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A Possible 2008 White Sox Roster

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Nathaniel Whalen of the Daily Southtown speculates on a possible 2008 White Sox roster.  His scenario sends Jon Garland and Brian Anderson to San Diego for Khalil Greene, Heath Bell, and a pitching prospect.  Not sure who the Padres would use at shortstop, then.

Whalen’s scenario also has the White Sox signing Aaron Rowand.  Most folks around Chicago expect Kenny Williams to make a run at him, especially if it’s for Eric Byrnes bucks.  But that leaves Ryan Sweeney and Jerry Owens as the corner outfielders.  Neither fits the profile of a corner outfielder, and I’m not sure the Sox can sacrifice the offense as Thome, Konerko, and Pierzynski all get a year older.  Whalen’s picture also includes Darin Erstad on the roster, which could quickly lead to Erstad as a regular again.  Yikes.

Baseball Prospectus’s Nate Silver also came up with a plan for the ’08 Sox back on June 14th.  His lineup involves free agent signings of Luis Castillo and Kosuke Fukudome, with Ryan Sweeney handling center and Josh Fields in left.  He proposed the Sox swap Mark Buehrle for shorstop Brent Lillibridge of the Braves, but that was prior to Buehrle’s extension.  He also thought Kenny Williams could swap Jermaine Dye for someone as useful as Chad Billingsley, which was wishful thinking even in June. 

What do you think?  Williams could go in many different directions, but one way or another he needs to come up with a shortstop and at least one decent veteran outfielder.

Yanks, Padres Fail To Reach Igawa Deal

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Disappointing lefty Kei Igawa will not be traded this season.  According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Yankees chose not to dump Igawa’s contract on the Padres, and the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement via trade.  The Padres had won the claim on Igawa, which shows just how little interest there was around baseball.

As I mentioned a couple days ago, the Yankees don’t really have an opening for Igawa in 2008 if all goes according to plan.  Many teams have shown past interest in Igawa, including the Orioles, Mariners, Padres, D’Backs, Dodgers, Mets, Cubs, Braves, Tigers, and Indians.  Igawa had expressed a desire to pitch on the West Coast.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Possible Waiver Deals

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Ken Rosenthal has a new post up; below are some points of interest for rumor-hounds like us. 

  • Josh Towers and Steve Trachsel have both cleared waivers.  You’ll find their contract info as well as a complete list of those who have cleared waivers here.  Rosenthal says the Rockies are monitoring both pitchers; they were forced to start journeyman Tim Harikkala today.  The Rox also called the A’s about Chad Gaudin but found the price prohibitive.  Another reason a Gaudin trade wouldn’t make sense is that he wouldn’t pass through waivers. 
  • Towers is attracting multiple suitors.  I think he’ll have moderate success in the NL as a #4 starter.
  • Mark Loretta and Mike Lamb were both claimed on waivers and then pulled back, so they’re not going anywhere. 
  • The Yankees have no reason to throw down a chunk of change on a free agent starter this winter.  They’re all set for 2008 with a formidable rotation of Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, and Andy Pettitte.  I think we’ve learned by now that there’s really no such thing as a surplus of starting pitching, so I imagine the Yanks will only trade Kei Igawa in the right deal.  Buster Olney said this morning that there was a 50% chance of Igawa going to the Padres soon.  Additionally, it will be nice to have Ian Kennedy around as the sixth starter.

Where’s David Wells Headed?

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Another August, another David Wells trade.  Which teams would consider the 44 year-old southpaw?

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe believes there’s a small chance the Diamondbacks or Dodgers could be interested.  Wells’ agent, Gregg Clifton, specifically mentioned the Mets, D’Backs, and Dodgers as teams the pitcher would strongly consider.

However, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic indicated Friday that the D’Backs "do not appear to have interest" in Wells.  Similar story for another West team, the Mariners.  Larry Stone of the Seattle Times says the Ms "don’t appear to be interested."  Stone says Wells has a strong preference to stay in the NL.  I don’t blame him.  I wonder if Wells is on Atlanta’s radar.

Padres Awarded Claim On Kei Igawa

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UPDATE: Buster Olney gives the deal a 50/50 chance and says the deadline is 2pm Tuesday.  The Yanks would target one of the Padres’ many fine relievers.  As expected, the posting fee is a sunk cost and doesn’t factor in here.

