Padres Rumors

Odds and Ends: Wigginton, Prior, Andruw

By Tim Dierkes | February 9, 2009 at 1:42pm CDT

Links for Monday…

Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun says the Orioles are "bringing Ty Wigginton back for further examination this week."
Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune snagged this Mark Prior quote: "If Kurt Warner can disappear for five years, I can disappear for three."
Dave Cameron of FanGraphs points out that a Jermaine Dye career path is Andruw Jones’ best case scenario.
Baseball America has a run-down of all the minor league transactions between January 31 and February 6.
Athletics Nation wonders if the A’s could bring Mark Mulder in to fill a lefty reliever role.
I did a Q&A with We Should Be GMs.

Padres Add Cliff Floyd, DFA Matt Bush

By Tim Dierkes | February 5, 2009 at 8:47pm CDT

8:47pm: According to MLB.com’s Corey Brock, the Padres designated right-hander Matt Bush for assignment to make room for Floyd. Bush was drafted first overall in the 2004 draft as a shortstop, but never made it past the Single-A level at that position.

6:16pm: Paul DePodesta, a member of the Padres’ front office, took to his own personal blog for a little insight on the Floyd signing:

We’ve been talking for a number of weeks internally about the need to add a left-handed bat into the mix, as our bench was looking awfully right-handed. In an ideal world, we wanted to find a guy who could provide three primary skills: 1) the ability to do damage against RHP as either a pinch hitter, DH or occasional starter, 2) the ability to play somewhere other than 1B if need be, and 3) the ability to act as a leader for our younger players. We found a match in Cliff.

8:06am: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Padres have agreed to terms with outfielder Cliff Floyd on a one-year deal. ESPN’s Jayson Stark says the deal guarantees him less than $1MM. Floyd, 36, hit .268/.349/.455 in 284 plate appearances for the Rays last year; he suffered a slightly torn labrum in the World Series. He earned $2.75MM and had an ’09 option for the same amount declined in November. Rosenthal says Luis Gonzalez was the Padres’ second choice.

A few days ago, Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune suggested the Padres had Floyd and Livan Hernandez on the radar.

Rosenthal On Peavy, Ohman, Looper

By Tim Dierkes | February 4, 2009 at 9:10am CDT

Here’s the latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.

Jeff Moorad’s acquistion of the Padres does not affect the likelihood of a Jake Peavy trade, according to Rosenthal’s source. There have been no recent conversations with the Cubs about Peavy.
The Phillies had been confident of signing Ty Wigginton before the Orioles offered two years. The Phils are still mulling Nomar Garciaparra and Rich Aurilia, with the Giants also in on Aurilia. The Phillies are out on Will Ohman.
Braden Looper is receiving interest from Baltimore, but he prefers the NL. The Brewers are not optimistic about signing Looper despite a recent conversation with one of his agents (Tom Haudricourt believes the Brewers are "laying in the weeds" for when the right pitcher comes along). Looper is Plan B behind Randy Wolf for the Dodgers, and not a candidate to return to the Cardinals (who are apparently out of money). One other team known to have interest in Looper is the Pirates.

Moorad, Moores Reach Agreement On Padres Sale

By Tim Dierkes | February 3, 2009 at 4:41pm CDT

According to the AP, Jeff Moorad’s group reached an agreement to buy the Padres from John Moores. The deal should close by Opening Day, and the article suggests Sandy Alderson could be out. The San Diego Union-Tribune has more details.

Odds and Ends: Wieters, Varitek, Ohman

By Tim Dierkes | February 3, 2009 at 12:54pm CDT

Links for Tuesday…

Chat today, 2pm CST.
RotoAuthority explains why Matt Wieters is a good fantasy pick even if he doesn’t debut with the Orioles til mid-May.
Baseball America’s Jim Callis has the updated ’09 June draft order.
Cristian Guzman was wise to sign a two-year, $16MM extension when he did, his agent tells MLB.com’s Bill Ladson.
An agreement to sell the Padres to Jeff Moorad could be done by mid-month, says Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Jason Varitek doesn’t need to worry about regaining Type A status, says Rob Bradford of WEEI.
Nothing appears imminent with the Phillies and Will Ohman, David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News writes.

Padres Eyeing Livan Hernandez, Cliff Floyd

By Tim Dierkes | February 2, 2009 at 8:44am CDT

Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune talked to Padres GM Kevin Towers, who said last week he’s interested in starter Livan Hernandez and outfielder Cliff Floyd. The Padres are no longer targeting a $40MM payroll, so it seems they can afford to add a million or two for these two free agents. The Padres have two open spots in the rotation.

