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Archives for March 2009

Rangers To Reduce Payroll Next Year

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According to Jim Reeves of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Rangers owner Tom Hicks would like to subtract $20MM from the payroll for 2010.  That'd presumably put the Rangers in the $50MM range. 

Reeves' column has a negative tone to it, but why wouldn't the Rangers want to replace Hank Blalock, Frank Catalanotto, and Vicente Padilla with Max Ramirez, Brandon Boggs, and Derek Holland?  When you have the best farm system in baseball it's not hard to trim payroll.  Hicks even mentioned he'd still be interested in making a Ben Sheets type addition via the free agent market.

Reeves also touches on Kevin Millwood. Hicks claims he wants Millwood to reach 180 innings this year, causing the pitcher's $12MM 2010 option to vest.  As for Catalanotto, Reeves takes Hicks' financial caution as a sign the team will not be cutting him and eating his $6MM.

Tigers Talking Trade

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Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press has articles here and here about the possibility of a Tigers trade before the season begins.  GM Dave Dombrowski admitted that trade discussions have intensified lately.

One possible need is a second lefty reliever, but the Tigers could potentially fill that role with Nate Robertson or Dontrelle Willis.  Morosi adds that a need at catcher could surface if Matt Treanor's current injury is serious.  And he notes that the team always needs young pitching.

As far as trade candidates, Marcus Thames ($2.275MM salary) leads the pack.  Thames has big power and not much else, but the Tigers chose to tender him a contract for '09.  Morosi wonders if the Reds could be a match, though their outfield picture seems set with Jonny Gomes taking on the right-handed slugger role.  Other trade candidates: Mike Hessman, Ryan Raburn, or Brent Clevlen.

Rosenthal On White Sox, Pedro, Baker

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The latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…

  • The White Sox are still trying to figure out their center field situation, but they are not involved on pricey veterans such as Juan Pierre and Gary Matthews Jr.
  • Fantasy alert: Rosenthal names David Aardsma as the likely leader for the Mariners closer job, with Chad Cordero and Brandon Morrow lingering.
  • The Dodgers "continue to balk at Pedro Martinez's $5MM asking price."
  • Rockies utility man Jeff Baker, who is out of options, is drawing interest from the Phillies, Astros, and Pirates.  Rosenthal suggests recently-demoted Kyle Kendrick as a possible target for Colorado, assuming the Phils can move Geoff Jenkins or Matt Stairs to clear a spot.  Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says the Yankees are unlikely to acquire Baker.
  • The Blue Jays have been scouting shortstops Chin-Lung Hu, Juan Castro, and others in hopes of finding someone they can stash at Triple A for insurance.
  • Was Willy Taveras a bad move for the Reds?  Rosenthal says rival executives think so.

Rudy Seanez Pondering Future

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Diamond Leung is no longer writing for the Riverside Press-Enterprise, but he's blogging about baseball at Diamond Notes.  Today he has an update regarding free agent reliever Rudy Seanez.

Seanez, 40, is still considering playing in 2009.  He turned down an offer to return to the Phillies, and has interest from the Padres and others.  Fun fact, Seanez owns a Cold Stone Creamery with his family.  Delicious yet pricey.

Seanez has already pitched for the Padres in roughly 14 different stints.  Last year with the Phils he had some control problems but still managed a 3.53 ERA in 43.3 innings.

A’s Not In On Mark Mulder

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Tyler Bleszinski of Athletics Nation talked to A's GM Billy Beane on March 10th, and asked if the A's were tempted to sign someone like Mark Mulder or Pedro Martinez.  An excerpt of Beane's response:

On Mark, my understanding is that he isn't ready to go out.  That's sort of moot.  But we've stayed away from signing the veteran starters because we have young guys that we want to be here at some point and I've never thought in our marketplace that that was an efficient use of your money.  Short answer is no.  It isn't really even something we pursued during the winter.  We've got great young pitchers here and we want to give them a chance to get up here.

It's been quiet on the Mulder front lately.  He was supposed to audition in mid-March.  He told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle in February he wanted to be 100% before holding an open bullpen session.

