Tigers Rumors

Rockies Rumors: Atkins, Barrett, Fukumori

By Tim Dierkes | November 8, 2007 at 3:59pm CDT

What are the Rockies up to as they plot to defend their NL pennant? Tracy Ringolsby and Troy E. Renck have the latest.

Ringolsby says Garrett Atkins is staying put, which should help the third baseman relax a little bit. This echoes Renck’s sentiments yesterday. Renck also noted that the Rox won’t be offering Atkins a multiyear deal anytime soon.
Yesterday Renck said that after Yorvit Torrealba, the Rockies were considering Jose Molina, Paul Lo Duca, Jason Kendall, and Ramon Castro for catcher. However Ringolsby says today that Michael Barrett and Kendall are the main targets. Renck has come on board with that today, noting that Dan O’Dowd has contacted the agents for Barrett, Kendall, and Lo Duca.
Ringolsby adds that the Rockies are exploring the Japanese reliever market, namely Hitoki Iwase and Kazuo Fukumori. Fukumori might appeal as the cheaper of the two.
Meanwhile the Indians, Brewers, Phillies, and Mets like Brian Fuentes. We’ve also read about the Tigers’ interest. The Rockies’ willingness to trade him may depend on the progress of 2007 top draft pick Casey Weathers.
Jason Jennings might be leaning toward signing with the Padres. This echoes an obscure article we found back in July.
Renck says that if the Rockies don’t hear by Tuesday about their offers to Kaz Matsui, Matt Herges, LaTroy Hawkins, and Torrealba, they’ll start looking at other options.
Renck adds that the Rockies have checked in with Ron Mahay’s people. He’s getting popular.
The Rockies are out on Jon Garland – they can’t fit his $12MM salary into the 2008 budget. Matsui moving on would clear $3MM though.
The idea of locking up Troy Tulowitzki long-term is being entertained. It probably wouldn’t happen until after the 2008 season though.

Odds and Ends: Lowell, Sabathia, Polanco

By Tim Dierkes | November 8, 2007 at 3:12pm CDT

I’m going to start up a catch-all Odds and Ends post for smaller rumors and notes today. Refresh to see it grow.

A reader emailed me to tell me that Buster Olney said on XM Radio recently that there are talks of the Twins going after Scott Rolen. These reports can be tough to confirm, but there you go. UPDATE: Joe Christensen squashes this one.
Mark Feinsand doesn’t think Epstein is keen on giving Mike Lowell even a three-year contract. He might get five on the open market. UPDATE: The Red Sox apparently have a three-year offer out to him, and he’s still mulling it over.
The White Sox inquired about Bill Hall, but Kenny Williams and Doug Melvin couldn’t find a match.
Baseball America weighs in on the Brad Lidge trade. BP’s Nate Silver gives his opinion here and here. He thinks the Phillies made a mistake.
The Astros have contacted Jeremy Affeldt’s agent. Also, Jim Molony speculates in this piece that speedy Josh Anderson could be expendable because of the Michael Bourn addition.
Back to where it all began: the Dodgers have signed Chan Ho Park. No need for more starters now!
Andy Pettitte hopes to tell the Yankees whether he’ll play by the New Year. Also, Ken Davidoff notes that the Yanks would prefer to trade Hideki Matsui over Johnny Damon, but Godzilla’s full no-trade clause would be the problem.
Theo Epstein let Scott Boras pitch his entire client list last night, A-Rod included. There’s a very slight chance the Red Sox sign Eric Gagne, and a contract extension for Jason Varitek may have been discussed. Also I hear Boras did the hard sell on Bruce Chen. Just kidding. UPDATE: That slight chance for Gagne just went away, as he’ll be closing according to Boras.
Mark Shapiro is preparing a contract extension offer for C.C. Sabathia; he’ll have to run it by the Dolans first. No surprise there. Paul Hoynes notes that Sabathia gets an extra $2MM for ’08 if he wins the ’07 Cy Young. Shapiro, by the way, would listen to offers on any player. I get the feeling the Indians could come from out of nowhere and do something big this winter.
Could the Tigers send Placido Polanco to the Mets? Mark Healey suggests it.
The Giants included a vesting option for 2009 in Omar Vizquel’s deal. McCovey Chronicles weighs in.

Tigers Could Lose Rogers, Move On To Silva

By Tim Dierkes | November 8, 2007 at 9:21am CDT

Leave it to Scott Boras to be unsatisfied with Kenny Rogers’ declarations that he will either play for the Tigers or retire. Boras told Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski yesterday that Rogers wanted to explore the open market.

