Pirates, Royals Interested In Jamey Wright
The Pirates are interested in free agent reliever Jamey Wright, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. Dutton notes that the Royals remain interested in re-signing him.
Wright, 35 later this month, soaked up 79 bullpen innings with a 4.33 ERA this year. His walk rate was ugly, but unlikely most free agent relievers he posted a strong groundball rate (59.1%). Wright earned $1.4MM for his efforts.
Royals Do Not Offer Arbitration To Miguel Olivo
The Royals are not offering arbitration to free agent catcher Miguel Olivo (B), tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. The Royals already bought out Olivo's $3.3MM mutual option for 2010; they're going in a different direction behind the plate. They will not receive a draft pick when Olivo signs elsewhere.
Davidoff On Lowe, Johnson, Torrealba
In a blog post, Newsday's Ken Davidoff announces that he'll be voting for Mark McGwire on this year's Hall of Fame ballot, and recaps some other items of note:
- The Atlanta Braves plan to shop Derek Lowe more aggressively after John Lackey signs somewhere. They're hoping that at that point Lowe looks more appealing than the remaining "risky commodities" on the free agent market.
- Nick Johnson is searching for a two-year deal.
- Yorvit Torrealba's suitors include the Blue Jays, Rockies, and Giants. The Rays, Marlins, and Royals could also be in the mix, though they're less likely landing spots for the catcher.
- Davidoff also warns to take talk of Bud Selig's impending retirement with a grain of salt, since there's nothing to stop Selig from changing his mind by 2012.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Revenue Sharing, Bullington, Halladay, Mauer
On this date 18 years ago, Eddie Murray signed a two-year, $7.5MM deal with the Mets, the third of six teams he would play for in 21 seasons. In those two years, he would hit 43 home runs and post seasons of 115 and 111 OPS+. A week into this year's free agency, let's take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- The Biz of Baseball looks at revenue sharing in baseball and why baseball no longer releases revenue sharing figures.
- DC Sports Plus evaluates the list of minor league free agent pitchers and who might get shots to stick with a big league club in the Spring.
- Royals Authority looks at what the signing of Bryan Bullington could mean for the Royals and whether he can contribute as a big league relief pitcher.
- River Ave Blues speculates on what the Yankees and Red Sox would have to give up to land Roy Halladay.
- MLB Notebook examines why the Tigers are looking to trade Edwin Jackson.
- UmpBump breaks down the Padres off-season needs and what San Diego needs to bring back should Adrian Gonzalez be traded.
- Jorge Says No! speculates on an extension that could work for both the Twins and Joe Mauer.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here, and followed on Twitter here.
Odds & Ends: Jackson, Cabrera, Guillen, Bedard
It's a slow night for rumors on the eve of Thanksgiving, but here's a roundup of a handful of interesting evening links:
- FOX Sports' Jon Paul Morosi tweets that the Tigers have been more aggressive attempting to deal Edwin Jackson than Curtis Granderson. Jackson, for his part, says the trade rumors don't bother him.
- Morosi also reports (via Twitter) that Daniel Cabrera is in search of a 40-man roster spot on some team this winter.
- In the most recent post on the FOX Sports blog by Morosi and Ken Rosenthal, the pair discusses Miguel Cabrera's future. One executive suggests that Cabrera's availability (or lack thereof) will depend on whether or not the Tigers believe his off-field issues at the end of the season were a one-time lapse in judgment.
- Jose Guillen wants to stay in Kansas City and play in the field next year, according to Dick Kaegel of MLB.com. We mentioned Guillen as a possible trade candidate when evaluating the market for right fielders, and he's been the subject of rumors in the past week.
- Following up on a story about the Royals "going hard" after Erik Bedard, Kaegel talks to Kansas City assistant GM J.J. Picollo. Picollo indicates that Bedard's left-handedness is intriguing, but that it's "probably an overstatement" to say the club is in hot pursuit of the 30-year-old.
- MLB.com's Brian McTaggart passes along news of some minor organizational moves by the Astros.
- One item of note in Kelly Thesier's Twins mailbag on MLB.com: When Minnesota prospect Miguel Angel Sano begins playing in the States, he'll be using the surname Jean, rather than Sano (which is his mother's maiden name).
- Larry Dobrow of CBS Sports looks ahead to the Athletics' offseason and makes some suggestions for the team going forward.
Red Sox Acquire Tug Hulett
The Red Sox have acquired utility player Tug Hulett from the Royals, according to Bob Dutton of The KC Star. The Royals will receive either cash or a player to be named later in the deal.
