The Mitchell Report
1:06pm: Jon Heyman names a slew of guys in the report. The Mitchell Report itself is available here. Start reading! Wow, this thing is loaded with surprises. Kind of cool to see the emails Mitchell was able to collect among front office guys.
11:11am: More on last night’s cut n’ paste misspelled list – WNBC talked to a "high-ranking MLB official" who refuted several names on it.
10:51am: This is odd, WNBC/CNBC is rolling with the same cut n’ pasted misspelled list. Hey look, Troy Glaus is in there twice! MetsBlog checks in with buzz that the Klapisch note about the Mets being safe may not be true.
10:25am: A list with a bunch of fairly believable names (many of them misspelled) in the form of one big paragraph has been passed around the Internet since at least last night. There’s no indication it has any legitimacy (no need to email it to me). Deadspin has published said list.
10:04am: The New York Daily News is also saying Pettitte is in the report. But those Grimsley names were revealed in October of last year so I’m not sure what the hubbub is about.
9:20am: ESPN is reporting Roger Clemens is in the report. Clemens was named in the Jason Grimsley affidavit, anyway. So were Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts, Jay Gibbons, and David Segui.
9:09am: The latest is from Bob Klapisch, who reports that no Mets on the current 40-man roster are in the report. So people can stop randomly throwing Carlos Delgado‘s name about. Klapisch is on board with my tip that the Yanks will be hit hard.
Today’s Non-tenders: Towers, Prior, Everett, Durbin
Tim’s out for the night, so we’ve got a fresh post started for the non-tenders. MLB.com has a running list as well.
These guys are the officials as of now:
- As expected, the Marlins non-tendered catcher Miguel Olivo. Johnny Estrada was another casualty; these two make up the market for starting catchers.
- The Blue Jays non-tendered Josh Towers, a surprising move. Some NL team could offer him two years and get league average work out of him.
- Mark Prior has been non-tendered. Honestly if I were the Cubs, I would’ve tossed the $3.5MM his way just to see.
- Aaron Miles is now a free agent.
- The A’s cut Kiko Calero loose.
- The Padres have non-tendered four: Morgan Ensberg, Jason Lane, and pitchers Jack Cassell and Ryan Ketchner. RotoWorld speculates that the latter two, not arbitration eligible, could be offered minor league deals.
- The Royals cut the cord on Emil Brown. He turns 33 soon; he hit an ugly .257/.300/.347 in 2007. Brown earned $3.45MM in ’07.
- The Tigers non-tendered Chad Durbin, toss him into the free agent pool. Guess those trade talks with the Bucs didn’t work out.
- The Twins have let go Jason Tyner.
- The Nats have cut bait with Nook Logan and LHP Michael O’Connor.
- The Dodgers wave goodbye to Mark Hendrickson.
- The White Sox have non-tendered Andy Gonzalez and LHP Heath Phillips. Joe Crede sticks with the Pale Hose for now.
- Adam Everett has lost his job with the Astros. It’d be kind of funny if the Orioles signed him.
- Per RotoWorld, the Angels have non-tendered Dallas McPherson. He’s full of potential, but he’s never come through. He’s only 27, though, so he could still catch on somewhere. Unless, RotoWorld notes, he has an agreement in place with the Angels.
- The Braves have non-tendered Willie Harris, though he had already been DFA’d.
–Joe and Tim
Would Mets Consider Marquis?
On November 29th, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick mentioned that the Cubs are "listening on Jason Marquis." This would clearly be a salary dump, as Marquis will earn $16.25MM over 2008-09.
Since then we haven’t heard of any teams interested in the 29 year-old righty. However, Mets manager Willie Randolph brought up Marquis yesterday as a consideration for the team’s rotation. The article’s author, Adam Rubin, added that the Cubs are fans of Endy Chavez. It wouldn’t be fair to equate the two players, however.
Hat tip to MetsBlog on this one.
Latest Johan Santana Rumors
UPDATE, 12-11-07 at 2:54pm: Jon Heyman puts the Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets as the three leading suitors for Johan. Matthew Cerrone, however, believes the Rangers, rather than the Yanks, are the third leading suitor.
FROM 12-11-07 at 8:52am:
Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has the latest buzz surrounding the Johan Santana trade talks.
The Red Sox and Twins talked yesterday, and the Twins are leading toward Jacoby Ellsbury rather than Jon Lester. Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson would also be included, and the sides are trying to figure out a fourth player.
The Yanks and Twins haven’t talked much lately, but apparently Kei Igawa‘s name has come up in the talks. He can’t have much trade value in the Twins’ eyes.
Christensen implies that the Mets might be trying to finish second here, staying involved for the sake of PR.
Christensen also notes that the Twins are fond of Jered Weaver, and the Angels could jump in if they decide to use their trade chips on another starter.
Also, the idea of the Twins including another player on their end has come up. In the past Joe Nathan has been mentioned, but Christensen is referring more to Twins’ prospects. They don’t have much in the system though.
