Ted Lilly Will Not Be Traded; Yankees Won Claim
The Dodgers pulled Ted Lilly back off of waivers after the Yankees won the claim on the left-hander, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (Twitter links). This means virtually every team in baseball let Lilly through (the Rays being the lone possible exception). When the Dodgers placed Lilly on waivers last week, they did not seem inclined to trade him, so their decision is not a surprise.
Earlier in the month, the Yankees maintained that they weren't interested in adding starting pitching. Clearly, something changed this week. Andy Pettitte has been progressing slowly and Dustin Moseley has not fared well in his last four starts, so perhaps the Yankees decided it was time to be aggressive.
Lilly's new teammate, Hiroki Kuroda, will not be traded either. Both pitchers hit free agency this winter.
Odds & Ends: Glaus, Torre, Padres, Strasburg
On this date in 1998, the Mariners traded Joey Cora to the Indians for David Bell. More than a decade later, Cora is still making headlines in Cleveland – sort of. The White Sox coach translated for Manny Ramirez at this afternoon’s Progressive Field press conference. Here are some more links as we await another round of trades…
- The Braves are listening to offers for Troy Glaus, according to David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (on Twitter). On Sunday we heard that multiple AL teams have some interest in Glaus.
- The A's re-signed Tommy Everidge, who played for Oakland last year, but hasn't appeared in the majors since, according to the Pacific Coast League's transactions page.
- Dodgers manager Joe Torre told Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times that he expects to be able to work out a deal with the Dodgers this offseason if he decides to manage in 2011 (Twitter link).
- The Padres are still interested in adding a starting pitcher, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). MLBTR's Tim Dierkes provided a list of potentially available starters earlier today. Jon Heyman of SI.com says the Padres claimed a number of pitchers, but weren't able to work out any deals (Twitter link).
- Nationals GM Mike Rizzo told Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post that Stephen Strasburg will undergo Tommy John surgery this Friday.
- MLBPA leader Michael Weiner told Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork that the hearing between Francisco Rodriguez and the Mets will take place in mid-October (Twitter link).
Quiet Deadline Day Expected?
Eleven hours remain until tonight's waiver trade deadline. A year ago today, Jim Thome, Jose Contreras, Ronnie Belliard, and Jon Garland were dealt. But two years ago it was pretty much just David Eckstein, and three years ago we only had deals for Steve Trachsel and Russell Branyan. So SI's Jon Heyman may be right in passing along the prediction from baseball executives that only "a couple of bullpen and bench pieces" will be moved today. More from Heyman:
- Almost all productive players have been blocked by claims already, even well-paid ones. Kevin Gregg, Scott Downs, and Fausto Carmona are among those claimed and pulled back.
- The Padres and Yankees would be in the market for a starter if someone decent comes available. The Padres made a claim on Hiroki Kuroda, but the Dodgers pulled him back.
- The Dodgers are not looking to trade Ted Lilly or gut the team, so consider my post on the potential to save $5.775MM just for fun.
- One active club is the Rays, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
- Click here for our list of those who have cleared waivers.
Hiroki Kuroda Will Not Be Traded
The Padres were negotiating a waiver trade with the Dodgers for pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, reported Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune, but the Dodgers pulled him back over the weekend. That the Padres made the claim on Kuroda shows they were willing to take on his $2.33MM remaining salary.
Kuroda, 35, sports a 3.39 ERA, 7.3 K/9, and 2.2 BB/9 in 162 innings after last night's one-hit effort. He'll be eligible for free agency after the season. He projects as a Type B, though it's not clear whether his contract allows for an arbitration offer or if the Dodgers would consider it.
Dodgers Could Trim An Additional $5.775MM
The Dodgers already saved about $3.8MM by unloading Manny Ramirez yesterday. With a 4.1% playoff shot according to Baseball Prospectus (5.5 games out in the wild card), they're still not committed to packing it in for 2010. But let's do some simple math to determine how much additional cash the Dodgers would save if they cleaned house. Here's who could go and how much is left on their contracts:
- Hiroki Kuroda, $2.33MM. Kuroda was placed on waivers on August 24th, tweeted Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. If he was claimed, the window to make a deal or dump his contract closed yesterday. Perhaps Kuroda was claimed and the Dodgers pulled him back, killing the chances of a deal. Or maybe his $13MM salary allowed him to clear waivers, and a trade is still possible. UPDATE: Scratch the Kuroda idea, he was pulled back over the weekend after the Padres claimed him.
