Sammy Sosa Rumors

Odds and Ends: Soto, Joba, Colletti, Tazawa

Let's dig in with today's links! As you know, the Steinbrenners want Brian Cashman back for '09. Now it's up to him. Geovany Soto was discussed as a throw-in on the trade that ultimately sent Sammy Sosa to Baltimore back in '05. One that did get away that year: Ricky Nolasco (in the Juan Pierre deal). Michael Gluckstadt interviewed ESPN's Buster Olney. CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler takes a look at the deep free agent class of starting pitchers. Dave Cameron considers this "the greatest collection of free agent arms to hit free agency at the same time in the history of...   Continue Reading

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Crasnick On Remaining Free Agents

ESPN's Jerry Crasnick examines the status of nine free agents: Sammy Sosa, Kenny Lofton, Reggie Sanders, Jeff Cirillo, Royce Clayton, Steve Finley, Freddy Garcia, David Wells, and Damian Miller. Lofton is likely to find a job; he's healthy and played reasonably well last year. The Cubs still might be a fit. Seems that Garcia probably won't reach a big league mound until September; auditioning for teams may take place in July. Miller received calls from the Yankees and Padres, but he's still taking a Brewers or nothing stance.   Continue Reading

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Sammy Sosa To Retire After WBC?

ESPN's Enrique Rojas, quoting the Dominican paper Hoy, writes that Sammy Sosa intends to retire after playing in the next World Baseball Classic (to be held in March '09). Sosa's quotes are confusing: "There's something that I wish to state very clearly: I'm not looking for a job. In fact, I have told my agent that he should stop offering my services to MLB teams. I'm not retired. I remain highly focused and not begging for a contract." I think Sosa's point is that he is still willing to play for an MLB team, but only if they come to...   Continue Reading

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Sammy Sosa Considering Retirement

According to Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune, Sammy Sosa is considering retirement if he doesn't get an offer soon. Sosa passed the 600 HR plateau last year, so there's no statistical reason to hang around. Sosa drove in 92 runs in 114 games in his comeback season for the Rangers, but struggled against right-handed pitching. Apparently he has looking for regular playing time and/or decent money to play in '08; the Royals passed on his offer to play for them. Ken Rosenthal noted back in February that the 2013 Hall of Fame voting could be mighty interesting.   Continue Reading

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Olney On Bonds And The Mets

ESPN's Buster Olney makes a pretty strong case for the Mets signing Barry Bonds. Bonds is a lot like Moises Alou, only a better hitter with more baggage. Jeff Sackmann only saw six teams as possible fits for Bonds; the Alou injury might make the Mets the seventh (although Alou missing a month of the regular season was a given). The Mets could get a ton of value from left field if they somehow kept these two from being injured simultaneously. Olney argues that Bonds is the one available impact bat who can be acquired for only money. And the...   Continue Reading

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Royals Not Interested In Sosa

TODAY: Royals GM Dayton Moore denies interest in Sosa, saying he's not looking to acquire any free agents currently. THURSDAY: According to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes, the Royals' talks for Sammy Sosa have some life again. However, a Royals official told ESPN last week that the team prefers to go young. Meanwhile, Jose Guillen is campaigning for Sosa. Really, Sammy taking away ABs from any current Royal doesn't seem to make any sense. You'd hate to see Billy Butler affected, and even a trickle down minor loss of opportunity for Joey Gathright, Ross Gload, Mark Teahen, or Ryan Shealy...   Continue Reading

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Who Wants Sammy?

