Royals Rumors

Draft Pick Signing Update: Posey, Matusz, Alonso

By Tim Dierkes | August 15, 2008 at 10:51am CDT

10:51am: Baggarly has the latest on Posey. He says it’s a "spitting contest" between Scott Boras and Posey’s agency to have the highest-paid draft pick.

7:46am: The latest links involved unsigned first-round draft picks.

Sam Mellinger explains the decision Eric Hosmer faces. He might have to go against Scott Boras’ advice.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle denies Andrew Baggarly’s Buster Posey report yesterday, calling it "premature Posey-ing." Schulman talked to the Giants’ director of player personnel, who said the deal is not done and the number is not $7.5MM. There is no verbal agreement, either.
Schulman also heard the Orioles are about to sign Brian Matusz for less than $7.5MM. Most folks believe this will get done as a Major League deal.
The Pirates are cautiously optimistic about Pedro Alvarez. It’s possible Scott Boras could drag this out to within minutes of the deadline.
Baseball Prospectus’ Kevin Goldstein has an update on all unsigned picks. He believes both Yonder Alonso and Justin Smoak will sign. Publicly, Reds GM Walt Jocketty is 50/50 on Alonso.
MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo gives his take on Matusz, Josh Fields, and Allan Dykstra.

Odds and Ends: Lowell, Carroll, Saltalamacchia

By Tim Dierkes | August 13, 2008 at 2:26pm CDT

Time to gather up today’s links.

With Mike Lowell headed to the DL, Jeff Horrigan wonders if a waiver trade for an infielder could be in order.
ESPN’s Buster Olney mentioned the Indians’ Jamey Carroll as a possibility for the D’Backs on Monday, though he noted the two teams have not talked.
Evan Grant suggests the Rangers trade Engel Beltre or Elvis Andrus for pitching this winter. Additionally, he thinks the Rangers might end up trading Jarrod Saltalamacchia rather than Gerald Laird.
Aaron Gleeman revisits the ’03 trade of Bobby Kielty for Shannon Stewart.
Patrick Newman runs down some lesser-known Japanese free agents.
Rany Jazayerli has an interesting post about Royals first base prospect Kila Kaaihue.
Jeff Passan’s list of this year’s 25 most improbable success stories is a good read.
MLB.com’s Justice B. Hill has a story about a kid who had Tommy John surgery at age 14.
ESPN did a bunch of mini-features about this year’s hired guns for their magazine.

Horacio Ramirez Traded to White Sox

By Joe Pawlikowski | August 10, 2008 at 9:03am CDT

On the same night, the White Sox lost and added a pitcher. On the negative side, 36-year-old Jose Contreras ruptured his Achilles’ tendon, which could sideline him for the season. On the positive side, they traded for Royals pitcher Horacio Ramirez. In exchange, the White Sox sent minor league outfielder Paul Orlando to Kansas City. David Just of MLB.com suggests that the Sox could use Ramirez as a replacement for Contreras, but since they plan to demote reliever Boone Logan today, they could make another move to recall a starter, leaving Ramirez in the bullpen.

This will be Ramirez’s third team this year. He was released in March by the Mariners, who had previously traded Rafael Soriano for him. Despite his agent’s claims that seven teams were interested, Ramirez sat on the shelf until mid-May, when the Royals picked him up on a minor league deal. He was promoted a month later, and has posted a 2.57 ERA in 24.1 innings out of the bullpen.

Draft Roundup: Matusz, Alonso, Hosmer

By Tim Dierkes | August 8, 2008 at 9:12am CDT

Let’s round up some links concerning the unsigned ’08 draft picks.

The Orioles haven’t made much progress with Brian Matusz, but they haven’t gone backward either. His agent seems cautiously optimistic.
Reds top pick Yonder Alonso told the Miami Herald there’s a 50-50 chance he doesn’t sign and goes back to college. One of Alonso’s "advisors" said the Reds and Alonso were way off on figures.
Sam Mellinger says some think Royals top pick Eric Hosmer might be willing to try college. Hosmer is advised by Scott Boras. Mellinger considers fourth round pick/first round talent Tim Melville the Royals’ backup plan. Ideally, they’ll sign both high-ceiling talents.
How much of this is just posturing? We’ll know on August 16th.

