Chad Durbin Rumors
Phillies Avoid Arb With Chad Durbin
According to Todd Zolecki of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies avoided arbitration with reliever Chad Durbin by signing him at $1.635MM for '09. The Phils signed Durbin for $900K after the Tigers non-tendered him following the '07 season. He responded with a 2.87 ERA in 87.6 innings. Ryan Howard is now the team's lone arbitration case.
Phillies Arb: Howard, Victorino, Werth
In addition to backing up the facts behind today's Cole Hamels story, Todd Zolecki has an update on the Phillies' remaining arbitration-eligible players.
After Greg Dobbs' 2-year, $2.5MM deal, six players are left on the arb list: Ryan Howard, Ryan Madson, Shane Victorino, Joe Blanton, Jayson Werth and Chad Durbin.
According to Zolecki, "The Phillies have been talking with Madson about a contract extension, but he reportedly turned down a three-year, $12 million offer."
Zolecki also doesn't expect Howard's deal to be done anytime soon.
Odds and Ends: Hoyer, Denker, Manny
Links for Monday...
- Baseball America ranks the teams by their total draft expenditures. The Royals spent over $11MM, leading the pack.
- SI's Tom Verducci talked to one "club pitching expert" who considers free agent Chan Ho Park a sleeper starter for next year.
- MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan figures a long-term extension for Josh Hamilton will be a top priority for the Rangers this winter. Sullivan also has a note about Jake Peavy only wanting to go to an NL team, despite the recent article about Peavy being open to three AL clubs.
- Red Sox assistant GM Jed Hoyer turned down a chance to interview for the Mariners job, according to Sean McAdam of the Boston Herald.
- McCovey Chronicles is baffled by the Giants' decision to let second baseman Travis Denker go.
- Chad Durbin suggests Manny Ramirez charged in aggressively from left field yesterday for show.
- We took a look at Ryan Dempster from a fantasy baseball perspective a few days ago.
Phillies Sign Chad Durbin
UPDATE, 12-21-07 at 9:34am: Well, Durbin only got $900K. It's hard to complain about any signing at that price; this could definitely be a profitable move for the Phils. The bigger concern is that this move ends their starting pitching search and leaves little behind Hamels and Myers. An injury to either, and the Phillies seem done.
FROM 12-19-07 at 6:18pm:
According to Dejan Kovacevic, starter Chad Durbin has reached an agreement with the Phillies. The Bucs missed out on another targeted free agent.
Durbin, a 30 year-old journeyman, posted a 4.72 ERA in 127 innings for the Tigers. His numbers were below-average across the board; I'm not sure how much he'll help the Phillies' starting pitching woes. They're looking at a rotation of Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Kyle Kendrick, Jamie Moyer, and Durbin (no one's counting on Adam Eaton). Beyond the front two that rotation is going to be pretty bad.
Stark's Latest: Prior, Lofton, Otsuka
ESPN's Jayson Stark dishes some good rumorage in his latest column.
- Stark dug around to find all the Mark Prior suitors and came up with this list: Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Mariners, Mets, Cardinals, Padres, Astros, Giants, Reds, Nationals (11 teams). Let's compare notes. MLBTR readers have seen the Yankees, Mets, Cards, Padres, Astros, Reds, and Nats linked to Prior already. So Stark has added the Red Sox, White Sox, Mariners, and Giants. The idea of the Mariners runs contrary to this MLB.com article. Stark did not name the Rangers, who are said to be aggressively pursuing Prior. Prior is dead set on a one-year deal and would take a big league mound in May in the best case.
- The Phils are focused on Geoff Jenkins and Mike Cameron, offering two year deals to each. They might just take the first one to accept. Stark says Kenny Lofton could be an option if both decline. Lofton batted a career-best .335 for the Phils in '05.
- Stark rattles off a laundry list of pitchers the Phillies are interested in: Akinori Otsuka, Byung-Hyun Kim, Roberto Hernandez, Kris Benson, John Parrish, Sidney Ponson, Chad Durbin, Kyle Lohse, and Jeremy Affeldt. Given Stark's 21 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer, I imagine he has a connection or two. Most of those are new names besides Benson, Lohse, Ponson, and Affeldt.
- A source of Stark picks the Yankees as the favorite for Johan, but it should be noted that they're having internal debates about pulling Phil Hughes off the table.
- For all the crazy Cubs fans we've got here: Stark says they've talked to the Orioles about both Brian Roberts and Erik Bedard, but couldn't pull off a deal for both. They favor Roberts even though they need Bedard much more.
Odds and Ends: Giles, Chacon, Durbin
Here are today's random rumor tidbits.
- The Rox are interested in Marcus Giles for their second base opening. Giles was awful last year, they should just try something internal. Other Rockies notes: contracts with Kip Wells and Luis Vizcaino aren't quite finalized, and they may ink Victor Zambrano to a minor league deal. UPDATE: Wells, plus Mark Redman, are done deals.
