Odds and Ends: Griffey, Springer, Hoffman
Links for Wednesday…
- Common misconception Joe and I keep running into: signing one of the 15 Type A free agents who were offered arbitration will only cost the signing team one draft pick. The player’s old team also gets a second pick, but it doesn’t come from the new team. It’s just squeezed into the supplemental round. Check out a deeper explanation here.
- Nuggets from a Frank Coonelly chat: he expects the Pirates to make room on the 40-man roster for a potential Rule 5 addition, and they’d still like to re-sign Doug Mientkiewicz.
- Pirates pitcher Jason Davis looks like a non-tender candidate.
- Twins manager Ron Gardenhire doesn’t have Delmon Young in his preferred starting outfield.
- The Cubs signed pitcher Chad Fox to a minor league deal.
- Ken Griffey Jr.‘s agent Brian Goldberg says he’s fine with DHing but is capable of playing the field. Goldberg thinks Junior can bounce back and have a 30 home run season.
- Click here to listen to free agent reliever Russ Springer talk to The ITD Morning After radio show on 1380 AM. He’s gotten calls from teams in both leagues, including "World Series participants." Springer is known to be on the Phillies’ radar.
- Recently I talked to Sarah Small of the Daily Illini.
- SI.com’s Tom Verducci looks at the supposed shortstop revolution that seems to have petered out.
- Dave Cameron respects the Astros’ signing of Mike Hampton.
- Tony Jackson says the Dodgers offered a minor league deal to Juan Castro.
- Royals GM Dayton Moore did a Q&A with fans at MLB.com. His priority is adding right-handed relief help after trading Leo Nunez and Ramon Ramirez. Also, he says Mark Teahen is "more important to our team today then he was in all of 2008 — and he was very important to our team in ’08."
- McCovey Chronicles is skeptical of all the teams blaming the economy.
- Drunk Jays Fans predicts Kevin Mench‘s Japan experience.
- Jesse Spector looks at comparable pitchers for C.C. Sabathia.
- Trevor Hoffman may meet with the Mets soon. Also, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon spoke of "addition by subtraction" yesterday.
- East Windup Chronicle disputes a Richard Griffin column.
- The Phillies are still willing to sign Type A free agents who were offered arbitration, such as Raul Ibanez or Juan Cruz.
- Evan Grant’s latest Rangers mailbag, always a good read.
- Joe Sheehan discusses various poor arbitration decisions by teams.
- Minor league deals for the Mets: Nelson Figueroa, Adam Bostick, and Rene Rivera. Marty Noble adds Andy Green.
- Rany Jazayerli figures Mark Grudzielanek agreed in advance to reject the Royals’ offer of arbitration.
- As usual, ESPN will be all over the Winter Meetings. I’m told they’ll be doing daily Baseball Tonight specials and will have a team of seven on the scene in Vegas.
- ESPN’s Peter Gammons says the free agent and trade markets are flooded with corner/DH type bats. There will be bargains.
- Bruce Miles thinks Milton Bradley would be a nice match for the Cubs. The biggest issue would be his ability to play right field every day.
Braves Preparing Five-Year Offer For Burnett
2:07pm: Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution believes the Braves will probably guarantee a fifth year to Burnett, at a salary of $15-16MM per.
9:56am: Will the Braves be the team to commit five years to A.J. Burnett? According to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, they’re preparing such an offer. Feinsand wonders if Burnett will jump at this offer without waiting to see what C.C. Sabathia does.
SI.com’s Jon Heyman seems to agree with Feinsand’s report. He learned from Braves GM Frank Wren that the Braves are in on Burnett but not Jake Peavy, and heard talk that the Braves might consider a fifth year. Wren described talks for Peavy as "pretty much" over.
Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says the Braves are one of six teams in negotiations with Burnett. Heyman believes the other teams to be the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, and Nationals.
Reagins Debunks Sabathia Rumors
MLB.com’s Lyle Spencer talked to Angels GM Tony Reagins, who said Mark Teixeira remains the team’s top priority (and they’re not concerned about his knee). Reagins said there was nothing to reports of the Halos shifting their focus to C.C. Sabathia. The Angels have also not made a play for Jake Peavy.
The original report on the Angels interest in Sabathia suggested Tex remained the priority, though Danny Knobler had said the Halos dropped their pursuit of Tex.
Brown’s Latest: Sabathia, Blake, Young
6:56pm: Ken Rosenthal has more on Blake after talking to his agent Jim McDowell. Blake seeks a three-year deal, and the Twins and Dodgers are in the lead for his services. The Indians have been less persistent, as they don’t want to give him three years. Brown wrote earlier that the Twins feel the same.
6:23pm: Let’s take a look at the latest from Yahoo’s Tim Brown.
- C.C. Sabathia has had no conversations with the Dodgers in recent weeks.
- Casey Blake opened negotiations with the Twins at three years and $20MM. That’s not a price the Twins are willing to pay, rightfully so. The Indians have cooled on Blake as well.
- Brown says teams aware of the Twins’ outfield depth have been calling Twins GM Bill Smith about Delmon Young.
Odds and Ends: Thorman, Sabathia, Pettitte
Links for Tuesday…
- Big League Stew names Scott Boras’ ten most notorious deals. Darren Dreifort also probably belongs on the list. Any others?
- Roch Kubatko of MASN Online debunks a rumor about the Orioles offering Brian Roberts a three-year contract with a soft deadline.
