Olney’s Latest: Sabathia, Varitek
Olney’s latest from his blog:
- He puts out a one liner: "The Red Sox are preparing, full-steam ahead, to play 2009 without Jason Varitek." This may in part be posturing to counter Boras seeking Posada money.
- Olney suggests that if the Knicks are making a move for Lebron James, then further incentive would exist for CC Sabathia to accept the Yankees $140MM offer. Take this with a huge grain of salt of course. The two are friends from their days in Cleveland. More realistically, he cuts to the point: if no California teams make a nine-figure offer, "folks involved" say he’ll be in pinstripes.
Yankees “What If”: No A.J., CC, Lowe?
No new official information has been reported from either side–but that may be precisely why articles about the scenario where the Yankees fail to sign a big name free agent starting pitcher this offseason are starting to show up.
First, Jordan Bastian at MLB.com reports that the Yankees may not make a contract offer to A.J. Burnett. Burnett, through his agent, appears to be insisting on a five-year deal. While the market may not provide one, Bastian says that the Yankees simply will not.
In the CC Sabathia ring, separate postings at River Ave. Blues and Brew Crew Ball look at the "actual" disparity between the financial terms of the contracts offered to the big lefty by the Yankees and Brewers. I say "actual" because, as the articles admit, this type of information is hard to concretely determine. However, as the authors show, the actual difference may be alarmingly smaller than most might have thought.
Finally, Phil Rogers at the Chicago Tribune takes the issue head on: what if the Yankees fail to sign Burnett, Sabathia, and Derek Lowe? Rogers specifically talks about Sabathia’s likely preference for the West Coast (he’s from California), and/or an opportunity to hit (the guy did put up a .230 BA, with two doubles and a home run in 50 plate apperances). Notably, Rogers doesn’t offer much of a Plan B for the Yankees if all three pitchers end up elsewhere.
Does such a plan really even exist?
Mark Teixeira Rumors: Saturday
George King of the New York Post talked to a source who says the Yankees are “set to be aggressive” with Mark Teixeira if they can only sign one of C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe.
The Yankees have said that pitching is their priority but, King’s source says this could change if the Yankees can’t get the pitchers they want and Teixeira is not yet signed.
A.J. Burnett Rumors: Saturday
According to Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News, the Yankees won’t offer A.J. Burnett a five-year contract.
Ken Davidoff writes that Burnett’s agent, Darek Brauneker, is confident that his client will sign a five-year deal somewhere.
McCarron talked to a source who said that “the Yankees are not ready to go five years.” The source also said that the Red Sox are more interested in Mark Teixeira and Derek Lowe than Burnett.
The Blue Jays are still talking with Burnett, but they haven’t yet offered him a deal.
Heyman’s Latest: Lowe, Teixeira, Guillen
SI.com’s Jon Heyman recently published several new blog posts.
- Free agent outfielder Garret Anderson has a new agent: Scott Boras. Click here for our full list of Boras clients.
- Rangers starters Vicente Padilla and Kevin Millwood are drawing interest from the Braves, Dodgers, and Mets. Padilla is owed $12MM in 2009 with a 2010 option for the same ($1.75MM buyout). Millwood gets $23MM over the next two seasons and has a limited no-trade clause.
- Heyman says rather than battle for A.J. Burnett, the Red Sox and Yankees may duke it out for Derek Lowe. Other suitors for Lowe: the Mets, Braves, Phillies, Giants, Mariners and Dodgers. There he goes naming the Mariners again as a player for a major free agent…interesting. The Giants are a new one as well, though Heyman says Lowe may prefer to head back east.
- Heyman agrees with info from Nick Cafardo, that the Red Sox and Tigers have discussed swapping Julio Lugo for Dontrelle Willis.
- Dodgers GM Ned Colletti admitted to interest in C.C. Sabathia. Colletti said he’s waiting to hear from Scott Boras regarding Manny Ramirez, even though the Dodgers pulled their two-year, $45MM offer.
- It hasn’t happened yet, but the Angels plan to make a "very serious" offer to Mark Teixeira. A competing exec guessed eight years, $160MM. Remember, that’s a non-Angels exec making a guess. Heyman tosses a new team into the mix for Tex: the Mariners.
- The Royals are "quietly shopping" Jose Guillen. Guillen, 33 in May, hit .264/.300/.438 in 633 plate appearances this year while playing below-average defense. He’s owed $24MM for the 2009-10 seasons.
- Competing execs tell Heyman the Mets appear open to trading Ramon Castro or Brian Schneider. The Mets would then presumably sign a free agent catcher.
A.J. Burnett Rumors: Friday
4:14pm: Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe says that while the Red Sox have reviewed Burnett’s medical records, they’re still in the early stages of negotiations.
