Yovani Gallardo Rumors
Odds & Ends: Orioles, Beckett, Brewers, Giants
Saturday night linkage..
- The Orioles are in search of a lefty reliever, writes The Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec. The guy the O's really want is Will Ohman, as they extended him a minor league contract offer in late January. Japanese lefty Hisanori Takahashi and Joe Beimel are also options for the club.
- Joe McDonald and Daniel Barbarisi of The Providence Journal take a look at the big decision Boston will face - whether or not to re-sign Josh Beckett.
If the BoSox choose not to retain the 29-year-old, they'll have to
recognize that his replacement likely won't be found in free agency.
- Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel praises GM Doug Melvin for stocking up on hurlers this offseason. Free agent pickups Randy Wolf and Doug Davis were brought aboard to help support Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan, Manny Parra, and Yovani Gallardo.
- Giants managing general partner Bill Neukom is not sure that the Giants' payroll will reach $100MM as has been originally reported, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco's payroll was $82.6MM to start the 2009 season.
Discussion: Next Young Pitcher To Be Extended
One of the game's best young pitchers signed a contract extension yesterday that will take him to his 30th birthday, as the Marlins finally locked up Josh Johnson to a four-year deal worth $39MM. The extension mirrors the deal Kansas City gave Zack Greinke before last season, and is just the latest example of a club willing to assume the risk of a breakdown in exchange for cost certainty.
Paul Maholm, Scott Baker, Ubaldo Jimenez, Adam Wainwright, Matt Cain, Jon Lester, and James Shields are other young arms who have sacrificed the superior earning power of the arbitration process for financial security in recent years. Who do the readers of MLBTR think the next young pitcher to agree to an extension could be?
Leaving aside the big names like Tim Lincecum, Justin Verlander, and Felix Hernandez, here's a few pitchers who already have, or will soon enter into their arbitration years...
- Yovani Gallardo - the Brewers' young ace struck out 204 batters and allowed just 150 hits in 185.2 innings last season, and will be arb eligible following the 2010 season.
- Matt Garza - one of Tampa's many young power arms, Garza has struck out 7.3 batters per nine innings in his career, and has made 62 starts over the last two years. He's arb eligible as a Super Two this offseason.
- Jair Jurrjens - perhaps the best pitcher no one talks about, Jurrjens led the NL in starts last year and owns a 3.21 career ERA. He'll be up for arbitration after the 2010 season.
- Wandy Rodriguez - his breakthrough season last year included a 3.06 K/BB ratio and 193 strikeouts in 205.2 innings. Wandy is arb eligible for the second time this offseason after earning $2.6MM in 2009.
Odds & Ends: Brewers, Sizemore, Gomes
Curious about how untouchable Grady Sizemore is? I had to create a category for him just for this post. In the entire history of MLBTR, no one ever bothered to write any rumors about him...
- ESPN's Keith Law writes that the Brewers "are closer to noncontention than contention, and trying to prop the playoff window open for another year or two could lead to a miserable bottoming-out not far down the road." He suggests they trade megastar Prince Fielder to help fill other holes, and build the team around Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo.
- Jim Ingraham of The News Herald believes that the recent trades of Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez have effectively shortened the Indians' window to win with Grady Sizemore. Sizemore's contract runs through 2011 with a dirt cheap option for 2012, but Ingraham says there's "no reason to believe when Sizemore becomes a free agent after the 2012 season he won't leave whatever team he is with and sign a monstrous contract with one of the big-market teams."
- Jonny Gomes is open to returning to the Reds next season, but says he'll "go where I can get the most at-bats," according to Hal McCoy of The Dayton Daily News. Gomes is making $600K this season and is arbitration eligible next year, so he can expect a hefty raise thanks to his .281/.355/.555 batting line.
Brewers Not Sweating Hart, Gallardo Contracts
MLB.com's Adam McCalvy has the latest Brewers buzz, after talking with owner Mark Attanasio and GM Doug Melvin. Here's what Attanasio had to say regarding extension talks with Corey Hart and Yovani Gallardo:
"We've had conversations with both players and agents and it's a two-way street. Players are tending to look at being on the upswing of their careers and we're in a downtown of the economy. That's their choice. I'm not saying we're cutting discussions off, because I think we might have discussions with one of those players even as we speak."
Melvin added that talks for the pair are not on the agenda and if he does get something done it'll probably be quietly. Speaking in general, Melvin noted that deals with hitters are easier to accomplish. Hart is under team control through 2011, while Gallardo is Brewers property through 2013.
Ticket sales are up for the Brewers this year, and Attanasio indicated financial flexibility to make midseason "adjustments." I'd say starting pitching is the most likely need.
Brewers Sign Two Pre-Arb Players
According to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy, the Brewers have finalized one-year contracts with reliever Carlos Villanueva and catcher Mike Rivera.
