Braves Offer James For DeJesus?
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 4:21pm: Debunked! David O’Brien says the Braves aren’t in talks about DeJesus, and the Royals have a negative opinion of James anyway.
FROM 12-4-07 at 2:09pm:
According to the KC Star’s Bob Dutton, the Jose Guillen signing puts the Royals in a better position to trade David DeJesus or Joey Gathright. The Rangers and Braves are on DeJesus’ trail. Dutton believes the Braves offered up lefty Chuck James for him. It seems a little light, as I’m not sure James could be effective in the American League. Royals GM Dayton Moore, of course, came from the Atlanta organization.
Dutton says not only is Hiroki Kuroda looking for four years, he may want $48MM. The Royals could move on and spend the money on Andruw Jones instead, if he’ll take a one or two-year deal. The money could also be diverted to Carlos Silva if he’ll take 4/40. Otherwise the Royals will just chase rehab guys like Jason Jennings, Kris Benson, and Matt Clement.
O’Brien’s Latest: Vizcaino, Wang
Newsday’s Kat O’Brien checks in with a couple of new Yankees tidbits not related to Johan.
- O’Brien spoke to the man himself, Bean Stringfellow. Bean says Luis Vizcaino is looking for Linebrink money. So, the fact that he "likes New York" isn’t going to matter much. The Yanks may pass, but the Viz is talking to the Mets, White Sox, Royals, and Dodgers. If the Viz returned to the White Sox at 4/19…that would be just wrong.
- Chien-Ming Wang‘s agent, Alan Nero, wanted to talk to the Yankees about a long-term deal for him. The discussion ended when the Yankees requested that Nero make the first move.
- That reminds me of when Homer Simpson went to Mr. Burns’ mansion in possession of Burns’ childhood teddy bear, repeating to himself that he will reject Burns’ first offer no matter what. Burns: May I offer you a drink? Homer: Sorry Burns, no deal. [takes the bear and leaves].
Marlins/Tigers Cabrera/Willis Blockbuster
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 2:41pm: Joe Capozzi agrees – separate deals if anything.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 1:29pm: MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro has a source indicating that the Tigers are interested in Willis or Cabrera and not necessarily both.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 12:23pm: According to Danny Knobler, the Tigers feel they’re being used by the Marlins to jack up the price for other teams like the Angels. The trade talks between Detroit and Florida are characterized as discussions rather than trade negotiations. Knobler says Dombrowski doesn’t want to trade Maybin, but I can’t see this happening otherwise.
FROM 12-4-07 at 11:02am:
Ken Rosenthal has an update with a whopper of a trade rumor.
- The Marlins and Tigers are talking about a monster deal that would send Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis over to the Tigers for Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, and others. Dave Dombrowski has always worked well with the Marlins, his former team.
- Rosenthal confirms Bob Dutton’s assertion – the Royals signing Jose Guillen may not stop them from getting Andruw Jones too.
- The O’s are trying to move Ramon Hernandez. They could sign Michael Barrett if they move him, or else get Jeff Mathis or Mike Napoli from L.A. in a Tejada deal.
- The Tribe hasn’t decided whether to trade Cliff Lee, though there’s been plenty of buzz so far.
Phillies Rumors: Rowand, Benson, Colon, Reyes, Tavarez
A few articles on the Phillies have surfaced this morning; let’s see what’s cooking on the hot stove.
- The Phils would pay extra to get Aaron Rowand to take a three-year deal. Jim Salisbury quotes Rowand’s agent as saying ten clubs are after him. Salisbury names the usual suspects but throws in the Twins, Royals, Rangers, and Orioles depending on the term.
- Todd Zolecki confirms the Phillies’ interest in Kris Benson. He’ll be throwing for teams a few weeks from now.
- The Phils like Benson best among the rehab project group, now that Randy Wolf is signed. They’ve also contacted Bartolo Colon‘s agent and may be in on Jason Jennings. Zolecki also names Anthony Reyes and Julian Tavarez as two possible trade targets.
