No White Sox Agreement With Colon
THURSDAY, 9:21am: Rather than categorically deny the Colon rumor, Sox GM Kenny Williams gave a more cryptic response. Scot Gregor makes a good point that Colon had been rumored to prefer the National League.
WEDNESDAY, 10:41am:Ozzie Guillen says the Sox haven’t met with Colon’s people for weeks, according to Mark Gonzales. So maybe this rumor is dead.
TUESDAY, 10:03pm:Impacto Deportivo indicates tonight that the White Sox reached an agreement with starter Bartolo Colon, pending a physical. We’ll have to see whether his shoulder passes the test. Impacto Deportivo has a good track record but often jumps the gun, so we may see some semi-rebuttals from the Sox.
Assuming Colon still has something in the tank, I like the move. It has to be a one-year contract. This is the kind of gamble the Sox need to pan out if they’re to sniff the Wild Card. If the big righty is able to take the mound, John Danks and Gavin Floyd would presumably battle for the fifth starter job. However, Floyd is out of options so he could become the long man if Danks wins.
The White Sox acquired Colon for the ’03 season; he posted a 3.87 ERA in 242 innings that year.
Cards Eyeing Weaver, Colon
With the price of free agent starting pitching dropping by the day and Matt Clement looking questionable, it’s only natural that the Cardinals would explore the market. Indeed, John Mozeliak is looking at Jeff Weaver and Bartolo Colon. Seems that Impacto Deportivo may have been misinformed on the whole Colon-to-Chicago thing.
Weaver seems the smarter option for a team looking for healthy innings. If nothing else, Weaver can provide that. Something tells me he’s not getting $8MM this time around. His most recent success was in St. Louis, so maybe Dave Duncan can guide him to a league average season.
Colon is a wild card. Even if his stuff isn’t there, if he can take the ball he has value. He’ll obviously find the NL more to his liking.
Another possibility for the Cards is David Wells, according to Peter Gammons. Gammons says Boomer "would like to come back for 20-something starts."
Byung-Hyun Kim Signs With Pirates
According to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates have signed Byung-Hyun Kim. It’s a Major League contract worth $850K, with another $1MM in incentives. He’ll be used only in relief. The Giants had been interested, but Kim didn’t want a minor league deal with them.
The 29 year-old Kim whiffed 107 in 118.1 innings in ’07, winning ten games. But he also posted a 6.07 ERA. He earned $2.5MM for his efforts.
Astros Sign Chacon
WEDNESDAY, 2:42pm:The deal is finalized at one year, $2MM.
MONDAY, 9:55pm: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Astros are close to a one-year deal with Shawn Chacon. He’d join the team’s rotation.
I like the idea of adding some depth. But is depth really added if the pitcher posts a 5.50 ERA? Chacon has been over that mark as a starter in ’06 and ’07. The Astros hope Chacon can find his Yankees’ magic of ’05, when he posted a 3.44 ERA in 24 starts despite a 1.25 K/BB ratio. On the plus side, Chacon was legitimately solid as a reliever in ’07 and can be shifted to the pen if necessary.
Astros Sign Chacon
WEDNESDAY, 2:42pm: The deal is finalized at one year, $2MM.
MONDAY, 9:55pm: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Astros are close to a one-year deal with Shawn Chacon. He’d join the team’s rotation.
I like the idea of adding some depth. But is depth really added if the pitcher posts a 5.50 ERA? Chacon has been over that mark as a starter in ’06 and ’07. The Astros hope Chacon can find his Yankees’ magic of ’05, when he posted a 3.44 ERA in 24 starts despite a 1.25 K/BB ratio. On the plus side, Chacon was legitimately solid as a reliever in ’07 and can be shifted to the pen if necessary.
Damon Pondered Retirement
SI.com’s Jon Heyman says Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon considered retiring a year ago in the spring. He would’ve been walking away from $39MM. He was coming off a fine season, too.
Heyman says nobody does what Damon was considering, but Ryne Sandberg did exactly that in 1994. He walked away from over $16MM, a ton of money at the time. Of course, Sandberg came back and played the 1996-97 seasons with the Cubs.
Damon Pondered Retirement
SI.com’s Jon Heyman says Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon considered retiring a year ago in the spring. He would’ve been walking away from $39MM. He was coming off a fine season, too.
Heyman says nobody does what Damon was considering, but Ryne Sandberg did exactly that in 1994. He walked away from over $16MM, a ton of money at the time. Of course, Sandberg came back and played the 1996-97 seasons with the Cubs.
Odds and Ends: Crisp, Stewart, Meyer
Let’s round ’em up!
- I’m doing a fantasy baseball mailbag feature at The Hardball Times. Check out the first entry.
- Nothing really new from Coco Crisp…if he loses the center field battle, he’ll probably prefer a trade.
- The Brewers are close to a minor league deal with Russell Branyan, who might have a hard time sniffing the big league roster anytime this season.
- The Toronto Star relays from J.P. Ricciardi that the Blue Jays no longer have an offer on the table for Shannon Stewart.
- Turns out Oakland’s Dan Meyer has a fourth option, meaning he’s likely to lose the fifth starter battle to Dana Eveland.
- I can’t help it…I love the Juan Gonzalez story. I’m rooting for him for no apparent reason.
- Mark Teixeira didn’t offer much info regarding extension talks with the Braves. He did refute that report about building a home in Atlanta and another about a rift with Scott Boras.
- Peter Abraham thinks the Yanks should trade Hideki Matsui.
Brian Roberts Rumors
Here’s the latest.
- Brian Roberts is not in Orioles’ camp today; he’s gone to a local hospital for a stomach ailment. Roch Kubatko does not believe he’s secretly been traded.
- Roberts will make no trade demands.
- Ken Rosenthal says the chances of a Roberts trade "seem to diminish each day." Rosenthal cites Roberts’ relationship with Peter Angelos, and wonders whether the Orioles could wait until July to get more teams involved. If a Cubs deal does occur, Ronny Cedeno is highly likely to be included.
- Three days ago, ESPN’s Peter Gammons wrote that the Cubs refuse to part with Felix Pie or Jose Ceda for Roberts. Also, many MLBTR readers have speculated that the Orioles no longer have use for any of the Cubs’ outfielders.
Mets Meet With Garcia
Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that Freddy Garcia met with the Mets in Port St. Lucie today (hat tip to MetsBlog). As you know, the Mets have had interest for quite a while. Garcia seems like a great pickup, a possible summer reinforcement. Heyman notes that the Mets’ success with Pedro Martinez’s shoulder injury is a reason they’re after Garcia.
Garcia is one free agent who does not need to scramble to get into camp. It’s all about how much risk he wants to take on. If he’s confident that he’ll be useful come June, he could sign then and maximize his earnings. If he’s a bit worried about ’08 in general maybe it makes sense to sign now.