Mets Rumors

Odds & Ends: Anderson, Smoltz, White Sox, Ripken

By Zachary Links | April 17, 2010 at 9:22pm CDT

Links for Saturday..

R.J. Anderson at FanGraphs isn't quite sure why Brett Anderson (and his agent) would agree to the four year extension he signed, but he also notes that Oakland's side of the deal isn't exactly risk-free.
Baseball color analyst John Smoltz won't completely rule out a return to baseball, writes Chad Finn of the Boston Globe. In March, Ken Rosenthal noted that the Phillies have shown strong interest in the soon-to-be 43-year-old as a possible mid-season addition.
Ozzie Guillen stood up for White Sox hitting coach Greg Walker, writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Orioles owner Peter Angelos said that he would be happy to sit down and talk with Cal Ripken Jr. if he is interested in a position with the club, writes Buster Olney of ESPN.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel shot down rumors of a clubhouse rift, tweets David Lennon of Newsday.
Outfielder Fred Lewis is happy to be a member of the Blue Jays, according to Larry Millson and James Hall of MLB.com. The Giants shipped the 29-year-old to Toronto earlier this week and will receive either cash or a player to be named later in return.

Largest Contracts In Team History

By Mike Axisa | April 17, 2010 at 12:14pm CDT

We've already looked at the largest contracts by service time and position, so let's now dig up the largest contracts ever given out by each of the 30 teams. These are in terms of guaranteed money only, but some could end up being even larger because of incentives and option years.

Angels: Torii Hunter, five years, $90MM
Astros: Carlos Lee, six years, $100MM
Athletics: Eric Chavez, six years, $66MM
Blue Jays: Vernon Wells, seven years, $126MM
Braves: Chipper Jones, six years, $90MM
Brewers: Ryan Braun, eight years, $45MM
Cardinals: Matt Holliday, seven years, $120MM
Cubs: Alfonso Soriano, eight years, $136MM
Diamondbacks: Randy Johnson, four years, $53.4MM
Dodgers: Kevin Brown, seven years, $105MM
Giants: Barry Zito, seven years, $126MM
Indians: Travis Hafner, four years, $57MM
Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki, five years, $90MM
Marlins: Hanley Ramirez, six years, $70MM
Mets: Johan Santana, six years, $137.5MM
Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman, five years, $45MM
Orioles: Miguel Tejada, six years, $72MM
Padres: Jake Peavy, three years, $52MM
Phillies: Chase Utley, seven years, $85MM
Pirates: Jason Kendall, six years, $60MM
Rangers: Alex Rodriguez, ten years, $252MM
Rays: Wilson Alvarez, five years, $35MM
Reds: Ken Griffey Jr., nine years, $116.5MM
Red Sox: Manny Ramirez, eight years, $160MM
Rockies: Todd Helton, nine years, $141.5MM
Royals: Gil Meche & Mike Sweeney, both five years, $55MM
Tigers: Miguel Cabrera, eight years, $152.3MM
Twins: Joe Mauer, eight years, $184MM
White Sox: Frank Thomas, seven years, $64.4MM
Yankees: Alex Rodriguez, ten years, $275MM

Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.

Odds & Ends: Ripken, Angels, Athletics, Lewis

By Luke Adams 2 | April 16, 2010 at 9:51pm CDT

Rounding up some Friday night links….

The Braves released minor league right-hander Deunte Heath, writes Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports that Orioles owner Peter Angelos nixed the idea of Cal Ripken Jr. joining the organization in a baseball capacity.
The Angels aren't actively shopping anyone, but they're receptive to the idea of trading a catcher, according to Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles. We looked at the club's catching logjam and Mike Napoli's potential availability earlier in the evening.
Joe Stiglich of the Bay Area News Group tweets that, following Brett Anderson's extension, Billy Beane will consider locking up other young Athletics to long-term deals. Stiglich says Kurt Suzuki probably tops that list, and, in a piece for CSNBayArea.com, Mychael Urban suggests Andrew Bailey is another possibility.
According to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link), Suzuki and his agent haven't heard from the A's regarding an extension yet, but they're open to the idea. Recently, MLBTR looked at comparables for a Suzuki extension.
MLB.com's Bill Ladson tweets that the Nationals had no interest in acquiring Fred Lewis, since they consider Justin Maxwell to be their "own Fred Lewis."
Bobby Valentine said on Sirius XM Radio that coaching the Mets isn't something he's considering, according to the New York Post's Dan Martin.