Jon Heyman talked to Sammy Sosa's agent, who indicated that Sosa is intent on finding a near full-time offer. Sammy hit .252/.311/.468 last year, earning $1.85MM. Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA system sees a .256/.327/.470 line in 282 plate appearances this year, worth about $3MM. Sosa's splits indicate he should be playing part time: .328/.410/.613 against lefties, .222/.267/.410 against righties. Plus, who has an open full-time DH job? Many of the 14 spots are occupied with no flexibility. Actually Sosa in a strict platoon with Jack Cust would be interesting.   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Colon, Byrd, Sosa, Wilkerson

Some random links and whatnot for Saturday... Joe Cowley says the White Sox have backed off on Bartolo Colon because he wants a two-year deal. He believes the Royals are the frontrunner. Rangers guru Jamey Newberg doesn't think Marlon Byrd would be enough to get Matt Murton from the Cubs. The Rangers might've entertained Sammy Sosa in a limited role, but he's looking for 400-500 plate appearances. Good luck with that! Heard an unconfirmed whisper that the Red Sox may have some interest in Brad Wilkerson. RotoAuthority takes a fantasy baseball look at Yovani Gallardo and Tim Lincecum   Continue Reading

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ESPN's Latest: Sosa, Prior, Kuroda, Reyes

UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 11:19pm: Ah, the truth comes out. Sammy Sosa's people approached the Royals, but they weren't interested. FROM 12-4-07 at 3:17pm: ESPN has a huge team at the Meetings; here are some tidbits that haven't appeared elsewhere on MLBTR. Enrique Rojas says the Royals have interest in Sammy Sosa. Could that indicate a Mark Teahen trade is in the works also? Teahen is expected to move to first base to accomodate Jose Guillen, which would push Billy Butler to DH. But Sammy can only DH. Buster Olney says the Rangers and Padres are in on Mark Prior. The..   Continue Reading

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Royals Interested In Guillen, Jenkins, Hunter

I was waiting for someone to name a few players of interest to the Royals, and Bob Dutton came through tonight with some names. Specifically, the team is after a run-producer, ideally a right-handed hitter. That puts Jose Guillen atop their list. Dayton Moore might need to go a little north of three years, $30MM to get him. Failing that, the left-handed hitting Geoff Jenkins is on the radar. He'd probably go for a one-year, $6-7MM contract in my estimation. Dutton notes that the Royals have interest in Torii Hunter, but he's likely to be priced out of their range...   Continue Reading

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Sosa Wants $7MM

Sammy! Sammy Sosa apparently misplaced a decimal point today, declaring that he wants a $7MM contract for 2007. OK, that's not fair. He's worth more than $700K. He did post a better slugging percentage than the average DH, with a .468 mark. However, the average DH also had a .355 OBP in 2007. Sammy was at .311. He hit .328/.410/.613 against lefties and .222/.267/.410 against righties. Idea time! GMs in the audience, you can thank me later. If you're an AL team with an open DH slot, sign Sammy for $4MM. Then trade for Scott Hatteberg. You've got a $6MM..   Continue Reading

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Rangers To Pass On Bonds?

Here's an MLB.com article from T.R. Sullivan that I'm just getting around to discussing (hat tip to Joe Siegler of Rangerfans.com). Sullivan's article mainly discusses the possibility of bringing Sammy Sosa back as a platoon designated hitter. Not a terrible idea if Sosa is limited to facing southpaws and perhaps Jose Lima. But here's an interesting throwaway line in the article: Club officials have made it clear they will not be interested in pursuing Barry Bonds as a free agent. You may recall that the Rangers got some press in June as the "mystery team" that had pursued Bonds the..   Continue Reading

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Mets Hunting For Reliever, Second Baseman

Pretty much the same old story with the Mets, though Joel Sherman and Mark Hale of the New York Post do have some new tidbits. The authors name Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch, Octavio Dotel, and Eric Gagne as relievers on the radar. However it seems the asking price is too high for Gagne and the Indians have become the frontrunner for Dotel (they may have passed the Dodgers). Shawn Chacon doesn't catch the Mets' eye, and they don't want Chad Bradford's three-year commitment. They had that option with Bradford this winter. I think that logic is silly - Bradford's pitched..   Continue Reading

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Indians, Brewers Interested In Lofton

Kenny Lofton is the perfect mercenary. He's been with a million different teams, and has 84 games of playoff experience. Even at age 40, he provides an OBP spark atop the lineup. He makes $6MM this year for the Rangers, so there's about $2.6MM left on his contract. He gets another $100K if he's traded. According to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, Lofton has "drawn significant interest from Cleveland and Milwaukee." Other teams are checking him out as well. It'd be fun to see Lofton back with the Tribe, the team he's best known for. He actually came..   Continue Reading

