Kuzul

One of the few bright spots of the Red Sox’ 2010 season was Adrian Beltre’s triumphant return to stardom.

In 154 games with Boston, Beltre hit .321 with 28 homers, 102 RBI and a .919 OPS. He combined his newly rediscovered offensive prowess with his Gold Glove defense for a whopping 7.1 Wins Above Replacement. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Red Sox might have finished below .500 without him.

Now a free agent, Beltre will leave a huge hole in the Red Sox’ depth chart if he doesn’t re-sign with Boston. If he doesn’t return to Fenway in 2011, word on the street is that the Red Sox will try to pry first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres.

With Victor Martinez heading to Detroit, it’s especially important for the Red Sox to upgrade their lineup. The question is: Which Adrian should they pursue?

The answer is pretty clear: Beltre. In this slideshow are 10 reasons why Boston should try to re-sign him instead of trading for A-Gone.

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Yesterday I passed along a story that the Yankees had won a waiver claim for Ted Lilly and may have been pursuing him even though the trade deadline had passed.

Later on in the day, though, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that Lilly was interested in signing an extension and staying in Los Angeles with the Dodgers.

Buster Olney of ESPN confirmed the report and added that the Dodgers were interested in seeing Lilly stay in Dodger Blue as well.

Given those reports and the fact that the trade deadline has passed, it seems highly unlikely that the Yankees and Dodgers could make a deal for Lilly. It’s just as well, as the chances of them finding and exploiting a loophole to get Lilly on the postseason roster were unlikely. September trades are possible but almost pointless, as the player cannot play for the team in the playoffs.

So it looks like the Yankees rotation is standing pat as of right now—which isn’t a terrible thing, as they are probably a week and a half to two weeks away from getting Andy Pettitte back.

Related Stories

• September 1, 2010 — Yankees Trade Rumors: They Tried to Acquire Ted Lilly, Might Still Be Trying

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The 2010 MLB Trade Deadline is just two weeks away. Rumors have abounded about deals involving everyone from established stars to this season’s breakouts to low-key role players.

In anticipation of the ratcheting up of the trade buzz, Bleacher Report’s Featured Columnists took a poll asking where each of 27 oft-discussed names will be playing come August 1st.

I picked out the 15 players who had the most interesting predictions to be featured in this slideshow. For each player, I have included the full results of where we thought he’d go, and a different writer submitted an explanation of why he or she thinks the trade would work out.

Before you eviscerate anyone for suggesting Texas pursue another starting pitcher, please keep in mind that the poll was conducted before the Rangers’ shocking acquisition of Cliff Lee.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and enjoy the results!

Note: I sent this survey only to the Featured Columnists who have been active in previous polls. If you are a new FC or you have changed your mind about wanting to participate, send me a message and I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop for next time!

Begin Slideshow

Welcome to the Cleveland Indians Trading Post, a weekly segment meant to help my fellow Tribe fans sort out which of the few familiar faces left on the team won’t be around much longer.

This week’s potential trade bait is Jhonny Peralta.

The basics

Signed in 1999, Peralta made his MLB debut in 2003 but did not claim a permanent place on the Indians roster until 2005, when he replaced Omar Vizquel at shortstop.

Now Cleveland’s starting third baseman, he’s hitting .247/.330/.420 with four homers and 22 RBI so far this year. He’s making $4.6 million in 2010, with a $7 million club option for 2011. Also noteworthy: his teammates apparently call him “Guitar,” for reasons I can’t even begin to imagine.

Why he has value

He’s (usually) an above-average hitting infielder with 25-plus homer potential. Interested yet?

After a miserable start this year (.154/.308/.269 with one homer and four RBI over the first three weeks of the season), Peralta has hit .287/.341/.484 in his last 31 games. That’s nothing to shake a stick at.

But Peralta’s ceiling is much higher. In 2005, he hit .292/.366/.520, smacking 24 homers and racking up 4.5 WAR. A New York Times article said he was a better hitter than Derek Jeter and Michael Young. If he could do that at age 23, there’s no reason he can’t do it at age 28.

