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Archives for February 2009

Week in Review: 2/15 – 2/21

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Spring Training is in the air… let’s cover the last week here on MLBTR!

  • The Dodgers landed a bargain this week, when they agreed to terms with Orlando Hudson on a one-year, $3.4MM deal with an additional $4.6MM worth of incentives. The Dodgers complete a very strong middle infield, and still have Blake DeWitt available to fill in any holes that come up from injuries. Very nice value.
  • Lots of drama surrounding Ken Griffey Jr. this week, but he wound up returning to Seattle on a one-year, $2MM contract with another $2.5MM in incentives. Griffey’s return to Seattle should be a great story for the 2009 campaign. Can you imagine the crowd on Opening Day?
  • The Orioles signed Brian Roberts to a four-year, $40MM extension this week. Roberts said he feels the O’s will be competitive in that span. I think trading Roberts for some young arms would have given the O’s a better shot at competition, but they do have some good young players already. What about everyone else?
  • Nate McLouth also agreed to terms on an extension through the 2011 season with a 2012 option, controlling his arbitration years and first year of free agency. He’ll get $2MM in 2009, $4.5MM in 2010, and $6.5MM in 2011 to go along with a $1.5MM signing bonus. Very good value, but I’ve got similar questions as I did with Ryan Doumit’s extension? Is this to lock him up or make him look better in a trade?
  • Joe Crede finally found a home this week; he signed with the Twins on a one-year, $2.5MM deal with incentives that could take the deal to $7MM. Bargain signing for the Twins, as Crede was originally looking for a $7MM base salary. Even if his back flares up, they’re only on the hook for $2.5MM. I’m surprised the Giants weren’t more involved, seeing his final base salary.
  • Tom Glavine finally signed as well, returning to the Braves on a one-year, $1MM deal that could reach $4.5MM with incentives. It’s a low-risk move, so I can’t really criticize it, but I really question how much Glavine has left…
  • Lastly, could Roy Halladay be moved at some point? Blue Jays General Manager J.P. Ricciardi says that "all hell would have to break loose,"  but you have to imagine teams would be knocking down the door if the Jays were in the AL East cellar around the trade deadline. Ricciardi admitted, "At that point, we’d have to reevaluate."

Nothing Close For Juan Cruz, Twins

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4:46pm: Steve Gilbert of MLB.com talked to D’Backs GM Josh Byrnes.  Byrnes is in regular contract with Cruz’s agent Barry Praver, but has nothing new to report and is not talking to any teams about Cruz.

3:47pm: MLB.com’s Kelly Theiser reports that the Twins have not even extended a formal offer to Cruz. She agrees with Neal that Twins fans should not expect a Cruz acquisition, though they definitely are interested.

SUNDAY, 1:27pm: Neal is back with another update, though not a pleasant one for Twins fans. Neal writes that the reports saying the Twins are "closing in on a deal" are not true. The trade, may in fact, be very difficult to pull off:

"It’s going to be hard enough to agree to terms with the agent. Getting the Diamondbacks to agree on a trade might be even tougher. Things could always change but, for now, there’s little reason to feel optimistic that the Twins can land Cruz."

SATURDAY: Bob McManaman of The Arizona Republic reports that the Diamondbacks are "closing in on a likely sign-and-trade deal" with the Twins for Juan Cruz. He adds that "various reports expected the deal to be completed by Saturday." 

FRIDAY: According to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins made an offer to reliever Juan Cruz tonight as part of a possible sign-and-trade with the Diamondbacks.  If Cruz accepts the offer, Neal says the teams would then have 48 hours to work out a trade.

Cruz would represent a power arm for the back of Minnesota’s pen; his average heater was 94.3 mph in 2008.  Cruz’s big-time strikeout stuff is accompanied by poor control, however.

Phillies Likely To Pass On Free Agents

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Todd Zolecki of MLB.com writes that the Phillies are likely to pass on signing an additional right-handed bat or a lefty reliever.

The Phillies have been linked to Nomar Garciaparra, Will Ohman, and Joe Beimel, but now appear likely to pass on all of them. General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. says he does not want to get into a bidding war with the Athletics over Garciaparra, who are rumored to have interest as well.  Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote earlier today that Nomar "has offers from the A’s and Phillies he’s weighing."

Amaro states that the Phillies will not be making anything more than "extremely modest" offers to Ohman or Beimel. While it’s unclear as to what "modest" is in Amaro’s opinion, Zolecki speculates that it would have to be less than $1MM.

Braves Sign Garret Anderson

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4:01pm: O’Brien’s official story is up. Anderson will get about $2.5MM on a one-year deal. The official announcement will come tomorrow.

Anderson will platoon with Diaz, and be reunited with former teammate Casey Kotchman, who went to Atlanta in the Mark Teixeira trade.

