Archives for January 2011

Five Teams Have Expressed Interest In Manny

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | January 15, 2011 at 9:24pm CDT

SATURDAY, 9:24pm: SI.com's Jon Heyman tweets that the Blue Jays are still considering Ramirez.

FRIDAY, 10:04am: At least five teams have shown some level of interest in Manny Ramirez, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com (link in Spanish). The Angels, Twins, Rangers, Rays and Blue Jays have asked about Manny, according to Rojas’ source.

Ramirez is training in Arizona and he’s preparing to play defense if necessary. Agent Scott Boras made the case for Manny yesterday, speaking to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick. Crasnick heard that Ramirez could be a fit in Tampa Bay, but suggested that the Blue Jays are less likely to sign him.

The five clubs mentioned in Rojas' report all appeared on my list of teams with potential interest in designated hitters.

This Date In Transactions History: January 15th

By Mike Axisa | January 15, 2011 at 8:52pm CDT

January 15th has been a surprisingly busy day for transactions throughout baseball history, particularly when it comes to trades involving big name players. We already told you about the Lee Stevens deal, but let’s take a look at a few more…

Two years ago today the Dodgers released Andruw Jones after he agreed to restructure his contract. Jones hit just .158/.256/.249 during the first year of the two-year, $36.2MM contract he signed with LA.
Eight years ago today the Expos traded Bartolo Colon and a minor leaguer to the White Sox for Rocky Biddle, Orlando Hernandez, Jeff Liefer, and cash. The deal came less than eight months after Montreal traded Stevens, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, and Grady Sizemore to Cleveland for Colon and the other Drew brother, Tim.
That trade took place immediately after the White Sox acquired El Duque from the Yankees for Antonio Osuna and a minor leaguer.
One year before the Colon swap, the Dodgers sent Gary Sheffield to the Braves for Brian Jordan, Odalis Perez, and Andrew Brown. Perez had some nice seasons in Los Angeles, but Sheffield was a monster for the Braves. He hit .319/.412/.562 with 64 homers in his two years with the team.
The Tigers signed Cecil Fielder on this date in 1990. Prince’s father had spent the previous two seasons in Japan, and he came back to MLB with a 51 homer season in 1990 followed by a 44 homer season in 1991.
The Reds purchased Wally Pipp from the Yankees for $7,500 on this date way back in 1926. Pipp is most famous for being held out of a game in 1925, with his replacement at first base being a 21-year-old rookie named Lou Gehrig. Pipp never got his job back.
Some other players involved in transactions on this date: Mike Redmond, David Eckstein, John Mabry, Jose Molina, Tim Raines, Juan Uribe, and the late Rod Beck.

Poll: Who Will The Rays Sign To DH?

By Mike Axisa | January 15, 2011 at 7:29pm CDT

The Rays have been rebuilding their bullpen on the fly this offseason, but they're also in the market for a DH. Just yesterday we heard that the team seems to prefer Vladimir Guerrero to Manny Ramirez, though R.J. Anderson at The Process Report wonders why. Unless Scott Boras is asking for a king's ransom, he explains that Manny is the better option. Tampa has also been connected to Johnny Damon and Andruw Jones recently, two more DH options.

Jim Thome just took a $3MM guarantee from the Twins, which probably sets the market for the remaining DH's. That should fit nicely into the Rays' budget, who have some Matt Garza money left to spend. Some of that has since gone to Kyle Farnsworth though. Our Free Agent Tracker shows that Troy Glaus, Jason Giambi, and Russell Branyan are three more DH options available via free agency.

Dodgers Nearing Deal With Marcus Thames

By Zachary Links | January 15, 2011 at 6:50pm CDT

The Dodgers are on the verge of signing free agent outfielder Marcus Thames, baseball sources tell MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. However, the club declined to confirm that a signing of the 33-year-old is close. Thames would provide the Dodgers with right-handed power and could platoon with Jay Gibbons in left field.

Sources say that the Dodgers are also looking at veterans Eric Chavez and Gabe Kapler as they search for a power bat. The front office also is thinking about moving Matt Kemp from center field to right, Andre Ethier right field to left, and Tony Gwynn starting in center field. That alignment would help fortify the Dodgers' defense but Gwynn must perform well at the plate in Spring Training in order to make that a possibility.

