Tigers to Sign Freddy Garcia

Jon Heyman of SI is reporting that the Detroit Tigers are the winners of the very limited Freddy Garcia sweepstakes. At one time, it was thought Garcia could make an impact on this year's pennant race. Well, Garcia thought that any way. But teams who took a look at him weren't overly impressed.

The Tigers are a bit short on pitching with Jeremy Bonderman down for the count, so Garcia seemed like a logical option.

On another note, Jim Leyland said that Justin Verlander was suffering from a dead arm after yesterday's start. Perhaps Leyland shouldn't have let him throw 130 pitches his last time out.

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Hump Day Rumors - 7/16 Edition

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Phillies are taking a serious look at A's starter Joe Blanton. The somewhat portly right-hander has scuffled this season, going 5-12, 4.96 in 20 starts, but is a quality starter.

The Miami Herald reported that the Marlins inquired about their former catcher Ivan Rodriguez, but were rebuffed by the Tigers, who said Pudge II was not available.

Not rumor, but fact, criminal charges have been dropped against Rays reliever Al Reyes after his birthday outburst.

The Mets new Citi Field is likely to be the host of the 2013 All-Star game. Shea Stadium has hosted one game.

The Yankees and Mets are among of handful of teams that are keeping tabs on Freddy Garcia's progress in his rehab from Tommy John surgery.

The Twins have been talking to the Mariners about Adrian Beltre, according to the Star Tribune.

The LA Times reported that K-Rod has nixed further negotiations with the Angels and will test the free agent waters.

The Diamondbacks have talked to the Mariners about Raul Ibanez, says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

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Results for Wang Poll

First off, thanks to the 76 respondents of our most recent poll. We asked what the Yankees should do to replace the injured Chien-Ming Wang in the rotation, and unlike past polls, there was no clear cut answer.

What may represent a change in fan attitude, paralleling the front office, is the largest margin (42%) selected to use a pitcher within the organization, rather than trading for a player on another team.

32% of you did want to go for the big gun though- a C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets, or A.J. Burnett type.

The final tally was a split between going after free agent Freddy Garcia, and trading for a less stellar pitcher, such as Randy Wolf or Kevin Millwood.

One things for sure, Sidney Ponson is NOT the answer.

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Around the Horn - 6/17

There was limited action in MLB last night, but there's a full slate on tap tonight. Before the news a recap of last night's action.

A big night for Ryan Howard in the city of brotherly love. He smashed a pair of home runs and legged out a triple in the Phillies 8-2 dismantling of the Red Sox. Howard's 4 RBI came mainly at the expense of Bartolo Colon who left, after a 4 inning, 4-run appearance, with back spasms. Cole Hamels went 7 innings for his 7th win.

The Tigers 6-game winning streak came to a screeching halt when they couldn't hold a 4-3 lead late. Fernando Rodney's first appearance of the season is one he'd like to forget- a 3-run home run surrendered to John Bowker. The Giants won it 8-6.

Carlos Beltran gave Willie Randolph a going away present, 2 home runs to propel the Mets to a 9-6 win over the Angels. Perhaps if Beltran and his teammates had played with fire and desire all year Randolph might still be manager.

The Marlins continued the Mariners misery with a 6-1 win on the left coast. Andrew Miller, who started the season so badly, allowed 1 run over 7 innings to improve to 5-5.

In the lone intraleague game, Jair Jurrjens threw 7.2 shutout innings to beat the Rockies 7-1. Chipper Jones returned to the lineup with a pair of RBI and raised his average to .403.


News

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the Tigers are interested in free agent pitcher Freddy Garcia.

This just in...the Mets are still gutless.

The Indians have signed recently released Morgan Ensberg to a minor league deal.

The Denver Post reports that Troy Tulowitzki could return from the DL this Friday.

The White Sox placed Paul Konkero on the DL with a strained oblique.

The Red Sox are expected to activate Dice-K this weekend.

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Giese for Now, Who for Later?

Dan Giese will step into Chien-Ming Wang's cleats (don't hurt yourself) this Saturday (we erroneously reported Sunday yesterday) against the Cincinnati Reds. But the question remains, will it be a long term solution, will the Yankees look inside the organization, or elsewhere. Let's take a look at the option.

Dan Giese: Let's start right with the guy who gets the first crack. Giese was a journeyman who had only appeared in 8 games last season with the Giants. But he blossomed as a starter (4-2, 1.98 in 13 games, 10 starts) this season at Scranton and that earned him the right to be Joba Chamberlain's back up for his first two starts. Now that Joba is ready to go out and throw 90-100 pitches, the plan would have been for Giese to be the long man out of the pen. Wang's injury changed all that.

Internal Options:

That guy incredibly bad import from Japan: We so don't want him back here we won't even mention him by name. But you know who he is and how bad he is. 'nuff said.

Ian Kennedy: Kennedy was tremendous last season, dominating at 3 levels in the minors and getting the notice of fans with an impressive September debut. But this year he has been just plain awful. He already made one very brief trip down to Scranton and then was DL'ed with a Lat injury shortly after his return. This is guy whose confidence has to be shaken right now since he has never had anything other than success prior to this season. At the moment he's a number 5 starter. With Wang out, possibly for the season, the Yankees need better than a number 5.

Dan McCutchen: McCutchen has made just 5 starts at the Triple-A level and from Brian Cashman's comments yesterday, doesn't seem like a viable solution for that precise reason. His numbers at Scranton have been decent (1-4, 3.62 21 K/4 BB) after an outstanding start at Trenton (4-3, 2.55 52 K in 53 IP).

