Giants To Retain Feliz On One-Year Deal
Andrew Baggarly writes that third baseman Pedro Feliz will return to the Giants on a one-year deal worth $5-6MM. Given that Feliz is the only remaining free agent 3B who can flash a little leather, it’s odd that he’d sign for just one year. I know it’s not 1996 anymore but I’d think 96 ribbies would go further than this, also.
Perhaps one year truly was the best Feliz could find; there aren’t too many clubs still in the market for a 3B. I can’t think of one team that still absolutely must acquire a third baseman this winter. Feliz is going to work in the Dominican Republic this winter on his hitting approach and hopefully draw more than 33 walks next season.
Giants Sign Dave Roberts
It’s official – the San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that the Giants have signed outfielder Dave Roberts to a three-year, $18MM deal. The report says Roberts is expected to play center field for San Francisco, apparently pushing Randy Winn to left.
Roberts will turn 35 in May of next year, so he’ll fit right in with the Giants. Roberts has been traded five times in his career, finally reaching free agency this winter. It will be tough to expect more than 130 games from him, especially if he plays a taxing position like center. Roberts posted a career high .360 OBP last year.
The market for center fielders is very thin at this point, consisting of Kenny Lofton and perhaps Julio Lugo. The Rockies, White Sox, Rangers, Brewers, and Cubs could be searching for a center fielder this winter.
Ray Ray Re-Signs With Giants
The Giants re-signed Ray Durham today to a two-year deal worth around $14MM. It’s a reasonable price, given that Durham was the second-best power threat remaining on the market.
If you want pop, you’re left with Barry Bonds or Mike Piazza, basically.
Giants Talking To Bengie Molina
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Giants are in "serious negotiations" with free agent catcher Bengie Molina. Molina will be 33 next season; he posted a career high .467 SLG for Toronto in 2006.
Beyond Molina, the catcher market consists of Mike Piazza, Mike Lieberthal, Rod Barajas, and Javy Lopez. Other clubs that could be shopping for a starting catcher include the Phillies, Angels, Padres, and Rockies.
Manny on the move?
For real, this time! Or not.
First off, Buster Olney thinks that Manny could be moved this week. Maybe for a less-than-perfect package. The team that keeps coming up is the Giants, but…how? I can’t imagine the Red Sox would be very interested in the Bay Area chapter of the AARP.
I’ve heard speculation that the Giants rumors persist because the Red Sox want to up the bidding from the Dodgers, but I haven’t seen or heard any details about that deal. I’d imagine it would include either James Loney or Andre Ethier, as one of those guys would end up on the bench if Manny came to L.A. (And, of course, the Red Sox would want something of quality in return.)
A Cubs source e-mailed that Chicago has offered Matt Murton, Bob Howry, Sean Gallagher and Donald Veal, and that Felix Pie hasn’t come up. That sounds like not quite enough, but if the Red Sox trade Manny, then turn around and sign J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo, the need for impact-quality major-league talent (say, Michael Young) is lessened. The same source indicates that the Mets and Braves are also interested.
Olney says, "you get the sense that the Red Sox are increasingly comfortable with the idea of moving Ramirez even if they aren’t offered a perfect package in return." If that’s true, it seems that the likelihood of a deal getting done is higher than ever. If Drew is ready to sign with the Red Sox, teams that want a big bat have very few options, and most of them are expensive. Manny’s contract has never looked better, and if the Red Sox aren’t asking for the moon, a trade looks very realistic.
By Jeff Sackmann
Drew, Roberts, Aurilla, and Dunn
SI reported yesterday that the Red Sox are close to signing JD Drew.
Are sign’s of desperation starting to appear? Gregg Zaun‘s agent has been in ‘consistent’ contact with Cashman and Julio Lugo has already talked to the Cubs and agreed to play CF.
Speaking of Zaun, Mercury News is reporting that Zaun’s agent is having ‘consistent’ contact with the Giants, that the Giants are close to signing Dave Roberts and Rich Aurilia, and that they haven’t closed the door on re-signing Pedro Feliz or second baseman Ray Durham.
I hope Zaun’s agent gets paid by the hour.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that all the market value craziness might benefit the Pirates. When pigs fly, you say?
Anyway, the article mentions that the Pirates front office had considered acquiring Adam Dunn. That tidbit sent Pirate bloggers into overdrive —
Honest Wagner said that if the Pirates got Dunn he ‘would become the team’s best or second-best hitter‘, I suppose forgetting that Sanchez and Bay were on the same roster. At Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke Pirate blog, Pat said Dunn ‘would look awfully nice protecting Jason Bay’, but possibly forgetting Dunn NEEDS protection – he doesn’t offer much, especially playing at PNC Park.
My take? I said the same thing I said back at the July trade deadline in 2006 – we don’t need a $10m Adam Dunn to whiff all year for us. What did you expect me to say? hehe
Dan Perry at Fox Sports talks about how the Cardinals have a great deal of work to do now to compete in 2007.
Humbly I report that a list has finally come out that does not include anyone from Pittsburgh – The Goggle Gang by Bill Madden at the New York Daily News.
And yes Jeff, the Brewers getting rid of Davis for Estrada was a great move – I agree.
By Jake at Bucco Blog
Roberts to the Giants, and more
It looks like Dave Roberts is going to be a Giant. This will save San Francisco fans from self-immolation over their front office’s apparent inability to make stupid deals, and ensure that the Giants theme of "oldsters in the outfield" remains intact even with Steve Finley and possibly Barry Bonds on their way out.
