Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Mariners, Cardinals, Indians
Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com has a new Full Count video up. Let's round up the rumors…
- With the Mariners fading out of contention, they could make lefties Erik Bedard and Jarrod Washburn available. If they do, it could cloud the market for Roy Halladay because teams will have more options.
- One GM tells Rosenthal that the Mariners are likely to play out the weekend before deciding to sell.
- The Yankees have been in touch with Seattle, and would love to see Washburn made available again after expressing interest in him in the past.
- The Brewers remain "on the periphery" of the Halladay sweepstakes, but they aren't playing well enough to justify such a major trade.
- After moving five players and adding $6MM in salary to acquire Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa, Albert Pujols shouldn't have any questions about ownership's commitment to winning. However with Holliday likely to leave as a free agent after the season, the team will be in the same situation again, looking for a bat to protect Pujols.
- Indians ownership would need to sign off on a deal involving catcher Victor Martinez or lefty Cliff Lee, neither of which is imminent. The team knows the Red Sox will not trade them Clay Buchholz in a package for Martinez, and moving Lee would be an even bigger blow given how thin their pitching staff is right now.
In a separate video, Rosenthal says that the Phillies and Blue Jays are still haggling over which players would be included in a potential deal for Halladay. The Angels have made a strong offer for Doc, and the Jays expect other teams to get involved this week. Meanwhile, Lee's agent Darek Braunecker says Lee has told his team that he will test the free agent waters at the end of next season after being told "no" when asking about a contract extension last spring. If traded, Lee prefers it to happen sooner rather than later.
Odds And Ends: Holliday, Lugo, DeRosa
Some links for the afternoon…
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the A's want two highly regarded prospects in any deal for Matt Holliday.
- Rosenthal believes the Braves have too much pitching not to make a serious run at the playoffs.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports hears that Mark DeRosa will test his wrist to see how much pain it gives him before deciding if he needs surgery. The Cards hope to activate him within a few days.
- Multiple teams have inquired about Julio Lugo, according to Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe. The Red Sox designated him for assignment earlier today.
- DRaysBay hosts a roundtable discussion with bloggers for each AL East team.
- I'll be talking trades on 107.5 The Game in about ten minutes. Click here to listen in.
Odds And Ends: O’s, Phillies, Braun, DeRosa
More links for the afternoon…
- Today's chat will take place in a little over an hour, at 2pm CST.
- It's worth checking out this Jerry Crasnick article at ESPN.com just for the photo of Nick Markakis balancing a folding chair on his chin. As Crasnick says, Markakis, Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold and Luke Scott will be an impressive group of outfielders on improved O's teams in the near future.
- In the midst of his mid-season awards, SI.com's Tom Verducci says the Tigers and Dodgers deserve credit for well-thought-out offseason moves.
- David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News lays out five possible packages the Phillies could offer the Jays for Roy Halladay. Every deal is headed by Dominic Brown or Kyle Drabek and includes other quality prospects.
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Doug Melvin and Ryan Braun will meet today to discuss Braun's recent suggestion that the Brewers need pitching.
- One of this year's big acquisitions, Mark DeRosa, will hit the 15-day DL, according to Roger Hensley of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Mets, Pirates, Papelbon, Rivera
On this date 42 years ago, Brian Cashman was born. Cashman has been the General Manager of the Yankees since 1998 and is signed through 2011. With four weeks until the trade deadline, Cashman will certainly be active in the trade market. Let's take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- The Guttridge-Wang Trade Model attempts to quantify all aspects of a trade.
- MLB Notebook looks at how teams that are willing to spend will control this year's trade market.
- Mets Geek evaluates some buy-low trade targets for the Mets.
- Sully Baseball recommends that the Mets not make any trades.
- Around the Majors takes a closer look at the two deals the Pirates pulled off this week.
- The Basball Opinion dissects the Pirates moves and what they could mean for the team's future.
- Rockin' the Red takes a look at what the Mark DeRosa trade means for the Cardinals.
- Statistician Magician makes a case for trading Jonathan Papelbon.
- River Ave. Blues looks back at the deal that almost sent Mariano Rivera out of the Bronx.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here, and followed on Twitter here.
Odds & Ends: Zambrano, Royals, Hinske
A dosage of links to soothe and satisfy between innings:
- Paul Sullivan at the Chicago Tribune got Carlos Zambrano to respond to the poll that 57.2% of Cubs fans think he should be traded: "Fine, trade me to Boston," he joked.
- Joe Posnanski gives an in-depth look at the problems facing the Royals. "The Royals execs are smart people. But the more they do to this offense, the worse this offense gets," he says.
- Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, cricket players from India who won a reality T.V. show called "Million Dollar Arm" and had never picked up a baseball until recently, are now set to play their first game for rookie-level Pirates affiliate Bradenton.