Odds And Ends: Fassero, Hansen, Petco
Couple of player-related items to share, though they’re not really rumors. Anyway:
- The Mets are interested in a Jeff Fassero comeback. They reportedly had scouts watch him throw, and will monitor him as the pitches in the Mexican winter league.
- Padres CEO Sandy Alderson has decided to maintain the dimensions at Petco Park, for now. On a grimmer note, the Padres plan to wear their camis more during Spring Training. Blech.
- Red Sox relief prospect Craig Hansen has undergone surgery to correct his sleep apnea. The Sox hope that his struggles were based on fatigue brought on by apnea.
–Joe
Rosenthal’s Latest: Figgins, Helms, Affeldt
Ken Rosenthal has a new column up.
- The Angels are telling teams they will only consider trading Chone Figgins if they find a third baseman. If Figgins does hit the market, figure on the Cubs getting involved.
- The Marlins offered Scott Nestor to the Phillies for Wes Helms, if the Phils paid $1.8MM of the $2.9MM owed to the third baseman. The Phils passed.
- Jeremy Affeldt already has a four-year offer in hand, so he’s now looking for five years. Jeez. Teams known to be in on Affeldt: the Yankees, Rays, and Astros. Affeldt’s agent has contacted the Mariners, trying to sell him as a starter. He grew up in Washington state.
- The Mets like the Pirates’ Damaso Marte, if the Pirates lessen their demands. The Yankees, Phillies, Braves, and Astros are interested as well.
Odds and Ends: Fukudome, Mahay, Santana
Rounding up some odds and ends for you…
- I’d read that Akinori Otsuka recommended the Padres to Kosuke Fukudome, kind of glossed over the fact. But Jamey Newberg has is rightly disappointed in the Rangers reliever. After all, the Rangers have Fukudome in their sights, and Otsuka plays for the Rangers.
- A good source tells me the Yankees believe they are in the lead for Ron Mahay, and think it can be done this upcoming week. If it’s true that Mahay has narrowed his choices to the Yanks and Royals, and the Royals have little interest, this makes sense.
- MetsBlog reports that Johan Santana prefers to pitch for the Mets. He likes the idea of moving to the NL.
Dontrelle For Josh Hamilton Was Discussed
UPDATE, 12-8-07 at 2:47am: More excitement…throw Abraham Nunez into the mix of Marlins third base targets. This team is going places.
FROM 12-7-07 at 11:27am:
MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro posted a new column last night full of good Marlins hot stove chatter.
- The most interesting note is that the Marlins talked to the Reds about swapping Dontrelle Willis for Josh Hamilton, prior to the blockbuster with Detroit.
- With Miguel Cabrera, the White Sox and Rangers were involved during the Meetings before the Tigers jumped in. The Rangers backed out when they couldn’t get an extension window for Cabrera. The Tigers wanted the same but obviously it wasn’t the dealbreaker. The Angels, Dodgers, and Giants were involved before the Meetings, with the Giants offering Noah Lowry.
- Frisaro says there are "strong indications the Marlins will sign Jorge Cantu. He’ll be in the mix at third base.
- The Fish are offering the Phils Scott Nestor for Wes Helms, who’d also compete at the hot corner.
- The Mets have some interest in Alfredo Amezaga, though the Marlins are inclined to keep him.
- Miguel Olivo will be released soon, so throw him into the catcher market with Michael Barrett.
Mets Talked To Giants About Lowry
David Lennon reports that the Mets had conversations with the Giants about sending Lastings Milledge over for Noah Lowry. The Giants wanted a young pitcher back as well, so Minaya shipped Milledge elsewhere. Still, the Lowry idea could be revisited.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Santana, Fuentes, Heilman
The execs may be on a plane home right now, but the writers are still filing all sorts of rumors. Here’s Ken Rosenthal’s latest piece.
- Rosenthal says the Mets did not talk to the Twins about Johan Santana today, which is surprising. But they did talk earlier this week, at which point the Twins gave the Mets a list of players they liked. The Mets were fine with everyone on the list, which probably included Carlos Gomez and Mike Pelfrey. Rosenthal adds that the Mets are the only NL team firmly in the mix for Santana, and shipping him to the other league might be a factor for the Twins.
- The Giants turned down an offer of Delmon Young for Tim Lincecum before Young was sent to the Twins. This leaves skepticism that the Giants will accept three years of Alex Rios after turning down five of Young.
- The Mets made a straight up offer of Aaron Heilman for Brian Fuentes. As far as I can tell Heilman doesn’t reach free agency until after the 2010 season, so the Rockies would be doing pretty well here. Plus, they could plug him into the rotation. Oddly the dealbreaker was the Rox asking for Scott Schoeneweis as well. I thought the 34 year-old had negative trade value. Rosenthal adds that the Tribe took a glance at Fuentes as well.
- The Rox offered Jamey Carroll for Josh Barfield, which is pretty lopsided even with the year Barfield had. Of course the Indians declined.