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Archives for December 2007

Vote For MLBTR

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Thanks to MLBTR readers, we’ve advanced to the second round of Busted Coverage’s sports blog tourney.  Awesome.  We managed to get past Joe Sports Fan.  Take a moment to check out JSF site – I enjoy it, it’s a daily read of mine.  And any kind of Back to the Future reference is a positive.

Anyway, we need your votes again for Round 2.  Scroll down to the second voting box and help us out!  It only takes a second, you just click a few buttons.  Thanks.

Odds and Ends: Roberts, Otsuka, Walker, DaVanon

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A few minor moves to speak of…

  • The Cubs don’t appear to be concerned about Brian Roberts’ steroid admission.
  • The Padres’ talks for Xavier Nady are "on hold," according to Bill Center.  Also, the Friars continue to eye Akinori Otsuka.
  • Aside from the aforementioned Michael Barrett, the Padres signed Robert Fick and Jeff DaVanon.  DaVanon, a switch-hitter, has had some decent years against righties.  Ken Rosenthal believes the Padres may consider their outfield situation settled now after missing out on Geoff Jenkins and signing DaVanon.
  • Todd Walker, remember him?  He was released by the Padres this year in Spring Training and hooked on with Oakland.  After a month and a half there, they designated him for assignment.  He wasn’t picked up, and enjoyed spending the time with his family.  Now, however, the Rockies have had preliminary conversations with him according to Tracy Ringolsby.  Walker played for the Rox in 2000, posting a .929 OPS in limited duty.  He had another half season in Colorado in ’01 before being traded to the Reds for Alex Ochoa.
  • Excellent team blogs are going corporate – Bucco Blog was purchased by Baseball Interactive Media, and MetsBlog partnered with SNY.  Both seem like positive developments for readers – Jake and Matthew maintain editorial control, but perhaps gain additional access and technology.

Phillies Out On Lohse

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George King has a few quotes from Phillies’ assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr. today.  Basically, the Phils wouldn’t go past three years on Kyle Lohse, and have dropped out of the bidding for the Scott Boras client.

King indicates that this might put the Mets in the lead for Lohse, perhaps the best of a mediocre group of free agent starters.  Ken Davidoff, however, wrote yesterday that the Mets "did not seem particularly interested" in Lohse at the current price.  Tim Brown wrote on Monday that both the Phils and Mets had four-year offers out to Lohse.

Geoff Jenkins Signs With Phillies

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According to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, the Phillies have signed outfielder Geoff Jenkins to a two-year, $13MM deal.  There’s an option for 2010 that could bring the total to $20MM.  We knew the Padres were in on him; Crasnick says the Rangers were also bidding.

Jenkins’ job will be to hit righties.  He hit .262/.326/.482 against them in ’07, and was better than that in ’06.  He’s frighteningly bad against southpaws, so Jayson Werth will platoon with him.  Jenkins can also play left field when Pat Burrell is ailing or DHing.

A $6.5MM platoon outfielder who doesn’t really mash the pitchers he’s supposed to match?  It’s an uninspired signing.  This takes the Phillies out of the running for Mike Cameron, by the way.

Odds and Ends: Barrett, Koufax, Santana

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A few notes from this evening…

  • Michael Barrett and the Padres avoided arbitration, arriving at a $3.5MM deal.  A little less than I expected given his $4.6MM salary in ’07.  If some team acquires Barrett on the cheap he could bounce back if he’s comfortable.  Wasn’t long ago he was one of the better-hitting catchers in the game.  Is there even a slight chance he wouldn’t embarrass himself back at the hot corner?
  • Great ShysterBall post in reference to Curt Schilling’s attempt to call out Roger Clemens.
  • Sandy Koufax did not do steroids.
  • Derrick Goold looks at how David Eckstein ended up leaving the Cardinals despite his desire to stay.
  • LENIII says it’s possible nothing has happened on the Johan Santana front since the Meetings ended.  Neal also names Kris Benson as a pitcher on the Twins’ radar.  They were one of many teams watching his recent session.  Plus they were eyeing Glendon Rusch before he signed with the Padres.

