Four Team Salary Dump Trade Fell Through
Well here's an interesting deal that never came to be. According to ESPN's Jayson Stark, a four-team trade involving Milton Bradley, Pat Burrell, Luis Castillo, and Gary Matthews Jr. fell apart at the winter meetings for an undisclosed reason.
According to a source, the deal would have sent Bradley to the Rays, Burrell and Castillo to the Cubs, and Matthews Jr. to the Mets. Burrell would have then been spun off elsewhere. No word on what the Halos would have received, though getting rid of Sarge Jr. and presumably at least part of his contract would have been a win.
Four Teams Interested In Chris Duncan
Four teams are "really serious" about signing Chris Duncan, according to Rob Rains of The St. Louis Globe Democrat. Agent Barry Meister declined to name the teams. Rains believes that "it would be a safe bet that most, if not all, are in the American League."
Duncan, 28, was traded by the Cardinals to the Red Sox for Julio Lugo just before the trade deadline, only to be released about a month later. A career .257/.348/.458 hitter, Duncan's offense has tailed off in recent years, bottoming out at .227/.329/.358 in 304 plate appearances last year. Defensively, he's been bad everywhere he's played.
Personally, I think it would be pretty cool to see some team platoon the lefty hitting Chris with his righty hitting brother Shelley Duncan, who became a free agent earlier in the offseason.
Odds & Ends: Rollins, Orioles, Anthopoulos
Saturday morning links. Not quite as good as cartoons, but we'll do our best…
- Paul Hagen of The Philadelphia Daily News says that Phillies' management "tacitly acknowledged that [Jimmy Rollins' next contract] could turn into a contentious issue." The club picked up J-Roll's 2011 option yesterday
- Orioles' president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said he'll probably "let the market percolate" from now on, according to MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez. In English, that means he'll let the hot stove play out and see what arises.
- Blue Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos chatted with fans yesterday, discussing everything from the Roy Halladay trade to Travis Snider trade rumors to what it's like being a GM. I highly recommend checking it out.
- Bernie Miklasz of The St. Louis Post Dispatch says that Matt Holliday should learn from Johnny Damon, who essentially priced his way out of New York with his contract demands.
- Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News writes that Marlon Byrd signing with the Cubs appears "to be the next domino to fall."
- Curious about what the current 2010 draft order currently looks like? Well here it is. There's only three Type-A free agents left unsigned: Holliday, Jason Bay, and Jose Valverde.
- Earlier today we heard that the Nationals are going after Jon Garland. Now, free agent outfielder Randy Winn is on their radar as well, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.
Reds Restructure, Extend Rolen’s Contract
MLB.com's Mark Sheldon reports that the Reds and Scott Rolen have restructured the third baseman's contract, which will keep him in Cincinnati for two additional seasons. The new contract will pay Rolen $23.625MM through 2012, including a $5MM signing bonus deferred without interest over the next three years.
Rolen's original contract called for an $11MM salary in 2010, however under the new agreement he'll earn $6MM next year, and $6.5MM in both 2011 and 2012. The Reds gain about $5MM in payroll flexibility this offseason with the move, something they sorely need.
The 34-year-old Rolen hit .270/.364/.401 with the Reds after coming over from Toronto at the trade deadline. His defense at third remains outstanding according to UZR. Baseball America recently named third baseman Juan Francisco the team's fifth best prospect, so he might end up moving to another position or becoming trade bait.
Nationals Making A Run At Garland
The Nationals are making a "strong run" at free agent hurler Jon Garland according to FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal. The righthander is looking for a three year deal, however the Nats would prefer to limit a contract to two years. Rosenthal also lists Jason Marquis and Doug Davis and possible targets for Washington.
GM Mike Rizzo confirmed the team's interest in Garland earlier this month, saying "He's one of the 10 names we've been talking about throughout the whole winter." The 30-year-old landed just one year and a guaranteed $7.25MM last offseason, so a three year deal may be a little too ambitious.
Olney’s Latest: Bradley, Damon, Yankees, Harang
In today’s blog post at ESPN, Buster Olney writes that the presence of Ken Griffey Jr. should help Milton Bradley and the clubhouse culture in Seattle, however this might be the final straw for Bradley because he’s running out of second chances.
Let’s round up the rest of Olney’s rumors…
- One GM said the Bradley deal “means that one more chair just got taken away,” referring to another corner outfielder being taken off the market.
- Olney says that Johnny Damon might be a perfect fit for the Cardinals, who continue to talk with Matt Holliday.
