Cafardo’s Latest: Players Out Of Options
Lots of stuff in Nick Cafardo’s column in the Boston Globe to go over.
With around 100 free agents vying for less than 20 remaining roster spots, things become more interesting with 227 players on big-league rosters who are out of options. If a player is out of options and is not rostered, he has to either be traded or designated for assignment. If designated, that player has to clear waivers. This could affect remaining free agent signings. Cafardo makes note of a few who are out of options and may wind up as trade fodder or designated for assignment before the season begins:
Red Sox: George Kottaras
Yankees: Melky Cabrera
Cubs: Chad Gaudin, Rich Hill (possibly heading to Baltimore?)
Brewers: Tony Gwynn Jr.
Indians: Anthony Reyes, Andy Marte
Twins: Boof Bonser, Philip Humber
Rays: Jeff Niemann
Orioles: David Pauley
- With Jason Varitek re-signed, the Red Sox will either have to trade catcher Kottaras or designate him for assignment.
- Cafardo notes Niemann is a former No. 1 pick and the righthander should garner some attention.
- Bonser or Humber could be traded to land a reliever. Cafardo also mentions Delmon Young as a possible trading chip.
A few more bullets from Cafardo’s notebook:
- Scott Boras thinks the World Baseball Classic will showcase Ivan Rodriguez and generate "even more" interest for the 14-time All-Star catcher.
- Cafardo mentioned Manny Ramirez to Omar Minaya and Minaya laughed it off saying, "We’ll look into adding some offense, but only if it makes sense."
- All quiet on the Jake Peavy front.
- Cafardo calls Randy Johnson‘s $8MM deal from the Giants as "a stroke of genius" by his agents.
- In case you missed it, Bobby Kielty signed a minor-league deal with the Mets last week.
The Market For Adam Dunn
Amazingly it’s February 1st and the one 40 home run bat on the free agent market, Adam Dunn, remains unsigned. We learned from Bobby Abreu‘s agent that his client is willing to consider a one-year deal, but Dunn’s rep Greg Genske is not as talkative (we saw that with C.C. Sabathia). Jerry Crasnick suggested way back on January 13th that Dunn sought a four-year, $56MM deal. On January 19th, Chico Harlan talked to one agent who will be surprised if Dunn gets more than one year, $5MM.
Let’s review the recent Dunn rumors.
- David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution guesses Dunn might be the Braves’ fourth choice, after Abreu, Nick Swisher, and Xavier Nady.
- ESPN’s Jayson Stark heard that Dunn is "waiting to see what happens with Manny Ramirez because the Dodgers are his preferred destination." Stark says it’s clear the Nationals aren’t Dunn’s top choice, and MLB.com’s Bill Ladson says the slugger is currently out of their price range anyway. Stark characterized the Orioles’ attitude toward Dunn as "back-burner interest."
- Dunn’s friend and Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman had this to say, according to Pete McElroy of MASN: "He’s told me he’d like to play here, but I’m sure he’s told people in Milwaukee or whoever else is going after him that he’d like to play there too."
- Could Dunn return to the Reds? Not going to happen, says John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. We learned that the Brewers will pass, based on Adam McCalvy’s conversation with Doug Melvin.
- Ken Rosenthal wrote on January 14th that the Red Sox have shown interest in Dunn, but admitted "they touch base with virtually every top free agent" and the match is probably a longshot.
Dan O’Dowd – GM Trade History
Next up in our GM Trade History series, Dan O’Dowd of the Rockies. Click here to download the spreadsheet of O’Dowd’s work, courtesy of MLBTR contributor Brendan Bianowicz.