Odds & Ends: A’s, Reds, Murton, Maya, Chipper
Links for Tuesday, as Andy Pettitte and Tim Lincecum celebrate birthdays…
- A's assistant GM David Forst tells MLB.com's Jane Lee that the club would like to add depth to its lineup, even after the Conor Jackson trade (Twitter link).
- Reds GM Walt Jocketty tells John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer that the club would consider trading for or signing a reliever.
- The Hanshin Tigers will pick up Matt Murton's option for 2011, according to Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker (via Twitter). Jack Moore of FanGraphs recently updated us on Murton's success in Japan.
- Ben Badler of Baseball America hears that the Mariners will likely sign right-hander Jose Torres for $800K (Twitter link).
- MLBTR has an internship opportunity for a limited number of regular readers. Any skilled and experienced writers with an eye for detail should describe their experience as writers and editors in a couple sentences and e-mail mlbtrintern@gmail.com by the end of the day.
- Yunesky Maya was already unblocked, but he can sign with anyone now that he has been cleared by the FAC office, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPNdeportes.com (link in Spanish).
- Chipper Jones could announce that he will retire after the season, according to Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle says Nationals GM Mike Rizzo misread Stephen Strasburg and should have called him up early on in the season.
- From what Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog gathers, the Mets and Mariners have talked a lot about Cliff Lee.
- Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik declined to comment on whether the team would trade Lee now, according to Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com.
- Jay Greenberg of the New York Post says the Mets seem likely to keep relying on R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi, as tempting as Roy Oswalt may be.
- Buck Showalter and Phil Garner both told MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli that the O's have yet to contact them about managing the club.
- Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times suggests the Cubs could benefit from becoming sellers. – it just wouldn't be an easy sell to the fan base.
- David Ortiz tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com that he misses Manny Ramirez, though the two didn't socialize much beyond the ballpark.
Matt Murton Sold To Hanshin Tigers
5:28pm: Murton's rights were sold to the Hanshin Tigers, explains MLB.com's Thomas Harding.
2:32pm: The Rockies released outfielder Matt Murton so he can pursue a career in Japan, according to FOX Sports. Murton, 28, hit .324/.389/.499 in Triple A this year and would've been arbitration-eligible. Murton is a known MLBTR reader; we wish him the best of luck!
The FOX report goes on to suggest that the Rockies might now have to retain arb-eligible outfielder Ryan Spilborghs, but (oddly) they've inquired on Corey Hart in case they do move him.
Rockies DFA Matt Murton
According to Doug Miller of MLB.com, the Rockies have designated outfielder Matt Murton for assignment.
The move cleared roster space for reliever Juan Rincon, who was activated from the disabled list Wednesday evening and will add depth to the Rockies' bullpen for the stretch run. Murton, now 27, posted a passable .267/.327/.444 line in 45 at-bats with the Rockies earlier this season and had a .321 batting average with 71 RBI for Triple-A Colorado Springs. With those kind of numbers, he's sure to draw interest from opposing ball clubs.
Gammons On Street, Amezaga, Tejada
It's a fantasy baseball show, but Peter Gammons discussed the trade market on ESPN's Fantasy Focus today. Here are his latest rumors:
- The Red Sox like Ryan Spilborghs, but the Phillies and other teams are interested, too. Plus, the Rockies are looking much better under Jim Tracy, so they're not dealing yet.
- The Angels have targeted Huston Street, in case the Rockies become sellers.
- Several teams have interest in Matt Murton.
- Gammons compares Eric Young Jr. to a young Chone Figgins because of his versatility.
- Another versatile player, Alfredo Amezaga, would interest 6-8 contenders if the Marlins shopped him, but they're not about to make him available.
- The market for Miguel Tejada should be pretty good, if the Astros decide to trade him. The Red Sox could be among the interested teams. Tejada would be a good fit for the Cardinals, but Gammons doesn't see Drayton McLane allowing Ed Wade to trade a key player to their divisional rival.
Gammons On Ackley, Red Sox, Relievers
ESPN's Peter Gammons has a new blog post up. Let's take a look.
- Gammons writes in praise of North Carolina's Dustin Ackley, who is likely to be chosen by the Mariners at #2 in June. Ackley may wind up at center field or second base.
- The Red Sox don't appear willing to trade young pitchers like Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden, and Nick Hagadone. The Sox have looked at bats such as Colorado's Matt Murton and Ryan Spilborghs, but for now aren't desperate enough to trade pitching. Gammons wonders if, for the right bat, Boston would part with Manny Delcarmen. He believes Delcarmen could close in the NL.
- Gammons says the Mets think they could have Carlos Delgado back by August if he has hip surgery, allowing them to stay in-house for his replacements.
