Rosenthal On Royals, Atkins, Baez, Huff
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has trade speculation in the sidebar of his latest column.
- Rosenthal sees shortstop Mike Aviles as the Royals' weakest link, given his .523 OPS in 97 plate appearances. Most projection systems had Aviles in the .720-.750 range. Rosenthal runs through potential trade targets such as Orlando Cabrera, Jack Wilson, Miguel Tejada, and Marco Scutaro. The first three have their flaws, and Scutaro doesn't figure to be available.
- Rosenthal suggests the Rockies could accomplish their goal of more playing time for Ian Stewart by trading Garrett Atkins. However, Atkins is fairly pricey and is off to a .224/.287/.367 start through 108 plate appearances.
- Orioles reliever Danys Baez is generating trade buzz with his 2.30 ERA through 15.6 innings. Baez is still owed $4.55MM of his $5.5MM '09 salary, and he also gets a $500K bonus if traded. So just moving the contract might be a feat for Andy MacPhail, in my opinion.
- Aubrey Huff, with $6.62MM left on his contract, could eventually draw interest from teams like the Royals and Mariners, in Rosenthal's opinion. Huff seems back to his pre-2008 level; he's hitting .270/.331/.423 in 124 plate appearances.
2010 Options: Oakland Athletics
The A's are faced with just one 2010 option, Jason Giambi. It's a $6.5MM club option with a $1.25MM buyout. So the question will be whether Giambi, at age 39, is worth a net of $5.25MM in 2010. Through 96 plate appearances this year, Giambi is hitting .210/.333/.296. He's hitting grounders at the same rate as his miserable '04 season. The silver lining might be that Giambi had a rough April last year as well.
The A's really need Giambi, Orlando Cabrera, and Matt Holliday to start hitting. Talking to Joe Stiglich of the San Jose Mercury News, GM Billy Beane indicated the A's are unlikely to bring in reinforcements for their woeful offense.
Odds & Ends: O’s, A’s, Milledge, Manny
Your links for Tuesday…
- MASN's Buck Martinez believes the Orioles are headed in the right direction as an organization. "Sit back, relax and watch the organization grow," he writes.
- Vlae Kershner of the San Francisco Chronicle summarizes the current standing of the Athletics' bid for a new ballpark. Would a fancy facility in San Jose, the nation's 10th largest city, help boost the team's payroll?
- Lastings Milledge, who was demoted to Triple-A Syracuse on April 14, told the Washington Post's Chico Harlan that he hasn't kept in touch with the Nationals' front office, and hasn't been paying attention to the club's day-to-day progress. Sounds like a bad situation that might only get worse.
- According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, super agent Scott Boras told Playboy magazine in a recent interview that his client, Manny Ramirez, simply didn't like living in the city of Boston. That, Boras claims, is the reason Manny wanted out. "It wasn't like Cleveland," said Boras. And it's not like L.A., apparently.
Rosenthal On Mariners, A’s, Putz
The latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…
- The Mariners and A's are not thinking about selling off veterans at the trade deadline. Both clubs plan to go for it.
- Tough decision for the Mets after the season: do they exercise J.J. Putz's $9.1MM option for 2010? Cot's Baseball Contracts says it's an $8.6MM club option with a $1MM buyout.
- Rosenthal says one GM views the recent DL trips for Dontrelle Willis, Chien-Ming Wang, and Daisuke Matsuzaka as possible abuse of the system.
- Will Barry Zito continue to be decent this year? His control and groundball rate have been much improved and his average fastball velocity is up by 1.6 mph. The .250 BABIP doesn't figure to last though. Zito is owed $87.5MM for 2009-13, plus he has an $18MM option for 2014 that may vest.
Miguel Angel Sano Drawing Attention
Miguel Angel Sano, a 15 year-old shortstop from the Dominican Republic, is coveted by all 30 teams according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He'll turn 16 in May. The signing period for international free agents begins July 2nd. Kovacevic says Sano could command a bonus of $3MM.
Kovacevic says the Pirates are one of the favorites for Sano. GlobalPost has an informative video about the kid. In the clip, Sano wears apparel representing the Blue Jays, Cubs, and Cardinals at various times, for what it's worth. He was wearing an A's jersey when ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. and Luke Cyphers saw him. Sano is not worried about proving he's 15 years old, saying in the video, "Let them investigate me." To read a bit about his personality, check out this blog post.
