sox (he got a major league cameo this summer) and picked up by Seattle.

Hanley Ramirez #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers makes a throw in front of Arismendy Alcantara #7 of the Chicago Cubs in an attepmt for a double play during the third inning at Dodger Stadium on August 2, 2014. (Harry How/Getty Images)

By Andrew Zajac
November 8, 2014
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In this MLB News and Notes segment, I will be giving occasional reports on the latest news and rumors throughout the MLB. I also will try to tweet news and rumors as I see them, so feel free to follow me on Twitter: @AndrewIBI.

Here are the stories from Friday, Nov. 7.

Top Stories:

It's been speculated that Hanley Ramirez's desire to play shortstop will temper the demand for his services on the open market due to his sub-par work at the position, but Jon Heyman of CBS Sports heard that Ramirez is now telling clubs he's willing to play third base or "wherever there's a need." On Thursday, ESPN's Buster Olney speculated that opening up to the possibility of playing elsewhere on the diamond would likely enhance interest in Ramirez. If he's open to playing third base or even left field, Ramirez's suitors could indeed grow, although Ramirez has never played a professional game in the outfield in the minors or Majors, so clubs may be hesitant to drop him into that role with no prior experience.
Tribe News:

Carlos Santana has routinely participated in winter ball throughout his career with the Indians. This month, Cleveland's first baseman is taking things a step further by suiting up for the Major League Baseball All-Stars in Japan, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com wrote. On Friday, MLB and the MLB Players Association officially announced the 29-man roster for the All-Star team that will head overseas for the Japan All-Star Series. Joining Santana from the Indians will be manager Terry Francona, who will serve as a coach on MLB All-Star manager John Farrell's staff. The MLB All-Stars will take on Samurai Japan (the Japanese national team) in a five-game series, beginning Wednesday. The MLB squad will first play an exhibition game on Tuesday. Throughout the five-game series, there will be games hosted in Osaka (Kyocera Dome), Tokyo (Tokyo Dome) and Sapporo (Sapporo Dome).

News and Notes:

Pablo Sandoval is seeking a six-year contract on the open market, his agent Gustavo Vasquez told Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. Given his client's age, Vasquez doesn't feel that a four- or five-year deal is a sensible target. "Maybe if he was 30 or 31 we could talk about four or five years," Vasquez said to Schulman. "But he's 28. He deserves more than that." Vasquez explained to Schulman that the six-year term of the contract is more important to Sandoval than the average annual value. That comment isn't surprising, as a player will typically downgrade a contract's AAV as the years increase. While he said Sandoval has no specific dollar figure in mind, other reports have indicated a target north of $100 million. So, while the AAV of the deal may be somewhat flexible, it seems Vasquez must be eyeing at least a $17 million annual salary for his client.

On a conference call with Padres season-ticket holders on Thursday night, general manager A.J. Preller spoke candidly about the team's interest in Cuban slugger Yasmany Tomas: "We've had the chance to see Yasmany Tomas and we're in the process of determining his value for the Padres. We're in the game." San Diego has been said to be one of the front-runners for Tomas, and he'd certainly provide the team with some much-needed offense if he lives up to the hype surrounding him.

The Reds have outfielders Michael Morse and Nori Aoki on their list of free agent targets, GM Walt Jocketty told John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Jocketty said that he would prefer to find the outfield bat that the team needs on the open market rather than via trade.

The Yankees declined the 2015 club option that came with their last minor league deal for Andrew Bailey and re-signed the former All-Star closer to a new minor league pact, Chad Jennings of LoHud.com reported. The 30-year-old Bailey hasn't taken a Major League mound since July 2013 due to an injury to the labrum in his right shoulder that ultimately required surgery. He last appeared with the Red Sox after joining Boston as the key piece in the trade that sent Josh Reddick to the Athletics.

The Rangers will be on the lookout for a backup catcher to pair with Robinson Chirinos this offseason, MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan wrote. Sullivan looked at the crop of free agents and notes that A.J. Pierzynski, Gerald Laird and J.P. Arencibia have all played with the Rangers in the past, but he wondered if the team will spend a bit more money on a name like Nick Hundley rather than bringing in familiar faces.

The Mariners are expected to shop outfielder Michael Saunders at next week's GM Meetings, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. Saunders and the organization have had a recent falling out based on some comments that GM Jack Zduriencik made at season's end. As chronicled by Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, Zduriencik made comments suggesting that Saunders needs to reassess his offseason workout/maintenance habits in order to be better prepared to play over the course of a full 162-game season. Saunders declined to comment on the words from Zduriencik, but agent Michael McCann expressed both surprise, disappointment and frustration at the comments, feeling that they called Saunders' work ethic into question.

