Odds and Ends: Jenkins, Piazza, Kuroda
Random rumors for this evening…
- ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports that the Rays have contacted Geoff Jenkins‘ agent. They’re eyeing him to replace Delmon Young in right field.
- Cubs lefty Scott Eyre exercised his $3.8MM player option for 2008.
- Terrmel Sledge never quite caught on in the U.S., so he’s headed to Japan. I thought he was a sleeper entering 2007 as he’d posted a .985 OPS in Triple A in ’06.
- The Yorvit Torrealba deal is official at two years and $7.25MM with a $4MM mutual option for 2010. Mutual options never get exercised by both sides so that doesn’t mean much. Michael Barrett and Paul Lo Duca are the two remaining free agent starting catchers.
- It’s true, Mike Piazza does have some interest from a Japanese team. But he also has three MLB teams interested, and he’s much more likely to stay in the U.S.
- Could Yasuhiko Yabuta lead the Royals to sign Hiroki Kuroda? It’s a possibility. The D’Backs are after him as well; Nick Piecoro has some in-depth info about Kuroda.
Padres Rumors: Cameron, Jenkins, Colon
UPDATE, 11-28-07 at 10pm: Krasovic has an update on the Union-Tribune’s sports blog. Cameron’s agent said tonight that he would decline the Padres’ offer of arbitration. That doesn’t mean the Padres still can’t sign him, but it seems unlikely. Krasovic also notes that the Friars are pursuing Japanese reliever Kazuo Fukumori. As you know, they brought him in for a workout previously. The Rockies and Red Sox have been linked to him in the past.
FROM 11-28-07 at 10:40am:
Tim Sullivan and Tom Krasovic make are a productive tandem for Padres rumors. Sullivan and Krasovic both posted new articles today.
- Sullivan says the Padres will probably offer arbitration to Mike Cameron. Cameron will then decide whether to accept by December 7th. It wouldn’t make sense for the Padres to move on a center fielder until that is resolved. It’s also possible that the Padres just sign Cameron to a two-year deal – they’re sitting on a counteroffer from Cameron’s camp.
- The Padres admit to interest in Andruw Jones, but it seems like a longshot. They probably won’t go past one year, and even if Jones accepts that it’s not a good ballpark to rebuild value.
- Sullivan names other center field possibilities: Aaron Rowand, Gary Matthews Jr., Reggie Willits, and Coco Crisp.
- As for left field, Krasovic notes that the Padres met with Geoff Jenkins yesterday. That might allow Scott Hairston to move to center if all of the above options fail.
- On the pitchiing front, Buster Olney notes that the Padres have expressed interest in Randy Wolf, Bartolo Colon, and Mark Prior.
Johan Santana Rumors
UPDATE, 11-28-07 at 7:30pm: Jon Heyman chimes in on the Santana talks. If the Red Sox continue to keep Ellsbury out of the deal, the Yankees may have the best offer with Hughes, Cabrera, and another pitcher. The inclusion of Ellsbury would swing it toward the Sox. It appears the two rivals are battling going head to head on this one.
FROM 11-28-07 at 11:15am:
Let’s review the Johan Santana situation, because there’s been plenty flying around the last couple of days.
- Yankees: Jon Heyman said yesterday the Twins would want Melky Cabrera plus one of Hughes/Chamberlain/Kennedy. LaVelle E. Neal III confirmed the Yankees as one of three teams that have actually had trade talks with the Twins about Santana. It’s been suggested that Santana would be open to signing a long-term deal in New York. Aaron Gleeman analyzes Yankees/Santana scenarios here. Also, Lisa Kennelly and Ed Price are saying Chamberlain and Robinson Cano are untouchable in these talks. So think Melky and Hughes. By the way, the Yankees let Aaron Rowand‘s agent know that they’ll be interested if they trade the Melkman.
- Red Sox: The Sox are another of those teams confirmed to have had trade talks about Santana with the Twins. Heyman said it would take Buchholz or Lester plus Ellsbury. The Sox want to substitiute Crisp for Ellsbury. UPDATE: Neal says Jed Lowrie, Brandon Moss, and perhaps Kevin Youkilis have been discussed as well.
- Angels: The third team confirmed to have had trade talks for Santana. He’s not atop the Halos’ list though. I suggested earlier that a package of Brandon Wood, Reggie Willits, and Nick Adenhart would work for the Twins, but seems too steep for one year of Santana.
