Stark On Quentin, Pirates, Braves, Indians, Reds
Another must-read column from ESPN's Jayson Stark…
- Stark has updated his take on Carlos Quentin's availability. He says there is "increasing evidence the White Sox are talking to several teams about Quentin, one of which is believed to be Atlanta." An executive of a team that has talked to the Sox says that while they are not "bound and determined" to trade Quentin, they would do it.
- The Pirates are focused on finding a professional hitter, but aren't hot on Carlos Pena or Josh Willingham. They're eyeing the Twins' Jason Kubel, but GM Bill Smith considers his team a contender at six games out.
- Stark hasn't heard much that suggests the Braves are still bullpen shopping.
- The Indians are turning their attention to starting pitching, but players Drew Pomeranz, Alex White, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Jason Kipnis appear to be untouchable.
- The Astros continue to shop Wandy Rodriguez, and Stark wonders if he'll fit for the Yankees as a salary dump type.
- The White Sox dangled Adam Dunn. Dunn has over $48MM remaining on the four-year, $56MM deal he signed in December.
- The Reds have "stepped up their calls this week on controllable middle-of-the-order bats," although it's hard to name any available hitters of that nature.
Indians Acquire Kosuke Fukudome
The Cubs' first-ever Japanese player is heading to Cleveland. The Indians acquired right fielder Kosuke Fukudome and about $3.9MM from the Cubs today for minor leaguer outfielder Abner Abreu and reliever Carlton Smith. With Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore on the DL, the Tribe has a clear need for outfield help, and Fukudome was willing to waive his no-trade clause to join the AL Central contender. For the second summer in a row, Cubs GM Jim Hendry is taking on salary to ship out overpaid veterans.
Fukudome, 34, is hitting .273/.374/.369 in 345 plate appearances for the Cubs this year. He leads the NL with 4.34 pitches per plate appearance. Though his right field defense drew praise initially, Fukudome has been below-average per UZR over the last few years. He is owed almost $4.7MM for the balance of the season, and the Cubs will pay all but $775K of that. Fukudome signed a four-year, $48MM free agent deal with the Cubs in December of '07 after spending his career in Japan with the Chunichi Dragons.
Fukudome cannot be offered arbitration after the season, so draft pick compensation was not a factor.
Abreu, 21, is hitting .244/.294/.429 in 367 plate appearances in his second stint at High-A. Prior to the 2010 season, Baseball America ranked him 23rd among Indians prospects, describing him as a player who has offensive tools but "remains raw at the plate." Smith, 25, has a 4.50 ERA, 9.0 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, and 0.8 HR/9 in 46 Triple-A relief innings, his second stint at the level.
Ken Rosenthal broke the story, with Danny Knobler, Buster Olney, Jon Heyman, Paul Hoynes, and SportsTime Ohio adding details.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
Indians Very Close To Acquiring Kosuke Fukudome
11:02am: A Cubs source told ESPN's Jim Bowden the prospects are outfielder Abner Abreu and reliever Carlton Smith (Twitter link).
10:30am: Hoynes tweets that the Indians are paying $775K of Fukudome's remaining salary, which would leave about $3.9MM for the Cubs.
9:35am: The prospects the Indians are sending are "one upper level, one lower level," tweets Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He says one is a pitcher and the other is a position player.
9:13am: The Cubs will receive two prospects for Fukudome, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney, and a deal is likely to be done by today's game at 1:10pm central time. Olney adds that the Cubs are picking up more than half of the $4.7MM owed to Fukudome, while SI's Jon Heyman tweets that they'll pay the "vast majority." Jayson Stark tweets that the only hangup is determining minor perks for Fukudome in exchange for waiving his no-trade clause, and Jon Paul Morosi notes that the Indians are indeed on the outfielder's 15-team no-trade list.
The Indians are still working on other things, tweets Olney. Bastian expects a push for another outfielder.
8:57am: The Indians are in serious talks for Cubs right fielder Kosuke Fukudome, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The deal is "very close to happening," tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. With Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore on the DL, the Tribe has a clear need for outfield help.
Fukudome, 34, is hitting .273/.374/.369 in 345 plate appearances for the Cubs this year. Throughout his Cubs career, Fukudome has been able to draw walks but has shown limited power. Though his right field defense drew praise initially, he's been below-average per UZR over the last few years. Since Fukudome is owed almost $4.7MM for the balance of the season, the Cubs will likely have to kick in money to make a deal happen. He cannot be offered arbitration after the season, so draft pick compensation is not a factor. Fukudome has a limited no-trade clause, which MLB.com's Jordan Bastian thinks he may have waived to come to the Indians (Twitter link).
Quick Hits: Blue Jays, Beltran, Astros, Zambrano
Congratulations to Ervin Santana, who threw the third no-hitter of the season this afternoon. Santana joins Francisco Liriano and Justin Verlander on this year’s list of pitchers to author a no-no. Here are the latest links from around MLB…
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos says he's likely done making trades, according to Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star (on Twitter). The GM will continue monitoring the trade market in case something comes up, but his work might be done.
- The Rangers offered a group of "OK" prospects for Carlos Beltran and Philadelphia's offer was even weaker, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). San Francisco eventually acquired Beltran.
- The Astros are stepping up their efforts to trade Wandy Rodriguez, Brett Myers and Michael Bourn, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter).
