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Willy Taveras

Heyman On the Rockies and Holliday

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The idea of the Rockies trading Matt Holliday this summer is not a new one. Ken Rosenthal speculated on the possibility two weeks ago. Today, Jon Heyman goes a little deeper. While he feels trading Holliday is certainly possible, there are at least a couple of executives who think it is unlikely. To sum up:

  • The Rockies are tied for the worst record in baseball and several executives are now wondering if they will be willing to trade Garrett Atkins and/or Holliday.
  • Willy Taveras and Brian Fuentes will almost certainly be made available.
  • One GM thinks that last year’s mid-season turnaround may make Dan O’Dowd less likely to pull the trigger on a trade.
  • One exec said that the Rockies will have a tough time matching the deals that the Indians received for Bartolo Colon in ’03 and the Rangers received for Mark Teixera last year, as those were highly specialized situations.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Rockies May Head To Arbitration Hearings

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According to Troy E. Renck, the Rockies have only had two arbitration hearings in franchise history. I dug around and found that they beat Sun-Woo Kim over a $200K difference in ’06 and lost to Dennys Reyes over a $200K difference in 2002.

This year, the Rockies will be prepared for the possibility of multiple hearings.  They’ve got to deal with Matt Holliday, Brian Fuentes, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, and Willy Taveras.  Renck notes that "significant gaps exist with Atkins and Fuentes."  Since we saw the Rox go to their only two hearings over $200K, we know it doesn’t take much of a disagreement sometimes.  If no contracts are reached by Friday each side must submit a salary for ’08 and an arbitrator will pick one later.  Teams typically like to avoid hearings partially because they can create some hard feelings.

The Rockies’ 2008 payroll should rise more than $10MM just to accomodate the five mentioned above.

Crisp Rather Than Rowand For White Sox?

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Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times says Aaron Rowand has already priced himself out of the White Sox’s range.  Apparently the Sox talked to Rowand before they made an offer to Torii Hunter, and found the number of years Rowand requested to be out of the question.  Randy Miller said back in mid-October that Rowand was looking for a six-year, $84MM deal.  Cowley sees the Rangers and Dodgers as the main suitors for Rowand.

Cowley believes the White Sox, meanwhile, will move on to Coco Crisp.  They’ve long had interest in him.  I’m not sure how the White Sox and Red Sox would match up though.  The Red Sox are asking for quite a bit for Crisp – three prospects.  The Rangers balked upon hearing this.

Cowley also suggests that Kenny Williams could attempt to acquire Willy Taveras.  This seems more speculation than anything, based on Williams’ pursuit of him a year ago.  Trading him would seem to create a hole for the Rockies, and they have no need for Joe Crede.

Astros’ Options Remain Wide Open

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One way or another, Tim Purpura is going to acquire a decent starting pitcher. 

The Houston Chronicle reports that Purpura is still in touch with the White Sox, but has a host of other active scenarios as well.  In the article, Purpura goes to great lengths to confirm that starter Taylor Buchholz is healthy without actually confirming that he could be involved in a trade.  It remains possible that the Astros trade for Jon Garland.

They won’t, however, acquire both Garland and Andy Pettitte.  The Astros still have a one-year, $12MM offer out there.  The Yankees have already blown that away, even offering to add a second year.  It seems clear that Pettitte will only stay in Houston for geographical reasons.  Richard Justice

Check out Jose de Jesus Ortiz’s take on the whole Garland thing yesterday.  He initially reported the deal was close, based on info from Astros President Tal Smith.

Troy Renck of the Denver Post suggests that the Astros could take another run at Jason Jennings, perhaps offering Jason Hirsh, Willy Taveras, and Dan Wheeler.  As I said earlier, that far outweighs Freddy Garcia’s price and they are comparable pitchers.

Trade Rumor Roundup: 6 Days Left

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What’s new in the world of trade rumors?

It wasn’t just Humberto Sanchez missing a start – Tigers prospect Jair Jurrjens is skipping two starts because of a stiff neck.  While it certainly seems that recent trade winds could be at play here, it may just be a case of bad luck for Detroit.  Both players can still be dealt despite the minor injuries.

A few more nuggets concerning the White Sox’s efforts to acquire Alfonso Soriano surfaced in newspapers today.  Phil Rogers notes sources indicating that Scott Podsednik, and not Brian Anderson, would be part of a package for Soriano.  In addition, Sam Borden of the New York Daily News suggests that Jim Bowden requested Double A pitcher Lance Broadway but was rebuffed.

Didn’t get to hear Tim Purpura on the radio yesterday personally, but it seems he may have inadvertently indicated that Willy Taveras is not in the team’s future center field plans.  I imagine plenty of teams would have interest in Taveras despite his .280/.319/.331 line in 905 career ABs.  On the plus side, Taveras truly is an excellent defender according to The Fielding Bible.  They actually think he deserved the Gold Glove last year over Jim Edmonds.

