Hunter Receives Five Offers
Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times, normally their Cubs guy, has the scoop on the Torii Hunter situation.
Wittenmyer says Hunter has at least five offers in hand. Four of them are for five years, while the Rangers have offered six. This doesn’t count the Twins’ lowball 3/45 offer.
So which five clubs have made proposals to Hunter? The Rangers, White Sox, Dodgers, Royals, and Nationals comprise the list. Wittenmyer notes that the Dodgers could get aggressive on Hunter if they miss out on Miguel Cabrera. Also, the Yankees could trade Melky Cabrera and jump in. The amounts offered aren’t well known, but Wittenmyer says the Rangers are just under $15MM per year.
Hunter hopes to decide next week so he doesn’t have to attend the Winter Meetings the week after that. Don’t underestimate the Royals, who blew everyone away last year by winning the bidding for Gil Meche. Still, the White Sox and Rangers are the clear frontrunners.
Lowell Signs With Red Sox
UPDATE: ESPN reports that the deal is for $37.5MM, so $12.5MM per year. Lowell took more than $10MM less to stay with Boston.
UPDATE: Rob Bradford says the Red Sox and Lowell have agreed to the parameters of a three-year deal worth between $12-13MM annually. The Sox had set a deadline today for Lowell to decide on their offer, and he took them up on it.
Buster Olney is reporting in his blog this morning that Mike Lowell is close to a three-year deal with the Red Sox. That has to mean he’s leaving a significant amount of money on the table to re-sign. Can’t see the Sox going past 3/45 on him. There is a conflicting report on this – Rob Bradford doesn’t think a deal is close, noting a "healthy divide" between the sides.
Olney adds that aside from the near-obligatory Coco Crisp trade, the Red Sox will look into Johan Santana if he becomes available. Santana would obviously be a luxury. Since the Red Sox are officially a superpower, they’d have to check in on him. Also keep in mind that Crisp and Santana trades could be related, as the Twins would likely demand Jacoby Ellsbury in any deal. So if Crisp is dealt, Santana becomes a bit less likely. Of course Theo could always surprise us and convince Andruw Jones to sign a one-year deal.
Unconfirmed: Twins Made Offer To Santana
Sid Hartman has a tidbit towards the end of his column today: The Twins have made a five-year, $93 million offer for Johan Santana. The source of this is not the Twins, but rather Hartman hearing "word in baseball circles." The $18.6 million average annual value would surpass that of Barry Zito, though Zito’s deal was for seven years.
Santana is entering his age 29 season in 2008, so this contract would keep him locked up through age 35.
While Johan could probably do better on the open market, if he really wants to stay in Minnesota, he should consider this offer — that is, if this offer actually exists. As a free agent, he could likely command seven years and north of $20 million annually.
Please note that the following is just me throwing numbers out there, and that I don’t necessarily think that Santana is in some kind of decline. But his batting average, OBP, and SLG against have risen from year to year since 2004. He also gave us a career-high 33 homers in 2007 in 219 innings, his lowest total since he was split between the rotation and bullpen in 2003. His WHIP also broke 1.00 for the first time since 2003 (oh, heavens no, not above 1.00!).
The Red Sox, Dodgers, and Yankees have been the most actively linked to Santana, but every team likely has some level of interest in trading for the two-time Cy Young winner.
Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues.
Odds And Ends: Cordero, Torrealba, Koskie, Clement
Just browsing the web this morning:
- Troy Renck of the Denver Post speculates that the Mets deal with Yorvit Torrealba might have fallen apart because of the catcher’s shoulder issues. This is based on Torrealba having missed time in 2006 with two shoulder injuries. The deal fell apart when it was thought to be complete, with only the physical remaining.
- The Rockies have also inquired on Matt Clement. Renck mentions the Diamondbacks as also having interest in the 33-year-old righty, adding them to the aforementioned Padres and Royals. Clement has thrown just 65.1 innings in the past two years.
- The Yankees have identified Francisco Cordero as their Plan B closer, should talks with Mariano Rivera fall apart. It should be moot, though, as Rivera is expected to sign this week. Cordero has not made any significant strides in talks with the Brewers.
- The Twins, who could use an upgrade at third base, aren’t interested in Corey Koskie, who was drafted by the team in 1994 and played with them until he reached free agency after the 2004 season. Koskie missed 2006 with symptoms related to post-concussion syndrome.
- It is unclear whether the Marlins are still interested in Yorvit Torrealba, writes Joe Capozzi. The price tag could be prohibitive. If the Marlins gave Torrealba the same three-year, $14.4 million deal he was to get with the Mets, he would become their second highest paid player. A catcher was the Marlins highest paid player last year, but they look to be severing ties with Miguel Olivo. I’m not sure Torrealba is much of an upgrade, though. At least Olivo has some pop, having hit 16 homers in each of the last two years.
Remember, Torrealba hit just .212/.292/.326 away from Coors Field. Then again, Olivo had some pretty severe home/road splits: .247/.277/.493 at home, .228/.249/.325 on the road. You can decide for yourself what that could mean.
Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues.
Odds and Ends: Glavine, Rowand, A-Rod Clark, LoDuca
Hi. I’m Joe. Tim is busy today, so I’ll be filling in. You can send any tips right to my email. So onto a few morning tidbits.
- Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution hears that the Braves are "close" to a deal with
Tom Glavine. His agent, Gregg Clifton, thinks "it’s a good possibility" that a deal gets done today.
- Aaron Rowand’s agent Craig Landis says that the "interest is definitely mutual" between his client and the Dodgers.
- Since I run a Yankees site, I suppose I can’t finish an odds and ends post without a mention of Alex Rodriguez. Ed Price of the Star Ledger says that the soon-to-be MVP’s deal is "intricate," and that we shouldn’t expect a deal until "perhaps after Thanksgiving."
- The Twins are said to be interested in Tony Clark. Not quire sure adding another low-OBP bad in addition to Craig Monroe is very smart here. Plus, this would make Clark the de-facto DH, and we know he’s looking for a starting gig.
- Mike Puma of the New York Post speculates that recently displaced Paul LoDuca could swap with Yorvit Torrealba and catch on as the Rockies’ starter for 2008.
Joe Pawlikowski is a co-author of River Ave. Blues, a New York Yankees blog.
Odds and Ends: Kuroda, Hunter, Crede
What’d I miss recently? Here are some odds and ends.
- The Tigers have expressed interest in Hiroki Kuroda. They join the Phillies, Mariners, Dodgers, Royals, Rangers, Cubs, and Mets in that pursuit.
- 10 teams are interested in Aaron Rowand! That’s almost 1/3 of all baseball teams!
- Torii Hunter is after a seven-year deal. Most feel he’s saying that because he wants six. Clever!
- The Twins are taking a look at Tony Clark as a cheap DH option. He’s supposedly looking for something like two years, $4MM and more playing time. This would be a very Twins-like signing.
- T.R. Sullivan has a Rangers update. Apparently Jon Daniels is checking in on big names like Johan Santana, Erik Bedard, and Miguel Cabrera. More realistically Daniels may go out to Japan for players such as Kosuke Fukudome and Hiroki Kuroda (we knew that already). We also knew the Rangers had Kerry Wood and Eric Gagne on their radar. Sullivan speculates that Scott Linebrink and LaTroy Hawkins could also be in the mix.
- Barry Rozner expects Joe Crede to be traded. It seems like Crede is a Plan B or C for a lot of teams and Kenny Williams may have to wait til a few dominoes fall first.
Cafardo’s Latest: Crawford, Haren
The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo has a new colum up this morning; let’s check it out.
- The Carl Crawford/Cubs thing won’t die. Cafardo says the Cubs are after him, possibly offering a package starting with Rich Hill and Carlos Marmol. This rumor originated with Bruce Levine a few days ago, though Roger Mooney dismissed it yesterday.
- While the Red Sox have discussed Miguel Cabrera with the Marlins, Cafardo believes they might instead be eyeing a blockbuster for Johan Santana or Dan Haren. As if the Red Sox need more pitching.
Rumor Roundup: Colon, Barrett, Clement, Monroe
Rounding up some of today’s rumors…
- The Phillies have had conversations about Randy Wolf and Bartolo Colon. It’s assumed they have about $10MM to spend.
- The Rockies are talking to Michael Barrett’s agent. They’ve also got some interest in Mike Maroth. He doesn’t seem like a great match. LaTroy Hawkins hasn’t had any recent discussions with the Rockies, and other teams are knocking on his door (including the Brewers).
- The White Sox may look to Japan for relief help. They’ve been linked to Yasuhiko Yabuta in the past.
- Richard Griffin notes that the Blue Jays pursued Matt Clement three years ago, and they could go after him again now. I’m guessing Clement will opt for San Diego though.
- Sabernomics interviewed ESPN’s Keith Law. I chatted with Keith back in July, if you’re interested.
- The Cubs only get a player from the Twins for Craig Monroe if the Twins can strike a deal with him. And the Twins won’t be going to arbitration with Monroe.
Twins After Craig Monroe?
UPDATE: The deal is official.
This is odd: Joe Christensen reports that the Cubs may send Craig Monroe to the Twins for a player to be named later, perhaps today. For the Cubs, getting something for Monroe is gravy since they would non-tender him otherwise. I guess the Twins like the idea of Monroe on a one-year, $5MM commitment as opposed to the free agent options in left field.
I wonder if any other non-tender candidates might be moved? Guys like Ben Broussard, Joe Crede, Morgan Ensberg, Kevin Mench, Mark Prior, Josh Towers, and Claudio Vargas are possibilities.
Mariners Searching For Starters
John Hickey has an update on the Mariners’ starting pitching targets. The options look grim.
As far as trade targets, there’s always Johan Santana and Dontrelle Willis. The Mariners have long had their eye on Dontrelle, so maybe they’d offer a Wladimir Balentien/Jeff Clement package.
Carlos Silva might be on the radar, but Hickey says the vibe is that he could get north of $12MM per season. A better deal might be Hiroki Kuroda, who is estimated to earn $7-9MM annually by Hickey. The Mariners may have the edge on Kuroda because of their location and Japanese catcher. I keep reading that Kuroda throws in the mid-90s…forgive me if I’m skeptical.
Hickey notes that Bartolo Colon might also be on the radar, and implies that they could pick up Carl Pavano on a whim if he’s released.