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Archives for September 2009

Odds & Ends: Posey, Maybin, Penny

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Links for Wednesday…

  • Due to Bengie Molina's injury, the Giants have changed their mind and called up top prospect Buster Posey according to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News.  So Posey's clock starts earlier than planned.
  • Speaking of service time, MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith tells me Cameron Maybin's call-up gives him 129 days of service time after this year.  That puts him on the fringe of Super Two status after the 2011 season.
  • ESPN's Jerry Crasnick ranks the impact of trades made by contenders in July.  He talked to an exec who thinks Matt Holliday "could make an extra $3MM a year as a free agent this winter because of his strong finish."
  • Yahoo's Gordon Edes has his trade deadline winners and losers.
  • Ryan Doumit's agent Matt Sosnick shot down recent negativity surrounding his client, while Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gets to the bottom of the catcher's recent benching.
  • Brad Penny still hates the Dodgers, a team he'll face twice this month according to Baggarly.  Baggarly also has a quote from Penny ripping on the Marlins.
  • Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has more from Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy, who knows he gained trade value when the team delayed his free agency.
  • J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics wonders whether the Braves should pick up Tim Hudson's $12MM option for 2010.  Hudson has the right to void that option, not that he would.  Back in January Dave O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said the Braves "fully intend to exercise it, barring some unexpected turn of events."
  • Dave Cameron of FanGraphs notes that Kendry Morales has matched the production of the Angels' former first baseman, $180MM man Mark Teixeira.
  • Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic has comments from Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes on the team's Jon Rauch–Kevin Mulvey swap.  Piecoro says the D'Backs have about $23MM to work with this winter as they presumably look to add pitching.
  • Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times guesses Ken Griffey Jr. will retire after this season.

Rosenthal On Abreu, Royals, Garland

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The latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…

  • Bobby Abreu and the Angels have mutual interest in continuing their relationship, according to his agent Peter Greenberg.  Greenberg says there have been discussions but they'll probably wait until after the season.  Abreu, 36 in March, is hitting .297/.391/.428 in 547 plate appearances while playing subpar defense.  He should end up earning $6MM given his plate appearance incentives.  He'll easily achieve Type A status again.
  • Rosenthal praises the Royals for extending GM Dayton Moore, and suggests the team should commit to a full-bore rebuild.  Rosenthal believes it would've been wise to trade Mark Teahen and Gil Meche.
  • Rosenthal says to expect another overloaded 1B/DH market this winter.  Survey the free agent market here.  I think we might find a .400 OBP on the cheap in Nick Johnson, while Jason Giambi is in for a minor league deal.  Carlos Delgado, Russell Branyan, Hank Blalock, Ken Griffey Jr., Hideki Matsui, Aubrey Huff, Gary Sheffield, and Jim Thome are some of the other names.
  • The Phillies decided to stick with Miguel Cairo as their right-handed bench bat, rather than pursue Nomar Garciaparra.
  • A rival exec Rosenthal spoke to feels that Tony Abreu is not enough for Jon Garland, since the D'Backs are picking up all of Garland's contract.

Dodgers Rumors: Colletti, Thome, Garland, Hudson

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The latest from Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times covers the future of Dodgers GM Ned Colletti and also reveals details from the team's acquisitions of Jon Garland and Jim Thome.

  • Colletti faces a mutual option for 2010.  He says he'd love to be back, but hasn't discussed his future with owner Frank McCourt yet.  Sure, Colletti has been able to operate under a budget.  But his work as a GM is a mixed bag at best.  SI's Jon Heyman recently weighed in on Colletti's recent work; check that out here.
  • The White Sox are paying $1.4MM of the $2.4MM still owed to Thome.  From Chicago's point of view, the benefit was saving a million bucks.  With all the penny-pinching in the Dodgers' trades the past few years, I'm surprised they were willing to spend that million for one month of a bench bat.
  • Hernandez heard that Tony Abreu is the player to be named later in the Garland deal, as had been rumored.  Abreu, a Scott Boras client, is hitting .351/.382/.609 in 213 Triple A plate appearances.
  • Hernandez says the Dodgers are "not expected to retain" second baseman Orlando Hudson.  Hudson may not be up for a one-year, incentive-laden contract this time around.

Vesting Options To Watch

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A few vesting options to watch in September…

  • Josh Beckett needs two more starts for his $12.1MM option to vest for 2010.  It's not much of a story since the Red Sox would exercise that option anyway.
  • The Rangers lose the ability to void Kevin Millwood's $12MM option for 2010 if he pitches 13 more innings this year.  Back in March Rangers owner Tom Hicks said he wanted Millwood's option to vest, so he must be pleased with the pitcher's 3.61 ERA.
  • Since he made the All-Star team, Freddy Sanchez's 2010 option for $8MM vests if he makes 159 additional plate appearances.  That won't happen in one month.  Sanchez's shoulder strain couldn't have come at a worse time.
  • Magglio Ordonez's $18MM option for 2010 vests with 42 more plate appearances.  He had 80 PAs in August with a .961 OPS, so Scott Boras will take issue with excessive benching.

Rodney Headed Toward Free Agency

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A look at the American League saves leaderboard reveals some surprising names - David Aardsma with 32, Fernando Rodney with 30, and Andrew Bailey with 21. 

Rodney, 33 this March, won the Tigers' closer job over Brandon Lyon in Spring Training despite trade rumors, shoulder problems, and a 4.91 ERA in 2008.  Along with those 30 saves this year, Rodney cut his ERA to 3.22 despite his typical shaky control.  Couple the walks with Rodney's age and injury history, and he'll make for a risky signing after the season.

