Odds and Ends
A few links on a slow Friday night:
- Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reports that Jon Garland was open to returning to the White Sox this winter. The Sox opted for Bartolo Colon and Garland signed with the Diamondbacks.
- Former major leaguer Gary Matthews had a front-row seat for President Obama’s inauguration, reports Brian Knapp of MLB.com. Matthews and Obama met when their daughters had a dance class together in Chicago.
- Rocco Baldelli made his Red Sox debut against his former team today. Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe writes that Baldelli will be a good fit in Boston.
- Tracy Ringolsby signs off in the final edition of the Rocky Mountain News.
Mets, Ron Villone Agree To Terms
According to Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post, the Mets have agreed to terms with left-handed reliever Ron Villone on a minor league contract. Apparently the Scott Boras Corp. can still get things done in the midst of the Manny negotiations.
Villone, 39, posted a 4.68 ERA over 50 innings last season with the Cardinals. He’s likely to join the Mets’ spring training camp once he passes a physical.
Padres Sign 29 Pre-Arb Players
MLB.com’s Corey Brock reports that the Padres agreed to one-year contracts with 29 pre-arbitration players on Friday. Some of the bigger names on the list: Cha Seung Baek, Cla Meredith, Wade LeBlanc, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Chase Headley.
All players on San Diego’s 40-man roster are now under contract.
Reds Ink Cueto, Ramon Ramirez
According to the Associated Press, via Yahoo! Sports, the Reds have inked pre-arbitration pitchers Johnny Cueto and Ramon Ramirez to one-year deals.
The contracts are likely in the $450K-$550K range. Cueto, 23, went 9-14 with a 4.81 ERA in 31 starts last season. The 26-year-old Ramirez spent most of ’08 in the minors. He went 1-1 with a 2.67 ERA in four starts and a relief appearance for the Reds.
Brewers Sign Two Pre-Arb Players
According to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, the Brewers have finalized one-year contracts with reliever Carlos Villanueva and catcher Mike Rivera.
Yovani Gallardo is the club’s last unsigned pre-arbitration player. As we’ve mentioned before, these are guys with zero to three years of MLB service time. Most pre-arb players receive contracts in the $450K-$550K range.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Yankees, Oil Can, Halladay, Mets
On this date 21 years ago, the Baltimore Orioles traded Ray Knight to the Tigers, only one year after signing the World Series hero as a free agent. The O’s received Mark Thurmond, who would go 1-8 in 1988 with an 85 ERA+. Knight would only play 105 games for the Tigers before retiring. With spring training now in full swing, several veteran free agents are still without contracts or guaranteed jobs and may be on the verge of retirement. Let’s take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- More Hardball puts together a 25-man roster of veteran players in camps on minor league deals.
- 6 Pound 8 Ounce Baby Joba spoke with Yankees beat writer Bryan Hoch about a number of topics including what the will happen once the current contracts for Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter expire.
- Sully Baseball makes a case for a team, any team, signing Oil Can Boyd.
- The Phrontiersman takes a look at the possibility of the Phillies trading for Roy Halladay at some point during the season.
- Megamets argues for the Mets adding Dennys Reyes, over the other available lefty relievers.
- The Sports Banter puts together their own list of off-season winners.
- Midwest Sports Fans project the Twins opening day roster.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here.
Garciaparra Pondering Retirement?
12:56pm: Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has confirmed that his club is no longer interested in Garciaparra (courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s David Murphy):
"I would not view him as someone who will be with us," Amaro said. Murphy doesn’t expect the Phillies to add any more free agents before the start of the regular season.
9:47am: According to FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, free agent infielder Nomar Garciaparra is deciding between retirement and a one-year contract with the A’s.
The Phillies have apparently moved on. The A’s are also currently working on deals for shortstop Orlando Cabrera and left-hander Dennys Reyes, and Rosenthal heard from a source that the club could "increase their pursuits" of those two players "due to their uncertainty over Garciaparra."
Garciaparra, 35, hit .264/.326/.466 with eight homers and 28 RBI in 163 at-bats last season. It sounds like he needs to make a career decision fairly soon.
Phillies Release Adam Eaton
According to MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki, the Phillies have released right-hander Adam Eaton.
Eaion went 14-18 with a 6.10 ERA over 49 starts after inking a three-year, $24.5MM contract before the 2007 season. He would’ve struggled to crack the starting rotation this season, but the Phils are still on the hook for the more than $8.5MM remaining on his current deal.
