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.
Orioles Acquire Rich Hill
10:36am: According to a press release from the Cubs, they’ve traded Hill to the Orioles for a player to be named later. A sensible low-risk move for the Orioles, who can afford to let Hill take his lumps at the big league level. The AL East may not be the ideal environment for him, but it’s worth a shot.
Roch Kubatko says Brian Burres was designated for assignment to make room for Hill.
10:16am: We learned yesterday from Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun that the Orioles are close to acquiring pitcher Rich Hill from the Cubs for a player to be named later. The deal is not done, but it could be completed early this week. Today Roch Kubatko of MASN adds that the player to be named later the Cubs receive would likely be a "low-level minor leaguer." The Orioles could add Hill and still sign Braden Looper for additional rotation depth.
Orioles Close To Deal With Cubs For Hill
9:41pm: Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun has more on the Orioles trading for Cubs pitcher Rich Hill.
The deal would be for a player to be named later, Zrebiec writes, and it could be announced as early as Monday.
Hill will be reunited with pitching coach Rick Kranitz and bullpen coach Alan Dunn, who worked with him in the Cubs’ organization, Zrebiec notes.
Hill is out of options, so he’ll have to make the Orioles’ Opening Day roster or they could lose him. … Hill will be given an opportunity to win a spot in the rotation, which currently has three vacancies behind Jeremy Guthrie and Koji Uehara.
6:12pm: Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun believes the Baltimore Orioles will complete a trade for Cubs left-handed pitcher Rich Hill by Tuesday — if the Orioles will do the deal at all.
Schmuck writes that now other organizations are aware that Hill could be made available, additional teams — including the Royals and Mariners — could make an offer.
Orioles general manager Andy MacPhail might be waiting to see if he can sign free agent right-handed pitcher Braden Looper, Schmuck adds.
They might be willing to acquire both pitchers, but there is the small matter of moving players off the 40-man roster to make room, so maybe Andy is just going to take one or the other.
Hill, 29 in March, is 18-17 in 57 starts with a 4.37 ERA during a short four-season career. He spend much of 2008 in Triple-A.
Looper, 34, went 12-14 in 33 starts with a 4.16 ERA with the St. Louis Cardinals last season.
Perrotto’s Latest: Position Battles, Roberts, Pudge
John Perrotto’s Every Given Sunday column is up over at Baseball Prospectus. This week, he takes a look at some of the position battles teams will face entering Spring Training. And, as always, there’s some interesting items in his Rumors & Rumblings section. Let’s take a look:
- Some of the more interesting position battles mentioned: 1B/DH/RF in Oakland (Daric Barton, Jack Cust, Jason Giambi, Aaron Cunningham, and Travis Buck all in the mix), Tampa’s closer if Troy Percival gets hurt or falters (Dan Wheeler, J.P. Howell, Grant Balfour), and the White Sox rotation behind John Danks, Mark Buerhle, and Gavin Floyd (Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Bartolo Colon, Jeff Marquez).
- Brian Roberts still wants a four-year deal before Spring Training starts up, or he’ll cut off negotiations. Does Roberts make more sense as a cornerstone in Baltimore or as a trade chip?
- Perrotto feels Tom Glavine will inevitably re-sign with the Braves.
- The White Sox have minor interest in signing Ivan Rodriguez as a backup for A.J. Pierzynski. I’m sure Pudge would prefer a starting gig, but at this point, it’s tough to be picky.
- We’ve heard a lot about the Orioles having interest in Rich Hill lately, but Perrotto reminds us that the Mariners are interested in the 28-year-old lefty as well.
Looper A Fit For Baltimore?
3:35pm: Roch Kubatko chimes in on the Looper rumors: "[W]hile I still expect Braden Looper to sign elsewhere, the Orioles retain serious interest in him."
1:18pm: Peter Schmuck at the Baltimore Sun has a guess at the Orioles’ likely 25-man roster for Opening Day 2009. Most of the names are hard to argue, but one jumps out as an interesting pick. Schmuck thinks the Orioles stand a chance at signing free agent starting pitcher Braden Looper.
Says Schmuck, "I think the likelihood of Braden Looper signing here is maybe 40 percent, but that’s probably more likely than Rich Hill coming over and solving his command problems."
While recent reports have made a Rich Hill-to-Baltimore deal sound more likely than 40 percent, Schmuck is comparing a Looper signing to the combined probability of not only acquiring Hill, but also having him pitch effectively.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Mariners, Young, Shouse
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports compiles a number of rumors from around the majors:
- The Mariners need to free up money, but to do so, they’d likely have to trade one of Adrian Beltre, Jarrod Washburn or Miguel Batista. All three will be free agents after the season, but moving one of them would be "extremely difficult."
- The Mariners and Yankees considered a Hideki Matsui-Washburn swap, but Matsui’s contract ($13MM) pays him more than Washburn’s ($10.35MM) so they didn’t find a match.
- The Twins are looking to move Delmon Young.
- They showed interest in Washburn last year, but only some of Rosenthal’s sources believe he and Delmon Young could be the foundation for a larger deal.
- Rosenthal has a source who says the Yankees are not currently pursuing Juan Cruz. Yesterday, we had a discussion about the rules regarding free agent quotas.
- The Yanks like their bullpen, but they could try to add an arm if they trade Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher.
- The Rays are making a strong run at Brian Shouse.
- The Orioles would not likely have to give up much more than a low-level prospect to deal for Rich Hill.