Brewers Re-Sign Chris Capuano
According to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, the Brewers are close to finalizing an incentive-laden minor league contract with starter Chris Capuano. Capuano was non-tendered on Friday. He had his second Tommy John surgery in May of this year.
Braves Not Interested In Lowe, Peavy?
According to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com, the Braves aren’t interested in available starters Jake Peavy and Derek Lowe. The market for Lowe seems to be shrinking, as Scott Boras sticks to demands for four or five years at $16.5MM per (similar to A.J. Burnett‘s deal). Knobler says there’s still bad blood between the Braves and Padres over the Peavy talks.
It sounds like the Braves have turned to Kenshin Kawakami to complement their Javier Vazquez acquistion.
Odds and Ends: Teixeira, Hunsicker, Burrell
Links for Monday…
- According to the Newberg Report mailing list and CBSSports.com, the Rangers re-signed pitcher Doug Mathis to a minor league deal.
- Joe Nelson‘s been popular since being non-tendered – he’s heard from "at least 12-14 teams." Ruben Amaro Jr. said today the Phillies inquired on "20 or so" non-tendered players.
- Adam Everett‘s deal with the Tigers is official – $1MM plus incentives.
- MLB.com’s Barry Bloom spoke to Padres owner John Moores.
- Richard Justice doesn’t think Drayton McLane would ask Ed Wade to trade Roy Oswalt, but he could see Oswalt requesting a trade.
- Dave Sheinin says nothing has happened with Mark Teixeira since the Winter Meetings ended, and it’s no coincidence that we haven’t heard much about offers from the Red Sox or Yankees. Michael Silverman says Boston’s eventual offer to Tex will easily be a record for this ownership group. He guesses eight years in the $145-175MM range, noting that the Red Sox do not like to have players signed beyond age 36.
- Buster Olney says the Orioles and Nationals bidding on Tex is "nothing less than lunacy."
- Gerry Hunsicker has signed an extension to stay with the Rays.
- RotoAuthority takes a look at Jonathan Sanchez.
- George King says Kenny Lofton attempted to dissuade C.C. Sabathia from signing with the Yankees.
- Ken Davidoff says it seems that the Yankees will avoid Scott Boras this offseason.
- Steve Serby did a Q&A with Omar Minaya, learning details of Minaya’s Winter Meetings dealings.
- Pat Burrell says he never received a formal offer from the Phillies. His replacement, Raul Ibanez, will receive three years and $31.5MM.
Pettitte Has Three-Year, $36 Million Offer?
SI.com’s Jon Heyman says Andy Pettitte‘s agents are telling teams he had a three-year, $36MM offer in hand (the team is not known). I can’t figure out what team would be willing to make that commitment. This information apparently has not moved the Yankees to increase their one-year, $10MM offer.
Red Sox-Teixeira Rumor
2:34pm: A reader who heard the show says Patrick was only speaking in the hypothetical with the $200MM figure, so Bloom’s post was apparently inaccurate. This is why I typically avoid radio reports unless I hear them myself…sorry about that. In listening to the Reggie Miller interview on Patrick’s site he was definitely only giving an opinion during that portion.
2:16pm: Take it with a grain of salt, but we have a report of a report that the Red Sox offered Mark Teixeira an eight-year, $200MM deal. Earl Bloom of the Orange County Register heard Dan Patrick say it on his radio show. It’d be best to treat the report with skepticism until it’s confirmed by another source.
Bonds: “I’m Not Retiring”
A TMZ cameraman caught Barry Bonds outside an L.A. restaurant recently, and got Bonds to say, "I’m not retiring" a few times. It’s really not much of a story.
Astros Sign Jason Michaels
According to MLB.com’s Alyson Footer, the Astros signed outfielder Jason Michaels to a one-year deal worth $750K. Michaels, 33 in May, hit .228/.300/.382 in 254 plate appearances for the Pirates this year while earning $2.15MM.
Phillies Sign Chan Ho Park
MONDAY: David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News says Park held a press conference in Korea today to announce his signing with the Phillies. It’s a one-year, $2.5MM deal with up to $5MM in incentives, according to the Korea Times. Park relishes the chance to start for the Phils. He said the Giants, Diamondbacks, Royals, and Blue Jays also expressed interest.
With Park signing as a starter, where does that leave Jamie Moyer? The Phillies still have one unsettled rotation spot, though this may reduce their urgency.
THURSDAY: Todd Zolecki says the Phillies "are working on hammering out a deal with pitcher Park, who would work in relief."
WEDNESDAY: According to Yahoo’s Tim Brown, the Phillies are close to signing Chan Ho Park. He says the Phils may view him as a starter. Park’s average fastball velocity jumped from 88.4mph in ’07 to 92.6mph in ’08, leading some to label him a sleeper.
Reds Sign Laynce Nix
A minor move to start the day – the Reds have signed outfielder Laynce Nix to a minor league deal, according to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Ken Rosenthal says Nix will earn $600K if he makes the Reds’ roster, with incentives that could push the total to $1.1MM. Nix, 28, hit .284/.348/.539 in 103 Triple A games this year in the Brewers organization. He came to Milwaukee in the big Carlos Lee deal of ’06. The Reds are short on outfield depth, and Nix might help.
Why The Braves-Peavy Trade Fell Apart
Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune had an article yesterday involving a couple of failed Padres trades.
Krasovic says the Padres and Braves were discussing a 4-for-1 Jake Peavy deal in November. Yunel Escobar and Gorkys Hernadez were agreed upon. The conflict came as the Padres wanted Charlie Morton over Jo-Jo Reyes as well as Jeff Locke or Tyler Flowers over Blaine Boyer. To me that gap looks pretty sizeable, so maybe the trade was never close. At this point it seems like the Braves could end up with Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami as their rotation upgrades. They’ve reportedly made Escobar unavailable, leading Dan Hayes of the North County Times to suggest the Braves would have to remove Tommy Hanson‘s apparent "untouchable" tag to get Peavy. Everything I’ve read about Hanson has said the Braves are adamant about keeping him.
Krasovic also says the Giants made a run at shortstop Khalil Greene before he was dealt to the Cardinals.