Dayton Moore Rumors

Odds & Ends: Phillies, Moore, Draft

Three years ago today, four current big leaguers were selected on day two of the 2006 MLB Draft: Derek Holland of the Rangers, Daniel Murphy of the Mets, David Robertson of the Yankees, and Clay Zavada of the Diamondbacks. Here's some lazy Sunday afternoon linkage for you.

• Sam Mellinger tweets that current Royals' and ex-Phillies' executive Mike Arbuckle says that his biggest regret is drafting Reggie Taylor over Roy Halladay in the first round of the 1995 Draft. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Arbuckle isn't alone with that sentiment.
• Jim Salisbury runs through the Phillies' trade chips.
• Royals' GM Dayton Moore says that his team isn't in need of any major changes right now, via Bob Dutton. “We are constantly evaluating our internal options to improve our team, and specifically our offense. And we’re always looking for opportunities to improve our team through trades or the waiver wire, and we’ll always be aggressive in trying to do that. But I’m confident that we will begin to perform better and play as we did in the first 30 games of the year. That’s all I can focus on.”
• Meanwhile, Rany Jazayerli suggests a move for the Royals: trade for Jeff Francoeur. His reasoning: buy low on someone with gobs of talent.
• Texas high school outfielder Randal Grichuk made a name for himself by hitting a few homers during a predraft workout at Busch Stadium, according to Derrick Goold.
• Ross Ohlendorf's thesis shows that the rate of return of the top 100 picks from the 1989-2003 drafts was about 60%.

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Dayton Moore - GM Trade History

Next up in our GM Trade History series, Dayton Moore of the Royals.  Thanks to Brendan Bianowicz for putting this together.  Click here to download the spreadsheet. Be sure to check out the different tabs at the bottom.

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Odds and Ends: Lowry, Kawakami, Lowe, Young

Links for Wednesday...

• Rany Jazayerli has withdrawn his support for Royals GM Dayton Moore.
• Chris Haft says that if Noah Lowry has a nice spring, perhaps the Giants should trade him rather than Jonathan Sanchez.
• Keith Law says Kenshin Kawakami should provide bulk innings for the Braves, while the risk with Derek Lowe is his age.
• La Velle E. Neal III doesn't get the sense the Twins are interested in Michael Young.
• Jeff Wilson looks at the likely free agent options for the Rangers.
• Peter Abraham suggests the Yankees don't have sufficient rotation depth without Andy Pettitte or a similar veteran addition.
• It was bound to happen sooner or later...a blog dedicated entirely to Scott Boras.
• The Reds are looking for power off the bench...Mark Sheldon has suggestions.
• A look at the Twins' non-roster invitees.
• Geoff Baker says the Mariners screwed up with Jarrod Washburn.

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Odds and Ends: Griffey, Springer, Hoffman

Links for Wednesday...

• Common misconception Joe and I keep running into: signing one of the 15 Type A free agents who were offered arbitration will only cost the signing team one draft pick.  The player's old team also gets a second pick, but it doesn't come from the new team.  It's just squeezed into the supplemental round.  Check out a deeper explanation here.
• Nuggets from a Frank Coonelly chat: he expects the Pirates to make room on the 40-man roster for a potential Rule 5 addition, and they'd still like to re-sign Doug Mientkiewicz.
• Pirates pitcher Jason Davis looks like a non-tender candidate.
• Twins manager Ron Gardenhire doesn't have Delmon Young in his preferred starting outfield.
• The Cubs signed pitcher Chad Fox to a minor league deal.
• Ken Griffey Jr.'s agent Brian Goldberg says he's fine with DHing but is capable of playing the field.  Goldberg thinks Junior can bounce back and have a 30 home run season.
• Click here to listen to free agent reliever Russ Springer talk to The ITD Morning After radio show on 1380 AM.  He's gotten calls from teams in both leagues, including "World Series participants."  Springer is known to be on the Phillies' radar.
• Recently I talked to Sarah Small of the Daily Illini.
• SI.com's Tom Verducci looks at the supposed shortstop revolution that seems to have petered out.
• Dave Cameron respects the Astros' signing of Mike Hampton.
• Tony Jackson says the Dodgers offered a minor league deal to Juan Castro.
• Royals GM Dayton Moore did a Q&A with fans at MLB.com.  His priority is adding right-handed relief help after trading Leo Nunez and Ramon Ramirez.  Also, he says Mark Teahen is "more important to our team today then he was in all of 2008 -- and he was very important to our team in '08."
• McCovey Chronicles is skeptical of all the teams blaming the economy.
• Drunk Jays Fans predicts Kevin Mench's Japan experience.
• Jesse Spector looks at comparable pitchers for C.C. Sabathia.
• Trevor Hoffman may meet with the Mets soon.  Also, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon spoke of "addition by subtraction" yesterday.
• East Windup Chronicle disputes a Richard Griffin column.
• The Phillies are still willing to sign Type A free agents who were offered arbitration, such as Raul Ibanez or Juan Cruz.
• Evan Grant's latest Rangers mailbag, always a good read.
• Joe Sheehan discusses various poor arbitration decisions by teams.
• Minor league deals for the Mets: Nelson Figueroa, Adam Bostick, and Rene Rivera.  Marty Noble adds Andy Green.
• Rany Jazayerli figures Mark Grudzielanek agreed in advance to reject the Royals' offer of arbitration.
• As usual, ESPN will be all over the Winter Meetings.  I'm told they'll be doing daily Baseball Tonight specials and will have a team of seven on the scene in Vegas.
• ESPN's Peter Gammons says the free agent and trade markets are flooded with corner/DH type bats.  There will be bargains.
• Bruce Miles thinks Milton Bradley would be a nice match for the Cubs.  The biggest issue would be his ability to play right field every day.

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Ibanez May Be Too Pricey For Royals

According to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star, Royals officials view Raul Ibanez as the best free agent fit for them.  However, they're not likely to give him a three-year deal in the $10-12MM range.  They're also reluctant to surrender their second-round pick to the Mariners.

Dutton says the Royals are "taking a hard look" at Rafael Furcal, who is the best available shortstop and doesn't cost a draft pick.  However, Dutton doesn't see the Royals as the high bidder for Furcal either.  The Giants, A's, and Braves are eyeing Furcal, among others.  Dutton sees the Royals adding a cheaper free agent, someone of the Nick Punto/David Eckstein variety.

Also on the Royals front, Jesse Spector talks to GM Dayton Moore.  Moore denied reports that he's down on Billy Butler.

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Royals Payroll Could Reach $70 Million

Sports Radio 810 in Kansas City talked to Royals GM Dayton Moore recently.

• Moore hopes to sign Zack Greinke long-term.  Greinke, however, is comfortable going year to year to maximize his earnings.
• Moore named three free agent bats he ranked above Mike Jacobs: Mark Teixeira, Manny Ramirez, and Bobby Abreu.  He implied those three are out of the Royals' price range.  Moore feels that Jacobs will continue to improve.
• Moore says he has flexibility to extend payroll toward $70MM or even higher.  He notes that last year the Royals tried to sign Jose Guillen and Torii Hunter, which would've pushed payroll to that range. 
• Moore lists his needs as speed, OBP, a starting pitcher, and bullpen help.
• Mike Aviles could be shifted to second base if the Royals can acquire a "proven everyday shortstop."  Royals Authority says: don't move him!

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