White Sox Shopping Vazquez, Swisher?
8:43pm: Ken Davidoff says the Yankees had "extremely preliminary" talks with the Sox regarding Swisher. Something to keep an eye on if the Yanks don’t sign Mark Teixeira. Additionally, Davidoff says the White Sox are not anxious to unload Vazquez.
9:42am: According to Dave van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune, the White Sox are aggressively shopping Javier Vazquez and Nick Swisher. Additionally, the Sox reportedly have interest in Rockies center fielder Willy Taveras.
GM Ken Williams didn’t offer much info regarding possible trade talks. Van Dyck speculates on names like Luis Castillo or Julio Lugo for Vazquez, seemingly suggesting Vazquez has a terrible contract too. Hard to figure out, as he remains a useful mid-rotation starter. Sox Machine wants the abuse of logic to stop.
Van Dyck wonders whether the A’s or Red Sox would have interest in Swisher, based on some tenuous Moneyball connection. Joel Sherman believes Swisher could be a fit for the Yankees due to his versatility. Williams replied in the negative when asked whether Swisher would play center field for the ’09 White Sox, which could be interpreted multiple ways.
Van Dyck says the Rockies wouldn’t have interest in Vazquez or Swisher, but rather a young pitcher like Lance Broadway for Taveras.
White Sox Looking For Speed
With their season over, it’s time to round up some White Sox rumors.
- Scot Gregor of the Daily Herald says GM Kenny Williams wants to add speed to the top and bottom of his order. Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune hints at the same.
- The speedy and available: Brian Roberts, Ichiro Suzuki (maybe), Coco Crisp, Nick Punto, Willy Taveras, Jerry Hairston Jr., Juan Pierre, Randy Winn, Bobby Abreu, Luis Castillo, Corey Patterson, Julio Lugo, and Cesar Izturis.
- Gonzales says Juan Uribe (free agent) and Toby Hall (club option) would like to return. Ken Griffey Jr. would also be willing to talk.
- Gonzales ponders a veteran shakeup, wondering if the Sox will look to move players with no-trade clauses such as Paul Konerko, Jim Thome, and Javier Vazquez. Chris De Luca sees Nick Swisher staying, but no chance of re-signing Orlando Cabrera.
Odds and Ends: Byrnes, Teixeira, Swisher
Random links for Tuesday…
- SI.com’s Jon Heyman notes that a Cy Young award for Johan Santana would lock in his 2014 option at $25MM.
- Mark Healey of Gotham Baseball wonders if the Mets might end up signing Ivan Rodriguez.
- The Jays officially received Fabio Castro to complete the Matt Stairs deal. Buster Olney had this one in August.
- Bummer to see Larry Borowsky of Viva El Birdos stepping down from blogging. He’s been my favorite Cardinals writer.
- Nick Piecoro wonders if Eric Byrnes could be traded for another bad contract player like Luis Castillo.
- The Red Sox treated Mark Teixeira poorly when he was drafted as an 18 year-old. That will have no bearing this winter, though.
- From last Friday…Nick Swisher is frustrated with his lack of playing time in Chicago. Doesn’t make him trade bait, though.
Angels Discussing Konerko?
UPDATE, 1-10-08 at 9:45am: This one isn’t dead quite yet. According to Buster Olney this morning:
Heard that while the Paul Konerko-Angels talks are not blistering hot now, there is a chance they will get hot sometime in the future.
UPDATE, 1-5-08 at 10:17pm: Kenny Williams said tonight that he hasn’t spoken to anyone with the Angels since the Winter Meetings, and that he hasn’t had trade talks about Konerko this winter. Nor has he been asked about his first baseman.
UPDATE, 1-5-08 at 10:33am: Doug Padilla of the Daily Breeze has a source confirming the talks described below.
FROM 1-4-08 at 7:41pm:
Just got a solid tip that the Angels and White Sox are discussing a possible Paul Konerko deal. No idea how serious these talks may be.
The Angels made an offer to Konerko in the winter of 2005-06, when he was a free agent. Konerko does have a limited no-trade clause to consider.
Some names being bandied about include Ervin Santana, Howie Kendrick, and Chone Figgins. Of course, all three would not be in the deal. The Sox also seek relief help. Moving Konerko would mean putting Nick Swisher at first base, while Figgins could be the leadoff hitter the Sox are after.
Odds and Ends: Cameron, Inge, Bay
Here are some random rumors and links I’ve cobbled together today.
- The Fish officially signed Jorge Cantu to a minor-league deal worth $500K with $100K in incentives.
- The Cardinals re-upped Aaron Miles for $1.4 mil. This team needs some good middle infielders.
- According to Tyler Kepner, Alex Rodriguez has been "privately endorsing" Mike Cameron. Well, it’s not private anymore! The Yankees could entertain such a signing if they trade Melky Cabrera but don’t want to move Johnny Damon back to center. Kepner’s article also discusses the internal struggle between Hank and Hal Steinbrenner. Hank wants Johan Santana, Hal wants to show a little financial restraint.
