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Angels shoot down Figgins rumor

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have shut down the rumor of Chone Figgins and the Chicago White Sox. Team General Manager Tony Reagins has said he and Chicago’s GM Kenny Williams have had no conversations whatsoever about the third baseman. “I haven’t had any conversations with Kenny,” Reagins said, “and we have no interest in moving [Figgins] at this point.” Read more

White Sox interested in Figgins

The Chicago White Sox are looking everywhere right now for a lead-off hitting second baseman. The position on the field and in the lineup, might be this teams biggest need right now. Their lead-off hitter, Orlando Cabrera, is hitting a paltry .219. While their second baseman trio, Alexei Ramirez (.207), Juan Uribe (.198) and Pablo Ozuna (.243) are all not getting the job done. One obvious possibility is Baltimore Orioles’ Brian Roberts, but General Manger Kenny Williams isn’t willing to pay the price it would take to get him. So the most interesting candidate comes from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Chone Figgins. Read more

Torii Hunter involved in accident on way to game!

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim CF Torii Hunter was involved in a car accident on the way to tonight’s game. He was a few blocks east of the Honda Center when his 2008 Bently was run into while stopped at a red slight. According to the Orange County Register, Hunter came to a stop at the light and the car behind him only did so after crashing into his rear. Any injuries? Yes.

Hunter was complaining of some neck and back stiffness but shouldn’t keep him from playing. “They said I might be sore (Saturday) so we’ll see,” Hunter said. As of now, Hunter is still in the lineup for tonight’s game against the Seattle Mariners.

K-Rod likely for free agency

It looks like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and closer Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez will not be coming to terms on an extension before Opening Day. The problem is the Angels aren’t willing to budge from their initial contract offers to K-Rod. Angels GM Tony Reagins has said the team “is always open to dailogue” but yet won’t make an offer better then the 3-year , $34 million deal that is already on the table. He’s also made it clear the team isn’t looking to trade K-Rod either just to get something back. “No. Right now, Frankie is an important part of our team,” Reagins said. “The fact that his contract expires at the end of the season and he can become a free agent doesn’t mean we have to trade him any more than any other player whose contract expires at the end of a season.

Rodriguez and his agent Paul Kinzer don’t plan on having any negotiations during the baseball season. “Right now, we’ll wait it out until the season is over,” said Kinzer, “Normally, I don’t like to do that (negotiate during the season). It’s tough on the player.” Kinzer has said thou that there is no deadline for the Angels, which would lead me to believe if say in July they offer a big contract then the two would accept. But its more then likely that K-Rod will be a free agent. Rodriguez said, “Everything’s headed that way … But there’s going to be six long months of the season and I can’t predict what’s going to happen in one week or one month or six months.”

The 26-year old closer is due for a HUGE pay raise thanks to the deal that 33-year old Joe Nathan just signed with the Minnesota Twins. “The market for Frankie is pretty much established,” Kinzer said. “I think it (Nathan’s contract) just helps reinforce the market.” Rodriguez is already among the elite closers in the league, easily top 5 and ahead of Nathan, while also being 7 years younger. Nathan signed a 4-year $47 million deal, only Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees makes more at $45 million for 3-years. Nathan has 160 saves in 4 season as a closer, while K-Rod 132 in his first 3 full seasons. At his young age, K-Rod may also have the chance to rewrite the record books for a closer, unless Jonathan Papelbon does it first.

Thanks to Nathan and Rivera the market for closers is about to change in a big way and may never take a turn back. Very soon elite closers are going to be paid like elite starters and hitters which I believe is fair since the teams with best closers usually wind up playing playoff baseball. Boston Red Sox’s Jonathan Papelbon and Rodriguez have a chance to take Nathan’s contract to an entirely new level. With their ages I’m sure they’ll even pass the $15 million a year that Mariano makes. Come November it will be interesting to see where the bidding war takes Rodriguez. If Mariano’s age catches up this year, could the Yankees make a big run?

Rays looking to make a trade

The Tampa Bay Rays are actively searching for an additional outfielder, be it via trade or free agency. The Rays strength right now is their young pitching and with that being said, the Rays are willing to deal Edwin Jackson or Jason Hammel if need be. Both players are out of options, so they’d be the first candidates to be dealt. Rays VP Andrew Friedman said “we’ll be aggressive if something presents itself.” There are a few teams who have spare outfielders and are in need of some pitching help.

Those possible partners include the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers and obviously the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Angels could move Juan Rivera and the Dodgers they’ve got a problem on their hands with Andre Ethier thinking he deserves more playing time. Where a deal happens thou is all up in the air and purely speculative at this point. The Dodgers just would want to get an outfielder off their hands, while the Angels well they’ve been stricken big time by injury.

Internal options for the Rays include Eric Hinske. Obviously the team isn’t to sold on him being their extra outfielder. If the Rays do make a trade, J.P. Howell could be called up from the minors to take the last rotation spot.

Who pitches opening day for Angels?

With pitchers John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar both out indefinitely, who starts Opening Day for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Manager Mike Scioscia still hasn’t announced his starting rotation members or the order of the players. But if you look at the Angels current spring rotation, you can easily break it down and figure which young gun it is. So who is it?

It looks like 25-year old Jered Weaver will get the nod. Looking at the rest of the spring schedule, Weaver is currently scheduled to pitch Monday on normal rest. Its not a bad choice either if Scioscia decides to go that route. This spring Weaver went 5-1 with a 1.37 era in 26 and 1/3 innings pitched. He would of had a 6th win had it not been for a blown save by Francisco Rodriguez. Weaver also had a solid sophomore season in 2007, going 13-7 with a 3.91 era in 161 innings. For his career he’s 24-9 with a 3.33 era and 220 strikeouts in 284 innings pitched.

