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Phil Hughes

Odds and Ends: Howard, Cormier, Gerut

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I am currently evaluating Phil Hughes’ playlist.  Some of it is solid.  Let’s get on to the odds and ends…

  • Bill Conlin thinks it’s a mistake for the Phillies to pay Ryan Howard at a rate commensurate with his service time.  It’s a slippery slope – shouldn’t Cole Hamels be earning $15MM instead of $500K, then?  The system may be broken but it doesn’t make sense for the Phillies to start ignoring service time.
  • John Mozeliak is not done yet.  Meanwhile, Albert Pujols continued to direct his ire at KTVI-TV of St. Louis. 
  • The Orioles agreed to a minor league deal with 27 year-old righty Lance Cormier worth around $450K.  Cormier doesn’t have much to show for his 244 big league innings, whether starting or relieving.  He has a decent groundball rate, at least.
  • The Padres signed Jody Gerut to a minor league pact that could be worth as much as $910K.  He’s 30 now; his best season was an .830 OPS for Cleveland at age 25.  Since then he’s had all sorts of knee problems and even had a grievance with the Pirates.

Odds and Ends: Hendrickson, Soria, Sherrill

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Here’s today’s random collection of links.

  • The Marlins signed Mark Hendrickson as the veteran leadership guy for ’08, at a cost of $1.5MM.  He was knocked around in 15 starts for the Dodgers in ’07 but was solid in the pen.  The Marlins will put him in the rotation, perhaps to tutor fellow southpaws Andrew Miller and Scott Olsen.
  • Craig Brown would like to see the Royals use Joakim Soria as a starter.
  • There is a theory that the Mariners’ signing of Arthur Rhodes will allow them to trade George Sherrill in an Erik Bedard deal.  Seems a half-baked theory, wherever it originated.  I don’t think Sherrill is holding this deal up.
  • An argument for the Nate Robertson extension from Danny Knobler, and one against from J.C. Bradbury.  Also, Peter Abraham thinks Chien Ming-Wang’s agent will use Robertson as a comparable.
  • The White Sox are still considering Bartolo Colon, according to ESPN Radio’s Bruce Levine.
  • Pat Burrell would love to re-sign with the Phillies after this season.  Pat, by the way, doesn’t have a computer and owes his second half success to "more hits."
  • Phil Hughes has a computer, and even a new blog.  Not much going on over there yet though.

Latest Johan Santana Rumors

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UPDATE, 1-2-08 at 10:45pm: Nothing new with Boston’s pursuit of Santana; Nick Cafardo says the Sox still have two different offers on the table for the Twins.  Cafardo notes that Santana’s agent quoted the starting bid around seven years, $140MM – and the Red Sox are fine with that. 

UPDATE, 1-2-08 at 4:19pm: LEN3 adds that the Mariners are not in the running for Johan.  Coupled with the info below it seems to be between the Mets and Red Sox currently.

FROM 1-2-08 at 1:21pm:

Peter Abraham had a note this morning about Johan Santana.  He says "there are no indications the Yankees will suddenly get back into the mix for Santana."  Abraham notes that the main issue for the Yanks remains the massive extension they’d have to give Santana.

Back on December 28th Joel Sherman said the Yanks had "become more entrenched in their unwillingness to pay the price both in prospects and dollars."  He noted that they were reluctant to hand over Phil Hughes or $130MM to Johan.

On the 27th, Jayson Stark said the Yankees last offer was Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Jeff Marquez, and an undetermined fourth player, but the proposal was off the table.  Stark believed that Hank Steinbrenner could still decide to re-engage the Santana talks though.

Twins Back Down On Santana Demand

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Murray Chass reports this morning that the Twins have scaled back their demands for Johan Santana, at least with the Yankees.  He says they are now willing to substitute Jeff Marquez for Ian Kennedy.  So the Yankees would have to give up Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and Marquez (and one more player, I’m guessing). 

Marquez is a 23 year-old Double A righty who probably does not fall within the Yankees’ top ten prospects.  He seems a more reasonable demand than Kennedy.  About three weeks ago, Bill Madden said the Yanks could’ve acquired Santana for Hughes, Cabrera, Marquez, and Mitch Hilligoss but bailed out for financial reasons.