Nonetheless, Lynn Henning of the Detroit News sees Rodney getting two or three years at $8-10MM per on the free agent market.  Rodney's current salary, $2.7MM, was decided prior to his success in the ninth inning.  Henning believes Rodney will be priced out of the Tigers' range for 2010 and beyond.  Last we checked Rodney projected as a Type B, but a good September could make him an A.  It certainly makes sense for the Tigers to at least offer arbitration.

Will Rodney get Kerry Wood ($20.5MM over two years) or even Brian Fuentes ($17.5MM over two years) money this winter?  He'll be joined on the free agent market by closers such as Trevor Hoffman, Rafael Soriano, Mike Gonzalez, Jose Valverde, and perhaps Billy Wagner.

Royals May Part With Catchers This Winter

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The Royals may be ready to cut ties with catchers John Buck and Miguel Olivo this winter, according to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.  Buck is a non-tender candidate, while Olivo has a $3.3MM mutual option.  Dutton also speaks of mixed reviews on rookie catcher Brayan Pena.  My take: if the Royals decide to enter the free agent market, they can consider names such as Rod Barajas, Ramon Hernandez, Jason Kendall, Bengie Molina, Ivan Rodriguez, Brian Schneider, and Jason Varitek.  Arizona's Chris Snyder could potentially be available via trade.

Dutton traces Buck's history as a major piece in the Carlos Beltran deal.  The 29 year-old has a career-best .446 SLG in limited playing time, but he's never mustered an OBP above .308 in his career.  He's easy to run on as well, unlike Olivo.  Olivo changed his mind and re-signed with the Royals in November once he was promised the starting gig.  He has better power than Buck but is even worse at getting on base.  I think Pena deserves a better shot; he's only 28 in January and he's showing improved power this year.  He seems just as good as most of the options listed above.

Cardinals Extend Ryan Franklin, Trever Miller

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11:20pm: Goold has the contract details.  As he mentioned before, Franklin gets about $6.5MM plus incentives for 2010-11.  As for Miller:

The contract finalized Sunday picks up and guarantees all of his bonuses for this season — some $680K worth for appearances yet to come — and pays him $2MM for next year. Miller has a $2MM vesting option for 2011. It triggers a $1MM buyout if he makes 45 appearances in 2010 and does not go on the disabled list with the shoulder imperfection discovered in the physical.

2:40pm: The Cardinals extended the contracts of relievers Ryan Franklin and Trever Miller, according to Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter).  Franklin's deal runs through 2011, while Miller's is through 2010 with a vesting option for '11.  Here's the press release from the Cardinals; terms are not yet known.

Franklin stepped into the Cardinals' closer role this year and saved 35 games in 37 tries.  His 1.05 ERA is obviously not sustainable, as Franklin has been oddly unhittable and his flyballs have not left the yard.  That said, it's hard to see fault in the two-year, $6.5MM price suggested by Derrick Goold of the P-D.  Goold says Franklin can earn incentives if he remains the team's closer.

Lefty specialist Miller has answered the bell by holding southpaws to a .100/.161/.175 line this year.  As a free agent signing in December, Miller was guaranteed only $500K by the Cardinals due to concerns they had about his shoulder.

Discussion: September Callups

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The other day we talked about which players we'd like to see called up to the big leagues this month, so let's change things up a bit. What do you think about the concept of September callups in general?

Is it fair to have more players available this late in the season when playoff races are being decided? You can argue that having an extra reliever or an extra pinch hitter possibly decide a game in September isn't fair to the 25 players who've been on the roster all year. Would it make more sense to have callups in April?

Let us know what you think in the comments. 

Odds & Ends: Penny, Hardy, Hoffmann

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Some links to check out while you try to figure out what's for dinner…

  • ESPN's Keith Law says that both Jim Thome and Jon Garland have value to Dodgers in the roles they were acquired to fill, pinch hitter and innings eater. KLaw also notes that Jose Contreras is better option than anyone currently in the Rockies' organization, and that he might benefit from a move to the NL.
  • R.J. Anderson of FanGraphs says that people should be focusing more on the draft picks the White Sox gave away (Thome projects to be a Type-A free agent) than the fact that they're throwing in the towel on the season.
  • Brad Penny said he'd be willing to return to the AL East in the future, according to CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler. "I think if I make my pitches against anyone, I'll do fine…Sometimes you don't get breaks. I was making some bad pitches, and leaving some balls up. In the AL East, you can't really do that," said Penny.
  • MLB.com's Adam McCalvy spoke to Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy about whether he'll be traded this offseason or not, and got this response: "It makes sense, not that I want to be traded."
  • Diamond Leung reports that the Dodgers have designated outfielder Jamie Hoffmann for assignment. The 25-yr old hit just .182/.167/.409 in his brief stint with LA earlier this year. It's always fun when a guy has a higher batting average than on-base percentage.
  • Matt Eddy of Baseball America posted last week's minor league transactions. The Brewers signed two former big leaguers – outfielders Jon Knott and Tike Redman – out of the independent Atlantic League.
  • Make sure you follow MLBTR on Twitter for the fastest rumor updates on the web.

Red Sox DFA Jeff Bailey

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WEEI's Rod Bradford reports that the Red Sox designated Jeff Bailey for assignment today. The move was made to free up a 40-man roster spot for younger players receiving September callups.

Bailey, 30, owns a career .228/.340/.434 batting line in 159 plate appearances in the big leagues, but he's spent most of the last five years in Triple-A. Interestingly, the Red Sox would not have had to DFA Bailey if not for the Yankees claiming Chris Carter last week.

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