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Bidding On Jason Bay

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WEEI.com's Alex Speier hears from multiple sources that the bidding for Jason Bay will reach at least four years at $14-15MM per season. The 31-year-old outfielder has been "pleasantly surprised" by his first contract year. Bay didn't know what to expect at the beginning of the season, but he's produced, as usual.

He has 36 homers and a .266/.385/.538 line that overshadows his 159 strikeouts and below average defense (according to UZR/150). A return to Boston appears to be a "legitimate possibility," but other teams will have interest if the two sides can't agree to a deal.

As Speier notes, the Angels, Cardinals, Giants, Mariners, Mets, White Sox and Yankees could all have interest in Bay and the resources to sign him.

Yahoo's Gordon Edes and MLBTR's Mike Axisa each compared Bay to Matt Holliday last month, so check out their articles to see how Bay fits in to the rest of the free agent market.

Odds & Ends: Sandberg, Yanks, Padres, Upton

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Some links to read before the final weekend of the regular season…

Odds & Ends: Padres, Molina, Cubs, Unit

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Another round of links for the afternoon…

  • ESPN.com's Rob Neyer would like to see big market teams share more revenue with their small market rivals. Still, he says MLB has been competitive compared to football, basketball and hockey.
  • Padres CEO Jeff Moorad was non-committal about GM Kevin Towers' future on XX 1090 in San Diego, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (via Twitter). Moorad said Towers is the GM now, and added that the Padres are evaluating all levels of the organization.
  • Towers said in no uncertain terms that he wants to be in San Diego.
  • Bengie Molina's agent tells the AP that his client wants to return to San Francisco (via ESPN). We heard in late August that Molina wants to sign a two-year deal. ESPN.com's Keith Law says the Giants should pass.
  • Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball notes that the Cubs have drawn three million fans for the sixth straight season. Along with the Cubs, only the Angels, Dodgers, Yankees and Cardinals have accomplished the feat.
  • Randy Johnson tells the AP (via the East Valley Tribune) that he's in no rush to decide on his future.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hands out his postseason awards and issues a number of apologies to people around the game.

Odds & Ends: Padres, Molina, Cubs, Unit

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Another round of links for the afternoon…

  • ESPN.com's Rob Neyer would like to see big market teams share more revenue with their small market rivals. Still, he says MLB has been competitive compared to football, basketball and hockey.
  • Padres CEO Jeff Moorad was non-committal about GM Kevin Towers' future on XX 1090 in San Diego, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (via Twitter). Moorad said Towers is the GM now, and added that the Padres are evaluating all levels of the organization.
  • Towers said in no uncertain terms that he wants to be in San Diego.
  • Bengie Molina's agent tells the AP that his client wants to return to San Francisco (via ESPN). We heard in late August that Molina wants to sign a two-year deal. ESPN.com's Keith Law says the Giants should pass.
  • Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball notes that the Cubs have drawn three million fans for the sixth straight season. Along with the Cubs, only the Angels, Dodgers, Yankees and Cardinals have accomplished the feat.
  • Randy Johnson tells the AP (via the East Valley Tribune) that he's in no rush to decide on his future.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hands out his postseason awards and issues a number of apologies to people around the game.

Gammons On Wedge, Halladay, Giants

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ESPN.com's Peter Gammons describes how hard it is to win when there's no room for error. It's tough for small-market teams like the Indians and Blue Jays to win when every mistake and injury costs them. Here are Gammons' latest rumors:

  • Indians GM Mark Shapiro never felt that the club's disappointing season was manager Eric Wedge's fault, but someone had to go. Shapiro still fired Wedge, but could any manager have done much better with a team that traded its veterans (most notably Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee) and endured an injury-plagued season from its best player (Grady Sizemore)?
  • If the Blue Jays can't sign Roy Halladay long-term, they can expect to get 60% of what J.P. Ricciardi could have obtained if he had dealt the Jays' ace within the AL East back in July.
  • Gammons finds it hard to believe that there are questions remaining about Giants GM Brian Sabean, whose future in San Francisco remains uncertain. In spite of some over-zealous spending (Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito come to mind), there's a lot to like about the Giants.
  • Mets ownership doesn't like the team to spend above-slot on its draft picks, which weakens the team's minor league system. Gammons says their system has become deeper, however.

Odds & Ends: Kikuchi, Bengie Molina, Marlon Byrd

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Links for Wednesday…

Brad Penny Reflects On Time With Giants

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Brad Penny was greeted rudely by the American League this year, but he pitched well in four of five starts for the Giants after being released by the Red Sox in late August.  Penny had kind words for the Giants, speaking to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News.  Penny's thoughts on re-signing with San Francisco:

"We'll see.  I've loved it here, but I haven't thought about next year yet."

Baggarly notes that Penny does prefer to pitch for a West Coast team.  A return to the Dodgers is presumably out, so if Penny wants to stay in the NL and sticks to his geographic preference he's looking at the Giants or Padres.  Baggarly senses Penny will "let market forces determine his fate."  Despite a 5.15 ERA in 164.3 innings this year, Penny remains intriguing and will be guaranteed millions.  With a 94.0 mph average fastball velocity this year, he's easily the hardest-throwing free agent starter.

Will Yusei Kikuchi Choose MLB?

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Yusei Kikuchi may decide this week between Japanese baseball and MLB, according to Bobbie Dittmeier of MLB.com.  As Dittmeier says, the hard-throwing 18-year-old southpaw would "become the first high school player to bypass Japan's draft and sign with a Major League organization."

Dittmeier says the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Tigers, Braves, Rangers, Mariners and Indians have reportedly scouted Kikuchi.  She passes along a Kyodo News quote from Kikuchi's high school coach indicating the pitcher is 50-50 on his decision.

NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman has covered Kikuchi extensively.  Back in May, Newman explained to MLBTR the differences between Kikuchi and Junichi Tazawa.

Odds & Ends: Pirates, Sabean, Weeks

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Tuesday linkage:

Odds & Ends: Chapman, Indians, Dye, Cubs

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Let's take a look at the wire…

  • Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times talked to Angels scouting director Eddie Bane about his level of interest in Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman.  Bane once again stated that he is intrigued by the 21-year-old lefty, but must see him face live batting before considering making an offer.
  • A clause in Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell's contract prevents him from accepting an outside managerial position until after the 2010 season, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Farrell, who served as Cleveland's farm director before joining the BoSox, was expected to be a candidate to manage the Indians if Eric Wedge is not brought back.
  • More from Ken Rosenthal as he reports that the Brewers are "seemingly on the verge" of retaining Ken Macha and are considering hiring pitching coach Rick Peterson. Macha and Peterson were on the Oakland staff together from 1999-2003.  Peterson served under Macha in 2003, his first year as the A's skipper.
  • MLB.com's Scott Merkin reports that Ozzie Guillen hopes "it's not the end" for him and Jermaine Dye, as 2010 marks a mutual option year.  Dye wants to return but the White Sox are unlikely to pick up the 35-year-old's $12MM option.
  • Carrie Muskat of MLB.com reports that Lou Piniella doesn't expect the Cubs roster to change too much.  "Last year we had about 10 changes here," Piniella said. "If we have half that, that's a nice number. Some changes [last year] were out of necessity. I see us being selective in what we do."
  • Toronto's Jose Bautista is improving his stock heading into arbitration, writes MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.
  • Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News writes in his blog that Brian Sabean denied telling season-ticket holders that he would "undoubtedly" look to pick up Freddy Sanchez's option, but said that the Giants want to hang on to him.
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