Report: Affeldt, Bautista Dealt For Shealy
Reportedly, a Royals TV affiliate in Kansas City is saying that Jeremy Affeldt has gone through the clubhouse to say goodbyes. Word from MLB Radio is that Affeldt was sent to Colorado along with Denny Bautista for Ryan Shealy and Scott Dohmann.
This one’s been in the works for a while now, dating back to July 19th.
ESPN, MLB Radio: Stairs To Texas
According to ESPN, the Rangers have acquired DH type Matt Stairs from the Royals. MLB Radio adds that the Royals received 26 year-old righty reliever Joselo Diaz in return.
Royals Trade Dessens, Graffanino
Busy day for Dayton Moore, as he acquired all sorts of pitchers for his veterans.
Let’s start with his first trade: Elmer Dessens to the Dodgers for Blake Johnson, Julio Pimentel, Odalis Perez, and cash. If you’re like me, you’ve never heard of Johnson or Pimentel, so let’s start there.
Pimentel and Johnson were ranked 16th and 17th among Dodgers prospects entering the 2006 season by Baseball America. Pimentel is a 20 year-old converted outfielder currently struggling in High Class A. Pimentel’s teammate Blake Johnson is a 21 year-old righty who was drafted in the second round in ’04. Just a couple of live arms to help the Royals’ system; collect enough and someone’s bound to pan out.
Odalis Perez is an intriguing pickup for a team like the Royals. He immediately becomes their most talented pitcher despite his awful 2006. Looking at his peripherals, his strikeout rate dropped this season and his hits allowed skyrocketed. Perez’s control remains excellent. The southpaw had mixed results in the World Baseball Classic this March. He claimed to be in the best shape of his life in February following an ’05 season marred by an oblique strain, shoulder inflammation, and biceps tendinitis.
Financials: Perez is due around $2.75MM for the rest of this season, $7.75MM next season, and a $1.5MM buyout for ’08 if the Royals don’t want him for $9MM. Of that $12MM, the Dodgers are paying $8MM. That leaves KC with just a $4MM obligation to Perez for the rest of this year and his age 29 season. He’s projected to be worth that much in ’07 alone, and the Royals don’t have much to lose.
As for Dessens, he’s your run-of-the-mill 34 year-old reliever. He’ll earn roughly $640,000 for the rest of ’06 and $1.7MM next year.
The Royals also shipped Tony Graffanino to the Brewers for Jorge De La Rosa. De La Rosa, a 25 year-old southpaw, has fared poorly in the Majors with a 5.12 ERA in 65 innings. He was traded to the Diamondbacks in the Curt Schilling deal in ’03 and then bounced to the Brewers in the Richie Sexson trade a few days later. De La Rosa has dealt with elbow and control issues (they go hand in hand), but he’s still got a bit of promise.
ESPN: White Sox Alfonso Soriano Trade?
Breaking news from ESPN is that the White Sox are "extremely close" to acquiring Alfonso Soriano. It seems that Brandon McCarthy is the main piece of the deal.
The result would be a Murderer’s Row with five players currently slugging .539 or better: Thome (.632), Dye (.620), Soriano (.594), Konerko (.555), and Crede (.539). The Sox already lead baseball in home runs with 146.
What’s more, ESPN also reports that Kenny Williams is looking to strengthen his bullpen by sending 23 year-old southpaw Double A starter Tyler Lumsden to the Royals for Mike MacDougal. Lumsden isn’t striking anyone out, but still has a 2.69 ERA for Birmingham. He had elbow surgery in January of last year.
MacDougal has thrown four scoreless innings for the Royals since returning from a shoulder strain. He was able to cut his walks to a reasonable level last year and had his best season.
UPDATE: MacDougal is a done deal. Another pitcher was added to complete the trade.
Trade Rumor Roundup: 8 Days Left
To begin with, this just isn’t true. With the Kearns deal and probably Soriano trade, the 2006 deadline just can’t be classified as a dud. That honor belongs to 2005 for sure. The trading action never matches the buildup, but this year’s still a good one.
Read Ken Rosenthal’s latest. The White Sox are in the Soriano game, the Rangers have interest in Luis Gonzalez, the Braves could add another reliever, Julio Lugo still might become a Blue Jay, and the Brewers look like sellers. In my opinion, some Brewers besides Carlos Lee that could be unloaded: Geoff Jenkins, Corey Koskie, Brady Clark, and Dan Kolb. Koskie will need to recover quickly from his concussion, however.
Still hearing that the Cubs like Willy Taveras, which would definitely fit their m.o. of players who don’t get on base. Phil Rogers also mentions that Seattle’s Rafael Soriano is being asked about. It would be surprising to see the Mariners deal that kind of young talent.
Tons of great rumors coming from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. He’s got a rundown of the Red Sox, all sorts of teams scouting Humberto Sanchez, and more.
Buster Olney mentioned in his blog today that the Astros are among various teams scouting Elmer Dessens. The Astros are also looking at Damaso Marte.
Unfounded rumor department: Could the Dodgers be after Aramis Ramirez? Ramirez has picked a fantastic time to heat up, and L.A. has some top shelf young talent…is there anywhere Julio Lugo could go besides Toronto? How about the Rockies?
Royals Rumors: Ryan Shealy
According to my Royals source, Dayton Moore has finished evaluating his roster and the team is about to become quite active in the trade market.
You saw the Mark Redman rumor yesterday. Today MLBTradeRumors has learned of a possible deal in the works between the Rockies and Royals. The Rox are looking for relievers, and the Royals have Elmer Dessens and Jeremy Affeldt available. Mike MacDougal also has a chance to be dealt. The Royals would prefer to unload shortstop Angel Berroa and just one reliever to get first baseman Ryan Shealy. That way other relievers could snag more value in separate deals.
Shealy has had all kinds of suitors over the last few months, and he is likely to be dealt for relief help this month.
Red Sox Call Royals About Mark Redman
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
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?
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
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.