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Reds Acquire Lohse, Cormier

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Wayne Krivsky did some tinkering this morning, picking up Kyle Lohse and Rheal Cormier in separate trades.

Lohse, 27, was demoted on May 17th.  After four solid efforts in Rochester, he was recalled and used in middle relief.  Maybe, just maybe, he can get by as a fifth starter in the NL. 

The aggregate line of all the hitters Lohse has faced this year is .269/.334/.426 (.760 OPS).  In comparison, Bronson Arroyo’s batters faced have managed an aggregate .756 OPS and Aaron Harang’s competition is at .754.  So it’s not like the NL Central is that much easier than the AL Central based on quality of batters faced.

Cormier has posted a 1.59 ERA and 1.18 WHIP this season in 34 innings for the Phils.  I’m surprised Krivsky didn’t give up Homer Bailey to get him.  One note about Cormier is that he has not been used in high leverage situations this year.  Baseball Prospectus ranks him fifth in leverage on his own team.  Among pitchers who haven’t started or closed this year, Scott Linebrink leads in leverage.  He’s followed by Scot Shields, Kyle Farnsworth, Matt Wise, Duaner Sanchez, and Roberto Hernandez. 

Abreu Traded To Yankees

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As many are aware at this point, Bobby Abreu has been pulled from Philadelphia’s lineup today against Anibal Sanchez in favor of Shane Victorino.  It appears that a trade is imminent.

UPDATE: ESPN’s Buster Olney reports the deal is tenatively done – Abreu and Lidle to the Yankees.  Jayson Stark is now indicating that 27 year-old lefty reliever Matt Smith may be part of the deal along with C.J. Henry.  Smith has a 2.08 ERA in 26 Triple A innings this season.

Bobby Abreu Update

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About 29 hours remain for GMs to get their deals done.  Plenty of new stuff popped up this morning, as many sportswriters were saving good stuff for the Sunday edition.

Let’s start off with the Bobby Abreu saga. Late last night, we went to bed with Jayson Stark’s update as the last word.  Seemed like talks between the Yankees and Phillies were in advanced stages, and that it would be Abreu, Cory Lidle, and all their salary for a couple of lower-grade prospects. 

The latest from Ken Rosenthal is that the Red Sox are getting into the game, trying to mess with the Yankees’ stuff. 

Indeed, Abreu’s agent has indicated that he will accept a trade to the Red Sox, Yankees, or Mets.  A deal to these teams would not require Abreu’s 2008 option picked up.  Sam Borden’s article goes back to Jon Lieber and Scott Proctor as part of this deal.  I think I read somewhere that the Phillies could consider Proctor as a starter next year.

Stark: Yanks Close To Abreu Trade

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No, those weren’t Jayson Stark’s exact words.  But he does have a late night trade update indicating that the Yankees and Phillies are hammering out a deal for Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle.

Apparently the two clubs are negotiating which prospects will head to Philly.  The Phillies are said to be targeting shortstop C.J. Henry and starter Steven White.  For some reason Stark says C.J. Wilson in his update, but I believe he meant to say Henry.

C.J. Henry was the Yanks’ first round draft pick in ’05.  He’s the best athlete in the system according to Baseball America.  The 20 year-old has a ways to go with the bat; he’s hitting .237/.326/.350 for low Class A Charleston.

White is a 25 year-old starter who throws in the low 90s.  He’s battled injury issues but conquered Double A this year after his second try.  He’s stumbled a bit in Triple A.

The Yankees are expected to assume Abreu’s entire contract.  I have a feeling that in three years no one will remember which prospects the Phillies got for him, similar to the Mark McGwire trade in 1997.

According to an excellent piece by Baseball Prospectus’s Nate Silver, the Yankees stand to gain about 1.5 wins by acquiring Abreu.  Such an acquisition should increase their chance of making the playoffs by 14%.  And replacing Sidney Ponson with Lidle is definitely a plus.

Stark: Phils To Package Abreu and Lieber?

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ESPN’s Jayson Stark has a new lead on the Bobby Abreu discussions: the Phils have begun pitching Abreu and Jon Lieber as a package deal.  Stark says that only the Yankees could consider it, and that the price would actually lessen in this scenario because of all the salary.

