Heyman’s Latest: Yankees, K-Rod, Moyer
Notes from SI.com’s Jon Heyman…
- The Yankees apparently want to sign two free agent starters out of C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Derek Lowe. If Sabathia is one of them they’d be looking at a total outlay of $200MM or more. Ken Davidoff of Newsday notes that Sabathia might feel pressure from the players union to take the highest offer.
- Heyman believes the nation’s struggling economy might temper spending, but not in the Yankees’ case.
- Heyman doesn’t see the Angels as terribly gung-ho about retaining closer Francisco Rodriguez.
- People close to Jamie Moyer say he wants to pitch until he’s 50. Moyer didn’t rule it out when asked in August.
Speculating On The Yankees: McLouth and Lowe
The New York Post and Daily News are providing us with some ideas on what’s being considered by the front office in the Bronx this off-season.
George A. King III of the Post writes that the Yankees and Pirates have not yet discussed the possibility of Nate McLouth roaming center field when the new Stadium opens in 2009.
Pirates GM Neal Huntington has declared nobody is untouchable, and the Pirates are looking to upgrade a poor minor league system and major league talent base, so McLouth’s name has been tossed around. The Yankees are in the market for a center fielder.
Thanks to increased playing time, McLouth easily surpassed his previous career highs in HR, RBI, R, and doubles this year, but it also doesn’t appear to have been a fluke. He’s always been able to take a walk and his increased power (career high .497 SLG%) seems sustainable considering his age (will be 27 on Opening Day ’09). Although I don’t think that he’s as strong defensively as Melky Cabrera has been, he’s definitely an offensive upgrade.
Next, the Daily News’ Anthony McCarron wonders if Derek Lowe might be in pinstripes next year. Yankees manager Joe Girardi has stated that the team needs some pitchers capable of throwing 200-plus innings, and McCarron thinks that the 35-year old righty fits the bill.
Lowe is just the kind of pitcher the Yankees want to insert into their rotation – a durable winner with a playoff pedigree.
I suppose a lot of this will depend on what Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte decide to do. If those two retire or leave via free agency, the Yankees will have a very young rotation as of right now. Do the Yankees need a guy like Lowe, an aging Boras client coming off one of the best seasons of his twelve-year career?
Paul Moro writes for UmpBump.com and can be reached here: Paul {at} umpbump {dot} com.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Holliday, Teixeira, Mussina
A look at what is being written around the Blogosphere…
- MetsBlog recognizes that Francisco Rodriguez will improve the team and appease fans, but is not sure he is worth a four or five-year deal.
- Mets Geek projects the Mets ’09 roster and looks at some options from outside the organization with Pat Burrell and Derek Lowe being the biggest offseason targets.
- Was Watching says bringing back Brian Cashman was a mistake.
- River Ave. Blues assesses the Matt Holliday market and feels that Phil Hughes and Robinson Cano for Holliday "doesn’t make much sense."
- Sox and Pinstripes provides an in-depth preview of the upcoming offseasons for the Yankees and Red Sox and wonders if Theo Epstein can convince the Rockies to take J.D. Drew and a top prospect for Matt Holliday.
- iYankees notes that Brian Cashman wants to make the Yankees’ OBP a priority this winter and feels Mark Teixeira fits the bill.
- Oriole Post does not want to see Mike Mussina return to the O’s and would prefer they "stay the course" with young players.
- C70 At The Bat takes a look at the Cardinals’ decision to sign Kyle Lohse and what it could mean for the offseason ahead.
- Viva el Birdos projects the Cardinals ’09 roster and payroll.
- McCovey Chronicles reacts to some quotes from Brian Sabean and what they mean for the Giants’ offseason.
- Newberg Report thinks the price for the Rangers to acquire Jake Peavy would be too high, even if he’d waive his no-trade clause to go there.
- Athletics Nation sees no point in signing Jason Giambi.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here.
Odds and Ends: Lowe, Redmond, Timlin
Linkage for Friday…
- River Ave. Blues discovered that Mike Mussina‘s wife may be a bigger factor than we thought in regard to his retirement decision.
- David O’Brien tosses out some names for the Braves to consider: Derek Lowe, Matt Cain, Roy Oswalt, and Josh Willingham. Everyone likes Lowe…Anthony McCarron says the Yankees and Mets should consider him. Those clubs could also enter a bidding war for C.C. Sabathia, says Bob Klapisch. Will C.C.’s postseason record diminish his contract? I don’t think so.
