Waiver Claims: Davis, Banks
A couple of waiver claims were made today; let’s discuss.
The A’s picked up 27 year-old outfielder Rajai Davis, designating Kirk Saarloos. Davis had been the Giants’ bounty in the Matt Morris deal (aside from the main benefit of shedding Morris’ contract). Davis is known for his blazing speed, which helps him in the outfield and on the basepaths. It seems unlikely that Davis will ever force his way into a starting role with Oakland.
The Padres snagged 25 year-old pitcher Josh Banks. He’s a starter with superb control, but the Padres will convert him to relief. Certainly a Padres-like project.
Cubs May Have Use For Murton After All
One of the players most-rumored to be traded in the past month is Matt Murton after he failed to make the Cubs opening day roster and was sent to AAA. Now it appears the Cubs may have a use for Murton after all, recalling him from the minors today.
Jon Greenberg notes that Murton is still not an everyday player but could get an occasional spot-start in the outfield as well as regular pinch-hit at bats.
Earlier this week, Ken Rosenthal noted that the Rays were still interested and earlier this month wrote of the Padres also pursuing the outfielder. The sticking point appeared to be the Cubs demand for a top pitching prospect.
This could just be a ploy by the Cubs to try and up the offer from other clubs, showing that he is still of value to the Cubs or the Cubs are just now realizing that he is just more useful in the majors than he is in the minors.
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.
Odds and Ends: Darvish, Maddux
Let’s kick off the day with some random links.
- Baseball America’s Jim Callis profiles young phenom Yu Darvish, currently pitching in Japan. If he were MLB-bound, he’d be the third-best prospect in the game.
- DRays Bay would like to see Edwin Jackson traded rather than Jason Hammel, if there’s a roster squeeze.
- Greg Maddux has told some teammates that this is his last season. That nugget is only a small part of Tim Keown’s fantastic article about the legendary Professor.
Padres Interested In Damian Miller
THURSDAY, 9:51am: The Padres (and Giants) didn’t claim Quintero; he passed through waivers and is headed to Triple A.
WEDNESDAY, 11:43am: The Padres aren’t quite sure how long Michael Barrett’s elbow injury will knock him out. He won’t need Tommy John surgery, but he could miss anywhere from the minimum to two months. Kevin Towers contacted free agent Damian Miller as a possible backup to be used later this month. Miller wasn’t able to find a job this winter. For now, the Padres will use the light-hitting Colt Morton behind Josh Bard.
One reader suggested Humberto Quintero, who was designated for assignment on March 31st. The Quintero situation should be resolved soon, but the Giants might claim him.
Odds and Ends: Harden, Bonds, Ramon Hernandez
Time to round up today’s linkage.
- Susan Slusser believes Rich Harden and Joe Blanton will both be traded this season. She sees the Yankees and Mets as suitors for Harden, though he’s already having a start pushed back.
- Jim Caple recently made his case for the Mariners to sign Barry Bonds; his logic is sound.
- Our Brian Bannister Q&A got a mention in the KC Star. Nice!
- RotoAuthority has the fantasy take on K-Rod’s ailing ankles.
- Pure speculation, but Ken Rosenthal thinks Ramon Hernandez would be a good fit for the Reds. Not sure if the Reds were looking at Michael Barrett, but that option’s off the table now.
- Who said you can’t go home again? Craig Wilson is back with the Bucs.
- We’ll be doing our third MLBTR chat here at 2pm CST; don’t miss it!
Rosenthal’s Latest: DeWitt, Murton, Vargas, Hatteberg, Pena, Baek, Piazza
Ken Rosenthal has his latest column up at FoxSports.com. As usual he is not shy about stirring up rumors. Let’s take a look at what the rumor-guru has to say:
- Rosenthal notes that the Dodgers will go with Blake DeWitt at third base who has never played a game above AA. This comes after the Dodgers failed to acquire either the Astros’ Mark Loretta, who was unavailable and the Royals’ Esteban German, who was too expensive. The Royals were asking for the Dodgers’ third best prospect, shortstop Chin-Lung Hu.
- He indicates that the Padres and the Rays are pursuing Matt Murton but the Cubs are holding out for a top pitching prospect in return, knowing Murton will be a starter on another club. Rosenthal quotes one GM as saying that the price "is way too high as of now". As many as five teams have shown interest in Murton.
- The Mets are among a dozen teams that have inquired about Brewers pitcher Claudio Vargas, who will not be in the rotation to begin the season. [Update: Sorry about this one. I had forgotten that the Brewers released Vargas earlier this week]
- The Reds have put Ryan Freel on the market, but more teams appear to be interested in Scott Hatteberg. However, Rosenthal indicates that it is unlikely for the Red to trade Hatteberg even if Joey Votto is named the starter.