Check out the Phils’ salary page at Cot’s Baseball Contracts; they’ve got a host of ugly commitments handcuffing Pat Gillick.  Beyond Abreu and Lieber, there are contracts for Pat Burrell, Randy Wolf, Mike Lieberthal, Arthur Rhodes, and Tom Gordon.  In my opinion, if you’re going to blow it up, don’t half-ass it – gut this team Marlins-style.  Well, not to that extent, but Jimmy Rollins probably is the only high-salary player that should be retained.  And only then because the market for shortstops is weak.   

Burrell Continues To Sit

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As a friend mentioned to me, Pat Burrell is one expensive bench player at $9.5 mil.  Burrell is out of the lineup tonight for the fourth time in five games.  Definitely seems like the Phils are attempting to showcase David Dellucci, who has a .976 OPS in 128 ABs this season (not including the 0-fer tonight).  Dellucci, a left-handed hitter, had an .879 OPS in 435 ABs last year with the Rangers.  As crazy as it sounds, Dellucci might be every bit as productive as Carlos Lee for the remainder of the season. 

Pat Burrell is doing his thing, with an OBP near .380 and a SLG around .500.  He’s suffered a power outage in July, however, perhaps because of the sporadic PT.  Burrell is one of the few legitimate above average hitters on the market; a team like the Yankees is in perfect position to acquire him without giving up much besides cash.  He’ll make $27MM for 2007-08.  Baseball Prospectus figures him to be worth just $8.5MM during that span.  With the Thome deal as a standard, some team may be able to convince Pat Gillick to take on $10MM of the remaining contract.   

Trade Rumor Roundup: 7 Days Left

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Here’s the latest from around baseball…

Dejan Kovacevic mentions that the A’s are considering Sean Casey.  Casey’s doing his usual good batting average/low slugging thing and he’s getting $8.5MM for it.  The combined efforts of Dan Johnson and Nick Swisher have been inadequate at first, but would Casey really help?  Johnson is hitting .485/.575/.848 in 33 Triple A at-bats; maybe he deserves another look.  The Athletics, who are dead last in the AL in slugging, wouldn’t be helped by adding the powerless Casey.  They need Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee, Pat Burrell, or even Raul Ibanez to make a difference. 

The Yankees have decided to hold on to Philip Hughes, and the Phils aren’t biting on whatever else they offered.  According to George King, the Yanks think assuming Abreu’s contract and exercising his option should be enough.  Still, it would be cool to see a nasty young Phillies rotation in 2008 with Hughes, Cole Hamels, Gio Gonzalez, and Scott Mathieson.

Also, I’m hearing that WPEN in Philadelphia has mentioned a trade rumor: Tom Gordon for Trot Nixon.  Nixon is a good hitter (.400 OBP), though he’s 32 with declining power numbers.  Given that Flash would be hands down the best reliever on the market, I’d expect the Phils to get more.   

Kenny Williams didn’t deny the recent Soriano rumor, so now you know it’s legit.  Kenny has been pretty shrewd with the media, so this is probably all part of his plan.  Despite word of a possible contract extension with Washington, Buster Olney all but assured us of a Soriano trade in today’s blog.

Also, Olney nixed the A-Rod to the Cubs idea, explaining that Rodriguez is a bargain in the Yankees’ world.  This column is kind of weird to me.  Phil Rogers almost seems like he’s just cooked up a brilliant scenario or something, with Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones being swapped for A-Rod.  Thing is, Bleed Cubbie Blue broke out this exact trade rumor three weeks ago.

RotoAuthority has a look at which pitchers have been abused this season.

Trade Rumor Roundup: 10 Days Left

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Couple of fresh rumors surrounding the Padres’ third base vacancy, and I’m proud to say that MLBTradeRumors was able to deduce these in advance.  A week ago I compiled a spreadsheet of Kevin Towers’ trading history since 2001, nerd that I am.  From that we learned that Towers loves working with the Red Sox and also Bill Bavasi.  That he would consider Adrian Beltre and Mike Lowell for his vacancy followed logically.  Today, the Beltre rumor comes courtesy of Ken Rosenthal and Buster Olney threw down the Lowell rumor.  If those two big dogs fall through, Towers could pursue previous acquisitions Joe Randa or Rich Aurilia.

