Denny Bautista Designated
To make room for Joel Zumaya, the Tigers designated reliever Denny Bautista for assignment today. Jon Paul Morosi says the Tigers tried to make a deal in advance but couldn’t do it.
Bautista, 25, has already been with five organizations. He hasn’t had much success, but he can throw hard.
Phillies Scouting Rumors
All of these "team X scouts team Y" type reports should be taken with a grain of salt, because scouting does not necessarily imply trade interest. But hey, this is MLB Trade Rumors.
Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News says the Phillies sent special assistant Charley Kerfeld to watch the Brewers play the Blue Jays. Hagen notes that Kerfeld may have observed Ben Sheets and A.J. Burnett.
Jayson Stark told us Thursday that the Brewers would have to be "way out of it" before making Sheets available. But Burnett might be fair game, and Stark said the Phillies have already kicked the tires on him. Stark said the Phils are also eyeing Bronson Arroyo and Jarrod Washburn. Jim Salisbury believes the best acquisition the Phillies could make is an effective Brett Myers.
Jocketty Names Five Untouchable Reds
Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch relays a Walt Jocketty radio show appearance. Jocketty reportedly named five untouchable Reds players: Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, and Edwin Encarnacion. Hunter is surprised to see Encarnacion labeled off-limits. The 25 year-old third baseman has a career line of .268/.344/.450 in 396 games. With several .900+ OPS months on his resume, EE has shown flashes of star potential offensively.
Veterans Francisco Cordero, Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo, and Brandon Phillips apparently did not make the list. Only Arroyo has been mentioned in trade rumors this year; the rest seem unlikely to go anywhere. But it should be noted that Jocketty wasn’t with the organization when the Cordero, Harang, and Arroyo contracts were signed and might be more willing to move them.
Blue Jays Fire John Gibbons
According to Ken Rosenthal, the Blue Jays are set to announce the firing of manager John Gibbons today. Cito Gaston, who brought two World Series championships to Toronto, will return as manager.
Odds and Ends: Kouzmanoff, Ricciardi, Wilson
Today’s linkage…
- Athletics Nation proposes a couple of deals for the A’s.
- RotoAuthority looks at Reds rookie pitcher Daryl Thompson, who draws a tough debut assignment on Saturday.
- CBS Sports’ Scott Miller expects Padres third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff to be traded this summer. Kouzmanoff, 27 in July, is hitting .268/.328/.476 in 42 games following another lousy April.
- J.P. Ricciardi apologized for his comments about Adam Dunn.
- From the What Might’ve Been File: the Tigers offered Jair Jurrjens for Jack Wilson about a year ago. Nice to see that .500 will not be a goal for the Bucs, by the way.
- Ken Rosenthal says "a potential selloff of veterans is on hold" for the Orioles right now, as the team is only 5.5 games out of the wild card.
Indians Shifting Into Sell Mode
The Indians are currently in fourth place in the AL Central, 8.5 games out. Baseball Prospectus’ projections suggest their playoff chances are less than 3%. Many key players are injured. That’s enough for Terry Pluto – he says we should stick a fork in the Tribe.
- Pluto says the Indians have been listening on C.C. Sabathia, "but nothing has been serious." The Indians are known to be scouting eight organizations as potential destinations for Sabathia, though about 20 have expressed interest. Jayson Stark says the Indians will not be offering a negotiation window to sign Sabathia. Paul Hoynes talked to a scout who believes the Indians could get two near MLB-ready players for him.
- Pluto reminds us not to forget about impending free agents Paul Byrd, Casey Blake, and Joe Borowski. All could draw trade interest.
Bernazard Next In Line For Mets GM Job?
We’ve read conflicting reports on Omar Minaya’s job security. Adam Rubin believes he’s on the hot seat. What’s more, Rubin’s sources say VP Tony Bernazard might be next in line. Bernazard seems to have a bad reputation, but no one is sure exactly why. Another candidate to replace Minaya might be Wayne Krivsky, who will join the Mets as a scout (hat tip to MetsBlog).
Rubin admits that Minaya "doesn’t appear on life support just yet." But a GM without job security can often lead to a short-term approach.
Holliday Trade Unlikely
Troy E. Renck and Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post write that a Matt Holliday trade is unlikely, at least during the season. The Rockies are telling teams they’re not looking to move their left fielder. The team is currently eight games out, but GM Dan O’Dowd isn’t ready to pack it in.
Additionally, O’Dowd makes a good point in that Holliday’s value won’t be diminished much if he waits until the offseason. Holliday is signed for the ’09 season at $13.5MM. It may be true that teams sometimes make desperate in-season trades. But it’s also true that the offseason brings out a certain irrationality in many clubs. Everyone’s healthy and you can talk yourself into thinking you have a good team. And it’s easier to write off an "off year" for a player if it’s not in progress.
Schilling Out For Season
Curt Schilling will have season-ending surgery, and could be done for good. This shouldn’t change much for the Red Sox, who weren’t counting on him and have strong starting pitching depth.
Ken Rosenthal did note today that the Sox are more likely to target C.C. Sabathia than a position player, even if David Ortiz‘s injury is worse than expected.
Phone Interview With MetsBlog
Recently I chatted about the Mets with Matthew Cerrone and Ted Berg of MetsBlog/SNY. Click below to hear it.