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Archives for May 2008

Astros Will Not Rule Out Signing Clemens

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Drayton McLane, the chairman and chief executive of the Astros, spoke with Roger Clemens recently and said that Clemens has not ruled out a possible return to playing baseball.

"We have a personal services contract with him and it’s not activated until he tells us he’s ready to retire," said McLane, just after this week’s quarterly owners’ meetings drew to a conclusion. "Well, he hasn’t said that. I think if he was ready to retire, and that was clear, he would have already said that to us. But that has not happened."

McLane noted that the Astros would not rule out the possibility of resigning Clemens to pitch for the Astros, but emphasized that both the team and Clemens want to see all of his legal issues resolved before making a decision.

If the Astros are still within two games of the NL Central lead in July and Chris Sampson is still pitching to a 6.27 ERA, the name ’Roger Clemens’ might be an easier sell to the fanbase.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Rockies Could Trade Holliday

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In Ken Rosenthal’s latest column, he sees Matt Holliday as a prime candidate to be traded this summer. Rosenthal notes that the Rockies are already ten games back and have very little chance of signing Holliday to an extension. Holliday is signed through ’09 with $13MM due next season.

Previously, Rosenthal speculated that the Rockies might be willing to go to six years and $96MM to keep last year’s NL MVP runner-up. However, all we know of Holliday’s demands are that he wants more than a four-year deal.  Rosenthal sees the Indians, Cardinals, Yankees, A’s, Tigers, Blue Jays, Mariners, and Mets as potential suitors.  This should provide an interesting new storyline for July.

Rosenthal thinks that the Rockies could also seek to move Brian Fuentes and Garrett Atkins. Fuentes is eligible for free agency after this season and Atkins will be in his second year of arbitration eligibility and is not eligible for free agency until after next season.

Rosenthal also suggests that the Rockies may be willing to accept low-level, high-ceiling prospects in return as they are deep in prospects at Double and Triple A.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Odds And Ends: Rusch, Griffey, Myers, Brewers

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A few more notes for your ogling…

  • This morning we told you that Glendon Rusch declined his assignment to AAA and chose to become a free agent. Troy E. Renck says that the Rockies are already expressing interest in the lefty.
  • Brewers owner Mark Attanasio has given Doug Melvin permission to trade for a starting pitcher noting that there is enough flexibility in the payroll to take on another contract. However, Attanasio also indicated that it was too early to explore those possibilities.
  • The Delaware News Journal takes a look at this past offseason’s crop of free agent starting pitchers and how they are performing so far in ’08. They wonder if any of those arms would have been a better option for the Phillies rotation than moving Brett Myers back from the bullpen.
  • Doug Harris says that the smart move for the Reds is trading Ken Griffey Jr, noting that if they are waiting for him to hit his 600th home run, they could be in for a long wait.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Heyman’s Best-Ever Free Agent Deals

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A few weeks ago Jon Heyman gave us his list of the worst-ever free agent signings, and you guys chimed in on what deals should have been included on the list.

Heyman is back at it again. This time, he has his list of the 20 best free agent signings ever. Topping the list is the 1-year/$1.25MM deal given to David Ortiz back in 2003. I am not convinced that a 1-year deal deserves to be at the top of this list.

So let’s have it. Which deal would top your list? What deals not on the list, deserve to be included?

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Jayson Stark’s Latest

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Jayson Stark has a new column up today with several interesting notes.

  • Rafael Furcal may be willing to begin talks about an extension with the Dodgers and forgo testing the free agency waters at the end of this season. Furcal is making $13MM this season and is still owed an additional $4MM after the season. This would be a good time for Furcal to engage in negotiations considering he has an OPS of 1.045.
  • Stark notes that the Brewers made a very serious push for Julian Tavarez this past week, but may be willing to settle for Jeff Weaver, who is in AAA.
  • The Sox apparently also made Javier Lopez and David Aardsma available last week and several teams expressed interest. Starks states that the Sox would have been willing to move Tavarez or Aardsma, but not both. The asking price of a prospect or a left-handed reliever was apparently too high.
  • Stark says to look for Julio Lugo to be dealt in the off-season, not before.
  • One anonymous executive says that the Padres are a good candidate to start selling off pieces, sooner rather than later.
  • Stark is hearing rumors that the D-Backs will try to trade Chad Tracy once he is healthy.
  • One scouting director thinks the bidding for 16-year old pitcher, Michel Inoa, from the Dominican Republic, could reach $6MM, with the Yankees and the Mariners most willing to open the wallets.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Sabean: Giants Will Not Be Sellers In ’08

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Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle has some telling quotes from Giants GM Brian Sabean. Despite a 17-24 record and being 8.5 games behind the D-Backs in 3rd place of the NL West, Sabean says the Giants are not going to give up on the ’08 season and will not be trading off their veteran players.

