Odds & Ends: Halladay, Pujols, Mateo, Benitez
Here's a few links to check out as Roy Halladay makes what might be his final start in Toronto as a member of the home team…
- MLB.com's Jordan Bastian spoke to Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston about Halladay, and what the offseason might hold for him. "If you didn't [have a shot at the playoffs in '10], I think you would maybe think about ''Maybe it is time to move him.'" He also added "I can't make those decisions. They're going to do what's right for the club and certainly Doc's got a little bit of say-so."
- Rob Neyer of ESPN suggests that Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt wait a year before signing Albert Pujols to an extension because Pujols' value will never be higher than it is right now. What to do you guys think, any chance Pujols actually increases his value next season?
- Yoel Adames of ESPN Deportes has some quotes from Edgar Mercedes, agent for Wagner Mateo, about a possible lawsuit against the Cardinals. St. Louis voided Mateo's $3.1MM contract earlier this week after finding "pre-existing injuries and physical defects."
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today says that the "hottest rumor among baseball scouts is that Pat Gillick will be returning to Toronto to become president of the club, but not GM."
- The Astros released Armando Benitez and the Braves released John Halama, according to this week's edition of minor league transactions, courtesy of Baseball America.
Aroldis Chapman Declared A Free Agent
According to ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr., Cuban southpaw Aroldis Chapman has been declared a free agent by Major League Baseball. Chapman established residency in the small European country of Andorra earlier this week, the first step towards becoming a free agent. We've seen plenty of speculation about which teams could be interested in his services and how much they'd likely have to pay for it, but now teams are free to actually pursue him.
Let the bidding begin.
Odds & Ends: Reynolds, Gammons, Orioles
Some late night links after Jake Peavy allowed three runs in five innings in his first start for the White Sox…
- Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic notes that Mark Reynolds is likely to fall short of qualifying as a Super Two, meaning he'll have to wait until after 2010 to become arbitration eligible. He also says that it "does not appear there have been any discussions about a long-term deal with Reynolds, but the club does not seem averse to the idea of an extension."
- ESPN's Peter Gammons writes about how great Victor Martinez has been for the Red Sox since being acquired at the trade deadline. He also praises Casey Kotchman, but I think I'd rather have Adam LaRoche, who has a 1.053 OPS since the trade.
- Orioles Manager Dave Trembley indicated that the team needs someone to hit behind Nick Markakis until some younger players like Matt Wieters and Adam Jones are ready to do it, according to MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko.
- If you aren't already, make sure you follow MLBTR on Twitter.
Comparing Matt Holliday & Jason Bay
This year's crop of free agents isn't the sexiest collection of names we've seen, but Matt Holliday and Jason Bay are two bonafide stars that will be available to the highest bidder. Several teams will be looking for middle-of-the-order run producers, so there will be no shortage of suitors for this pair.
Let's take a second to quickly compare the two outfielders, starting with Holliday…
- Represented by Scott Boras, but has expressed an interest in signing an extension with the Cardinals.
- Will turn 30 in January.
- Hitting .356/.407/.654 with St. Louis after .286/.378/.454 with Oakland.
- Career .318/.386/.547 hitter with double-digit steals annually, but just .289/.359/.476 outside of Coors Field.
- Has a +2.1 UZR/150 in left this year, down from +10.9 last year and +14.7 the year before.
- Making $13.5MM in 2009, plus possible bonuses. FanGraphs values his performance at $22.8M.
And now for Bay…
- Represented by Joe Urbon of CAA, who also represents Grady Sizemore, among others.
- Talks about a contract extension have been put on hold until after the season.
- Turns 31 tomorrow.
- Hitting .274/.382/.540 in his Red Sox career, right in line with his .280/.377/.522 career mark.
- Double digit steals in four of the last five years.
- Left field defense rates a -13.8 UZR/150, which is actually an improvement over last year's -18.2 mark. In 2007 it was -11.4.
- Making $7.5MM this season, but FanGraphs says he's actually been worth $12MM overall.
Earlier this week SI.com's Jon Heyman spoke to an agent who thought that Holliday and Bay could pull down identical seven-year, $147MM contracts this offseason, although an unnamed GM guessed that Bay would get $15MM per season. A $147MM contract would be the 8th most lucrative deal in baseball history, and frankly it seems pretty astronomical for either player.
What kind of contract do the readers of MLBTR think Holliday and Bay will walk away with? Which player would you rather have for the long term?
Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Dodgers, DeRosa, Cubs, Managers, General Managers
Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com has a new Full Count video up, so let's dive right on in…
- Southpaws Randy Wolf and Clayton Kershaw are likely to start the first two games of the playoffs for the Dodgers, but Kershaw must recover from his dislocated non-throwing shoulder first. The back-to-back lefties would be a big advantage if LA played the lefthanded hitter heavy Phillies. Rosenthal also mentions that the Cardinals, despite being so righty heavy, have the second lowest team OPS (.675) against lefthanded pitchers in the National League.
- Hiroki Kuroda would likely start game three for the Dodgers, followed by either Vicente Padilla or Jon Garland. Chad Billinglsey will likely be left out of the rotation.
- The Cards have put their contract extension talks with Mark DeRosa on hold until the offseason, making it more likely that he'll become a free agent. The deal St. Louis originally proposed was less than the three-year, $17.5MM contract Casey Blake received as a free agent last offseason. DeRosa is a year younger now than Blake was then, but the offseason wrist surgery he is scheduled to have makes the situation cloudy.
- The Cubs will be open to "anything and everything" this offseason, including trading Milton Bradley and/or Carlos Zambrano. Anything to improve the club, basically. However, perhaps the only way the Cubs could unload Bradley would be to take on another underachieving, overpaid player in return.
