Phillies Considering Blanton Trade
We mentioned this last night, but it deserves its own post: AOL FanHouse's Ed Price says the Phillies are exploring interest in arbitration-eligible pitcher Joe Blanton. Blanton is due a decent-sized raise on this year's $5.475MM salary. Price could seek a cheaper starter in return and then allocate the savings to the bullpen.
Blanton, 29 in a few days, made 31 starts in the regular season and another two in the postseason. He posted a solid 7.5 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9, but allowed 30 home runs in 195.3 innings. He was homer-prone on the road as well as at home.
Giants, Mariners, Rockies Interested In Olivo
The Giants, Mariners, and Rockies are leading the charge for free agent catcher Miguel Olivo, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. Olivo, 31, hit .249/.292/.490 in 416 plate appearances for the Royals this year, catching 845.6 innings. The Royals, intending to reboot their catching situation, declined Olivo's $3.3MM mutual option last month. Of the three suitors named here, you'd have to think Olivo would find the Rockies the least appealing given the presence of Chris Iannetta.
ESPN's Jerry Crasnick notes that the Rockies also maintain interest in re-signing Yorvit Torrealba.
Five Teams Interested In Kevin Gregg?
Yahoo's Tim Brown tweets the "early market" for free agent reliever Kevin Gregg: the Rays, Nationals, Tigers, and Rockies. Dave van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune says the Orioles are also interested. I imagine Gregg will get a one-year deal for less than the $4.2MM he earned in 2009. This year the 31-year-old improved his control a bit and whiffed more than a batter per inning, but allowed 13 home runs in 68.6 innings and lost the Cubs' closing job to Carlos Marmol. The Cubs chose not to offer arbitration to Gregg, a Type A free agent.
With the Tigers and Rockies, the arbitration decisions of Brandon Lyon, Fernando Rodney, and Rafael Betancourt will be reached tonight, perhaps clearing the way for Gregg. The Rays are looking to add reasonably-priced late-inning arms (they've already traded for Jesse Chavez). The Nats have arbitration-eligible Mike MacDougal as the default closer currently, but may want another veteran option for 2009. Van Dyck wonders if the Nats might non-tender MacDougal.
Zach Duke, Paul Maholm Available?
Pirates starters Zach Duke and Paul Maholm are available, says Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. However, Morosi's source says the Bucs would have to be "overwhelmed" to trade either pitcher. Maholm is owed $11MM over the next two seasons. Duke is under team control for two more years and is due an arbitration raise on this year's $2.2MM salary. Morosi sees Duke getting $3-4MM in 2010; I think his 4.06 ERA in 213 innings will fetch him more.
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted this morning that teams are inquiring on Duke, Maholm, Matt Capps, and Ryan Doumit, though GM Neal Huntington has said he's not shopping anyone. Kovacevic also said that it'd take a "significant return" to pry Duke or Maholm loose.
Brian Bruney Braves Rumor
George A. King III of the New York Post talked to an official from a team interested in Yankees reliever Brian Bruney, and was told, "We asked about him but hear he is going to the Braves." The Braves would seem an odd match for Bruney, who is arbitration-eligible and due a raise on last year's $1.25MM salary. The Braves already signed Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito and might be saddled with Rafael Soriano if he accepts arbitration. Honestly, I'm not buying this rumor.
Mariners On Verge Of Signing Chone Figgins
SUNDAY, 6:33pm: Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times says Figgins will take his physical tomorrow, and assuming he passes, the team will announce the signing either later in the day or on Tuesday. Baker says probably the latter.
FRIDAY, 10:03pm: Not sure if this moves the story forward, but the AP says the Mariners and Figgins have a preliminary agreement on a four-year, $36MM deal.
9:21pm: Brown tweets that "Angels officials concede (that) Figgins (is as) good as gone to M's."
9:04pm: Stark says that the two sides are "very close" to finalizing a deal. He adds that Figgins would be guaranteed $36MM over four years, and there are indications that the deal will include a vesting option that could push the value of the contract to $45MM.
Meanwhile, according to Bill Shaikin of The LA Times, Angels' GM Tony Reagins said that Figgins is close to a decision, one way or the other. "We've made an offer," said Reagins. They've had a chance to evaluate it."
6:52pm: Larry LaRue of The News Tribune says the Mariners need to wait until at least Monday to finalize the deal. Why Monday, you ask? Because that's the deadline for free agents to accept arbitration, and they have to make sure Adrian Beltre declines before proceeding with Figgins.