His defense might be a bit of a problem. After posting the first positive UZR of his career in 2009, Peralta’s glove—never a real point of pride amongst Indians fans—has been worse than ever this season.

UZR has him at -6.4 so far in 2010, with a nauseating -21.2 UZR/150. The former is the third-worst figure in the league, and the worst of any third baseman in the game. UZR ranks his range (-8.5) as the second-worst in all of baseball, better only than Matt Kemp.

Most Clevelanders (myself included) will happily tell you that it’s impossible to underestimate Peralta’s glove, but the reality is he probably won’t be this bad for long. He’s never put up defensive numbers this awful before, and he spent most of his career playing shortstop, a much more demanding position.

There’s no denying that his D has been bad, but for a team in need of an offensive upgrade, the trade-off would probably be worth it.

Why he’s expendable

It makes zero sense for the Indians to pick up Peralta’s option for next year, so he’ll be gone after the season anyway. The Tribe has all but raised the white flag for 2010, so keeping him around for another four months doesn’t really do the team any good.

If we passively let him walk instead of actively shipping him out, it’s unlikely that we’ll get anything in return. Offering Peralta arbitration before he hits the market would be risky, and there’s no guarantee that Cleveland would get draft pick compensation if they did (there’s no guarantee that he would qualify as even a Type B Free Agent).

But most importantly, Peralta isn’t very well liked in Cleveland. From the get-go, he was saddled with the unenviable task of replacing Omar Vizquel, a fan favorite and the last major holdover from the “Glory Days” of the 90’s.

Jaded by the flawless fielding of an 11-time Gold Glove winner, Tribe fans have been particularly perturbed by Guitar’s deficient defense (seriously, how did he get that nickname?). And while Vizquel’s bat never boomed, he was fast and could get on base—plus, did I mention he won 11 Gold Gloves?

In addition, Peralta’s inconsistency and sloppiness have made him the perfect symbol for everything that’s gone wrong with the team since the rebuilding process began. He’s a scapegoat, but the reputation isn’t entirely undeserved.

No Clevelanders would moan and groan at his departure, as we did with CC Sabathia and Victor Martinez; most of us would consider it a favor.

Where he’d go

Any discussion of teams in need of a boost from the hot corner has to start with the Chicago Cubs.

After averaging 29 homers and a .919 OPS from 2005-09, Aramis Ramirez has completely collapsed in 2010, hitting .162 with just hour homers and a nauseating .496 OPS. If the Cubs are serious about making a run at the playoffs, they’ll need to patch up the gaping hole in their depth chart.

A couple time zones away, the Oakland Athletics are also in need of an offensive upgrade.

The A’s already have a Cleveland export, Kevin Kouzmanoff, playing third base. He’s been anemic offensively this year, but his superb defense gives him a larger margin of error than most hitters would have.

He would be better used replacing struggling DH Jack Cust, a player who has so far failed to fulfill his one role (hitting). Such a move would also nullify Peralta’s fielding follies.

The Peralta sweepstakes might add fuel to a division rivalry: a few hundred miles south, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are dealing with similar struggles from Brandon Wood, Howie Kendrick, and Erick Aybar. A steady infield bat could save the struggling Halos (the Rally Monkey can’t do everything by himself).

What do you think? Will the Indians trade Peralta? Where will he go, and who would we get in return?

More Trading Posts

May 13: Austin Kearns

May 20: Jake Westbrook

May 27: Mitch Talbot

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the New York Mets are currently shopping second baseman Luis Castillo and have gone as far as to contact the Rockies, who are looking for a replacement for the disappointing Melvin Mora.

Rosenthal is right to point out that Castillo is not one of the Mets’ biggest problems. His wOBA of .303 does leave a lot to be desired, but it is respectable, especially considering his UZR/150 is a positive 2.5 so far this year compared to a minus-12.7 and minus-9.5 over the last two years.

