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Angels Sign Darren Oliver

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ESPN reports that the Angels have signed free agent southpaw Darren Oliver to a one-year deal with an option for ’08 worth around $3.5MM in total. That’s one less lefty for the Tigers to consider.

Oliver, who turned 36 this year, wasn’t on anyone’s wish list before his 2006 with the Mets.  He stepped up with 81 innings of 3.44 ball after switching to relief full-time.  Like many before him, Oliver has found new life out of the ’pen.  Perhaps failed starters like Matt Clement or Russ Ortiz could become bullpen weapons as well.

Angels fans are still waiting for the major move they’ve been promised, as a Todd Helton deal could not be reached.

Angels Decline Helton

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According to the LA Times, the Angels have declined an offer from the Colorado Rockies for Todd Helton. The deal may have sent Chone Figgins, Casey Kotchman, and Erik Aybar to Coors.

Apparently the Angels had concerns about Helton’s age and health, and perhaps his $141-million contract had a bit to do with it. The Rockies were apparently willing to pick up some of the tab, but it didn’t seem to be enough for the Angels to "risk" it on Helton.

I’m not sure when the Angels will ever trade away their young prospects. They have held onto all of them for a while now, even when the Tejada, Manny, and other big bat rumors were swirling around the MLB. I wonder what it’s going to take for them to part with any of them.

By Adam Howe

LaRoche For Gonzalez Offer Withdrawn

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David O’Brien’s latest for the AJC confirms that the Braves have traded starter Horacio Ramirez to the Mariners for Rafael Soriano.  Unless I’m missing something, John Schuerholz pillaged and maybe even plundered Bill Bavasi.

Additionally, the Braves have withdrawn their offer of Adam LaRoche for Mike Gonzalez.  That makes sense given the completion of the Soriano deal.  O’Brien opines that Atlanta could re-engage the Angels, hoping to acquire some combination of Chone Figgins, Casey Kotchman, and a pitcher.

Gonzalez has been cleverly subtracted from the Pirates’ front page, with Ian Snell replacing him.

Angels Rumor Roundup

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Mike Scarr of MLB.com has the latest Angels hot stove.  Among his findings:

The Angels still like A-Rod, but the Yankees probably won’t deal him.

The Halos could include Bartolo Colon in such a deal, though his rehab from a partially torn rotator cuff may get in the way.

A Chad Tracy for Joe Saunders deal could work for both teams.

Additionally, check out these hot stove predictions over at Halos Heaven.

Pitchers on the move

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Jason Schmidt has been offered $45 million over three years to join the Cubs.  If that offer has been leaked already, $60M/4 seems within the realm of possibility.  Strangely, Schmidt has already said he’s not interested in the East Coast–you’d think he’d wait until Cashman made an offer and drove up his price before saying no.  Once Schmidt signs, it’ll be fun to watch Scott Boras conduct the sure-to-be-insane bidding for Barry Zito.

Some team (to be announced tonight) won the bidding for Kei Igawa for $25 million.  Hanshin has accepted.  That’s the second largest posting fee ever–somebody must think Igawa is pretty good, definitely on the high side of the typical #3/#4 projection he’s gotten.  I’m guessing it’s not the Cubs, or we wouldn’t be hearing so much about the other pitchers they’re after.  That leaves plenty of other possibilities, though.

The Baltimore Orioles are continuing their quest to build the most expensive bullpen of all time: Chad Bradford is close to a three-year deal with them.  Anybody think it’s a little odd that the O’s traded Chris Britton for a reclamation project and are now probably spending about $8M a year for Bradford and Danys Baez?  (Odd?  Yes.  In character? Absolutely.)

And, this just in: the O’s are also adding Scott Williamson.  He’s cheap–only $900K for the year.  Oddly enough, he could be the best of their new additions.  I’m a little surprised nobody else was willing to go higher for him on a one-year deal.

Many of you have emailed me about a possible Angels-White Sox trade involving Ervin Santana and Chone Figgins for Freddy Garcia and Joe Crede.   As Rotoworld points out, this could be a recycled rumor; regardless, Kenny Williams says no.  And there’s no way Bill Stoneman deals Santana for Garcia without getting a lot more in return.  Five years of a good pitcher under the team’s control for one year of Garcia?  Right.

By Jeff Sackmann

Sarge to the Angels

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The Angels appear to have signed Gary Matthews Jr. to a 5 year, $50 million deal.  I recognize that this is a new market, that the teams have tons of money, that free agents are getting paid more than they would’ve been last year.  But I’m sorry, this is completely ridiculous.

Matthews has had one good season in his career.  Of course, that was last year, and it was great, so he positioned himself well for the market.  But the dude’s 32, he’d never been much above average before, he put up his good offensive numbers in a major hitter’s park, and he may not be that great of a center fielder.  Having GMJ under contract for the next five years ensures that the Angels will have an overpaid corner outfielder even after Garret Anderson’s contract runs out.

Sarge’s career line is .263/.336/.419.  According to ZiPS, Maicer Izturis is going to have a better season than that.  (I know Izturis doesn’t play center, just…eight figures for utility infielder offense?)

