Alex Rodriguez

Gotham Baseball: Mets and Yankees Rumors

By Tim Dierkes | October 23, 2006 at 9:07am CDT

Check out the latest from Mark Healey of Gotham Baseball. A summary is below.

Healey’s Cubs source indicates Mark Prior and Alex Rodriguez could be the main pieces of a trade. That’d be a tough sell for Brian Cashman so I’m sure the Cubs would have to spice up such an offer. Healey’s source mentions Mark DeRosa as a possible A-Rod replacement in New York.

A couple of names associated with the Mets include Ray Durham and Mark Mulder. Durham is a new one for me, though the Mulder info jives with what I heard last week. I also have strong indications from another source that a return to Oakland is "very likely" for Mulder, however. It’ll come down to the dollars: if Mulder takes injury/incentive type money, he goes to Oakland. Otherwise, the Mets should be the top suitor.

Healey and I are also in agreement on the Mets’ minimal interest in Julio Lugo and their intent to hang onto Lastings Milledge.

Finally, Healey’s sources call for a Tom Glavine/Greg Maddux reunion in Atlanta. I had heard the same about Glavine, though this weekend’s New York Post mentioned that Glavine doesn’t want to give the Braves a huge discount and Atlanta’s payroll is pretty tight as long as it includes Andruw Jones.

The Hot Stove hasn’t officially begun, but it’s going to be another exciting winter.

UPDATE: Today’s AJC indicates that the Braves would hesitate to pay Glavine even $10MM.

Would You Trade Alex Gordon For A-Rod?

By Tim Dierkes | October 16, 2006 at 11:36am CDT

Tom Keegan would. I can only hope Dayton Moore disagrees. Sure, the contracts of Mike Sweeney and Angel Berroa are painful…but a team looking to win in 2008 or 2009 shouldn’t be giving their best prospect to the Yankees.

Perhaps the Royals win an extra game or two over the next few seasons with Rodriguez instead of Gordon at third. Even that is an open question. But I don’t think A-Rod would put butts in the seats any more than Gordon will.

If Moore wants to make a splash and spend some money, he should put in the top bid for Daisuke Matsuzaka and keep the cheaper Alex.

Let The A-Rod Speculation Begin

By Tim Dierkes | October 8, 2006 at 11:07am CDT

In most towns, when the third baseman hits .290/.392/.523, no one considers it "sucking." Among 3Bs, only Miguel Cabrera, Garrett Atkins, Chipper Jones, and David Wright outhit A-Rod. His OBP was third best for the position.

Everyone’s favorite whipping boy enters his age 31 season in 2007. The Rangers are covering a large part of his contract, so he’s owed $16MM annually through 2010. While it’s still huge, Rodriguez at four years, $64MM is a reasonable commitment for a superstar. Even the fairly conservative PECOTA projection system from Baseball Prospectus says he’ll be worth over $66MM over that time period.

Rodriguez waived his NTC to come to New York; would he waive it again this winter to escape the scrutiny? And can he still hold his own at shortstop? We hear the Angels mentioned as a suitor. I’m sure the White Sox wouldn’t mind him at short. The Phillies are in dire need of a third baseman who can hit. The Dodgers are short at third as well. The Astros and even the Pirates have money to spend. Basically, any team with the money and requisite young talent can find a way to get Rodriguez into the lineup. Cashman probably wouldn’t send him to the Red Sox or Blue Jays, however.

Get ready for a winter of blithering sportswriters calling for a Rodriguez trade. On a Yankee team with little concern for payroll, subtracting a reasonably priced superstar makes no sense, objectively. We’ll see how the team responds to the media pressure.

Trade Rumor Roundup: 7 Days Left

By Tim Dierkes | July 24, 2006 at 10:52am CDT

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

By Tim Dierkes | July 21, 2006 at 9:10am CDT

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.

Now There’s A Trade Rumor

By Tim Dierkes | July 3, 2006 at 1:37am CDT

This is a hell of a trade rumor, and it’d be wrong not to pass it along. According to the blog Bleed Cubbie Blue:

"The Cubs are reportedly "in discussions" with the Yankees for a deal in which the principals would be Aramis Ramirez…and Alex Rodriguez…This deal, if it happens, might also include Jacque Jones, and other lesser players including prospects on both sides.

This same source told me that the White Sox are "close" to acquiring Andruw Jones from the Braves; the price would be Brian Anderson and young pitching. That deal would also make sense for both sides.

If the A-Rod to the Cubs deal happens, also expect Todd Walker to be moved (maybe to the Tigers), and at that point A-Rod moves back to SS, Ronny Cedeno to 2B, and the Cubs get a placeholder 3B until they can either sign one or trade for one in the offseason."

Just to reiterate, all of the above comes courtesy of Bleed Cubbie Blue. My own personal feeling is that the rumor did indeed originate from a legitimate source. Now let’s take a closer look.

As you may know, A-Rod’s contract deserves a webpage unto itself. As far as I can tell, the Yankees, or any other team, would owe him $16MM annually through 2010. Based on projections, that’s pretty close to fair value.

Aramis Ramirez was given the unfortunate ability to opt out of his current deal and become a free agent after this season. Even if 2006 is an off-year, I think he could top the three years, $33.5MM he’s owed in the deal. 1060west sums it up: Ramirez will probably test the market given the weak class at the position.

As for the other rumor – Jones would certainly be a sweet pickup for the White Sox. Brian Anderson has been terrible this year, but he was the organization’s best prospect entering the 2005 season according to Baseball America. The Sox have some decent if not spectacular pitching prospects, so this one isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Plus, there’s always Brandon McCarthy.

It will be interesting to see if this one picks up enough steam to catch the eye of the Chicago print media. They will undoubtedly dismiss it as an Internet rumor and not credit BCB as the source.

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