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Odds and Ends: Hunter, A-Rod, Bedard

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Sunday morning minor rumor collection…

  • There’s always some skepticism from readers regarding Charley Walters rumors.  Nonetheless I’ll report that he names the Nationals, White Sox, Braves, Yankees, and Dodgers as teams that will bid for Torii Hunter.  I don’t see the Braves getting involved at $15MM per.  And are the Dodgers ready to move Juan Pierre to left field already?  The other clubs named seem reasonable.
  • As expected, the Cardinals interviewed Chris Antonetti for their open GM position.  No doubt it’s an attractive position but you have to wonder what kind of autonomy he’d have with Tony La Russa around.
  • Larry LaRue makes the case for the Mariners tendering a contract to Horacio Ramirez.  He also notes that Jose Guillen is as good as gone and the Ms won’t consider A-Rod.
  • Speaking of that guy, Bill Price suggests the Mets should sign him and move David Wright to first base.  Carlos Delgado I suppose would be a very expensive pinch-hitter in 2008. 
  • Nick Cafardo expects the Orioles to shop Miguel Tejada this winter, which would surprise no one.  But he’s also hearing that Erik Bedard could be available.  Trades of either might be unpopular with the fanbase.  The trade market for starters could be hopping if Johan Santana, Bedard, and C.C. Sabathia are made available.
  • Joel Sherman says Koji Uehara is a free agent, but we have heard differently.  Anyway, the success of Hideki Okajima may create a minor bidding war for Hitoki Iwase.

Odds and Ends

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More random rumors and reading material!

  • Baseball Prospectus’ Nate Silver discusses Ryan Braun’s undeniably terrible defense at third base, suggesting some interesting trade and signing permutations to get him into right field.  Also note that Kevin Kouzmanoff is a butcher at third; maybe the Friars will be in the market for Mike Lowell this winter (a player they’ve expressed interest in in the past).
  • Awesome headline for this Garrett Atkins article.  Steve King discusses how the Phillies would be a fine fit for a trade, throwing the Dodgers, Twins, Angels, and Astros into the mix as well.  Note that Atkins has a career line of .269/.344/.437 on the road and .336/.399/.528 at Coors.
  • Sid Hartman is hearing that Walt Jocketty could end up in Baltimore.
  • The Daily Herald’s Scot Gregor proposes some kind of Jon Garland for Bill Hall swap, or even a Carl Crawford acquisition by the White Sox.  I don’t think the Sox and Rays match up too well for that. 
  • I thought he’d stay, but Joe Torre has turned down a one-year, $5MM offer from the Yankees.  The proposal had another $3MM in incentives and a vesting option for 2009 if the Yanks won the ’08 World Series.
  • It’s Hiroshima or MLB for Hiroki Kuroda.  Apparently the Ms already have their eye on him.  Paul Sullivan also said recently that the Cubs will be in the mix.

Latest Phillies Rumors: Lowell, Rivera, Schilling

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Let’s catch up on the rumors and minor moves involving the Phillies recently.

One offseason objective is, of course, third base.  Abraham Nunez was an easy buyout decision; Pat Gillick will import a new third baseman this winter one way or another.  Phils fans can stop dreaming up A-Rod scenarios; Gillick won’t pursue him.  Mike Lowell is the one free agent 3B on the Phils’ radar.  While Lowell wouldn’t mind playing in Philly, he made it clear yesterday that Boston remains his first choice.  So there’s a good chance Gillick will have to get his man via trade.  Scott Lauber names Garrett Atkins and Joe Crede (free agent after ’08, Boras client) as possible targets.  We all know how Gillick loves dealing with Kenny Williams (and the Sox can use Josh Fields at third base).

Rod Barajas won’t be retained; Chris Coste will serve as the backup to Carlos Ruiz.  A nice, cheap catching tandem.

How about pitching?  Randy Miller has a source saying the Phils are targeting a couple of AL East stalwarts – Curt Schilling and Mariano Rivera.  To sign Rivera at $12MM per and use Brett Myers in setup seems like a misallocation of resources to me.  As for Schilling, Miller says he’s expressed interest in coming back to Philly to finish his career.  I like the fit.

