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Mets Stingy With Cash as They Eye Future

February 25, 2011   Ed Price   No comments

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Sandy Alderson
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Just down the street from the Mets‘ spring training facility, QVC operates a call center.

There is no truth to the rumor that the Mets did all their offseason shopping there.

An analysis of data from the MLB Trade Rumors website shows that the Mets spent $6.6 million on major league contracts to free agents, 26th-most of the 30 teams. That’s less than small-market teams Pittsburgh, San Diego, Oakland and Florida gave just one free agent this winter.

This has led to some grumbling in New York, where nothing comes cheap.

But the Mets did the right thing …

If.

There’s a big if. More on that in a bit.

 

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Jed Lowrie Hits Books at Stanford to Keep Up With Globetrotting Fiancee

February 23, 2011   Ed Price   No comments

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Jed LowrieFORT MYERS, Fla. — After Monday’s third full-squad workout, some of the Red Sox players hit the golf course. Or the pool.

Jed Lowrie opened his laptop, put the finishing touches on a 17-page paper comparing the baseball and football players’ unions, and e-mailed it to his Stanford professor.

With that Lowrie completed his last coursework for a degree in political science — 8 1/2 years after first arriving at Stanford.

“I had invested too much time,” Lowrie said Wednesday. “I knew it was going to happen. It was just a matter of finding the right time.”

 

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Orioles Developing New Culture Under Buck Showalter

February 21, 2011   Ed Price   No comments

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SARASOTA, Fla. — The Orioles have a 75 percent new infield, a new closer, a new designated hitter and a new coaching staff.

Before they make the step to contender in the American League East, Baltimore will need a culture change.

Buck Showalter is doing what he can to change an atmosphere created by (and the cause of) 13-straight losing seasons.

Instead of a team-wide meeting before Monday’s first full-squad workout, Showalter had everyone come to the clubhouse Sunday evening. They piled into buses and went to a local movie theater.

Center fielder Adam Jones wondered if they were seeing the Justin Bieber movie. Instead, after Showalter introduced the front office and staff and made a short speech, the team watched a specially made video.

In between World Series-clinching moments from Orioles championships and clips of some Baltimore on-field brawls were inspirational speeches from movies such as “Any Given Sunday” and “Miracle.”

 

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Opportunity Awaits for Domonic Brown at Phillies’ Camp

February 20, 2011   Ed Price   No comments

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Domonic BrownCLEARWATER, Fla. — Domonic Brown wears a light-grey T-shirt with the sleeves cut off under his Phillies uniform.

The shirt is made by Nike, but the slogan on it might as well come from the Philadelphia front office:

YOUR
TIME
WILL
COME

Told Sunday the slogan is appropriate, Brown chuckled and nodded.

FanHouse rated Brown, 23, the No. 6 prospect in baseball. And with Jayson Werth gone, having taken the Nationals‘ money, there is a spot for Brown in right field at Citizens Bank Park.

 

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Don Newcombe Says Miguel Cabrera Needs to Confront His Problem

February 19, 2011   Ed Price   No comments

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Miguel CabreraLAKELAND, Fla. — Before the Tigers can contend for the playoffs, before Miguel Cabrera can put on their uniform, before Cabrera can get on with the rest of his life, one thing has to happen.

Cabrera will have to admit he has a problem.

Don’t take my word for it.

“The problem is going to get worse, not better, until you listen to the doctors, you listen to the people like me who’s been through it all,” Don Newcombe told FanHouse on Saturday from his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif. “They have to listen.

“If you want to play games and want to do it your way, I say you are going to fail.”

Newcombe, 84, should know. A pitcher for the Dodgers, Newcombe was the 1949 Rookie of the Year, 1956 MVP and Cy Young Award winner.

 

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Miguel Cabrera to Be Evaluated by Doctors

February 19, 2011   Ed Price   No comments

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Miguel CabreraLAKELAND, Fla. — Miguel Cabrera was on his way to Tigers camp late Wednesday. He won’t arrive before the middle of next week.