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Stark's Latest

Jayson Stark has an assessment of the trade market over at ESPN.com. Aside from the usual Mark Teixeira/Eric Gagne mentions, Stark believes many Rangers may be headed out at the trading deadline. Specifically, he names Brad Wilkerson, Kenny Lofton, and Sammy Sosa. Lofton is always a good midseason mercenary. He's like a Mike Stanton in that way. Ken Griffey Jr. would approve a trade to Atlanta and might consider certain other teams. Junior is making $12.5MM this year and next, plus a $4MM buyout for '09. Quite a bit of the contract is deferred, also. $29MM over 2007-08 is still..   Continue Reading

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Rosenthal On Slugger Market

Yesterday's Ken Rosenthal article does a great job breaking down the market for sluggers this summer. As usual there are some big names for the taking, and as usual many of them come with hefty salaries or other flaws like injury history or Scott Boras. A couple of AL West teams, the A's and Angels, have been particularly powerless this year (both slugging less than .395). The Twins and White Sox could use some pop too. Over on the NL side, the Cardinals, Dodgers, Padres, and D'Backs could look to add a power bat. One of the three NL West..   Continue Reading

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Is Sosa A Mistake For Rangers?

Josh Lile is a history major at the University of Texas. I've brought him aboard as MLBTR's Rangers correspondent. For his first post, Josh weighs in on Sammy Sosa and the consequences of giving him a roster spot. Sammy Sosa beat out an infield single in today's game vs. the Cubs. Let me repeat that. Sammy Sosa beat out an infield single. The main point of contention behind Sosa coming to camp is Sammy turning into Juan Gonzalez part deux. Juan Gonzalez, in the minds and hearts of Rangers fans, is remembered as a guy who half-heartedly played the field,..   Continue Reading

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Sammy!

The Sammy Sosa signing is official in Texas. He'll make $500,000 if he makes the Opening Day roster, and can reach $2.7MM based on incentives. $200K of that would come from winning Comeback Player of the Year. To quote Sammy: "My body is in shape, and I'm ready to go." Ron Washington has this crazy idea that Sammy can play regularly and hit 30 home runs as the Rangers' fifth place hitter. Fine. Maybe there's a 10% chance he does that, and it costs very little. However, there is significant risk in this signing. It is that Sammy takes away..   Continue Reading

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Sosa Agrees To Deal With Rangers

UPDATE: MLB.com reports that the Rangers have agreed in principle to an incentive-laden, $500,000 minor league contract with Sosa. The amusing experiment continues, as the Rangers have offered Sammy Sosa a minor league contract and invited him to spring training. Plus, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick has a source who says the two parties are "working toward an agreement." Judging from Jon Daniels's positive comments towards Sosa, it appears that an incentive-based deal will get done. I don't know. A part of me wants to see how this turns out. Will he get his 12 homers? Amusingly, Rafael Palmeiro tried to jump..   Continue Reading

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Rangers Give Sammy A Look

Sammy! Sammy Sosa worked out at Ameriquest today in hopes of securing a gig with Texas, where it all began. Sosa had some awesome teammates back when he was on the '89 Rangers as a 20 year old. Here's a partial list of his mentors: Ruben Sierra Rafael Palmeiro Julio Franco Pete Incaviglia Buddy Bell Juan Gonzalez Thad Bosley Dean Palmer Wilson Alvarez Kevin Brown Charlie Hough Jamie Moyer Kenny Rogers Nolan Ryan Click here to see what Sammy looked like as a Ranger   Continue Reading

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Japan Team To Lure Sammy?

Could Japan's Yokohama BayStars lure Sammy Sosa for $4.2 million? Wayne Graczyk of the Japan Times says it's rumored in Japanese newspapers. Graczyk considers it a long shot but relates the possibility to when Bob Horner joined the Yakult Swallows twenty years ago. The coolest would be an all-steroid barnstorming team   Continue Reading

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Sammy!

