According to Roch Kubatko of MASN, the Orioles finalized their two-year deal for Ty Wigginton and designated Scott Moore for assignment to make room. The Wiggy signing has led many MLBTR readers to wonder if Luke Scott could be available in trade.
Orioles Rumors
Odds and Ends: PECOTA, Wigginton, Tanaka
Links for Tuesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- PECOTA projects the standings. The projection system’s playoff teams are the Red Sox, Yankees, Indians, A’s, Mets, Cubs, and Diamondbacks (plus a one-game Braves-Phillies playoff).
- Ty Wigginton’s deal should be official today or tomorrow. Additionally, the Orioles are close to signing reliever Ryohei Tanaka to a minor league deal according to Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun.
- RotoAuthority ranks the third basemen for fantasy baseball.
- I will be doing a radio interview at 3:30 CST today on WKNT in Florida. At that time you can click here to listen.
Odds and Ends: Wigginton, Prior, Andruw
Links for Monday…
- Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun says the Orioles are "bringing Ty Wigginton back for further examination this week."
- Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune snagged this Mark Prior quote: "If Kurt Warner can disappear for five years, I can disappear for three."
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs points out that a Jermaine Dye career path is Andruw Jones’ best case scenario.
- Baseball America has a run-down of all the minor league transactions between January 31 and February 6.
- Athletics Nation wonders if the A’s could bring Mark Mulder in to fill a lefty reliever role.
- I did a Q&A with We Should Be GMs.
O’s Avoid Arb With George Sherrill
Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun reports that the Orioles have agreed to terms with reliever George Sherrill on a one-year, $2.75MM contract.
Sherrill was the club’s last arbitration-eligible player. He requested $3.4MM and the Orioles offered $2.2MM back when figures were due. The left-hander saved 31 games for the O’s last season, but did so while posting a 4.73 ERA. He’ll battle Chris Ray for the closer’s role during spring training.
Blue Jays, Brian Tallet Avoid Arbitration
According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, the Blue Jays avoided arbitration with reliever Brian Tallet by signing him at $1.015MM for ’09. Tallet, 31, held lefties to a .257/.327/.327 line in 2008.
In other lefty reliever news, MLBTR has learned that George Sherrill will agree to terms with the Orioles today or tomorrow. Sherrill had submitted at $3.4MM while the Orioles countered at $2.2MM.
John Parrish, Orioles Agree To Terms
12:55pm: From Roch Kubatko of MASN:
The Orioles have reached agreement on a minor league deal with Parrish that includes a spring training invite and an out-clause that would allow him to leave the organization if he’s not on the major league roster by April 3.
Parrish will get a chance to crack the Orioles’ rotation.
8:53am: According to Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press, lefty John Parrish is likely to sign a minor league deal with the Orioles this week. The Tigers had expressed interest in Parrish earlier this winter.
Parrish, 31, posted a 2.97 ERA in 91 Triple A innings last year and a 4.04 mark in 42.3 innings for the Blue Jays. He could be a decent candidate to eat innings at the back of Baltimore’s rotation, and he probably prefers the chance to start.
Parrish came up in the Baltimore system and was traded to the Mariners in August of ’07.
Rosenthal On Peavy, Ohman, Looper
Here’s the latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- Jeff Moorad’s acquistion of the Padres does not affect the likelihood of a Jake Peavy trade, according to Rosenthal’s source. There have been no recent conversations with the Cubs about Peavy.
- The Phillies had been confident of signing Ty Wigginton before the Orioles offered two years. The Phils are still mulling Nomar Garciaparra and Rich Aurilia, with the Giants also in on Aurilia. The Phillies are out on Will Ohman.
- Braden Looper is receiving interest from Baltimore, but he prefers the NL. The Brewers are not optimistic about signing Looper despite a recent conversation with one of his agents (Tom Haudricourt believes the Brewers are "laying in the weeds" for when the right pitcher comes along). Looper is Plan B behind Randy Wolf for the Dodgers, and not a candidate to return to the Cardinals (who are apparently out of money). One other team known to have interest in Looper is the Pirates.
Odds and Ends: Costas, Red Sox, Wigginton
A few little items worth checking out on a slow Tuesday night in the baseball world…
- Bob Costas is leaving HBO for the MLB Network. They really are assembling a heck of a cast over there (depending on your preference, of course).
- Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun interviews brand new Oriole Ty Wigginton.
- Major League Baseball suspended Marlins infielder Pascual Arias 50 games for violating terms of the league’s Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Arias tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol.
- It looks like "Citi Field" is going to keep its name.
- The Providence Journal takes a position-by-position look at the 2009 Red Sox.
- Oh, and check out Tim’s chat transcript from earlier today.
Odds and Ends: Wieters, Varitek, Ohman
Links for Tuesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- RotoAuthority explains why Matt Wieters is a good fantasy pick even if he doesn’t debut with the Orioles til mid-May.
- Baseball America’s Jim Callis has the updated ’09 June draft order.
- Cristian Guzman was wise to sign a two-year, $16MM extension when he did, his agent tells MLB.com’s Bill Ladson.
- An agreement to sell the Padres to Jeff Moorad could be done by mid-month, says Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
- Jason Varitek doesn’t need to worry about regaining Type A status, says Rob Bradford of WEEI.
- Nothing appears imminent with the Phillies and Will Ohman, David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News writes.
Blue Jays Make Offer To Kevin Millar
MONDAY: Schmuck mentioned this on Thursday; J.P. Ricciardi confirmed it today: the Blue Jays have a minor league offer out to Millar currently.
THURSDAY: Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun talked to free agent first baseman Kevin Millar, who will not be offered a contract from the Orioles for ’09. Millar is surprised and frustrated by their lack of interest, saying:
"Yeah, the bottom line is, obviously, they want to go in a different direction. Now, what that means, I don’t know. Are they going to win games this year? No. Obviously we know that going in. You’ve got to be realistic."
True, the team isn’t quite ready to contend, but it’s rare to hear a player say it so bluntly. Millar has drawn interest from the Blue Jays and Giants so far this winter. He hit .234/.323/.394 in 610 plate appearances in ’08.