- Ted Lilly, $2.15MM. Lilly was placed on waivers on August 27th, tweeted Rosenthal. The Dodgers could come out ahead financially on the Lilly portion of their deal with the Cubs. The Dodgers could keep the $2.5MM the Cubs sent but trade the lefty again today, allowing another team to pay the $2.15MM left on his contract. SI's Jon Heyman tweeted today that Lilly will not be moved, however.
- Octavio Dotel, $583K. It's a similar story with Dotel, as the Dodgers could keep the $500K the Pirates sent but trade the reliever again.
- Scott Podsednik, $296K. This assumes Pods voids his 2011 option.
- Brad Ausmus, $179K.
- Reed Johnson, $143K.
- Rod Barajas, $90K. The Dodgers may also save money on Barajas' performance bonuses.
- We'll leave Jeff Weaver, Ronnie Belliard, Vicente Padilla, and George Sherrill out of this discussion, as Padilla can't be dealt and the others are not appealing.
- To sum it up, if the Dodgers moved or dumped Kuroda, Lilly, Dotel, Podsednik, Ausmus, Johnson, and Barajas today, they'd save $5.775MM and add a few prospects. Add in $3.8MM for Manny and the $3MM received in July, and that's a cool $12.575MM. I don't expect the Dodgers to gut their team in this fashion, but it's fun to think about.
Manny Ramirez Claim Reactions
The move that sent Manny Ramirez to Chicago wasn't as dramatic as the one that sent him to L.A., but it's still one of the biggest transactions of the summer. Two years ago, we had many teams bidding on Manny and Jason Bay heading to Boston. This year, the Dodgers could only negotiate with the White Sox and no players headed back to L.A., but Manny can still hit at an elite level, so baseball players and writers are buzzing about him:
- ESPN.com's Keith Law says Ramirez is a definite upgrade for the White Sox, even though his stat line may be inflated since "he's done a lot of his damage this year against pitchers with fringe-average fastballs."
- Multiple White Sox told MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince that they were pleased to see that Manny will be joining the team.
- ESPN.com's Jayson Stark says Ramirez's difficult personality is "a gift he just keeps on giving."
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports points out that Ramirez had no choice but to waive his no-trade clause. The 38-year-old has a much better chance of restoring his free agent value in Chicago.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs believes the White Sox made a "bold, intelligent" decision.
- Click here to read Kenny Williams' thoughts on the claim.
- It's time to hear your reaction: did the White Sox make the right decision? Click here to take the survey and here to view the results.
White Sox Acquire Manny Ramirez
The White Sox officially acquired Manny Ramirez from the Dodgers, tweets USA Today's Bob Nightengale. MLB Network's Peter Gammons tweets that the Sox decided to take on Manny's entire salary in lieu of surrendering a prospect, so this is a straight waiver claim. $3.8MM of Ramirez's $20MM salary remains, though three-quarters of that is deferred without interest. The move bears some similarity to Chicago's waiver claim of Alex Rios from the Blue Jays on August 10th of last year – both players were simply handed over for salary relief. In this case, Ramirez waived his no-trade rights without compensation.
Ramirez has worn out his welcome at each of his three previous stops, as chronicled by Yahoo's Jeff Passan. Still, he represents the best possible designated hitter upgrade the White Sox could have made. Manny is still a near-lock for a .400 OBP and .500 slugging percentage, and he may be motivated by his impending free agency and damaged reputation. The White Sox are running out of time to close the 4.5 game gap with the Twins. With 32 games remaining, Baseball Prospectus pegs Chicago's playoff chances at 8.9%.
Odds & Ends: Crawford, Ramirez, Hernandez, Orioles
Sunday night linkage..
- The risk factor in signing Carl Crawford depends on the length of the deal given to him, tweets Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com.
- In a pinch-hitting appearance, Manny Ramirez was ejected from today's game after the very first pitch for arguing balls and strikes. Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News wonders (via Twitter) if the slugger intentionally got himself tossed.
- Nats GM Mike Rizzo says that Livan Hernandez deserved to receive a contract extension before the season's end, writes Gene Wang of the Washington Post.
- The Orioles will end their 53-season relationship with Bluefield, West Virginia where the club has its Rookie-level affiliate, writes Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun.
