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Rosenthal On Yankees, Wandy, Ubaldo, Bailey

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The latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…

  • Yesterday's push by the Yankees to acquire Astros lefty Wandy Rodriguez came from ownership, not GM Brian Cashman.  SI's Jon Heyman wrote yesterday that the Yankees offered to pay $21MM of the $38MM left on Rodriguez's contract, implying they feel that Rodriguez is worth less than $7MM a year.  Rosenthal says the Astros were willing to pay $2MM of Rodriguez's salary this year (essentially all of it) "or $5MM if his [player] option for 2014 were exercised."  I'm in the minority, but I'm with the Astros in thinking paying Wandy down to the range of Ted Lilly's contract is reasonable.  At any rate, Rosenthal says the Astros and Yankees never even got to the point of discussing names.
  • Cashman has seven untouchables in trade discussions, a rival GM told Rosenthal.
  • More than a handful of teams called the Indians "to gauge the club’s willingness to flip Ubaldo Jimenez less than 24 hours after acquiring him."  The Indians wanted Jimenez for themselves though.  Rosenthal adds that the Indians entertained a "flurry of offers" for starter Fausto Carmona before the deadline.
  • Rosenthal says he was unfair to print a rival executive's quote last week about how Astros GM Ed Wade was trying to make a "job-saving" deal for Hunter Pence.
  • Athletics GM Billy Beane explained to Rosenthal that "ultimately a trade is a bilateral and not a unilateral process," suggesting that teams were not engaging in back-and-forth negotiations for his players.  Also, Rosenthal hears that the Rangers offered Robbie Erlin and Joe Wieland (who ultimately got them Mike Adams) plus shortstop prospect Leury Garcia for closer Andrew Bailey.

Willie Eyre Opts For Free Agency

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Righty Willie Eyre opted for free agency yesterday, MLBTR has learned.  The 33-year-old had been pitching for Oakland's Triple-A affiliate, posting a 3.48 ERA, 6.5 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, and 0.7 HR/9 in 62 innings. He last pitched in the Majors in '09 with the Rangers.

Quick Hits: Pirates, Jimenez, Dodgers

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It's easy to be overwhelmed by all of the action on July 31st, but we've summarized this month's trades by division. Earlier today, Zach Links looked back at the American League (East, Central, West) and the National League (East, Central, West). Here are some more links for Sunday night…

  • The Pirates explored "huge deals" without coming close to completing them, GM Neal Huntington told MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch (Twitter link).
  • Ubaldo Jimenez has the right to void the Indians' $8MM team option for 2014 because he was traded, as MLB.com's Jordan Bastian points out (on Twitter). There isn't currently a deadline for the decision.
  • A lot of teams will likely start the waiver process tomorrow, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (on Twitter). Teams were allowed to start passing players through waivers last week to clear them by Monday.
  • Athletics owner Lew Wolff told Bill Shaikin of the LA Times that he wants Frank McCourt to sell the Dodgers. "My hope is that the Dodgers will be sold to a party that will restart this great franchise, and that Frank and his family will benefit from a positive sale," Wolff said. He's the first MLB owner to publicly call on McCourt to stop fighting for his team, as Shaikin notes.

AL West Trades

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Everyone in the AL West made a trade this month, with the exception of the Halos..

Angels

  • No trades completed.

Athletics

Mariners

Rangers

Heath Bell Rumors: Sunday

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The latest on Padres closer Heath Bell, who is owed $2.47MM on the season and projects as a Type A free agent in either league…

  • There has been some discussion between the Padres and Bell's agents within the last 24 hours, tweets MLB.com's Corey Brock.  The Padres will not trade Bell unless the Yankees or Phillies offer an astronomical package, tweets Scott Miller.
  • The Phillies still seem to be in on Bell, tweets Heyman.  The Padres just traded setup man Mike Adams to the Rangers.
  • The Angels have minimal interest in Bell, tweets Jon Paul Morosi.
  • The Cardinals are sensing no traction for Bell, GM John Mozeliak tells Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link).
  • The Rangers appear to be losing momentum on Bell with the Cardinals still possible, tweets Rosenthal.
  • The Rangers are still in on Bell, but don't want to pay big now that they've gotten Koji Uehara, tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports.  The Yankees are in the mix, the Cardinals are on the fringes, and the Phillies have slight interest.  The Yankees are still viewed as a long shot, tweets Buster Olney.  The Rangers are also still in on Oakland closer Andrew Bailey, tweets Bob Nightengale.
  • The Yankees are in on Bell, tweets SI's Jon Heyman.  However, Joel Sherman tweets that as of this morning the two teams are not optimistic there is a common ground for a deal.  Last night, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wrote that the Yankees were showing late interest in Bell, but the Rangers were the frontrunner and the Cardinals were still involved.

