Rumor Roundup
Another day, another rumor roundup. Let’s throw everything fresh into the mill.
The Orioles are thinking about taking on one of Philly’s huge outfielder contracts, for some reason. I guess this could help next year’s push for third place. Baltimore is one of baseball’s most baffling teams to me. Abreu rumors have been floating around the Orioles since at least November.
The Cubs and Yankees may have something cooking, with Scott Williamson the likely candidate to be dealt. If the reliever market is really so inflated, why don’t the Cubs trade Howry and Eyre?
The Pirates are offering up all sorts of non-difference makers, but Mike Gonzalez could actually get them something decent. The 28 year-old southpaw has a 2.27 ERA in 39 innings this season. Fantay leaguers should start thinking about Matt Capps as his successor.
Trade rumor All-Star Ken Rosenthal is getting into the game more lately, with a full plate of whisperings posted an hour ago. Jose Vidro could become a Giant, and the D’Backs would love to trade Shawn Green (of course).
Unfounded rumors: Billy Beane may be shopping Mark Ellis and Jason Windsor, with possible interest in Brian Roberts…the Angels could be after David Dellucci…teams are calling the Mets about Alay Soler…Dallas McPherson is definitely on the block…there’s a decent chance Jon Lieber ends up a Yankee…the Mets and Nats are still talking about Livan Hernandez.
Mets To Trade Jeff Keppinger
Astute Mets fans may have noticed that second baseman Jeff Keppinger of the team’s Triple A club is not in tonight’s lineup. He also didn’t play in Sunday’s game. From the folks I have spoken to close to the Norfolk Tides, Keppinger is not known to have an injury.
A source tells me that Norfolk Tides manager Ken Oberkfell has informed Keppinger that he is part of a deal with the Pirates. Keppinger, a 26 year-old, hit .337 for Norfolk last year. He’s known for his superb bat control, regularly making contact more than 90% of the time. Baseball America considers him a future utility man with a possibility of more. Keppinger previously played in the Pittsburgh organization, and was sent to the Mets in the Kris Benson deal.
A separate source of mine indicates that something is indeed going on with Keppinger. While Keppinger for Roberto Hernandez is feasible, he says the deal may be expanded to include Oliver Perez, among others.
UPDATE: Looks like I was off on this one; a minor deal with the Royals appears to be in the works. KC would send Ruben Gotay to the Mets.
Rubin: Mets Could Get Garcia Or Vazquez
According to Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News, the Mets may be able to acquire Freddy Garcia or Javier Vazquez from the White Sox. He says:
"The White Sox have been calling around to clubs – including the Mets – letting it be known that Javier Vazquez or Freddy Garcia would be available. The price: top-notch relief help, which would allow the Sox to fortify their bullpen leading to closer Bobby Jenks, sources told the Daily News. Chicago has 23-year-old Brandon McCarthy ready to step into its rotation."
Seems like relievers are the hot ticket item of this particular trading season. They’re always a popular deadline commodity but the price seemed quite high yesterday. My Mets source is adamant that New York would not give up Duaner Sanchez (2.45 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 6.4 K/9) for Garcia or Vazquez. He tells me that Aaron Heilman is an option. To me, sounds like just the pitcher Don Cooper could fix after he’s stumbled a bit this season.
This year, the Mets have seen fine work from Heath Bell (0.83 ERA in 21 Triple A innings plus a 3.68 ERA in 22 big league innings) and Royce Ring (1.53 ERA in 29 Triple A innnings). Henry Owens jumped up from Double A after 25 innings of 1.08 ball.
Rubin’s story also indicates that the Sox could have some interest in Tom Gordon, the best reliever on the trade market. Flash has pitched for both Chicago teams. He posted a 3.16 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 12 saves, and 11.0 K/9 in 74 innings for the Sox back in 2003.
