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Torii Hunter

Angels Do Not Have Interest In Dye

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WEDNESDAY: Bill Shaikin talked to Angels GM Tony Reagins, who shot down Cowley’s Dye rumor.  Reagins said, "No truth to that rumor."  Reagins apparently hasn’t talked to the White Sox for a while, though Shaikin’s source indicated the Angels did express interest in Dye before they re-signed Juan Rivera.

MONDAY: The Los Angeles Angels have interest in Chicago White Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

According to a major-league scout, the Angels are the latest team to express interest in acquiring Dye now that the Mark Teixeira ship has set sail to New York. Unlike the talks with the Cincinnati Reds that stalled during the Winter Meetings, the Sox and Angels actually have a fit, Cowley wrote.

Cowley speculates that the White Sox would want Chone Figgins in return. Figgins could play third base and lead off for Chicago.

Cowley also notes that the Angels have a surplus of outfielders, but the Angels want to add protection in the lineup for Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter.

Cowley’s source also said the Angels do not like the rest of the free-agent outfield market and do not want to be pawns in the on-going Manny Ramirez saga.

The Angels are not one of the teams listed on Dye’s no-trade list, Cowley writes.

Mark Teixeira Rumors: Friday

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3:48pm: Jon Heyman believes the Red Sox are at their final number, at least $180MM.  Scott Miller explains why you shouldn’t be surprised if the Nationals sign Teixeira.

2:39pm: Buster Olney and Peter Gammons suggest a lower amount was offered by Boston: $165-170MM.  That’s seemingly at least $20MM short of what Boras wants.  He might be happy with eight years, $184MM ($23MM per).

Olney, Gammons, Adam Kilgore, and Nick Cafardo are all on board with the sentiment that the Red Sox remain in the mix for Teixeira.

9:33am: Jon Heyman says the Red Sox remain interested in Teixeira, but are sticking to their eight-year offer of $180MM or so.  Nick Cafardo has a similar take.  Tony Massarotti and Thomas Boswell are good reads as well.

9:05am: George King learned from Brian Cashman that it was not the Yankees who outbid the Red Sox for Teixeira (if they were indeed outbid).  Chico Harlan says the Nationals are in a holding pattern until the Tex situation is resolved.

8:03am: Mike DiGiovanna says Boston’s eight-year offer in the $175MM range was "significantly" better than the Angels’ eight-year proposal.  But DiGiovanna talked to Torii Hunter, who spoke to Teixeira and said the Angels "gave him an offer that blew everyone away."  Also, DiGiovanna finds it doubtful that the Angels would match the two-year, $45MM offer the Dodgers made to Manny Ramirez.

7:50am: Alex Speier of WEEI examines both vague statements, as well as past Red Sox-Boras battles.  Meanwhile, Joel Sherman offers thoughts on the idea of Teixeira signing with the Nationals, drawing parallel to the Rangers’ A-Rod contract.

12:52am: Yesterday evening we received this surprising statement from Red Sox owner John Henry:

"We met with Mr. Teixeira and were very much impressed with him. After hearing about his other offers, however, it seems clear that we are not going to be a factor."

Michael Silverman was able to get this quote from Scott Boras as a semi-response:

"The Boston ownership was kind enough to request and travel to meet with Mark Teixeira. While it was a very positive meeting Mark was candid and advised he is in the process of making a decision and is now attempting to eliminate teams."

Royals Payroll Could Reach $70 Million

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Sports Radio 810 in Kansas City talked to Royals GM Dayton Moore recently.

  • Moore hopes to sign Zack Greinke long-term.  Greinke, however, is comfortable going year to year to maximize his earnings.
  • Moore named three free agent bats he ranked above Mike Jacobs: Mark Teixeira, Manny Ramirez, and Bobby Abreu.  He implied those three are out of the Royals’ price range.  Moore feels that Jacobs will continue to improve.
  • Moore says he has flexibility to extend payroll toward $70MM or even higher.  He notes that last year the Royals tried to sign Jose Guillen and Torii Hunter, which would’ve pushed payroll to that range. 
  • Moore lists his needs as speed, OBP, a starting pitcher, and bullpen help.
  • Mike Aviles could be shifted to second base if the Royals can acquire a "proven everyday shortstop."  Royals Authority says: don’t move him!

