More Ken Rosenthal
Ken Rosenthal has been working overtime, posting a second column tonight. To summarize:
- The Astros plan on keeping their relief core of Brad Lidge, Chad Qualls, Dan Wheeler, and Trever Miller, despite interest from the Red Sox in Lidge and Qualls.
- In Marcus Thames, Chris Shelton, and Ramon Santiago, the Tigers appear to have a surplus of players. However, Rosenthal spoke to another team’s exec who thinks the trio will stay with the club. It’s nice to have depth. Speaking of which, top pitching prospect Andrew Miller will start his season in A ball but could make an impact in the second half.
- The Cubs and Rangers would like to add shortstop Clint Barmes as a utility man (might even make sense for the Cubs to start him). The Rox still like Barmes though and may keep him around as a 2B option for ’08. Rosenthal mentions the Royals as another fit for Barmes. The Royals need a shortstop like the Marlins need a center fielder.
- The Dodgers want to add a right-handed slugger. Assuming the price tag on Rocco Baldelli remains too high, L.A. could go after Kevin Mench or Reggie Sanders. The Royals would love to get rid of Sanders or Emil Brown. The O’s have some mild interest in Sanders. I guess the offseason helped the Dodgers and Orioles forget that Sanders is 39, makes $5MM, and posted a .729 OPS last year.
Ken Rosenthal’s Latest
Ken Rosenthal has been hard at work with his sources, and he has a new article at FOX Sports. Some highlights:
- The Marlins and Dodgers are interested in Byung-Hyun Kim as a reliever, and the A’s could add him as the fifth starter instead of Joe Kennedy. Kim, a 28 year-old sidearmer, hasn’t closed since ’03 with Boston. A trade to Florida would make him the ninth inning favorite though. He’ll earn $2.5MM this year.
- The Rockies like Mark Hendrickson of L.A., and they may release Josh Fogg this spring. I wouldn’t discard Kim while acquiring Hendrickson; Kim projects as a slightly better pitcher. Advantages to acquiring Hendrickson from Dan O’Dowd’s point of view: a slightly better groundball rate and two years remaining until free agency.
- The Blue Jays want to give Josh Towers a rotation spot. Towers has nine Ks in nine innings this spring while allowing two runs. Does spring training really have that kind of influence on a team’s decision-makers? Towers will make $2.9MM this season, but he’s still pretty far from free agency. The Jays would like to trade John Thomson; otherwise they may release him. As a newly signed free agent Thomson can veto any deal. He’d be wise to take a trade to the NL, in my opinion.
- Rosenthal thinks the Orioles and Nationals will be competing for Mark Teixeira, who will become a free agent after the 2008 season. Tex is a Maryland native, which usually doesn’t matter for a Boras client. But Boras might actually be able to use this to get the two clubs bidding against each other.
Carlos Zambrano Close To Deal?
Carrie Muskat of MLB.com quoted Carlos Zambrano today saying the he was "close." Apparently, he meant close to signing a contract extension before Opening Day. This despite Muskat reporting no formal talks between Zambrano’s agent and Cubs GM Jim Hendry lately.
Opening Day is Big Z’s deadline; otherwise he will "wait until after the season when [the Cubs] win the World Series." That’d be something. If that happened the Cubs would probably hand him a blank check.
Red Sox Scouting Turnbow?
My apologies for the lack of posts today; I had an all-day fantasy draft. Back to trade rumors: Adam McCalvy of MLB.com had several Brewers ones in today’s article.
To begin with, 26 year-old righty starter Ben Hendrickson cleared waivers and was sent to Triple A. He was angry about it, perhaps because he had a 2.45 ERA in five appearances this spring. Apparently the Nationals and Padres are interested, and both the Brewers and Hendrickson look forward to a trade. According to Baseball America, Hendrickson has a plus curve and an 88-91 fastball. He may be a Quad-A type player; PECOTA sees a 5.00 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in 109 innings.
The Red Sox had a scout watching Derrick Turnbow on Friday, though Doug Melvin says he’s not shopping the reliever. Maybe Sox pitching coach John Farrell can fix Turnbow’s walk problem, but it’s a long shot. Turnbow has two years and $5.5MM left on his contract. While that extension was ill-advised, it’s not nearly as bad as the Cubs giving Ryan Dempster three years and $15.5MM. In both cases, fairly small samples of decent control were taken as permanent and rewarded.
