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.
Wilkerson Leaves Red Sox
Rob Bradford reports that Terry Francona confirmed Brad Wilkerson's departure from the Red Sox earlier this morning.
Wilkerson, 31, was in camp on a minor-league deal, competing for the job of the fifth outfielder and backup first baseman. His contract allowed him to opt-out prior to April 1, which he elected to do after hitting just .119 through 42 ABs, with 18 strikeouts. The position battle will now likely come down to Chris Carter and Jeff Bailey, both of whom are having strong a strong Spring Training, hitting .350 and .357, respectively.
Stark’s Latest: Keppinger, Baker, Phillies
ESPN.com's Jayson Stark has a new blog post up. Some of this is old news, but probably worth revisiting…
- The Reds are dangling infielder Jeff Keppinger, with the Red Sox and Astros as possible suitors.
- The Red Sox and Astros have also checked in on Colorado's Jeff Baker, along with the Phillies. But, the Rockies are reportedly demanding a "quality young starter" in return.
- The Mets expressed interest in Ronny Paulino before he was dealt to the Giants (then moved swiftly to the Marlins).
- The Phillies continue to shop around for a right-handed reserve outfielder.
Mark Teixeira: In His Own Words
Mark Teixeira appeared on New York-based radio station WFAN this morning and spoke, among other things, about why he decided to sign with the Yankees over other interested teams. Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times has transcribed a few of the more interesting quotes:
"I always had the Yankees in my sights, and one thing my agent and I had asked every single team is, we're not going to negotiate through the media, and we ask you not to," Teixeira said. "The Yankees were really the only team that did that. The other teams went out and told everybody their offers, told everybody that they talked to me, that they made this call, made that trip. The Yankees kept quiet. We talked all winter. When they were ready to make their final offer, it was a great offer, and my wife and I were excited about going to New York."
Asked specifically about the Red Sox, who made their December 18 visit to his home in Texas public knowledge, Teixeira admitted to being bothered: "I think in the end, it probably worked against them a little bit, because everyone thought the Red Sox were my No. 1 choice. … The Yankees had a leg up all along."
Odds & Ends: Strasburg, Cabrera, Waivers
Links for Friday…
- RotoAuthority asks: who is the next Carlos Quentin?
- The Cubs may trade or lose whoever doesn't win their backup catcher job, Paul Bako or Koyie Hill (according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times). By the way, Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker says the Cubs signed a Korean high school outfielder named Don-Yeop Kim.
- Hanley Ramirez was upset about the Marlins' new hair and jewelry policies, but cooled down after meeting with the team's brass.
- Excellent Stephen Strasburg profile by Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated (hat tip to Rob Neyer).
- Rays Index talked to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
- Murray Chass believes suggestions of hostility between the players union and owners are misguided.
- A's shortstop Orlando Cabrera talked to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle about how his reputation unfairly took a hit last year.
- Bart Given explains the four types of waivers.
Gammons On Pitching Shortages
The theme of Peter Gammons' latest blog post: almost every team needs pitching. One GM told Gammons, "Other than the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, Reds, Marlins and Twins, everyone is looking for pitching, at least affordable pitching." Most of the clubs with possible surpluses are thought to be hoarding arms.
Gammons talked to an NL GM who commented on the Red Sox:
"There are a lot of teams sniffing around on guys like Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez. But they want a premium young catcher or bat in return. When they're ready to bring Clay Buchholz and John Smoltz into the equation, they may be dealing from a position of strength because of their pitching depth and the fact that they are so far under budget."
My opinion – a pitching surplus often turns into a deficit in the course of a month or two.
Odds & Ends: Wieters, Padres, Peavy, Price
LInks for Thursday…
- Chico Harlan of the Washington Post says the Nationals will honor a handshake agreement Dmitri Young made with Jim Bowden, and put the first baseman back on the 40-man roster.
- Catcher Matt Wieters has been told by the Orioles that he'll be optioned to Triple A on Monday, according to Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun. Will the Orioles wait until late May to try to avoid Super Two status?
- Reds assistant GM Bob Miller talked to fans in an MLB.com Q&A.
- Check out an entertaining chat transcript with Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times over at Halos Heaven.
- Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star interviewed Zack Greinke.
- Rangers owner Tom Hicks told Richard Durrett of the Dallas Morning News that the team has not reduced its budget for 2010. The Rangers have yet to set next year's budget, but it's known that some big salaries will be coming off the books. Meanwhile, MLB.com's Barry Bloom notes that Hicks intends to sell a minority share of the team.
