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Juan Uribe

Heyman’s Latest: Piazza, Matthews, Milledge

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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.

White Sox Shopping Uribe?

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UPDATE: Good stuff from Eduardo Encina.  Apparently the Rays don’t like Uribe’s weight or price tag, and their interest is "very limited."  By the way, per Keith Law, Uribe can be traded despite being signed as a free agent by the Sox. 

With Orlando Cabrera in house, the White Sox now have an extra shortstop in Juan Uribe.  They’d like to clear his $4.5MM salary to create more room for Torii Hunter.  I imagine it wouldn’t take much in return – it might be more of a salary dump.  In hindsight maybe Williams should’ve declined to re-sign Uribe, but who knows where the Cabrera deal was at that time.

The above-linked Chicago Tribune names the Rays as one possible suitor for Uribe.  Marc Lancaster acknowledges the need for a shortstop, but notes that the team wants defense and that isn’t Uribe’s forte.  What is his forte these days?  Uribe once played stellar defense, and a change of scenery could bring back the championship-level glovework.

Any other teams in the hunt for a second-division shortstop?  As I have speculated before, the Orioles might be if they trade Miguel Tejada.  The Cubs might be looking but Uribe wouldn’t present much of an upgrade.  The Astros, Pirates, and Cardinals might be options. 

White Sox Re-Sign Uribe, Out On Tejada

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According to Bruce Levine of ESPN 1000 in Chicago, the White Sox have re-signed shortstop Juan Uribe at one year, $4.5MM.  That represents a 10% discount for the Sox compared to his club option.

Not coincidentally, the Sox no longer have interest in Miguel Tejada after failing to reach an accord with the O’s.  Apparently at some point Kenny Williams offered Gio Gonzalez and Jose Contreras for him and were rejected.  Gio is a pretty solid pitching prospect, and if he offered that package a year ago it may have been reasonable.  Jeff Zrebiec’s report indicates that teams will only turn to Tejada after the dust settles from Alex Rodriguez and Miguel Cabrera.  Zrebiec also adds that O’s president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail met with Phillies GM Pat Gillick yesterday, but it’s not known who was discussed.  One reader emailed me to suggest the Phils have long coveted Erik Bedard.

White Sox Targeting Eckstein

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According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, shortstop David Eckstein is the #1 target of the White Sox this offseason.  An Eckstein signing would then result in the team paying $300K to buy out Juan Uribe’s $5MM option for ’08. 

Eckstein signed a three-year, $10.25MM deal with the Cardinals after being non-tendered by the Angels in December of 2004.  He’ll be 33 heading into the ’08 season, and injuries have been increasing over the years.  Another three-year pact for $15-18MM would be fairly risky for the White Sox.  Especially for a player whose value is tied so closely to his batting average.

A coworker of mine, Mike, mentioned that the Sox might be trying to assemble an all-grinder type team.  They could conceivably have Eckstein, Darin Erstad, Jerry Owens, and Aaron Rowand in the lineup next year.

However, they won’t be signing Rowand if, as Cowley claims, he demands a contract similar to Torii Hunter’s.  Ken Rosenthal recently talked to an exec who set the floor for Hunter at 5/75, with 6/102 certainly within reach.  I imagine the White Sox will top out with an offer around 3/33, a little more than Eric Byrnes received.  I could be wrong though.   

Slick-Fielding Shortstops Available

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If you’re looking for an all-glove type shortstop this summer, you have plenty of options.

  • The Giants could move Omar Vizquel, but only if they feel that he can’t help them in ’08.  According to Tim Brown, he loves the city and would stay if they made an offer.  The Giants talked extension with him in March but his offensive performance this year may have changed their mind.  He has $1.8MM in salary left.
  • With Ryan Theriot performing OK this year and Ronny Cedeno tearing up Triple A, the Cubs may deem Cesar Izturis expendable.  Giving Cedeno the starting shortstop job to begin last year was questionable, but it might make some sense now.  Izturis makes another $1.8MM this year, plus probably another $300K to buy out his ’08 option.
  • Juan Uribe may no longer deserve the slick-fielding tag, but he’s been an awful hitter so I have to call him something.  Even his customary low OBP/decent SLG is slipping.  His salary situation is pretty much the same as crosstown counterpart Izturis.
  • Jack Wilson makes another $2.3MM this year, $6.5MM in ’08, $7.25MM in ’09, and a $600K buyout for ’10.  He has a limited no-trade clause allowing him to block trades to six clubs each year.  About a month ago, Tim Brown spoke to a baseball source who thought he’d draw interest.  Wilson is back to playing every day currently.

