Mets, Braves Swap Church For Francoeur
6:07pm: Hubbuch clears up some confusion: the Braves are sending the Mets cash in the deal. That makes more sense given the difference in salaries.
5:48pm: Adam Rubin of The NY Daily News reports that Braves also received cash in the deal. Church is making $2.8MM this year, his second arbitration eligible season. Francoeur is making $3.375MM in his first arbitration eligible year.
5:04pm: Hubbuch says the deal was straight up, one for one.
5:01pm: David Lennon tweets that Church was traded to Atlanta for Jeff Francoeur. Francoeur has put up a .250-.282-.352 batting line in 324 plate appearances in 2009.
5:00pm: Bart Hubbuch of The NY Post tweets that the Ryan Church has "apparently been traded." Church is hitting .280-.332-.375 in 255 plate appearances this season, and has been playing centerfield recently while Carlos Beltran is the DL.
Roy Halladay Rumors: Prospect Update
The Blue Jays want top talent in exchange for Roy Halladay, but we heard yesterday that the Phillies have some untouchable players, perhaps Kyle Drabek. Here's what the Cards and Mets are saying about their top prospects:
- Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post Dispatch confirms that John Mozeliak will call the Blue Jays, but suggests some in the organization would not consider dealing Brett Wallace, who the Jays wanted in last year's draft. Baseball America ranks Wallace as the 21st best prospect in baseball and the Cards' only prospect in the top 50.
- Jon Heyman of SI.com says the Mets want to keep Jennry Mejia, Brad Holt and Ike Davis. Along with Fernando Martinez, Mejia and Holt are considered their best prospects, so it's hard to envision a Halladay deal without them.
- Three Phillies prospects join Drabek in BA's top 50: Dominic Brown (17), Michael Taylor (23), and Jason Knapp.
- The Rangers and Giants each have three prospects in the top 50; the Red Sox and Yankees each have a pair.
Odds And Ends: Delcarmen, Jays, Perez
Links for Thursday morning…
- Boston native Manny Delcarmen tries not to let rumors about his future distract him, as Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald reports.
- As Newsday's Ken Davidoff notes, J.P. Ricciardi's commitments to A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan hurt the Jays more than they helped.
- Rob Neyer of ESPN.com says Oliver Perez's return was "just short of a disaster." The Mets lefty is under contract for two and a half more seasons.
- None of the players on this list are getting traded again, but it's worth checking out Tom Verducci's ten most thrilling players ever.
- If you're wondering what trade chips might interest the Blue Jays, check out the mid-season edition of Baseball America's Top 25 Prospects.
- I'll be talking trade rumors on 830 KLAA in Los Angeles at 6:05 CST. Also, check out my chat on the Mike Heller Show on ESPN 1070 from yesterday afternoon.
- Remember to follow MLBTR on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
More Halladay Chatter
GMs' phones must be ringing off the hook tonight, and most of the incoming calls are probably from your friendly neighborhood baseball beat writer. Let's scope out the latest news from Buster Olney:
- Olney has updated his previous post on the news, and gets word that Halladay might be open to waiving his no-trade clause.
- Olney goes on to say that since Halladay would depart after 2010 as a likely Type A, he will command two high draft choices. Thus, all trade offers would have to begin with such talent.
- Angels manager Mike Scioscia says GM Tony Reagins has talked to Toronto about Doc.
- Olney runs through more suitors: the Red Sox, who have "stubbornly clung to their young pitching," the Mets and Cubs, who may or may not have the proper package of prospects, Yankees, and the Phillies.
In other news around the beat:
- MLB.com's Jordan Bastian has a source that says over a dozen teams have asked about Halladay, with the most serious interest expressed by the Cardinals, Yankees, Mets, Brewers, Dodgers, Angels and Red Sox.
- Adam McCalvy at MLB.com has this quote from Brewers GM Doug Melvin on the matter: "I'm open to talking about anybody…I'm also realistic to know that not everybody is available all the time."
- Dave van Dyck at the Chicago Tribune talked to White Sox GM Kenny Williams, who reiterated his concerns about finances and doesn't think he can afford to ship the young talent Halladay will require.
Halladay Season: Link Round-Up
The baseball realm is a-twitter with the news that the Blue Jays will listen to offers on Roy Halladay. Let's run down the latest bullet points on this front:
- MLB.com's Jordan Bastian has a bevy of quotes from Roy himself: "It's a situation where I think if it's best for the team, if it's best for me, then you go from there."
- SI's Jon Heyman hears that the Jays may want a top SS prospect for the Doc, which could bode well for the Phillies, White Sox and Brewers, who all harbor chips in Jason Donald, Gordon Beckham and Alcides Escobar, respectively.
- Scott Gregor at the Daily Herald doesn't believe a deal with the White Sox for Halladay to be a likely scenario.
- Scott Lauber of the News-Journal says the Blue Jays already have a scout at the Phillies game tonight.
- Bill Shaikin at the L.A. Times asks Dodgers fans what their package deal for the Doc would be.
- Ken Davidoff at Newsday says it'd be "irresponsible" for the Mets and Yankees to not inquire on Halladay. Davidoff talked to Ricciardi, who insinuates that he wants a bigger package than what the Braves gave for Mark Teixeira a couple years ago.
- Tony Massarotti at the Boston Globe wonders just how unlikely an intra-divisional trade would be, and according to J.P. Ricciardi via WEEI.com's Rob Bradford, he apparently wouldn't hesitate to deal to an AL East competitor.
Rosenthal On Vazquez, Hairston, Teahen
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says Javier Vazquez has more value than any available hitter. Here are the details and the rest of Rosenthal's rumors:
- Not even Matt Holliday or Corey Hart would be fair value for Vazquez, so Rosenthal asks why the Braves would want to trade him at all.
