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Maholm Deal Becoming More Realistic

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Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes of Monday indications that a multiyear contract for Pirates starter Paul Maholm "is becoming more realistic by the day."  The Pirates have a February 10th hearing scheduled with Maholm, with the two sides facing a $1.15MM gap over the salary for his first arbitration year.  It’s been said the Bucs would like to sign Maholm for at least four years, which would buy out one year of free agency.  Using Ian Snell’s contract as a model, perhaps Maholm would get $24MM or so for those four years.  Snell’s deal, signed in March of ’08, has the team-friendly element of two club options though.

Kovacevic does the math and finds the Pirates have roughly $4MM to spend to bring in additional players this year, maybe a few million more depending on where Maholm and Nate McLouth’s salaries land.  Two free agent starters known to be on the radar are Braden Looper and Pedro Martinez.

Minor League Transactions

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Always good to check out the recent minor league transactions over at Baseball America.  A few notables: the Dodgers signed knuckleballer Charlie Haeger (with the Charlie Hough seal of approval three years ago), and the Nationals signed reliever Gary Glover.  Another small move: the Pirates claimed pitcher Virgil Vasquez off waivers from the Padres.

Odds and Ends: Yamarin, Eaton, Atkins, Ohman

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Links for Monday…

Pirates Interested In Braden Looper

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Let’s gather up assorted pieces of Pirates information from Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from the past few days…

  • We already knew about Pedro Martinez; Kovacevic says the Pirates also have an eye on free agent starter Braden Looper.  The Dodgers and D’Backs are other teams in the market for the 34 year-old hurler.  Team president Frank Coonelly says free agents are "still asking for prices based on yesterday’s market."
  • Kovacevic suggests the Pirates may sign another bench player soon, someone other than fan favorite Doug Mientkiewicz.
  • GM Neal Huntington ruled out free agents Rich Aurilia, Joe Crede, and Kevin Millar.  Still, Coonelly expects the Pirates to sign more players, ones that fans "would fall in love with."
  • Huntington says there are no current trade talks for shortstop Jack Wilson.

Pirates Offered Maholm Deal; Talks Progress

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According to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the Pirates have made Paul Maholm an offer and continue to negotiate a multi-year contract with him. Maholm said he’s still "exchanging numbers" with the Pirates, but "the long term deal is still on the table."

The Pirates are hoping to work out a four year deal and buy out Maholm’s first year of free agency. Maholm, who’s arbitration eligible for the first time, said the numbers exchanged so far "aren’t far apart."

Odds And Ends: Varitek, Pedro, Sheets

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Links for Saturday morning…

  • Pedro Martinez isn’t worried that he hasn’t signed yet.
  • Jason Varitek says he’s still "exchanging offers" with the Red Sox. Scott Boras and Theo Epstein didn’t comment on the talks, which continue slowly.
  • Buster Olney takes a look at the market for Ben Sheets. He says whoever signs Sheets will get a bargain. Some GMs would be impressed if he gets $20MM over two years.
  • Nate McLouth isn’t optimistic about his chances of signing a multi-year deal with the Pirates.
  • Peter Schmuck thinks the O’s should find a way to sign Brian Roberts to a long term contract.
  • The Blue Jays fired assistant GM Bart Given.
  • Gordon Wittenmyer breaks down the Cubs’ chances of acquiring Jake Peavy now that the team’s about to change hands.
  • Richard Justice writes Randy Wolf should have accepted the Astros’ offer.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pirates, Rays, Pettitte, Cubs, Dodgers, Gomes, Mauer, Cruz

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On this date 28 years ago, the Red Sox traded Fred Lynn to the California Angels for Frank Tanana and Joe Rudi. After six seasons that included an MVP and six all-star appearances, the Red Sox were forced to trade Lynn when the front office failed to mail a new contract to Lynn by the mandated deadline. Without the new contract, Boston was faced with the possibility that Lynn would be declared a free agent (Carlton Fisk was declared a free agent for the same reason). The player’s association dropped their case when Lynn agreed to a contract extension with the Angels. With many of this year’s free agent class still waiting for contracts to be mailed, let’s take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…

