Angels Interested In Johan Santana
Hey, you can never have too much pitching right? Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times reports that Johan Santana is on the Angels’ list. They’re still all about Miguel Cabrera as Plan A and Miguel Tejada as Plan B, but they’ve inquired on Santana as well. Jon Heyman actually mentioned the Halos as a Santana suitor yesterday afternoon, but it didn’t register with me.
DiGiovanna says the Twins would ask for a third baseman, center fielder, and pitcher for Santana. Brandon Wood, Reggie Willits, and Nick Adenhart – is that too much? Another hurdle might be getting Santana to approve a trade to the West Coast.
DiGiovanna adds that the Twins have interest in Gary Matthews Jr. Could this be the mystery CF the Twins are close to acquiring? Maybe not, since Matthews is expensive, old, and mediocre.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Nathan, Garza, Bedard
Ken Rosenthal recently dished out a slew of fresh rumors for us to devour.
- Rosenthal still believes that if the Twins trade Johan Santana, they will also trade Joe Nathan in a separate deal. Back on November 11th, Rosenthal first suggested this might happen. About a week ago, Joe Christensen reported that the Twins exchanged contract proposals with Nathan. Nathan is in line to earn at least $15MM per season, if he wants full market value. Rosenthal suggests the Brewers, Indians, Tigers, Cubs, and Red Sox as possible fits for Nathan.
- The Angels may want to keep Gary Matthews Jr., given Vladimir Guerrero‘s declining defensive abilities. Also, Guerrero may soon get a contract extension in the $18MM per season range to put him in line with Torii Hunter. His contract runs through 2009.
- The Twins may be close to getting a center fielder, but it may not be Coco Crisp. Another team is chasing Crisp – perhaps the White Sox?
- Melky Cabrera could be dealt independent and regardless of a Johan Santana deal. The Braves may be interested; the Yanks would then move Johnny Damon back to center.
- Matt Garza or Boof Bonser may be moved for a bat. Probably not Delmon Young, but some young slugger. The Rays also want to find a young shortstop to compete with Reid Brignac.
- The Yanks don’t want to overpay for a free agent reliever – 3/12 seems their limit on the Riskes and Mahays of the world.
- Back at the GM meetings, the Mets inquired on Erik Bedard. The O’s are waiting to see what happens with Miguel Cabrera since they covet many of the prospects being discussed there.
Heyman’s Latest: Piazza, Matthews, Milledge
SI.com’s Jon Heyman checks in with a new Daily Scoop column full of rumors.
- A lot of the standard trade talk we’ve seen regarding Miguel Cabrera, Johan Santana, Miguel Tejada, and Dan Haren. All these guys require two good young players or more in a trade.
- Mike Piazza is considering DHing in Japan if he doesn’t find anything he likes in the U.S.
- Heyman talked to an AL exec who speculated that the Angels may try to unload Gary Matthews Jr. GMJ makes $9MM in ’08, $10MM in ’09, $11MM in ’10, and $12MM in ’11. He currently has a full no-trade clause.
- Juan Uribe and Vicente Padilla are two salary-dump types whose names have surfaced in recent trade talks (unrelated to each other). Padilla is owed $24.75MM over the next two seasons.
- Heyman believes the Mets are very willing to trade Lastings Milledge and have discussed him often.
- We knew the Mets had discussed Ramon Hernandez and Gerald Laird. Heyman adds the Nats’ Brian Schneider to the mix. He makes $4.9MM in ’08 and another $4.9MM in ’09.
GMJ’s Non-Answer Speaks Volumes
I understand that Gary Matthews Jr. has been advised by his agent not to comment on the recent steroid raid to which his name was connected. Any kind of admission might put his contract in jeopardy (although even that seems doubtful). Like it or not, though, Matthews has already been found guilty in the court of public opinion. This paragraph from the L.A. Times says it all:
"Asked whether he had ever used performance-enhancing substances, accidentally or otherwise, Matthews said, ‘I haven’t read the story myself and I don’t have all the information. Until I get more information, that’s my position.’"
I can’t think of a good reason why he would say that if the real answer to the question was simply, "no."
Matthews Jr. Acquired HGH
According to SI.com, Angels center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. was allegedly sent HGH in August of 2004. A number of other high-profile athletes were linked to Tuesday’s steroid raid.
Interestingly, Matthews’s big league success actually began in 2004, and his isolated power has remained steady since that season. It seems possible that he started taking performance-enhancing drugs at the beginning of the ’04 season, but who knows.
Will the Angels be able to use this as a way out of his lousy five-year, $50MM contract? Highly unlikely, in my opinion. HGH wasn’t on the banned substance list until 2005, and Matthews has never tested positive for anything. There probably won’t be any suspension and the Jason Giambi situation indicates that the Angels can’t void his contract based on this information.
Here’s a link at Matthews’s minor league teammates in ’04. Based on the SI.com article, one of them may have been involved as well.
Sarge to the Angels
The Angels appear to have signed Gary Matthews Jr. to a 5 year, $50 million deal. I recognize that this is a new market, that the teams have tons of money, that free agents are getting paid more than they would’ve been last year. But I’m sorry, this is completely ridiculous.
Matthews has had one good season in his career. Of course, that was last year, and it was great, so he positioned himself well for the market. But the dude’s 32, he’d never been much above average before, he put up his good offensive numbers in a major hitter’s park, and he may not be that great of a center fielder. Having GMJ under contract for the next five years ensures that the Angels will have an overpaid corner outfielder even after Garret Anderson‘s contract runs out.
