Dodgers Rumors: Wolf, Garland, Looper
Tony Jackson of the Los Angeles Daily News has a variety of Dodgers rumors for us:
- Dodgers GM Ned Colletti said he would like to add "a starter, a reliever or both" as well as a versatile bench player.
- Jackson writes that the club’s believed to have refined its search for a starter to three pitchers: Randy Wolf, Jon Garland and Braden Looper. Yahoo’s Tim Brown wrote that the Dodgers had interest in these three earlier in the week.
- The Dodgers are also believed to be looking at Juan Cruz, a Type A free agent. Signing Cruz would require giving up a draft pick, so Jackson says he’s less likely to join the Dodgers. Ken Rosenthal suggested the Dodgers had interest earlier in the week.
- The club could bring Nomar Garciaparra back, but he has another suitor now that the Phillies are also interested.
Rangers Sign Nathan Haynes
Here’s a signing from a couple days ago. Richard Durrett of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers have signed Nathan Haynes to a minor league contract.
Haynes played with the Rays last year and with the Angels in 2007. He’s played all three outfield positions in the majors, but his OPS is .565 in limited playing time.
Williams Shoots Down Dye Rumor
In an e-mail to Dave van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune, White Sox GM Kenny Williams denied that there’s anything to yesterday’s rumor that the White Sox are talking with the Rangers about a deal that would send Michael Young to Chicago in exchange for Jermaine Dye and Aaron Poreda.
Williams wrote that he "would not waste time" debunking the rumor, implying that there’s nothing to it.
He also denied interest in former Sox starter Jon Garland, who’s now a free agent.
Phillies Interested In Garciaparra
Ken Rosenthal and Jim Salisbury have both heard from major league sources that the Phillies are interested in Nomar Garciaparra as a bench player.
Salisbury writes that the Phillies haven’t yet made an offer, but could if Nomar seems interested.
Both Rosenthal and Salisbury hear that the Phillies have some interest in Gabe Kapler.
Manny Ramirez Rumors: Saturday
10:11pm: Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that the Giants want to wait until the corner outfield market is "more precisely defined" before pursuing Manny. He adds that the Giants are unlikely to enter a bidding war so they need more financial flexibility than usual from Boras.
10:45am: Buster Olney adds that rival executives have "major doubts" about the Giants’ willingness to spend enough to sign Manny, especially in the midst of a recession. Olney points out that trading Randy Winn or Aaron Rowand to clear payroll would likely yield very little in the current market.
9:13am: Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle carefully summarizes the Giants’ interest in Manny Ramirez to kick off the day’s Manny rumors.
Schulman reminds us that the Giants have talked with Scott Boras about Manny and writes that this is "not another case of Boras just trying to drum up another suitor."
That said, their interest is far from "an all-out assault on Ramirez in a bid to get him." They’re simply intrigued.
Like any team at this point in the year, the Giants are apparently considering other free agents and "trying to make trades." In other words, they’re interested, but they have other options.
Lowe Rejected Offer, Wants $16MM Per Year
Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog passes on some comments made tonight by Jon Heyman on the MLB Network’s Hot Stove Live.
- According to Heyman, Derek Lowe rejected the Mets’ three year $36MM offer because he hopes to sign a deal worth $16MM per season.
- The Phillies and Braves are the Mets’ biggest competitors for Lowe.
- The Red Sox and a mystery team are also involved.
Later on in the show, Mets GM Omar Minaya confirmed interest in Lowe, Randy Wolf and others. Cerrone notes that Minaya did not mention Oliver Perez.
Olney on Moorad, Peavy, Hoffman
Buster Olney looks at the fallout for the Padres now that former D’Backs CEO Jeff Moorad has agreed in principle to buy the club with the help of some investors.
- Will the new ownership retain Kevin Towers? Moorad once interviewed the Padres GM for a job with the D’Backs and, as Olney points out, Towers has an "excellent reputation within the industry" so his chances of keeping his job seem good.
- The sale could give the Padres the financial stability to take Jake Peavy off the market. Peter Gammons wrote today that Cubs GM Jim Hendry "hasn’t given up" on Peavy.
- Olney suggests it’s possible this change could spark a reconciliation with Trevor Hoffman.
- Padres CEO Sandy Alderson’s future isn’t certain anymore and neither is Paul DePodesta’s.
Odds And Ends: Red Sox, Andruw, Roberts
Links for Saturday…
- At the bottom of an interesting article about baseball’s youth movement, Peter Gammons adds that the Red Sox-Marlins Hanley Ramirez discussions "lasted all of 20 seconds" according to a Marlins official.
- Yahoo’s Tim Brown speculates that the Nationals could have interest in Andruw Jones. I can see the Blue Jays taking him on if they can make it work financially.
- Roch Kubatko cautions fans from reading too much into discussions about a Brian Roberts–Gavin Floyd trade.
- Peter Schmuck hasn’t heard much on the Roberts front, but wouldn’t mind seeing the Orioles trade him for Floyd, even if they don’t acquire anyone else in the deal.
- In another post, Schmuck argues that there’s nothing wrong with the Mark Hendrickson signing.
- Ryan Dempster has heard good things about Milton Bradley and hopes he joins the Cubs.
- The Yankees have no need for Manny Ramirez, Erik Bedard or over-the-top position swaps, in Peter Abraham’s opinion.
- Jeff Moorad- who’s leading the group poised to buy the Padres- was a record-setting agent in his day. Tom Krasovic looks back at Moorad’s earlier career.
- NPB Tracker compares Japanese teams before and after losing their stars to MLB.
Cardinals Have Flexible Payroll
Bernie Miklasz passes along some quotes from Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. about the team’s offseason plans. DeWitt didn’t pin the Cards’ 2009 payroll down exactly, but he said it will be over $100MM. Whether the payroll’s slightly or considerably higher than that "depends on who is available or what the value is."
DeWitt said the organization would "consider" signing expensive players if they could make a big difference on the team.
Miklasz heard Tony La Russa’s thoughts on the St. Louis bullpen now that they missed out on Brian Fuentes. La Russa said Chris Carpenter could close next year, since he’s reluctant to expect 30 starts from Carp and he doesn’t think Chris Perez and Jason Motte are completely ready.
Lowe Unimpressed By Mets’ Offer
Derek Lowe was "hardly overwhelmed" by the Mets’ three year $36MM offer, Mike Puma of the New York Post heard from a baseball source. Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe heard from a source of his own that Lowe’s "likely to continue shopping for a more desirable offer."
It’s uncertain who would make such an offer, since Massarotti writes that the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies are not currently interested in Lowe.
As a result, the Mets could end up in what Puma calls a "protracted stare down" with Scott Boras and his client.