Still, with Daniel Murphy planning to move back to second base and getting closer to playing each day, it does make sense to move Castillo now. Actually, now is probably as perfect time as any.

The biggest problem the Mets are going to run into is that of salary. Castillo is owed the remainder of his $6 million salary this season and another $6 million next year. So in reality the Mets will have to eat quite a bit of that in order for this not to become a pure salary dump.

That’s not to say the Mets can’t move him without eating a large portion of his salary, but the more they eat the better the return.

It’s really hard to predict exactly what the Mets are going to do with this situation because it is hard to tell if they are considering themselves playoff contenders. At this point you’d have to think that they think they are, which would lead me to believe they’ll eat salary in order to get a better player—hopefully a pitcher.

Like this post? Want the latest Mets news and rumors? Subscribe to Flushing Baseball Daily via RSS Reader, e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook. You can also follow this post’s author, Rob Abruzzese, on Twitter.

Related Stories

• April 30, 2010: What To Do With Murphy When He Returns (0)
• April 30, 2010: Stats: The Top of the Order Since Reyes to 3rd in Order (0)
• April 25, 2010: A Look at the Mets, BABIP, and LD Percentage (1)
• April 12, 2010: Could A Flushing Fire Sale Be Possible? (3)

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

By now, Cleveland Indians fans have grown accustomed to watching their favorite players being shipped out of town around the trade deadline.

Casey Blake, Paul Byrd, Mark DeRosa, Ben Francisco, Ryan Garko, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Carl Pavano, and C.C. Sabathia have all been shipped off between late June and early August the last couple years—and that doesn’t count winter exports Franklin Gutierrez and Kelly Shoppach.

Introducing the Cleveland Indians Trading Post, a new weekly segment to help my fellow Tribe fans sort out which of the few familiar faces we have left might not be around much longer.

This week’s potential trade candidate is Austin Kearns.

The basics

A former top prospect in the Reds’ system, Kearns had a fantastic season (5.0 Wins Above Replacement in just 107 games) as a rookie in 2002. After posting an impressive 7.8 WAR from 2006-07, the injury-prone outfielder suffered elbow, foot, and thumb problems in 2008-09, and his production dropped off the table completely (.633 OPS over those two seasons).

The Indians signed him to a Minor League deal in the offseason. His contract is for one year and $750,000.

Why he’s expendable

For the Indians this season, any player signed to a one-year deal will have his contract expire before the team has a chance of contending. Once we officially wave the white flag, it doesn’t make sense to keep anyone who’s on his way out for a few extra months when we could trade him at midseason and get some building blocks for the future in return.

There’s a chance the Indians would re-sign him in the offsesaon, but it doesn’t seem likely. The Indians couldn’t afford to sign any dependable players last winter, and while having Kerry Wood and Jake Westbrook off the books next year will free up some payroll, there’s no guarantee that Larry Dolan will be willing to open his wallet to extend an expensive player.

Even if the Indians do decide to flex some financial muscle in the offseason, the Tribe has too many talented young outfielders to justify clogging up a spot with a more expensive veteran. Unless Grady Sizemore’s drastic meltdown proves to be a permanent collapse, he and Shin-Soo Choo have two of Cleveland’s three outfield spots locked down.

If Kearns is permanently added to the cast, what does that mean for Michael Brantley? Jordan Brown would have even less of an opportunity to prove himself in the majors. Trevor Crowe wouldn’t get the chance to rediscover wherever potential he once had. Nick Weglarz would have trouble finding space in the lineup when he eventually gets the call, and Matt LaPorta would surely lose playing time, at least indirectly.

Why he has value

The aforementioned injury and production problems seem to be behind him. Kearns has forced his way into the Indians’ starting lineup this year, hitting .346 with a .954 OPS, a .422 wOBA (a weighted on-base average which reflects a hitter’s value), and 16 RBI in 22 games. That’s certainly enough to interest an inquiring GM.

And even while his bat has floundered in recent years, his glove has remained solid. He’s posted a positive UZR (ultimate zone rating, which essentially shows whether a player’s defense is above or below average) in eight of his nine MLB seasons.

