Rangers Ink Luis Sardinas
According to Baseball America's Ben Badler, the Rangers have agreed to terms with 16-year-old Venezuelan Luis Sardinas.
Sardinas, a switch-hitting shortstop, was considered one of the best defenders on the international free agent market. Badler reports he has "excellent hands" and "good range." The youngster is expected to receive a signing bonus over $1MM.
To keep tabs on the day's international signings, check MLBTR's constantly updated list. And for more information on the terms we use, there's always MLBTR's "Hot Stove Glossary."
Phillies, Rangers Interested In Wang
Saturday: Heyman says the Phillies offered "a prospect apparently not to Yankees' liking" for Wang.
Friday: SI's Jon Heyman tweets that the Phillies and Rangers are among the teams interested in Yankees righthander Chien-Ming Wang. We first learned of Philadelphia's interest in the sinkerballer last weekend, but the Rangers are new to the discussion. With the recent news that Ben Sheets may not pitch all at this season, Texas could turn to Wang for help as they prepare to make a second half run at the first place Angels. They certainly have the young players to offer in exchange for Wang, or any other pitcher in the big leagues for that matter.
Wang famously struggled earlier in the season but has settled down of late, allowed three earned runs or less in his last four starts.
Stark On Royals, Phillies, Holliday
ESPN.com's Jayson Stark asks some thoughtful baseball people why we're not greeting Manny Ramirez like the "team-wrecking, alibi-distorting, female-fertility-drug-popping scoundrel he is." And, of course, Stark has piles of rumors. Here they are:
- The Mets were never willing to move Bobby Parnell or other top young arms for Mark DeRosa, so they weren't as close to acquiring him as the Reds and Cubs were. The Phillies, Marlins and Giants were also in the mix.
- The Indians are more interested in dealing Rafael Bentancourt than Kerry Wood, whose contract ($15MM remaining) would be hard to move.
- The Royals will listen on anyone but Zack Greinke, but that doesn't mean they're looking to deal starters. They're "reluctant" to deal Brian Bannister, Kyle Davies or Gil Meche, who has a no-trade clause.
- The Phillies were looking at Juan Cruz, who the Royals say they'd only deal for an upper-tier prospect ready to make a big-league impact.
- The Reds will wait it out and ramp up their pursuit of a bat if they're in the race later in the month.
- One executive says Pedro Martinez didn't look bad in last month's workout; Pedro's just demanding too much money.
- The Phillies haven't given up on pursuing Cliff Lee, Erik Bedard or Roy Oswalt.
- The Braves are trying to deal Jeff Francoeur everywhere, but no one's interested. One front-office guy says his team would be interested if Francoeur's non-tendered.
- Officials are divided on whether Yunel Escobar could be dealt, but a trade is unlikely at best.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels says he is now looking to bolster his rotation.
- As expected, Daniels confirmed that the Rangers will have "limited" ability to take on salary at the deadline.
- The A's will want "two prospects with tremendous upside" for Matt Holliday if they deal him. It's unclear how much of the $6.75MM remaining on his contract the A's would pick up.
- Could Josh Willingham be the next-best bat on the market? One exec says he might be if Russell Branyan and Miguel Tejada don't become available.
- Another official says Willingham's unappealing because of his back issues.
Odds And Ends: Blue Jays, Cotts, Indians
Manny's back to help celebrate the Fourth of July weekend! Here are some links to start the day off…
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that Blue Jays execs will decide what course of action to take this month once they see how the team performs on its ten-game road trip against divisional rivals.
- Jamey Newberg ranks this week's top 20 Rangers prospects for MLB.com. Texas just keeps churning out quality players; this week it's Julio Borbon.
- Cubs reliever Neal Cotts underwent Tommy John surgery, according to the Sports Network, via the Miami Herald.
- Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times says the Mariners and Angels have a serious advantage over the Rangers when it comes to making deadline deals now that the Rangers are borrowing money from MLB.
- Steve Kornacki of MLive provides five reasons why the Tigers may not make the playoffs and five reasons why they're in first.
- As Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes, Seth McClung's preformance has made the Brewers' need for a starter more glaring.
- Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says the Indians would need a "staggering" return for either Cliff Lee or Victor Martinez.
Rangers Borrowed Millions From MLB
4:54pm: Yahoo's Gordon Edes reports that the Rangers borrowed millions from MLB and will continue to receive financial assistance from the league until owner Tom Hicks finalizes the club's sale. Edes' source says the Rangers borrowed less than $15MM.
Hicks isn't expected to sell the club before the end of the season, so the Rangers will have trouble adding salary at the deadline and could struggle to sign their top draft picks.
