Yankees Rumors

Stark On Andruw, Swisher, Hudson, Pedro

By Tim Dierkes | February 6, 2009 at 11:50am CDT

Stark looks at all the factors influencing this year’s slow-moving free agent market, talking to all sorts of anonymous execs. It’s a good read.
Among all the teams, the Phillies have added the most to their payroll this winter ($30MM+). Only ten teams raised payroll this year. The Phils are still looking at the same cast of righthanded bench bats, and are also looking to sign a reliever for one year. Names of interest: Joe Borowski, Rudy Seanez, Will Ohman, Joe Beimel, Dennys Reyes, and Randy Flores. Stark notes that Flores is out until June due to shoulder surgery.
Andruw Jones is looking for a team that will give him playing time. One of Stark’s sources says Braves manager Bobby Cox is "lobbying harder for Jones than the rest of the baseball operation."
The Braves are the top suitor for Nick Swisher, but their suggestion that the Yankees eat some of Swisher’s contract was shot down.
Stark has heard that Angels owner Arte Moreno is ticked at Scott Boras and Mark Teixeira for the way they handled negotiations.
Stark received conflicting answers on whether the Elias formulas "can be changed without a special negotiation." It figures that the players union would push to eliminate the Jason Varitek/Juan Cruz/Orlando Cabrera situations we saw this winter. The D’Backs may have interest in re-signing Cruz, but don’t look for a Cabrera-White Sox reunion.
The Yankees and Mets have not pursued Orlando Hudson, despite Hudson’s statements of their interest. Stark sees a one-year deal with the Nationals or Dodgers in his future.
One assistant GM doesn’t think the WBC will be a good gauge for Pedro Martinez’s abilities, since he’ll be doing short stints.
Stark has details on Eddie Guardado’s contract, which has interesting provisions if he is to be traded.

Derek Jeter’s Next Contract

By Tim Dierkes | February 6, 2009 at 8:58am CDT

Derek Jeter is signed through 2010, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post says "Yankee officials already talk privately about dreading" the expiration of his contract. He lists all kinds of complications: Jeter’s position, his salary, his declining offense, and his drive toward 3,000 hits. River Ave. Blues, IATMS, and others took on the issue recently as well.

We can rule out the infield corners for Jeter, with Mark Teixeira signed through 2016 and Alex Rodriguez through 2017. Assuming you’re not comfortable with a 36 year-old Jeter manning shortstop, the options would be second base or the outfield. Robinson Cano’s contract runs through 2011 with club options for ’12 and ’13. The Yankees have two full seasons to determine Cano’s future in the organization. If he stays, can he play a better center field than Jeter, opening up second base? Is the experiment even worth it? Another inefficient option would be to try Jeter in an outfield corner.

If Jeter wasn’t an icon, the best baseball decision would be to let him go after his contract expires. Since he is, we’ll be debating this for the next two years. By the way, Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins can both be free-agent eligible after the 2011 season, if their teams exercise their 2010 options.

Heyman On Andruw, Pedro, Crede, Grudz

By Tim Dierkes | February 5, 2009 at 2:11pm CDT

The latest from SI.com’s Jon Heyman…

The Yankees offered a minor league deal to Andruw Jones, which he turned down. Other teams "thought to have interest": the Rangers, Phillies, Braves, and Mets.
Heyman thinks Pedro Martinez makes a lot of sense for the Dodgers. However, Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times learned from Ned Colletti on January 6th that the Dodgers weren’t among the teams pursuing Pedro.
Jason Varitek’s camp (ie, Scott Boras) apparently has no regrets about rejecting arbitration since it wouldn’t have been a guaranteed contract.
Chad Cordero’s next showcase is scheduled for February 19th.
Heyman has the Twins as favorites over the Giants to sign Joe Crede. More on Crede here.
Heyman says the Yankees feel they’re more likely to find a deal for Nick Swisher than Xavier Nady.
Add Mark Grudzielanek to the list of right-handed hitters the Phillies are considering (Nomar Garciaparra, Rich Aurilia, and Moises Alou being the others).