Sarge’s career line is .263/.336/.419. According to ZiPS, Maicer Izturis is going to have a better season than that. (I know Izturis doesn’t play center, just…eight figures for utility infielder offense?)
Now for the implications: this would seem to suggest that the Angels won’t be going after Andruw Jones or Manny Ramirez, though trading prospects for Manny would’ve been smarter than doing this. It also might mean that Chone Figgins is expendable, though he’s coming off the worst offensive season of his career, so his trade value might not be much.
Also, we can expect the Dave Roberts sweepstakes to heat up, and perhaps see another team or two get involved with Julio Lugo, who is willing to play center field. Just like the Juan Pierre deal, this would indicate that Roberts will have no trouble getting the $15M/3y he’s after. Lugo ought to have teams giving him the $32M/4y he wants, too. Depending on how he adapts to center, Lugo could be a better player than either Pierre or Sarge, if not in 2007, for the life of their contracts.
One more thing: speaking of center fielders, you may be interested in my Hardball Times column today, which analyzes the difference in defensive skill between CFs and corner guys. I also take a look at how Alfonso Soriano might do in center based on his 2006 performance in left.
By Jeff Sackmann
The Giants Really Want a Centerfielder
And you know, if I had just given Steve Finley 429 at-bats, I would too!
Apparently the Giants have offered identical 3-year, $30M deals to Juan Pierre and Gary Matthews Jr. Both would appear to be a little young to fit in to the Giants clubhouse, but then again, so is Kevin Frandsen, and they haven’t buried him yet. $10M per year seems to be the market value for Matthews right now, which–to me, anyway–is complete insanity.
It’s true that Matthews had a fantastic season in Arlington–.313/.371/.495, to be precise–but it’s also true that he was 31, and his career numbers are a much more 4th-OF friendly .263/.336/.419. It’s always possible that he really didn’t learn how to play baseball at a new level after his 30th birthday, but…$10 million for a guy with a strong possibility to be below league average? Most amazing to me is this: Rotoworld speculates that Matthews could get some four-year offers.
Pierre may not be worth $10M/year either, but he is a bit younger, and Brian Sabean can’t be deluding himself too much about what he might get. Pierre has been very consistent, largely injury free, and he’ll probably keep stealing lots of bases through the length of that contract.
In other Giants news: Ray Durham wants $18 million over 2 years, and the Giants "haven’t closed the door" on that. However, Frandsen has gone crazy in winter ball, so the Giants could give him the starting job and let Durham look elsehwhere. If they pass on Durham, that makes it more likely they’ll bring back Rich Aurilia; both the Giants and Yankees want Aurilia and are offering multiyear deals. The deal could be done this weekend.
By Jeff Sackmann
Two Year Offer For Drew?
Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News has overheard a few possible offers to free agents.
He says that J.D. Drew is "expected to sign a two-year, $30 million deal with Boston." It makes sense for the Sox to pay an extra $2MM or so annually to keep the years down on this deal. Meanwhile, in a separate article, Larry LaRue writes, "Boston has offered J.D. Drew a huge contract – and Lou Piniella’s Cubs have matched it."
Ringolsby also notes that the Giants made a pair of three-year, $30MM offers: one to Juan Pierre and one to Gary Matthews Jr. The idea is that whoever says yes first gets the deal. What if both say yes? I don’t know how that works. As McCovey Chronicles points out, Pierre doesn’t make a whole lot of sense on a team that already has Randy Winn.
Did you know that according to Bill James, Pierre has a 29% chance at reaching 3,000 hits? If this causes players like Pierre to be considered for the Hall, I think we need to change the 3,000 hit standard. Same goes for 500 HRs.
In addition, Brian Sabean is already talking to the agents for Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Lee. Word from this same article is that the Giants may bid for Kei Igawa and haven’t had significant talks with Ray Durham yet.
2007 MLB Free Agents: Gary Matthews Jr.
The Rangers would like to retain free agent center fielder Gary Matthews Jr., but competition could be fierce if he hits the market. It’s important to remember that Sarge Jr. will be entering his age 32 season in 2007. Perhaps his athleticism will help him age better.
While Matthews’s .372 OBP is a career high, you’ll notice that it’s entirely batting average driven. He hasn’t improved his walk rate at all this season. The improvement in batting average is tied to more frequent contact – he’s up to 84% in that department. He’s also got a career high SLG. The increase can be attributed to doubles and triples, as Matthews’s flyball percentage and home runs per flyball have not changed. It stands to reason that he’ll regress to something near .270/.330/.440 in 2007.
Matthews has been abandoned by the Padres (twice), Cubs, Pirates, Orioles (twice), Braves, and Mets. He’s dealt with all kinds of injuries in the past few years: ribcage strain, hamstring strain, calf strain, sliced thumb from slicing a bagel, and wrist tendinitis.
Despite all this, I’m not down on Matthews as a free agent signing. The average center fielder hits about .270/.335/.425 and plays, well, average defense. Matthews should be able to hit a little better than that and play plus defense. Sure, he’ll decline from his career season. But CFs like Matthews don’t grow on trees. Would you rather have the defense of Dave Roberts out there?
Lately the possibility has been raised of the Mariners signing Matthews. This would be an odd signing, given the Mariners’ decent outfield arrangement and dire need for starting pitching.
Should the Rangers fail to retain Matthews, both Chicago teams, the Astros, Cardinals, and Rockies could all be interested. I’d be impressed if any team could get him for fewer than three years. He made $2.4MM this year, but could command $7-8MM annually on the open market.