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Dodgers Pursuing Aaron Rowand

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Buster Olney’s blog today had some good rumors to digest.

  • Olney writes that the Dodgers are making a "heavy play" for Aaron Rowand.  Apparently they love the idea of adding a good character guy to the clubhouse.  They’d be paying $25MM for Rowand and Juan Pierre in their outfield for the next several years.
  • The Phillies are making a "big play" for Mike Lowell.  This certainly doesn’t jive with the speculation that the Phils only have $10MM to spend and it’s going toward pitching.  By the way, Ruben Amaro Jr. ruled out the possibility of signing Torii Hunter.
  • Olney has an exec source who believes Hunter will sign with the Rangers for six years and $90MM.
  • Olney doesn’t see Kenny Rogers apologizing to the Rangers anytime soon.
  • Mike Cameron has a better chance of re-signing with the Padres, now that his 2008 season will be reduced by 15% in playing time.
  • Six teams are in on Matt Clement, but he’s still expected to land in San Diego.  The Royals are probably one of the six.
  • Speculation is growing that the Braves might consider bringing Andruw Jones back.

Odds and Ends: Kendrick, Uggla, Haren

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Another random collection of rumorage…

  • The Braves have "many millions more" to spend on players this winter.  One emailer suggested that maybe the Braves will offer arbitration to Andruw Jones and he’ll accept. 
  • Corey Patterson and the Nationals have mutual interest.  Baseball Prospectus’ Joe Sheehan considers him a possible bargain, noting that he is only 28.
  • We figured the Padres and Matt Clement had mutual interest.  Now it’s official.  Clement wants a one-year deal with incentives.
  • Tracy Ringolsby confirms that Yorvit Torrealba wants a three-year deal.  He says the Rockies are at two years, $7MM, the Marlins are in the same range, and the Mets are at two years, $9MM.  UPDATE: The Denver Post says Torrealba will have a decision Thursday.
  • Interesting Miguel Cabrera stuff from the L.A. Times.  Howie Kendrick is not considered untouchable, but the Marlins might have to include Dan Uggla.  Basically if the Marlins are to get four players back, they’ll have to add Uggla or Dontrelle Willis to the deal.   
  • Our friends at Gotham Baseball say if the Mets were to acquire Dan Haren, the package would start with Billy Beane favorite John Maine.  Mark Healey figures Lastings Milledge and Aaron Heilman would have to go also.
  • Ken Rosenthal thinks a one-year, $8MM offer from Atlanta would be enough to secure Tom Glavine.
  • The D’Backs’ main trading chip is outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.  It appears that the team explored what they could get for Conor Jackson and decided to keep him.

Royals Rumors: Cordero, Silva, Guillen

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Some good info surfacing regarding the Royals, as usual courtesy of the KC Star’s Bob Dutton.

  • While Joakim Soria will remain in the pen, the Royals want to add more relief help.  They could re-sign David Riske, and even plan to contact Francisco Cordero’s agent (Bean Stringfellow).  Bringing back Octavio Dotel is also being considered, though Soria would remain the closer.
  • Ron Mahay is on the radar.  It’s thought that he’ll require something close to a three-year, $12MM deal as one of the better southpaw relievers out there.  Riske wants a deal like that too.  Dayton, just take the draft pick.
  • I’ve yet to mention here Dayton Moore’s quotes.  Basically, steroid allegations won’t affect the team’s pursuit of any player, meaning they still like Jose Guillen.  It’s not surprising to see GMs moving in this direction.
  • Japan presents options such as Hitoki Iwase, Kazuo Fukumori, and Yashuhiko Yabuta.  New manager Trey Hillman observed Iwase up close this year.
  • What about more starting pitching?  The Royals like Carlos Silva, Hiroki Kuroda, Kris Benson, Matt Clement, and Jason Jennings.  Something useful could come out of that.
  • By the way, the Royals saw Glendon Rusch work out recently.  The swingman came up as a Royal before being traded to the Mets in ’99.

Clement Drawing Interest From Padres, Royals

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Matt Clement is an interesting rehab project.  The 33-year old had rotator cuff and labrum surgery, and was last seen topping out at 87 in September.  With the right strengthening work, plus the National League, he could be a nice surprise in 2008.

I’m sure he wants to start, so there wouldn’t be a fit with the Red Sox.  Nick Cafardo says the Padres and Royals are in on him so far.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Nationals get involved.  I think Clement will land in San Diego with $2-3MM guaranteed and maybe another $3MM in incentives.  He came up through the Padres’ system, taking his lumps before being traded for Mark Kotsay.  He’s going to have to reinvent himself as a finesse guy with good control.  Wade Miller was a somewhat similar case; he wasn’t able to do it. 

Red Sox Rumors

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The Boston Globe’s Gordon Edes has some mild hot stove chatter today.

