Zack Greinke

Dodgers executives met with right-handed pitcher Zack Greinke in Los Angeles Thursday, Yahoo! Sports’ Tim Brown reports.

Greinke, 29, was 15-5 with a 3.48 ERA last season. He played for the Brewers until July 27, when he was traded to the Angels. With the Angels, Greinke was 6-2 in 13 starts with a 3.53 ERA. Over the past two seasons, he is 31-11 with a 3.63 ERA.

Greinke’s best year by far was in 2005 with the Royals. He won the AL Cy Young and was named an All-Star. That season he had 16 wins with an amazingly low 2.16 ERA.

Brown reports that the Rangers, Nationals and Angels also have interest in Greinke. Greinke reportedly has enjoyed his time in the Los Angeles area and might want to stay in the region, but he could opt for the Dodgers.

James Loney knows full well what he’s getting into.

The 28-year-old veteran first baseman arrived in Boston Sunday as the only major league-ready player to come from the Dodgers in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto. He knows what kind of year it’s been in Boston.

“I knew a bunch of those guys that got traded,” Loney said in the Sunday press conference before going out and making his Red Sox debut at first base. “I know a bunch of guys here still but I know they’re always trying to build a championship team here. I know it didn’t work out and this year I guess there were some things going on.”

He’s heard all about playing in the intense baseball market of Boston from the outside. Now, he gets to experience it first hand.

“I’ve heard that,” Loney said. “You hear that. I think a lot of big-market, big city teams are like that. You don’t think about it when you’re out there. You just go out and play.” Read the rest of this entry »

Adrian Gonzalez

The incentive for the Red Sox to steam forward in a sweeping roster overhaul — a potential blockbuster sending first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, right-hander Josh Beckett and outfielder Carl Crawford along with utility infielder Nick Punto to the Dodgers in exchange for first baseman James Loney and multiple prospects — is fairly evident. While a major league source said that a deal is not expected on Friday night, it does appear to be gaining momentum to the point where the two teams have exchanged medical records to review as a prelude to a potential deal, whose logic makes all the sense in the world for a Red Sox team that has fallen out of contention.

It’s no secret: In a 12-month span from Dec. 2009 to Dec. 2010, the Red Sox made a series of calculated, high-risk gambles meant to secure a championship core for the long haul, only to see their bets blow up in spectacular fashion. It started in Dec. 2009, when the team signed John Lackey to a five-year, $82.5 million deal through 2014. That was followed by a four-year, $68 million extension in April 2010 that secured the services of Josh Beckett through 2014. The following offseason, after the Sox missed the playoffs, the team traded for first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and agreed to the parameters of a seven-year, $154 million extension (on top of his $6.3 million salary in 2011) that would keep him in Boston through 2018. And, finally, the Sox signed free agent Carl Crawford to a seven-year, $142 million contract at the Dec. 2010 winter meetings, with the deal running from 2011-17.

For a time, it appeared that the Sox had set themselves up for the long haul. But when the team fell apart last September, missing the playoffs by a game — following a 2011 season in which Crawford and Lackey (who required Tommy John surgery) had performed poorly, and in which Beckett had been viewed as a central culprit in a clubhouse that fell apart, those deals started to look ominous, particularly given all that followed in 2012.

The Sox had little to no flexibility to pursue roster upgrades last offeason, at least in the absence of deals to move salary (such as the one that sent Marco Scutaro to the Rockies so that the team would have money to sign Cody Ross). And so, at a time when pitchers such as Hiroki Kuroda, Edwin Jackson and Roy Oswalt were there for the taking on appealing one-year deals, the Sox did not have the available cash reserves within their payroll to make competitive bids for them. Read the rest of this entry »

Aramis Ramirez

After three straight losses over the weekend pushed them 10½ games off the pace in the NL Central, the Brewers are likely to be sellers as the trade deadline approaches.

With rumors already circling about Zack Greinke and Francisco Rodriguez being trade bait, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that third baseman Aramis Ramirez is entering the discussion as well.

Ramirez is said to have drawn considerable attention from the Dodgers, who would like an upgrade over Juan Uribe. Hardicourt says trading Ramirez, who is in the first of a three-year, $36 million deal, would be a surprise because the Brewers have no obvious candidate to replace him.

The 34-year-old is hitting .277 with 10 home runs and 55 RBIs and is second in the NL with 31 doubles, trailing only Joey Votto (36). Ramirez doesn’t have no-trade protection in his contract.

The Yankees signed former Dodgers outfielder Marcus Thames to a minor league deal, the New York Post’s George A. King III reported Friday.

Thames was designated for assignment after 36 games with the Dodgers in which he hit just .197 with two home runs and seven RBIs. Thames enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career in 2010 with the Yankees, batting a career-best .288 with a .350 OPS, also a career best. He hit 12 home runs and drove in 33.

The 34-year-old righty hitter brings versatility to the Yankees, having played left field, right field, first base and DH in his career.

King wrote that Thames will work at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa, then be assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal said in a video Saturday that the Red Sox may be looking for pitching rotation help from the Dodgers’ Hiroki Kuroda. However, after speaking with two East Coast team executives, MLB.com’s Peter Gammons wrote Sunday that Kuroda would not waive his full no-trade clause to play for an East Coast team.

A 36-year-old right-handed pitcher from Japan, Kuroda is 6-11 with a 3.13 ERA this year with the Dodgers. He has held opponent batters to a .249 average and .298 OBP.

Kuroda has played in only three games ever against the American League, going 1-2 with a .306 ERA. He has never faced an AL East team or played at an AL East park.

According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, the Red Sox “have called on” Dodgers starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, suggesting that while the Sox are confident in their depth even in the face of injuries to Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Josh Beckett, the team is exploring potential alternatives.

Kuroda is 6-10 with a 3.06 ERA this year in 18 starts for the Dodgers. The right-hander is in his fourth season with L.A., compiling a 34-40 record, 3.50 ERA and 6.5 strikeouts against 2.1 walks per nine innings in his career.

Kuroda is pitching for the Dodgers on a one-year, $12 million deal he signed last offseason. That deal also includes a no-trade clause, and according to FoxSports.com, the right-hander will require some sort of compensation to waive the clause.