Dodgers Curious About Pedro Martinez
1:59pm: Tony Jackson of the L.A. Daily News says there hasn’t been contract between the Dodgers and Pedro’s agent for months. He says the Dodgers still are not considering signing him. It’d only happen with a base salary near the league minimum.
Like Colletti, manager Joe Torre at least seemed open to the idea in his comments to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick.
8:58am: Bill Plaschke of the L.A. Times advocates the Dodgers signing Pedro Martinez, and GM Ned Colletti admitted, "He’s somebody we’re curious about." The question is whether Pedro will drop his asking price enough to make a return to L.A. feasible. Plaschke also talked to former Dodgers GM Fred Claire, who admitted "it was a bad trade" when he traded Martinez to the Expos for Delino DeShields in November of 1993.
The Pirates explored the idea of signing Pedro back in January, but found the price prohibitive at the time according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Heyman On Contracts, Loretta, Indians, Lackey
SI.com’s Jon Heyman has a new column up…
- Heyman writes in praise of White Sox GM Ken Williams, who says, "People don’t really understand our way, our method."
- Heyman names his top 13 contracts, from an agent point of view. Barry Meister appears twice, with Edgar Renteria and Kyle Farnsworth. Scott Shapiro and Barry Praver get two mentions (Willy Taveras and Juan Cruz), and Scott Boras has three (Derek Lowe, Mark Teixeira, and Willie Bloomquist).
- Heyman writes of "talk at Dodgers camp" about possible Yankee interest in Mark Loretta (you may recall their consideration of him as a first base candidate in 2007). Loretta would have to consent to a trade, and keep in mind Brian Cashman’s comments yesterday.
- The Indians may have sufficient depth in young position players to make a trade for pitching.
- Heyman speaks of optimism for an extension for Angels ace John Lackey, since the team was able to hammer out his ’06 contract with agent Steve Hilliard.
Odds & Ends: Crosby, Vizcaino, Andruw
Links for Tuesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- RotoAuthority sums up the stats you should target in each category for your fantasy league.
- The Braves released pitcher Anthony Lerew, according to Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- Rany Jazayerli says the Royals will be better just by subtracting Ross Gload, Tony Pena Jr., and Joey Gathright. Here’s my Offseason In Review for the club, if you’re interested.
- A’s manager Bob Geren "chuckled and said no" when asked if Bobby Crosby is being showcased at third base for the Yankees, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Crosby is learning third in part because Eric Chavez is injured again.
- Speaking of Crosby, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune wonders if the Cubs could work out a deal involving reliever Luis Vizcaino. Despite the $4MM owed to Vizcaino, he’s not a lock for the Cubs’ bullpen. We learned last week that the Cubs do not appear interested in Crosby.
- Slusser also has an article about young A’s pitcher Michael Ynoa, who believes he can be in the Majors in two years at age 19.
- Andruw Jones apologized to Dodgers fans in this Bill Plaschke article.
- Talking to Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel sees Jayson Werth missing no more than 15-20 games this year. Geoff Jenkins, with $8MM left on his contract, looks like the odd man out.
Rosenthal On Pedro, A-Rod, Beimel, Ohman
Here’s the latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…
- One executive tells Rosenthal Pedro Martinez seeks a contract similar to the one John Smoltz received (a $5.5MM base plus $5.5MM incentives). Rosenthal’s speculative candidates for Pedro include the Dodgers, Marlins, Indians, and Mets. He says the A’s, Orioles, Nationals, and Brewers are out.
- Rosenthal does not expect a major acquisition by the Yankees to cover for Alex Rodriguez. He adds that the Yanks will not collect insurance on A-Rod’s salary.
- In addition to Orlando Cabrera, Manny Ramirez has a clause in his contract prohibiting his team from offering arbitration if he’s a Type A free agent after the season. Orlando Hudson and Bobby Abreu do not have such clauses.
