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Archives for May 2007

Giants Interested In Melky Cabrera

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According to Peter Gammons in his blog, the Giants are considering shopping a starting pitcher.  Not only do they have Tim Lincecum debuting tomorrow, but Jonathan Sanchez was raised mostly as a starter and hasn’t worked out in the bullpen so far.

Gammons says the Giants would target a young position player, and they like Melky Cabrera of the Yankees.  He does not think the Yankees would be interested in a Cabrera for Noah Lowry swap.  If it was the Lowry of 2005, it would be a different story.  But the southpaw seems to have lost his strikeout rate at age 26.

The Giants could also peddle Matt Morris, who’s 4-1 with a 3.20 ERA.  This is probably the high point of Morris’s season, so shopping him makes sense.  The Orioles are one of several teams in need of an innings eater.

Torii Hunter At 4/60?

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Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press believes Torii Hunter will snag a contract in the neighborhood of four years and $60MM after this season, if his strong offensive output continues.  That’s an entirely reasonable estimate and may be low. 

A 32 year-old Johnny Damon received four years and $52MM, but that was two years ago and Hunter plays better defense.  Alfonso Soriano might be a better point of reference at eight years, $136MM.  He turned 31 shortly after he signed; Hunter will be about 32.5.  Soriano was simply an experiment in center, while Hunter is a pro. 

If Hunter is no longer a .480 SLG type guy, but rather a .540 SLG type (admittedly a long shot), his contract could ramp up to $16MM annually over five or even six years.  The only concern is that his newfound power is coming at the expense of walks – Hunter has just three of them so far this year.  It works as long as he’s hitting .330.

With Jacoby Ellsbury coming on strong in the minors, the Red Sox don’t need a huge CF expenditure.  I could see the Orioles, Rangers, or Phillies splurging on Hunter this winter.

Mets Trolling For Pitching

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Like many teams, the Mets could use another starting pitcher.  I like the depth Omar Minaya came in with, but another rehab project or two wouldn’t hurt.  You have to respect this approach to building a rotation as opposed to just signing Barry Zito.

David Lennon of Newsday says that Minaya is indeed working the phones, looking for a deal similar to last year’s Orlando Hernandez acquisition.  A minor league contract for Brian Lawrence is one option.  What other starters might Minaya gamble on?

The Indians are one club with an apparent surplus of starters, once the main guys are healthy at the same time.  The price might be too high for Fausto Carmona, though Paul Byrd could be had if salaries can be worked out.  Byrd has looked decent in the early going, but he’s earning $7MM.  Byrd made 55 relief appearances for the Mets back in 1995-96.

If for nothing else than the confusion angle, MInaya could consider another O. Perez (Odalis of the Royals).  The Dodgers are already paying a large chunk of Perez’s $7.75MM salary.  A little Rick Peterson tutoring could do him some good.

It wouldn’t be a minor deal, but the White Sox could start offering up Jose Contreras, Jon Garland, and Mark Buehrle in coming months.  Greg Couch of the Sun-Times thinks a fire sale is in order.

The Angels could spare a Dustin Moseley, but will probably hang on to Joe Saunders for depth.  It seems like the A’s are willing to trade anyone in the right deal.  The Brewers go seven-deep with starting pitchers.  The Cubs are about ready to cast off Wade Miller.  And the Rockies are still stuck with Josh Fogg and Byung-Hyun Kim.

I’m interested to see who Minaya comes up with here; he’s usually pretty clever when bargain-hunting.

Readin’ Material

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If you’re looking for some fantasy pickups, check out my Waiver Wired column at RotoWorld.

The hot topic in fantasy and real baseball: Tim Lincecum vs. Cole Hamels on ESPN Sunday night.  It will be hard to match the Felix Hernandez–Daisuke Matsuzaka contest, but baseball fans everywhere will be tuned in.  Hop on over to RotoAuthority – the closest to guess Lincecum’s line wins a free fantasy guide.

Check out the recent MetsBlog Talk Radio transcript – Buster Olney discusses Rich Harden and Carlos Zambrano trade possibilities.

Couple of blogs to check out: We Love Daisuke! and Starting Aces (a Red Sox blog).

The Salt of New York?

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As far as Retrosheet and I can tell, the last time the Mets and Braves hooked up for a trade was November 25, 1996, when the Mets sent Paul Byrd and a PTBNL (the inestimable Andy Zwirchitz) to the Braves for Greg McMichael.  Over the years John Schuerholz has preferred to trade with Milwaukee, Kansas City or Oakland over the Mets.

But with a friendly new GM in Omar Minaya and a player with all the promise and last name of Jarrod Saltalamacchia (Salt-uh-la-ma-chee-a) on the board, anything is possible.  As was pointed out in this space a week ago, the young catcher is a good fit with the Detroit Tigers.  But with the Braves’ obvious dilemma of having one good young catcher too many, combined with the recent freak double-injury of Brian McCann and Brayan Peña forcing the Braves to give the youngster a major league debut for his 22nd birthday, other catching-starved organizations are bound to stand up and take notice.

The Mets’ 2008 catching situation was the subject of this MLBTR post.  Without repeating what was said there, I’ll add that the Mets committed a big blunder by keeping single-A catcher Jesús Flores off their 40-man roster, allowing him to be taken by the Washington Nationals in the Rule 5 draft.  While he is seriously overmatched in the big leagues, he could still develop into a solid, power-hitting backstop.

