Craig Wilson, Cubs Bullpen, and More
Today seems to be a bit of a slow day on the trade rumors front. I’m still working on gathering some Tejada info. For now I’ll just say that you shouldn’t discount the White Sox even after both major Chicago newspapers quoted Kenny Williams saying no deal will happen. As commenters in this thread pointed out, Williams has been known to keep a low profile and be less than forthright when talking to the media.
Somehow, a rumor came about yesterday that San Francisco’s KNBR 1050 was reporting that the Pirates had dealt Craig Wilson to the Athletics for Kirk Saarloos. This rumor appears to have been fabricated; it doesn’t seem that the radio station ever proposed it. KNBR didn’t return my emails, but I’m still pretty sure there’s nothing to the rumor. It’s not implausible, as Billy Beane is the type of GM to acquire an undervalued player and worry about his outfielder surplus later. I don’t believe Dave Littlefield’s statements about not wanting to trade Wilson. He’d be valuable to many teams, and the Pirates’ recent acquisitions indicate that they’ll deal him.
RotoAuthority’s latest:
2006 Fantasy Guide On Sale For $9.99 For A Limited Time
Good readin’: 1060west has updated its post about the Cubs’ revamped bullpen. This quote resonated with me:
"Seen in the light of statistical evidence, it becomes clear that nothing has been done to improve the Cub bullpen from April 2005 to this stage; in fact, if anything, the Cubs have actually gotten weaker in going from Hawkins to Howry and Remlinger to Eyre."
The main point is that Hendry tends to purchase free agent relievers for big bucks following the reliever’s best season. Not a smart strategy.
The Phillies and Ryan Franklin? This won’t end well. I’m just happy to see than Ryan Madson will finally get a shot in the rotation; he’s got a 3.25 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and 7.27 K/9 in 166 Major League innings. High strikeout totals and good control are always a great combo.
Jason Johnson Signs With Indians
FoxSports is confirming that Jason Johnson has indeed signed a one-year contract to pitch for the Indians. By acquiring Johnson and Paul Byrd, the Tribe now has a group of five starters that combined to pitch over 1000 innings in 2005. That depth makes the departure of Kevin Millwood a foregone conclusion. Getting a couple of decent starters for one and three years is a much smarter path than committing to five risky years of a pretty good starter in Millwood.
The Indians definitely don’t have a need for starting pitching anymore, so it seems that Coco Crisp will stay put for the time being. Cleveland is still weak at the corners, so Crisp would only depart in a deal for a powerful 1B or 3B. Troy Glaus would’ve been nice, but the trade market is looking bare at this point. Mike Sweeney, Shea Hillenbrand, and Hank Blalock could be had, but all represent only a small upgrade over Aaron Boone or Ben Broussard.
The Cardinals’ main trading chip in a possible Coco Crisp deal was Jason Marquis. Now, St. Louis will look elsewhere to bring in another outfielder. Some sources indicate that a Marquis for Kevin Mench swap could go through in spring training. The Cardinals would like to add a solid power bat to replace Larry Walker, and the acquisitions so far may have to suffice until midseason. The rumored Miguel Tejada for Mark Mulder and David Eckstein trade appears to be completely false.
Buzz Around The Game
Believe it or not, there’s a ton of stuff going on today that doesn’t involve the words "Prior" or "Tejada."
A tentative Troy Glaus trade has been reached. The Diamondbacks dumped Glaus and his contract on the Blue Jays for Orlando Hudson and Miguel Batista. Brandon Webb, far and away the most extreme groundball pitcher in baseball, benefits greatly from the addition of Hudson. Another effect is the breakup of a highly rated defensive infield, at least in the eyes of Dayn Perry. The Blue Jays now have a logjam of 1B/3B/DH guys, and Rosenthal speculates that Shea Hillenbrand is the most likely to go. Should Shea stay true to his word, he’ll be a nice pickup. It’s a homecoming for Miguel Batista; let’s hope the team correctly employs him as a starter. Even with Glaus gone, the Diamondbacks still haven’t cleared up a corner outfield spot for #1 prospect Carlos Quentin. The kid’s more than ready; let’s hope GM Josh Byrnes can unload Luis Gonzalez or Shawn Green as his next trick.
Jason Johnson makes a sweet pickup for the Indians’ rotation. Like Millwood last year, the Indians found a starting pitcher and only had to commit to one year. In Paul Byrd, Cliff Lee, C.C. Sabathia, Jake Westbrook, and Johnson, the Tribe has built a deep rotation. Combined, the five of them threw 1023 innings in 2005. Seems Mark Shapiro has taken a page from Kenny Williams’s book, especially considering that he also has an excellent bullpen in place.
The Cards snagged Juan Encarnacion and Junior Spivey. The reaction at Viva El Birdos to the revamped 2006 lineup:
"To be honest and blunt, i don’t see a single position where the Cardinals have meaningfully improved."