- Greg Couch doesn’t want Javier Vazquez pitching for the White Sox again. Maybe Ozzie is right, Vazquez is not a big-game pitcher. But why say that publicly?
- Joe Christensen seems certain the Twins will exercise Mike Redmond‘s $950K option.
- Chris Carpenter‘s shoulder injury is unprecedented among pitchers. Do the Cardinals need to add veteran rotation insurance? Speaking of unprecedented procedures…Takashi Saito had platelet-rich plasma injected into his elbow in July.
- Joe Starkey thinks the Pirates should…non-tender Adam LaRoche?
- Mike Timlin could retire.
- Huge E-Ticket Manny Ramirez feature from Bill Simmons, wherein Scott Boras is blamed for his Boston exit. Good read.
Odds and Ends: LaCava, Colletti, Andruw
Links for Wednesday…
- I did a Q&A with the Roselle Press. The article includes a sweet picture of me hacking the Internet.
- Greg Cote of the Miami Herald speculates on the new-look 2009 Marlins. If defense is a goal, they could look to acquire Adrian Beltre and try Jorge Cantu at first base. Randy Winn could improve the defense in right.
- John Fay runs through the Reds’ nine free agents. He believes Jerry Hairston Jr. wants to return.
- Brian Cashman wants to acquire a real first baseman, rather than have Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui spend time there.
- The Mariners received permission to interview Blue Jays assistant GM Tony LaCava, according to Geoff Baker.
- It’s still not known whether the Dodgers will bring GM Ned Colletti back for the final year of his contract. Interesting note from ESPN’s Buster Olney – the Andruw Jones signing was engineered by owner Frank McCourt rather than Colletti.
- Olney feels Brian Cashman is more likely to pursue Derek Lowe than Mark Teixeira.
- Will Joe Girardi’s presence discourage free agents from signing with the Yankees?
- McCovey Chronicles sees the Giants trading for a second or third baseman this winter. I tossed out a bunch of names in my Offseason Outlook.
- Pedro Alvarez clammed up when asked precisely what time he accepted the original deal from the Pirates.
- MetsBlog tries to figure out whether Ryan Church loves or hates New York.
- Oliver Perez predicts a tough offseason following the Mets’ final-day elimination. On the bright side, he stands to earn a ridiculous amount of money as a free agent.
How To Fix The Mets
I will offer my own opinions on how to improve the Mets in the Offseason Outlook, due within a few weeks. Many journalists have already weighed in – let’s take a look.
- Newly added bullet: John Harper of the New York Daily News. He advises the Mets to decline Delgado’s option while signing Orlando Hudson, Raul Ibanez, and Derek Lowe and trading for J.J. Putz. Say goodbye to Castillo, Perez, and Martinez in this plan.
- Ken Davidoff of Newsday: Sign free agents Francisco Rodriguez, Darren Oliver, Juan Rivera, Fernando Tatis, and Wes Helms. Also sign one of Jon Garland, Derek Lowe, or Oliver Perez. Exercise Carlos Delgado‘s $12MM option. Trade/release Aaron Heilman, Duaner Sanchez, Scott Schoeneweis, and Luis Castillo.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post: Sign C.C. Sabathia, even if it takes $150MM over six years. Sherman notes this would lessen the load on the bullpen (Sabathia averaged 7.23 innings per start in ’08). I prefer this plan to spending $100MM on K-Rod and a mid-tier starter.
- Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog: Buy Delgado out for $4MM rather than exercise his $12MM option. Interesting, unconventional thought by Cerrone. Cerrone, like Davidoff, finds the idea of trading David Wright or Jose Reyes to be misguided.
Braves May Have $45MM To Spend
TUESDAY: Dave O’Brien rattles off a few more pitchers of interest for the Braves: Matt Cain, Ryan Dempster, and Brad Penny.
MONDAY: In our Braves Offseason Outlook, we suggested the Braves might have $40MM to spend this winter even if they hold payroll steady. Instead, GM Frank Wren revealed today that payroll will increase beyond last year’s $102.4MM. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman estimates Wren will have $45MM to work with.
