Pirates Gaining Trade Value
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette discusses five Pirates players who were discussed in winter trade rumors. Neal Huntington wasn’t satisfied with the offers, and decided to keep Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, John Grabow, and Damaso Marte. Huntington says Nate McLouth‘s name was only floated as a "trial balloon."
Bay, Nady, and Grabow have all increased their value through strong Aprils (in part via their stats, in part via good health). Marte seems to have recovered from a rough start. Let’s discuss some possible suitors.
- Bay is off to a .264/.396/.448 start. The 29 year-old earns earns $5.75MM this year and $7.5MM in ’09. His main asset is OBP; the Padres and Mariners could use a boost. And he’d still be a nice fit in left for the Indians.
- Nady is hitting .327/.358/.531. He’s also 29. He’s a Scott Boras client; he earns $3.35MM this year and will also be under team control for the ’09 season. He might be a good fit for the Mets, assuming they have the pieces to re-acquire him. The Bucs could always take Aaron Heilman as part of the deal and put him in the rotation.
- Grabow is under team control through ’09; Marte will be a free agent after this year unless a pricey $6MM option is exercised. The Phillies are said to be looking for a lefty reliever, and the Yankees have inquired in the past.
Pirates Release Matt Morris
Unfortunately, there’s no surprise here. ESPN reports the Pirates have released Matt Morris. As Tim noted last night, the Pirates had little choice and eating $10MM seems their best option. According to ESPN,
"The decision to cut Morris will cost the Pirates more than $10 million, in addition to what they already have paid him this season. Morris is making $10,037,283 this season, or about one-fifth of their payroll, and has a $1 million buyout for 2009."
There shouldn’t be much interest for Morris. A minor league contract somewhere could be a possibility. But retirement seems inevitable, and Morris may be resigned to the fact:
"I’ve always said the other team will let you know when you’re done."
Phil Dumatrait will replace him in the rotation, and John Van Benschoten will be called up to fill the roster spot.
By Nat Boyle
Will Mets Release Delgado?
Is Carlos Delgado the next Frank Thomas? Or worse yet, is he the next Mike Piazza? Sammy Sosa? Barry Bonds? (steroid implications aside). So asks Joel Sherman of the NY Post who’s headline – always in that in-your-face extra-bold verdana – reads "DELGADO ON HIS WAY OUT AT FIRST". With aging veterans out of work, and a rash of young talent being locked up, 2008 really feels like the end of one era and the marked beginning of the next.
An arbitrary fun-fact from Sherman, "In the past 25 years, just one champion has had a regular first baseman older than 32 (the 2001 Diamondbacks with 37-year-old Mark Grace)." Delgado’s making $16MM this season, and although 35 is often a notorious age at which batters decline, this cliff fall is not the norm. Still, a contract of that magnitude will keep Delgado in New York for at least a short while longer.
In Buster Olney’s latest, he speculated Delgado’s release, which seems to be slightly more than speculation at this point. Olney cited Xavier Nady or Scott Hatteberg as potential replacements should the Mets want to trade for a replacement. Nady, however, might not be available until the Pirates say "uncle."
Should the 35-yr old Delgado reenter free agent land, what kind of interest will there be? Most likely less than there was for Frank Thomas, but someone would throw him a bone as he’d be low risk, high reward. Not unlike Thomas, PECOTA projects a .265-20-80 season from the veteran and while that’s not a $16MM season, it’s still adequate production for many teams from a corner infielder or DH.
By Nat Boyle
Decision Time On Matt Morris
According to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pirates management met with Matt Morris after today’s performance brought his ERA to 9.67. I mentioned in my recent video mailbag that I couldn’t see Morris lasting past June 1st, but it looks like May 1st is in question. Kovacevic explains the three possible scenarios:
- Morris goes to the bullpen.
- The Pirates release Morris, eating more than $10MM.
- Morris retires, saving the Pirates millions. But as classy as Morris may be, no one should expect him to leave that kind of money on the table. It’s not his fault Brian Sabean signed him in 2005.
Bucs Not Ready To Release Morris
The Pirates aren’t ready to release beleaguered starter Matt Morris. However, the team’s president wouldn’t rule it out for the future.
Pirates fans are growing increasingly frustrated with Morris, but the team continues to wait it out. Given the upside of a 5.00 ERA, what’s the point? He wasn’t Neal Huntington’s acquisition; he should be able to deal with it rationally. I would be surprised if Morris is still with the Pirates on June 1st.
