Giants Rumors: Penny, Uribe, Molina
Joan Ryan of MLB.com spoke to Giants' GM Brian Sabean about a variety of hot stove topics, so let's round 'em up…
- Sabean said the market "right now is as slow or slower than last year in developing."'
- The Giants made a one year offer to Brad Penny, and offered one year plus an option to Juan Uribe last week. Both were declined.
- Sabean added that catcher Bengie Molina "probably has been offered" a multi-year deal by another team, which would essentially guarantee he isn't coming back to San Francisco.
- Even though there might be some interesting "secondary free agents,'' as Sabean called them, he says they may not make as much sense as giving their own young players a chance.
- "In a perfect world, you'd love to have (Madison) Bumgarner and (Buster) Posey burst on the scene,'' Sabean said. "But you don't want to rush them. So you keep at it, at the grindstone, and be ready when the best opportunities pop.''
- Sabean mentions that they're "willing to go at the pace of the marketplace and show more patience," adding that people shouldn't read anything into it if nothing happens during the Winter Meetings next week.
Discussion: Sabean And The Giants
Some of the moves we can expect from San Francisco came into focus with Chris Haft's terrific interview with Giants' GM Brian Sabean for MLB.com. Among the tidbits:
- The Giants are unwilling to offer Bengie Molina more than a one-year contract, though they will offer him arbitration.
- Brad Penny's current contract demands are "out of reach at this point."
- Juan Uribe, who hopes to earn something similar to his $4.75MM deal from 2008, won't get close to that from the Giants.
- Still, this doesn't mean the Giants won't be spending money this winter. Haft writes, "Sabean said that he envisions the Giants filling their personnel needs through free agency rather than trades."
The full piece, including Sabean's take on why he dislikes trades, is worth checking out. And now that you know what Sabean won't do, what do you think he should do?
Odds & Ends: Phillies, Nationals, Mariners
There's no such thing as an offseason- just different kinds of on-seasons.
- Todd Zolecki of MLB.com believes the Phillies will find a replacement for Eric Bruntlett among John McDonald, Omar Vizquel, Jamey Carroll, Ronnie Belliard and Juan Uribe.
- According to Scott Olsen, arbitration-eligible member of the Washington Nationals (for now, anyway), his shoulder is now 100 percent.
- Larry Stone of the Seattle Times discusses how Edwin Jackson, Curtis Granderson, and John Lackey would look in Seattle.
- Tyler Hissey at Around the Majors talks Yankees' roster strategy.
- Dave Cameron tells us which minor league free agents are most worth pursuing, including Ruben Gotay.
- Dan Dibley of KNBR, the Giants' flagship station, weighs in on a number of topics in an interview with SFGiantsbaseball.net.
Odds & Ends: Gordon, Uribe, D’backs, Igawa
Links for a busy Wednesday, as writers, agents, and GMs catch their flights out of O'Hare…
- Welcome to Twitter: ESPN's Buster Olney.
- ESPN's Keith Law assesses the Mark Teahen, J.J. Hardy, Jeremy Hermida, and Akinori Iwamura trades.
- The Royals are committed to Alex Gordon as their third baseman despite acquiring Josh Fields, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Fields instead could play left field in the event David DeJesus is traded. DeJesus' name popped up in our left field trade market post.
- Rosenthal and Morosi also note that the Giants are talking with Juan Uribe about a new contract. Uribe was one of the year's best minor league deals. He's represented by Barry Praver.
- Rosenthal reported yesterday that the Nationals hired Bryan Minnitti from the Pirates to be their new assistant GM. Jake from New Bucs interviewed the young exec last year.
- Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic names four relievers who might be of interest to the Diamondbacks: Rafael Betancourt, Mike Gonzalez, LaTroy Hawkins, and Bob Howry.
- Joe Pawlikowski of River Ave. Blues has a reality check for fans as we head toward the offseason insanity.
- Victor Martinez's agent Alan Nero told WEEI's Rob Bradford there's been "little or no dialogue" in terms of the Red Sox extending his client.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post wonders if the Yankees' championship might enable them to take things more slowly this winter.
- Sherman tweets that there is interest in Japan from Kei Igawa, but he doesn't want to go. Igawa posted a 4.15 ERA in 145.3 Triple A innings this year, and still has $8MM remaining on his contract.
- Baseball America's Matt Eddy has your minor league transactions. Wilson Valdez and Mike Gosling are among those joining the free agent ranks.
- New Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos seems passionate, talking to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun. Anthopoulos even gives props to the fine Jays blogs out there.
- Padres pitcher Chris Young told Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune that he understands the business aspect of baseball. With a healthy first half, Young could be a trade candidate.
- Grant at McCovey Chronicles says AT&T Park isn't a pitcher's park anymore, and agents know that.
Giants Notes: Bay, Free Agents, Arbitration Cases
The Giants had a pretty busy day yesterday, re-signing second baseman Freddy Sanchez to a two-year deal, and outrighting lefty Noah Lowry, making him a free agent. Henry Schulman of The SF Chronicle has some more Giants' rumors for us this morning…
- GM Brian Sabean says he sees a "later-developing market. We don't have a relative sense of urgency like last year, which will play in our favor."