Odds and Ends: Sisco, Murton, Thigpen

By Tim Dierkes | February 5, 2009 at 12:31pm CDT

Links for Thursday…

Lot of people tossing around the number of unsigned free agents…I have it at about 80, at least if we draw the line at players that are remotely useful. Here’s my list.
Joe Pawlikowski of River Ave. Blues would like to see the Yankees sign Mark Grudzielanek.
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle says the A’s will attend Andy Sisco’s Friday workout.
Scott Miller of CBSSports.com takes a stab at the All-Free Agent team.
The Rockies did not acquire Matt Murton as a precursor to another deal, Troy Renck learned.
The Blue Jays designated catcher Curtis Thigpen for assignment to make room for Brian Burres.
Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star shows that MLB has done a nice job of keeping player salaries at 40-45% of the game’s revenue in recent years (as opposed to 62% in the NFL).
RotoAuthority looks at how you can combine a Rich Harden type with a Randy Wolf type to create a top ten fantasy baseball starting pitcher.

Jays, Kevin Millar Close To Deal

By Tim Dierkes | February 5, 2009 at 8:52am CDT

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, first baseman Kevin Millar is "almost certain" to sign a minor league deal with the Blue Jays today or tomorrow. The Mets, Yankees, Nationals, and Rangers had also been in on Millar. Rich Aurilia has been recommended for the Mets by several writers, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post learned they’ve yet to make contact with his agent.

Millar, 37, hit .234/.323/.394 in 610 plate appearances last year.

Brewers Acquire Chase Wright, Ramiro Mendoza

By Tim Dierkes | February 4, 2009 at 11:35am CDT

According to a press release, the Brewers acquired pitcher Chase Wright from the Yankees for outfielder/catcher Eric Fryer.

Wright, who turns 26 in a few days, spent most of 2008 with the Yankees’ Double A and Triple A clubs. He posted strong ERAs and strong groundball rates, but low strikeout rates as well. In their 2007 Handbook, Baseball America said Wright had "solid stuff" and "profiles best at the back of a rotation." He was designated for assignment when Andy Pettitte was signed. Fryer, 23, hit .335/.407/.506 in 104 games at Low A.

According to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, the Brewers also added reliever Ramiro Mendoza on a minor league deal. Mendoza’s last useful big league stint was in ’04 with the Red Sox; he racked up a lot of innings for the Yankees in the late 90s/early 2000s.

Manny Ramirez Rumors: Tuesday

By | February 3, 2009 at 11:33pm CDT

11:33pm: According to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick, Scott Boras said he expects to resume contract talks for Ramirez with the Dodgers on Wednesday. The Manny rumors were fractured into various posts today at MLBTR – here’s the one about the Mets not being involved, and here’s the one about Ramirez rejecting the Dodgers’ one-year, $25MM offer.

We also have an article from David Waldstein of the New York Times, where Yankees GM Brian Cashman says:

"People expect us to get in on Manny, but it’s not going to happen. We’re in the nonroster invitee mode. He’s a great player, but when you look at our payroll, we’re tapped."

9:39pm: Bobby Evans, Giants VP of Player Personnel, appeared Tuesday night on XM Radio’s Home Plate show. Manny was obviously a hot topic. Check out some of the quotes from the interview:

"Manny is amongst a number of different options out there, he’s clearly the most renowned player and probably future hall of famer, so you can’t deny interest if there’s an opportunity to bring him to the Giants."

"We’re going to monitor the market of him, it doesn’t seem to be going down, although he did turn down this offer, it was a 1 year offer verse a 2 year offer that was for more money. Again ultimately I don’t know which way it will go, but we’re going to stay engaged and see what happens."

8:48pm: Chris Haft of MLB.com makes a case for the Giants signing Manny. Unlike the Nationals, who made their stance known almost immediately, Giants officials refused to comment Tuesday after news broke that the Dodgers’ offer was rejected.