In other news: Woody Williams got a two-year deal with the Astros for $12.5M. That seems remarkably sane, though I wouldn’t plan on drafting Woody for your fantasy team. He had an okay year in Petco, but he’s moving to one of the unfriendliest parks in baseball for pitching. If the short porch in left is going to do wonders for Carlos Lee, it’s going to hurt Williams nearly as much.
Phil Rogers offers a plethora of random thoughts: the Cubs want to move Jacque Jones; Jones or Geoff Jenkins would be an improvement for the White Sox (so he says); and the Sox could send Scott Podsednik and Juan Uribe to San Fran for Omar Vizquel (much less likely after the Roberts signing, I’d imagine). Emphasis on "could": he’s obviously just making stuff up.
Speaking of making stuff up: now that most of the center fielders out there have found homes, it’s time for the second basemen to start falling into place. There’s been more news lately of Adam Kennedy, who is likely to land in St. Louis, or possibly Toronto. The market for Kennedy, Ronnie Belliard, and others may depend on whether Julio Lugo and/or Ray Durham end up as outfielders, which would shrink the market for those teams who need second basemen.
By Jeff Sackmann
Lee, Williams, Catalanotto, Barajas, and Roberts
Tim sends his best from Cancun and wishes everyone was with him.
Not!
They are still trying to find their honeymoon hotel so he’s not quite sure when he’ll be back. And, no, he didn’t send any Cancun beach shots. Dang..
Speaking about vacations, how about the Astros signing Lee at $100m/6? Wow. My take is this – the power starved Astros obviously felt they were one player away and Lee happened to be available. He’ll probably hit 40 home runs despite all the talk about his lack of power after April last year. Don’t forget Minute Maid is full of hot air.
The Astros also jumped on Woody Williams at $12.5/2. I suppose this is a message to Astros fans that Pupura doesn’t expect the Rocket to resign. Just a guess. At 40-years old, Williams is a huge risk of course.
The Rangers signed Frank Catalanotto to a $13.5m/3 year deal today too. Dan Szymborwski at the Baseball Think Factory believes it is a solid deal for the Rangers, and I agree.
MLBTR’s reader eeleye99 was kind enough to offer up that the Blue Jays are reportedly ready to sign Rod Barajas as their every day receiver around $6m/2. Nice catch eeleye99 – thanks.
Another MLBTR reader – Rayman, found that Dave Roberts is reportedly picking the Giants over the Brewers. Kudo’s for the find Rayman.
At The Plate has started compiling all the teams top 10 prospects by publication. They have done a great job of this for several years now. You might want to bookmark the site.
Bucco Blog has indicated that the most sought out pitcher on the Pirates staff this winter has been southpaw Tom Gorzelanny. There have been rumors that the Braves wanted Gorzelanny and Maholm for LaRoche, and today Tracy Ringolsby, the award winning columnist of the Rocky Mountain News, has indicated that a Rockies Brad Hawpe trade has been discussed with the Pirates who will only give up Maholm. I assume they also want Gorzelanny in any package. I love Tracy’s writing – the guy is flat out kewl.
Interestingly, Ringolsby is also reporting in that article that agents are complaining that the Rockies didn’t offer enough to Francis in his latest $13.5/4 year deal. I suppose the agents had to find a way to say the "C" word this year, despite the soaring value of contracts so far.
Have you ever read the The Carbolic Smoke Ball blog? OMG – it is Hilllll ar ious.
By Jake at Bucco Blog
Michael Barrett On The Block?
Here’s an interesting tidbit buried in a Giants notes column: the Cubs "reportedly are open to the idea of trading catcher Michael Barrett for pitching help." I can’t imagine they’ll part with Barrett cheaply, but does that mean they are willing to go with Henry Blanco and, say, Geovany Soto behind the plate?
One thing is for sure: there isn’t much available on the free-agent market. I suppose that if Barrett brought a decent return, a Mike Piazza-Blanco offense-defense platoon might make some sense for the Cubs; beyond that, the options are a bunch of guys who will cost more than Barrett (last year of a $12M/3y deal) and produce less.
By Jeff Sackmann
The Giants Really Want a Centerfielder
And you know, if I had just given Steve Finley 429 at-bats, I would too!
Apparently the Giants have offered identical 3-year, $30M deals to Juan Pierre and Gary Matthews Jr. Both would appear to be a little young to fit in to the Giants clubhouse, but then again, so is Kevin Frandsen, and they haven’t buried him yet. $10M per year seems to be the market value for Matthews right now, which–to me, anyway–is complete insanity.
It’s true that Matthews had a fantastic season in Arlington–.313/.371/.495, to be precise–but it’s also true that he was 31, and his career numbers are a much more 4th-OF friendly .263/.336/.419. It’s always possible that he really didn’t learn how to play baseball at a new level after his 30th birthday, but…$10 million for a guy with a strong possibility to be below league average? Most amazing to me is this: Rotoworld speculates that Matthews could get some four-year offers.
Pierre may not be worth $10M/year either, but he is a bit younger, and Brian Sabean can’t be deluding himself too much about what he might get. Pierre has been very consistent, largely injury free, and he’ll probably keep stealing lots of bases through the length of that contract.
In other Giants news: Ray Durham wants $18 million over 2 years, and the Giants "haven’t closed the door" on that. However, Frandsen has gone crazy in winter ball, so the Giants could give him the starting job and let Durham look elsehwhere. If they pass on Durham, that makes it more likely they’ll bring back Rich Aurilia; both the Giants and Yankees want Aurilia and are offering multiyear deals. The deal could be done this weekend.
By Jeff Sackmann