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Kevin Millwood

Millwood, Wigginton Open To Playing For Mets

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Kevin Millwood and Ty Wigginton told Dan Martin of the New York Post that they are open to playing for the Mets if the Orioles become sellers. Though Hisanori Takahashi and R.A. Dickey have been effective for the Mets recently, the club may look for starting pitching depth later this summer. That idea that appeals to Millwood.

"I woludn't mind pitching in New York," Millwood said. "It's a great city, but it's not really up to me whether I do or don't."

That's not quite true, since Millwood has a limited no trade clause. If the 15-37 Orioles start selling, Millwood, who makes $12MM this season in the last year of his contract, would appeal to teams in search of veteran starters. Though he's still winless, the right-hander has a 3.89 ERA this year with 7.1 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9.

Wigginton, who makes $3.5MM this year, is also in the last year of his contract. He has played first, second and third for the Orioles in 2010, but his versatility isn't his only appealing trait. The former Met has 13 homers already (partly since 25% of the fly balls he hits leave the park). Like Millwood, Wigginton says he would be open to playing in New York.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Kevin Millwood

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I wasn't a huge fan of the Orioles' acquisition of Kevin Millwood, as I felt $9MM was still pretty hefty for a starter of his caliber and he wasn't likely to return a useful prospect at the trade deadline.  One team executive agreed, citing the Rangers' moving most of Millwood's salary as one of the best deals of the offseason.

With about 28% of the season in the books, Millwood is vindicating Andy MacPhail's acquisition.  The 35-year-old righty leads the American League in innings, averaging 6.8 per start.  He's allowed a fair share of hits and home runs, but has managed a 3.71 ERA due to the best strikeout-to-walk ratio of his career.

Will the Orioles trade Millwood?  It'd be a logical move, but the Orioles' rotation is already ranked 12th in the American League in ERA.  Without Millwood the team's rotation ERA would be over 5.00 and the bullpen would be even more taxed.  An arbitration offer after the season could net the Orioles a draft pick, as Millwood is currently a Type B free agent.  Of course, the O's would need to offer arbitration and have the Scott Boras-represented pitcher decline.

Millwood has Boras, but he still may have to accept a one-year deal in the $5-7MM range in free agency.  That'd fit with the deals signed by Doug Davis, Jon Garland, Brett Myers, Vicente Padilla, Carl Pavano, and Brad Penny last winter.  At least Millwood doesn't have to worry about a conflict of interest, as Boras doesn't have much else in the way of starting pitching next winter.

Odds & Ends: Strasburg, Ruiz, Millwood, Crawford

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Links for Wednesday, as we make sense of Angel Pagan's unbelievable night…

Top Trade Chips: AL East

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Let's finish off our series with the toughest division in baseball…

  • Blue Jays: The Jays already traded away most of their top pieces, but they still have three desirable relievers in Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, and Kevin Gregg. All three can become free agents after the season. There might be some interest in first baseman Lyle Overbay, who will also hit the open market after the season. 
  • Orioles: Considering how poorly he pitched before landing on the DL, I'm sure a large part of the Baltimore faithful wouldn't mind seeing Mike Gonzalez go. Alas, that won't happen anytime soon. There always seems to be interest in Luke Scott, who still has two more years of team control left. If they decide to sell at mid-season, Kevin Millwood and Jeremy Guthrie could find their way onto the block. 
  • Rays: The Rays are a player development machine, and they have enough young players to get get pretty much anyone they want. They have enough depth that they could trade one of Reid Brignac or Sean Rodriguez plus one of Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis, or Jeremy Hellickson and not miss a beat. If they fall out of it and decide to sell, it doesn't get much better than Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, and Carlos Pena. I believe the term is "stacked."
  • Red Sox: Boston has held onto Clay Buchholz for this long, but with his name appearing so frequently on the rumor circuit, it really wouldn't be surprising if they moved him for a big time player. They might still be able to find a taker for Mike Lowell, and there would be interest in Manny Delcarmen if he were made available. They did lose a valuable chip when Junichi Tazawa went down with Tommy John surgery. 
  • Yankees: They seem unwilling to trade either Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain, so their best chip is the semi-blocked Jesus Montero. Of course, the Yankees have the ability to absorb even the ugliest of contracts, so maybe we should consider that their biggest trade chip.

Execs Name Best, Worst Moves Of The Offseason

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Recently MLBTR spoke to several MLB executives to gather their nominations for the best and worst moves of the offseason.

Free agent signings that received mention for the best moves: Felipe Lopez, Adrian Beltre, Adam LaRoche, Chone Figgins, Hideki Matsui, and Aroldis Chapman.  Said one exec on Chapman: "He might truly live up to the hype."  It's hard not to praise the Cards for getting Lopez on a one-year, $1MM deal.

Three trades came up as choices for the best moves of the offseason: the Mariners' acquisition of Cliff Lee, the Royals' trade of Mark Teahen, and the Rangers' trade of Kevin Millwood.  One exec noted that the Mariners "didn't trade anyone that can hurt them in the next couple of years" for Lee, while another believed that "trading Lee and Kyle Drabek in the Roy Halladay deal will hurt [the Phillies] in the long run."  The Royals received props for "getting some value for Teahen," while the Rangers' increased payroll flexibility from the Millwood deal was noted.