3:48pm: ESPN's Jayson Stark agrees that the Mariners are close to a deal with Figgins, but says financial terms are still being negotiated and the Angels "aren't completely out of the running." Meanwhile Shannon Drayer of ESPN Seattle says the deal is "all but done" but most likely will not be announced today.
2:50pm: Heyman now tweets that the Ms are "very close to getting Figgins." In a subsequent tweet he suggests the deal will be for about $35MM.
2:26pm: SI's Jon Heyman has a more open-ended take on Figgins, via Twitter – he has the player asking for $36MM over four years with the Mariners at $32MM over four or $27MM over three. He says the Angels are at $24MM over three. Similarly, Yahoo's Tim Brown has an Angels source who says, "We're still hanging around."
1:35pm: The Mariners are on the verge of signing Chone Figgins to a four-year deal in the $36MM range, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. His source says the sides are "very close" to a deal. In his original article Rosenthal left the door open for the Angels to make a late push to re-sign Figgins, but that portion has been removed.
If they complete the deal, the Mariners would surrender their #18 pick to the Angels unless they also sign one of the other remaining Type As who was offered arbitration (the Angels could still end up with that pick if the Ms sign John Lackey too).
Rosenthal's price range doesn't sound too crazy given the five-year, $50MM predictions that had been floating about. With Figgins and Jack Wilson on the left side of the infield, the Mariners' defense would be spectacular. Figgins also helps offensively, given his league-leading 101 walks this year.
Yankees Cutting Payroll, Bidding On Halladay?
9:40pm: Olney says the team's 2010 payroll has been set somewhere between $190-200M, and as always, "it is not a hard ceiling."
3:45pm: A tweet from ESPN's Buster Olney:
Yankees finished org. meetings — they're cutting payroll. I'm not sure yet by how much, but during season, expectation was to $185 million.
According to Cot's Baseball Contracts, the Yankees began the 2009 season at about $201MM. My own rough estimate has the Yankees at about $170MM committed if Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre, and Chien-Ming Wang are non-tendered. If they re-sign Andy Pettitte for $10MM, it might be tough to fit a top-end reliever and decent left fielder into a $185MM budget. So maybe it'll go a little higher but still fall under $200MM.
In other Yankees rumor-news, SI's Jon Heyman says the Yankees will bid on Roy Halladay. He reiterates that the Blue Jays want some combination of Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Austin Jackson, and Jesus Montero. Such an acquisition would make the payroll even tighter, but perhaps ownership would make an exception for Doc.
Rockies Interested In Orlando Hudson
7:37pm: Rockies' GM Dan O'Dowd said the club is not actively pursuing Hudson, according to MLB.com's Thomas Harding.
"That is not anything near a front-burner issue," O'Dowd said. "We're very happy with Clint Barmes as our second baseman."
1:31pm: The Rockies are interested in free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson, according to Tracy Ringolsby of FOX Sports. It's a surprising name, but Ringolsby explain that the Rockies feel that Clint Barmes would get a lot of playing time in a super-utility role.
Hudson, 32 later this month, hit .283/.357/417 in 631 plate appearances for the Dodgers this year. His playing time slipped after the Dodgers acquired Ronnie Belliard, but he still earned almost all his incentives and reached almost $8MM in total. Hudson would not cost the Rockies their #26 draft pick, because the Dodgers did not offer arbitration.
Marco Scutaro Signing Reactions
Yesterday the Red Sox agreed to a two-year, $12.5MM deal with free agent shortstop Marco Scutaro, with a mutual option for 2012. The deal became official today. The Red Sox will give a draft pick to the Blue Jays as compensation. Let's take a look at some of the reactions around the web…
- ESPN's Keith Law says that "with some regression, [Scutaro] will still represent a good value for his salary." He says the loss of the draft pick "is the worst part of the deal," though.
- ESPN's Peter Gammons has comments from former Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi praising Scutaro as "one of the best shortstops, period."
- WEEI's Alex Speier shows that Scutaro almost can't help but be an improvement on Boston's 2009 shortstops. In another article, Speier looks at how unique it is for Scutaro to have become a starting shortstop so late in his career.
- Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe recalls Scutaro as a rookie for the Mets in '02, "at the center of a tug-of-war between manager Bobby Valentine and general manager Steve Phillips."
Dodgers, Justin Miller Agree To Minor League Deal
The Dodgers agreed to a minor league deal with reliever Justin Miller, according to Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times. Hernandez says he'll earn $850K if he makes the big league roster, with another $50K in incentives.
Miller, 32, posted a 3.18 ERA in 56.6 innings this year for the Giants despite striking out 36 and walking 27. Miller was outrighted in October after undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery.