Red Sox Acquire Tug Hulett
The Red Sox have acquired utility player Tug Hulett from the Royals, according to Bob Dutton of The KC Star. The Royals will receive either cash or a player to be named later in the deal.
The 26-year-old Hulett has hit .194/.270/.254 in 75 career plate appearances in the big leagues, spending most of the last three seasons in Triple-A. He's a career .284/.394/.418 hitter in the minors, and is capable of playing second, third, and short.
Red Sox Interested In Justin Duchscherer
A major league source tells Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com that the Red Sox are interested in righthander Justin Duschscherer as a starting pitcher.
The 32-year-old missed all of 2009 following surgery on both his hip and throwing elbow, plus a bout with clinical depression that ESPN's Jerry Crasnick chronicled today. Duchscherer was originally drafted by Boston back in 1996, and has a 3.14 career ERA in 27 starts and 192 relief appearances.
Red Sox Making Push For Halladay
3:05pm: Not so fast, says John Tomase of The Boston Herald. He writes that a team source "made it clear today the Red Sox recognize that swinging any deal for Halladay will likely be a lengthy process." The Winter Meetings are just 11 days away.
Meanwhile, both Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com and Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston put their two cents in about a potential Halladay-to-Boston deal.
8:17am: The Boston Red Sox are aggressively pursuing Roy Halladay, hoping to get a trade worked out before the winter meetings, according to Mark Feinsand and Bill Madden of the New York Daily News.
The Daily News report cites an unnamed source that claims the Sox are "putting on a full-court press" in the negotiations for Halladay. Since new Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is willing to trade Toronto's ace within the division, the Red Sox and Yankees are considered frontrunners in the Halladay sweepstakes, with the Angels and Dodgers also in the mix. For either AL East powerhouse, acquiring the right-hander would not only bolster their rotation, but would keep him away from a division rival.
Feinsand and Madden suggest that the Sox would have to give up at least Clay Buchholz and Casey Kelly in order to get a deal done with the Jays.
Odds & Ends: Lincecum, Gonzalez, Damon
Let's check out some Wednesday morning links….
- With rumors of Tim Lincecum's arbitration filing abound, Dave Cameron at FanGraphs determines that the two-time defending NL Cy Young Award winner could realistically get about $12-14MM this year. Cameron notes that Lincecum's success isn't unprecedented; Roger Clemens took the baseball world by storm in a similar fashion over two decades ago.
- Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune believes there will be a time for the Padres to trade Adrian Gonzalez, but that it hasn't come yet.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports examines some of the more intriguing arbitration decisions around the majors.
- Johnny Damon isn't stressing too much over his future, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch.
- Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Daily News thinks Chone Figgins would look good atop the Phillies' lineup.
- Aiming to quell the concerns of Tigers fans, John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press points out a few reasons why the Miguel Cabrera trade rumors are lacking in substance.
- WEEI's Rob Bradford breaks down why Roy Halladay should be a priority for the Red Sox. In another article, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald writes that we should soon find out how badly the Jays and Red Sox want to get a deal done.
- Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball provides an interesting read on the dissent between baseball's management and labor.
Red Sox Search For Starting Pitching
Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe writes today that adding starting pitching depth will be one of the main priorities for the Boston Red Sox this winter.
The team's current rotation has some question marks after Jon Lester and Josh Beckett. Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield are coming off injuries in 2009, and Wakefield will turn 44 next summer. Clay Buchholz, meanwhile, has never pitched a full season in the majors.
Abraham thinks it's unlikely that the Red Sox pursue a top free agent arm like John Lackey or Randy Wolf, but believes they'll focus on the second tier of high-upside pitchers recovering from injuries. We heard yesterday that Boston has some interest in Kelvim Escobar. Abraham names a few other notable potential targets: Ben Sheets, Rich Harden, Erik Bedard, and Justin Duchscherer.
Of course, the Roy Halladay rumors continue to persist as well. In a separate piece, Abraham blogs that he feels Halladay would be worth the price for the Red Sox (the price, presumably, being Buchholz, Casey Kelly, and another prospect or two).
Olney On Halladay, Wagner, Bay
In his ESPN.com column today, Buster Olney notes that many teams are waiting to get involved in the free agent market, meaning there might not be many moves made in the next couple weeks. Here are a few other highlights from Olney's blog:
- One executive tells Olney that the Blue Jays' chances of moving Roy Halladay are no better than 50/50. Another source suggests that the Jays could have had three top prospects for Halladay last summer, whereas now they could probably only land one star prospect and a second with some major-league potential.
- Billy Wagner's Type A status could make him undesirable to clubs not wanting to give up any draft picks to sign him. However, Wagner could make himself more attractive by lowering his contract demands. If a team thought they were getting a potentially elite closer at a discount, they'd be more willing to part with a draft pick.
- Olney hears from a pair of execs that the Red Sox will continue to take the Jason Bay negotiations slowly, and that the team would ultimately prefer to sign Matt Holliday.
- The Padres likely won't want to pay Kevin Correia a raise through arbitration. The team will try to work out a "moderate-sized deal" with him, and if they can't do it, the right-hander could be non-tendered.
- Olney reiterates what he wrote in yesterday's blog: it doesn't seem like Adrian Gonzalez is going anywhere.
- Randy Wolf has received plenty of interest from teams looking at starting pitching.
Red Sox Express Interest In Scutaro, Escobar, And More
Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald says the Red Sox have kicked the tires on many free agents already, with Marco Scutaro and Kelvim Escobar the newest names. Others include Rafael Soriano, Matt Holliday, Rick Ankiel, Adrian Beltre, John Lackey, Aroldis Chapman, Billy Wagner, Mike Gonzalez, Alex Gonzalez, and, of course, Jason Bay. Silverman cautions that not all names connected to the Red Sox have "enduring news value."
