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Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Jays, Mets, Red Sox, Nats, Yankees

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On this date 32 years ago, commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended Braves owner Ted Turner for one year for tampering. Turner had announced publicly that the Braves would sign free agent-to-be Gary Matthews. Unfortunately, 30 years later, nobody was disciplined when the Angels signed free agent Gary Matthews Jr. to a $50MM contract. In the first two years of the deal, Matthews has been paid $15MM and his play has been worth -$600K (yes, that is negative) according to Fangraphs. With several big free agents still looking for new teams, will any of them be the next Matthews Jr? Only time will tell. In the meantime, let’s see what is being written in the Blogosphere…

  • The Eddie Kranepool Society is not worried about Derek Lowe, feeling the deal will get done once the Mets add a fourth option year and sweeten the pot just a tad. They are also putting the Mets front office on notice about the possibility of letting Manny Ramirez slip through their fingers.
  • Mets Geek feels the Mets still need to add one more piece to their revamped bullpen and suggest Wil Ohman or Joe Beimel are better options as a lefty specialist than what is already in-house.
  • The Southpaw takes a look at some young players the Jays should try to target in the trade market, with Chin-Lung Hu at the top of the list.
  • My Baseball Bias is not satisfied with just Mark Teixeira and wants to see the Yankees sign Manny Ramirez.
  • Fire Brand of the American League makes a case for three players to be the Red Sox fourth outfielder, including Rocco Baldelli, Brad Wilkerson and Eric Byrnes.
  • MLB Notebook takes a look at how the Nationals could spend the $20MM that would have gone to Mark Teixeira.
  • River Ave. Blues says this offseason is proving to be a test of just how good Scott Boras can be.
  • Sully Baseball is running a series of posts breaking down each team’s all-time home grown versus all-time acquired teams. Here he looks at the Astros.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here.

Sherman’s Latest: Red Sox, Lowe, Manny

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Joel Sherman of the New York Post has a new blog post up.

  • The Red Sox would like to trade for a young star player; they’ve already attempted to acquire Mark Teixeira and Hanley Ramirez this offseason.  The Sox seem willing to discuss some very talented young players of their own (Clay Buchholz seems a bit more available).  Sherman speculates on all kinds of names that could make sense for Boston.
  • Derek Lowe is not keen on taking less money and the same salary as Carlos Silva.  He and Scott Boras will take some time to see if someone can beat the Mets’ three-year, $36MM offer.  Ken Rosenthal wrote in November that most executives consider the Silva contract an aberration.
  • Sherman finds many reasons Manny Ramirez could make sense for the Giants.  He notes that Giants special assistant J.T. Snow can give the team the inside scoop on what it was like to be teammates with Manny.
  • The Cubs would’ve liked to send Jason Marquis home to New York (the Mets), but the Mets are addressing their needs one at a time and aren’t looking at the fifth starter role yet.  Sherman says the Rockies have long been fans of Marquis and like his bat.  He could accumulate 80 plate appearances, I suppose.

Lowe Unimpressed By Mets’ Offer

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Derek Lowe was "hardly overwhelmed" by the Mets’ three year $36MM offer, Mike Puma of the New York Post heard from a baseball source. Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe heard from a source of his own that Lowe’s "likely to continue shopping for a more desirable offer."

It’s uncertain who would make such an offer, since Massarotti writes that the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies are not currently interested in Lowe.

As a result, the Mets could end up in what Puma calls a "protracted stare down" with Scott Boras and his client.

Mets’ Pitching Pursuit Will Take Time

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David Lennon of Newsday talked to Mets GM Omar Minaya, who expects his pursuit of a starting pitcher to be drawn out.  Minaya suggested it could be resolved by mid-January.

The Mets have a three-year, $36MM offer out to Derek Lowe and have made other offers as well.  It’s been suggested the Mets will top out around three years and $40MM.  In a report yesterday, Tony Massarotti said the Mets and Lowe discussed two proposals last week: a four-year deal and a three-year contract with a vesting option.  Massarotti suggests the Mets entered the bidding with a weak offer because Lowe has no other suitor in the Northeast.  If the Mets don’t improve the offer much, it’ll be a test of how much geography matters to Lowe.  Though not in Lowe’s preferred geographic region, Gerry Fraley considers the Braves in the mix for him.

Oliver Perez is next in line for Omar Minaya, though Lennon believes his future is linked to Lowe’s.  If neither Boras client can be signed, Randy Wolf and Jon Garland become the targets.  Pedro Martinez remains a possibility as well.  The plan is nice and all, but other teams need starting pitching too and may start signing these guys in the next few weeks.

Derek Lowe Rumors: Wednesday

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4:07pm: Jack Curry of the New York Times weighs in.  He can see the Mets bumping their offer to $39MM for three years, but agrees that they won’t add a fourth year (despite four-year deals given to inferior pitchers in recent times).

