Rosenthal’s Latest: Swisher, Nady, Kapler, Zaun
The latest from Ken Rosenthal.
- A recent Ned Colletti-Scott Boras conversation about Manny Ramirez didn’t result in progress. Boras still has his sights on at least $100MM over four years. Rosenthal adds that Manny is "cool to the idea of playing in San Francisco."
- Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady are drawing "significant interest." Rosenthal speculates that the Giants, Braves, or Pirates would make sense.
- The door is not closed with the Yankees and Andy Pettitte. Pettitte recently rejected the Yanks’ one-year, $10MM offer.
- Some Mets people prefer Oliver Perez to Derek Lowe. The Braves have yet to speak to Boras about Lowe, while the Brewers and Phillies have financial concerns about fitting him in.
- Trevor Hoffman has a West Coast preference (the Dodgers or maybe a Padres reconciliation) but interest with the Brewers is mutual. Other relievers on the Dodgers’ radar: Juan Cruz, Guillermo Mota, and Dennys Reyes.
- Brian Fuentes‘ agent had serious talks with the Yankees, but no offer was made. Fuentes would’ve been Mariano Rivera‘s set-up man and perhaps taken over upon his retirement.
- Rosenthal notes that MLB kicked in a small part of the $10MM owed to Sidney Ponson from their luxury tax pool, which is not uncommon.
- If they can afford it, the Rays would like to sign Gabe Kapler.
- The Orioles, Red Sox, and A’s are interested in Gregg Zaun.
- Perhaps because of the cool market for his services, Orlando Cabrera is willing to play second base. The Yankees did not have interest.
- That Gavin Floyd for Brian Roberts rumor "seemingly arose from internal discussions among Orioles officials."
Gregg Zaun Interested In Boston
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says Gregg Zaun would love to play for the Red Sox. In Cafardo’s interview with the catcher, Zaun said,
"I’d love it. My agent has had ongoing talks with Boston and I would love to see that happen. I feel one of the things I have going in my favor is being in Toronto for so long I have a deep knowledge of the AL East. I would also love the challenge of playing in Boston, where every day you go to the ballpark it’s a meaningful game and you’re fighting for something. That atmosphere, I’m telling you, there’s nothing like it, and to be a part of that would be unbelievable. I played for Tito [Terry Francona] back in the Arizona Fall League… Tito has been watching me a long time."
Zaun, 37, finished with six homeruns and a .340 OBP in 2008 while losing his starting job to Rod Barajas. In comparison, Jason Varitek is 36 and finished with a .313 OBP last season. Zaun has received a few offers but nothing from Boston.
Zaun Likes Orioles, Has Several Offers
Roch Kubatko spoke with Gregg Zaun and heard that there’s been no shortage of interest in the free agent catcher. Zaun said he’s received several offers, some of which are for more than one year.
Zaun’s confident that some of the teams interested are playoff-bound, but he still sounds interested in Baltimore, saying “the Orioles are still very important to me.” Zaun seems excited about working with Matt Wieters, about whom he’s heard “great things.”
Even though discussions are “heating up pretty good” according to Zaun, he doesn’t expect a deal before Christmas.
Odds and Ends: Abreu, Millwood, Wigginton
Links for Thursday…
- Luke Hudson agreed to stay with the Royals on a minor league deal. And because Braves fans keep emailing it…the Braves signed Lance Niekro as a pitcher, as noted in the minor league transactions we linked yesterday. Talking Chop and Henry Schulman have more.
- Along similar lines, here’s a link to Joel Sherman’s December 12th story about the Orlando Hudson and Adam Dunn being the Nationals’ backup plan for Mark Teixeira. That came four days before the Jon Heyman report people keep emailing.
- C.C. Sabathia‘s preferred teams heading into free agency: the Yankees, Brewers, and Angels.
- Dave O’Brien tries to figure out what the Braves should do with all their money.
- John Fay explains why the Reds may attempt to acquire a young shortstop.
- The Orioles may move on to Gregg Zaun now that Matt Treanor is off the board.
- Geoff Baker speculates on a possible Mariners-Brewers trade match, though nothing seems to be cooking currently.
- RotoAuthority looks at the biggest losers, comparing ’09 fantasy baseball mock draft positions to ’08.
- I did a Q&A with Called Safe At Second.
- ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick writes about how teams view free agent outfielder Bobby Abreu.
- Kevin Millwood has twelve million reasons to pitch 180 innings in 2009. I never understood that phrase. Why is each dollar a reason?
- Dejan Kovacevic says Ty Wigginton has no wish to return to Pittsburgh.
- Roch Kubatko is hearing the Orioles may have reached a settlement with Sidney Ponson regarding the grievance.
- Pitcher Jon Leicester is the latest to head to Japan.
- Might not read about this on MLBTR, eh? Chico Harlan says the Nationals signed 16 year-old Dominican prospects Bill Pena and Gregory Baez.