The Tigers remain Rogers’ first choice, but Boras wants to be make sure the the 43-year old southpaw is paid at a level commensurate with his peers. To Boras that would be the Maddux-Schilling-Glavine range, which is roughly $10MM. Rogers earned $8MM in 2007, and is probably a tad less appealing than that trio. According to Jon Paul Morosi (linked above), the Mariners and Rangers would be in the mix if the Tigers couldn’t get something done.

Dombrowski won’t let the Rogers wrinkle stop him from pursuing other pitchers. Morosi says the Tigers have already expressed interest in Carlos Silva. Wow, that list is growing rapidly.

The team’s other focus is relief pitching, given Joel Zumaya’s injury. They still want to re-sign Todd Jones, and Matt Mantei is a mildly interesting wild card. Morosi added today that the Tigers have talked to the Rockies about Brian Fuentes. Morosi says relievers from the Cubs and Pirates could also be available – I’m guessing Ryan Dempster, Will Ohman, Damaso Marte, and Salomon Torres. An intriguing trade option: Jose Valverde.

Odds and Ends: Glavine, Kent, Kuroda

By Tim Dierkes | November 6, 2007 at 4:15pm CDT

Picking up some rumors and tidbits that haven’t been otherwise posted during this busy day…

An Atlanta TV station states that Tom Glavine would take a lot less money to play for the Braves. Also, the Astros have reportedly been in touch with him.
Joe Torre senses that Jeff Kent will return in 2008. The Dodgers certainly hope so; he led the team with 20 home runs in ’07.
Trey Hillman took a parting shot at Japanese reporters (hat tip to JapanBall).
Reliever Masafumi Hirai might come over to MLB. I’ll have to learn more about him.
Hiroki Kuroda prefers to play on the West Coast because he doesn’t like cold weather. Hmmm, Chicago might not work for him. Kuroda has declared free agency, and the Mariners are interested. There is word here that the Rangers have scouted him as well.
The Braves are interested in Masahide Kobayashi to close, while the Mariners like him as a middle reliever (link in Japanese).
There will be no Mike Lowell + A-Rod combo in Boston.
Luis Gonzalez would like to return to the Tigers, while the team is interested in Cliff Floyd and Shannon Stewart for left field. Ben Broussard may also be on the radar.
The Rangers also like Broussard, and they’ve contacted Mike Lamb as well regarding their first base vacancy. Lamb could play third if they trade Hank Blalock. Jon Daniels also has Kerry Wood in his sights.
The Rockies like Shawn Chacon, but only as a reliever.
Derrick Goold breaks down the options for the Cardinals at shortstop.
Don’t forget to make an entry in our Hot Stove Hysteria contest. The deadline is November 12th. If you feel the need to edit your entry, just post a new one. They’re time-stamped; your latest entry will be used. A new prize has been added: a fantasy draft kit from Big Dawg Baseball.

Latest D’Backs Rumors: Bonderman, Ervin Santana

By Tim Dierkes | November 6, 2007 at 12:45pm CDT

Nick Piecoro has the scoop regarding all things Diamondbacks. Let’s dive in.

It had slipped my mind that the D’Backs don’t do incentive-laden contracts when I suggested they’d sign Randy Wolf. Bad prediction on my part.
The team’s best trade chip: outfielder Carlos Gonzalez. The 22 year-old hit .286/.330/.476 in Double A last year, and has star potential. Kevin Goldstein recently ranked Gonzalez third among corner outfield prospects behind Travis Snider and Chris Marrero. Gonzalez could bring a coveted starter in a trade. Carlos Quentin is also talked about as a trade candidate, but he needs to get healthy and hit a little first.
Conor Jackson is also a trade candidate, more so if the D’Backs can sign Tony Clark. They’re thinking something close to the two years, $3.25 Matt Stairs received. Meanwhile Clark’s agent is thinking he could get a near full-time role elsewhere.
Piecoro brings up the intriguing idea of shopping Jose Valverde. He’s getting pricey soon, and could be at peak value. I like it. A safer trade option from the team’s strong pen is Juan Cruz.
All these great young players to trade, but who to target? Piecoro tantalizes by telling us Ervin Santana and even Jeremy Bonderman are in the D’Backs’ sights. Santana is known to be available for a bat. Bonderman would be attractive to many teams if not for his late-season elbow woes. He’s signed through 2010.
I could see the A’s poking their head in on all of this, with Joe Blanton and even Dan Haren to offer.

Heyman’s Latest: A-Rod, Atkins, Gagne

By Tim Dierkes | November 5, 2007 at 3:36pm CDT

SI.com’s Jon Heyman has a new column up. Let’s discuss.