McCalvy also mentioned a "lunchroom rumor" that had the Padres looking at Brady Clark. Melvin said he hasn’t heard from the club. The Crew would love to shed Clark’s $3.8MM salary.
Mike Cameron Hoping For Extension
Mike Cameron is among the eight or nine viable free agent center fielder options after this season. Rather than be a part of that surplus, Cameron informed the Padres recently that he’d like to start talking about a multiyear extension. The 34 year-old makes $7MM this year, a bargain.
Our good friend PECOTA thinks Cameron will be worth about $9MM in 2008. If Baseball Prospectus’s projection system were a GM, I think it might offer him around $16MM for 2008-09. PECOTA sees him as a less injury-prone version of Reggie Sanders circa 2002.
It’s been three weeks since the sides spoke; Kevin Towers said that talks haven’t progressed.
2008 MLB Free Agents
Presenting…your 2008 free agent class.
I’ve categorized them by position; the player’s 2008 age is in parentheses. Also Type A or B status is included; otherwise there’s no compensation. If I saw someone as a possibility at more than one position I put them at both. I’ll keep this post updated throughout the offseason and make it a permanent sidebar link.
Updated 1-20-08
Catchers
Johnny Estrada (32)
Damian Miller (38)
First basemen
Sean Casey (34) – Type B
Tony Clark (36)
Ryan Klesko (37)
Doug Mientkiewicz (34)
Second basemen
Nothin’ left.
Shortstops
Sorry, there’s pretty much nothing here.
Third basemen
Morgan Ensberg (32)
Pedro Feliz (33) – Type B
Corey Koskie (35)
Dallas McPherson (27)
Left fielders
Barry Bonds (43) – Type A
Luis Gonzalez (40) – Type B
Kevin Mench (30)
Reggie Sanders (40)
Shannon Stewart (34) – Type B
Brad Wilkerson (31)
Center fielders
Kenny Lofton (41) – Type B
Corey Patterson (28)
Right fielders
Shawn Green (35) – Type B
Kevin Mench (30)
Trot Nixon (34)
Reggie Sanders (40)
DHs
Barry Bonds (43) – Type A
Mike Piazza (39) – Type B
Sammy Sosa (39)
Mike Sweeney (34)
Starting pitchers
Tony Armas Jr. (30)
Kris Benson (32)
Shawn Chacon (30)
Roger Clemens (45)
Bartolo Colon (35)
Josh Fogg (31)
Casey Fossum (30)
Freddy Garcia (32) – Type B
Livan Hernandez (33) – Type B
Jason Jennings (29)
Byung-Hyun Kim (29)
Kyle Lohse (29)
Rodrigo Lopez (32)
Mike Maroth (30)
Eric Milton (32)
Tomo Ohka (32)
Russ Ortiz (34)
Odalis Perez (31)
John Thomson (34)
Steve Trachsel (37)
Jeff Weaver (31)
David Wells (45)
Jaret Wright (32)
Closers
Armando Benitez (35)
Octavio Dotel (32)
Keith Foulke (35)
Bob Wickman (39)
Middle relievers
Antonio Alfonseca (36)
Shawn Chacon (30)
Jorge Julio (29) – Type B
Jose Mesa (42)
Trever Miller (35) – Type B
Akinori Otsuka (36)
Rudy Seanez (39)
Aaron Sele (38)
Ron Villone (38)
2007 Cleveland Indians
Next up, the Tribe.