  • Tim Wakefield’s $4MM option is likely to be exercised. There was some speculation a week ago that it could be declined, but no one really believed it.  It’s still a bargain.
  • Julian Tavarez’s $3.85MM option is a borderline call, and Edes seems to think it will be declined.
  • Nothing new with Mike Lowell – he wants to return, but the door’s open for the Phillies or Yankees if the Red Sox won’t pony up enough years.
  • Most folks expect Curt Schilling to leave.  But if he’s still up for one year and $13MM the Sox should do it.
  • Mike Timlin will pitch again but it might be elsewhere.  Timlin hasn’t been with another club since ’02, when he pitched for the Cardinals and Phillies.
  • Matt Clement will depart.  If his tryouts and MRIs come up clean and he can hit 90 mph there will definitely be teams offering him incentivized contracts.  Here’s one I missed from a few weeks ago: the Padres may make a play for him.  Tom Krasovic also throws Mark Prior into the mix for the Friars in that article.  Back in December of ’04, Clement talked with the Angels, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, White Sox, Indians, and Blue Jays before signing with Boston.

Mailbag: Matt Clement

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Let’s get this mailbag thing rolling, see if anyone enjoys it.  You can send me mailbag questions at mlbtraderumors@gmail.com.

This question comes from Yochai of Brookline, MA:

What’s the deal with Matt Clement? What are the Red Sox’s plans in regards to him? Are they basically going to wait until his contract expires or are they actually waiting for him to come back to pitch?

Clement underwent shoulder surgery last September.  An exploratory procedure found labrum and rotator cuff damage, and that was repaired. Clement’s agent has compared the work done to that of Saints QB Drew Brees.  Serious stuff.

Back in November, Clement was making positive progress in his rehab and hoped to return to action by the All-Star break.  He threw for the first time in February.  He was up to 105 feet in the last report in April, but wasn’t close to throwing off a mound.  According to that report, he was setback free and ahead of schedule. 

Unfortunately I can’t find a word in print about Clement since the April 25th Boston Herald article.  Maybe injury gurus Will Carroll and Rick Wilton can dig something up, or a reporter can just ask Terry Francona.

Clement is earning $9.5MM this season in the last year of his contract.  My guess is that the Red Sox will take their time with him and treat him as a complete luxury.  If he’s able to pitch competitively sometime around August, he’s going to have to prove himself in the minors first.  Will his velocity still be there?  By the time Clement returns, Jon Lester may be in the rotation in place of Julian Tavarez.  If not, and everyone else is healthy, Lester will be the sixth man. 

I can definitely see Clement pitching in the bullpen to re-establish himself.  If the Red Sox clinch a playoff berth, maybe they’d rest a rotation member and give him a start or two.  It will mainly be an audition for the 2008 season, during which Clement will be 34.  No doubt he will hook on somewhere as a free agent if his arm is still attached.  Let’s say $3 mil plus a ton of incentives.  I’m rooting for him and I have my Clement goatee ready.

Red Sox After Craig Wilson?

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Sometimes all it takes is an educated guess to put two and two together.  Hell, maybe Theo and Dave got the idea from this site yesterday – sort of a GM matchmaker (alright, that’s wishful thinking).  But it’s always interesting when speculation turns to real trade talks.

Yesterday I mentioned:

"If the Pirates want Arroyo back, Craig Wilson would be a decent fit given that Youkilis can play third…the Pirates have two vacancies in their rotation but a host of candidates to fill them."

Then today in Rob Rossi’s article for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, he revealed that the Pirates are trying to trade Wilson for a starter, possibly Matt Clement or Bronson Arroyo.  For the Bucs, I like the idea.  Sure, their offense could use a guy like Wilson, but if they must discard him they should at least solidify the rotation. 

A Pittsburgh rotation of Clement/Duke/Perez/Maholm/Snell has a chance to be quite impressive.  It might be five guys with ERAs hovering around 4, but that’s actually hard to find when the average NL starter has a 4.22 ERA.

The Red Sox seem to be anticipating an injury for Trot Nixon or a failure by Mike Lowell, and expecting at least one of the two is the safe play.  The club needs a player like Wilson, who can handle both right field and first base and has an .851 career OPS.

Assuming the White Sox plan to hold on to Jose Contreras, I think they might have it right.  That is, there’s nothing wrong with an overload of starting pitchers.  The White Sox shouldn’t expect their front five to be completely healthy and effective once again.  Similarly, the Red Sox don’t necessarily have a surplus with Arroyo/Beckett/Clement/Papelbon/Schilling/Wakefield/Wells all capable of starting.  Yes, that’s seven pitchers, but three of them are injury risks and Papelbon is unproven.

