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Archives for July 2007

Marlins Could Trade Scott Olsen

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23 year-old southpaw Scott Olsen is very talented, but he’s earned a reputation as a bit of a hothead.  Take a look at his history: six incidents, including his Saturday arrest.  Performance is 99% of what matters in baseball, though, so Olsen would be very popular on the trade market.  Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post speculates that the Marlins could make a push to trade him.

The Marlins still need a center fielder, so that would figure to be the top target in an Olsen trade.  They had previously entertained sending Olsen to the Devil Rays for B.J. Upton or Joey Gathright.  The chance for Upton has passed, and Gathright is a Royal now.  I imagine the Royals would make the move in a heartbeat.

Here’s a scenario that might make sense for both teams: Olsen to the Diamondbacks for Chris Young.  Young should become a very solid center fielder, but he’s likely to be overtaken by Justin Upton in 2008.  The Diamondbacks have been said to be on the lookout for young pitching, and Olsen is perfect. 

The Marlins are kicking around moving Hanley Ramirez to center field next year, though that would just create a new hole at shortstop.   

Of course I have to make the obligatory Jarrod Saltalamacchia reference.  Olsen would be a fine addition to Atlanta’s staff, and the Marlins would replace Miguel Olivo as his salary starts to rise.

Can you think of any other reasonable scenarios? Leave ’em in the comments.

Mets Mulling Options At Second Base

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Jose Valentin’s fractured tibia on Friday should knock him out about six weeks.  Unfortunately for Valentin, this injury and a previous one will stop him from reaching 400 plate appearances this year.  That means his $4.3MM option for 2008 will not vest. 

The Mets have a number of internal options: Anderson Hernandez, Marlon Anderson, Ruben Gotay, and Damion Easley can all handle second base and offer different skills.  Willie Randolph didn’t seem thrilled with the idea of Gotay as the everyday guy, though Omar Minaya expects him to play the most. 

Minaya’s not actively looking to trade for a second baseman, but he will listen.  Jose de Jesus Ortiz believes Minaya covets Mark Loretta, even speculating on expanded deals involving Chad Qualls or Wandy Rodriguez.  I had not previously known that Wandy was on Omar’s radar last winter.  Still, it doesn’t make much sense for the Astros to give him up in the midst of a possible breakout season.

Dejan Kovacevic mentions Jose Castillo as another option, though there’s no indication the Mets are after him.  Two other options for the Mets are impending free agents Luis Castillo and Tadahito Iguchi.  There’s been speculation that the Mets will sign Castillo this winter.

Blue Jays Interested In Jack Wilson

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Previously on this site we have questioned why any team would want to acquire Pirates’ shortstop Jack Wilson (no offense to him).  Now comes word that at least one team is in on him – the Blue Jays.  But Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette believes a deal couldn’t be reached by the July deadline because the money issues could get tricky.

Wilson makes $6.5MM in ’08, $7.25MM in ’09, and a $0.6MM buyout for ’10.  He can block trades to six teams each season.  Kovacevic thinks a deal would most likely occur in the offseason, as Wilson might not pass through waivers in August.  Still, no harm in trying it if you’re Dave Littlefield.  Personally I’d be surprised if any team would risk having that contract dumped on them in its entirety.  Bucco Blog thinks Wilson is a lock to be traded.

Wilson has hit .252/.305/.347, pretty much in line with his career numbers.  Blue Jays’ shortstops have hit .233/.272/.314 this year (mostly Royce Clayton and John McDonald).  So Wilson is an upgrade, but that’s only because shortstop has been such a ridiculous black hole for Toronto.  You do have to credit Wilson’s defense, among the best in the game at the position by one metric. 

J.P. Ricciardi’s options this winter: Omar Vizquel, David Eckstein, and probably Juan Uribe and Cesar Izturis.  Technically you could include Kaz Matsui and Alex Rodriguez as other free agents who can play short.

Olney: D’Backs Could Trade Livan Hernandez

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ESPN’s Buster Olney brings up one available starting pitcher we haven’t mentioned here anytime recently: Livan Hernandez.  It hadn’t really occurred to me that the Diamondbacks could be sellers.  But according to various playoff odds reports, their chances of making the playoffs have slipped to 3-8%.  Our good friend Jeff Sackmann took a look at teams on the bubble in a recent column at Hardball Times and recommended the Diamondbacks sell off players such as Hernandez, Eric Byrnes, and Orlando Hudson.

