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Odds and Ends: Guillen, Patterson, Clark, Andruw

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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.

Cubs May Shop Murton, Like Ibanez

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UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 5:53pm: Geoff Baker checks in with some more info about the Cubs’ interest in Ibanez.  He is apparently their fallback option behind Fukudome.  Baker notes the frightful possibility of using Ibanez in right field.  One trade idea I hadn’t considered is swapping Ibanez for Mark Prior.

FROM 12-3-07 at 9:48am:

Jim Hendry may view 26 year-old outfielder Matt Murton as expendable, if only because he’s not the left-handed hitter the Cubs crave.

Murton has a respectable career line of .296/.365/.455 in 289 games.  While it would be nice to see his power develop a bit, he’s a decent option in right field.  Outside of Kosuke Fukudome, the Cubs might end up acquiring an outfielder who is no better than Murton, just because of handedness.  Even though he’s been solid it doesn’t seem that the price tag on Murton would be terribly high. 

Meanwhile, Gordon Wittenmyer notes that Brian Roberts and Raul Ibanez remain on the Cubs’ wish list.  Murton would be useful for the O’s but it would take a lot more to get Roberts.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Roberts, Barrett, Piazza

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Ken Rosenthal is presumably in Nashville doing what he does best – collect trade rumors by the dozen.  His latest column is an excellent example.  What’s the over/under on Rosenthal scoops over the next four days?  I’ll set it at 10.

  • Rosenthal says the Mets are unwilling to extend the contract of GM Omar Minaya, who is signed through 2009.  The lack of job security could compel Minaya to mortgage the future, and the Lastings Milledge trade was a good example.  Carlos Gomez, watch out.  Here’s MLBTR’s look at Omar Minaya’s Mets trade profile.
  • The Astros, Giants, and Cardinals aren’t really in the running for Miguel Cabrera, so they don’t need to wait for that shoe to drop to go after Miguel Tejada.  However it sounds like all three clubs don’t have the talent even for a Tejada trade.  Jon Heyman mentioned today that the Orioles do have interest in Adam Everett and Michael Bourn of the Astros.
  • Here’s a good one: Peter Angelos favorite Brian Roberts might be available.  The Mets and Astros inquired but moved on, but Roberts might be just what the Cubs are looking for.  The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec recently told us that he doesn’t expect Andy MacPhail to move Roberts unless he’s "totally overwhelmed."
  • The Marlins, Rays, and Orioles have interest in Michael Barrett.  In the case of Baltimore, the interest indicates the availability of Ramon Hernandez.  If Barrett can find a multiyear deal from one of those teams, he may decline the Padres’ offer of arbitration.  It’s a catch-22, though, because that would make Barrett much less signable in terms of draft pick compensation. 
  • If Barrett does decline, the Padres might bring Mike Piazza back.
  • The Nationals keep asking for Rickie Weeks for Chad Cordero, and the Brewers keep saying no.
  • The Braves are big fans of Coco Crisp, and could have a passing interest in Corey Patterson.  But they certainly wouldn’t mind going with internal options in center next year.
  • Aaron Rowand is definitely getting that five-year deal – a Mystery Team has already offered one.  The Yanks could pursue him if they trade the Melk Man. 
  • Deja vu – the Yanks and Mets both like Octavio Dotel, again.  It’s known that Octavio loves New York.

Zrebiec On Bedard, Roberts

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The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec was recently named Rumor Royalty for the Orioles.  Here’s the last in a series of questions we asked him.

MLBTR: Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts are elite players under team control through 2009. If you had to guess, will both be playing for the Orioles on Opening Day 2008?

Zrebiec: Yes, I would guess that both will be Orioles on Opening Day. I’ve been surprised about the lack of trade buzz surrounding Roberts. I can’t help but think that it is because O’s owner Peter Angelos has already nixed one deal involving Roberts last year and has made his fondness for the second baseman known. I just think Roberts means more to the Orioles than he would to any other team and I don’t see MacPhail moving him unless he’s totally overwhelmed. And even then, good luck convincing Angelos to sign off on the deal.

Bedard is a little trickier. MacPhail and Mark Pieper, Bedard and Roberts’ agent, have been talking "conceptually" about an contract extension for Bedard. I think people in the organization are split on whether they should secure long term the team’s first legit ace since Mike Mussina or trade him and get multiple major league ready young players in return to a roster that is badly in need of them. If Bedard’s contract demands aren’t reasonable, that could make their decision for them. But even if that’s the case, I don’t see the O’s in a hurry to do anything since Bedard is still under contractual control for two more seasons.

Orioles Sign Roberts To Extension

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The Orioles finally inked second baseman Brian Roberts to a contract extension for the 2008-09 seasons.  It ran them just $14.3MM, which I think is an excellent deal.

Fully recovered from elbow surgery in the second half of last year, Roberts hit .277/.332/.436 with nine home runs.  He upped his contact rate overall as well.  I have him hitting .296 with 11 HR, 60 RBI, 92 runs, and 29 stolen bases in my 2007 RotoAuthority Fantasy Guide.

As we discussed earlier, the Orioles will have a chance to start fresh with the 2010 season.  40% of the roster will reach free agency after 2009.

Orioles Close On Roberts Extension

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According to the Washington Post, the Orioles will soon complete a two-year extension for second baseman Brian Roberts that extend him through 2009.

As Peter Schmuck writes, the team has semi-intentionally left itself a three-year window to win.  40% of the team’s likely 25-man roster will reach free agency after the ’09 season.  Orioles VP Jim Duquette describes it as partially design (built around the Tejada contract) and partially coincidence.