Stark On Holliday, Relievers, Relocation
The latest from ESPN's Jayson Stark…
- Stark compared 2009 April attendance to 2008, excluding the New York teams given their new stadiums. He found virtually no change, overall. One anonymous agent complained that Bud Selig "overdramatized the potential financial losses so as to limit and to artificially control spending on free agency."
- The Royals may need a bat, but Stark says they're unwilling to discuss any of their best or most advanced prospects in trades.
- Stark talked to one exec about Billy Beane's Matt Holliday situation. If Holliday's power outage continues, could he become a July salary-dump candidate? If the A's keep him all year, will they risk offering him arbitration? And is Holliday headed toward a one-year "redeem yourself" deal on the free agent market?
- Stark says the Marlins would love to add a late-inning reliever via trade. He runs through possible relief trade candidates. In addition to the players I listed on Tuesday, Stark mentions Alan Embree, Octavio Dotel, Matt Thornton, Tom Gordon, Eddie Guardado, and Ron Mahay. The Phillies are also in the market.
- Remember the Zack Greinke trade rumors of years past? Stark talked to one exec who says Royals GM Dayton Moore never wanted to trade him.
- If, down the road, the A's or Rays have to relocate, Stark says San Antonio, Las Vegas, and Mexico were the locations MLB was considering in reference to the Marlins.
Matt Holliday Interested In Yankees
FRIDAY: Kevin Kernan of the New York Post asked Holliday specifically about playing for the Yankees. He said:
"I think a little bit as a human being you can't help but to think that if the Yankees are interested I would definitely consider it. I wouldn't be looking around if I were under contract for the four years, but I think I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be interested, especially with the Yankees being such a storied franchise. So yeah, you take a look around; you never know what's going to happen. This is a beautiful place."
WEDNESDAY: Not a big surprise, but Newsday's Ken Davidoff learned that Matt Holliday is willing to play in New York. The Mets or Yankees could consider the Scott Boras client, who is a free agent after the season. For what it's worth, Holliday's father Tom told Tyler Kepner of the New York Times in November that he'd like to see Holliday traded to the Yankees, or at least an East Coast team.
What's your prediction for Holliday's next contract? Will he top the four year, $82MM extension offered by the Rockies? And will the A's trade him in July?
Odds & Ends: Zimmerman, Devine, Wolf
Links for Wednesday…
- WEEI's Alex Speier points out that Ryan Zimmerman's deal mirrors the Kevin Youkilis extension, despite the difference in performance. Tyler Hissey of Around The Majors likes the Zimmerman contract nonetheless.
- Speier also reports that the Red Sox placed pitcher Devern Hansack on unconditional release waivers, not long after he dislocated his shoulder. UPDATE: Hansack will be re-signed to a minor league deal.
- Athletics reliever Joey Devine had Tommy John surgery, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star talked to Royals GM Dayton Moore, who said the decision to recall Brian Bannister over Luke Hochevar was not financially motivated.
- Randy Wolf doesn't have hard feelings toward the Astros, according to MLB.com's Michael Murphy. The 'Stros wisely yanked their three-year, $28.5MM offer to Wolf in November.
- Josh Levitt names the worst contract extensions in the game.
Cafardo’s Latest: Peavy, Mulder
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has a couple notes in his Sunday column:
- Should he be dealt this season, the Red Sox appeal to Jake Peavy, who hit it off with Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia in the World Baseball Classic. Padres GM Kevin Towers is hopeful his clubs success will continue and trading Peavy won't have to come up. Only twelve games into the season and the Pads are tied with the Dodgers at 9-3.
- The Nationals, A's, and Dodgers are all interested in Mark Mulder who believes he "could be ready two weeks after signing."
Odds & Ends: Closers, Holliday, Kent
Links for Wednesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- Interesting diary entry from an anonymous pro scout over at Baseball America. Don't bug these guys at games.
- Digging for saves? RotoAuthority has the latest Closer Report.
- Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker looks at the Japanese free agents for the 2009-10 offseason.
- Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN wrote about Matt Holliday's future.
- Justin Murphy of Seamheads.com examines the three Jeff Kent trades.
- Curtis Granderson wrote an article for Yahoo about protecting his identity.