The Next Cliff Lee
RotoAuthority tries to determine who might be the next Cliff Lee in fantasy baseball. Check it out, and be sure to read the comments for community suggestions.
Dodgers, Will Ohman Agree To Terms
7:30pm: Diamond Leung has the terms of the minor league deal. Ohman makes at least $1.35MM if he's on the team and he could add $200K to that total based on incentives. The Dodgers have the option of paying him $2MM next year or buying him out for $200K. Tony Jackson of the LA Daily News reports that the club option is for $2.2MM.
Ohman can also opt out of the deal if he's not called up by April 14th.
6:49pm: According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports it's a one year minor league deal. MLB.com's Ken Gurnick adds that there's an option for a second year. He doesn't say whether Ohman controls the option or the Dodgers do, but it's presumably under the team's control.
6:20pm: According to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times, the Dodgers agreed to terms with lefty reliever Will Ohman. Terms are not known yet, but Dylan Hernandez wrote this morning that the Dodgers offered around $1MM.
With the season starting in a week, hopefully Ohman will be ready. He worked out for the Dodgers yesterday and Joe Torre seemed unimpressed. Last year he did a nice job shutting down lefty hitters.
Niemann/Hammel Rumors: Padres, Pirates, Rockies
4:53pm: According to John Perrotto of Pirates Report, the Pirates are also interested in Niemann. He says the Bucs also remain interested in Robert Andino and Jeff Baker.
Additionally, Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse says the Rockies have jumped in on Hammel.
11:16am: Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote Saturday regarding the Padres' interest in Rays pitcher Jeff Niemann:
In return, the defending American League champions have inquired about Padres prospects Simon Castro, Wynn Pelzer, Juedy Valdez and Nick Schmidt. The Padres have deemed the price too high. Niemann is out of minor league options, reducing the Rays' trade leverage.
Out of those four Baseball America likes righty Castro the most, ranking him 14th among Padres prospects. Pitchers Pelzer (16) and Schmidt (21) also make their top 30.
Niemann will make a minor league start today, perhaps his last chance to win the fifth starter job. The decision will probably be made today; Jason Hammel appears to be the favorite. UPDATE: Niemann tossed six scoreless innings.
Offseason In Review: Houston Astros
Next up in our Offseason In Review series, the Astros. Here's what we wrote about them on October 10th. Changes for 2009:
Additions: Mike Hampton, Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Michaels, Doug Brocail (re-signed), LaTroy Hawkins (re-signed), Jose Capellan, Clay Hensley, Russ Ortiz
Subtractions: Randy Wolf, Ty Wigginton, Mark Loretta, Brad Ausmus, David Newhan. Midseason: Shawn Chacon, Oscar Villarreal, Dave Borkowski, Jack Cassel.
The Astros' offense was an issue last year, ranking 11th in the NL with 4.42 runs per game. Losing Wigginton hurts, but getting a full season from Lee helps. Also, Pence and Tejada are projected to have better seasons. And even a declining Pudge offers 100 points in slugging over Ausmus. The end result: a lineup that will score 4.46 runs per game, using Baseball Musings' lineup analysis tool and CHONE projections. Sure, they'd score more with Wiggy at third, but in hindsight it was right to non-tender him. You'd just like to see a better solution than Blum at the hot corner.
Coupled with last year's 743 runs allowed, the Astros would profile as a 79 win team. Can they improve in run prevention?
Last year's starters were good for 908.3 innings of 4.56 ball. Wolf and Chacon are gone. Brandon Backe will start the season on the DL, and Chris Sampson may not have a chance to start again. The Opening Day rotation of Roy Oswalt, Wandy Rodriguez, Hampton, Brian Moehler, and Ortiz projects at a similar ERA, especially if Oswalt beats the projection of a career-high 3.83 mark. But this group does carry a lot of health risk and lacks depth. The Astros' middle of the pack bullpen should be a little better in 2009 given the re-signings of Hawkins and Brocail and the lack of Villarreal and Borkowski.
According to The Fielding Bible II, the Astros' defense ranked 7th in the NL last year. Less Wigginton is good for the defense, but more Matsui is bad. Otherwise it's a similar cast of characters.
The Astros seem like a team that will be average at everything and fall a few wins short of .500. Thinking optimistically, perhaps they can contend if everyone stays healthy while Ed Wade finds a third baseman and starting pitcher on the trade market.
Bottom line: Strapped for cash, the Astros went for bargains on the free agent market. They don't seem to have the talent to match last year's 86 wins.
Tigers Acquire Josh Anderson
According to David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Tigers acquired outfielder Josh Anderson from the Braves for minor league pitcher Rudy Darrow.