Odds And Ends: Royals, Rockies, Rhodes, Braves

By Alejandro Leal | August 2, 2008 at 1:36pm CDT

Let’s round up some remaining links in this lazy Saturday afternoon:

The Royals DFA’d Yasuhiko Yabuta. The White Sox had tried to sign the Japanese reliever last winter but were unsuccessful. Yabuta was 1-3 with a 5.46 ERA and had signed a two-year, $6MM deal with Kansas City.
The Rockies tried desperately to acquire a fifth starter before the non-waiver deadline but couldn’t match-up with the Mariners for Jarrod Washburn or the Nationals for Tim Redding; and Paul Byrd had Colorado on his no-trade list. The Rockies will continue to look for a starter via waiver wire claims.
Arthur Rhodes was shocked when he learned he had been traded to the Marlins. ”There had been a lot of talk about me being traded to a couple of other teams, but I guess Florida wanted me more."
The Braves DFA’d back-up catcher Corky Miller yesterday, and Royce Ring today.
Also today (and in that Ring link), the Astros DFA’d Chad Paronto.

Alejandro A. Leal writes for UmpBump.com. Post-deadline rumors? Comments? alexo05 [at] umpbump [daught] com.

Players Not Traded

By Tim Dierkes | August 1, 2008 at 9:48am CDT

Assigning contender status is subjective, but I’m going to say that the following teams are not in the playoff mix: the Orioles, Royals, Indians, Mariners, Braves, Nationals, Reds, Astros, Pirates, Giants, and Padres. The Blue Jays and Athletics just missed the cut as fringe wild card contenders. With those 11 non-contenders in mind, let’s take a look at players not traded at the ’08 non-waiver deadline.

Orioles: Aubrey Huff, Ramon Hernandez, Brian Roberts, Jay Payton, Jamie Walker, Kevin Millar, Chad Bradford, George Sherrill. Millar and Payton are free agents after the season, but there probably wasn’t much of a market for either. The rest are under team control through at least ’09, so Andy MacPhail still has time to find the right deal; read his comments here. Hernandez is an August trade candidate.
Royals: Jose Guillen, Mark Grudzielanek, Ron Mahay, David DeJesus, Miguel Olivo. Moving the Guillen contract would’ve made sense, but we don’t know whether that was on the table. Kind of surprised to see Grudz still around. Mahay could be an offseason move, but the Royals might just want him for ’09. DeJesus’ name will probably come up at the Winter Meetings.
Indians: Paul Byrd, David Dellucci, Jamey Carroll. Only Byrd was thought to generate a bit of interest. He could go in August.
Mariners: Adrian Beltre, Jarrod Washburn, Raul Ibanez. The Ms still have time to move Beltre and Washburn if they feel so inclined. Ibanez is a possible Type A free agent, so the Mariners asked for a lot. Jayson Stark spoke to teams who characterized the Ms demands as "outrageous" in general. Geoff Baker gives his take on the Mariners’ deadline day.
Braves: Mark Kotsay, Will Ohman. Wouldn’t be surprising to see Kotsay moved this month. Ohman we discussed here.
Nationals: Austin Kearns, Dmitri Young, Cristian Guzman, Luis Ayala, Ron Belliard, Tim Redding, Odalis Perez. Some of these players have little trade value, while the Nationals prefer to keep others for ’09.
Reds: Adam Dunn, Bronson Arroyo, Jeremy Affeldt, David Weathers, David Ross, Josh Fogg, Paul Bako. It seems that the offers just weren’t there for Dunn, who should net a pair of draft picks unless the Reds are gunshy about offering arbitration. I’m surprised Weathers and Fogg weren’t moved.
Astros: Miguel Tejada, Randy Wolf, Jose Valverde, Ty Wigginton, Mark Loretta, Doug Brocail, Geoff Geary. The ’Stros are acting like contenders. The worst outcome for fans would be if Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins add a few wins and worsen the team’s ’09 draft position.
Pirates: Jack Wilson, John Grabow, Doug Mientkiewicz. The Pirates were quite active, and could still trade Wilson and Grabow this winter.
Giants: Randy Winn, Dave Roberts, Bengie Molina, Rich Aurilia, Tyler Walker, Jack Taschner. Winn and Roberts are August trade candidates. The others might’ve made sense to trade.
Padres: Greg Maddux, Brian Giles, Khalil Greene, Josh Bard. Maddux, with just one possible suitor, couldn’t be moved. Keeping Giles and Bard around makes sense for ’09, while trading Greene now would be selling low. The Padres did talk to seven different teams in the last few days.

