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Stark On Peavy, Oswalt, Phillies, DeRosa, Giants

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Let's take a look at the latest Rumblings and Grumblings column from ESPN's Jayson Stark.

  • The Padres' recent winning streak has not changed their intention of trading Jake Peavy.  The Dodgers and Cubs are in Peavy's first tier of choices, follwed by the Giants, Cardinals, and Astros.  The Angels would be the one AL team he'd consider.  The East Coast is a long shot.  Also, Peavy will want his 2011-13 partial no-trade clause to become a full no-trade.  Peavy's friend Roy Oswalt has been unsuccessful in lobbying Astros owner Drayton McLane, as the 'Stros can't take on Peavy's contract.  As for the Dodgers, GM Ned Colletti told the L.A. Times he hasn't talked to the Padres about Peavy since the pitcher vetoed the White Sox deal.
  • Stark talked to scouts who believe Oswalt has "lost his edge" and needs a change of scenery.  The Phillies have inquired on him, but they've asked about everyone: Peavy, Brandon Webb, Roy Halladay, Doug Davis, Erik Bedard, Cliff Lee, Aaron Harang, Brad Penny, Chris Young and Jason Marquis.  Popular Phillies trade targets include Lou Marson, Jason Donald, Carlos Carrasco, Travis D'Arnaud, Freddy Galvis, Kyle Drabek, Dominic Brown, and Antonio Bastardo.
  • The Braves are interested in bringing Mark DeRosa back to Atlanta.  He came up with them and was non-tendered in '04 after tearing his ACL.  But to deal young arms, the Braves would want an impact bat.  Stark says they're "mostly listening" rather than shopping Jeff Francoeur.  His trade value is difficult to gauge.
  • The Mets seem content to wait out the first base trade market.
  • The Giants seek a middle-of-the-order bat, and Jonathan Sanchez is being dangled.  Three targets they haven't had success on are Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu, and possibly Carlos Lee.  Lee, according to one Stark source, doesn't intend to waive his no-trade for anyone.

Lee, Williams, Catalanotto, Barajas, and Roberts

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Map Tim sends his best from Cancun and wishes everyone was with him.

Not!

They are still trying to find their honeymoon hotel so he’s not quite sure when he’ll be back. And, no, he didn’t send any Cancun beach shots. Dang..

Speaking about vacations, how about the Astros signing Lee at $100m/6? Wow. My take is this – the power starved Astros obviously felt they were one player away and Lee happened to be available. He’ll probably hit 40 home runs despite all the talk about his lack of power after April last year. Don’t forget Minute Maid is full of hot air.

The Astros also jumped on Woody Williams at $12.5/2. I suppose this is a message to Astros fans that Pupura doesn’t expect the Rocket to resign. Just a guess. At 40-years old, Williams is a huge risk of course.

The Rangers signed Frank Catalanotto to a $13.5m/3 year deal today too. Dan Szymborwski at the Baseball Think Factory believes it is a solid deal for the Rangers, and I agree.

MLBTR’s reader eeleye99 was kind enough to offer up that the Blue Jays are reportedly ready to sign Rod Barajas as their every day receiver around $6m/2. Nice catch eeleye99 – thanks.

Another MLBTR reader – Rayman, found that Dave Roberts is reportedly picking the Giants over the Brewers. Kudo’s for the find Rayman. 

At The Plate has started compiling all the teams top 10 prospects by publication. They have done a great job of this for several years now. You might want to bookmark the site.

Bucco Blog has indicated that the most sought out pitcher on the Pirates staff this winter has been southpaw Tom Gorzelanny. There have been rumors that the Braves wanted Gorzelanny and Maholm for LaRoche, and today Tracy Ringolsby, the award winning columnist of the Rocky Mountain News, has indicated that a Rockies Brad Hawpe trade has been discussed with the Pirates who will only give up Maholm. I assume they also want Gorzelanny in any package. I love Tracy’s writing – the guy is flat out kewl.

Interestingly, Ringolsby is also reporting in that article that agents are complaining that the Rockies didn’t offer enough to Francis in his latest $13.5/4 year deal. I suppose the agents had to find a way to say the "C" word this year, despite the soaring value of contracts so far.

Have you ever read the The Carbolic Smoke Ball blog? OMG – it is Hilllll ar ious.

By Jake at Bucco Blog

Carlos Lee to Houston

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Baseball Digest Daily is reporting that Carlos Lee has agreed to a six-year deal with the Astros.  The last dollar amount I saw for this deal was $73M, and that was a five-year deal.  I figure we must be up to at least $85M now.  Back in July, it seemed ridiculous that Lee would reject a four-year, $48M deal out of hand.  Back then, I was glad the Brewers didn’t spend that much on him!  But after the Juan Pierre and Gary Matthews Jr. signings, this deal doesn’t look that crazy.

Now the market for bats is a much slimmer one.  Among free-agents, Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza and Cliff Floyd are among the only guys who could legitimately bat in the middle of the order, and all of them come with major question marks.  The A’s, who probably can’t afford Bonds, are reported to be talking about Piazza and Floyd, while several people have emailed me about reports that Floyd is about to sign with the Cubs. 

In other words, if you want an impact bat, you should consider trading for one.  Sean McAdam has a piece about who might be available, including familiar trade-bait names such as Manny Ramirez, Carl Crawford, and Pat Burrell.  And one bizarre name who doesn’t belong.

UPDATE: Here’s a link to the TV station reporting the Lee deal; Carlos is on the front page, at least for now.

By Jeff Sackmann

Carlos Lee Sweepstakes

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The Houston Chronicle provides the latest update on the chase for Carlos Lee.  It suggests that Tim Purpura could ultimately decide to give El Caballo an Aramis Ramirez-type contract–5 years, $73 million.  Right now, the deal the Astros have offered Lee is believed to be 5 years for $60 million.

