Dodgers Acquire Berroa From Royals
9:49pm The LA Daily News is reporting that the Royals are picking all of Berroa’s ’08 salary.
9:32pm The Kansas City Star is reporting that the Royals have traded Angel Berroa and cash to the Dodgers for minor leaguer Juan Rivera.
Berroa, the ’03 AL Rookie of the Year, spent most of ’07 and all of ’08 in triple-A. He was hitting .291/.323/.519 with 10 home runs in 51 games this season for Omaha. Juan Rivera is hitting .241/.267/.345 in single-A.
Berroa is making $4.75MM this season and there is a $5.5MM club option for ’09 with a $0.5MM buyout.
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.
Rangers DFA Ponson
The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the Rangers have designated Sidney Ponson for assignment for "disrespectful and adverse reactions to situations unbecoming of teammates."
Ponson, a non-roster invitee in spring training, was having a solid season for the Rangers with a 4-1 record in 9 starts and a 3.88 ERA. The Rangers have 10 days to trade Ponson.
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.
Odds And Ends: More Draft Recap
A couple of more interesting links recapping the Rule 4 draft…
- Jim Callis of Baseball America conducted his draft day chat.
[On picking Tim Beckham over Buster Posey] . . . That pick just came down to the Rays’ personal preference. The easier choice would have been Posey, because he’ll be ready quicker and fill a more obvious need, but Tampa Bay thought Beckham had more upside.
- Kevin Czerwinski has a cool list of over 30 players that were drafted, all of whom have a more famous relative, including Jeremy Beckham, a second baseman from Georgia Southern and older brother of top pick Tim Beckham, who was also selected by the Rays in the 17th round.
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.
Chipper Jones Prefers To Remain With Braves
David O’Brien is reporting that Chipper Jones would like to play at least four more years and that he would prefer to spend those years in a Braves uniform.
"I don’t think there’s any reason I can’t play through 40," he said, "long as I don’t let my body go, which is not going to happen. I’m too active year-round to let my body go.
"My desire to stick around and play four, five, six more years is strong. I want to accomplish some things here, put up some numbers here as long as the Braves want me."
The Braves have an option that would pay Jones $8-11MM in ’09 depending on performance, although it is expected that the number would be closer to $11MM.
O’Brien believes that if Jones is healthy, he will command far more on the open market after the ’09 season, and wonders if a team like the Rangers or the Astros (Jones lives in Texas in the off-season) might pursue Jones with a huge contract offer. However, Jones emphasized that he is not interested in the biggest deal and would prefer to remain with the Braves.
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here .
Crasnick On Griffey And Dunn
Jerry Crasnick comments today on the Reds new youth movement and what that might mean for Ken Griffey Jr and Adam Dunn.
Crasnick notes that it will be difficult to replace Dunn’s production, but wonders if he just needs a change of scenery. Dunn does not appear to have any desire to enter negotiations on an extension and still seems to be harboring some bad feelings towards the club…Although Crasnick doesn’t specifically speculate, it sounds as if the Reds would be best served trading Dunn.
As for Griffey, Crasnick believes that Griffey might be willing to renegotiate his $16.5MM ’09 option if the team is willing to add a second year on to the deal. However, Crasnick is not sure the Reds are willing to keep Griffey around until he is 40. Crasnick does speculate that even though the Mariners poor start eliminates the possibility of a trade during the season, the M’s may be willing to bring Griffey back in ’09 as a free agent to play first base, especially with Richie Sexson’s contract set to expire.
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here .
Odds And Ends: Draft Recap
Let’s take a look and see what is being said about the first round selections from day one of the Rule 4 Draft…
- Keith Law calls this year’s first round "unusual in a number of ways," noting that more than half of the picks were college relief pitchers, corner infielders and catchers, three areas that usually get little attention in the first round. Law also gives us his choice for the team that made the best pick (Rockies), the worst picks (Seattle, Minnesota) and the teams that picked players that could reach the big leagues quickly (Seattle, Detroit, Arizona, Chicago, Baltimore).