Odds And Ends: Giants, Maddux, Grudzielanek, Arias

By Cork Gaines | July 31, 2008 at 6:41pm CDT

A few post-deadline notes from the MLBiverse…

Brian Sabean is confident that he will be able to sneak some of his veteran players (Rich Aurilia, Omar Vizquel, Randy Winn, Bengie Molina, etc.) through waivers in the coming month for the purpose of making a trade. Chris Haft feels that the large number of teams remaining in contention will make that very difficult.
Kevin Towers does not sound optimistic about the possibility of trading Greg Maddux in the next month noting that such a move would be "dicier" and any trade would still require the Dodgers to "step up and give us the prospect package [the Padres want]."
Bob Dutton reports that the Royals will still try to move Mark Grudzielanek.
The Astros claimed relief pitcher Alberto Arias off waivers from the Rockies. Arias had been DFA’d on Tuesday and the Astros will send him to triple-A.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here .

Lefty Relievers: Ohman, Grabow, Eyre, Mahay

By Tim Dierkes | July 31, 2008 at 2:50pm CDT

2:50pm: Stark says Ohman’s probably staying put despite interest from ten teams.

2:39pm: Buster Olney says the Phillies will probably come up empty on a lefty reliever.

2:02pm: Rob Bradford of the Boston Herald says the Braves asked for a pitching prospect for Ohman, and the Red Sox passed. Mahay remains a possibility.

1:07pm: MLB.com’s Mark Bowman says the Braves could keep Ohman. So far they’re not finding offers superior to the supplemental draft pick they could get after the season.

THURSDAY, 12:24pm: Jayson Stark has the Yanks and Red Sox battling for Eyre.

WEDNESDAY, 11:50pm: Let’s talk lefty relievers.

David O’Brien names the Red Sox, Cardinals, Rays, Tigers, and White Sox parties interested in Will Ohman. But the Sox might end up with John Grabow, and the Tigers may be content with Kyle Farnsworth as their relief addition. Grabow may also be on the Rays’ radar.
MLB.com’s Mark Bowman has the Rays, Yankees, and Red Sox after Ohman, with the Cardinals out of the bidding.
Sean McAdam sees Boston’s interest in Ohman as minimal. Instead, they’re eyeing Scott Eyre and Ron Mahay. They’ve even offered Brandon Moss for Mahay, which seems solid. Nick Cafardo believes righties Huston Street and J.J. Putz are still in the mix.
15 scouts watched Arthur Rhodes struggle tonight.

Twins Looking For A Second Baseman?

By Tim Dierkes | July 31, 2008 at 7:53am CDT

According to Bob Dutton of the KC Star, the Twins are in the market for a second baseman. Alexi Casilla has a serious thumb injury. Dutton mentions Mark Grudzielanek, Rich Aurilia, and Brian Roberts as possibilities. Roberts, however, may be off the market. Dutton says the Twins could use Boof Bonser and Craig Monroe as bait.

Here’s a look at the trade market for second basemen.

Cubs Eyeing Ibanez, Giles, DeJesus

By Tim Dierkes | July 31, 2008 at 12:13am CDT

THURSDAY, 12:12am: CBSSports.com’s Scott Miller says the Cubs also inquired on David DeJesus and Brian Giles.

WEDNESDAY, 10:31am: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Cubs are discussing trades for a left-handed hitter, including Raul Ibanez. He is a curious fit and would leave the Cubs with questionable outfield corner defense. But, the Mariners have to be happy that a suitor has emerged aside from the Mets. The price remains two quality prospects.

Rosenthal says the Cubs could also turn to bench players or just stand pat. The Cubs already have a decent lefty-hitting bench player in Mike Fontenot.

One left-handed hitter out there generating zero trade talk is Baltimore’s Aubrey Huff (.916 OPS). Can’t explain that one.

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