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July 2 Update: Abad, Peguero, Sanchez

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We're still more than a month away from July 2nd, when teams can officially sign a new crop of international talent. That means most of us are thinking about Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and the other American, Canadian and Puerto Rican prospects eligible for the upcoming amateur draft. But Melissa Segura of SI.com has the latest on some international players who are attracting heavy interest (all Twitter links):

  • Righty Luis Alvaro Abad is attracting interest from the Yankees, Astros, A's and Blue Jays.
  • Six to eight teams are pursuing dominican shortstop Estalin Peguero and interest is heating up.
  • Elvis Sanchez is also picking up momentum; the Mets, Pirates and Astros appear to be interested.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Derek Jeter

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Last September, SI's Jon Heyman guessed the Yankees would eventually re-sign Derek Jeter for at least $60MM over three years.  Bob Klapisch of FOX Sports suggested in November that the Yankees give him a four-year, $100MM extension beginning with the '10 season.  As recently as March, Heyman talked to two rival executives who believed Jeter would seek six years.

We haven't seen those kinds of contract estimates lately.  Noting Jeter's reduced range to his left, Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote on May 6th that the length of Jeter's next contract "is one of the toughest issues in the history of the organization."  More recently, Sherman wondered if the prices for Jeter and Mariano Rivera will come down as they fail to match their 2009 seasons.

Jeter is currently hitting .276/.320/.396 in 206 plate appearances this season.  His walks are down and he's swinging at more pitches outside the zone than ever.  It'd easily be the worst offensive season of his career, though he still has plenty of time to right the ship.  He had two similar offensive months to start the '08 season, but regained his form in June.

Consider this hypothetical situation.  Say the Astros had drafted Jeter first overall in 1992 instead of Phil Nevin.  Jeter has the same legendary career in Houston, but still reaches free agency after the 2010 season.  With Jeter's game potentially slipping, the Astros decide to part ways and don't offer arbitration.  The Yankees need a shortstop.  What's their contract offer?  I'm thinking three years, $30MM at most.  Even three years might be a reach for a 36-year-old player.

Back to reality: Jeter is the face of the Yankees, and an extension seems a near-certainty.  Based on Heyman's September guess, Jeter's premium could be in the range of $10MM annually, plus an extra year or two.

Remembering the 2000 Trade Deadline

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Ah, times were different back in 2000. Bush and Gore were locked in a closely-contested race. Reality television was the exception, not the rule. And What Women Want taught us that Mel Gibson would be best remembered for capturing Helen Hunt's heart.

Meanwhile, let's climb into the Wayback Machine (though I believe Sherman has already called shotgun) and look at some of the biggest trade deadline hits from the year 2000…

  • The first deal of significance near the non-waiver trade deadline came on July 12, when the Yankees acquired Denny Neagle (and Mike Frank) for Jackson Melian, Drew Henson, Brian Reith and Ed Yarnall. The Yankees didn't lose much, since Henson's production never approached his hype. Neagle, however, was actually nearing the end of a good career, and posted just a 5.81 ERA after coming to New York.
  • Little-discussed, however, is one of the most impressive trade-deadline pickups of all time. On July 21, the Yankees dealt the forgettable Ben Ford and Oswaldo Mairena to the Cubs for Glenallen Hill. For Hill, the deal provided the last, best jolt of power in a home run-packed career. He hit .333/.378/.735 (!) with 16 home runs in 143 at-bats for the Yankees. It is hard to imagine a better example of acquiring an impact bat. Hill, who last played in 2001, publicly admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs late in his career.
  • The most important trade of that time took place on July 26, 2000, when the Phillies traded Curt Schilling to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa, Travis Lee and Vicente Padilla. Padilla was the most productive of the bunch, with a pair of 14-win seasons, while Travis Lee, the centerpiece, hit just .258/.343/.402 in Philadelphia. Schilling, meanwhile, still had 111 of his 216 career victories ahead of him. He posted a 22-6 record in 2001, a 23-7 record in 2002, and had a successful Red Sox career after the trade.
  • Probably the biggest surprise of the players acquired at this time was Melvin Mora, traded with three other players by the Mets to the Orioles for Mike Bordick. The Mets wanted a shortstop and Bordick had a reputation as a strong defender. He posted a .260/.321/.385 mark with the Mets in 2000 and Mora went on to hit 158 home runs for the Orioles through 2009.
  • The Indians dealt a 25-year-old Richie Sexson, along with Kane Davis, Paul Rigdon and a player to be named later to the Brewers for three pitchers to shore up their pitching staff: Jason Bere, Bob Wickman and Steve Woodard. Of the three, only Wickman posted a reasonable ERA, and the Charlie Manuel-led Indians finished five games behind the Jerry Manuel-led White Sox. Sexson, meanwhile, hit 45 home runs in two of the next three seasons. And adding insult to injury, the player to be named later turned out to be Marco Scutaro.
  • In my favorite trade of the 2000 deadline, the Cardinals sent minor league slugger Jose Leon to the Orioles for first baseman Will Clark. All Clark did was hit .345/.426/.655 with the Cardinals, leading them into the NLCS. He then retired- the textbook case of going out on top.

