This is
either good news or no news:
The White Sox and the agent for Gold Glove shortstop Orlando Cabrera have agreed not to discuss a new contract until after the 2008 season.
"Orlando is fine with this," agent Dan Lozano said Tuesday, adding he spoke several times with general manager Ken Williams during spring training.
Though I have no complaints about Cabrera's play thus far, I've said before
that extending him would be a mistake, and I don't see any circumstances that would change my mind. The Sox have 1) way too much money tied to guys in their mid-30s already, and 2) a possible replacement waiting in the wings in Alexei Ramirez.
Then again, remember
this morsel from February 2007?
"If the agents of the respective players want to bring something to the table for us to look at, we'll do that," said Williams, after watching an impressive bullpen session from his pitchers. "But in our assessment, it seems everyone has agreed to look at this in the offseason and make the best determination on where we're going to go then."
Mark Buehrle signed an extension, which left Jermaine Dye miffed -- until he signed an extension.
But unlike Buehrle or Dye, Cabrera really hasn't expressed a desire to avoid the open market. He was the definition of non-committal when
he arrived at spring training to questions regarding his impending free agency, and not much has changed.
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Scott Linebrink didn't exactly look his sharpest when coming out for the ninth inning
in Tuesday's 4-1 victory over Oakland.
With a four-run lead, he started the ninth with a five-pitch walk (leadoff walks score 45 percent of the time, says Ed Farmer), then threw a not-terribly-wild pitch that scooted through Toby Hall's five-hole. After that, he gave up a single through the right side before Ozzie Guillen called for Bobby Jenks.
Of course I'm running the risk of overreacting by putting one isolated low-leverage outing under the microscope, but one thing I am paying special attention to is how Linebrink performs in irregular situations.
As mentioned in his preview, San Diego managers Bruce Bochy and Bud Black pretty much used him to start one inning and only one inning, so as he enters the first year of a still-egregious contract, it's worth paying attention to 1) how he handles inherited runners, and 2) how he works in a second inning.
The good news is that he stranded the runner he inherited from John Danks, so he's 1-for-1. But he didn't fare so well under the latter set of circumstances.
Last year, only four of his 71 appearances spanned two innings. That's down from 2006 (seven out of 73) and 2005 (14 out of 73). Compare that to other right-handed setup men Guillen has trusted:
- Cliff Politte, 2005: 22 out of 68
- Bobby Jenks, 2005: 14 out of 32
- Mike MacDougal: 2006: 10 out of 25
- David Riske, 2006: 11 out of 33
The 2007 bullpen had Ozzie so discombulated that he used five pitchers for five pitches, but when David Aardsma had his hot April, he pitched in parts of multiple innings six of 11 outings.
That said, Octavio Dotel will probably be the biggest help Linebrink receives all year. If he settles in and hits his spots better, the more likely Guillen will use the paint-by-numbers method of reliever management, which is all Linebrink has known for the last couple of years.
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Minor league round-up:- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6, Charlotte 2
- Charlie Haeger's control issues did him in -- five walks in seven innings, which with combined seven hits led to six earned runs.
- Both of Charlotte's runs were unearned ;Jerry Owens went 1-for-4 with his first stolen base.
- Brad Eldred went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and committed his second error of the season.
- Oneli Perez struck out four over two scoreless innings.
- Birmingham 2, Mississippi 1
- Kyle McCulloch pitched six scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and four walks while striking out six.
- Victor Mercedes, David Cook and Javier Castillo all tripled.
- Myrtle Beach 6, Winston-Salem 1
- Third time was the charm for Aaron Poreda, who struck out five over five innings of one-run ball. He gave up six hits and a walk.
- Ryan Rote gave up three unearned runs, thanks in part to three Winston-Salem errors.
- C.J. Lang went 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI, but committed two errors.
- Kannapolis 2, Augusta 0
- Anthony Carter's hot start continues -- six shutout innings with eight strikeouts, giving him 22 in 18 innings on the year.
- Christian Marrero went hitless, but he scored one run, drove in the other, walked and stole a base.