Ray Durham Trade Reactions
Yesterday, the Giants traded second baseman Ray Durham to the Brewers for minor leaguers Darren Ford and Steve Hammond. They were ranked 21st and 27th among Brewers prospects heading into the season, according to Baseball America. Today let’s look at reactions to the trade.
- ESPN’s Keith Law considers Durham a useful addition for Milwaukee, albeit only offensively. He considers the prospects received by San Francisco to be "close to a zero return."
- The Giants picked up roughly half the money owed to Durham.
- The trade was jarring for Ford.
- Henry Schulman wonders if Rich Aurilia will be the next Giants veteran to go.
- Sam Mellinger notes that Durham is a reasonable comparable for Mark Grudzielanek.
Rosenthal’s Latest: K-Rod, Maddux, Wolf, Street
Rumor guru Ken Rosenthal is at it again.
- Angels GM Tony Reagins is doing his due diligence on available hitters. Rosenthal admits his own suggestion of a Mark Teixeira/Will Ohman blockbuster acquisition is unlikely.
- Rosenthal believes Francisco Rodriguez‘s expected asking price to be five years, $75MM. The Angels would not bite on that.
- Greg Maddux only wants to be traded to a West Coast team. He might accept a trade back to the Dodgers, if Ned Colletti and Kevin Towers want to go down that road.
- The Orioles would trade George Sherrill if someone wants to overpay. Tons of teams are looking for lefty relievers, and many are available. Rosenthal notes that the Orioles have plenty of players likely to clear waivers, making August trades quite possible.
- The Dodgers are apparently interested in Toronto shortstop John McDonald. Talks for Cristian Guzman and Jack Wilson have stagnated. An extension is more likely than a trade for Guzman.
- Randy Wolf and Cla Meredith are the most popular Padres in trade talks. Wolf’s no-trade clause doesn’t include the teams that like him, so that won’t be an issue. If the Friars were to move Kevin Kouzmanoff, they’d ask for a young outfielder back.
- Even with their second base surplus, the A’s want to sign Mark Ellis to an extension.
- A Milton Bradley deal is unlikely, but the Rangers are getting calls on Marlon Byrd and Nelson Cruz. In return, they might be looking for young starting pitchers.
- The Royals are said to be "actively shopping" Miguel Olivo and Mark Grudzielanek. However, it’s been suggested that the Royals might not have the catching depth to move Olivo.
- Rosenthal’s list of Huston Street suitors: Mets, White Sox, Dodgers, and Brewers.
Royals To Stand Pat
Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star doesn’t expect the Royals to move anyone before the deadline because all of their pieces are under contract beyond this season and/or integral to their plan to contend in the future.
The Royals 2-prospect pricetag is too steep for Jose Guillen who’s signed through 2010 and leads the team in HR and RBI. Gil Meche has a no-trade clause and even so, the Royals feel he’s a key piece to their future chances. Even though the team isn’t discussing any long term deals with him, Zack Greinke is under control through arbitration through 2010 and the Royals are in no rush there. David Dejesus‘ contract, at $14.3MM for the next 3 years, is too good to trade away. And Ron Mahay is under contract through next year and filling a void left by Jimmy Gobble who continues to get worse.
Mark Grudzielanek remains the only name the Royals could deal, but there doesn’t seem to be much demand. Writes Dutton,
"’It will probably have to be a need-based thing for somebody,’ a club official said. ‘Somebody loses a second baseman and really needs to go get one. Otherwise, I don’t see it happening.’"
Odds and Ends: Roberts, Clark, Vidro, Manny
Time for today’s link collection.
- Geoff Baker on "The Ichiro Conundrum."
- Peter Schmuck assesses the Orioles’ trade candidates, noting that several clubs are interested in Brian Roberts.
- Paul DePodesta on the Tony Clark trade.
- Mariners beat writers are stunned that Jose Vidro is still on the roster.
- Manny Ramirez drew a six-figure fine for his altercation with the team’s traveling secretary. It’s suggested that Ramirez showed his displeasure by laying down for an at-bat against Mariano Rivera. UPDATE: Gordon Edes looked into this and found the fine to be much smaller and the at-bat to be of no concern to the Sox.
- Bradford Doolittle of the KC Star looks at the Royals’ trade candidates.
- RotoAuthority names 8 ways to avoid teams quitting on your fantasy league midseason.
Bonds Rumors
6:18pm: Hideki Matsui had a setback, and a reporter asked Yankees GM Brian Cashman about Bonds. I’ll let you click the link and read Cash’s somewhat rambling answer.
5:44pm: More on Bonds: MLB officials denied any collusion regarding his lack of employment. By the way, Borris wouldn’t comment on whether Bonds would consider playing outside of the Majors (Japan, for example).
8:57am: Last month, Barry Bonds‘ agent Jeff Borris told the AP that he had offered his client’s services to all 30 teams for the league minimum. Borris said just yesterday that he "talked to every club numerous times." Not true, according to Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star. Posnanski spoke to Royals GM Dayton Moore, who said the Royals had not been called about Bonds or offered his services.
It is probably a moot point – no team wants to go anywhere near Bonds. Borris has acknowledged that Bonds is highly unlikely to play this year.
Sherman’s Latest: Adenhart, Burnett, Niese, Ibanez
Joel Sherman of the New York Post has been digging up rumors left and right – here, here, and here in recent days. Let’s discuss.
- The Angels have "hinted at a willingness to build a deal around pitching prospect Nick Adenhart." This would apparently involve Mark Teixeira or Matt Holliday.
- The Phillies made an initial offer last week for A.J. Burnett, and the Jays were thoroughly unimpressed. The Phillies won’t discuss prospects Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, or Greg Golson in trades.
- The Yankees have zero interest in Burnett.
