Odds and Ends: Dunn, Schumaker, Abreu
Links for Friday…
- The Blue Jays signed pitcher Dirk Hayhurst to a minor league deal; they’d released him to make room for Matt Bush.
- Alex Speier of WEEI has quotes from John Smoltz about his departure from Atlanta. Smoltz leaving the Braves was the biggest surprise of the offseason for me.
- ESPN’s Jayson Stark surveyed 15 baseball sages for all kinds of opinions on the best and worst of the offseason (which is not officially over yet).
- Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post has more from the Adam Dunn press conference.
- Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sees Skip Schumaker as the Cardinals outfielder most vulnerable to a trade.
- ESPN’s Keith Law weighs in on the Bobby Abreu signing.
- Kevin Goldstein’s Top 100 Prospects list is up over at Baseball Prospectus.
- Scott Moore cleared waivers; he’ll remain in the Orioles organization.
- My definition of a fantasy baseball sleeper, over at RotoAuthority.
- Shoutout: MLBTR had over 9,800 pageviews from Puerto Rico this month.
Odds and Ends: Garland, Lindstrom, Angels
Links for Wednesday…
- I cleaned up the 2010 free agent list a bit, eliminating a few guys who will not have six years service time after ’09. For example, Tim Redding. He’ll be a Met in 2010 unless they non-tender him.
- Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic learned that if Jon Garland is traded this season and is a Type A free agent afterwards, his new team cannot offer him arbitration.
- Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald has an interesting profile on Marlins closer Matt Lindstrom.
- RotoAuthority gathers comments from readers on their favorite fantasy league provider. Yahoo leagues are open for registration, by the way.
- Sam Miller of the OC Register lists possible trade pieces for the Angels if they are able to finish up the Bobby Abreu contract.
Odds and Ends: PECOTA, Wigginton, Tanaka
Links for Tuesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- PECOTA projects the standings. The projection system’s playoff teams are the Red Sox, Yankees, Indians, A’s, Mets, Cubs, and Diamondbacks (plus a one-game Braves-Phillies playoff).
- Ty Wigginton‘s deal should be official today or tomorrow. Additionally, the Orioles are close to signing reliever Ryohei Tanaka to a minor league deal according to Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun.
- RotoAuthority ranks the third basemen for fantasy baseball.
- I will be doing a radio interview at 3:30 CST today on WKNT in Florida. At that time you can click here to listen.
Odds and Ends: Hudson, Twins, Sisco, Dunn
Links for Friday…
- Tim Hudson wants the Braves to pick up his 2010 option for $12MM, though he has the right to void it if they do.
- Indians GM Mark Shapiro has no regrets about signing Kerry Wood for $20.5MM in early December.
- Twins CEO Jim Pohlad says the team is not done, in talking to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He believes signing Joe Crede makes sense, but his baseball people have the final decision.
- Michael Fleming of Variety says Brad Pitt continues to "circle" the Moneyball movie, in which he could play Billy Beane.
- Athletics Nation takes a good look at free agent lefty Andy Sisco.
- Austin Kearns commented on his friend Adam Dunn, in talking with Chico Harlan of the Washington Post.
- An amusing "25 facts about 25 random Yankees" from Tyler Kepner of the New York Times.
- The Rays signed pitcher Winston Abreu to a minor league deal; he spent last year in Japan.
- RotoAuthority ranks the shortstops for fantasy baseball.
- Deals for Jason Varitek, Brad Wilkerson, and Ken Takahashi were finalized today. Jeff Bailey was shuffled to Triple A to make room for Varitek, says Dan Barbarisi.
Odds and Ends: Sisco, Murton, Thigpen
Links for Thursday…
- Lot of people tossing around the number of unsigned free agents…I have it at about 80, at least if we draw the line at players that are remotely useful. Here’s my list.
- Joe Pawlikowski of River Ave. Blues would like to see the Yankees sign Mark Grudzielanek.
- Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle says the A’s will attend Andy Sisco‘s Friday workout.
- Scott Miller of CBSSports.com takes a stab at the All-Free Agent team.
- The Rockies did not acquire Matt Murton as a precursor to another deal, Troy Renck learned.
- The Blue Jays designated catcher Curtis Thigpen for assignment to make room for Brian Burres.
- Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star shows that MLB has done a nice job of keeping player salaries at 40-45% of the game’s revenue in recent years (as opposed to 62% in the NFL).
- RotoAuthority looks at how you can combine a Rich Harden type with a Randy Wolf type to create a top ten fantasy baseball starting pitcher.
Odds and Ends: Crede, Jays, Howard
Links for Wednesday…
- Here’s the transcript of WEEI’s interview with Theo Epstein. Epstein says "nothing is hot or active right now" for the Red Sox.
- Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote yesterday that "a Joe Crede signing remains a real possibility for the Twins."
- Shi Davidi of the Canadian Press writes about the Blue Jays’ attempts to break into the Japanese market.
- Will the players union organize a training camp for unsigned players? Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times discusses the slow-moving market.
- Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News had two baseball officials and an agent explain how they’d approach Ryan Howard‘s arbitration case.
- RotoAuthority ranks the second baseman for fantasy baseball.
Odds and Ends: Boras, Manny, Heilman
Links for Friday…
- ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick examines Scott Boras’ work so far this winter, as well as his remaining clients.
- RotoAuthority has first baseman rankings for fantasy leagues.
- Matthew Cerrone suggests the Mets might want to publicly rule out Manny Ramirez.
- Interesting WHIFF profile on Aaron Heilman.
- Patrick Newman introduces us to Norichika Aoki, perhaps the best hitter in Japan. Aoki may end up in MLB, but it probably won’t be anytime soon.
- The Orioles agreed to a split contract with pitcher Brian Burres, says Troy Renck.
Odds and Ends: Kotsay, Redding
Links for Thursday…
- RotoAuthority ranks the catchers for fantasy baseball.
- Dave Cameron reminds us that talented minor leaguers often have delayed success in the bigs.
- MLB.com’s Mychael Urban talked to Mark Kotsay, who did not enjoy the free agent experience.
- MetsBlog’s Matthew Cerrone transcribes a Tim Redding MLB Network interview, where it was revealed that the Rockies, Pirates, and Orioles had interest before the pitcher signed with the Mets.
Joba Chamberlain’s 2009 Innings
I asked eleven of my favorite baseball writers (including Ken Rosenthal, Peter Gammons, Jon Heyman, and Keith Law) to predict Joba Chamberlain‘s innings total for 2009. Check out the results at RotoAuthority, as well as fantasy baseball analysis on Joba’s value.
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.