Odds and Ends: Lowell, Sabathia, Polanco
I’m going to start up a catch-all Odds and Ends post for smaller rumors and notes today. Refresh to see it grow.
- A reader emailed me to tell me that Buster Olney said on XM Radio recently that there are talks of the Twins going after Scott Rolen. These reports can be tough to confirm, but there you go. UPDATE: Joe Christensen squashes this one.
- Mark Feinsand doesn’t think Epstein is keen on giving Mike Lowell even a three-year contract. He might get five on the open market. UPDATE: The Red Sox apparently have a three-year offer out to him, and he’s still mulling it over.
- The White Sox inquired about Bill Hall, but Kenny Williams and Doug Melvin couldn’t find a match.
- Baseball America weighs in on the Brad Lidge trade. BP’s Nate Silver gives his opinion here and here. He thinks the Phillies made a mistake.
- The Astros have contacted Jeremy Affeldt‘s agent. Also, Jim Molony speculates in this piece that speedy Josh Anderson could be expendable because of the Michael Bourn addition.
- Back to where it all began: the Dodgers have signed Chan Ho Park. No need for more starters now!
- Andy Pettitte hopes to tell the Yankees whether he’ll play by the New Year. Also, Ken Davidoff notes that the Yanks would prefer to trade Hideki Matsui over Johnny Damon, but Godzilla’s full no-trade clause would be the problem.
- Theo Epstein let Scott Boras pitch his entire client list last night, A-Rod included. There’s a very slight chance the Red Sox sign Eric Gagne, and a contract extension for Jason Varitek may have been discussed. Also I hear Boras did the hard sell on Bruce Chen. Just kidding. UPDATE: That slight chance for Gagne just went away, as he’ll be closing according to Boras.
- Mark Shapiro is preparing a contract extension offer for C.C. Sabathia; he’ll have to run it by the Dolans first. No surprise there. Paul Hoynes notes that Sabathia gets an extra $2MM for ’08 if he wins the ’07 Cy Young. Shapiro, by the way, would listen to offers on any player. I get the feeling the Indians could come from out of nowhere and do something big this winter.
- Could the Tigers send Placido Polanco to the Mets? Mark Healey suggests it.
- The Giants included a vesting option for 2009 in Omar Vizquel‘s deal. McCovey Chronicles weighs in.
Odds and Ends: Glavine, Kent, Kuroda
Picking up some rumors and tidbits that haven’t been otherwise posted during this busy day…
- An Atlanta TV station states that Tom Glavine would take a lot less money to play for the Braves. Also, the Astros have reportedly been in touch with him.
- Joe Torre senses that Jeff Kent will return in 2008. The Dodgers certainly hope so; he led the team with 20 home runs in ’07.
- Trey Hillman took a parting shot at Japanese reporters (hat tip to JapanBall).
- Reliever Masafumi Hirai might come over to MLB. I’ll have to learn more about him.
- Hiroki Kuroda prefers to play on the West Coast because he doesn’t like cold weather. Hmmm, Chicago might not work for him. Kuroda has declared free agency, and the Mariners are interested. There is word here that the Rangers have scouted him as well.
- The Braves are interested in Masahide Kobayashi to close, while the Mariners like him as a middle reliever (link in Japanese).
- There will be no Mike Lowell + A-Rod combo in Boston.
- Luis Gonzalez would like to return to the Tigers, while the team is interested in Cliff Floyd and Shannon Stewart for left field. Ben Broussard may also be on the radar.
- The Rangers also like Broussard, and they’ve contacted Mike Lamb as well regarding their first base vacancy. Lamb could play third if they trade Hank Blalock. Jon Daniels also has Kerry Wood in his sights.
- The Rockies like Shawn Chacon, but only as a reliever.
- Derrick Goold breaks down the options for the Cardinals at shortstop.
- Don’t forget to make an entry in our Hot Stove Hysteria contest. The deadline is November 12th. If you feel the need to edit your entry, just post a new one. They’re time-stamped; your latest entry will be used. A new prize has been added: a fantasy draft kit from Big Dawg Baseball.
