Williams Discusses Thome and Contreras Trades
ESPN's Peter Gammons has a long-awaited interview with White Sox GM Ken Williams about the trades that sent Jim Thome and Jose Contreras packing. Williams argues that the trades did not amount to "a raising of the white flag" and says he was trying "to do right by players who certainly did right by us."
Williams says that he assured Thome that he would not be traded against his wishes. "He told me he was more interested in winning another ring than hitting 600 homers," the GM said. "We wanted to accomodate [him] so that he could finish the season the way he wanted."
Regarding Contreras, Williams says that manager Ozzie Guillen was not planning to start the pitcher down the stretch. "I thought this was a way to give him the opportunity to start and rebuild his value in the free-agent market," Williams said.
According to Gammons, Rockies manager Jim Tracy, who "dealt with" Brad Penny when both were with the Dodgers, did not want the veteran starter on his staff although GM Dan O'Dowd had interest. So, O'Dowd turned to the White Sox for the starter he needed.
D’Backs Rumors: Snyder, Garland, Abreu
Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic has the latest on the D'Backs catchers and their return for Jon Garland:
- Chris Snyder's back problems may not be serious, but they could become a problem for both the club and the catcher. The D'Backs hope to trade Snyder in the offseason to address other weaknesses and Snyder would presumably like to play every day. If Snyder returns in time to re-establish some of his value, he would help himself and the D'Backs.
- Piecoro hears that the Dodgers won't necessarily send Tony Abreu to the D'Backs to complete the Jon Garland trade. It remains likely that Abreu will join the D'Backs, however.
Nationals Acquire Victor Garate To Complete Belliard Trade
The Nationals acquired Double A lefty reliever Victor Garate to complete the August 30th Ronnie Belliard trade, according to Pete McElroy of MASN. The Nats already received A-ball pitcher Luis Garcia in the deal.
Garate, 25 later this month, came to the Dodgers in '07 from the Astros via the Rule 5 draft. Baseball America wrote in this year's Handbook that he "projects as a poor man's Brian Fuentes." Garate must be thrilled with the trade, as he'll move quickly up the ladder in the Nationals' bullpen.
Odds & Ends: Posey, Maybin, Penny
Links for Wednesday…
- Due to Bengie Molina's injury, the Giants have changed their mind and called up top prospect Buster Posey according to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. So Posey's clock starts earlier than planned.
- Speaking of service time, MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith tells me Cameron Maybin's call-up gives him 129 days of service time after this year. That puts him on the fringe of Super Two status after the 2011 season.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick ranks the impact of trades made by contenders in July. He talked to an exec who thinks Matt Holliday "could make an extra $3MM a year as a free agent this winter because of his strong finish."
- Yahoo's Gordon Edes has his trade deadline winners and losers.
- Ryan Doumit's agent Matt Sosnick shot down recent negativity surrounding his client, while Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gets to the bottom of the catcher's recent benching.
- Brad Penny still hates the Dodgers, a team he'll face twice this month according to Baggarly. Baggarly also has a quote from Penny ripping on the Marlins.
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has more from Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy, who knows he gained trade value when the team delayed his free agency.
- J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics wonders whether the Braves should pick up Tim Hudson's $12MM option for 2010. Hudson has the right to void that option, not that he would. Back in January Dave O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said the Braves "fully intend to exercise it, barring some unexpected turn of events."
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs notes that Kendry Morales has matched the production of the Angels' former first baseman, $180MM man Mark Teixeira.
- Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic has comments from Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes on the team's Jon Rauch–Kevin Mulvey swap. Piecoro says the D'Backs have about $23MM to work with this winter as they presumably look to add pitching.
- Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times guesses Ken Griffey Jr. will retire after this season.
Rosenthal On Abreu, Royals, Garland
The latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…
- Bobby Abreu and the Angels have mutual interest in continuing their relationship, according to his agent Peter Greenberg. Greenberg says there have been discussions but they'll probably wait until after the season. Abreu, 36 in March, is hitting .297/.391/.428 in 547 plate appearances while playing subpar defense. He should end up earning $6MM given his plate appearance incentives. He'll easily achieve Type A status again.
