By Tim Dierkes | at
According to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins and Joe Crede/Scott Boras have reached an impasse in contract talks. Crede’s been rumored to want a $7MM base salary; I’m guessing the Twins are probably thinking he deserves about half that. Twins players support the idea of a Brian Buscher/Brendan Harris platoon.
Yesterday Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News said the Giants aren’t confident about signing Crede but they do maintain interest.
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Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports that the Giants are still keeping an eye on free agent third baseman Joe Crede.
Special assistant Ron Schueler, who attended Crede’s workout last week, said the free-agent third baseman looked pretty agile while taking ground balls and his back appeared to hold up fine in the cage, writes Baggarly. Schueler noted that Crede appeared stronger in the upper body.
The Twins also remain interested in Crede, but talks haven’t progressed too far with that club either. At last check, the 30-year-old Scott Boras client was still seeking $7MM guaranteed, plus around $4MM in incentives. That kind of asking price obviously isn’t going to entice too many teams.
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11:59pm: Neal spoke to Boras, who had this to say regarding the timing of a possible Crede contract:
"I anticipate, the way things are going right now, that you might have a solution on where Joe is going. I can’t say a definite amount of time, but I think it’s a shorter than longer amount of time."
5:41pm: Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News heard that the Giants don’t expect to sign Joe Crede. The club believes he’ll wind up with the Twins instead.
And for those of you scoffing about the low-budget Twins outbidding the Giants for a player, just remember this: The more the Giants spend now, the less wiggle room they’ll have at midseason — when they expect much better values to be had, writes Baggarly.
La Velle E. Neal III wrote Friday that the Twins face a substantial gap in contract talks with Crede. He’s still demanding $7MM guaranteed, plus nearly $4MM in incentives. Keep in mind that he’s a Scott Boras client.
By Tim Dierkes | at
La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports on the gap between the Twins and Joe Crede:
The Twins were present today in Arizona as Crede took batting practice. The Twins remain interested in his services, but indications are that Crede wants $7MM guaranteed – up to $11MM with incentives – and the Twins aren’t going there. Indications are that the Twins are willing to craft a deal that reaches $7-8MM with incentives. The incentives would occur right away, like getting $1MM or so for making the Opening Day roster.
It’s true that Crede is the only viable free agent third base option out there. But if these demands are accurate, Scott Boras is just not being reasonable right now.
By Tim Dierkes | at
The latest from SI.com’s Jon Heyman…
By Brian Shephard | at
MONDAY: Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle weighed in on the Giants’ reported offer to Crede:
While I have no reason to doubt its accuracy, since special assistant Ron Schueler watched Crede’s workout and provided a good report, I have been told the Giants are not counting on a deal with Crede and expect to move forward with Travis Ishikawa or John Bowker at first base and Pablo Sandoval at third, unless something else comes along. General manager Brian Sabean said Saturday he explored some trades last week that went nowhere. One report had Crede seeking $7MM for one season. If the Giants did make an offer, I’d guess the guarantee was for less than half that.
It’s also possible that the Giants will have Rich Aurilia back in the mix; they have a minor league offer out to him.
SATURDAY: Kim Coyle of CBS 5 in San Francisco reports that the Giants have offered Joe Crede a one-year contract. The terms of the contract were not made available. The Twins have shown an interest in Crede as well, though there have been no reports of a contract offer from them.
By Nat Boyle | at
Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports Joe Crede is asking for $7MM, rather than the previously reported $5MM. Christensen reports the $7MM figure makes it less likely Crede will land with the Twins who are reluctant to commit even $5MM to a player who was limited to 97 games in 2008 and 47 in 2007. However, as it stands the Twins opening day payroll will be $60.15MM, down from $74MM last year. It’s safe to assume Crede’s agents know that.
The Giants recently made their offer to Crede for one year. Still no reports of an offer from Minnesota.
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Twins CEO Jim Pohlad shared some thoughts with a group of reporters, including MLB.com’s Kelly Thesier, on Friday afternoon. It sounds like the club still has a few transactions in mind.
"We’re not done. The season hasn’t started yet," Pohlad said. "Frequently, transactions do occur during Spring Training, so it still could happen. There is nothing from us saying, ’Don’t go get anyone. We’re done. Go into the season and keep your fingers crossed.’ … We still have room in our payroll, and if there are opportunities [to add a player], we’ll pursue them.
The Twins’ No. 1 target at this point seems to be third baseman Joe Crede. They reached agreement with reliever Luis Ayala earlier today and have also been linked to Jarrod Washburn, though those talks have reportedly fallen through.
By Tim Dierkes | at
Links for Friday…
By Tim Dierkes | at
4:53pm: Scott Boras told Christensen Crede is healthy and playing surface is not an issue. He implied that Crede will sign somewhere within the next two weeks.
1:54pm: Joe Crede’s workout for scouts took place on January 28th, with the Giants and Twins the teams known to have attended. SI.com’s Jon Heyman heard the workout was "impressive," while Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune said he "looked good." La Velle E. Neal III of the Star-Tribune heard on January 22nd that Crede "thinks he’s finally licked the back problems that have limited him to 144 games over the previous two seasons" after minor offseason surgery.
Christensen’s outlook today is less rosy – he’s heard Crede is at 75 percent. The Twins won’t guarantee the $5MM Crede and Scott Boras desire at this point. Christensen adds that Twins officials "seem about 90 percent certain there won’t be any notable changes to the roster before spring training." That means a reliever signing is unlikely.
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