Over that time span, he’s saved an estimated 57.1 runs—ninth best among outfielders and better than noted defense stalwarts Mike Cameron (47.0) and J.D. Drew (43.4).

Where he’d go

You’d be hard-pressed to find a team that wouldn’t be interested in Kearns at this point. If he can maintain something close to his current level of production, it’s hard not to expect a bidding war, and given his bargain-basement salary, even a low-budget contender might give up a king’s ransom in return.

With the worst team wOBA (.291) in the league, Seattle seems a likely suitor. In addition to giving the Mariners a much-needed offensive upgrade, the team’s starting outfielders would combine for a 43.2 career UZR/150 (ultimate zone rating per 150 games) rating; surely that would make Jack Zduriencik drool.

Their division rivals, the Athletics, could also use a lineup upgrade; thought before the season to have a glut of good outfielders, Ryan Sweeney is the only one who has been even a slightly above-average hitter (.328 wOBA) so far. And the stingy Moneyball-ers could afford Kearns’ six-digit salary.

Or perhaps Kearns would be best suited in Atlanta. Identified as a clear pitching-heavy team before Opening Day, most fans agreed that the Braves could contend if they could muster a respectable offensive showing.

Atlanta’s mediocre 16-18 record is a reflection of the team’s poor .312 wOBA. The pathetic Nate McClouth (.266 wOBA) has been their second-best outfielder to date; Kearns would do the Braves a lot of good.

What do you think? Will Kearns be traded? Where will he go, and who will we get in return?

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

What I’m Reading

• The Rangers are sticking with Neftali Feliz, Frank Francisco, and their two-closer system for the time being. Good. Because these situations alway pan out favorably.

• Twinjury update: Joe Mauer received some good news about his bruised heel , but J.J. Hardy will be missing a few games with a sore wrist .

• Not quite an “Ankiel-ian” transformation, per se, but the Royals’ mandated switch of Alex Gordon to the outfield is a sign of things to come.

• The Braves currently employ a guy with one of the coolest baseball names around—Jair Jurrjens. Unfortunately, due to several nagging injuries his next start has been pushed back to Saturday . And thanks to a pesky abductor muscle, Yunel Escobar has been placed on the 15-day DL .

• To semi-quote George Costanza, “He’s back, BABY!” Yes, Kevin Millar is back . And not just with any old team. Millar has re-signed (yes, he’s played there before) with the St. Paul Saints of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. Yup.

What I Think About It

Rangers’ Closers

The Rangers’ closer job has Feliz’s name written all over it. But right now, in manager Ron Washington’s eyes, the 22-year-old isn’t ready to take on the position full-time.

“He’s young, and he’s got to learn how to do this. At some point he’s going to learn about himself. He’s doing something he’s never done before,” Washington said, according to the Dallas Morning News.

In the meantime, Feliz will share duties with Francisco who, despite a recent string of six straight scoreless appearances, has surrendered nine earned runs in just over 11 innings of work this season.

I know plenty of Rangers fans.

None of them are confident or satisfied with Francisco touching the ninth inning.

Feliz hasn’t been untouchable this season, but his electric arsenal, once honed, will drive hitters crazy.

But until then, he has to share crunch time outs with Frankie, which I’d think would have to make for some awkward interactions.

I wouldn’t dare think of what would happen if Jonathan Papelbon and Daniel Bard shared the role.

It wouldn’t be pretty .

Twinjuries

Believe it or not, this whole foot injury business might end up with Joe Mauer raking in one “heel” of a profit.

I should probably stop using that joke.

It’s all good news for the Twins right now.

They’re still winning despite Joe’s absence.

Mauer isn’t as hurt as he could have been, had it been a bone bruise instead of a soft tissue bruise.

He’s in talks with Nike about a special, more cushioned pair of cleats designed to aide him in his return, which will be totally marketable to kids for the organization.