Miller also has some very interesting info on Aaron Rowand – he’s looking for a six-year, $84MM contract!  Does that mean he ends up with a five-year, $60MM deal?  Pretty hefty for a guy coming off a career year.  Miller says the Phils won’t go for big-name replacements like Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter.

Finally, Pat Burrell has surfaced as a solid trading chip.  He’s left with a reasonable one-year, $14MM commitment, albeit with a full-no trade clause that would require more compensation.  How about Burrell to the White Sox for Crede?  Phils kick in a couple mil, the White Sox get much-needed OBP for ’08 plus draft picks when Burrell leaves.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Bonds, Nathan, Barrett

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Ken Rosenthal has a new rumor column up.  Feels like it’s been a while.

  • Rosenthal thinks it’s a sign of desperation that the Angels would entertain signing Barry Bonds, who doesn’t fit in with their club.  His OBP would fit in anywhere, but he would tie up the DH spot at the expense of Juan Rivera and Vladimir Guerrero.
  • The Cubs are expected to bring Daryle Ward back at $1.2MM (makes sense) and Steve Trachsel at $4.75MM (questionable).  Cubs fans can only hope Trachsel would be considered a tradeable asset, as Rosenthal opines.  Rosenthal also quashes the idea of trading Aramis Ramirez, both because of his full no-trade clause and the team’s impending sale. 
  • David Eckstein is expected to leave the Cardinals, no big surprise.  Rosenthal reiterates recent rumors connecting him to the White Sox, Tigers, and Mets.
  • Rosenthal’s idea for Bill Smith and the Twins: keep Johan Santana this winter, and instead trade the $6MM super-closer Joe Nathan.  Teams would line up for him, and Pat Neshek wouldn’t be a bad replacement.
  • Do you think Michael Barrett could be a free agent bargain?  Rosenthal talked to one exec who feels this way, and it is a good point if he can bounce back to .280/.350/.480 for five million bucks.

Phillies Have $20MM To Burn

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The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Todd Zolecki tallied up the Phillies’ commitments and determined that they have roughly $20MM free to spend on pitching, third base, and perhaps Aaron Rowand.  Zolecki feels that the Phils would choose to let Rowand walk if they couldn’t fit it all in the budget.

Zolecki mentions Mike Lowell as a possibility for the hot corner; that’d run $8-12MM for ’08 depending on how you backload it.  Lowell seems in line for at least two years, $22MM.  Gordon Edes has speculated that it could require a three or four year commitment.  The Phillies at least fall under the teams on Lowell’s list, it appears.

The other $10MM or so might all have to go toward a starting pitcher.  The Phillies have Jamie Moyer, Adam Eaton, Cole Hamels, and Kyle Kendrick locked in.  If the Phils don’t like the free agent market (they had interest in reacquiring Carlos Silva this summer), they could pursue Jon Garland or Dontrelle Willis via trade.  The Phils have also scouted Anthony Reyes.

That doesn’t leave any money for Andruw Jones, despite recent speculation.

Braves Notes: Hampton, Lowry, Andruw

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Mike Hampton makes $15MM next year, and the Braves aren’t getting any relief from the Rockies or Marlins.  However, it turns out the Braves actually spread around those payments so that they’d pay out about $8MM to Hampton in each year of the deal.

This is confirmed by Bill Shanks of Scout.com, for starters.  Shanks notes that the Braves owe $8.25MM to Hampton next year because of amortization.  I’ve heard that David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said something similar in the comments of one of his blog posts, but it’s been buried somewhere.  Bottom line, the Braves have $7MM more than we thought they did.  A $95MM payroll would give Atlanta some wiggle room to add a starter.

It’s not a stretch to add Tom Glavine, with this new information.  However, O’Brien thinks the Braves need more.  While Dan Haren or Joe Blanton may be out of reach, Noah Lowry seems a more realistic target.  The point is to find a decent young controllable arm.

O’Brien’s also got some early interested parties in Andruw Jones: the Dodgers, Rangers, Giants, White Sox, Nationals, Phillies, and Mets.  Seems like the idea of moving Beltran to right field has been discussed within the Mets organization.  The Dodgers, I imagine, would shift Juan Pierre to left field. 

