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Royals Willing To Pay Up For Guillen

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It’s always dangerous to commit to acquiring one specific player, because then he has all the leverage.  Kind of like buying a house I guess.  The Royals are dead-set on signing Jose Guillen, who wants a four-year contract despite his steroid issues.

Bob Dutton believes Guillen is just posturing, as the Mets are the only other interested club.  It still seems like Guillen can’t get more than three years, but you never know.  Dutton notes that the Mariners accurately judged the interest in Guillen to be weak, and preferred to abandon a sandwich pick rather than risk getting stuck with him for one more year.

Dutton says the Royals plan to spend the $70MM they tried to give Torii Hunter on Guillen and Hiroki Kuroda.  That could almost work – $30MM and three years for Guillen, $40MM and four years for Kuroda.  It would be a little light for Kuroda, who wants to play on the West Coast and reportedly has a four-year, $44MM offer in hand from the Mariners.

Odds and Ends: Burke, Nathan, Adam Miller

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Here we go, another collection of random rumors.

Hiroki Kuroda Coming To MLB

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Hiroki Kuroda has publicly made the decision to leave Japan to pursue a career in MLB.  The L.A. Times reports the Mariners, D’Backs, Dodgers, and Royals as interested parties.  The Mariners already have a four-year offer out to him.

The Phillies, Cubs, Rangers, and Mets might be considered on the fringes of this pursuit, as all have been linked to him in the past.

Odds and Ends: Jenkins, Piazza, Kuroda

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Random rumors for this evening…

  • ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports that the Rays have contacted Geoff Jenkins’ agent.  They’re eyeing him to replace Delmon Young in right field.
  • Cubs lefty Scott Eyre exercised his $3.8MM player option for 2008.
  • Terrmel Sledge never quite caught on in the U.S., so he’s headed to Japan.  I thought he was a sleeper entering 2007 as he’d posted a .985 OPS in Triple A in ’06.
  • The Yorvit Torrealba deal is official at two years and $7.25MM with a $4MM mutual option for 2010.  Mutual options never get exercised by both sides so that doesn’t mean much.  Michael Barrett and Paul Lo Duca are the two remaining free agent starting catchers.
  • It’s true, Mike Piazza does have some interest from a Japanese team.  But he also has three MLB teams interested, and he’s much more likely to stay in the U.S.
  • Could Yasuhiko Yabuta lead the Royals to sign Hiroki Kuroda?  It’s a possibility.  The D’Backs are after him as well; Nick Piecoro has some in-depth info about Kuroda.

Red Sox Leading For Santana?

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UPDATE, 11-29-07 at 10:30pm: The Yankees’ offer stands at Ian Kennedy, Melky Cabrera, and maybe Jose Tabata.  Phil Hughes is a big upgrade over Kennedy, and the Twins are insisting on him.  Meanwhile the Red Sox are still pushing Coco Crisp while the Twins are holding out for Jacoby Ellsbury.  If one of the teams cracks on Hughes or Ellsbury this thing might get done.

UPDATE, 11-29-07 at 8pm: Despite what Jon Heyman said, the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo seems to think the Red Sox are still in the lead for Santana.  It would be the package named below by Olney.  Nothing is done yet, as Santana’s agent hasn’t been approached about an extension.  Meanwhile Cafardo indicates that the Yankees may part with Robinson Cano after all.  One other note: Peter Gammons suggests that the Sox would have to redo Josh Beckett’s reasonable deal if they acquire Santana and give him $20MM+.

UPDATE, 11-29-07 at 2:50pm: Buster Olney suggests the same package as Walters from the Red Sox, except with Michael Bowden rather than Masterson.  However the fourth player is still undetermined.  He also notes that the Yankees are simultaneously talking to the Twins.

UPDATE, 11-29-07 at 1pm: The Boston Herald has a bit more.  Basically the Red Sox are only willing to include one of Ellsbury/Buchholz/Lester, while the Twins want two from that group. 

FROM 11-29-07 at 8:30am:

Shooter Charley Walters is back with a new column of rumors and whatnot.  Remember, Walters was the one saying the Garza for Delmon rumor wouldn’t die.

  • Despite the exclusion of Jacoby Ellsbury, Walters says the Red Sox have the lead in the Johan Santana sweepstakes.  The package would be Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie, Jon Lester, and Justin Masterson.  Not a bad haul.  I was thinking Lowrie might become a target of the Twins.
  • The following clubs are interested in Carlos Silva: Tigers, Mets, Phillies, and Royals.  None of those teams are new.
  • The amount of cash each club is getting this year for online media properties like MLB.com sites:  $25MM.  And don’t forget the Twins get about $20MM in revenue sharing.  Maybe that’s why they have interest in Aaron Rowand.

