Twins Rumors

Stark’s Latest: Sabathia, Furcal, Peavy

By Tim Dierkes | December 3, 2008 at 5:48pm CDT

A few notes from Jayson Stark’s latest blog post…

Stark believes the possibility of C.C. Sabathia signing with the Giants is alive, and the Giants have talked to the pitcher’s agent. Such a signing might compel Brian Sabean to remove Matt Cain’s "untouchable" tag, in Stark’s opinion. Earlier today Ken Rosenthal suggested the Giants were a dark horse for C.C. Also, Sabathia’s wife Amber prefers the Giants according to George King.
The Giants offered three years to Rafael Furcal. He wants four, so they switched their attention to Edgar Renteria. The Giants want a shorter-term deal so their own prospects can take over within a few years.
Stark notes that the recent Jake Peavy-Cubs rumors do not seem to be coming out of Chicago. He suggests those talks may not be active, partially because the Cubs are in payroll limbo til their sale goes through.
The Twins and Dodgers have two year offers out to Casey Blake. Whichever team blinks and adds a third year can get him.

Odds and Ends: Griffey, Springer, Hoffman

By Tim Dierkes | December 3, 2008 at 3:14pm CDT

Links for Wednesday…

Common misconception Joe and I keep running into: signing one of the 15 Type A free agents who were offered arbitration will only cost the signing team one draft pick. The player’s old team also gets a second pick, but it doesn’t come from the new team. It’s just squeezed into the supplemental round. Check out a deeper explanation here.
Nuggets from a Frank Coonelly chat: he expects the Pirates to make room on the 40-man roster for a potential Rule 5 addition, and they’d still like to re-sign Doug Mientkiewicz.
Pirates pitcher Jason Davis looks like a non-tender candidate.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire doesn’t have Delmon Young in his preferred starting outfield.
The Cubs signed pitcher Chad Fox to a minor league deal.
Ken Griffey Jr.’s agent Brian Goldberg says he’s fine with DHing but is capable of playing the field. Goldberg thinks Junior can bounce back and have a 30 home run season.
Click here to listen to free agent reliever Russ Springer talk to The ITD Morning After radio show on 1380 AM. He’s gotten calls from teams in both leagues, including "World Series participants." Springer is known to be on the Phillies’ radar.
Recently I talked to Sarah Small of the Daily Illini.
SI.com’s Tom Verducci looks at the supposed shortstop revolution that seems to have petered out.
Dave Cameron respects the Astros’ signing of Mike Hampton.
Tony Jackson says the Dodgers offered a minor league deal to Juan Castro.
Royals GM Dayton Moore did a Q&A with fans at MLB.com. His priority is adding right-handed relief help after trading Leo Nunez and Ramon Ramirez. Also, he says Mark Teahen is "more important to our team today then he was in all of 2008 — and he was very important to our team in ’08."
McCovey Chronicles is skeptical of all the teams blaming the economy.
Drunk Jays Fans predicts Kevin Mench’s Japan experience.
Jesse Spector looks at comparable pitchers for C.C. Sabathia.
Trevor Hoffman may meet with the Mets soon. Also, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon spoke of "addition by subtraction" yesterday.
East Windup Chronicle disputes a Richard Griffin column.
The Phillies are still willing to sign Type A free agents who were offered arbitration, such as Raul Ibanez or Juan Cruz.
Evan Grant’s latest Rangers mailbag, always a good read.
Joe Sheehan discusses various poor arbitration decisions by teams.
Minor league deals for the Mets: Nelson Figueroa, Adam Bostick, and Rene Rivera. Marty Noble adds Andy Green.
Rany Jazayerli figures Mark Grudzielanek agreed in advance to reject the Royals’ offer of arbitration.
As usual, ESPN will be all over the Winter Meetings. I’m told they’ll be doing daily Baseball Tonight specials and will have a team of seven on the scene in Vegas.
ESPN’s Peter Gammons says the free agent and trade markets are flooded with corner/DH type bats. There will be bargains.
Bruce Miles thinks Milton Bradley would be a nice match for the Cubs. The biggest issue would be his ability to play right field every day.

Brown’s Latest: Sabathia, Blake, Young

By Tim Dierkes | December 2, 2008 at 6:56pm CDT

6:56pm: Ken Rosenthal has more on Blake after talking to his agent Jim McDowell. Blake seeks a three-year deal, and the Twins and Dodgers are in the lead for his services. The Indians have been less persistent, as they don’t want to give him three years. Brown wrote earlier that the Twins feel the same.

6:23pm: Let’s take a look at the latest from Yahoo’s Tim Brown.

C.C. Sabathia has had no conversations with the Dodgers in recent weeks.
Casey Blake opened negotiations with the Twins at three years and $20MM. That’s not a price the Twins are willing to pay, rightfully so. The Indians have cooled on Blake as well.
Brown says teams aware of the Twins’ outfield depth have been calling Twins GM Bill Smith about Delmon Young.

Rays Willing To Trade Bartlett?

By Tim Dierkes | December 2, 2008 at 3:43pm CDT

Rays Index points us to a Danny Knobler report that indicates the Rays are willing to trade shortstop Jason Bartlett. Not only that, but the Rays had brief talks with the Twins about acquiring Delmon Young or Denard Span.