Free agent outfielder Chris Young is in discussions with the Yankees about a deal that would keep him in New York, according to a report from Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Young joined the Yankees on a minor league deal in the middle of 2014, after he was released by the crosstown Mets.

November 7, 2014
Bargain Bin Hot Stove Targets

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mlbbargainFA Justin Masterson, Brandon McCarthy and Kendrys Morales are intriguing cheap alternatives in the 2014 free-agent market. (Getty Images)

The San Francisco Giants won the just-completed World Series because of their infrastructure: Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence in the middle of the order, Buster Posey's bat and game-calling, a been-there, done-that bullpen orchestrated by a sage skipper in Bruce Bochy and, most of all, Madison Bumgarner's awesome arsenal.

That said, there's no way the Giants bridge the gap between the 86-loss season of 2013 and another October berth in 2014 without some wise external investments. When they could have gone nine figures deep on a Shin-Soo Choo, the Giants opted for a worthwhile gamble on Mike Morse. When they could have spent big bucks on a Ubaldo Jimenez, they acted quickly on a mid-tier option in Tim Hudson.

The lesson, as always, is that sometimes subtlety prevails in the Hot Stove season. And if you have the right combination of infrastructure and intelligence, you can piece something special together.

Below are six examples of potentially intelligent alternatives for the more scrupulous offseason shopper. As with all things related to free agency, nothing is guaranteed but the dollars written into the deal.

The brand name: Victor Martinez
The substitute: Kendrys Morales

To say Morales had a miserable 2014 is an understatement. He turned down a qualifying offer from the Mariners, languished in free agency until after the amateur Draft, finally latched on with the Twins, was traded back to the Mariners and, along the way, turned in a measly .218/.274/.338 slash line.

Morales is a switch-hitting DH type like Martinez, but he's obviously no Martinez. He doesn't have anywhere near the selectivity (heck, he struck out 26 more times in 240 fewer plate appearances this season) or on-base ability of a V-Mart.

Still, given the gargantuan salary (and perhaps four-year commitment) it's going to take to sign the 36-year-old Martinez, it's not a major stretch to think Morales might be the far better value play in 2015.

Morales is only 31, and beyond the strange schedule that might have hampered him in 2014 is the simple fact that he's spent every home game of his career in a pitcher's park. He'll probably never again be the guy he was in 2009 (.306/.355/.569 slash with the Angels), before that awful leg injury that cost him most of 2010 and all of 2011. But there's probably still a good bit of boom in that bat. He hit 23 homers and had 34 doubles with the M's in 2013.

In the right ballpark, Morales could be as good a bat as any available in a predictably thin market for run production.

The brand name: James Shields
The substitute: Brandon McCarthy

Somebody is going to pay way too much for Shields to be their workhorse. The guy's dedication to his routine is impressive, and it's allowed him to log 1,969 2/3 innings between the regular and postseason since 2006. But at some point, even the utmost dedication gives way to the laws of science, and whoever signs the soon-to-be-33-year-old Shields for the long term is going to find themselves on the hook for whatever inevitable injury or regression befalls him.

Hey, maybe it's better to go for the guy who has some injuries in the rearview and seems to have figured out how to stay fresh for a full season. Don't get me wrong: McCarthy isn't going to be some astronomical bargain, because I'm hardly the only guy touting his services this offseason. But the comparison is particularly apt when you compare Shields' numbers with the Royals this year with McCarthy's (admittedly smaller sample) numbers with the Yanks (after he brought the cutter back to his repertoire):

Shields: 3.21 ERA, 227 IP, 3.59 FIP, 8.9 H/9, 0.9 HR/9, 4.09 K/BB
McCarthy: 2.89 ERA, 90 1/3 IP, 3.22 FIP, 9.1 H/9, 1.0 HR/9, 6.31 K/BB

The added bonus is that you don't have to fork over a compensation Draft pick to sign McCarthy. He's the better buy.

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The brand name: Hanley Ramirez
The substitute: Asdrubal Cabrera

Both guys will be marketed as a shortstop, and neither one really has any business playing short anymore. Still, the market is barren enough at the position (with a certain New York club looking to replace a certain icon) that both guys could stay in that role.

