According to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, the market for free agent lefty Will Ohman is picking up. The Mets and Indians are among the inquiring clubs. Ohman wants a two-year deal.
Will Ohman
Orioles Rumors: Garland, Izturis, Ohman
8:07pm: Jerry Crasnick says Michael Barrett and Gregg Zaun could be options for the Orioles to help transition Matt Wieters to the bigs.
8:03pm: Andy MacPhail spoke of good progress toward signing a shortstop, presumably Izturis.
4:59pm: A small Garland update from Kubatko.
2:34pm: Roch Kubatko believes the Orioles are down to Izturis for shorstop, and two years $6.5MM would get it done.
8:50am: A few stray Orioles rumors from Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun:
- The O’s had recent talks with Jon Garland’s agent. They’ll meet with the agents for Koji Uehara and Kenshin Kawakami this week.
- Negotiations for free agent shortstop Cesar Izturis have picked up.
- The Orioles expressed interest in free agent lefty reliever Will Ohman.
Perrotto’s Latest: Teixeira, Burnett, Wilson
John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus has his Sunday article up. Let’s go through it:
- The Angels may be willing to match the Yankees $140MM offer to CC Sabathia. They won’t offer 10 years to Mark Teixeira. If they can’t land Teixeira, they will consider Pat Burrell for first base.
- A.J. Burnett is looking at the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees, Braves, Orioles, and Phillies.
- The Twins want a left-side infielder for Delmon Young, so they can open a spot for Denard Span in the starting lineup.
- The Tigers are pursuing Jack Wilson from the Pirates and Matt Treanor from the Marlins. They are also putting high priority on signing Joe Beimel who’s getting interest from a number of teams.
- The Dodgers will not re-sign Rafael Furcal for health reasons so the Giants, Athletics, and Reds are his most likely destinations.
- The Cubs will need to offer more than Jason Marquis to the Royals for David DeJesus. If they can’t get it done, they’d sign Raul Ibanez over Bobby Abreu.
- The Braves are interested in Javier Vazquez and Jermaine Dye…
- The Reds need to offer more than Homer Bailey to get Dye.
- The Mets are considering Jon Garland, Vazquez, Edwin Jackson, Andy Sonnanstine. The Rays want more than Aaron Heilman for either of their starters.
- The Mets could soon become suitors for Manny Ramirez.
- The Brewers could soon become suitors for Francisco Rodriguez.
- The Astros are targeting Paul Bako and David Ross as backup catchers.
- The Rockies are trying to find lefthanders, eyeing Alan Embree, Will Ohman, Brian Shouse, and Glendon Rusch.
Rockies Considering Embree, Shouse, Ohman
Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post talked to Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, who said the team has internally discussed lefthanded free agent relievers Alan Embree, Brian Shouse, and Will Ohman. Ken Rosenthal also suggests Embree is a possibility.
Another note from Rosenthal:
The Rockies, at least for the moment, seem content to keep third baseman Garrett Atkins and the three players they acquired in the Matt Holliday trade – left-hander Greg Smith, outfielder Carlos Gonzalez and reliever Huston Street.
Thinking about Street…it makes the most sense to trade him in June or July. Right now the supply for closers outstrips the demand, plus Street did not finish the season as a closer. The Rockies should let him rack up 20 saves, prove he’s on top of his game, and then move him during the summer when contenders are desperate for bullpen help.
Rockies Have Not Contacted Ohman
3:51pm: Today has been all about corrections. The latest: Ohman’s agent says the Rockies have not called.
9:04am: According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, the Rockies are one of about ten teams pursuing free agent lefty Will Ohman. Ohman currently has an offer on the table from the Braves. The Rockies would also like to re-sign Glendon Rusch.
Cards Focused On Ohman, Rhodes
The Cardinals want to sign a lefty reliever or two, but Scott Eyre, Damaso Marte, and Jeremy Affeldt went off the board quickly. GM John Mozeliak expects the rest of the southpaw relievers to follow suit, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Derrick Goold says the Cardinals have targeted Will Ohman and Arthur Rhodes, though no offer has been made to Ohman. The Cardinals have apparently made offers to others though.