Anyway, Chass adds that the Yanks would be hit by luxury tax if they acquired and extended Santana.  For example, a five-year, $100MM deal would result in a constant $7.5MM annually in luxury tax.  This does not seem to bother the Yankees.

Nick Cafardo wrote a few days ago that the Red Sox are standing pat with an offer of Coco Crisp, Jon Lester, Justin Masterson, and Jed Lowrie for Santana.  For what it’s worth, David Ortiz doesn’t think the Sox will get Johan.

Stark’s Latest: Prior, Lofton, Otsuka

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ESPN’s Jayson Stark dishes some good rumorage in his latest column.

  • Stark dug around to find all the Mark Prior suitors and came up with this list: Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Mariners, Mets, Cardinals, Padres, Astros, Giants, Reds, Nationals (11 teams).  Let’s compare notes.  MLBTR readers have seen the Yankees, Mets, Cards, Padres, Astros, Reds, and Nats linked to Prior already.  So Stark has added the Red Sox, White Sox, Mariners, and Giants.  The idea of the Mariners runs contrary to this MLB.com article.  Stark did not name the Rangers, who are said to be aggressively pursuing Prior.  Prior is dead set on a one-year deal and would take a big league mound in May in the best case.
  • The Phils are focused on Geoff Jenkins and Mike Cameron, offering two year deals to each.  They might just take the first one to accept.  Stark says Kenny Lofton could be an option if both decline.  Lofton batted a career-best .335 for the Phils in ’05.
  • Stark rattles off a laundry list of pitchers the Phillies are interested in: Akinori Otsuka, Byung-Hyun Kim, Roberto Hernandez, Kris Benson, John Parrish, Sidney Ponson, Chad Durbin, Kyle Lohse, and Jeremy Affeldt.  Given Stark’s 21 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer, I imagine he has a connection or two.  Most of those are new names besides Benson, Lohse, Ponson, and Affeldt.
  • A source of Stark picks the Yankees as the favorite for Johan, but it should be noted that they’re having internal debates about pulling Phil Hughes off the table.
  • For all the crazy Cubs fans we’ve got here: Stark says they’ve talked to the Orioles about both Brian Roberts and Erik Bedard, but couldn’t pull off a deal for both.  They favor Roberts even though they need Bedard much more.

Johan Santana Rumors: Wednesday

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UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 7:50pm: Tim Brown says the Red Sox had a moment of doubt, but they remain the frontrunner for Santana.  The previously mentioned packages apply.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 6:21pm: LENIII checks in on the interest level of the six teams involved.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 5:05pm: Santana’s agent, Peter Greenberg, indicated that the Mets are in the running for Santana.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 2:48pm: BP’s John Perrotto talked to a Twins official, and it definitely looks like the Meetings will end without a Johan deal.  Perrotto says he’s still likely to be dealt before Spring Training.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 2:18pm: Ken Rosenthal believes the door is open for more teams to jump in, especially the Mariners.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 12:43pm: Jon Heyman reports that the Mets are trying to work their way back into the mix.  They’re still viewed as a longshot without Jose Reyes in the offer, but at least the Twins are listening.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 12:21pm: The Red Sox and Twins are still engaged in talks.  The Sox are still considering the Yankees a factor.  And no, Ellsbury signing on with Boras doesn’t change the Twins’ opinion of him.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 11:26am: Joel Sherman describes Boston’s two goals in the Santana Sweepstakes.  He wonders whether the Sox and Twins could reach an accord on players and then the Red Sox wouldn’t be able to agree with Santana on an extension.  Meanwhile Gammons himself reiterates that he senses the Twins will hold onto Santana.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 10:54am: Peter Gammons via Amy Nelson is saying Santana may not be traded.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 9:56am: According to Keith Law via MetsBlog, the Twins have reached out to the Mets, Dodgers, and Angels to revisit Santana talks.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 9:43am: Joel Sherman agrees with Bill Madden’s take below – part of the reason the Yankees pulled out is that even they have a payroll.

UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 8:30am: The Yankees could’ve had Santana for Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Jeff Marquez, and Mitch Hilligoss.  Brian Cashman, however, never wanted to sacrifice Hughes for Santana and convinced his bosses that the Yankees couldn’t afford him now that Andy Pettitte is in the fold.  This near-trade won’t be forgotten by Yankees fans, unless Hughes takes off in ’08.

FROM 12-5-07 at 12:55am:

Time for a fresh Johan thread.  Yesterday’s had 297 comments on it.

The Boston Herald’s Rob Bradford says the Red Sox told Ryan Kalish’s agent that his name has never come up in the Santana talks with Minnesota.  Peter Gammons had said the 19 year-old outfielder was added to the deal to make it a 5-for-1 around 3pm yesterday.

Dan Haren Will Be Pricey

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UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 11:09pm: Hank Steinbrenner weighed in on the Haren-Yankees talks, calling Billy Beane’s request "ridiculous."  The Yankees are out on Haren.

UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 2:00pm: Nick Piecoro’s source says Conor Jackson is not a part of the Haren talks, actually.

UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 12:13pm: The Boston Herald’s Rob Bradford says the A’s and D’Backs have had "constructive talks" about Haren for Carlos Gonzalez, Conor Jackson, and two others.

FROM 12-4-07 at 10:58am:

OK, you already knew that.  But Joel Sherman has details.

  • Billy Beane sees Dan Haren as equal in value to Johan Santana, all things considered.  Over the next three years, that could be true – plus Haren is much more reasonable in terms of salary.
  • Beane’s focus is young pitching.
  • Beane doesn’t want Melky Cabrera from the Yankees.  He wants a package starting with Phil Hughes and one of Ian Kennedy or Alan Horne.
  • Sherman says the Mets don’t have the blue-chippers in Mike Pelfrey, Phil Humber, and Kevin Mulvey. 
  • The Dodgers and D’Backs match up better for Haren than the Yankees and Mets, though Arizona doesn’t really have the young pitching.
  • Joe Blanton won’t be cheap either; Beane equates him with Brad Penny.
  • Athletics Nation believes Blanton is much more likely to be traded than Haren this winter.

Beane Has High Asking Price For Haren

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Did you expect anything different?  Billy Beane is happy to field offers on Dan Haren and Joe Blanton, but he’ll require a king’s ransom for either pitcher.  Jayson Stark says Beane asked the Yankees for two of Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy for Haren.  With the Red Sox it was two of Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, and Jacoby Ellsbury.  The Mets would have to pony up Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez.  With two starters under contract through 2010, Beane and the A’s are sitting pretty.

One source of Stark echoes the popular sentiment that Miguel Cabrera in an Angels uniform would prompt a full-on A’s firesale.  That would include Huston Street, Dan Johnson, Mark Kotsay, and Rich Harden.  You have to admit, that would be fun.  Maybe the Brewers won’t give up Rickie Weeks for Chad Cordero, but how about Street?

Johan Santana Rumors

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UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 12:02am: Not only will Johan veto any midseason deal, he’ll veto any deal to a team other than the Yankees or Red Sox.

UPDATE, 12-2-07 at 8:30pm: Hank weighs in, reiterating the deadline.  He says the third player actually isn’t the sticking point.  Thanks Hank!

UPDATE, 12-2-07 at 7:30pm: The Yanks’ deadline on their offer, which no one is taking seriously, is for end of day Monday.  Brian Cashman has given Bill Smith a list of possibilities for the third player in the deal.

UPDATE, 12-2-07 at 6:15pm: Ken Rosenthal says Santana told the Twins he won’t waive his no-trade clause during the season.  It’s now or never.  The packages the Yankees and Red Sox are offering are definitely better than two draft picks, especially since there’s no guarantee one of them will be a first-round pick.  I’d be surprised if he’s not moved this week.

UPDATE, 12-2-07 at 1:30pm: Buster Olney is reporting that the Sox will include Ellsbury in their offer, but pull Lester out of it.  Basically the Twins can have one or the other.  Olney doesn’t say whether Buchholz/Ellsbury is possible, but I imagine it’s not.  The Twins are expected to choose an offer from Boston or New York soon.

