Tigers To Sign Scott Williamson
According to Danny Knobler, reliever Scott Williamson is close to a minor league deal with the Tigers. Knobler says the Brewers also had interest in Williamson, who pitched in Triple A for the Braves and Mariners last year. You have to look back to a 28.6 inning stint with Boston in ’04 to find his last big league success.
Odds and Ends: Prospects, Schilling, Elarton
Links for Thursday…
- Jon Paul Morosi estimates the Tigers’ 2009 payroll at $126.6MM. They were at $137.7 on Opening Day 2008.
- ESPN’s Keith Law ranks the top 100 prospects, with Matt Wieters, David Price, and Jason Heyward topping the list.
- Jack Curry emailed Curt Schilling, learning that the pitcher has been working out for three weeks but hasn’t decided whether to play in ’09.
- Free agent hurler Scott Elarton is also undecided (hat tip to BBTF).
- RotoAuthority wonders if Kenshin Kawakami is a fantasy baseball sleeper.
- Patrick Newman profiles new Cub Ken Kadokura.
- As expected, Oscar Salazar was designated to make room for Gregg Zaun.
Tigers Not Showing Interest In Joe Beimel
According to Steve Kornacki of MLive.com, the Tigers are not showing any interest in free agent left-hander Joe Beimel.
"Detroit’s absence of communication since the winter meetings (six weeks ago in Las Vegas) leads me to believe they are not interested," Beimel’s agent, Joe Sroba, said Wednesday.
The Tigers claim to be in the hunt for quality arms, so it’s a bit strange that they aren’t tyring to contact a guy like Beimel. He was 5-1 with a 2.02 ERA for the Dodgers last season and proved to be more than a lefty specialist after holding right-handed hitters to a .263 batting average in 95 encounters. Lefties hit .278 against him over 90 at-bats.
Tigers Not Done Dealing
9:16pm: Lynn Henning of The Detroit News has provided us some relevant quotes from Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski. He’s optimistic that his club will be able to add some arms this offseason.
"Sometimes you go after high-profile guys, and sometimes you try and get not-so-high-profile guys," Dombrowski said Wednesday. We’ve been trying to do both… I don’t think there’s a dominant-type guy out there. No Joe Nathans or K-Rods. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we added a couple of guys."
6:02pm: Tigers manager Jim Leyland told Tom Gage of the Detroit News Wednesday that his club is not done seeking bullpen help.
"I don’t think we’re done tinkering with the bullpen yet," said Leyland. "I think people might be surprised by what happens before spring training or during spring training. We’ll get some things done that will upgrade our club. We’re not done yet."
As it stands, Fernando Rodney appears to be the team’s strongest ninth-inning option. Brandon Lyon, Chad Cordero, Joe Borowski, Jason Isringhausen and Luis Ayala are among the remaning free agent pitchers with closing experience.
Eight More Avoid Arbitration
SI.com’s Jon Heyman has seven more players who avoided arbitration today: Jeremy Accardo ($900K), Heath Bell ($1.225MM), Ryan Church ($2.8MM), Gerald Laird ($2.8MM), Javier Lopez ($1.35MM), Bobby Seay ($1.3MM), and Joel Zumaya ($735K). I think next year we’ll put all of these in one constantly-updated post.
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick says Angel Pagan signed for $575K.
Nady, Papelbon, Jackson Avoid Arb
Dylan Hernandez has three new ones: Xavier Nady ($6.55MM), Jonathan Papelbon ($6.25MM), and Edwin Jackson ($2.2MM plus $200K in incentives). Papelbon tops Bobby Jenks‘ first-year arb reliever record of $5.6MM, set yesterday. ESPN’s Jayson Stark has more; he says Papelbon and the Red Sox discussed multiyear deals but couldn’t find a match. It may be revisited.
Tigers Sign Juan Rincon
According to the AP, the Tigers signed reliever Juan Rincon to a minor league deal. Rincon, 30 in a few days, posted a 5.86 ERA in 55.3 innings with the Twins and Indians last year. Rincon’s control and ability to get groundballs has slipped in recent times.
Manny Ramirez Rumors: Saturday
Free agent outfielder Manny Ramirez is still looking for a team, and several outlets are writing about him today.
- The New York Mets aren’t looking back at him.
- Money and the length of contract are causing the San Francisco Giants to remain on the sideline, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports.
- Bill Madden of the N.Y. Daily News has a list of teams in his column. He notes the Los Angeles Dodgers have no reason to bid against themselves. Madden’s list of teams? Dodgers, Mets, Giants, Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers.
Rosenthal On Andruw, Nady, Lyon, Madson
The latest from Ken Rosenthal…
- The Braves are pulling back for the moment in their search for an outfield bat. They’ll hope for a free agent bargain or the right trade. Rosenthal says they’re torn about Andruw Jones. The Braves seek a right-handed hitter but aren’t dead set on it. They were unwilling to meet the Yankees’ demands for Xavier Nady.
- Brandon Lyon‘s agent is telling teams he has a two-year, $9MM offer in hand (Kyle Farnsworth money). The Tigers or Twins are possibilities there, while the Cardinals may have offered one year. Jon Paul Morosi confirms Detroit’s interest, but says they’ve yet to make an offer. Morosi believes the Tigers have about $5MM left in their budget.
- Ryan Madson turned down a three-year, $12MM extension from the Phillies. The Scott Boras client is eligible for free agency after the season.
- Execs have all kinds of concerns with Oliver Perez: his flyball tendencies, frequent walks, and inability to reach 200 innings.
- The Yankees have little interest in Ben Sheets and Freddy Garcia. The Rangers, Mets, and White Sox remain in the mix for Garcia.
- The Brewers and other teams are in on Braden Looper, while the Orioles and Dodgers have backed off.
- Edgardo Alfonzo is playing well in the Venezuelan Winter League and could make a comeback.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pirates, Hudson, Tigers, Braves, Dunn, Yankees
On this day 29 years ago, Albert Pujols was born. 2009 will be the sixth year of his eight year, $111MM deal (safe to say Cards will pick up his ’11 option). According to Fangraphs, Pujols has already been worth $151.9MM in the first five years of the contract ($30.4M per season), begging the question: How much will Pujols command following the ’11 season, when he will be 32? Last winter, Alex Rodriguez signed for 10 years and $275MM prior to his age 32 season. With less than a month to go before pitchers and catchers report, many players are still looking for their own new contracts. Let’s take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- River Ave. Blues expands on Baseball Prospectus’ case against a salary cap and how small-market teams likely would not be able to support a minimum payroll.
- Bucco Blog says the value of young talent has kept the Pirates from rebuilding. Instead, the team has spent the last two years restructuring and are now moving on to the next phase.
- Jorge Says No examines the market for Orlando Hudson and feels the Nationals have to make a play for the second baseman.
- The Detroit Tigers Weblog takes a look at who is still available to close for the Tigers in ’09.
- Infield Chatter says the Braves were forced to overpay for Derek Lowe.
- Braves Blast takes a look at the Braves offseason and what is left to do: adding an outfield bat and extending Chipper Jones’ contract.
- On Baseball and The Reds takes a look at Adam Dunn‘s value, with the numbers suggesting he is not worth much more than $20MM over four years.
- Pinstripes Published makes a case for the Yankees acquiring Lastings Milledge from the Nats, while The Chuck Knoblog argues for Elijah Dukes.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here. This is by far the best way to get your blog linked on MLBTR.