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Odds and Ends: Lowe, Redmond, Timlin

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Linkage for Friday…

  • River Ave. Blues discovered that Mike Mussina’s wife may be a bigger factor than we thought in regard to his retirement decision.
  • David O’Brien tosses out some names for the Braves to consider: Derek Lowe, Matt Cain, Roy Oswalt, and Josh Willingham.  Everyone likes Lowe…Anthony McCarron says the Yankees and Mets should consider him.  Those clubs could also enter a bidding war for C.C. Sabathia, says Bob Klapisch.  Will C.C.’s postseason record diminish his contract?  I don’t think so.
  • Greg Couch doesn’t want Javier Vazquez pitching for the White Sox again.  Maybe Ozzie is right, Vazquez is not a big-game pitcher.  But why say that publicly?
  • Joe Christensen seems certain the Twins will exercise Mike Redmond’s $950K option.
  • Chris Carpenter’s shoulder injury is unprecedented among pitchers.  Do the Cardinals need to add veteran rotation insurance?  Speaking of unprecedented procedures…Takashi Saito had platelet-rich plasma injected into his elbow in July.
  • Joe Starkey thinks the Pirates should…non-tender Adam LaRoche?
  • Mike Timlin could retire.
  • Huge E-Ticket Manny Ramirez feature from Bill Simmons, wherein Scott Boras is blamed for his Boston exit.  Good read.

Astros Players Hope To Recruit Sheets

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According to Jose de Jesus Ortiz, Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt plans to make a recruiting pitch to Ben Sheets.  Sheets will be a free agent after the season.  Lance Berkman would love to see Sheets sign with the Astros as well.

Pairing Sheets with Oswalt would certainly change the look of the Astros, who could slot Wandy Rodriguez at #3 or #4 and sign an additional free agent starter.  As with most free agent signings, Sheets carries plenty of risk.  He’s already thrown 162 innings this year, his best since ’04.  Has he shaken off the injury bug?

Sheets should get at least three years, and four is feasible.  $16-17MM per year sounds about right.

Olney’s Latest: Wolf, Lohse, Sabathia, Fuentes, Oswalt, Bailey

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Buster Olney has a new column up. Let’s take a look:

  • He suggests Randy Wolf as a "possible trade chip" with the Padres looking increasingly out of it this year. One problem: Wolf has veto power over trades to 14 teams. He’s been decent this year, with a 4.13 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 98 innings, but nothing to get too excited over.
  • Gossip item: the Mets could have had Kyle Lohse for what the Cardinals are paying ($4.25MM), only Omar Minaya passed.
  • Olney doesn’t see much in the speculation about the Angels wanting C.C. Sabathia. With Kelvim Escobar’s rehab going well, great first-half performances from Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana, and John Lackey likely to improve going forward, why should they make a push for C.C.? Olney sees the Brewers and the Cubs as more interested parties. (Ken Rosenthal mentioned the Brewers and the Rays as C.C. suitors yesterday.) Later in the post, Olney notes that Sabathia has a 1.96 ERA in his last fourteen starts. Yowza.
  • How the Rockies fare over the next two weeks could determine what becomes of Brian Fuentes.
  • Olney can’t decide whether the Orioles should buy or sell. What do you think?
  • Roy Oswalt won’t get traded, with Olney linking to the Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice for his evidence. (Oswalt has, of course, been talking like he’d prefer to be somewhere else.) Also working against a deal for Oswalt: his continued experiments with pitching to contact (to keep the ol’ pitch count down) haven’t been going very well this year, either. His K/9 has been declining for years, of course, but it may have reached a point of no return this season. Whatever happens, I’m sure the ’stros would prefer to move him at peak value, not right now when he has a 4.77 ERA.
  • Homer Bailey, back in Triple A Louisville, isn’t getting any love from the scout quoted here, who says he threw "batting practice fastballs." Bailey was 0-3 with a 8.73 ERA in the majors this year after a hotly anticipated call-up. Given the bounty of young arms they already have, the Reds would probably prefer to trade him…but alas, his value has dropped the way his curveball used to. 