Odds and Ends: Riske, Bedard, Wolf

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And now for your daily jumble o’ rumors.  More to come.

Royals, Orioles In Lead For Jose Guillen

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According to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes, the Royals and Orioles are the frontrunners to sign free agent outfielder Jose Guillen.  That link is in Spanish so feel free to correct me if my translation is off.  The article was published on November 18th.

Rojas reports that eight teams have shown interest in signing Guillen to a multiyear deal.  We knew the Royals were dead set on Guillen; the Orioles part is new to me.  The O’s already have Nick Markakis in right, so perhaps Guillen would be used in left.  Sounds like he’s pretty popular despite the steroid revelations.  Maybe he’ll get that three-year, $30MM deal after all.

There have been some reports floating around that a contract with the Royals was imminent, but that does not appear to be accurate based on the conversations I’ve had.  Nonetheless the Royals figure to win this thing; Guillen is their top priority now that Torii Hunter is off the board.

Royals Pursue Guillen, Reportedly Set With Yabuta

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The Royals were in on the Torii Hunter sweepstakes, having offered five years and $70 million, with every intention of going higher if necessary. Now that the Angels have locked him up, Jose Guillen has become the "indisputable No. 1 on the Royals’ list of off-season targets."

“Obviously, our objective remains the same,” general manager Dayton Moore said. “We do want to acquire a right-handed bat to hit in the middle of our order, and we’ll keep working through every opportunity imaginable.”

Bob Dutton thinks that losing out on Hunter could have added benefits. In addition to acquiring the cheaper Guillen, the Royals could use the Hunter money to pursue RHPs Hiroki Kuroda or Carlos Silva.
Each is seeking a four-year, $40 million deal. Added with Guillen’s asking price of three years, $30 million (though that could come down with his steroid allegations), that’s the $70 million they were offering Hunter.

Dutton also reports that the Royals have a deal in place for RHP Yasuhiko Yabuta on a two-year deal for between $5 and $6 million, with a club option for 2010. The deal should be announced once Yabuta makes his way to the States for his physical.

Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues.

Odds and Ends: Fukudome, Eckstein, Lowell

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Ah yes, the odds and ends post, where I cobble together the day’s random links.

  • The Rangers have mild interest Scott Podsednik.  Pods had two separate stints in the Rangers organization but never reached the bigs with them.
  • The Big Lead has an interesting interview with Yahoo baseball guy Jeff Passan, wherein a run-in with Jose Lima is recounted.  Passan also takes on Fire Joe Morgan a bit.
  • Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog is hearing that Kosuke Fukudome is looking for three years and $30MM.  Sounds fair.
  • The Angels are considering signing David Eckstein and/or Darin Erstad, for some reason.
  • Bob Dutton reports that the Royals can be patient with their offer to Torii Hunter, while the White Sox want a quick resolution.  Bonus: a rather large, but not too pixellated picture of Hunter at the Dutton link.  Hunter, by the way, could save $750K per year if he signs with the Rangers because Texas has no state income tax.  Hunter is also considering the Las Vegas 51s for that same reason, I heard. 
  • Per Buster Olney, the Dodgers put in a three-year offer to Mike Lowell.  He takes this as a sign they weren’t serious, but Ned Colletti has shown a tendency to offer fewer years and more per year.  He did this with Rafael Furcal and Jason Schmidt.  So maybe the Dodgers put out a 3/45 offer or something.
  • The Phils picked up oft-injured outfielder Chris Snelling from the Rays for cash.  He’s yet to accumulate 100 big league at-bats in a season, but maybe that’ll change in 2008.
  • Ed Wade + relievers = trouble.  Doug Brocail is on the radar.
  • McCovey Chronicles lists some realistic position player targets for the Giants, including Jeff Clement, Andy Marte, and Adam Lind.

Hunter Receives Five Offers

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Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times, normally their Cubs guy, has the scoop on the Torii Hunter situation.

Wittenmyer says Hunter has at least five offers in hand.  Four of them are for five years, while the Rangers have offered six.  This doesn’t count the Twins’ lowball 3/45 offer.

So which five clubs have made proposals to Hunter?  The Rangers, White Sox, Dodgers, Royals, and Nationals comprise the list.  Wittenmyer notes that the Dodgers could get aggressive on Hunter if they miss out on Miguel Cabrera.  Also, the Yankees could trade Melky Cabrera and jump in.  The amounts offered aren’t well known, but Wittenmyer says the Rangers are just under $15MM per year.   

Hunter hopes to decide next week so he doesn’t have to attend the Winter Meetings the week after that.  Don’t underestimate the Royals, who blew everyone away last year by winning the bidding for Gil Meche.  Still, the White Sox and Rangers are the clear frontrunners.

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