Heyman On Awards, Lackey, Pettitte
A look at the latest from SI's Jon Heyman…
- Heyman hands out the hardware, starting with Joe Mauer and Albert Pujols for the MVP awards. I'll let you click to see his take on the other awards.
- Heyman says "there hasn't been any hint of negotiations between the Angels and ace pitcher John Lackey." He believes their initial offer before the season was in the four-year, $60MM range. Hard to see Lackey leaving a possible $20MM+ on the table.
- Andy Pettitte will decide on 2010 once he talks to his family in Houston after the season.
Mike Sweeney Hopes To Play In 2010
Designated hitter Mike Sweeney hopes to play again in 2010, according to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. He'll have to postpone microfracture knee surgery to do so. The 36 year-old is hitting .277/.335/.441 in 236 plate appearances, his best power display since '05. He's on a $500K minor league deal signed in January.
Sweeney told Baker he decided to play next year after receiving support from his wife. His two choices are the Mariners and the Angels.
Odds & Ends: Astros, Royals, Abreu
Let's kick off the day with links…
- Yahoo's David Brown caught up with Pedro Martinez as part of his Answer Man series.
- Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle writes about the Astros' mistake of ignoring pitching.
- Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle notes that the Michael Bourn–Brad Lidge swap no longer looks lopsided. The Astros sent Lidge and Eric Bruntlett to Philly for Bourn, Geoff Geary, and Mike Costanzo in November of 2007.
- Rany Jazayerli has an open letter to Royals owner David Glass regarding the Dayton Moore extension.
- Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times writes about Bobby Abreu's influence on the Angels' other hitters. In the article, Abreu says, "I definitely want to come back."
- Chuck Finder of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette discusses the legend of Garrett Jones. The 28 year-old Rookie of the Year contender has crushed 18 home runs in 237 plate appearances. What kind of numbers do you see him putting up next year?
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post feels that Johnny Damon makes more sense for the Yankees next year than Hideki Matsui.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Scott Kazmir
On this date 34 years ago, Rod Barajas was born. Barajas has played 11 seasons with four different franchises, hitting .241/.286/.411. This year, he is in the final year of a two-year deal that pays him $2.5MM this season. With less than a month remaining in the season, many others will see their contracts expire and look forward to free agency. Let's take a look at what is being written in the blogosphere…
- The Hardball Times says Scott Kazmir may be injury-prone moving forward, but he still has the arm to be an Ace.
- Rays Revolutionary has no problem with trades that help the Rays budget, but are upset at the timing of the Kazmir deal.
- The Rays Party looks at what the Kazmir deal means for the Rays now and down the road.
- Jorge Says No! is not a fan of the timing of the Kazmir trade, but says the Rays got a good package, and in the end, it is Pat Burrell's fault.
- The Bottom Linewonders why the Red Sox did not claim Kazmir and block his move to the Angels, a potential playoff opponent.
- UmpBump says the Kazmir deal makes sense, but maybe the Rays should have waited until the off-season.
- The Baseball Opinion likes the Kazmir deal for the Rays noting they dumped the salary and that there is likely more wrong with his arm than we know.
- Around the Majors loves the Kazmir deal for the Rays, noting that Kazmir no longer has a fastball to live up to his reputation.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here, and followed on Twitter here.
Stark On Lackey, Rays, Jeter
More from Jayson Stark's Rumblings and Grumblings column at ESPN.com…
- One of Stark's sources says the Angels' acquisition of Scott Kazmir is not linked to John Lackey's future. Lackey is said to have dropped his price from the C.C. Sabathia range ($161MM over seven years) to A.J. Burnett money ($82.5MM over five years) due to his recent injury history. The Angels will attempt to re-sign Lackey, but they have their limit. Stark's suggestion that Lackey had a "Sabathia-esque" price tag in Spring Training runs counter to Mike DiGiovanna's report that the pitcher wanted Burnett money at that time.
- Stark feels that the Rays' trade of Kazmir will help them allocate money toward retaining Carl Crawford and/or Carlos Pena. Crawford's 2010 club option is worth between $10-11.5MM. Pena is signed at $10.125MM for '10 and is represented by Scott Boras. One positive: the slugging first baseman inked a below-market deal in January of '08.
- Derek Jeter is not talking about his next contract, but Stark feels the Yankees will take care of him. They may wait until after next season, when Jeter finishes his current deal.
- Rockies manager Jim Tracy is familiar with Brad Penny, and his opinion might have caused the team to back off. And the Yankees cooled Jon Garland because they didn't see him as a difference-maker in the AL East.
- The Marlins were in on Mike Cameron, but the Brewers decided to keep their players and win as many games as possible.
- The White Sox "wanted something good" for Jermaine Dye, according to one Stark source. He would not have been as easy to pry away as Jim Thome and Jose Contreras were.
- A couple of sources are skeptical that the Red Sox will shop closer Jonathan Papelbon this winter.
- Stark notes that only two players – Ryan Franklin and David Eckstein – signed extensions in-season. These days it makes more sense to talk during the exclusive negotiation period after the season. Plus, there were many bargains to be had on the free agent market last offseason.
Odds And Ends: Royals, Kazmir, Hudson
Some links for the morning…
- Jeff Sackmann of the Hardball Times can imagine an excellent Royals team in 2012, but says there's no guarantee we'll see such a thing.
- As MLB.com's Doug Miller shows, cheap, no-name closers can be just as effective as proven commodities.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports says the addition of Scott Kazmir should help the Angels reach the playoffs once again.
- Tim Hudson and Dan Meyer were traded for each other in 2004. This week, Hudson pitched against Meyer's team for the first time, as MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez reports.
