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Archives for August 2008

Mark Teixeira Rumors

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It’s not fair to lump all Orioles fans into one big group.  But as you might expect, some of the team’s fans are pushing for a signing of Maryland native Mark Teixeira.  Teixeira, for his part, said all the right things while remaining noncommittal.  Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun expects the Orioles to at least make a run at him.

Free agent megadeals are generally frowned upon for non-contenders.  The Orioles, especially, face an uphill battle in the AL East.  Craig Calcaterra thinks Teixeira would be a mistake for the Orioles, and such a signing would deviate from Andy MacPhail’s plan.  I tend to agree.  But to play devil’s advocate, we have seen some successful big money free agent deals signed in advance of contention.  For example, the Tigers’ signing of Ivan Rodriguez in ’04 and (hopefully) the Royals’ signing of Gil Meche in ’06.  The Orioles signing Tex would be in the same mold, only with more risk attached.

Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times says to treat the "ten year contract" talk with skepticism in regard to Teixeira.  Tex answered a question from Ken Rosenthal specifically about whether he’d like a ten-year deal – who wouldn’t?  There is no sign that Teixeira, even represented by Scott Boras, will actually demand ten years.  And even if he does, I doubt he’ll get it.

Freddy Garcia Rumors: Thursday

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Here’s a fresh thread for Freddy Garcia rumors.  The 32 year-old was scouted by about half the teams in baseball this week.

Rockies Acquire Livan Hernandez

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9:52pm: ESPN’s Peter Gammons has a blog post contradicting a piece of info from Ringolsby.  Gammons says the Mets did not put in a waiver claim on Hernandez.  They prefer in-house options.

4:04pm: Ken Rosenthal says Livan is now officially a Rockie.  The Rockies will pay the rest of his contract.  August is a fine time for teams to unload millions owed to mediocre veteran pitchers.

WEDNESDAY, 9:52am: Some additional information from Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News: the Rockies will make a waiver claim on Josh Fogg in the unlikely event the Twins pull Hernandez back.  The Twins might be trying to wrangle a player out of the Rockies in addition to the salary relief.

Ringoslby says the Mets and possibly the Cardinals also made claims on Hernandez.

TUESDAY: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Rockies won their waiver claim on Livan Hernandez.  Apparently the Rox beat out another NL team with a better record.  Apparently no American League team put in a claim.

At the least, the Twins will dump off Hernandez just to be free of his contract.  At most, they might be able to snag some kind of fringe prospect.  Hernandez is owed another $1.5MM, plus incentives.

At Least 15 Teams Watched Freddy Garcia

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9:13pm: Additional teams confirmed in attendance: the Red Sox, Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers, Marlins, and White Sox.  Garcia’s agent says he’d like to sign by this weekend, and plans to sign only for ’08.  Troy Renck says the Rockies are a long shot now that they’ve added Livan Hernandez. 

WEDNESDAY, 9:28am: Surprisingly, the Phillies were in attendance at Garcia’s audition yesterday.  David Murphy finds the idea intriguing, but says the Phils don’t have major interest.  The Phillies traded Gavin Floyd to the White Sox for Garcia in December of ’06, but he only gave them 11 starts while earning $10MM.

Also confirmed at the audition: the Tigers, Yankees, Mets, Rays, Rockies, Astros, and Rangers.  MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez thinks the Rangers might be the most interested party.

TUESDAY: Today’s the big day…free agent Freddy Garcia will audition for teams in Miami.  He’s recovering from labrum surgery.

We’ve compiled reports over the past few months.  Teams interested in Garcia at one point: the Mets, Red Sox, Braves, Yankees, White Sox, Rangers, Tigers, Rays, Astros, Cubs, Cardinals, Dodgers, Twins, Indians, Mariners, and Royals. That’s 16 of 30 teams, though the non-contenders may have dropped out.

Garcia’s friend and former manager Ozzie Guillen doubted the pitcher’s ability to contribute at the big league level this year.  Garcia was upset by the comments.

Who Cleared Waivers Last Year?

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You may recall that we kept a running list of players who cleared waivers last year based on published reports.  It’s not publicly available information, but journalists were able to dig up a few names.  I expect the same to happen this year.