Alan Horne: Horne missed two months of the season with a bicep injury and has thrown only 18.1 innings this season. Cashman won't throw him into the fire.

Jeff Karstens: Karstens is a decent pitcher who can't seem to stay healthy. He looked like he was going to go north with the club out of spring training and got hurt. He was nearly done with his rehab and got hurt. Now he's coming back again, but we already know what he can do and its not fantastic.

Jason Jones: This would be a very long shot. Jones has spent a year and a half at the Double-A level and is having an outstanding season (8-2, 2.30), but Cashman doesn't like to rush the Yankees prospects and is unlikely to pull up a guy who hasn't pitched at Triple-A.

Outside Solutions:

Obviously the biggest name out there is the biggest guy out there, C.C. Sabathia. The left-hander is set to become a free agent after the season and, you would have to think, the Yankees would want a window to negotiate a new contract with him before approving a deal. Indians GM Mark Shapiro is also going to want a bundle for him. Brian Cashman would look foolish if he threw a package of Phil Hughes and others together to get him after turning down a deal for Johan Santana. At worst, the Indians will get 2 draft picks as compensation if Sabathia stays the season and leaves as a free agent.

Ben Sheets: Sheets will turn just 30 this summer, but has spent significant time on the DL. He hasn't made more than 24 starts since 2004. He's missed some time this season already with triceps stiffness. Sheets is off to a great start this season (7-1, 2.42), but the Brewers are scuffling after being in contention all of last season. Sheets will also be a free agent after the season.

Randy Wolf: Another pending free agent who will be starting tonight against the Yankees when the San Diego Padres come to town. The up side is that he's left-handed, the down side is that he's not fantastic. He's got a career ERA of 4.23 (5-4, 3.83 in '08) with all 10 years of major league service in the National League. We've seen how average NL pitchers do in the AL and so it doesn't make sense to us unless you can get him cheap. He also had Tommy John Surgery and missed significant chunks of 2005 and 2006. He also suffered from shoulder soreness last season.

Rich Harden and Joe Blanton: A pair of talented right-handers from Oakland. Harden is a free agent after the season while Blanton can't be a free agent until 2011. He is arbitration eligible. GM Billy Beane would surely command a king's ransom for either pitcher just as he has when he dealt Dan Haren, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson in the past. Harden, when healthy is fantastic (4-0, 2.53 67 K in 53.1 IP in '08), but that's a big if. He threw 72.2 innings combined in '06 and '07 and has spent time on the DL this year as well. Blanton has control trouble at times, but is still a very good pitcher. The biggest down side as we mentioned earlier is that Beane would want too many prospects back.

Freddy Garcia: Garcia is sitting at home right now, getting in shape for when the phone rings. He had 7 seasons of 200 or more innings and it seemed to catch up to him last year when he threw just 58 innings due to a shoulder injury. Whether he's got enough left in the tank remains to be seen.

A.J. Burnett: The much embattled, much injured right-hander has worn out his welcome in Toronto. GM J.P. Ricciardi publicly questioned his heart and guts and Burnett recently made comments that he wouldn't mind playing for the Cubs. He then threw grease on the fire by saying he didn't care what the fans reaction to his comments would be. The guy's got talent, no doubt, but his physical problems and mental toughness probably will make Cashman shy away (we already have Carl Pavano). He still has 2 years remaining on a 5-year, $55 million deal, but he can opt out of it after this season, which makes his departure from Toronto even more likely.

Gil Meche: He's in the 2nd year of a 5-year, $55 million deal with the Royals. After having an outstanding season in '07, he's been pretty mediocre this year and the Royals are floundering. His contract really isn't that bad by today's standards and the Royals need someone to put in the seats, so its not likely he would be available.

Erik Bedard: Would seem to be odd for him tobe on the market already, but the Mariners stink and there's a question of just how focused Bedard is on baseball. The Blue Jays were thought to be very interested in him, but have backed off.

There are other names (Jarrod Washburn, Livan Hernandez, Kevin Millwood, etc.) that we are sure will be bandied about, but none really intrigue us. We would give Giese the job for now, but would definitely take a look at how Garcia is progressing, and start making the rounds calling up about guys like Sabathia. With so many teams still in division and wild card hunts though, it's not likely that a major deal would get done too soon.


So what would you do? Please participate in our poll at the top of My Pinstripes.

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Stress is no Damn Good

Brian Cashman revealed earlier today that Phil Hughes does not have a strained oblique, but rather a stress fracture of the 9th rib on his right side. Translation- he'll be out even longer than expected.

Hughes most likely won't touch a baseball for a month and then will have to build his arm strength back up. Freddy Garcia is probably sitting at home right now licking his chops.

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Around the Horn - 2/28

Mark DeRosa had minor surgery to repair an irregular heart beat and should be back with the Cubbies on Monday.

With no good offers in sight, veteran Shawn Green has decided to call it a career. The 15-year veteran hit the 328 home runs and posted a .283 lifetime average.

Cardinals utility man Scott Spiezio is, quite frankly, in deep shit. The Irvine, CA police department has issued an arrest warrant for Spiezio on 6 counts, from an incident on December 30th. Spiezio, who is already on baseball's restricted list due to a substance abuse problem, is wanted for DUI, hit and run, aggravated assault, and assault and battery. The Cardinals' quickly released him as soon as the news hit.

With no one breaking down his door, Freddy Garcia is going to wait until his arm is in better shape before signing with anyone. Garcia and his reps are counting on the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and others having renewed interest when Garcia can prove to them that he's healthy.

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