- Rays exec Andrew Friedman said the team's demotion of David Price was entirely for baseball reasons, talking to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. R.J. Anderson of DRays Bay supports the decision. Bart Given agrees.
- Tom Haudricourt and Adam McCalvy write about Brewers GM Doug Melvin's irritation with the bogus Jake Peavy rumor.
- Purely speculative, but Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel wonders if Dontrelle Willis could get his career back on track with the Marlins.
- Rockies infielder Jeff Baker, unaffected by the trade rumors, homered twice yesterday.
- John Moores says the Padres sale to Jeff Moorad is "awfully close," talking to MLB.com's Barry Bloom. As you know, Sandy Alderson will step down as CEO when the deal closes (possibly today).
- Padres pitcher Shawn Hill had offers from six teams, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock.
- The Red Sox signed reliever Rocky Cherry to a minor league deal.
- MLB.com's Alyson Footer says reliever Danny Graves asked for and received his release from the Astros.
Odds & Ends: Beckham, Taschner, Red Sox
Links for Wednesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- The White Sox sent last year's first-round pick Gordon Beckham to Double A to play shortstop, according to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune.
- Brian McTaggart of the Houston Chronicle talked to Astros GM Ed Wade about the difference between guaranteed and non-guaranteed contracts.
- El Lefty Malo expects the Giants to trade lefty Jack Taschner and go after free agent Will Ohman. Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News dismissed an internet rumor about Taschner and the Tigers. Not sure where that came from.
- Alex Speier of WEEI projects Boston's Opening Day payroll to be under $120MM, its lowest since '03. Speier suggests this could allow midseason financial flexibility.
- Chico Harlan of the Washington Post asks whether the Nationals will try to avoid an eventual Super Two status for Jordan Zimmermann.
- Bart Given says Shawn Hill made the right decision in signing with San Diego.
- Oil Can Boyd hopes to pitch in Ottawa in the Cam-Am Baseball League.
- The Royals Authority 2009 Annual is on sale now – check it out.
Odds & Ends: Clement, Schilling, Strasburg
Links for Tuesday…
- RotoAuthority examines A's starter Trevor Cahill from a fantasy baseball perspective.
- Today's chat has been pushed to Wednesday at 2pm CST.
- The Blue Jays demoted Matt Clement, according to Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star. Clement is trying to decide whether to accept the assignment. He allowed 11 runs and 12 walks in 10.3 spring innings.
- WEEI's Alex Speier looks back at the shockingly low price in prospects the Red Sox paid to acquire Curt Schilling from Arizona. The D'Backs were eyeing players such as Jon Lester, Hanley Ramirez, and Kelly Shoppach, but didn't make any of them a requirement.
- Tyler Bleszinski of Athletics Nation has part 2 of his interview with A's GM Billy Beane. Beane notes his great relationship with Scott Boras.
- I spoke to Tyler Hissey and Doug Gray of Minor League Notebook Weekly yesterday.
- Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post says the Nationals should not draft Stephen Strasburg unless he'll sign in the $9-10MM range of David Price and Mark Prior. ESPN's Rob Neyer explains that many can't-miss pitchers did indeed miss.
- Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle talked to Giants lefty Jack Taschner about the possibility of being traded.
- Bart Given of Inside the Majors says the Blue Jays should keep Travis Snider at Triple A until May 15th so that they'll control him for the 2015 season.
Gammons On Matthews, Teahen, Harang, Peavy
12:07pm: John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer asked Reds GM Walt Jocketty about Gammons' Harang note. Jocketty said, "I'm not going to comment on something when he doesn't know what he's talking about."
9:19am: ESPN's Peter Gammons had a new blog post yesterday discussing available players.
- Gammons names Geoff Jenkins ($8MM remaining, limited no-trade), Brian Giles ($9MM remaining, full no-trade), Gary Matthews Jr. ($33.5MM remaining, full no-trade), Marcus Thames ($2.275MM salary), Nick Johnson ($5.5MM salary), Jason Repko, and Jeff Baker as players being dangled. Gammons links Matthews to the Yankees but admits his contract will be an issue.
- Mark Teahen has drawn interest from the Astros, Red Sox, and Yankees.
- Gammons says the Reds "have let teams know that they will wait and see whether they need to move Aaron Harang during the season." It'd be a shame to see the Reds break up that rotation. Harang has about $36MM coming to him over the next three seasons if his 2011 option is exercised.
- Brewers third baseman Bill Hall expects his team to pursue Padres ace Jake Peavy if available this summer. Unlike C.C. Sabathia, Peavy is more than a rental.