- M.A. Mehta at the Newark Star-Ledger talked to Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who says the deal for Eric Hinske "made some sense…he's a pro."
- Bart Hubbuch at the New York Post tweets that the Mets "inquired repeatedly" on Mark DeRosa but didn't like the price.
- ESPN's Keith Law takes a look at some intriguing pitchers in the Cape League (Insider).
- Kiley McDaniel tweets that Baltimore is a "serious darkhorse" for the services of Miguel Angel Sano, with the Pirates and Twins still favorites.
- According to MLB.com's Rustin Dodd, the Royals have begun discussions with first-round pick Aaron Crow.
DeRosa Has A Shot At Type A Status
When we last checked, Mark DeRosa was ranked as a Type B free agent as a member of the Indians. At that time, he was grouped with the American League second basemen, third basemen, and shortstops. His 61.7 score put him about ten points below the lowest Type A in the group, Melvin Mora.
Now a Cardinal, DeRosa will be ranked with the NL 2B/3B/SSs by Elias after the season. I just ran the numbers with DeRosa as part of this group, and his score jumped to 67.9. He's still a Type B, but is now only three points from the lowest Type A in the group (Troy Tulowitzki at 70.9). The seven stats that go into DeRosa's ranking: plate appearances, batting average, on-base percentage, home runs, runs batted in, fielding percentage, and total chances at his designated position.
So the Cardinals may have received more than just three months of DeRosa; they also could end up with one or two draft picks as free agent compensation. For that to happen they'd need to offer him arbitration, then see him decline and sign elsewhere. Offering arbitration means the Cards would risk DeRosa accepting and landing a one-year contract for 2010 north of his current $5.5MM salary. As Ken Rosenthal alluded to today, some teams might prefer certain free agents ranked as Type Bs so that there would be no deterrent for another club to sign them.
Odds And Ends: DeRosa, Royals, Jays
The runner-up for Mark DeRosa, thoughts on the Blue Jays and a pair of discussions to listen in on…
- Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News says the Reds came in second in the DeRosa sweepstakes.
- Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that DeRosa's already fitting in well with the Cards.
- The Phillies, who are scouring the league for starters, could have interest in Gil Meche and Brian Bannister so, as David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News reports, the Royals scouted Lou Marson and others in Triple A.
- MLB.com's Mark Bowman notes suspicion that the Braves are unhappy with Yunel Escobar's behavior.
- Jeff Blair of the Globe and Mail gets the sense that the Jays are ready to move Vernon Wells and/or Alex Rios for just about anything to free up enough money to keep Roy Halladay after next year.
- Watch my discussion with Sid Rosenberg right here. We talked about the Mets, Matt Holliday and the best pitching available.
- I will also be talking trades on SportsTalkSoup tonight at 10pm CST, so listen in.
Odds And Ends: Snell, DeRosa, Kearns
Some links to start the week off…
- East Windup Chronicle reports that the Pirates signed a Taiwanese high schooler to a minor league deal. Chi Ping-hong is small and speedy with good range.
- Ian Snell faced 24 batters in his first Triple A start this year and struck out 17 of them, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Neal Huntington says the Pirates are trying to "salvage some value" from Snell, who has $5.75MM remaining on his contract.
- Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gathered some of the Cardinals' responses to the Mark DeRosa deal and they all agree the move shows the Cards are built to win now.
- Bud Shaw of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says the Indians' "summer garage sale" shows the best and worst sides of the club.
- Ben Goessling of the Washington Times wonders whether the Nats will trade Austin Kearns, release him, or simply buy him out for $1MM after the season.
Yankees Rumors: DeRosa, Molina, Duncan
Joel Sherman of the New York Post tells us why the Yankees weren't serious about Mark DeRosa and adds a couple other rumors:
- They never made a strong push for DeRosa, since they had no logical place to put him.
- The Yankees will have three catchers when Jose Molina joins Francisco Cervelli and Jorge Posada, but they have no plans to deal Molina.
- They would consider promoting Shelley Duncan, who has 21 homers in Triple A, if they want a right-handed bat.
Brewers Asked About DeRosa
In Tom Haudricourt's latest piece, he discusses the Brewers' failed attempt to acquire Mark DeRosa from the Indians.
Haudricourt talked to the Brewers assistant GM Gord Ash, who stated that the Brewers didn't have have what the Indians were looking for – young, major league-ready pitching.
Ash also mentions the Diamondbacks as a possible trade partner, but states that because the market has more buyers than sellers right now, the D'Backs can ask a higher price for players such as Doug Davis and Felipe Lopez. Haudricout quotes Ash saying that Arizona's asking price is "way too high."