Another Option For St. Louis
My Mets source has sent an update regarding the recent Victor Diaz information. Seems the Cards just weren’t offering enough in Mark Worrell for Diaz. Diaz remains widely available, and could be used to acquire a decent second baseman like Mark Grudzielanek.
The Cardinals have another outfielder on the radar – old favorite Reggie Sanders. Reggie is 38 now, and he’s not showing any ability to get on base as a regular for the Royals. Still, his .259/.301/.476 line (8 home runs) is not far from his work with St. Louis back in ’04. Sanders typically walks about 7-8% of the time, but this year it’s been below 6%. I guess his new club is influencing his style – KC is second to last in the AL in walks this year.
Sanders’s .777 OPS is just the 12th best among AL right fielders. He signed a two-year, $10MM deal with the Royals last offseason. He’d probably play left field if he returned to St. Louis. As a group, the Cardinals’ left fielders have hit just .243/.305/.321 with one home run. At the least, Sanders would provide a power threat.
The Cardinals will likely settle for a second tier outfielder in the trade market, as I’m told Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright are being slotted into the 2007 rotation.
Cards Interested In Victor Diaz
Walt Jocketty and the Cardinals are currently mulling over various options to add an outfield bat, and one player who is definitely on the radar is Victor Diaz.
The 24 year-old Diaz had a fine year in 2005 between Triple A and the Majors. However, after losing the Mets’ right field battle to Xavier Nady this year Diaz has become the odd man out. He’s stumbled to a .245/.310/.371 line in Triple A and his stock is at an all-time low. Still, Diaz has shown 25 HR power and was projected to hit .265/.323/.469 for the Mets by Baseball Prospectus’s PECOTA system.
New York doesn’t have much use for Diaz, and one player they like is 24 year-old righthander Mark Worrell in the Cardinals’ system. Worrell uses an unorthodox, sometimes sidearm delivery to retire hitters. He did a fine job as a closer in A ball last year, but the jump to Double A hasn’t been so kind. Worrell has 15 saves and a 1.28 WHIP, but he also owns a 5.27 ERA. Walks and home runs have been a problem.
It’s a swap that makes sense – a couple of minor leaguers who have not met expectations this year. My Mets source tells me that discussions are ongoing.
Kaz Matsui Sent To Rockies
The Mets finally decided to bite the bullet and eat Kaz Matsui‘s awful contract, sending him to the Rockies. The best they could do for him was Eli Marrero, a 32 year-old journeyman who plays catcher, first base, and outfield.
In searching for positives about bringing in Marrero, I must note his solid .467 slugging percentage in 60 at-bats this year. Marrero once hit 18 HR in less than 400 at-bats (2002 Cardinals) so he does provide a little right-handed pop off the bench.
Matsui has agreed to the deal and will report to Triple A for a little while. The Rockies probably want him to prepare as a shortstop, a position he hasn’t played since 2004. Matsui posted a woeful .504 OPS in 130 at-bats this year, which is actually worse than Clint Barmes‘s .558 mark. There’s at least some hope that the 27 year-old Barmes can snap out of it and at least hit like a league average shortstop. Still, this isn’t a gamble for Colorado since the Mets are paying Matsui’s $8MM salary.
Cliff Floyd To Tigers?
John Delcos, writer for The Journal News, has a Cliff Floyd rumor that’s been making the rounds. The rumor seems more on the speculative side; I’m not sure that Delcos is suggesting that the Tigers have asked about Floyd specifically.
Instead, Delcos’s friend may have just been curious about the Mets’ interest, which apparently is slim. But let’s see which Tiger arms could perhaps be enough to acquire Floyd, an impending free agent. Floyd had a very rough start but has hit .267/.383/.489 in May – pretty close to career norms.
Humberto Sanchez and Jordan Tata come to mind as two very marketable commodities for GM Dave Dombrowski. Both are close to Major League ready and bring low 90s heat. Sanchez has a 1.84 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 10 Double A starts this season. Tata handled himself capably in a brief Major League stint this season, and is back to starting games in Triple A.
