Mets Shopping Aaron Heilman?
Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News is hearing buzz from scouts that the Mets are shopping 29 year-old reliever Aaron Heilman. Heilman has a career best strikeout rate in 22.2 innings, but everything else has gone haywire (control, home runs and hits allowed).
Rubin says the Mets are looking for a setup man in return. It seems that the best fit would be with a noncontending team that would switch Heilman back to starting. The Nationals (Jon Rauch), Reds (David Weathers), and Pirates (Damaso Marte, John Grabow) might have decent relievers available. Not sure if they’d have interest in Heilman, though.
Heilman will be arbitration-eligible in 2009 and 2010 and will reach free agency after that.
Odds and Ends: Royals, Cashman, Tavarez
4:45pm: Updating the Tavarez item – the Boston Herald reports that he’s accepted a minor league assignment in order to buy the Red Sox more time in trading him.
10:38am: Here’s today’s link collection.
- MLB.com’s Dick Kaegel hears the Royals are leaning toward an impact bat in the June draft. Baseball America predicted catcher Buster Posey, while Jonathan Mayo went with first baseman Eric Hosmer. First baseman Justin Smoak is another possibility.
- Paul DePodesta tells a story about the gamesmanship of the draft.
- Hank Steinbrenner says there’s a chance Brian Cashman will be the Yankees’ GM next year, if he wants to be. He might be able to find a better situation. If there’s a new GM, his first task might be negotiating with Scott Boras for Mark Teixeira.
- The Rockies still might have mild interest in Julian Tavarez, who will become a free agent today.
- The Marlins, Rockies, and Rangers were the three clubs interested in Edinson Volquez when he was a kid in the Dominican.
Mike Piazza Retires
Catcher Mike Piazza has decided to retire. I thought he had a little bit left in the tank as a possible DH this year, but it seems that teams did not agree.
Piazza finishes with a .308/.377/.545 career line in 19 seasons. He mashed 427 home runs and is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Dodgers or Mets cap? Marlins?
Odds and Ends: Wilder, Vlad, Jose Reyes
Time to round up some links.
- The White Sox fired scouting director David Wilder and two scouts. Investigators are trying to determine if they skimmed bonuses designated for Latin American prospects.
- I did a Q&A recently. I forgot, at the time, that Albert Pujols is actually younger than Chase Utley.
- Imagine if Vladimir Guerrero had been paired with Barry Bonds.
- Joel Sherman points out that Jose Reyes will be just 28 when his contract is up.
- Roto Professor chats with prospect guy Jonathan Mayo.
- Extension talks with Corey Hart have fizzled.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Delgado, Sexson, Crisp, Byrd
Ken Rosenthal has some items worth discussing in his latest Full Count video:
- Trade Carlos Delgado for Richie Sexson? Rosenthal doesn’t see why not. They’re both in walk years, neither have a no-trade-clause, and they’re both making roughly the same amount. I’ll add to that by noting both have arguably met more success hitting in each other’s league.
- The Indians may put Paul Byrd on the block in an effort to acquire pieces that could eventually lead to an upgrade at 2B or 3B later this season. The Indians currently have 7 capable starters in Sabathia, Carmona, Lee, Byrd, Westbrook, Sowers, and Laffey.
- Crisp’s Latest: It may be in the best interest of the Red Sox to wait to deal Coco Crisp in the offseason when the demand increases. The Padres could use him now but the 2009 Free Agent class is thin at centerfield. Coco could be maintained for $5.75MM in ’09 and a club option in 2010 for $8MM, or a $0.5MM buyout.
- Two Byrds in one post! Marlon Byrd‘s return from the DL could mean more time at DH for Josh Hamilton in an effort to keep him rested throughout the season. Hamilton only played 90 games last year after missing about 4 years due to drug suspensions and injury. If Byrd performs then this would take the Rangers out of the DH market. So far, so good.
By Nat Boyle
Seven Teams Have Monitored Freddy Garcia
According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, at least seven clubs have monitored Freddy Garcia‘s progress: the Mets, Red Sox, Braves, Yankees, White Sox, Rangers, and Mariners. It wouldn’t be surprising if even more clubs show up to watch Garcia throw when he is able to audition. A midseason free agent has major appeal. The Indians are one additional club rumored to have interest.
Garcia remains a mystery – we don’t know when he’ll be ready, how much money he’ll want, or how effective he’ll be.
Odds and Ends: Hanley, Salcedo, Torrealba
Time to round ’em up…
- Rob Neyer guesses B.J. Upton is the next to get a long-term deal from the Rays. Back on April 24th, Jayson Stark wrote that the Upton family "has its own ideas about the market value of both brothers."
- Expect a Hanley Ramirez press conference today, or this weekend at the latest.
- Tribe Report walks us through the Edward Salcedo confusion.
- Yorvit Torrealba‘s agent has filed a grievance against the Mets over their nearly-signed three-year deal.
- Jon Heyman says nothing’s imminent with Ken Griffey Jr. Buster Olney wrote today that the Mariners are "not especially gung-ho" about trading for Junior.
- The Indians DFA’d Jason Tyner.
- A.J. Pierzynski attempts to dispel all those negative stories about his time with the Giants.
Kenshin Kawakami Prefers Red Sox?
RotoWorld has done some translating of a Japanese Associated Press article. They learned that Japanese righty Kenshin Kawakami reportedly prefers the Red Sox as his 2009 destination (he’ll be a free agent). The translation notes that the Yankees and Mets have scouted Kawakami.
Back in November of 2007, I asked Aaron Shinsano and Jackson Broder of East Windup Chronicle for a profile on Kawakami, among others. Here’s what they wrote:
Kenshin Kawakami – Japan’s highest paid starter for the champion Chunichi Dragons (he made around $3MM) mixes a fastball, cutter, and curveball. His fastball runs around 87 and his curve is very slow. He’s known as a big game pitcher and always challenges hitters. He was 12-8 with a 3.55 ERA in 2007, but the K/BB ratio was an appealing 6.3 in 167 2/3 IP. He’s a HR prone strikeout pitcher. Kawakami has been healthy for the past four seasons.
Sosa, Figueroa Designated
The Mets designated pitchers Nelson Figueroa and Jorge Sosa for assignment today.
Figueroa, a 34 year-old journeyman, provided a few decent starts but seems to have stopped fooling people. Sosa was just terrible; the Mets will have to swallow his $2MM salary.
Yu Darvish E-Ticket Article
I always enjoy ESPN’s in-depth E-ticket articles. Jim Caple’s piece on Yu Darvish is no exception. In case you hadn’t heard, Darvish is the Next Big Thing in Japan. He’s a 21 year-old ace pitcher. A few highlights from the article:
- The commonly kicked-around posting fee for Darvish is $75MM. Remember, everyone thought Dice-K would require $25-30MM and the fee ended up being $51.1MM. If Darvish received Dice-K’s six-year, $52MM deal and required an $80MM posting fee, he’d cost $22MM a year.
- Darvish’s team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, didn’t allow Caple to ask about the MLB possibility. But the team’s GM has said that he’d probably post a player who requested it.
- Does Darvish want to come to MLB? Opinions run the gamut on that question. A posting this winter is possible but far from certain.
- Darvish’s father seems to want him to play in New York or Boston, if he comes to MLB.