Could Braves Target Cain?
This is more speculation than rumor, but David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wonders if the Braves could go after Matt Cain if their Jake Peavy pursuit falls through.
It’s an interesting thought, given reports of the Braves’ mounting frustration with the Padres. At $13-15MM over the next three years, Cain is incredibly affordable. And I imagine the Braves’ primary Peavy trade chips, especially the position players, would appeal to the Giants. Still, when asked last week if Cain is untouchable, Giants GM Brian Sabean replied in the affirmative.
Jake Peavy Rumors: Tuesday
12:14pm: Dave O’Brien agrees that the Braves are growing frustrated waiting on Kevin Towers, with the free agent open season creeping up.
10:21am: ESPN’s Buster Olney has the latest on the Jake Peavy trade talks.
Olney says the Braves and Padres are making progress, despite Ken Rosenthal’s report of Atlanta’s frustration. Olney says the Braves would send Yunel Escobar and Gorkys Hernandez to the Padres, plus Charlie Morton or Jo-Jo Reyes. They’re haggling over one last player, with the Padres eyeing southpaw Jeff Locke.
The Cubs are still in the mix, and a third team would be included to flip pitching to San Diego. One way or another, the Cubs would give up Josh Vitters and others.
Hanshin Preparing $18 Million Offer For Kawakami
Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker says the Hanshin Tigers are preparing a four-year, $18MM offer for starter Kenshin Kawakami. Kawakami, a free agent, has yet to decide whether to come over to MLB. The Braves and Red Sox may be interested if he does.
Newman figures Kawakami will come over, and pegs him as a solid mid-rotation type. If so, he may be able to match Hiroki Kuroda‘s three year, $35.3MM deal.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Johnson, Peavy, Dempster
Here’s a look at the latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- It doesn’t seem likely that Randy Johnson re-signs with the Diamondbacks, though Johnson is holding out filing for free agency until the possibility is exhausted. The D’Backs hope he will take a significant hometown discount; they have roughly $10MM to spend for Johnson and a second baseman. If a Mark Loretta type takes $2MM, will Johnson take $8MM after earning $15.1MM for a fine ’08 season?
- The Braves are frustrated with the progress on the Jake Peavy talks, and will explore other options (especially once the free agent market opens Friday). Rosenthal says the Padres sent revised proposals to the Cubs and Braves yesterday, but those teams intend to stick with their offers. Will the Padres crack and make a deal before Friday?
- Rosenthal criticizes the Padres for the classless farewell to Trevor Hoffman. They pulled their reduced offer, and didn’t agree to the meeting with ownership he requested.
- Suddenly there may be more solid free agent closers than teams seeking one. The Mets have their pick. To me this is a sign that K-Rod will fall short of five years, $75MM.
- Rosenthal believes Kevin Gregg is next up on the trading block for the Marlins, with Jeremy Hermida another possibility.
- Casey Blake doesn’t have any geographic leanings regarding his next destination. His agent feels a three-year deal is reasonable. The Twins and Indians are among seven teams eyeing Blake.
- The Cubs offered Ryan Dempster something in the range of Kyle Lohse‘s four years, $41MM. Teams don’t like to use the Carlos Silva deal as a benchmark, because it was such a clear mistake.
Jake Peavy Rumors: Monday
Summing up this weekend’s Jake Peavy information…
- David O’Brien noted that the friendship between Padres GM Kevin Towers and Peavy’s agent Barry Axelrod has raised some eyebrows. O’Brien also learned that Peavy’s concern over Yunel Escobar being in the deal was overblown – it’s more a general concern that the pitcher joins a strong team.
- On Saturday, Ken Rosenthal had the Braves and Cubs as frontrunners with the Yankees and Dodgers on the backburner. He said the Padres discussed keeping Peavy if offers do not suffice. The Braves were said to be growing impatient.
- Astros owner Drayton McLane indicated the Padres’ demands for Peavy were too high for his club – "multiple players and some of our best players."
- Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times had it as a race between the Cubs and Braves, with the Dodgers a long shot. De Luca said no other teams will be considered at this point. A Cubs deal would apparently include Sean Marshall, and possibly Kevin Hart and Mike Fontenot. Jeff Samardzija is not in the mix.
- Dave O’Brien says the Braves’ offer looks something like this: Escobar, Gorkys Hernandez or Jordan Schafer, and one or two pitching prospects (possibly Charlie Morton or Jo-Jo Reyes among them). Tommy Hanson is not in the mix. O’Brien agrees that it’s between the Braves and Cubs, and likes the Braves’ package more. O’Brien expects a deal before Thanksgiving, which is November 27th.
Cardinals Rumors: Hudson, Lopez, Kennedy
The Cardinals have moved on from Matt Holliday for the time being; let’s see what else is cooking. Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has the latest. Middle infield seems to be the primary concern now.
One option is to pursue a trade for Kelly Johnson or Yunel Escobar of the Braves, but that will probably require Ryan Ludwick. However, those talks must wait until the Braves resolve their chase of Jake Peavy.
On the free agent front, the Cardinals are interested in Orlando Hudson but not Felipe Lopez. Scott Boras seems to be aiming for a multiyear deal for Lopez.
Adam Kennedy wants out of St. Louis, and the D’Backs may be interested. GM John Mozeliak is said to be reluctant to eat a "significant piece" of Kennedy’s $4MM. The D’Backs barely seem willing to spend that amount on Randy Johnson.
