Dan Wheeler Rumors

Rays, Red Sox Talking Blockbusters With Tribe

4:33pm: Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports hear that the Rays may be shying away from a blockbuster deal. They're 5.0 games behind Boston in the Wild Card race, so their next two games against the Yankees could determine the team's direction. If the Rays are discouraged after the Yankees series, they could make Dan Wheeler, Chad Bradford, Grant Balfour, Joe Nelson and Lance Cormier available, according to the FOX Sports source. 12:59pm: The Rays have shopped Scott Kazmir to the Mets and Rangers, according to Joel Sherman. The Rangers turned down an offer from the Rays...   Continue Reading

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Bullpen Roundup: Who Should Rays Get; Is Rauch Out In Arizona?

While Tampa Bay is still reeling from another loss due to a faulty bullpen, R.J. Anderson of DRaysBay.com has some suggested additions to the beleaguered group. Winston Abreu, currently dominating at Triple-A Durham, could simply be called up. Jason Grilli, recently designated for assignment by the Rockies, could be had for nothing. Joel Hanrahan, recently taken out of the closer's role by Washington, would require a trade. Considering that Grant Balfour, Joe Nelson and Dan Wheeler all have ERAs of 5.50 or higher, some fresh arms in the Tampa Bay bullpen would certainly be welcome. Meanwhile, a less-treasured member of...   Continue Reading

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Stark On Pitchers, Vlad, Sabathia, Crawford

More from Jayson Stark's Rumblings and Grumblings column today... Stark rattles off a bunch of starting pitchers teams are "tracking" in advance of the trade deadline: Roy Halladay, Jake Peavy, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Aaron Harang, Erik Bedard, Kevin Millwood, Mark Buehrle, Doug Davis, Chris Young, Andy Pettitte, Bronson Arroyo, Jonathan Sanchez, Andy Sonnanstine, Jeff Niemann, Jason Marquis, Vicente Padilla, Jeff Suppan, and Russ Ortiz. Not all of these guys are actually available, so check out the article for more analysis. Teams are "backpedaling away" from Vladimir Guerrero as a free agent option after the season. One scout sees Vlad...   Continue Reading

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Perrotto's Latest: Position Battles, Roberts, Pudge

John Perrotto's Every Given Sunday column is up over at Baseball Prospectus. This week, he takes a look at some of the position battles teams will face entering Spring Training. And, as always, there's some interesting items in his Rumors & Rumblings section. Let's take a look: Some of the more interesting position battles mentioned: 1B/DH/RF in Oakland (Daric Barton, Jack Cust, Jason Giambi, Aaron Cunningham, and Travis Buck all in the mix), Tampa's closer if Troy Percival gets hurt or falters (Dan Wheeler, J.P. Howell, Grant Balfour), and the White Sox rotation behind John Danks, Mark Buerhle, and Gavin...   Continue Reading

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Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pirates, Rays, Pettitte, Cubs, Dodgers, Gomes, Mauer, Cruz

On this date 28 years ago, the Red Sox traded Fred Lynn to the California Angels for Frank Tanana and Joe Rudi. After six seasons that included an MVP and six all-star appearances, the Red Sox were forced to trade Lynn when the front office failed to mail a new contract to Lynn by the mandated deadline. Without the new contract, Boston was faced with the possibility that Lynn would be declared a free agent (Carlton Fisk was declared a free agent for the same reason). The player's association dropped their case when Lynn agreed to a contract extension with...   Continue Reading

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Carroll's Latest: Torrealba, Wheeler, Dunn

Here's the latest from Will Carroll at Baseball Prospectus. Some of this info is from this afternoon, so I apologize for the tardiness. The Rockies may still move a lesser player like Yorvit Torrealba, if anyone's interested. There doesn't seem to be a match with the catching-hungry Marlins though. Carroll tosses a new name into the relief market: Dan Wheeler. Would the Rays part with him? Carroll's sources don't think much of the recent Jeff Kent rumor. The White Sox have been aggressive in their relief pursuit; the Twins have been passive in general. The Mets, Rays, and Phillies have...   Continue Reading

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Rays Notes: Crawford, Baldelli, Wheeler

Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times has the latest on the Rays' moves today. The first two were expected. Carl Crawford's $8.25MM option for '09 was exercised. The Rays still have a $10MM club option for '10 that is highly likely to be exercised. After that, it's anyone's guess. The Rays chose Rocco Baldelli's $4MM buyout over his $6MM option. It's a sad situation but it had to be done. Dan Wheeler was signed to an extension. His '08 contract was replaced; the new three-year deal runs through 2010 and is worth $10.5MM. He would've been a free agent...   Continue Reading

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Failed Trades

Let's take a look at some deals that almost happened yesterday. Kyle Farnsworth for Bob Wickman. This would've been fun, reunions with former teams for both players. However, the Braves wanted the Yankees to pick up all of Farnsworth's salary, apparently. Brian Cashman didn't want to make him go away that badly, and Wickman would probably be a nonfactor back in the AL. Mariners acquire Mark Loretta. Eh. Let's not overstate the abilities of Loretta. It sounds like Tim Purpura wanted some kind of legitimate prospect for him. Rockies send Jeff Baker and others to Tampa Bay for Dan Wheeler...   Continue Reading

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Could D-Rays Flip Dan Wheeler?

Keith Law raises a good point in his blog post today - the Devil Rays might be able to spin Dan Wheeler for a younger, cheaper player. Law thinks it's very likely that Andrew Friedman and Co. will aggressively shop Wheeler in the next two days. They've managed to spin Ty Wigginton into a more scarce commodity with higher demand. For example: if Octavio Dotel is worthy of a discussion about Dodgers' shortstop Chin-Ling Hu, does Wheeler fall within the same realm? If not, does controlling him through 2008 close the gap? With Reid Brignac struggling in Double A overall,..   Continue Reading

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Astros Trade Wheeler To Devil Rays For Wigginton

UPDATE: Wigginton will be used as the primary third baseman; you have to expert Morgan Ensberg to be gone soon. We expected both players to be traded, but not for each other. Today, the Astros traded 29 year-old reliever Dan Wheeler to the Devil Rays for 29 year-old supersub Ty Wigginton. By my count, Wheeler reaches free agency after the 2008 season and Wiggy after 2009. Looking at the two most important metrics, strikeout and walk rate, Wheeler should return to form for Tampa Bay. His strikeout rate is up; his walks down. Wheeler does not allow many baserunners. Perhaps..   Continue Reading

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