FROM 12-2-07 at 8:45am:

When we left off last night, the Twins and Yankees were still haggling over the third player in a Johan Santana trade.  The Twins wanted Alan Horne or Austin Jackson, according to Jon Heyman.  Now comes word from Tyler Kepner that those two are considered untouchable in the deal by the Yanks.  Dellin Betances, Ian Kennedy, and Jose Tabata round out the five that they will not include as the third player.

It’s said that the Yankees will turn to Dan Haren if they don’t reach an agreement with the Twins today or tomorrow.  The Twins still like Jacoby Ellsbury more than Phil Hughes, so they’re trying to get the Red Sox to replace Coco Crisp with him in their offer.

Johan Santana Rumors

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UPDATE, 12-1-07 at 10:30pm: Yanks and Twins are haggling over the third guy – Twins want Horne or Austin Jackson per Jon Heyman.  The Yanks are apparently holding out on that front, trying to retain some dignity.  Peter Abraham says the Yanks will also slap a deadline on their offer and then turn their attention to Dan Haren. 

Concurrently, the Red Sox will only give up Ellsbury if they get more than Santana back.  How about making this thing a real blockbuster, getting Joe Nathan involved?  Imagine a 7-8-9 combo of Gagne-Nathan-Papelbon (if Gagne were to accept arb).  Peter Abraham is saying the Sox aren’t serious though.

UPDATE, 12-1-07 at 5pm: Ken Rosenthal says the Twins are asking for shortstop Alberto Gonzalez or starter Alan Horne as the third player from the Yankees.  Doesn’t sound like Hughes + Kennedy is any kind of possibility.  The Yankees cracked and put Hughes in…unless the Red Sox crack and put Ellsbury in it seems like Santana will end up in the Bronx.

UPDATE, 12-1-07 at 3:30pm: La Velle E. Neal III has a Santana update for us.  He says the Yanks are offering Hughes, Cabrera, and Ian Kennedy right now.  If that’s for real, I think the Twins should accept.  However, Neal’s assertion runs contrary to Jon Heyman’s take – he says the third player will not be Kennedy, Alan Horne, or Jose Tabata. 

Meanwhile it sounds like the Red Sox are still pushing Coco Crisp over Jacoby Ellsbury.  Neal adds that the Mets might re-consider their stance on Jose Reyes, and that the Twins would prefer to ship Santana over to the NL.

UPDATE, 12-1-07 at noon: Buster Olney says the Yanks’ upgraded offer is now on the table, but the Twins will meet with the Red Sox this afternoon to see if they can get Theo Epstein to include both Ellsbury and Buchholz.

UPDATE, 11-30-07 at 10pm: It’s been decided: the Yanks will put Hughes in their offer.  John Harper and Bill Madden feel that it was Brian Cashman who needed convincing.  Cabrera remains in the package, which will be rounded out by an additional pitching prospect.  This collection of youngsters apparently puts the Yankees in the lead for Santana. 

UPDATE, 11-30-07 at 6pm: The Yankees’ front office has been debating whether to surrender Phil Hughes in a trade for Santana.  Buster Olney reports that they’re leaning toward doing it.  Melky Cabrera and one other prospect would be sent over as well.  The Yankees, as well as the Red Sox, are hedging their bets by talking to Billy Beane about Dan Haren at the same time.

UPDATE, 11-30-07 at 11:25am: David Andriesen says the Mariners are not serious players on Santana.  However, Geoff Baker says the Ms have inquired but not made an offer for him.  However Baker talked to a friend of Santana’s who indicated the ace wouldn’t be jazzed signing a contract extension with a West Coast team.  U.S.S. Mariner recommends against a Santana acquisition.

FROM 11-30-07 at 8:45am:

I think it’s time for a new Johan Santana thread.  We’ll start today with a Peter Gammons report today on Mike & Mike In The Morning.  This comes from a trusted MLBTR reader.

Gammons favors the Yankees in the Santana derby, because he feels that Hank Steinbrenner could overrule Brian Cashman and include Phil Hughes in the deal.  Some feel that the Red Sox are just trying to pump up the price and would then turn to the A’s to get Dan Haren.  Getting Haren instead of Santana may have the added benefit of not pissing off Josh Beckett about his salary.

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