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White Sox, Angels Express Interest In Carl Everett

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Found via South Side Sox: MLB.com’s Jim Street reports that the White Sox and Angels have expressed interest in Carl Everett.  Presumably that would be minor league deal type interest.

What’s Carl been up to?  The 36 year-old DH posted a .657 OPS for the ’06 Mariners, his last appearance in the bigs.  Last year he put up an MVP-caliber season…with the Long Island Ducks.  Jeff Pearlman informed us last June that "In eight seasons of Ducks baseball, a mere four players — Carlos Baerga, Pedro Borbon Jr., Bill Pulsipher and Ken Ray — have gone from Long Island to the majors."

David Aardsma Traded To Red Sox

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According to the Boston Globe, the Red Sox acquired reliever David Aardsma today from the White Sox for minor league pitchers Willy Mota and Miguel Socolovich.

Aardsma, 26, was a first-round pick of the Giants in ’03. He started a bit in the minors in ’03 but has mostly pitched as a reliever. If nothing else, Aardsma still throws hard.  Maybe John Farrell can fix him up. 

Odds and Ends: Colon, Koskie, Atkins

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We take a break from your regularly scheduled Erik Bedard drama to bring you some random links.

  • The White Sox made an incentive-laden offer to Bartolo Colon, but Colon apparently physically disappeared at the thought of it.  There’s a joke here, somewhere.  Kenny Williams also almost kind of hinted at implying that he made some kind of effort to acquire Bedard.
  • A brief note from the Sun-Times – outfielder Brian Anderson may be traded to an NL team (Marlins?).
  • It’s possible that Corey Koskie makes another comeback attempt.  He’s gone through a postconcussion syndrome nightmare.
  • The Denver Post’s Troy Renck is always going over to Rockies players’ houses and chilling in their living rooms.  This time, it was Garrett Atkins.  Atkins says the Rox made a multiyear offer to him a year ago more similar to Jeff Francis’ (4/13.25) than that of Aaron Cook (3/30) or Troy Tulowitzki (6/31).  That offer was to cover Atkins’ three arbitration years and have a club option for his first of free agency.
  • I recently did a Q&A with Science Fiction Baseball.
  • Website note: I am leaning toward doing a full redesign.  New logo, widen this baby, brighten her up, increase the font size, and yes, do away with the white on black type.  Lots of room for improvement with this clunky old design, we all know it.

White Sox Considering Jenks, Cabrera Extensions

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Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times says the White Sox "began preliminary talks last month on a contract extension" for closer Bobby Jenks.  GM Kenny Williams also hopes to extend new shortstop Orlando Cabrera before the season begins.

Jenks, 27 in March, has a 3.26 career ERA with 87 saves in 174 innings. Last year he traded some missed bats for improved command, while also maintaining a strong groundball rate.  By my count he is eligible for arbitration after the ’08 season and free agency after 2011.

Cabrera, 33, hit .301/.345/.397 for the Angels in ’07. Bill James’ panel of ten experts ranked his defense 11th among shortstops.  He makes $9MM in ’08, though the Angels are paying $1.5MM of it.

Odds and Ends: Velocity, Santana, Teixeira

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Make sure to check out these links.

Giants Considering Ensberg, Crede

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We learned earlier today that Pedro Feliz rejected the Giants two-year offer.  The team plans to look internally for a solution at third base. Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News comes in with the possible leading candidate: Kevin Frandsen.

He hasn’t manned the hot corner regularly since college, but his performance in just under 300 plate appearances last year has earned him a legitimate shot at the starting gig. He played third base for 55 innings last year. Most of his time was spent at second base, which figures to be occupied by Ray Durham in 2008.

Frandsen is a better option than Feliz, but the Giants still might bring in veteran competition in the form of Morgan Ensberg or Joe Crede.  Baggarly’s club source said there’s a "good chance" of acquiring Crede if his back is healthy this spring.  Noah Lowry would be too much; Brad Hennessey maybe?

Joe would like to remind you, just this once, that he writes for River Ave. Blues, a Peter Gammons-approved Yanks blog.  Tim also contributed to this post.

Odds and Ends: Foulke, Ordonez, Feliz, Phillips

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All sorts of odds and ends to discuss this morning.

Odds and Ends: Cano, Colon, Lowry

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Here are some links I’ve rounded up this morning.

  • In theory, Robinson Cano would be open to a long-term deal. River Ave. Blues recently took a look at how historically good Cano has been so far, and suggest the Yankees lowballed him with their arbitration submission.
  • Baseball Prospectus’ Derek Jacques saw Bartolo Colon pitch in the Dominican League Finals, and lends his evaluation.  Colon was not impressive, but not terrible.  It doesn’t seem like he will get the two-year deal he wants.
  • The Brewers will bring Abraham Nunez to camp.  Versatile, but a drain on offense.
  • Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune notes that the White Sox aren’t done yet.  The Joe Crede situation should linger into spring.  Gonzales also mentions that the Giants are "listening to offers for Noah Lowry."
  • A factual look at whether Omar Minaya really stockpiles Latin American players.
  • The Astros can’t settle their gaps with Mark Loretta or Jose Valverde, and Ed Wade expects the team to go to its first arbitration hearings in over a decade.  Wade has set a deadline of this afternoon and will go to hearings otherwise.  Loretta asking for $4.9MM seems particularly off.
  • Matthew Cerrone takes an educated guess on the current Johan Santana situation.
  • Some interesting quotes from XM Radio from Michael Cuddyer and Scott Boras, separately.

