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Archives for December 2006

Tueday Evening Roundup

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Sorry for the delay,

No real juicy rumors tonight other than the "hot" Mench and Lieber rumors, and the White Sox still trying to move a starter. But here are some of the latest tidbits:

Hot off the presses at BP, JD Drew’s PECOTA projection doesn’t look so hot: .286/.395/.472 (.867 OPS.) Oh, and only 14 homers. His OBP is very good though, and he will play above average defense.

by Chris Hurst

Early Evening Rumors

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Rosenthal has dollar amounts for the Greg Maddux deal: the Padres will pay him $10M in 2007, with a player option for 2008.  The option starts at $6M, but if Maddux reaches various plateaus, the option could increase in value to another $10M.

The Arlington Daily-Herald speculates that a Kevin Mench for Jon Lieber deal could be evened out by the Brewers sending along Jose Capellan.  Capellan hasn’t lived up to his potential yet, but he’s still young enough that he could develop into a top-tier setup man.  I’d be very surprised (not to mention disappointed) if Doug Melvin made that deal without getting something else of value in return.

According to Rotoworld, the Mets have offered Julio Lugo $36 million over four years, but Steve Phillips believes the Red Sox will sign him.   Theo Epstein was quoted earlier today saying that Dustin Pedroia could be his opening day shortstop, but it’s hard to believe the Red Sox won’t find some way to upgrade at least one of their middle infield spots.

By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball

Pettitte back to New York?

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The Yankees may have offered Andy Pettitte $15 million for one year.  There’s also a deal on the table from Houston, and he could decide within the week.  If Pettitte really is mulling retirement, this may be more appealing then a multi-year deal for less money.  Personally, I hope Pettitte signs a multi-year deal somewhere; the guy’s only going to be 35 next year, and he’s already started in on the Roger-esque will-I-or-won’t-I business.  C’mon Andy, you want to pitch!

In other news, the Greg Maddux contract with the Padres is still almost done, but 2008 may be a player option (perhaps vesting) instead of the club option that Rosenthal reported earlier. 

By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball

White Sox To Reacquire Rowand?

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The White Sox surely don’t regret using Aaron Rowand to help them obtain Jim Thome last winter.  But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t like to have their scrappy CF back in the fold.

According to Scot Gregor of the Daily Herald:

"According to multiple reports out of Philadelphia, Phillies GM Pat Gillick would be willing to deal Rowand and a pitcher – either reliever Ryan Madson or starter Gavin Floyd – to the White Sox in exchange for starting pitcher Freddy Garcia."

Ultimately I think the White Sox would win such a deal.  The Phils would then have the surplus of starters instead of Chicago.

Maddux inching toward San Diego

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Rosenthal reports that the Padres and Greg Maddux are about to finalize a one-year deal with a club option for 2008.  Just how that ’08 option works (could it be guaranteed with some number of IP in ’07?) seems to be the holdup.  There’s no big surprise here that Mad Dog will end up in San Diego, but I’m very curious to see the dollar amount–on a one-year deal, Maddux could end up getting eight figures.

By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball

Miguel Batista to Missouri

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Rosenthal says Miguel Batista will either be a Royal or a Cardinal.  KC has apparently offered $24M over three years, which is doubtless much more than the Cardinals are offering.  Then again, if you could sacrifice a few million bucks and play for the defending world champs, wouldn’t you? 

If he pulls this off, Walt Jocketty will again be picking up a nice pitcher on the relative cheap: Batista isn’t going to win you 15 games, but he’ll give you lots of innings and be in the vicinity of league average.  Or better: Batista has thrown at least 180 innings in four of his last five seasons, and the last time his ERA+ was below league average was 2000.  Chase Field didn’t help his numbers last year, but he’ll be a decent pickup for whichever Missouri team ends up with him.

By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball

Machinations for Mench

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There’s been surprising interest in Kevin Mench, according to Doug Melvin, and one of the teams who are known to be looking at the right-handed outfielder is the Philadelphia Phillies.  One deal that was rumored a few weeks ago was Aaron Rowand for Mench and, perhaps, Damian Miller.  The money is about even and Melvin seems to think he needs a proven center fielder, so that seemed plausible, but the Brewers may have balked at including Miller.

So this is interesting: the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (perhaps optimistically) speculates that Mench could be part of a deal for Jon Lieber.  If speculation can lend credence to other speculation, here’s some: the Philadelphia Inquirer mentions that the Phillies could deal Rowand to the White Sox for one of Chicago’s surplus starters, freeing up Lieber for a different deal. 

This all makes plenty of sense: it’s essentially a three-way trade in which the White Sox get the CF they want and make room in the rotation for Brandon McCarthy; the Phillies get the corner bat they want, improve the rotation, and open up center for Shane Victorino; and the Brewers take on a bit of payroll (which they have room for, a least a few million’s worth) and fill their one need at the meetings: a mid-rotation starter to take the pressure off of some combination of Claudio Vargas, Carlos Villanueva, and Zach Jackson.

By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball

Braves on the block

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Marcus Giles and Adam LaRoche are still on the block, and apparently the Angels are interested in LaRoche.  David O’Brien speculates that the Braves would be interested in Chone Figgins, who would give Atlanta a "real" leadoff hitter for the first time since Rafael Furcal left.  However, John Schuerholz says he’s mostly looking for pitching.  And since Tanyon Sturtze was an upgrade, I’d say he’s right to do so.

Talking Chop discusses the possible trade of LaRoche, and raises an important question: if he leaves, who plays first for the Braves?  They have Scott Thorman and Daryle Ward on board, but I can’t imagine Atlanta would go into the season with just those two.  Richie Sexson has been linked to the Braves, but he’s just as expensive, and even less valuable, than Tim Hudson, so it would take a creative deal to get that done.  TC also mentions that Chipper Jones could finally move to first, but that leaves a hole at third…unless a LaRoche trade brings Figgins, who could play third, leaving second base for Giles or his planned replacements (Willy Aybar? Kelly Johnson? who knows).

By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball

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