- The Tigers, Reds and Orioles all tried to acquire backup catcher Brayan Pena from the Braves, but the Braves do not appear interested in letting him go
- Rosenthal says that Pat Gillick’s history in Seattle may have played a part in the Phillies inability to land M’s reliever Cha Seung Baek, who is out of options but made the roster as a reliever.
- Finally, Rosenthal notes that Mike Piazza is still working out with hopes of landing a gig at some point in ’08. Rosenthal thinks that Piazza may have to come to the realization soon that his career may be over.
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.
Odds And Ends: Eaton, Balfour, McAnulty
Couple of minor notes for this Friday afternoon:
- Paul McAnulty, who is out of options, is going to make the Padres 25-man roster. With Scott Hairston filling in for injured Jim Edmonds in center, McAnulty could get a fair share of playing time in left. The other candidate for playing time is Jody Gerut.
- It appears the Rays have decided on their final bullpen spot, giving the job to Scott Dohmann. The loser in this deal is Grant Balfour, who is out of options. The Australian reliever has some promise, and I would imagine will be claimed on waivers.
- Not that it’s a trade rumor, but there are whispers that Adam Eaton may have pitched his way out of the Phillies five slot. There isn’t mention of a replacement, but it could be Chad Durbin.
Posted by Joe Pawlikowski.
Padres Acquire Justin Huber
According to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star, the Padres have acquired Justin Huber from the Royals for a player to be named later. He’s a good candidate to see time in left field for San Diego since he’s out of options. Backing up Adrian Gonzalez at first probably isn’t an option given Tony Clark‘s presence.
The 25 year-old gets a .255/.322/.420 projection from PECOTA and .279/.334/.437 from ZiPS. Baseball America spoke of a team official who compared Huber to Matt Diaz. It’s a decent low-risk acquisition for Kevin Towers once again.
Padres, Rays Interested In Jeremy Reed
According to John Hickey of the Seattle PI, the Padres and Rays are eyeing Mariners center fielder Jeremy Reed. Hickey notes that the Padres have renewed interest and have liked him for quite a while. And he wonders whether Rays would surrender a young pitcher. Hickey believes Reed might still be on the Ms’ roster as a showcase. The 26 year-old does have options left, though.
The White Sox drafted Reed in the second round back in ’02. He made it to Double A as a 22 year-old in ’03 and hit over .400 in a half season.
Reed injured his wrist playing for Team USA that November, but said it wasn’t the cause of his poor spring with the Sox in ’04. Instead, a partial shoulder dislocation may have been to blame. Reed wasn’t terribly impressive in his first stint at Triple A, but he was young for his level (and still made the Futures Game).
Days after that game Kenny Williams shipped Reed to Seattle as the centerpiece of the Freddy Garcia trade. Reed hit better at Triple A as a member of Rainiers. Then he posted a tiny-sample .397 average in a September cup of coffee.
Reed displaced Randy Winn as the Mariners’ starting center fielder to begin the ’05 season. He hit poorly in all months outside of May, however. He had two injuries on the year – a concussion in July and a season-ending torn left wrist ligament in September.
Reed was a hot commodity in the 2005-06 offseason, with the Red Sox offering Matt Clement or Bronson Arroyo. The Ms added Matt Lawton in December but Reed stayed put.
In Spring Training of ’06, Reed injured his right wrist. It was originally diagnosed as broken but turned out to be a 12-18 year-old fracture. He was ready for Opening Day, but hit his way out of the lineup by May. Reed then broke his thumb in July, a season-ending injury. Reed was healthy by spring ’07 but didn’t make the team. He posted an .806 OPS at Triple A and earned a September call-up. In 22 ABs this spring, Reed’s hit .318/.407/.364.
Reed looks like a decent buy-low pickup, but his star has faded from all the injuries. His destiny may be as a fourth outfielder. He’s got two years of service time, so he could be arbitration-eligible after this season.
Odds and Ends: Giles, Crisp, A-Rod
Nothing huge cooking this morning, so here are some odds and ends.
- Doesn’t look like the Dodgers will acquire Marcus Giles.
- Rany Jazayerli writes about how Kansas City is home to many of the country’s best baseball journalists. On a related note, the Star’s Sam Mellinger has a chat with Brian Bannister on his blog.
- Coco Crisp rattles off the trade rumors he’s heard: Cubs, Sox, A’s, Padres. No deal appears imminent, though Crisp was healthy enough to pinch-run this morning.
- John Harper snags an exclusive with Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod admitted he chose the Rangers over the Mets for money and feared he was going down that road again this past winter.
- Roch Kubatko writes that Brian Roberts was pulled from the lineup today for back pain, hoping to nip trade speculation in the bud.
- The Phillies have to make a decision on Kris Benson today.
- Aaron Gleeman weighs in on the Joe Nathan extension. Buster Olney talked to baseball execs who felt the Twins should’ve added Nathan’s money to their Johan offer.