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Archives for July 2007

Padres Failed Trade Talks: Dye, Pie

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Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune has a couple of blurbs about inquires trade inquiries made by Padres GM Kevin Towers.

The first says that Kenny Williams’s asking price for Jermaine Dye a few weeks ago was Khalil Greene and Scott Linebrink.  I’m surprised the White Sox would focus on Greene, as him game isn’t terribly different from Juan Uribe’s.  But the Padres don’t have anyone else to turn to at shortstop.  Greene doesn’t reach free agency until after the 2009 season.  Anyway, the Padres chose to go with Milton Bradley instead of Dye.

Additionally, the Padres asked the Cubs about Felix Pie.  Jim Hendry informed Towers that he’s untouchable.  Maybe no one is truly "untouchable," but what could the Padres realistically offer?  Jake Peavy or Chris Young seems silly, leaving the most valuable young Padres as Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Chase Headley, and maybe Cla Meredith.  There doesn’t seem to be a fit for the Cubs.  Maybe Towers was just inquiring to see if Hendry would sacrifice the future for a useful 2007 piece. 

Teixeira Pines For Orioles

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The Mark Teixeira-Orioles love affair continued tonight, as the Rangers welcomed Baltimore to town tonight for a series.  Said Tex about the Orioles:

"In a year and a half, we’ll have some fun conversations.  Baltimore, obviously in the future, is a place I’d love to look at."

Of course, he also said the typical cliches about being a Ranger and wanting to win in Texas.  But you don’t often see a player under contract for an additional year and a half so openly talking about playing for another club.  Teixeira also spoke of his willingness to chat with top Orioles draft pick Matt Wieters to help facilitate a deal.  Both players have Scott Boras as their agent, and both went to Georgia Tech.

You may recall that 40% of the Orioles’ 25-man roster will reach free agency after the 2009 season.  The O’s could backload a Teixeira contract to squeeze him in for the ’09 season.  It is expected that the Orioles would have considerable competition from at least the Yankees. 

Teixeira hopes to rejoin the Ranger lineup one week from now, leaving Jon Daniels two weeks to trade him before the deadline.  There hasn’t been much buzz on him lately.

Buehrle Cleans Out Locker

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And in other news, I tidied up my desk today.  Mark Buehrle’s housecleaning, however, is just barely newsworthy.  It could be a sign that a deal is impending, or it could just be plain old cleaning.  I can speak from experience: I only cleaned out my high school locker when school was out for summer.  And I found an old sandwich.  Just saying.

Ken Rosenthal mentioned today that various execs still expect Buehrle to be traded.  The Dodgers, Mets, and Mariners seem to be the top contenders. 

Buehrle, for his part, is as sick of the constant rumors as you are.  He’s planning on testing free agency if he doesn’t stay with Chicago.

UPDATE: Jayson Stark is reporting that Williams is asking for three players for Buehrle, two of which must be premium prospects.  Ultimately I think KW will settle for just one top prospect.  Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times would begrudgingly surrender center fielder Adam Jones.

Stark adds that the Red Sox are back in the Buehrle sweepstakes, trying to push Julio Lugo on the White Sox as part of the deal. 

Rosenthal On The Angels

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Ken Rosenthal weighs in on the Angels’ offense today, speculating about a Ken Griffey Jr. acquisition.  Other ideas for that "big bat": Miguel Cabrera, Morgan Ensberg, Garrett Atkins, Troy Glaus, Adam Dunn, Pat Burrell, or Mark Teahen.  None seem likely and many seem foolish.  Can you really see Stoneman making a major acquisition?  I feel a GM Trade Profile coming on, once I finish Omar’s.

The Halos are fifth in the AL in OBP and eighth in slugging; it’s not like they’re the Twins.  Still, as Rosenthal says, one more slugger could make them World Series favorites.  You can think of a million reasons why a Barry Bonds trade would never happen, but he would boost the offense immensely.  Other ideas: Carlos Pena or Dmitri Young.

Braves Inquire On Dmitri Young

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According to Ken Rosenthal, the Braves "made a run" at Nationals’ first baseman Dmitri Young.  They even scouted the Mississippi Braves.  Jim Bowden, of course, asked for too much and the Braves backed off.  Maybe Bowden asked for Matt Harrison or Brandon Jones. 

Rosenthal mentions the Braves and Yankees as the only contenders in need of a first baseman.  However, if you’ve seen Dmitri lumbering around in the field, you know he’s a first baseman only by default.  As a DH, he could work for the Twins or Mariners.  Or, the Mariners could just start playing Ben Broussard over Jose Vidro.

White Sox A Match For Orlando Hudson

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Speculating has been going strong for quite a while now that the White Sox have interest in Diamondbacks second baseman Orlando Hudson.  As Yahoo’s Tim Brown explains, Josh Byrnes and Kenny Williams talk often and Byrnes could use a starting pitcher.

