Tigers Getting Cabrera, White Sox After Andruw?
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 5:22pm: Joe Frisaro at MLB.com says Cabrera and Willis are on the verge of becoming Tigers. And to think some people called the Winter Meetings boring. The Marlins got some absolute studs here, though it’s surprising they couldn’t get more dealing the two separately.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 5:15pm: Ozzie Guillen confirms Chicago’s interest in Andruw, despite his agent.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 5:04pm: This is out of control! Now Jim Molony is saying the Tigers are nearing a blockbuster eight-player deal to get Cabrera and Willis for Maybin, Miller, and four others. In the same breath Molony adds that the White Sox are after Andruw Jones.
FROM 12-4-07 at 5:01pm:
This is unexpected. Joe Capozzi says the White Sox "are making a strong push" to acquire Miguel Cabrera. What’s more, some kind of major announcement is coming soon and White Sox sources admitted it involves Cabrera.
Josh Fields, Gio Gonzalez, John Danks, and Gavin Floyd could all be involved. This would be an incredible move if Kenny Williams can pull it off. I never though those guys could net Cabrera against all other offers.
Capozzi adds that that the Tigers also made a push for Cabrera this afternoon.
Braves Offer James For DeJesus?
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 4:21pm: Debunked! David O’Brien says the Braves aren’t in talks about DeJesus, and the Royals have a negative opinion of James anyway.
FROM 12-4-07 at 2:09pm:
According to the KC Star’s Bob Dutton, the Jose Guillen signing puts the Royals in a better position to trade David DeJesus or Joey Gathright. The Rangers and Braves are on DeJesus’ trail. Dutton believes the Braves offered up lefty Chuck James for him. It seems a little light, as I’m not sure James could be effective in the American League. Royals GM Dayton Moore, of course, came from the Atlanta organization.
Dutton says not only is Hiroki Kuroda looking for four years, he may want $48MM. The Royals could move on and spend the money on Andruw Jones instead, if he’ll take a one or two-year deal. The money could also be diverted to Carlos Silva if he’ll take 4/40. Otherwise the Royals will just chase rehab guys like Jason Jennings, Kris Benson, and Matt Clement.
Heyman’s Latest: Andruw, Bedard, Kuroda
Here’s a link to Jon Heyman’s latest column at SI.com. The new stuff is below.
- Extreme longshot, but the Brewers could peek their head in on Andruw Jones. Who would’ve thought Andruw would be so unpopular this winter? Another bigtime longshot is the Mets…but they haven’t been ruled out either. Someone would have to swallow his ego and play right field, probably Jones.
- The Orioles are expected to take their time finding the best offer for Erik Bedard, if they even trade him.
- Heyman throws out three years, $45MM for Hiroki Kuroda as a possibility. Say whaaaat?
Marlins/Tigers Cabrera/Willis Blockbuster
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 2:41pm: Joe Capozzi agrees – separate deals if anything.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 1:29pm: MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro has a source indicating that the Tigers are interested in Willis or Cabrera and not necessarily both.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 12:23pm: According to Danny Knobler, the Tigers feel they’re being used by the Marlins to jack up the price for other teams like the Angels. The trade talks between Detroit and Florida are characterized as discussions rather than trade negotiations. Knobler says Dombrowski doesn’t want to trade Maybin, but I can’t see this happening otherwise.
FROM 12-4-07 at 11:02am:
Ken Rosenthal has an update with a whopper of a trade rumor.
- The Marlins and Tigers are talking about a monster deal that would send Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis over to the Tigers for Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, and others. Dave Dombrowski has always worked well with the Marlins, his former team.
- Rosenthal confirms Bob Dutton’s assertion – the Royals signing Jose Guillen may not stop them from getting Andruw Jones too.
- The O’s are trying to move Ramon Hernandez. They could sign Michael Barrett if they move him, or else get Jeff Mathis or Mike Napoli from L.A. in a Tejada deal.
- The Tribe hasn’t decided whether to trade Cliff Lee, though there’s been plenty of buzz so far.
Odds and Ends: Guillen, Patterson, Clark, Andruw
Let’s keep things rolling along with a morning Odds and Ends collection.
- U.S.S. Mariner is not amused with the Ms’ decision not to offer arbitration to Jose Guillen.
- Andruw Jones hasn’t been getting much player, and his camp initiated contact with the Royals yesterday. The mutual interest may have been what pushed Guillen to sign.
- With the David Riske to Milwaukee signing not official, the Orioles apparently had talks with his agent yesterday. He’ll be too pricey for them, anyway. By the way, the Cubs checked in on Brian Roberts, but nothing is really stirring right now on that front.
- Corey Patterson seems a little down, as he’s no one’s first choice in center field. The Orioles are apparently moving on. Patterson wouldn’t say whether he’d take a one-year deal. As a Scott Boras client, I imagine he won’t.
- Summing up the Rockies’ external second base candidates: Chris Burke, Marcus Giles, and Mark Loretta. The agents for both Giles and Loretta have contacted the Rockies, and Loretta would play there at a discount.
- Evan Grant has his Rangers column up, but we already hit upon most of the points yesterday (he was the source then, too). One new note is that the Rangers don’t want to give Tony Clark anything more than one year plus an option, while Clark wants a two-year deal. The Rays, Dodgers, and Twins are said to like Clark.
Royals Sign Jose Guillen
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 12:31am: After some twists and turns, the Royals got their man on a three-year, $36MM deal.
