Giants Plan To Keep Pitchers
According to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Giants are looking to add a bat without trading pitching. The names mentioned remain Joe Crede and Brandon Inge, but the White Sox and Tigers want hurlers.
The equation doesn’t seem to make sense on the surface – if the Giants won’t trade pitching, and they have no hitters to speak of, how are they going to make an acquisition?
As we learned Thursday, the answer is that the Giants may only be looking to trade undesirable veterans. Names like Scott Williamson, Randy Messenger, and Dave Roberts have been part of Brian Sabean’s offers for Crede. Kenny Williams scoffed at this, inquiring about Jonathan Sanchez. The gap may be too wide to bridge. I have to side with San Francisco on this one – the demand for Crede and Inge quite low, and the Giants don’t have a strong need for either. Aaron Rowand isn’t holding his breath for a Crede-to-San Fran trade.
Odds and Ends: Garland, Linden, A-Rod
Time to round up various tidbits and rumors.
- Jon Garland says that unless his agent kept him in the dark, a long-term deal was never discussed with the White Sox. But in the unlikely event the Sox pursue Garland this winter, he’ll listen. Here’s a look others who will be free agents after this season and under 30 years old for ’09.
- We’ve heard the Brandon Inge/Joe Crede rumors regarding the Dodgers. Tony Jackson speculates that Wes Helms or Jeff Cirillo could also be options.
- Paul Sullivan says Aaron Rowand was the Cubs’ Plan B to Kosuke Fukudome.
- ShysterBall can’t figure out why the Cubs would go after Coco Crisp.
- Todd Linden is mashing so far this spring, but he gets the feeling he won’t make the A’s. The 27 year-old switch-hitter has a Major League line of .231/.303/.335 in 502 ABs.
- Jon Heyman has an inside look at Alex Rodriguez‘s offseason adventure.
- In addition to the aforementioned Brandon Medders and Dustin Nippert, Arizona’s Edgar Gonzalez is out of options and has drawn interest.
Rowand Still Hoping For Crede To Giants
The indefatigable Aaron Rowand continues his Joe Crede-campaign, hoping the Giants will make a deal for him now that the Dodgers have entered the picture. In an article in the Chicago Sports Tribune, Roward argues that Crede has played the last few seasons with a bad back and, now healthy, will put forth his best season yet.
”I’m just the middle man,” Rowand said when asked how hard he has been pushing to be reunited with his close friend. ”I’m not playing recruiter. It’s not like I’m going to [the front office] and saying, ‘Get him.’ They asked me, and obviously everyone knows what he can do on the baseball field. I told them, ‘You’re asking a guy that is biased, but I’ll give you my answer.’ God knows I want to play with Joe again.”
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times chimes in,
"While the Sox haven’t even come out and said whether they’ll trade Crede this spring, all signs point to the third baseman’s departure. Now that the Los Angeles Dodgers have shown interest in Crede, Williams can sit back and wait for the best offer."
MLBTR discussed the Dodgers interest yesterday, and readers seem to agree with Mr. Rowand: acquiring Crede is a great move for either team.
By Nat Boyle
White Sox Never Offered Crede Multiyear Deal?
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times has received conflicting reports from Joe Crede and the White Sox. It seems that Sox GM Kenny Williams claims multiyear overtures were made to Scott Boras regarding Crede, while the player says nothing was ever offered.
Additionally, Crede implied that he never spoke to Aaron Rowand about being traded to the Giants. I find this a little hard to believe; it would be kind of weird for the topic not to come up. Crede’s mindset right now is that he’s a member of the White Sox, though a trade before Opening Day seems inevitable.
Crede will earn $5.1MM in ’08. He won’t find much competition among free agent third basemen next year – Casey Blake, Nomar Garciaparra, and Wes Helms comprise the others.
Odds and Ends: Villarreal, Cano, Rowand
Alright let’s round ’em up.
- This was one I was going to pass on posting, but it’s pretty dead right now. The Astros signed newly acquired reliever Oscar Villarreal to a two-year deal. He was already under team control through 2008. The MLB.com article adds that Ed Wade’s interest in Livan Hernandez and Bartolo Colon is low, and talks with Jon Lieber pretty much died.
