Yasuhiko Yabuta Rumors

Royals Prefer Trades

Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star dishes on the Royals... Dayton Moore...step away from the free agent market. The Royals are moving toward trades, with an eye on the long-term. Owner David Glass says the plan is to "turn over some of the club." Moore already made a nice move in flipping Mark Teahen for Josh Fields and Chris Getz. Dutton again mentions the talks between the Dodgers and Royals on a possible A.J. Ellis for Alberto Callaspo deal. Ellis, 29 in April, posted OBPs over .436 in Triple A for 2008-09. The Royals are probably stuck with Jose...   Continue Reading

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Odds & Ends: Giants, Phillies, Hernandez

Some news and notes from around the majors.... Giants blogger Grant of The McCovey Chronicles notes the potential downsides for San Francisco if they were to sign Jason Bay, Jermaine Dye and/or Bengie Molina. With rumors again swirling that the Phillies will make a play for Roy Halladay, Scott Lauber of the News Journal looks at a Baseball America listing of Philadelphia's top prospects, with an eye towards which of these youngsters could head to Toronto in a trade. Speaking of Halladay, The Seattle Times' Larry Stone believes that if the Mariners do decide to move Felix Hernandez, they will...   Continue Reading

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Royals Decline Options On Crisp, Olivo, Yabuta

The Royals declined their 2010 options on Coco Crisp, Miguel Olivo, and Yasuhiko Yabuta, according to a team press release. On Crisp, the Royals chose his $500K buyout over his $8MM option. It's possible the Royals will offer Crisp an incentive-laden deal (he had rotator cuff surgery on both shoulders this summer). The Royals plan to go in a different direction than Olivo at catcher; they may also non-tender John Buck. Olivo had a $3.3MM mutual option. As for Yabuta, the press release says he can "elect free agency if he doesn’t sign a 2010 Major League contract with the...   Continue Reading

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Royals Facing Option Decisions

Now that the World Series has ended, the clock has started for clubs to make decisions about any player options for 2010. The Royals have three such decision to make, involving Coco Crisp, Miguel Olivo, and Yasuhiko Yabuta. Bob Dutton of The KC Star breaks down what we might see happen with those three... Decisions on Crisp's and Yabuta's options are due five days after the end of the World Series, Olivo's just three days. The team has shown "little inclination" to pick up Crisp's $8MM option, but his $500K buyout isn't exactly cheap. Crisp was limited to just 49...   Continue Reading

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Odds & Ends: Hillman, White Sox, Japanese Pitchers

Let's start the evening off by rounding up a few spare links... According to The Associated Press (via ESPN), Royals manager Trey Hillman will return to the team next season. Kansas City GM Dayton Moore, who originally hired Hillman, had his contract extended through 2014 earlier this week. White Sox GM Kenny Williams was asked if the Jim Thome and Jose Contreras trades indicate that he was throwing in the towel according to Scot Gregor of The Daily Herald, and Williams replied "Hell no. We're still in it to win it.” Patrick at NPB Tracker passes along a report saying...   Continue Reading

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Odds And Ends: Royals, Rockies, Rhodes, Braves

Let's round up some remaining links in this lazy Saturday afternoon: The Royals DFA'd Yasuhiko Yabuta. The White Sox had tried to sign the Japanese reliever last winter but were unsuccessful. Yabuta was 1-3 with a 5.46 ERA and had signed a two-year, $6MM deal with Kansas City. The Rockies tried desperately to acquire a fifth starter before the non-waiver deadline but couldn't match-up with the Mariners for Jarrod Washburn or the Nationals for Tim Redding; and Paul Byrd had Colorado on his no-trade list. The Rockies will continue to look for a starter via waiver wire claims. Arthur Rhodes...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Jenkins, Piazza, Kuroda

Random rumors for this evening... ESPN's Jerry Crasnick reports that the Rays have contacted Geoff Jenkins' agent. They're eyeing him to replace Delmon Young in right field. Cubs lefty Scott Eyre exercised his $3.8MM player option for 2008. Terrmel Sledge never quite caught on in the U.S., so he's headed to Japan. I thought he was a sleeper entering 2007 as he'd posted a .985 OPS in Triple A in '06. The Yorvit Torrealba deal is official at two years and $7.25MM with a $4MM mutual option for 2010. Mutual options never get exercised by both sides so that doesn't..   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Riske, Bedard, Wolf

And now for your daily jumble o' rumors. More to come. The Twins cleared several spots on their 40-man roster...will they be active next week? The Yankees have "reached out" to free agent reliever David Riske. Troy Percival and Ron Mahay have also been linked to the Yanks this offseason. The Dodgers have an interest in Tony Clark, which has to bum out James Loney. Dylan Hernandez also notes that the Dodgers' talks for Erik Bedard have stalled because the Orioles want to see what happens with Miguel Cabrera first. Ned Colletti expects Jeff Kent back, by the way. The..   Continue Reading

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Royals Pursue Guillen, Reportedly Set With Yabuta

The Royals were in on the Torii Hunter sweepstakes, having offered five years and $70 million, with every intention of going higher if necessary. Now that the Angels have locked him up, Jose Guillen has become the "indisputable No. 1 on the Royals’ list of off-season targets." “Obviously, our objective remains the same,” general manager Dayton Moore said. “We do want to acquire a right-handed bat to hit in the middle of our order, and we’ll keep working through every opportunity imaginable.” Bob Dutton thinks that losing out on Hunter could have added benefits. In addition to acquiring the cheaper..   Continue Reading

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Masahide Kobayashi Signs With Indians

UPDATE: The deal is done - Kobayashi gets $6MM guaranteed over 2008-09 and has a $3.25MM club option for 2010. This seems like a fine Indians-esque bargain. According to Ken Rosenthal, the Indians are close to signing Japanese reliever Masahide Kobayashi. The 33 year-old is taking his physical today. The Braves and Mariners were also known to have interest in him. It's been said that Kobayashi would prefer to close but it's not a dealbreaker. Here's what Bob Bavasi of JapanBall told me about Kobayashi: This closer was the number one draft pick by the Chiba Lotte Marines in 1999...   Continue Reading

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