Notes: Green interested in Japan
09/29/2006
PHOENIX -- Andy Green feels like he did right by the Diamondbacks this year, and he's hoping the organization will return the favor in the offseason.
Green met with general manager Josh Byrnes on Friday to discuss his desire to have the organization sell his rights to a team in Japan.
"I respect the way Josh does business," Green said. "He was very honest with me, as I was with him, and we'll just see what happens from here."
Byrnes declined to comment about his meeting or Green's future.
Green was named the Triple-A Pacific Coast League's MVP last year after hitting .343 and leading the league in runs, hits, doubles and triples. The performance also drew interest from Japanese teams, who approached the D-Backs about acquiring his rights.
"I wasn't willing to cross that bridge at that point in time," said Green, who had his sights set on trying to stick in the big leagues after spending 46 games with Arizona in 2004 and 17 last year.
After being the final player to make the 25-man roster out of Spring Training, playing time was scarce all season for Green. A Japan League team, he said, showed interest in him again around the All-Star break.
"It was very lucrative, but the organization wasn't at the point where they thought it was wise to part ways with me, which I can understand," Green said.
When a team from Japan wants to buy a player's rights, it puts together a pool of money. Part of that money goes to the Major League organization for his rights and what's left goes to the player's salary.
Because the players in front of him stayed healthy throughout the season, Green received scant playing time this year, compiling just 86 at-bats and starting only five games.
The D-Backs are not obligated to sell Green's rights. They can keep him on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason and control him next year. If they want to remove him from the 40-man roster this winter, he would have to be placed on waivers, where he can be claimed by another club.
"I spent this entire season doing what I thought was best for this ballclub, and I put this organization at the forefront," Green said. "Now it looks like my future here is non-existent, so I know the ballclub will do what's best for me and allow me to go to Japan and to allow me to try and better my career. We'll see what the offers are as they come in this offseason. I'm extremely excited about the possibility of playing over there."
Let's talk: Byrnes and his baseball operations staff along with manager Bob Melvin will meet for two days following the season.
"We're going to go over the Major League club, our prospects, some of the 40-man decisions, kind of reviewing the systems and philosophies for scouting and player development," Byrnes said. "I think it's more a specific review leading up to our offseason strategy, which we already have some semblance of, but this will connect all the pieces.
"This is how we're going to access amateur talent, this is what we want our scouts to do, this is how we're going to develop them, these are the prospects that are ready and this is what our big-league club looks like."
The front office has been hard at work over the past few weeks with baseball operations assistant Shiraz Rehman, putting together salary information on the other 29 teams, as well as information on each team's prospects. That way the D-Backs can get a feel for whether a team has the flexibility to take on salary, needs to cut salary, what surplus or need it might have at various positions, so they can determine whether they match up tradewise.
Waiting game: Hitting coach Mike Aldrete said last week that he will not return in 2007, as he wants to spend more time with his family, but the fate of the rest of the coaching staff won't be known until next week.
"Until we actually talk about it in the couple days after the season's over, I can't really comment on it," said Melvin, who added that he was pleased with the body of work of all his coaches.
Up next: Juan Cruz will get the start Saturday at 1:10 p.m. MST instead of Edgar Gonzalez.
Cruz has not gotten much work of late, and the D-Backs have already seen enough from Gonzalez in his last three starts to know that he will go into Spring Training with a shot at winning a spot in the rotation.
Cruz will likely throw two innings, with Gonzalez following him to the mound.
The Padres will start left-hander David Wells.
Source: http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/
PHOENIX -- Andy Green feels like he did right by the Diamondbacks this year, and he's hoping the organization will return the favor in the offseason.
Green met with general manager Josh Byrnes on Friday to discuss his desire to have the organization sell his rights to a team in Japan.
"I respect the way Josh does business," Green said. "He was very honest with me, as I was with him, and we'll just see what happens from here."
Byrnes declined to comment about his meeting or Green's future.
Green was named the Triple-A Pacific Coast League's MVP last year after hitting .343 and leading the league in runs, hits, doubles and triples. The performance also drew interest from Japanese teams, who approached the D-Backs about acquiring his rights.
"I wasn't willing to cross that bridge at that point in time," said Green, who had his sights set on trying to stick in the big leagues after spending 46 games with Arizona in 2004 and 17 last year.
After being the final player to make the 25-man roster out of Spring Training, playing time was scarce all season for Green. A Japan League team, he said, showed interest in him again around the All-Star break.
"It was very lucrative, but the organization wasn't at the point where they thought it was wise to part ways with me, which I can understand," Green said.
When a team from Japan wants to buy a player's rights, it puts together a pool of money. Part of that money goes to the Major League organization for his rights and what's left goes to the player's salary.
Because the players in front of him stayed healthy throughout the season, Green received scant playing time this year, compiling just 86 at-bats and starting only five games.
The D-Backs are not obligated to sell Green's rights. They can keep him on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason and control him next year. If they want to remove him from the 40-man roster this winter, he would have to be placed on waivers, where he can be claimed by another club.
"I spent this entire season doing what I thought was best for this ballclub, and I put this organization at the forefront," Green said. "Now it looks like my future here is non-existent, so I know the ballclub will do what's best for me and allow me to go to Japan and to allow me to try and better my career. We'll see what the offers are as they come in this offseason. I'm extremely excited about the possibility of playing over there."
Let's talk: Byrnes and his baseball operations staff along with manager Bob Melvin will meet for two days following the season.
"We're going to go over the Major League club, our prospects, some of the 40-man decisions, kind of reviewing the systems and philosophies for scouting and player development," Byrnes said. "I think it's more a specific review leading up to our offseason strategy, which we already have some semblance of, but this will connect all the pieces.
"This is how we're going to access amateur talent, this is what we want our scouts to do, this is how we're going to develop them, these are the prospects that are ready and this is what our big-league club looks like."
The front office has been hard at work over the past few weeks with baseball operations assistant Shiraz Rehman, putting together salary information on the other 29 teams, as well as information on each team's prospects. That way the D-Backs can get a feel for whether a team has the flexibility to take on salary, needs to cut salary, what surplus or need it might have at various positions, so they can determine whether they match up tradewise.
Waiting game: Hitting coach Mike Aldrete said last week that he will not return in 2007, as he wants to spend more time with his family, but the fate of the rest of the coaching staff won't be known until next week.
"Until we actually talk about it in the couple days after the season's over, I can't really comment on it," said Melvin, who added that he was pleased with the body of work of all his coaches.
Up next: Juan Cruz will get the start Saturday at 1:10 p.m. MST instead of Edgar Gonzalez.
Cruz has not gotten much work of late, and the D-Backs have already seen enough from Gonzalez in his last three starts to know that he will go into Spring Training with a shot at winning a spot in the rotation.
Cruz will likely throw two innings, with Gonzalez following him to the mound.
The Padres will start left-hander David Wells.
Source: http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home