- Two GMs told Rosenthal Joe Beimel wants a one-year, $2.5MM deal, but the pitcher’s agent Joe Sroba says they have’t gotten that specific. Sroba says new teams are in the mix for Beimel and he’s waiting for one to be "aggressive and sincere in their pursuit."
- The White Sox and Dodgers are two teams in on free agent lefty Will Ohman.
Manny Ramirez Contract Details
The AP obtained details on Manny Ramirez‘s new contract with the Dodgers. Due to significant deferred money, the present-day value of his ’09 salary drops to about $18.4MM.
The AP story adds that Manny’s decision about 2010 is due on the fifth day after the World Series ends or November 10th, whichever is later. ESPN’s Jayson Stark does some more number-crunching at his blog.
Heyman On Pudge, Pedro, Catalanotto
SI.com’s Jon Heyman has a new column up; let’s take a look.
- Heyman says Oakland’s "win now" mandate this winter came from owner Lewis Wolff.
- The Astros and Marlins are interested in Ivan Rodriguez, "no matter what they say publicly."
- Heyman says Pedro Martinez is "talking up a Dodgers reunion." So far, there’s been no indication the Dodgers are entertaining it.
- Edgar Renteria‘s agent was initially asking for a three or four-year deal.
- It’s no surprise that Frank Catalanotto is available, but the $6MM owed to him is an obvious impediment.
- According to Heyman, Andruw Jones told Rangers brass he’s flexible on the March 20th decision date in his contract.
- Heyman describes the Josh Hamilton extension talks as "just getting going" and believe the John Lackey discussions have only been preliminary.
Odds & Ends: Bowden, Stanton, Baker
Sunday night linkage…
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the Dodgers "will not restructure Juan Pierre's contract to make him go away."
- Murray Chass likes Jim Bowden, while Hal McCoy has a negative recollection.
- ESPN's Peter Gammons wrote about teams clamoring for Marlins prospect Michael Stanton last July.
- Jesse Spector of the New York Daily News talked to Baseball-Reference mastermind Sean Forman.
- Aaron Gleeman analyzes Scott Baker's new extension with the Twins.
- RotoAuthority recently looked at catcher tiers for fantasy baseball drafts.
Dodgers Still Interested In Beimel, Ohman
Tony Jackson reports that the Dodgers still have some interest in lefties Joe Beimel and Will Ohman, if and when their asking price comes down.
Beimel and Ohman are both looking for salaries in the $2MM-$3MM range, but the Dodgers don’t want to pay that for someone who will be called on to retire one or two batters per outing.
Jackson points out that the recent Dennys Reyes signing by the Cardinals will likely have to lower the prices for Ohman and Beimel. Reyes signed a two-year deal worth $3MM after holding lefties to a .202 average last year, while Ohman held them to a .200 average. Beimel was a very distant third – lefties hit .278 off him in 2008. All three players are 31 years of age.
Manny Ramirez Contract Details
SI.com’s Jon Heyman has Manny Ramirez‘s full contract information:
Ramirez’s new $45-million, two-year Dodgers deal is worth $42,005,723 according to the union filing obtained by SI.com. Ramirez is to be paid $25 million for 2009 and $20 million for 2010. But the actual payouts are as follows: $10 million in ’09, $10 million in ’10, $8.33 million in ’11, $8.33 million in ’12 and $8.33 million in ’13. He is to receive no interest on the deferred payments, bringing the value down nearly $3 million from $45 million to $42 million.
For Ramirez, the key is the ability to void the contract after 2009, at which point he can become a free agent. A full no-trade provision is also in the contract.
Mark Sweeney Announces Retirement
According to Tony Jackson of the Los Angeles Daily News, pinch-hitting extraordinaire Mark Sweeney has announced his retirement from baseball.
Sweeney was hoping to land a contract this offseason, but didn’t draw much interest. He’ll instead work as an assistant coach for the Dodgers.
"We are excited to be able to keep Mark Sweeney in the Dodger organization and we congratulate him on his retirement from his playing career," GM Ned Colletti said Friday. "With 14 years of big league experience, he will bring some very valuable baseball knowledge to our staff."