Kyle Davies Rumors
Giants Discussing Guillen, Interested In Willingham
The San Francisco offense is heating up, but the Giants are still looking for outfield bats. The Royals are discussing Jose Guillen with San Francisco, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The potential deal would send the 34-year-old to San Francisco along with cash to cover some of the $4.5MM or so remaining on Guillen’s contract.
But Jayson Stark of ESPN.com hears (via Twitter) from a rival official who believes the Royals have “no real options” to move Guillen, even if they ask for a modest return and take on salary. Stark’s source says (via Twitter) there’s very little action on some of Guillen’s teammates: Brian Bannister, Kyle Davies and Kyle Farnsworth.
Another one of Guillen’s teammates, Scott Podsednik, is drawing strong interest from NL West teams, including the Giants. For what it’s worth, the Giants have been scouting Guillen aggressively, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (via Twitter). For the season, Guillen has 16 homers and a .271/.333/.457 line.
The Giants are pursuing outfielders other than Guillen and Podsednik, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Like the Braves, Rays and Red Sox, the Giants have interest in Josh Willingham.
Royals Will Listen To Offers
Royals GM Dayton Moore told Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star that the club has some "nice pieces" to market this summer. The 27-37 Royals have a number of players who might appeal to contenders and Moore is ready to listen, even though the Royals aren't actively looking to move players at this point.
"We'll evaluate what comes our way if anything does come our way," he said.
It wouldn't be surprising to see an offer or two for David DeJesus come the Royals' way. Dutton reports that clubs are already scouting the outfielder, who is hitting .314/.392/.479. DeJesus makes an affordable $4.7MM salary this year and there's a club option for $6MM in 2011 ($500K buyout).
If the Royals hold onto DeJesus, they could decline his option and offer him arbitration. If he turns down their offer to sign elsewhere, they would obtain at least one draft pick, possibly two. The promise of draft picks makes the Royals hesitant to deal him for a pedestrian return, but there are advantages to dealing now. DeJesus must climb into Type A territory under the Elias rankings system and decline arbitration for them to get two picks. Even if they get the picks, they would have to wait a year and pay each draftee about $1MM.
Rival teams could also have interest in Scott Podsednik, Jose Guillen, Kyle Farnsworth, Willie Bloomquist, Brian Bannister, Kyle Davies, Alberto Callaspo and Rick Ankiel.
Stark On Royals, Phillies, Holliday
ESPN.com's Jayson Stark asks some thoughtful baseball people why we're not greeting Manny Ramirez like the "team-wrecking, alibi-distorting, female-fertility-drug-popping scoundrel he is." And, of course, Stark has piles of rumors. Here they are:
- The Mets were never willing to move Bobby Parnell or other top young arms for Mark DeRosa, so they weren't as close to acquiring him as the Reds and Cubs were. The Phillies, Marlins and Giants were also in the mix.
- The Indians are more interested in dealing Rafael Bentancourt than Kerry Wood, whose contract ($15MM remaining) would be hard to move.
- The Royals will listen on anyone but Zack Greinke, but that doesn't mean they're looking to deal starters. They're "reluctant" to deal Brian Bannister, Kyle Davies or Gil Meche, who has a no-trade clause.
- The Phillies were looking at Juan Cruz, who the Royals say they'd only deal for an upper-tier prospect ready to make a big-league impact.
- The Reds will wait it out and ramp up their pursuit of a bat if they're in the race later in the month.
- One executive says Pedro Martinez didn't look bad in last month's workout; Pedro's just demanding too much money.
- The Phillies haven't given up on pursuing Cliff Lee, Erik Bedard or Roy Oswalt.
- The Braves are trying to deal Jeff Francoeur everywhere, but no one's interested. One front-office guy says his team would be interested if Francoeur's non-tendered.
- Officials are divided on whether Yunel Escobar could be dealt, but a trade is unlikely at best.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels says he is now looking to bolster his rotation.
- As expected, Daniels confirmed that the Rangers will have "limited" ability to take on salary at the deadline.
- The A's will want "two prospects with tremendous upside" for Matt Holliday if they deal him. It's unclear how much of the $6.75MM remaining on his contract the A's would pick up.
- Could Josh Willingham be the next-best bat on the market? One exec says he might be if Russell Branyan and Miguel Tejada don't become available.
- Another official says Willingham's unappealing because of his back issues.
Royals Avoid Arb With Kyle Davies
According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, the Royals avoided arbitration with pitcher Kyle Davies by signing him for $1.3MM.
Odds and Ends: Wilson, Bautista, Hairston
Linkage for Friday...
- The AP explains how C.C. Sabathia will be paid $9.5MM before throwing a pitch for the Yankees.
- The D'Backs signed lefty Travis Blackley.
- Dan Johnson is headed to Japan.
- The Cardinals signed Japanese pitcher Katsuhiko Maekawa to a minor league deal. Patrick Newman has details.
- Interesting discussion involving Raul Ibanez's defense.
- I did a Q&A with SportingGurus.com.
- Ken Rosenthal guesses destinations for 11 remaining free agents in this slideshow.
- MLB is undergoing a hiring/salary freeze and taking away 20% of vacation time for '09.
- Dejan Kovacevic had a lengthy chat with Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson, who wishes the team would get more players to become competitive. In his article Kovacevic also notes that the Pirates have had talks about bringing back pitcher Denny Bautista, who was non-tendered a week ago.
- Are the Mariners trying to open up a spot for Jerry Hairston Jr.? They're looking to add a plus-plus defensive second baseman; not sure if he qualifies.
- Aubrey Huff tops the list of fantasy baseball's biggest draft position gainers.
- Royals pitcher Kyle Davies is working a construction job this offseason.
- The Orioles settled with Sidney Ponson regarding their grievance.
Dotel To Atlanta Deal Not Close
UPDATE: Word via the Kansas City Star is that the Royals will get Kyle Davies in the deal. The Teixeira trade needs to be finalized first though. Nice job by Dayton Moore. Apparently he preferred Davies over Wladimir Balentien.
UPDATE 2: Based on this MLB.com report and reports from Sports Radio 810, the deal is not complete and Davies for Dotel was simply an offer. Dotel was apparently seen shagging flies in batting practice today.
UPDATE 3: Mark Bowman of MLB.com says the teams are not close to finalizing a deal and John Schuerholz has yet to enter into serious negotiations.
Interesting development via Ken Rosenthal: the Braves are close to a deal for Royals' closer Octavio Dotel. They apparently have made a better offer than finalists Cleveland and Los Angeles.
Royals GM Dayton Moore knows his way around Atlanta's farm system, of course. He had all kinds of player development roles within the Braves organization. The Braves' top three prospects heading into the season per Baseball America were Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, and Matt Harrison. With those three out of the picture perhaps Moore is going for outfielder Brandon Jones or first baseman Scott Thorman.
Quite a day for Atlanta...now to snag a starter...
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
|
|