Heyman On Manuel, Fredi Gonzalez, Hunter

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 16, 2010 at 1:46pm CDT

Managers Ken Macha, Dusty Baker, Trey Hillman, Ron Washington and John Russell are under varying degrees of pressure, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com. Here are the details on two other managers on the hot seat:

Mets people say it's "too early" to react and replace Jerry Manuel, so they aren't about to fire him. Some people around the Mets say former MLB manager and newly-hired Mets scout Bob Melvin is in line to manage the club if Manuel falters. Mets management seems reluctant to bring Bobby Valentine back for a second stint managing the club.
If the Marlins fire Fredi Gonzalez before his contract expires after 2011, he could be a fit in Atlanta. The longtime Braves coach could return to replace Bobby Cox, who is in the midst of his final season managing the Braves.
Torii Hunter won't try to extend his career by DHing. Hunter says defense got him to the majors, so he intends to play a couple more years and then spend more time with his family.

Joel Pineiro Vs. The Mets: Who Was Serious About A Deal?

By Mark Polishuk | April 15, 2010 at 6:34pm CDT

We heard all winter that the Mets were interested in free-agent starter Joel Pineiro, and at one point it appeared as if New York had a two-year offer worth around $15MM on the table to the right-hander. Pineiro ended up signing with the Angels for slightly more money and it simply appeared that the Halos won a bidding war that also included the Dodgers.

John Harper of the New York Daily News, however, revealed a bit more to the story in an interview with the veteran right-hander. According to Pineiro, he had heard from neighbor Alex Cora that the Mets were going to make Pineiro a top target of their winter shopping, and the right-hander was more than willing to hear New York out. However, the club allegedly never made an offer to Pineiro until the Angels had already moved in and that $15MM offer "may well have been for the sake of appearance" since the Mets knew Los Angeles had made a bigger offer.

Adam Rubin of ESPN New York has the Mets' take on the situation, which is unsurprisingly different. According to team representatives, they Mets "were willing to meet or narrowly exceed" the contract that Pineiro got from the Angels, but the club felt that "Pineiro wasn't sincere" in his desire to become a Met.

Given that the difference between the Mets' purported offer and Pineiro's Los Angeles contract was only $1MM, it's hard to believe that the Mets couldn't have made up that gap if they were really serious about bringing Pineiro to the Big Apple. If "the sake of appearance" is as important to the Mets as Harper's article claims, then making the larger offer would've allowed the Mets to say offered the most money but the onus was on Pineiro for turning it down.

This kind of free agent gamesmanship no doubt occurs a dozen times over every winter, but in this case, it stands out given the small dollar amount involved and (as Harper points out) the major struggles of the Mets' pitching staff early in the season. It's also possible that both sides were playing a game of chicken with the other and, in this case, both blinked.

No Moves Likely For Mets Pitching Staff

By Howard Megdal | April 14, 2010 at 6:34pm CDT

Andy Martino of the New York Daily News writes that the Mets are unlikely to make any moves for pitching via trade or free agency, and specifically adds that the Mets are not interested in Jarrod Washburn.

If it seems a bit early for such discussions, that is largely due to the travails of John Maine, whose fastball velocity is way down, while his ERA is way up. After allowing seven earned runs in three innings last night, Maine faces a do-or-die start on Sunday night against the Cardinals, according to Newsday's David Lennon.

Another reason for New York's reluctance to reach outside the organization is a lack of attractive external options, though should the team climb into contention, a partial-season deal with Pedro Martinez could be considered.

