Odds And Ends: Nats, Dodgers, Cardinals
Couple of small signings and rumors on non-tender night:
- The Nats have agreed with John Patterson, Ryan Wagner, and Luis Ayala to one-year deals. Wagner is coming off labrum surgery, and is expected to compete for a spot in the bullpen in Spring Training. Ayala tossed 42 decent innings after coming back from Tommy John surgery in June. After showing flashes of his potential in 2005, Patterson has hardly worked out over the past two years, but will get another shot this spring.
- The Dodgers have signed 11 players to minor league deals with invitations to Spring Training: RHP Tanyon Sturtze, RHP Mike Koplove, RHP Brian Falkenborg, RHP Rick
Asadoorian, RHP Fernando Desgue, RHP Greg Jones, LHP Brian Shackelford,
OF John-Ford Griffin, 1B John Lindsey, IF Angel Chavez and C Danny
Ardoin. The addition of Sturtze, coupled with the presence of Scott Proctor, gives Joe Torre two of his favorite abuse cases over the past few years. - The Cardinals have signed former Athletic Ron Flores to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. He throws left-handed, hence will probably get a shot for the next three or four years, even if his performance is spotty. C Mark Johnson, RHP Hugo Castellanos and 3B Rico Washington have also been signed and extended an invite.
–Joe
Colletti Wants To Hang Onto Kemp
We’ve heard his name linked to potential trades for Miguel Cabrera, Erik Bedard, and Johan Santana, but if we’re to believe Ned Colletti’s current stated position, Matt Kemp won’t be going anywhere.
"I don’t have any interest in trading Matt Kemp," general manager Ned Colletti said after new center fielder Andruw Jones was introduced to the media on Wednesday.
Kemp has the potential to be a middle of the order force, and seeing as he’s only 23 years old, he could fulfill that role for many years to come. Dishing him as the centerpiece of a Cabrera, Bedard, or Santana deal would have made a degree of sense, but he was oftentimes mentioned alongside names like Clayton Kershaw and Jonathan Broxton.
This means the Dodgers plan to go into the season with Andruw Jones, Andre Ethier, and Juan Pierre as outfielders in addition to Kemp. Clearly, taking Pierre out of the starting lineup is the smart and logical move — Kemp and Ethier project better at the corners, with Jones in center. But the $36.5 million left in his contract probably keeps him in the starting eight.
–Joe
Bay, Pads Talks “Completely Untrue”
We hear rumors earlier in the day that the Padres and Pirates were in "deep talks" regarding Jason Bay. Now, Dejan Kovacevic says that no such talks have occurred. This comes after the revelation that Chase Headley wouldn’t be involved in any deal.
The only talks between the two clubs, according to Kovacevic, have regarded catcher Michael Barrett. According to the source "those talks didn’t expand beyond Barrett."
–Joe
Today’s Non-tenders
As you know, the non-tender deadline is tonight. I’ve got my list of candidates right here. In this post, I’ll note all those who are officially non-tendered and hence become free agents.
- The Royals cut the cord on Emil Brown. He turns 33 soon; he hit an ugly .257/.300/.347 in 2007. Brown earned $3.45MM in ’07.
- The Tigers non-tendered Chad Durbin, toss him into the free agent pool. Guess those trade talks with the Bucs didn’t work out.
Cliff Floyd To Sign With Rays
UPDATE, 12-13-07 at 4:44pm: The deal is done, for $3MM plus another possible $2MM in incentives.
FROM 12-12-07 at 2:58pm:
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports that the Rays should have a deal in place with Cliff Floyd by this weekend. Floyd would spend time at DH and right field for them in ’08.
Astros Acquire Miguel Tejada
UPDATE, 12-12-07 at 4:41pm: Richard Justice notes that Tejada can demand a trade after the ’08 season. That hadn’t occurred to me; it diminishes his value to the Astros.
UPDATE, 12-12-07 at 12:04pm: Rosenthal says Tejada is expected to play short for the Astros; Adam Everett’s time may be up. Tejada’s offensive output looks a lot better coming from short than it does coming from third, though it may be a moot point if Ty Wigginton is manning the hot corner.
FROM 12-12-07 at 11:42am:
This comes as a surprise, on the heels of a Rosenthal report to the contrary. Jeff Zrebiec says the Astros have acquired Miguel Tejada for Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Troy Patton, Dennis Sarfate, and Mike Costanzo.
That’s a fine haul for Baltimore. The Astros pretty much cleaned out their farm system for two years of an average-hitting third baseman. The average NL 3B had an .804 OPS in ’07; Tejada was at .799 in the AL. I know some readers think I’m an Astro-hater but that’s not the case. I just think they gave up way too much here. Patton was ranked their third best prospect by Baseball America, Costanzo sixth. Scott is a cheap quality regular, and Albers was third on the team’s 2007 top prospect list.
Sabean Takes Lincecum/Cain Off The Table
The Aaron Rowand signing has led Brian Sabean to pull his young starters off the market (to the extent that they were ever available). Specifically, the idea of an Alex Rios for Tim Lincecum swap is dead.
The Giants are still looking for help at the infield corners and in the ‘pen. It’s hard to figure out what Sabean is doing – is he trying to win in 2008?
Padres Deep In Talks For Bay
UPDATE, 12-12-07 at 3:56pm: Krasovic jumps in to say that the Padres definitely won’t be trading Headley to the Bucs (and probably not at all). The Pirates and Padres have been talking a lot, and some kind of deal involving some of the players below could definitely happen.
UPDATE, 12-12-07 at 12:01pm: Buster Olney is reporting that the Padres are "deep into discussions" with the Pirates about a multiplayer trade in which Bay would be the centerpiece.
FROM 12-12-07 at 9:30am:
Tom Krasovic checks in with all sorts of fresh Padres rumors, as he often does. Below are the ones that haven’t come up elsewhere on the site today.
- The Padres and Pirates might have mutual ground for some kind of multiplayer deal. Names like Matt Morris, Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, and/or Nate McLouth are possible future Padres. The Bucs could go for Michael Barrett and/or Padres’ top prospect Chase Headley. My challenge to you: create a reasonable multiplayer trade scenario between these two clubs in the comments.
- Krasovic says the Padres "explored a trade" for the Cardinals’ Anthony Reyes. The Indians and Phillies have also been linked to the youngster before.
- As you might expect, Morgan Ensberg will probably be non-tendered today. He made $4.35MM in ’07, and the Friars don’t want to pay him anything like that.
- Akinori Otsuka is another non-tender candidate, and the Padres could seek to bring him back if so. Otsuka has been throwing pain-free since late October, though, so the Rangers will probably retain him.
Giants Sign Aaron Rowand
Busy day today. The Giants put out a press release: they’ve signed Aaron Rowand to a five-year deal. The amount is $60MM, probably the low end of what we would’ve predicted. This still doesn’t seem logical for a team not expected to compete for at least two years, but the guy does have a career OPS over .800. I don’t hate the deal as much as some, though a lot can go wrong in five years.
The 30 year-old Rowand had one of his best years in ’07, hitting .309/.374/.515 while playing 161 games. It’s fair to say he’s a plus in the field as well.
The Giants’ 5th overall pick is protected, so the Phillies have to be a bit bummed. They’ll still get a couple of draft picks though.
Kosuke Fukudome Projections
For all you fantasy geeks out there, I compiled projections from three sources to try to get a read on Kosuke Fukudome will do in his first season with the Cubs. The Cubs care most about his OBP, and the consensus is that it’ll be at least .370. His stolen base total will be of interest to fantasy owners, and that’s anyone’s guess.