A.J. Pierzynski Extended Through 2010

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A.J. Pierzynski had his contract extended yesterday.  He’s already signed for next season, but is now slated to make $12.5MM over ’09-’10.  That’s a fair price, nothing special, and say what you will about Pierzynski’s decline in numbers this year (.309 OBP), I think he’s Ozzie Guillen’s kind of guy.

If for some reason you’ve never read about the Pierzysnki for Liriano, Nathan, and Bonser deal, I recommend a perusal of Tim’s full breakdown.  It’s a good read.

Posted by: Nat Boyle

White Sox To Keep Mike Myers?

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UPDATE: Scot Gregor of the Daily Herald is now reporting that Kenny Williams may have indicated Mike Myers (and Ryan Bukvich) are the two spots in the bullpen he will be addressing in the offseason.  The article indicates that the White Sox won’t be as busy this offseason as some may think.

Mark Gonzales reports Mike Myers might indeed have a role in the White Sox bullpen next season, and no, it won’t be sketch comedy or terrorizing Jamie Lee Curtis.

When the Red Sox let Myers walk and I watched the Yankees pick him up as a lefty specialist to negate what had become known as the David Ortiz Factor, as a Sox fan one thought came to mind: "Whoops!"  In his first attempt to get Ortiz out, Big Papi promptly took him deep.  Ortiz spent 2006-2007 going 5 for 15 with a homer and 6 RBIs against the lefty specialist.  The Yankees designated him for assignment in August.  Despite a 2.66 ERA, lefties were hitting .301 off him.  The White Sox picked him up and things got worse.  Myers’ ERA rose from 2.84 to 4.41 in 6 weeks.

Still, they’re expected to pick up the sidearmer’s $1.1MM option for 2008.  Pitching coach Don Cooper is confident they have made adjustments to get Myers back on track.   Says Cooper, "Every club would like to have three lefties in the bullpen. We have that ability to have three lefties every day, at least two, especially in our division where we have a lot of good-hitting lefties and guys who switch-hit."

Update on Garland: Phillies Scouting

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We said a few weeks back that the White Sox May Shop Jon Garland and that Garland knows it.  The White Sox are seeking 2 relievers.  As Tim noted, the Red Sox, Rockies, Braves, Yankees, Mariners, Dodgers, Mets, and Phillies have all shown interest.  Well, it starts here:  Paul Hagen recently caught wind of the Phillies scouting the tall right hander during his complete game shutout of the Royals last Wednesday.

Garland is due $12MM in the final year of his contract.  The Phillies will be waving goodbye to Jon Lieber and flop Freddy Garcia, opening up $17MM and the (incredible) need for a quality starter in a rotation comprised of Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick, Adam Eaton, and the indefatigable Jamie Moyer.

As Tim noted, the ChiSox tried to shop him last offseason to the Astros, but the deal unraveled just before the scheduled press conference.  The bad news for GM Kenny Williams:  Garland went on to make ’07 his worst season in recent memory going 9-13 with a 4.23 ERA.  Good news for Kenny Williams:  The man finished strong, flat out dominating in September by posting a 1.38 ERA over 39.1 IP, and going over 200 Innings for the 4th straight year.

Still, judging from your comments, MLBTR readers aren’t too high on Mr. Garland.  Are the Phillies?

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Posted by: Nat Boyle

Garland Expects To Be Traded

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Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times has some quotes from 28 year-old White Sox starter Jon Garland.  Basically, Garland expects to be traded this winter.  Cowley also pokes fun at Garland’s laid-back attitude, which seems to be a sore spot in Chicago.

If nothing else, Garland is consistent.  He’s never been seriously injured.  His strikeout rates are usually around 4.8 per nine each year.  He typically has good control.  The most random part of his stat line is hits allowed, as you would expect.  A hit-lucky year in ’05 had some thinking he could be an ace.  That performance helped him snag his three year, $29MM contract.

Garland will make $12MM in ’08 in the last year of the deal.  I’m not sure that the White Sox can afford the hit to their staff, but they probably need to take some chances if they are to win next year.  Garland can help fill holes while clearing a nice chunk of payroll.  Last we heard, Kenny Williams would seek two relievers in return at the least.  Among teams with recent interest: the Red Sox, Rockies, Braves, Yankees, Mariners, Dodgers, Mets, and Phillies.

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