Odds and Ends: Ibanez, Dunn, Blake, Stewart
Let’s kick off the morning with some random links.
- Live chat here today at 2pm CST.
- Brian Matusz is hopeful about striking a deal with the Orioles by Friday’s deadline. Roch Kubatko has a source saying it’s likely.
- Baseball America’s Jim Callis warns us not to listen to the posturing – he still expects all the first-round draft picks to sign with the possible exception of Allan Dykstra.
- Should the Mariners offer Raul Ibanez a three-year deal at $10-11MM per?
- No word yet on possible Rays acquisitions in wake of the Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria injuries. Marc Lancaster wonders if Kenny Lofton or…don’t say it…Barry Bonds would make sense.
- The Mets had no interest in Adam Dunn. They wonder about his passion, according to Joel Sherman. Did you know he doesn’t like baseball?
- The Phillies were more interested in Casey Blake than Manny Ramirez.
- Athletics Nation looks at some free agent options for ’09.
- Shannon Stewart didn’t understand his latest Blue Jay Experience.
- The Yankees, Mets, Angels, and Padres have scouts at the Olympics to watch Hitoki Iwase, Koji Uehara, Kenshin Kawakami, Yu Darvish, and Kyuji Fujikawa.
Perrotto’s Latest: Waivers, Extensions, Garcia, Braves
John Perrotto over at Baseball Prospectus has his Every Given Sunday column up:
- Perrotto lists off several people which he believes are the most likely to be made available if and when they clear waivers. While the list is comprised of a lot of the usual suspects this August (Greg Maddux, Jarrod Washburn, Paul Byrd, Randy Winn), Perrotto lists some other names that we haven’t seen as much: Francisco Cordero, Tyler Walker, Todd Jones, Jose Bautista, and Doug Mientkiewicz. Perrotto also says that he feels Aubrey Huff has the best chance to be traded of any impact bat available.
- Perrotto states that the Rockies would like to sign both Garrett Atkins and Matt Holliday long-term. If unsuccessful, they will both be on the trading block this offseason.
- The Pirates would like to sign Nate McLouth and Ryan Doumit long-term as well, buying out their arbitration years.
- Perrotto lists the Yankees as the front-runners to sign Freddy Garcia. The Mets and Rays are also suitors for Garcia, though I personally don’t think Garcia makes sense for the Rays.
- The Yankees have "little interest" in pursuing Manny Ramirez this offseason, despite possible reports that Manny would like to play for them.
- The Twins would still like to add a late-inning reliever this season to boost their bullpen as the AL Central race winds down.
- The Braves’ top priority this offseason is pursuing a front-line starter, Perrotto says. He lists possible candidates as: C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets, Ryan Dempster, Derek Lowe, and Jon Garland. Seems a bit odd to consider the last three "front-line," though Dempster has certainly been impressive this season.
Jarrod Washburn Placed on Waivers
3:32: I’m a bit confused by these two reports, as I thought there was an automatic waiting period of three business days. Either there’s something I’m missing (entirely probable) or there’s a discrepancy here. I’ll keep looking for something definitive.
1:09pm: The Seattle Times is reporting that Washburn has cleared waivers.
11:48am: Jarrod Washburn was put on waivers yesterday by Seattle. They’ll expire on Tuesday. Are the Yankees still interested? Ken Rosenthal didn’t think so, but that was last week. Last we heard, the Mariners wanted quite a bit, and the Mets, Rockies, and White Sox had also been mentioned as possible suitors.
Washburn turns 34 in less than a week, and has a 4.76 ERA this year. Next year, he’s owed $10.35MM. Maybe the Mariners have decided to come down their asking price.
Odds and Ends: McLouth, Doumit, Eyre, Bradley
Here’s today’s link roundup.
- Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus rates the best remaining fits for Barry Bonds. The Angels come out on top.
- The Mets seem pessimistic about Ryan Church returning this season.
- MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo has the latest buzz on the unsigned draft picks.
- The Astros dug up a pitcher in the independent leagues who is said to touch 100 mph. He’s a 21 year-old righty named Jack Tilghman.
- The Pirates plan to offer long-term contracts to Nate McLouth and Ryan Doumit.
- Sean McAdam says the Red Sox still have some interest in Scott Eyre.
- Dave Cameron can’t figure out what kind of contract Milton Bradley will get. Did you realize Bradley leads the American League in both OBP and SLG?
- Patrick Newman ranks Hitoki Iwase, Kenshin Kawakami, and Koji Uehara as MLB prospects.
Freddy Garcia Rumors: Thursday
Here’s a fresh thread for Freddy Garcia rumors. The 32 year-old was scouted by about half the teams in baseball this week.
- Sean McAdam characterizes Boston’s interest as minimal.
- The Phillies will pass, but might consider him for ’09.
- The Yankees have more interest than the Mets. Ken Davidoff’s sources are divided on whether Garcia can help this year.
- Danny Knobler quotes Garcia’s agent as saying that the pitcher could keep working with an eye on ’09 if interest is not sufficient now.
Rockies Acquire Livan Hernandez
9:52pm: ESPN’s Peter Gammons has a blog post contradicting a piece of info from Ringolsby. Gammons says the Mets did not put in a waiver claim on Hernandez. They prefer in-house options.