2:32pm: Robert MacLeod of The Globe and Mail has more from Ricciardi on the five-year idea:
"I’m not going to commit to a five-year deal. There’s some things we could do to maybe make it a five-year deal but that would have to be based on a lot of different things."
9:22am: The Blue Jays haven’t made an offer yet to free agent starter A.J. Burnett, and GM J.P. Ricciardi doesn’t expect to win the bidding by offering the most money. However, the Jays may separate themselves by being willing to offer Burnett the five-year contract he craves. Ricciardi didn’t say he would go that far, but the concept does not scare him. He’ll wait to make his offer until after other teams submit their bids.
The Toronto Sun’s Mike Rutsey says the Orioles, Braves, Phillies, Yankees, and Red Sox have also expressed interest in Burnett.
Mark Teixeira Rumors: Friday
The latest on free agent slugger Mark Teixeira:
- Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald says the Red Sox burn, lust for, and love Teixeira. Silverman says Tex should end up with a salary of at least $20MM and a term of at least six years. Also, Silverman talked to one source who suggested the Yankees’ acquisition of Nick Swisher "could be a prelude to another deal with a National League club."
- Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News says the Yankees still plan to add an impact hitter. He agrees that "several National League teams have had their eye on Swisher." MLB.com’s Mark Bowman says the Braves are among them.
- Teixeira told Erin Andrews last night that he hopes to sign by Christmas.
C.C. Sabathia Rumors: Thursday
8:15pm: According to ESPN.com, Hal Steinbrenner said Sabathia will have a deadline to accept his current offer. The Yankees made Sabathia a record-setting offer for a pitcher, but Steinbrenner said "it’s not going to be there forever."
2:22pm: SI.com’s Jon Heyman says the Dodgers, Giants, Red Sox, and Angels have checked in on Sabathia since the Yankees made their bid. All four clubs face various obstacles.
9:26am: The latest on C.C. Sabathia…
- Ken Davidoff and Anthony Rieber pass along a Peter Gammons report saying Sabathia will not sign until after Thanksgiving. Perfectly logical, though I cannot find where Gammons wrote this. (I see he wrote that it will "take a while.") Send me the link (ESPN.com, not Newsday) if you can help out.
- Andrew Baggarly’s source says the Giants are "not in offer mode" with Sabathia. He does believe they will take a shot.
Heyman’s Latest: Burnett, Lowe, Hudson, Tex
SI.com’s Jon Heyman has several new blog posts up. Let’s take a look.
- The Yankees planned offers in the four-year, $60MM range for A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe, but that’s not sufficient for either pitcher. Burnett wants five years, and Lowe presumably at least $16MM per year and perhaps five as well.
- The Indians, Mets, and Yankees are in on Orlando Hudson, who wants a five-year, $50MM deal. The Dodgers are another possibility. The New York teams would have to do some shuffling to make room for Hudson. Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported the Indians’ interest yesterday evening. The Tribe is also in on Orlando Cabrera, according to Yahoo’s Tim Brown.
- Heyman says the Angels will make a "fair proposal with a deadline" for Mark Teixeira, with Miguel Cabera‘s eight-year, $153MM deal as a baseline. This echoes recent columns from Ken Rosenthal and Bill Ladson.
Odds and Ends: Wade, Crisp, Holliday
Links for Thursday…
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- Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald wonders if Kerry Wood might accept an offer of arbitration from the Cubs.
- Hal Steinbrenner officially took over control of the Yankees from George.
- Former Dodgers GM Fred Claire takes a look at Jeremy Affeldt‘s motivations in signing early with the Giants.
- Check out recent fan chats with Astros GM Ed Wade and agent Scott Boras. Wade still hopes to sign Randy Wolf and Doug Brocail and doesn’t seem keen on trading Jose Valverde. Some fans didn’t seem to realize that just holding payroll steady will pose problems for the Astros.
- Joe Posnanski discusses the Royals’ acquisition of Coco Crisp.
- Nick Cafardo wonders if the Crisp trade sets up other moves for the Red Sox. They’ll explore signing Rocco Baldelli, according to Amalie Benjamin.
- Sox Machine reflects on Nick Swisher‘s time with the White Sox.
- A’s owner Lew Wolff would prefer to keep Matt Holliday all year.
- Tom Haudricourt wonders if the Brewers will pursue David DeJesus if they trade Mike Cameron.
- MetsBlog’s Matthew Cerrone lists which teams have been connected to the top free agent starting pitchers.
- Chad Finn wonders if the Red Sox are considering trading David Ortiz.
- Alan Schwarz has a nice article on Junichi Tazawa.