- Baseball America has their first round recap with a look at each of the draftees.
- Minor League Ball gives us their thoughts on a few sleepers from the 4th and 5th round of the draft.
- The D-Backs top pick seems to be the most vocal draftee in terms of wanting to be in the big leagues this season.
- Buster Olney provides a complete collection of local media reactions to each of the first round draft picks (will need an ESPN Insider password).
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.
Jays Acquire Melillo
In a minor transaction, the Oakland A’s traded Kevin Melillo to the Toronto Blue Jays for cash considerations.
Melillo a second baseman, had been designated for assignment last week to make room on the 40-man roster. He was hitting .260-5-17 with a .773 OPS in triple-A.
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.
Jayson Stark’s Latest
Jayson Stark’s latest column is up and as usual he dips into the rumor-mill several times…
- Indians: According to other clubs, Cleveland is starting to float C.C. Sabathia’s name, but are making it clear that they are not ready to trade him. Stark says the Indians are scouting the Red Sox heavily. One executive says that it is hard to imagine somebody giving up prospects for a guy that will almost certainly test the free agency waters. That same executive says they would have a hard time giving seven years to a pitcher as big as Sabathia.
- Tigers: One AL executive says the Tigers don’t have any prospects of value left, but wonders if they won’t do something crazy in the trade market because of their "all in" payroll. Stark wonders if they would be willing to trade Jeremy Bonderman or a big bat for an arm.
- Braves: Atlanta might be more interested in bringing back Kevin Millwood as opposed to Greg Maddux, but Stark says that is very unlikely.
- Rockies: In addition to Matt Holiday and Brian Fuentes, there is a slim chance that Aaron Cook would be made available, but his salary goes up $1MM per year if he is dealt.
- A’s: Apparently the bounty sought by Oakland for Joe Blanton ("three young building-block players") has not been lowered since last summer.
- Royals: The Royals have already started listening to offers for a number of players but one executive says that list does not include their relief pitchers and those are the pieces of highest interest.
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.
Yanks, Cashman To Talk Extension
According to Ed Price of the Newark Star-Ledger, Hank Steinbrenner will discuss an extension with GM Brian Cashman this week (hat tip to River Avenue Blues). Steinbrenner’s "impression" is that both sides want to continue the relationship.
Possibilities if Cashman wants a change: the opening in Philadelphia, and Seattle if the Mariners fire Bill Bavasi. Bavasi blames himself for putting together the last-place Ms.
The Reliever Market
Plenty of contenders are in the market for relievers. Possibly needy clubs include the Tigers, Indians, Astros, Yankees, and Red Sox. The following relievers may be available in the coming months.
- Huston Street, Alan Embree, Keith Foulke, A’s. Street is under team control (but not contract) through 2010; he might require a large bounty.
- Jon Rauch, Nationals. He’s racked up 12 saves in Chad Cordero‘s absence and is signed cheaply through 2010.
- George Sherrill, Chad Bradford, Jamie Walker, Orioles. Sherrill is second in the Majors with 19 saves; he is also second with 21 opportunities. He’s under team control through 2010.
- Brian Fuentes, Kip Wells, Rockies. You can’t go wrong with Fuentes as a two-month rental.
- Jamey Wright, Joaquin Benoit, Eddie Guardado, Frank Francisco, Rangers. Jon Daniels has many trade chips this year.
- John Grabow, Damaso Marte, Tyler Yates, Pirates. The Bucs hold two premiere southpaws in Grabow and Marte.
- Ron Mahay, Jimmy Gobble, Brett Tomko, Royals. Mahay could be shopped around; the Yankees liked him last winter.
- Jeremy Affeldt, David Weathers, Reds. Both are impending free agents.
- Vinnie Chulk, Tyler Walker, Giants.
- LaTroy Hawkins, Yankees. Hawkins remains a DFA candidate.
- R.A. Dickey, Arthur Rhodes, Mariners.
- Mike MacDougal, White Sox.
- Derrick Turnbow, Brewers. The Brewers will probably just let him try to figure it out in the minors. Trading him doesn’t make much sense.