Rosenthal’s Latest: Hunter, Santana, Quentin

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It’s Sunday again, so we’ve got some tidbits from Ken Rosenthal’s Full Count video:

  • Torii Hunter was courted by the White Sox and Rangers before signing with the Angels this past offseason; however, according to Hunter, he had a meeting scheduled with the Dodgers to discuss taking the spot that Andruw Jones would come to occupy. The Angels signed him, preventing the meeting.
  • As we enter June, the sky is falling in Seattle…
  • Rosenthal doesn’t think there’s a lot of regret in the Yankee organization for not acquiring Johan Santana.  One executive notes Santana’s throwing with increased effort this season yet without increased results.
  • In this piece, Rosenthal commends the White Sox for their deal for Carlos Quentin. Writes Rosenthal, "’I give Kenny credit — he was on Quentin for a while,’ Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes said. ’He believed that the same Carlos Quentin would return now that his shoulder is fixed.’"

By Nat Boyle

Rangers Were Close To Acquiring Johan

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SI.com’s Jon Heyman checks in with some inside info from the What Might’ve Been file.  He says the Rangers and Twins were close to an agreement on the players involved in a trade that would’ve sent Johan Santana to Texas.  The Twins pulled the plug when Santana was noncommital about whether he’d approve a trade to the Rangers.  They felt that this would’ve decreased his market value (instead the Twins ended up overplaying their hand and accepting the second or third-best offer).

Heyman speculates that the Rangers could’ve offered Eric Hurley and/or Edinson Volquez, for starters.  A Taylor Teagarden and various high-ceiling types could’ve been in there too, I imagine.  Would’ve been interesting to see Minnesota get Teagarden and shift Joe Mauer to third base in ’09.

The Rangers hoped to pair Johan with Torii Hunter, but Hunter couldn’t pass on the Angels’ offer.  Five years, $90MM is the kind of offer he had to pounce on. 

Cubs Never Called Torii

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I don’t have enough for an odds and ends, so this little tidbit gets its own post today.  Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times learned that the Cubs never put in a call to Torii Hunter’s agent this winter before he signed with the Angels.  Torii’s friend Derrek Lee found this shocking; he could have facilitated some talks. Hunter grew up a Cubs fan because of WGN, like many people outside of Illinois.

The Cubs don’t quite seem sold on Felix Pie as their center fielder, given their interest in Marlon Byrd earlier this year.  He’s had about 200 plate appearances worth of growing pains, and the Cubs apparently want more immediate production.  PECOTA projects a robust .291/.344/.480 line from the 23 year-old this year.

Odds and Ends: Santana, Hunter

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Let’s kick off the morning with some odds and ends, absent any earth-shattering rumors.  I’ll keep adding to this post.

  • Awesome inside look at the Torii Hunter deal via Bob Nightengale.  Hunter’s first choice outside of Minnesota was the Cardinals, but they weren’t interested.
  • Hunter – not overpaid?  So says J.C. Bradbury.
  • Still some confusion about Johan Santana’s no-trade clause.  Buster Olney says it’s full and doesn’t indicate that the rights change on any certain date.  Matthew Cerrone says it’s a full NTC only until Opening Day ’08, when it switches to 12 teams.  Those are not mutually exclusive comments, so I guess we’ll see.
  • Phil Rogers doesn’t think the Cubs will re-sign Kerry Wood.  He also sees the Giants in the lead for Miguel Cabrera now.
  • My coworker Jonathan makes a good point – thought the Sox wouldn’t give four-year deals to pitchers?  They made a huge fuss over Mark Buehrle.  Suddenly Scott Linebrink is worthy of breaking the rule again?  Some are skeptical.
  • Bobby Kielty typically smacks around left-handed pitching (Brian Fuentes for example).  He’ll hook on as some team’s fourth outfielder as a free agent.  He’d like to return to Boston, but that would require a Coco Crisp trade. Rob Bradford names the Twins, Braves, Rangers, and White Sox as possibilities otherwise. 