And J.J. Hardy played the hero last night. Luckily, Hardy didn’t break his wrist sliding into third on his ninth-inning triple.

But he’s still out today and likely for a few more games, which Minnesota will probably still win.

Main point, though?

2010 just feels like the Twins’ year.

Alex Gordon

And here I was thinking I was done talking about Alex Gordon for the rest of the year.

First off, I’d like everyone to check out his Facebook page again.

He’s up to 15 fans now and I have inside information that I am solely responsible for his sudden boost in popularity.

You’re welcome, Alex.

Now, it’ll be interesting to see how he fares as an outfielder. As long as he is coordinated enough to catch fly balls and throw them back to the infield, I believe this could work.

Since his struggles were mainly offensive, I think Gordon has gotten to the point where he doesn’t know what to do in order to remedy his glaring bat issues.

Luckily, he’ll be concentrating mainly on learning a new position and figuring out the best way to make himself useful to the organization.

It’s inexplicable, but sometimes parts of a player’s game come back to them when they least expect it, or when they are distracted by another challenge—such as a position change.

I’m not saying it’s likely, as his MLB ship may have sailed right around the time the Royals drafted him, but I can’t rule it out.

That being said, the influx of major league talent is rapidly increasing with scouts now using a global comb to find the best talent.

Look for players increasing their versatility in the coming decade.  This way, they can avoid situations where moving to another position out of necessity could be a career ending move.

Jair Jurrjens/Yunel Escobar

Jurrjens might be getting exactly what he needs: A step back to getting healthy, and getting over some minor nuisances that have kept him from staying consistent.

It’s only a few days of extra rest, but as a fellow sore-hammy patient (from the 30 minute walk I took yesterday), I know these situations are no fun.

Although Atlanta sits in last place in the NL East, the luxury of early-May is that nobody is really “out of the running” in any division—yet.

They have the time to give him a few days and let him cope before his start on Saturday.

Unfortunately for Yunel Escobar, his recovery time will require a DL stint.

But—in the meantime, replacement Omar Infante has produced, and this might give Escobar a chance to clear his head and focus on struggles at the plate.

Kevin Millar

I fully expect this kind of press conference to take place once the mainstream media picks up wind of Millar’s continued career.

I don’t think Millar will ever be back in the majors as a player. But seriously, wouldn’t he make the greatest bench coach?

Now that he’s a member of the prestigious Independent League, he can go one of two ways. He can play for a year, realize that it’s time, and retire into the sunset.

Or he can go the “Ricky Henderson Way.”

Thankfully, I think Millar knows better than to teeter back and forth on retirement for the better part of a decade.

I do, however, fully expect him to dress like this .

PD

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What I’m Reading

The parallels between Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard continue, as Howard’s recent contract extension is bound to influence the market for Pujols’ cash-in day.

That must be one deep bruise. In addition to the past two games, the ailing Joe Mauer is expected to sit for this week’s Tigers series as well.

And just like that, Alex Gordon is headed back to the minors . Well, I have to say I did see this coming .

Gotta watch out for those nagging abductor injuries. They’ll get ya. Just like they got Yunel Escobar.

Chalk another one up in the win column for “White and Nerdy”. For the time being, the 39-year old pile of awesomeness known as Craig Counsell is holding down the starting SS spot in the Brewers’ lineup.

What I Think About It

Pujols

When Braves manager Bobby Cox “joked” about Pujols being worth $50 million a year if Ryan Howard received $25 million, the notion that he might be right couldn’t be immediately dismissed.

Pujols’ contributions to the St. Louis organization are unmatched.

Coinciding with a slew of astronomical statistics, his tangible evidence includes a unanimous Rookie of the Year, three MVPs, including five top ten finishes in the six years he hasn’t won an MVP, and a World Series title.

That all adds up to a lot of worth.

But the question is: how much?

Any team would gladly dish out $50 million a year if a title was guaranteed for every season over the course of the contract, but this is baseball and no such guarantee could ever be made.

His contract is likely up at the end of 2011, as St. Louis will undoubtedly pick up his club option for next year.