Now for the implications: this would seem to suggest that the Angels won’t be going after Andruw Jones or Manny Ramirez, though trading prospects for Manny would’ve been smarter than doing this.  It also might mean that Chone Figgins is expendable, though he’s coming off the worst offensive season of his career, so his trade value might not be much.

Also, we can expect the Dave Roberts sweepstakes to heat up, and perhaps see another team or two get involved with Julio Lugo, who is willing to play center field.  Just like the Juan Pierre deal, this would indicate  that Roberts will have no trouble getting the $15M/3y he’s after.  Lugo ought to have teams giving him the $32M/4y he wants, too.  Depending on how he adapts to center, Lugo could be a better player than either Pierre or Sarge, if not in 2007, for the life of their contracts.

One more thing: speaking of center fielders, you may be interested in my Hardball Times column today, which analyzes the difference in defensive skill between CFs and corner guys.  I also take a look at how Alfonso Soriano might do in center based on his 2006 performance in left.

By Jeff Sackmann

Juan Pierre: $45M/5

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Insanity.  $9M for Pierre is a stretch: he’s not a great defender, he hasn’t posted an OBP above .330 in two years, and he isn’t even a particularly high-percentage basestealer.  As I mentioned earlier, Kenny Lofton had a better 2006.  But, in this market, $9M a year for a leadoff hitter isn’t too crazy–Pierre might well be better than, say, Gary Matthews Jr.

But…five years?  It would certainly appear that Matthews is going to get the money he’s after.  Dave Roberts’s agent probably just upped his demands, too.  Even Lofton ought to get either a two-year deal or a rich one-year contract. 

In other news this evening:
The Marlins swapped Chris Resop to the Angels for Kevin Gregg.
The Mets officially declined Tom Glavine’s option.

Speier and Stanton close to finding new homes

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The big news this morning is that the Angels are close to a four-year deal with Justin Speier, who is very possibly the best reliever on the market this year.  Tim predicted that Speier would get a three-year deal worth $17M–my guess is that the money per year is right, just with that extra year, for a total of $21-$22M or so.

Speier was a possible closer for many teams, so it’s something of a surprise that the team that ponied up for him already has a great closer and a solid setup man in Frankie Rodriguez and Scot Shields.  It’s not cheap, and it’ll certainly be more expensive once Frankie gets deep into his arbitration years, but LA could have the best 1-2-3 bullpen punch in baseball for a couple of years.

The market for relievers wasn’t pretty in the first place; now the best guys out there are, uh, Danys Baez and David Weathers?  The price was already high for Scott Linebrink; it just went up again.

One of the possibilities for Boston (who was presumed to be a suitor for Speier) is Joe Borowski, who sounds more than generically interested in the Red Sox.  And who wouldn’t be?  Short of every fanboy’s dream of Roger Clemens pitching the ninth inning, Borowski could end up closing games in Boston.

Yesterday I said nice things about the Reds signing of Alex Gonzalez.  Today I can’t be so kind to Wayne Krivsky.  Apparently he’s about to sign Mike Stanton to a two-year deal with a vesting option for a third.   Stanton turns 40 in June.  He had a nice run in San Francisco last year, but let’s face it: the guy hasn’t put up a good full season for two years.  Sure, he might be worth more than the $1M he got for last year, but a vesting option for 2009?  I guess that if you’re worried David Weathers won’t come back, there’s only one choice: get older.

By Jeff Sackmann

Angels Pursuing Andruw Jones Trade?

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According to Halos Heaven, the Braves hope to send Andruw Jones to the Angels for Ervin Santana and Nick Adenhart.  Of course, Andruw would have to be amenable to this deal to make it work.

Baseball Prospectus’s Kevin Goldstein wrote, "Adenhart has come all the way back from Tommy John surgery to establish himself as one of the top righthanders in the minors."  Among right-handed starters, Goldstein ranked Adenhart behind only Homer Bailey and Philip Hughes.

Meanwhile, the L.A. Times (subscription required) says the Angels have made an offer to Alfonso Soriano and have interest in J.D. Drew.  Mike DiGiovanna speculates that Drew could command a four-year, $56MMish deal.

Kenny Williams, Dealmaker

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Either Ken Williams is keeping busy at the GM meetings, or the reporters covering the Sox have very fertile imaginations.  I’m sure the truth is somewhere in between.  In addition to the Andruw Jones deal I mentioned in the previous post, here’s a roundup of possible White Sox moves:

Chris De Luca reports on a possible Freddy Garcia / Ervin Santana swap.  Oddly enough, his sources say that the "package" would be built around Santana.  Garcia might be a better pitcher right now, but just barely: last year, Garcia was worth 15 win shares, while Santana was worth 13.  Santana’s younger, and is under the Angels control for four more years.  Bill Stoneman couldn’t covet Garcia that much, could he?  South Side Sox chimes in on the improbability of that deal.

De Luca also repeats the thinking that Williams could bring Aaron Rowand back, especially if the Phillies land Alfonso Soriano.

Phil Rogers has a flurry of rumors, some of the recycled variety.  He keeps stoking the flames of Javier Vazquez-to-the-Mets, and suggests there’s the makings of a "monster deal" between the Sox and Rangers with Vazquez or Mark Buerhle headed to Texas.  Rogers is clearly speculating, but if his source is correct that John Danks is in play, there’s certainly the possibility of something getting done.

By Jeff Sackmann

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