Mets Still Like Joe Blanton
Peter Botte of the New York Daily News says the Mets have asked Billy Beane to "keep them in mind" as he’s shopping Joe Blanton. Blanton could be their fallback plan for Johan Santana. Botte says the Twinsa are still hung up on Jose Reyes, though La Velle E. Neal III heard otherwise.
On December 20th, Buster Olney said a package of Carlos Gomez, Aaron Heilman, and Kevin Mulvey would probably net Blanton for the Mets.
If the Mets can’t get Santana or Blanton, they may move on to free agent targets such as Kyle Lohse, Livan Hernandez, Jon Lieber, Freddy Garcia, or Matt Morris. Botte does not mention Bartolo Colon as a free agent on the Mets’ radar.
Rumor Royalty: Bob Dutton (Royals)
As originally described here, Rumor Royalty is an MLBTR series where I name the one journalist for each team who has done the most for us hot stove junkies. If the writer is up for it, I ask that person questions for publication on the site. You can see all of the entries in the series here.
I’d like to honor Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star as the best source for Royals hot stove buzz. Here’s a link to the paper’s Royals page. Bob was kind enough to answer four questions for MLBTR. I’ll run them separately over the next few days.
Johan Santana Rumors: Saturday
Burned out on vague Johan Santana non-rumors yet? Me neither! Here we go…
- Hank: "leaning towards doing it." Hmmm, that makes it seem like the Twins aren’t part of this decision. Hank notes that he has final say over Brian Cashman, in case you were wondering.
- Pete Caldera says the Yankees do not have a standing offer. This seems more a technicality than anything, because I imagine the offer is still good.
- LEN3 says the Twins are backing off a bit on their demands – they realize they won’t get both Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. Instead, Jeff Marquez, Kei Igawa, and maybe others could be substituted for Kennedy.
- LEN3 adds that the Twins have accepted that the Mets won’t part with Jose Reyes, and will still talk.
- Meanwhile the Red Sox and Twins haven’t spoken much lately but Boston is still offering two different packages (one centered around Jacoby Ellsbury, the other around Jon Lester).
Ian Snell, Jason Bay On Mariners’ Radar?
UPDATE, 1-5-08 at 10:29am: Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider says talks between the Pirates and Mariners for Bay and Snell "never went past the introductory stages" – the Bucs’ demands are not reasonable.
FROM 1-3-08 at 11:51pm:
Jake at Bucco Blog has been hearing a lot of buzz lately about the Mariners’ interest in Pirates’ righty Ian Snell. The 26 year-old posted a 3.76 ERA in 208 innings in 2007. He was an ace in the first half (2.93 ERA).
Snell seems somewhat comparable to Matt Garza, though he’s a bit older and has an extra year of service time. So maybe acquiring him doesn’t require a Delmon Young-caliber player, but something close. If Neal Huntington can get Adam Jones for him straight up, I think he should pull the trigger.
Brewers Considering Luis Gonzalez, Kenny Lofton
The Brewers are in the hunt for a left-handed hitting left fielder. Luis Gonzalez and Kenny Lofton remain under consideration. With Gonzo, the interest is mutual.
I’m thinking Gonzalez would be happy with $4MM or so, maybe some incentives too. I think he just wants to get 400+ ABs somewhere. He could only play left field, which would seemingly lock Ryan Braun in at third.
Lofton could play left and Braun could stay at third. Or, Lofton could shift to center, Bill Hall to third, and Braun to left. I’m not sure which alignment is optimal. Thoughts?
Odds and Ends: Cameron, Inge, Bay
Here are some random rumors and links I’ve cobbled together today.
- The Fish officially signed Jorge Cantu to a minor-league deal worth $500K with $100K in incentives.
- The Cardinals re-upped Aaron Miles for $1.4 mil. This team needs some good middle infielders.
- According to Tyler Kepner, Alex Rodriguez has been "privately endorsing" Mike Cameron. Well, it’s not private anymore! The Yankees could entertain such a signing if they trade Melky Cabrera but don’t want to move Johnny Damon back to center. Kepner’s article also discusses the internal struggle between Hank and Hal Steinbrenner. Hank wants Johan Santana, Hal wants to show a little financial restraint.
