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Padres To Slash Payroll In ’09?

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Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes of a rumor that the Padres might slash payroll from this year’s $73.6MM way down to $40MM.  The Padres reportedly explained this scenario to Brian Giles in an attempt to get him to accept a trade to Boston last week.  Krasovic heard about the pitch via Giles’ teammates, but wasn’t able to draw any comments from GM Kevin Towers.  Scott Miller believes owner John Moores’ divorce is a factor.

The Padres don’t have any large contracts on the books for ’09; Giles would be their most expensive player at $9MM unless they choose his $3MM buyout.  After that it’s Jake Peavy at $8MM, Khalil Greene at $6.5MM, Chris Young at $4.5MM, and Adrian Gonzalez at $3MM.  By my count they have six arbitration-eligible players, including Josh Bard, Heath Bell, Scott Hairston, and Jody Gerut.  The Padres could retain Giles and still be under $45MM, though that’d leave no money for free agents.

Odds and Ends: Sabathia, Teixeira, Ibanez, Giles, Lee

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CC Sabathia is 6-0 since getting traded to the Brewers, and naturally his teammates are thrilled to have him. Especially Prince Fielder, who said of his new ace, "I’m like his mini-me."

Angels owner Arte Moreno said it was "emotional" for him to trade home-grown first baseman Casey Kotchman, but that he won’t regret the move even if new Angel Mark Teixeira leaves as a free agent after the season. He mentioned budding AAA star Kendry Morales as a possible replacement.

The News Tribune’s Larry LaRue worries that the Mariners won’t be able to keep Raul Ibanez after the season. Ibanez has said he’d like a 4-year deal, but LaRue sees the M’s offering three at most. Plus, he notes that it’s a little late for them to start talking about a contract extension.

Brian Giles is annoyed that details of his vetoed trade to Boston became public. "I didn’t know everybody was supposed to know, especially when it wasn’t a done deal and it wouldn’t go down," Giles said. "It’s kind of between myself and my agent and Boston and the Padres." He also expressed a desire to stay with the Pads—a preference that was greeted with suspicion by the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo.

And President George W. Bush thinks Carlos Lee’s contract is just fine.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Giles, Teixeira, Dunn, Manny

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A few random notes from around the baseball Blogosphere…

  • Orioles Outsider projects what Mark Teixeira should be worth on the open-market and wonders how much above that number the O’s should be willing to go.
  • Baltimore Birds Nest thinks that the only way Teixeira ends up in an O’s uniform next season is if Peter Angelos opens the wallet and makes the biggest offer.
  • Camden Chat would prefer to have Adam Dunn over Teixeira.
  • The Shadow of Manny Ramirez compares the Manny Ramirez trade to a scene from "Sex and the City"…Don’t worry. It went over my head also.
  • Not to be outdone, Soxaholix wonders why every time one of the Sox best players leaves town, it is like an episode of the new "90210".

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here.

Brian Giles Blocks Trade To Boston

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2:17pm: Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says Giles would have vetoed a deal to the Rays as well.  Cafardo believes the Red Sox will continue to monitor the waiver wire for a bench bat.  Amalie Benjamin says the Sox weren’t broken up about Giles’ decision, and trade talks didn’t get too far.

12:55pm: It’s official – Giles has blocked the deal.  The window has closed.   You may recall he originally took less to sign with the Padres back in ’05.

12:35pm: ESPN’s Buster Olney says Giles plans to block a trade to Boston.

8:41am: The Brian Giles situation should be resolved today.  New take on it this morning: Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald has a baseball source indicating "the Red Sox claimed Giles out of legitimate interest and not as an attempt to keep another team from claiming him."

Ken Rosenthal wrote yesterday, "the move was apparently designed as a block to prevent the Tampa Bay Rays from claiming Giles, sources say."

Brian Giles Claimed By Red Sox

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4:34pm: Tom Krasovic has further musings on the Giles situation.  He wonders if the Red Sox could rent Giles for the rest of the season and then let him go back to the Padres as a free agent.

THURSDAY, 11:06am: Interestingly, the Red Sox won the claim on Giles.  Their intent was to block the Rays, according to Ken Rosenthal.  Giles can veto a trade to Boston, and he might simply because his playing time could be reduced.  Also, I have learned that Giles would still be able to veto a straight salary dump.  The Padres can’t use this situation to sneak around Giles’ no-trade clause.

Boston winning the claim means all NL teams passed on Giles, as well as most AL teams.

WEDNESDAY: According to Ken Rosenthal, Padres right fielder Brian Giles was claimed on waivers by an unknown team.  Giles has about $2.7MM left on his contract this year.  He also has a $9MM option for ’09 with a $3MM buyout (which logically should be exercised).  Giles gets another $2MM if traded.  Rosenthal adds that Giles can block deals to the Orioles, Red Sox, Tigers, Rays, Marlins, Brewers, Pirates, and Nationals.

Rosenthal says the Padres will attempt to make a deal with the claiming team, though it won’t be a salary dump.  Giles, 37, is hitting .318/.405/.438 away from PETCO this year.  Not too many players are capable of a .400 OBP.

Odds and Ends: Livan, Maddux, Meredith, Fielder

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Here are today’s links.