Orioles Rumors: Kawakami, Zaun, Looper
7:05pm: Peter Schmuck names a few more catchers on Baltimore’s radar: Henry Blanco and Matt Treanor.
2:15pm: Steve Melewski of MASN Online talked to Dan Evans, who represents free agent pitcher Kenshin Kawakami. Evans said he had a productive meeting with the Orioles and expects to have more. He’s been contacting many clubs to gauge interest in Kawakami.
The Orioles also engaged talks with Evans for Gregg Zaun, who could return to Baltimore as the veteran mentor for Matt Wieters. A few clubs have kicked the tires on Zaun, but he doesn’t have any serious bids yet.
Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun says the Orioles met with Braden Looper‘s agent at the Winter Meetings, but their interest level is not known.
Orioles Rumors: Garland, Izturis, Ohman
8:07pm: Jerry Crasnick says Michael Barrett and Gregg Zaun could be options for the Orioles to help transition Matt Wieters to the bigs.
8:03pm: Andy MacPhail spoke of good progress toward signing a shortstop, presumably Izturis.
4:59pm: A small Garland update from Kubatko.
2:34pm: Roch Kubatko believes the Orioles are down to Izturis for shorstop, and two years $6.5MM would get it done.
8:50am: A few stray Orioles rumors from Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun:
- The O’s had recent talks with Jon Garland‘s agent. They’ll meet with the agents for Koji Uehara and Kenshin Kawakami this week.
- Negotiations for free agent shortstop Cesar Izturis have picked up.
- The Orioles expressed interest in free agent lefty reliever Will Ohman.
D’Backs Rumors: Clark, Punto, Rhodes, Unit
8:10pm: Piecoro says the D’Backs don’t want to trade Snyder; in fact, they’d like to extend him.
Piecoro notes talks with Eddie Guardado, but they didn’t go far. And Japanese lefty Ken Takahashi is not on Arizona’s radar.
7:20pm: The D’Backs have discussed a contract with Tony Clark for ’09, says Gilbert.
6:20pm: Rosenthal says the D’Backs want to trade the more pricey Snyder to clear a path for Montero. They could then ink a Gregg Zaun type to back him up.
3:30pm: Gilbert says the D’Backs have a one-year offer out to Loretta.
3:18pm: MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert says the D’Backs have not resumed talks with Randy Johnson.
12:12pm: Piecoro says talks between the D’Backs and Mark Loretta have advanced in recent days. They’ve made a "significant overture" according to Loretta’s agent.
2:26am: Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic has the latest on the Diamondbacks, in blog posts here and here.
- Piecoro dissects the D’Backs’ thought process behind their decision not to offer arbitration to Type A free agent Adam Dunn. He notes that their rumored two-year offer to Dunn was "more of an exploratory offer, nothing formal." They’ll stay in touch with Dunn in case the market is not to his liking.
- Free agent targets: Nick Punto, Arthur Rhodes, and the aforementioned Joe Beimel.
- Punto is one of many candidates for second base. Ramon Vazquez was the top target, but he was two guaranteed years rather than one with an option.
- Piecoro wonders if the D’Backs might now be able to scrape together another $3MM or so for Randy Johnson, given the Dunn draft pick savings and Brandon Lyon’s decision to decline arb.
Orioles Met With Teixeira In D.C.
Roch Kubatko and Peter Schmuck report today that Andy MacPhail acknowledged a face-to-face meeting with Mark Teixeira and Scott Boras in Washington D.C. earlier this week. The O’s haven’t made an offer yet.
MacPhail did not deny trade talks with the Reds for Ramon Hernandez, nor did Walt Jocketty. Schmuck says Gregg Zaun could be on Baltimore’s radar as a backup catcher.
Also, Kubatko finds it clear that the Orioles are fading out of contention for A.J. Burnett.
Astros Interested In Ross, Zaun
According to Brian McTaggart of the Houston Chronicle, the Astros have spoken to the agents for free agent catchers Gregg Zaun and Dave Ross. Ross we knew about, but Zaun is a new name. The Tigers have been linked to Zaun as well. It’s also known that Paul Bako would be interested in playing for Houston.
McTaggart also mentions in the article that pitcher Brandon Backe is a non-tender candidate (that deadline is December 12th; we’ll see a many additional players enter the free agent pool).
Tigers Rumors: Renteria, Wilson, Zaun, Treanor
Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press has the latest on the Tigers.
- GM Dave Dombrowski wasn’t sure Edgar Renteria would turn down an offer of arbitration, and he didn’t feel two draft picks were worth the risk.
- Discussions with the Pirates regarding Jack Wilson are ongoing, but concrete proposals have yet to be exchanged.
- The Tigers have interest in free agent catcher Gregg Zaun. Zaun, 38 in April, hit .237/.340/.359 in 288 plate appearances this year while earning $3.75MM.
- Morosi adds that the Tigers also like Marlins catcher Matt Treanor, but no deal is imminent. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro wrote yesterday that the Marlins are shopping Treanor. He speculated that the Fish could be setting themselves up to sign Ivan Rodriguez.