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Latest Red Sox Rumor – Clement, Vidro, Milledge

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Several emailers have alerted me to a post made over at Sons of Sam Horn late last night.  A respected poster lays out this scenario:

Red Sox trade Matt Clement and Alex Cora
Nationals trade Jose Vidro and Jay Bergmann
Mets trade Lastings Milledge and Xavier Nady (with some chance of Victor Diaz instead of Milledge)

Red Sox receive Milledge and Nady
Nationals receive Clement and Cora plus cash if Clement pitches over 150 innings
Mets receive Vidro and Bergmann plus a PTNBL from either Nats or Sox depending on Vidro’s health. (Livan Hernandez could end up with the Mets as well)

I paraphrased a few things but this is all from the post.  I haven’t heard anything about these players lately, but I thought the rumor would make for interesting discussion.  My thoughts:

From the Red Sox point of view, it’s either a steal or a salary dump.  It’d be a steal if Milledge were indeed the centerpiece.  However, there are some who believe Milledge is not even a top 100 prospect.  Don’t gasp, Mets fans – David Luciani knows what he’s talking about and still respects Milledge.

If the Red Sox are acquiring Diaz and Nady for Clement, I can’t see a big improvement to their club for 2006.  It would have to be motivated by the $19MM owed to Clement over the next two seasons, but the Red Sox aren’t having budget problems so it doesn’t make a lot of sense.  The issue of whether the Sox have starting pitching depth from which to deal has been debated endlessly; it depends on how you evaluate their young guys.

The Nationals wouldn’t be surrendering much to get Clement.  I’ve been told Vidro’s health is still questionable, and he makes $23MM over the next three seasons.  The team would love to get out from under that contract.  24 year-old Bergmann looks like a decent enough reliever, but not a top tier prospect.  The Nationals would definitely have to bump someone out of the rotation to give Clement a spot.  They are currently six deep with Tony Armas, Ryan Drese, Livan Hernandez, Brian Lawrence, Ramon Ortiz, and John Patterson.

The deal makes the least amount of sense for the Mets.  It’s been stated repeatedly that the team wants to hold onto Milledge, and that is thought to be the only reason they haven’t traded for Barry Zito.  So the addition of Vidro and his albatross contract doesn’t equate here.  Add Livan Hernandez and you might have something, but the 30 year-old may not be ace material anymore after posting a 1.43 WHIP in 2005.

Phils’ Attempted Starter Acquisitions

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Remember about a week ago, when Pat Gillick mentioned that the Phillies’s deal for a #1 or #2 starter had fallen through?  I’m received a fair amount of emails on this topic, so I wanted to address it.  I talked my Phils source, and he gave me the lowdown.  He mentioned that most if not all of these names had previously appeared in the media linked to the Phillies, but I’ll present the information anyway.

Mark Prior was never the Phillies’ number one choice.  They’ve always been lukewarm on him due to his health record.  Had the Cubs parted with Carlos Zambrano, the Phillies would’ve happily dealt Bobby Abreu.

The Phillies like Erik Bedard quite a bit.  The problem is that the Orioles are actually looking to acquire a starting pitcher, not give one up.  So although the Orioles have soured on Bedard somewhat, trading him probably won’t happen unless a couple of excellent young pitchers are coming back in the deal.  I don’t even know if such a deal would make sense for any team.

Philadelphia was close to acquiring Derek Lowe during the winter meetings, but of course that fell through.  No word on what the club offered.

The last name on the radar is Matt Clement.  The Phils really aren’t thrilled with Clement whatsoever, but they would at least consider acquiring him in the right deal.

Agreement For Manny Trade?

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The latest Manny rumor making the rounds comes courtesy of commenter Wild Bill from the Orioles Hangout Forum.  As far as Bill’s track record, I can direct you to a thread over at Sons of Sam Horn.  According to the poster:

"There are three reputed "insiders" [at Orioles Hangout] and all three seem to agree that the trade has been agreed upon in principal but that Manny’s request for an extension will likely cause the deal to fall through. As for their validity, it seems each does have a source either within the Orioles organization or one who is once removed from someone inside.

That said, I don’t believe any of them have access to Mike Flanigan or any direct decision maker. The only thing that makes me feel this could be accurate is the fact that all three agree. Generally, they tend to have slightly different takes on the goings on inside the Orioles’ FO."

Here’s the main point of Wild Bill’s post:

"The word is the Tejada-Ramirez/Clement trade has been agreed to in principle by the two teams blocked only at this time with last minute complications caused by Manny."

Using 2005 WARP (Wins Above Replacement Player) values, the net gain for the Red Sox would be -3.6 wins.  Meaning that in a vacuum, this trade makes the team worse.  Of course, the move would free up significant salary for the Sox (I haven’t heard whether money would change hands) so the team would probably make up the difference in value somewhere else.

Manny Ramirez is on the hook for $58MM over the next three seasons.  Matt Clement will make $19MM over the next two seasons.  Miguel Tejada is owed $48MM over the next four seasons.  For the 2006 season only, this trade would free up $18.5MM for the Red Sox.

I’ll supply more updates on this trade possibility as I hear them. 

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