Sammy Sosa has begun working out in the Dominican Republic with hope of returning to the Majors. He's had a year off, but is quick to compare himself to Ted Williams. Um, right. Sounds like he'd go to Washington for $500K if they'd offer it again. Sammy really just wants 12 more home runs so he can reach 600. The question is, if he really can help a Major League team, why didn't he play winter ball to prove it   Continue Reading

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Why Does This Amuse Me?

For some reason, I can't get enough of Sammy Sosa wanting to come back. Every time a quote pops up about how he's rested, feeling good, and ready to get those last 12 home runs, I smile. Sosa is just a carnival, an entertaining player even when he's going bad. Especially when he's going bad. Sometimes Sammy gets fooled so badly that he misses a curveball by three feet. It's awesome. Sosa claims several teams have shown interest already. Looking through the archives, the Mets, Pirates, Nationals, and maybe even the Yankees thought about signing Sammy last offseason. I can't..   Continue Reading

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Trade Rumor Roundup: 11 Days Left

Let's see what we've got churning in the rumor mill this morning. Shea Hillenbrand, a player well-liked by his teammates, was designated for assignment last night. Kind of reminds me of the Jose Guillen situation a couple of years ago. Despite the unpleasantness, Bill Stoneman still managed to turn Guillen into Juan Rivera and Maicer Izturis. Let's see how J.P Ricciardi does now that manager John Gibbons has forced him into this situation. As we told you a couple of days ago, Gibbons may follow Hillenbrand out the door. More on this situation in a bit. A Reds message board..   Continue Reading

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Did A-Rod Recruit Sosa?

A reader emailed me with an interesting trade rumor nugget that I hadn't noticed before. He directed me to the sidebar of a recent ESPN Deportes article by Enrique Rojas: "Sammy Sosa, who has been mulling retiring from baseball after receiving only a non-guaranteed contract offer from the Washington Nationals, received an unexpected visitor Sunday at his home in Miami: Alex Rodriguez. The New York Yankees third baseman called on Sosa in order to find out from the slugger himself how the "Caribbean Bambino" is doing, according to Tuesday's edition of the Hoy newspaper in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. A..   Continue Reading

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Nationals Make Guaranteed Offer To Sosa

The genius of Jim Bowden strikes again. He's offered Sammy Sosa a guaranteed Major League contract with incentives. It seems like Washington was the only club considering such an offer. Sosa earned $17MM in 2005, and had negative offensive value. He was outhit by many pitchers, including Elmer Dessens, Hector Carrasco, and Josh Fogg. He just barely edged out Braves pitcher Jorge Sosa offensively. However, Sosa was far from the worst hitter in baseball. That honor goes to Miguel Olivo's Seattle stint, where he hit .151/.172/.276 in 157 plate appearances. Nipping at Olivo's heels was Corey Patterson, who hit .215/.251/.348..   Continue Reading

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Pirates Interested In Sosa

Emailer Joe tipped me off to a blog referencing an article from a Dominican news service. The article discusses Pittsburgh's interest in Sammy Sosa. Despite my pathetic grasp on the Spanish language, here's what I've pieced together from Rob Rossi's article. With Joe Randa in tow as the Pirates' third baseman, they'd like to make one more free agent acquisition this winter. Now that first choice Eric Byrnes has a tentative agreement with the Diamondbacks, Sammy Sosa is the primary target for right field. Apparently several teams desire Sosa's services (I must've translated that part wrong.) The Pirates plan to..   Continue Reading

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Notes On Byrd, Burnett, Sosa

Today's hot stove happenings: Ken Rosenthal reports on the Cubs' interest in A.J. Burnett. This confirms our assertion from November 18th: "It's sounding more and more like the Cubs will come up with another starter to add to the stable. Then they'll deal from that depth to acquire an outfielder. GM Jim Hendry may be more inclined to make a big splash with A.J. Burnett than give a lot of money to Washburn. Unlike last season when he had to get Sammy Sosa off the books, Hendry will act early and often. The Cardinals' interest in Burnett may motivate Hendry..   Continue Reading

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