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Odds & Ends: Felix, Marte, Closers

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Another handful of links before the night is out….

  • Keith Law of ESPN.com is skeptical about Boston's chances of acquiring Felix Hernandez from the Mariners. Law concedes that the Red Sox could offer Clay Buchholz as the centerpiece, but doesn't think they have the necessary major-league ready hitting prospects to complete a deal.
  • Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes that Andy Marte will meet with Indians GM Mark Shapiro to figure out if Marte has a future in Cleveland. Long considered a top prospect, Marte has yet to enjoy much success at the major league level, and is starting to run out of options.
  • Erik Manning at FanGraphs takes a look at the major bullpen signings of last offseason and how they've played out. Underwhelming performances from Kerry Wood and Brian Fuentes, along with the emergence of low-priced or homegrown arms like David Aardsma and Andrew Bailey may make some teams think twice before investing heavily in a free agent closer this year.
  • Daniel Hudson made the first start of his career tonight for the White Sox, allowing just one earned run in five innings against the Twins. Nonetheless, Scot Gregor of the Daily Herald expects that given Chicago's rotation depth and the 22-year-old's power arm, Hudson will assume a bullpen role for the Sox in 2010.

Cafardo’s Latest: Felix Hernandez, Red Sox

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Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has his Sunday column up. Let's have a look.

  • Cafardo expects the Red Sox to make another push for Felix Hernandez in the offseason. Hernandez's price tag could prove too high for Seattle to retain him; however, they are open to extending him. Before the deadline, the Red Sox reportedly offered a 5-for-1 deal for the ace that Seattle turned down.
  • The Indians have yet to see dividends pay for the players they received for Cliff Lee. Cafardo writes, "Righty Carlos Carrasco is 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA (six homers in 14 innings); catcher Lou Marson is hitting .154; shortstop Jason Donald went on the disabled list in Triple A; and righty Jason Knapp underwent surgery to remove fragments from his shoulder."
  • Cafardo wonders if the Nats would've dealt Cristian Guzman had they known Ian Desmond would emerge as their shortstop of the future.
  • Chiming in on the Jason Bay or Matt Holliday discussion, Cafardo quotes scouts who seem to have him leaning toward Holliday as the better option, particularly for Boston.

Odds & Ends: Reynolds, Gammons, Orioles

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Some late night links after Jake Peavy allowed three runs in five innings in his first start for the White Sox…

  • Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic notes that Mark Reynolds is likely to fall short of qualifying as a Super Two, meaning he'll have to wait until after 2010 to become arbitration eligible. He also says that it "does not appear there have been any discussions about a long-term deal with Reynolds, but the club does not seem averse to the idea of an extension."
  • ESPN's Peter Gammons writes about how great Victor Martinez has been for the Red Sox since being acquired at the trade deadline. He also praises Casey Kotchman, but I think I'd rather have Adam LaRoche, who has a 1.053 OPS since the trade.
  • Orioles Manager Dave Trembley indicated that the team needs someone to hit behind Nick Markakis until some younger players like Matt Wieters and Adam Jones are ready to do it, according to MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko. 
  • If you aren't already, make sure you follow MLBTR on Twitter.

Odds & Ends: Buchholz, Burnett, Yanks, Cards

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Some links as the weekend draws closer…

  • Thought the Red Sox were going to deal Clay Buchholz this summer? You're not alone. Buchholz tells WEEI.com's Rob Bradford he expected to be traded because of all the rumors.
  • Peter Abraham of the Journal News points out that one of the Yankees' biggest acquisitions of the year, A.J. Burnett, has pitched poorly over the course of his last nine starts. Now Burnett must prove to his teammates that he's ready for the Division Series.
  • Tom Verducci of SI.com says the Yankees' plan to add power pitchers to the rotation worked (even if Burnett has struggled lately). It's hard to argue with 94 wins in mid-September, but there's more to the Yanks than their rotation.
  • Verducci notes that some of the best free agent signings happened late last offseason and some of the worst ones were finalized early. Could we see GMs play the waiting game this winter? 
  • Joel Pineiro, Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa will have to wait until the season's over to sign their next contracts. Cards GM John Mozeliak told Bernie Miklasz that the team doesn't expect to negotiate deals with prospective free agents before the season ends.

Olney On Red Sox, Fielder, Cain

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ESPN.com's Buster Olney caught our attention yesterday when he guessed the Brewers would trade Prince Fielder to the Red Sox after the season. Some MLB executives who noticed Olney's post "flatly disagreed" with the suggestion. Here are the details from Olney's latest column:

  • The executives Olney spoke with believe the Red Sox would prefer not to give up the young pitching it would take to acquire Prince. They gave up a lot of pitching in the Victor Martinez trade, so they will want to keep Clay Buchholz and others.
  • The same executives didn't rule out a Matt Cain for Prince Fielder swap. There's no indication that there's even the smallest amount of truth behind the suggestion that the teams could trade stars, but it makes some sense, in theory.
  • The Brewers, who know they need an improved rotation, get a top young starter to pair with Yovani Gallardo. The Giants get a legitimate middle-of-the-order bat to place behind Pablo Sandoval. Both Cain and Fielder are under team control for two more seasons, so the suggestion is imaginable, if unlikely.

Boston’s Roy Halladay Offer

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5:29pm: ESPN's Peter Gammons echoes Heyman's report, and adds that Josh Reddick is the positional prospect that would have gone to Toronto.