- Carlos Zambrano told reporters, including Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, that he wants to stay in Chicago as long as there is "change" (Twitter link). The right-hander, who is available in trades, did not specify what kind of change he's looking for.
- Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch hears that the Reds have serious misgivings about making an all-in move to save their season (Twitter link). After tonight's loss, Cincinnati is 50-54.
Cubs Trying To Unload Zambrano
2:14pm: The Cubs called the Yankees about Zambrano, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, but the Yankees have no interest.
1:52pm: The Cubs are "trying to nudge the Yankees into taking Carlos Zambrano, offering up money to offset his salary," tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. The Cubs are offering to pay big bucks on Zambrano or Alfonso Soriano in general, tweeted SI's Jon Heyman earlier.
In June, Zambrano told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports he'd waive his no-trade clause if the Cubs asked. After the deadline he'll be owed $23.8MM through 2012, and that's the bigger issue given hs middling performance. In my opinion, the Cubs would have to send about $14MM to make Zambrano's contract palatable, as that'd make him the equivalent of a $5MM a year pitcher.
Angels Still Prioritizing Offense
The Angels priority this week is to add a bat, writes CBS Sports' Scott Miller, preferably a third baseman. Internally, they've discussed Aramis Ramirez of the Cubs and Michael Cuddyer of the Twins.
Miller says the Halos have considered making a run at Cuddyer and using him at third base. However, the Twins "remain in go-for-it mode" and actually might add a reliever. Plus, Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote earlier this month that a Twins official said the team would keep Cuddyer and attempt to re-sign him even if they fall out of contention. So, the Angels, Giants, and other suitors are probably out of luck.
As for Aramis, the Angels' best bet will be to hope he'll waive his no-trade rights after his kids return to school in August. Also on the Angels front, Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times reported today that the Marlins are scouting them closely.
Stark On Shields, Pena, Fukudome, Rangers
The latest from ESPN's Jayson Stark…
- The Rays listened on James Shields last week, but now they've taken him off the market for July and apparently the upcoming offseason.
- An executive who spoke with the Cubs says the level of interest in first baseman Carlos Pena has been exaggerated. That's pretty damning, since publicly the level of interest has always appeared tepid. Also, Stark says the Cubs believe Pena could get through waivers in August. I disagree with the notion that there will be a lot less money left on Pena's contract at that point, since half of the $10MM is to be paid in January.
- Kosuke Fukudome might be the one Cub dealt at the July deadline. We still haven't heard which teams are on his partial no-trade list, however.
- The Rangers are balking at including lefty Martin Perez in a deal. Perez is a consensus top-13 prospect in all of MLB. However, the Rangers will discuss their next tier of prospects - Tanner Scheppers, Robbie Erlin, Roman Mendez and Barret Loux, in Stark's mind.
- A longtime friend of Drayton McLane believes McLane's last act as Astros owner will be to convince GM Ed Wade to retain favorite Hunter Pence.
Carlos Pena Likely To Be Traded?
Cubs first baseman Carlos Pena "will almost surely be moved," tweets SI's Jon Heyman. Heyman adds that the Diamondbacks "could be in play there."
There is the possibility that the Cubs want to re-sign Pena for 2012, but otherwise trading him now would be wise. Typically trading a player at the deadline clears a third of his salary, but as I mentioned earlier this month, the Cubs could clear two-thirds of Pena's due to the structure of his contract. I've noted that the Pirates and Diamondbacks might be the only contenders in need of a first baseman, so even though the market for bats overall is weak, those teams have leverage. The 33-year-old Pena is hitting .221/.334/.445 with 20 home runs in 378 plate appearances this year for the Cubs.
Pirates Rumors: Pena, Beltran, Pence
The NL Central race remains tight, but the Pirates are technically above the Cardinals and Brewers at the moment. The latest on these surprise contenders…
- We haven't read much beyond speculation linking the Pirates to Cubs first baseman Carlos Pena, but Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review lists Pena, Carlos Beltran, and Hunter Pence as three bats on which GM Neal Huntington has been "stymied" so far. Huntington explained the roadblocks he's encountered so far, including no-trade clauses and finding a match in value with the other team. The GM explained that he intends to "stay disciplined and stay with teams" in hopes of the asking prices going down.
- ESPN's Buster Olney guesses the Pirates will end up acquiring a second-tier reliever and bat, he explained to Joe Giardina of Pittsburgh Sports Report. Olney has doubts that Beltran would accept a trade to Pittsburgh, and would be shocked if the Bucs meet Houston's asking price for Pence.
- In a tweet, Olney speculates that Colorado's Jason Giambi "would be perfect as a bench addition" for the Pirates.
- Alex Presley's thumb injury increases the Pirates' need for an outfielder, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
Teams Eyeing Kosuke Fukudome
At least four teams are zeroing in on Cubs outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, major league sources tell Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com. A major league source tells Levine that Fukudome has a limited no-trade clause in his deal that allows him to block trades to six teams.
The Indians are reportedly one of the clubs interested in Fukudome's services though it is unknown if they are on the veteran's no-trade list. Fukudome, 34, will be owed $4.3MM as of August 1st and the Cubs would likely pay some of that money for the right prospects in return. This is the final season of Fukudome's four-year, $48MM contract.