Harold Reynolds got the axe from ESPN today; Deadspin has the thirdhand info. 

Dayton Moore did well with reliever Elmer Dessens in a trade back to the Dodgers.

Many thanks to all those who visited MLBTradeRumors.com yesterday. June 24th was our best-ever day for traffic, beating out December 8th.  Keep on comin’ back for all the latest trade rumors; I love writing about this stuff.

Trade Rumor Roundup: 8 Days Left

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To begin with, this just isn’t true.  With the Kearns deal and probably Soriano trade, the 2006 deadline just can’t be classified as a dud.  That honor belongs to 2005 for sure.  The trading action never matches the buildup, but this year’s still a good one.

Read Ken Rosenthal’s latest.  The White Sox are in the Soriano game, the Rangers have interest in Luis Gonzalez, the Braves could add another reliever, Julio Lugo still might become a Blue Jay, and the Brewers look like sellers.  In my opinion, some Brewers besides Carlos Lee that could be unloaded: Geoff Jenkins, Corey Koskie, Brady Clark, and Dan Kolb.  Koskie will need to recover quickly from his concussion, however.

Still hearing that the Cubs like Willy Taveras, which would definitely fit their m.o. of players who don’t get on base.  Phil Rogers also mentions that Seattle’s Rafael Soriano is being asked about. It would be surprising to see the Mariners deal that kind of young talent.

Tons of great rumors coming from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  He’s got a rundown of the Red Sox, all sorts of teams scouting Humberto Sanchez, and more. 

Buster Olney mentioned in his blog today that the Astros are among various teams scouting Elmer Dessens.  The Astros are also looking at Damaso Marte.

Unfounded rumor department: Could the Dodgers be after Aramis Ramirez?  Ramirez has picked a fantastic time to heat up, and L.A. has some top shelf young talent…is there anywhere Julio Lugo could go besides Toronto?  How about the Rockies?

Latest Astros Buzz

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Today we’ve got some Astros info for you to digest.

According to an emailer, Richard Justice recently spoke with Astros GM Tim Purpura on Sports Radio 610.  Here’s what came out of the discussion:

The Astros aren’t expecting much from Jeff Bagwell, surprise surprise.  The main concern is, of course, his inability to throw.  In Brian McTaggart’s article in the Houston Chronicle today, he mentions that Bagwell "will have his shoulder analyzed next week by respected orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham."  Expect Bags to be relegated to pinch-hitting duties given the Preston Wilson signing.  I don’t have anything new on the Astros’ interest in White Sox righthander Jose Contreras, but Willy Taveras could be expendable given Wilson’s ability to play center field.

Purpura spoke to Roger Clemens two days ago at Minute Maid.  Clemens has not cleaned out his locker in at the ballpark.  I still believe that Clemens will return to the Astros in mid-June.

Today in the Baltimore Sun, Jeff Zrebiec and Dan Connolly mention that "The Red Sox, Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs appear to be the leaders in the Tejada sweepstakes." Adam Everett and Brandon Backe are certainly available on the Astros, but it’ll obviously require a lot more than that to get Miguel Tejada.  Brad Lidge won’t be involved in any deal for the shortstop.

I’ll see if I can dig up any additional info on these topics.

Astros Discussing Jose Contreras

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First off, my apologies for the confusion in my last post.  Let’s set the record straight about this Astros/White Sox thing.

My source wasn’t referring to the Astros’ interest in Miguel Tejada, but rather Jose Contreras.  Baltimore likes the righthander, but Houston covets him as well.  The Sox are talking to the Astros currently, but have no interest in Brad Lidge.  Their reasoning:  they believe in the young, cheap Bobby Jenks.  The Sox also have concerns about Lidge’s future health after piling on the innings as well as his impending large salary.  That all makes sense; the Sox have no reason to acquire another closer.

Another clarification: the player the Sox are considering for Contreras is Willy Taveras.  The additional prospects are unknown.  Given the massive salary gap between Jose Contreras and Taveras, this deal would free up cash to be used for reinforcements at the trading deadline.  As mentioned before, the White Sox are willing to go up to a $105MM payroll.

Some more quality tidbits on the White Sox’s interest in Miguel Tejada:

Chicago’s offers are non-negotiable.  If Tejada is traded, the deal will be completed within the next two weeks.  Other interested clubs are still submitting and refining their proposals. 

Miguel Tejada Trade: Update

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Some more quality details on the possible Miguel Tejada trade:

First issue: White Sox payroll.  My source is saying that adding Tejada would not be a problem – the team’s board of directors are willing to take the payroll up to $105 million.  Should the Orioles accept one of their offers, they’ll still have flexibility for more additions at the July trading deadline as needed.

UPDATE:  There was a miscommunication between my source and I about this deal.  He was not telling me that the Astros were in on Tejada, but rather Jose Contreras.  I’ll go into more detail on this in a separate post.  Sorry for the confusion.

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