RealGM Wiretap
The National League
The Kevin Towers
Clark Globe of MLB.com: “With ground to make up in the National League West -- the Diamondbacks woke up on Sunday five games back of the Giants and 4 1/2 games back of the Dodgers – [Kirk] Gibson knows the time to make a move is now.”
David O’Brien of Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “For seven innings Sunday, the only real shame for the Braves was their complete lack of offensive support for Mike Minor, continuing a trend when the young left-hander’s on the mound.”
The Jed Hoyer
Fred Mitchell of Chicago Tribune: “Dale Sveum may have questioned Brett Jackson's poor execution on an attempted steal of third base in the ninth inning Sunday, but he was pleased with the gradual overall performance of the rookie outfielder during the Reds series.”
The Walt Jocketty
Mark Sheldon of MLB.com: “The Reds had their 13th sellout of the season on Sunday, which established a new Great American Ball Park record and broke the previous mark of 12 sellouts in 2011.”
The Dan O’Dowd
Patrick Saunders of Denver Post: “Come Wednesday afternoon, former Rockies catcher Ben Petrick will stand in front of a crowd of 250 people, bare his soul and share his message of hope.”
The Michael Hill
Clark Spencer of Miami Herald: “Despite missing 60 games while serving two separate stints on the disabled list with a thumb injury, Emilio Bonifacio still has a shot at winning the league’s stolen base title.”
The Jeff Luhnow
David Barron of Houston Chronicle: “After more than 500 games as a catcher in the minor leagues and more than 2,300 games as a minor league manager, an afternoon’s disappointment can scarcely hold a candle to the fulfillment for Tony DeFrancesco.”
The Ned Colletti
Jim Peltz of Los Angeles Times: “One of the Dodgers at the center of Hanley Ramirez's transition to the team is coach Manny Mota.”
The Doug Melvin
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: “Despite a couple of rough starts recently and an innings total that continues to climb, the Milwaukee Brewers don't have any immediate plans to shut down rookie right-hander Mike Fiers.”
The Sandy Alderson
Andy Martino of New York Daily News: “Will Johan Santana have any trade value this winter? The question might seem a bit silly after the lefty’s latest shellacking on Friday night, and will be nearly moot if the Mets shut Santana down in the near future.”
The Ruben Amaro Jr.
David Murphy of Philadelphia Daily News: “Assuming the Phillies keep their rotation in order the rest of the way, Cole Hamels should have eight starts to further his case for the 2012 National League Cy Young Award.”
The Neal Huntington
Charlie Wilmouth of Bucs Dugout: “The Pirates won an exhausting six-hour game in the 19th inning on Sunday, 6-3, hopefully ending the curse of Jerry Meals, whose blown call at home plate in the 19th inning in Atlanta last year marked a symbolic end to the 2011 season.”
The John Mozeliak
Viva El Birdos: “For the last couple of months the St. Louis Cardinals have had two former relievers in their mid-twenties in the rotation, and I'm going to be honest: I didn't expect there to be much in the way of controversy when the second one, Joe Kelly, was moved to the bullpen to make room for Jaime Garcia.”
The Josh Byrnes
Gaslamp Ball: “Carlos Quentin was hit by a pitch in the second and looked PISSED and momentarily thought about ripping Ryan Vogelsong's arm from its socket. Clayton Richard plunked Brandon Belt in the fourth as retaliation. Both teams were warned.”
The Brian Sabean
Henry Schulman of San Francisco Chronicle: “Minor-league organizational players know their time in The Show usually will arrive when somebody on the big club gets hurt or falls into a slump. Imagine how Justin Christian felt when he was told to pack for San Diego because Melky Cabrera was suspended for failing a drug test.”
The Mike Rizzo
Nats Enquirer: Here is an amazing photo of Bryce Harper at age 12.
The American League
The Dan Duquette
Eduardo A. Encina of Baltimore Sun: “After taking two of three in Detroit, the Orioles will have some tough roster decisions to make as they try to ensure that their bullpen stays fresh while playing with a short bench.”