What team would want any of these guys?  The Red Sox would probably be the only contender in need of a shortstop, and they’re probably stuck with Julio Lugo.

White Sox Considering Erick Aybar?

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In his latest blog post at ESPN, Peter Gammons mentions that the White Sox might pursue Angels shortstop Erick Aybar if Juan Uribe’s future remains unclear.  Joe Crede could be the trade candidate.

Aybar, who turned 23 yesterday, hit .283/.327/.413 in Triple A last year (equivalent to .234/.269/.328 in the Majors).  Baseball America ranks Aybar as the Angels’ third best prospect, behind Brandon Wood and Nick Adenhart.  Aybar has come up in many trade rumors already in his career.  According to BA, Aybar handles the bat well and his glove, arm, and speed are plus tools. They see him as more of a bottom-of-the-order, defensive-minded SS.

My feeling is that swapping out Uribe and Crede for Aybar and Fields would make the Sox significantly worse in 2007…but it is just a trade rumor right now.

New Evidence In Juan Uribe Case?

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It appears that Listin Diario, the oldest daily newspaper of the Dominican Republic, indicated earlier this week that White Sox shortstop Juan Uribe may not be out of the woods on attempted murder charges.  The original article seems to have vanished, but a decent English translation can be found here.

In late November it seemed like Uribe was going to be cleared of the shooting.  However, the prosecution is promising new evidence that Uribe was involved.  It certainly seems possible that the Sox will enter 2007 with Alex Cintron at shortstop.

Hat tip to Southside Sox for the story.

White Sox Receive Tejada Offer

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Remember when I decided to start calling Kenny Williams "spunky" based on his Javier Vazquez and Jim Thome trades?  I’m starting to think I should stick with "bold," as cliche as it may be.

As I mentioned earlier on this site, the White Sox submitted two trade proposals for Miguel Tejada with a deadline of December 31st.  Now the White Sox have re-entered the Tejada fray.

A rock-solid source of mine close to the White Sox tells me that the team is "lying in the weeds" and allowing the Mets, Devil Rays, Orioles, and Red Sox to beat each other up with this whole Manny/Tejada 4-way thing.  The White Sox hope that the 4-way deal falls apart because it’s too complicated and too expensive.  Presently, it seems that their wish will be fulfilled.

The Orioles want the Tejada deal done soon, and approached the White Sox yesterday with a proposal.  The Orioles asked for Jose Contreras, Juan Uribe, Ryan Sweeney, and a top pitching prospect.  That unknown prospect may be a sticking point, but it can probably be worked out.  Alex Woodson has been previously mentioned in discussions between the two clubs.  It would be a daring move by Kenny Williams to subtract Uribe and Aaron Rowand after winning a World Series with defense as the team’s strength.

My source tells me to look for an announcement by Friday about Tejada, no matter where he ends up.  The White Sox have their own motivation to wrap things up before the weekend: they’d like to have an announcement that does not conflict with a Bears playoff weekend or the Cubs Convention.

White Sox Make Offers For Tejada

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A source close to a major sports representation firm has tipped me off to two offers the White Sox currently have on the table for shortstop Miguel Tejada.

Two formal proposals have been given to the Orioles by Sox GM Kenny Williams.  Williams set a drop dead date of December 31st given other clubs’ outstanding offers for Tejada.

Option 1: Jose Contreras, Juan Uribe, and one minor league prospect for Tejada.

Option 2: Brandon McCarthy, Juan Uribe, 20 year-old southpaw Alex Woodson, and another minor leaguer for Tejada.  In this scenario, the White Sox would get cash back from the Orioles in the third and fourth years of Tejada’s contract.

According to Baseball Prospectus’s WARP statistic, which combines offense and defense into a number of wins above a replacement player, Tejada was worth 3.1 more wins than Uribe in 2005.  Contreras was valued at 5.9 wins for ’05.  However, the White Sox can’t start both McCarthy and Contreras, so it’s really not a loss in pitching value for 2006.  Seems to me that the Sox would much prefer Option 1 if the O’s will consider it.

U.S. Cellular inflates right-handed hitters’ home runs by about 30%.  Tejada would stand to tack on about four home runs due to park effects.  A loss of both Juan Uribe and Aaron Rowand would weaken one of the White Sox’s two major strengths from their Championship season: their defense.  Rowand and Uribe were two of baseball’s best defenders at their positions in ’05, and Brian Anderson and Tejada would definitely be a downgrade.  Still, Williams’s offseason moves and the proposed Tejada trades certainly strengthen the club overall for ’06, at least on paper.

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