Hernandez reaches free agency after this season, and it seems likely the D’Backs would let him leave.  Trading him now could make some sense.  He’s got about $2.7MM left on his contract this year.  As Olney says, Hernandez’s main virtue is durability.  He will take the ball every fifth day and give you six innings.  He’s no longer the seven inning per start horse he was from 1998-2005; his average is now around 6.3 innings per start.

As far as playoff experience…would a team like the Mets really want to give him a playoff start?  I wouldn’t think so.  No doubt the NLCS MVP version we saw in ’97 is a distant memory, and even his work for the Giants in ’02 is five years removed. 

Olney believes strong offensive NL teams like the Braves, Mets, or Phillies could take a look at Livan.  The Brewers, Dodgers, and Padres may also be looking to add a starter.

Yankees Acquire Jose Molina

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The Yankees moved to improve their backup catching situation yesterday, acquiring 32 year-old backstop Jose Molina from the Angels for Double A reliever Jeff Kennard.

The Angels will now go with the young catching tandem of Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis.  Mathis is a fine defensive catcher.  While the 24 year-old regressed with the bat this year, he could still develop into an adequate regular.  Molina was definitely expendable.

The Yankees have been trying to get Molina since at least May.  Mike Mussina might miss Wil Nieves, but otherwise the difference should be negligible.  Kennard, a nondescript 26 year-old reliever, has posted fine numbers at Double A.

Troy Glaus Available

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The general feeling, based on comments from Troy Glaus and J.P. Ricciardi, has been that Glaus is staying put.  However, a Toronto Sun article from Bob Elliott quotes an NL scout saying that Glaus is indeed available.  The 31 year-old third baseman would be hard to replace, so he won’t come cheap.  No reason Ricciardi shouldn’t at least field offers.

Glaus, of course, has a full no-trade clause.  When he was last traded, he required an $11.25MM player option for ’09 be added to his deal.  At present he will make another $4.4MM this year and $12.75MM in ’08.  If he were to concede to another trade, maybe he’d want $26-30MM guaranteed for 2009-10.  Just a guess. 

The common sentiment is that Glaus would end up back in California if traded.  Elliott names the Padres and Angels as teams in need of a power-hitting third-sacker.  But let’s give some props to rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff, who is hitting .283/.338/.500 since May 1st.  Elliott says the Dodgers aren’t in on Glaus, leaving a return to the Halos are the most feasible scenario.  He’d be a perfect addition for the Angels, who are ninth in the league in slugging.

New Plan: Extension For Gagne

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The Rangers are throwing trade rumor junkies a curveball – they’re now thinking about hanging onto Eric Gagne and signing him to a contract extension.  This development may be related to the limited trade options for the rejuvenated closer.

Keep in mind that the extension talk may just be lip service.  As a Scott Boras client, wouldn’t the oft-injured Gagne require a good three years, $36MM guaranteed?  That’s my guess.  That would be very risky.  Assuming Mariano Rivera remains a Yankee, Francisco Cordero will be the only free agent closer near Gagne’s level.  Nice timing for Coco, by the way.

I’m still learning how the Elias Bureau determines its free agent classifications.  My guess is that Gagne would not earn the Type A designation because he missed most of last year.  I’ll have to confirm that.  If I’m correct, the Rangers wouldn’t be able to collect much in the way of draft picks if Gagne walks.

Evan Grant also notes that Joaquin Benoit has moven to the forefront as the Ranger reliever must likely to be dealt.  Akinori Otsuka’s injury may prevent him from full re-establishing his value by July 31st.  Benoit will not become a free agent until after 2008, and he’s in the midst of a career year after rediscovering his control.  The Dodgers and Brewers may be interested.  L.A. could get desperate if Takashi Saito’s injury is serious, although it does not appear to be.  On the other hand, it’s certainly in Ned Colletti’s best interest to downplay the injury.  For the Brew Crew, Benoit could slide into the closer role in 2008 if they allow Cordero to leave.

Grant adds that the Rangers and Dodgers have had slow-moving talks about Mark Teixeira, and that the Braves were scouting the game on Friday as well.  The Braves could’ve been looking at relievers though.

One final note: contrary to a previous report, Grant says Kenny Lofton is drawing significant interest from the Tribe.  Lofton’s agent has heard the rumor as well.  Kenny implied yesterday that he’d play a corner outfield position if need be.