What, then, would it take for the Mets to acquire Salty? A Mets/Braves trade wouldn’t happen this year, so we shouldn’t be talking about improving the Braves’ 2007 rotation, at least not in this context.  But would Philip Humber be of interest?  The Braves also lack a solid left fielder, and will likely be short a center fielder come 2008.  The Mets have three great prospects for these positions in Lastings Milledge, Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martínez.  Finally, at first base the Mets could offer Mike Carp, who was so impressive this spring that he spent most of it with the big league Mets before being sent to AA-Binghamton.

If it took both Humber and Milledge to do it for the Mets, I think it would be worth it.

John Peterson writes for the Mets blog Blastings! Thrilledge.

A’s Acquire Jack Cust

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The A’s have been busy lately with minor moves; today they picked up stathead favorite Jack Cust.  DH is the easiest position to fill, which is why Bill Bavasi’s Jose Vidro acquisition was so baffling.  Why pay your DH anything if Cust is freely available?

Cust returns to the A’s; he played for their Triple A club in ’05.  He’s a walk machine – he actually drew 143 of ’em last year.  They call him a Quad-A player, but he’s never really gotten a shot.  Why can’t he become Kevin Youkilis for the league minimum?  Cust has absolutely destroyed the ball in the minors so far this year.  He can definitely help the A’s at DH while they’re short-staffed.

The Eventually Expendable Julian Tavarez

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Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe speculates that when Jon Lester finishes a satisfactory stint at Tripe A Pawtucket, it will be necessary to move a Red Sox pitcher either through waivers or a trade.  "The affected pitchers could be Julian Tavarez, Joel Piñeiro, J.C. Romero, or Kyle Snyder… Tavarez would have value to several teams, particularly National League clubs looking for a middle reliever or a starter. The Mets, Cardinals, Phillies, Rockies, Marlins, and Reds would all be candidates."

I am with Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog.com, who cites December 2005 pieces from the New York Daily News and the New Jersey Star-Ledger that discussed the Mets’ negotiations with Tavarez when he was a free agent.  Just because the Mets were once interested, does not mean they still are.

However, with Aaron Heilman struggling, it’s likely that Omar Minaya (or some other GM) might dream of restoring the 34-year old Tavarez to his 1995, 2000 and 2003-2005 form.  His biggest problem right now is that he has been starting, a role he is definitely not suited for.

By John Peterson

Too Many Outfielders In KC

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The Royals have a Cub-like situation – five outfielders.  You’ve got the injury-prone guy who still might have something left (Cliff Floyd/Reggie Sanders), the rookie stud who needs to play every day (Felix Pie/Billy Butler), the developing, pre-arb solid guy (Matt Murton/Mark Teahen), and the veteran league average guy (Jacque Jones/Emil Brown).  I couldn’t think of a clever link between Alfonso Soriano and David DeJesus though.

Since the injury-prone guy is often on the DL, that leaves the Jones/Brown type as the one to trade.  The Cubs haven’t had any luck finding the right deal for Jones, though.  And the Royals would probably have to eat most of Brown’s contract to move him.  Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star says a release is possible.

The Royals at least have the DH spot to fill the gaps, if and when Mike Sweeney lands on the DL.  But I still don’t get the Butler call-up.  Unlike the Cubs, the Royals don’t have a shot at the playoffs.  Their outfield doesn’t need Butler’s defense.  Why start his clock early?  It would’ve made more sense to play Brown every day in left and hope for a couple of 3 HR, 15 RBI type months from him.  Then you find a little more desperate team in June or July and get a decent arm in return.  Now that Butler’s up, there’s no chance to build up Brown’s trade value.

Lieber For Farnsworth?

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At this point, the rumor appears more speculation than actual confirmed talks between the Yankees and Phillies.  But plenty of folks see the logic in a Jon Lieber for Kyle Farnsworth swap, including Peter Abraham.

The Yankees find themselves with a rotation of Mussina, Wang, Pettitte, Igawa, and pray for rain.  Pavano, Hughes, and Karstens are all hurt.  Igawa is in the rotation mainly by necessity.  Brian Cashman can hold out, hope for a Roger Clemens rescue.  Or he can find some sort of reinforcement now.  Is Lieber the answer?

Has the Lieber of old returned?  It’s only been three starts.  Lieber’s 6.27 hits per nine isn’t sustainable; a 1.7 K/BB is low for him.  And let’s not forget how different it is to face the Red Sox as compared to the Nationals.  I know beggars can’t be choosy, but we also can’t wishcast the current version of Liebs is the same as ’04.

The Yanks’ bullpen is pitching OK with a 3.97 ERA so far.  Farnsworth has had a rough 9.1 innings in the early going, but I’m not sure he’s expendable.  Brian Bruney and Mike Myers have been solid, but that’s about it.  The Yanks owe Farnsworth $10.75MM for 2007-08.

Meanwhile in Philly, Tom Gordon flew back to have his shoulder checked.  That increases the need for Brett Myers in the pen, but trading Lieber would further weaken the rotation.  I agree with Tom that the Phils should stand pat.  Or at least acquire relief help without trading away key parts of the team.  Remember, Lieber was expendable back when Myers was starting, Adam Eaton seemed tolerable, and Gordon was somewhat healthy.  All of those things have changed.

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