Scutaro certainly makes sense for Boston; he's the best available shortstop, considering both the free agent and trade market. We ranked Scutaro the eighth-best free agent overall, perhaps a reflection of a weaker market this year. It'd be nice to see Scutaro sign with the Red Sox, as we'd get at least one of our 50 predictions right.
Aside from committing a multiyear contract to Scutaro, the Sox might have to surrender their #29 pick in the June 2010 draft to the Blue Jays. Looking at the Elias numbers, it is possible that the Jays get screwed out of a first-rounder again, as they did losing A.J. Burnett last year (of course, the Jays failed to sign James Paxton anyway). If the Red Sox sign Scutaro and any of Soriano, Gonzalez, Holliday, or Lackey, the Braves, Cardinals, or Angels would get Boston's #29 pick instead and the Jays would get their second-rounder (assuming arbitration is offered to those players).
As Silverman notes, Escobar would fit right in with the John Smoltz/Brad Penny signings of last year. Those two bombed, but here's the question – what kind of success rate should the Red Sox expect from these one-year pitcher gambles? It is OK if one out of five works out?
Braves Notes: Soriano, Gonzalez, Wagner
Mark Bowman of MLB.com discussed some of Atlanta's options in the free agent market, and here are a few of the more notable pieces of news….
- Relievers Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez "will likely leave Atlanta" for greener free agent pastures, and thus the Braves are looking for new options at the back of their bullpen. Bowman says the Braves have talked to free agent closer Billy Wagner's representatives and "won't necessarily be scared" by Wagner's Type A status since Soriano and Gonzalez are also both Type A's. If those two were to sign elsewhere, the compensation that Atlanta would receive would more than make up for the picks they would lose for signing Wagner. The Braves and Wagner's most recent club, the Red Sox, may end up virtually trading relievers since Soriano and Gonzalez are two names on Boston's lengthy list of possible free agent targets.
- Bowman lists former Brave Octavio Dotel as a potential set-up option, and Fernando Rodney as a signing who could serve as either a set-up man or a closer.
- There isn't anything to rumors that Atlanta will try to trade with Detroit for Miguel Cabrera, or sign free agent Jermaine Dye. Cabrera's big contract is too rich for the Braves' blood, and as for Dye, there is no DH spot in the National League to stash a right fielder who posted a -20 UZR and -24.5 UZR/150 last season.
- Signing Marlon Byrd would make Jordan Schaefer expendable, Bowman reports. Byrd wouldn't necessarily solve Atlanta's need for a right-handed outfield bat, however, given that Byrd's career splits against right-handed and left-handed pitching are pretty even — a .769 lifetime OPS against southpaws and a .759 OPS against righties. Byrd actually hit significantly better against righties (.835 OPS) last season than he did against lefties (.744 OPS).
- The Braves are prepared to see what other offers Adam LaRoche receives before they decide if they want to bring him back next season.
Passan On Arguelles, Bedard, Jackson
Jeff Passan covers a few items in this piece for Yahoo Sports, headlined by 19-year-old Cuban pitcher Noel Arguelles. The young left-hander impressed a number of agents and representatives from various teams at a workout last month in the Dominican Republic, and the four teams most interested in signing Arguelles are the Athletics, Mariners, Rays, and (who but?) the Yankees. Passan predicted that Argulles' deal will be worth somewhere around $8.2MM to $10MM, which match the contracts given to Jose Iglesias and Dayan Viciedo last year by the Red Sox and White Sox, respectively.
In other news from Passan's column…
- Passan says the Yankees are much more interested in Aroldis Chapman than they are in Arguelles, and that Chapman's recent agent switch to Randy and Alan Hendricks may help New York. Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens are/were both represented by the Hendricks brothers.
- The Royals are "going hard" to sign Erik Bedard to a short-term contract. Passan thinks Bedard will sign with someone for an "incentive-loaded one-year deal" in an effort to prove that he's healthy and worthy of a more lucrative longer-term deal for 2011.
- Detroit seem to be becoming more determined in their quest to trade pitcher Edwin Jackson. An unnamed executive is quoted as saying, "It’s like they want to give him away, and I don’t really understand why."
Olney On Cabrera, Yankees, Cust, Rays
In today's blog post at ESPN, Buster Olney writes about the potential market for Miguel Cabrera, who is now apparently available in a trade. He notes the enormous financial commitment attached to Cabrera's All-World bat, and discusses the Red Sox, Angels, Mets, White Sox, Giants, Mariners, and Braves as potential landing spots.
Here's the rest of Olney's rumors…
- Olney tweets that the Astros' payroll will be cut from $107MM to the low $90MMs.
- Olney says the Yankees will look to add two relievers in all likelihood, though it's unclear if they're willing to give up a first round pick for one of the Type-A bullpen arms. For what it's worth, GM Brian Cashman said the bullpen wasn't an area of "obvious need" yesterday.
- Jack Cust could be in line for a $4.5MM payday through arbitration, which just might get him non-tendered. Given all the DH-types on the market, that might not be a good thing for Cust. We learned yesterday that the Mets might be among the suitors for him.
- Regarding a potential Milton Bradley to Tampa trade, Olney says the Rays "absolutely will not do it unless it's on their terms, which is that the Cubs might absorb enough money in the swap of Bradley and (Pat) Burrell to make it worthwhile for the Rays."
- Olney also reiterates that it's extremely unlikely the Padres will move Adrian Gonzalez given his favorable contract.