Padres Look To Extend Peavy
Jake Peavy will soon add a Cy Young to his resume, and the Padres would like to explore a contract extension with him. Under his current contract, Peavy will earn $6.5MM in ’08 and $11MM in ’09 once he wins the award. The Padres would like to extend him for the 2010 and 2011 seasons and possibly more.
Peavy realizes the Padres won’t give him the $18MM+ per year he could earn on the free market. But an extension for 2010-11 in the range of $32-35MM could work.
It’s been assumed that any team trading for Peavy this winter would have him for two seasons. However, that isn’t the case – Tom Krasovic says he could opt for free agency after ’08 as a player traded during a multiyear deal. I assume Dan Haren has the same right, but Erik Bedard does not. That certainly bumps up Bedard’s value.
Krasovic also adds that the Padres have their eye on Jim Edmonds and Ryan Church as center field options. The Padres would expect Edmonds to be a salary dump and the Cards to throw in some cash. Meanwhile Jim Bowden has a high asking price for Church.
Orioles To Attempt To Extend Bedard
It looks like Erik Bedard is Andy MacPhail’s top priority right now. He’s already gauged the trade interest for his ace, and is now exploring the idea of a contract extension.
Jeff Zrebiec says the Mets, Yankees, Angels, and Dodgers expressed interest in the southpaw starter. Interesting to see the Halos in the mix. The Dodgers are pushing the hardest for him. Two years of Bedard is expected to cost a team three MLB-ready players. The names mentioned for the Dodgers are Jonathan Broxton, Matt Kemp, and Clayton Kershaw. While Kershaw’s not MLB-ready, I doubt the Orioles would mind. Zrebiec says the problem with the Dodgers is that Kemp and Kershaw would be part of a Miguel Cabrera package.
What would a contract extension cost? I’m thinking it would require something like four years, $65MM to cover the two team-controlled years and two years of free agency.
Zrebiec also mentions that the Mets inquired on Ramon Hernandez, but found the price of a high-end prospect prohibitive.
Mets Targeting Livan Hernandez?
Ben Shpigel of the New York Times has some new Mets info for us today.
- Surprisingly, Shpigel believes the one free agent starter the Mets will seriously consider is Livan Hernandez. That is odd because I had read Livan wasn’t high on Omar Minaya’s list. We’ve seen the Mets connected to free agents Byung-Hyun Kim, Carlos Silva, Hiroki Kuroda, Kyle Lohse, and Jason Jennings so far this offseason.
- As far as some unsung trade opportunities, my Mets guy says Ervin Santana, Chris Capuano, Claudio Vargas, and Noah Lowry are being considered.
- According to Shpigel, the Mets hope to re-sign Ramon Castro as their backup catcher. I don’t see that happening, as he’ll probably be able to snag a starting job elsewhere. Options the Mets are considering to start at catcher include Yorvit Torrealba, Ramon Hernandez, Ronny Paulino, Gerald Laird, and Paul Lo Duca. A source tells me the D’Backs’ Miguel Montero may also be on the radar.
- Shpigel says Luis Castillo might command a four-year deal. Say what? The Mets may yet re-sign Castillo but want to see what the trade market offers first. Shpigel names Orlando Hudson, while I’ve also heard Alberto Callaspo.
Indians, Orioles Looking At Bay?
We first checked in on outfielder Jason Bay back in late September. Neal Huntington’s comments seemed to indicate Bay could be dealt. He slumped to a surprising .746 OPS this year.
Logically the Indians would be in the mix for Bay. He’s affordable – he makes only $13.25MM over the next two seasons. And Huntington used to work for Tribe GM Mark Shapiro. Marty York backs up the speculation, saying the Indians are the most interested club.
Another interested club is the Orioles, according to Bucco Blog. Jake mentions that teams are still trying to figure out why Bay declined in 2007. Bay has contended his surgically repaired knee only hindered him on the basepaths and defensively, not at the plate. A lack of passion has been suggested. And I hate to throw it out there based only on a statistical decline, but teams may be waiting to see if Bay’s name appears in the Mitchell Report at all.
Orioles Notes: Crisp, Burnett
The always-informed Jeff Zrebiec has a few Orioles tidbits for us.
- The Orioles didn’t engage in conversations with agents for any free agents during the GM meetings – just trade talks with other teams (about 15 total).
- President of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said that he’s open to trading with other teams in the AL East. He just wants the best deal.
- With that in mind, two Yankees who interest the Orioles are Melky Cabrera and Kyle Farnsworth. The Yankees could employ Miguel Tejada at third base, if he’s willing.
- The O’s could have some interest in Coco Crisp, though he’s not atop their list. But they do need some kind of center fielder.
- The team’s ears perked up at the availability of A.J. Burnett, even though he makes no sense for them.
Yanks Have Interest In Tejada
The Orioles may have two third basemen to offer up this winter: Miguel Tejada and Melvin Mora.
