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Archives for March 2007

Byung-Hyun Kim On The Block

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According to the Rocky Mountain News, the Pirates, Marlins, Dodgers, and A’s have interest in pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim.  The Denver Post only mentions the A’s, however.

The source I talked to said the Marlins actually have no interest in Kim, and the Dodgers only do if they can move Mark Hendrickson in the trade.  It really seems to be the A’s leading the pack because of reservations with Joe Kennedy.  Kennedy wasn’t going to pitch 200 innings anyway, so they’ve known for a while that they need a strong sixth man.

If the Pirates were to acquire Kim, they’d quietly have some solid starting pitching depth in the organization.

Cardinals Interested In Julio

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According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals are interested in Diamondbacks reliever Jorge Julio.  Joe Strauss thinks the Cards would send a lefty reliever to Arizona. 

The Cardinals currently have five southpaws on the roster aside from Mark Mulder: Randy Flores, Tyler Johnson, Randy Keisler, Chris Narveson, and Ricardo Rincon.  Viva El Birdos wonders why the Cardinals don’t just keep Braden Looper in the pen.

Last time we checked in on Julio, the Marlins and Giants were battling for him.  Arizona apparently doesn’t want to pay much if any of his $3.6MM salary.  The Marlins might convince them to if they offer up Yusmeiro Petit.  Personally I think Florida should just use internal closing options. 

MLB Owners Out Of Control

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Fox Sports [Dayn Perry], CBS {Larry Dombrow], Baseball Prospectus [Steven Goldman], Deadspin [Don Spagnolo], ESPN [Jerry Crasnick], among many others, have all come out hammering the Pirates organization the last few months.

None of them caused more than a ripple in the ocean.

Staring down the barrel of the organization’s 15th consecutive losing season, Pirates Chairman of the Board and principal owner Robert Nutting talked about the Nutting’s family commitment to winning Sunday, telling Pirate fans:

"Nobody is going to apologize.." — link to Bucco Blog

Nutting’s comment caused a typhoon.

This is the same family that some say caused a financial rift in the organization in early 2003 while grabbing control of the organization and causing one of their top prospects in Aramis Ramirez to be traded for junk bonds. The team’s position then was that they couldn’t afford Ramirez, who was making $3MM in his first arb year. A couple of months later, the Pirates received $13MM in revenue sharing.

It isn’t Pirate fans’ fault their team stinks. Heck, many of them still believe this is ’THE’ year. How sad they will be by June. What then? Does Nutting think the fans will ’apologize’ for not buying tickets after July?

Hardly…they have had it.

Perhaps someone in the front office will have to be the scapegoat and that could only mean David Littlefield, just as many in the media above suggest. But when it comes right down to it, the problem isn’t Dave Littlefield – the problem is lame ownership who have the Marge Schott, Richard Jacobs, Bud Selig financial greed disease [link].

Jake at Bucco Blog
Special to MLB Trade Rumors

Ducksnorts and More

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If you’re a Padres fan or just enjoy good blogging, bookmark Geoff Young’s Ducksnorts.  Plus, Geoff just finished a book examining the Padres in detail in all sorts of ways.  The book includes a foreword by Padres CEO Sandy Alderson.  Check out the Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual here.

Another blog to check out: I Remember Dome-Dogs, a new Astros blog.  Intelligent writing, worth a look.

I missed this when it came out: PECOTA predicts the standings.

ProTrade Challenge

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Would you like to win a copy of the 2007 RotoAuthority Fantasy Guide?  And possibly a ton of ProTrade money to boot?

RotoAuthority has partnered with ProTrade for two cool free challenges.  I’m giving away ten fantasy guides in total.  The first challenge starts tonight at midnight and will have 1,000 entrants.  It’ll run until March 24th.  Click here to access the first challenge.

If you’re not familiar with it, ProTrade lets you trade baseball players as if they’re stocks.  It’s completely free.  You can buy players or short them.  I’ve been playing for about a week now, buying up all my favorite sleepers (Rich Hill) and shorting Chien-Ming Wang.

Should Cubs Trade Jacque Jones?

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Respected Cubs beat writer Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald writes that a Jacque Jones trade is within the realm of possibility.  However, Miles does not think a Jones trade makes sense.

Miles points to the reasonable $9MM due to Jones over the next two seasons.  He mentions how Jones’s left-handed bat and defense are needed.  Plus, his .284/.334/.499 performance last year was solid (the average NL RF hit .268/.345/.453). 

These are all good points.  In my opinion, the Cubs should certainly listen to offers but only if they help the team.  I know the Cubs don’t want to upset the $136MM man, but he should be moved to right if Jones is dealt.  Felix Pie’s defense would go a long way, and he can develop his bat with low pressure at the bottom of the order.  That alignment would make the Cubs a better team compared to the current plan.  I wrote that the Jones signing was a mistake at the time, and he proved me wrong for one season.  Why not sell high?

But who cares what I think?  Vote here on whether the Cubs should trade Jones. 

Orioles Like Josh Fogg

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According to the Denver Post, Josh Fogg remains on Baltimore’s radar after they almost traded for him a few months ago.  Fogg makes $3.625MM in his walk year.

Fogg is one of those guys who just shows up and puts in his 170 lackluster innings.  He doesn’t get strikeouts, doesn’t have great control, doesn’t get a lot of groundballs, and pitches to contact.  I’m not sure how the Orioles can win the wild card if they give him 30 starts.  They’ve already got Steve Trachsel.

Phillies Non-trade Rumors

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If there was a vote for Team Most Likely to Make a Trade as Spring Training comes to a close, it would likely be the Phillies that would win.  An excess of starting pitching and an ever-growing lack of depth in the bullpen makes the team a target for trade rumors.

But, according to general manager Pat Gillick, Phillies fans shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for a move.  Gillick told the local scribes that he doesn’t expect to make a deal for a reliever prior to the start of the season and that one of the excess starters will have to go to the bullpen.

Last year at this time, the Phillies most glaring need was a left-handed bat off the bench and just before the team came back north, Gillick was able to land David Dellucci.  So, despite Gillick’s pessimism, this situation bears watching over the next few days and weeks.

Don’t forget, Gillick sometimes has bouts of pessimism, after all, he is the one that in July of 2006 didn’t feel the Phillies could compete for anything until 2008.

Tom Goyne is the author of Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, a Phillies-centric blog and maintains the Phloggers’ Pheeds page, a source for the latest commentary from around the "phlogosphere".

Reds, Marlins Interested In Benitez

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According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Marlins and Reds are the two clubs currently interested in Giants reliever Armando Benitez.  This is the first word of Cincinnati’s interest.

Benitez has been looking good this spring and is pitching with confidence.  One report last week said the Giants would eat all but a million bucks of his salary, but another said the Giants would eat less than half.  If the latter is accurate then the Marlins may not want to be involved.  I really think their internal options are just as good as Benitez. 

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