Odds and Ends: Fogg, Jays, Red Sox, White Sox
Links for Friday…
- Corey Brock talked to agent Barry Axelrod about the slow-moving free agent market.
- The D’Backs still have Will Ohman and Joe Beimel on the radar, but Nick Piecoro believes they’d like to add a starter first.
- Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino doesn’t want the team’s dealings with Scott Boras for Mark Teixeira to affect other negotiations.
- Josh Fogg hopes to sign soon; possibilities may include the Rockies, Orioles, and Nationals.
- The Blue Jays are currently in talks with a Japanese pitcher.
- Nolan Ryan comments on the free agent market.
- Ed Wade explains his approach to waivers.
- Tony Massarotti projects an Opening Day payroll around $135MM for the Red Sox. Michael Silverman examines Boston’s options behind the plate.
- South Side Sox have the White Sox around $100MM for their Opening Day payroll.
- RotoAuthority lists the hitters projected to earn at least $10 in fantasy value in 2009.
Odds and Ends: Smoltz, Cordero, Colon, Byrd
Links for Thursday…
- John Smoltz told Dan Patrick that the Yankees and Dodgers also courted him.
- KNBR had interviews with Scott Boras and Ned Colletti yesterday.
- The Dodgers are "only monitoring" Kris Benson and Chad Cordero.
- The Phillies have "kept tabs" on Cordero and Eric Milton.
- Baseball America ranked the Rangers’ farm system as the best in baseball.
- Andy MacPhail says the Orioles don’t necessarily have to add a first baseman.
- South Side Sox and Sox Machine on the Bartolo Colon signing.
- Jon Paul Morosi says Jason Isringhausen is a "natural fit" for the Tigers.
- The Red Sox will only get a supplemental pick for Paul Byrd if he signs before the June draft.
- Barry Bloom gathers responses from baseball execs on the salary cap issue.
- Eddie Bajek made a breakthrough in his attempt to crack the Elias code.
- Richard Justice has an interesting story involving new Astro Russ Ortiz.
- Rickey Henderson says he’s still available to play. Asked about the WBC, he responded, ""What is [the WBC], wrestling?"
- Transcript of an interview with Red Sox owner John Henry.
Rosenthal On Lackey, Dunn, Young, Isringhausen
Here’s a look at the latest from Ken Rosenthal.
- John Lackey is due up for extension talks with the Angels, as he’ll be eligible for free agency after the ’09 season. He’d easily be the best available starter. Rosenthal says talks with the Angels should occur before the beginning of the season, but the Halos may not be willing to offer A.J. Burnett money (five years, $82.5MM). In November, Jayson Stark said Lackey had been telling friends he expects to have an extension by Opening Day. That came after Lackey’s confirmation he’d wait to see the Angels’ offensive plans before re-signing.
- The Braves paid $60MM for Derek Lowe, though no one else made a comparable offer. This is a testament to Scott Boras (and perhaps the Braves’ desperation), though Boras has more challenging work ahead in Manny Ramirez and Jason Varitek.
- The Red Sox have shown interest in Adam Dunn, one rival exec tells Rosenthal. Rosenthal considers the possibility a longshot – "a square peg in a round hole." The Sox could always make a midseason deal if their offense isn’t cutting it.
- A Rangers official put Michael Young‘s chances of being with the team on Opening Day at at least 90%. The Rangers aren’t interested in moving Ian Kinsler to left field and Young to second base.
- Rosenthal believes Xavier Nady is likely to garner Type A status when he becomes a free agent after the ’09 season, but half of the equation (his 2009 stats) is missing.
- Jason Isringhausen is considering four teams, and he’d have a shot to close for those clubs. The Dodgers aren’t terribly interested, while the Cardinals and Tigers are possibilities.
- Should the Mets sign Andy Pettitte as well as Randy Wolf or Oliver Perez? One rival exec suggested the idea.
- The Astros apparently made a three-year, $28.5MM offer to Wolf before pulling it back. Looks like he’ll be settling for less.
- Rosenthal says a Rangers trade for Jermaine Dye is "not happening." They’ll go with Hank Blalock‘s left-handed offense rather than sign an aging veteran. Blalock is headed into a contract year.
