Cubs Exercise Harden’s Option
1:47pm: The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Harden does not need surgery and the Cubs exercised his $7MM option for ’09.
8:34am: Some fresh notes regarding the Cubs’ offseason plans…
- Turns out the Cubs have to decide on Rich Harden‘s $7MM option by midnight tonight. Even if he needs arthroscopic shoulder surgery, they’re expected to exercise it. Other less likely options include declining it and going to arbitration or just non-tendering him. Unless Harden needs major surgery, he’s a Cub in ’09.
- Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald wonders whether the Cubs will buy out backup catcher Henry Blanco and re-sign him more cheaply rather than exercise his $3MM option.
- Gordon Wittenmeyer believes the Cubs could try to re-sign Ryan Dempster and Kerry Wood before they reach free agency.
- The team’s organizational meetings begin eleven days from now.
Heyman’s Latest: Yankees, K-Rod, Moyer
Notes from SI.com’s Jon Heyman…
- The Yankees apparently want to sign two free agent starters out of C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Derek Lowe. If Sabathia is one of them they’d be looking at a total outlay of $200MM or more. Ken Davidoff of Newsday notes that Sabathia might feel pressure from the players union to take the highest offer.
- Heyman believes the nation’s struggling economy might temper spending, but not in the Yankees’ case.
- Heyman doesn’t see the Angels as terribly gung-ho about retaining closer Francisco Rodriguez.
- People close to Jamie Moyer say he wants to pitch until he’s 50. Moyer didn’t rule it out when asked in August.
Japanese Teams To Ban Defecting Amateurs
ESPN reports today that the 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams agreed on a conditional ban for amateur players to sign overseas. The agreement was sparked by Junichi Tazawa, the 22 year-old pitcher who hopes to sign with an MLB club. It’s a two or three-year ban from playing in Japan, depending on the circumstances.
It doesn’t really sound all that discouraging. NPB apparently sent a delegation to the U.S. to discuss the situation with MLB officials. Did anything come of that meeting? Or will MLB just start signing up Japanese amateur players now?
Update On Sheets’ Injury
ESPN’s Buster Olney swapped emails with Ben Sheets‘ agent, Casey Close. According to Close:
"His forearm muscle [strain] was the equivalent of a hamstring pull and it simply needed time to rest. No real treatment was needed. He’s fine and should be 100 percent in a month."
Olney says execs are skeptical. Obviously they will conduct their own tests to confirm a lack of structural damage. My guess is that the skepticism will wane once a few big names leave the board. Jason Schmidt‘s three-year, $47MM deal from ’06 could be the model for Sheets, even though that deal worked out terribly for the Dodgers.
Offseason Outlook: St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals are next in our Offseason Outlook series. Their likely commitments for 2009:
C – Yadier Molina – $3.25MM
C – Bryan Anderson – $400K
1B – Albert Pujols – $16MM
2B – Adam Kennedy – $4MM
SS – Brendan Ryan – $400K
3B – Troy Glaus – $11.25MM
IF – Aaron Miles – $1.4MM+
IF/OF – Chris Duncan – $439K
LF – Skip Schumaker – $400K
CF – Rick Ankiel – $900K+
RF – Ryan Ludwick – $411K+
OF – Brian Barton – $400K
OF – Joe Mather – $400K
SP – Chris Carpenter – $14MM
SP – Adam Wainwright – $2.6MM
SP – Kyle Lohse – $7.125MM
SP – Todd Wellemeyer – $1MM+
SP – Joel Pineiro – $7.5MM
RP – Chris Perez – $400K
RP – Ryan Franklin – $2.5MM
RP – Kyle McClellan – $400K
RP – Jason Motte – $400K
RP – Brad Thompson – $414K+
RP – Josh Kinney – $400K
RP –
Buyouts: Mark Mulder – $1.5MM
That’s about $78MM, plus arbitration raises for Miles, Ludwick, Wellemeyer, and Thompson. The Cards apparently had around $30MM to spend before signing Lohse, so now they have roughly $21MM. Unloading Kennedy is unlikely to save much money.
I don’t have much to add beyond the musings of Larry Borowsky of Viva El Birdos. The Cards will probably look to re-sign Felipe Lopez, maybe Jason Isringhausen at the right price. They’ll ink a few lefties, maybe a swingman pitcher, and a backup catcher.
It seems the Cardinals can either spend good money on a shortstop or a reliever, but probably not both. It could boil down to Rafael Furcal or Brian Fuentes; you know I prefer Furcal. It’s easier to piece together a bullpen than find a starting shortstop.