Plenty of speculation, newspaper articles, and quotes involving Julio Lugo heading to Toronto.  Not that this would be a bad move, but this club has a clear need for pitching.  Ricciardi only has so many bullets to fire as far as prospects and dollars.

ESPN’s Stark Market tells us that the Mets may have soured a bit on Lastings Milledge and could consider shipping him to Philadelphia for Bobby Abreu.  Meanwhile, Baseball Prospectus’s Jay Jaffe reminds us that Milledge’s most comparable player is Ruben Mateo, and recommends the deal for New York.

Wacky rumor involving A-Rod to the Phils made the message board rounds yesterday afternoon, but I think it’s safe to say there’s nothing to this one.  Mark Healey agrees.  The best part is that this one actually got all the way to A-Rod himself, who said he’d veto a deal to Philly.  Check out that Gotham Baseball column from Healey for some fresh rumorage.      

I was just checking my referrers, seeing where people are coming from when they land here at MLBTradeRumors.com.  A lot of the traffic comes from search engine queries.  Turns out someone recently found this site by Googling: "what does dayn perry have against royce clayton."  Now that’s a damn good question.

Rumor Roundup

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Another day, another rumor roundup.  Let’s throw everything fresh into the mill.

The Orioles are thinking about taking on one of Philly’s huge outfielder contracts, for some reason.  I guess this could help next year’s push for third place.  Baltimore is one of baseball’s most baffling teams to me.  Abreu rumors have been floating around the Orioles since at least November.

The Cubs and Yankees may have something cooking, with Scott Williamson the likely candidate to be dealt.  If the reliever market is really so inflated, why don’t the Cubs trade Howry and Eyre?

The Pirates are offering up all sorts of non-difference makers, but Mike Gonzalez could actually get them something decent.  The 28 year-old southpaw has a 2.27 ERA in 39 innings this season.  Fantay leaguers should start thinking about Matt Capps as his successor.

Trade rumor All-Star Ken Rosenthal is getting into the game more lately, with a full plate of whisperings posted an hour ago.  Jose Vidro could become a Giant, and the D’Backs would love to trade Shawn Green (of course).

Unfounded rumors: Billy Beane may be shopping Mark Ellis and Jason Windsor, with possible interest in Brian Roberts…the Angels could be after David Dellucci…teams are calling the Mets about Alay Soler…Dallas McPherson is definitely on the block…there’s a decent chance Jon Lieber ends up a Yankee…the Mets and Nats are still talking about Livan Hernandez.

Rumor Roundup

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Here are some trade rumors from the last day or so that we haven’t covered.  All come from various newspapers or other published reports.

Yesterday ESPN’s Jayson Stark reported some Bobby Abreu interest coming from the Brewers.  It was a longshot from the start given Abreu’s contract.  Today it’s been revealed that Doug Melvin hasn’t even spoken to Pat Gillick on the topic, and the rumor was placed by a rival GM.  Any guesses who?

Something seems to be brewing between the Yankees and Royals, and Reggie Sanders is the name that makes sense. The Royals would do well to unload the 38 year-old right fielder’s $5MM commitment for ’07.  A deal could also include reliever Elmer Dessens, who’s signed through next season.  For the second trading deadline in a row, Brian Cashman seems to be taking a more level-headed approach.

Another option for the Yanks is Kevin Mench of the Rangers.  Mench has been jerked around a bit this year by Buck Showalter and could come at a reduced price.  I recently outlined a couple of possible career paths for Mench over at RotoAuthority.  His career may be at a fork in the road; he should take it.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Mariners have become a major player for Alfonso Soriano.  Bill Bavasi has stumbled with some questionable signings, but Seattle remains just four games out in a weak division.  Don’t forget that Bavasi loves to deal with Kevin Towers more than any GM, so he may try to match up with the Padres somehow.

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