- Zambrano has a full no-trade clause and is owed $54MM over the next three years, but he's still only 28-years-old and still incredibly talented. The free agent market for starting pitching is thin, which may work in Chicago's favor. Big Z might be appealing at the right price.
- Ken Macha will likely remain with the Brewers, but at least four other managers are in danger of being fired. The list starts with Cecil Cooper of the Astros, and also includes Jim Riggleman of the Nationals, Dave Trembley of the Orioles, and Eric Wedge of the Indians.
- Among general managers, Ned Colletti of the Dodgers, Brian Sabean of the Giants, and Dan O'Dowd of the Rockies are all without contracts for next year, and two of them are going to the postseason. The only GM that appears to be in jeopardy of losing his job is J.P. Ricciardi of the Blue Jays.
Odds & Ends: Indians, Delgado, Harper, Matsui
Here's some links to kick off your Saturday…
- Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the Indians have requested that MLB run DNA tests on a few international players the team is negotiating with to confirm their identities. The Tribe got burned when 17-year-old shortstop Jose Ozoria turned out to be 20-year-old Wally Branyan last year.
- Michael Baron of MetsBlog.com says that Carlos Delgado hasn't really talked to the Mets' front office about returning next year, but he'd love to come back.
- MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo breaks down the challenges facing Bryce Harper heading into the 2010 Draft.
- The Astros may explore the possibility of Kaz Matsui returning to Japan, according to Richard Justice of The Houston Chronicle.
Things Looking Up For Sabean Extension?
Brian Sabean has been general manager of the Giants since 1996, but he entered 2009 as a lame duck GM because he wasn't under contract beyond this year. The club does hold an option for his services next season, although anyone would prefer to have job security.
According to Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News, managing general partner Bill Neukom indicated to KNBR radio than an extension for Sabean is a good possibility.
“We will continue to collect information, and frankly, how we finish this season, finishing strong, is significant,” Neukom told the station. “It’s not controlling, but it’s a pretty important data point, don’t you think? We want these last 16 games to be part of the data in assessing where we can go.”
Neukom said he’d evaluate Sabean on the basis of “where we think he can take is. It’s going to be a somewhat complicated formula. It will have qualitative and quantitative aspects to it.”
Henry Schulman of The SF Chronicle adds that Neukom is pleased with the team's recent drafts and success of their minor league affiliates, but promised to consider free agent signings and trades as well. Sabean is perhaps most well known for the infamous A.J. Pierzynski for Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano, and Boof Bonser deal, however he did turn a 90-loss team in 2008 to a playoff contender this year.
DeRosa Open To Returning To Cubs
You can argue that trading Mark DeRosa last offseason set the tone for the Cubs' disappointing season, as they lost not only his .800+ OPS and versatility, but his leadership and influence in the clubhouse as well. The Cubbies might have a chance to rectify that move this winter though, because according to Gordon Wittenmyer of The Chicago Sun Times, DeRosa would be willing to return to Chicago's north side.
''I would definitely listen,'' said DeRosa, who was shocked and saddened by his trade to Cleveland on New Year's Eve, six months before the Indians traded him to St. Louis.
''Obviously, my allegiance lies here [in St. Louis], but once the season's over — I have no ill feelings towards anybody over there. I enjoyed my time there. I didn't agree with the move, but I didn't have any control over it.''
DeRosa is set to have offseason wrist surgery, but he told Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune that he wants to be considered a healthy player in free agency. That shouldn't surprise anyone.
"I wanted to be treated as a healthy player, and not a guy who has to go get surgery. Rickie Weeks and all these guys that have had it say it's not a big deal and they come back from it."
The Cardinals have already talked to DeRosa about a contract extension, but Sullivan says the team has decided to hold off until he has the surgery this offseason. DeRosa projects to be a Type-B free agent at the moment, and pulled in a very reasonable $5.5MM this season. Unless the Cards are really concerned about his wrist, there's no reason for them not to offer DeRosa arbitration, ensuring they'll at least walk away with a supplemental first round pick if he heads elsewhere.
Kerry Wood’s 2011 Option Unlikely To Vest
We've been following a few vesting options this month, including Josh Beckett's and Magglio Ordonez's, but there's one player whose vesting option we haven't touched on: Kerry Wood. If he finishes 55 games this season, his $11MM option for 2011 will be guaranteed, however Wood is sitting on 45 GF at the moment with just 16 games left in Cleveland's season.
Considering the team's financial plight and Wood's substandard year, I think it's safe to say this is one option the Tribe would have gone out of its way to make sure it didn't vest. It seems like it would be a lot easier to keep a reliever from finishing games without making it look suspicious than it would be to keep an everyday player from picking up plate appearances or a starter from racking up innings.
The Indians will have to pay attention to how many games Wood finishes next year though, because if the same 55 GF trigger in is effect again. If the option doesn't vest, the club can still choose to pick it up.
Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the contract info.
Odds & Ends: Crow, Kearns, Minor Leagues
A few links to start off your Friday night…
- Royals GM Dayton Moore said Aaron Crow will be a given a chance to win a spot with the big league team next spring, according to MLB.com's Dick Kaegel.
- Bill Ladson of MLB.com writes that Austin Kearns' time with the Nationals is all but over. The outfielder is out with a thumb contusion, and GM Mike Rizzo said it's unlikely he'll return this year. There's zero chance the team will exercise his $10MM option for 2010, instead paying him a $1MM buyout.
- According to Baseball America's minor league transactions, the Indians cut ties with reliever Ken Ray. You may remember that Ray made a little noise with the Braves back in 2006.