Phillies Rumors

Odds and Ends: Riske, Bedard, Wolf

By Tim Dierkes | November 27, 2007 at 1:14pm CDT

And now for your daily jumble o’ rumors. More to come.

The Twins cleared several spots on their 40-man roster…will they be active next week?
The Yankees have "reached out" to free agent reliever David Riske. Troy Percival and Ron Mahay have also been linked to the Yanks this offseason.
The Dodgers have an interest in Tony Clark, which has to bum out James Loney. Dylan Hernandez also notes that the Dodgers’ talks for Erik Bedard have stalled because the Orioles want to see what happens with Miguel Cabrera first. Ned Colletti expects Jeff Kent back, by the way.
The Cards won’t be afraid to trade their young pitching (Anthony Reyes, Tyler Johnson, and Brad Thompson) for veteran pitching. They also still like Carlos Silva and Kyle Lohse, if the price is right.
Bob Dutton reports that the Royals’ Yasuhiko Yabuta signing will be finalized at week’s end. Meanwhile nothing is imminent with Jose Guillen.
Linked to this earlier in a D’Backs post…the Phils are in "serious talks" with Randy Wolf. As I said there, that shouldn’t stop them from going after a more reliable starter.
Things are heating up between the Twins and Red Sox for Coco Crisp, but that’s all Gordon Edes has for us on the topic.
As expected, the market for Mike Cameron has picked up now that Torii Hunter signed.

Odds and Ends: Fukudome, Eckstein, Lowell

By Tim Dierkes | November 21, 2007 at 3:29pm CDT

Ah yes, the odds and ends post, where I cobble together the day’s random links.

The Rangers have mild interest Scott Podsednik. Pods had two separate stints in the Rangers organization but never reached the bigs with them.
The Big Lead has an interesting interview with Yahoo baseball guy Jeff Passan, wherein a run-in with Jose Lima is recounted. Passan also takes on Fire Joe Morgan a bit.
Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog is hearing that Kosuke Fukudome is looking for three years and $30MM. Sounds fair.
The Angels are considering signing David Eckstein and/or Darin Erstad, for some reason.
Bob Dutton reports that the Royals can be patient with their offer to Torii Hunter, while the White Sox want a quick resolution. Bonus: a rather large, but not too pixellated picture of Hunter at the Dutton link. Hunter, by the way, could save $750K per year if he signs with the Rangers because Texas has no state income tax. Hunter is also considering the Las Vegas 51s for that same reason, I heard.
Per Buster Olney, the Dodgers put in a three-year offer to Mike Lowell. He takes this as a sign they weren’t serious, but Ned Colletti has shown a tendency to offer fewer years and more per year. He did this with Rafael Furcal and Jason Schmidt. So maybe the Dodgers put out a 3/45 offer or something.
The Phils picked up oft-injured outfielder Chris Snelling from the Rays for cash. He’s yet to accumulate 100 big league at-bats in a season, but maybe that’ll change in 2008.
Ed Wade + relievers = trouble. Doug Brocail is on the radar.
McCovey Chronicles lists some realistic position player targets for the Giants, including Jeff Clement, Andy Marte, and Adam Lind.

Phillies Make Offers To Kuroda, Wolf

By Tim Dierkes | November 21, 2007 at 3:07pm CDT

According to Todd Zolecki of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies currently have offers out to free agent starters Hiroki Kuroda and Randy Wolf. There are other unknown offers out as well. The Phils are thought to have roughly $10-12MM to burn this winter.

Jayson Stark reiterated that the Phils are after Wolf, noting that he’s high on their list. Stark adds Matt Clement, Kris Benson, and Mike Wood to those coveted by the Phils. Seven other teams are after Benson, including the Royals and Marlins.

MLBTR readers also know the Phils like Jon Lieber, Bartolo Colon, Kenny Rogers, Livan Hernandez, Mark Prior, Shawn Chacon, Joe Kennedy, Brian Fuentes, and A.J. Burnett.

Phillies Could Re-Sign Lieber

By Tim Dierkes | November 16, 2007 at 8:48am CDT

The Phillies need pitching, and they intend to spend money on it. Jon Lieber is a free agent, and he still has a little left in the tank. Why not bring him back?

Lieber’s agent said yesterday that Liebs still has the Phillies under consideration. His ’07 season with them was cut short by foot surgery. For the Phillies the contract would probably have to be one year plus incentives. Lieber’s agent wisely wouldn’t say whether he was up for that. Who knows, maybe a guy like Lieber snags two years guaranteed somewhere.

So far the Astros are the only other team known to be considering Lieber.

Phillies Still Focused On Pitching, Not Lowell

By Tim Dierkes | November 15, 2007 at 8:32pm CDT

UPDATE: Gillick specifically said tonight not to believe everything you see on ESPN.com, in reference to the Lowell rumor.

Pat Gillick reiterated today that the Phillies are focused on pitching rather than Mike Lowell. Specifically a starter and a reliever.