"As long as we’ve got a chance to stay in and around third place, why not?" Sabean said as he stood along the dugout rail and watched his players take batting practice. "Why wouldn’t you want to think that way? These guys think that way"

"You’re seven games under .500. That’s where you don’t want to be, but I really feel good about the energy around the club and I feel good about some of our choices. We’ve now got a solution at first base. We’ve got a solution at third. We’ve gotten Omar (Vizquel) back. Freddie Lewis has come into his own and (Emmanuel) Burriss has been a real factor lately.

"I don’t think we’re going to lose as many games as we did last year. If anything, we’re going to be a second-half team."

These comments seem odd considering that the Giants have several players that would appear to be good candidates to be traded, including Ray Durham (free agent at end of year), Dave Roberts (on DL, $6.5MM in ’09), Omar Vizquel ($5.2MM team option in ’09), Rich Aurilia (free agent at end of year) and Bengie Molina ($6MM in ’09). Of course, even if Sabean did want to move those players, he might have a hard time without eating a good portion of the contracts remaining.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Odds And Ends: Rusch, Dohmann, Meek

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A few minor notes and transactions…

  • Glendon Rusch, who was designated for assignment by the Padres, has declined his assignment to AAA and is now a free agent. Rusch had a 6.41 ERA in 12 appearances for the Pads, with 12 strikeouts and 11 walks in 19.2 innings.
  • Scott Dohmann was designated for assignment by the Rays to make room for Al Reyes who was coming off the DL. Dohmann, a right-handed relief pitcher, had a 6.14 ERA in 12 appearances for the Rays.
  • The Pirates and Rays finalized a "trade" to keep Evan Meek in the Pirates organization. Meek, a rule 5 draftee this past off-season, was recently removed from the Pirates active roster. The Buccos gave the Rays an undisclosed amount of cash to avoid having to send Meek back to the Rays’ organization.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and canbe reached here.

Jocketty: No Talks To Trade Griffey

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In a new twist to the Ken Griffey Jr saga, John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Reds may have no interest in trading Griffey. When asked about the subject, GM Walt Jocketty said that he has had no discussions with other teams about trading Griffey and that Griffey does not want to be traded.

"I’ve had no trade discussions," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. "I’ve talked with him…Not knowing Junior that well, I wanted to make sure we had a line of communication open. He assured me that he’d like to play here and hopefully win a championship."

Griffey is a "10 and 5" player (10 years exp. and 5 years with current club) and would have to approve any trade.

This seems to contradict recent reports of the Mariners interest in Griffey. Hal McCoy reported that the M’s sent an executive (not a scout) to watch Griffey play last week. And it was later reported that Seattle had no problems with acquiring Griffey’s ’09 option at $16MM with a $4MM buyout. It is hard to imagine the M’s would express this much public interest in Griffey without at least preliminary discussions with the Reds.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Ryan Braun Signs Extension With Brewers

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10:50am: More details from Haudricourt. The deal includes a $2.3MM signing bonus that will be paid this year and added to the $455K Braun was already set to make. In addition, there is an escalator clause that would up the value of the deal to $51MM if Braun’s service time were to fall under "Super-2" status following the ’09 season. That is not likely to happen as Braun acumulated only 129 days of service time in ’07 and "Super-2" status usually requires 130-140 days. Also, the first 4 years of the deal include a complete no-trade clause.

10:06am: Haudricourt is now reporting that contract is 8 years in length and will include the ’08 season and will be worth $45MM. This seems to confirm that the Brewers are buying out Braun’s first two years of free agency.

9:08am: Continuing the trend of signing young stars to long-term deals long before arbitration-eligibility, Tom Haudricourt is reporting that the Brewers have inked Ryan Braun to a 7-year deal.

The amount of money is not known yet, but it is expected that the contract will be worth more than the $42MM deal signed by Jeff Suppan prior to the ’07 season. That deal is currently the largest ever given by the Brewers.

Braun, 24 and last year’s NL Rookie of the Year, was promoted last season in a manner that would have kept him just under Super-2 eligibility and he likely would not have been arbitration eligible until after the ’10 season and a free agent until the fall of 2013.

If we assume the 7-year deal begins this season and that one or two years are team options that are eventually picked up, the Brewers have only bought out one year of free agency. Although Haudricourt believes the deal is an extension tacked on to this year’s 1-year deal. That would mean the Brewers bought out two years of free agency.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Cubs Sign Edmonds

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The Chicago Cubs have signed Jim Edmonds to a contract for the remainder of the ’08 season. Edmonds, who was released by the Padres last Friday, will make about $284K, the prorated league minimum.

To make room on the roster, the Cubs demoted Felix Pie to AAA. Pie was hitting .222/.286/.286.

This is a move that costs the Cubs nothing and could end up with big rewards. Since Pie had minor league options, the Cubs did not have to give up a player in the hopes that Edmonds can turn his season around. Edmonds was hitting .178/.265/.233 at the time of his release, but posted .252/.325/.403 last season for the Cardinals. That marked his first season with an OBP below .350 since he was a member of the Angels in ’99.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

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