The 26-year-old Hulett has hit .194/.270/.254 in 75 career plate appearances in the big leagues, spending most of the last three seasons in Triple-A. He's a career .284/.394/.418 hitter in the minors, and is capable of playing second, third, and short.
Royals Sign Josh Rupe, Buck Coats
The Kansas City Royals have signed a pair of players, pitcher Josh Rupe and outfielder Buck Coats, to minor league contracts, according to a press release.
Rupe, 27, pitched four times out of the bullpen for the Texas Rangers last season, posting a 15.43 ERA and allowing 17 baserunners in just 4.2 IP. The right-hander was a little more successful for the Rangers in 2008, recording a 5.14 ERA in 89.1 IP of mostly mop-up duty.
Coats spent all of 2009 with Las Vegas, the Blue Jays' Triple-A affiliate, where he hit .302/.361/.416. In 62 career big-league plate appearances, the 27-year-old has posted a .193/.242/.333 line.
Passan On Arguelles, Bedard, Jackson
Jeff Passan covers a few items in this piece for Yahoo Sports, headlined by 19-year-old Cuban pitcher Noel Arguelles. The young left-hander impressed a number of agents and representatives from various teams at a workout last month in the Dominican Republic, and the four teams most interested in signing Arguelles are the Athletics, Mariners, Rays, and (who but?) the Yankees. Passan predicted that Argulles' deal will be worth somewhere around $8.2MM to $10MM, which match the contracts given to Jose Iglesias and Dayan Viciedo last year by the Red Sox and White Sox, respectively.
In other news from Passan's column…
- Passan says the Yankees are much more interested in Aroldis Chapman than they are in Arguelles, and that Chapman's recent agent switch to Randy and Alan Hendricks may help New York. Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens are/were both represented by the Hendricks brothers.
- The Royals are "going hard" to sign Erik Bedard to a short-term contract. Passan thinks Bedard will sign with someone for an "incentive-loaded one-year deal" in an effort to prove that he's healthy and worthy of a more lucrative longer-term deal for 2011.
- Detroit seem to be becoming more determined in their quest to trade pitcher Edwin Jackson. An unnamed executive is quoted as saying, "It’s like they want to give him away, and I don’t really understand why."
Odds & Ends: Guillen, Overbay, Johnson
A round-up of several items from around the majors…..
- Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News reports that Jose Guillen would be willing to waive his limited no-trade clause in order to be dealt to the Mets. The Royals have reportedly proposed an Angel Pagan-for-Guillen swap that would also see Kansas City include some cash to help the Mets pay for Guillen's $12MM salary next season. Guillen hit .242/.314/.367 in 312 plate appearances for K.C. during his injury-plagued 2009 season, and it's probably for those reasons that Rubin thinks the trade is a long-shot to actually happen.
- The Globe and Mail's Jeff Blair (via Twitter) was told by a non-Toronto executive that there is a 90 percent chance that the Blue Jays will trade Lyle Overbay at the winter meetings.
- While talking about Josh Johnson's contract situation, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria told The Miami Herald's Clark Spencer that the club has no set policy against giving pitchers contracts longer than three years.
- Former outfielder Doug Glanville wrote an interesting blog entry for the New York Times website about the issues a player can face when entering free agency for the first time, especially if they're thinking of leaving their long-time home.
- The Baltimore Sun reports that the Orioles signed southpaw reliever Mike Hinckley to a minor-league contract with an invite to spring training. Hinckley threw 13.2 scoreless innings in 14 relief appearances for Washington in 2008, but his perfect streak was snapped last year when he posted a 4.66 ERA in 14 appearances with the Nationals. He spent most of last season pitching for the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate.
- This could be an item for the 'Saying All The Right Things' file, but MLB.com's Matthew Leach reported that at the press conference for Albert Pujols' MVP Award, the Cardinals superstar said he wanted to play in St. Louis, "hopefully for 15 more years if I can play for that long and can retire as a Cardinal."
Royals Sign Bryan Bullington
The Royals have signed righthander Bryan Bullington to a minor league contract, according to The KC Star's Bob Dutton.
The 29-year-old Bullington was the first overall pick of the 2002 draft, but he's appeared in just 13 big league games during his career. He's allowed 24 runs and 63 baserunners in 39 career innings, bouncing around from the Pirates to the Indians to the Blue Jays.
Kansas City has also signed Wilson Betemit, Jorge Campillo, and Brad Thompson to minor league deals this offseason.