- Schulman says San Francisco is expected to make a run at free agent outfielder Jason Bay.
- Sabean also said the team has had "some level of conversation" with each of their potential free agents, most notably Juan Uribe, Randy Winn, and Bengie Molina. Yesterday we learned that Uribe informed the Giants that he intends to test the market.
Meanwhile, Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News notes that several of the Giants' core players are eligible for arbitration this winter, including Tim Lincecum, Brian Wilson, Jonathan Sanchez, and Ryan Garko. If Lincecum takes home another Cy Young Award this year, that would be the most awesome first year arbitration case in history.
Odds & Ends: Hawkins, Uribe, Hill, Hazen
Here's a few links to end the night…
- MLB.com's Brian McTaggart tweets that Astros GM Ed Wade said the team "is talking with LaTroy Hawkins, who wanted to see who the manager was going to be first." Hawkins will be a free agent this offseason for the fourth time in as many years.
- Juan Uribe has informed the Giants that he plans to test the market, according to Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News.
- MASNSports.com's Roch Kubatko reports that the Orioles outrighted three players off their 40-man roster, including southpaw Rich Hill. Meanwhile, MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince says the Indians outrighted three players as well.
- Tom Krasovic reports that Red Sox farm director Mike Hazen interviewed for a front office position with the Padres. Hazen has held the position with Boston since 2006, and used to play in San Diego's minor league system.
- Here's this week's edition of Baseball America's minor league transactions. Lots of new names hitting the free agent pool, including Jack Taschner and Edgar Gonzalez.
Juan Uribe Lobbying To Stay With Giants
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Juan Uribe, who has pieced together a strong year for the Giants, wants to stay on board in 2010. The 30-year-old's numbers have exploded in the last month as he has been brought into the everyday lineup, hitting his way to an OPS of 1.091.
Uribe proved to be a great value as he inked a $1MM minor league deal with the Giants in late January. Fangraphs estimates his worth in 2009 to be $12.8MM. The Dominican Republic native has recorded his best slash line since his rookie year, posting .298/.336/.507 in 116 games. Brian Sabean believes that Uribe can produce at a similar level with a more regular workload.
With the Giants holding an $8MM option on 31-year-old second baseman Freddy Sanchez, they could conceivably let Sanchez walk and put Uribe in his place. In 110 games this year at the position, Sanchez posted a UZR/150 of 5.8 compared to Uribe's 11.1 over 38 games. Offensively, Sanchez has posted an OPS to top Uribe's 2009 mark just once.
As the Giants, would you extend a multi-year offer to Uribe, or would you let another team allow him to cash in?
Odds & Ends: Pudge, Millwood, Harden
Links for Thursday…
- MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan says the Rangers are "strongly considering re-signing" catcher Ivan Rodriguez.
- Scott Boras told Bob Nightengale of USA Today that Rangers pitcher Kevin Millwood is scheduled to pitch Tuesday, which would likely cause his $12MM option for 2010 to vest.
- Cubs starter Rich Harden will miss a few starts and possibly the rest of the season, according to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald guesses the Cubs will not risk offering arbitration to the potential Type A free agent.
- Juan Uribe has been a bargain-basement bonanza for the Giants, says Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- White Sox GM Ken Williams has no regrets about the Jake Peavy trade, talking to MLB.com's Scott Merkin.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick is now on Twitter.
Rosenthal On Jeter, Jenkins, Keppinger
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports posted a new column last night.
- Rosenthal wonders if the eventual emergence of Yankees shortstop prospects Ramiro Pena and Eduardo Nunez will prompt the team to ask Derek Jeter to change positions in the future. Neither player ranked among the Yankees' top 30 prospects in the Baseball America 2009 Handbook, however. Jeter's current contract runs through 2010.
- Rosenthal says Boston's talks for catchers Miguel Montero and Jarrod Saltalamacchia "remain stalled because of those clubs' respective asking prices."
- Rosenthal believes the Phillies are unlikely to trade Geoff Jenkins or Matt Stairs.
- The Reds are considering trading infielder Jeff Keppinger, and Rosenthal wonders if the Astros would be a fit. He also speculates on Juan Uribe for Houston. John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer talked about the Keppinger possibility on Friday.
Stark On Cameron, Ohman, Jenkins
ESPN's Jayson Stark has a new blog post up.
- The Astros plan to give Chris Johnson a chance to win the third base job, but Stark says Juan Uribe, Jose Bautista, and Jeff Baker "could still show up on their shopping list in the next two weeks."
- Stark heard "rumblings the Yankees are poking around again on Mike Cameron's availability." Back in December, the Yanks and Brewers were pretty close on a deal.
- Eric Milton is looking decent and appears to be the frontrunner for the Dodgers' fifth starter job (given Pedro Martinez's asking price).
- Will Ohman seeks a one-year, $1.75MM deal with easily-reachable incentives for another million. He also prefers the West Coast, and Stark believes the Padres and Giants are more likely than the Dodgers. Like the Dodgers, the Phillies and Marlins have interest at a lesser price. Stark has also heard the Phils connected to Giants lefty Jack Taschner.
- Shawn Camp, Geoff Geary, John Buck, and Geoff Jenkins are currently available. The Phillies would eat almost all of the $8MM owed to Jenkins.