Offseason In Review: Florida Marlins

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Next up in our Offseason In Review series, the Marlins.  Here's what we wrote about them on October 5th.  Changes for 2009:

Additions: Leo Nunez, Scott Proctor, Kiko Calero, Jose Ceda, John Koronka,  Emilio Bonifacio, Dan Meyer

Subtractions: Mike Jacobs, Kevin Gregg, Josh Willingham, Scott Olsen, Luis Gonzalez, Matt Treanor, Mark Hendrickson, Doug Waechter, Joe Nelson, Justin Miller

The Marlins' offense features changes for 2009.  They subtracted cleanup hitter Jacobs, who supplied 32 home runs but also a .299 OBP.  Gaby Sanchez may take his place.  Outfielders Gonzalez and Willingham are gone, with their ABs to be picked up by Cameron Maybin.  And Treanor is out at catcher, with John Baker assuming full-time duties.  Last year's offense ranked 5th in the NL with 4.78 runs per game.  The '09 crew projects to score 4.51 per game, based on CHONE projections and Baseball Musings' lineup analysis tool.  Baseball Prospectus is more optimistic on Maybin; plugging in their projection brings the Fish to 4.62 runs per game.

The rotation, which posted a 4.66 ERA in 916 innings last year, will subtract the 52 starts made by Olsen and Hendrickson in favor of more innings for Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad, Andrew Miller, and Anibal Sanchez.  Staff ace Ricky Nolasco will get the Opening Day assignment.  These five are projected to post an aggregate ERA of 4.26, so it'll be a solid rotation if healthy.  I think the Marlins can handle the loss of Olsen, though I wasn't particularly impressed with the trade bounty received.  The trade of Olsen and Willingham was yet another Marlins salary dump.

The bullpen lost several key players, so the Marlins will need strong (and healthy) years from closer Matt Lindstrom as well as imports Nunez and Proctor.  It really wouldn't have cost much to have retained Nelson.

According to The Fielding Bible II, the Marlins' defense ranked 8th in the NL last year.  Replacing Jacobs with Sanchez would be an obvious gain.  Same goes for the addition of Maybin and subtraction of Gonzalez in the outfield (Maybin will play center). 

The Marlins allowed 767 runs last year.  Assuming the bullpen does not implode and the rotation stays semi-healthy they should be able to improve on that.  I can see the Fish winning 83-84 games again, improving in pitching and defense but losing a bit offensively.

Bottom line: It's the typical Marlins refrain: good team, imagine what they could do with a payroll.  They still have enough above-average young players where 3-4 well-timed breakouts could push them into contention. 

Padres Sign Shawn Hill

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According to Chico Harlan of the Washington Post, the Padres signed pitcher Shawn Hill to a minor league deal.  Hill was released by the Nationals on Wednesday and also drew interest from the Blue Jays.  San Diego is a great match, as he'll presumably have a rotation spot if healthy.  A bonus for the Padres: they'll have the chance to keep Hill under team control through 2012 as an arbitration-eligible player.

Gammons On Matthews, Teahen, Harang, Peavy

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12:07pm: John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer asked Reds GM Walt Jocketty about Gammons' Harang note.  Jocketty said, "I'm not going to comment on something when he doesn't know what he's talking about."

9:19am: ESPN's Peter Gammons had a new blog post yesterday discussing available players.

  • Gammons names Geoff Jenkins ($8MM remaining, limited no-trade), Brian Giles ($9MM remaining, full no-trade), Gary Matthews Jr. ($33.5MM remaining, full no-trade), Marcus Thames ($2.275MM salary), Nick Johnson ($5.5MM salary), Jason Repko, and Jeff Baker as players being dangled.  Gammons links Matthews to the Yankees but admits his contract will be an issue.
  • Mark Teahen has drawn interest from the Astros, Red Sox, and Yankees.
  • Gammons says the Reds "have let teams know that they will wait and see whether they need to move Aaron Harang during the season."  It'd be a shame to see the Reds break up that rotation.  Harang has about $36MM coming to him over the next three seasons if his 2011 option is exercised.
  • Brewers third baseman Bill Hall expects his team to pursue Padres ace Jake Peavy if available this summer.  Unlike C.C. Sabathia, Peavy is more than a rental.

Odds & Ends: Gregerson, Hanley, Strasburg

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Links for Monday…

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