- Rosenthal praises the Royals for extending GM Dayton Moore, and suggests the team should commit to a full-bore rebuild. Rosenthal believes it would've been wise to trade Mark Teahen and Gil Meche.
- Rosenthal says to expect another overloaded 1B/DH market this winter. Survey the free agent market here. I think we might find a .400 OBP on the cheap in Nick Johnson, while Jason Giambi is in for a minor league deal. Carlos Delgado, Russell Branyan, Hank Blalock, Ken Griffey Jr., Hideki Matsui, Aubrey Huff, Gary Sheffield, and Jim Thome are some of the other names.
- The Phillies decided to stick with Miguel Cairo as their right-handed bench bat, rather than pursue Nomar Garciaparra.
- A rival exec Rosenthal spoke to feels that Tony Abreu is not enough for Jon Garland, since the D'Backs are picking up all of Garland's contract.
Dodgers Rumors: Colletti, Thome, Garland, Hudson
The latest from Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times covers the future of Dodgers GM Ned Colletti and also reveals details from the team's acquisitions of Jon Garland and Jim Thome.
- Colletti faces a mutual option for 2010. He says he'd love to be back, but hasn't discussed his future with owner Frank McCourt yet. Sure, Colletti has been able to operate under a budget. But his work as a GM is a mixed bag at best. SI's Jon Heyman recently weighed in on Colletti's recent work; check that out here.
- The White Sox are paying $1.4MM of the $2.4MM still owed to Thome. From Chicago's point of view, the benefit was saving a million bucks. With all the penny-pinching in the Dodgers' trades the past few years, I'm surprised they were willing to spend that million for one month of a bench bat.
- Hernandez heard that Tony Abreu is the player to be named later in the Garland deal, as had been rumored. Abreu, a Scott Boras client, is hitting .351/.382/.609 in 213 Triple A plate appearances.
- Hernandez says the Dodgers are "not expected to retain" second baseman Orlando Hudson. Hudson may not be up for a one-year, incentive-laden contract this time around.
Odds & Ends: Penny, Hardy, Hoffmann
Some links to check out while you try to figure out what's for dinner…
- ESPN's Keith Law says that both Jim Thome and Jon Garland have value to Dodgers in the roles they were acquired to fill, pinch hitter and innings eater. KLaw also notes that Jose Contreras is better option than anyone currently in the Rockies' organization, and that he might benefit from a move to the NL.
- R.J. Anderson of FanGraphs says that people should be focusing more on the draft picks the White Sox gave away (Thome projects to be a Type-A free agent) than the fact that they're throwing in the towel on the season.
- Brad Penny said he'd be willing to return to the AL East in the future, according to CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler. "I think if I make my pitches against anyone, I'll do fine…Sometimes you don't get breaks. I was making some bad pitches, and leaving some balls up. In the AL East, you can't really do that," said Penny.
- MLB.com's Adam McCalvy spoke to Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy about whether he'll be traded this offseason or not, and got this response: "It makes sense, not that I want to be traded."
- Diamond Leung reports that the Dodgers have designated outfielder Jamie Hoffmann for assignment. The 25-yr old hit just .182/.167/.409 in his brief stint with LA earlier this year. It's always fun when a guy has a higher batting average than on-base percentage.
- Matt Eddy of Baseball America posted last week's minor league transactions. The Brewers signed two former big leaguers – outfielders Jon Knott and Tike Redman – out of the independent Atlantic League.
- Make sure you follow MLBTR on Twitter for the fastest rumor updates on the web.