Clint Everts Clears Waivers

By Luke Adams 2 | April 14, 2010 at 2:42pm CDT

WEDNESDAY, 2:42pm: Everts cleared waivers, tweets ESPN's Adam Rubin.

SUNDAY, 10:56am: The New York Mets have designated right-handed reliever Clint Everts for assignment, tweets Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork. The team made the move to clear a roster spot for Cuban lefty Raul Valdes.

The 25-year-old Everts had spent his entire career in the Montreal/Washington organization, before signing with the Mets this winter. He posted a 1.65 ERA in 60 innings over three levels in the minors last season.

Blue Jays Claim Shawn Bowman

By Tim Dierkes | April 14, 2010 at 1:31pm CDT

The Blue Jays claimed Canadian third baseman Shawn Bowman off waivers from the Mets, according to a team press release. He'll head to the Jays' High A affiliate.

Bowman, 25, hit .294/.346/.458 in 379 Double A plate appearances last year. He has above-average raw power and strong defense, according to Baseball America's '06 Handbook.

Delgado Still Wants To Play This Year

By Zachary Links | April 13, 2010 at 9:50pm CDT

9:50pm: Delgado refused to speculate if he could play in 2011 if he were to miss all of this season, writes Mike Puma of the New York Post.

6:09pm: Carlos Delgado says that he still wants to play this year, pending rehab, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The free agent slugger also said that he never got an offer from the Mets before his second surgery.

As David Lennon of Newsday (via Twitter) points out, Delgado could still be an option for the Mets later on in the season. Back in February the 37-year-old said that he could envision himself signing on with a club mid-year.

The first baseman first underwent surgery for a torn labrum of the hip in May of 2009 and was sidelined for the remainder of the season. He enjoyed a successful and healthy season in 2008 when he slugged .271/.353/.518 with 38 HRs.

Top Trade Chips: NL East

By Mike Axisa | April 12, 2010 at 4:17pm CDT

Let's continue our top trade chips series today with the NL East…

Braves: The Braves aren't going to move Tommy Hanson and/or Jason Heyward, and they already traded away their top piece of bait this winter when they sent Javier Vazquez to the Yankees. What Atlanta does have is cache of big time pitching prospects in 20-year-old Randall Delgado,19-year-old Julio Teheran, and 19-year-old Arodys Vizcaino that they could dip into if needed.
Marlins: Florida has been reduced to flipping players before they get expensive through arbitration, nevermind get close to free agency. Dan Uggla is the team's highest paid player and also one of its most productive, but he's perpetually on the block because he's owed $7.8MM this season and will make even more in 2011 through arbitration. The Marlins could trade him, put Chris Coghlan back at second (his natural position), and call up super-prospect Mike Stanton to fill the vacant outfield spot.
Mets: Even though Carlos Beltran's knee is problematic and Jeff Francoeur is a perennial non-tender candidate, the team's best piece of trade bait is 21-year-old outfielder Fernando Martinez. Lefty reliever Pedro Feliciano could be used as trade fodder, but if ownership decides to part ways with GM Omar Minaya, then they could be in for a full blown firesale. Everyone not named David Wright would be available.
Nationals: Forget Stephen Strasburg, it's obviously not happening. However, GM Mike Rizzo has a valuable piece in Josh Willingham, who is no stranger to the trade rumor circuit. He is under team control through 2011, and his production isn't far off from Bay's. Relievers Matt Capps and Brian Bruney could be dealt as well.
Phillies: Philadelphia unloaded most of their top prospects to acquire Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay in the last nine months, so the cupboard is pretty bare. They could shop hard-throwing and oft-injured reliever Scott Mathieson, but the doomsday scenario could find Jayson Werth on the block if the Phils don't think they can re-sign him after the season. Of course that's highly unlikely, he's only the second or third best player on the top team in the league.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Show all

Headlines

Mets Rumors

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect