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Archives for June 2008

Cafardo’s Latest: Buyers & Sellers

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Nick Cafardo kicks the tires in a full page spread in today’s Boston Globe, listing a handful of teams who are winding up to buy and sell. To paraphrase Cafardo’s recap:

Phillies: Smelling World Series, they see C.C. Sabathia, Erik Bedard, A.J. Burnett, Bronson Arroyo, and Derek Lowe as potential targets.

Braves:  Still deciding whether to shop or re-sign Mark Teixeira, or neither, and in turn whether to trade for a starter to win a division, as Cafardo says, "nobody is running away with."

Mariners:  The decision of whether or not to release Richie Sexson is imminent, and the M’s are expected to start shopping Raul Ibanez, Jose Vidro, Carlos Silva, and Bedard.

Blue Jays:  Can their pitching carry them back into contention when Alex Rios and Vernon Wells aren’t producing as expected?  The Jays can sell Burnett, Matt Stairs, David Eckstein, and maybe Scott Rolen.

Reds:  On their way to last place, Arroyo can be dealt and replaced, perhaps, by Homer Bailey next year. Ken Griffey Jr. is still wearing red.

Indians:  Will find it very difficult to deal Sabathia for a package comparable to what the Mets got for Johan Santana.  Paul Byrd could also go.

Dodgers:  Could perhaps deal Matt Kemp or Chad Billingsley for Sabathia.  They’re also looking at Bedard.  They need to get back to .500 to really compete and will need pitching to get them there.

Yankees:  Giving up Melky Cabrera may be the only way the Yankees can land a front line starter to replace Chien Ming Wang, but Brian Cashman is not keen to do so.

Pirates:  Looking for righthanded power, the Pirates still have Jason Bay (among others).

Be sure to check out Tim’s thorough Trade Market Summary for more insight.

By Nat Boyle

Odds & Ends: Hill, Lowe, Renteria

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Some musings from the central divisions:

  • In this piece by Gordon Wittenmyer covering Carlos Zambrano’s shoulder strain, the Cubs may be forced to shut down Rich Hill.  Hill failed to get through the first inning for Triple-A Iowa start on Friday, recording 2 outs while giving up 6 ER and 4 BB, and the Cubs simply want to give him an extended mental break.  This may turn up the flames even further on the Cubs pursuit of a front line starter.
  • For what it’s worth, Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press says Derek Lowe is unlikely to become a Tiger this season.
  • Will another AL club give up on Edgar Renteria after a year?  In another piece, Morosi thinks Renteria could wind up staying with Detroit despite his $11MM club option and his batting average dropping over .060 points. Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski and Manager Jim Leyland both speak favorably of Renteria as a player and as a guy in the clubhouse. Still, possible free agent replacements do exist so this is worth monitoring.

By Nat Boyle

Pirates To Keep Marte?

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As MLBTR posted this week, the Pirates could elect to keep Jason Bay in Pittsburgh, a once-sure-fire bet to be dealt before the deadline.  Finding themselves with an above average offense to date (6th in the bigs with 365 runs scored), the Pirates may see the future with rosier colored glasses and Bay integral to those hopes.

Another change of tack, Dejan Kovacevic says the Pirates may now keep reliever Damaso Marte as well, opting to offer him arbitration – which he’d surely forego – to acquire two draft picks.  Marte is making $2.5MM this season and has a club option of $6MM for 2009 that will not be exercised by the Pirates and could be considered too much for other ballclubs.  So what teams are willing to give up for Marte (and his contract) may appear less appealing to the Bucs than a couple first rounders.  Explains Kovacevic, for those unfamiliar with this process:

"Free agents of the highest pedigree fall into what is called the Type A classification… If he is signed by one of what are labeled "first-division" teams… the Pirates would get that team’s first-round draft pick in 2009, plus a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds. If it is not a first-division team, the picks would be slightly lower."

By Nat Boyle

Rosenthal’s Latest: Athletics, Phillies

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From his Full Count video update, Ken Rosenthal brings us a couple bullet points:

  • In contention, the A’s suddenly could become a buyer. Rosenthal cites the big names: Matt Holliday, Jason Bay or even C.C. Sabathia, and that the A’s certainly have the prospects to pull it off.
  • The Phillies could enter the mix for Sabathia as well; however, they’d have to give up top pitching prospect Carlos Carrasco. Carrasco is the top rated Phillies prospect for the second straight year by Baseball America.

By Nat Boyle

Wondering About The Future Of J.P. Ricciardi

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With the firing of Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, Richard Griffin of The Toronto Star speculates on the future of J.P. Ricciardi.