- Lynn Henning digs into the Brandon Inge situation, with help from the always-insightful Keith Law. Henning believes Inge would view a shift back to catcher "with contempt."
- Scott Wuerz runs through various possible Cardinals targets. He notes that the Pirates had considered the White Sox their best possible trade partner for Jason Bay, and are disappointed by Chicago’s Nick Swisher acquisition.
- Seems that Bartolo Colon has yet to crack 90 mph in the Dominican Winter League.
- There are rumblings that the Astros are considering bringing Freddy Garcia back.
- R.J. Anderson snagged an interesting interview with Paul DePodesta.
- Minor League guru and MLB.com senior writer Jonathan Mayo has a new book coming out about what it’s like to face Roger Clemens. I’m going to do a Q&A with Jonathan next week; if you have any good question ideas leave ’em in the comments. By the way, Mayo finished his book before the Mitchell Report came out.
- Yankees fans – Ray Istorico has an illustrated history of the early Yankees coming out in a few months.
- I will be appearing on XM Radio’s MLB Home Plate show on Sunday around 2:25 CST.
Rockies Sign Josh Towers
UPDATE, 1-4-08 at 2:48pm: Towers has been signed; Troy Renck has the contract details. There’s a mutual option for ’09 for $3MM.
FROM 1-3-08 at 10:07pm:
According to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, the Rockies are close to a deal with pitcher Josh Towers, who turns 31 in February. It would be a one-year deal for $1.8MM plus incentives. Those incentives would start at 35 games pitched, so basically he won’t earn them if he’s exclusively a starter.
Harding adds that Towers would get $400K for earning a 40-man roster spot or the $1.8MM for getting on the 25-man. He’d take on a swingman role (which is odd, because Kip Wells seems to have been signed for that purpose).
I like Towers’ chances to be worth a hell of a lot more than $1.8MM as a National League starter, but not so much in Coors Field. Drunk Jays Fans recently weighed in on Towers’ tenure with Toronto, with their usual dose of cursing and hilarity.
Tomohiro Nioka Not A Free Agent
Tomohiro Nioka is a 31-year old shortstop for the Yomiuri Giants. Turns out he was not eligible for free agency this winter, though. I recently asked Bob Bavasi of JapanBall.com about Nioka; his reply is below.
Nioka, the Giants shortstop, missed a good chunk of the season in 2001 and 2004 because of injury. So, even though he has played in nine seasons, nine years being necessary to become a free agent, he lost too much time with injuries during those two years and, therefore, did not qualify. He should be able to file for free agency at the end of the 2008 season if he plays the full schedule.
Ryan Howard Due For Huge Raise
In March of 2007, Ryan Howard had his contract renewed at $900K. He had no leverage to expect anything more than the $380K minimum, as he was not yet arbitration-eligible. When asked about the situation, here’s what Howard said:
"Go ask them," Howard blurted out in a raised voice. "They’re the ones with all the money."
At that time, it was known that Howard wanted a long-term deal exceeding Chase Utley’s seven years/$85MM and probably exceeding Albert Pujols‘ seven years/$100MM as well.
Scott Lauber checks in on this situation in today’s column. Howard is arb-eligible for the first time, and should jump up past $7MM. Pat Gillick seemed to suggest at the Winter Meetings that he expected to sign Howard long-term eventually rather than go year-to-year. Howard doesn’t reach free agency until after the 2011 season, at which point it may be wise to let him walk (he’ll be 31).
Royals Sign Hideo Nomo
Fun transaction today, as the Royals inked Hideo Nomo to a minor-league contract. Nomo was the first Japanese player to make a major MLB impact, bursting on the scene in 1995 as a 26 year-old and winning Rookie of the Year. He missed the ’07 season due to surgery, and hasn’t pitched in the bigs since ’05.
Over a year ago, I attempted to compile a list of all Japanese players who’d come to the Majors. I also included a spreadsheet ranking their contributions. It needs some updating, but check it out.