Darrow, 24, is a former college wrestler who is listed at 5'10", 180 lbs. The Tommy John survivor uses a sidearm delivery to touch 94, and Baseball America suggests he could pitch in the Majors this year. As such, it seems odd that the Tigers would trade him.
The speedy Anderson was unable to win the Braves' center field job, which presumably goes to Jordan Schafer now.
Rangers Release Jimmy Gobble
According to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, the Rangers released lefty reliever Jimmy Gobble today. They'll go with C.J. Wilson and Eddie Guardado as southpaws in the pen. The Rangers had signed Gobble on March 21st after the Royals let him go. Gobble can still get lefties out, and can be retained by his new team for 2010 as an arbitration-eligible player.
Heyman On Strasburg, Lackey, Pedro
SI.com's Jon Heyman has a new column up.
- In talking to club execs who have spoken with Scott Boras about Stephen Strasburg, Heyman believes Boras does have $50MM in mind. Boras allegedly likened Strasburg to fictional pitcher Sidd Finch, with the plan being to shatter previous draft pick bonuses by using Daisuke Matsuzaka's contract as a model. One Nationals person told Heyman, "We'll pay the $10 million, and we'll get him signed." This much is clear: we'll have something off the field to talk about in August. For more Strasburg Mania, check out this article by Steve Henson at Yahoo.
- Heyman learned from Nationals sources that Stan Kasten and team ownership, not Jim Bowden, cut off the Aaron Crow negotiations at $3.3MM. Kasten's had many applicants for Bowden's GM job, but Heyman's sources expect Mike Rizzo to retain the gig.
- A Heyman source estimated that the Angels offered John Lackey four years and around $50MM. Talks are on hold given Lackey's elbow injury. He didn't want to negotiate during the season anyway. The latest report on Lackey's injury is pretty good.
- Pedro Martinez still wants $5MM, and is "willing to wait well into the season." Heyman believes the Dodgers, Indians, Pirates, Astros, and Mets are possibilities now.
Cubs Release Paul Bako, Mike Stanton
According to a press release, the Cubs released catcher Paul Bako and reliever Mike Stanton today. So, it looks like Koyie Hill has the team's backup catcher job.
Bako, 36, hit .364/.400/.515 in 35 spring plate appearances. Stanton, 41, allowed six runs and 13 hits in 8.3 innings.
Odds & Ends: Smoltz, Cubs, Melky, Lima
Links for Monday…
- Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes about the Giants' lack of interest in Adam Melhuse and considers other players who could help.
- Alex Speier of WEEI looks back at the Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz trade of 1987. According to former Tigers GM Bill Lajoie, the Braves would have taken Steve Searcy instead of Smoltz.
- Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald says the Cubs "appear to be getting some trade feelers" on out of options relievers Chad Gaudin and Angel Guzman. Moving one could create space for Rule 5 pick David Patton.
- Tyler Hissey of Around The Majors looks back at the Delmon Young/Matt Garza swap. What did MLBTR commenters think when the deal went down on November 28th, 2007? Click here to find out. Garza will face the Twins for the first time today.
- Eddie Bajek of Detroit Tigers Thoughts says the Tigers are apparently trying to recreate the bullpen of the 2007 Rays.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post believes Melky Cabrera would be best served as an NL bench player.
- T.J. Simers of the L.A. Times discusses the Dodgers' $47MM bust, Jason Schmidt.
- Aaron Shinsano of East Windup Chronicle has more Korean prospect news: the Royals signed catcher Shin Jin-ho, while the Mariners signed catcher Choi Ji-man.
- Jose Lima is back playing baseball in the U.S., according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times.
- Will Sommer of Mets Fans Forever talked to GM Omar Minaya.
- Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post looks at the Marlins' decision to non-tender reliever Joe Nelson. It would've made a lot of sense to bring him back.
Gammons Notes: Angels, Delcarmen
A little hot stove info from ESPN's Peter Gammons:
Word is the Angels are worried enough about their starting pitching to look around, especially at the Reds. And several Arizona teams have expressed interest in Boston reliever Manny Delcarmen. Boston needs a catcher, and could use another infielder and even another outfielder.
The Angels have concerns at the front of their rotation with John Lackey and Ervin Santana. The reasonable Reds target for the Halos would have to be Aaron Harang (my own speculation). A week ago, Gammons wrote about the Reds possibly moving Harang during the season, but GM Walt Jocketty seemed to reject the idea.
As for the teams interested in Delcarmen, here's a reminder of the Arizona Spring Training clubs: the D'Backs, Cubs, White Sox, Indians, Rockies, Royals, Angels, Dodgers, Brewers, A's, Padres, Giants, Mariners, and Rangers.