So the journey begins to find out the exact number that Pujols will be receiving from the Cards.

Thanks to Howard, we have a jump-off point of $25 million and a cap of $50 million, courtesy of Bobby Cox.

I am proud to officially announce on behalf of Mr. Jose Alberto Pujols that he will be signing a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals worth between $25 and $50 million.

Ok Al, I’m ready for my cut of the check now.

In reality, I expect it to touch the $31 to $34 million mark, likely pushing Alex Rodriguez out of his “highest paid player in baseball” title.

Joe Mauer

Now, this is no Joe Nathan situation, but the Twins are playing it safe with Joe Mauer’s soft heel.

Luckily, a DL stint isn’t going to happen.

When asked if there was a chance Mauer could end up on the disabled list, manager Ron Gardenhire said according to the Star Tribune, “No not at all. It’s a situation where if you try to get him out there too quick, then this thing will never heal. We just don’t want that to be the case. You’ve got to give this a couple extra days here, so that’s why we brought in another catcher.”

Excellent decision making. The Twins currently sit in first place in the A.L. Central with a favorable 16-9 record.

After locking up the division in 2009 despite not having Mauer for the entire month of April, they’ll be able to manage without him for a few games, assuming that this is all this is.

To me, it seems that this is an even stronger Minnesota team than last year, so once Mauer returns and keeps up his reigning MVP-like pace, they’ll cruise to another division title.

Also, a World Series title.

Yes, I did just drop my Series prediction on May 3 in the near-bottom paragraph of a Mauer injury tidbit.

Alex Gordon

This right here is the “official” Alex Gordon fan page on Facebook.

He literally has 14 fans.

14.

At least the city of Kansas City won’t be too broken up about his demotion.

The best part about this is: “If you have a passion for Alex Gordon, sign up and we’ll let you know when we’re ready for your help.”

The coalition for Alex Gordon to become a real pro ballplayer has now become a community outreach.

Now for a segment I’d like to call “Things Alex Gordon Can Do for His Fans”:

He could sign autographs for all of his fans and not get the slightest hand cramp.

He could purchase an entire row of seats at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the Omaha Royals, label it “Gordon’s Group” and have all of his fans sit together to see him play.

He could even take all of his fans out to dinner and push two tables together so they can sit as a group.

You get the point.

In 12 games this season, Gordon is hitting .194.

There’s always hope he’ll regain whatever it was that got him drafted second overall in 2005, but my doubts about him grow rapidly.

Yunel Escobar

I don’t even know what an abductor is, but it scares the heck out of me.

It does, however, sound like a part of my body that I don’t want to screw up, especially now that it might send Yunel Escobar to the disabled list.

He’s still day-to-day right now but a DL stint has not been ruled out.

Despite some early struggles to open 2010, Escobar is quietly developing into a solid young shortstop bound to turn some heads as we head into this new decade of baseball.

The Braves just won three straight without him after taking a turn for the worse by losing nine in a row.                       

Also, for those that failed Anatomy and Physiology in high school like I did back in the day, here’s your lesson Monday.

It has always been tough for me to take Craig Counsell seriously.

For starters, anyone that holds a bat like this generally doesn’t fare well in the sporting world and might even be a little tapped in the head.

But Craig proves me wrong here.

While his career hasn’t been spectacular, the point remains that Counsell has still had a career.

He’s been hanging around the National League scene since 1995, carrying adjectives like “skinny,” “lanky”, and “out-of-place” with him wherever he goes.

But he has produced consistently enough to remain a staple in many “eighth spot in the order” situations over the past fifteen years and is surprising many this season up in Milwaukee.

“Our focus is still developing (Alcides) Escobar into an everyday player,” manager Ken Macha said according to the Journal Sentinel. “With that said, it’s an extreme luxury to have a player of this caliber go out there in Escobar’s place.”

**** I’d like to issue a “Get Well Soon” message to 2004 ALCS hero Dave Roberts, recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

PD

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