Mets Target Lowe, Perez
Now that Mark Teixeira has found a home in New York, the Mets would like to talk with two other Scott Boras clients about following suit, Ben Shpigel of the New York Times reports. The Mets are interested in Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez, in that order, and believe that the market may be shaping up to allow them to obtain their first choice. Nothing is imminent for the Mets at this time.
With the Yankees (almost) definitely out of the picture, and the Red Sox seemingly focused more on hitting, the Mets are optimistic that they can get Lowe for considerably less than the five-year $90MM deal he was rumored to be looking for initially. If for some reason this doesn’t work out, the enigmatic Perez would be their next choice, Shpigel says.
Lowe, 35, had a 3.24 ERA in 211 innings for the Dodgers in 2008. Perez, 27, had a 4.22 ERA in 194 innings for the Mets.
Sammy Sosa Still Waiting
Does anyone have a major league job for Sammy Sosa?
That’s the question that he’s (still) waiting for the answer to, according to Dominican newspaper Listin Diario (via ESPN.com). "I still don’t have an offer and I shouldn’t be looking for offers out there," said Sosa, 40, who sat out 2008 after posting a .252/.311/.468 line for the Texas Rangers in 2007. He currently sits at 6th place on the career home run list, with 609.
Orioles Could Pursue Dunn
After losing out in the Mark Teixeira derby, the Orioles might consider pursuing free agent slugger Adam Dunn, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun. While team president Andy MacPhail emphasized that the O’s are "focusing on [their] pitching and catching primarily at this point," Zrebiec notes that if Dunn’s price came down significantly, he could could be the middle-of-the-order hitter the Orioles were looking for in Teixeira.
Dunn, 29, has hit 40 or more home runs in each the last five years, and could find the Camden Yards right-field porch particularly inviting.
Tip Submissions
Dan Slowey will be at the helm of MLB Trade Rumors tonight, covering from 5pm til midnight (CST). If you have a link to a rumor, feel free to email him at dan.slowey.mlbtr@gmail.com. Dan has a very close relative who plays for an AL Central team.
Be sure to check out Dan’s blog, Blogonoscopy.
Mets’ Minaya: Nothing Imminent
1:38pm: The New York Daily News has, essentially, the same report. Roger Rubin writes that Derek Lowe is a top priority for the New York Mets, but nothing’s imminent. Something could happen during the next week, though.
Rubin sees the Boston Red Sox as being competition for Lowe’s services.
9:48am: Mets general manager Omar Minaya told Kat O’Brien of Newsday to “Go enjoy the holiday” and that nothing was happening on the New York Mets’ front today.
Minaya did say the team has been talking to free-agent starting pitchers, including Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez and Randy Wolf.
As far as outfielder Manny Ramirez, “a Mets source” told O’Brien in the same article that the Mets will not sign him.
Teixeira Had Higher Offer From Nationals
Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com is reporting that the Washington Nationals offered about $5MM more to first baseman Mark Teixeira than the New York Yankees did, even though Teixeira struck a deal with the Yankees on Tuesday.
Kubatko adds that the Nationals would have gone even higher, but they were never given a chance to compete with the Yankees’ offer. He guesses that it wasn’t all about the money after all.
Kubatko also writes that the Baltimore Orioles are still looking to add another bat to the lineup, possibly a first baseman, outfielder or designated hitter.
Red Sox Next Moves
After missing out on Mark Teixeira, Boston Red Sox fans have been asking what the team will do to respond. Here are a few links about the current (and therefore future) state of the franchise.
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Sean McAdam of the Boston Herald goes through the health of designated hitter David Ortiz and third baseman Mike Lowell, and he looks at pitching and the open slot behind the plate.
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In this article, McAdam takes a look at the free agent market with the goal of determining who would work well with the Red Sox. Overall, McAdam writes that the homegrown talent has reduced the pressure the Red Sox have on the market. Because of this, McAdam believes the Red Sox view free agency as “unnecessarily expensive.”
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Adam Kilgore of the Boston Globe expands on what we learned yesterday about first baseman Kevin Youkilis‘ contract: A one-year deal stands.
Yankees Done With Pettitte?
Kat O’Brien of New York Newsday has learned from a source that the Yankees are "pretty happy" with their current roster and may no longer care to bring back Andy Pettitte. The club could soon pull its one-year, $10MM offer. Pettitte, 36, went 14-14 in 2008 with a 4.54 ERA.
O’Brien also presents us a timeline of Tuesday’s deal for Mark Teixeira, from the Yankees’ perspective.
UPDATE: Ken Davidoff of Newsday thinks Andy Pettitte will wind up coming back. Most experts seem to agree.
Odds & Ends: Lowe, Penny, Padres, Red Sox
A couple of links from around the baseball world on a slow Christmas Eve…
- Ben Shpigel of the New York Times believes Derek Lowe will settle for a three-year deal with a vesting option. The Mets might be willing to make that offer.
- Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune presents seven candidates for the Padres’ 2009 starting rotation.
- The New York Times jokes that Brad Penny "may be too cheap for the Yankees’ taste."
- According to the Providence Journal, the Red Sox could see a payroll drop of nearly $20MM if they make no further moves this offseason.
- New York Yankees’ president Randy Levine backs up the club’s wild spending this offseason. Levine claims that the dollars spent "are essential to the revenues generated by Major League Baseball and its networks and other entities.”
Comparing Teixeira and Pujols
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch took a minute to analyze the impact of the Mark Teixeira signing on the contract situation of another hard-hitting first baseman, Albert Pujols.
Pujols signed a seven-year, $100MM deal back in 2003. At this point, as Goold states, "he’s been a bargain." A very, very solid bargain. Pujols, 28, could potentially become a free agent in 2011, two years from now, and has accomplished a few feats that Teixeira, also 28, has not. El Hombre has two MVPs, won a World Series in 2006, and has a higher career batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage than Tex.
Goold describes Pujols’ free-agent value as simply "mind-boggling" and asks whether Albert will become baseball’s first "$30-million year man."