7:35pm: Nationals GM Jim Bowden reaffirmed Tuesday evening that his club is not in the hunt for Manny Ramirez. Bill Ladson filed the report for MLB.com.

"We are not pursuing Manny Ramirez," Bowden said. As Ladson points out, "the Nationals are overloaded with right-handed-hitting outfielders, plus he’s 36 years old. The Nationals have often said that they are looking for players for the long term."

The Nats have focused on landing Adam Dunn and reportedly offered him a contract some time ago. He should come at a cheaper price than Manny and Washington can feel more comfortable offering the 29-year-old Dunn a mutli-year contract.

Orlando Hudson On MLB Network

By Tim Dierkes | February 2, 2009 at 11:00pm CDT

Free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson appeared on the MLB Network today. Barry Larkin asked which teams he’s talking to, and he named the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, and Nationals. None of the teams have said anything to Hudson’s agent about changing positions. Hudson says right now he sees himself as a second baseman. Ken Rosenthal says Hudson "seems to be banking on [the Mets or Yankees] pursuing a creative solution."

Hudson, 31, hit .305/.367/.450 in 455 plate appearances for Arizona last year while earning $6.25MM. Based on the plus/minus system, Hudson did not flash his typical stellar glovework in ’08. The market for Hudson has been held down partially because he is a Type A free agent who turned down the D’Backs offer of arbitration. That means whoever signs him will give up a draft pick. Another factor may be the broken wrist he suffered in August.

Cafardo’s Latest: Players Out Of Options

By Nat Boyle | February 1, 2009 at 9:51am CDT

Lots of stuff in Nick Cafardo’s column in the Boston Globe to go over.

With around 100 free agents vying for less than 20 remaining roster spots, things become more interesting with 227 players on big-league rosters who are out of options. If a player is out of options and is not rostered, he has to either be traded or designated for assignment. If designated, that player has to clear waivers. This could affect remaining free agent signings. Cafardo makes note of a few who are out of options and may wind up as trade fodder or designated for assignment before the season begins:

Red Sox: George Kottaras
Yankees: Melky Cabrera
Cubs: Chad Gaudin, Rich Hill (possibly heading to Baltimore?)
Brewers: Tony Gwynn Jr.
Indians: Anthony Reyes, Andy Marte
Twins: Boof Bonser, Philip Humber
Rays: Jeff Niemann
Orioles: David Pauley

With Jason Varitek re-signed, the Red Sox will either have to trade catcher Kottaras or designate him for assignment.
Cafardo notes Niemann is a former No. 1 pick and the righthander should garner some attention.
Bonser or Humber could be traded to land a reliever. Cafardo also mentions Delmon Young as a possible trading chip.

A few more bullets from Cafardo’s notebook:

Scott Boras thinks the World Baseball Classic will showcase Ivan Rodriguez and generate "even more" interest for the 14-time All-Star catcher.
Cafardo mentioned Manny Ramirez to Omar Minaya and Minaya laughed it off saying, "We’ll look into adding some offense, but only if it makes sense."
All quiet on the Jake Peavy front.
Cafardo calls Randy Johnson’s $8MM deal from the Giants as "a stroke of genius" by his agents.
In case you missed it, Bobby Kielty signed a minor-league deal with the Mets last week.

Abreu Still Waiting

By DJ Blatter | January 31, 2009 at 9:39pm CDT

Tyler Kepner of The New York Times reports that Bobby Abreu’s former general manager Ed Wade believes that Abreu could still be an impact player this coming season:

"He’s still an All-Star-caliber player,” said Wade, now the general manager of the Houston Astros. “He’s probably not the guy that stirs the drink, but if you have the ability to add Bobby Abreu to your lineup and your clubhouse, it’s going to make all the players around him better.”

Abreu, 34, who made about $16MM with the Yankees in 2008, hit .296/.371/.471 in 684 plate appearances last season.

The Mariners, Giants, Dodgers, Reds and Braves could still get in on Abreu. Though Abreu had originally sought three-year contract, agent Peter Greenberg has confirmed that the slugger would be open to a one-year deal.

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