Before any club commits to the 31-year-old Hanley, who has averaged 116 games played over the last four seasons, it would be wise to at least kick the tires on Cabrera, who has been far more durable (144 games played, on average, in that four-year stretch). He draws his walks, limits his strikeouts, can steal a few bags for you and can run into a few homers, so he's got a well-rounded skillset.

What I'm about to show you is a little misleading, as it involves an 2011 season that, for Cabrera (.792 OPS, 25 homers) might prove unrepeatable -- but, again, durability is a big factor in this discussion:

Cabrera (2011-14): .257/.320/.419 SLG, 107 OPS+, 69 HR, 440 K, 180 BB
Ramirez (2011-14): .277/.351/.464 SLG, 125 OPS+, 67 HR, 334 K, 181 BB

You're making some concessions in overall impact potential, obviously, but Cabrera is younger and has been more consistently available on an everyday basis.

The brand name: Jon Lester
The substitute: Justin Masterson

Now, obviously, Lester is a lefty, Masterson a right-hander. Lester leans heavily on a four-seamer and cutter, whereas Masterson is more of a sinker-slider guy. And Lester's overall pedigree as a steady supplier of 200 innings is far superior to that of Masterson. This is apples and oranges.

But just to illustrate how much timing plays a part in free agency, consider the '13 outputs of these two arms:

Masterson: 14-10, 3.45 ERA, 193 IP, 3.35 FIP, 2.57 K/BB
Lester: 15-8, 3.75, 213 1/3 IP, 3.59 FIP, 2.67 K/BB

In the time since, Lester's profile has only risen, while Masterson's velo dropped and his value absolutely cratered. One guy will be legitimately searching for nine figures, while the other will profile more toward a one-year reclamation contract.

I don't think Masterson will outpitch Lester in 2015, and there is a very realistic chance that he has simply flamed out. But he was solid and at times spectacular in 2011 and 2013, and the Giants showed us that sometimes this every-other-year stuff really works. When a guy goes from All-Star caliber one year to complete mess the next, there's usually an explanation (Masterson did have knee trouble early in the year). There's not always a fix, but there is at least an explanation. If a team discovers and solves that explanation, it will have a diamond in the rough for '15, a la the Twins' wonderful bounceback investment in Phil Hughes.

The brand name: David Robertson
The substitute: Burke Badenhop

Be it by accepting the qualifying offer or working something else out, it's hard to imagine Robertson leaving the Bronx. But he's probably the top "proven closer" available in free agency, for whatever that's worth.

Hopefully by now most of us realize that's not worth much. And while you can either pay something similar to the $15.3 million the Yankees have offered Robertson or sign him to a more lucrative multiyear deal, Badenhop looms as a perfectly viable back-end relief option. He allowed one homer in 70 2/3 innings with just 19 walks with the Red Sox this season, inducing 61 percent ground balls.

In short, you can go for the "proven closer" or you can insert Badenhop into high-leverage situations where you know he's a good bet to throw strikes and keep it in the park.

The brand name: Nelson Cruz
The substitute: Alex Rios

Clearly, there's no way Cruz will have to settle for another one-year, $8-million guarantee. Not after a season in which he was the only Major Leaguer to reach the 40-homer plateau. But if it does, ultimately, take a lucrative four-year deal to write Cruz's name into the middle of your order, that's an awfully steep price to swallow for a 34-year-old slugger.

Rios, meanwhile, looms as a drastically lower-priced alternative (again, with no Draft pick considerations to fret about) -- one that might be due for a bounceback in pop. He's seven months younger than Cruz, and it was just two years ago that he outslugged him (.516 SLG for Rios, .460 for Cruz).

It might be a leap of faith to suggest that a guy who just spent an entire season in Arlington and hit just four homers has more power in the tank. Rios struck out in 17.9 percent of his plate appearances in '14 -- his highest such rate since '06 -- and his isolated power mark (.118) was by far his lowest ever. It's entirely possible he's been betrayed by bat speed, as is the case with many a mid-30s slugger.

However, Rios' line-drive (23.5), groundball (42.8) and fly ball (33.7) rates were all relatively consistent with his norms, so it's possible there was some bad luck that encompassed Rios, like so many other Rangers in 2014. He's not going to hit 40 homers next year, but I'm not exactly sure Cruz will either. On the right team in the right park, Rios could get back to 20-something homer power on an affordable deal.

***

Anthony Castrovince is a Sports on Earth contributor and MLB.com columnist. Follow him on Twitter @Castrovince.