Royals Sign Ron Mahay

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Ken Rosenthal has the scoop – the Royals have signed southpaw reliever Ron Mahay to a two-year, $8MM deal.  Nice move by Dayton Moore getting him for less than the Phillies paid for J.C. Romero, an inferior pitcher.

Mahay is 36, though many readers pointed out to me that he converted to pitching late in life (when he was 25 or so).  However – and I can’t find the link the moment – Will Carroll has found position player converts to be at greater injury risk.

The Royals are three-deep with lefty relievers, so maybe they’ll shop Jimmy Gobble or John Bale now.  Mahay had been a Yankee target, so perhaps they’ll move on to Damaso Marte.

Mahay was a Type B, so the Braves receive a sandwich pick for their loss (not at the Royals’ expense).

Stark’s Latest: Prior, Lofton, Otsuka

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ESPN’s Jayson Stark dishes some good rumorage in his latest column.

  • Stark dug around to find all the Mark Prior suitors and came up with this list: Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Mariners, Mets, Cardinals, Padres, Astros, Giants, Reds, Nationals (11 teams).  Let’s compare notes.  MLBTR readers have seen the Yankees, Mets, Cards, Padres, Astros, Reds, and Nats linked to Prior already.  So Stark has added the Red Sox, White Sox, Mariners, and Giants.  The idea of the Mariners runs contrary to this MLB.com article.  Stark did not name the Rangers, who are said to be aggressively pursuing Prior.  Prior is dead set on a one-year deal and would take a big league mound in May in the best case.
  • The Phils are focused on Geoff Jenkins and Mike Cameron, offering two year deals to each.  They might just take the first one to accept.  Stark says Kenny Lofton could be an option if both decline.  Lofton batted a career-best .335 for the Phils in ’05.
  • Stark rattles off a laundry list of pitchers the Phillies are interested in: Akinori Otsuka, Byung-Hyun Kim, Roberto Hernandez, Kris Benson, John Parrish, Sidney Ponson, Chad Durbin, Kyle Lohse, and Jeremy Affeldt.  Given Stark’s 21 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer, I imagine he has a connection or two.  Most of those are new names besides Benson, Lohse, Ponson, and Affeldt.
  • A source of Stark picks the Yankees as the favorite for Johan, but it should be noted that they’re having internal debates about pulling Phil Hughes off the table.
  • For all the crazy Cubs fans we’ve got here: Stark says they’ve talked to the Orioles about both Brian Roberts and Erik Bedard, but couldn’t pull off a deal for both.  They favor Roberts even though they need Bedard much more.

Odds and Ends: Giles, Chacon, Durbin

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Here are today’s random rumor tidbits.

  • The Rox are interested in Marcus Giles for their second base opening.  Giles was awful last year, they should just try something internal.  Other Rockies notes: contracts with Kip Wells and Luis Vizcaino aren’t quite finalized, and they may ink Victor Zambrano to a minor league deal.  UPDATE: Wells, plus Mark Redman, are done deals.
  • The Pirates still have their eye on Shawn Chacon and Chad Durbin.  That”ll put butts in the seats.  Also, Jake of Bucco Blog weighs in on a new Pirates hire.
  • Speaking of Durbin, did he comment on this blog and suggest he’s headed to the NL?  I’m not sure.
  • Drays Bay talked to Gerry Hunsicker.  Seth Speaks talked to Pat Neshek.
  • New prize added to our Hot Stove Hysteria contest – three months free of Scout.com access.
  • Things are mostly quiet with the Brewers, but this Tom Haudricourt blog post notes tepid discussions for Scott Rolen, Hank Blalock, and Andre Ethier.

A Note On Minor Moves

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From time to time you will notice that I omit various minor transactions here at MLBTR.  For better or for worse I don’t post stuff I find inconsequential.  Or maybe it’s just that I have nothing to add.  In my opinion MLBTR is not a register of all transactions.  More an aggregator of rumors, signings, and trades of note, plus a little bit of analysis/opinion and a great community.  So for those wondering where Gary Bennett, Chad Paronto, and D’Angelo Jimenez are…eh.  The guys left out are entirely subjective, but for the most part I focus on guys who will get regular PT.

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