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Red Sox Call Royals About Mark Redman

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A source tells me that the Red Sox have placed a call with Kansas City to assess their demands for 32 year-old All-Star southpaw Mark Redman.  I say All-Star with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

In 15 starts this year, Redman has a 5.38 ERA and 1.46 WHIP.  Redman’s walks have been up this season, and it’s hard to survive when striking out 3.3 batters per nine.  He missed a start with forearm tightness in late May, and missed the first two weeks of April because of knee surgery.

Redman chose to exercise his $4.5MM player option last November with the Pirates, leading to a trade to the Royals the next month.  Another possible contributor is rumored trouble in the clubhouse.

To his credit, Redman did manage a decent June with five wins and a 3.74 ERA.  He’s tied with Scott Elarton for the team lead in quality starts, with six in fifteen tries.  That’s a backhanded compliment, as even Jeff Weaver has had seven quality starts.  Scuffy Moehler, too.  I’m not sure what the Red Sox or any other suitor would have to give up for Redman, but it won’t be much.   

Mets To Trade Jeff Keppinger

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Astute Mets fans may have noticed that second baseman Jeff Keppinger of the team’s Triple A club is not in tonight’s lineup.  He also didn’t play in Sunday’s game.  From the folks I have spoken to close to the Norfolk Tides, Keppinger is not known to have an injury.

A source tells me that Norfolk Tides manager Ken Oberkfell has informed Keppinger that he is part of a deal with the Pirates.  Keppinger, a 26 year-old, hit .337 for Norfolk last year.  He’s known for his superb bat control, regularly making contact more than 90% of the time.  Baseball America considers him a future utility man with a possibility of more.  Keppinger previously played in the Pittsburgh organization, and was sent to the Mets in the Kris Benson deal.

A separate source of mine indicates that something is indeed going on with Keppinger.  While Keppinger for Roberto Hernandez is feasible, he says the deal may be expanded to include Oliver Perez, among others.

UPDATE: Looks like I was off on this one; a minor deal with the Royals appears to be in the works. KC would send Ruben Gotay to the Mets.

Cubs Shopping Maddux?

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A good one from the rumor mill over at Gotham Baseball.  Unfortunately their page is not working right now so here’s a link to MetsBlog’s take on Gotham’s report.  According to Gotham, Greg Maddux is being shopped.  Interested parties: Mets, Yankees, Brewers, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Royals, and Cardinals. 

The Cubs would essentially be reducing their rotation to "Carlos Zambrano and pray for a tornado," but Maddux is an impending free agent.  My opinion from a couple of weeks ago:  he’s the same old Mad Dog, just with a well-timed hot streak.  Still, dealing him now would be a very early white flag for a Cubs team with a $94MM payroll.  Doesn’t seem to compute.  And the obligatory intradivision thing must be cited for the Brewers and Cards.  I am surprised no West Coast teams have been mentioned.

Royal Rumblings

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Today’s KC Star reports this morning that the Royals, with the first waiver wire claim, will probably snag Tony Graffanino to plug into a utility role once again.  They have a spare $4-5MM with which to do so.  Take that, Mets! 

Furthermore, a new Royals source of mine (yes, they do exist) mentions that lefties Jimmy Gobble and Jeremy Affeldt are currently on the trading block.  Mike Wood may also be available.  According to the source, a deal might happen before the end of the week.

Affeldt is probably the most intriguing of the bunch.  The 26 year-old has a 4.53 career ERA and 6.9 K/9 in 329 innings.  He’s currently slotted in as the Royals’ fourth starter after relieving exclusively in 2005.  According to RotoWire, the return of Mark Redman and Zach Greinke may push him back out of the rotation. 

Back in November, Affeldt’s name was tossed around in Kevin Mench rumors.  The Rangers could still use a starter, especially one with Affeldt’s extreme groundball tendencies.  Although they already have a host of injury-prone starters in the current rotation.  The Royals seem fairly committed to Emil Brown and his atrocious left field defense, but you have to figure they’d want Mench if at all possible.  He could hit twice as many homers as Brown.  Mench’s $2.8MM salary could probably be squeezed into the payroll for 2006.

Gobble?  Well he’s fairly young and he won nine games once.  He looked kind of promising when he was called up in 2003.  Wood?  It was nothing short of a miracle that he managed a 4.46 ERA with a 1.57 WHIP.  Maybe he can keep it under 5 this year but I doubt it. 

Could Greinke Retire?

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ESPN’s Buster Olney has the scoop on Zack Greinke’s mysterious departure from spring training.  Sounds to me like he doesn’t like his bosses and has perhaps lost the desire to play baseball:

"Talked to several folks in baseball yesterday about Zack Greinke’s departure from Kansas City’s camp. Greinke, according to these sources, was going through some drills halfheartedly last week, and K.C. manager Buddy Bell got on him, pushing him to improve his effort; Greinke, displeased, later met with Bell. And then, a couple of days later, he packed up and walked out of camp.

According to one source, Greinke indicated that he felt the team’s new pitching coach had nothing to offer him. Greinke’s discontent was felt last year, as well, when he repeatedly indicated to others that he was fed up with the way his baseball career was going. He told others he was ready to walk away."

This blog posting kind of implies that Greinke was considering walking away sometime during 2005, but it’s news to me either way.  According to Olney, this wouldn’t be unprecedented:

"This reminded me of a former Mets prospect, Ryan Jaroncyk, who simply decided he didn’t enjoy baseball that much." 

Jaroncyk, a shortstop, was selected 18th overall by the Mets in 1995 and didn’t make it past A ball.  Jaroncyk never actually liked baseball (he actually grew to hate it), and was playing for the sake of his father.  I hate it when parents force stuff on their kids.  Word is that Jaroncyk threw his equipment in a dumpster and walked out for good. 