As you know, the Braves intend to add two veteran starters as well as a slugging outfielder. They’ll also attempt to re-sign John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Mike Hampton. We covered this in the outlook, but it seems the Braves will sign one of Derek Lowe or A.J. Burnett. They could complement that signing by inking a Japanese pitcher (or just a Paul Byrd type), and then survey the robust free agent market for left fielders. The Braves will monitor the trade market, but their top prospects are not available.
Yankees Rumors: Jeter, Sabathia, Hudson
Let’s talk Yankees.
- Ken Davidoff makes recommendations for the ’09 Yankees. He would sign Derek Lowe and Andy Pettitte, and offer arbitration to Damaso Marte and Bobby Abreu.
- Jim Baumbach explains a tricky situation coming up: re-signing Derek Jeter.
- Peter Abraham takes a look at various free agents on the minds’ of Yankees fans.
- Tyler Kepner of the New York Times says first priority for the Yankees is to re-sign Brian Cashman. I imagine they already have a Plan B in place, but recent reports lean toward Cashman returning.
- Kepner says the Indians were aggressive in pursuing a deadline deal involving Phil Hughes and C.C. Sabathia. Now, Kepner says the Yankees are skeptical they’ll be able to sign Sabathia. For Plan B, the Yanks seem to prefer pitchers with American League experience. They’ll probably stand pat on the bullpen, though a decision must be made on Damaso Marte‘s option.
- If the Yankees can engineer a Robinson Cano–Matt Kemp swap (unlikely), they could then sign free agents Mark Teixeira and Orlando Hudson. The right-side infield defense would be drastically improved.
- Bill Madden of the New York Daily News is more pessimistic – he doesn’t see the team’s internal center field options working out, nor does he consider the free agent signings wise.
Mets Rumors: K-Rod, Castillo, Pedro
Let’s collect some a few postmortem Mets articles floating around this morning.
- Ken Davidoff suggests the Mets patch up their bullpen with Francisco Rodriguez. It’d be an obvious overreaction, and would ignore past history of big money tossed at relievers. The Mets had a firsthand look with their own Billy Wagner signing. $43MM for 193.3 innings – was it worth it?
- David Lennon believes Luis Castillo is as good as gone, though I’d be surprised if eating half of his contract is enough. Would Castillo get a three-year, $9MM deal on the open market right now given numerous palatable one-year options? Adam Rubin sees the Mets trading Castillo, Aaron Heilman, and Scott Schoeneweis (he suggests eating 90% of Castillo’s contract).
- As for the rotation, Lennon doesn’t see the Mets involved on C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets, A.J. Burnett, Oliver Perez, or Pedro Martinez. I imagine the Mets will add one starter to follow Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, and John Maine though. Freddy Garcia could make sense. Rubin says Derek Lowe and Brian Moehler are rumored possibilities, though Moehler already re-signed with Houston for ’09.
- Bob Klapisch wonders if the Mets should consider trading Jose Reyes, David Wright, or Carlos Beltran to shake up the team.
Olney On The Free Agent Market
ESPN’s Buster Olney has a great blog post up today with his musings about this winter’s free agent market. Let’s take a look.
- Industry people believe the current state of the economy might temper offseason spending. We’ve already heard the rumblings that typically high-spending teams like the Angels, Tigers and Mariners backing off or holding the line on payroll.
- Olney feels C.C. Sabathia could draw a $140MM offer from the Yankees, but something more in the $90-100MM range from the Angels or Dodgers. So he may have to decide whether playing close to home is worth $30-50MM.
- Olney extols the virtues of Derek Lowe, who could get a deal comparable to Jason Schmidt‘s three years/$47MM. That was two years, ago though…I think Scott Boras gets Lowe $18MM a year.
- Olney considers this a strong market for starting pitching. Maybe so, but we might see a lot of multiyear deals for injury-risk hurlers after Sabathia and Lowe sign.
- Olney likes the match between the Cardinals and Brian Fuentes. Other teams that could consider Fuentes: the Rays, Indians, and Brewers.
- Olney is convinced the Yankees will offer Bobby Abreu arbitration but nothing more. Abreu is comfortably set to earn Type A status. If the Yanks offer arbitration, they’ll either get Abreu for one year and $16MM or so or they’ll get two draft picks. In contrast, Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman have said they expect the Yankees to let Abreu leave.
- Olney guesses the Red Sox will offer Jason Varitek two guaranteed years with a vesting option for 2011. The Boston Globe’s Amalie Benjamin wrote in August that she expects Varitek to re-sign.