Rosenthal’s Latest: A-Rod, Posada, Cameron
Ken Rosenthal is back with a column loaded with rumory goodness. Rosenthal’s column is like a drug.
- Rosenthal doesn’t think the Red Sox will just ignore the availability of Alex Rodriguez, especially if someone lures Mike Lowell away with a five-year offer. Rosenthal suggests a shorter term of five-years, $150MM with option years and opt-outs so that A-Rod could have one more payday as he theoretically approaches Hank Aaron’s record.
- Jorge Posada will receive a "monster offer" from the Mets. While the Mets can’t move him to DH down the road, they can put him at first base. I’ve been saying 4/56, but 5/70 isn’t out of the question apparently. Posada wants a four-year deal, and won’t sign with the Yanks without fielding other offers first. Apparently the Marlins and Blue Jays are also in on him.
- The Nationals may be kicking the tires on big names Torii Hunter and Aaron Rowand, but Jim Bowden is also a big Mike Cameron fan. The Nats do seem a reasonable fit.
- The Cubs are also in on Cameron, in addition to Kosuke Fukudome. Rosenthal suggests the Cubs could put Felix Pie in left if they get Cameron.
- Scott Boras client Kyle Lohse is looking for 4-5 years, $10-11MM annually. No surprise there.
- The Royals are looking to add a starter and a reliever, and maybe a closer if they decide to put Joakim Soria in the rotation.
Yankees Aiming Higher Than Crede
According to Ken Davidoff of Newsday, the Yankees aren’t likely to trade for Joe Crede. They’re aiming for bigger fish like Mike Lowell, Adrian Beltre, Miguel Cabrera, and Scott Rolen. Garrett Atkins has been deemed unavailable. Additionally, Kenny Williams hopes to deal Crede relatively quickly and the Yankees are in no rush to fill their third base vacancy. Maybe the Phillies will jump into the fray for Crede.
Lowell at least won’t involve giving up young talent. But there are some questions about how he’d hit away from Fenway. And we’re talking four or even five years to lure him. Beltre would be a fine acquisition and is affordable, though I don’t know why the Mariners would part with him. And the Ms would want at least one blue-chipper, I’d imagine. The Yanks would have to mortgage tons of young talent for Cabrera. Davidoff’s dark horse, Rolen, suddenly makes the most sense. It would be a salary dump and a health risk, but 3/36 isn’t that scary for the Yanks. And it’s less than Lowell would sign for.
Davidoff has a tidbit at the end of his column, a one-liner, that the Yanks are likely to re-sign Mariano Rivera at three years, $40MM soon. I’m surprised Newsday didn’t call more attention to that part.
Epstein “Sure” Lowell Will Be Re-Signed
Here’s what Theo Epstein had to say on Mike Lowell last night:
(Re-signing Lowell is) a priority for the offseason, and I’m sure we’ll be able to get something done. We have a desire to keep him here a long time. He’s a core member of the organization. It’s just not the time to talk about that.
Does a long time mean three years? It’s hard to see Lowell accepting a deal for two. Lowell didn’t want to talk about the situation either last night, understandably. But his reaction to Epstein’s comments was reserved.
If the Red Sox win the World Series, perhaps the Red Sox will be "forced" to go beyond what they consider a reasonable number of years, as happened with Jason Varitek.
Red Sox Rumors
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.
Red Sox To Stop At Two Years For Lowell
The Boston Globe’s Jackie MacMullan spoke to a Red Sox source who said the team would "balk at offering Mike Lowell anything more than a two-year deal." Lowell is expected to get $10-12MM annually.
Since Lowell might be able to get four years guaranteed on the open market, it would be a large sacrifice to accept just two. For what it’s worth, Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA system expects Lowell to be worth $28.4MM over the next four years, $23MM over the next three, and $17.3MM over the 2008-09 period. However PECOTA did project Lowell to hit .273/.333/.441 this year while he actually hit .324/.378/.501.
Lowell’s awful 2005 looks like an aberration, but it still seems to scare the Red Sox. I imagine they’d guarantee three years if Lowell had been decent in ’05.