Zito On Mets’ 40 Man Roster…Sort Of
Just got word from a loyal emailer:
"Was driving back from a party last night around 1:20AM and WFAN in NY had callers saying that Barry Zito‘s name was on the Mets roster over at Mets.com. His name was in place of Alay Soler. Sure enough, WFAN had checked it out and they confirmed that it was the case."
No, this probably isn’t an early sign that the Mets have completed a Zito for Milledge and Soler trade. Most likely it was just a webmaster getting crazy in the way that only a webmaster can.
On the other hand, if my memory serves me correct, the person in charge of Cubs.com accidentally posted Dusty Baker as the team’s manager before his hiring was made public. So you never know.
El Duque Swapped For Julio
In a surprising move, the Diamondbacks sent starter Orlando Hernandez to the Mets for reliever Jorge Julio. El Duque, age 36-40ish, has a 6.11 ERA and 1.58 WHIP through his first nine starts this year. 27 year-old righty Julio had a 5.06 ERA and 1.45 WHIP for the Mets.
Hernandez will be paid $4.5MM this season and doesn’t figure to pick up his incentives for Comeback Player of the Year or an All-Star Game. Julio makes about $2.5MM and has yet to reach free agency. Hernandez was projected to add about 1.8 wins in 122 innings while Julio’s projection called for 1.5 wins in 58 innings (3.73 ERA, 1.29 WHIP).
Perhaps D’Backs pitching coach Bryan Price thinks he can limit Julio’s largest flaw, his tendency to allow home runs. He’d better figure something out because Chase Field boosts homers for lefties by 18% (Shea suppressed them by 6%). The only silver lining in Julio’s 2006 performance is that he’s managed to whiff 33 hitters in just over 21 innings. The 13.92 K/9 is the best in the game among pitchers with 20 innings.
El Duque had three quality starts in nine tries for Arizona. Last year for the White Sox, 45% of his starts were quality efforts. While he’s an improvement over Jose Lima and Jeremi Gonzalez, the difference may be marginal. PECOTA projected Gonzalez at a 5.71 ERA, Lima at 5.21, and Hernandez at 5.17. Who knows, though, maybe El Duque will rise to the occasion on the big stage and give the Mets 100 innings of league average ball. And of course he could be an asset should the Mets make the playoffs.
I can see the reasoning here for both sides. The Mets fill their starter vacancy at a low cost and value Hernandez higher than most teams. El Duque loves New York and Minaya loves El Duque. Minaya scouted Hernandez and considers him a warrior. On the other hand, the D’Backs get a reliever who still at least has potential to be dominant. Julio is under contract for a couple more years and adds depth to an already decent Arizona pen. Perhaps Josh Byrnes thought Hernandez’s value would only continue to decrease as the season wore on.
It will be interesting to see if the Mets continue their pursuit of Orlando’s half-brother, Livan Hernandez.
Latest Mets Buzz
Haven’t heard from my Mets source in a while, but he checked in this morning with some good info.
He tells me that the Mets are not interested in trading Lastings Milledge or Aaron Heilman in a Barry Zito deal. The Mets aren’t a team to overpay for 2-3 months of Zito given his impending free agency. In addition, the Wilpons are sensitive about the Scott Kazmir trade (7-2, 2.39 ERA) and won’t let history repeat itself.
On the other hand, if the Mets had to include Milledge and another top prospect (Alay Soler?) to acquire Dontrelle Willis, they’d jump at the chance. Willis could anchor the rotation for many years in front of Mike Pelfrey.
20 year-old outfielder Carlos Gomez is a scout favorite despite his current .219/.290/.318 line at Double A so far. The Mets love the kid, but he could be had if it meant acquiring an ace-caliber pitcher like Jason Schmidt without parting with Milledge.
Anderson Hernandez, Michael Abreu, Evan Maclane, Heath Bell, and Victor Diaz are all readily available trading chips if the Mets decide not to shoot for the stars.