Ty Wigginton For Scott Proctor?

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According to George King and Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Devil Rays are willing to send Ty Wigginton to the Yankees for Scott Proctor.  The Yanks are willing to trade Proctor because they believe Joba Chamberlain can jump up from Double A and fill in capably.  Chamberlain is flat-out nasty.

Given his previous interest in Wilson Betemit, it looks like Brian Cashman is focused on adding a versatile player who is under control for several more years.  A bonus for Wigginton is that he bats right-handed.  Betemit is a switch-hitter but hasn’t done much from the right side.

It’s unclear how the Devil Rays would use Proctor, but I’m guessing they’d leave him in relief.  Having a decent guy who can pitch 80 solid innings in the AL East for a few seasons is a stronger need than starting pitching right now.  The Rays quietly have a ton of quality pitching in the Majors or in the pipeline.  This is a team with a $24MM Opening Day payroll this year – imagine if they bumped it to $75MM and added three star players to complement the current group.

Another note from the column is that the Rockies like the idea of taking Kyle Farnsworth off the Yankees’ hands, but don’t want to pay too much of his remaining salary.  Farnsy makes another $2.2MM this year and $5.5MM in ’08.  In my opinion, the Rockies should go for it if the Yankees will eat half.

Keith Law Q&A

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I realized recently that I don’t know a lot about how trades and discussions between GMs actually go down.  Fortunately, ESPN’s Keith Law was able to fill in the gaps for me in our Q&A below.  Keith was formerly the assistant GM in Toronto under J.P. Ricciardi.

What steps does a team take to ensure that trade discussions don’t leak out to the media or to other teams? 

You limit the number of people who are know the details of the discussions. There’s not much more you can do, and you’re always trusting the other side to keep offers and discussions to themselves.

About how many people from each team are privy to a trade discussion with another team?

Depends entirely on the FO. In Toronto, it was usually around a half-dozen people, sometimes as many as ten. I think most FOs play it closer to the vest.

Are intentional media leaks common?

Absolutely, and they’re not all true.

What are the logistics of trade discussions – is it typically one GM on the phone with another, followed up by consulting with the GM’s inner circle before a callback is made?

Every trade discussion that happened while I was with Toronto either came about as a GM-to-GM phone call, or as something that came up at the winter meetings, usually where the two GMs would meet in one team’s suite, occasionally with the assistant GMs there too.

Are emails or conference calls between front offices common?

Not while I was with Toronto, but Ricciardi wasn’t a big email guy. I know of some GMs who are much more comfortable with email and so I’m sure they’re more willing to at least start a discussion on email. But for what is essentially a negotiation, phone beats email, and in-person beats phone when you can swing it.

Rosenthal On Teixeira, Dunn

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I neglected to mention a Ken Rosenthal article from yesterday, chock full of rumory goodness as always.

  • Rosenthal believes the Yankees need a backup plan in case they are not able to retain Alex Rodriguez.  Wilson Betemit definitely makes sense in that he’d be useful even if they do keep A-Rod.  Rosenthal basically names every third baseman you can think of.  The most likely option, to me, is to simply sign Mike Lowell as a free agent.  Would he switch sides?  Perhaps, if the Red Sox don’t make an offer or try to lowball him.
  • The Braves apparently won’t give up Yunel Escobar or Jarrod Saltalamacchia to get Mark Teixeira.  Neither of ’em.  No doubt John Schuerholz will spend the next ten days trying to get Jon Daniels to settle for less.
  • The Reds have a "co-Dunn-drum," as Rosenthal puts it.  Now that’s good stuff.  The basic codunndrum here is that no team that can afford Adam Dunn wants him.  Rosenthal likes the Tigers as a dark horse.  I know Dunn isn’t much with the glove, but I’m surprised the market isn’t stronger for him right now.
  • Dan Wheeler is more likely than Chad Qualls to be moved, because he’s closer to free agency (after 2008).
  • Rosenthal believes the Royals could not even acquire a Tony Abreu from the Dodgers for Octavio Dotel.  Previously it had been said that the Dayton Moore was asking for Matt Kemp or James Loney.  And Duke Snider plus Sandy Koufax.
  • Bronson Arroyo does not appear to be available.  Jose Contreras or Matt Morris: which is the lesser of two evils?

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