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Archives for November 2007

Cubs May Trade Mark Prior

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Three articles about the Cubs’ Mark Prior situation came out today – Buster Olney, Paul Sullivan, and Gordon Wittenmyer.  The Cubs have until December 12th to make a decision one way or another – that date is the last day for teams to offer 2008 contracts to unsigned players.

The Cubs may try to keep Prior and see if they can salvage anything.  He hasn’t taken a big league mound since August 10, 2006, when he got knocked around by the Brewers.  What the Cubs don’t want is to bring Prior back for 2008, see him rebuild value, and then have him jump ship after the season.  Instead they want an option for 2009 tacked on.  The least the Cubs can sign him for ’08 is $2.86MM.  Prior won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2009 season since he accrued no MLB service time this year.  So I’m not sure why the Cubs would be terribly concerned with ’09 since they would control him for that year anyway.   UPDATE: From what I’m hearing he is a free agent after ’08 after all.

As Buster Olney notes, the Cubs also have the option of trading Prior right now.  Then his new team can deal with the contract situation.    There’s definitely a little bit of low-cost upside there, and the Padres are said to be interested. 

The third option is to non-tender Prior, which seems dumb to me.  It’d be better to keep him around for one more year at $3MM.

Angels/Marlins Cabrera Negotiations Hit Snag

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Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times has the latest on the Angels’ ongoing talks with the Marlins about superstar third baseman Miguel Cabrera.

The two teams have hit a snag about the combination of players, according to Giovanna.  It’s not that the Angels view any of Howie Kendrick, Jeff Mathis, Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders, Nick Adenhart, Reggie Willits, or Brandon Wood to be untouchable (previously it had been said that the inclusion of Adenhart was an issue).  It seems that the Angels will give up certain combinations of the above-named players (probably three of them) but the two teams can’t quite match up.

Mets Interested In Santana, Dotel, Chacon

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The New York Post’s Mark Hale has an update for us regarding the Mets’ pursuit of pitching.

  • Even though the Wilpons haven’t made any declarations to the media, the Mets are showing interest in Johan Santana.  Hale notes a couple of stipulations: David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran won’t be dealt, and the Mets would want a 72-hour negotiation window.  I don’t think anyone expected anything different on either point.  The Twins could certainly use an influx of outfield talent, and the Mets have it.
  • Octavio Dotel is one free agent on the Mets’ radar, though we’ve known that since the 16th.  "On the radar" is getting overused…I need an alternative.  Dotel would be fine with a setup role, though I’m guessing it would take two years and $12MM or more.  Dotel came up through the Mets’ system as a starter, and was traded to the Astros in ’99 in the Mike Hampton/Derek Bell/Roger Cedeno deal.  The Tigers and Royals may also be in on Dotel.
  • The Mets also like Shawn Chacon, possibly as a swingman.  The Rockies have interest in Chacon but only as a reliever.  He’s said that he’d prefer to start. 

Royals, Orioles In Lead For Jose Guillen

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According to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes, the Royals and Orioles are the frontrunners to sign free agent outfielder Jose Guillen.  That link is in Spanish so feel free to correct me if my translation is off.  The article was published on November 18th.

Rojas reports that eight teams have shown interest in signing Guillen to a multiyear deal.  We knew the Royals were dead set on Guillen; the Orioles part is new to me.  The O’s already have Nick Markakis in right, so perhaps Guillen would be used in left.  Sounds like he’s pretty popular despite the steroid revelations.  Maybe he’ll get that three-year, $30MM deal after all.

There have been some reports floating around that a contract with the Royals was imminent, but that does not appear to be accurate based on the conversations I’ve had.  Nonetheless the Royals figure to win this thing; Guillen is their top priority now that Torii Hunter is off the board.

Rockies Rumors: Torrealba, Herges, Chacon

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Time for a Rockies update, courtesy of the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders.

  • The Rox appear to be making progress with Yorvit Torrealba, though they’re leaving the door open for Michael Barrett or Paul Lo Duca.  So things are creeping along there.
  • Matt Herges will decide where to pitch within a day or two.  It’s down to two teams – the Rockies and perhaps the Brewers.  He’d like to stay with Colorado but would prefer a two-year deal.
  • Shawn Chacon continues to surface on GM Dan O’Dowd’s radar.  O’Dowd will only consider Chacon in a relief role, though Chacon’s agent seems to indicate other teams may toss some starts his way.

