Braves Sign Tom Glavine
It’s now official: the Braves have signed Tom Glavine to a one-year, $8MM deal. There doesn’t appear to be any kind of second-year option. The Braves initially came in at $6.5MM. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman says the Nationals and Phillies were in on him, but never really had a shot at making a deal. The Mets probably aren’t terribly concerned about the loss, since they get the Braves’ valuable #18 overall pick next June plus a supplemental pick as compensation.
After a 2007 lacking in rotation depth, the Braves have a slew of candidates to start. Even without counting on Mike Hampton for anything, they are in good shape. Pitching depth can unravel quickly, but things look good as of November 19th, 2007.
The Braves might be pretty much set this winter, assuming they like Josh Anderson as their starting center fielder.
Mets Give Castillo Four Years, $25 Million
UPDATE, 11-19-07: The AP confirms it. Seems like there were more creative ways to fill the second base vacancy. Castillo was playing it safe, and four years is too much.
UPDATE, 11-18-07: Now Ken Rosenthal has this one.
This one just came in from Tim. Dominican sports website Impacto Deportivo is reporting that the Mets and Luis Castillo have agreed to a four-year deal worth $25 million. They say to expect an official announcement shortly.
I got the summary from Tim. If anyone could head to the website and translate, it would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, and just because it’s the same thing as we’ve been hearing since yesterday and I didn’t want to give it another post, Glavine’s agent is saying that his client and the Braves are "maybe one or two phone calls away" from a deal.
Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues.
Odds and Ends: Glavine, Rowand, A-Rod Clark, LoDuca
Hi. I’m Joe. Tim is busy today, so I’ll be filling in. You can send any tips right to my email. So onto a few morning tidbits.
- Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution hears that the Braves are "close" to a deal with
Tom Glavine. His agent, Gregg Clifton, thinks "it’s a good possibility" that a deal gets done today.
- Aaron Rowand’s agent Craig Landis says that the "interest is definitely mutual" between his client and the Dodgers.
- Since I run a Yankees site, I suppose I can’t finish an odds and ends post without a mention of Alex Rodriguez. Ed Price of the Star Ledger says that the soon-to-be MVP’s deal is "intricate," and that we shouldn’t expect a deal until "perhaps after Thanksgiving."
- The Twins are said to be interested in Tony Clark. Not quire sure adding another low-OBP bad in addition to Craig Monroe is very smart here. Plus, this would make Clark the de-facto DH, and we know he’s looking for a starting gig.
- Mike Puma of the New York Post speculates that recently displaced Paul LoDuca could swap with Yorvit Torrealba and catch on as the Rockies’ starter for 2008.
Joe Pawlikowski is a co-author of River Ave. Blues, a New York Yankees blog.
Braves Offer $7MM To Glavine
According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Braves have made a one-year, $7MM offer to free agent starter Tom Glavine. Glavine has already come back with a counterproposal, and O’Brien expects a deal shortly.
If Braves GM Frank Wren is to be taken for his word, the Braves may be done acquiring pitching after Glavine. He says they would have eight starter for five spots:
John Smoltz
Tim Hudson
Tom Glavine
Chuck James
Mike Hampton
Jair Jurrjens
Jo-Jo Reyes
Buddy Carlyle
I have to admit, that looks like decent depth to start the ’08 season. What would be next? One emailer speculated the Braves might go after Bill Hall. Are there enough center fielders already? Thoughts? It seems that Josh Anderson is the frontrunner but not a lock for the starting job.
Lefty relief help is also a supposed need. We knew Wren was considering bringing Ron Mahay back. O’Brien adds that they’ve looked into Jeremy Affeldt a bit as well.
Astros Acquire Oscar Villarreal For Josh Anderson
New GMs Frank Wren and Ed Wade struck a deal today. The Braves sent middle reliever Oscar Villarreal over to the Astros for outfielder Josh Anderson.
It had been known that Wade was pursuing relief help. He created a bit of a void by trading Brad Lidge, not that Villarreal fills that. The ‘Stros currently have an offer out to Scott Linebrink, and have expressed interest in Jeremy Affeldt, Francisco Cordero, and Troy Percival as well. Villarreal is not a closer type, so look for Wade to sign one of Linebrink, Cordero, or Percival to handle the ninth inning. Chad Qualls would then take the eighth.
Villarreal has been a respectable reliever when healthy. The 26 year-old righty has a 3.71 career ERA. I imagine the Astros view him as their seventh inning guy. Wade was able to part with Anderson because he has a better version in Michael Bourn. Wade also oddly gave a Major League deal to a defensive-minded minor league free agent center fielder named Yordany Ramirez. Quite a commitment.
The 25 year-old Anderson is a burner who doesn’t hit much. Most view him as a future fourth outfielder. I imagine the Braves acquired him to use a stopgap solution in center field for a year or two.
I’d give a slight edge to Wade here, as we’re going to see teams locking in relievers similar to Villarreal for three years and $10MM+.
Did Mike Lowell Really Receive Four Offers?
This has all been covered here on MLBTR, but I guess it’s gotten lost in the shuffle because I’m receiving tons of email about it. Maybe I’ll try to build something into the site to better keep up with the big names besides just reading through everything. In the meantime, you can always use the search bar on the sidebar.
