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Odds And Ends: Mahay, Hudson, Wagner

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Some links to distract you from the Brad Penny rumors…

  • Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune hears indications that the Twins could consider dealing for Ron Mahay, who the Royals just designated for assignment.
  • ESPN passes along an AP report informing us that Tim Hudson will make his 2009 season debut on Monday. It would be a surprise if the Braves turned out to be the team that claimed Rich Harden given their pitching depth.
  • Newsday's Ken Davidoff points us to an interesting wrinkle in the rulebook. Teams that offer their free agents arbitration don't have to offer them anything close to the salary they made the previous season. So if the Red Sox decide they want to offer Billy Wagner less than $8MM next year, they can do so. This is not the case for players who don't yet have six years of service time. 

Odds & Ends: Padilla, Riggleman, Cabrera, Twins

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Some links to wrap up your Thursday night…

Draft Updates: D-Backs, Twins, Yankees, Mets

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A few more loose draft links…

  • Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Repubic reports that the Diamondbacks have made a new offer to seventh round pick Matt Helm, but it will only be the table for another two hours. Piecoro notes that Helm said he was looking for third round money last month.
  • Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune notes that the Twins are stil in talks with first rounder Kyle Gibson. Over the weekend we learned that the two sides were about $1MM apart. Christensen also mentions that 44th rounder Tyler Herr has agreed to terms.
  • Peter Abraham of The Journal News says the Yankees have come to an agreement with 21st rounder Joe Talerico.
  • ESPN's Keith Law confirms that righty David Buchanan will not be signing with the Mets. He was their sixth rounder.

Twins, Gibson Still Far Apart In Negotiations

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The Twins and first round pick Kyle Gibson are "about a million dollars apart in their negotiations," according to ESPN's Keith Law. Gibson suffered a stress fracture in his pitching arm right before the draft, but the bone has healed and he's been throwing for about three weeks now.

Selected 22nd overall, Gibson was considered a potential top ten pick before his injury. MLB's recommended slot bonus for the 22nd overall pick is roughy $1.29MM, and a seven figure gap in negotiations is pretty significant with less than three days until the signing deadline.

Eckstein Preferred To Stay In San Diego

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Corey Brock from MLB.com writes that David Eckstein told general manager Kevin Towers he'd prefer to remain in San Diego when the Twins called to ask about his availability, prior to the July 31 deadline.

According to Brock, Towers didn't want to move Eckstein but thought he owed Eckstein the chance to go to a team with some playoff hopes if he desired. Eckstein didn't:

"I want to be a guy who can help these young guys out. I don't think this club is as far off as some people think. They've got to learn how to play the game the right way, because next year, there's not going to be any excuses. These guys are starting to step up."

San Diego is in rebuild mode, with lots of young players such as Kyle Blanks, Chase Headley, and Eckstein's partner up the middle, Everth Cabrera, whom Eckstein enjoys playing with:

"Playing alongside a guy like Everth, that inspires you." 

Eckstein signed a one-year deal with the Padres this offseason worth $850K, but Towers says that he'd like to talk with Eckstein about extending his contract before season's end.

Twins Acquire Carl Pavano

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The Twins deepened their rotation today, acquiring Carl Pavano from the Indians for a player to be named later, according to a team press release. Pavano, 33, has allowed 150 hits in 125.2 innings, posting a respectable 88K/23BB ratio.

His base salary is just $1.5MM, but in addition to the $500k remaining on his contract, Pavano stands to earn a lot through incentives. If he makes 10 more starts and averages 6.0 IP per outing, he'll make another $1.75 in bonuses. We heard yesterday that the Indians expect to lose $16MM this year, but they'll receive some relief if the Twins are paying the rest of Pavano's contract.

A note from Kelsie Smith of the Pioneer Press: The Twins claimed Pavano off waivers before making the deal.

Which Teams Took On Salary At The Deadline?

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As the trade deadline approached, we heard many writers and executives suggest teams would be unable to add payroll this year. Here's a breakdown of the teams that added at least $1MM in salary to their 2009 payrolls this summer. All totals are approximate:

In total, 12 teams added payroll, but only one took on more than $5MM. The prognosticators were right about one thing: teams didn't take on much payroll. However, few predicted 12 teams would take on salary at the deadline. Looks like many teams set economic concerns aside when presented with the chance to win.

Twins Seek Pitching

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According to Joe Christensen at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins were hot after pitching before the July 31st deadline but came up empty. However, they're optimistic that they can get something done in August. As Twins GM Bill Smith told Christensen:

“There were very few relievers who got traded this week,” GM Bill Smith noted. “I won’t claim this, I read this the other day: Every team with a reliever was trying to turn a Larry Anderson into a Jeff Bagwell.”

With recent rocky starts by the Twins' young staff and a depleted bullpen, Christensen believes the team could use simply a consistent option–it need not be a "sexy addition," just a veteran to provide depth. He lists Jon Garland, Doug Davis, Kevin Correia and Miguel Batista as potentially interesting names for the Twins.

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