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Perrotto’s Latest: Waivers, Extensions, Garcia, Braves

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John Perrotto over at Baseball Prospectus has his Every Given Sunday column up:

  • Perrotto lists off several people which he believes are the most likely to be made available if and when they clear waivers. While the list is comprised of a lot of the usual suspects this August (Greg Maddux, Jarrod Washburn, Paul Byrd, Randy Winn), Perrotto lists some other names that we haven’t seen as much: Francisco Cordero, Tyler Walker, Todd Jones, Jose Bautista, and Doug Mientkiewicz. Perrotto also says that he feels Aubrey Huff has the best chance to be traded of any impact bat available.
  • Perrotto states that the Rockies would like to sign both Garrett Atkins and Matt Holliday long-term. If unsuccessful, they will both be on the trading block this offseason.
  • The Pirates would like to sign Nate McLouth and Ryan Doumit long-term as well, buying out their arbitration years.
  • Perrotto lists the Yankees as the front-runners to sign Freddy Garcia. The Mets and Rays are also suitors for Garcia, though I personally don’t think Garcia makes sense for the Rays.
  • The Yankees have "little interest" in pursuing Manny Ramirez this offseason, despite possible reports that Manny would like to play for them.
  • The Twins would still like to add a late-inning reliever this season to boost their bullpen as the AL Central race winds down.
  • The Braves’ top priority this offseason is pursuing a front-line starter, Perrotto says. He lists possible candidates as: C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets, Ryan Dempster, Derek Lowe, and Jon Garland. Seems a bit odd to consider the last three "front-line," though Dempster has certainly been impressive this season.

Sheets To Test Free Agency

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Brewers ace Ben Sheets is in the midst of a monster contract year, and he’s planning on testing the open market after the season.  The Brewers might’ve had a chance to sign him to an extension, but GM Doug Melvin decided to pass.  After all, Sheets hasn’t topped 160 innings since ’04.  He’s made most of his starts in ’08 as we near the halfway point.

Sheets earns $11MM in ’08, and he’ll be looking for a raise this time around.  Assuming he stays healthy for the rest of the season, I could see a contract similar to Jason Schmidt’s three-year, $47MM deal.  So far we haven’t heard anything about his possible preferred destinations.

Salisbury On Phillies’ Trade Chips

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Back on June 19th, ESPN’s Jayson Stark said the Phillies had "at least kicked the tires on C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Bronson Arroyo, and Jarrod Washburn."  He also expected them to inquire on Erik Bedard.  Scott Lauber says the Phils have scouted Sabathia, Burnett, Ben Sheets, and Greg Maddux recently.

Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer weighs in this morning on the Phillies’ trade chips.  He names Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Greg Golson, and Adrian Cardenas as Phillies players other teams may covet.  However, Salisbury believes Pat Gillick might opt for a midlevel acquisition and hang on to his top young players.  Check out our starting pitcher trade market post for ideas.

Salisbury speculates on possible targets aside from the aforementioned names: Roy Oswalt and Rich Harden.  Salisbury is speculating with these names, but notes that "the Astros had a high-ranking scout in Philadelphia on Sunday."

Phillies Trade Strategy Mired By Parity

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Scott Lauber of the Delaware News-Journal writes in the Phillies/baseball blog about the team’s trade strategy in the looming trade-deadline season.

He spoke to Phillies Assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and GM Pat Gillick, both of whom reiterated the notion that it’ll be tough to trade this year because of the parity among some clubs. There are 15 teams with a .500 record or better, which means some of those teams may still be in contention in mid July. Of course, it also means some of those teams will be out of it by the trade deadline.

To wit: The Brewers reportedly have told teams that they aren’t willing to move Ben Sheets, even though they’re 6-1/2 games behind the Cubs in the NL [Central]. Of course, one losing streak could force them to change their strategy. Within the past week, Gillick has dispatched scouts to evaluate Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia, Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo and Toronto’s A.J. Burnett, a former pupil of pitching coach Rich Dubee in Florida.

