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Archives for December 2007

Free Agent Offensive Stat Leaders

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The Baseball-Reference Play Index is an awesome tool for just $29 per year.  Read all about it here.

The B-Ref PI now allows for filtering by 2007 free agents.  So, it’s easy to find statistical leaders.

Looking for power?
SLG Leaders, min 300 PAs
Barry Bonds – .565
Aaron Rowand – .515
Geoff Jenkins – .471
Sammy Sosa – .468
Brad Wilkerson – .467
Jose Guillen – .460
Mike Lamb – .453
Luis Gonzalez – .433
Mike Cameron – .431
Shawn Green – .430
Cliff Floyd – .422

Looking for OBP?
OBP Leaders, min 300 PAs
Barry Bonds – .480
Aaron Rowand – .374
Cliff Floyd – .373
Kenny Lofton – .367
Mike Lamb – .366
Luis Gonzalez – .359
David Eckstein – .356
Sean Casey – .353
Jose Guillen – .353
Shawn Green – .352

Padres Near Extension With Peavy

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This comes as a surprise – the Padres and Jake Peavy are making progress on a three-year contract extension.  Peavy is already set to earn $6.5MM in ’08 and $11MM in ’09.  Peavy’s extension would cover the 2010-12 seasons and be worth $17-17.5MM annually.  You have to commend Peavy for taking a discount.

Astros Sign Kaz Matsui

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UPDATE, 12-2-07 at 4:30pm: The Matsui signing is official at three years, $16.5MM – even more than we thought.  How is a signing like this even possible?  Was there actually a group of executives who all agreed that this move was smart?  The speed obsession is perplexing. 

FROM 11-29-07 at 11pm:

Bruce Levine of ESPN 1000 reports had it first: the Astros have signed second baseman Kaz Matsui to a three year deal worth $15-16MM.  Ed Wade saved Jim Hendry from himself.  Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald and Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle confirm the signing.  Richard Justice speculates that the ’Stros could shop Chris Burke now, and maybe even package him with Luke Scott. 

Matsui is the early favorite for worst free agent signing of the winter.  He is probably not worth half the money, and a three-year commitment for him is insane.  Since he joined the Rockies in August of 2006, Matsui hit .256/.305/.370 away from Coors Field.

Not that Matsui is a legitimate starting second baseman, but the signing clearly leaves Tadahito Iguchi as the one free agent starter at the position.  That is, unless David Eckstein opts to market himself as a second baseman.

Odds and Ends: Colon, Clark, Gagne

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Random rumors, let’s round ’em up.

Edmonds Would Waive No-Trade

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Joe Strauss has a new article up at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, discussing John Mozeliak’s pursuit of a starting pitcher as well as the availability of two veterans.

Nothing new on Scott Rolen, but Strauss did have an interesting tidbit on Jim Edmonds.  Edmonds has a full no-trade clause, and his latest stance is that he’d waive it for a Southern California team only.  Since the Dodgers and Angels don’t need outfielders, the Padres are the one possibility.  The Padres are interested if the Cards throw in some cash.  Edmonds makes $8MM in ’08 in the last year of his deal.

Also, Strauss contends that center field prospect Colby Rasmus is untouchable, while the Cards would be reluctant to include Chris Duncan in a deal.

Pirates Looking To Ditch Nady

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29 year-old outfielder Xavier Nady .278/.330/.476 as the Pirates’ right fielder, knocking 20 home runs.  However, he’s a Scott Boras client and definitely doesn’t fit into the team’s long-term plans.  He’s arbitration-eligible, but his salary will still be reasonable after that.  If Neal Huntington can’t find a trade partner for Nady, he may even non-tender him.

It probably won’t come to that, as Nady is a solid .800 OPS guy at a reasonable price.  There’s bound to be trade interest.  Nady can handle first base or the outfield corners.  If he was left-handed, he’d be a good target for the Rays.

Kovacevic also notes that Jose Castillo is "a virtual lock to be non-tendered."  So add him to the second base market, if you think he’s capable.

Pirates, Indians Talking Bay

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We’ve known for a while now that the Pirates have outfielder Jason Bay on the block.  A big deal for Bay could put new Pirates GM Neal Huntington on the map.  According to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald, the Indians are engaged in talks for Bay.  This isn’t a big surprise, since Huntington came from the Cleveland organization.

Trading Bay now seems like a sell-low move, unless the Bucs feel Bay won’t bounce back in 2008.  Andy Marte, Cliff Lee, and Jeremy Sowers could be available from the Tribe.  Silverman notes that Indians’ backup catcher Kelly Shoppach has been mentioned in the talks with Pittsburgh.  Shoppach would be a capable starter for most teams.  The Indians could also part with an outfielder, perhaps Shin-Soo Choo or Ben Francisco. 

While the White Sox have also been linked to Bay, Dejan Kovacevic says there’s nothing cooking right now.

Zrebiec On Bedard, Roberts

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The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec was recently named Rumor Royalty for the Orioles.  Here’s the last in a series of questions we asked him.

MLBTR: Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts are elite players under team control through 2009. If you had to guess, will both be playing for the Orioles on Opening Day 2008?

Zrebiec: Yes, I would guess that both will be Orioles on Opening Day. I’ve been surprised about the lack of trade buzz surrounding Roberts. I can’t help but think that it is because O’s owner Peter Angelos has already nixed one deal involving Roberts last year and has made his fondness for the second baseman known. I just think Roberts means more to the Orioles than he would to any other team and I don’t see MacPhail moving him unless he’s totally overwhelmed. And even then, good luck convincing Angelos to sign off on the deal.

Bedard is a little trickier. MacPhail and Mark Pieper, Bedard and Roberts’ agent, have been talking "conceptually" about an contract extension for Bedard. I think people in the organization are split on whether they should secure long term the team’s first legit ace since Mike Mussina or trade him and get multiple major league ready young players in return to a roster that is badly in need of them. If Bedard’s contract demands aren’t reasonable, that could make their decision for them. But even if that’s the case, I don’t see the O’s in a hurry to do anything since Bedard is still under contractual control for two more seasons.

A Note On Comment Spam

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Those spamming comments with URLs to crappy websites, please stop.  Everyone hates you and you are wasting everyone’s time.  I patrol the comments as best I can but would prefer to be writing instead of policing little kids trying to promote lame websites.

99.9% of the MLBTR community is awesome, it’s just those bad apples I have to weed out.  If you’re a comment contributor or a comment reader, drop me a line right away if you see something resembling spam.  Also let me know if there’s a commenter making personal attacks or an ad that is inappropriate.  On that note, I have weeded out a few of the more annoying/inappropriate ads to appear here recently.  Sorry for the distraction, let’s get back to the hot stove.

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