- Jamey Newberg ranks Justin Smoak and Martin Perez ahead of the other Rangers minor leaguers in this week's prospects report for MLB.com.
Odds & Ends: Posey, Maybin, Penny
Links for Wednesday…
- Due to Bengie Molina's injury, the Giants have changed their mind and called up top prospect Buster Posey according to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. So Posey's clock starts earlier than planned.
- Speaking of service time, MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith tells me Cameron Maybin's call-up gives him 129 days of service time after this year. That puts him on the fringe of Super Two status after the 2011 season.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick ranks the impact of trades made by contenders in July. He talked to an exec who thinks Matt Holliday "could make an extra $3MM a year as a free agent this winter because of his strong finish."
- Yahoo's Gordon Edes has his trade deadline winners and losers.
- Ryan Doumit's agent Matt Sosnick shot down recent negativity surrounding his client, while Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gets to the bottom of the catcher's recent benching.
- Brad Penny still hates the Dodgers, a team he'll face twice this month according to Baggarly. Baggarly also has a quote from Penny ripping on the Marlins.
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has more from Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy, who knows he gained trade value when the team delayed his free agency.
- J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics wonders whether the Braves should pick up Tim Hudson's $12MM option for 2010. Hudson has the right to void that option, not that he would. Back in January Dave O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said the Braves "fully intend to exercise it, barring some unexpected turn of events."
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs notes that Kendry Morales has matched the production of the Angels' former first baseman, $180MM man Mark Teixeira.
- Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic has comments from Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes on the team's Jon Rauch–Kevin Mulvey swap. Piecoro says the D'Backs have about $23MM to work with this winter as they presumably look to add pitching.
- Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times guesses Ken Griffey Jr. will retire after this season.
Rosenthal On Abreu, Royals, Garland
The latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…
- Bobby Abreu and the Angels have mutual interest in continuing their relationship, according to his agent Peter Greenberg. Greenberg says there have been discussions but they'll probably wait until after the season. Abreu, 36 in March, is hitting .297/.391/.428 in 547 plate appearances while playing subpar defense. He should end up earning $6MM given his plate appearance incentives. He'll easily achieve Type A status again.
- Rosenthal praises the Royals for extending GM Dayton Moore, and suggests the team should commit to a full-bore rebuild. Rosenthal believes it would've been wise to trade Mark Teahen and Gil Meche.
- Rosenthal says to expect another overloaded 1B/DH market this winter. Survey the free agent market here. I think we might find a .400 OBP on the cheap in Nick Johnson, while Jason Giambi is in for a minor league deal. Carlos Delgado, Russell Branyan, Hank Blalock, Ken Griffey Jr., Hideki Matsui, Aubrey Huff, Gary Sheffield, and Jim Thome are some of the other names.
- The Phillies decided to stick with Miguel Cairo as their right-handed bench bat, rather than pursue Nomar Garciaparra.
- A rival exec Rosenthal spoke to feels that Tony Abreu is not enough for Jon Garland, since the D'Backs are picking up all of Garland's contract.
Rays Acquire Sean Rodriguez In Kazmir Trade
2:38pm: The Rays acquired Rodriguez as the player to be named later in the Kazmir trade, according to Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse (via Twitter). Rodriguez, 24, is hitting a robust .299/.400/.616 at Triple A this year. A few days ago the Rays acquired Alexander Torres and Matt Sweeney as initial pieces of the Kazmir deal. My question: why didn't another team claim Rodriguez on waivers, just to prevent the Rays from getting a look at him in September?
The Rays seem set in the middle infield for 2010 with Ben Zobrist, Jason Bartlett, and Rodriguez. Just speculating, but they could choose Akinori Iwamura's $250K buyout over his $4.25MM option.
TUESDAY, 12:33pm: The Angels promoted Wilson but not Rodriguez, causing Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times to speculate that the former is in the Kazmir deal.
MONDAY: Triple-A infielder Sean Rodriguez and catcher Bobby Wilson are candidates to be the player to be named later in last weekend's Scott Kazmir trade, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com. It is unclear if those two are part of a pool of prospects the Rays could consider, or if they've already made their decision.
Both players have big league experience. Rodriguez, 24, is a .282/.381/.502 career hitter in the minors, and has gotten 216 plate appearances with the Angels spread out over the last two seasons. Wilson, 26, has hit .283/.338/.423 in his minor league career, but he's come to the plate just seven times for the Angels over the last two year. Baseball America's 2009 Prospect Handbook notes that he "draws praise for his game calling ability."
Odds & Ends: Diamond, Penny, Pelekoudas
Links for Tuesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- The Rangers designated pitcher Thomas Diamond for assignment, according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. Diamond was the 10th overall pick in the 2004 draft. He was considered the #52 prospect in the game by Baseball America in '05, but he had Tommy John surgery in '07 and dealt with shoulder soreness this year.
- ESPN's Buster Olney says the Angels were in on Brad Penny, with a bullpen role in mind.
- Stephen Strasburg has a few things to learn about dealing with media attention, says John Feinstein of the Washington Post.
- Mariners Associate GM Lee Pelekoudas has resigned to pursue other career opportunities, according to a team press release. Pelekoudas was the Ms' interim GM before Jack Zduriencik was hired. He spent 30 years in the organization.
- USA Today's Paul White writes about the stigma of a college degree for ballplayers.
- Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star suggests newly-extended GM Dayton Moore, and not the Glass family, is accountable for the Royals' future performance.
- Reliever Luis Ayala, recently designated for assignment by the Marlins after pitching badly, was upset by the team's "lack of respect" (Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reporting). Ayala earned $1.3MM for his 5.63 ERA this year in 40 innings.