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 11:52pm: Not so fast, says the KC Star’s Bob Dutton. Dutton says talks with Guillen are currently stalled – the Royals don’t want to go past two years. Instead they’ve been in close contact with Andruw Jones. They don’t want to exceed two years on him either but will pay extra for the shorter term. Their offer might not be much more than two years, $32MM though.
Even crazier: if the Royals miss out on Hiroki Kuroda, they could sign Jones and Guillen.
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 10:50pm: Ken Rosenthal reports that the Royals and Guillen are closing in on a deal. So Moore must have just been posturing or speaking out frustration tonight. Or, his comments were a negotiation tactic that worked. The deal is said to be a three-year pact worth $11-12MM per year.
FROM 12-3-07 at 9:19pm:
MLB.com reports are getting filed left and right. The latest is Dick Kaegel, who’s saying the Royals have cooled on Jose Guillen. Dayton Moore made a point to repeat that he’s getting more interested in other opportunities for right-handed power. And to think, the Royals were dead-set on Guillen as recently as this morning. Wow, was that this morning?
Translation of Moore’s comments: he is not happy with Guillen. Perhaps the Royals have an offer out and haven’t gotten an answer. Guillen might be trying to play the field but there aren’t many other suitors for him currently.
Giants Rumors: Lincecum, Tejada, Molina, Fukudome
Another MLB.com article for you, this time about the Giants from Chris Haft.
- Brian Sabean is getting a bit annoyed with teams thinking Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are available. They’re pretty much not, but since the door is open a crack it may be inhibiting other deals. Sabean did admit that one team made an "interesting" offer for Lincecum. Any guesses?
- The Giants had talks with the Orioles about Miguel Tejada, as has been reported elsewhere. The Giants aren’t thrilled with Miggy though because of his age, salary, and the position switch thing.
- A team asked about Bengie Molina. Any guesses on that? The Marlins don’t seem right. Rays maybe?
- Nothing much going on regarding free agents Andruw Jones and Kosuke Fukudome.
O’Brien’s Latest: Andruw, Marte, James
The AJC’s David O’Brien has a rumor update on his blog. Let’s summarize.
- The White Sox are very reluctant to go after Andruw Jones, because of Scott Boras. They’d offer three years and less than $30MM, which would result in a dial tone. Unless it was a cell phone.
- The Braves need a lefty reliever, and might turn to the Pirates for Damaso Marte. That’d be easier to pull off if the Yankees opt to sign Ron Mahay or Jeremy Affeldt for their lefty reliever.
- O’Brien suggests the Braves have collected a starting pitching surplus, which is a dangerous thought. What do you want to bet there’d be no surplus six months from now, if the current group is maintained? O’Brien believes some team might push hard for Chuck James, anyway.
- Matt Diaz may be available, if Brandon Jones proves MLB-ready. First baseman Scott Thorman may also be on the market.
Today’s Arbitration Decisions
The decision whether to offer your own free agent arbitration can affect your team in two ways: you may end up retaining a player you didn’t want, or you may score a draft pick or two as compensation. With that in mind let’s run down the rumors regarding some Type A and B free agents.
- The Red Sox plan on offering arbitration to Type B Eric Gagne. Worst case scenario, they hang onto him for one more year. Best case, they get a sandwich pick.
- The Astros have to decide on Trever Miller and Mark Loretta. Both are Type Bs, but the Astros might not want them back. Richard Justice notes that the old Astro regime made a mistake not offering arbitration to Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.
- The Angels decided not to offer arby to Bartolo Colon, because the most they could give him would be a 20% pay cut. So best case scenario they could get him for one year, $11.2MM. Colon is not a Type A or B, so there’s no compensation regardless.
- The Phils will offer arb to Aaron Rowand but not Freddy Garcia. Rowand is a Type A, Garcia a Type B. It’s a no-brainer with Rowand, who will hopefully net them a first-round pick plus a supplemental depending on who he signs with. With Garcia they risked getting burned as he might’ve accepted.
- The D’Backs will offer arbitration to Livan Hernandez, who will likely decline it to pursue a three-year deal. He’s a Type B so they’ll snag a sandwich pick.
- The Padres will offer arbitration to Michael Barrett, and Kevin Towers actually hopes he accepts. No worries if he doesn’t – Barrett is a Type A. The Friars will also offer arby to Mike Cameron and Doug Brocail. Brocail nets them a sandwich pick for sure; Cameron still has a slight chance of accepting.
- The Braves did not offer arb to Andruw Jones but did for Ron Mahay. Both are Type Bs; I’m surprised they didn’t want to risk Andruw returning on a one-year deal.
Braves’ Arbitration Plans
David O’Brien of the AJC writes about the Braves’ arbitration plans.
- No arby for Andruw Jones, meaning no draft pick compensation. Frank Wren must really have thought there was a chance Andruw accepts and they get "stuck" with him for one more year. Would that really have been so bad? Not sure I get this move. Anyway Scott Miller lists the teams in need of a center fielder thusly: Rangers, Phillies, Padres, White Sox, Giants, Dodgers, Royals, and Orioles. We could see the Rangers, Dodgers, or Royals signing Jones.
- Ron Mahay will get offered arby, which he will certainly decline. So there’s some draft pick goodness there.
- Curious who’s a Type A, who’s a Type B, and who’s nothin’? Check out the free agent list.