White Sox Quiet About Yasser Gomez
White Sox GM Ken Williams was asked about 28-year-old Cuban center fielder Yasser Gomez at SoxFest today. Are the White Sox interested? Williams said, "I don’t think he is a get. It might be counterproductive [for Gomez’s agent Jaime Torres] to deal with just one team." On the other hand, Mark Gonzales says Williams "tried to dance around" a question about Gomez by saying, "We’re looking at a lot of players."
Gomez, a speedy outfielder and career .331 hitter in Cuba, hit .397 over a 66-game span in Cuba’s 2008 national series tournament. In a video earlier this month from Newsday, the Cuban defector expanded on his Major League dreams.
Rays Rumors: Navarro, Aybar
According to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times, the Rays are looking at multiyear deals for Dioner Navarro and Willy Aybar.
DRaysBay echoes Tampa Bay’s desire to lock up the two, which would allow the team to avoid arbitration hearings.
Navarro will have three arbitration years: ’09, ’10 and ’11; and Aybar will have four years: ’09, ’10, ’11 and ’12. The Rays, who don’t typically negotiate once arbitration figures have been submitted, appear to be willing to negotiate with these two.
Abreu Still Waiting
Tyler Kepner of The New York Times reports that Bobby Abreu‘s former general manager Ed Wade believes that Abreu could still be an impact player this coming season:
"He’s still an All-Star-caliber player,” said Wade, now the general manager of the Houston Astros. “He’s probably not the guy that stirs the drink, but if you have the ability to add Bobby Abreu to your lineup and your clubhouse, it’s going to make all the players around him better.”
Abreu, 34, who made about $16MM with the Yankees in 2008, hit .296/.371/.471 in 684 plate appearances last season.
The Mariners, Giants, Dodgers, Reds and Braves could still get in on Abreu. Though Abreu had originally sought three-year contract, agent Peter Greenberg has confirmed that the slugger would be open to a one-year deal.
Twins End Talks With Gagne
According to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins have broken off talks with Eric Gagne. Christensen reports that the Twins are now turning their focus to finding eighth-inning relief help through a trade. Gagne’s talks with the Twins had advanced pretty far – he was ready to accept a one-year deal with a $3MM base and $500K in incentives. Hopefully we’ll find out why the Twins slammed on the brakes.
Odds And Ends: Heilman, Pedro, Twins
A few more links for Wednesday…
- Ryan Howard said a long-term deal with the Phillies would be "beautiful," for what it’s worth.
- The New York Times’ Ben Shpigel comments on the Aaron Heilman deal and its effect on new teammate Jeff Samardzija.
- Marty Noble of MLB.com learned that Mets GM Omar Minaya met with Pedro Martinez in the Dominican Republic today, but did not make an offer (and re-signing him remains a long shot).
- Yahoo’s Tim Brown has the roundup on the Twins’ hot stove happenings.
- Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog.com takes on the Manny Ramirez-to-Mets conspiracy theorists.
Glavine Meets With Braves GM
According to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, Tom Glavine and Braves general manager Frank Wren met face-to-face on Wednesday morning:
"The meeting was more about letting him know how I feel [physically] and what my program will be leading up to the games during Spring Training," Glavine said. "I let him know that I’ll be ready at the start of the regular season if there aren’t any setbacks."
While Glavine is encouraged by his arm strength, the Braves remaining payroll may not be as strong. The team is playing with $6-7MM at this point, and would like to take a look at an outfielder.
Orioles Looking At Braden Looper
According to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun, industry sources say that the Orioles continue to have talks with the representative of Braden Looper.
Orioles president Andy MacPhail isn’t naming Looper specifically, but has said that the team is taking a close look at the free-agent pitching market. The Orioles’ rotation still has holes following the acquisition of Koji Uehara, though they have good young talent on the way.
The 34 year-old Looper went 12-14 with a 4.16 ERA with the Cardinals last year.
Brian Roberts Addresses Contract Situation
On MASN’s weekly Brian Roberts segment, the Orioles’ second baseman touched on his contract situation, as well as teammate Nick Markakis‘ new deal. In regard to his own contract, Roberts made it clear that though he’s focused on Opening Day, he believes that there’s time to make a deal before spring training:
"It is going to come to a point where we have to make a decision one way or the other," he said. "I don’t want this to drag out once we get into kind of midway through spring training as I start getting ready to play for the season. I think there will be sufficient time up until then to get this worked out if we can. And if not, then we’ll see what happens at the end of the year. We’re not at that point yet."
Ken Rosenthal reported previously that Roberts wants a four-year extension to stay in Baltimore. The Orioles made Roberts an offer earlier this month, which was believed to be for $10MM per season, but only for three years.
Sean Casey Retires
Rob Bradford of WEEI.com has reported that Sean Casey has signed on with the MLB Network, making his retirement official.
Casey, 34, hit .322/.381/.392 in 218 plate appearances for the Red Sox in 2008. Casey finishes his career with a .302 lifetime batting average.
Glavine Shows Interest In Nationals
According to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson, Tom Glavine would be interested in signing with the Nationals if he is unable to reach an agreement with the Braves for the 2009 season. A source close to Glavine says that the lefty is close to Washington’s team president Stan Kasten, who was with the Braves from from 1987 to 2002.
Though the Nationals would rather sign young players to long-term deals, the 42-year-old could serve as a mentor to Washington southpaws John Lannan and Scott Olsen.
In just 13 games with the Braves last season, Glavine went 2-4 with a 5.54 ERA.