- The Pirates still have their eye on Shawn Chacon and Chad Durbin. That''ll put butts in the seats. Also, Jake of Bucco Blog weighs in on a new Pirates hire.
- Speaking of Durbin, did he comment on this blog and suggest he's headed to the NL? I'm not sure.
- Drays Bay talked to Gerry Hunsicker. Seth Speaks talked to Pat Neshek.
- New prize added to our Hot Stove Hysteria contest - three months free of Scout.com access.
- Things are mostly quiet with the Brewers, but this Tom Haudricourt blog post notes tepid discussions for Scott Rolen, Hank Blalock, and Andre Ethier.
Today's Non-tenders: Towers, Prior, Everett, Durbin
Tim's out for the night, so we've got a fresh post started for the non-tenders. MLB.com has a running list as well.
These guys are the officials as of now:
- As expected, the Marlins non-tendered catcher Miguel Olivo. Johnny Estrada was another casualty; these two make up the market for starting catchers.
- The Blue Jays non-tendered Josh Towers, a surprising move. Some NL team could offer him two years and get league average work out of him.
- Mark Prior has been non-tendered. Honestly if I were the Cubs, I would've tossed the $3.5MM his way just to see.
- Aaron Miles is now a free agent.
- The A's cut Kiko Calero loose.
- The Padres have non-tendered four: Morgan Ensberg, Jason Lane, and pitchers Jack Cassell and Ryan Ketchner. RotoWorld speculates that the latter two, not arbitration eligible, could be offered minor league deals.
- The Royals cut the cord on Emil Brown. He turns 33 soon; he hit an ugly .257/.300/.347 in 2007. Brown earned $3.45MM in '07.
- The Tigers non-tendered Chad Durbin, toss him into the free agent pool. Guess those trade talks with the Bucs didn't work out.
- The Twins have let go Jason Tyner.
- The Nats have cut bait with Nook Logan and LHP Michael O'Connor.
- The Dodgers wave goodbye to Mark Hendrickson.
- The White Sox have non-tendered Andy Gonzalez and LHP Heath Phillips. Joe Crede sticks with the Pale Hose for now.
- Adam Everett has lost his job with the Astros. It'd be kind of funny if the Orioles signed him.
- Per RotoWorld, the Angels have non-tendered Dallas McPherson. He's full of potential, but he's never come through. He's only 27, though, so he could still catch on somewhere. Unless, RotoWorld notes, he has an agreement in place with the Angels.
- The Braves have non-tendered Willie Harris, though he had already been DFA'd.
-Joe and Tim
Today's Non-tenders
As you know, the non-tender deadline is tonight. I've got my list of candidates right here. In this post, I'll note all those who are officially non-tendered and hence become free agents.
- The Royals cut the cord on Emil Brown. He turns 33 soon; he hit an ugly .257/.300/.347 in 2007. Brown earned $3.45MM in '07.
- The Tigers non-tendered Chad Durbin, toss him into the free agent pool. Guess those trade talks with the Bucs didn't work out.
Odds and Ends: Mench, Kent, Durbin, Wang
Rounding up this morning's Odds and Ends, to be updated periodically...
- The Pirates are talking to the Tigers about acquiring Chad Durbin. The arbitration-eligible Durbin doesn't have a place in Detroit's rotation, but could be useful for the Bucs.
- Chien-Ming Wang would like a three or four-year deal with the Yanks.
- The Phillies will pass on Kevin Mench, though they've still got their eye on Nate McLouth. The Royals' disinterest in Mench was noted yesterday.
- We've assumed it for a while, but Jeff Kent playing in 2008 is now official.
- The Twins may have non-tendered Jason Tyner.
Tigers Acquire Cabrera, Willis For Six Players
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 6:04pm: Jon Paul Morosi reveals the three remaining players, and they're all pitchers: Burke Badenhop, Eulogio de la Cruz, and Dallas Trahern. Based on Kevin Goldstein's Tigers prospect list, the team surrendered its #1, 7, and 11th ranked prospects. Miller's not on the list due to big league experience but he'd be third if he was.
Morosi also notes that Marcus Thames, Brandon Inge, and Chad Durbin are now on the block.
Baseball Prospectus' Nate Silver weighs in on the big trade here.
FROM 12-4-07 at 5:30pm:
ESPN's Peter Gammons is reporting that the Tigers have acquired Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis for Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, Mike Rabelo, and three minor leaguers.
This is what the hot stove league is all about, unexpected massive eight-player blockbusters. All the talk was that the Tigers would have a quiet Winter Meetings. Instead they traded for one of the best hitters in the game, adding an immediate 5-7 wins in the process. Swapping out Willis for Miller will probably be a push in 2008 before things swing toward the Fish.
Maybin and Miller are both elite prospects; it seems packaging Cabrera with Willis was the only way they could get both. Interestingly, it seems like Sports Review Magazine may have scooped this trade way back at 9:52am CST. I am surprised this link didn't get in my hands until now.
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