Astros Sign Doug Brocail

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Fox 26 Sports out of Houston is reporting that the Astros have agreed to a contract with free agent reliever Doug Brocail.  Terms are unknown; but an announcement is expected Tuesday.

Brocail turns 40 in May.  He pitched for the Astros in 1995-96 before his inclusion in a huge multiplayer deal with the Tigers.  He had a nice 2007 for the Padres with a 3.05 ERA in 76 innings.  However his strikeout rate was quite low at 5.05 per nine innings.  He seems likely to fill the seventh inning role for Houston.

I am OK with the move for one year and $2-3MM, if Ed Wade got something similar.

Yanks, Twins Discussing Santana

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As a rumor website I feel obligated to link to this.  The Yankees and Twins are talking about a Johan Santana trade, Hank Steinbrenner confirmed it.

This is a non-story; I don’t have much to add.  We have all known about these discussions for quite a while now.  It’s odd that Steinbrenner talked about them publicly; would Brian Cashman find that helpful at all?

My feeling is that if the Yankees can engineer a trade for Santana without surrendering Robinson Cano, Phil Hughes, or Joba Chamberlain, they’ve pulled off a steal.

Brewers May Pass On Gagne, Percival, Dotel

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UPDATE: Here is the official Journal-Sentinel article.  New material – Melvin admitted to an interest in David Riske, and may have an offer out to him.  Thanks to Al’s Ramblings for the tip. 

Tom Haudricourt recently spoke to Brewers GM Doug Melvin about his pursuit for a closer candidate.  Melvin recently had Kerry Wood pass over his two-year, $6MM offer for a one-year deal with the Cubs.

Melvin seemingly would only offer a one-year deal to Eric Gagne, Troy Percival, or Octavio Dotel.  All want multiyear contracts, however.  It’s a bit odd that he wouldn’t offer two years to any of these guys but did to Wood.  Maybe the Brewers only budgeted $6MM or so for this.  I imagine Gagne, for instance, would want more than that for just one year.

By the way, both Melvin and owner Mark Attanasio were perturbed by Bean Stringfellow’s handling of the Francisco Cordero negotiations.  The Crew lost out by just $4MM but didn’t get a chance to match Cincinnati’s offer.  Stringfellow’s agency represents a couple of current Brewers in Greg Aquino and Claudio Vargas, plus free agent reliever and former Brewer Luis Vizcaino.  I imagine Vizcaino is not among the eight or nine relievers on Melvin’s radar.

Heyman’s Latest: Piazza, Matthews, Milledge

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SI.com’s Jon Heyman checks in with a new Daily Scoop column full of rumors.

  • A lot of the standard trade talk we’ve seen regarding Miguel Cabrera, Johan Santana, Miguel Tejada, and Dan Haren.  All these guys require two good young players or more in a trade.
  • Mike Piazza is considering DHing in Japan if he doesn’t find anything he likes in the U.S. 
  • Heyman talked to an AL exec who speculated that the Angels may try to unload Gary Matthews Jr.  GMJ makes $9MM in ’08, $10MM in ’09, $11MM in ’10, and $12MM in ’11.  He currently has a full no-trade clause.
  • Juan Uribe and Vicente Padilla are two salary-dump types whose names have surfaced in recent trade talks (unrelated to each other).  Padilla is owed $24.75MM over the next two seasons.
  • Heyman believes the Mets are very willing to trade Lastings Milledge and have discussed him often.
  • We knew the Mets had discussed Ramon Hernandez and Gerald Laird.  Heyman adds the Nats’ Brian Schneider to the mix.  He makes $4.9MM in ’08 and another $4.9MM in ’09.

Cubs Sign Kerry Wood

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UPDATE, 11-26-07 at 1:45pm: It’s official, and it’s worth $4.2MM plus another possible $3.45MM in incentives.  Ryan Dempster’s move to the rotation is official, and it looks like the Cubs may not pursue another starter (they had been linked to Hiroki Kuroda).

FROM 11/26/07 at 11:50am:

According to Bruce Levine of ESPN Radio 1000, the Cubs have signed Kerry Wood to a one-year, $4MM deal with no options.  Wood apparently had four other offers for two years worth $5-6MM.  The Padres, Brewers, and Red Sox were among them.

I like the lack of risk here; it’s hard to find a reliever with Wood’s upside for one year.  I really thought he’d get two years, $10MM.  Of course, I am biased as a Cubs fan.  We all know Wood remains a significant injury risk.

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