Sarah Green writes for UmpBump and the Boston Metro and can be reached here.

Odds and Ends: Lieber, Tavarez, Oswalt

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We’ve got mostly smaller stuff today, so let’s kick it off with an odds and ends.

Molony’s Latest: Minaya, Oswalt, Arroyo, Redding

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MLB.com’s Jim Molony tackles the hot stove in today’s article.

  • Molony says Omar Minaya is on the hot seat, though others feel his job is relatively safe.
  • Roy Oswalt is not available, but he was recently scouted by the Angels, Braves, Mets, and Phillies.
  • The Yanks have scouted C.C. Sabathia and Bronson Arroyo but haven’t made any offers.  I just don’t see how Arroyo could be effective back in the American League.
  • The Phillies are still looking for a lefty reliever.  Looking at my Trade Market post, Alan Embree, George Sherrill, Brian Fuentes, Eddie Guardado, Damaso Marte, John Grabow, Ron Mahay, or Jeremy Affeldt could fit the bill.  It still doesn’t seem like a pressing need to me, though.
  • Molony speculates that Tim Redding could be a popular name on the trade market.  Redding has a 4.10 ERA, but it’s propped up by a .258 BABIP (as a team, the Nationals have a .307 BABIP).

Stark’s Latest: Oswalt, Tejada, Upton, Burrell

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Check out the latest column from ESPN’s Jayson Stark.

  • Stark talked to one exec who believed the Astros’ baseball people might consider a Roy Oswalt trade, but owner Drayton McLane never would.
  • The exec also questioned whether the Astros would’ve given up a bounty of five players to acquire Miguel Tejada if they’d known the player’s true age.
  • Stark implies that the Upton brothers are eyeing big bucks and aren’t likely to sign extensions.
  • Stark’s sources believe the Phillies will offer Pat Burrell something like two years and $14MM.  He’ll probably want significantly more than that.

Oswalt Staying Put

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Last night on Baseball Tonight, Peter Gammons suggested that Roy Oswalt might become available and that he was willing to waive his no-trade clause.

The Astros, however, are far from cashing in their chips.  They’ve won their last four and have no intention of trading Oswalt.  Oswalt is signed through 2011 with a full no-trade clause.  Oswalt repeated his stance from last year – he’d consider waiving it if the Astros approached him (and if the acquiring team is the Cardinals, Braves, or Red Sox).  I imagine most players feel this way.  It’s a moot point right now; Ed Wade isn’t considering trading him.

Oswalt seemed like the one true healthy ace who might be available come July.  I’ll touch on the remaining options in the next MLB Roundup.

Mets Rumors: Kuroda, Livan, Estrada, Colon

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UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 5:49pm: Jayson Stark says the Mets haven’t talked to the the A’s or Orioles at all in Nashville, meaning no talks for Haren or Bedard as of yet.

FROM 12-4-07 at 8:05am:

What’s cooking with the Mets?  Let’s round ’em up.

  • Mark Hale reports that the Mets have advanced to "Round 2" of the bidding process for Hiroki Kuroda.  They did this by indicating a ballpark of what they might offer but without actually making an offer.  Hale says 8-10 teams are in on Kuroda, including the Royals, Phillies, Diamondbacks, and Mariners.  The Ms reportedly have some kind of offer out to him, either 3/30 or 4/44.  The Phils are said to have an offer out as well.  Hale doesn’t name the Dodgers but it’s been said they’re getting aggressive on him too.  The Cubs and Rangers are other teams that have been connected to Kuroda. 
  • The Mets appear to have mild interest in Livan Hernandez, perhaps as a fallback innings-eater option.  The Phillies, Cardinals, Nationals, and Astros are other known suitors for Livan.
  • The big fish are still out there in Johan Santana, Erik Bedard, and Dan Haren.  The Mets won’t include Jose Reyes, David Wright, or Carlos Beltran in any deal.  It’s been said that a Carlos Gomez/Aaron Heilman/Philip Humber package was offered for Bedard and rejected.
  • Dan Graziano says the Mets also inquired on Dontrelle Willis, Ben Sheets, and Roy Oswalt and were told none of the three are available.  Graziano adds that the Mets are looking into signing Bartolo Colon.
  • Omar Minaya will meet with the agents for Octavio Dotel and Shawn Chacon today.
  • Minaya disputes Ken Rosenthal’s report that he sought an extension from the Mets and didn’t get one.  Ownership told him he’ll be there "a long time."
  • Though they didn’t want him in the Lastings Milledge deal, the Nationals are interested in acquiring Johnny Estrada for their catcher vacancy.  Damian Miller is also known to be a target of Jim Bowden’s.