- Mets: The Mets have had talks with the Twins as well, according to Buster Olney. It’s known that the Mets don’t want to include Jose Reyes or David Wright in a deal. Makes sense. Carlos Gomez, Fernando Martinez, Lastings Milledge, Mike Pelfrey, and Kevin Mulvey are the other names being tossed around. But John Harper’s source isn’t so sure Reyes it out of the question, as that might be the only way the Mets can get Santana.
- Mariners: Larry LaRue says the Twins would want Adam Jones, Brandon Morrow, and Jeff Clement.
- Dodgers: Though they’ve been linked to Santana, he doesn’t seem to be on the frontburner.
- Cubs: Long shot and first I’ve heard of it, but George King and Joel Sherman suggest the possibility. Felix Pie would have to be involved. Hard to see the Cubs signing Santana to a record-setting extension given their ownership situation.
Crasnick’s Latest: Kuroda, Marquis, Morris
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick has an in-depth look at the pitching market. I’ll highlight a few new tidbits.
- Hiroki Kuroda might require four years, as some teams are viewing him as the best available free agent starter.
- Scott Boras might wait out the market a bit and then push for five years for Kyle Lohse. That’s right, five years for Kyle Lohse.
- Matt Clement to the Reds is a possibility I hadn’t considered. Clement did pitch for Dusty Baker with the Cubs.
- Crasnick reports there would be huge interest in Mark Prior if the Cubs non-tender him. As in, pretty much every team in baseball. Crasnick’s source indicates that Prior and the Cubs don’t have the best relationship.
- Crasnick spoke to Doug Melvin and confirmed that Claudio Vargas and Chris Capuano will not be non-tendered. But they could definitely be traded.
- The Cubs are listening to offers for Jason Marquis, who is owed $16.25MM over 2008-09. So maybe they are still in on Kuroda.
- New Pirates GM Neal Huntington is shopping Dave Littlefield’s mistake, Matt Morris. Morris makes $9.5MM in ’08 and would be owed a $1MM buyout in ’09.
Unfounded Rumor: Kaz Matsui
UPDATE, 11-28-07 at 10:45am: Buster Olney says talks for Matsui are indeed picking up, and the Cubs are in the thick of things. He notes that if a team is dead set on acquiring a left-handed hitting middle infielder, its options are limited. It’s possible the Astros are still talking to Matsui.
FROM 11-28-07 at 8:30am:
Since last night, about a dozen people have emailed me about a supposed Denver radio station report. This report purportedly claimed Kaz Matsui had signed with the Cubs for three years and $14MM.
However, none of the emailers had actually heard the report with their own two ears. Details are slim – no one knows who actually said it on air. While the rumor sounds reasonable, it may be made up or a contortion of the truth. It may also be accurate – we don’t know yet.
One sign that the hot stove season has officially kicked in is the spreading of unverifiable radio rumors. These are slippery because they’re very difficult to confirm but have an air of authority to them. That makes radio rumors easy to fabricate and spread around the ‘Net. I’ve also seen many cases where radio personalities were clearly speculating, but a few games of telephone later and they were talking about actual offers.
All that said, radio reports have value when verified. For instance Bruce Levine of ESPN Radio 1000 out of Chicago scooped everyone on the Kerry Wood and Scott Linebrink signings.
Cubs May Trade Mark Prior
Three articles about the Cubs’ Mark Prior situation came out today – Buster Olney, Paul Sullivan, and Gordon Wittenmyer. The Cubs have until December 12th to make a decision one way or another – that date is the last day for teams to offer 2008 contracts to unsigned players.
The Cubs may try to keep Prior and see if they can salvage anything. He hasn’t taken a big league mound since August 10, 2006, when he got knocked around by the Brewers. What the Cubs don’t want is to bring Prior back for 2008, see him rebuild value, and then have him jump ship after the season. Instead they want an option for 2009 tacked on. The least the Cubs can sign him for ’08 is $2.86MM. Prior won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2009 season since he accrued no MLB service time this year. So I’m not sure why the Cubs would be terribly concerned with ’09 since they would control him for that year anyway. UPDATE: From what I’m hearing he is a free agent after ’08 after all.