Garland, Contreras Trade Reactions
A couple of heroes of the 2005 postseason, Jon Garland and Jose Contreras, were acquired by NL West teams yesterday. Let's round up reaction links.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports likes the stability Garland provides the Dodgers, and wonders if they should exercise his $10MM option for 2010. The Rockies and Rangers both had interest in Garland, who turns 30 this month. His contract states that he cannot be offered arbitration if he's a Type A free agent, but that's irrelevant since Garland is currently battling just for Type B status. ESPN's Buster Olney says the D'Backs are paying the entire freight for Garland, so the Dodgers will give up a decent player (we don't know who yet).
- Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says the Rockies acquired Contreras as a reaction to Aaron Cook's injury. Contreras was the consolation prize after the Rox were unable to meet the D'Backs' demands for Garland. The Sox will pay most of Contreras' remaining $2.7MM, compelling the Rockies to send pitching prospect Brandon Hynick to Chicago. Hynick talked to Jack Etkin of Inside The Rockies about the trade. Baseball America says he profiles as a back of the rotation innings eater, in their latest Handbook.
- How do you rank the recent NL West rotation additions, weighing these two moves and the Giants' signing of Brad Penny? Most folks would probably be inclined to say Garland, Penny, Contreras, but in one month's time anything can happen. All three pitchers have free agency as extra motivation.
Thome Trade Reactions
The White Sox sent designated hitter Jim Thome to the Dodgers last night, paying part of his remaining $2.4MM salary and receiving 26 year-old High A shortstop Justin Fuller ("just a player," according to Mark Gonzales' Dodgers source). Thome is hitting .249/.372/.493 in 417 plate appearances on the season.
The Sox are in third place in the AL Central, six games back (they've lost eight of their last nine). Baseball Prospectus puts Chicago's playoff chances at about 5.6%. Sox fans: would you have preferred to see Ken Williams focus on that 1 in 18 chance, and retain Thome? On to our links…
- In this ESPN story, Dodgers manager Joe Torre wouldn't rule out the idea of using Thome at first base occasionally. But GM Ned Colletti rejected the notion, and said Thome suggested it'd have to be an emergency situation. So Thome will mostly be a pinch-hitter, though he could DH if the Dodgers reach the World Series.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says Williams "shifted from buyer to seller in record time," given the recent acquisitions of Jake Peavy and Alex Rios. The Sox have Peavy through 2012 and Rios through 2014. Rosenthal also praises Colletti's many trade improvements (Thome, George Sherrill, Jon Garland, Ron Belliard), again done on a limited budget.
- Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune thinks Williams threw in the towel too early.
- Sox Machine runs through many interesting implications of the trade, including the chance to get a good look at Tyler Flowers. South Side Sox wonders if the good vibes could compel Thome to re-sign for 2010. Both blogs gripe about Chicago's July 7th Brandon Allen–Tony Pena deal.
- Thome projected as a Type A free agent in the American League; we'll get you his NL status later today. It's a moot point, as the Dodgers seem unlikely to offer arbitration.
Dodgers Acquire Jon Garland
8:18am: Via Twitter late last night, Gilbert mentioned a rumor that the D'Backs may receive infielder Tony Abreu in the Garland deal. He notes that Abreu would have to clear waivers; after the season as a player to be named later would also work. The 24 year-old crushed the ball in Triple A this year.
TUESDAY, 12:10am: Gilbert says Arizona is paying the rest of Garland's salary for this year, as well as the buyout of his 2010 option. Sweet deal for the Dodgers.
MONDAY, 11:18pm: The Dodgers have acquired righthander Jon Garland, according to SI.com's Jon Heyman. MLB.com's Steve Gilbert says the Diamondbacks will receive a player to be named later in return.
GM Ned Colletti has been looking to add a starter to his club for what seems like an eternity, and Garland gives them someone they can count on to take the ball every five days. He's started at least 32 games every season since 2002, and is on his way to completing that feat again this year. He had a 4.29 ERA in 167.2 IP for the Diamondbacks this year, his first foray into the National League.
There is a $10MM mutual option for Garland's services in 2010, with the buyout amount depending on who declines the option. Assuming the deal was completed before midnight ET on August 31st, Garland is eligible for the Dodgers' postseason roster.