Brewers To Make Suppan An Offer
According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Brewers will be putting together a proposal for free agent starter Jeff Suppan. I have heard from a source that the offer could be $33MM for three years plus a fourth year option. The Crew currently has Sheets, Capuano, Bush, and Vargas in the rotation. I think that’s quite solid if healthy.
The article also mentions the Giants, Mets, Rockies, Pirates, and Royals as suitors. And don’t forget the Cards, who could still re-sign him. I’ve heard that the Bucs only want to go two years on Suppan, offering a higher annual average value.
Jon Lieber Action
You know it’s a rough year for pitching when Jon Lieber is a hot commodity. I kid – he’s not that bad. Liebs turns 37 next April, and figures to be the most expendable of Philly’s six starters. He’ll make $7.5MM in 2007.
Home runs and hits got the best of Lieber last year, though his command remained elite. He had a 4.93 ERA overall, but can probably pitch at his second half level (4.53).
The Pirates wanted to bring him back, perhaps hoping they could right the wrong of trading him to the Cubs for Brant Brown. However, John Perrotto tells us that interest has cooled because the Phillies asked for Salomon Torres. Seems like a fair deal to me.
Joe Strauss wrote last week that the Cards could pursue Lieber, just as they did at the trading deadline. For all of Walt Jocketty’s posturing, the team needs one starter. Not sure if any talks are going on here.
A week ago, the Phils had a deal in place to send Lieber to Milwaukee for Kevin Mench and Derrick Turnbow. However, talks dried up two days later. Jim Salisbury threw Texas’s hat into the ring in the same article. The Rangers were another team trying to trade for him in July.
Speaking of last July, the Mets wanted in at that point too.
Early Evening Rumors
Rosenthal has dollar amounts for the Greg Maddux deal: the Padres will pay him $10M in 2007, with a player option for 2008. The option starts at $6M, but if Maddux reaches various plateaus, the option could increase in value to another $10M.
The Arlington Daily-Herald speculates that a Kevin Mench for Jon Lieber deal could be evened out by the Brewers sending along Jose Capellan. Capellan hasn’t lived up to his potential yet, but he’s still young enough that he could develop into a top-tier setup man. I’d be very surprised (not to mention disappointed) if Doug Melvin made that deal without getting something else of value in return.
According to Rotoworld, the Mets have offered Julio Lugo $36 million over four years, but Steve Phillips believes the Red Sox will sign him. Theo Epstein was quoted earlier today saying that Dustin Pedroia could be his opening day shortstop, but it’s hard to believe the Red Sox won’t find some way to upgrade at least one of their middle infield spots.
By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball
Machinations for Mench
There’s been surprising interest in Kevin Mench, according to Doug Melvin, and one of the teams who are known to be looking at the right-handed outfielder is the Philadelphia Phillies. One deal that was rumored a few weeks ago was Aaron Rowand for Mench and, perhaps, Damian Miller. The money is about even and Melvin seems to think he needs a proven center fielder, so that seemed plausible, but the Brewers may have balked at including Miller.
So this is interesting: the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (perhaps optimistically) speculates that Mench could be part of a deal for Jon Lieber. If speculation can lend credence to other speculation, here’s some: the Philadelphia Inquirer mentions that the Phillies could deal Rowand to the White Sox for one of Chicago’s surplus starters, freeing up Lieber for a different deal.
This all makes plenty of sense: it’s essentially a three-way trade in which the White Sox get the CF they want and make room in the rotation for Brandon McCarthy; the Phillies get the corner bat they want, improve the rotation, and open up center for Shane Victorino; and the Brewers take on a bit of payroll (which they have room for, a least a few million’s worth) and fill their one need at the meetings: a mid-rotation starter to take the pressure off of some combination of Claudio Vargas, Carlos Villanueva, and Zach Jackson.
By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball
Red Sox Interested In Turnbow?
Here’s a Boston closer option we hadn’t considered: Derrick Turnbow of Milwaukee. The bottom fell out for Turnbow this season as his walk and home run rates doubled from his 39 save breakthrough.
Turnbow will be 29 next year; he’s owed $2.3MM in 2007 and $3.2MM in 2008.
Counsell Signs With Brewers
Baseball Digest Daily reports that the Brewers have inked Craig Counsell to a two-year deal with a club option for 2009.
Did Doug Melvin really put out this kind of commitment to a utility infielder? Counsell could see a lot of playing time if Rickie Weeks or J.J. Hardy fall out of favor or are hurt again. Hardy in particular will see his playing time drop.
Yankees win Igawa bid
Looks like the Yankees won the bidding to negotiate with Japanese lefty Kei Igawa for $25 million. It was only a matter of time before Cashman threw some money around.
In other news, the Brewers are closing in on a deal with Craig Counsell. (I’m not a fan: once around was enough for me.) That’s right on the heels of hearing that Counsell was destined for San Diego; now, it would seem that Counsell’s original deal–two years of playing second base for the Padres–now will go to Tony Graffanino, who Doug Melvin had wanted to bring back to Milwaukee as a utility guy. The Brewers also resigned Brian Shouse, who was eligible for arbitration.