Odds and Ends: Howard, Aardsma, Odalis

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Here we go, another random collection of links.

  • The Red Sox inked a couple of former closers to minor league deals: Dan Kolb and Dan Miceli.  No need to run out and pick them up for your fantasy team.  I think Papelbon is secure.
  • Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says the Red Sox are hunting for a lefty bench bat.  Tony Clark emailed him to say he’d love a return to Boston, but Cafardo says he’s not on the top of the list.  Clark hit .207/.265/.291 for the ’02 Sox.
  • A few comments from Pat Gillick on the Ryan Howard situation.  He says the Phillies are "open to anything."  Gillick also claimed arbitration hearings really aren’t all that contentious.  I guess that could be true, I’ve never been in the room for one.
  • The official acquisition of Octavio Dotel meant the White Sox DFA’d David Aardsma.  Aardsma, 26, has whiffed about a batter per inning over his last two seasons.  He has to have a little bit of trade value.
  • Impacto Deportivo says the Mets will meet with Odalis Perez.  Two left-handed O. Perez’s might confuse opponents, giving the Mets an advantage.  Really though it’s a good idea for Omar to stockpile some arms even if Odalis doesn’t have much left.  One thing’s for sure, he won’t be earning $7.75MM again.  (Hat tip to MetsBlog).
  • Looking for an MLBTR reader forum?  I offer you our Facebook discussion board.

Rumor Royalty: Mike DiGiovanna (Angels)

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Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times has been named Rumor Royalty for the Angels; he is the best source of Halos hot stove buzz.  He was kind enough to answer three questions for MLBTR.

MLBTR: What do you make of the Paul Konerko rumors?  Do you think the Angels and Sox have had post-Meetings discussions about him, despite Kenny Williams’ claim otherwise?

DiGiovanna: I had heard the White Sox and Angels might be up to something four or five days before that report came out. I made several calls looking into the matter, as did my counterpart from the Chicago Tribune, White Sox beat writer Mark Gonzales, and after two or three days, we determined that there had been exploratory conversations between the teams during the winter meetings but nothing substantive since. Neither of us decided to write anything on it. Then a report was published claiming the Angels and White Sox were discussing a deal that would send Howie Kendrick and Ervin Santana to Chicago for Konerko. I was very skeptical about it because the Angels would not trade Kendrick straight up for Konerko, let alone Kendrick AND Ervin Santana. Then that afternoon, Kenny Williams shot down the rumor forcefully, saying on the record that there had been no talks with the Angels since the winter meetings and that he hasn’t discussed Konerko. I know GMs don’t always tell the whole truth, but when a GM knocks down a rumor so forcefully, I tend to believe him.

I know Angels Manager Mike Scioscia likes Konerko a lot, but Konerko will be 32 this season, he’s got three years and some $30 million left on his contract, and I don’t think his power projects as well outside of U.S. Cellular Field, a known hitter’s haven. The Angels might get almost as much production, though without as many homers, from first baseman Casey Kotchman for a lot less money over the next three years.

MLBTR: Will the Angels will make a push to sign Francisco Rodriguez to an extension during the season?  What kind of dollars and years would you expect?

DiGiovanna: New GM Tony Reagins does not seem at all motivated to secure Rodriguez to a long-term deal, and since the two sides were unable to come to terms on a 2008 contract before exchanging arbitration figures last week—Rodriguez wants $12.5 million; the Angels offered $10 million—that’s an indication that they are still far apart on a multiyear deal. Rodriguez believes he is one of the top closers in the game and thinks he should be paid like one, so I would not be surprised if he is seeking a deal similar to the three-year, $45-million contract Mariano Rivera signed this winter. The Angels like Rodriguez and would love to lock him up for a few years, but I don’t think they want to pay him $15 million a year. I think Rodriguez will become a free agent after the season, the Angels will move Scot Shields into the closer role and, if there is still no spot for him in the rotation, convert Ervin Santana to a set-up man.

MLBTR: Is Ervin Santana the odd man out as far as the Angels’ six starters?  Do you expect him to be with the organization on Opening Day?

DiGiovanna: Barring injury to any of the other starters, yes, I think Santana will be the odd man out unless he has a phenomenal spring training and Joe Saunders struggles. John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar, Jon Garland and Jered Weaver are rotation locks, so Saunders and Santana will battle for the fifth spot. But in talking to Angels scouts and front-office executives, I get the sense they think Saunders—now that Bartolo Colon is out of the picture—has earned a big league spot, that he has done all he can in the minor leagues, and that another demotion to triple-A Salt Lake would be detrimental to the left-hander. They also like having at least one left-hander in their rotation.

However, I think Santana will not only be with the organization on opening day but on the big league roster. He has shown during his brief stints as a reliever that he can be very effective coming out of the bullpen, and he would be valuable as a swing man, a guy who could pitch long relief or spot start in case of injury. The Angels also may use this season to start grooming Santana into a short reliever.

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