Kevin Mench Rumors

Mench Completes Deal With Japanese Team

MLBTR reported this was going to happen, and now it has. Kevin Mench will be playing for the Hanshin Tigers in 2009. The deal is for one year and is worth $1.8MM. Mench, 30, played in the outfield for the Blue Jays last season. He hit .243/.321/.357 in 131 plate appearances for Toronto.   Continue Reading

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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...   Continue Reading

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Hanshin Tigers Sign Kevin Mench

Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker passes along a Sanspo report (link in Japanese) that Kevin Mench is nearing a one-year, $2MM deal with the Hanshin Tigers. Mench, 31 in January, wasn't going to find that kind of money in the States after hitting .243/.321/.357 in 131 plate appearances for the Blue Jays.   Continue Reading

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Phillies Rumors: Baldelli, Hairston, Mench

5:44pm: MLB.com's Ken Mandel says the Phillies have Rocco Baldelli, Jerry Hairston Jr., and Kevin Mench on the radar in the event they don't re-sign Burrell. The Phillies have long liked Baldelli, though the Rays hope to talk contract soon. Reds GM Walt Jocketty recently met with Hairston's agent, and feels he made progress. And the Hanshin Tigers hope to lure Mench to Japan. 9:38am: Checkin' in on the Phillies... GM Ruben Amaro Jr. had an informal five-minute talk with Casey Close, who represents Ryan Howard and Joe Blanton. Talks have not yet begun with free agents Pat Burrell, Jamie...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Twins, Big Unit, Rockies

Links and tidbits for Wednesday. Remember to check back on this post for updates! Dave Cameron notes that the Elias rankings screwed over Damaso Marte by making him a Type A. See also: Doug Brocail, Bob Howry, Darren Oliver. Remember to check out the Previous Entries link at the bottom of the website, as stories get buried pretty quickly in times like these. Japanese outfielder Saburo Ohmura (link in Japanese) would be fine with a minor league deal. Roch Kubatko has info on what it might take to trade for Khalil Greene or Jack Wilson. Pirates president Frank Coonelly confirmed...   Continue Reading

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Jays Acquire Kevin Mench, Brad Wilkerson

3:03pm: The Wilkerson signing is also official now. Both are pretty much no-risk moves. 2:48pm: According to the Newberg Report mailing list, the Blue Jays have acquired outfielder Kevin Mench from the Rangers for cash considerations. The Brad Wilkerson acquisition may still be in the works, but Mench is a better match as a lefty-masher. He has a career line of .305/.361/.563 against them. It's only been 34 Triple A ABs but Mench is hitting .412/.500/.706 against southpaws this year.   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Braves, Cruz, Breslow

Some nuggets from today... The Braves look to be the market for a bat off the bench and according to David O'Brien of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution it's not likely to be a minor name. O'Brien asked Wren if the Braves "had money to add a player of significant salary to their payroll," throwing out an accompanying figure of $3-4MM, to which Wren said yes "without hesitation." Let's use this to set the stage for what should be an interesting late spring Reed Johnson sweepstakes. Evan Grant of the The Dallas Morning News believes that Jason Botts 2 for 5 performance...   Continue Reading

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Rangers Rumors: Guardado, Cameron, Hamilton

MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan has all the latest hot stove buzz around the Rangers. The Rangers are nearing a deal with Eddie Guardado. Everyday Eddie might be a dark horse to close, if he can flash his late season form again. The Reds decided in October that he was not worth $3.5MM, and declined his option. Guardado is 37. The Rangers hope to add some kind of veteran starter. Bartolo Colon and Jason Jennings are still options, but Mark Prior and Freddy Garcia pretty much are not. Sullivan names Mike Maroth, Mark Hendrickson, and Josh Towers as pitchers of interest. Mike..   Continue Reading

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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   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Mench, Patterson

Some random rumors for this evening... The Royals, once fans of Kevin Mench, have no interest in him now. He'll be a free agent soon. Missed this tidbit - the Yankees have interest in Corey Patterson. They'd almost have to trade an outfielder for that to make sense. George King says they also have minimal interest in Kris Benson   Continue Reading

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