Odds And Ends: Lowry, Street, Farnsworth, Roberts
Just a few loose links for Saturday morning.
- Billy Beane has talked to Alan Hendricks, agent for closer Huston Street, about an extension. However, they have been informal talks, with no specifics to mention. Don’t expect much movement on this front until we get deeper into the season and see where the A’s really stand.
- Brian Roberts is relieved now that the trade rumors are dead. "I know where I’m going to be on a nightly basis now, at least," Roberts said. "It is a relief because I think everybody wants stability in their life, but I understand that doesn’t always happen. If it comes up again, I’ll deal with it."
- Brian Sabean talked about the possibility of a six-man rotation once Noah Lowry returns to action in May. The article says that this "ensure that the youngest and most prized starters, Cain and Lincecum, are not overtaxed in a rebuilding season." But you still need them to get their innings in. Lincecum, for instance, pitched 177.1 innings last year. You’d like to get him to 200 this year, which would be difficult in a six-man rotation environment.
- It looks like Kyle Farnsworth will be suspended for throwing at Manny Ramirez the other night. I know it’s not a transaction rumor. But won’t punishing retaliation just mean more preemptive aggression?
Posted by Joe Pawlikowski, who writes for River Ave. Blues, a Yankees blog.
Cafardo’s Latest: Inge, Marte, Fuentes, Lohse
TUESDAY: Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post has an update to Cafardo’s Yankees/Fuentes item. Renck says that while the Yanks have scouted Fuentes, Rockies’ GM Dan O’Dowd says there’s "zero chance" of a trade at this time. I imagine he wants to see a healthy Luis Vizcaino before considering it.
MONDAY: Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe checks in with plenty of rumors in his Sunday column.
- The Red Sox checked in on Brandon Inge during the Winter Meetings, but found his contract prohibitive. Most teams seem to feel the same way.
- The Yankees are eyeing southpaw relievers Damaso Marte and Brian Fuentes, who’ve seemingly been on their radar for months. Fuentes makes $5.05MM this year, Marte makes $2MM this year with a $6MM club option for ’09.
- Cafardo believes the Noah Lowry injury could cause the Giants to swoop in on Kyle Lohse, and could also get in the way of a Joe Crede acquisition. Lowry’s only supposed to miss two to three weeks though. Kenny Williams says exactly two clubs have talked to him about Crede, but he’s saying Crede may still be his Opening Day third baseman.
Odds and Ends: Lowry, Mantei, Inge
Link time!
- The White Sox had a scout watching Noah Lowry‘s disaster yesterday. Maybe that affected him.
- Todd Zolecki says Ruben Amaro Jr. is the frontrunner for the Phillies’ GM job next year, with Mike Arbuckle the other main candidate. Meanwhile, Bob Ford thinks the Phils should’ve paid $200K for Cole Hamels‘ happiness.
- Looks like Matt Mantei’s comeback attempt may come to an end. Despite Jim Leyland’s comments, you have to think Dave Dombrowski will troll the market for relievers. Leyland also talked about how he’s not going to force Brandon Inge to catch.
- Jeff Sackmann discusses some clubs that would stand to gain around three wins by signing Barry Bonds.
- Jonathan Papelbon‘s contract is likely to be renewed today, and he’s probably not getting $900K.
- Tom Haudricourt offers up a primer on renewals, arbitration, free agency, all that stuff.
Lowry Failing To Draw Interest
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News discusses the Noah Lowry situation. On the surface, a 27 year-old lefty who won 14 games with a sub-4.00 ERA would seem to be a hot commodity. However, Baggarly says teams were scared off by Lowry’s ugly 1.0 K/BB ratio and August elbow tenderness. Lowry’s on the hook for $2.25MM in ’08 and $4.25MM in ’09, with a 2010 club option for $6.25MM.
Baggarly notes that the Giants "remain active in trade talks." Given that it’s 2008 and not 1988, Brian Sabean isn’t going to fleece any GM based on Lowry’s win total or ERA. I’m starting to think that a trade for Joe Crede straight up might be fair, after all.
Odds and Ends: Cano, Colon, Lowry
Here are some links I’ve rounded up this morning.
- In theory, Robinson Cano would be open to a long-term deal. River Ave. Blues recently took a look at how historically good Cano has been so far, and suggest the Yankees lowballed him with their arbitration submission.
- Baseball Prospectus’ Derek Jacques saw Bartolo Colon pitch in the Dominican League Finals, and lends his evaluation. Colon was not impressive, but not terrible. It doesn’t seem like he will get the two-year deal he wants.
- The Brewers will bring Abraham Nunez to camp. Versatile, but a drain on offense.
- Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune notes that the White Sox aren’t done yet. The Joe Crede situation should linger into spring. Gonzales also mentions that the Giants are "listening to offers for Noah Lowry."
- A factual look at whether Omar Minaya really stockpiles Latin American players.
- The Astros can’t settle their gaps with Mark Loretta or Jose Valverde, and Ed Wade expects the team to go to its first arbitration hearings in over a decade. Wade has set a deadline of this afternoon and will go to hearings otherwise. Loretta asking for $4.9MM seems particularly off.