Players Not Traded

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Assigning contender status is subjective, but I’m going to say that the following teams are not in the playoff mix: the Orioles, Royals, Indians, Mariners, Braves, Nationals, Reds, Astros, Pirates, Giants, and Padres.  The Blue Jays and Athletics just missed the cut as fringe wild card contenders.  With those 11 non-contenders in mind, let’s take a look at players not traded at the ’08 non-waiver deadline.

  • Orioles: Aubrey Huff, Ramon Hernandez, Brian Roberts, Jay Payton, Jamie Walker, Kevin Millar, Chad Bradford, George Sherrill.  Millar and Payton are free agents after the season, but there probably wasn’t much of a market for either.  The rest are under team control through at least ’09, so Andy MacPhail still has time to find the right deal; read his comments here.  Hernandez is an August trade candidate.
  • Royals: Jose Guillen, Mark Grudzielanek, Ron Mahay, David DeJesus, Miguel Olivo.  Moving the Guillen contract would’ve made sense, but we don’t know whether that was on the table.  Kind of surprised to see Grudz still around.  Mahay could be an offseason move, but the Royals might just want him for ’09.  DeJesus’ name will probably come up at the Winter Meetings.
  • Indians: Paul Byrd, David Dellucci, Jamey Carroll.  Only Byrd was thought to generate a bit of interest.  He could go in August.
  • Mariners: Adrian Beltre, Jarrod Washburn, Raul Ibanez.  The Ms still have time to move Beltre and Washburn if they feel so inclined.  Ibanez is a possible Type A free agent, so the Mariners asked for a lot.  Jayson Stark spoke to teams who characterized the Ms demands as "outrageous" in general.  Geoff Baker gives his take on the Mariners’ deadline day.
  • Braves: Mark Kotsay, Will Ohman.  Wouldn’t be surprising to see Kotsay moved this month.  Ohman we discussed here.
  • Nationals: Austin Kearns, Dmitri Young, Cristian Guzman, Luis Ayala, Ron Belliard, Tim Redding, Odalis Perez.  Some of these players have little trade value, while the Nationals prefer to keep others for ’09.
  • Reds: Adam Dunn, Bronson Arroyo, Jeremy Affeldt, David Weathers, David Ross, Josh Fogg, Paul Bako.  It seems that the offers just weren’t there for Dunn, who should net a pair of draft picks unless the Reds are gunshy about offering arbitration.  I’m surprised Weathers and Fogg weren’t moved.
  • Astros: Miguel Tejada, Randy Wolf, Jose Valverde, Ty Wigginton, Mark Loretta, Doug Brocail, Geoff Geary.  The ’Stros are acting like contenders.  The worst outcome for fans would be if Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins add a few wins and worsen the team’s ’09 draft position.
  • Pirates: Jack Wilson, John Grabow, Doug Mientkiewicz.  The Pirates were quite active, and could still trade Wilson and Grabow this winter.
  • Giants: Randy Winn, Dave Roberts, Bengie Molina, Rich Aurilia, Tyler Walker, Jack Taschner.  Winn and Roberts are August trade candidates.  The others might’ve made sense to trade.
  • Padres: Greg Maddux, Brian Giles, Khalil Greene, Josh Bard.  Maddux, with just one possible suitor, couldn’t be moved.  Keeping Giles and Bard around makes sense for ’09, while trading Greene now would be selling low.  The Padres did talk to seven different teams in the last few days.

Odds And Ends: Giants, Maddux, Grudzielanek, Arias

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A few post-deadline notes from the MLBiverse…

  • Brian Sabean is confident that he will be able to sneak some of his veteran players (Rich Aurilia, Omar Vizquel, Randy Winn, Bengie Molina, etc.) through waivers in the coming month for the purpose of making a trade. Chris Haft feels that the large number of teams remaining in contention will make that very difficult.
  • Kevin Towers does not sound optimistic about the possibility of trading Greg Maddux in the next month noting that such a move would be "dicier" and any trade would still require the Dodgers to "step up and give us the prospect package [the Padres want]."
  • Bob Dutton reports that the Royals will still try to move Mark Grudzielanek.
  • The Astros claimed relief pitcher Alberto Arias off waivers from the Rockies. Arias had been DFA’d on Tuesday and the Astros will send him to triple-A.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here .

Greg Maddux Rumors: Thursday

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1:50pm: Jayson Stark says Maddux is not heading to L.A., which means he won’t be traded.

7:07am: ESPN’s Buster Olney says trade talks for Greg Maddux have stalled between the Dodgers and Padres.  The Dodgers have mild interest and all the leverage as the only West Coast contender who will consider him.  It’s unclear whether the disagreement is over the $3.3MM owed to Maddux, possible prospects involved, or both.

Olney believes The Professor could be put on waivers on August if no deal is reached today.

Cubs Eyeing Ibanez, Giles, DeJesus

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THURSDAY, 12:12am: CBSSports.com’s Scott Miller says the Cubs also inquired on David DeJesus and Brian Giles.

WEDNESDAY, 10:31am: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Cubs are discussing trades for a left-handed hitter, including Raul Ibanez.  He is a curious fit and would leave the Cubs with questionable outfield corner defense.  But, the Mariners have to be happy that a suitor has emerged aside from the Mets.  The price remains two quality prospects.

Rosenthal says the Cubs could also turn to bench players or just stand pat.  The Cubs already have a decent lefty-hitting bench player in Mike Fontenot.

One left-handed hitter out there generating zero trade talk is Baltimore’s Aubrey Huff (.916 OPS).  Can’t explain that one.

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