Speier and Stanton close to finding new homes
The big news this morning is that the Angels are close to a four-year deal with Justin Speier, who is very possibly the best reliever on the market this year. Tim predicted that Speier would get a three-year deal worth $17M–my guess is that the money per year is right, just with that extra year, for a total of $21-$22M or so.
Speier was a possible closer for many teams, so it’s something of a surprise that the team that ponied up for him already has a great closer and a solid setup man in Frankie Rodriguez and Scot Shields. It’s not cheap, and it’ll certainly be more expensive once Frankie gets deep into his arbitration years, but LA could have the best 1-2-3 bullpen punch in baseball for a couple of years.
The market for relievers wasn’t pretty in the first place; now the best guys out there are, uh, Danys Baez and David Weathers? The price was already high for Scott Linebrink; it just went up again.
One of the possibilities for Boston (who was presumed to be a suitor for Speier) is Joe Borowski, who sounds more than generically interested in the Red Sox. And who wouldn’t be? Short of every fanboy’s dream of Roger Clemens pitching the ninth inning, Borowski could end up closing games in Boston.
Yesterday I said nice things about the Reds signing of Alex Gonzalez. Today I can’t be so kind to Wayne Krivsky. Apparently he’s about to sign Mike Stanton to a two-year deal with a vesting option for a third. Stanton turns 40 in June. He had a nice run in San Francisco last year, but let’s face it: the guy hasn’t put up a good full season for two years. Sure, he might be worth more than the $1M he got for last year, but a vesting option for 2009? I guess that if you’re worried David Weathers won’t come back, there’s only one choice: get older.
By Jeff Sackmann
Two Year Offer For Drew?
Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News has overheard a few possible offers to free agents.
He says that J.D. Drew is "expected to sign a two-year, $30 million deal with Boston." It makes sense for the Sox to pay an extra $2MM or so annually to keep the years down on this deal. Meanwhile, in a separate article, Larry LaRue writes, "Boston has offered J.D. Drew a huge contract – and Lou Piniella’s Cubs have matched it."
Ringolsby also notes that the Giants made a pair of three-year, $30MM offers: one to Juan Pierre and one to Gary Matthews Jr. The idea is that whoever says yes first gets the deal. What if both say yes? I don’t know how that works. As McCovey Chronicles points out, Pierre doesn’t make a whole lot of sense on a team that already has Randy Winn.
Did you know that according to Bill James, Pierre has a 29% chance at reaching 3,000 hits? If this causes players like Pierre to be considered for the Hall, I think we need to change the 3,000 hit standard. Same goes for 500 HRs.
In addition, Brian Sabean is already talking to the agents for Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Lee. Word from this same article is that the Giants may bid for Kei Igawa and haven’t had significant talks with Ray Durham yet.
J.D. Drew Set To Sign With Red Sox?
Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote a blurb this morning in the notes of his column:
"Multiple sources say they are set to sign free-agent outfielder J.D. Drew, the Phillies’ old amigo, for a 4-year, $48 million deal."
Not sure what to make of that one. I could see such an offer going out, but I expect Drew to relax and wait at least a few weeks before signing. Maybe let one of the other big bats get signed first.
Ken Rosenthal and his sources see the Red Sox, Cubs, and Astros as the main suitors. And while it’s just speculation right now, could the Jays get involved? The Cubs are committed to Jacque Jones in right field, so perhaps Drew would take his brittle body to center. The Red Sox would have to do something with Coco Crisp or Wily Mo Pena to make it fit.
Drew will be 31 next season; can Scott Boras squeeze any more than four years out of anyone? It seems unlikely. Perhaps, though, a team would pay extra to keep the commitment smaller.
Much Ado About Manny
Buster Olney refers to Manny Ramirez‘s commitment thusly:
"Three years and $42 million because in the end, Ramirez, who has a full no-trade clause in his contract, will probably want a year added to the end of his current deal to make this happen. And the Red Sox will probably eat some of his salary — but not nearly as much as would have been required to make a trade happen even two months ago."
A host of teams would not balk at that relatively short-term commitment. And you can be damn sure Manny would far exceed 3/42 on the open market. What’s it gonna take?
Olney mentions Lastings Milledge and Aaron Heilman from the Mets. I think the Mets would jump on that one. Their NL East rival, the Phillies, will take a pass apparently.
Buster also threw out the Cubs and Astros as possibilities. The Cubs have promising young players like Donald Veal, Felix Pie, Carlos Marmol, and Sean Gallagher to offer. The Astros might offer players such as Jason Hirsh, Brad Lidge, Chris Burke, Luke Scott, or Willy Taveras. Certainly seems like Houston could offer a better package.
I doubt they’re interested, but could you imagine Manny on the White Sox?
51.1
Can you believe it? The Red Sox won the rights to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka for $51.1MM. That’s more than many teams’ entire payrolls!
When speculation first began, people were thinking half that.
Destrade: Red Sox Won Matsuzaka Bid
RotoWorld has an Orestes Destrade report for ESPN that claims the Red Sox won the Daisuke Matsuzaka bid for about $42MM. I think we can be pretty confident that the Lions will accept it.
The next step, of course, is getting him signed.
UPDATE: Peter Gammons is reporting a $42MM bid as well.
McAdam: Red Sox Matsuzaka Rumor Probably Accurate
Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal spoke to several baseball sources, and learned that Buster Olney’s report of a $38-45MM Red Sox bid for Daisuke Matsuzaka was "probably accurate." Not something Yankee fans wanted to hear.
Newsday’s Ken Davidoff spoke to sources with connections to both New York clubs who indicated that neither team expects to win the bid.
Abraham On Matsuzaka: “Calm Down”
Peter Abraham, Yankees beat writer for The Journal News, is telling us all to relax a little bit in his blog. He later checked in again after talking to Brian Cashman and says the Yankees haven’t heard anything about Matsuzaka yet. Other interesting bits from Abraham’s fine blog:
– I quote: "The Japanese papers literally have people standing outside of the team offices waiting to get the news [on Matsuzaka]."
– Andy Pettitte‘s wife doesn’t seem to like the idea of a return to the Yanks.
– Carl Pavano and Luke Scott carry guns.
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Olney: Red Sox Placed Top Matsuzaka Bid?
A little while ago, Buster Olney reported that the Red Sox may have won the Daisuke Matsuzaka bid with an amount between $38MM and $45MM.
Also, please email me if you can read Taiwanese. And yes, I might mean Mandarin. I can be ignorant sometimes. Don’t take offense. Anyway, I am tracking down a possible Matsuzaka/Yankees story.
UPDATE: Many kind folks have written in to help translate the above Yahoo article. The general consensus is that the sources and reporting quality are subpar in this case and the article should be ignored as any sign that the Yankees have won the bid.
UPDATE 2: Olney updated the above link to include info from a source that the Rangers may have bid $22MM.
Healey: Red Sox Like Heilman, Milledge
Mark Healey of Gotham Baseball has a new but familiar trade rumor for us: it appears that the Red Sox would like to acquire Aaron Heilman to be their closer next year. In addition, Theo Epstein and Co. may have their eye on Lastings Milledge. It could be the makings of a Manny Ramirez trade, if the Mets want to pay Ramirez’s $39MM salary over the next two seasons.
Healey was not able to confirm this info from multiple sources, but has faith in his Boston source here.
Manny’s contract may be slightly less daunting than it looks. That’s because $8MM of the $31MM is deferred and will be paid out in $1.94MM doses over 2011-2026. I believe that is the first time MLBTradeRumors has referenced the year 2026.