Rehabbing closer Chad Cordero will arrive at the Bellagio tonight, according to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson. He and his agent plan to meet with the Mets, Cardinals, Rangers, Tigers, and D’Backs, but not the Nationals.
Mets Rumors
Tigers Targeting Wood, Putz
6:13pm: Yahoo’s Gordon Edes says the Tigers made overtures to Wood, while the Red Sox like the idea of signing him as a setup man.
4:36pm: Geoff Baker says Tigers prospect Jeff Larish has attracted interest from the Mariners in the past.
On the Kerry Wood topic, a thought – now that the Tigers spent only a million bucks on their shortstop, maybe they have more cash to work with for their closer.
1:29pm: According to Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press, the Tigers are targeting Kerry Wood and J.J. Putz for their closer vacancy. The Mets are also competing for both relievers.
Also, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick notes that the Tigers considered trading for Angels catcher Mike Napoli before they acquired Laird. The price for Napoli was too high. WEEI reports that the Tigers also inquired on Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden. The Tigers decided against Jason Varitek after he was offered arbitration, plus they liked Laird more anyway. According to WEEI’s Lou Merloni, Varitek continues to seek a multiyear deal and a starting gig.
Oliver Perez Declines Arb Offer
According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, Type A free agent Oliver Perez will decline the Mets’ offer of arbitration. The Mets will get two draft picks if he signs elsewhere.
Mets To Make Offer To K-Rod Tonight
9:55pm: Ken Rosenthal says the Mets will meet with K-Rod, Fuentes, and Kerry Wood within the next 24 hours. They won’t be making simultaneous offers to all three. Instead, they’ll probably start with an offer to Rodriguez as Heyman mentioned.
8:35pm: According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, Mets GM Omar Minaya is meeting with Francisco Rodriguez tonight and is expected to make an offer. Internally, the Mets have discussed offering a three-year deal, possibly with a fourth year vesting option.
Minaya has face-to-face meetings planned with Trevor Hoffman and Brian Fuentes as well, which could become unnecessary if K-Rod jumps at the first offer. Seems unlikely he’d do that.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Teixeira, Closers, Castillo, Cantu
Ken Rosenthal has a new column up, let’s take a look at the highlights:
- Rosenthal doesn’t see Mark Teixeira signing with the Nationals, even for the rumored ten-year, $200MM contract. He’s got better options in the Angels, Red Sox, and Yankees. Scott Boras managed to get Alex Rodriguez a ten-year deal with a losing team in 2000 when he signed with the Rangers, but Rosenthal doesn’t forsee a repeat.
- The Indians are waiting on the Mets’ closer decision to make a decision of their own. Once New York signs or trades for a closer, the market will likely collapse. The Mets are preparing simultaneous offers to Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes, and Kerry Wood.
- The Brewers could spend big money on a closer once they hear from Ben Sheets and C.C. Sabathia. If the Brewers can somehow retain both, they won’t have money to spend on a closer and would likely have to trade Prince Fielder.
- The Mets are desperately trying to unload Luis Castillo so they can make a run at Orlando Hudson. They’re having no luck though, even in trying to swap him for another bad contract. The Rangers rejected a swap of Castillo for Vicente Padilla.
- Nationals GM Jim Bowden is interested in Willy Taveras. Doesn’t make any sense to me. The Nats already have Lastings Milledge, Josh Willingham, Elijah Dukes, and Austin Kearns.
- The Rockies prefer to keep Garrett Atkins, but the Twins, Dodgers, Giants, and Phillies are all interested. Chase Utley has been a long-time supporter of bringing his former UCLA teammate to the Phils for a reunion.
- The Marlins are getting several inquiries on Jorge Cantu and Dan Uggla. They don’t plan to trade either, though if the Giants were to offer Jonathan Sanchez for Cantu, the Marlins would jump at the chance.
- Jermaine Dye, Mike Cameron, Marcus Thames, and Marlon Byrd are all available via the trade market, for teams needing a right-handed hitting outfielder. Rosenthal still feels Cameron could still end up in pinstripes.