- ESPN’s Keith Law likes the Astros’ signing of Mike Hampton.
- The Brewers signed first baseman Scott Thorman to a minor league deal. He hit .251/.283/.465 at Triple A this year. Also, Salomon Torres officially retired.
- C.C. Sabathia attended a Golden State Warriors game last night, for what it’s worth.
- Dodgers GM Ned Colletti paid lip service to the idea of re-signing Rafael Furcal.
- Joel Sherman says Andy Pettitte is a phony if he signs with a team other than the Yankees. He says the Yanks made a $10MM offer. Craig Calcaterra weighs in on Sherman’s column at Shysterball.
- I did a Q&A with Mets Fans Forever.
- Blue Jays owner Ted Rogers passed away.
Brewers Offer Arb To Sabathia, Sheets, Shouse
According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Brewers offered arbitration to C.C. Sabathia (Type A), Ben Sheets (Type A), and Brian Shouse (Type B). They declined to offer arb to Eric Gagne (Type B).
Sheets and Shouse were the question marks. The Brewers apparently don’t mind getting Shouse back on a one-year deal, though he seeks two years. Sheets also seems likely to decline and pursue multiple years. If he declines and signs elsewhere, his new team will lose a draft pick to the Brewers. Ken Davidoff wonders if Sheets might accept the offer.
Perrotto’s Latest: Teixeira, Burnett, Wilson
John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus has his Sunday article up. Let’s go through it:
- The Angels may be willing to match the Yankees $140MM offer to CC Sabathia. They won’t offer 10 years to Mark Teixeira. If they can’t land Teixeira, they will consider Pat Burrell for first base.
- A.J. Burnett is looking at the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees, Braves, Orioles, and Phillies.
- The Twins want a left-side infielder for Delmon Young, so they can open a spot for Denard Span in the starting lineup.
- The Tigers are pursuing Jack Wilson from the Pirates and Matt Treanor from the Marlins. They are also putting high priority on signing Joe Beimel who’s getting interest from a number of teams.
- The Dodgers will not re-sign Rafael Furcal for health reasons so the Giants, Athletics, and Reds are his most likely destinations.
- The Cubs will need to offer more than Jason Marquis to the Royals for David DeJesus. If they can’t get it done, they’d sign Raul Ibanez over Bobby Abreu.
- The Braves are interested in Javier Vazquez and Jermaine Dye…
- The Reds need to offer more than Homer Bailey to get Dye.
- The Mets are considering Jon Garland, Vazquez, Edwin Jackson, Andy Sonnanstine. The Rays want more than Aaron Heilman for either of their starters.
- The Mets could soon become suitors for Manny Ramirez.
- The Brewers could soon become suitors for Francisco Rodriguez.
- The Astros are targeting Paul Bako and David Ross as backup catchers.
- The Rockies are trying to find lefthanders, eyeing Alan Embree, Will Ohman, Brian Shouse, and Glendon Rusch.
Odds And Ends: Tazawa, Hoffman, Halladay
Links for Saturday…
- Junichi Tazawa is expected to announce early next week that he will sign with the Red Sox. He turned down offers from the Rangers, Mariners and Braves.
- The Padres recently offered to talk with Trevor Hoffman, but he hasn’t responded. Tom Krasovic also has a Sandy Alderson quote that the Padres are "highly unlikely" to offer Hoffman arbitration.
- Robert MacLeod talked to Blue Jays insiders who believe trading ace Roy Halladay would send "the wrong signal" to fans since the Jays want to compete in 2009.
- Rob Neyer wonders how C.C. Sabathia‘s weight will affect his performance going forward.
- Joba Chamberlain tops Peter Abraham’s list of the 20 most important people to the Yankees organization.
- Peter Gammons asks five post-Thanksgiving questions about free agents and trades. Also within that blog post, Gammons mentions that Kevin Towers went to Sunday’s Chargers game with Brad Ausmus and hopes to sign him.
- Larry LaRue writes that the Mariners could use a couple good outfielders to go along with Ichiro.
- Bob Verdi expects a quiet retirement accouncement from Greg Maddux.
Odds and Ends: Sabathia, Schilling, Castaneda
Links for Friday…
- Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News says $100MM contracts for pitchers are risky, given the deals signed by Kevin Brown, Barry Zito, and Mike Hampton. Those pitchers don’t seem similar to C.C. Sabathia, however.
- The second part of Curt Schilling‘s article about his trade to the Red Sox.
- The Royals signed several minor league free agents, including righty Federico Castaneda from the Mexican League.
- SI.com’s Jon Heyman explains why the free agent market is slow. It doesn’t seem abnormal to me; it makes sense to wait until after December 1st to see if arbitration is offered.
C.C. Sabathia Rumors: Thursday
Ken Davidoff wrote yesterday:
According to a person in the Yankees’ loop, the team is reluctant to raise its offer to C.C. Sabathia, even if such hesitancy causes him to sign with the Angels.
Something has changed in the last 24 hours, because Davidoff now writes:
The majority of their decision-makers support the idea of going higher for the coveted lefthander, a person familiar with the situation said yesterday.
Davidoff wonders if the Yankees might go to $150MM over six years if the Angels offer $130MM over six. It doesn’t appear that the Angels have made an offer yet. Sabathia’s agent Greg Genske is apparently shutting things down for the weekend.