That sentiment includes the bullpen and starting rotation as well. Which reminds me – how can the Cardinals possibly justify blocking Anthony Reyes with Sidney Ponson? The Ponson signing means one of three things:
1. There are concerns about Reyes’s health that have not been revealed to the public.
2. Jason Marquis will be traded this winter.
3. Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan are so loathe put a rookie starter out there every fifth day that they’d prefer yet another fixer-upper. Even if said fixer-upper had a 5.64 ERA over his last 346 innings.
Cardinals fans have got to be hoping for option #2.
Cardinals Interested In Coco Crisp
According to 2005 WARP (a Baseball Prospectus stat that combines offense and defense), Coco Crisp was the game’s 8th best left fielder in 2005. He won’t be a free agent until after the 2009 season, according to Unofficial Major League Baseball. For a Cleveland club in need of an additional bat, trading Crisp away doesn’t seem reasonable. For the price, Crisp is a nice guy to have around.
Nonetheless, a couple of sources are saying the Indians are definitely entertaining offers and the Cardinals have inquired. As useful as Crisp is, it’s never a bad idea to entertain offers.
Via the trustworthy Hawg Wild, Viva El Birdos confirms the Cards’ interest. Lboros has the scoop on some other Cards buzz going around as well.
I can’t vouch for this link, which comes via the grapevine and has a story with it.
Jason Marquis for Crisp would seem to be an even swap, but that’s just speculation. You can check out Baseball America’s top ten prospects for the Cardinals here; it’s possible a package of a few of the non-Reyes guys could entice Mark Shapiro. More likely he wants a Major League starter in return.
Update: A lot of folks have contested my comment above that Marquis-Crisp would be an even swap, and rightfully so. The biggest difference is less in talent level than in the contracts of each player. Anyway, for the most thorough and insightful discussion of Coco Crisp trade possibilities, check out lboros’s post today over at Viva El Birdos.
Burnett, Hoffman, Manny, And More
Latest hot stove from around baseball:
Jayson Stark and Jerry Crasnick are reporting from Dallas that the Blue Jays are close to signing A.J. Burnett to a five year, $55MM deal. Seems Burnett’s agent is going back to Walt Jocketty one last time before finalizing the deal in an attempt to squeeze that fifth year out of him. We’ll know soon enough if Jocketty caved in.
According to Hot Stove All-Star Ken Rosenthal, the Indians are nearing a deal with Trevor Hoffman for $21-24MM over three years. For a team that got a solid year out of the decaying corpse of Bob Wickman, this seems a little unnecessary. Especially since Casey Blake and Aaron Boone are currently penciled in as two automatic outs.
Just noticed today that for some reason, Omar Minaya has yet to do an interview with Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog. C’mon Omar, show some respect to baseball bloggers. Cerrone would conduct a better interview than most newspaper writers for sure. Matthew has also dug around in the whole Gaby Hernandez mess, and concluded that yes, the Marlins did indeed acquire him in the LoDuca trade.
On that topic, my Mets source tells me that the Marlins initially insisted on a Major League-ready player for LoDuca. After the Mets declined that request, they asked for Gaby Hernandez. The agents for Ramon Hernandez and Bengie Molina weren’t responding to Omar Minaya’s offers, so he agreed to the LoDuca deal.
The Red Sox wouldn’t mind hanging on to Manny, and my sources say that there’s a good chance a deal does not get done. Only if a team coughs up true star power like, say, a Carlos Beltran, will the Sox send him packing.
Kris Benson should be shipped out of town pretty quickly. Mets’ management doesn’t think Benson will ever be a consistent pitcher, and their distaste for him has nothing to do with his annoying wife.
The possibility of the Mets acquiring Barry Zito is remote at best. Billy Beane is demanding Lastings Milledge, and Zito’s agent is not guaranteeing a 72 hour window for a contract extension. It is more likely that Minaya simply waits a year and signs Zito as a free agent. Javier Vazquez is still very much on the radar, and his past failure under the New York spotlight does not faze the Mets.
Peter Gammons and others are saying the Mets’ signing of Mark Grudzielanek will be made official Thursday.
Mets management is content to go into spring training with Xavier Nady and Victor Diaz duking it out for the right field spot. Let’s just hope Tike Redman doesn’t get regular playing time.
My earlier Andy Marte to the Twins blurb turned out to be more than idle speculation. A source has confirmed that the Twins have offered Jesse Crain, Kyle Lohse, and unknown prospects for Marte.
Thanks to Brandon, John, and Brian.
Notes On Byrd, Burnett, Sosa
Today’s hot stove happenings:
Ken Rosenthal reports on the Cubs’ interest in A.J. Burnett. This confirms our assertion from November 18th:
"It’s sounding more and more like the Cubs will come up with another starter to add to the stable. Then they’ll deal from that depth to acquire an outfielder. GM Jim Hendry may be more inclined to make a big splash with A.J. Burnett than give a lot of money to Washburn. Unlike last season when he had to get Sammy Sosa off the books, Hendry will act early and often. The Cardinals’ interest in Burnett may motivate Hendry to make a better offer to the starter."