There isn’t a more deserving guy to get the nod out of the current Angels options. “If it’s me, it’s a tremendous honor,” Weaver said. “You always admire the No. 1 guys, and it’s an honor to have the Angels even think about me doing it. At the same time, it kind of stinks that our two horses are down. It’s a bummer it had to happen like this.” It’s great his ego is in check as well and that he’s nothing like his brother Jeff.

Angels could have had something special this season, with Lackey, Escobar and Weaver but hey injuries are part of the game. Let’s see if the rest of this team can man up and keep pace with the Seattle Mariners.

MLB Injury Update, 3/26

Here’s today injury update from around Major League Baseball. Today we’ve got updates on the Yankees, Royals, Cubs, Rangers, Twins, Padres, Giants, Mets, Brewers and Angels. Like usual its a long read.

• San Francisco Giants - Kevin Frandsen - Ruptured Achilles tendon. This is an unfortunate injury that will cost Frandsen the entire baseball season. Surgery is needed but has not been scheduled yet. He’s expected to be on crutches for around two months after he does have the surgery. Eugneio Velez should take over his backup role
• Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - Scot Shields - Inflamed forearm. An MRI revealed no ligament damage which is a good thing. He’s still expected to start the season on the disabled list. He pretty much just needs to stay behind in extended spring training to get some more action in before facing major leaguers. “He’ll need to pitch and to work out some things, and he can do that better in camp games,” Scioscia said. “If we back-date a DL stint, he’d only miss the first six or seven games. It’s worth the price to pay short term, rather than risk a month or two of the season because he’s doing something he’s not ready for.”
• Kansas City Royals - Hideo Nomo - pulled groin. Nomo pulled his groin in a start Tuesday against the San Diego Padres. He’s now expected to start the season in the minors as he won’t be ready to pitch come opening day. He was already a long shot to make the roster thou.
• Chicago Cubs - Mark DeRosa - sinusitis. This guy has had one rough spring. First an irregular heartbeat, then the flu, now he’s missing game due to sinusitis. The good news for him thou is that the team has finally decided to break off negotiations with the Baltimore Orioles’ about Brian Roberts. His job as the starting second baseman is safe.
• San Diego Padres - Jim Edmonds - strained right calf. Edmonds feels his strained right calf is finally healed enough to at least attempt game action. He’s been running and working out on the side. He will test the calf out this upcoming week in minor league games. He’s still expected to start the season on the DL, just to get in his at-bats.
• Milwaukee Brewers - Yovani Gallardo - knee surgery. Gallardo made his second minor league start today in his recovery from arhroscopic knee surgery. He went three innings giving up one hit and a walk, but no runs. He’s expected to re-join the team in mid-April after a brief DL stint as he is working on strengthening that knee.
• Texas Rangers - Luis Mendoza - finger blister. Mendoza will start the season on the DL because of the blister. This injury really doesn’t affect the rotation thou as he’s the fifth starter and won’t be needed till April 12th. This is more just to get an extra reliever on the Rangers roster during that time. Mendoza will start on the 12th when needed
• Minnesota Twins - Carlos Gomez - left hamstring cramping. The injury isn’t as severe as originally thought. During today’s game, Gomez came up lame after going to the left-center field gap to make a play. The way it looked, it seemed like a strained or pull but luckily it was just cramping. He’ll be considered day-to-day as the team will take it easy with their starting center fielder since this is the hamstring that caused him to miss a few games last season.
• New York Mets - Moises Alou - hernia surgery. Alou showed up at training camp today for the first time since having hernia surgery on March 6th. The recovery time is 4 to 6 weeks, and Alou is hopping to be cleared to at least start jogging shortly. He’s definitely starting the season on the DL with an estimated return of late April, early May.
• Mets - Ramon Castro - strained hamstring. Castro hasn’t played in a game since March 16th and may need to start the season on the DL now. He recently suffered a setback in his recovery efforts.
• New York Yankees - Sean Henn - shoulder tendinitis. Unfortunately for Henn, he’s a victim of the numbers games. Henn is out of options and recently lost his left-handed specialist job to Billy Traber. Due to that, he’ll start the season on the disabled list with shoulder tendinitis. It’s been a while since he’s pitched in a major league spring training game so the Yankees were at least able to back date this and he could return April 5th. Henn pitched in a minor league game this afternoon and experienced no problems.
• New York Yankees - Brett Gardner - split lip. Gardner suffered a split lip today after foul ball bounced back up and hit him in his mouth. He went to see a dentist after the game, this is clearly a day-to-day injury. Gardner may open the season with the big boys if Melky Cabrera serves out his suspension to start the season.
• New York Yankees - Johnny Damon - flu. Damon was scratched from today’s game due to the flu, he’ll most likely miss another day or two with it. Maybe its a good thing, it will leave him well rested for Opening Day in the Bronx.
• New York Yankees - Andy Pettitte - back spasms. And now the daily Pettitte update. Pettitte had a 10-minute bullpen session today throwing 36 pitches and is now fully on target to pitch in the 4th or 5th game of the season. “It makes me feel good that I got through that and I felt good,” Pettitte said. “I could just tell that I felt a whole lot better this morning when I woke up. It loosened up nice for me.”

That is tonights update. It’s still relatively early in the evening almost 9pm. If there’s enough updates then I’ll send out a Part 2 around midnight.

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