Detroit general manager Dave Dombrowski said Saturday that Cabrera, arrested late Wednesday in Fort Pierce, Fla., on suspicion of drunken driving, will be evaluated early next week by a doctor selected jointly by Major League Baseball and the players’ union. A treatment plan will be decided upon after that, Dombrowski said.

“He wanted to come (to Lakeland) yesterday,” Dombrowski said, “but it didn’t take long (to convince him to be evaluated) because it’s one of those where he understands what’s best for himself. And he’s willing to cooperate.”

So there’s no telling when Cabrera will return to baseball.

“The regular season’s a while away yet,” Dombrowski said. “Even when you deal with most (rehabilitation) programs, if you deal with programs, most of them are 30-day programs — and I’m not saying that’s what he’s going into.”

 

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Need a Job? The Yankees Are Hiring

February 18, 2011   Ed Price   No comments

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Freddy Garcia
TAMPA, Fla. — Welcome to the Land of Opportunity, formerly known as George M. Steinbrenner Field.

“I felt like it was a good chance for me,” Mark Prior said Friday.

“I think I picked the right spot, man,” Freddy Garcia said a few minutes later.

“They gave me the opportunity to pitch again,” Bartolo Colon said.

It didn’t used to be this way. When a veteran player had to go to camp as a non-roster invitee, Tampa was usually the last place he would want to be. The big-money Yankees would have superstars penciled in at every position and almost no roster spots up for grabs — at least, not significant ones.

 

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Albert Pujols Didn’t Need Deadline to Avoid Contract ‘Distractions’

February 17, 2011   Ed Price   No comments

Media surrounds Albert PujolsJUPITER, Fla. — Inside the Cardinals clubhouse, they marvel at Albert Pujols‘ focus and determination.

“That’s the reason he is what he is,” former teammate John Smoltz said Thursday.

Manager Tony La Russa said Pujols is “tied for first with the all-timers” in his ability to avoid so-called distractions.

“This guy (has) amazing ability to concentrate,” La Russa said, “and just be totally relentless in his preparation and the way he competes.

“It’s a no-brainer to say that he will not be distracted.”

So why did Pujols, who on Thursday addressed his lack of a contract extension beyond this season, need to cut off talks Wednesday?

He insisted he won’t re-open talks during the season, to which I asked, Why?

“Why? Look at this,” Pujols said, referring to 30 or so media members surrounding him as he discussed his situation for about 25 minutes.

 

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Like Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols’ Contract Strife Links Back to A-Rod

February 16, 2011   Ed Price   No comments

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JUPITER, Fla. — Baseball has two superstars whose identities have become inseparable from their team’s identity.

And this offseason, both Albert Pujols and Derek Jeter went through contract negotiations with their franchises that left everyone, player and team, taking criticism.

We can blame the Steinbrenner brothers for both.

Hank and Hal are the ones who gave Alex Rodriguez — at age 32, after their general manager said he would not re-sign A-Rod if he opted out and he opted out anyway — a 10-year, $275 million deal.

Jeter, rightfully, could feel he had done more for the Yankees than A-Rod and thus deserved to be richly rewarded.

Pujols, rightfully, could feel he is, right now, a better player than A-Rod and deserves a richer contract.

 

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Spring Battles Not Always Worth Tracking

February 14, 2011   Ed Price   No comments

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Detroit Tigers second baseman Will Rhymes
For the next seven weeks, we will get breathless updates about who is in the lead to be the Yankees‘ No. 5 starter, or the Mets‘ second baseman or the Pirates‘ closer.

Know what? Doesn’t matter.

Those constant tweets on how guys “look,” and stories handicapping a race for a roster spot are really two months of obsession over competitions whose winners are often only temporary.

“Things change so much during the course of the season,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “You make trades. Guys get hurt. (In spring training), you’re trying to cover the ‘what-ifs.’ It’s kind of a moving target. It could change in three days.”

Want proof? We tracked 36 key spring-training “battles” from 2010. Of those 36, just nine of the “winners” held that role for the entire season (two others were Jaime Garcia and Mike Leake, young pitchers that stayed in the rotation until being shut down in September to save their arms, and Nationals closer Matt Capps and Dodgers second baseman Blake DeWitt held their jobs until being traded away at the end of July).

 

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