The Padres were awarded a waiver claim on Kei Igawa today, a pitcher they pursued in the offseason.  A healthy dose of a National League pitcher’s park may be just what Igawa needs.  As Ken Rosenthal notes, all AL teams as well as clubs like the Dodgers, Rockies, Cardinals, Cubs, Phillies, and Braves passed on Igawa.  I’m surprised the Mariners passed, also.

The Yankees and Padres now have 48 hours to work out a trade.  The Yankees could just dump the contract on the Padres, but it’s really not that bad since the posting fee is a sunk cost.  Igawa gets $4MM annually through 2011, which is really cheap if he can be even league average.

Padres To DFA David Wells

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As suspected, the Padres will designate 44 year-old starter David Wells for assignment tomorrow.  According to Ken Rosenthal, they’ll then have three days to trade him.

It’s possible Boomer will just retire.  But back in July Wells was talking about playing in 2008.  He has an appealing contract situation that pays him $170K per additional start this year.  If you assume he wants to stay on the West Coast, the options are probably limited to the Angels, Mariners, Dodgers, Rockies, and Diamondbacks.  The D’Backs had interest last December.  And U.S.S. Mariner thinks he’s better than Horacio Ramirez.  The Rockies might have a need; it was recently revealed that Jason Hirsh fractured his fibula last night (though he continued to pitch afterwards).

Maybe Wells wouldn’t limit himself though; it was said in January that Wells wouldn’t mind playing in Toronto again.  Or how about a return to Detroit?

One more point to consider, courtesy of Padres blog Gaslamp Ball: Wells still has to serve a seven-game suspension this year.

Odds and Ends: Wells, Piazza, Dunn

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Here are some miscellaneous happenings around baseball that weren’t worthy of individual posts…

  • The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Padres might release starter David Wells this week.  Boomer earns about $175K per additional start, which needn’t continue the way he’s pitching.  He’s tossed up a lot of seven earned run performances lately.  Wells would probably retire if released, though it would be fun to see him hook on with the Dodgers.
  • The Yankees designated ageless LOOGY Mike Myers for assignment on Monday.  That leaves Ron Villone as the only southpaw currently in the bullpen.  Phenom pitcher Joba Chamberlain might join the team today;  the Yankees hope he’ll be their K-Rod.  But they have to make the playoffs first (Baseball Prospectus puts their playoff odds at 55-65% currently).
  • The Indians signed Russell Branyan to a minor-league contract.  He still might be able to provide some pop off the bench against righties.
  • Yes, Mike Piazza passed through waivers.  But he also has a gentleman’s agreement with Billy Beane about accomodating his wishes if Beane trades him.  And one of those wishes might be to avoid Minnesota.
  • The Reds plan to either exercise Adam Dunn’s option and then trade him in the offseason, or else just not exercise the option.  Dunn might command a Carlos Lee-sized free agent deal.  One added wrinkle: Dunn would gain full no-trade protection until June 15th if the Reds pick up the option.

Braves Acquire Royce Ring

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Alright, blog service is back up.  Booyah.  As you may know, a bunch of southpaws were swapped today: the Braves got Royce Ring from the Padres for Will Startup and Wil Ledezma.

Should be nice to have Ring around in case things don’t work out with Ron Mahay. Still, it would’ve been nice to see John Schuerholz come up with some kind of starter for the back end of the rotation.  Maybe in August.

Startup’s been solid in Triple A, and the Padres might be able to coax some goodness out of the twice-traded Ledezma. 

With so many decent lefties floating around at minimal cost, you have to wonder why a team would ever sign Mike Stanton.  But that’s why they’re GMs and I’m just a guy who blogs until he gets carpal tunnel.

Padres Interested In Igawa, Lamb, Loretta

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UPDATE: Will Carroll reports that the Padres appear to be close to a deal for both Lamb and Loretta.  Not sure if the Ensberg acquisition changes this.

I’m not sure when it was published, but Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the Padres have interest in Mark Loretta or Mike Lamb from the Astros.  That we knew, but Krasovic also mentions that the Padres would like to buy low on Kei Igawa but the Yankees aren’t shopping him.

Padres Acquire Morgan Ensberg

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According to Buster Olney (via RotoWorld), the Padres have traded for third baseman Morgan Ensberg.

Kevin Kouzmanoff might be well-served with a platoon partner, but it would make sense to get someone who hits righties.  Both Kouzmanoff and Ensberg excel against southpaws, Kouzmanoff more so this year.  Give Kouzmanoff a mulligan for his awful April (his first full month in the bigs), and he’s hit .273/.328/.486.  Nothing amazing, but why would Ensberg be any better?

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