Twins Rumors

Rosenthal’s Latest: Mariners, Young, Shouse

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | January 31, 2009 at 9:11am CDT

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

By | January 29, 2009 at 7:40pm CDT

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

By Tim Dierkes | January 29, 2009 at 2:36pm CDT

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.

Twins End Talks With Gagne

By DJ Blatter | January 28, 2009 at 11:13pm CDT

According to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins have broken off talks with Eric Gagne. Christensen reports that the Twins are now turning their focus to finding eighth-inning relief help through a trade. Gagne’s talks with the Twins had advanced pretty far – he was ready to accept a one-year deal with a $3MM base and $500K in incentives. Hopefully we’ll find out why the Twins slammed on the brakes.

Odds And Ends: Heilman, Pedro, Twins

By DJ Blatter | January 28, 2009 at 9:54pm CDT

A few more links for Wednesday…

Ryan Howard said a long-term deal with the Phillies would be "beautiful," for what it’s worth.
The New York Times’ Ben Shpigel comments on the Aaron Heilman deal and its effect on new teammate Jeff Samardzija.
Marty Noble of MLB.com learned that Mets GM Omar Minaya met with Pedro Martinez in the Dominican Republic today, but did not make an offer (and re-signing him remains a long shot).
Yahoo’s Tim Brown has the roundup on the Twins’ hot stove happenings.
Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog.com takes on the Manny Ramirez-to-Mets conspiracy theorists.

Odds and Ends: Sherrill, Kubel, Teahen

By Tim Dierkes | January 28, 2009 at 10:03am CDT

Links for Wednesday…

T.R. Sullivan examines the Rangers’ interest level in 25 free agents.
An article about Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus.
Rany Jazayerli suggests the Jeremy Bonderman contract might have been a model for Zack Greinke’s deal.
George Sherrill’s arbitration hearing is set for February 19th. The Orioles are at $2.2MM while Sherrill requested $3.4MM, putting the midpoint at $2.8MM.
Jack Marshall discusses the ethics of Scott Boras.
Barry Bloom looks at the remaining free agent starting pitchers and possible suitors.
Dave Cameron questions the Twins’ recent Jason Kubel contract.
Sam Mellinger talks about the Mark Teahen second base experiment.
Will Clark is set to join the Giants’ front office.

Odds and Ends: Lohse, Reyes, Greinke, Howard

By Tim Dierkes | January 27, 2009 at 9:52am CDT

Links for Tuesday…

Chat today, 2pm CST.
Rangers president Nolan Ryan called the Winter Meetings "a big waste of money and time."
Nationals GM Jim Bowden implied that a Tom Glavine signing is unlikely.
Kyle Lohse feels the pain of all the unsigned free agents; he didn’t sign until March 14th last year. Lohse said he "put a lot of pressure on all parties" to get his four-year, $41MM extension done on September 29th. Given that it wasn’t on the open market, Scott Boras did well for Lohse.
The Dodgers prefer Dennys Reyes over Luis Ayala, says Ken Gurnick.
Joe Posnanski loves the Zack Greinke signing. Sam Mellinger says the Royals and fans are no longer allowed to complain about baseball’s financial structure.
Maury Brown leans slightly toward Ryan Howard winning his arbitration case. I think the Phillies will prevail.
Brandon Lyon turned down more lucrative offers for a chance to close in Detroit. ESPN’s Keith Law likes the Tigers’ signing, in part due to Jim Leyland’s track record with relievers.
The Marlins seem to prefer the trade market, if they are to add a catcher.
Joe Nathan knows his $47MM extension signed in March of ’08 is looking pretty good right now.

Odds and Ends: Yamarin, Eaton, Atkins, Ohman

By Tim Dierkes | January 26, 2009 at 2:02pm CDT

Links for Monday…

Yankees and Red Sox fans are dreaming of Joe Mauer, whose contract is up after the 2010 season.
Updated June draft order, courtesy of Baseball America.
The Braves signed a Japanese amateur pitcher named Yoshinori Yamarin to a minor league deal.
Adam Eaton is not a candidate for the Phillies’ fifth starter job, and they’ll probably release him and eat his contract if they can’t trade him.
MLB.com made a nice addition in Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki.
Arbitration hearing dates are set for Paul Maholm and Nate McLouth.
Jim Salisbury writes about Tal Smith, who prepares arbitration cases for clubs.
Garrett Atkins comments on his arbitration request and his future with the Rockies.
The Reds voided the contract of 16 year-old Venezuelan pitcher Ismael Guillon and re-signed him for less due to a problem found during his physical.
Athletics Nation talked to MLB.com beat writer Mychael Urban.
David O’Brien chatted with unsigned reliever Will Ohman.
Orioles infielder Oscar Salazar cleared waivers.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pirates, Rays, Pettitte, Cubs, Dodgers, Gomes, Mauer, Cruz

By Cork Gaines | January 23, 2009 at 1:24pm CDT

On this date 28 years ago, the Red Sox traded Fred Lynn to the California Angels for Frank Tanana and Joe Rudi. After six seasons that included an MVP and six all-star appearances, the Red Sox were forced to trade Lynn when the front office failed to mail a new contract to Lynn by the mandated deadline. Without the new contract, Boston was faced with the possibility that Lynn would be declared a free agent (Carlton Fisk was declared a free agent for the same reason). The player’s association dropped their case when Lynn agreed to a contract extension with the Angels. With many of this year’s free agent class still waiting for contracts to be mailed, let’s take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…

Bucco Blog sees an Adam LaRoche-Jonathan Sanchez trade as a "win-win deal."
DRays Bay would like to see the Tigers take either Troy Percival or Dan Wheeler off the Rays’ hands.
Mets Geek makes a case for the Mets signing Andy Pettitte.
Goat Riders of the Apocalypse are not worried that the Cubs have traded away yet another former top prospect.
Center Field isn’t buying that Jason Varitek didn’t know about the draft pick compensation as a result of his refusing arbitration.
Her Rays isn’t taking the loss of Rocco Baldelli well at all.
Dodger Thoughts doesn’t understand why the Dodgers keep spending money on veteran, offensively-challenged backup catchers that will never play.
Anaheim Angels all the way says the Reds replaced "90% of Adam Dunn" with Jonny Gomes and a very favorable contract. On Baseball and the Reds is not sure Gomes’ offense will offset his horrible defense and sees him as a decent platoon option.
UmpBump grades the Rays offseason favorably.
El Lefty Malo laments the contract of Dave Roberts and feels he is the type of player that would be forced to retire if he were a free agent this off-season.
Twins Geek speculates on what it would take to sign Joe Mauer to a long-term deal.
Bullpen Call sees only the Mets and Yankees as options for Juan Cruz.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here.

Crede, Gagne Twins Talks Held Up?

By Tim Dierkes | January 23, 2009 at 9:00am CDT

A few people have sent in this link from Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, which contains one Twins hot stove line:

The word is that length of contract is holding up the Twins’ signing of former White Sox third baseman Joe Crede and relief pitcher Eric Gagne.

The implication is that the two Scott Boras clients are seeking more than one year, which would be a surprise. If the Twins do get Crede, he’ll be one of just a handful of players to make the Chicago-Minnesota jump.

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