Rockies Rumors: Kim, Holliday
A few small Rockies tidbits from Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post:
- Part of the reason the Rockies were unable to bring reliever Ron Villone aboard was that they didn’t have room in their budget. To get some flexibility, they’d love to unload Byung-Hyun Kim‘s $2.5MM and get a cheap reliever in return. Renck mentions that the Rox have kicked the tires on Milwaukee’s recently demoted Jose Capellan.
- Scott Boras declared yesterday that there will be no in-season negotiations regarding a multiyear contract for Matt Holliday. Holliday won’t reach free agency until after 2009, but if he keeps doing what he’s doing he’ll make the most money by going year-to-year. Another Boras client, Joe Crede, has followed this model. I believe Crede can compare himself to free agent peers in his final arbitration year after this season. If you think he’s on par with Adrian Beltre, he might be in line for $10MM. That might mean a midsummer trade. But I digress.
Ken Rosenthal’s Latest
Ken Rosenthal has a new update up over at FOX Sports. The trade rumor highlights:
- Plenty of teams are interested in Brewers reliever Jose Capellan: the Giants, Rockies, Devil Rays, and Nationals. I’m surprised that Capellan was deemed unworthy of the Brewers’ pen; he gave them 70 decent innings last year. Rosenthal mentions that the Nats might convert Capellan back to a starter. A fine idea, as that’s how Capellan came up with the Braves. He just needs to get his curve and changeup tuned up.
- The story on Mike Cameron remains the same: the Padres don’t want to go past two years. A few days from now the team should know whether a compromise can be reached. Maybe a middle-ground vesting option for 2010. He’s a good athlete; he’s not going to age as poorly as some guys. If he leaves, maybe the Pads would sign Aaron Rowand. UPDATE: Just saw Mr. Rosenthal on television, and he mentioned the Braves as a mighty fine fit for Cameron if he hits the market.
- Rosenthal seems to hint that the Cubs should still get a five-year, $80MMish deal done with Carlos Zambrano, perhaps within a few months. At least, he’s urging them to close the deal despite the team being up for sale this summer.
Jose Capellan Requests Trade
Add Jose Capellan to the list of players who were sent to AAA that would now like to be traded:
Capellan’s agent, Bill Rego, contacted [Brewers] general manager Doug Melvin and requested that his client be traded to another organization.
Capellan had a very poor spring, pitching to an ERA over five and allowed opposing batters to hit .391 against him. But last season, his first full year in the majors, the twenty-six year old, who was part of the Danny Kolb trade with Atlanta, pitched to a 4.40 ERA, held opposing batters to a decent average, though he walked a few too many batters.
There are a lot of teams looking for bullpen help, Capellan could be an answer for some teams.
Tom Goyne is the author of Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, a Phillies-centric site, and maintains the Phloggers’ Pheeds page, a source for the latest commentary from around the "phlogosphere".
Turnbow Staying Put?
Andy Baggot of the Wisconsin State Journal speculates that Derrick Turnbow could become "attractive trade material" if he can return to form this year. As you know, relievers are in short supply.
So far this spring, Turnbow has walked four in 8.6 innings. Not much can be said from that sample. While his strikeout rate was a career high last year, Turnbow was lousy by every other metric. The Brewers have him signed for $5.5MM for 2007-08.
Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel pondered whether the Crew’s recent Elmer Dessens acquisition could open the door for a Turnbow trade. While teams have scouted Turnbow (the Red Sox recently), GM Doug Melvin said he would not trade him.
With Francisco Cordero a candidate to leave as a free agent after this year, perhaps the Brewers are still holding out hope that Turnbow can be their ninth inning guy.
Brewers, Dodgers Swap Clark and Dessens
According to Baseball Digest Daily, the Brewers have sent Brady Clark and cash considerations to the Dodgers for reliever Elmer Dessens.
Clark, 34, can play all three outfield positions. Perhaps the Jason Repko injury inspired this trade. Clark had a nice year leading off for the Brewers in ’05, but his power fell off last year. He did manage to increase his walk rate though. Clark makes $3.8MM this season in the last year of his contract. This enables Gabe Gross to make the Brewers, though they could stand to unload Kevin Mench or Geoff Jenkins.
Dessens is 35; he earns $1.7MM this year. However, the Royals are paying all of that. He has decent control and can eat some innings at the back of the bullpen.
Brewers Interested In Mackowiak
According to the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Gonzales, the Brewers have an interest in White Sox utility man Rob Mackowiak. The White Sox don’t have a lot of room in the outfield for the 30 year-old Oak Lawn native.
Gonzales writes that the Brew Crew would use Mackowiak mainly as a backup at second and third, and may be offering Brady Clark. Clark doesn’t constitute an upgrade for the Sox, so the clubs would have to keep working to find a fit. GMs Doug Melvin and Kenny Williams pulled off a major deal in December of 2004 in the Carlos Lee/Scott Podsednik swap.
The Brewers have a fantastic long-term solution at third base in Ryan Braun, if he can only learn to play credible defense.
Red Sox Scouting Turnbow?
My apologies for the lack of posts today; I had an all-day fantasy draft. Back to trade rumors: Adam McCalvy of MLB.com had several Brewers ones in today’s article.
To begin with, 26 year-old righty starter Ben Hendrickson cleared waivers and was sent to Triple A. He was angry about it, perhaps because he had a 2.45 ERA in five appearances this spring. Apparently the Nationals and Padres are interested, and both the Brewers and Hendrickson look forward to a trade. According to Baseball America, Hendrickson has a plus curve and an 88-91 fastball. He may be a Quad-A type player; PECOTA sees a 5.00 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in 109 innings.