By Jeff Sackmann
Brewers finally making some noise
Doug Davis was known to be on the trading block…Johnny Estrada was known to be on the trading block…but I don’t think anybody expected the two of them to switch places.
The Brewers traded Davis, lefty starter Dana Eveland, and center fielder-with-an-attitude Dave Krynzel to the Diamondbacks for Estrada, starter Claudio Vargas, and reliever Greg Aquino. It’s an interesting move for the Crew: apparently Doug Melvin wasn’t comfortable going into spring training with Damian Miller as his starter and Mike Rivera and JD Closser as possible backups. Estrada will, presumably, split time with Miller.
The fascinating part of the deal to me is the pitching swap. Melvin likes to build his bullpens creatively, and it would’ve shocked me if he didn’t pick up at least one high-upside arm like Aquino before March. And both teams gain some years of cheap pitching: the Brewers replace Davis with Vargas, who they’ll have under their control for three more years. Vargas slides into Davis’s rotation spot. Eveland only has about a year of service time, so if he pans out, the D-Backs get him for five more years.
UPDATE: I’ve posted a little more analysis of the deal at my Brewers blog, along with some quotes from Doug Melvin on his three new acquisitions.
By Jeff Sackmann
Roberts to the Giants, and more
It looks like Dave Roberts is going to be a Giant. This will save San Francisco fans from self-immolation over their front office’s apparent inability to make stupid deals, and ensure that the Giants theme of "oldsters in the outfield" remains intact even with Steve Finley and possibly Barry Bonds on their way out.
In other news: Woody Williams got a two-year deal with the Astros for $12.5M. That seems remarkably sane, though I wouldn’t plan on drafting Woody for your fantasy team. He had an okay year in Petco, but he’s moving to one of the unfriendliest parks in baseball for pitching. If the short porch in left is going to do wonders for Carlos Lee, it’s going to hurt Williams nearly as much.
Phil Rogers offers a plethora of random thoughts: the Cubs want to move Jacque Jones; Jones or Geoff Jenkins would be an improvement for the White Sox (so he says); and the Sox could send Scott Podsednik and Juan Uribe to San Fran for Omar Vizquel (much less likely after the Roberts signing, I’d imagine). Emphasis on "could": he’s obviously just making stuff up.
Speaking of making stuff up: now that most of the center fielders out there have found homes, it’s time for the second basemen to start falling into place. There’s been more news lately of Adam Kennedy, who is likely to land in St. Louis, or possibly Toronto. The market for Kennedy, Ronnie Belliard, and others may depend on whether Julio Lugo and/or Ray Durham end up as outfielders, which would shrink the market for those teams who need second basemen.
By Jeff Sackmann
Lee, Williams, Catalanotto, Barajas, and Roberts
Tim sends his best from Cancun and wishes everyone was with him.
Not!
They are still trying to find their honeymoon hotel so he’s not quite sure when he’ll be back. And, no, he didn’t send any Cancun beach shots. Dang..
Speaking about vacations, how about the Astros signing Lee at $100m/6? Wow. My take is this – the power starved Astros obviously felt they were one player away and Lee happened to be available. He’ll probably hit 40 home runs despite all the talk about his lack of power after April last year. Don’t forget Minute Maid is full of hot air.
The Astros also jumped on Woody Williams at $12.5/2. I suppose this is a message to Astros fans that Pupura doesn’t expect the Rocket to resign. Just a guess. At 40-years old, Williams is a huge risk of course.
The Rangers signed Frank Catalanotto to a $13.5m/3 year deal today too. Dan Szymborwski at the Baseball Think Factory believes it is a solid deal for the Rangers, and I agree.
MLBTR’s reader eeleye99 was kind enough to offer up that the Blue Jays are reportedly ready to sign Rod Barajas as their every day receiver around $6m/2. Nice catch eeleye99 – thanks.
Another MLBTR reader – Rayman, found that Dave Roberts is reportedly picking the Giants over the Brewers. Kudo’s for the find Rayman.
At The Plate has started compiling all the teams top 10 prospects by publication. They have done a great job of this for several years now. You might want to bookmark the site.
Bucco Blog has indicated that the most sought out pitcher on the Pirates staff this winter has been southpaw Tom Gorzelanny. There have been rumors that the Braves wanted Gorzelanny and Maholm for LaRoche, and today Tracy Ringolsby, the award winning columnist of the Rocky Mountain News, has indicated that a Rockies Brad Hawpe trade has been discussed with the Pirates who will only give up Maholm. I assume they also want Gorzelanny in any package. I love Tracy’s writing – the guy is flat out kewl.
Interestingly, Ringolsby is also reporting in that article that agents are complaining that the Rockies didn’t offer enough to Francis in his latest $13.5/4 year deal. I suppose the agents had to find a way to say the "C" word this year, despite the soaring value of contracts so far.
Have you ever read the The Carbolic Smoke Ball blog? OMG – it is Hilllll ar ious.
By Jake at Bucco Blog