Mark Shapiro’s contract obligations:
C – Victor Martinez – $3MM
C – Kelly Shoppach – $0.38MM
1B – Casey Blake – $3.75MM + incentives
2B – Josh Barfield – $0.38MM
SS – Jhonny Peralta – $0.75MM + incentives
3B – Andy Marte – $0.38MM
IF – Hector Luna – $0.4083MM
IF – Ryan Garko – $0.3831MM
LF – David Dellucci – $3.75MM
CF – Grady Sizemore – $0.75MM
RF – Trot Nixon – $3MM + incentives
OF – Jason Michaels – $2MM + incentives
DH – Travis Hafner – $3.75MM + incentives
SP – C.C. Sabathia – $8.75MM + incentives
SP – Paul Byrd – $7MM
SP – Jake Westbrook – $6.1MM
SP – Cliff Lee – $2.75MM
SP – Jeremy Sowers – $0.3848MM
RP – Joe Borowski – $4MM + incentives
RP – Roberto Hernandez – $3.3MM
RP – Aaron Fultz – $1.5MM + incentives
RP – Rafael Betancourt – $0.84MM
RP – Jason Davis – $0.67MM + incentives
RP – Matt Miller – $0.56MM
RP – Fernando Cabrera – $0.3918MM
Minors:
RP – Tom Mastny – $0.38MM
RP – Tony Sipp – $0.38MM
SP – Adam Miller – $0.38MM
RF – Shin-Soo Choo – $0.3831MM
It’s roughly $60MM committed; Shapiro has operated carefully to assemble such an affordable contender. He seemingly has room to add some players in the summer, especially if he discards some of Byrd’s salary.
Will the offense be second best in the AL again? I believe so. Their stars, Sizemore, Hafner, and Martinez, should maintain their levels. Hafner could be even better in sum if he can top 130 games played. Looking at some revamped positions: the Tribe could take a small step back at first base, and steps forward at the other three infield positions (youth is served and Aaron Boone is gone). With Dellucci getting most of the PT in left, they’ll blow past last year’s .258/.311/.393 from that corner. RF should hold steady or improve. It would be tough to spar with the Yankees for the game’s best offense but it’s not unfathomable.
Defensively the team looks OK if not spectacular. Improvement from Peralta would go a long way.
The rotation looks borderline top five to me. The Tribe had a collective 4.31 starter ERA last year, good for third best. This year, the lack of Jason Johnson plus some Jeremy Sowers regression should mostly balance out. Potential gains come in the form of 32 starts from Sabathia (a Cy Young candidate) and replacement of Paul Byrd with Adam Miller (4.64 ERA according to PECOTA) or Fausto Carmona (4.04 ERA).
The bullpen is the clear question mark, and Borowski/Hernandez/Fultz may not help at all despite the money spent. Two of the team’s seven best relievers may start the year in Triple A in Sipp and Mastny. If Shapiro is not afraid to dump a guy like Hernandez for Sipp if performance calls for it, the Indians can improve upon last year’s 4.66 relief ERA. Betancourt and Cabrera could be a nasty pair if things come together. It might make sense to overpay for a reliever with a young outfielder, if none of the above work out.
I should add that the team has great depth; they’ll be forced to leave Major League quality players in Triple A to start the season. The Indians look like a World Series contender to me, though wins could be sacrificed to play certain veterans over kids.
Jose Molina Available?
You know it’s a slow news day when the best I can find is the availability of the worst Molina brother.
Bill "What’s" Shaikin of the L.A. Times reports that Jose Molina of the Angels might be available if they opt to use Jeff Mathis as their backup catcher. Offensively, the 31 year-old is a complete zero (actually his bat has negative value) so it would have to be a club purely in search of defense and catching skills.
Though it makes sense because Mike Napoli and Mathis are the team’s two best catchers, I haven’t seen too many playoff contenders break camp with no experience behind the plate to guide their pitching staff. I would guess that if Molina is dealt it’s because the Halos have found a different veteran backup.
2007 RotoAuthority Fantasy Guide
Many folks are having fantasy drafts this Sunday, myself included. Rather than relying on that dog-eared magazine from January, why not pick up the 2007 RotoAuthority Fantasy Guide for just $9.99?
I’ve projected 600+ players, written comments for each, noted the sleepers, assigned risk levels, included average draft positions, and more. The Guide is updated weekly, too.
Benitez Interest Limited?
Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal has a Giants source who indicated that the Marlins are the only team so far to show interest in Armando Benitez. With another dire report on J.J. Putz‘s elbow, perhaps the Mariners will reconsider. If they think he could handle the pressure, perhaps the Phillies would get involved.
The Benitez discussion seems to have grown old for some Giants fans.
Aside from Benitez and Jorge Julio, possibly available relievers include Byung-Hyun Kim, Scott Linebrink, Chad Cordero, Akinori Otsuka, Rheal Cormier, Rudy Seanez, Rick Bauer, and Scott Feldman.