3:06pm: Rangers owner Tom Hicks and president Nolan Ryan were among those who dodged questions about the possibility that the Rangers had to borrow $15MM from MLB, according to Evan Grant of D Magazine. One of Grant's sources said the Rangers have had no trouble paying employees and should be able to sign draft picks and international free agents, as expected.
Odds and Ends: Duran, Ichiro, Wright, Manny, Wilson
The Pirates are dominating the rumors lately, but there have been a few other noteworthy items:
- The Astros claimed infielder German Duran off unconditional waivers from the Rangers. Ken Rosenthal writes that Duran will be put on the DL and will end up in the minors.
- Though money is tight for many American franchises, SI reports that the earnings for the world's twenty richest non-American athletes are at an all-time high. Ichiro, with $22.5MM, is the only ballplayer on the list.
- David Wright shook off criticism from former Met John Franco, telling reporters that Franco "doesn't know what's going on" in the Mets clubhouse.
- Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports that the Dodgers prepared for the return of Manny Ramirez with a series of roster moves.
- And Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson apologized for remarks made yesterday that criticized the team's trading strategy.
Indians Release Luis Vizcaino
According to Anthony Castrovince at MLB.com, the Indians released reliever Luis Vizcaino today. The 34-year-old Vizcaino had been designated for assignment on June 23.
Vizcaino put up a 4.11 ERA and 12/12 K/BB ratio in 15.1 innings between the Cubs and Indians this year. The Rangers were said to be in the mix for Vizcaino before the Indians, and with their decimated bullpen it looks to still be a possibility.
Odds And Ends: Halladay, Yankees, Rangers
Links for Tuesday morning…
- Today's chat will take place at 2pm CST.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports looks ahead to the end of next season when Roy Halladay becomes a free agent if the Jays don't lock him up before then.
- As Diamond Leung notes, the Dodgers traded minor league pitcher Brian Mazone to the Phillies for future considerations. Mazone already spent three years in the Phillies organization.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post speculates on an imagined deal: Luis Castillo for Milton Bradley.
- Peter Abraham of the Journal News reports that the Yankees signed two independent leaguers: third baseman Yurendell DeCaster and lefty Edwin Walker.
- Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe offers five possible solutions for the Red Sox in case Mike Lowell has to miss much time.
- Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun asks Orioles fans which player they would pluck from the Red Sox roster if possible. Kevin Youkilis and Jon Lester would sure be nice additions.
- Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post answers his readers' trade questions.
- Anthony Andro of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers signed second rounder Tommy Mendonca.
International Free Agent Update
ESPN.com's Jorge Arangure relays the latest on a pair of international players with his Twitter account.
- Cheslor Cuthbert, who agreed to terms over the weekend, will receive a bonus of about $1.2MM from the Royals.
- The Rangers appear to be closing in on Jurickson Profar.
- It looks like he'll receive a bonus of about $700k to play short.
- He could probably have received more if he'd signed as a pitcher, but he doesn't want to pitch.
Our own Mike Axisa questioned Baseball America's Ben Badler about some other international players over at River Ave. Blues:
- It looks like top Latin catching prospect Gary Sanchez will sign with the Yankees for about $3MM.
- The Mariners seem to be the favorites to sign Guillermo Pimentel.
- Ugueth Urbina's son, Juan, will likely sign with the Mets.
- Badler says Miguel Angel Sano would have gone somewhere between fourth overall and the end of the first round if he'd been eligible in this month's draft.
Rangers Shifting Focus To Starters?
With starter Matt Harrison hitting the DL, T.R. Sullivan at MLB.com says that Rangers GM Jon Daniels could comb the starting pitching market for help. We've known that the Rangers have been looking for arms, but the priorities could be shifting from RPs to SPs:
"We probably have more internal options in the bullpen than in the rotation. [Starting pitching] is something we're looking at but there are not that many starting pitchers available and I don't expect that to change," Daniels said.
The Rangers field some of the best pitching prospects in baseball, but most aren't close to major-league ready. The team ERA sits at 4.41, which is 19th in the majors and might slip with the depleted depth. Kevin Millwood has been the only reliable piece of the rotation this year.
Texas is now 40-33, one game behind the surging Angels. We checked in on a similar debacle a few weeks ago when Brandon McCarthy hit the DL, and at that time the Rangers were comfortably ahead of the Angels by 4.5 games. The Rangers have plenty of pieces to offer potential suitors, but Daniels believes the market to be "thin." They've been reported as being reluctant to add any salary as well.
If you're Daniels, is it your only choice to stand pat and hope it all pans out? Or is this team for real, and does the market have more valuable pieces to offer than they're letting on? Do we re-visit the ever-fascinating Ben Sheets and Pedro Martinez talks? Discuss your thoughts.