3:43pm: Further down in the comments, O’Brien adds:

"It’s one year, $2.5 mill."

3:11pm: In the comments section of his blog, Dave O’Brien confirms that the Braves have signed Anderson. Says O’Brien:

"It’s a done deal, Anderson’s going to be here as early as tomorrow. He’s en route today, I’m told. Whether that means he’ll be introduced tomorrow, not certain. But likely.

Important thing is: He’s signed. And this isn’t a friend telling us."

1:18pm: Mark Bowman of MLB.com is reporting on his blog that the Braves may have interest in Garret Anderson, having missed out on Ken Griffey Jr.

Previously, we’ve heard that the Braves will look within their system for answers to their outfield situation. Bowman previously shared the same opinion, but is changing his tune. He writes:

"Now, I’m of the opinion that the Braves have definite interest in Garrett Anderson and may be working to get a deal done with him in the very near future. "

Anderson, 37 in June, posted a .758 OPS, though that may be a bit misleading. Following the All-Star Break, he put up a very nice .855 OPS through his last 60 games. He was also far more effective against right-handed pitching. While his average was nearly identical against both righties and southpaws, he slugged .450 against right-handed opponents, compared to .371 against lefties. He also clubbed 14 of his 15 home runs against righties.

Sounds to me like he could still form an effective platoon with Matt Diaz.

Red Sox Catching: Bard, Montero, Kottaras

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Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe has a wrap-up of the Red Sox’ catching situation heading into the beginning of the 2009 season.

Even after signing Jason Varitek, the Red Sox were rumored to have been continuing their pursuit of a trade for a young catcher. In today’s article, Massarotti writes that at the beginning of Diamondbacks camp, Miguel Montero was informed that "no deals were imminent." Instead, it appears the Red Sox will stick with Josh Bard for now.

However, Massarotti also mentions another interesting in-house option for the Red Sox in George Kottaras. Massarotti summarizes Kottaras’ situation:

Kottaras is out of options and could be a threat to beat out Bard, though the more likely scenario is that the Red Sox are trying to increase Kottaras’ trade value so that they do not simply lose him on waivers.

It’s probably going to be ’Tek and Bard on Opening Day. We’ll see if the Red Sox end up acquiring, or even trading away, any young catchers in the meantime.

Cardinals Rumors: Hudson, Schumaker, Ryan

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In a blog update for the Daily News, Tony Jackson reports that, according to the second baseman himself, "several other teams" had multi-year offers out to Orlando Hudson. Who were those teams?

According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals may have been one of them. Strauss has a quote from Cardinals’ GM John Mozeliak: “We checked it out because we obviously are looking at ways to fill the position, and somewhat to gauge where the market was going."

As for what the Cardinals plan to do with second base in the near future, Strauss writes:

The Cardinals continue to audition Skip Schumaker at the position with Brendan Ryan and Joe Thurston representing his primary competition.

“I’m comfortable with what we have in camp,” Mozeliak said. “Ultimately, if we have to address it, we have another five or six weeks to do so.”

I understand the Cardinals’ perspective here, but I still wonder if Mozeliak isn’t even thinking about calling the agent of Mark Grudzielanek.

Astros Void Hall’s Contract

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Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle reports the Houston Astros will void the minor league contract of Toby Hall.

Hall’s shoulder requires surgery, which will keep him out of the game for nearly four months. The Astros had expected Hall to recover from his injury via rehab over a timeframe closer to one month.

Presumably, Hall will re-enter the market once his health is firmly established. It’s not a stretch to suggest some competitive team might need catching help in the middle of the 2009 season, so Hall may find a job yet.

As for the Astros, their catcher competition going forward consists of a battle for two spots between Humberto Quintero, J.R. Towles, and Rule 5 pick Lou Palmisano.

The Return Of Corey Koskie?

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Kelsie Smith of the Pioneer Press reports that Corey Koskie will play for Team Canada in the WBC. His appearance is motivated by a strong interest in returning to the major leagues, after a break from the game of over two years due to his experiencing symptoms of post-concussion syndrome.

We’ve mentioned the Koskie story before. Here’s to hoping that Koskie finds a way to get back into the game.

Oakland Hot Stove: Garciaparra, Cabrera, Reyes

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Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Oakland Athletics and Nomar Garciaparra are "in serious talks" about a bench spot for the team. Slusser notes that the Phillies are likely competing for Nomar’s services as well; I myself would also mention the Cubs as a team in need of a right-handed bench bat.

Additionally, Slusser points out that signing Garciaparra would not preclude the Athletics from also going after Orlando Cabrera. However, it seems as though the two parties continue to have difficulty in bridging the salary gap, despite Cabrera’s reducing his salary demands from $9MM to roughly $5.5MM at this point.

Also on the A’s radar are a pair of relievers: lefties Dennys Reyes and Andrew Sisco.

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