The Ben Cherington
Alex Speier of WEEI.com: “Red Sox GM Ben Cherington said that, while the Sox have made two deals this month — one to acquire third baseman Danny Valencia from the Twins for minor leaguer Jeremias Pineda, and another to send Kelly Shoppach to the Mets for reliever Pedro Beato — the team is still taking stock of whether it might consider further deals.”
The Kenny Williams
Mark Gonzales of Chicago Tribune: “Gavin Floyd's recent success at U.S. Cellular Field hasn't gone to his head. He's not about to guarantee he'll stop the White Sox's three-game losing streak.”
The Chris Antonetti
Paul Hoynes of Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, a finalist for the Gold Glove award in 2011, has made 16 errors this season. That's one more than Cabrera had last season.”
The Dave Dombrowski
Lynn Henning of Detroit News: “Outside of Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Austin Jackson, the Tigers seem to specialize in ground balls, double plays, and soft fly-outs. One-third of Leyland's lineup delivers. The rest of the cast can't sustain any kind of reliable attack.”
The Dayton Moore
Craig Brown of Royals Review: “It almost feels as if the Baseball Gods are speaking to Ned Yost. Move one of the most productive leadoff hitters in the game out of the top spot in the lineup, and you will feel the wrath. In this case, it's in the form of a broken thumb suffered by one of the new members of the leadoff rotation in Chris Getz. The injury will end his season. The irony that this fracture was suffered during a bunt attempt is lost on no one.”
The Jerry DiPoto
T.J. Simers of Los Angeles Times: “As rock-bottom moments go, it would be difficult to dip lower than Saturday night, with the [Angels] honoring its 2002 World Series champions and the 2012 team curling into a ball.”
The Terry Ryan
Joe Christensen of Star Tribune: “With two outs in the ninth inning Saturday night, Darin Masroianni drew a huge walk for the Twins, bringing Joe Mauer to the plate in a tie game at Safeco Field. Mariners manager Eric Wedge summoned lefthander Lucas Luetge, who quickly fell behind in the count 3-0. Mauer had the green light, but he opted not to swing at a sinker down the middle. On 3-1, Luetge threw a slider for strike two. On 3-2, Luetge missed low with another slider, and Mauer took his walk. Six pitches, zero swings.”
The Brian Cashman
The New York Daily News: “Nick Swisher doesn’t know how many games he has left in a Yankees uniform, but he is planning to make the most of them.”
The Billy Beane
Steven Kroner of San Francisco Chronicle: “Bob Melvin has managed in the big leagues for most of the past decade. In all his time leading the Mariners, Diamondbacks and A's, you figure that having too many worthy candidates to fit into a rotation rates on his list of problems somewhere down near having too many good restaurant options on the road and whether his team will wear white or colored jerseys for that day's game.
The Jack Zduriencik
Geoff Baker of Seattle Times: “Look, I'm not going to call the Mariners wild-card contenders when they're 8 1/2 games back with five teams to jump over. That's just not very smart odds for anybody to be betting on and I'd have told you the same thing two weeks ago when the M's were on their seven-game win streak. Very tough to make up ground.
The Andrew Friedman
Roger Mooney of Tampa Tribune: “By now the Rays are immune to the sting of a perfect game. You can imagine them milling about in the clubhouse afterwards saying, "You didn't get a hit today? Hey, me neither." There used to be a degree of shame attached to being on the wrong end of a perfect game. The Rays are doing a good job of removing that. Once the initial shock wears off the loss becomes just another loss.
The Jon Daniels
Evan Grant of Dallas Morning News: “Ian Kinsler’s drought at the plate grows more severe, but he found a way to help the Rangers Saturday. Kinsler, who went 0-for-4, prevented the tying run from scoring in the sixth inning when he went far to his right, dove and smothered Jeff Mathis’ single with his body.”
The Alex Anthopoulos
Larry Millson of MLB.com: “Fresh off his first big league RBI on Saturday, rookie Adeiny Hechavarria made his first Major League start at second base in Sunday's series finale against the Texas Rangers. It gave the Blue Jays a Cuban middle-infield combination -- with Yunel Escobar at his usual position of shortstop -- in what could be a glimpse of the future.”