Casey Kotchman

Brian MacPherson spells out the situation with the Red Sox and Casey Kotchman (something I've also been thinking about):

But Casey Kotchman has just 49 plate appearances in the five weeks since the Red Sox acquired him from the Atlanta Braves. He's a perfect defensive infielder late in the season for a playoff-bound team, particularly because he's not going to gripe about his role. But to keep him on the roster as a part-time player next season will be a waste of resources.

Read the whole thing to see what options Brian thinks exist.

Mark Teixeira

Here are some things to ponder while waiting for Mark Teixeira to announce where he will be playing for the next 8 to 10 years.

- Teixeira was huge for the Angels after being traded for. In 54 games he hit a blistering .358 with an OPS of 1.081. He also hit .379 with a 1.130 OPS in 30 home games for the Angels. He clearly was comfortable hitting for the Angels.

- If the Angels fail to sign Teixeira then that means that they traded Casey Kotchman and prospect Stephen Marek for just 54 games of Teixeira. The Angels have added incentive to make sure they didn't lose Kotchman for just a rental.

- In his career Teixeira has played 19 games at Fenway Park and he has hit an anemic .194 with a lousy .637 OPS in those games. I know that screams out "SMALL SAMPLE SIZE" but you have to think that psychologically Teixeira does not have fond memories of hitting at Fenway like he does at Angels Stadium.

- The Red Sox have made it clear that they will not go to a 10-year commitment for Teixeira. What they have in effect done is tell other teams, "Hey if you want to knock us out of the running - just go the extra two years on the deal." The Red Sox don't normally comment during a negotiation unless they have a reason. Here the reason seems to be that the Red Sox are not as serious about signing Teixeira as is being made out. If the Red Sox were truly serious there would be no comment from anyone until the deal was done.

What this points to in my mind is the Angels getting Mark Teixeira signed to a mega deal that will probably be 8-years in length with 2 option years.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Casey Kotchman has been hot for the Angels. In the last 10 games he has raised his batting average 42 points - from .258 to an even .300... Last off season Tom Glavine clearly wanted to return to the Braves but Atlanta thinking they were fine with a big three of Smoltz, Hudson and Mike Hampton passed on having a Hall of Famer return to win his 300th game. Now with Mike Hampton out for the season - the back end of the rotation is the big weak spot for the Braves. I bet that Atlanta wishes they had a do-over and again had the opportunity to bring Tom Glavine back into the fold... Nomar Garciaparra is having a disappointing start to the season. He has just 1 HR and his OPS (.687) is 212 points below his career average... The other day I mentioned how maybe hitters who switch from the NL to the AL show a decline because the pressures and the talent in the AL are much greater than the NL. I used JD Drew as my example but another good one would be Josh Barfield who hit .280 last season for the Padres but is hitting just .235 this year for Cleveland. Of course Barfield's struggles could also fall under the cliche of the the sophomore slump... David Ortiz and Ryan Howard are both listed at 230 pounds. There is no way on God's green earth that those two guys are only 230 pounds... Bronson Arroyo is now 2-5 with a 4.01 ERA for the Reds. This may sound crazy but I think the Red Sox are better off with Julian Tavarez (or soon Jon Lester) as their 5th starter than they would be with Arroyo... Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds are both hitting just .231 for the Cardinals. Both "sluggers" have pretty big dollar contracts for next year and both have 10-5 rights to veto any trade attempt. These guys may prove to be albatrosses not just for this year but also next year for St. Louis... I thought for sure that Joe Kennedy would be the season's big surprise success story. However, Kennedy is just 1-4 for the A's even though he has an impressive 3.62 ERA. I'm telling you - if I were a GM for a team trying to win a playoff spot and I needed another starter - I'd make Joe Kennedy a top trade priority. When Rich Harden and Esteban Loaiza come back from the DL - then Kennedy should be expendable by the A's in exchange for a slugger. Kennedy is a free agent at the end of the season so the A's have another reason for wanting to deal him... Red Sox fans are not booing Julio Lugo even though he's hitting just .231 as the leadoff batter. The reason Sox fans have some patience with Lugo is because he always seems to come up big in the clutch. With runners in scoring position Lugo is hitting .319 and with RISP and 2 outs - Lugo is hitting a blistering .346... Mark Loretta is quietly having a nice season for the Astros. The idea going into the season was for Loretta split 2nd with Craig Biggio (especially on the road where Biggio's numbers are awful) but with Morgan Ensberg struggling - Loretta has gotten a lot of AB recently at 3rd base. Lorreta is hitting .351 for the season...