The bullpen is the other concern, but Trevor Hoffman is apparently not on the radar.
Peavy Rumors: Saturday
I’m giving up and setting up a post to house Jake Peavy rumors, because I keep coming across different variations. I’ll update the post if I come across more as the afternoon goes on. To recap:
- Buster Olney expects a deal before Thanksgiving.
- Ken Rosenthal has heard that the Braves are getting tired of waiting, at that yesterday, the Padres discussed just keeping Peavy for themselves. He mentioned the Braves, Cubs, Dodgers and Yankees as still in the running.
- Brian McTaggart at the Houston Chronicle has reported that the Astros see themselves as out of the running, because the Padres’ price was so high.
Now for the new stuff:
- Chris de Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times expects a Peavy deal "within the next week" with the pitcher being sent to the Braves, Cubs, or Dodgers: "Those teams are the finalists and, sources say, no other teams will be considered at this point." Not very surprisingly, the three remaining teams are all in the National League.
- David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a long, detailed post on the prospect package the Braves are putting together to try and acquire Peavy. In the long, detailed post he also quotes verbatim a long, detailed email from Peavy’s agent, Barry Axelrod, clarifying his comments about Yunel Escobar.
There will be more to come, no doubt.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Nationals, Manny, Peavy, Vazquez
We’ve already touched on Ken Rosenthal’s Matt Holliday update, but there are other good tidbits in the article as well:
- "Club officials believe" that the Nationals are "reasonably close to a breakthrough." They blame 2008’s sorry performance on the raft of injuries Washington suffered, which is why they’re willing to spend now for a big bat — the key names floating around have been the aforementioned Holliday, Adam Dunn, and Mark Teixeira, though Rosenthal seems skeptical they could snag any of them. But what about Manny Ramirez? "Jim Bowden, the Nats’ unconventional GM, probably would love the idea, but D.C. might not be big enough for Manny and Barack Obama." Looking at the impact that Manny has had on the LA’s attendance, and looking at the empty seats at Nationals Park, it could make sense.
- Obligatory Jake Peavy update: Padres discuss keeping the ace, Braves grow impatient. Cubs are still in the mix, while the Dodgers and Yankees are "on the backburner." (Buster Olney had a subtly different take posted a few hours later — that Peavy would be dealt before the turkey hits the sideboard.) Rosenthal also quotes Pads GM Kevin Towers as wanting to move the fences in at Petco (which is hard enough just to write without typing in "cavernous" as an automatic prefix).
- The Mets, among other ballclubs, are interested in Rays’ righties Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson, but the Rays are in no hurry to make a deal.
- "The White Sox are in an ideal position with" Javier Vazquez if they wait until Peavy, CC Sabathia, et al are placed and then shop him, Rosenthal argues. The 32-year old righty will make $23 MM through 2010, which he calls "a bargain for a pitcher who has produced four straight 200-inning seasons, albeit with a 49-51 record and 4.41 ERA." On the other hand, Vazquez has also hit the 200-strikeout mark in each of the last two seasons.
Sarah Green can be reached here.
Miller’s Latest: Olsen, Willis, Blake
Here’s a look at the latest from Scott Miller of CBSSports.com.
- The Braves and Rangers have talked to the Marlins about lefty Scott Olsen.
- The Red Sox have done background work on Dontrelle Willis, stirring up the Willis for Julio Lugo rumors.
- The Twins, Dodgers, and Indians have expressed interest in Casey Blake. Blake’s agent said he anticipates offers ranging from one to three years.
Jake Peavy Rumors: Friday
1:47pm: This Scott Miller column is from yesterday, but it has some good info. Miller’s source believes the Braves are the frontrunners for Peavy and are willing to include Gorkys Hernandez. Additionally, the source said the Cubs are very aggressive and the Dodgers are making a strong pitch.
12:53pm: Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald says Samardzija is not on the table and has a full, not partial, no-trade. Additionally, the Cubs have not thrown Fontenot into the mix. Miles gives a 50-50 chance of the Cubs getting Peavy.
9:39am: GM Kevin Towers expects to trade Jake Peavy before the winter meetings, saying, "The train’s kind of left the station." Continuing the metaphor, Barry Axelrod said, "The only thing we’ve got is a brake."
According to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan, the Cubs have moved in front of the Braves in the battle for Peavy. Passan says the Padres want Jeff Samardzija (who has a limited no-trade clause), and the Cubs could also include players such as Felix Pie, Sean Marshall, Ronny Cedeno, Kevin Hart, and Donald Veal. Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times suggests Rich Harden or Mike Fontenot could be involved. De Luca notes that a Peavy trade would probably prevent the Cubs from acquiring Brian Roberts. ESPN’s Buster Olney believes Josh Vitters would have to be involved, while the Daily Herald’s Bruce Miles adds Jose Ceda, Welington Castillo, and Mitch Atkins as possibilities. Miles does not see the Cubs as a player for C.C. Sabathia, by the way.
The Padres would prefer a deal with Atlanta, but can’t pry Tommy Hanson loose. The Braves are willing to trade Yunel Escobar, Charlie Morton, and Jordan Schafer.
Meanwhile, Tom Krasovic at the San Diego Union-Tribune says Peavy and Barry Axelrod are concerned about the Braves’ shortstop situation if they are to include the defensively-talented Escobar. Perhaps the Braves could sway them by outlining some contingency plans at the position.