Rays Notes: Crawford, Baldelli, Wheeler
Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times has the latest on the Rays’ moves today. The first two were expected.
- Carl Crawford‘s $8.25MM option for ’09 was exercised. The Rays still have a $10MM club option for ’10 that is highly likely to be exercised. After that, it’s anyone’s guess.
- The Rays chose Rocco Baldelli‘s $4MM buyout over his $6MM option. It’s a sad situation but it had to be done.
- Dan Wheeler was signed to an extension. His ’08 contract was replaced; the new three-year deal runs through 2010 and is worth $10.5MM. He would’ve been a free agent after the season; think of it as a two-year, $6.7MM extension. It’s not a bargain for the 30 year-old, whose 5.30 ERA in ’07 was worse than his 3.5 K/BB would indicate. He’ll need to return to his 2005-06 level to be worth the money.
Phillies Sign Rudy Seanez
12:20pm: Scott Lauber quotes Phils GM Pat Gillick as having no interest in southpaw relievers Mike Stanton and Steve Kline. Also, it’s likely Wes Helms or Tim Lahey will be let go to make room when Brad Lidge comes off the DL this weekend.
8:55am: According to Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times, the Phillies have signed reliever Rudy Seanez. The 39 year-old had been released by the Dodgers last week.
The Phils mark Seanez’s 12th organization. He can be homer-prone, but he wasn’t terrible last year in posting a 3.79 ERA and 8.64 K/9 with the Dodgers in 76 innings. On the other hand, he was not typically used in high leverage situations.
The Phils are also looking for a lefty reliever, but they aren’t looking to acquire recently designated Steve Kline "at this time" according to Ruben Amaro Jr.
Pirates Rumors: LaRoche, Duffy
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has the latest Pirates hot stove buzz.
- The Pirates and Adam LaRoche have reached an impasse in extension talks. LaRoche is set to reach free agency after the ’09 season; his free agency years have to be worth $10MM each. Kovacevic notes that the Pirates might be permanently done trying to sign LaRoche.
- Kovacevic reports "no recent movement" on a Matt Capps extension. Last time we checked, talks with Capps inexplicably fizzled after Manny Corpas signed a team-friendly deal with Colorado.
- Capps probably isn’t going anywhere, but LaRoche certainly could be traded. The presence of Major League-ready Steve Pearce may not be a factor since Pearce became a full-time outfielder this spring. Pearce is more likely to push Xavier Nady.
- In case you missed it, Kovacevic named his five Pirates most likely to be traded back on March 30th.
- Center fielder Chris Duffy didn’t make that list, but the Braves are still interested in him. He had surgery on his rotator cuff in August of last year and may be game-ready by month’s end.
Giants May Draft A Pitcher With Fifth Pick
The Giants have the fifth overall pick in the June draft. It’s a shame teams can’t trade picks, because the San Francisco’s needs don’t really match up with the likely best available talent.
Jim Callis provided interesting speculation in issue 0808 of Baseball America‘s print magazine. Callis suggested that the Giants may lean toward pitching in June even though the best available talent will be at first base. This is because top prospect Angel Villalona is moving from third to first and the Giants may not want to create a future logjam.
Callis tossed out three possible pitchers for the Giants for the fifth pick: Tim Melville, Christian Friedrich, and Tanner Scheppers.