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Heyman On Andruw, Pedro, Crede, Grudz

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The latest from SI.com’s Jon Heyman…

  • The Yankees offered a minor league deal to Andruw Jones, which he turned down.  Other teams "thought to have interest": the Rangers, Phillies, Braves, and Mets.
  • Heyman thinks Pedro Martinez makes a lot of sense for the Dodgers.  However, Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times learned from Ned Colletti on January 6th that the Dodgers weren’t among the teams pursuing Pedro.
  • Jason Varitek’s camp (ie, Scott Boras) apparently has no regrets about rejecting arbitration since it wouldn’t have been a guaranteed contract.
  • Chad Cordero’s next showcase is scheduled for February 19th.
  • Heyman has the Twins as favorites over the Giants to sign Joe Crede.  More on Crede here.
  • Heyman says the Yankees feel they’re more likely to find a deal for Nick Swisher than Xavier Nady.
  • Add Mark Grudzielanek to the list of right-handed hitters the Phillies are considering (Nomar Garciaparra, Rich Aurilia, and Moises Alou being the others).

Odds and Ends: Crede, Jays, Howard

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Links for Wednesday…

Twins Looking To Avoid Arb With Guerrier

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Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the Twins have made multi-year offers to reliever Matt Guerrier, but have made little progress.

The Twins are hoping to avoid an arbitration hearing with the 30-year-old right-hander.  Guerrier and his representatives asked for $1.75MM while the Twins submitted a $1.2MM bid.  He was great from 2005-2007, but struggled last season under a heavy workload once Pat Neshek hit the disabled list.  Christensen writes that the Twins "appear detemined to take this all the way" to a hearing.

Twins Showing Interest In Jarrod Washburn

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TUESDAY, 7:37pm: Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that the Twins have "lost their appetite for a Jarrod Washburn trade."  It probably had something to do with his $10.35MM ’09 salary.

MONDAY, 8:49pm: According to John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intellegencer, the Twins have "some interest" in dealing for left-hander Jarrod Washburn.

Hickey writes that the Mariners and Twins discussed a deal last week that would have sent Washburn and catcher Jeff Clement to Minnesota for 23-year-old outfielder Delmon Young.  It’s not known whether that particular deal fell through, but it’s likely.  The pieces just don’t seem to fit.  Washburn, 34, went 5-14 last season with a 4.69 ERA and the Twins already have a young, All-Star catcher.

The M’s are trying to dump some cash in order to make a play for one of the remaining free agent outfielders and would accomplish the feat if they can move Washburn, who’s set to rake in $10.35MM this year.  They’ve shown interest in Bobby Abreu, Garret Anderson and Ken Griffey Jr. so far this offseason.

Baker Open To Long-Term Deal

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Twins right-hander Scott Baker said recently that he would be open to signing a long-term deal to stay in Minnesota.  Kelly Thesier has the report over at MLB.com.

"I have definitely entertained the idea of it." Baker said. "I like this place. I like playing here. I like the coaching staff and obviously we have a great clubhouse. It’s kind of up to them, but I definitely have thought about it."

Multiyear deals for pitchers can be risky, but Baker has shown the kind of consistency over the past two seasons that would warrant long-term consideration by most teams.  He is 20-13 with a 3.81 ERA in 381 innings since the start of 2007 and is still only 27 years of age.

Joe Crede Workout

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SUNDAY: Christensen says that the Twins will check Crede’s progress again this week. He couldn’t get another update on Crede heading into the weekend.

THURSDAY: Christensen heard Crede looked good at the workout and drew new contract offers (none from the Twins).  Crede apparently wants a base salary above the $5.1MM he earned last year, plus incentives.  Jon Heyman confirms the Giants’ attendance.

WEDNESDAY: According to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Joe Crede worked out for scouts in Arizona today.  The Twins were apparently in attendance.  We’ll update the post if more attendees are revealed; the Giants were supposed to be there according to Nick Cafardo.

