Ken Rosenthal's Latest

Ken Rosenthal has been hard at work with his sources, and he has a new article at FOX Sports.  Some highlights:

• The Marlins and Dodgers are interested in Byung-Hyun Kim as a reliever, and the A's could add him as the fifth starter instead of Joe Kennedy.  Kim, a 28 year-old sidearmer, hasn't closed since '03 with Boston.  A trade to Florida would make him the ninth inning favorite though.  He'll earn $2.5MM this year.
• The Rockies like Mark Hendrickson of L.A., and they may release Josh Fogg this spring.  I wouldn't discard Kim while acquiring Hendrickson; Kim projects as a slightly better pitcher.  Advantages to acquiring Hendrickson from Dan O'Dowd's point of view: a slightly better groundball rate and two years remaining until free agency.
• The Blue Jays want to give Josh Towers a rotation spot.  Towers has nine Ks in nine innings this spring while allowing two runs.  Does spring training really have that kind of influence on a team's decision-makers?  Towers will make $2.9MM this season, but he's still pretty far from free agency.  The Jays would like to trade John Thomson; otherwise they may release him.  As a newly signed free agent Thomson can veto any deal.  He'd be wise to take a trade to the NL, in my opinion.
• Rosenthal thinks the Orioles and Nationals will be competing for Mark Teixeira, who will become a free agent after the 2008 season.  Tex is a Maryland native, which usually doesn't matter for a Boras client.  But Boras might actually be able to use this to get the two clubs bidding against each other.

Comments

[jskohl]

Wow! Two tidbits that have the Dodgers involved! Are we in some parralel universe? Or is it the latest from Ken Rosenthal? Thank you Ken, only you can bring us rumors from the west.

[SpecialFNK]

<-- shocked that the Jays would give Towers a spot over Thomson, especially after what Towers did last season.
come on JP(Jays GM) ..its spring training, smarten up!

[Guitar Hero]

Maybe Towers has his stuff back.

[SpecialFNK]

Towers had stuff?
he pitched well for 2 months at the end of the 2005 season going 6-2 with 2.47 ERA, well better than his career numbers. i dont think he all of a sudden learned how to pitch well. before that stretch he was 7-8 eith 4.64 ERA.. much more along the lines of his career numbers.
Thomson isnt great, but hes better than Towers.

[Guitar Hero]

So lets say Towers pitches 180 innings with a 4.64 ERA in the 5th spot of the rotation? That's AMAZING. That would help the team immensely. I think Chacin and Ohka are much more likely to bomb this year. I agree with you Thomson is the best out of the bunch, but at least the good news is the players are pitching well so far in spring training. I think if I ran the team I would have not signed Ohka, and ran out Halladay, Burnett, Janssen, Thomson, Towers....or maybe Chacin in there. I think Zambrano could be in the pen too at this point, maybe, and he'd be a good spot starter or insurance later on. Though he's not such a great pitcher himself since he walks so many guys.

[Dev0]

wait whats wrong with a mid 4 era? I will gladly take a 5th starter that gets a 4.5-7 era with the ability to go lower on occasion.

[SpecialFNK]

so the Jays should forget about what Towers did in 06?
Thomson and Ohka IMO are both better than Towers, and both of them have more upside than Towers ..and even if either of them should struggle id still rather go with someone like Zambrano/Marcum/Janssen before id even think about giving Towers another chance.
which pitcher(Towers or Thomson) is more likely to have a good #5 type season? (IMO- Thomson)
which pitcher is more likely to struggle? (IMO- Towers)

if the Jays will still a team expected to be a 3rd place team, then fine id say go with Towers and be happy with his mediocrety, but with the Jays having expectations for the playoffs id rather go with a safer pick in Thomson who is more likely to put forth a decent season.

[fastfuture]

towers has always had a sub 1.3 WHIP in odd-numbered years; and thats always been in the AL East;
instead of talking crap let's hope for the best.
I'm going to predict that Towers ends up as Toronto's 3rd best starter this year.