NL Central Rumors: Volquez, Iannetta, Bourn
The NL Central has four buyers and two sellers. The latest:
- The Reds are drawing interest from multiple teams on righty Edinson Volquez, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The 28-year-old has a 5.93 ERA on the season and spent time at Triple-A. Still, he throws hard and is under team control through 2013.
- The Pirates and Rockies have yet to exchange names on Chris Iannetta, tweets Jon Paul Morosi. The Pirates added one bat today, promoting Pedro Alvarez.
- Interest in Astros center fielder Michael Bourn is still not high, writes Stephen Goff of Examiner.com. He says the Braves are not a good fit and the Nationals are highly unlikely.
- The Astros had scouts watching the Triple-A clubs of the Diamondbacks and Braves recently, writes Rosenthal.
George Springer Met With Long Island Ducks
1:40pm: Springer's father explained to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that he and his son met with the Ducks' GM as a contingency in case an agreement can't be reached. Returning to college is not a likely option for Springer.
12:23pm: Astros first-round draft pick George Springer may sign with the independent league Long Island Ducks, tweets @zoodig. This development is a sign that the University of Connecticut outfielder is not close to a deal with the deadline about three weeks away.
The typical bonus for the #11 pick is in the $1.8-2MM range, according to Baseball America.
Rockies Rumors: Jimenez, Wigginton
The Rockies are 11 games back in the NL West, so it's time to consider selling various pieces. The latest:
- The Red Sox, Rangers, Tigers, Blue Jays, Yankees, and Reds scouted Ubaldo Jimenez's start yesterday in Arizona, tweets SI's Jon Heyman. Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post tweets that nothing has changed since his column yesterday – the Reds and Yankees make the most sense, with the Rangers, Red Sox, and Tigers lurking. At that point, Renck wrote that the price is huge – at least three players – but the Rockies "haven't pulled Jimenez off the showroom floor."
- The Pirates have interest in Ty Wigginton, tweets Renck. Wigginton, who played for the Bucs from 2004-05, is a good source of righthanded pop at the corners.
- Right-handed relievers Rafael Betancourt and Matt Lindstrom are also trade candidates, tweets Renck.
B.J. Upton Rumors: Monday
Rays center fielder B.J. Upton may not crack the top 20 on our list of available bats ranked by wOBA, but his defense and potential are enough to make him a hot name on the 2011 trade market. The latest:
- The Phillies have some interest in Upton, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post, but most calls to the Rays are coming from the Nationals, Braves, Pirates, Reds, and Cardinals. The Cardinals would have interest if they trade Colby Rasmus for pitching. Sherman adds that the Royals have interest in Upton with an eye on contending next year.
- The Rays would want Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, Mike Minor, or Arodys Vizcaino from the Braves for Upton, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. Crasnick does not find the Braves likely to make such a move.
Athletics Near Agreement With Sonny Gray
5:26pm: Oakland scouting director Eric Kubota told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that the A's are close to a deal with Gray (Twitter link).
12:04pm: Athletics first-round pick Sonny Gray is in Oakland today for a physical, tweets ESPN's Keith Law. Law notes that once Gray is stretched out, the A's plan to send him to Double-A Midland.
The A's drafted Gray 18th overall out of Vanderbilt last month. Slot for the pick is around $1.4MM, though Kaleb Cowart signed for $2.3MM as the 18th pick last year.
Is Wandy Rodriguez Overpaid?
For a pitcher with a 3.40 ERA since the beginning of the 2008 season, Astros lefty Wandy Rodriguez isn't getting much respect. American League teams seem to want nothing to do with him (though the Yankees and Red Sox scouted him this weekend), and one executive suggested to SI's Jon Heyman that the Astros might have to pay half of Rodriguez's contract to move him. One GM told Heyman, "Nobody's going to touch Wandy."
Since 2011 is Rodriguez's final arbitration year, and the player provided a discount in signing long-term, his current salary is just $7MM. That'd leave only $2.3MM for '11 at the deadline. After that Wandy gets $10MM in '12, $13MM in '13, and would have a $13MM player option for '14 upon a trade. So you'd get him at a discount this year, and then have to take on as much as three years, $36MM. 3/36 doesn't sound too bad, although you're only on the hook for that last $13MM if Rodriguez doesn't feel he can do better on the open market or just really wants to stay.
I conducted an informal poll of two agents and one team executive on whether Rodriguez would top three years, $36MM as a free agent after this season. One told me that amount is at the top of his probable range, and he wouldn't get more than three years since he turns 33 in January. Another called Rodriguez a "poor man's Ted Lilly" in terms of cache, suggesting three years and $27-30MM would be more appropriate.
So does Rodriguez have surplus trade value with his current contract? Given the lower salary in 2011, I'd say yes. However, with the contract viewed as market value or a little worse, the Astros probably can't expect anything too impressive in return unless they include several million dollars.