Torii Hunter – Additional Thoughts

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Random thoughts in the aftermath of the Torii Hunter shocker…

  • We can’t really say whether the Hunter signing was about money or winning, because a winning team made an offer far beyond any other club.  It is inconclusive.
  • U.S.S. Mariner notes that Hunter received the same contract Ichiro did, but he’s not the same caliber of player.
  • David Pinto sees a very old Angels outfield in the future.
  • The Rangers were at five years, $75MM with a club option for 2013.  Both Texas and the White Sox may now turn their attention to Aaron Rowand.  Suddenly his perception that he’s a $14MM player seems more realistic.
  • The Twins must be pleasantly surprised – they get the Angels’ 27th overall pick next June.  All the other teams thought to be in the mix for Hunter had their first round picks protected.  The loss of the pick just accentuates how much the Halos overpaid here.

Torii Hunter Signs With Angels

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Who saw this one coming?  Now only did he sign on Thanksgiving Day, but Torii Hunter signed with the Angels.  The news broke a little after midnight.  It’s a five-year contract for $90MM.  That’s a surprising $18MM annually for those poor in math.  No one even knew the two sides were talking!  Hunter just isn’t an $18MM player to me.  I can see why he jumped on this.

The Halos now have six players for three outfield spots and one DH spot.  Hunter will always be in center, and Vlad will always be at DH or in right.  So then only two of Garret Anderson, Juan Rivera, Reggie Willits, and Gary Matthews Jr. will be in the lineup (unless someone goes to first base and knocks Casey Kotchman to the bench).

GM Tony Reagins says this doesn’t affect his other dealings, so perhaps he’s created these outfield and pitching surpluses to acquire Miguel Cabrera or Miguel Tejada.  Willits would be appealing to the Marlins, I imagine.

Odds and Ends: Fukudome, Eckstein, Lowell

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Ah yes, the odds and ends post, where I cobble together the day’s random links.

  • The Rangers have mild interest Scott Podsednik.  Pods had two separate stints in the Rangers organization but never reached the bigs with them.
  • The Big Lead has an interesting interview with Yahoo baseball guy Jeff Passan, wherein a run-in with Jose Lima is recounted.  Passan also takes on Fire Joe Morgan a bit.
  • Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog is hearing that Kosuke Fukudome is looking for three years and $30MM.  Sounds fair.
  • The Angels are considering signing David Eckstein and/or Darin Erstad, for some reason.
  • Bob Dutton reports that the Royals can be patient with their offer to Torii Hunter, while the White Sox want a quick resolution.  Bonus: a rather large, but not too pixellated picture of Hunter at the Dutton link.  Hunter, by the way, could save $750K per year if he signs with the Rangers because Texas has no state income tax.  Hunter is also considering the Las Vegas 51s for that same reason, I heard. 
  • Per Buster Olney, the Dodgers put in a three-year offer to Mike Lowell.  He takes this as a sign they weren’t serious, but Ned Colletti has shown a tendency to offer fewer years and more per year.  He did this with Rafael Furcal and Jason Schmidt.  So maybe the Dodgers put out a 3/45 offer or something.
  • The Phils picked up oft-injured outfielder Chris Snelling from the Rays for cash.  He’s yet to accumulate 100 big league at-bats in a season, but maybe that’ll change in 2008.
  • Ed Wade + relievers = trouble.  Doug Brocail is on the radar.
  • McCovey Chronicles lists some realistic position player targets for the Giants, including Jeff Clement, Andy Marte, and Adam Lind.

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