Astros Contact Cordero, Iguchi, Matsui

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As promised, new Astros GM Ed Wade has touched base with a ton of free agents.  We already knew about Luis Castillo, Jon Lieber, Scott Linebrink, Torii Hunter, Aaron Rowand, and Tom Glavine (see Astros rumor archive).

Today we’ve got more names to add to the list, courtesy of Jose de Jesus Ortiz.  The most interesting one: closer Francisco Cordero.  Buster Olney’s thinking is that the Astros contacting Cordero indicates a willingness to trade incumbent closer Brad Lidge.  Olney spoke to one executive who predicted Cordero would get $40MM this winter.  That sounds about right.  Cordero’s agent, the delightfully named Bean Stringfellow, represented Billy Wagner for his landmark four-year, $43MM deal in November of 2005.  If several teams decide they need to have an All-Star closer, I could see bidding getting closer to $50MM for Cordero.  Or even a five-year deal.

The Astros are also poking around on a couple of second baseman, despite their supposed satisfaction with Chris Burke.  Aside from Castillo, Wade has contacted Tadahito Iguchi and Kaz Matsui.  That trio pretty much sums up the second base market. 

By the way, Olney also notes that any notion of the Astros making Roy Oswalt available is false.

Latest Mets Rumors: A-Rod, Silva, Blanton

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Plenty of action around the Mets lately; Omar Minaya has his work cut out for him.  Hat tip to MetsBlog for several of the links.

  • The sensational storyline here is that Minaya will meet with Scott Boras to discuss Alex Rodriguez.  However, Boras and Minaya might spend more time discussing Kyle Lohse and Eric Gagne than A-Rod – the Mets’ focus is pitching.
  • Newsday’s Ken Davidoff reminds us of past trade talks regarding Joe Blanton, Jose Contreras, and Jon Garland.  Those talks may be re-opened, though Davidoff notes that the White Sox aren’t enamored of Lastings Milledge.  Additionally, the Mets will meet with Carlos Silva’s people this week.
  • Buster Olney discusses the Mets’ pursuit for pitching today in his blog.  They need a horse, somebody who can chew up innings.  Aside from the aforementioned Silva and Blanton, Olney names Roy Oswalt, Dan Haren, Scott Kazmir, and Dontrelle Willis as possible targets (though Marc Lancaster considers the declaration of Kazmir’s availability to be "dubious at best."  Meanwhile one exec thinks the Rays would only make him available if "his arm is about to blow.")  Olney’s guess is that the Mets will acquire Blanton.  The Mets have some combination of Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber, Lastings Milledge, Carlos Gomez, and Aaron Heilman to offer.  There are pros and cons to dealing each.
  • There are other concerns besides pitching: second base and catcher.  Besides the forthcoming monster offer to Jorge Posada, the Mets are considering Paul Lo Duca and Yorvit Torrealba as fallbacks.  Ramon Castro is looking for a two-year deal, and hopes it’s with the Mets.  However, the Rockies have their eye on him. 
  • Pedro Martinez expects to pitch beyond 2008.  Whether that will be for the Mets or someone else, who knows.
  • Marlon Anderson’s two-year deal will be announced today, according to Adam Rubin.  The Mets will pass on Jose Valentin and Brian Lawrence’s options.   

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