Heyman On Lowell, Jeter, Castillo

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Jason Heyward and Mike Leake top Jon Heyman of SI.com's list of top rookies so far in 2010. It's hard to argue with those choices, though Stephen Strasburg may steal the show in a few weeks. Here are Heyman's rumors:

  • Mike Lowell upset the Red Sox brass when he told the media that he had no role on the team. Heyman says the Red Sox are not eager to release Lowell and eat his $12MM salary.
  • The Yankees say they will "definitely" re-sign Derek Jeter, who hits free agency after the season. It is almost impossible to imagine Jeter playing for another club.
  • Mets hitting coach Howard Johnson "appears to be in some jeopardy" of losing his job.
  • One person connected to the Rockies says they are "not even close" to having enough money to afford Luis Castillo, who makes $6MM this year and the same amount next year. The Rockies are interested in adding infield depth, but it appears that the Mets would have to take on a considerable portion of Castillo's salary for a deal to go down.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Hoffman, Bay, Markakis

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On this date back in 2004, Alex Rodriguez returned to Texas to play the Rangers for the first time since being traded (along with $71MM) to the Yankees for Alfonso Soriano and Joaquin Arias. He was booed loudly just like every other road game of his career, though he silenced the home crowd – at least temporarily – with a two-run homer in the first inning. 

 Here are a few links from around the baseball blogosphere…

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

Odds & Ends: Resop, Gamel, Santana, Bumgarner

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Happy birthday, Jayson Werth!  Let's celebrate by reading these news items…

Yankees Sign Rene Rivera

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Mike Ashmore of the Hunterdon County Democrat reports that the Yankees have signed catcher Rene Rivera to a contract.  Rivera told Ashmore that he is reporting to the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate in Scranton.

Rivera, 26, was a second-round pick of the Mariners in the 2001 amateur draft.  He hit .227/.252/.333 in 159 plate appearances with Seattle from 2004 to 2006, and spent the last two seasons in the Dodgers and Mets' systems, respectively.  MLBTR's Howard Megdal recently mentioned Rivera in his look at the Atlantic League, where Rivera was tied for the league lead in homers playing for the Camden Riversharks.

The signing is a depth move for the Bronx Bombers, who will be without Jorge Posada for the next 3-4 weeks due to a broken bone in the star catcher's foot.  New York just today called up veteran catcher Chad Moeller (who had been in Scranton) to back up new starter Francisco Cervelli.  If you're wondering about the Yankees' star catching prospect Jesus Montero, he's only hitting .230/.304/.385 at Triple-A this season, so the Yanks clearly aren't ready to bring him up to the majors quite yet.

Odds & Ends: Millar, Yankees, Royals, Darvish

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Links on a memorable Thursday afternoon for Brooks Conrad and the Braves…

Maya Unblocked, Yankees Interested

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May 20: The Phillies will also have a scout in attendance when Maya throws tomorrow, writes the Philadelphia Daily News' David Murphy, though he adds the team doesn't currently consider Maya a serious option for either the bullpen or rotation.

May 19:The latest model from Cuba is now officially on the showroom floor. Nine months after defecting, pitcher Yunesky Maya* has been cleared to sign as a free agent, reports Jorge Ebro at El Nuevo Herald (link in Spanish). Maya's agent, Bart Hernandez, tells Ebro that interest has been "tremendous" thus far in the 28-year-old longtime anchor of the Cuban National Team rotation. Count the Yankees at minimum among the interested, as the New York Post's Brian Costello and George A. King III reported this morning that senior vice president of baseball operations Mark Newman will be on hand to watch Maya at a workout this Friday in the Dominican Republic.

The obvious starting point for scouting Maya is through comparison with another former Cuban National Series standout who stepped from the 2009 World Baseball Classic to defection and the Major League auction block: Aroldis Chapman. Maya is at least six years older and right-handed, but on the other hand, boasts far more competitive experience and, by all accounts, a fuller arsenal of secondary pitches. Maya told Terreno de Pelota's Uziel Gomez last September he alternates between a 94-mile-an-hour heater, slider, change-up, curve, and sinker, a repertoire which scouts backed up after seeing Maya in action at a workout late last year.

In the 48th National Series that ended last year, Maya ended second to Chapman in strikeouts, 119 to 130, but outdistanced the younger pitcher in the league's equivalent of the Cy Young, thanks to Maya's superior overall stats: 13-4, seven complete games, and a 2.22 ERA in 145 IP. In six Cuban campaigns, Maya managed a 48-29 record with a 2.51 ERA and was also lights-out in both of his brief appearances at the WBC.

Among potential suitors Ebro mentions the Mets and White Sox, two teams that showed early interest in Chapman but didn't stick around to the final stages of the sweepstakes. The Red Sox have been known to be interested as well, though Rob Bradford at WEEI quoted a source in February indicating that Maya was more likely to choose a team where he had a better shot of immediately cracking the rotation. While it's true that Maya worked largely as a starter in Cuba, he told Gomez in September that he is open to relief work and willing to do "whatever the team that signs me needs." What is seemingly more important to the player and his agent, judging by their respective quotes to the Spanish-language press, is that teams approach Maya as a polished talent who is big-league ready right now.

* Maya has been dubbed Yuniesky, Yunieski, Yuneski, and Yunesky with almost equal frequency in published reports both stateside and in Cuba. Terreno de Pelota's Uziel Gomez gave some clarity to MLB Trade Rumors in an e-mail this morning, saying that Yunesky Maya Mendiluza is the name on the player's official documents.

Odds & Ends: Pirates, Yankees, Storen, Mets

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Links for Sunday night..

  • The Pirates have promoted Bryan Morris to Double-A after a sensational start to the season, writes Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.  The 23-year-old starter, who has a 0.60 ERA, could earn another promotion by August according to GM Neal Huntington.  Morris was one of the main pieces the Pirates received in the Jason Bay trade in July of '08. 
  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter) points out that three former Yankees set-up men have been released in the last 24 hours: Chad Gaudin, Edwar Ramirez, and Brian Bruney.
  • Nats pitching coach Steve McCatty says that the club has not yet determined Drew Storen's role and that they will "ease him in", tweets Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.
  • Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com writes that Mets GM Omar Minaya will accompany the team on their trip to Atlanta, though a team official insists that he will be there just to lend support.
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