Alex Rodriguez’s five possible destinations: Angels, Red Sox, Mets, Giants, Dodgers. That sounds about right. Heyman notes that the Dodgers do not have an advantage because of Joe Torre; he says star players don’t consider managers as a criteria when deciding where to sign.
Though not mentioned as one of A-Rod’s five potential landing spots, Heyman says the buzz is growing that Mike Ilitch and the Tigers could go after him.
Heyman says the Rockies will hang on to Garrett Atkins and follow through with the plan to try Ian Stewart at second base. That could mean the end of Kaz Matsui in Colorado.
How about Eric Gagne to the Tigers? If they are interested, that bodes well for me getting at least 1 of 50 right.
Johnny Damon for Joe Crede first mentioned in the Chicago Tribune??!! That trade speculation, sir, is MLBTR’s baby. Anyway, Heyman’s source thinks the Yankees could do better for Damon.

Tigers Rumors: Rogers, Jones, Jenkins

By Tim Dierkes | October 31, 2007 at 9:33pm CDT

Lynn Henning of the Detroit News has some Tigers tidbits today.

The Tigers want to bring Kenny Rogers back, who has said Detroit is the only place he’ll play if he doesn’t retire.
The team will finally go with Joel Zumaya in the closer role next year, but they’d like Todd Jones around as a backup. Jones’ first pick is Atlanta but it’s not known if they’re interested. The mustachioed closer earned $5MM this year.
Henning indicates that the acquisition of Edgar Renteria will allow the Tigers to be content with a Marcus Thames/Timo Perez/Ryan Raburn combo in left field, instead of signing Geoff Jenkins. Maybe the Tigers don’t want to appear too desperate for Jenkins, or maybe they’re serious.

Schilling Names Targets

By Tim Dierkes | October 31, 2007 at 9:39am CDT

UPDATE, 10-31-07: Gordon Edes and Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe spoke to a Red Sox source who does not expect Schilling to return to the team. The Red Sox will offer an incentive-based contract. The source added that Tim Wakefield’s option is likely to be exercised.

FROM 10/30/07:

Interesting. After Boston, Curt Schilling has 12 teams he’d consider pitching for in 2008. Here they are:

Indians
Tigers
Angels
Mets
Phillies
Braves
Dodgers
Padres
Diamondbacks
Cubs
Cardinals
Brewers

Schilling had talked about the idea of going somewhere he could tutor young pitchers, like Tampa Bay. But it sounds like that idea is out and he wants to play for a contender. Not that the Rays can’t contend in ’08. I’m curious as to why the White Sox and Rockies were excluded, but who knows.

That’s a nice extensive list, so it should be fun if Boston passes. At a reasonable one-year commitment, any of the dozen should have interest no matter what their rotation looks like.

Tigers Acquire Edgar Renteria

By Tim Dierkes | October 29, 2007 at 3:22pm CDT

Big news! The Tigers made an early strike to improve the shortstop position by acquiring Edgar Renteria for youngsters Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez.

The Tigers will owe Renteria roughly $6.3MM in ’08 and have a good chance of exercising his $11MM option for ’09. They’ve added a five-win shortstop in Renteria.

The price was reasonable. Jurrjens turns 22 in January and can probably jump into the Braves’ rotation. He throws in the 90-93 with good control. Kevin Goldstein projected him as a future middle-rotation guy. The one concern is that shoulder inflammation surfaced in August of this year.

Hernandez is the potential star in the deal. He turned 20 in September and should man center field in Atlanta for a long time once he’s ready. He’s a burner with solid defense, but he’s yet to grow into his power. He’s still a ways from the bigs though. Goldstein recently ranked him the game’s 10th best CF prospect, behind the Braves’ own Jordan Schafer and others like Jay Bruce, Colby Rasmus, Andrew McCutchen, and Jacoby Ellsbury.

All in all, I think the Tigers did quite well here. I’d like the deal a bit more for Atlanta if I felt that Jurrjens could provide 180 solid innings in ’08. Will Carroll and the aforementioned Goldstein contribute some additional analysis at BP. Sounds like this one began under John Schuerholz.

A-Rod Aftermath

By Tim Dierkes | October 29, 2007 at 9:21am CDT

Lost in the shuffle of Alex Rodriguez’s opt-out media frenzy – the Yankees should be able to snag some nice draft picks for him. They’ll undoubtedly offer him arbitration, and he’ll decline that offer. If that does happen and he’s signed by the Cubs, Tigers, Mets, Angels, or Red Sox, the Yankees will get that team’s first-round pick. The Giants and Dodgers’ first round picks are protected however.

Joel Sherman names the Angels, Dodgers, Cubs, Mets, Red Sox, and Tigers as teams to watch in this bidding war. Kat O’Brien adds the White Sox to the mix, while Peter Abraham adds the Giants. My best guess is the Halos. Another thought – does it have to be Lowell or A-Rod for Boston? Couldn’t it be both if they believe Rodriguez can play a capable shortstop?

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