Rosenthal’s Latest: Bonds, Nathan, Barrett
Ken Rosenthal has a new rumor column up. Feels like it’s been a while.
- Rosenthal thinks it’s a sign of desperation that the Angels would entertain signing Barry Bonds, who doesn’t fit in with their club. His OBP would fit in anywhere, but he would tie up the DH spot at the expense of Juan Rivera and Vladimir Guerrero.
- The Cubs are expected to bring Daryle Ward back at $1.2MM (makes sense) and Steve Trachsel at $4.75MM (questionable). Cubs fans can only hope Trachsel would be considered a tradeable asset, as Rosenthal opines. Rosenthal also quashes the idea of trading Aramis Ramirez, both because of his full no-trade clause and the team’s impending sale.
- David Eckstein is expected to leave the Cardinals, no big surprise. Rosenthal reiterates recent rumors connecting him to the White Sox, Tigers, and Mets.
- Rosenthal’s idea for Bill Smith and the Twins: keep Johan Santana this winter, and instead trade the $6MM super-closer Joe Nathan. Teams would line up for him, and Pat Neshek wouldn’t be a bad replacement.
- Do you think Michael Barrett could be a free agent bargain? Rosenthal talked to one exec who feels this way, and it is a good point if he can bounce back to .280/.350/.480 for five million bucks.
Odds and Ends: Aramis, La Russa, A-Rod
A random smattering of links this morning…
- I wrote a postmortem on why the D’Backs beat the Cubs over at The Hardball Times.
- Just a whisper at the moment, but I’m hearing that the Angels could pursue Aramis Ramirez if the Cubs make him available. They were in hard on him last year when he was briefly a free agent.
- Seems that Joe Torre is done as Yankees manager, but Tony La Russa is not interested.
- Another important date to mark down: November 10th. That’s when Alex Rodriguez decides whether to opt out of his contract. Right after the GM meetings.
- The Tigers will stick with Brandon Inge at third base next year, perhaps feeling that his defense justified his .236/.312/.376 line. There is hope for a rebound, since he slugged .463 the previous year. Plus Inge is locked in for $6.2MM in ’08, $6.3MM in ’09, and $6.6MM in ’10.
- The Mariners had a $2.7MM option on Chris Reitsma with a $0.7MM buyout and apparently some kind of option on Arthur Rhodes. Both were declined. Reitsma, coming off ulnar nerve transposition surgery in ’06, was supposed to be Seattle’s setup man. He tried to pitch this year but the elbow wasn’t fully healed. Rhodes had similar problems in ’06 and went under the knife for TJ in April.
- You may have noticed some of the in-post ads are showing as ugly blank white space or "This page cannot be found" errors…please bear with me as I try to get it back to normal.
Crazy Cubs Speculation
My apologies in advance for those who think this site is a little too Cubs-centric. The Needs and Luxuries post was my fault, but it’s only natural for all of the local writers to speculate on ways to improve the club for 2008.
I know some of the Cubs fans who frequent MLBTR take some abuse for off-the-wall speculation. Jacque Jones for someone of value, for example. But honestly, the published newspaper speculation isn’t any better.
- Barry Rozner takes his knee-jerk shots at Aramis Ramirez, who was awful in the three-game set against Arizona. According to Rozner, A-Rod is a "better guy, better fielder, and better hitter." That’s why the newly signed Ramirez should be dealt to make room for him.
- Jeff Vorva wants to sign A-Rod for shortstop, move Theriot to second base, move Mark DeRosa to right field, and sign Torii Hunter for center field. That’s message-board type stuff. And I say again, Theriot’s not a starter.
- Paul Sullivan wants to trade Jason Marquis. Sure, that would be nice. But come on – the Cubs got exactly what everyone expected in Marquis’ first year, maybe even a little better. If Marquis is over 5.00 for the next two years, that should come as no surprise. Sullivan would also like to sign Aaron Rowand off a career year, blocking the Cubs’ best prospect for around $55-60MM.
- Gordon Wittenmyer wants Ryan Theriot leading off, though he was one of the few regular Cubs with an OBP worse than Soriano. Wittenmyer expects the Cubs to cut Mark Prior loose rather than gamble $3MM on him.
- Phil Rogers notes Kerry Wood‘s resurgence as a reliever. If the Cubs want to keep him, it’ll cost more than a million or two this time.
Cubs Retain Aramis Ramirez
Wow – an about face on everything we’ve heard lately about Aramis Ramirez. I was just reading about this complete failure and nodding. Ken Rosenthal reports that the Cubs have re-signed Ramirez. The deal is for five years and $73MM, a significant hometown discount. There’s also a mutual option for 2012, his age 34 season.