Athletics Avoid Arbitration With Brad Ziegler

By Mike Axisa | January 15, 2011 at 6:49pm CDT

The Athletics and Brad Ziegler have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $1.25MM, reports ESPN's Buster Olney (on Twitter). The reliever was eligible for arbitration for the first time.

Ziegler, 31, pitched to a 3.26 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 60 2/3 innings last season. He famously started his career with a 39 1/3 inning scoreless streak, and in his three big league seasons he's limited right-handers to just a .230/.281/.284 batting line compared to .312/.419/.483 for lefties.

Oakland still has five unsigned players up for arbitration according to our Arb Tracker: Conor Jackson, Craig Breslow, Dallas Braden, Josh Willingham, and Kevin Kouzmanoff.

Pujols’ Agent Sets Deadline For Extension Talks

By Zachary Links | January 15, 2011 at 6:24pm CDT

6:24pm: ESPN's Buster Olney says (via Twitter) that if a contract can not be worked out by the deadline, Pujols "is intent on testing the free agent market." SI.com's Jon Heyman spoke to one executive that thinks Pujols would get 20% less than expected on the open market because big spenders like the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, and Tigers don't figure to enter the bidding given their first base situation (Twitter link).

Olney speculates that the Cubs, Angels, Dodgers, and Giants could be interested.

1:41pm: Dan Lozano, the agent for Albert Pujols, notified the Cardinals that Spring Training is the deadline for a new deal to be struck, GM John Mozeliak told Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter). Earlier this week, Cards chariman and CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. said that he was "hopeful" that the club can extend Pujols by Opening Day.

It's difficult to find a dead-on comparison for the stellar slugger, but our own Ben Nicholson-Smith suggested that Pujols could compare himself to Alex Rodriguez who is earning $27.5MM per season over the life of his newest contract. We don't know much about the inner-workings of the talks as it is, but earlier today Mozeliak vowed to keep his lips sealed on the matter.

Royals To Sign Bruce Chen

By Mike Axisa | January 15, 2011 at 5:14pm CDT

The Royals and Bruce Chen have agreed to a one-year contract worth $2MM with another $1.5MM in performance bonuses according to SI.com's Jon Heyman (on Twitter). The deal is pending a physical per a team press release. Chen is represented by Scott Boras.

The 33-year-old is the second free agent lefty Kansas City has signed in as many days. Unlike Jeff Francis, Chen spent the 2010 season with the Royals, pitching to a 4.17 ERA in 140 1/3 innings. He struck out 6.3 and walked 3.7 batters per nine innings pitched, respectively. It was the second most innings Chen has pitched in a single big league season since 2001, as he's bounced around from team to team over the last decade.

Chen has extensive experience both starting and relieving, so he'll provide the Royals with quite a bit of flexibility should some of the high-end arms from their top ranking farm system come up during the season. He'll also be a nice piece of trade bait at the deadline should he repeat last season's success.

GM Dayton Moore recently indicated that he was prioritizing pitching depth, and within five days he signed both Chen and Francis for just a $4MM guarantee combined. Those two won't replace Zack Greinke's production, but they'll give the team much needed innings.

Blue Jays Avoid Arbitration With Carlos Villanueva

By Mike Axisa | January 15, 2011 at 5:11pm CDT

The Blue Jays and Carlos Villanueva have agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.415MM according to SI.com's Jon Heyman. Villanueva was arbitration-eligible for the second time.

Toronto acquired the 27-year-old right-hander from the Brewers in December for a player to be named later. Villanueva pitched to 4.61 ERA with 11.4 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 52 2/3 relief innings last season, though he's surrendering one long ball for fewer than every seven innings pitched in his relatively young career. Last season was his first as a full-time reliever.

The Blue Jays still have seven players still eligible for arbitration according to our Arb Tracker. The list includes Yunel Escobar, Jesse Litsch, Brandon Morrow, Casey Janssen, Shawn Camp, Rajai Davis, and Jose Bautista.

Athletics Notes: Fuentes, Relievers, Right-Handed Bat

By Zachary Links | January 15, 2011 at 4:25pm CDT

Yesterday the Athletics agreed to sign Grant Balfour to a two-year deal and today we learned that they're making a push for Brian Fuentes. ESPN's Buster Olney brings us a pair of Oakland-related tidbits..