- The Mets inquired on Scott Hairston, who could have been an affordable stopgap, but balked when the Padres asked for Bobby Parnell.
- The Marlins offered Gaby Sanchez for Manny Delcarmen, but the Red Sox weren't interested.
- The Mariners, Tigers and Rays weren't far from agreeing to a deal that would have sent Edwin Jackson to Seattle and J.J. Putz to Detroit last offseason.
- Kevin Towers compares Rule 5 pick Everth Cabrera to Rafael Furcal.
- The Royals "do not seem terribly inclined" to deal Mark Teahen.
- The Pirates covet Eric Young Jr. of the Rockies.
- Some predict that the distribution of amateur talent- through the draft and international signings- will be the biggest issue in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Odds & Ends: Marlins, Brewers, Wang, Mitre, Matzek
Here's some links to hold you over while waiting for the sky to start lighting up…
- Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald says the Marlins have some important decisions to make in the coming weeks, whether they plan to make a trade before the deadline or not.
- MLB.com's Adam McCalvy mentions that the Brewers have some questions of their own to answer, including what to do with the starting rotation and how to handle Mat Gamel, who hasn't played much of late.
- Chien-Ming Wang is headed for the DL after leaving today's game with a shoulder strain and bursitis, and Peter Abraham of The Journal News mentions that Sergio Mitre could be an option to replace him in the rotation. After rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and serving a 50-game suspension, Mitre has a 3.26 ERA and a 2.71 GB/FB ratio in 30.1 Triple-A innings this year.
- Wang's injury basically eliminates any chance he'll be traded by the 31st as well.
- Rockies' top pick Tyler Matzek is the first rounder most likely not to sign according to Jim Callis of Baseball America.
- Bart Hubbuch of The New York Post tweets that reliever Connor Robertson has been demoted all the way to High-A ball. Ouch. Robertson had been designated for assignment about two weeks ago.
Mets Unlikely To Make Major Trade
MetsBlog'com's Michael Baron says that prior to last night's game, Mets GM Omar Minaya said that making a major trade is unlikely because many teams are still in contention.
“Some of our DL guys are probably going to be the reinforcements. But it’s also fair to say that we’re going to try to go out there and look around and see if we can do something that can fit. If we can get all our guys back healthy, our healthy guys, it’s going to be hard to make trades that are going to be better than Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado.”
While Minaya is certainly correct when he says that getting his own players back and healthy is better than any trade they could make, Baron wonders if the team is putting too much faith in their return, particularly Jose Reyes since his injury involves his legs.
Stark On Royals, Phillies, Holliday
ESPN.com's Jayson Stark asks some thoughtful baseball people why we're not greeting Manny Ramirez like the "team-wrecking, alibi-distorting, female-fertility-drug-popping scoundrel he is." And, of course, Stark has piles of rumors. Here they are:
- The Mets were never willing to move Bobby Parnell or other top young arms for Mark DeRosa, so they weren't as close to acquiring him as the Reds and Cubs were. The Phillies, Marlins and Giants were also in the mix.
- The Indians are more interested in dealing Rafael Bentancourt than Kerry Wood, whose contract ($15MM remaining) would be hard to move.
- The Royals will listen on anyone but Zack Greinke, but that doesn't mean they're looking to deal starters. They're "reluctant" to deal Brian Bannister, Kyle Davies or Gil Meche, who has a no-trade clause.
- The Phillies were looking at Juan Cruz, who the Royals say they'd only deal for an upper-tier prospect ready to make a big-league impact.
- The Reds will wait it out and ramp up their pursuit of a bat if they're in the race later in the month.
- One executive says Pedro Martinez didn't look bad in last month's workout; Pedro's just demanding too much money.
- The Phillies haven't given up on pursuing Cliff Lee, Erik Bedard or Roy Oswalt.
- The Braves are trying to deal Jeff Francoeur everywhere, but no one's interested. One front-office guy says his team would be interested if Francoeur's non-tendered.
- Officials are divided on whether Yunel Escobar could be dealt, but a trade is unlikely at best.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels says he is now looking to bolster his rotation.
- As expected, Daniels confirmed that the Rangers will have "limited" ability to take on salary at the deadline.
- The A's will want "two prospects with tremendous upside" for Matt Holliday if they deal him. It's unclear how much of the $6.75MM remaining on his contract the A's would pick up.
- Could Josh Willingham be the next-best bat on the market? One exec says he might be if Russell Branyan and Miguel Tejada don't become available.
- Another official says Willingham's unappealing because of his back issues.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Mets, Pirates, Papelbon, Rivera
On this date 42 years ago, Brian Cashman was born. Cashman has been the General Manager of the Yankees since 1998 and is signed through 2011. With four weeks until the trade deadline, Cashman will certainly be active in the trade market. Let's take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- The Guttridge-Wang Trade Model attempts to quantify all aspects of a trade.
- MLB Notebook looks at how teams that are willing to spend will control this year's trade market.
- Mets Geek evaluates some buy-low trade targets for the Mets.
- Sully Baseball recommends that the Mets not make any trades.
- Around the Majors takes a closer look at the two deals the Pirates pulled off this week.
- The Basball Opinion dissects the Pirates moves and what they could mean for the team's future.
- Rockin' the Red takes a look at what the Mark DeRosa trade means for the Cardinals.
- Statistician Magician makes a case for trading Jonathan Papelbon.
- River Ave. Blues looks back at the deal that almost sent Mariano Rivera out of the Bronx.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here, and followed on Twitter here.