- If Todd Helton has a healthy spring, the Rockies could shop Garrett Atkins.
- The Red Sox and D’Backs are not close to a deal involving catcher Miguel Montero. Arizona will need to add a capable backup catcher if they do find a deal for Montero.
Odds and Ends: Lowry, Kawakami, Lowe, Young
Links for Wednesday…
- Rany Jazayerli has withdrawn his support for Royals GM Dayton Moore.
- Chris Haft says that if Noah Lowry has a nice spring, perhaps the Giants should trade him rather than Jonathan Sanchez.
- Keith Law says Kenshin Kawakami should provide bulk innings for the Braves, while the risk with Derek Lowe is his age.
- La Velle E. Neal III doesn’t get the sense the Twins are interested in Michael Young.
- Jeff Wilson looks at the likely free agent options for the Rangers.
- Peter Abraham suggests the Yankees don’t have sufficient rotation depth without Andy Pettitte or a similar veteran addition.
- It was bound to happen sooner or later…a blog dedicated entirely to Scott Boras.
- The Reds are looking for power off the bench…Mark Sheldon has suggestions.
- A look at the Twins’ non-roster invitees.
- Geoff Baker says the Mariners screwed up with Jarrod Washburn.
Odds and Ends: Andruw, Manny, Hudson
Links for Monday…
- David Chase lists the signs a pitcher may be primed for a breakout.
- The Dodgers considered trying to void Andruw Jones‘ contract, but waived possible action as part of their new agreement.
- Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng on the Manny Ramirez talks.
- Michael Silverman explains why the Red Sox are not inclined to deal with Scott Boras.
- Dave Sheinin talked to one exec who predicted a one-year deal for Orlando Hudson.
- The Tigers signed Taiwanese lefty Fu-Te Ni.
- The alleged Japanese interest in Eric Hinske may have come from the SoftBank Hawks, in November.
- Pitcher win (and dollar) values are now up at FanGraphs. Cliff Lee was worth $20.2MM in 2008.
Derek Lowe Rumors: Friday
7:45pm: Mark Bowman reports that the Braves are actually readying their first offer for Lowe, which they plan to make on Monday or Tuesday. More from Bowman here.
3:40pm: O’Brien has details on the Braves’ five-hour meeting with Lowe and Boras. He says the Braves’ offer is expected today and they want Lowe badly. It may require a four-year commitment.
As far as Kenshin Kawakami – the Braves are among the four finalists. On the offensive side O’Brien suggests Adam Dunn or Xavier Nady could be targets.
9:26am: According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Braves met with Derek Lowe and Scott Boras for several hours yesterday. O’Brien says the Braves’ offer was unknown, implying that they did make an offer.
O’Brien also reiterated that Boras said the Mets’ widely reported three-year, $36MM offer was never made and would’ve been far too low anyway. O’Brien mentions the Phillies, Brewers, and Angels as other Lowe suitors, but Ken Rosenthal said those three clubs denied interest. Brewers GM Doug Melvin said Tuesday in regard to Lowe: "We’re not in on him."
Mets Meet With Boras
THURSDAY, 8:55am: MetsBlog sums up the reports about the team’s Boras meeting. Ken Davidoff says the Mets are confident they’ll sign Lowe or Perez.
WEDNESDAY, 7:41pm Anthony DiComo has sources that say the Mets spoke with Boras about all of his free agent clients. That list includes Perez and Ramirez, although DiComo says Manny remains a long shot.
4:23pm MetsBlog’s Matthew Cerrone has some info on the Mets’ recent meeting with Scott Boras. He believes the discussions focused on Derek Lowe (not Oliver Perez or Manny Ramirez) and ended on a positive note, though Boras will probably take more time.
Cerrone agrees with Joel Sherman that a three-year, $42MM deal with a fourth-year vesting option for Lowe is feasible.
Odds and Ends: Saito, Teixeira, LaRoche
More Tuesday links…
- Over at RotoAuthority, David Chase examines more of the optimistic Spring Training reports of ’08. Particularly interesting: did pitchers follow up on their intention to use a new pitch?
