“Zero” Progress With Hart, Weeks
According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Brewers have not progressed towards agreements in their arbitration cases with Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart.
Assistant GM Gord Ash said they made "zero" progress with the two players.
Hart asked for $3.8MM and was offered $2.7MM while Weeks asked for $2.8MM and was offered $2MM. The club has until February 18th to avoid arbitration.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Mariners, Young, Shouse
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports compiles a number of rumors from around the majors:
- The Mariners need to free up money, but to do so, they’d likely have to trade one of Adrian Beltre, Jarrod Washburn or Miguel Batista. All three will be free agents after the season, but moving one of them would be "extremely difficult."
- The Mariners and Yankees considered a Hideki Matsui-Washburn swap, but Matsui’s contract ($13MM) pays him more than Washburn’s ($10.35MM) so they didn’t find a match.
- The Twins are looking to move Delmon Young.
- They showed interest in Washburn last year, but only some of Rosenthal’s sources believe he and Delmon Young could be the foundation for a larger deal.
- Rosenthal has a source who says the Yankees are not currently pursuing Juan Cruz. Yesterday, we had a discussion about the rules regarding free agent quotas.
- The Yanks like their bullpen, but they could try to add an arm if they trade Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher.
- The Rays are making a strong run at Brian Shouse.
- The Orioles would not likely have to give up much more than a low-level prospect to deal for Rich Hill.
A’s Sign Russ Springer
FRIDAY: Slusser says Springer will earn $3.3MM plus another possible $300K for games pitched.
THURSDAY: Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle says the Springer deal is official and is worth more than $3MM plus incentives.
WEDNESDAY: Springer apparently took his physical today, though his deal with the A’s is not yet official. The A’s told reliever Andrew Brown they’re releasing him to make room for Springer, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
MONDAY: The AP says the A’s are "close to finalizing" the Springer deal, with the physical the final step remaining. Not sure why they didn’t say an agreement has been reached, then.
SATURDAY: According to Ken Rosenthal, the A’s are "closing in on" a deal with Russ Springer. Rosenthal’s source says the A’s and Springer are "making progress, but not done." They’re working towards a contract worth about $3MM plus incentives.
Rosenthal adds that the A’s are ready to make a strong attempt to sign Orlando Cabrera if his asing price isn’t too high.
Unlike Cabrera, Springer wasn’t offered arbitration, so the A’s won’t have to surrender a draft pick to the Cardinals if the deal becomes official, despite Springer’s status as a Type A free agent.
Sheets Wants A Guaranteed Contract
According to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, Ben Sheets and the Brewers have not spoken since the Brewers asked whether Sheets would consider an incentive-based contract similar to John Smoltz‘s ($4.5MM in incentives) or Brad Penny‘s ($3MM in incentives). It appears that Sheets was not open to an similar offer, but the Brewers won’t offer a multi-year deal.
GM Doug Melvin maintains the club isn’t likely to sign Sheets, but he hasn’t completely ruled out the possibility.
Cubs-Peavy: Nothing Cooking
6:23pm: I just spoke to a source familiar with the Cubs’ thinking. Hopefully I can further douse the flames of the Peavy-Cubs rumors – the Cubs aren’t planning to restart the Peavy talks, and none of their recent trades for pitching were related to Peavy. Keep in mind that the team’s ownership situation is far from resolved. – Tim Dierkes
5:58pm: MLB.com’s Barry Bloom heard from Cubs assistant GM Randy Bush that the Cubs have had "no talks about Jake Peavy since they were well-documented during the Winter Meetings." However, this doesn’t mean that talks won’t restart.
Bush said the Cubs could go into Spring Training without further changes, but sounds open to adding players if they come at the right price.
5:16pm: In an ESPN.com video Buster Olney says, "at some point you can expect the Cubs and Padres will again start talking about a Peavy deal" now that the Cubs have added pitching in trades.
Earlier in the winter, the Padres wanted more young arms than the Cubs could offer. Since then, the Cubs added pitching to the organization in the Mark DeRosa deal and created flexibility by trading for Aaron Heilman.
The Cubs could structure a deal for Peavy around prospect Josh Vitters and young pitching.
Angels Avoid Arb With Maicer Izturis
According to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times, the Angels avoided arbitration with Maicer Izturis, signing him to a one year deal worth $1.6MM. Izturis also earns $25K for reaching 475, 500, 525 and 550 plate appearances.
Izturis originally asked for $1.885MM in arbitration and the Angels countered with $1.4MM.
The Angels have now avoided arbitration with all of their eligible players except Ervin Santana.
Heyman’s Latest: Pedro, Alou, Pudge
The latest from SI.com’s Jon Heyman:
- Some baseball people believe Omar Minaya will bring Pedro Martinez back to New York once Oliver Perez signs. Minaya loves Pedro and Pedro may prefer to return to the Mets
- The Phillies have about $3MM left to spend; Heyman wonders whether Moises Alou would sign for that kind of money.
- The Phillies have also considered Rich Aurilia and Nomar Garciaparra, but Aurilia may simply return to the Giants if they have room for him.
- Heyman says Ivan Rodriguez makes the most sense for the Marlins, but adds that they have little money to spend.
- Jeff Moorad’s attempt to buy the Padres will almost certainly go through.
- Heyman makes one clarification about Milton Bradley‘s deal after viewing the contract. It’s a two year $20MM deal with an option for a third year that kicks in if Bradley spends fewer than 75 days on the DL this year.
Odds And Ends: Casey, Garland, McLouth
Note: The original version of this post incorrectly credited Geoff Baker with details about the Mariners’ plans for the draft. Those details were actually provided by Larry Stone, as the post now reflects.
Links for Friday night…
- John Fay passes along some thoughts from Reds CEO Bob Castellini.
- An interesting line from Reds writer Hal McCoy: "Forget Sean Casey. He is retiring."
- Jon Garland‘s agent says his client could sign by next week. Garland grew up rooting for the Dodgers and his agent says he’s a "good fit" for National League baseball.
- It didn’t happen this offseason, but Nate McLouth says he’s open to a multi-year deal.
- Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star believes the Blue Jays might have discussed trading for Jack Cust.
- ESPN The Magazine hypes up Matt Wieters as the "can’t miss kid."
- Tom Haudricourt spoke with Brewers GM Doug Melvin about the Craig Counsell signing.
- Larry Stone has details on the Mariners’ plans for the June draft.
Padres, Nats Interested In Ohman
According to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick the Nationals and Padres are among the teams interested in Will Ohman. Both teams are "bottom fishing," and are considered secondary options for the lefty reliever.
Ohman hoped for a deal similar to the ones signed by Jeremy Affeldt ($8MM, two years) and Damaso Marte ($12MM, three years). He’s generated lots of interest and has a new contract offer from an unnamed team.
Crasnick mentions the Dodgers and Mets as potential suitors for Ohman, and the D’Backs, Orioles, Rangers, Indians, Rays and Braves have all reportedly had interest in him.
Pirates Offered Maholm Deal; Talks Progress
According to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the Pirates have made Paul Maholm an offer and continue to negotiate a multi-year contract with him. Maholm said he’s still "exchanging numbers" with the Pirates, but "the long term deal is still on the table."
The Pirates are hoping to work out a four year deal and buy out Maholm’s first year of free agency. Maholm, who’s arbitration eligible for the first time, said the numbers exchanged so far "aren’t far apart."