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Crasnick On Remaining Free Agents

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ESPN's Jerry Crasnick has a new article up looking at a bunch of free agents.

  • Crasnick talked to one American League exec who views Pedro Martinez as "strictly a National League pitcher."  Coupled with his price tag and long layoff, the market isn't big for Pedro.
  • Ben Sheets is weeks away from a throwing program.  He's probably a ten-start guy this year, but interest figures to be strong.
  • Jim Edmonds hopes to sign by May.  He'll need two to three weeks to get ready.  Mark Grudzielanek also wants to play, and tells friends he only needs a week.  He'll look for a contender, and the Royals will hope he signs before June so they get that supplemental draft pick.  Jacque Jones is another guy who still hopes to play.
  • Geoff Jenkins is taking grounders at first base to increase his versatility.
  • Jay Payton suffered a shoulder injury lifting weights last month, but once he's healthy a few months from now he still wants to play.
  • Nothing appears to be cooking for Frank Thomas and Luis Gonzalez, who could be forced to retire.  Dave Roberts hasn't officially retired, but a comeback appears unlikely.
  • Paul Byrd's plan remains unchanged: sign with a contender around July.
  • Jon Lieber's agent says the pitcher has retired.  131 wins, including 20 in '01.  Lieber finishes with a 4.27 ERA in 2,198 innings for the Pirates, Cubs, Yankees, and Phillies.  He earned over $46MM, according to Baseball Reference.

Milton Bradley Suspended Two Games

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As Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com reports, Milton Bradley has been suspended two games and fined an undisclosed amount for making contact with umpire Larry Vanover during Thursday's game against the Cardinals.

Bradley was pinch-hitting, and making his Wrigley Field debut, when he disagreed with a called third strike and jumped into Vanover's face, knocking his cap slightly upward.  His teammates seemed to approve of the outburst, but it no doubt bothered upper management.

"I like it," Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee said recently, before learning of the suspension. "He said what he had to say and walked off. That's him. He's intense. It's a big situation, he wants to do well, and he got upset. It's OK. He didn't do anything malicious."  Apparently the Commissioner's Office thought otherwise.

Odds & Ends: Milledge, Draft Order, Cubs

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Links for Tuesday…

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Opening Day Payrolls

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On this date 33 years ago, Andy Messersmith signed a three-year, $1M contract with the Atlanta Braves after being granted free agency by an arbitrator in the Seitz Decision. This move was historic in that the ruling effectively nullified baseball's reserve clause, seven years after Curt Flood first challenged the clause. This led to the inclusion of free agency after six years of service in the next collective bargaining agreement, a rule still in place today. Since then, payrolls have skyrocketed. Let's take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…

  • The Biz of Baseball takes a closer look at opening day payroll, the highest paid players in baseball and which teams have the highest average player salaries.
  • Astros Country breaks down the Astros' 2009 payroll.
  • Bleed Cubbie Blue has details on the Cubs' payroll.
  • Rays Index breaks down the Rays' opening day payroll.
  • YanksBlog tries resolve different reports of the Yankees opening day payroll.
  • Purple Row takes a look at service time and options remaining on the Rockies' roster, among other things.
  • Baseball Analysts takes a look at payroll efficiency for the last three years.
  • On a side note, The Sports Banter put together a list of the best off-season moves, and the worst.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here and followed on Twitter.

Rockies Eyeing Chad Gaudin

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10:04pm: Ringolsby has a source saying Gaudin is leaning toward the Rockies, as he'd like to be a starter.  He may be willing to spend some time in Triple A as part of the process.  Ringolsby says the A's and Padres have interest in Gaudin as a reliever.

WEDNESDAY, 2:54pm: Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says the Rockies' interest level in Gaudin changed when they acquired Jason Hammel.  Still, they'd like to add him to the Triple A club.  Gaudin's agent Larry Reynolds said, "We have a lot of teams calling so we are taking a step back."

TUESDAY: According to Tracy Ringolsby of Inside The Rockies, pitcher Chad Gaudin cleared waivers.  That means that the Cubs will be on the hook for $1.6MM of Gaudin's $2MM salary.  The Rockies remain interested; Ringolsby says they'd like to sign Gaudin to a minor league deal and send him to Triple A.  Ringolsby adds:

Word is that at least two other teams are talking with Gaudin, offering him a big-league job but it would be as a middle reliever.

The Cubs tendered Gaudin that $2MM contract in December, but changed course this month and released him after seeing him in Spring Training.  Gaudin injured his back last summer after slipping off a curb and smacking into a dumpster.  It seems that the injury has affected him since then.

Offseason In Review: Chicago Cubs

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Next up in our Offseason In Review series, the Cubs.  Here's what we wrote about them on October 17th.  Changes for 2009:

Additions: Milton Bradley, Ryan Dempster (re-signed), Kevin Gregg, Aaron Miles, Aaron Heilman, Luis Vizcaino, David Patton, Jeff Stevens, Joey Gathright.  Midseason: Rich Harden

Subtractions: Kerry Wood, Mark DeRosa, Jason Marquis, Bob Howry, Chad Gaudin, Mike Wuertz, Felix Pie, Rich Hill, Henry Blanco, Jim Edmonds, Jon Lieber, Ronny Cedeno, Daryle Ward, Casey McGehee.  Midseason: Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, Sean Gallagher, Scott Eyre

The Cubs made headlines by increasing their Opening Day payroll more than any other team, by $16.5MM.  This was a necessity due to the team's backloaded contracts, though – incumbents Kosuke Fukudome, Ted Lilly, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano, and Aramis Ramirez combined for a $17.9MM salary increase.  To improve the team, it was still necessary to trim payroll.  This resulted in the decisions to subtract Blanco and Marquis (good) as well as Wood and DeRosa (questionable).