- The Marlins’ Scott Proctor signing is official. Also, Chan Ho Park with the Phillies.
- Carl Pohlad’s three sons will take over for their father.
- McCovey Chronicles trade idea: Randy Winn for Xavier Nady.
- Add Randy Choate to the minor league deals for the Rays.
- Economist J.C. Bradbury says "the economic downturn cannot explain the magnitude of Pat Burrell‘s discount." He believes teams are exaggerating the recession effect.
- Keith Law says the risk in giving Milton Bradley a three-year deal "seems excessive" but notes that Bradley is an excellent hitter and above-average defender.
- Patrick Newman learned that Takashi Saito received almost ten offers last month, including proposals from the Cardinals and Red Sox. Newman also has new reports of various minor league-level Japanese players who want to join MLB organizations.
- Tony Massarotti has all kinds of questions about Boston’s failure to sign Mark Teixeira. Craig Calcaterra offers analysis on the team’s Boras relationship. Check out stuff from today’s Yankees press conference here and here.
- Sox Machine on how Jim Thome staying healthy messed up Ken Williams’ plans.
- Dejan Kovacevic says Adam LaRoche would like to stay in Pittsburgh past ’09, but the team is not considering an extension.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Jays, Mets, Red Sox, Nats, Yankees
On this date 32 years ago, commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended Braves owner Ted Turner for one year for tampering. Turner had announced publicly that the Braves would sign free agent-to-be Gary Matthews. Unfortunately, 30 years later, nobody was disciplined when the Angels signed free agent Gary Matthews Jr. to a $50MM contract. In the first two years of the deal, Matthews has been paid $15MM and his play has been worth -$600K (yes, that is negative) according to Fangraphs. With several big free agents still looking for new teams, will any of them be the next Matthews Jr? Only time will tell. In the meantime, let’s see what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- The Eddie Kranepool Society is not worried about Derek Lowe, feeling the deal will get done once the Mets add a fourth option year and sweeten the pot just a tad. They are also putting the Mets front office on notice about the possibility of letting Manny Ramirez slip through their fingers.
- Mets Geek feels the Mets still need to add one more piece to their revamped bullpen and suggest Wil Ohman or Joe Beimel are better options as a lefty specialist than what is already in-house.
- The Southpaw takes a look at some young players the Jays should try to target in the trade market, with Chin-Lung Hu at the top of the list.
- My Baseball Bias is not satisfied with just Mark Teixeira and wants to see the Yankees sign Manny Ramirez.
- Fire Brand of the American League makes a case for three players to be the Red Sox fourth outfielder, including Rocco Baldelli, Brad Wilkerson and Eric Byrnes.
- MLB Notebook takes a look at how the Nationals could spend the $20MM that would have gone to Mark Teixeira.
- River Ave. Blues says this offseason is proving to be a test of just how good Scott Boras can be.
- Sully Baseball is running a series of posts breaking down each team’s all-time home grown versus all-time acquired teams. Here he looks at the Astros.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here.
Odds and Ends: Bonds, Boras, Snell
Links for Thursday…
- MLBTR had over 3,500 posts in 2008. Thanks for reading! In ’08 we added a Facebook page, a mobile site, and weekly chats while also redesigning the main site. It was my first year working full-time on MLBTR.
- Barry Bonds had hip surgery with the intent of playing in 2009, according to John Shea.
- The Rays re-signed catcher Michel Hernandez to a minor league deal.
- Darren Rovell interviewed Scott Boras.
- Ian Snell agrees with Jack Wilson – the Pirates need more players.
- A discussion of power/speed players over at RotoAuthority.
- The River Avenue Blues writers break down the Johnny Damon contract in a post on Peter Abraham’s blog. They argue that he’s been worth 13MM per year so far.
- Mike Berardino expects the Marlins to remain quiet for now, but predicts that they’ll find a bargain or two before Spring Training.
- The Toronto Star looks ahead towards a potentially tough year for Toronto sports fans, no thanks to the Blue Jays.
- The recent merger of Aaron Miles and the Cubs isn’t well-received at FanGraphs.