This echoes what Buster Olney wrote in his blog about some of the teams contending in the C.C. Sabathia Sweepstakes and how some of them may think they’re in it, but may actually be testing the waters.

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Speaking of Ruben Amaro Jr., Doc at Balls, Sticks & Stuff writes that a new book by Bob Gordon introduces Amaro Jr. as "currently the club’s general manager." Last year, the actual, current GM, Pat Gillick, said he may step down at the end of the season. Typo? Food for thought?

Alejandro A. Leal writes for UmpBump.com. Rumors? Comments? Email me, alexo05 [at] umpbump [dot] com.

Phillies Scouting Rumors

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All of these "team X scouts team Y" type reports should be taken with a grain of salt, because scouting does not necessarily imply trade interest.  But hey, this is MLB Trade Rumors.

Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News says the Phillies sent special assistant Charley Kerfeld to watch the Brewers play the Blue Jays.  Hagen notes that Kerfeld may have observed Ben Sheets and A.J. Burnett.

Jayson Stark told us Thursday that the Brewers would have to be "way out of it" before making Sheets available.  But Burnett might be fair game, and Stark said the Phillies have already kicked the tires on him.  Stark said the Phils are also eyeing Bronson Arroyo and Jarrod Washburn.  Jim Salisbury believes the best acquisition the Phillies could make is an effective Brett Myers.

Stark’s Latest: Sabathia, Bedard, Phillies, Freel

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It’s Thursday, and you know what that means.  Time for another installment of Jayson Stark’s Rumblings and Grumblings at ESPN.com.

  • Stark runs through a laundry list of candidates for the Mariners’ and Mets’ manager and GM vacancies.
  • The Indians will not be giving a negotiation window for a team hoping to sign C.C. Sabathia while acquiring him.
  • Erik Bedard is "now officially on the market."  Bedard’s value has diminished since the Mariners acquired him, however.
  • The Phillies have already inquired on Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Bronson Arroyo, and Jarrod Washburn.  Stark sees Bedard joining that group, but believes it’d require Carlos Carrasco and Antonio Bastardo.
  • Ryan Freel is drawing strong interest; Stark names the Phillies, Braves, Mets, and Marlins as suitors.
  • Ken Griffey Jr. apparently still wants to finish his career in Seattle.
  • Stark agrees with Ken Rosenthal – Mark Teixeira is not available.  Nor is Ben Sheets, by the way.
  • The Marlins are looking for center field, catcher, and bullpen help.  Stark believes they’d be willing to give up a near-arb Josh Willingham type for players with less service time.
  • The Yankees seem open to bringing back Jason Giambi next year, after they buy out his option.  Giambi is currently third in the AL in OPS at .979.

Gammons On Available Pitchers

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ESPN’s Peter Gammons names ten starting pitchers who could be available in the coming months.  We’ll try to devise a comprehensive list when we get to the position in our Trade Market series.

Gammons’ trade possibilities: Paul Byrd, Jeremy Sowers, Derek Lowe, Rich Harden, Odalis Perez, Brett Tomko, Jarrod Washburn, Zach Duke, Vicente Padilla, and Kevin Millwood.  Byrd, Lowe, Perez, and Tomko will be free agents after the season.  Sowers and Duke are the kids.  Harden is the oft-injured ace.  Washburn, Padilla, and Millwood bring burdensome contracts.

Gammons also five "unlikely, but not impossible" scenarios.  He suggests A.J. Burnett, Bartolo Colon, Joe Blanton, Greg Maddux, and Ben Sheets could be moved under the right circumstances.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Wells, Griffey, Olney, Tavarez, Edmonds

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A lot of links today, so let’s get to what is being said about some trade and signing possibilities in the Blogosphere…