Dodgers To Send Ramirez To White Sox
SUNDAY, 9:03pm: The Dodgers confirmed that Ramirez will be shipped to the White Sox, tweets Peter Gammons of the MLB Network.
8:33pm: Ramirez has indicated that he will waive his no-trade clause even if he isn't compensated, sources tell Hernandez (via Twitter).
8:04pm: The Dodgers are trying to decide whether to take third base prospect Jon Gilmore and assume part of Ramirez's salary or just take the cash, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The White Sox acquired the former first-round pick from the Braves as part of a package for Javier Vazquez in December of 2008.
7:30pm: There's still a possibility that a swap could be worked out in which the Dodgers get a player and the White Sox don't have to foot the entire $4.3MM bill for Ramirez, according to Jayson Stark of ESPN (via Twitter). Meanwhile, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com writes that there will be no players coming back to Los Angeles.
7:08pm: Details of the transaction are still being worked out but Ramirez will be a member of the White Sox on Monday one way or another, according to Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
7:02pm: The White Sox will receive Ramirez tomorrow, a source tells Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. Because the White Sox will be getting Ramirez on a waiver claim, they will be on the hook for the remainder of his salary, Hernandez tweets.
1:31pm: USA Today's Bob Nightengale opines (via Twitter) that since the Dodgers aren't playing Manny, they're likely set on trading him. According to Nightengale, Manny is telling friends that he can't wait to join the White Sox.
Meanwhile, Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times quotes Joe Torre as saying that he's not benching Manny to get him to waive his no-trade clause, he's just trying to win games (Twitter link). From what we've heard, it doesn't sound like Manny would need the extra encouragement anyway.
SATURDAY, 8:34pm: The Dodgers have yet to ask Manny to waive his no-trade clause, according to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter).
7:20pm: ESPN.com's Buster Olney tweets that the Dodgers don't intend to give Manny up for nothing. If they part with Manny, the Dodgers want a Sox prospect in return to make it "worth their while."
FRIDAY, 7:37pm: The White Sox "swear" they have yet to have trade talks with the Dodgers about Manny, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter).
1:26pm: Multiple teams claimed Manny Ramirez on waivers, but the White Sox won the claim, according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark (on Twitter). Stark reports strong indications that the Rays claimed Manny and the Rangers also claimed the 38-year-old, according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan.
The White Sox and Dodgers, who have already discussed possible trades, have until Tuesday to work out a deal. Ramirez has a no-trade clause, which will give him the power to veto a deal if the Dodgers plan to make one. However, he has told friends that he would approve a trade to the White Sox, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link).
The Dodgers, who are currently 5.0 games out of the Wild Card race, can now hold onto Ramirez, hand him over to the White Sox or work out a trade. They must determine by Tuesday afternoon whether they can contend for the playoffs.
National League teams had waiver priority on Ramirez, but no NL team made a claim. The claim seems to indicate that the White Sox are willing to take on $4.1MM in salary, but the Dodgers and White Sox talked about potential deals earlier in the week, so the teams may have agreed on a trade that would send Ramirez to Chicago along with salary relief. About $3.1MM of Ramirez's remaining salary is deferred.
Jon Heyman of SI.com, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports and Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times also contributed to the story.
Heyman On Ramirez, Yankees, Diamondbacks
Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated has a new column up this evening. Let's dive in and see what he has for us..
- Heyman writes that a deal sending Manny Ramirez to the White Sox would be in the best interests of all parties involved. Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has lamented the monster deal given to Ramirez ever since he signed off on it, so it wouldn't make sense to hang on to him, particularly when they're not playing him regularly. Some close to the slugger believe that the Dodgers are simply trying to rankle him enough so that he'll happily leave. If that is indeed the plan, then it seems to be working. Earlier today it was reported that Ramirez is telling friends that he can't wait to join the White Sox.
- Dodgers starter Ted Lilly would be a great get for the Yankees but he likely wouldn't make it down to them. Even if it were to fall all the way to the Bombers, there's little chance the Dodgers would deal him anyway. With Andy Pettitte sidelined, the Yankees could certainly use a pitcher before the deadline strikes.
- The Padres' success on the field makes former GM Kevin Towers look good and could boost his candidacy for future openings. Heyman opines that Yankees' scouting director Damon Oppenheimer would be a fine choice for the job as well.
- By putting in a claim on Ramirez, the Rays showed that they are serious about winning this season. Their window may be closing as Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, and Rafael Soriano can all leave via free agency after this season.