Speaking of Sosa, the Mets are mentioned as a suitor for the outfielder. The opinion here is that Sosa has nothing left, and is three years older than his listed age of 37. Only a foolish team desperate to allocate its free agent budget somewhere, anywhere, would take a chance on Sosa. I’m predicting the Kansas City Royals sign him as a PR move.
In yet another Rosenthal scoop, the Indians nabbed Paul Byrd for two years and $14.25MM. There’s a club option for the third year. We first reported the Tribe’s interest on November 29th. Byrd should provide decent value at what’s become the going rate for a middle-of-the-rotation starter. The fallout: the Angels will have to bring in a name pitcher if Jarrod Washburn also leaves town. I think he will, and the Angels kicking the tires on Erik Bedard, Livan Hernandez, and Jason Marquis.
The Mets moved quickly on Paul LoDuca, giving up one of their best remaining pitching prospects. Juan Pierre remains the last man standing, and the Marlins haven’t been waiting around to ditch their expensive players. Pierre should be gone as soon as the Fish find a team desperate enough to part with a top-notch prospect. The feeling here is that that team will not be the Yankees.
Thanks to Jerry and Alex
Where’s Javier Vazquez Headed?
Ken Rosenthal had an informative article yesterday about starting pitchers likely to be traded. It’s not loaded with new information, but it’s a handy summary. One bit of new info (at least for me) was a list of likely suitors for Javier Vazquez. Rosenthal named the Braves, Cubs, Mets, and Indians as likely to be interested. In the same sentence, Rosenthal mentioned that Vazquez’s trade request was to join a team closer to his home in Puerto Rico.
Vazquez was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. I’m not sure if he still lives there, but it’s a reasonable assumption. If Vazquez’s true main concern is to be as physically close to possible to Ponce, and Rosenthal’s list of suitors is accurate, it would be helpful to know the distance from Ponce to each team’s city. That’s why I compiled this handy chart.
| Distance from Ponce, Puerto Rico (miles) | |
| Atlanta | 1548 |
| New York | 1632 |
| Cleveland | 1851 |
| Chicago | 2064 |
| Phoenix | 3000 |
You can see why he was getting a little homesick playing in Arizona. If geography is any indicator, Atlanta is the frontrunner. Maybe they would ship Kyle Davies and change over to the D’Backs.
Ah, but what if Vazquez simply wants to be near large numbers of Puerto Ricans? New York blows other U.S. cities out of the water, of course.
How about Puerto Ricans as a percent of the total city population? Not a big surprise:
| % of Total Population | |
| New York, NY | 9.0 |
| Chicago, IL | 1.8 |
| Cleveland, OH | 1.6 |
| Atlanta, GA | 0.5 |
| Arizona | 0.4 |
Though Atlanta is a little closer to Puerto Rico, the Vazquez should feel right at home with the Mets. Indeed, such a trade is on the table.
Cleveland Courting Paul Byrd
Although sources have indicated the Orioles’ strong likelihood of signing Paul Byrd, it seems that the pitcher is visiting Mark Shapiro in Cleveland today.
I was directed by an emailer to this thread on Scout.com a few minutes ago. As a commenter mentions, putting B.J. Ryan‘s name in lights didn’t exactly seal the deal. Regardless, the Indians’ interest is for real. Byrd has looked solid pitching against current White Sox players, for what that’s worth.
Thanks to Eamon M.
Mets, Indians, Cards Contact Dotel
In recent years, Octavio Dotel has whiffed batters at a ridiculous rate, sometimes approaching 13 per nine innings. While tough to hit in general, Dotel has been prone to the home run and too generous with bases on balls.
The colorful Dotel went down this summer with a strained right elbow, and by June Dr. James Andrews was wrapping a tendon from his leg around that same elbow. Interestingly, the tendon was long enough to be wound three times around the elbow, giving Dotel superhuman strength. Well, I’m not sure about the strength but it was wrapped three times.
Dotel elected for the surgery against Oakland’s wishes, and a door was opened for Huston Street to become Rookie of the Year in 2005. Dotel was one of the first free agents to file, and has declared in the past that he’d be happy to pitch in a setup role if need be. He even volunteered to play for free.
Dotel was ranked 31st on the RotoAuthority Top 50 Free Agents list, and Boston was picked as his likely destination. Now comes word of three other teams interested in Dotel’s services, courtesy of an unusual source. My source’s barber (in New York) is apparently friends with Dotel, as they knew each other back in the Dominican Republic. The barber informed my source that Dotel has been contacted by the Cardinals, Mets, and Indians. The best part, straight from my source:
"He also told me that Octavio is working on a record, not a record for saves or strikeouts or anything, a merengue record. He is supposedly a great singer. Seriously."
There you have it. It might sound a little far-fetched, but have fun with it. My honest opinion is that this report is accurate and truthful. St. Louis seems the most likely choice, as the club has shown great patience and has been rewarded with rehab projects like Chris Carpenter.
Thanks to Dan K.