Diamondbacks Acquire Brad Ziegler

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Long expected to add relief help, the Diamondbacks acquired right-handed sidearmer Brad Ziegler from the Athletics for first baseman Brandon Allen and reliever Jordan Norberto today.

Ziegler, 31, is under team control through 2014 and is owed only $405K for the balance of the season.  He has a 2.39 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, and 71.6% groundball rate with no home runs allowed in 37 2/3 innings this year.  As you might expect, he's a lot tougher on right-handed hitters.

Allen, 25, hasn't done much in 209 scattered big league plate appearances since coming to Arizona two years ago in a trade with the White Sox.  He's logged a lot of time in Triple-A, and the Pacific Coast League is hitter-friendly, but he is hitting .306/.427/.579 there this year.

Norberto, 24, tossed 20 ugly big league innings last year and has been in Triple-A this year.  The lefty has a 4.25 ERA, 10.0 K/9, 4.8 BB/9, and 0.2 HR/9 in 48 2/3 innings.  He has good velocity for a southpaw and ranked 29th among D'Backs prospects before the 2010 season, according to Baseball America.

Buster Olney, Jon Heyman, Tim Brown, and Steve Gilbert reported various aspects of the story as it developed.

Diamondbacks Acquire Brad Ziegler

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12:07pm: The A's will receive first baseman Brandon Allen and reliever Jordan Norberto, reports MLB.com's Steve Gilbert.

11:53am: The D'Backs acquired Ziegler, tweets Yahoo's Tim Brown.

11:47am: The Diamondbacks are likely to acquire righty reliever Brad Ziegler from the Athletics, tweets SI's Jon Heyman.  ESPN's Buster Olney tweeted the discussions earlier.

Ziegler, a 31-year-old sidearmer, is under team control through 2014 and is owed only $405K for the balance of the season.  He has a 2.39 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, and 71.6% groundball rate with no home runs allowed in 37 2/3 innings this year.  As you might expect, he's a lot tougher on right-handed hitters.

Red Sox Deal For Harden Falls Through

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10:58am: The Red Sox tried to remove the player to be named later from the deal and just send Anderson after looking at Harden's medicals, and were rebuffed by the A's, tweets Sean McAdam.

SUNDAY, 1:05am: Uncertainty after a review of Harden's medicals led to the deal coming apart, tweets Speier.

12:36am: A major league source says that the BoSox are not counting on the deal getting done, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com.

12:05am: Harden told the Oakland media that there is no deal and that he's staying with the A's, tweets Ian Browne of MLB.com.  A Boston source confirmed Brown (via Twitter) that the deal is off.

SATURDAY, 11:47pm: A's GM Billy Beane told Harden he's still scheduled to pitch for the A's Tuesday, according to Slusser (on Twitter).

8:35pm: Anderson and a player to be named will head to Oakland in the deal, according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus and Stark (Twitter links).

8:33pm: The deal could happen tonight and may involve Triple-A first baseman Lars Anderson, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (on Twitter).

8:20pm: It looks as though the Red Sox are closing in on a deal for Rich Harden, according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark on Twitter. ESPN's Buster Olney reported on the deal earlier today and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported tonight that there was a "strong chance" of a deal.

Harden, 29, has a 4.30 ERA with 9.2 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 29 1/3 innings for the A's this year. The British Columbia native was on the disabled list until the beginning of July. He earns a $1.5MM base salary this year.

Arizona Reliever Rumors: Ziegler, Balfour

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The Diamondbacks are likely to come away with a reliever today; here's the latest…

  • Arizona is closing in on acquiring a reliever, tweets MLB.com's Steve Gilbert.
  • The D'Backs are talking to the A's about reliever Brad Ziegler, tweets Olney.  The 31-year-old sidearmer is under team control through 2014.
  • The D'Backs have taken a very close look at Oakland's Grant Balfour, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney.  The 33-year-old Australian has about $5.6MM left on his contract through next year if his club option for '13 is declined.
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