- The A’s are willing to move Joe Blanton. He’s not perfect, but he can eat innings and is under team control through 2010.
- Six games out of the wild card with a league-best offense, the Rangers don’t look like sellers.
- At least ten teams watched Mets’ Double A starter Jon Niese pitch Saturday. He’s their top trade chip given the unavailability of Fernando Martinez.
- The Pirates have their eye on the Yankees’ Ross Ohlendorf, if the Yanks become buyers for players like Damaso Marte or Xavier Nady.
- Three Raul Ibanez suitors are named: the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Red Sox.
- At least nine teams are monitoring Freddy Garcia: the Yankees, Mets, Astros, Rangers, Royals, Red Sox, Phillies, Tigers, and White Sox. We’ve seen the Braves, Rays, and Cubs mentioned too. Garcia’s agent isn’t up for an ’09 option with his client. A-Rod is said to be pushing for the Yankees to sign him.
- Sherman notes a rumor around the game that has Pat Gillick becoming Mariners president next year, and Brian Cashman coming on as his GM.
Stark’s Latest: Burnett, Nady, Greinke, Burrell
FRIDAY: We have an update to Stark’s column – he is now saying that Burnett does have veto power over 15 teams.
THURSDAY: Let’s take a look at Jayson Stark’s latest over at ESPN.com.
- The Phillies and Yankees both made failed runs at CC Sabathia. The Phils wouldn’t include Carlos Carrasco or Lou Marson, while the Yanks insisted on a negotiating window. The Phils are looking at Erik Bedard and A.J. Burnett by default, while neither of those pitchers makes sense for the Yankees. The Yanks checked in on Aaron Harang, but that’s a moot point since he’s ailing.
- Despite the Dodgers’ run at Sabathia, they’re apparently not looking at other starters.
- Ken Rosenthal recently wrote that Burnett had veto power over 15 teams, but Stark’s source says it’s just a handful of teams. It’ll be tough to convince Burnett not to opt out of his contract after the season, unless he’s hurt.
- The Braves still haven’t made the buy/sell decision. If they buy, Xavier Nady is the top target. If they sell, Mark Teixeira is the best chip. Apparently Scott Boras is talking about $23MM per year for Tex this winter.
- The Giants are pretty clearly not trading Matt Cain.
- The Orioles, making a run at .500, don’t seem motivated to move George Sherrill or othe top veterans.
- The Brewers’ Plan B beyond Sabathia was Zack Greinke, rather than Rich Harden. Ken Rosenthal recently said the Royals were "decidedly uninterested in moving Greinke," however.
- Stark says it "wouldn’t be out of the question" for the Cubs to pursue a lefthanded starter like Randy Wolf, despite the Harden acquisition.
- Extension with the Phillies for Pat Burrell did not get very far.
Molony’s Latest: Mahay, Loretta, Erstad, Guzman
Let’s check in with MLB.com’s Jim Molony.
- The Rays are scouting lefty relievers Brian Fuentes and Ron Mahay. The issue? The price for Fuentes seems exorbitant, and Mahay may not be available. Troy E. Renck names the Yankees, Mets, Cardinals, and Marlins as the main suitors for Fuentes aside from the Rays.
- A few contenders have inquired with the Astros as to the availability of Mark Loretta and Darin Erstad.
- As you might imagine, the Rangers are open to trading Frank Catalanotto. We mentioned yesterday that his contract is a bit of a burden.
- It seems that Jim Bowden is listening to offers for Cristian Guzman while also trying to sign him to an extension. From Guzman’s point of view, it might make sense to enter a weak shortstop market this winter.
- The Matt Capps injury apparently affects Damaso Marte‘s availability.
- The Marlins may make Mark Hendrickson available. The big lefty was replaced in the rotation by top prospect Chris Volstad.
Odds and Ends: Taveras, Kemp, Mota
Today’s random linkage.
- Correction to the Justin Duchscherer post – he only has one more arbitration year, not two. He’s set to reach free agency after the ’09 season.
- Rob Neyer points us to a quality interview with Yankees beat writer Tyler Kepner over at NoMaas.org.
- MLB.com’s Jim Molony says the Marlins have renewed interest in Rockies center fielder Willy Taveras.
- LEN3 thinks the Twins need a reliever more than anything.
- Dave Cameron wonders if Matt Kemp is overrated.
- Craig Brown of Royals Authority examines the team’s trade candidates.
- The Padres’ Paul DePodesta runs through his team’s top trade candidates as well as general considerations in trading.
- The Dodgers are close to signing their first-round pick, Ethan Martin.
- Oscar Villarreal refused the Astros’ assignment to the minors and may be released. Also at this link, the Astros have an offer out to first round pick Jason Castro.
- The Indians signed Bryan Bullington, the Pirates’ first overall pick in ’02.
More On Harden, Sabathia Trades
I’ve got some odds and ends related to the Rich Harden and CC Sabathia trades.
- The Cub Reporter had an interesting post yesterday, stating that Harden can demand a trade after this season under the old CBA. The Cubs could always sidestep that by declining Harden’s $7MM option and going through the arbitration process with him. I ran this by a source close to the situation, and he said the Cubs are not worried about Harden demanding a trade.
- Bruce Miles talks about the "great personal and working relationship" between GMs Jim Hendry and Billy Beane.
- Susan Slusser says Beane never inquired on the Cubs’ top draft pick from 2007, third baseman Josh Vitters. She says the A’s did not consider it appropriate to ask for a player they had no chance of getting.
- Slusser adds that "there is thought among other clubs that the A’s might deal Matt Murton or Eric Patterson."
- Authors at the Hardball Times did a roundtable about both trades.
- Squawking Baseball praises Beane’s boldness.
- The Royals spoke internally about Sabathia, but it never got to the point of a discussion with the Indians.