The Cubs led the NL last year with 5.31 runs scored per game.  The new lineup was designed with more lefty-righty balance in mind.  Using CHONE projections and the lineup analysis tool, it projects at 5.29 runs per game.  That projection will slip a bit if Bradley misses time.  Bradley was a very risky signing, and he didn't take a discount to come to Chicago.  He'll be worth it if the Cubs can somehow coax 130 games a year out of him; his history suggests they can't.  The Cubs shouldn't be any worse for having Fontenot in the lineup over DeRosa, but the club didn't maximize its '09 return when they sent the veteran to Cleveland.

Last year's rotation was also the best in the league, posting a 3.75 ERA in 955 innings.  They've subtracted 166.6 innings of 4.43 ball from Marquis and 54.6 innings of a similar performance from Gallagher.  They'll hope getting more than last year's 12 starts from Harden balances out Dempster's likely regression.  Signing Dempster at $52MM seemed acceptable on November 18th, but now the commitment looks a bit steep.  Tweaking CHONE's innings projections and adding Jeff Samardzija to the mix, the '09 group projects around a 4.17 ERA.

The '08 bullpen posted a middling 4.10 ERA in 495.6 innings.  In what can only be seen as a cost-cutting move, the Cubs chose not to offer arbitration to Wood (a Type A free agent) after his strong season.  The team saved $5.8MM by replacing Wood with Gregg.  Sending Jose Ceda to Florida for a year of Gregg was seen by most as an overpay.  GM Jim Hendry overhauled the rest of the bullpen aside from Carlos Marmol and Neal Cotts, bringing in Heilman and Vizcaino in trades.  Longtime Cub Angel Guzman was given a spot, as he's out of options.  Patton was taken from the Rockies in the Rule 5 draft; he'll try to make the jump from High A ball.  The Cubs lost $1.6MM by changing their mind on Gaudin, to whom they tendered a contract in December but cut in April.  The Cubs' pen seems worse in the ninth inning but acceptable overall, projecting at a 3.96 ERA.

Defensively the Cubs ranked 9th in the NL according to The Fielding Bible II.  They're better in center field, so perhaps a win can be gained on defense.

I project the Cubs at 92 or 93 wins, but they have two of the game's biggest wild cards in Bradley and Harden.  The offense should mash again regardless, while the rotation looks good rather than great.

Bottom line: It'd be a major feat for the Cubs to reach the playoffs three years in a row, and this team projects as the division's best.  Hendry could've widened the gap with more payroll flexibility, though.

More Peavy Chatter

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How about a little more Jake Peavy chatter, courtesy of Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune?  Krasovic sums up the situation: Peavy and GM Kevin Towers hope the Padres will contend and trading the ace will not become an issue.  But with Peavy earning nearly 30% of the payroll and the Padres looking questionable, there's a good chance this will come up again near the trade deadline.

Krasovic adds that the Dodgers and Cubs "interest both the Padres and Peavy."  He says "a person close to Peavy said those two remain the most likely choices for a trade."  Peavy still prefers the National League, though I can envision a potential match with the Angels a few months from now.  Here on April 6th, what's your Peavy prediction?

Cubs Release Gaudin, Option Samardzija To AAA

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Gordon Wittenmyer is reporting, via Twitter, that the Cubs have released Chad Gaudin and optioned Jeff Samardzija to AAA, giving the final two spots in their bullpen to Angel Guzman and Rule 5 pickup David Patton.

Gaudin, 26, came to the Cubs in the Rich Harden trade in 2008, but the league change was not kind to him. He posted a 6.26 ERA through 27.1 innings, though he did manage to fan 27 hitters as well. This Spring has been a disaster for Gaudin; he's allowed 19 ER through just 16.2 innings, while posting a 12:10 K:BB ratio and surrendering five long balls. The Rockies have shown some interest recently, though they chose to set their sights on Jason Hammel instead. Maybe not having to give anything up to acquire Gaudin will change their mind.

Odds & Ends: Fogg, Payrolls, Padres, Nady

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Links for Friday…

Heyman On Peavy, Tigers, Cliff Lee

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The latest from SI.com's Jon Heyman…

  • Heyman lists 30 breakout candidates for 2009, headed by Paul Maholm of the Pirates.
  • Padres GM Kevin Towers had this to say regarding trading Jake Peavy midseason: "If we start spinning our wheels, we might engage in discussions."  ESPN's Buster Olney also wrote about Peavy this morning, noting that the Cubs were "much closer than anybody realized at the time" to acquiring Peavy this winter.  Towers gave Olney a similar quote about Peavy – he doesn't want to think about it right now but if the team is out of contention it's possible.
  • Heyman names the Tigers and Blue Jays as teams that may look to dump salary this summer.  He speculates on names such as Jeremy Bonderman, Brandon Inge, Carlos Guillen, Magglio Ordonez, Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, and Scott Rolen.
  • Cliff Lee is a tricky case for an extension, but the Indians told his agent Darek Braunecker they'd let him throw out a bid.  Braunecker didn't bite, and negotiations are not expected to take place during the season.  You have to wonder if Lee will be traded next winter or at the 2010 trade deadline.
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