Location could definitely work in the A's favor as they look to land Fuentes, Olney tweets. Fuentes, a "[California] guy", was raised in Merced – roughly two hours east of Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The left-hander is arguably the best remaining free agent reliever available.
Oakland's signing of Balfour likely won't be the club's last move of the offseason, Olney writes. The A's are now in search of bullpen depth and a right-handed bat. If Oakland decides not to spend on a lefty reliever like Fuentes they could go with less-expensive options such as Joe Beimel, Tim Byrdak, Dennys Reyes, and Mark Hendrickson. A few notable right-handed relievers remain as well including Chad Durbin and Manny Delcarmen.

How To Use MLBTR

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | January 15, 2011 at 3:45pm CDT

An explanation of the many ways to enjoy MLB Trade Rumors:

If the main site doesn't load perfectly on your cell phone, try the more mobile-friendly mlbtraderumors.mobi. It's a simple page that shows you just the headlines and lets you click through to what you want to read.
If you're an iPhone user, be sure to pick up our app for the latest news and rumors.
If you want only the hard news in the form of transactions, our transactions page is the ticket. You can also get only the transactions via Twitter or RSS.
To return to the main page at any time, just click on the title or the Home button on the navigation bar below the title.
The navigation bar will cover many of your needs. Use the About dropdown to learn about this site or any of its writers.
The Contact button takes you to a page where you can write an email message to the MLBTR writers. If you have a link to a rumor we've missed, please send it in through the Contact page! Also use the Contact page to inquire about advertising on MLBTR.
The Archives dropdown shows you 15 months worth. If you need to go back further, click on Site Map at the very bottom of the page. Site Map also lists out every MLBTR post category, including players, teams, and features.
The Tools dropdown takes you to a number of different places. The MLBTR Widget allows website owners to easily add a constantly updated box with all of MLBTR's headlines to their sites.
Also under the tools tab is our Transaction Tracker, which enables you to search about anything and everything to do with baseball trades, signings and extensions.
Be sure to check out our Free Agent Tracker in case you're wondering about this year's free agents. Which left-handed relievers are available? Which third basemen have signed? We've got all the information you need.
Our Arbitration Tracker is also under the Tools tab. It enables you to track all arb eligible players.
The Forums button takes you here, to a message board community of MLBTR readers with over 5,500 members. You can discuss any baseball-related topic on the Forums, and start your own thread too.
Feeds By Team is a very useful dropdown. Hover over it to see all 30 teams. Click on the team name to bring up a page of every post containing information about that team, with the latest on top. These are the same pages you'll find if you go to the Rumors By Team section on the sidebar and select A's Rumors, Angels Rumors, etc. Also under the Feeds By Team dropdown, you'll find RSS and Twitter buttons. Those links allow you to follow a single team's rumors via RSS or Twitter. Did you know we have a separate Twitter account for each of the 30 teams? For example you can follow @mlbtrtigers, where you would get the latest Tigers updates. This week, follow @mlbtrorlando for updates on the GM Meetings.
On the far right of the Navigation bar, you'll see buttons for Twitter, Facebook, and RSS. MLBTR has over 59,000 Twitter followers, over 30,000 Facebook fans, and over 53,000 RSS subscribers. Sign up for these and you'll be the first to receive all of our posts.
Be sure to check out your favorite team's MLBTR page on Facebook so you can receive and comment on the latest rumors.
On to the sidebar. It begins with a list of our Top Stories, which our writers update any time major hard news occurs. Go here for a quick update on the most important stories. Below that is the site's Search Box, where you can type in any player's name and get the latest on him.
MLBTR Features has all kinds of goodies, including our free agent lists, 2011 draft order, list of Scott Boras clients, official 2009-10 Elias Rankings and GM-related stuff. Many of the MLBTR Features are constantly updated by our writers, so be assured that our free agent lists are always fresh.
Below Features you've got headlines for all the Recent Posts, in case you'd rather not scroll to see all the headlines. Then there's a box for our Mailing List, where you can sign up to receive a daily email containing MLBTR's posts. Use this option if you don't need the news as soon as possible.
Next we have Featured Posts, where you'll find original work from MLBTR writers we consider noteworthy. For example, read about the best time to trade relievers.

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