The Red Sox had a scout watching Derrick Turnbow on Friday, though Doug Melvin says he’s not shopping the reliever. Maybe Sox pitching coach John Farrell can fix Turnbow’s walk problem, but it’s a long shot. Turnbow has two years and $5.5MM left on his contract. While that extension was ill-advised, it’s not nearly as bad as the Cubs giving Ryan Dempster three years and $15.5MM. In both cases, fairly small samples of decent control were taken as permanent and rewarded.
McCalvy also mentioned a "lunchroom rumor" that had the Padres looking at Brady Clark. Melvin said he hasn’t heard from the club. The Crew would love to shed Clark’s $3.8MM salary.
2007 Milwaukee Brewers
Brew Crew time! Let’s check out everyone’s favorite "sleeper" pick for this year. I should give a shoutout to the two best Brewers blogs, Brew Crew Ball and Al’s Ramblings. Both were instrumental in this estimate of the 25-man roster.
Doug Melvin’s contract obligations:
C – Johnny Estrada – $3.4MM + incentives
C – Damian Miller – $2.75MM
1B – Prince Fielder – $0.415MM
2B – Rickie Weeks – $1.22MM (estimated)
SS – J.J. Hardy – $0.38MM
3B – Tony Graffanino – $3.25MM/Craig Counsell – $2.8MM
LF – Geoff Jenkins – $7MM
CF – Bill Hall – $3MM
RF – Corey Hart – $0.38MM
OF – Brady Clark – $3.8MM
OF – Kevin Mench – $3.4MM
OF – Gabe Gross – $0.38MM
SP – Ben Sheets – $10MM
SP – Jeff Suppan – $6MM + $0.25MM signing bonus = $6.25MM
SP – Chris Capuano – $3.25MM
SP – Claudio Vargas – $2.5MM
SP – Dave Bush – $0.38MM
RP – Francisco Cordero – $5MM
RP – Derrick Turnbow – $2.3MM + incentives
RP – Brian Shouse – $0.975MM
RP – Matt Wise – $1MM
RP – Jose Capellan – $0.38MM
RP – Greg Aquino – $0.38MM
RP – Carlos Villanueva – $0.38MM
Injured/Minors:
3B – Corey Koskie – $2MM (post-concussion syndrome)
3B – Ryan Braun – $0.38MM
3B – Vinnie Rottino – $0.38MM
RP – Grant Balfour – $0.415MM
SP – Yovani Gallardo – $0.38MM
It’s about $62MM worth of players, up about $5 mil from Opening Day last year. The payroll has been managed well, and I think management would be willing to make a midseason trade to put the team over the hump.
The middle infield combo just needs to stay healthy for a full season; no one doubts their ability to hit. Because of the injury possibility, the Crew went out and got Counsell this winter. They might not have wanted Graffanino to accept arbitration, but he gives them depth to cover third base until Ryan Braun is ready. Braun has a robust PECOTA forecast of .283/.341/.504. He should be up by May if he sore elbow is OK. Koskie, meanwhile, is nowhere near game ready and may never be. It’s not a particularly impressive defensive infield, but the bats should compensate.
The outfield will have Hall and Hart as full-timers. I’ve currently got six outfielders listed for the Brewers, but a trade of Mench seems in the cards. That’d clear left field for Jenkins, leave Clark as the CF backup, and open a spot for Gross to make the team. The division has all sorts of virgin CFs in Hall, Alfonso Soriano, and Chris Burke. Griffey might move to right, also.
The Brewers had a poor offense last year. They’ll get more out of the catcher spot with Estrada, a step forward from Fielder, and a slight downgrade in left compared to Carlos Lee. A big year from Hart plus a healthy middle infield would move the offense toward the middle of the pack.
The rotation is set, and a major strength. Sheets will be one of baseball’s best if he’s healthy, and he’s looked good so far. The team isn’t completely screwed if he goes down – Carlos Villanueva and Yovani Gallardo can step in admirably. Gallardo doesn’t get a ton of hype, but his PECOTA calls for a 3.92 ERA and 1.35 WHIP in 141 innings as a rookie. That’s ROY material.
The bullpen was lousy last year. It can’t help but improve with the subtractions of Dan Kolb, Geremi Gonzalez, Zach Jackson, Jorge de la Rosa, and Dana Eveland. A full season of Cordero and a shorter leash for Turnbow should also help.
The Brewers have a good chance of winning the NL Central on the strength of their starting rotation. If the offense comes together, a core of Fielder/Weeks/Hardy/Braun/Hall/Hart could be above average. If anything is missing by July, a major trade and the promotion of Gallardo could push them into the playoffs.
Brewers Sign Jeff Suppan
The Brewers have added righty Jeff Suppan to their rotation at a cost of four years, $42MM. There’s a club option for 2011. So much for waiting out Zito. You can read the press release here.
This is may be the best rotation in the NL Central:
Ben Sheets
Chris Capuano
Dave Bush
Jeff Suppan
Claudio Vargas
Oddly, I am projecting Suppan to be the worst pitcher on the staff. Overall I expect a 3.95 ERA from these five.
Mets Visit Jeff Suppan, Brewers Make Offer
It’s old news at this point, but I should mention that the Mets visited with free agent starter Jeff Suppan and his agent in California yesterday morning.
Suppan is the backup plan for teams like the Mets and Giants, one of which won’t get Barry Zito. A few small-market clubs who can’t afford Zito hope to swoop in and snag Suppan as well. Also, I forgot to write a soup-related pun so please feel free to do that in the comments. Have we seen "No Soup For You!" as a headline yet? Suppan should spurn some team so we can watch sixteen newspapers say that.
UPDATE: Cheese Soup? Seriously, that is well done.