Rangers Expected To Be Sellers
At 7-15, the Rangers have the worst record in the American League. Team president Nolan Ryan doesn’t seem ready for a fire sale yet, but you have to figure the Rangers will be clear sellers come June.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post recently suggested Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Hank Blalock, Frank Catalanotto, and Milton Bradley as trade candidates. As Sherman says, Millwood could be a hot commodity. He looks healthy and would certainly help a contender. Gerald Laird, Marlon Byrd, Jamey Wright, and Joaquin Benoit could also be dealt.
The Rangers already have the fourth-best farm system in baseball according to Baseball America; Jon Daniels’ team could climb even higher with another bountiful July.
Ranger Rumors: Botts, Otsuka, Padilla
Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News recently did a Q&A, and there were some interesting hot stove-related tidbits to consider.
- Grant believes one of Nelson Cruz or Jason Botts will depart before Opening Day. Botts is out of options, so he may be more likely to go. While acknowledging that he is a 27 year-old DH, Botts’ recent Major League Equivalencies say he may be able to post an .800 OPS in the bigs.
- Grant answers a question about Akinori Otsuka and his "scary" elbow. He says Otsuka probably can’t pitch through the pain and if he did his ligament would be at risk of tearing anyway. That’s why Otsuka is a free agent (not because he recommended San Diego to Kosuke Fukudome). The Padres and Phillies have been linked to Otsuka, while the White Sox passed on him.
- Grant notes that the Mariners had mild interest in Vicente Padilla but that may be gone with their Carlos Silva signing. Since Padilla’s value is at a low point it may make sense to hope he has a solid first half and deal him then.
Rangers Rumors: Lamb, Gagne, Prior
As usual, Evan Grant has the latest Rangers hot stove buzz.
- New acquisition Chris Shelton may see some time at first base for the Rangers. As far as left-handed hitters, the Rangers’ options are Mike Lamb, Sean Casey, and in-house choice Frank Catalanotto.
- Free agents Eric Gagne, LaTroy Hawkins, Corey Patterson, and Milton Bradley are still on the radar.
- Contrary to previous reports, the Rangers aren’t interested in Mark Prior.
- The Rangers don’t want to move Vicente Padilla or Kevin Millwood as straight-up salary dumps.
Rangers Rumors: Blalock, Lamb, Padilla
Evan Grant has the latest Rangers hot stove buzz.
- 27 year-old third baseman Hank Blalock is getting a lot of play. Grant names the Cardinals, Phillies, Twins, and Dodgers as teams that have inquired. Jon Daniels says no team has made an impressive offer and he’s not inclined to trade Blalock. It would be a bit of a sell-low move.
- The Rangers met with Mike Lamb‘s agent yesterday afternoon; they’re the frontrunners for him. They have a full-time first base job for Lamb, who came up in the organization.
- Teams are interested in Vicente Padilla, but everyone wants the Johan thing to be finished before moving on pitching.
Stark’s Latest: Edmonds, Pierre, Guillen, Santana
ESPN’s Jayson Stark always cranks out a bunch of new rumors when he writes a column. This week is no exception.
- Jose Reyes: going nowhere.
- Probably since they hope to include him in a Johan Santana deal, the Red Sox won’t trade Coco Crisp until that situation is resolved. The Rangers liked Crisp, but are considering interesting alternatives: Rocco Baldelli, Jim Edmonds, and Juan Pierre. If only Ned Colletti could get someone to take his Pierre contract. Then he could sign another one almost equally as bad. Then he could trade Aaron Rowand a year from now and repeat the process.
- The Braves also liked Crisp, so they’ll move on for now. Stark speculates a stopgap like Dave Roberts could work.
- More speculation: Andruw Jones as a darkhorse signing for the Royals. I guess that would push David DeJesus out of center field.
- Is there an unmentioned Mystery Team in on Johan Santana? Stark’s sources suggest the Mariners, but those guys must not read Jon Heyman’s column. I’ll go with the Reds as my guess on the Mystery Team, if there is one.
- Speaking of guesses, Stark surmises that the Padres and Mets could be interested in Jose Guillen, aside from the Royals.
- More rumblings that Vicente Padilla could be traded this winter. Funny quote about how Padilla doesn’t have baggage – he has luggage. In fact his luggage cannot be carried, rather it requires a mid-sized cart.
Heyman’s Latest: Piazza, Matthews, Milledge
SI.com’s Jon Heyman checks in with a new Daily Scoop column full of rumors.
- A lot of the standard trade talk we’ve seen regarding Miguel Cabrera, Johan Santana, Miguel Tejada, and Dan Haren. All these guys require two good young players or more in a trade.
- Mike Piazza is considering DHing in Japan if he doesn’t find anything he likes in the U.S.
- Heyman talked to an AL exec who speculated that the Angels may try to unload Gary Matthews Jr. GMJ makes $9MM in ’08, $10MM in ’09, $11MM in ’10, and $12MM in ’11. He currently has a full no-trade clause.
- Juan Uribe and Vicente Padilla are two salary-dump types whose names have surfaced in recent trade talks (unrelated to each other). Padilla is owed $24.75MM over the next two seasons.
- Heyman believes the Mets are very willing to trade Lastings Milledge and have discussed him often.
- We knew the Mets had discussed Ramon Hernandez and Gerald Laird. Heyman adds the Nats’ Brian Schneider to the mix. He makes $4.9MM in ’08 and another $4.9MM in ’09.