With Reid Brignac posting a .299 OBP in Triple A and Tim Beckham a year removed from high school, it’d be surprising if the Rays dealt their starting shortstop.

Twins Offer Arb To Dennys Reyes

By Tim Dierkes | December 1, 2008 at 4:20pm CDT

According to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins offered arbitration to Type B free agent reliever Dennys Reyes. Reyes earned $1MM this year while tossing 46.1 solid innings, so the Twins can’t go wrong either way.

Twins Rumors: Padres, Blake, Reyes

By Tim Dierkes | November 26, 2008 at 4:48pm CDT

Joe Christensen brings us the latest on the Twins, but unfortunately there’s not much going on.

Christensen learned from a Padres official that there’s been very little dialogue with the Twins. Some have suggested Kevin Kouzmanoff and Khalil Greene would be fits for Minnesota. Hopefully they’re setting their sights higher.
On the Casey Blake front: slight progress.
The Twins have an arbitration decision to make by Monday’s deadline with Dennys Reyes, who is a Type B. The Twins won’t get burned badly if Reyes accepts, so I imagine they’ll offer. He probably wants two years somewhere instead.

Odds and Ends: Kawakami, Griffey, Greinke

By Tim Dierkes | November 25, 2008 at 1:05pm CDT

Links for Tuesday…

The weekly chat has been moved to Wednesday at 2pm CST this time.
I’ll be on Seth Stohs’ radio show tonight around 8pm CST.
From NPB Tracker: Kenshin Kawakami has switched to Dan Evans as his agent, while Koji Uehara wants a rotation spot and multiple years.
Ken Griffey Jr.’s agent, Brian Goldberg, has been in contact with nine teams (six AL, three NL). The Mariners were one of the AL teams.
It’s been over a decade since the White Sox signed a free agent from another team for more than $20MM.
Justin Morneau would like the Twins to add one more bat.
East Windup Chronicle has scouting reports on Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel.
Things are quiet with the Dodgers – no recent talks for Manny Ramirez, "no real movement" on C.C. Sabathia.
Rany Jazayerli questions the Royals’ nonchalance toward signing Zack Greinke.
Nothing is close with the Tigers and Joe Beimel, and the team will not make an offer to Junichi Tazawa (partially to preserve their relationships in Japan).
The Brewers signed Jason Bourgeois to a minor league deal. Bourgeois, 27 in January, hit .286/.335/.404 in Triple A this year.
Quietly, the Indians signed reliever Greg Aquino. He pitched well in Triple A this year but missed time with a hamstring strain.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Dye, Burrell, Young

By Tim Dierkes | November 25, 2008 at 9:42am CDT

Here’s a look at the latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.

Rosenthal says the Braves are interested in A.J. Burnett, but you already knew that.
Rosenthal believes Trevor Hoffman to the Dodgers "makes sense."
The Red Sox apparently have confidence they could trade Mike Lowell if need be, but rival execs believe he’d have to prove his health in spring first. Lowell has two years and $24MM on his deal.
The White Sox want a young starter and additional players for right fielder Jermaine Dye. The Mets, Rays, and Phillies are "balking at such a price." Rosenthal learned that most of the six teams on Dye’s no-trade list are in the northeast. Interesting that the White Sox are still willing to trade Dye after moving Nick Swisher.
The Mets "aren’t enamored" with Javier Vazquez.
Rosenthal suggests the Rays will sit back and hope one of the free agent DH-types becomes a bargain for them.
SI.com’s Jon Heyman wrote on Friday that the "Braves, Dodgers, and Mets are believed to be among teams that have inquired about Rangers starting pitchers Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla." However, Rosenthal says the Braves and Mets are not interested in either pitcher and the Rangers aren’t desperate to move them.
Rosenthal has Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes, and Pat Burrell on the Angels’ radar if they fail to sign Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, or Manny Ramirez.
A rival GM tells Rosenthal Twins outfielder Delmon Young is "very, very much out there."

Twins To Avoid Type A Free Agents?

By Tim Dierkes | November 24, 2008 at 9:58am CDT

A note from Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

I’ve been told it’s highly doubtful the Twins will sign a Type A free agent, which would cost them their first-round draft pick next June, though they have checked into some of the Type A relievers and are in a “Never say never” mode.

The Twins own the #23 pick in next year’s draft. Players such as Orlando Cabrera, Doug Brocail, Juan Cruz, Darren Oliver, and Russ Springer would presumably cost them that pick.

Christensen also notes that the Twins had strong interest in Jeremy Affeldt and scouted Dayan Viciedo.

Twins Making Progress With Blake

By Tim Dierkes | November 21, 2008 at 10:45am CDT

Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says the Twins have yet to make a formal offer to Casey Blake, but they’re making progress in discussions of the term and salary range. Blake’s agent says eight clubs are interested but only four have discussed a contract.

Blake is looking for a three-year deal, and doesn’t have any geographic leanings. The Indians, Dodgers, and Rangers are known to be in the mix. T.R. Sullivan believes Blake and Joe Crede are out of the Rangers’ price range, however.

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