- Matthew Cerrone takes an educated guess on the current Johan Santana situation.
- Some interesting quotes from XM Radio from Michael Cuddyer and Scott Boras, separately.
Dontrelle For Josh Hamilton Was Discussed
UPDATE, 12-8-07 at 2:47am: More excitement…throw Abraham Nunez into the mix of Marlins third base targets. This team is going places.
FROM 12-7-07 at 11:27am:
MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro posted a new column last night full of good Marlins hot stove chatter.
- The most interesting note is that the Marlins talked to the Reds about swapping Dontrelle Willis for Josh Hamilton, prior to the blockbuster with Detroit.
- With Miguel Cabrera, the White Sox and Rangers were involved during the Meetings before the Tigers jumped in. The Rangers backed out when they couldn’t get an extension window for Cabrera. The Tigers wanted the same but obviously it wasn’t the dealbreaker. The Angels, Dodgers, and Giants were involved before the Meetings, with the Giants offering Noah Lowry.
- Frisaro says there are "strong indications the Marlins will sign Jorge Cantu. He’ll be in the mix at third base.
- The Fish are offering the Phils Scott Nestor for Wes Helms, who’d also compete at the hot corner.
- The Mets have some interest in Alfredo Amezaga, though the Marlins are inclined to keep him.
- Miguel Olivo will be released soon, so throw him into the catcher market with Michael Barrett.
Mets Talked To Giants About Lowry
David Lennon reports that the Mets had conversations with the Giants about sending Lastings Milledge over for Noah Lowry. The Giants wanted a young pitcher back as well, so Minaya shipped Milledge elsewhere. Still, the Lowry idea could be revisited.
The Giants and Hideki Matsui
As we learned earlier this week, the Giants and Yankees have talked about a Hideki Matsui trade. Let’s discuss.
- According to Andrew Baggarly, talks are still in the early stages but the teams will meet again soon on the topic. A source close to Matsui indicated that he’d waive his no-trade for San Fran. However, the Giants are said to prefer adding a right-handed slugger. Baggarly thinks the Giants would readily part with Jonathan Sanchez and Brad Hennessey, with Noah Lowry a possibility. The Giants won’t part with Brian Wilson, their closer of the future.
- Other notes from Baggarly – the Giants are over Miguel Tejada and were told Jay Bruce is untouchable.
- Pete Caldera says the Yankees like Lowry but considers a deal a long shot.
- Ed Price reports that Matsui’s agent hasn’t had a request about waiving the no-trade, and the agent won’t comment on Matsui’s willingness.
- Don’t expect the Giants to acquire both Alex Rios and Matsui. Tim Lincecum would stay if Lowry goes. At this same link Mark Feinsand notes that subtracting Matsui’s contract might create more flexibility to acquire Johan Santana.
Giants Rumors: Silva, Kuroda, Lowry
Andrew Baggarly checks in with some new Giants information.
- He says the Giants are acting as if they’re planning on trading a pitcher, checking in with the agents for Carlos Silva and Hiroki Kuroda. Brian Sabean found the cost for Kuroda prohibitive, though. This activity is, of course, linked to the rumored Tim Lincecum trade.
- No truth to the rumors linking the Giants to Ben Broussard and Shawn Green.
- Teams have called about Noah Lowry, but the Giants have only gotten lowball offers.
Dan Haren Rumors: Wednesday
UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 11:20am: Joel Sherman says Stephen Drew, Mark Reynolds, and Tony Pena are also off the table in the Haren talks.
UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 8:09am: Susan Slusser adds that the A’s aren’t being unreasonable with Arizona – they haven’t asked for Justin Upton or Chris Young. Slusser also notes that Billy Beane wouldn’t sit down with the Tigers unless they’d discuss Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin. That’s when the Tigers turned to the Marlins. Beane downplayed the chances of trading Haren, but what else is he going to say?
FROM 12-5-07 at 12:09am:
Technically it’s Wednesday now, and some of the more rumor-filled threads were getting really long. So I’m happy to start a set of new ones. You can check out Tuesday’s Dan Haren thread here.
According to Jack Magruder of the East Valley Tribune, the D’Backs are willing to discuss a package of Carlos Gonzalez, Emilio Bonifacio, and Brett Anderson for Haren. That the D’Backs could spare these three very talented youngsters without skipping a beat speaks to how deep their farm system is. Magruder’s source says the A’s could ask for a staggering six players.
Jose Valverde, Dustin Nippert, and/or Alberto Callaspo could be involved to give the A’s some MLB-ready talent. From previous reports, we know that Conor Jackson and Max Scherzer will not be involved. Ken Rosenthal had suggested last night that the A’s initial request scared the D’Backs off, but he’s since corrected that information.
The A’s, however, want to wait for something to happen with Johan Santana before trading Haren.
Additionally, Magruder adds that the D’Backs have a touch of interest in Noah Lowry.