4:04pm: Ken Rosenthal says Livan is now officially a Rockie. The Rockies will pay the rest of his contract. August is a fine time for teams to unload millions owed to mediocre veteran pitchers.
WEDNESDAY, 9:52am: Some additional information from Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News: the Rockies will make a waiver claim on Josh Fogg in the unlikely event the Twins pull Hernandez back. The Twins might be trying to wrangle a player out of the Rockies in addition to the salary relief.
Ringoslby says the Mets and possibly the Cardinals also made claims on Hernandez.
TUESDAY: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Rockies won their waiver claim on Livan Hernandez. Apparently the Rox beat out another NL team with a better record. Apparently no American League team put in a claim.
At the least, the Twins will dump off Hernandez just to be free of his contract. At most, they might be able to snag some kind of fringe prospect. Hernandez is owed another $1.5MM, plus incentives.
At Least 15 Teams Watched Freddy Garcia
9:13pm: Additional teams confirmed in attendance: the Red Sox, Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers, Marlins, and White Sox. Garcia’s agent says he’d like to sign by this weekend, and plans to sign only for ’08. Troy Renck says the Rockies are a long shot now that they’ve added Livan Hernandez.
WEDNESDAY, 9:28am: Surprisingly, the Phillies were in attendance at Garcia’s audition yesterday. David Murphy finds the idea intriguing, but says the Phils don’t have major interest. The Phillies traded Gavin Floyd to the White Sox for Garcia in December of ’06, but he only gave them 11 starts while earning $10MM.
Also confirmed at the audition: the Tigers, Yankees, Mets, Rays, Rockies, Astros, and Rangers. MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez thinks the Rangers might be the most interested party.
TUESDAY: Today’s the big day…free agent Freddy Garcia will audition for teams in Miami. He’s recovering from labrum surgery.
We’ve compiled reports over the past few months. Teams interested in Garcia at one point: the Mets, Red Sox, Braves, Yankees, White Sox, Rangers, Tigers, Rays, Astros, Cubs, Cardinals, Dodgers, Twins, Indians, Mariners, and Royals. That’s 16 of 30 teams, though the non-contenders may have dropped out.
Garcia’s friend and former manager Ozzie Guillen doubted the pitcher’s ability to contribute at the big league level this year. Garcia was upset by the comments.
Odds and Ends: Delgado, Heilman, Teixeira, Alvarez
Time for today’s linkage.
- Geoff Baker tries to determine who "won" the Jose Vidro trade.
- Ken Davidoff doesn’t expect anyone of value to clear waivers. We didn’t have much August trade action last year either. Some decent names were dealt in August of ’06 though – David Wells, Shawn Green, Jamie Moyer, Livan Hernandez, Ryan Franklin, Eric Hinske, and Scott Schoeweneis.
- The Mets can retain Carlos Delgado for ’09 at essentially $8MM, since there’s a hefty $4MM buyout on his $12MM option. Back in May Delgado’s agent said it was a $16MM option. However, MetsBlog‘s Matthew Cerrone told me that is only the case with a top five MVP finish.
- Joel Sherman wonders whether Aaron Heilman will be a non-tender candidate this winter. Seems unlikely; he won’t be that expensive.
- Mark Teixeira‘s three favorite places to play are New York, Seattle, and Anaheim, for what it’s worth.
- Yahoo’s Kevin Kaduk considers "Dr. James Andrews" the worst three words in baseball. He also lists some other three-word contenders.
- The Pirates will not "grossly exceed" the market to sign Pedro Alvarez. They seem to be hoping Scott Boras will come down to the $4-6MM net present value range on August 15th.
- The Nationals are thinking around $2.15MM for Aaron Crow.
- RotoAuthority discusses trading injured players in fantasy leagues.
Odds and Ends: Livan, Maddux, Meredith, Fielder
Here are today’s links.
- Live chat today here at 2pm CST.
- MiLB.com is holding a charity auction with all kinds of memorabilia. Check it out.
- NPB Tracker takes a look at Japanese closer Hitoki Iwase, who should draw plenty of interest from MLB teams this winter.
- Trading Greg Maddux to the Dodgers is still possible, though unlikely. There’s also word that the Padres "tested the trade value" of Cla Meredith last week.
- Livan Hernandez is expected to clear waivers today. We know the Rockies have discussed him internally, and Buster Olney speculates the Mets might be interested. The D’Backs are not likely to bring him back.
- The Tigers reportedly asked for Matt Lindstrom from the Marlins for Ivan Rodriguez.
- I did a Q&A with Philly Sports 101.
- Tom Haudricourt has details on Prince Fielder‘s dugout shoves of teammate Manny Parra.
- Joba Chamberlain is experiencing shoulder stiffness and will probably end up on the DL. It appears his labrum and rotator cuff are OK, at least.
Mets Eyeing Rich Aurilia?
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News has a rumor this morning:
A New York Mets official is following the Giants and has submitted a recommendation to acquire Rich Aurilia. The Brooklyn native is likely one of the first names the Giants submitted through waivers; if so, he would clear on Tuesday.
Aurilia has about $1.5MM left on his contract this year; he’s hitting .281/.334/.421 in 308 plate appearances. He’s a righthanded hitter who has handled southpaws well. He’d be a fine platoon partner for Carlos Delgado, and he could also dabble at the other infield positions as needed. The Giants would probably be happy just with salary relief.