The Chron has a source saying that an AL team (gotta be the Orioles) has floated a $70M/5 deal.  It sounds like the Phillies haven’t made an offer; maybe Pat Gillick will realize that signing Lee just to replace Pat Burrell would be a bizarre waste of time.  As it is, it seems like the Astros are banking on getting some kind of hometown discount, while the Orioles are hoping that Carlos wants to play for a mediocre team for the remainder of his productive career.

Then again, it’s always possible that the Cubs will sweep in and sign Lee and Julio Lugo this weekend.  Once you spend $200M, what’s another $70M?

UPDATE: Roch Kubatko reports that the Orioles are willing to go six years, for between $80 and $90 million.  Carlos loves his cattle ranch, but the gap between the O’s and the ’Stros seems to be widening.

By Jeff Sackmann

Tuesday tidbits

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Nothing in the news that is too breathtaking today, but there have been enough things worthy of mention that I thought I’d throw them all into one thread.

Here’s a fun trade possibility: the Red Sox are interested in Chad Cordero (uh, who wouldn’t be?) and may be dangling Wily Mo Pena, whom Jim Bowden is known to…how should I put this?…really like.  Bowden hasn’t acquired a toolsy outfielder for a couple of weeks now, so if the Sox found a way to sweeten the deal, perhaps Trader Jim would take the bait.

The Yankees have been quiet lately, but they may soon make an offer to bring back Ted Lilly.  They have also been linked to Shea Hillenbrand and Rich Aurilia to fill a spot at first base. 

The Rockies signed Jeff Francis to a four-year deal for $13.25M, which takes him through his arbitration years.  He’s still only 25, and if nothing else, he’s proven he can eat innings.  He may still turn into more than that.  Even if he’s no more than a 5th starter, he’ll be worth close to that amount, and the Rockies will probably want to exercise their ~$7M option for his first year of free agency in 2011.

According to the LA Times, who I would link to if they didn’t require registration, Carlos Lee isn’t interested in the west coast, which would rule out the Dodgers, Angels, and Giants.  You gotta admit, it would’ve been pretty funny if El Caballo signed in LA and he and Juan Pierre played side by side for the next five years.  By the end of those deals, Vin Scully would’ve said "double to the left-field gap" more times than he did in his first twenty years of broadcasting.

The Reds sent more than half of Jason LaRue’s salary along with him in yesterday’s trade.  I didn’t think it was a horrible deal for the Royals in the first place (though, admittedly, do they really need a mediocre stopgap catcher to help get them to 70 wins?) but this makes it a better one.  More coverage at Royals Review.  (You didn’t know there was a Royals blog, did you?)

By Jeff Sackmann

Astros Offer Deals to Lee and Soriano

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The Houston Chronicle reports that the Astros have offered multi-year deals to Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Lee.  Houston has been viewed by many as the frontrunner for El Caballo, but I hadn’t heard anything about their interest in Soriano. 

The article also notes that the Astros "are in serious discussions" with Woody Williams.  I suppose if they aren’t counting on getting Roger Clemens back for another year, they may feel the need to add a different 40 year old in the rotation.

By Jeff Sackmann

Paul Sullivan On Cubs Hot Stove

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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.

Justice: Astros To Sign Carlos Lee?

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On his SportsJustice blog, Houston Chronicle writer Richard Justice seems pretty adamant that the Astros are going to sign slugger Carlos Lee.

My Astros team outlook has the team with roughly $30MM to spend.  If Luke Scott can play right field, I wouldn’t disagree with a Lee signing.  This will leave Tim Purpura with about $15MM to spread amongst two starting pitchers and perhaps a catcher.  I could see Pettitte for $10MM and Woody Williams for $5MMish.  Trade Willy Taveras for something useful, and I think the Astros will be in decent shape for 2007. 

ESPN: Carlos Lee To Rangers

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Breaking news from ESPN’s Keith Law:

"The Milwaukee Brewers are trading slugger Carlos Lee to the Texas Rangers as part of a multi-player deal, ESPN.com learned Friday.

The Brewers are sending Lee, minor-league outfield prospect Nelson Cruz and a player to be named later to the Rangers for relief pitcher Francisco Cordero and outfielders Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix."

Initial opinion: Jon Daniels got the best of Doug Melvin here.  Daniels gets a player comparable to Mench in Cruz, only cheaper.  He adds a huge addition to the middle of the lineup for the stretch run in Lee.  Mench is at a crossroads, Cordero is really just an OK 31 year-old reliever with saves under his belt, and Nix has been long on promise but short on results.  It seems that Melvin is trying to stay competitive and get some players for the future for Lee at the same time, so Brewers fans have to respect that.

Interesting side note: according to Baseball Prospectus, Kevin Mench’s most comparable player is Carlos Lee.  I wonder how often a player has been traded for the player most similar to him? 

I’ll have fantasy analysis of the trade on RotoAuthority sometime this afternoon.

Latest Carlos Lee Trade Rumors

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Doug Melvin, who I think is one of the game’s better GMs, is currently fielding offers for Carlos Lee.  According to Ken Rosenthal, Melvin recently offered a four-year, $48MM contract to the slugger, which was immediately rejected.

A source close to Lee tells me that he had planned to come to Chicago on yesterday’s off-day (he owns a house there), but was instructed by his agent and Milwaukee management to sit tight in because he’s close to being traded.  Lee mentioned that the Cubs are his number one choice in the offseason.   

ESPN’s Jayson Stark indicated that the Twins are definitely an interested party.  The Twins have plenty of young pitching depth, so the teams could definitely match up if Terry Ryan is willing.  The Angels, Dodgers, Yankees, and Mariners could also come into play.

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