John Mozeliak could also pursue a trade. Some thought to be available who might fit: Brian Roberts, Dan Uggla, Jack Wilson, B.J. Ryan, George Sherrill, Kevin Gregg, and Huston Street. Top prospect Colby Rasmus figures to be off-limits; you just can’t trade a potential star center fielder. And Ankiel, a Scott Boras client, is a free agent after ’09.
The Cardinals will always be fearsome with Pujols anchoring their lineup. If they can find a shortstop this winter and keep the rotation healthy, they’ll contend.
Odds and Ends: Hudson, Cano, Mariners GM
Links for Wednesday…
- ESPN’s Jayson Stark reminds us that Manny Ramirez could’ve been traded to the Phillies in July. But the Phils wouldn’t offer Lou Marson, didn’t like the idea of Manny in right field, and were concerned about Ramirez’s hustle.
- Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog gives his early sense of the team’s offseason approach. He doesn’t seem them splurging on one of the big free agent names.
- MLB.com’s Marty Noble heard Orlando Hudson "yearns to play for the Mets" (hat tip to MetsBlog).
- Jamey Newberg believes in the Rangers’ plan.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post doesn’t believe Robinson Cano will be traded, because the Yankees are valuing him as if 2008 did not occur. He names Fausto Carmona as an example of a pitcher the Yanks would not accept for Cano.
- Sherman also notes that Bobby Abreu and the ivy-covered brick wall at Wrigley might not be the best match.
- The Mariners will interview five people for their GM vacancy this week: Peter Woodfork (D’Backs), Jerry DiPoto (D’Backs), Tony Bernazard (Mets), Kim Ng (Dodgers), and Tony LaCava (Blue Jays).
- The Angels signed Korean pitcher Jang Pil-Joong, who just finished serving in the army.
- I did a couple of interviews recently: over the phone with MLB Interviews and over email with Pinstripes Published.
Flexible Payroll For Giants?
New Giants managing partner Bill Neukom explained yesterday that his team is using an $80MM payroll as a placeholder, and GM Brian Sabean has been instructed to present him with several plans to field a competitive team in 2009. He would not rule out large contracts for players such as C.C. Sabathia or Mark Teixeira.
Neukom added that he will decide whether to keep Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy around after next season. Andrew Baggarly has the full transcript of Neukom’s comments here.
Reds Will Let Patterson, Bako Leave
9:38pm: A bit more on the Reds from Jocketty via John Fay – Paul Bako won’t be back, and the team has mild interest in Josh Bard.
10:56am: Mark Sheldon of MLB.com talked to Reds GM Walt Jocketty, who said he will not re-sign outfielder Corey Patterson. Patterson, 29, hit .205/.238/.344 in 392 plate appearances. This decade, only Alex Gonzalez of the 2000 Marlins had a worse OBP (.229) over 390+ plate appearances. Gonzalez, however, had only one PA in the leadoff spot (Patterson had 155). Patterson did play strong defense in center field this year.
Sheldon expects the Reds to attempt to re-sign at least two of their nine free agents in David Weathers and Jerry Hairston Jr. John Fay guesses the Reds will also talk to Jeremy Affeldt and Mike Lincoln.
Rockies Decline Option On Herges
According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, the Rockies declined their $2.5MM option on reliever Matt Herges. The buyout was $250K. Add a few more bucks to the Rockies’ budget. They still have roughly $70MM likely to be committed to current players though.
Herges’ ERA went up significantly this year, but his component skills didn’t change much. His strikeouts and walks are both up a touch, but the big difference was the rate at which batted balls fell for hits.
Where Could Prince Land?
Prince Fielder will be an intriguing name if he hits the trade market. Many teams will not be able to afford Mark Teixeira, while Ryan Howard is apparently unavailable. So three years of Prince at a reasonable price looks pretty good. Which teams have a vacancy at first base?
- Orioles. Consolation prize to the Tex sweepstakes? Brian Roberts, George Sherrill, and Melvin Mora would add depth for the Brewers, and Roberts gets you two draft picks if he leaves after the season.
- Yankees. The Brewers would probably want MLB-ready talent, meaning Phil Hughes.
- Blue Jays. The Brewers sent the Jays their current first baseman, Lyle Overbay. Not sure how they’d match up on players.
- Indians. The Brewers would probably ask for some quality pitching, and it doesn’t seem like the Indians should part with theirs.
- Angels. If Tex leaves, perhaps.
- Giants. The Fielder for Matt Cain rumor is popular, but has it been discussed by Melvin and Brian Sabean? Who wins a straight-up swap?