- Meanwhile, there was some concern in the Yankees’ organization that if Damon took a paycut to return, he would have come into the season very unhappy.
- The rumored Aaron Harang to the Dodgers deal was never a good match, because LA doesn’t have much to spend and the Reds are trying to shed payroll.
Jason Bay Rumors: Saturday
The market for Jason Bay got smaller when the Mariners acquired Milton Bradley yesterday, and now it appears the Mets are bidding against themselves for the free agent outfielder, writes Ken Davidoff of Newsday. John Harper of The NY Daily News says that Bay and his agent Joe Urbon continue to stall for five years, however they're running out of leverage according to The NY Post's Bart Hubbuch.
ESPN's Buster Olney hears that the Mets "are convinced they are the lone big-money bidder on Bay," though Davidoff points out that New York's other team was supposed to hear something yesterday, but didn't. If any other club has interest in adding Bay's stick to their lineup, I'd say they've done a fine job of keeping it quiet.
Discussion: Mariners’ Offseason
It's been less than 15 months since Jack Zduriencik became general manager of the Mariners, but in that time he's transformed a 101-loss team (with a $100M payroll, no less) into a squad that's the early favorite to win the AL West in 2010. After adding Chone Figgins and Cliff Lee earlier this month, Zduriencik may have pulled off his greatest move today, when he turned the awful Carlos Silva into the potentially useful Milton Bradley.
Despite Zduriencik's wizardry, his club still has holes at first base, left field/designated hitter, and perhaps in the bullpen. They were in on Nick Johnson until the Yankees gobbled him up, and expressed interest in both Johnny Damon and Jason Bay. The latter two don't fit Jack Z.'s mold of pitching and defense, however.
Here's the list of available free agents, see any fits? What about Felipe Lopez, with Jose Lopez sliding over the first? Maybe a Reed Johnson–Gabe Gross platoon? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Rockies Re-Sign Juan Rincon
The Rockies have re-signed reliever Juan Rincon to a minor league deal, according to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding. He’ll compete for a bullpen spot in Spring Training.
Rincon, 31 next month, had a 7.52 ERA in 26.1 innings with the Rockies last season. After a long stint with the Twins, Rincon has bounced around from Cleveland to Detroit to Colorado in the last few seasons.
Non-Tendered Players
The deadline for teams to offer contract to their players with less than six years of service time is midnight ET tonight, so let's keep track off all the non-tenders here in one post. Make sure you check back in, we'll be updating this post throughout the day.
- Rough day for Jose Arredondo. First it was announced that he would have surgery and miss 2010. Then right at the deadline, the Angels decided against tendering him an offer. Matt Brown and Dustin Moseley were given their walking papers as well.
- The Giants non-tendered Ryan Garko.
- Clay Condrey has been non-tendered by the Phillies.
- Josh Whitesell, though not arbitration-eligible, was non-tendered.
- The Indians non-tendered Adam Miller, Anthony Reyes, and Jose Veras.
- The Pirates made Matt Capps and Phil Dumatrait walk the plank.
- Raul Chavez is the only player not brought back by Toronto.
- The Royals have non-tendered John Buck and Josh Anderson.
- Mark Worrell and Jackson Quezada have been non-tendered by the Padres.
- Shawn Riggans was not offered a contract by Tampa Bay.
- Rays have non-tendered Gabe Gross.
- Seattle has non-tendered outfielder Ryan Langerhans.
- Milwaukee will non-tender Mark DiFelice and Mike Rivera.
- The Metropolitans have non-tendered Cory Sullivan, Tim Redding, Jeremy Reed, and Lance Broadway.
- The BoSox did not tender an offer to outfielder Brian Anderson.
- Oakland has parted ways with Jack Cust.
- The Nationals announced that they will not tender a contract to Mike MacDougal.
- Let's welcome D.J. Carrasco to the list.
- The Orioles bid Brian Bass farewell.
- The Cubs will non-tender Neal Cotts.
- Jonny Gomes has been non-tendered by the Reds.
- Raise your hand if you're an arbitration-eligible Marlin who has been tendered an offer. Not so fast, Alfredo Amezaga.
- Scott Olsen will not be invited back by the Nats.
- The Yankees non-tendered Chien-Ming Wang.
- The Braves gave Kelly Johnson and Ryan Church their walking papers.
- Garrett Atkins has been cut loose.
- Seth McClung tweeted a classy goodbye to the Brewers organization this morning, noting it was not his choice to leave.