The Blue Jays GM has certainly had a bit of a rough week, from having to axe his manager and friend Gibbons to the Adam Dunn debacle. And Griffin thinks that his firing will be the next step. Griffin writes:

Make no mistake, the hiring of (new manager Cito) Gaston was not the embattled GM’s idea. The statistics-driven, micro-managing Ricciardi likes his managers to be beholdin’ to him – see Carlos Tosca and John Gibbons, two men never considered to manage elsewhere, but given the chance of a lifetime with the Jays. Gaston is not J.P.’s type: a proven winner more popular than J.P. himself. He is, however, nostalgic (team) president (Paul) Godfrey’s type.

Griffin also mentions that Godfrey was “furious” about Ricciardi’s unprovoked criticisms of Adam Dunn and that after giving J.P. nearly seven years at the helm without much to show for it, patience is running very thin. Seventy-five games into 2008, the Jays find themselves already 10.5 games out and in last place in the AL East. The team does have movable pieces as we near the trading season, but the question remains as to whether or not Ricciardi will be allowed to navigate those waters.

Paul Moro writes for UmpBump.com.

Oakland Designates Calero For Assignment

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To make room for RHP Santiago Casilla, the Oakland A’s have designated reliever Kiko Calero for assignment.

The 33-year old Calero began the season on the disabled list with a torn rotator cuff and finally returned on May 30th. Since then, the righty reliever was used very sparingly, only pitching 4 2/3 innings in five appearances in 2008 and had a 3.86 ERA over this span. Last year, Calero’s season ended in early September due to the rotator cuff injury and he had also missed three weeks in July with a sore shoulder.

Oakland now has ten days to waive, trade, or release him.

Paul Moro is a writer for UmpBump.com and can be reached here.

Odds and Ends: Bedard, Griffey, Minaya

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A very nutritious Odds and Ends for lunch:

Alejandro A. Leal writes for UmpBump.com.

Phillies Trade Strategy Mired By Parity

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Scott Lauber of the Delaware News-Journal writes in the Phillies/baseball blog about the team’s trade strategy in the looming trade-deadline season.

He spoke to Phillies Assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and GM Pat Gillick, both of whom reiterated the notion that it’ll be tough to trade this year because of the parity among some clubs. There are 15 teams with a .500 record or better, which means some of those teams may still be in contention in mid July. Of course, it also means some of those teams will be out of it by the trade deadline.

To wit: The Brewers reportedly have told teams that they aren’t willing to move Ben Sheets, even though they’re 6-1/2 games behind the Cubs in the NL [Central]. Of course, one losing streak could force them to change their strategy. Within the past week, Gillick has dispatched scouts to evaluate Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia, Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo and Toronto’s A.J. Burnett, a former pupil of pitching coach Rich Dubee in Florida.

This echoes what Buster Olney wrote in his blog about some of the teams contending in the C.C. Sabathia Sweepstakes and how some of them may think they’re in it, but may actually be testing the waters.

***
Speaking of Ruben Amaro Jr., Doc at Balls, Sticks & Stuff writes that a new book by Bob Gordon introduces Amaro Jr. as "currently the club’s general manager." Last year, the actual, current GM, Pat Gillick, said he may step down at the end of the season. Typo? Food for thought?

Alejandro A. Leal writes for UmpBump.com. Rumors? Comments? Email me, alexo05 [at] umpbump [dot] com.

Olney’s Latest: Sabathia, Sexson

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Must-read alongside your bowl of Cocoa Pebbles is Buster Olney’s Saturday morning blog post:

If the C.C. Sabathia trade rumors were a horse race, he writes, as of today these teams would be the favorites:

  1. Milwaukee Brewers
  2. Chicago Cubs
  3. Los Angeles Dodgers
  4. Texas Rangers
  5. Boston Red Sox

The problem is, he notes, some of these teams may or may not be in contention by the trade deadline; and/or could be bluffing.

On more serious note, all the recent managerial changes in Seattle have clouded Richie Sexson’s future with the Mariners. Olney points us to Seattle Times writer Larry Stone’s notebook, and the not-so-secret rumblings that Sexson’s days with the M’s may be numbered.

Stone reports the Mariners may be thinking about releasing Sexson or DFAing him. Before Friday’s game with the Braves, when asked if he expected to be with the team after the weekend series, Sexson told reporters:

"I don’t know. I’m just going to play. I really can’t worry about that, and I’m not going to worry about that. I know if things don’t work out here, there’s a lot of other teams out there. I know I can still play the game. I’m not worried about never playing again. It doesn’t concern me."

Alejandro A. Leal writes for UmpBump.com. Rumors? Comments? Email me: alexo05 [at] umpbump [dot] com.

Webb Extension Talks Tabled

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According to MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert, the Diamondbacks’ extension talks with ace Brandon Webb are on hold for now.  That’s pretty much all that is known.  It’s unclear how far the talks got or who killed them.

Webb, 29, has never posted an ERA higher than 3.59 in any season.  He is simply a beast.  The D’Backs and Webb have plenty of time to work out an extension, since he’s essentially signed cheaply through 2010.  Random thought – I wonder if Webb will be affected at all if Orlando Hudson leaves as a free agent after this season.

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