Nominated for the worst moves: free agent deals for Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, Brandon Lyon, Jason Kendall, Aubrey Huff, Jason Marquis, Randy Wolf, and Garrett Atkins.  All the execs polled mentioned Holliday's seven year, $120MM deal when choosing their worst deals of the winter.  Said one: "The fear that he would sign a one-year deal elsewhere and take his chances a year from now — that just doesn't make sense to me."

Aside from Kendall and Huff, there was a vibe of "like the player, hate the contract" with the panned free agent signings.  One exec felt the Royals downgraded behind the plate with Kendall.  Huff was nominated as a small-scale misstep, in that the exec felt that "Hank Blalock is better and he couldn't get half that salary on a non-roster deal."

Odds & Ends: Beltre, Lyon, Nats, Rangers

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Some more links for your Thursday night…

Orioles Acquire Kevin Millwood

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8:46pm: Evan Grant reports that the Orioles will send their third overall Rule 5 pick to the Rangers.

 5:26pm: The trade is official, according to Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN.com.

3:36pm: Evan Grant hears that only the medical report approvals remain before this deal is done.  He believes the Rangers would use some of the money saved to sign a free agent starter.

2:08pm: Rosenthal is hearing the Rangers will pick up $3MM of Millwood's $12MM tab.

1:38pm: The two sides have a tentative agreement, reports Zrebiec.  He says the deal could be completed as early as tonight.  However, ESPN's Jayson Stark tweets that a Rangers official said his team hasn't signed off on the trade.

1:20pm: The Orioles and Rangers are close to swapping pitchers Kevin Millwood and Chris Ray, reports Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun.  Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports agrees.  The Rangers would of course send cash in the deal. Ray hasn't heard anything yet, according to MASN's Steve Melewski.

The Rangers allowed Millwood's option to vest in late September, triggering a $12MM salary for 2010.  The righty, 35 later this month, posted a 3.67 ERA in 198.6 innings with a 5.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9.  He dealt with a strained gluteus muscle around July.  Ray, 27, closed for the Orioles in '06 and part of '07 but needed Tommy John surgery in August of '07.  The arb-eligible righty is under team control for two more years.

Boras Speaks

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We'll add some links from Scott Boras' lobby chat in this post, though from what I can tell he didn't say anything interesting.  We'll keep this a tweet-free post.

  • Boras busted out his famous books, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com.
  • Boras thinks Matt Holliday is a "different" kind of player than Jason Bay, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Of course it's Boras' job to distinguish between Holliday and Bay, so we should expect comments like this.
  • EPSN.com's Jerry Crasnick reports that Boras compared Holliday's production to Mark Teixeira's.
  • The Rays haven't discussed a contract extension for Carlos Pena, who's entering the last year of his contract, according to MLB.com's Bill Chastain.
  • WEEI's Rob Bradford has Boras talking about Matt Holliday and Adrian Beltre, where Boras compares Beltre's offensive ability to Jason Bay's.
  • Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News has Boras saying five or six teams are interested in Beltre, including the Mariners.  Boras said some teams (many have speculated the Red Sox) would move their third baseman for Beltre. 
  • Baggarly quotes Boras as saying "There are teams that have interest [in Holliday] and don’t want to let anyone to truly know."  Boras assumes the Giants are interested in Holliday.
  • Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News has Boras explaining why the Mets can afford Holliday.
  • Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has Boras saying that the Cardinals retaining Holliday is like keeping two players, since it will help them sign Albert Pujols.
  • Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun has Boras saying the Kevin Millwood trade is not done, but they're having discussions.

Orioles Rumors: Millwood, Uggla, Atkins, Beltre

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WEDNESDAY, 10:02am: Millwood update: Zrebiec says the Rangers originally wanted David Hernandez and a low-level prospect for Millwood, and were willing to pay $3MM of the $12MM owed to the veteran.  Meanwhile Zrebiec's colleague Peter Schmuck says Chris Ray could be involved and the Rangers would pick up most of Millwood's salary, in one scenario.

TUESDAY, 9:36pm: Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun reports that the O's are still exchanging trade proposals with the Rangers for Kevin Millwood. T.R. Sullivan reported that the Rangers wanted Chris Tillman initially, but talks have since developed. The Orioles are among the frontrunners for Millwood.

The O's met with the Marlins about Dan Uggla, but the Marlins want two pitching prospects in return and the Orioles are reluctant to hand that kind of package over. The Marlins have one less suitor for Uggla, according to Andrew Baggarly, who says the Giants aren't serious bidders, so that could lower the asking price for the arbitration-eligible infielder.

Here are even more O's rumors:

  • Kevin Kouzmanoff and Garrett Atkins interest the O's to an extent.
  • Joe Crede and Pedro Feliz remain options for Baltimore, but Adrian Beltre has priced himself out of reach.
  • We heard about their interest in Hank Blalock, Carlos Delgado and Nick Johnson earlier today.
  • They also have "tepid" interest in Russell Branyan.
  • The Orioles aren't particularly intrigued by Joe Blanton and Derek Lowe, who are both available via trade.
  • Vladimir Guerrero, Adam LaRoche, Jose Valverde and Kevin Gregg all interest the O's slightly.
  • They do have interest in Rafael Soriano, and spoke with the Braves about him.
  • They're not interested in J.J. Putz.
  • MLB.com's Spencer Fordin reports that the Royals engaged the O's in Felix Pie trade talks without ever coming close to a deal.

Overnight Links: Wolf, Crisp, Yankees, Halladay

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MLBTR's 24-hour coverage of the winter meetings continues as we gear up for whatever Day Three may bring. In the meantime, let's check out some overnight links from around the majors….

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