- The Dodgers, Indians, Yankees, and Twins are looking for relief help. Gammon names Jose Valverde, Huston Street, Danys Baez, Russ Springer, and John Grabow as future trade candidates.
Odds & Ends: Nady, Doumit, Boyer
Links for Tuesday…
- SI.com's Jon Heyman says Xavier Nady will not require elbow surgery and may return within a month.
- Bad news for the Pirates: Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says catcher Ryan Doumit will likely miss 8-10 weeks due to wrist surgery.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs says Matt Murton belongs in the Majors.
- Wallace Matthews and Ken Davidoff of Newsday each write about Jason Giambi's time in New York.
- With news that Demetri Martin will play Paul DePodesta in the Moneyball movie, Jon Weisman says not to judge the film before watching it. Personally I am looking forward to the movie. Martin is hilarious and Brad Pitt can be very good (12 Monkeys being the best example).
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post wonders why the Mets paid Fernando Tatis $1.7MM if they weren't committed to using him.
- Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has quotes from Cardinals GM John Mozeliak about the Brian Barton–Blaine Boyer swap.
- Via NPB Tracker, a comeback for Hideki Irabu?
- RotoAuthority looks at Geovany Soto's slow start.
Rockies Agree To Contracts With 21
Steve Foster of InsidetheRockies.com reports that the Rockies have signed 21 players to one-year contracts. Some of the more recognizable names include Chris Iannetta, Greg Smith, Ryan Spilborghs, Matt Murton and Franklin Morales.
Odds and Ends: Sisco, Murton, Thigpen
Links for Thursday…
- Lot of people tossing around the number of unsigned free agents…I have it at about 80, at least if we draw the line at players that are remotely useful. Here’s my list.
- Joe Pawlikowski of River Ave. Blues would like to see the Yankees sign Mark Grudzielanek.
- Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle says the A’s will attend Andy Sisco‘s Friday workout.
- Scott Miller of CBSSports.com takes a stab at the All-Free Agent team.
- The Rockies did not acquire Matt Murton as a precursor to another deal, Troy Renck learned.
- The Blue Jays designated catcher Curtis Thigpen for assignment to make room for Brian Burres.
- Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star shows that MLB has done a nice job of keeping player salaries at 40-45% of the game’s revenue in recent years (as opposed to 62% in the NFL).
- RotoAuthority looks at how you can combine a Rich Harden type with a Randy Wolf type to create a top ten fantasy baseball starting pitcher.
Rockies Acquire Matt Murton
According to a press release, the Rockies acquired outfielder Matt Murton from the A’s for infielder Corey Wimberly.
Murton, 27, has a career line of .288/.354/.438 in 1002 plate appearances. He’s been involved in two big trades – the Nomar Garciaparra deal in ’04 and the Rich Harden trade last year. Murton spent most of ’08 in the minors and did not show much power.
Wimberly, 25, ranked as the Rockies’ 26th-best prospect in the ’09 Baseball America Handbook. He went unclaimed in the Rule 5 draft in December after hitting .291/.370/.345 in Double A. The speedster is said to be in the Bip Roberts mold, according to BA.
Week in Review
Here’s a look back at the biggest stories MLBTR covered for the week of July 6 – 13:
- The Brewers completed a deal for C.C. Sabathia, sending Matt LaPorta and other prospects to Cleveland in return. Sabathia’s looked great so far, and LaPorta’s already making an impact in the Indians minor league system. Looks good for both teams right now if you ask this guy.
- The Cubs answered their division rival quickly, landing Oakland ace Rich Harden along with Chad Gaudin in exchange for Matt Murton, Sean Gallagher, Eric Patterson, and Josh Donaldson. Harden was brilliant in his debut. I think this could be another win-win trade, if Harden stays healthy.
- It was once again made clear that no one has interest in Barry Bonds, even at this juncture of the season. Seems like we’ve heard this once or twice before…
- It was a long time coming: The Mariners released Richie Sexson. Could the Yankees be interested?
- With likely season-ending injuries to both Eric Byrnes and Moises Alou (possibly career-ending in Alou’s case), both the D’Backs and Mets are in the market for corner outfielders. Raul Ibanez should be appealing to both clubs, though the Mariners may not be interested in trading him, Jim Riggleman says. Carlos Beltran voiced his support of acquiring Ibanez. I personally don’t see why Seattle wouldn’t pull the trigger, but I’m not a Major League GM, I suppose.
- Tim updated both the first base and catcher markets in the Trade Market Series.
- The Twins had internal discussions on Adrian Beltre. A third base upgrade would certainly be nice, but they’re not known for making big moves at the deadline. Could Bill Smith change that reputation in his first year as GM?