Odds And Ends: Crede, Morris, Thomas
Just a couple of lingering posts in my browser this morning.
- It looks like Joe Crede is sticking by Scott Boras’s side as he enters free agency after this season. I can’t blame him. It’s one thing for a superstar like A-Rod or an established veteran like Kenny Rogers to do what they want. But Crede certainly benefits from being repped by Boras.
- If Pirates GM Neal Huntington has plans to ditch Matt Morris, he’s not tipping his hand. The 33-year-old righty has been downright horrible since coming over to Pittsburgh, a gaffe made by who else by Dave Littlefield.
- While Tim mentioned yesterday that Jon Daniels is leaning away from Frank Thomas, Manager Ron Washington is enticed. "I’ll take him in a heartbeat. Once he reaches 100 at-bats, he really does start hacking."
Posted by Joe Pawlikowski.
Odds and Ends: Hatteberg, Colon, Longoria
And now for more Odds and Ends around the league:
- In his latest "Full Count" audio piece at Fox Sports, Ken Rosenthal expects the Reds to do some roster shuffling that could come down to trades. Scott Hatteberg has become "expendable" with the recent emergence of Joey Votto and by the fact that the Reds have too many lefty hitters.
- Cork Gaines latest Baseball Blogs Weigh In delved into the Evan Longoria signing. To add to that, Ken Rosenthal, also in his Full Count piece, notes favorably that Longoria has set himself for life without having to establish himself and that his payday will come at age 31, still in time for a 4-5 year deal.
- The Boston Herald’s reporting Bartolo Colon could opt to leave the Red Sox if he’s not in the bigs by May 1st. Manager Terry Francona hopes he will "forego the decision for a while (most likely until May 15)." With a recent setback being the reason he’s not in the majors, I don’t see him going anywhere just yet.
- An amusing quote from columnist John Mehno of the Beaver County Times on whether the Pirates can be expected to lock up any of its young talent: "Given the lack of can’t-miss prospects in the system, Pirates rookies intent on becoming instant millionaires should probably keep buying lottery tickets."
By Nat Boyle
Matt Morris Tough To Move
It’s no secret that the Pirates would love to trade starter Matt Morris. The Dave Littlefield acquisition remains perplexing. The "veteran leadership" angle doesn’t play well when his Pirates’ ERA is over 6.00 in 14 starts. This year, he’s not even getting groundballs.
Neal Huntington would love to see Morris show a hint of value, so that he can trade the 34 year-old and somehow avoid paying all of the $10.5MM still owed to him. How long until Huntington gives up on that idea and cuts Morris? Bryan Bullington and John Van Benschoten seem more deserving of starts.
A Lot Riding On Gorzelanny’s 2008 Performance
Dejan Kovacevic of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette concerns himself with one significant name missing from the Pirates’ recent contract extensions: Tom Gorzelanny.
Kovacevic reveals that Gorzelanny’s name came up when team officials discussed players who should get extensions, but because he won’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2009 season, and because they wanted to see more of him, they decided to exclude him.
The feeling amongst management is that the lefty could become a premier pitcher, so they are looking for big growth this season. Things with Gorzelanny have been less than stellar thus far, so he’s not helping his case any. His most recent start lasted only 2.1 innings, as he gave up six hits and four walks. But looking beyond this year’s small sample size, Gorzelanny’s second half last year betrays the front office’s confidence. He walked 3.5 batters per nine, and had a solid but not-overwhelming 6.5 strikeouts per nine (for an underwhelming 1.9 command ratio).
The Pirates waiting to see more from Gorzelanny may not work in favor of his bank account.
Odds and Ends: Harden, Bonds, Ramon Hernandez
Time to round up today’s linkage.
- Susan Slusser believes Rich Harden and Joe Blanton will both be traded this season. She sees the Yankees and Mets as suitors for Harden, though he’s already having a start pushed back.
- Jim Caple recently made his case for the Mariners to sign Barry Bonds; his logic is sound.
- Our Brian Bannister Q&A got a mention in the KC Star. Nice!
- RotoAuthority has the fantasy take on K-Rod’s ailing ankles.
- Pure speculation, but Ken Rosenthal thinks Ramon Hernandez would be a good fit for the Reds. Not sure if the Reds were looking at Michael Barrett, but that option’s off the table now.
- Who said you can’t go home again? Craig Wilson is back with the Bucs.
- We’ll be doing our third MLBTR chat here at 2pm CST; don’t miss it!