Yovani Gallardo is the club's last unsigned pre-arbitration player. As we've mentioned before, these are guys with zero to three years of MLB service time. Most pre-arb players receive contracts in the $450K-$550K range.
Brewers Rumors: Hart, Weeks, Gallardo
Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has the latest on the Brewers...
- Corey Hart hopes to avoid an arbitration hearing; he and the Brewers are $1.1MM apart on his '09 salary. It's a decent gap, but many players are fighting over a similar difference. Hart turned down a long-term extension last year but remains open to the idea. Assistant GM Gord Ash recently said, "We're not on the same page with regard to his value. And that goes back to last year."
- The Brewers face an $800K gap with Rickie Weeks. Weeks also hopes to get a deal done. The Brewers are open to a multiyear deal with Weeks. Doug Melvin has never gone to an arbitration hearing as Brewers GM.
- Owner Mark Attanasio mentioned that the team will revisit all young players in Spring Training and consider extensions. Attanasio mentioned Yovani Gallardo by name. Gallardo, 23 in February, isn't arb-eligible until after the 2010 season.
Odds and Ends: Resop, Myers, Gallardo, Fuentes
Today's link collection:
- Joel Sherman says the Mets would be willing to eat some money on a contract to reduce the prospect price for a corner outfielder. He suggests names like Xavier Nady, Raul Ibanez, Randy Winn, and Adam Dunn. The salary-eating strategy would probably only help with Winn.
- The Hanshin Tigers purchased reliever Chris Resop's contract from the Braves.
- Ricky Bottalico says Brett Myers wants to be traded, but Myers and the Phillies denied it.
- It would be cool to see Yovani Gallardo return this year, if only to see him line up with CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets for a brief period of time. That's three aces.
- The Yankees are still interested in Rockies closer Brian Fuentes; the Rox might be interested in Mark Melancon.
- More rumblings that the Dodger front office is confusing other teams.
- SI.com's Jon Heyman ranks the most impactful potentially available players, raising the question of whether impactful is a word. Heyman also includes odds of each player being dealt.
Odds And Ends: Neshek, Gallardo, Casanova, Henn, Haynes
Couple of injuries, couple of designations, and a waiver claim.
- Twins reliever Pat Neshek has an acute partial tear of the UCL. Yes, that's the Tommy John ligament. He won't throw for at least three months, so his season is essentially over. There's no word on whether he'll undergo surgery. I remember hearing over the winter that Neshek was having elbow problems.
- Not that we didn't pretty much know this already, but Yovani Gallardo has confirmed that he'll have surgery on his torn ACL. My fantasy team weeps.
- With Ramon Castro coming off the DL, the Mets have DFA Raul Casanova. The best bet is that he'll clear waivers and head to AAA.
- The Padres have claimed LHP Sean Henn off waivers. He was DFA by the Yankees last week. He was once a highly touted prospect, reportedly hitting 100 on the gun (though I think those reports were exaggerated).
- With the return of Cliff Floyd from the DL, the Rays have no room for OF Nathan Haynes, and have designated him for assignment.
Posted by Joe Pawlikowski.
Odds and Ends: Gallardo, NPB, Braves
Today's link collection...
- Check out the latest MLB Roundup video. The crew hands out April awards, assesses Billy Beane's gameplan, and looks at Jeff Ma's third-place Tout Wars team.
- RotoAuthority helps Yovani Gallardo owners pick up the pieces and find a replacement (he has a torn ACL). The Brewers have guys they can plug in but Gallardo seemed primed for a stellar season. They'll keep an eye on the trade market.
- Mike Hampton could retire, but it's highly unlikely that he'll abandon the rest of his '08 salary.
- Nippon Professional Baseball might shorten the tenure needed for free agency, except for those looking to go overseas. Players hoping to jump from Japan to MLB would still have to serve nine years or be posted.
- In the sidebar of this article, Ken Rosenthal suggests that Frank Wren will explore the trade market for starting pitching but won't overpay for mediocrity. Tracy Ringolsby wonders whether the Braves will consider re-acquiring Kevin Millwood.
Gallardo Injury May Change Brewers' Plans
When the Brewers' rotation was eight-deep, trading one starter before Opening Day seemed like a given. MLBTR readers believed Chris Capuano to be the most likely to go. However, young ace Yovani Gallardo tore cartilage in his knee and is set to miss four weeks. This may stop Brewers GM Doug Melvin from making a preseason move. The old adage holds true; you can never have too much pitching.
Gallardo, 21, pitched 110 innings with a 3.67 ERA as a rookie. His ERA goes down to 2.84 if you take out an 11 earned run thrashing at Coors Field in August. Fortunately it's a knee injury rather than an elbow tweak or something.
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