Dotel Would Play For Mets Or Yankees
The White Sox told Octavio Dotel that he's not in their long-term plans when the righty approached the club about a contract extension last month, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The 35-year-old reliever says he'd like to play in New York for the Yankees or, his preferred team, the Mets. Dotel has experience in New York; he began his MLB career as a starter with the Mets in 1999 and played a season with the Yankees in 2006.
This year Dotel has allowed 54 hits in 61.2 innings, walking 36 and striking out 74 for an ERA of 3.36. He projects as a Type A free agent, so teams will have to surrender a high draft pick to sign Dotel if the White Sox offer him arbitration. He's currently making $6MM in the second deal of a two-year contract.
Pirates Claim Anthony Claggett
The Pirates claimed pitcher Anthony Claggett off waivers from the Yankees, according to a press release. The Yanks had designated him for assignment ten days ago. Claggett, a 25-year-old righty, was acquired by the Yanks from Detroit in the Gary Sheffield deal in November of '06. Upon reaching Triple A this year, Claggett's strikeout rate took a large drop to 4.7 per nine innings.
Red Sox To Pursue Aroldis Chapman; O’s?
7:12pm: It sounds like the Orioles will be quick to bow out if Chapman's price tag is driven up by high-budget bidders like the Red Sox and Yankees. Here's Andy MacPhail, the O's president of baseball operations, courtesy of MASN's Roch Kubatko:
"I have not talked to [owner Peter Angelos] about it because I have no idea where this one is. I haven't broached the subject with him because I am so uncertain as to the level of interest among other clubs because there will be a certain time where you measure the risk-reward."
"…If some of the big boys are going to go after him, like the Red Sox did with Dice-K, that's not a risk that I would be willing to take."
11:41am: Expect the Red Sox to have interest in 21-year-old lefty Aroldis Chapman when he becomes a free agent, according to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald and ESPN's Amy K. Nelson. The Yankees are also expected to be in the mix. Will the Sox attempt to buy up all the hotel rooms in Andorra?
Chapman may be granted free agency before the playoffs. The bidding could exceed $40MM, and Chapman could potentially sign before the regular free agent signing period begins. Nelson talked to Chapman's agent Edwin Leonel Mejia, who plans to hold private workouts in Europe. Aside from the Red Sox and Yankees, Silverman names the Angels and Rangers as likely suitors. The Orioles were connected to Chapman in July, but the Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec didn't expect them to join a bidding war. Mejia explained Chapman's preference to Silverman: "He simply wants to go with whatever team wants him the most."
Odds & Ends: Greinke, Rangers, A’s, Yankees
Some more links for the afternoon…
- Zack Greinke told WEEI.com's Alex Speier that he wouldn't have trouble pitching in any city except New York. The Cy Young contender sounds confident that he could thrive in other places, but suggested he might struggle if asked to pitch in the Big Apple on a regular basis.
- MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan provides the names of some possible bidders for the Rangers. George Bush and Nolan Ryan don't appear to be candidates to buy the club.
- ESPN.com's Rob Neyer says the A's could use some big bats next year. As Ken Rosenthal pointed out earlier today, Adam Kennedy's .767 OPS leads all A's with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.
- Matthew Pouliot of NBC.com's Circling the Bases continues to rank the offseason's top free agents. Carlos Delgado and Hideki Matsui place 40th and 36th, respectively.
- As Peter Abraham of the Journal News points out, Andy Pettitte will probably earn about $5MM in incentives before the season ends. Earlier in the month Jon Heyman of SI.com predicted this would happen.
- Abraham also notes that Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez were literally lined up to speak with Scott Boras at one point yesterday.
Odds & Ends: Buchholz, Burnett, Yanks, Cards
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.
Chipper Jones Talks Retirement
Chipper Jones has been talking a lot about his future lately, and today he was blunt when talking to the AP:
"If I back up this year with the same kind of year next year, I don't want to play the game. The game is not fun to me when I'm not playing up to my standards."
Jones does not blame his down year on injuries. It's only a disappointment by Chipper's standards, since his .390 OBP still ranks 14th in the NL. However, his .435 SLG would be a career-worst and he hasn't done much in August and September.
Jones, 38 in April, is owed $13MM in each of the 2010, '11, and '12 seasons. He has a $7MM club option for 2013 that can vest and increase with certain games played milestones. I have to admit, I liked the extension when it was signed in March. Today in his blog, Joel Sherman of the New York Post draws a parallel between Jones' extension and the upcoming Derek Jeter contract situation.
Discussion: New York Yankees’ 2010 Rotation
So let's say you're the New York Yankees. You've got to be feeling pretty good right now. The Yankees have the best record in baseball, a 6.5 game lead over the Boston Red Sox, and all but have a ticket punched to the postseason.
But what to make of the 2010 outlook in the starting rotation? There's a lot of uncertainty there.
The top is set in stone, of course, with C.C. Sabathia signed for another six years of his seven-year, $161MM deal. And, like it or not, the mercurial A.J. Burnett has another four seasons left on his five-year, $82MM deal.
Who's next? Well, assuming he returns to longer outings without any problem, Joba Chamberlain should be good to pitch a full season, finally, in 2010. No Joba rules, no pitch counts, just full-out Joba.
That's only three of five pitchers, however.
So what's to be done for slots four and five? Andy Pettitte has been solid this season, with a typical Pettitte season, 178 1/3 innings of a 4.14 ERA. He'll be a free agent in a winter with very little frontline starting pitching. Will the Yankees want to give Pettitte a multi-year deal if necessary? He'll be 38 next June.
For the fifth spot, Sergio Mitre is the answer, but only if the question is, "How do we improve the American League batting average next season?"
Phil Hughes is the most talented option, but he's thrown only 79 1/3 innings this season (98 2/3 including the minor leagues), and no more than 146 in a season (and that was in 2006).
So how should they fill out the rotation in The Bronx?
Odds & Ends: Pirates, Schneider, Claggett
A few links to start the evening off…
- When asked if the Pirates might pursue a free agent this winter to address their lack of power, Dejan Kovacevic of The Pittsburgh Post Gazette said the team has indicated "that they will wait until they see which of the current players might take a step forward, then identifying needs." That sounds like a "no," or at least a "probably not."
- MLB.com's Bill Ladson said he would not be surprised if Brian Schneider returned to the Nationals as a backup catcher next year, but he would have to take a big paycut. Schneider has already said he doesn't expect to return to the Mets next year, and after making $4.9MM this year, he should be prepared to take a big paycut wherever he goes.
received when thethey will wait until they see which of the current players might take a step forward, then identifying needs
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09257/997985-63.stm?cmpid=pirates.xml#ixzz0R7cZcwUs
- The Yankees designated reliever Anthony Claggett for assignment to clear room on the 40-man roster for Freddy Guzman, reports Peter Abraham of The Journal News. Claggett was originally acquired in the deal that sent Gary Sheffield to Detroit, and got annihilated in his brief callup (33.75 ERA & 5.62 WHIP in 2.2 IP) this year.
Heyman’s Latest: Jeter, Wagner, Delgado, Lackey
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
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.