As I mentioned earlier, the D’Backs have cheap options at second base if they’re willing to sacrifice some defense.  Or the Sox could just include Tadahito Iguchi in the deal.  The White Sox would basically be acquiring Hudson for 2008.  He would certainly fit the bill of Major League talent Williams desires, and he’d strengthen the team defensively.  Byrnes could go after Mark Buehrle or Jose Contreras, or even re-acquire Javier Vazquez.  I think an additional prospect aside from Hudson would be required for Buehrle or Vazquez.  Maybe Dustin Nippert.   

 

White Sox Interested In Elijah Dukes?

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The Devil Rays optioned Elijah Dukes to Class A and put him on the temporary inactive list back on June 22nd.  He’s earning his Major League salary and getting counseling for his problems.

According to Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus, the White Sox may be interested.  Given their clear need for outfielders for 2008, a Dukes trade makes plenty of sense.  Chicago is a far way from Tampa and would represent a fresh start for Dukes.

Andrew Friedman and Kenny Williams have yet to match up for a trade to the best of my knowledge, though the Rays apparently have interest in Chicago’s available starters.   

Odds and Ends

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Today we’ve got a bunch of smaller links, rumors, and signings, so we’ll put it all in one post.

  • The Cardinals signed reliever Ryan Franklin for 2008-09 with a club option for 2010.  I was waiting for the financial details to come out, but they still haven’t.  According to Rick Hummel, it’s at least $2MM per year.  That’s pretty much chump change to almost any team, so no big loss if it doesn’t pan out.  Franklin has actually been the Cardinals’ best pitcher this year.  He deserves credit for his superb control and 50% groundball rate, though he’s been strangely tough to hit for a guy whiffing fewer than four per nine innings.  Franklin has a .226 BABIP, which should regress toward his team’s .294 mark.  Franklin already owns one of the greatest fluke BABIP performances of the decade, when he posted a .248 mark in 2003 en route to a 3.57 ERA.
  • Speaking of questionable reliever contract extensions, Shawn Chacon wants in.  To be fair, his 2.98 relief ERA this year is solid, and his peripheral stats aren’t terrible.  But extending him at $2-3MM annually just doesn’t seem wise for the Pirates.
  • Jim Salisbury discusses the awful Pat Burrell contract, noting that it seemed like a good idea at the time. 
  • Richard Justice tries to figure out why Morgan Ensberg is on the Astros’ roster.  Ensberg has really lost it since he posted a .945 OPS with 36 home runs in 2005.  It wasn’t that long ago; he deserves a look with the Twins or something. 
  • Rob Bradford discusses how the Josh Beckett contract extension came to fruition.  Great timing by Theo Epstein; now he has Beckett at well below market value.  Kenny Williams tried this with Mark Buehrle last summer but was rebuffed.
  • J.P. Ricciardi clarifies his A.J. Burnett comments.
  • A new pitch has been invented.  This is going to take the world by storm.
  • Neifi Perez = busted.
  • Gotham Baseball debunks the Lastings Milledge to Washington for a reliever rumor.  Mark Healey also thinks the Mets’ interest in White Sox starters has been overstated.
  • There’s a good chance Rockies’ first baseman Joe Koshansky is traded.  Let’s not get too excited though; Kevin Goldstein says he becomes an average big league first baseman in a perfect world.  The 25 year-old is slugging .486 at a hitters’ park in Triple A.

Ricciardi Criticizes Burnett

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Why would a general manager publicly criticize one of his own players?  Perhaps to fire him up, though that strategy is questionable at best.  Most likely such public criticism is simply frustration boiling over into the media, frustration better kept private.

Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi took a few shots at pitcher A.J. Burnett today, essentially saying he regrets the signing and questioning Burnett’s willingness to pitch through pain.  How is that strategically a good move for the baseball team?  It’s not.  It’s emotion spilling over.

The comments seem even more foolish when you consider that the Jays might want to trade Burnett.  Burnett didn’t get along with Florida’s front office, and now he’s going to have problems with Ricciardi and company.  It’s no way to build up trade value.  Why doesn’t Ricciardi point the finger at himself?  Burnett was a known health risk at the time of the signing. 

In the long run, Ricciardi will prove a worse investment for the Blue Jay franchise.  I don’t have a bone to pick with him; I just think he’s done a poor job since his hiring in 2001.   

Yankees To Offer Up Abreu?

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Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record talked to one Major League executive who believes the Yankees are likely to shop outfielder Bobby Abreu to the NL this month.  The key would be the Yankees paying a portion of the $10MM coming to Abreu this year.

Abreu still has a $16MM option for 2008 with a $2MM buyout attached.  If he has a few more months like June – .290/.408/.470 – the option could still be picked up.  The Yanks could exercise it and then look to trade him during the offseason.  The cost certainty and one-year commitment might be attractive to some teams, even if Abreu is basically now Brian Giles.  The Yankees are currently 12 games out in the AL East and 8.5 out in the Wild Card race.  Nonetheless, their playoff chances fall in the 11-18% range based on the various simulations out there.  It’s not quite time to fold it in and play for next year. 

However, if the Yankees keep losing and are more officially out of it in three weeks, Abreu seems the most logical choice to be traded.  Kyle Farnsworth is a no-brainer as well.  Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera could all become free agents after the season, but I can’t see any of them getting traded.

Abreu would be a nice fit in Arizona as a summer rental, in my opinion.

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