Hernandez, 34 in February, posted a 6.05 ERA and 3.35 K/9 in 180 innings last year for the Twins and Rockies. He earned $5MM. Floyd, 36, hit .268/.349/.455 in 284 plate appearances for the Rays last year; he suffered a slightly torn labrum in the World Series. He earned $2.75MM and had an ’09 option for the same amount declined in November.

Center adds that the Padres had free agent pitchers Brian Lawrence, Steve Trachsel, and Scott Elarton work out at Petco Park recently but decided not to invite them to Spring Training (Ben mentioned this on Saturday; just a reminder). Trachsel was designated for assignment by the Orioles in June of last year and was thought to be considering retirement.

Odds And Ends: Hill, Dye, Hinske, Fogg

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | January 31, 2009 at 11:29am CDT

Links for Saturday…

Cameron Smith of the Washington Post thinks the Orioles should pull the trigger on a possible Rich Hill deal immediately.
MLB.com’s Scott Merkin reports that Jermaine Dye remains "unfazed" by all the trade rumors that have involved him this winter.
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times suggests Dye doesn’t expect to return to the White Sox after 2009.
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that Eric Hinske attracted lots of interest. Hinske said eight teams showed "good interest" in him.
Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post likes the Josh Fogg signing because of his clubhouse presence and his price.
Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune heard that the Padres will not offer a contract to Brian Lawrence, Steve Trachsel or Scott Elarton (hat tip to Buster Olney).
Olney heard that the Blue Jays are looking for bargains to stock up their minor league system.

Stark On Greinke, Manny, Dunn, Swisher

By Tim Dierkes | January 29, 2009 at 2:26pm CDT

The latest from ESPN’s Jayson Stark…

The Cubs’ ownership situation is not close to the finish line, which is one reason the team won’t be acquiring Jake Peavy anytime soon.
One source of Stark’s suggested Zack Greinke nearly left his current agent John Courtright of SFX for Scott Boras, a whisper I’d heard as well. But now Greinke is happy with his contract and agent.
Free agents such as Manny Ramirez and Ivan Rodriguez could reasonably wait until March to sign. Not a bad thing for this website!
Adam Dunn would like Manny to sign earlier, as he’s waiting to see what the Dodgers (his preferred team) do. The Nationals have been Dunn’s most aggressive suitor, the Orioles have mild interest, and the Braves have backed off.
Stark questions the idea of talks for Manny heating up lately, since the Mets, Yankees, and Angels are out and the Giants are only conditionally interested.
When Alex Rodriguez was a free agent last winter, Joe Torre advised the Dodgers against signing him.
The Phillies would like to move Geoff Jenkins for a right-handed hitting outfielder, but Jenkins is paid too much. Jay Payton and Emil Brown are not on the Phillies’ radar; they still like Nomar Garciaparra.
The Yankees are apparently "softening to the idea of trading Nick Swisher," with the Braves the top suitor.

Cubs-Peavy: Nothing Cooking

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | January 28, 2009 at 6:23pm CDT

6:23pm: I just spoke to a source familiar with the Cubs’ thinking. Hopefully I can further douse the flames of the Peavy-Cubs rumors – the Cubs aren’t planning to restart the Peavy talks, and none of their recent trades for pitching were related to Peavy. Keep in mind that the team’s ownership situation is far from resolved. – Tim Dierkes

5:58pm: MLB.com’s Barry Bloom heard from Cubs assistant GM Randy Bush that the Cubs have had "no talks about Jake Peavy since they were well-documented during the Winter Meetings." However, this doesn’t mean that talks won’t restart.

Bush said the Cubs could go into Spring Training without further changes, but sounds open to adding players if they come at the right price.

5:16pm: In an ESPN.com video Buster Olney says, "at some point you can expect the Cubs and Padres will again start talking about a Peavy deal" now that the Cubs have added pitching in trades.

Earlier in the winter, the Padres wanted more young arms than the Cubs could offer. Since then, the Cubs added pitching to the organization in the Mark DeRosa deal and created flexibility by trading for Aaron Heilman.

The Cubs could structure a deal for Peavy around prospect Josh Vitters and young pitching.

Cubs Rumors: Bako, Looper, Wolf, Uribe

By Tim Dierkes | January 28, 2009 at 11:49am CDT

Fresh off scooping the Cubs’ acquisition of Aaron Heilman, ESPN Radio’s Bruce Levine has more info about the team’s plans.

Levine says the Cubs will sign backup catcher Paul Bako to a one-year, $750K deal once they clear a spot on the 40-man roster. The 2-for-1 Heilman trade takes care of that.
The Cubs are still looking at Braden Looper and Randy Wolf if they aren’t able to reignite the Jake Peavy talks.
The Cubs have Juan Uribe on the radar as a bench bat and backup infielder.

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