So in the winter of 2009-10, the Orioles will have the perfect opportunity to do something different.  I hope they act with some conviction at that point instead of what they’ve been doing lately. 

Jorge Arangure Jr. names the core for the 2010 season: Billy Rowell, Brandon Erbe, Pedro Beato, Daniel Cabrera, Nick Markakis, Chris Ray, Adam Loewen, and Hayden Penn.  Do they Orioles start a complete youth movement at that point? 

Or do they dive headfirst into the free agent market and bring in a name to rival Tejada?  The free agent class after the 2009 season includes Jason Bay, Miguel Cabrera, Matt Holliday, Victor Martinez, Brandon Webb, and Dontrelle Willis.  The Orioles could bring in some major star power with all the free cash.

O’s To Discuss Extension With Roberts

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Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts is set to become a free agent after the 2008 season. The O’s would like to sign him to a deal to cover 2008-09 in the neighborhood of $12-14MM. The two sides decided to focus on two years.  Wow, that sounds downright…reasonable.  In fact, it’d be a huge bargain.  Five-win second basemen are worth significantly more than $7MM a year to a team, but the market undercompensates the position.

The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec notes that Orioles have tons of players up for free agency after the ’09 season – Miguel Tejada, Ramon Hernandez, Aubrey Huff, Melvin Mora, Jay Gibbons, Erik Bedard, Danys Baez, Chad Bradford, and Jamie Walker.  If there was ever a time to bring for new management to give this team a complete makeover it’s before the 2010 season. 

Adam LaRoche For Brian Roberts?

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The AP is reporting that the Braves and Orioles have discussed a straight-up swap of Adam LaRoche for Brian Roberts.  They further indicate that Mark Loretta’s agent has spoken to Baltimore; he could replace Roberts at 2B.

LaRoche’s power numbers would benefit from a switch to Camden Yards, though not significantly.  Turner Field suppresses home runs for left-handed hitters by about 11% while Camden suppresses them by around 4%.  The figures come courtesy of the Bill James Handbook.

LaRoche turned 27 recently and offers three full years of service time. Roberts turned 29 this year and has two years of service time left.  LaRoche made $420,000 in ’06 while Roberts made $3.075MM.  According to WARP, LaRoche was worth 6.2 wins in 2006 and Roberts 4.7.  Fan favorite or not, the O’s should swap Roberts for LaRoche if given the chance. 

Grimsley Names Revealed

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Remember all that Jason Grimsley stuff from way back in June?  L.A. Times reporters Lance Pugmire and Tim Brown got a glance at an unredacted version of Grimsley’s affidavit, and all the names within were made public in this article. 

Here are the infamous six:

Andy Pettitte
Miguel Tejada
Brian Roberts
Jay Gibbons
David Segui
Roger Clemens

In addition, Albert Pujols’s trainer, Chris Mihlfeld, has apparently been cleared.  The trainer in question turned out to be former Yankees and Blue Jays strength coach Dr. Brian McNamee.  According to the article, McNamee works with Clemens and Pettitte.  It had previously been reported on Deadspin (at about an 80% confidence level) that Mihlfeld was the trainer named in the affidavit. 

It appears that McNamee once wrote a response column in the New York Times sometime in 2002 to refute Steve Kettman’s allegation of widespread steroid use in baseball.  I’ll try to find that one, but in the meantime you can read this.  McNamee was named on page 14 of Grimsley’s affidavit as a person who once referred Grimsley to an amphetamine source.  Kettman is an author and former sportswriter for the San Francisco Chronicle and was the ghostwriter of Jose Canseco’s Juiced.

You can read a little bit about Brian McNamee’s "Navy SEAL workouts" here and here.  Aside from Clemens and Pettitte, Ted Lilly and some other pitchers from the 2001 Yankees participated in McNamee’s rigorous workouts.  At this link, McNamee is interviewed and repeatedly hawks a multi-vitamin called InVite.  Finally, the New York Daily News adds to the info about McNamee, mentioning that he was questioned in connection with a possible sexual assault in 2001.

Dan Connolly and Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun already have reactions from Tejada and Gibbons in the Sunday edition of the Baltimore Sun.

Gibbons, back when Alex Sanchez became the first steroid bust back in April of 2005:

"We’re not messing around now.  Just the public perception that every time he goes to the plate, people will say he’s a cheater. You knew it was going to happen, you knew they would catch somebody."

Rumor Roundup

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Another day, another rumor roundup.  Let’s throw everything fresh into the mill.

The Orioles are thinking about taking on one of Philly’s huge outfielder contracts, for some reason.  I guess this could help next year’s push for third place.  Baltimore is one of baseball’s most baffling teams to me.  Abreu rumors have been floating around the Orioles since at least November.

The Cubs and Yankees may have something cooking, with Scott Williamson the likely candidate to be dealt.  If the reliever market is really so inflated, why don’t the Cubs trade Howry and Eyre?

The Pirates are offering up all sorts of non-difference makers, but Mike Gonzalez could actually get them something decent.  The 28 year-old southpaw has a 2.27 ERA in 39 innings this season.  Fantay leaguers should start thinking about Matt Capps as his successor.

Trade rumor All-Star Ken Rosenthal is getting into the game more lately, with a full plate of whisperings posted an hour ago.  Jose Vidro could become a Giant, and the D’Backs would love to trade Shawn Green (of course).

Unfounded rumors: Billy Beane may be shopping Mark Ellis and Jason Windsor, with possible interest in Brian Roberts…the Angels could be after David Dellucci…teams are calling the Mets about Alay Soler…Dallas McPherson is definitely on the block…there’s a decent chance Jon Lieber ends up a Yankee…the Mets and Nats are still talking about Livan Hernandez.

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