- Lynn Henning digs into the Brandon Inge situation, with help from the always-insightful Keith Law. Henning believes Inge would view a shift back to catcher "with contempt."
- Scott Wuerz runs through various possible Cardinals targets. He notes that the Pirates had considered the White Sox their best possible trade partner for Jason Bay, and are disappointed by Chicago’s Nick Swisher acquisition.
- Seems that Bartolo Colon has yet to crack 90 mph in the Dominican Winter League.
- There are rumblings that the Astros are considering bringing Freddy Garcia back.
- R.J. Anderson snagged an interesting interview with Paul DePodesta.
- Minor League guru and MLB.com senior writer Jonathan Mayo has a new book coming out about what it’s like to face Roger Clemens. I’m going to do a Q&A with Jonathan next week; if you have any good question ideas leave ’em in the comments. By the way, Mayo finished his book before the Mitchell Report came out.
- Yankees fans – Ray Istorico has an illustrated history of the early Yankees coming out in a few months.
- I will be appearing on XM Radio’s MLB Home Plate show on Sunday around 2:25 CST.
Nick Swisher Traded To White Sox
Baseball Digest Daily is reporting that the A’s have traded Nick Swisher to the White Sox for Gio Gonzalez, Fautino De Los Santos, and Ryan Sweeney. I’d heard about the Sweeney part but hadn’t been able to confirm it. This is a fascinating trade – let’s discuss.
I have to imagine the White Sox plan to use Swisher as their center fielder for the next couple of years; he did play 59 games there in ’07. Kenny Williams stuck to his word about adding OBP to his team, picking up Swisher and Carlos Quentin to fill out his outfield. Swisher, 27, is signed at a very reasonable price: $3.5MM in ’08, $5.3MM in ’09, $6.75MM in ’10, $9MM in ’11, and a $10.25MM club option for ’12 with a $1MM buyout. The option gets a $1.75MM bump if Swisher is top five for the MVP voting during the contract. He has limited no-trade protection for 2011-12.
The White Sox paid a massive price to get their man, however. Pitchers De Los Santos and Gonzalez were their two best prospects, according to Baseball Prospectus’ Kevin Goldstein. De Los Santos is said to have a huge ceiling, whereas Gio is a solid lefty who’s nearly big-league ready. Goldstein ranked Sweeney eighth on the team, but projects him as more of a fourth-outfielder type (he was once very highly regarded though).
If it wasn’t obvious with the Dan Haren trade, the A’s are in full-fledged rebuilding mode. Joe Blanton, Huston Street, and Mark Ellis could be next to go.
A’s Rumors: Jenkins, Haren, Swisher
Susan Slusser and Rick Hurd check in with the latest on Billy Beane and the A’s.
- Hurd indicates that the A’s might have some interest in free agent Geoff Jenkins. It’s a sign that the A’s might be playing for 2008, after all. Slusser wonders whether Barry Bonds rumors are next to surface, if that’s the case.
- The D’Backs put together a five-player offer for Dan Haren, including Carlos Gonzalez and Brett Anderson. Slusser says there’s a "slim chance" of a deal. Likewise the Dodgers are not close to anything on Joe Blanton.
- While the Cubs have liked Nick Swisher for some time, they’ve never impressed the A’s with an offer.
- Beane had some talks yesterday with Huston Street‘s agent about a long-term pact.
- The best quotes of the day yesterday came from Beane in reference to our debacle of a three-way trade rumor. Beane labeled it the "all-time most ridiculous" trade rumor and "laughable." It sounds like it almost knocked Beane off his exercise bike.
Levine’s Latest: Rowand, Prior, Hudson, Swisher
Bruce Levine of ESPN 1000 went on air a few hours ago with some interesting tidbits regarding the Chicago teams. This was before the Sox acquired Carlos Quentin so I’m not sure what kind of effect that has on this info.
- The White Sox are still very much in the mix for Aaron Rowand, but they really don’t want to give him five years. By the way Jerry Crasnick mentioned today that the Phillies may be willing to stretch to four years on Rowand or at least three years plus a vesting option.
- The Cubs are having all sorts of trade discussions involving Mark Prior. The Rangers and Padres are said to be two interested parties.
- Of course the Cubs still have Kosuke Fukudome in their sights. But they also have their eye on Oakland’s Nick Swisher and Arizona’s Orlando Hudson. Both are switch-hitters, by the way.
A’s Lock Up Nick Swisher
Today, the A’s locked up first baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher through 2011 with a club option for 2012. He had been due for free agency starting in 2011. The cash breakdown: $26.75MM for 2007-11, and $10.25MM with a $1MM buyout for the option year. That option becomes $12MM with a top five MVP finish over the life of the contract; I think there’s a decent chance of that happening.
Swisher is a 26 year-old switch-hitter with a career line of .249/.356/.475 in 1169 ABs. His walk rate is up near 20% this year; this should be his first 100 walk season. Swisher’s top two comps according to Baseball Prospectus are Tim Salmon and Harmon Killebrew. Both players were good hitters into their mid-30s, so this contract looks great for Oakland.