Odds and Ends: Andruw, Marquis, Coonelly
Links for Monday…
- In his first post for RotoAuthority, David Chase looks at players who were said to have lost weight or gained muscle during Spring Training ’08. How did they perform in ’08?
- The Red Sox inked infielder Nick Green to a minor league deal.
- Murray Chass explains why the New York Times Company’s purchase of a share of the Red Sox was a conflict of interest.
- Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik: "We’ve got an offer out right now for a piece of the puzzle, and I’d hope to hear in the next few days."
- David Laurila talked to new Mariners exec Tony Blengino. One of many interesting quotes (in reference to the Bill Bavasi regime and the ’07 club): "I thought that it was clear going in that, with all due respect, they overrated their team from the last year."
The Yankees will introduce Mark Teixeira tomorrow. He passed his physical today. - River Ave. Blues and Peter Abraham ask whether the Yankees should consider Andruw Jones. Evan Brunell looks at other possible fits.
- The Dodgers talked to the Cubs about Jason Marquis, according to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick.
- Pirates president Frank Coonelly joins Mark Attanasio (Brewers) and Drayton McLane (Astros) in supporting a salary cap.
- Jeff Moorad might be aggressive in the draft if he takes over the Padres. Tom Krasovic adds that the Padres have already discussed spending up to $6MM on their #3 pick this June.
- Keith Law likes the Angels’ Brian Fuentes signing, and doesn’t think the Indians gave up much for Mark DeRosa.
- If the Indians are to add another significant player, they’ll have to get creative with contracts.
- RAB and In Mo We Trust discuss Kevin Kernan’s recent suggestion that the Yanks sign Oliver Perez over Andy Pettitte.
- A couple of recent Hot Stove Dailies from Jeff Passan: the Braves and A’s.
- Athletics Nation asks whether Brian Sabean is "out-GMing" Billy Beane this winter.
- Sox Machine on why the Gavin Floyd–Brian Roberts rumor makes no sense.
Yankees Almost Set To Welcome Teixeira
Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News reports that the New York Yankees are about to introduce first baseman Mark Teixeira as the newest Yankee. McCarron’s source believes the press conference could be as early as Tuesday.
Teixeira agreed to an eight-year, $180MM contract before Christmas. The deal has not been officially announced because Teixeira must first pass a physical that could be scheduled for Monday, McCarron writes.
Odds & Ends: Sabean, Yankees, Reds, Jones
Links for Sunday afternoon…
- Peter Abraham asks if Andruw Jones would be worth a look for the Yankees on a minor league deal… and promptly answers his own question: no. He’d rather see Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner fight it out.
- River Avenue Blues takes a look at why the Yankees and Red Sox saw a drop in the rankings of their farm systems from 2008 to 2009.
- Athletics Nation asks whether or not Brian Sabean is "out-GMing" Billy Beane this offseason with his splashes in the free agent market.
- Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News doesn’t feel like the Reds have done enough to climb out of fifth place. He feels the Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, and Astros are all still better teams.
Odds And Ends: Red Sox, Andruw, Roberts
Links for Saturday…
- At the bottom of an interesting article about baseball’s youth movement, Peter Gammons adds that the Red Sox-Marlins Hanley Ramirez discussions "lasted all of 20 seconds" according to a Marlins official.
- Yahoo’s Tim Brown speculates that the Nationals could have interest in Andruw Jones. I can see the Blue Jays taking him on if they can make it work financially.
- Roch Kubatko cautions fans from reading too much into discussions about a Brian Roberts–Gavin Floyd trade.
- Peter Schmuck hasn’t heard much on the Roberts front, but wouldn’t mind seeing the Orioles trade him for Floyd, even if they don’t acquire anyone else in the deal.
- In another post, Schmuck argues that there’s nothing wrong with the Mark Hendrickson signing.
- Ryan Dempster has heard good things about Milton Bradley and hopes he joins the Cubs.
- The Yankees have no need for Manny Ramirez, Erik Bedard or over-the-top position swaps, in Peter Abraham’s opinion.
- Jeff Moorad- who’s leading the group poised to buy the Padres- was a record-setting agent in his day. Tom Krasovic looks back at Moorad’s earlier career.
- NPB Tracker compares Japanese teams before and after losing their stars to MLB.
Manny Ramirez Rumors: Friday
11:00pm: Schulman says the Giants have had conversations with Boras about Manny, but have not extended a formal offer. Nothing is imminent, and the Giants are considering other options via trade and free agency.
3:33pm: The Chronicle’s Henry Schulman doesn’t have anything new on the KPIX report yet. But he’s heard that the Dodgers offered Manny $60MM over three years at some point and were turned down.
2:40pm: MLB.com’s Chris Haft splashes some cold water on the KPIX-TV rumor. His sources say recent reports linking the Giants to Manny are overblown. The Dodgers may be the only truly interested team currently. Haft says the Giants are looking to add a corner infield bat instead (they’ve been linked to Edwin Encarnacion and Jorge Cantu in the past, among others).
1:30pm: SI.com’s Jon Heyman was able to confirm that the Giants entered the bidding for Manny. He says the Dodgers remain interested, and that "some baseball people" aren’t writing off the Angels despite Tony Reagins’ public statement. Heyman adds that one or two other AL teams are on the periphery, the Yankees not among them.
6:05am: There’s a rumor making the rounds from Dennis O’Donnell of KPIX-TV of San Francisco. O’Donnell says the Giants have offered Manny Ramirez a four-year deal. Reasons to treat the report with skepticism:
- O’Donnell says it’s a fourth-year club option, so it was inaccurate to call it a four-year offer.
