10 Best Remaining Free Agents
I wrote an article about the ten best remaining free agents over at Spring Training ’09. Check it out.
Odds & Ends: Strasburg, Lester, Pudge
Links for Monday…
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel talked to Brewers GM Doug Melvin, who said the Yankees have yet to contact him regarding their possible third base need.
- ESPN’s Rob Neyer says the Mets don’t need Pedro Martinez.
- The scouts Buster Olney talked to absolutely adore Stephen Strasburg. One of them said, "Right now, he’s better than A.J. Burnett." There’s no way the Nationals can pass on a talent like this.
- WEEI’s Alex Speier compares Jon Lester‘s record-breaking contract to others given to young pitchers.
- Jim Baumbach of Newsday talked to Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado, who promoted Ivan Rodriguez and noted that assistant GM Tony Bernazard observed the catcher’s four-hit, two home run performance in Puerto Rico Saturday.
- ESPN’s Peter Gammons notes the affordability of Boston’s pitching staff.
Attendance Projected To Be Down 17-20%?
In a blog post this morning, ESPN’s Peter Gammons wrote:
Major League Baseball has warned club business people that attendance is expected to be down 17-20 percent in 2009, and it could be worse, especially with franchises like the Padres, Blue Jays, Tigers, Indians, Astros, Rockies and others that could be seriously impacted by the recession.
MLB’s attendance stayed remarkably steady from 2007 to 2008 – 32,785 per game in ’07 vs. 32,543 per game in ’08. With the average ticket price at $25.40 in ’08, that game could see a total dropoff of around $400MM in ticket revenue.
I am very curious to see how the 2009-10 free agent market shapes up once this lower attendance has been realized.
Twins Still Eyeing Chad Cordero
According to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins offered $3MM guaranteed to Eric Gagne before signing Luis Ayala. That would’ve been a mess, given the damage found in Gagne’s shoulder. But perhaps the Twins would’ve balked after giving Gagne a physical.
Christensen adds that the Twins continue to monitor free agent reliever Chad Cordero, who is coming back from shoulder surgery.
Odds & Ends: Bowden, Stanton, Baker
Sunday night linkage…
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the Dodgers "will not restructure Juan Pierre's contract to make him go away."
- Murray Chass likes Jim Bowden, while Hal McCoy has a negative recollection.
- ESPN's Peter Gammons wrote about teams clamoring for Marlins prospect Michael Stanton last July.
- Jesse Spector of the New York Daily News talked to Baseball-Reference mastermind Sean Forman.
- Aaron Gleeman analyzes Scott Baker's new extension with the Twins.
- RotoAuthority recently looked at catcher tiers for fantasy baseball drafts.
Yankees Not Discussing Mark Teahen
8:24pm: MLB.com’s Dick Kaegel says there’s nothing to the rumor of the Yankees being interested in Teahen. Yanks GM Brian Cashman said he hasn’t even discussed it internally.
1:16pm: Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star is reporting that the Yankees may have interest in acquiring Royals’ utility man Mark Teahen, in light of Alex Rodriguez’s recent decision to undergo surgery.
Royals officials are writing it off as speculation, but with A-Rod expected to miss two months, the Yanks have been on the lookout for a temporary fix. Their current in-house candidate for a replacement is 33-year-old journeyman Cody Ransom. Ransom has 183 Major League ABs in an 11-year professional career.
Teahen is set to make $3.575MM in 2009, and the Royals’ current projected payroll of $75MM is slightly higher than the $70MM they had originally budgeted for.
One Royals official stated that they were hoping the Yankees would sign Mark Grudzielanek, which would give Kansas City a sandwich pick in the 2009 draft. Doing this would require moving Robinson Cano to third base, however.
Kevin Towers – GM Trade History
Brendan Bianowicz is back with another installment of his GM Trade History series. Click here to download the spreadsheet chronicling the moves of Padres GM Kevin Towers.
Dodgers Still Interested In Beimel, Ohman
Tony Jackson reports that the Dodgers still have some interest in lefties Joe Beimel and Will Ohman, if and when their asking price comes down.
Beimel and Ohman are both looking for salaries in the $2MM-$3MM range, but the Dodgers don’t want to pay that for someone who will be called on to retire one or two batters per outing.
Jackson points out that the recent Dennys Reyes signing by the Cardinals will likely have to lower the prices for Ohman and Beimel. Reyes signed a two-year deal worth $3MM after holding lefties to a .202 average last year, while Ohman held them to a .200 average. Beimel was a very distant third – lefties hit .278 off him in 2008. All three players are 31 years of age.
Week in Review: 3/1 – 3/7
All of the biggest free agent names have finally found a home as we continue moving toward Opening Day 2009. Let’s look back at the last seven days:
- No question what the biggest story of the week was. Four months after failing to work out a two-year, $45MM deal with the Dodgers, Manny Ramirez signed a… two-year, $45MM contract with the Dodgers. Manny can opt out after the first year, which means we could be in for another offseason of Manny-mania if he has a huge year. He’ll earn $25MM in 2009 in an absolutely loaded Dodgers lineup. Here are his specific contract details.
- It’s a bit unusual for an injury note to be big news on MLBTR, but when it’s announced that Alex Rodriguez will miss a significant amount of time due to a torn labrum in his right hip, it certainly qualifies. The Yankees are currently planning on using Cody Ransom as a replacement for the first month of the season. How disastrous is losing A-Rod for an entire month in that division? Where does everyone see the Yankees finishing in light of this news?
- The A’s made two signings this week: First, Orlando Cabrera inked a one-year, $4MM deal with Oakland early in the week. Later in the week, Nomar Garciaparra also signed a one-year deal, though we don’t have the numbers on his deal. Cabrera is a bargain for a solid upgrade at shortstop, and Garciaparra should be a nice bench bat and great mentor for some of the younger players on the team while backing up just about everyone in the infield. It never hurts to have infield depth with Eric Chavez and Mark Ellis on your squad.
- One person who probably isn’t happy to see Cabrera’s arrival in Oakland is Bobby Crosby. He’s already requested a trade, and we’ve already heard a possible Cubs rumbling. Crosby’s contract will be a big issue in moving him, however.
- The Twins locked up one-fifth of their strong, young rotation when they signed Scott Baker to a four-year, $15.25MM deal with a $9.25MM option for a fifth year. Great signing for an underrated arm, and the Twins may not be done yet. We also heard this week that a Joe Mauer extension could be in the works.
- The Cardinals made a nice move to strengthen their bullpen by signing lefty Dennys Reyes to a very affordable two-year, $3MM deal. Reyes hasn’t been talked about as much as Will Ohman or Joe Beimel this offseason, but he held lefties to just a .202 average last season.
- Updates in Tim’s Offseason In Review series: Mariners, Padres, Orioles, Nationals, and Royals.
Orioles Agree To Terms With 23
According to a press release, the Orioles have agreed to terms with 23 of their pre-arbitration players.
Some of the more recognizable names on the list include Jeremy Guthrie, Rich Hill, Adam Jones, and Felix Pie. We already heard about Guthrie’s deal earlier today. He’ll take a pay cut heading into the 2009 season.
Peter Schmuck has the entire list.