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Cubs Rumors: Bako, Looper, Wolf, Uribe

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Fresh off scooping the Cubs’ acquisition of Aaron Heilman, ESPN Radio’s Bruce Levine has more info about the team’s plans.

  • Levine says the Cubs will sign backup catcher Paul Bako to a one-year, $750K deal once they clear a spot on the 40-man roster.  The 2-for-1 Heilman trade takes care of that.
  • The Cubs are still looking at Braden Looper and Randy Wolf if they aren’t able to reignite the Jake Peavy talks.
  • The Cubs have Juan Uribe on the radar as a bench bat and backup infielder.

Cubs Acquire Aaron Heilman For Cedeno, Olson

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11:39am: ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick says the Mariners acquired Cedeno and Garrett Olson from the Cubs for Heilman.  Essentially, the Cubs moved two out of options players in Cedeno and Felix Pie to get Heilman, who they’ve coveted for a while.  The Mariners did well here, adding a back-rotation candidate in Olson and competition for Yuniesky Betancourt in Cedeno.  They released Randy Messenger to make room for the pair.

Bruce Miles says Heilman will be given a chance to start for the Cubs.

10:55am: Ken Rosenthal confirms the deal, saying the Cubs are on the verge of landing Heilman for Cedeno and a minor league pitcher.  The deal is expected to be announced today.

10:25am: According to ESPN Radio’s Bruce Levine, the Cubs are close to acquiring pitcher Aaron Heilman from the Mariners.  The Ms want shortstop Ronny Cedeno and pitching in return.  Heilman was dealt to Seattle in the J.J. Putz trade earlier this winter.  Earlier this month, Ken Rosenthal mentioned that the Mariners were likely willing to trade Heilman, "who they did not consider a key component of the Putz trade."

Heilman, 30, is set to earn $1.625MM in ’09.  He’ll be eligible for free agency after the 2010 season.

Levine also mentioned that three teams are interested in out-of-options Cubs hurler Rich Hill.

Jake Peavy Rumors: Monday

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Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com believes a Chicago Cubs sale could catalyze a trade between the Cubs and the San Diego Padres — a trade that would include 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy heading to the Cubs.

Bloom notes that neither team has re-engaged the topic, but sources suggested the move looks like a matter of when, not if, based on various developments.

As part of the deal, San Diego could get Garrett Olson, the starting pitcher the Cubs just obtained from the Orioles in a trade for left fielder Felix Pie. The Padres had “identified” Olson as a possible component when the teams extensively talked during the Winter Meetings.

Though it may seem improbable for the ownership situation to get cemented by Opening Day (April 5), Commissioner Bud Selig said that baseball would work expeditiously to get it done by then, Bloom wrote.

A Peavy trade would address a priority for the Padres to acquire promising young prospects in return for expensive veteran players, Bloom added.

Peavy is owed $11MM for 2009. He is owed another $52MM in a deal that runs through 2012 and includes a club option for 2013. The option is for $22MM with a $4MM buyout.

Last season, Peavy went 10-11 with 166 strikeouts and a 2.85 ERA. He also spent time on the disabled list.

Odds And Ends: Varitek, Pedro, Sheets

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Links for Saturday morning…

  • Pedro Martinez isn’t worried that he hasn’t signed yet.
  • Jason Varitek says he’s still "exchanging offers" with the Red Sox. Scott Boras and Theo Epstein didn’t comment on the talks, which continue slowly.
  • Buster Olney takes a look at the market for Ben Sheets. He says whoever signs Sheets will get a bargain. Some GMs would be impressed if he gets $20MM over two years.
  • Nate McLouth isn’t optimistic about his chances of signing a multi-year deal with the Pirates.
  • Peter Schmuck thinks the O’s should find a way to sign Brian Roberts to a long term contract.
  • The Blue Jays fired assistant GM Bart Given.
  • Gordon Wittenmyer breaks down the Cubs’ chances of acquiring Jake Peavy now that the team’s about to change hands.
  • Richard Justice writes Randy Wolf should have accepted the Astros’ offer.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pirates, Rays, Pettitte, Cubs, Dodgers, Gomes, Mauer, Cruz

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On this date 28 years ago, the Red Sox traded Fred Lynn to the California Angels for Frank Tanana and Joe Rudi. After six seasons that included an MVP and six all-star appearances, the Red Sox were forced to trade Lynn when the front office failed to mail a new contract to Lynn by the mandated deadline. Without the new contract, Boston was faced with the possibility that Lynn would be declared a free agent (Carlton Fisk was declared a free agent for the same reason). The player’s association dropped their case when Lynn agreed to a contract extension with the Angels. With many of this year’s free agent class still waiting for contracts to be mailed, let’s take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…