- We haven’t heard anything about this from the Giants beat writers or national reporters, who have a better track record than television stations. Henry Schulman covers the Giants for the San Francisco Chronicle, and he says the team "could consider Ramirez under very specific financial conditions." He was probably not referring to a three or four-year offer.
- O’Donnell was told by a team spokeman, "It’s not happening." Scott Boras’ publicist "had no knowledge of any negotiations with the Giants," according to O’Donnell.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Jays, Mets, Red Sox, Nats, Yankees
On this date 32 years ago, commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended Braves owner Ted Turner for one year for tampering. Turner had announced publicly that the Braves would sign free agent-to-be Gary Matthews. Unfortunately, 30 years later, nobody was disciplined when the Angels signed free agent Gary Matthews Jr. to a $50MM contract. In the first two years of the deal, Matthews has been paid $15MM and his play has been worth -$600K (yes, that is negative) according to Fangraphs. With several big free agents still looking for new teams, will any of them be the next Matthews Jr? Only time will tell. In the meantime, let’s see what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- The Eddie Kranepool Society is not worried about Derek Lowe, feeling the deal will get done once the Mets add a fourth option year and sweeten the pot just a tad. They are also putting the Mets front office on notice about the possibility of letting Manny Ramirez slip through their fingers.
- Mets Geek feels the Mets still need to add one more piece to their revamped bullpen and suggest Wil Ohman or Joe Beimel are better options as a lefty specialist than what is already in-house.
- The Southpaw takes a look at some young players the Jays should try to target in the trade market, with Chin-Lung Hu at the top of the list.
- My Baseball Bias is not satisfied with just Mark Teixeira and wants to see the Yankees sign Manny Ramirez.
- Fire Brand of the American League makes a case for three players to be the Red Sox fourth outfielder, including Rocco Baldelli, Brad Wilkerson and Eric Byrnes.
- MLB Notebook takes a look at how the Nationals could spend the $20MM that would have gone to Mark Teixeira.
- River Ave. Blues says this offseason is proving to be a test of just how good Scott Boras can be.
- Sully Baseball is running a series of posts breaking down each team’s all-time home grown versus all-time acquired teams. Here he looks at the Astros.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here.
Lowe Unimpressed By Mets’ Offer
Derek Lowe was "hardly overwhelmed" by the Mets’ three year $36MM offer, Mike Puma of the New York Post heard from a baseball source. Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe heard from a source of his own that Lowe’s "likely to continue shopping for a more desirable offer."
It’s uncertain who would make such an offer, since Massarotti writes that the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies are not currently interested in Lowe.
As a result, the Mets could end up in what Puma calls a "protracted stare down" with Scott Boras and his client.
Odds and Ends: Bonds, Boras, Snell
Links for Thursday…
- MLBTR had over 3,500 posts in 2008. Thanks for reading! In ’08 we added a Facebook page, a mobile site, and weekly chats while also redesigning the main site. It was my first year working full-time on MLBTR.
- Barry Bonds had hip surgery with the intent of playing in 2009, according to John Shea.
- The Rays re-signed catcher Michel Hernandez to a minor league deal.
- Darren Rovell interviewed Scott Boras.
- Ian Snell agrees with Jack Wilson – the Pirates need more players.
- A discussion of power/speed players over at RotoAuthority.
- The River Avenue Blues writers break down the Johnny Damon contract in a post on Peter Abraham’s blog. They argue that he’s been worth 13MM per year so far.
- Mike Berardino expects the Marlins to remain quiet for now, but predicts that they’ll find a bargain or two before Spring Training.
- The Toronto Star looks ahead towards a potentially tough year for Toronto sports fans, no thanks to the Blue Jays.
- The recent merger of Aaron Miles and the Cubs isn’t well-received at FanGraphs.
Latest On Andy Pettitte
According to John Harper of the New York Daily News:
A person in regular contact with Yankee brass said Tuesday he believes the club still wants Andy Pettitte back and believes a deal will get done, perhaps as early as next week. According to this person, someone in the Yankee organization was putting out that word as something of a scare tactic, knowing that Pettitte badly wants to pitch for the Yankees next season. "They just want him at their price, that’s still the bottom line," the person said.
Pettitte, 36, posted a 4.54 ERA in 33 starts this year. His 2.9 K/BB and strong groundball rate indicate he’s capable of bouncing back. He’s more than a fifth starter.
Odds and Ends: Mariners, Jeter, Penny
Links for Wednesday…
- With the top three free agent closers off the market, the Brewers maintain interest in Trevor Hoffman.
- The Orioles’ Mark Hendrickson signing is official – he gets $1.5MM plus incentives.
- McCovey Chronicles evaluates some corner infield options for the Giants.
- Geoff Baker asks whether Bill Bavasi will be vindicated at all if the Mariners contend in 2009.
- Japanese pitcher Takateru Iyono is aiming to sign with an MLB club. Also, Taiwanese pitcher Fu-Te Ni has an offer from an East Coast team.
- All of Jeff Passan’s Hot Stove Daily pieces are good reads. Here’s his Marlins one.
- Murray Chass questions the oft-cited "$88.5MM coming off the books" figure for the Yankees.
- Bob Klapisch asks: how does the Mark Teixeira signing affect Derek Jeter‘s future with the Yankees?
- Buster Olney says the D’Backs "took a serious run" at Brad Penny before he signed with Boston.