A reminder of those who cleared a year ago:

Pat Burrell
Jose Contreras
Kyle Farnsworth
Troy Glaus
Jason Lane
Mike Piazza
Odalis Perez
Sammy Sosa
Josh Towers
Steve Trachsel
Jack Wilson
David Wells
Dmitri Young

As for this year, I named many candidates to clear here and here.  Also, Tracy Ringolsby names ten candidates to clear in a new column today.  It’s entirely subjective, but I don’t believe Aubrey Huff and Brian Giles would clear.  I am on the fence about Jarrod Washburn – sometimes teams act irrationally with starting pitching in August.  For example, the Dodgers’ claim of Esteban Loaiza a year ago.

Odds and Ends: Delgado, Heilman, Teixeira, Alvarez

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Time for today’s linkage.

  • Geoff Baker tries to determine who "won" the Jose Vidro trade.
  • Ken Davidoff doesn’t expect anyone of value to clear waivers.  We didn’t have much August trade action last year either.  Some decent names were dealt in August of ’06 though – David Wells, Shawn Green, Jamie Moyer, Livan Hernandez, Ryan Franklin, Eric Hinske, and Scott Schoeweneis.
  • The Mets can retain Carlos Delgado for ’09 at essentially $8MM, since there’s a hefty $4MM buyout on his $12MM option.  Back in May Delgado’s agent said it was a $16MM option.  However, MetsBlog’s Matthew Cerrone told me that is only the case with a top five MVP finish.
  • Joel Sherman wonders whether Aaron Heilman will be a non-tender candidate this winter.  Seems unlikely; he won’t be that expensive.
  • Mark Teixeira’s three favorite places to play are New York, Seattle, and Anaheim, for what it’s worth.
  • Yahoo’s Kevin Kaduk considers "Dr. James Andrews" the worst three words in baseball.  He also lists some other three-word contenders.
  • The Pirates will not "grossly exceed" the market to sign Pedro Alvarez.  They seem to be hoping Scott Boras will come down to the $4-6MM net present value range on August 15th.
  • The Nationals are thinking around $2.15MM for Aaron Crow.
  • RotoAuthority discusses trading injured players in fantasy leagues.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Price, John Hart, Ibanez

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A look at Ken Rosenthal’s latest column…

  • Rosenthal notes that the Rays have an ace in the hole with David Price available to boost their pitching staff when they deem him ready.  I imagine the Rays won’t end up signing Freddy Garcia.  The reports on Garcia are lukewarm, by the way.
  • Teams are beginning to value free agent compensation draft picks more than ever.  As a result, we’re seeing fewer salary dump trades.  Rosenthal notes that it is possible for a team to receive a supplemental pick even without offering arbitration.  That is true, but only if the free agent signs elsewhere before December 1st.
  • John Hart might want to get back into the general managing game.
  • The Rangers discussed acquiring Raul Ibanez, it seems.

D’Backs Pulled Webb’s Extension Offer

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10:30am: MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert says it would’ve been a three-year, $54MM extension for Webb with an option for 2014.  The two sides actually agreed on the years and dollar amount, but some other point of contention caused the talks to be tabled.  Perhaps no-trade clause details?  Webb will become a 10-and-5 player in 2013.

9:20am: Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic talked to D’Backs ace Brandon Webb, who said he had an extension agreement with the team in June.  However, the Diamondbacks pulled the offer.  It would’ve been a three-year extension to keep Webb with the team through 2013. Dan Haren recently signed through 2012 with an option for ’13.  Webb and Haren form one of the game’s top 1-2 punches.

Webb and GM Josh Byrnes still seem open to hammering out a deal, perhaps in the offseason.

Scott Eyre Designated; Red Sox Interested

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WEDNESDAY: According to Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal, the Red Sox still have interest in Eyre.  Scott Lauber figures the Phillies are likely to inquire as well.

TUESDAY: To make room for closer Kerry Wood, the Cubs designated lefty reliever Scott Eyre for assignment today.  Eyre, 36, posted a 7.15 ERA in 11.1 innings with the Cubs this year. He spent time on the DL with elbow and groin problems.  Eyre actually had a nice run in the second half last year as well as May this year.

Eyre still has about $1.15MM left on his contract.  Perhaps teams like the Red Sox and Phillies will inquire and the Cubs won’t have to assume all of his salary.

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