  • The Darth Boss George Brigade wants Hank Steinbrenner to sign David Wells to prove that Hank is indeed his father’s son.
  • River Ave. Blues says the Yankees are too smart to sign Wells and then goes on to list about 87 pitchers that should be given a shot in the Highlanders’ rotation before Wells.
  • Redlegs Rant feels that Ken Griffey Jr. is behind the recent stories that speculate on him being traded.
  • Mariners Central speculates on some of the names that it might take to land Ken Griffey Jr., noting that the M’s are not likely to part with either of their top two prospects, Wladimir Balentien and Jeff Clement.
  • The Tribe Time Report sees plenty of holes in Buster Olney’s recent theory that Garret Atkins would be a good fit for the Indians.
  • Brewers Nation agrees with Olney that the Brewers should trade Ben Sheets.
  • Sox & Pinstripes doesn’t want to just give away Julian Tavarez but they also note that the bullpen needs help and Tavarez isn’t the answer.
  • Batter’s Box says Brad Wilkerson should fit in well with the rest of the Jays lineup, which also lacks the ability to hit for average or power.
  • One writer at Fanhouse doesn’t understand why Kevin Towers is so disappointed in the play of Jim Edmonds. They feel it was pretty obvious that the Pads were getting a player well past his prime.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Buster Olney Drops Uncommon Trade Thoughts

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Buster Olney talks trade in his latest insider-only piece. Let’s have a look at the guys he names.

  • Ryan Howard. This is a tough one. Philly is in second place right now, and they should be in contention throughout the year. Howard has started poorly, but you can figure a rebound. While the Phillies might not be eager to pay Howard $25 to $30MM over the next two years, some other team might. I figure they could get a decent haul from, say, the Angels. Still, it’s hard to justify trading away your best power hitter (at least in name) while you’re vying for a playoff berth. The odds are long, very long for this one.
  • Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon. No way, no how. Then again, Phillies fans are probably saying the same about Howard. The Yanks stagnant offense figures to improve once A-Rod returns next week and Jorge Posada gets back behind the dish next month. But Matsui leads the team in average, OBP, and slugging, while Damon is second in OBP. Unless the Yanks fall out of contention, there’s no way they’re trading these guys. Even so, they’re a pair of 34-year-old outfielders making $13 million a season, with 2009 guaranteed. There’s no way a team will offer anything close to equal value.
  • Ben Sheets. If the Brewers are going to contend this year, they’re going to need Sheets in the rotation. However, they’re 16-17 right now, and likely won’t see Yovani Gallardo for the rest of the season. The Brewers likely won’t keep Sheets after this year, anyway, so if they’re still in the middle of the pack, they can use the oft-injured ace to reload on players that can help them next year. Their lineup is still very young, with only two regulars over the age of 28. An influx of pitching could set them up well for next year.

Joe Pawlikowski writes for River Ave. Blues, a Yankees blog.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Ben Sheets

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It looks like Ben Sheets made the right decision by signing a four-year contract with the Brewers after his spectacular 2004 season. The then-25-year-old tossed 237 innings to the tune of a 2.70 ERA, striking out 264 to just 32 walks, with a WHIP below 1.00. Those are absolutely insane numbers, but because his team was lousy, he finished just eighth in the Cy Young voting. (To be fair, Randy Johnson should have won it, with Sheets a close second.)

Since then, Sheets hasn’t pitched more than 157 innings in a season due to a number of injuries. He’s still managed sub-4.00 ERAs in those seasons, though, a testament to his superior talent. But if he can’t stay healthy, he can’t expect a team to invest big dollars for even four years. His most recent injury does not help allay those fears.

Despite the injury — which seems minor — Sheets has been game-on in his walk year. In his 28 innings this year, he’s struck out 24 to just four walks, and allowed just 14 hits, for a nifty WHIP of 0.64. Time will tell if he can hold up for the entire season, missing the occasional start here and there, as he might next time around the rotation.

So what’s a team in need of pitching to do? If Sheets gets to 190 innings this year, do you gamble four years and, say, $65, $70 million on him? It’s an enormous risk, but if Sheets can stay healthy for three of those four years, it could be well worth it. He joins the top of a free agent pitching class that includes C.C. Sabathia and Carl Pavano Derek Lowe.

Any guesses as to where Sheets goes and for what? I’ve got the Mets at three years and $55MM.

Posted by Joe Pawlikowski.

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