  • Bucco Blog sees an Adam LaRoche-Jonathan Sanchez trade as a "win-win deal."
  • DRays Bay would like to see the Tigers take either Troy Percival or Dan Wheeler off the Rays’ hands.
  • Mets Geek makes a case for the Mets signing Andy Pettitte.
  • Goat Riders of the Apocalypse are not worried that the Cubs have traded away yet another former top prospect.
  • Center Field isn’t buying that Jason Varitek didn’t know about the draft pick compensation as a result of his refusing arbitration.
  • Her Rays isn’t taking the loss of Rocco Baldelli well at all.
  • Dodger Thoughts doesn’t understand why the Dodgers keep spending money on veteran, offensively-challenged backup catchers that will never play.
  • Anaheim Angels all the way says the Reds replaced "90% of Adam Dunn" with Jonny Gomes and a very favorable contract. On Baseball and the Reds is not sure Gomes’ offense will offset his horrible defense and sees him as a decent platoon option.
  • UmpBump grades the Rays offseason favorably.
  • El Lefty Malo laments the contract of Dave Roberts and feels he is the type of player that would be forced to retire if he were a free agent this off-season.
  • Twins Geek speculates on what it would take to sign Joe Mauer to a long-term deal.
  • Bullpen Call sees only the Mets and Yankees as options for Juan Cruz.

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

Olney On Mulder, Benson, Peavy, David Wells

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A few notes from Buster Olney’s latest blog post…

  • Free agent starter Mark Mulder is likely to throw for scouts during the first week of February. Olney says he figures to be popular if the audition goes well.
  • We already knew the Dodgers, Rangers, Padres, D’Backs, Rockies, Indians, and Cardinals will watch Kris Benson throw this weekend; Olney adds the Brewers and A’s.
  • Olney says "there have been no recent conversations between the Padres and Cubs about Jake Peavy," but he believes talks could be restarted quickly given the Cubs’ selection yesterday of the Thomas Ricketts group as the potential new owner.
  • David Wells never filed retirement papers and would be open to a minor league deal if one was offered.

Ricketts Family Wins Bid To Buy Cubs

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7:13pm: The Chicago Tribune itself also hears from sources that the Ricketts family has won the bidding to buy the Cubs. The bid is apparently for $900MM, but the family hasn’t yet worked out details with the Tribune Company.

5:30pm: The Tribune Company has chosen Thomas Ricketts as the favorite to buy the Cubs, an unidentified source told the Chicago Sun-Times. The article suggests Ricketts bid about $900MM.

8:44am: According to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, the Tribune Company submitted a favorite among the three Cubs’ bidders to their creditors.  It’s not known whether the favorite is Thomas Ricketts, Hersch Klaff, or Marc Utay/Leo J. Hindery Jr.  This article had a more detailed look at the situation.

Heyman On Manny, Varitek, Madson, Swisher

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SI.com’s Jon Heyman has a new column up…

  • Heyman says half the teams in baseball may still have a big deal left in them, with roughly 100 free agents remaining.
  • Manny Ramirez continues to wait patiently; Heyman guesses the Dodgers go to three years for him.  They’d be bidding against themselves, unless Manny has an offer we don’t know about.
  • When John Henry asked Jason Varitek why he didn’t accept their offer of arbitration, Varitek responded that he didn’t believe it would’ve guaranteed him a spot on the team.
  • Heyman finds it odd that first-year arb closers are getting more money than starters.
  • Scott Boras was in favor of Ryan Madson taking the Phillies’ three-year, $12MM offer based on Madson’s personal/familial circumstances.
  • The Yankees are finding more interest in Nick Swisher than Xavier Nady.
  • Heyman has the Ricketts family as the favorite to buy the Cubs.
  • Heyman suggests Bobby Abreu’s defense gets a bad rap.  The plus/minus system, however, says the right fielder is among the worst in the game.
  • The Nationals and Marlins share the Rays’ policy of not negotiating once arbitration figures are submitted.  The Nats are apparently willing to bend and may keep talking with Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham (each about a million bucks apart).

Odds and Ends: Prospects, Schilling, Elarton

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Links for Thursday…

Rosenthal On Perez, Manny, Pirates

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Another new column from the hard-working Ken Rosenthal.

  • Rosenthal doesn’t believe that the market for Oliver Perez is limited to the Mets; it’s more that they’re the only interested team we know about.  Two teams we can cross off are the Rangers and Cubs.  The Mets want to do three years for Perez while Scott Boras wants five.  The Mets’ plan is to sign one of Perez, Randy Wolf, or Ben Sheets and then add a cheaper arm like Freddy Garcia.
  • Rosenthal believes the Giants could justify signing Manny Ramirez as an attempt to "max out" while they still have Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum (they have Cain through 2011, Lincecum through 2013).
  • Rosenthal notes that free agents who accept offers of arbitration do not have guaranteed contracts.  However, players such as Orlando Cabrera and Jason Varitek would’ve had to be released for clear baseball reasons, not to save money.  Otherwise the teams would be in hot water with the Players Association.
  • Rosenthal notes that Scott Boras has worked out two-year deals covering arbitration years for past clients such as Matt Holliday and Mark Teixeira, so the current Prince Fielder talks don’t signify a change.
  • The Pirates have no need to shed payroll.
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