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Pirates Looking For Catching Help

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Ronny Paulino.  The Pirates’ backstop turns 27 in April and sports a career OPS of .730 (NL average for the position in ’07 was .712).  Paulino nailed 26.7% of baserunners in ’07 and 36.2% in ’06.  For his gamecalling skills I’ll defer to devoted Pirate fans, but he’s got to be improving after two years behind the dish.  In short, there’s no reason to spend money at the catcher position for 2008.

That is exactly what the Pirates are planning, however.  The names on the radar:

  • Johnny Estrada – free agent with few remaining skills, will cost between $3.5-4MM
  • Miguel Olivo – free agent hits for pop and guns runners down, will cost around $3MM
  • Damian Miller – aging backup with little left, will cost around $2MM
  • Michael Barrett – intriguing buy low trade possibility, but could cost $4.5-5MM

I don’t really support any of these moves, but I can at least see the logic in acquiring Barrett on the cheap and hoping to cash in on a rebound year.  But bringing in a vet to split time with Paulino doesn’t seem good for his development.

Padres Rumors: Nady, Barrett, Jenkins, Prior

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Padres rumor guru Tom Krasovic has a new article up at the San Diego Union-Tribune.

  • The Padres are open to trading 24 year-old catcher Nick Hundley.  Hundley did not crack Baseball America’s Padres top ten prospects for ’08 after hitting .247/.324/.475 at Double A.  Kevin Towers would’ve sent him to the Astros for Luke Scott, and still could send him to Pittsburgh for Xavier Nady.
  • Krasovic says that if the Padres are to deal Michael Barrett for a few prospects, it’s likely to happen soon.  The Pirates are said to be interested so maybe a deal involving Nady and some prospects could go down.
  • The Padres’ offer to Geoff Jenkins will likely to be inferior to that of the Phillies.  So Jenkins would have to be sold on the city.  He’s from California and went to USC, notes MLBTR reader Nathaniel S.
  • The Friars expressed interest in another USC alum, Mark Prior (as have 11 other teams).  The New York Daily News reiterated the Mets’ and Yankees’ interest in him this morning.

Pirates Pulled Out Of Bay To Cleveland Deal

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Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has some new information for us regarding an aborted Jason Bay deal.  Kovacevic says the Bucs made a decision through the entire chain of command that Franklin Gutierrez, Kelly Shoppach, Cliff Lee, and a minor league pitcher wasn’t enough for Bay and Ronny Paulino.

This situation has been confusing to follow from the start, with plenty of conflicting information floating about.  For instance, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Paul Hoynes said on Wednesday that Lee and Shoppach were never involved in these talks – the Bucs wanted three to five of the Indians’ top prospects.  Before that there was that whole business about whether talks had occurred at the Winter Meetings and been revived.

Rangers Signing Fukumori

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UPDATE, 12-13-07 at 10:20am: Rosenthal confirms this signing; it kind of flew under the radar.  Pretty cheap at $1.5MM per year.

UPDATE, 12-12-07 at 1:57pm: My Japanese-speaking friend says that this article indicates Fukumori signed with Texas for two years and $3MM.  The $1.5MM salary is about twice what he made in ’07.  Fukumori also had offers from the Pirates and Rays.

FROM 12-12-07 at 9:08am:

According to Evan Grant, the Rangers are "on the verge" of signing Japanese reliever Kazuo Fukumori.  It would be a two-year deal.

As many as 10 teams were said to be interested in Fukumori, including the Yankees, Nationals, Royals, and Red Sox.  Ken Davidoff recently spoke to a scout who described Fukumori as "not bad."

Vizcaino Close With Bucs, Rox

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Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Luis Vizcaino is close to signing a multi-year deal with either the Pirates or the Rockies. The righty reliever rejected arbitration the Yankees offer of arbitration.

I’m not quite sure why the Pirates are looking to sign a middle reliever to a multi-year deal. He makes far more sense for the Rox, who figure to contend next year. They’re looking to replace LaTroy Hawkins, and could probably get similar production from The Viz.

After posting ERAs under 4.00 from 2004 through 2006, Vizcaino topped that threshold this year. While he was solid for three months of the season, he was absolutely atrocious for the other three.

–Joe

Bay, Pads Talks “Completely Untrue”

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We hear rumors earlier in the day that the Padres and Pirates were in "deep talks" regarding Jason Bay. Now, Dejan Kovacevic says that no such talks have occurred. This comes after the revelation that Chase Headley wouldn’t be involved in any deal.

The only talks between the two clubs, according to Kovacevic, have regarded catcher Michael Barrett. According to the source "those talks didn’t expand beyond Barrett."

–Joe

Padres Deep In Talks For Bay

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UPDATE, 12-12-07 at 3:56pm: Krasovic jumps in to say that the Padres definitely won’t be trading Headley to the Bucs (and probably not at all).  The Pirates and Padres have been talking a lot, and some kind of deal involving some of the players below could definitely happen. 

UPDATE, 12-12-07 at 12:01pm: Buster Olney is reporting that the Padres are "deep into discussions" with the Pirates about a multiplayer trade in which Bay would be the centerpiece.

FROM 12-12-07 at 9:30am:

Tom Krasovic checks in with all sorts of fresh Padres rumors, as he often does.  Below are the ones that haven’t come up elsewhere on the site today.

  • The Padres and Pirates might have mutual ground for some kind of multiplayer deal.  Names like Matt Morris, Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, and/or Nate McLouth are possible future Padres.  The Bucs could go for Michael Barrett and/or Padres’ top prospect Chase Headley.  My challenge to you: create a reasonable multiplayer trade scenario between these two clubs in the comments.
  • Krasovic says the Padres "explored a trade" for the Cardinals’ Anthony Reyes.  The Indians and Phillies have also been linked to the youngster before.
  • As you might expect, Morgan Ensberg will probably be non-tendered today.  He made $4.35MM in ’07, and the Friars don’t want to pay him anything like that.
  • Akinori Otsuka is another non-tender candidate, and the Padres could seek to bring him back if so.  Otsuka has been throwing pain-free since late October, though, so the Rangers will probably retain him.

Indians Rumors: Haren, Blanton, Bedard, Inge

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Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer gets the Indians rumor mill churning.

  • As we mentioned earlier today, the Indians have spoken to the A’s about Dan Haren and Joe Blanton.  They’ve also inquired on Erik Bedard.  The Tribe is quietly looking to pair C.C. Sabathia with another ace.  Such an acquisition would soften the blow if Sabathia leaves after the ’08 season.  Hoynes says a Haren acquisition might require one player from the Indians’ 25-man roster plus at least one near MLB-ready guy.
  • The Tribe had brief talks with Detroit about Brandon Inge, but they’ve moved on.  Doesn’t seem to be much interest in Inge.
  • Cliff Lee and Kelly Shoppach weren’t part of the Jason Bay discussions.  Instead, the Pirates were looking for a slew of the Indians’ best prospects.  It seems the Bay talks have since cooled.

Odds and Ends: Mench, Kent, Durbin, Wang

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Rounding up this morning’s Odds and Ends, to be updated periodically…

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