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Archives for July 2011

Diamondbacks Acquire Brad Ziegler

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12:07pm: The A's will receive first baseman Brandon Allen and reliever Jordan Norberto, reports MLB.com's Steve Gilbert.

11:53am: The D'Backs acquired Ziegler, tweets Yahoo's Tim Brown.

11:47am: The Diamondbacks are likely to acquire righty reliever Brad Ziegler from the Athletics, tweets SI's Jon Heyman.  ESPN's Buster Olney tweeted the discussions earlier.

Ziegler, a 31-year-old sidearmer, is under team control through 2014 and is owed only $405K for the balance of the season.  He has a 2.39 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, and 71.6% groundball rate with no home runs allowed in 37 2/3 innings this year.  As you might expect, he's a lot tougher on right-handed hitters.

Cardinals Acquire Rafael Furcal

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Despite a trade market thin on shortstops, the Cardinals may have accomplished their goal of upgrading at the position, as they acquired veteran Rafael Furcal from the Dodgers today for Double-A outfielder Alex Castellanos and about $2.5MM.  The 33-year-old had to waive his 10-and-5 rights for the deal to become official.

Furcal

Furcal is hitting .197/.272/.248 in 152 plate appearances, but perhaps a change of scenery will rejuvenate his bat.  He was hampered by a broken thumb and oblique strain this season, each injury knocking him out for about a month.  Because of Furcal's 10-and-5 rights and the amount of money the Dodgers are sending, the teams needed his approval and the same from the commissioner's office regarding the money the Dodgers will be sending to the Cardinals.  Furcal, the first free agent signing by Dodgers GM Ned Colletti in 2005, had about $4MM remaining on his current contract.  Furcal effectively replaces Ryan Theriot at shortstop for the Cardinals; Theriot started at second base last night for the first time this season.

Castellanos, 24, is hitting .319/.379/.562 in 391 plate appearances this year, playing right and center field.

Fallout for the Dodgers: they can give prospect Dee Gordon an extended look at shortstop in the Majors, plus they save a little cash.  Reportedly, infielder Jamey Carroll will be staying put.

GMs Ned Colletti and John Mozeliak last hooked up on a trade in November, in the deal that sent Theriot to St. Louis, according to our Transaction Tracker.

Joe Strauss, Matthew Leach, Derrick Goold, Scott Miller, Tim Brown and Jon Heyman broke aspects of the story as it developed.  Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Red Sox Deal For Harden Falls Through

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10:58am: The Red Sox tried to remove the player to be named later from the deal and just send Anderson after looking at Harden's medicals, and were rebuffed by the A's, tweets Sean McAdam.

SUNDAY, 1:05am: Uncertainty after a review of Harden's medicals led to the deal coming apart, tweets Speier.

12:36am: A major league source says that the BoSox are not counting on the deal getting done, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com.

12:05am: Harden told the Oakland media that there is no deal and that he's staying with the A's, tweets Ian Browne of MLB.com.  A Boston source confirmed Brown (via Twitter) that the deal is off.

SATURDAY, 11:47pm: A's GM Billy Beane told Harden he's still scheduled to pitch for the A's Tuesday, according to Slusser (on Twitter).

8:35pm: Anderson and a player to be named will head to Oakland in the deal, according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus and Stark (Twitter links).

8:33pm: The deal could happen tonight and may involve Triple-A first baseman Lars Anderson, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (on Twitter).

8:20pm: It looks as though the Red Sox are closing in on a deal for Rich Harden, according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark on Twitter. ESPN's Buster Olney reported on the deal earlier today and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported tonight that there was a "strong chance" of a deal.

Harden, 29, has a 4.30 ERA with 9.2 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 29 1/3 innings for the A's this year. The British Columbia native was on the disabled list until the beginning of July. He earns a $1.5MM base salary this year.

B.J. Upton Likely To Stay Put

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The latest on Rays center fielder B.J. Upton, who is hitting .226/.308/.398 on the season and is owed $1.59MM prior to his last arbitration year in 2012…

  • Though Upton is expected to stay, the Reds, Pirates, and Indians are kicking the tires, tweets Heyman.
  • Upton appears likely to stay put, tweets SI's Jon Heyman.

Erik Bedard Rumors: Sunday

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The latest on Mariners southpaw Erik Bedard…

Tigers Interested In Joel Peralta

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The Tigers are still looking for bullpen help after acquiring David Pauley, and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets they're interested in Rays reliever Joel Peralta.

Peralta, 35, has a 3.75 ERA, 7.7 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9, and 26.7% groundball rate in 48 innings this year.  He leads the American League with 52 appearances.  Peralta will be under team control for 2012 as an arbitration eligible player.

Morosi says the Tigers also have Baltimore's Jim Johnson on the radar, but a deal is unlikely.

Braves Acquire Michael Bourn

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After seeing top outfield trade candidates Carlos Beltran and Hunter Pence land with National League rivals, Braves GM made a splash today by acquiring center fielder Michael Bourn and cash from the Astros for center fielder Jordan Schafer, southpaw Double-A starter Brett Oberholtzer, righty Double-A starter Paul Clemens, and righty Triple-A reliever Juan Abreu.  The Astros announced the deal via press release.

Bourn

Bourn (pictured) is hitting .303/.363/.403 in 473 plate appearances, and he leads MLB with 39 steals.  He fills the Braves' need for a center fielder and leadoff man through next year.  The 28-year-old Scott Boras client has $1.45MM remaining on his contract this year and is arbitration eligible for 2012 before hitting free agency.  The Astros' outfield purge continues, as they sent Pence to the Phillies on Friday.  The Reds, Giants, Indians, and Nationals had also shown interest in Bourn.

Schafer, 24, figures to replace Bourn as the Astros' regular center fielder once he returns from the disabled list for a finger injury.  He owns a .223/.310/.303 line in 414 big league plate appearances, coming in '09 and this year.  Before the 2008 and '09 seasons, he was considered one of the best 50 prospects in the game, but an HGH suspension and wrist surgery dropped his stock.

None of the three pitchers are top 50 prospects, but they did rank ninth, 26th, and 27th respectively for the Braves on Baseball America's preseason rankings, and the team has a highly-regarded farm system.  Oberholtzer, 22, ranked ninth and is seen as a potential third or fourth starter in the big leagues.  Clemens and Abreu both have big upside and impressive fastballs.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports broke the story, with Jayson Stark adding the prospects and Ken Davidoff adding the financial detail.  Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Quick Hits: Brown, Tigers, Bourn, Mets

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Let's take a look at some items as we close in on the 3:00pm (CST) deadline..

Pirates Acquire Ryan Ludwick

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The Pirates acquired right fielder Ryan Ludwick from the Padres for a player to be named later, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.  Ludwick, a right-handed hitter, could at least fill the role the Pirates envisioned when they signed Matt Diaz in the offseason.

Ludwick, 33, is hitting .238/.301/.373 and has $2.2MM left on his contract.  The Bucs added veteran first baseman Derrek Lee yesterday to an offense that ranks 12th in the NL with 3.82 runs scored per game.

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