Did you know 34.6% of Ramirez’s batted balls were flyballs in both 2005 and 2006? You learn something every day. Talk about consistency.
The Cubs re-signed Kerry Wood as well. He got a deal that could reach $6MM if he meets various bullpen and health related incentives.
Aramis Ramirez To Test The Market
With Aramis Ramirez now available to the highest bidder, the Cubs figure to have yet another vacancy to fill. Trying to win in 2007 with this core of players will be a huge challenge for Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella.
A Cubs source of mine tells me that Hendry offered the original six year, $90MM contract that agent Paul Kinzer wanted. Kinzer of course rejected it, as he feels his client is worth Beltran money now.
The Cubs camp is not happy with Kinzer after this situation as well as Rafael Furcal last winter. The strained relationship may stop the Cubs from chasing Vicente Padilla.
Paul Sullivan On Cubs Hot Stove
Could the hiring of Gerald Perry as hitting coach signal an era of change in Chicago? Thus far Jim Hendry has made a point of ignoring the free pass, but Perry is said to encourage a little patience. Of course, Oakland’s walk mandate was organization-wide so we can’t give Perry all the credit.
Anyway, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune has the word on the Cubs’ latest hot stove dealings.
– Final offer for Aramis Ramirez will probably come in Saturday night.
– The Cubs wouldn’t mind adding Dave Roberts as the new leadoff man. He walks at about 10% of the time, which is nice.
– They may also consider bringing Miguel Batista back to serve as the fifth starter. Batista was last seen in Chicago as a 26 year-old starter with control issues. The Cubs traded him in ’97 for Henry Rodriguez. Now Batista is a 36 year-old starter with a tad better control. You could do worse for a #5; he keeps the ball on the ground.
– Sullivan’s sources close to Carlos Lee say that the North Side is the slugger’s preferred destination – not Houston. We had been hearing this talk in Chicago papers for a while but the Houston hype has drowned it out lately.
– The Cubs have interest in Jason Schmidt at four years or less. I would hope that’d be the breaking point – five years would be truly absurd.
Kaplan: Cubs To Sign Ramirez By Saturday
An emailer writes in to inform us that Dave Kaplan of WGN Radio says that the Cubs should have Aramis Ramirez signed by Saturday or earlier. Apparently Ramirez is trying to squeeze out a few extra bucks but will stay in Chicago.
After that, Cubs GM Jim Hendry can move on to other acquisitions. Gary Sheffield could be a prime target, though the Cubs are hurting for a veteran starter or two.
Ramirez and Cubs Close?
I am hearing from emailers that George Ofman of WSCR The Score out of Chicago is reporting that Cubs sources indicate the team is close to a deal with Aramis Ramirez. Word is that it is for five years and a little over $14MM per year.
Also, while we’re on the topic, check out Fire Joe Morgan’s latest. It’s time intelligent people start fighting back against the whole Ramirez laziness thing with, I don’t know, some logic or stats or something.
And I must say I absolutely loathe the whole "well, we won/lost with this player on the team, so we should keep/get rid of him solely for that reason." Come on now. That logic is the basis of a million bad decisions. Hey, the Devil Rays lost 101 games with Scott Kazmir in the rotation. They should cut him. The Cardinals won the World Series in a season in which they gave Aaron Miles 426 ABs? They should sign him to a three-year deal.
Unfounded Rumor: Aramis Ramirez
I have debated about posting this one because I can’t verify the source. Some folks have confirmed that this is indeed in the ballpark, so I’m going to go with it. As you know, MLBTradeRumors doesn’t pretend to be a newspaper, so I am just going to post this info under Unfounded Rumors because I can’t get multiple sources to confirm. The beauty of a self-owned blog I guess.
I am told that Aramis Ramirez‘s agent Paul Kinzer is asking for six years at $15MM per or seven years at $14MM annually.
Jim Hendry’s counteroffer: five years, $70MM guaranteed (11/12/15/16/16), sixth year vests at $14MM with a team option and seventh year a player option at $14MM. Full no-trade 2007-09, partial no-trade 2010-13.
If true, it seems like a gap the Cubs can close. Thoughts?
Aramis Ramirez Opts For Free Agency
It’s been reported by Bruce Levine on ESPN 1000 in Chicago that Aramis Ramirez has opted out of his contract and filed for free agency.
Daily Herald sportswriter Bruce Miles calls it a formality, reminding Cubs fans that the Cubs still have the exclusive right to sign him for a while.