Heyman’s Latest: Furcal, Sabathia, K-Rod
Jon Heyman has a few new posts on his Fan-Nation blog:
- Heyman thinks its peculiar that Rafael Furcal passed up his last offer of 4 years, $35-40MM, especially while the shortstop market is thinning out. The Giants signed Edgar Renteria. The Cubs want a lefty-bat. The Braves need to deal Yunel Escobar before they’ll be interested in Furcal. Again, Buster Olney noted today that Furcal was asking 4 years, $52MM.
- Can the Giants afford CC Sabathia? They’ve already signed Renteria, Jeremy Affeldt, and Bobby Howry. And he would be the team’s second $100MM contract having already made the mistake of overpaying Barry Zito. They admit they need a bat more than another arm. And while Sabathia would like to play in San Francisco, would he like to make less than Zito’s $18MM on the same team?
- No surprise that Francisco Rodriguez is sitting atop the Mets closer wish-list. According to Heyman, he’s followed by Brian Fuentes, Kerry Wood, and then a combination of Trevor Hoffman and Huston Street, who would need to be dealt from the Rockies. Heyman doesn’t complete the list beyond those 4 options and notes that the Hoffman/Street option is a popular idea in the organization. For K-Rod, 3-4 years would be the Mets threshold.
Arbitration Decision Rumors
As you know, 24 free agents were offered arbitration – 15 Type As and 9 Type Bs. Their decisions will roll in throughout the day, but SI.com’s Jon Heyman spoils the ending – aside from perhaps a couple of middle relievers (Darren Oliver comes to mind), almost everyone will decline. Nonetheless, let’s gather up some rumors on the topic.
- Heyman analyzes six players: Jon Garland, Oliver Perez, Paul Byrd, Orlando Cabrera, Jason Varitek, and Ben Sheets. He doesn’t really see these guys accepting, but their names have at least been raised in baseball circles.
- Ken Rosenthal has sources saying Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes, Sheets, and Garland will decline. Tracy Ringolsby agrees on Fuentes.
- Brandon Lyon’s agent Barry Meister admitted that he’ll consider accepting.
Mets Turned Down Marquis For Heilman
According to Dan Graziano of the Newark Star-Ledger, the Cubs offered Jason Marquis and salary relief to the Mets for reliever Aaron Heilman. The Mets declined. It’s been suggested the Cubs are willing to eat as much as $4MM of Marquis’ $9.875MM.
Graziano seems to believe the Mets are targeting a Marquis-like free agent starter, Jon Garland.
Odds and Ends: Lowe, K-Rod
Some more links for Saturday…
- Derek Lowe says his priority is winning. Fortunately, all the teams rumored to be in on Lowe (Philadelphia, Boston, the Dodgers and both New York teams) should compete in 2009. So he can stop worrying about that and turn his attention to making gobs and gobs of money.
- Lyle Spencer, who writes for MLB.com’s Hot Stove Blog, says what the Mets reportedly offered Francisco Rodriguez (three years and $36MM) isn’t much better than what the Angels were prepared to pay (three years and $34MM). So maybe K-Rod will stay in Anaheim after all?
Coley Ward writes for Umpbump.com. You can reach him here.
Mets Likely To Offer Deals To Closers
Andrew Marchand of ESPN radio 1050 in New York has a source who says the Mets will "probably" offer a deal to a closer at the Winter Meetings. Finding a closer remains a priority for the Mets, who may prefer Francisco Rodriguez over other options. Buster Olney recently wrote that the Mets will offer deals to multiple closers during the Winter Meetings and will give the closer’s job to the first free agent to accept his offer.
Marchand’s source said that Bobby Abreu, who wasn’t offered arbitration, and Raul Ibanez, who was, could be targets for the Mets once they make progress in the bullpen.
Manny Ramirez is apparently not on the Mets’ radar.