Anyway, let’s talk about this Mike Lowell rumor from WHDH Channel 7 News out of Boston. These guys are getting a ton of traffic to this rumor and I just gave them more. Oh well.
The uncredited rumor says a source close to Lowell indicates that he’s received four-year offers in the $55-60MM range from the Braves, Angels, Cardinals, and Yankees.
GM Frank Wren debunked the Braves portion today. Esteemed St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Bernie Miklasz killed the Cardinals portion last night. The Boston Herald’s Rob Bradford shot down the Angels rumor.
So we have an uncredited rumor that is currently 0 for 3.
A different Boston TV station, WBZ, said today that the Yanks did make an offer in the $56-60MM range to Lowell today (courtesy of Dan Roche). That could be accurate but I would like to see some of the regular Yankees beat writers pick it up also.
Frank Wren Chat At MLB.com
Braves GM Frank Wren chatted with fans today at MLB.com. A hot stove summary is below.
- Wren is working on various short-term options for center field, as he does not want to block his two center field prospects.
- Rumors that the Braves would sign Mike Lowell or trade for Ken Griffey Jr., which were silly from Day 1, were shot down.
- Octavio Dotel wants a multiyear deal, and Wren doesn’t seem to expect him back. The Braves do have interest in re-signing Ron Mahay though.
- Wren says that he won’t go after any more starters if the Braves sign Tom Glavine.
- There haven’t been any talks with Mark Teixeira regarding a contract extension yet.
Dodgers Pursuing Aaron Rowand
Buster Olney’s blog today had some good rumors to digest.
- Olney writes that the Dodgers are making a "heavy play" for Aaron Rowand. Apparently they love the idea of adding a good character guy to the clubhouse. They’d be paying $25MM for Rowand and Juan Pierre in their outfield for the next several years.
- The Phillies are making a "big play" for Mike Lowell. This certainly doesn’t jive with the speculation that the Phils only have $10MM to spend and it’s going toward pitching. By the way, Ruben Amaro Jr. ruled out the possibility of signing Torii Hunter.
- Olney has an exec source who believes Hunter will sign with the Rangers for six years and $90MM.
- Olney doesn’t see Kenny Rogers apologizing to the Rangers anytime soon.
- Mike Cameron has a better chance of re-signing with the Padres, now that his 2008 season will be reduced by 15% in playing time.
- Six teams are in on Matt Clement, but he’s still expected to land in San Diego. The Royals are probably one of the six.
- Speculation is growing that the Braves might consider bringing Andruw Jones back.
Odds and Ends: Kendrick, Uggla, Haren
Another random collection of rumorage…
- The Braves have "many millions more" to spend on players this winter. One emailer suggested that maybe the Braves will offer arbitration to Andruw Jones and he’ll accept.
- Corey Patterson and the Nationals have mutual interest. Baseball Prospectus’ Joe Sheehan considers him a possible bargain, noting that he is only 28.
- We figured the Padres and Matt Clement had mutual interest. Now it’s official. Clement wants a one-year deal with incentives.
- Tracy Ringolsby confirms that Yorvit Torrealba wants a three-year deal. He says the Rockies are at two years, $7MM, the Marlins are in the same range, and the Mets are at two years, $9MM. UPDATE: The Denver Post says Torrealba will have a decision Thursday.
- Interesting Miguel Cabrera stuff from the L.A. Times. Howie Kendrick is not considered untouchable, but the Marlins might have to include Dan Uggla. Basically if the Marlins are to get four players back, they’ll have to add Uggla or Dontrelle Willis to the deal.
- Our friends at Gotham Baseball say if the Mets were to acquire Dan Haren, the package would start with Billy Beane favorite John Maine. Mark Healey figures Lastings Milledge and Aaron Heilman would have to go also.
- Ken Rosenthal thinks a one-year, $8MM offer from Atlanta would be enough to secure Tom Glavine.
- The D’Backs’ main trading chip is outfielder Carlos Gonzalez. It appears that the team explored what they could get for Conor Jackson and decided to keep him.
Random Rumors: Glavine, Cordero, Percival
Let’s kick things off today with one of those posts packed with random rumors.
- Tom Glavine‘s agent Gregg Clifton meets with Braves’ GM Frank Wren this afternoon. They’ll talk money. Wren is expected to offer $8-10MM for ’08 plus a mutual option for ’09. Glavine isn’t a lock for the Braves – three other teams are interested. The pool includes the Mets, Phillies, Nationals, Cardinals and Astros.
- Reds beat writer John Fay recently suggested the Reds might have a payroll around $75MM, giving them only $6MM to spend. But now Fay is saying he thinks the Reds might go past $75MM. He believes the Reds will strike quickly with a focus on relief help – maybe even Francisco Cordero. The Brewers made an offer to Cordero Monday, and the Astros and Royals ar expected to be in the mix as well.
- Previously it was noted that eight teams were in on Troy Percival, four of which were considering him at closer. Now we’re up to ten clubs, and the Rays are having serious talks with his agent. The Astros may also be in the mix.