Buster Olney had reported earlier that the Phils were making a big play for Lowell.

Dodgers Pursuing Aaron Rowand

By Tim Dierkes | November 15, 2007 at 12:21pm CDT

Buster Olney’s blog today had some good rumors to digest.

Olney writes that the Dodgers are making a "heavy play" for Aaron Rowand. Apparently they love the idea of adding a good character guy to the clubhouse. They’d be paying $25MM for Rowand and Juan Pierre in their outfield for the next several years.
The Phillies are making a "big play" for Mike Lowell. This certainly doesn’t jive with the speculation that the Phils only have $10MM to spend and it’s going toward pitching. By the way, Ruben Amaro Jr. ruled out the possibility of signing Torii Hunter.
Olney has an exec source who believes Hunter will sign with the Rangers for six years and $90MM.
Olney doesn’t see Kenny Rogers apologizing to the Rangers anytime soon.
Mike Cameron has a better chance of re-signing with the Padres, now that his 2008 season will be reduced by 15% in playing time.
Six teams are in on Matt Clement, but he’s still expected to land in San Diego. The Royals are probably one of the six.
Speculation is growing that the Braves might consider bringing Andruw Jones back.

Rumor Roundup: Colon, Barrett, Clement, Monroe

By Tim Dierkes | November 14, 2007 at 1:42pm CDT

Rounding up some of today’s rumors…

The Phillies have had conversations about Randy Wolf and Bartolo Colon. It’s assumed they have about $10MM to spend.
The Rockies are talking to Michael Barrett’s agent. They’ve also got some interest in Mike Maroth. He doesn’t seem like a great match. LaTroy Hawkins hasn’t had any recent discussions with the Rockies, and other teams are knocking on his door (including the Brewers).
The White Sox may look to Japan for relief help. They’ve been linked to Yasuhiko Yabuta in the past.
Richard Griffin notes that the Blue Jays pursued Matt Clement three years ago, and they could go after him again now. I’m guessing Clement will opt for San Diego though.
Sabernomics interviewed ESPN’s Keith Law. I chatted with Keith back in July, if you’re interested.
The Cubs only get a player from the Twins for Craig Monroe if the Twins can strike a deal with him. And the Twins won’t be going to arbitration with Monroe.

Rangers Rumors: Rogers, Gagne, Hunter

By Tim Dierkes | November 13, 2007 at 9:41pm CDT

MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan has some new info regarding the Rangers’ plans this offseason.

Kenny Rogers has already had three separate stints with the Rangers, the last one ending with the cameraman incident. The Rangers would like to bring him back for a fourth tour, if the price is right. One emailer speculated that the team also wouldn’t mind an apology to management for the incident, also. Sullivan says the Mariners, Phillies, Dodgers, and Mets may also have Rogers on the radar. Seems like Ned Colletti is letting bygones be bygones with Scott Boras. UPDATE: Boras reiterated tonight that the Tigers are Rogers’ priority. He seemingly wants one year and $10MM.
The Rangers have interest in another Boras client, Eric Gagne. I think I read this in ESPN Magazine recently – how about re-signing him and flipping him all over again at the ’08 deadline?
Owner Tom Hicks and GM Jon Daniels had dinner with Torii Hunter tonight. I heard they had the roast beef. The Rangers will make an offer later this week, though they’ll have to top whatever the White Sox come up with.
The Rangers also want to bring back Jamey Wright for the ’pen.

Phillies May Only Have $10MM To Spend

By Tim Dierkes | November 13, 2007 at 2:31pm CDT

The Phillies need a starting pitcher, maybe two. Problem is, they may only have $10MM left to spend. All of that money is expected to go to pitching, so Aaron Rowand should pack his bags.

Todd Zolecki says the Phils won’t attempt to retain Kyle Lohse. Carlos Silva seems too pricey. Instead, Zolecki names Hiroki Kuroda, Kris Benson, Matt Clement, Livan Hernandez, Tom Glavine, Mark Prior, Shawn Chacon, and Joe Kennedy as possibilities.

Scott Lauber has heard from Ruben Amaro Jr. that the team will definitely consider Japanese options like Kuroda and reliever Masahide Kobayashi. Trading for pitching seems unlikely, as the Phils would probably have to part with Shane Victorino to get anyone decent.

Molony’s Latest: Glavine, Fukudome, Percival

By Tim Dierkes | November 12, 2007 at 4:45pm CDT

MLB.com’s Jim Molony has a new column up with some solid info.

Molony says Tom Glavine will wait about a week and then announce he’ll pitch for the Braves in ’08. It would probably be for $8-9MM for ’08 with a mutual option for ’09.
Molony suggests that the Phillies might go after Kosuke Fukudome, or lesser options like Brad Wilkerson or Trot Nixon.
Eight teams are after Troy Percival, four of which consider him an option at closer. The Tigers aren’t involved as of yet. Maybe the Cubs are in the mix? Also a reader just emailed me to tell me that 790 The Sports Animal in Houston says the Astros are in on Percival.

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