- The Yankees pulled Robinson Cano out of Winter Ball. The word is that he doesn’t want to aggravate a calf injury. You could read into it and speculate he’s a part of trade talks. Seems like a stretch though. I believe the Yanks also pulled Melky Cabrera from Winter Ball; we know he’s in trade talks.
- R.J. Anderson’s book about the Devil Rays and Chuck LaMar is now available for free download.
- J.C. Bradbury says the Aaron Rowand signing is the best free agent signing of the offseason. Personally, I don’t hate it. I don’t like it too much either though.
Odds and Ends: Rowand, A-Rod, Calero, Clemens
Some odds and ends floating about…
- Andrew Baggarly has the structure of Aaron Rowand‘s new deal. It’s quite backloaded and has partial no-trade protection after the first year.
- The Yankees made A-Rod’s ten-year deal official.
- The A’s quickly moved to sign Kiko Calero to a one-year deal the day after non-tendering him. I mentioned here that he was a solid reliever for four years prior to 2007.
- The Rocket denies the steroid allegations. Thoughts?
Giants Sign Aaron Rowand
Busy day today. The Giants put out a press release: they’ve signed Aaron Rowand to a five-year deal. The amount is $60MM, probably the low end of what we would’ve predicted. This still doesn’t seem logical for a team not expected to compete for at least two years, but the guy does have a career OPS over .800. I don’t hate the deal as much as some, though a lot can go wrong in five years.
The 30 year-old Rowand had one of his best years in ’07, hitting .309/.374/.515 while playing 161 games. It’s fair to say he’s a plus in the field as well.
The Giants’ 5th overall pick is protected, so the Phillies have to be a bit bummed. They’ll still get a couple of draft picks though.
Giants Interested In Rowand, Fukudome
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News has a few new tidbits concerning the Giants.
- They’re considering a late push for Kosuke Fukudome. Baggarly notes that Fukudome is expected to get at least 4/44. I think Fukudome makes a bit of sense for the Giants; he could be a draw.
- Baggarly says the Giants are in more heavily on Aaron Rowand. This makes less sense to me, as Rowand probably isn’t going to put butts in the seats. He is, however, going to require four or five years at $12-14MM per. Indeed, Buster Olney heard the Giants could be the one team willing to give Rowand five years. It would be a contract the Giants might regret. They’re not expected to be in contention until at least 2010.
- Nothing new on the Tim Lincecum for Alex Rios front. The general vibe, though, is that Brian Sabean will pass.
Padres Rumors: Iguchi, Eckstein, Barrett, Bonds
Aside from the aforementioned Fukudome stuff, Tom Krasovic has some trade rumors to discuss in today’s article.
- It seems the Padres and Rockies are the main competitors for Tadahito Iguchi. The Pads wouldn’t mind getting Matt Antonelli more seasoning at Triple A. Meanwhile the Rockies are offering Iguchi two years. The Padres also like the idea of getting David Eckstein on a one-year deal, not something he’s expecting to go for.
- The Pirates still like Michael Barrett, but expect him to require little in the way of players.
- While the Padres recently met with Barry Bonds‘ agent, Jeff Borris, the team’s CEO said point-blank that they have no interest in him. It might’ve been a less interesting Borris client such as Jeff Cirillo, Tony Graffanino, or Jay Witasick.
- The Padres haven’t been in touch with Aaron Rowand’s people. They seem in agreement on two years for Mike Cameron, but they disagree on the dollars.
Arbitration Decisions
Free agents’ decisions on whether to accept their teams’ offers of arbitration are rolling in.
- Eric Gagne told the Red Sox that he won’t their offer of arbitration. The Boras camp had sent signals otherwise, but it was an idle threat. He wants that multiyear deal or at least a chance to close. The Red Sox get a delicious sandwich pick for their dalliance with Gagne. Could’ve been more, if Gagne was lights out for them and snagged Type A status.
- Mark Loretta accepted; Trever Miller declined. Loretta should make $3MM+ to take on a utility role. The Astros could always still trade him to a team looking for second base help. As for Miller, he could still return. The Astros will get a sandwich pick if he leaves.
- Ron Mahay declined the Braves’ offer. No surprise since he’s looking for three years. You have to consider their sandwich pick as an added benefit of the Teixeira trade.
- Aaron Rowand is expected to decline, which is a formality since he’s going to get at least three years. As a Type A, the Phils probably hope he ends up with the Yankees somehow.