8:43am: MetsBlog’s Matthew Cerrone says a Derek Lowe signing is "feeling inevitable" for the New York National League club.  They’ll have to up their three-year, $36MM offer; Cerrone sees the Mets as unlikely to guarantee a fourth year or reach $15MM per.

According to John Harper of the New York Daily News, Lowe told a friend that the Red Sox never showed serious interest.  Harper thinks the Mets’ limit is three years and $40MM.

The Mets’ competition for Lowe is unclear.  The Phillies, Yankees, and Red Sox don’t seem interested.  Still, if Lowe is coming at a discount you have to wonder if the Braves, Indians, Rangers, Brewers, and Cubs will get involved (entirely speculation).

Mets Make Offer To Lowe

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TUESDAY, 7:03pm: It looks as though the first of the Mets’ offers has been issued.

According to Jack Curry of the New York Times, the Mets have offered Derek Lowe a three-year deal, worth a total of $36MM.  I imagine half the teams in baseball would be willing to offer that amount to Lowe. The article maintains the current notion that Lowe is the Mets’ first choice to bolster their rotation.  He had reportedly been seeking five years and $90MM.

MONDAY: MLB.com’s Marty Noble on the Mets:

They intend to make offers early this week to at least two and probably three free-agent pitchers — Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez and Randy Wolf — in hopes of signing one of them.

Noble says the Mets continue to rank the three in that order – Lowe, Perez, Wolf.  The Mets haven’t shown any indication of wanting to sign more than one.  Lowe and Perez should be ready to sign soon now that Scott Boras isn’t occupied with Mark Teixeira.

Noble adds that the Mets aren’t terribly concerned about having only one left-handed reliever on the roster (Pedro Feliciano).  They’ll look for bargains rather than pursue a Joe Beimel type.  Mets GM Omar Minaya does want to acquire a utility infielder, with Alex Cora atop the list.

Olney’s Latest: Lowe, Castillo, Hudson

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Buster Olney focuses his new column on reluctant-to-spend teams and how they’ve changed the market. He turns up some interesting rumors…

  • The Rays and A’s are in a "bidding war" of sorts over the likes of Jason Giambi, Pat Burrell, Garret Anderson and Bobby Abreu. Both teams are willing to spend, but neither wants to go first since prices are higher now with both teams interested than they will be once the first team signs a player.
  • The Mets are in a great position since the Cards and Brewers aren’t likely to compete for Oliver Perez, Derek Lowe and Randy Wolf. This means they can wait, knowing that bargains will likely surface.
  • The Mets have "quietly continued to gauge" the Luis Castillo market and are interested in moving him and some of his salary.
  • If they find a taker, they could pursue Orlando Hudson.
  • As Joel Sherman predicted, the Nationals are now courting O-Dog.
  • Olney asks whether aging stars like Ken Griffey Jr. and Pedro Martinez will choose to play for the offers they’re likely to get.
  • Brad Penny may soon decide where he wants to pitch next year. He’s weighing "an overture from the Cardinals" against other options.

Mets Target Lowe, Perez

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Now that Mark Teixeira has found a home in New York, the Mets would like to talk with two other Scott Boras clients about following suit, Ben Shpigel of the New York Times reports. The Mets are interested in Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez, in that order, and believe that the market may be shaping up to allow them to obtain their first choice.  Nothing is imminent for the Mets at this time.

With the Yankees (almost) definitely out of the picture, and the Red Sox seemingly focused more on hitting, the Mets are optimistic that they can get Lowe for considerably less than the five-year $90MM deal he was rumored to be looking for initially. If for some reason this doesn’t work out, the enigmatic Perez would be their next choice, Shpigel says.

Lowe, 35, had a 3.24 ERA in 211 innings for the Dodgers in 2008. Perez, 27, had a 4.22 ERA in 194 innings for the Mets.

Mets’ Minaya: Nothing Imminent

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1:38pm: The New York Daily News has, essentially, the same report. Roger Rubin writes that Derek Lowe is a top priority for the New York Mets, but nothing’s imminent. Something could happen during the next week, though.

Rubin sees the Boston Red Sox as being competition for Lowe’s services.

9:48am: Mets general manager Omar Minaya told Kat O’Brien of Newsday to “Go enjoy the holiday” and that nothing was happening on the New York Mets’ front today.

Minaya did say the team has been talking to free-agent starting pitchers, including Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez and Randy Wolf.

As far as outfielder Manny Ramirez, “a Mets source” told O’Brien in the same article that the Mets will not sign him.

Odds & Ends: Lowe, Penny, Padres, Red Sox

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A couple of links from around the baseball world on a slow Christmas Eve…

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