As Buster Olney notes, the Cubs also have the option of trading Prior right now. Then his new team can deal with the contract situation. There’s definitely a little bit of low-cost upside there, and the Padres are said to be interested.
The third option is to non-tender Prior, which seems dumb to me. It’d be better to keep him around for one more year at $3MM.
Cubs Sign Kerry Wood
UPDATE, 11-26-07 at 1:45pm: It’s official, and it’s worth $4.2MM plus another possible $3.45MM in incentives. Ryan Dempster‘s move to the rotation is official, and it looks like the Cubs may not pursue another starter (they had been linked to Hiroki Kuroda).
FROM 11/26/07 at 11:50am:
According to Bruce Levine of ESPN Radio 1000, the Cubs have signed Kerry Wood to a one-year, $4MM deal with no options. Wood apparently had four other offers for two years worth $5-6MM. The Padres, Brewers, and Red Sox were among them.
I like the lack of risk here; it’s hard to find a reliever with Wood’s upside for one year. I really thought he’d get two years, $10MM. Of course, I am biased as a Cubs fan. We all know Wood remains a significant injury risk.
Odds and Ends: Santana, Hunter
Let’s kick off the morning with some odds and ends, absent any earth-shattering rumors. I’ll keep adding to this post.
- Awesome inside look at the Torii Hunter deal via Bob Nightengale. Hunter’s first choice outside of Minnesota was the Cardinals, but they weren’t interested.
- Hunter – not overpaid? So says J.C. Bradbury.
- Still some confusion about Johan Santana‘s no-trade clause. Buster Olney says it’s full and doesn’t indicate that the rights change on any certain date. Matthew Cerrone says it’s a full NTC only until Opening Day ’08, when it switches to 12 teams. Those are not mutually exclusive comments, so I guess we’ll see.
- Phil Rogers doesn’t think the Cubs will re-sign Kerry Wood. He also sees the Giants in the lead for Miguel Cabrera now.
- My coworker Jonathan makes a good point – thought the Sox wouldn’t give four-year deals to pitchers? They made a huge fuss over Mark Buehrle. Suddenly Scott Linebrink is worthy of breaking the rule again? Some are skeptical.
- Bobby Kielty typically smacks around left-handed pitching (Brian Fuentes for example). He’ll hook on as some team’s fourth outfielder as a free agent. He’d like to return to Boston, but that would require a Coco Crisp trade. Rob Bradford names the Twins, Braves, Rangers, and White Sox as possibilities otherwise.
Rockies Rumors: Herges, Torrealba
Troy E. Renck has the Rockies hot stove buzz, as usual.
- The Rockies are close with reliever Matt Herges, but other teams remain in the mix. It’s known that Herges wants a two-year deal and the Brewers are interested.
- The Rockies are also making progress on a deal with catcher Yorvit Torrealba. The Mets saw something they didn’t like in Torrealba, so he’s come back to the Rockies to talk. Renck says the Rockies had previously offered two years and $7MM with a vesting option for 2010 (seems reasonable). Now they might be able to get him without guaranteeing that third year.
- Renck says Kaz Matsui may sign with the Cubs or Astros next week. Matsui has priced himself out of the Rockies’ range.
Cubs Rumors: Wood, Matsui, Crawford
The Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan has the latest on the Cubs this morning.
- It’s been known for a few days now that the Red Sox like the idea of adding Kerry Wood as their setup man. Sullivan confirms the interest, and quotes Cubs GM Jim Hendry saying Wood is "getting a lot of action around the industry." In a pitching-starved market, teams will convince themselves Wood can stay healthy and dominant. Sullivan speculates that it could take multiple years at $5MM per. To see a team go 3/15 would not shock me.
- Kaz Matsui is still on the Cubs’ radar for a three-year deal. They could consider using him at shortstop or second base. Two days ago Tracy Ringolsby had said Matsui "appeared headed to the Astros," but Ken Rosenthal chimed in noting the Cubs and Rockies are ahead of Houston in the Matsui derby. Hendry met with Matsui yesterday, but no deal is imminent.
- A left-handed hitting outfielder remains on Hendry’s wish list. Carl Crawford hasn’t yet been made available according to Sullivan, but the Cubs will surely look into it if he is. Kosuke Fukudome remains a possibility as well. Bruce Miles adds Ryan Church to the mix.
- The Cubs expect to increase payroll beyond last year’s $110MM.