  • Bucco Blog sees an Adam LaRoche-Jonathan Sanchez trade as a "win-win deal."
  • DRays Bay would like to see the Tigers take either Troy Percival or Dan Wheeler off the Rays’ hands.
  • Mets Geek makes a case for the Mets signing Andy Pettitte.
  • Goat Riders of the Apocalypse are not worried that the Cubs have traded away yet another former top prospect.
  • Center Field isn’t buying that Jason Varitek didn’t know about the draft pick compensation as a result of his refusing arbitration.
  • Her Rays isn’t taking the loss of Rocco Baldelli well at all.
  • Dodger Thoughts doesn’t understand why the Dodgers keep spending money on veteran, offensively-challenged backup catchers that will never play.
  • Anaheim Angels all the way says the Reds replaced "90% of Adam Dunn" with Jonny Gomes and a very favorable contract. On Baseball and the Reds is not sure Gomes’ offense will offset his horrible defense and sees him as a decent platoon option.
  • UmpBump grades the Rays offseason favorably.
  • El Lefty Malo laments the contract of Dave Roberts and feels he is the type of player that would be forced to retire if he were a free agent this off-season.
  • Twins Geek speculates on what it would take to sign Joe Mauer to a long-term deal.
  • Bullpen Call sees only the Mets and Yankees as options for Juan Cruz.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here.

Rosenthal On Perez, Manny, Pirates

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Another new column from the hard-working Ken Rosenthal.

  • Rosenthal doesn’t believe that the market for Oliver Perez is limited to the Mets; it’s more that they’re the only interested team we know about.  Two teams we can cross off are the Rangers and Cubs.  The Mets want to do three years for Perez while Scott Boras wants five.  The Mets’ plan is to sign one of Perez, Randy Wolf, or Ben Sheets and then add a cheaper arm like Freddy Garcia.
  • Rosenthal believes the Giants could justify signing Manny Ramirez as an attempt to "max out" while they still have Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum (they have Cain through 2011, Lincecum through 2013).
  • Rosenthal notes that free agents who accept offers of arbitration do not have guaranteed contracts.  However, players such as Orlando Cabrera and Jason Varitek would’ve had to be released for clear baseball reasons, not to save money.  Otherwise the teams would be in hot water with the Players Association.
  • Rosenthal notes that Scott Boras has worked out two-year deals covering arbitration years for past clients such as Matt Holliday and Mark Teixeira, so the current Prince Fielder talks don’t signify a change.
  • The Pirates have no need to shed payroll.

Pirates Sign LaRoche, Duke, Grabow, Yates

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1:21pm: Kovacevic says the Bucs also avoided arb with Zach Duke ($2.2MM plus $100K in incentives), John Grabow ($2.3MM plus $75K in incentives), and Tyler Yates ($1.3MM plus $25K in incentives).

9:28am: According to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, the Pirates avoided arbitration with first baseman Adam LaRoche by signing him for $7.05MM for ’09.  He can make another $100K based on plate appearances.  Dejan Kovacevic reports the same.

LaRoche will be eligible for free agency after the season.  2009 would be a fine time to overcome his April/May inadequacies.

Pirates Notes: Maholm, Mientkiewicz, Alvarez

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The latest on the Pirates, from Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

  • Extension talks with Nate McLouth are dormant, but talks with Paul Maholm are not.  Maholm is arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, so he’s under team control through 2011.
  • Doug Mientkiewicz was overwhelmed by the support he’s getting from Pirates fans.
  • Scott Boras apparently told the Pirates Pedro Alvarez was working very hard to stay in shape while their negotiations dragged, but team president Frank Coonelly says Alvarez "was not in good condition" when he showed up for the Florida Instructional League in September.
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