Michael Barrett was the only useful Major Leaguer taken after Jaroncyk in the first round (although Roy Halladay was selected 17th by the Jays).  Interestingly, Carlos Beltran was taken 49th overall that year by the Royals, directly after the Mets grabbed the immortal Brett Herbison with their second pick. 

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What’s Up With Zack Greinke?

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Strange situation going on with Royals starter Zack Greinke.  He’s left spring training camp and probably won’t start the season in the Kansas City rotation.  The team is being weirdly mum on why he left.  Here’s what we think we know:

– Not drug-related (Royals)
– Not family-related (KC Star)
– Not in trouble with the team (MLB.com)
– Didn’t lose desire to play baseball (KC Star)
– Not a legal problem (Royals)
– Not an injury (Royals)

So Greinke is out indefinitely, and we’re left to play twenty questions to figure out why.  RotoWorld suggests that he may be upset to have to compete for a starting rotation spot.  The team just calls it a "personal matter."  Even ZackGreinke.com doesn’t shed any light on the subject, though you can download some new Greinke wallpaper for your computer and join his fan club.

What’s his deal?  It could be anything from an Omaha demotion to something serious like chemical dependency.  We can only hope that it’s simply a young kid having a hard time dealing with his employer, something that’s happened to all of us. 

It’s easy to take shots at Greinke after a 17 loss, 5.80 ERA season.  But keep in mind he’s still only 22 and he dominated the minor leagues.  His excellent Major League debut was for real.  He ran into some terrible luck as a 21 year-old #1 starter.  The Royals had the worst defense in baseball and the third-worst offense.  I’m not saying he was great last year, but if Greinke was pitching for the Cardinals in 2005 he might’ve won 15 games with a 4.25 ERA.  No joke.

To put an MLBTradeRumors slant on this thing, now would be the ideal time for some team to try to pluck Greinke from the hapless Royals while his value is at rock bottom.  Perhaps Royals management still considers him their future ace…but maybe they’re fed up and would happily accept Wily Mo Pena or Austin Kearns for him. 

The Bengie Molina Sweepstakes

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Bengie Molina has strangely emerged as neglected free agent, facing very little interest from teams and a possible one year deal.  Coming off a career best .295/.336/.446 line, this is a curious situation.

Molina will be entering his age 32 season in 2006, and I’ve projected him at .289 with 17 HR next season.  While his defense is no great shakes, one would think a few clubs would come out ahead in offering him a reasonable two-year pact.  However, once you factor in defense, Molina ranked 15th among catchers in 2005 despite his solid showing at the plate.  He presents very little improvement for most ballclubs, and that seems to explain the lack of interest.

Should the Blue Jays pursue Molina?  Probably not.  He was only marginally better than Gregg Zaun in 2005, and he’ll definitely cost more.  I understand the idea is to platoon the players and have a sweet tandem like the Reds, but is Molina really going to want to do that? 

Honestly, these are the teams that I think stand to gain at least one win by adding Molina:

Royals
Angels
Rockies
Padres

The Royals already tossed their free cash at other marginal free agents, although Molina would’ve made some sense if the club is ready to give up on John Buck.  Most likely, they’ll keep Buck around longer than they should in order to pretend they didn’t get hosed in the Beltran trade.

The Angels really should’ve tried harder to bring Molina back.  Jeff Mathis is a huge question mark on a team for which a win or two could determine whether they make the playoffs.

The Rockies don’t really have a good reason to go out and sign a free agent.  But if I were Molina’s agent, I’d campaign hard to get him to Coors for a season.  He could play there for $4MM, hit 20 HR, and get that big deal he was looking for.  It’s been done before.

The Padres seem content with Doug Mirabelli and Dave Ross, who are both backups.  Given their lousy division and legitimate shot at the playoffs, I’m surprised they haven’t chased Molina a bit more.

The Dodgers would probably be the best fit, and they have inquired about Molina.  It would be a logical solution to bring Molina in for a year before the team evaluates the readiness of Dioner Navarro and Russell Martin.

Soriano, Benson, Casey Deals Close

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Wow, I stepped out for a couple of hours and a billion trades/rumors occurred.  Here’s three, with more in-depth analysis to come tomorrow.

Peter Gammons is saying the Dodgers are close to acquiring Alfonso Soriano for Jonathan Broxton.  I suppose Soriano could take over at third base; he’s yet to play a Major League game in the outfield.  Broxton would fit well in either the starting rotation or the ’pen.  The hefty right-hander split time between the roles at Double A Jacksonville in 2005.  One of Broxton’s specialties (besides the palmball) is limiting the home run, a trait that will come in handy in a ballpark that inflates homers by 19%.

The Mets dumped Kris Benson and his salary on the Royals, acquiring southpaw reliever Jeremy Affeldt and perhaps Mike MacDougal.  Affeldt has pretty lousy control and just an OK strikeout rate for a reliever; I’m not sure why everyone’s saying that he’ll shore up the Mets’ middle relief.  MacDougal at leasts boasts a career 8.5 K/9.  As for Benson, Kauffman Stadium isn’t much worse of a place to pitch than Shea.  But with the Royals’ defense behind him, he’ll still see his ERA go up at least half a run. 

The Reds unloaded Sean Casey’s salary on the Pirates.  Hopefully Casey will just be a stopgap until Brad Eldred learns to take a walk.  Dave Williams gives up plenty of homers and allows plenty of baserunners, so his transition to Great American Ballpark will be anything but great.  The move probably takes Austin Kearns off the market, as the outfielder logjam is solved now that Adam Dunn will play first. 

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