Mariners Listening On Sexson
Mariners first baseman Richie Sexson hit a painful .205/.295/.399 last year. He’s got one more year on his contract at $14MM, and most feel that he can’t help but be better in 2008. Mariners GM Bill Bavasi recently acknowledged that some teams have inquired about Sexson.
According to the link above, one option could be swapping Sexson for another supposed bad contract, Vicente Padilla. Padilla makes $11MM in ’08, $12MM in ’09, and has a $12MM club option for 2010 with a $1.75MM buyout. So he has $24.75MM guaranteed left on his contract. Padilla had an injury-plagued year but at least came on strong in September. He’s fairly risky in general, but the fact that he’s crazy is an added burden. Still, I imagine he’s looking interesting to several teams.
Another place to send Sexson could be Kansas City. The Royals don’t have a bad contract to swap, so the Ms would have to eat money. I’m guessing the Royals would take a chance on Sexson if they only had to pay half his salary.
The Giants are one other team that has been linked to Sexson, and they do have the Ray Durham contract to swap. Durham makes $7.5MM in ’08 in the last year of his deal.
Rangers Rumors: Kinsler, Laird, Padilla
Here’s the latest hot stove buzz surrounding the Rangers.
- The team will try again to lock up second baseman Ian Kinsler long-term. It would be a five-year deal, buying out one year of free agency. Kinsler had an inconsistent 2007. He hit .298/.375/.667 with 9 HR in April and .256/.351/.393 thereafter. Nice to see him draw 62 walks though.
- Jon Daniels has had several teams ask him about Gerald Laird and Hank Blalock. He’s not likely to sell low on Blalock. But Laird is getting more costly and the Rangers want to use Jarrod Saltalamacchia full-time behind the plate. He’s only 28 – young in catcher years – and has a cannon for an arm. And while he didn’t hit much in ’07, he’s shown flashes of potential. The Red Sox have checked in on him.
- Daniels admitted publicly admitted that he’s open to trading Vicente Padilla. Might as well not hide it. This could be a fine buy-low opportunity for some team, if they can keep his attitude in check. The Cubs had interest last summer but don’t figure to re-open the discussion.
- The Rangers will look at Japanese options in Kosuke Fukudome and Hiroki Kuroda. They also like Mike Lamb and Ben Broussard. Those all seem like reasonable signings.
Rangers Rumors: DeJesus, Lamb, Millar
Evan Grant writes for the Dallas Morning News, but he posted this column at night. Go figure. He’s got some new info regarding the Rangers.
- As you know, the Rangers have had difficulty finding a long-term center fielder. That’s the main focus of this offseason. The team has already shown interest in Torii Hunter and Aaron Rowand, the top center fielders available. Other free agents such as Andruw Jones and Mike Cameron appear to be in play as well. Grant’s trade candidates: Coco Crisp, David DeJesus, Mark Kotsay, and Carlos Beltran. We’ve speculated on DeJesus to Atlanta in the past. With DeJesus signed cheaply through 2011 and the market at the position robust this winter, it might make sense for Dayton Moore to wait a year to shop him aggressively.
- Grant adds that Jon Daniels is considering some affordable options for first base. They’ve already talked to Mike Lamb‘s agent and like Kevin Millar as well. Lamb came up through the Rangers’ system but was traded to the Yankees in ’04. Millar is under contract for ’08 but it’s in the $3-4MM range and the Orioles should be open to a trade. Grant says Ben Broussard could pique the Rangers’ interest if he’s non-tendered.
- Grant concludes with five Rangers whose names will be bandied about in trade talks: Gerald Laird, Vicente Padilla, Joaquin Arias, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Nelson Cruz. Salty’s not being shopped but Grant expects teams to ask. He proposes some kind of bad contract swap for Padilla – Jason Giambi, Richie Sexson, or Adam Eaton are named. I still think it’s funny the way Padilla crawled away from the brawl he started this year.
Rangers To Shop Vicente Padilla?
Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News asks whether Vicente Padilla‘s start today against the Twins will be his last as a Ranger. He highlights Padilla’s inability to go deep into games as well as his questionable behavior off the field. He also notes that Padilla’s beaning and subsequent brawl with Nick Swisher and the A’s didn’t sit well with teammates:
Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Hank Blalock missed the Rangers’ next game with soreness incurred from being at the bottom of the pile trying to break up the fight, a fight which Padilla crawled away from after the benches cleared.
Grant suggests the Rangers try to swap Padilla and his remaining two years, $24.75MM for a bad contract like Jose Contreras or Carl Pavano or even just cut him and pay the money.
To all this I say: the Rangers knew what they were getting into. Here’s what we knew about Padilla before the Rangers signed him in December of last year: headhunter, injury and conditioning problems, alcohol issues, doesn’t speak to the media. If any of those things bothered the Rangers they shouldn’t have locked him up for 3/33. These things didn’t just surface for the first time this year. Note that I am not dogging him for not speaking to the media – he may just be self-conscious having begun English lessons in 2000.
I thought Padilla was a relative bargain at three years guaranteed instead of four. Just one year into the deal, he’s being viewed as a burden by Texas. One interesting note: Padilla came up as a closer; maybe some team would like to try him in that role if the Rangers eat some salary. It could keep him healthy.