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Rosenthal’s Latest: Boras, Murton, Marquis, Clark

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Ken Rosenthal is here to hopefully rescue what’s been a slow day for rumors.

  • Rosenthal points out that it seems Scott Boras has been more flexible with his clients’ contracts this year, perhaps even as the result of his "failures" with Alex Rodriguez and Kenny Rogers.  A new, gentler Boras?  Wait til Mark Teixeira, Matt Holliday, and Prince Fielder reach free agency.
  • The Padres are targeting Matt Murton for left field, a notion that gels with Kevin Towers’ stated quest to acquire a corner outfielder via trade.  Plus, Towers gets along well with Cubs GM Jim Hendry.  Not sure how the teams would match up, unless things expand to include Khalil Greene.  The Cubs would have to be sure they don’t need Murton for other deals or because of other deals.
  • Rosenthal agrees with the recent rumor that the Orioles will decide whether to trade Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts by month’s end.  He notes that Cubs starter Jason Marquis actually does have trade value, and could be part of a package for Roberts.  Other teams are interested in him too – go figure.  Innings are innings I guess.  Marquis, 29, is owed $16.25MM over the 2008-09 seasons.
  • An MLBTR commenter questioned the other day why Troy Tulowitzki’s deal was said to top Grady Sizemore’s as the record holder for a player with less than two years service time.  The commenter wondered why Brian McCann wasn’t part of the discussion – he signed for more than Sizemore ($26.8MM) in March of ’07 with about a season and a half under his belt.  Anyone know why McCann’s name doesn’t come up in this discussion?
  • One of Rosenthal’s sources believes progress has been made on a long-term pact with Holliday, and the recent two-year deal is a positive sign.
  • Teams inquiring on Tony Clark: Mariners, Giants, and Red Sox.  Clark has been mentioned as a Giants target before.

Rockies Sign Holliday For Two Years

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As I mentioned earlier, I won’t post about every one-year deal reached for arbitration-eligible players since they are quite common.  However many of the multiyear contracts reached deserve a mention.

Matt Holliday, a Scott Boras client, signed a two-year, $23MM deal today with the Rockies.  When the deal is up after the 2009 season he’ll be a free agent.  That Holliday required this amount for two years shows what a fine deal the Rays struck with Carlos Pena.  I wonder if Boras recommended against the contract Pena signed.

Perhaps Holliday’s extension indicates that the two sides have similar enough thinking that a longer-term deal could be reached before he reaches free agency.  Hard to say.

Multiyear Contract Discussions: Teixeira, Tulowitzki, Morneau

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With today’s deadline for arbitration-eligible players, it only makes sense that all sorts of long-term contract discussions are going on.  Even players and teams who do agree to one-year deals for ’08 may find themselves with groundwork laid for bigger deals.

  • That could be the case with Mark Teixeira.  His agent, Scott Boras, had "quite a bit of dialogue" with Frank Wren about an extension prior to Tex signing for one year and $12.5MM.  I recently guessed the Braves have a 10% chance of getting this done. 
  • The Rockies have had "intense, serious dialogue" with Troy Tulowitzki’s agent about a long-term deal.  Tulo isn’t arbitration-eligible yet though, so Dan O’Dowd may choose to resolve his arb cases and get back to his shortstop afterwards.  Tulowitski could sign a six-year, $30MM deal, a record for a player with his service time.
  • Justin Morneau signed for one year and $7.4MM.  LEN3 says the Twins may contact his agent about a multiyear deal but haven’t yet.

Rockies Not Making Progress With Holliday

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Rockies star left fielder and Scott Boras client Matt Holliday is set to reach free agency after the 2009 season.  Team owner Dick Monfort weighed in on the situation:

I don’t know if we will be able to sign him.  It could always happen during the year, I guess, but that’s a distraction and we can’t have that. The chance of him becoming a free agent increases with each year that passes.

Boras’ thoughts on the topic:

Matt is happy in Colorado.  If they want to offer a one-year contract, that’s fine. If they want to offer him a franchise contract, like they have done in the past, we would review it at that time.

My guess is that the four-year, $60MM proposal the Rockies considered wouldn’t be seen as a "franchise offer" by Boras.  With the info we have now it looks like Holliday will get a free agent deal exceeding $100MM following the ’09 season.

One other Rockies note from Renck’s column – it sounds like the Rox might wait another year before seriously thinking about a long-term deal for Troy Tulowitzki.

Rockies Inquired On Santana

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Courtesy of Ken Rosenthal, we knew on December 19th that the Rockies had inquired on Dan Haren.  On Monday Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News also quoted Rockies’ GM Dan O’Dowd as saying "We stuck our nose in on the Santana thing." (Hat tip to Aaron Gleeman for the link).

O’Dowd didn’t get far trying to acquire Johan Santana, because he prefers to play on the East Coast.  Perhaps a deal involving some combination of Franklin Morales, Ubaldo Jimenez, Ian Stewart, and Dexter Fowler would’ve intrigued the Twins otherwise?  Here’s a look at an MLB.com Top 50 Prospects list compiled with votes from 20 members of the scouting community.  Morales ranks just a few spots below Jacoby Ellsbury.