Cafardo’s Latest: Players Out Of Options

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Lots of stuff in Nick Cafardo’s column in the Boston Globe to go over.

With around 100 free agents vying for less than 20 remaining roster spots, things become more interesting with 227 players on big-league rosters who are out of options. If a player is out of options and is not rostered, he has to either be traded or designated for assignment. If designated, that player has to clear waivers. This could affect remaining free agent signings. Cafardo makes note of a few who are out of options and may wind up as trade fodder or designated for assignment before the season begins:

Red Sox: George Kottaras
Yankees: Melky Cabrera
Cubs: Chad Gaudin, Rich Hill (possibly heading to Baltimore?)
Brewers: Tony Gwynn Jr.
Indians: Anthony Reyes, Andy Marte
Twins: Boof Bonser, Philip Humber
Rays: Jeff Niemann
Orioles: David Pauley

  • With Jason Varitek re-signed, the Red Sox will either have to trade catcher Kottaras or designate him for assignment.
  • Cafardo notes Niemann is a former No. 1 pick and the righthander should garner some attention.
  • Bonser or Humber could be traded to land a reliever. Cafardo also mentions Delmon Young as a possible trading chip.

A few more bullets from Cafardo’s notebook:

  • Scott Boras thinks the World Baseball Classic will showcase Ivan Rodriguez and generate "even more" interest for the 14-time All-Star catcher.
  • Cafardo mentioned Manny Ramirez to Omar Minaya and Minaya laughed it off saying, "We’ll look into adding some offense, but only if it makes sense."
  • All quiet on the Jake Peavy front.
  • Cafardo calls Randy Johnson’s $8MM deal from the Giants as "a stroke of genius" by his agents.
  • In case you missed it, Bobby Kielty signed a minor-league deal with the Mets last week.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Mariners, Young, Shouse

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Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports compiles a number of rumors from around the majors:

  • The Mariners need to free up money, but to do so, they’d likely have to trade one of Adrian Beltre, Jarrod Washburn or Miguel Batista. All three will be free agents after the season, but moving one of them would be "extremely difficult."
  • The Mariners and Yankees considered a Hideki Matsui-Washburn swap, but Matsui’s contract ($13MM) pays him more than Washburn’s ($10.35MM) so they didn’t find a match.
  • The Twins are looking to move Delmon Young.
  • They showed interest in Washburn last year, but only some of Rosenthal’s sources believe he and Delmon Young could be the foundation for a larger deal.
  • Rosenthal has a source who says the Yankees are not currently pursuing Juan Cruz. Yesterday, we had a discussion about the rules regarding free agent quotas.
  • The Yanks like their bullpen, but they could try to add an arm if they trade Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher.
  • The Rays are making a strong run at Brian Shouse.
  • The Orioles would not likely have to give up much more than a low-level prospect to deal for Rich Hill.

Twins Hot Stove Update: Ayala, Crede

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Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a few updates on the Twins’ hot stove:

  • The club has had discussions with free agent reliever Luis Ayala, who finished with a 5.71 ERA in 81 appearances for the Nationals and Mets last season.
  • The Twins had two scouts at Joe Crede’s workout on Wednesday.  Christensen writes that "it sounds like they need to see him more times before they’ll feel safe investing millions of guaranteed money."

Twins Sign Jason Kubel For Two Years

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1-29-09: The Kubel signing is official.  The contract details, according to Christensen: "The deal is worth $7.2MM. Kubel will make $2.75MM this year, $4.1MM in 2010, and his 2011 salary would be $5.1MM, with a $350K buyout."

1-27-09: Joe Christensen says Kubel’s two-year deal is for about $7MM, with a 2011 option for $5MM.

1-20-09: According to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins signed Jason Kubel to a two-year deal with a third-year option, pending a physical.  The deal buys out Kubel’s final two arb years and gives the Twins an option on his first free agent season.

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