Manny Rejects Dodgers’ Offer
10:46pm: Press release from the Dodgers: Manny has rejected their latest offer. In the release, Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt expresses his frustration with Manny and Scott Boras. He says the Dodgers are negotiating against themselves and improved their offer despite the economy.
8:24pm: Jayson Stark of ESPN.com said on ESPN Radio that the best offer Manny will see is currently on the table. Stark asks a fair question: "With nobody else really bidding, how much better can [Manny] do?"
7:29pm: The Giants are still keeping tabs on Manny, but the D’Backs are assuming he’ll end up in LA. Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reports that Bob Melvin, Dan Haren and Tony Clark all expect Manny to sign with the Dodgers.
5:15pm: Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle heard from Giants president Larry Baer that the Giants have based their conversations with Boras on "concepts" rather than concrete figures. Schulman gets the sense that the main concept is a multi-year deal that provides "outs" for Manny and the Giants in case one side decides the deal isn’t working.
Colletti said the Dodgers made a "significant concession" with their most recent offer. When asked about the timetable for the deal, he said "you can go as many innings as you need to get a resolution."
4:55pm: According to the Associated Press, via ESPN.com, Colletti doesn’t think it’s a big deal that Ramirez is not yet in camp. It’s definitely not going to affect negotiations.
"With the season starting a week later, it’s a little bit more flexible than it might have been a year ago," Colletti said Thursday afternoon.
3:16pm: Dylan Hernandez has some additional information from Giants president Larry Baer:
Baer said he expects the All-Star outfielder to re-sign with the Dodgers and that the Giants had no intention of entering a bidding war for his services.
2:59pm: Dodgers GM Ned Colletti just finished addressing the media. Boras told the Dodgers that he’d get back to them in a day or two, according to Tony Jackson.
It sounds like this saga might not reach its conclusion today.
1:22pm: Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News has an update from the Giants’ side of things:
Giants president Larry Baer said he exchanged messages with agent Scott Boras on Wednesday, but nothing had changed. Boras did not solicit an offer and Baer said the Giants have not made an official one.
“We haven’t been asked to make an offer in the last couple of days,” Baer said Thursday. “I don’t want to characterize it beyond that. People are saying it’s accelerated (with the Dodgers). I can’t tell you there’s any difference today than a week ago. There may be, but it hasn’t been communicated to us.”
12:49pm: Manager Joe Torre puts in his two cents (courtesy of MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick):
"Any time you talk and make another offer and they’re still listening, it’s all good as far as I’m concerned." Torre would obviously prefer putting lineups together with Manny involved.
9:08am: According to Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times, Scott Boras told reporters this morning that he’s "in the middle of negotiations" with the Dodgers and at least one other team. Still, it’d be surprising to see Colletti and Co. budge from the offer that is currently on the table.
Catch up on all things Manny Ramirez in our MLBTR archive.
The Manny Ramirez Saga
The Dodgers have extended a third offer to Manny Ramirez and they expect to hear back from Scott Boras soon, but it’s never safe to assume anything with Manny. A winter’s worth of rumors later- MLBTR has had over 200 posts about Manny- the wait could be over any day. Here’s a look back at 10 key developments in the Manny Ramirez saga so far:
- October 16th: Manny begins the offseason with a memorable quote: "Gas is up and so am I."
- November 5th: Dodgers GM Ned Colletti offers Manny a two-year deal worth $45MM.
- November 12th: Scott Boras says he’s ready for "serious" offers. Soon after, the Dodgers withdraw their initial bid.
- December 7th: Manny declines the Dodgers’ offer of arbitration.
- December 11th: Feeling ignored, Manny suggests he could retire.
- January: At some point in early January, the Giants become more serious about pursuing Manny (It’s hard to pinpoint an exact date for this one).
- February 3rd: Manny turns down the Dodgers’ offer of one year and $25MM.
- February 7th: Manny: "we’re in the seventh inning and I’m waiting for my pitch."
- February 11th: The Angels sign Bobby Abreu and the Nats sign Adam Dunn, leaving Manny and the Dodgers with few alternatives to each other.
- February 25th: The Dodgers offer Manny another deal. This one’s essentially for one year at $25MM with a player option for a second year at $20MM.