Rockies May Head To Arbitration Hearings

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According to Troy E. Renck, the Rockies have only had two arbitration hearings in franchise history. I dug around and found that they beat Sun-Woo Kim over a $200K difference in ’06 and lost to Dennys Reyes over a $200K difference in 2002.

This year, the Rockies will be prepared for the possibility of multiple hearings.  They’ve got to deal with Matt Holliday, Brian Fuentes, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, and Willy Taveras.  Renck notes that "significant gaps exist with Atkins and Fuentes."  Since we saw the Rox go to their only two hearings over $200K, we know it doesn’t take much of a disagreement sometimes.  If no contracts are reached by Friday each side must submit a salary for ’08 and an arbitrator will pick one later.  Teams typically like to avoid hearings partially because they can create some hard feelings.

The Rockies’ 2008 payroll should rise more than $10MM just to accomodate the five mentioned above.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Feliz, Ellis, Lohse

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Ken Rosenthal checks in with a new column of hot stove material.

  • Rosenthal says some suitors are popping up for third baseman Pedro Feliz: the Dodgers, Brewers, Phillies, and Giants.  Phillies Assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr. confirmed interest today in an MLB.com chat.  Rosenthal admits that the Dodgers don’t seem like a great fit.  He says Bill Hall would have to be traded to make room for Feliz, though Tom Haudricourt implied today that Hall would stay put.  It was said Wednesday that the Giants’ talks with Feliz were stalling over his three-year demand.
  • Rosenthal suggests Mark Ellis would be a nice fit for Colorado, though keep in mind that the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser told us that he was the best bet among veterans to remain with Oakland for 2008.  The Rockies’ current plan is to go with Jayson Nix and keep Marcus Giles around as another option.  I’d be surprised if either pans out.
  • Instead of the four or even five-year demands we were hearing about for Kyle Lohse, Rosenthal says three years with a vesting option for the fourth would now be acceptable.  He believes Lohse’s salary could near $12MM.  Lohse recently said he’s down to about three suitors.
  • Rosenthal still expects the A’s to sign a free agent outfielder, with possible target Mike Cameron headed to Milwaukee.  Take a look at our newly updated free agent list to see who’s out there.

Rockies Rumors: Atkins, Holliday, Giles

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Let’s see what’s going on with the Rockies this morning.

The Denver Post’s Troy E. Renck writes about the Rockies’ rising payroll.  They’re going to have to cough up over $10MM extra in 2008 just to retain current arbitration-eligible players like Garrett Atkins, Matt Holliday, Brian Fuentes, and Brad Hawpe.  Holliday might get the biggest bump, around a $5MM increase.  As far as team control, the Rox have Atkins through 2010, Holliday through 2009, Fuentes through 2008, and Hawpe through 2010.  There’s no rush but many of these guys might be trade considerations down the road.

Also, Tracy Ringolsby reports that the Rockies have agreed to a nonguaranteed deal with Marcus Giles.  He’s just insurance though – Jayson Nix is the favorite to play second base.  Nix’s Triple A performance in ’07 was equivalent to a .252/.290/.387 line in the bigs.

Rockies Sign Josh Towers

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UPDATE, 1-4-08 at 2:48pm: Towers has been signed; Troy Renck has the contract details.  There’s a mutual option for ’09 for $3MM.

FROM 1-3-08 at 10:07pm:

According to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, the Rockies are close to a deal with pitcher Josh Towers, who turns 31 in February.  It would be a one-year deal for $1.8MM plus incentives.  Those incentives would start at 35 games pitched, so basically he won’t earn them if he’s exclusively a starter.

Harding adds that Towers would get $400K for earning a 40-man roster spot or the $1.8MM for getting on the 25-man.  He’d take on a swingman role (which is odd, because Kip Wells seems to have been signed for that purpose).

I like Towers’ chances to be worth a hell of a lot more than $1.8MM as a National League starter, but not so much in Coors Field.  Drunk Jays Fans recently weighed in on Towers’ tenure with Toronto, with their usual dose of cursing and hilarity.

Odds and Ends: Estrada, Payton, Kielty

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Random rumors from the day…

  • The Bucs are set with their starting five, unless they can trade Matt Morris.  Dejan Kovacevic adds that the Pirates and Johnny Estrada have mutual interest but haven’t spoken in a while.
  • Roch Kubatko expects the Orioles to shop Jay Payton now that they’ve acquired Chris Roberson.  Really, all of their vets should be fully available.
  • Bobby Kielty has interest from three or four teams, but his first choice is Boston.  The likelihood of that increases if Coco Crisp is sent elsewhere.  Kielty is willing to give up switch-hitting if his new team so desires.
  • Troy E. Renck has salary details on Mark Redman and Kip Wells.  Redman gets $1MM, with another possible $500K in incentives.  Wells gets a $3.1MM base with another possible $1.5MM in incentives.

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