Yankees Acquire Jose Molina
The Yankees moved to improve their backup catching situation yesterday, acquiring 32 year-old backstop Jose Molina from the Angels for Double A reliever Jeff Kennard.
The Angels will now go with the young catching tandem of Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis. Mathis is a fine defensive catcher. While the 24 year-old regressed with the bat this year, he could still develop into an adequate regular. Molina was definitely expendable.
The Yankees have been trying to get Molina since at least May. Mike Mussina might miss Wil Nieves, but otherwise the difference should be negligible. Kennard, a nondescript 26 year-old reliever, has posted fine numbers at Double A.
Ty Wigginton For Scott Proctor?
According to George King and Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Devil Rays are willing to send Ty Wigginton to the Yankees for Scott Proctor. The Yanks are willing to trade Proctor because they believe Joba Chamberlain can jump up from Double A and fill in capably. Chamberlain is flat-out nasty.
Given his previous interest in Wilson Betemit, it looks like Brian Cashman is focused on adding a versatile player who is under control for several more years. A bonus for Wigginton is that he bats right-handed. Betemit is a switch-hitter but hasn’t done much from the right side.
It’s unclear how the Devil Rays would use Proctor, but I’m guessing they’d leave him in relief. Having a decent guy who can pitch 80 solid innings in the AL East for a few seasons is a stronger need than starting pitching right now. The Rays quietly have a ton of quality pitching in the Majors or in the pipeline. This is a team with a $24MM Opening Day payroll this year – imagine if they bumped it to $75MM and added three star players to complement the current group.
Another note from the column is that the Rockies like the idea of taking Kyle Farnsworth off the Yankees’ hands, but don’t want to pay too much of his remaining salary. Farnsy makes another $2.2MM this year and $5.5MM in ’08. In my opinion, the Rockies should go for it if the Yankees will eat half.
Tim Brown’s Latest: A’s, Yankees
Yahoo’s Tim Brown has a new post up, with some trade rumors we’ve heard before and some we haven’t.
- Clearly the A’s are sellers, and they’re offering up Mike Piazza, Joe Kennedy, and Bobby Kielty. Brown names the Twins as the club most interested in Piazza. He also feels the Yankees, Angels, Mariners, and Red Sox would be good fits. But where would Piazza play on the Red Sox?
- The Red Sox were apparently close to a deal for Kielty, a 31 year-old switch-hitting extra outfielder. He hasn’t played much center since ’02, so maybe the Sox have relaxed that requirement. Kielty was supposed to be moved in a three-team deal that would have sent Wily Mo Pena somewhere. The deal has stalled, but it’s really starting to look like Pena is on the move.
- The Yankees and Rangers are still discussing Mark Teixeira. My guess is that Brian Cashman just wants to see if this can be done without involving Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain. Failing that, the Yanks have Ty Wigginton and Shea Hillenbrand on their list. Wiggy would be a useful addition. Joe Maddon would still find a way not to play Jonny Gomes though.
Scouts Monitoring Yanks/Blue Jays Yesterday
The New York Post reports of several teams represented at yesterday’s Yankees/Blue Jays contest. The Dodgers, Twins, Tigers, and Marlins all had scouts on hand. So which players were being watched?
The starters were Dustin McGowan and Chien-Ming Wang, and we can safely assume neither of those guys is going anywhere.
Possible Yankees being watched: Scott Proctor, Kyle Farnsworth, Bobby Abreu, Melky Cabrera, Luis Vizcaino. Vizcaino and Cabrera played in the game, though they are the least likely of the group to be dealt.
Possible Blue Jays being watched: Scott Downs, Matt Stairs, Troy Glaus. Stairs is probably the Jay most likely to be traded; he’s hitting a strong .282/.348/.544 in 206 ABs. He’s known for his ability to hit righthanders well.
Feel free to mix and match in the comments – who’s after which players?
Yankees In On Dotel
You can add the Yankees to the growing list of teams interested in Royals’ closer Octavio Dotel. According to Tyler Kepner of the New York Times, the Yankees are interested despite Dotel’s inability to contribute last year. As you might expect, Kepner says Dayton Moore is still asking for too much. Prices should get reasonable in about a week.
The list of teams interested in Dotel, as far as I know: Cubs, Dodgers, Brewers, Red Sox, Rockies, Indians, Yankees. Today the Kansas City Star also mentioned the Tigers and Braves. I haven’t seen the Phillies or Mariners mentioned in print yet but we’ll see.
One other Royals note: according to Dayton Moore, the Cubs never called about Zack Greinke.
Loretta Drawing Interest From Padres, Yankees
According to Buster Olney, Astros infielder Mark Loretta is drawing interest from the Padres and Yankees. The soon-to-be 36 year-old is hitting .307/.383/.402 in 264 ABs this year. He’s played all four infield positions this year. Loretta’s ’07 salary is $2.5MM with an additional $1MM in incentives. So at most, there’s about $1.4MM left on the deal this year.
