January 2008

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Santana Contract Could Spell Sabathia Departure

Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes today that a six-year extension in the $130-150MM range for Johan Santana is likely to spell an end to C.C. Sabathia's Indians career after this season. The Indians made an offer to Sabathia in December, something probably in the range of four years and $70MM. It would be hard for Sabathia to pass on the chance to double that total. Sabathia does want to stay and believes negotiations for an extension are progressing (he's let his agent handle it so far). Indians GM Mark Shapiro would probably like to avoid an in-season..   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Interview, Felix , Fujikawa

Let's kick things off today with odds and ends. Charley Walters says that "it wouldn't be surprising" if the Twins go after Josh Fogg for some veteran stability. I could see that. I did an interview with Baseball Zealot Radio yesterday, which can be found here in mp3 form. Bleeding Blue and Teal talks Mariners with KOMO Radio's Shannon Drayer. One interesting note, she wondered whether the Mariners might start thinking about a long-term deal for Felix Hernandez. JapanBall.com says top reliever Kyuji Fujikawa signed with the Hansin Tigers for about $2.64MM. The top-notch closer hoped to be posted, but..   Continue Reading

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Mariners Close To Bedard Deal?

UPDATE, 1-30-08 at 5:19pm: MLB.com's Jim Street says a last-ditch attempt by the Orioles to sign Bedard to a five-year contract is holding up the trade. Street says Bedard's agent told Andy MacPhail it would take seven years and $100MM, however. Street touches on the Jones degenerative hip thing, indicating that the Orioles heard this but it turned out to be unsubstantiated. UPDATE, 1-30-08 at 4:38pm: Geoff Baker checks in. He's not able to corroborate the MLB.com report. He was able to dismiss the Adam Jones hip stuff. Baker's heard that Angelos was angry about the Jones leak though. Baker..   Continue Reading

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Mailbag: Crisp, Anderson, Fogg, and More

The mailbag can be reached at mlbtraderumors@gmail.com. What day had the highest readership so far this offseason (yesterday)? How many visitors? - Corbin Yesterday we had about 200K pageviews, which still pales in comparison to the second day of the Winter Meetings (over 736K pageviews). I am hoping to break this record on July 31st. There seems to be more of a trend lately for teams to step up and extend key players before they reach free agency. Will this trend continue, and will the FA market at the end of 2008 end up looking as bare as the past..   Continue Reading

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Jeff Cirillo Leaning Towards Retirement

According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jeff Cirillo will likely retire after being told that the Brewers do not have a spot on their roster for him. Cirillo stated that he would only play for Seattle (where his family resides) or Milwaukee in 2008. Cirillo, a two-time all-star, has not been a full-time player since 2002 and enjoyed his greatest success with the Brewers and Colorado from 1998-2001 when he posted three straight seasons with an average greater than .320 and four straight years with an OPS north of .830. By Cork Gaine   Continue Reading

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Nathan Still Likes Twins

Joe Nathan is not bothered by the Johan Santana trade; he thinks the Twins can still contend. Nathan wants to stay, but he's a free agent after the '08 season. And he's not planning on giving a huge discount again. I'm guessing that could mean $60MM over four years. Nathan and his agent are waiting for a call from the Twins. GM Bill Smith may soon be free to turn his attention to Nathan and decide whether to try to retain one of the game's top closers   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Helms, Bako, Crisp

I am going to toss today's non-Santana odds and ends into this post. Paul Hagen runs through some possibilities for the likely-to-be-traded Wes Helms: Marlins, Rays, Twins, Giants, and A's. Any teams you'd like to add to his speculation? The Pirates have moved on from Johnny Estrada to Paul Bako. He'd battle to back up Ronny Paulino. OK this is Santana-related. Gordon Edes says the Red Sox will listen to offers for Coco Crisp, but are fine with keeping him around as perhaps the game's best fourth outfielder. See any good fits for Crisp   Continue Reading

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MLBTR Mailbag

I want to do regular Wednesday mailbags, but skipped last week's. Sorry 'bout that. Submit your mailbag questions to mlbtraderumors@gmail.com. Just to mix it up let's keep the questions Johan/Bedard/Roberts-free this week   Continue Reading

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Santana Aftermath

Now that the players have been agreed upon for the Johan Santana trade, some depictions of the 11th-hour negotiations have leaked out. LEN3 says Santana is expected to get a six-year deal worth around $130MM ($21.66MM annually). He also notes that Santana had given the Twins an end-of-day Tuesday deadline or else he would've used his no-trade clause. Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record chronicles Bill Smith's last-ditch attempts to get the Yankees and Red Sox involved. He apparently asked the Yankees for Ian Kennedy, Melky Cabrera, and a top prospect and was denied. The Red Sox wouldn't part with..   Continue Reading

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The Adam Jones Degenerative Hip Rumor

UPDATE, 1-30-08 at 9:09am: John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer calls Charles' report "completely unsubstantiated." FROM 1-29-08 at 10:40pm: This story got lost in the shuffle today. Let's take a look at what we know about the Adam Jones degenerative hip rumor. The rumor originated with Stan Charles, publisher of a Baltimore sports weekly called Press Box. Charles appeared on the Mark Viviano Show on ESPN 1300 Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately I did not hear exactly what Charles said - the show may be up for download on Wednesday. But the gist of Charles' rumor based on emailers who listened is..   Continue Reading

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