Tejada’s mind would need to be changed – he still doesn’t want to move to third. But the Yankees do have interest, and I can think of 13 million reasons Tejada would change his stance. Tejada came up as part of the inclusive list I came up with the night A-Rod opted out. The Orioles’ focus would be to acquire position players, so you’d have to think Melky Cabrera or Robinson Cano would be targeted. Tyler Kepner adds that the Orioles would like to acquire Kyle Farnsworth in a Tejada deal. I doubt the Yankees would have a problem with that. The Yanks would have to make a very strong offer to convince the O’s to help their division rival.
One third baseman I didn’t include on my list was Melvin Mora. While Mora wants to remain with Baltimore, he said yesterday that he’d consider waiving his full no-trade clause if the Orioles asked him. They haven’t yet. Mora’s a below average offensive third baseman, hitting .274/.341/.418 last year. Mora will make roughly $17MM from 2008-09. He doesn’t figure to be a hot commodity.
Will Yankees Offer Arbitration To A-Rod?
Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus tell us not to expect the Yankees to offer arbitration with Alex Rodriguez and Scott Boras. However, Brian Cashman told Joel Sherman "of course" the Yankees would offer it, because of the two draft picks involved.
Sherman notes that there’s a "very slim possibility" of Rodriguez accepting, and then getting a $30-40MM one-year contract as a result of the hearing. He adds that A-Rod would lose his no-trade clause in this scenario. This would be a great scenario for the Yankees. Rodriguez on any kind of one-year commitment is a sweet deal, and he’d be very trade-able. One year, $40MM is a lot easier to stomach for any team than 10 years, $300MM.
If they do offer arbitration and A-Rod declines (the most likely scenario), the Yankees will hope for one of the teams picking 16th-30th in next June’s draft to sign him. That could be the Cubs, Tigers, Mets, Angels, or Red Sox. In those cases the Yankees get that team’s first-round pick. On the flip side, it would not be preferred if the Dodgers, Giants, or any other team picking 1st-15th signs him. Those picks are protected.
Interesting A-Rod side note: one GM surveyed by Jerry Crasnick predicted A-Rod would end up with the Orioles.
White Sox Re-Sign Uribe, Out On Tejada
According to Bruce Levine of ESPN 1000 in Chicago, the White Sox have re-signed shortstop Juan Uribe at one year, $4.5MM. That represents a 10% discount for the Sox compared to his club option.
Not coincidentally, the Sox no longer have interest in Miguel Tejada after failing to reach an accord with the O’s. Apparently at some point Kenny Williams offered Gio Gonzalez and Jose Contreras for him and were rejected. Gio is a pretty solid pitching prospect, and if he offered that package a year ago it may have been reasonable. Jeff Zrebiec’s report indicates that teams will only turn to Tejada after the dust settles from Alex Rodriguez and Miguel Cabrera. Zrebiec also adds that O’s president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail met with Phillies GM Pat Gillick yesterday, but it’s not known who was discussed. One reader emailed me to suggest the Phils have long coveted Erik Bedard.
Ricciardi Willing To Listen On Burnett
UPDATE, 11-7-07: This isn’t really an update. Ricciardi kind of clarified his comments, saying that the Jays aren’t shopping Burnett. But he never said they were in the first place. He originally said if he was blown away, he’d trade Burnett. The only people confused were those who didn’t closely read his original comments.
FROM 11-6-07: Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi has said something interesting things to the media in recent times, from lying to the public about B.J. Ryan‘s injury to questioning A.J. Burnett’s manliness. It’s not that his actions and opinions are astounding; it’s just odd to see a GM so publicly frank about things.
Today, Ricciardi was upfront with ESPN about the possibility of trading Burnett. If he’s blown away by an offer, he’ll trade him. It’s not really a groundbreaking assertion. I imagine most GMs feel that way about most players.
In Burnett, another high impact arm enters the trade market. His opt-out clause after the 2008 season effectively makes his contract worse than a one-year deal, as we discussed here. Jerry Crasnick says the Cardinals, Phillies, and even Orioles are possible fits. I could imagine the Braves, Mets, Astros, and Diamondbacks expressing interest as well. Burnett has no-trade protection against 15 teams, so that might require compensation. He’ll earn a reasonable $12MM in 2008.
Orioles Will Listen On Bedard
New Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail confirms what we’ve been reading for the past few months: the club will at least listen to offers for ace Erik Bedard. He adds that the O’s have had preliminary, general extension talks with Bedard. I imagine that if Bedard is looking for the $18-20MM per year he could get on the open market, the O’s will choose to trade him. Two years of Bedard is at least as good as one of Johan Santana, and Bedard doesn’t have any no-trade stipulations. He made just $3.4MM this year.
What are your thoughts on a reasonable package the O’s might get for Bedard? The typical Matt Kemp/Clayton Kershaw speculation seems to fit here.
MacPhail also admits that he’d prefer to have flexibility rather than all the long-term contracts the team has committed to. He expects an active trade market, and you can bet the Orioles will be in the middle. Miguel Tejada is likely to be dealt, especially if his name is absent from the Mitchell Report.