Marcus Giles has been a disappointment for the Padres, hitting .237/.309/.329 on the year. That’s really bad. Loretta would probably play second regularly for San Diego. Olney believes the Yankees would continue to use Loretta in the supersub role. You may recall that the Yanks had interest in him back in December.
Graziano On Greinke, Pettitte
Good stuff today from Dan Graziano of the Newark Star-Ledger. Here’s my summary:
- Beyond the Cubs, Graziano lists the Braves, Dodgers, and Diamondbacks as teams interested in pitcher Zack Greinke. If the initial asking price for Octavio Dotel was as high as reported, I can’t imagine what Dayton Moore would want for Greinke.
- Graziano’s Dotel suitors: Cubs, Dodgers, and Brewers. The Red Sox, Rockies, and Indians have been mentioned by other sources. Quite a market for this guy.
- David Weathers is seen as the poor man’s Dotel/Gagne. Let’s see if Wayne Krivsky can get something useful for him. Stormy makes another $2.75MM in ’08 before his contract is up.
- The Mets are mostly focused on a power relief arm, as Roy Oswalt and Dontrelle Willis are said to be unavailable. I have no idea why Willis keeps getting lumped in with Oswalt; they are nowhere near equal. Graziano says the Mets still like Javier Vazquez but the White Sox keep trying to pawn off Jose Contreras instead.
- The Braves are trying to deal for southpaw reliever C.J. Wilson of the Rangers. The 26 year-old has an undeserved 2.81 ERA right now. His control has been worse this year, so he’d have to remain unhittable to be effective.
- The Mariners inquired on Andy Pettitte, but the Yankees aren’t giving up yet.
Byrnes Extension Seems Unlikely
It seems unlikely that the Diamondbacks will sign 31 year-old outfielder Eric Byrnes to a contract extension. According to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, the team won’t even approach Juan Pierre‘s five-year, $45MM deal. And Juan Pierre isn’t good.
It’s just the business reality – the Diamondbacks have way too much outfield talent in their system to give Byrnes anything near what he’s worth. He’d probably have to take something like two years, $20MM to remain in Arizona. Earlier I said 4/32 might do it but now I’m thinking even that wouldn’t work. I still like him as a possible White Sox next year.
Piecoro also mentioned that Josh Byrnes inquired on Bobby Abreu and Jermaine Dye, but is backing off because Carlos Gonzalez was requested. Buster Olney proposes Shannon Stewart as a lower-cost alternative.
Yankees Still Pursuing Wilson Betemit
The Yankees’ love affair for 27 year-old infielder Wilson Betemit continues. They keep trying to swap Scott Proctor for him, this time with the Dodgers instead of the Braves.
The Dodgers are definitely searching for late-inning relief help, but Joel Sherman and Mike Puma of the New York Post say Proctor doesn’t do it for them.
Betemit began the year as the Dodgers’ regular third baseman, but hit his way out of the job after about a month. I’ll be the first to admit I thought he’d keep the job and OPS at least .800. But to be fair, Betemit’s OPS is over .800 – a career best .844 in fact. He’s got 28 home runs over his last 515 ABs, and he’s drawn enough walks this year to keep his OBP strong.
The switch-hitting Betemit has never hit southpaws much, but he’s going to need full exposure to them if he’s ever going to learn. It’s kind of a catch-22. I still think he can carve out a career as a regular, maybe as an offensive-minded second baseman.
Proctor for Betemit would be a fine move for the Yankees. He wouldn’t have a regular job but could spend some time at first this year and offer an insurance policy for Alex Rodriguez next year. If A-Rod is to depart, the Yankees could spend the extra cash to improve at a position other than third.
Dan Johnson For Scott Proctor?
Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle believes that yesterday’s Jason Kendall trade could be the first in a series of forward-looking moves for the A’s. Billy Beane doesn’t say it outright, but he seems ready to play for next year. Simmons says rumors have swirled around Dan Johnson, Esteban Loaiza, and Mike Piazza.
Johnson has been linked to the Twins (DH) and Yankees (1B) previously. The idea is to clear some room at first base for top prospect Daric Barton. As a cheap league average 1B, Johnson has decent value. Simmons says a Johnson for Scott Proctor trade is "all the buzz." However, the teams have not talked in over a week. The 30 year-old Proctor has been worked pretty hard by Joe Torre, but has performed decently over the last two seasons. For a while during the offseason, the Yankees considered using him as a starter. The A’s could go through with that plan in ’08.
Piazza is said to be a candidate for the same teams as Johnson, plus maybe the Angels. He’d due back in about a week from a strained shoulder. He’ll only be able to DH.
Loaiza has yet to make his season debut due to neck, shoulder, and knee injuries. He recently threw a bullpen session and felt good, but won’t be big league ready until August. He’s owed $7MM in ’08; not sure if that salary would pass through waivers in August without a claim.