If those options fall through, the Cardinals can turn to free agents Joe Beimel, Trever Miller, Darren Oliver, Dennys Reyes, Alan Embree, Eddie Guardado, or Brian Shouse. Scott Schoeneweis, John Grabow, Ron Mahay, Jimmy Gobble, Pedro Feliciano, George Sherrill, Jack Taschner, and Jamie Walker may be on the trading block.
Braves Make Offer To Ohman
According to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, the Braves made an offer to free agent lefty Will Ohman. At least ten teams are interested, so Ohman will continue to test the market. Bowman figures Ohman is looking for two or three years at roughly $4MM per.
Ohman, 31, posted a 3.68 ERA in 58.2 innings for the Braves this year after coming over in a trade with the Cubs. He held lefties to a .200/.257/.314 line.
Odds & Ends: Kawakami, Renteria, Johnson, Ohman
A number of Odds & Ends for your weekend update:
- From Japanball.com, Kenshin Kawakami is filing for free agency.
- Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune reports the Cubs are considering Randy Johnson for a one year deal. The 45 year old lefty is a career 13-0 against the Cubs, 4-0 at Wrigley, and needs 5 wins to reach 300.
- The Cardinals are moving in on free agent Will Ohman, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and are reportedly interested in Jeremy Affeldt and Arthur Rhodes.
- In the same article, Goold suggests the Cards will stall on their efforts to pursue Edgar Renteria until after the Tigers decline their offer of arbitration, since signing the Type A free agent beforehand would result in any team losing a first round draft pick. So despite "mutual interest", don’t expect the Cardinals, or anyone, to sign Renteria before the second week of December. Matthew Leach of mlb.com notes there are a lot of free agent shortstop options.
- Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says Giants are finding mutual interest in Rafael Furcal and Bobby Howry.
- Utility man Donnie Murphy signed a minor-league deal with the O’s – from Peter Schmuck’s blog.
- John Hickey at The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says M’s GM Jack Zduriencik expects Raul Ibanez to wait for Seattle to name it’s next manager before making any decisions.
Odds and Ends: Pudge, Ohman, Manny
Rounding up linkage for Monday…
- The Jays claimed two players off waivers: shortstop Angel Sanchez and pitcher Kelvin Jimenez.
- The Cubs and Nationals swapped minor leaguers. The Cubs sent pitcher Matt Avery to the Nats for another pitcher named Ryan Buchter.
- Good stuff from ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick – he surveyed 15 front-office people on the top stories of the offseason.
- One of a million conversations taking place at the GM meetings: Brian Cashman chatting with Walt Jocketty.
- Tony Massarotti’s top five lies told during free agency.
- Ken Davidoff names his top ten GMs.
- Joe Posnanski on the Mike Jacobs–Leo Nunez trade.
- River Ave. Blues explains why the Yankees should offer arbitration to Ivan Rodriguez.
- The official list of the 191 players eligible for free agency.
- The Braves hope to re-sign free agents Will Ohman, Greg Norton, and John Smoltz. The Smoltz situation may not be resolved until January.
- Tracy Ringolsby lists needs for every team.
- The Tigers signed an independent league lefty named Kris Regas to a minor league deal.
- John Shea says the Giants and A’s will consider the big-name free agent sluggers this winter.
- Padres GM Kevin Towers doesn’t see Manny Ramirez signing until Christmas time. He sees the New York and L.A. teams as suitors.
- Joe Sheehan proposes five radical offseason moves.
- The Cubs signed a couple of Korean players: catcher/outfielder Jae-hoon Ha and pitcher Soo-min Jung.
Odds and Ends: Yankees, Lowe, D’Backs
Links for Thursday…
- Peter Abraham takes a look at the Yankees’ first base options. The Royals could match up on a trade, if the Yanks are willing to try an unproven player.
- A pair of free agent bargains from Dave Cameron: Randy Johnson and Derek Lowe. What kind of salary will Lowe command?
- Free agent reliever Will Ohman hopes to remain in Atlanta.
- Braves GM Frank Wren has already talked to every team about his needs in left field and the rotation.
- Nick Piecoro looks at the D’Backs’ offseason needs. Will there be room in the budget to make the necessary improvements?
- The A’s have five days to decide on Alan Embree’s $3MM option, according to Susan Slusser. Embree profiles as a Type B free agent.
- The Padres have ten days to decide between Brian Giles’ $9MM option and his $3MM buyout. It’s an easy call to exercise the option.