Stark On Bell, Beltran, Rays, Giants
The latest from ESPN's Jayson Stark…
- The Rangers and Phillies are the favorites for Padres closer Heath Bell, with the Cardinals, Angels, Braves, and Reds also in the mix.
- One executive Stark spoke to wouldn't be surprised to see a dark horse like the Reds or Brewers make a late run at Mets right fielder Carlos Beltran.
- An official who spoke with the Rays over the weekend said that while they're not trading James Shields, they'll decide later this week on players like Johnny Damon and Kyle Farnsworth. B.J. Upton could be dealt even if the team closes its 6.5 game wild card deficit.
- The Rays and Blue Jays have been scouting each other's farm systems recently. One scout speculated that the Jays could join a three-team Upton trade somehow.
- One team says Brian Sabean's off-limits prospects are Zack Wheeler, Heath Hembree, and Gary Brown, along with Brandon Belt. That'd leave the team without any top 50 prospects to move, with Francisco Peguero and Ehire Adrianza in the next tier based on Baseball America's preseason rankings. There's also Double-A lefty Eric Surkamp, who brought his ERA down to 2.00 yesterday.
- The Phillies are steering teams to their High-A Clearwater club, as they don't want to trade big leaguers and not to add much more than a million bucks in payroll. Jonathan Singleton, Brody Colvin, Trevor May, Sebastian Valle, and Jiwan James are names to watch there assuming Jarred Cosart is untouchable. Stark says the Phillies have cooled on Beltran and Hunter Pence is a long shot, so the focus is now the back end of the bullpen. Heath Bell is the top target, with Brandon League also on the radar.
Available Bats By wOBA
Weighted on-base average is a great stat to measure overall offensive production. Using FanGraphs, my own list of trade candidates, and a 200 plate appearance minimum, here's a list of potentially available bats by wOBA:
- Carlos Beltran – .394
- Michael Cuddyer – .371
- Aramis Ramirez – .370
- Casey Kotchman – .367
- Hunter Pence – .366
- Mark Reynolds – .355
- Marlon Byrd – .353
- Michael Bourn – .352
- Chris Iannetta – .349
- Melky Cabrera – .349
- Ty Wigginton – .340
- Laynce Nix – .339
- Carlos Pena – .339
- Jeff Francoeur – .338
- Denard Span – .337
- Kosuke Fukudome – .336
- Josh Willingham – .332
- Colby Rasmus – .328
- Johnny Damon – .328
- Jonny Gomes – .328
The list looks reasonably healthy at first glance, but I was liberal with my inclusions. Take out Cuddyer, Ramirez, and Pence for various reasons, and you realize that the trade market consists of Beltran plus a few decent hitters for whom you still might have to overpay.
Carlos Pena Likely To Be Traded?
Cubs first baseman Carlos Pena "will almost surely be moved," tweets SI's Jon Heyman. Heyman adds that the Diamondbacks "could be in play there."
There is the possibility that the Cubs want to re-sign Pena for 2012, but otherwise trading him now would be wise. Typically trading a player at the deadline clears a third of his salary, but as I mentioned earlier this month, the Cubs could clear two-thirds of Pena's due to the structure of his contract. I've noted that the Pirates and Diamondbacks might be the only contenders in need of a first baseman, so even though the market for bats overall is weak, those teams have leverage. The 33-year-old Pena is hitting .221/.334/.445 with 20 home runs in 378 plate appearances this year for the Cubs.
AL East Rumors: Farnsworth, Upton, Kuroda
The Rays remain on the fringe of contention, 6.5 games out in the wild card. The other four AL East teams have clear positions: the Yankees and Red Sox are buyers, and the Blue Jays and Orioles are sellers. The latest:
- The Rays are willing to trade closer Kyle Farnsworth, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. The 35-year-old has a 1.99 ERA, 7.1 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 0.44 HR/9, and 53.8% groundball rate in 40 2/3 innings this year. He's more than a rental, with a $3.3MM club option for 2012. Joel Peralta might be next in line to close if Farnsworth is dealt, suggests Dan Mennella at CloserNews.
- Trade rumors have "become a comedy to me," Rays center fielder B.J. Upton told Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. Upton wants to stay in Tampa Bay, though he's heard himself linked to the Giants, Indians, Nationals, and Phillies.
- The Yankees are among the teams pursuing the Dodgers' Hiroki Kuroda, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The Yanks had a scout at Edwin Jackson's start yesterday in Cleveland, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
- The Orioles' next GM will have his hands full with many team needs this offseason, writes Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun.
- WEEI's Alex Speier looks at the circumstances that led to the Red Sox acquiring catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia from the Rangers last summer.