Odds and Ends: Wakefield, Guillen, Lowell
Some random rumorage not quite worthy of individual posts…
- Jeff Goldberg of the Hartford Courant speculates that Tim Wakefield could be making his final start for Boston tonight. With Wakefield, the Red Sox possess one of the most lopsided contracts in baseball history. They have a perpetual $4MM club option with him, one that never goes away until they decline it. But $4MM is nothing to the Sox, and Wakefield was certainly worth that much in ’07. They’ll exercise it.
- The Mariners were once close to an extension for Jose Guillen, but currently it’s on the backburner. Even if the team exercises his $9MM option, Guillen can and probably will void it. He’s going to want at least three years, $30MM. The Mariners could get by without him.
- Mike Lowell has more Philly connections than I realized. The Phils definitely seem like his second choice if the Red Sox let him go. I think the Phillies should just sign Mike Lamb and spend the excess money on pitching.
- Neal Huntington’s first move: a waiver claim of Kevin Thompson. It’s over now.
- Joel Pineiro gets a $500K signing bonus, $5MM in ’08, and $7.5MM in ’09. Originally he wanted to test the market, but he appreciated the Cardinals giving him a chance.
- John Schuerholz found Scott Boras’ suggestions obnoxious and idiotic. Also, Steve Phillips comments on the A-Rod/Mets situation back in 2000.
Latest Phillies Rumors: Lowell, Rivera, Schilling
Let’s catch up on the rumors and minor moves involving the Phillies recently.
One offseason objective is, of course, third base. Abraham Nunez was an easy buyout decision; Pat Gillick will import a new third baseman this winter one way or another. Phils fans can stop dreaming up A-Rod scenarios; Gillick won’t pursue him. Mike Lowell is the one free agent 3B on the Phils’ radar. While Lowell wouldn’t mind playing in Philly, he made it clear yesterday that Boston remains his first choice. So there’s a good chance Gillick will have to get his man via trade. Scott Lauber names Garrett Atkins and Joe Crede (free agent after ’08, Boras client) as possible targets. We all know how Gillick loves dealing with Kenny Williams (and the Sox can use Josh Fields at third base).
Rod Barajas won’t be retained; Chris Coste will serve as the backup to Carlos Ruiz. A nice, cheap catching tandem.
How about pitching? Randy Miller has a source saying the Phils are targeting a couple of AL East stalwarts – Curt Schilling and Mariano Rivera. To sign Rivera at $12MM per and use Brett Myers in setup seems like a misallocation of resources to me. As for Schilling, Miller says he’s expressed interest in coming back to Philly to finish his career. I like the fit.
Miller also has some very interesting info on Aaron Rowand – he’s looking for a six-year, $84MM contract! Does that mean he ends up with a five-year, $60MM deal? Pretty hefty for a guy coming off a career year. Miller says the Phils won’t go for big-name replacements like Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter.
Finally, Pat Burrell has surfaced as a solid trading chip. He’s left with a reasonable one-year, $14MM commitment, albeit with a full-no trade clause that would require more compensation. How about Burrell to the White Sox for Crede? Phils kick in a couple mil, the White Sox get much-needed OBP for ’08 plus draft picks when Burrell leaves.
Phillies Have $20MM To Burn
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Todd Zolecki tallied up the Phillies’ commitments and determined that they have roughly $20MM free to spend on pitching, third base, and perhaps Aaron Rowand. Zolecki feels that the Phils would choose to let Rowand walk if they couldn’t fit it all in the budget.
Zolecki mentions Mike Lowell as a possibility for the hot corner; that’d run $8-12MM for ’08 depending on how you backload it. Lowell seems in line for at least two years, $22MM. Gordon Edes has speculated that it could require a three or four year commitment. The Phillies at least fall under the teams on Lowell’s list, it appears.
The other $10MM or so might all have to go toward a starting pitcher. The Phillies have Jamie Moyer, Adam Eaton, Cole Hamels, and Kyle Kendrick locked in. If the Phils don’t like the free agent market (they had interest in reacquiring Carlos Silva this summer), they could pursue Jon Garland or Dontrelle Willis via trade. The Phils have also scouted Anthony Reyes.
That doesn’t leave any money for Andruw Jones, despite recent speculation.