- Despite what was said yesterday, Zolecki says Livan Hernandez is not high on Pat Gillick’s list. They remain in the mix for Hiroki Kuroda.
Odds and Ends: Guillen, Patterson, Clark, Andruw
Let’s keep things rolling along with a morning Odds and Ends collection.
- U.S.S. Mariner is not amused with the Ms’ decision not to offer arbitration to Jose Guillen.
- Andruw Jones hasn’t been getting much player, and his camp initiated contact with the Royals yesterday. The mutual interest may have been what pushed Guillen to sign.
- With the David Riske to Milwaukee signing not official, the Orioles apparently had talks with his agent yesterday. He’ll be too pricey for them, anyway. By the way, the Cubs checked in on Brian Roberts, but nothing is really stirring right now on that front.
- Corey Patterson seems a little down, as he’s no one’s first choice in center field. The Orioles are apparently moving on. Patterson wouldn’t say whether he’d take a one-year deal. As a Scott Boras client, I imagine he won’t.
- Summing up the Rockies’ external second base candidates: Chris Burke, Marcus Giles, and Mark Loretta. The agents for both Giles and Loretta have contacted the Rockies, and Loretta would play there at a discount.
- Evan Grant has his Rangers column up, but we already hit upon most of the points yesterday (he was the source then, too). One new note is that the Rangers don’t want to give Tony Clark anything more than one year plus an option, while Clark wants a two-year deal. The Rays, Dodgers, and Twins are said to like Clark.
Royals Sign Jose Guillen
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 12:31am: After some twists and turns, the Royals got their man on a three-year, $36MM deal.
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 11:52pm: Not so fast, says the KC Star’s Bob Dutton. Dutton says talks with Guillen are currently stalled – the Royals don’t want to go past two years. Instead they’ve been in close contact with Andruw Jones. They don’t want to exceed two years on him either but will pay extra for the shorter term. Their offer might not be much more than two years, $32MM though.
Even crazier: if the Royals miss out on Hiroki Kuroda, they could sign Jones and Guillen.
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 10:50pm: Ken Rosenthal reports that the Royals and Guillen are closing in on a deal. So Moore must have just been posturing or speaking out frustration tonight. Or, his comments were a negotiation tactic that worked. The deal is said to be a three-year pact worth $11-12MM per year.
FROM 12-3-07 at 9:19pm:
MLB.com reports are getting filed left and right. The latest is Dick Kaegel, who’s saying the Royals have cooled on Jose Guillen. Dayton Moore made a point to repeat that he’s getting more interested in other opportunities for right-handed power. And to think, the Royals were dead-set on Guillen as recently as this morning. Wow, was that this morning?
Translation of Moore’s comments: he is not happy with Guillen. Perhaps the Royals have an offer out and haven’t gotten an answer. Guillen might be trying to play the field but there aren’t many other suitors for him currently.
Royals Willing To Pay Up For Guillen
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
Here we go, another collection of random rumors.
- Chris Burke is definitely getting traded. Though Burke was the 10th overall pick in 2001, he’ll be 28 in March and sports a career line of .249/.319/.377.
- Joe Nathan is in Nashville, and seemed amused by the closer vacancies in San Francisco and Milwaukee.
- The Royals have $25MM to burn, and whether or not it makes sense they’re damn well going to spend it.
- The Indians refused to trade Adam Miller for Delmon Young. Paul Hoynes suggests the Tribe tried to push Cliff Lee for Young instead but Lee was too expensive for the Rays. The Indians have a few extra starters and a backup catcher capable of full-time duty in Kelly Shoppach. They’re reluctant to make a deal on both fronts.
- Lew Ford is closing in on a deal with the Hanshin Tigers.
- Johan Santana WHIFF Profile courtesy of friend of MLBTR Tom Koch-Weser.
Hiroki Kuroda Coming To MLB
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
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.