Stark On Royals, Phillies, Holliday
ESPN.com's Jayson Stark asks some thoughtful baseball people why we're not greeting Manny Ramirez like the "team-wrecking, alibi-distorting, female-fertility-drug-popping scoundrel he is." And, of course, Stark has piles of rumors. Here they are:
- The Mets were never willing to move Bobby Parnell or other top young arms for Mark DeRosa, so they weren't as close to acquiring him as the Reds and Cubs were. The Phillies, Marlins and Giants were also in the mix.
- The Indians are more interested in dealing Rafael Bentancourt than Kerry Wood, whose contract ($15MM remaining) would be hard to move.
- The Royals will listen on anyone but Zack Greinke, but that doesn't mean they're looking to deal starters. They're "reluctant" to deal Brian Bannister, Kyle Davies or Gil Meche, who has a no-trade clause.
- The Phillies were looking at Juan Cruz, who the Royals say they'd only deal for an upper-tier prospect ready to make a big-league impact.
- The Reds will wait it out and ramp up their pursuit of a bat if they're in the race later in the month.
- One executive says Pedro Martinez didn't look bad in last month's workout; Pedro's just demanding too much money.
- The Phillies haven't given up on pursuing Cliff Lee, Erik Bedard or Roy Oswalt.
- The Braves are trying to deal Jeff Francoeur everywhere, but no one's interested. One front-office guy says his team would be interested if Francoeur's non-tendered.
- Officials are divided on whether Yunel Escobar could be dealt, but a trade is unlikely at best.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels says he is now looking to bolster his rotation.
- As expected, Daniels confirmed that the Rangers will have "limited" ability to take on salary at the deadline.
- The A's will want "two prospects with tremendous upside" for Matt Holliday if they deal him. It's unclear how much of the $6.75MM remaining on his contract the A's would pick up.
- Could Josh Willingham be the next-best bat on the market? One exec says he might be if Russell Branyan and Miguel Tejada don't become available.
- Another official says Willingham's unappealing because of his back issues.
Royals Avoid Arb With Kyle Davies
According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, the Royals avoided arbitration with pitcher Kyle Davies by signing him for $1.3MM.
Odds and Ends: Wilson, Bautista, Hairston
Linkage for Friday…
- The AP explains how C.C. Sabathia will be paid $9.5MM before throwing a pitch for the Yankees.
- The D’Backs signed lefty Travis Blackley.
- Dan Johnson is headed to Japan.
- The Cardinals signed Japanese pitcher Katsuhiko Maekawa to a minor league deal. Patrick Newman has details.
- Interesting discussion involving Raul Ibanez‘s defense.
- I did a Q&A with SportingGurus.com.
- Ken Rosenthal guesses destinations for 11 remaining free agents in this slideshow.
- MLB is undergoing a hiring/salary freeze and taking away 20% of vacation time for ’09.
- Dejan Kovacevic had a lengthy chat with Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson, who wishes the team would get more players to become competitive. In his article Kovacevic also notes that the Pirates have had talks about bringing back pitcher Denny Bautista, who was non-tendered a week ago.
- Are the Mariners trying to open up a spot for Jerry Hairston Jr.? They’re looking to add a plus-plus defensive second baseman; not sure if he qualifies.
- Aubrey Huff tops the list of fantasy baseball’s biggest draft position gainers.
- Royals pitcher Kyle Davies is working a construction job this offseason.
- The Orioles settled with Sidney Ponson regarding their grievance.
Dotel To Atlanta Deal Not Close
UPDATE: Word via the Kansas City Star is that the Royals will get Kyle Davies in the deal. The Teixeira trade needs to be finalized first though. Nice job by Dayton Moore. Apparently he preferred Davies over Wladimir Balentien.
UPDATE 2: Based on this MLB.com report and reports from Sports Radio 810, the deal is not complete and Davies for Dotel was simply an offer. Dotel was apparently seen shagging flies in batting practice today.
UPDATE 3: Mark Bowman of MLB.com says the teams are not close to finalizing a deal and John Schuerholz has yet to enter into serious negotiations.
Interesting development via Ken Rosenthal: the Braves are close to a deal for Royals’ closer Octavio Dotel. They apparently have made a better offer than finalists Cleveland and Los Angeles.
Royals GM Dayton Moore knows his way around Atlanta’s farm system, of course. He had all kinds of player development roles within the Braves organization. The Braves’ top three prospects heading into the season per Baseball America were Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, and Matt Harrison. With those three out of the picture perhaps Moore is going for outfielder Brandon Jones or first baseman Scott Thorman.
Quite a day for Atlanta…now to snag a starter…