MONDAY, 3:01pm: So what did the Red Sox actually offer for Halladay?  SI's Jon Heyman heard Buchholz, Masterson, Bowden, Hagadone, and a positional prospect.  Should Ricciardi have pulled the trigger on this 5-for-1 blockbuster?

SUNDAY, 1:12pm: Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe reports that Epstein has denied the rumors. When asked if there was any truth to the rumored offer for Halladay, Epstein responded with a simple "Nope."

10:14am: Last month, Theo Epstein said Boston aggressively pursued Roy Halladay at the deadline and that their final offer was "probably the best offer [J.P. Ricciardi] received." According to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, that  may have been a 6-for-1 offer of Clay Buchholz, Justin Masterson, Daniel Bard, Michael Bowden, Felix Doubront, and Nick Hagadone.

One National League scout is quoted having "zero idea why they didn't take the Boston offer." Elliott cites a Toronto scout who says the Jays didn't take the offer for two reasons: 1) They weren't confident Masterson would succeed as a starter, and 2) they were afraid of Halladay beating them in 2010.

The same scout is quoted, "We don't have a quality arm like Halladay," said the scout, "but I've seen four of those (Red Sox) arms and they're quality. Hit on three of six and you'd be fertile for a long time."

What do you think? Does this seem uncharacteristic of Theo Epstein?

Odds & Ends: Pirates, Fielder, Nationals

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Links for Monday…

Heyman’s Latest: Jeter, Wagner, Delgado, Lackey

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No team is successful without good coaching and guidance, so SI.com's Jon Heyman pays homage to those who got the job done behind the scenes by naming his ten most unsung heroes of the 2009 season. Rangers' pitching coach Mike Maddux tops the list, and several other familiar names make an appearance.

Here's the rest of Heyman's rumors…

  • Heyman guesses that the Yankees will resign Derek Jeter for at least $60MM over three years once his contract expires after next season. That's a lot of scratch for a guy who would be entering his age-37 season.
  • The Red Sox have "every intention" of offering Billy Wagner arbitration, and barring something unexpected, Wagner has every intention of turning it down. He's projected to be a Type-A free agent, so Boston would walk away with two high draft picks in that scenario.
  • Out since early May with a hip injury, Carlos Delgado hasn't given up on the idea of playing again this year. The Mets would be happy to accomodate him, because according to Heyman's sources the team has thought about bringing him back on an incentive laden contract. A late season cameo would at least give them a look at what kind of shape he's in.
  • Stop me if you've heard this before: the Mets might consider Orlando Hudson this offseason if they can find a taker for Luis Castillo. That's what, three times in the last 24 hours?
  • The Angels tried to sign John Lackey for four years and $60MM last offseason. Given the lack of impact starting pitching available this year, Lackey's price has gone up.
  • In regards to Ken Griffey Jr. and his .214 AVG, Heyman says "this has to be the end, no?" Griffey hasn't said anything about his future yet, though.
  • Kansas City ownership has "often prevented its baseball people from making deadline trades in order to avoid the dreaded 100-loss season." This strategy probably works against them in the long run, but Heyman suggests it may "make them a tougher team than some also-rans who hit the wall."
  • There's no evidence that Lou Piniella is a candidate to be fired (his $4MM option for 2010 has already been picked up), but the question about whether he wants to return or not has to be asked. Sweet Lou's body language did not look good last weekend.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Papelbon, Jeter, Jurrjens, Braves, Nats

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On this date 11 years ago, the Dodgers hired Kevin Malone to be their General Manager, replacing Tommy Lasorda. Three months later, the "new sheriff in town" signed Kevin Brown to a 7-year/$105MM contract, making Brown the first $100MM player in baseball history. The deal would cover Brown's age 34-40 seasons. Malone also avoided salary arbitration with Carlos Perez that off-season, giving him a 3-year/$15.5MM deal. Perez would spend the final year of the deal in Triple-A and never signed another big league contract. As most teams start looking to the off-season, let's take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…

  • Jorge Says No! revisits the worst contract extensions from the past off-season.
  • Fire Brand of the American League takes a look at what it would mean to the Red Sox if they traded Jonathan Papelbon.
  • River Ave. Blues takes a look at what it will take to re-sign Derek Jeter.
  • MLB Notebook can see Jason Bay signing with the Mariners this off-season, but suggests it is not a good fit.
  • Talking Chop argues that trading Jair Jurrjens this off-season would be more beneficial for the Braves than trading Javier Vazquez or Tim Hudson.
  • Capitol Ave. Club previews the Braves' free agent class.
  • DC Sports Plus projects the Nationals' roster for next season, including the addition of Aki Iwamura.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here, and followed on Twitter here.

Odds & Ends: Castillo, Wagner, Pitching

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Some links to look through on the day Eric Munson returns to the big leagues…

  • Joel Sherman of The NY Post wonders if a Luis Castillo for Jeremy Bonderman or Nate Robertson deal makes sense. Placido Polanco will be a free agent after the season, and both pitchers are expendable to Detroit. Castillo is owed $12MM over the next two years, while Bonderman and Robertson will take in $12.5MM and $10MM, respectively, in the final season of their contracts next year.
  • Jon Heyman of SI.com tweets that the best possibilities for Billy Wagner next year are the Braves, Astros, Cubs, Tigers, and maybe even the Nationals.
  • In a piece at ESPN, Baseball Prospectus' Shawn Hoffman looks at who could be the best pitching bargains of the offseason. Carl Pavano, Erik Bedard, and John Smoltz might be the best of the lot. You need Insider to read the article, but it comes recommended.
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