Mariners lefty Cliff Lee might not be available yet, but there's a good chance GM Jack Zduriencik starts listening in coming weeks. Today's poll question:
Which team will acquire Lee by the 2010 trade deadline?
Mariners Rumors
Minor League Transactions
Here are a few of the noteworthy names involved in this week's minor league transactions, as compiled by Baseball America's Matt Eddy…
- Fernando Cortez was signed to his second go-around with the White Sox organization. The utilityman last played in the majors in 2007 as a member of the Royals, and has a .665 OPS in 3948 career plate appearances in the minor leagues.
- The White Sox also released Justin Fuller, best known as the minor-leaguer acquired last summer from Los Angeles in the Jim Thome trade.
- John Koronka was released by the Dodgers. The veteran southpaw made two starts for Florida in 2009 before signing with L.A. in January.
- Jason Lane was released by the Marlins. Best known for his time with Houston from 2002 to 2007, Lane's finest year came in 2005 when he hit 26 homers and posted an .815 OPS in 561 plate appearances for the Astros. He last appeared in the majors in 2007 with San Diego.
- Texas dealt right-hander Jailen Peguero to the Astros for future considerations. Peguero posted a 7.50 ERA in 25 relief appearances for the Diamondbacks in 2007-08.
- Cleveland released Josh Phelps just a few weeks after signing him to a minor-league deal.
- The Mariners signed pitcher Billy Traber. The left-hander has a 5.65 ERA in 96 career major league appearances, 28 of them starts. He appeared in one game last season, allowing five runs in 3 2/3 innings of mop-up duty for Boston.
Yankees Not Pursuing Lee Yet
2:58pm: An official tells Marc Carig of the Star Ledger that the Yankees have yet to discuss trading for players at the deadline, including Lee.
THURSDAY, 2:07pm: ESPN.com's Buster Olney hears (via Twitter) that the Mariners and Yankees have had "zero" discussions about Lee. That doesn't mean that they won't discuss the lefty in the future, but we now know that talks have not begun. Olney reminds us (via Twitter) that the Yankees have passed on the chance to trade for top pitchers before.
WEDNESDAY, 5:49pm: A rival executive tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that, despite the Yankees' effective rotation, he expects the team to be "undeterred in their pursuit of Lee on the trade market." According to Rosenthal's sources, the Phillies discussed Lee with the Yankees last winter prior to trading the left-hander to the Mariners. The Yankees had been willing to include Montero in a package for Lee, but that was before both the Vazquez trade and the emergence of Hughes.
3:56pm: A Yankees official told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News that the team has no urgency to do anything with their rotation, which isn't necessarily at odds with King's report below. In other words, the Mariners might like the Yankees to get involved on Lee, but so far they're not.
More interesting is the team official's suggestion that only three players have been made available across baseball so far, and Lee is not among them.
8:03am: The Mariners are preparing for the Yankees to pursue ace lefty Cliff Lee, reports George A. King III of the New York Post. King says the Mariners have already scouted the Yankees' Low A and Double A clubs and aim to watch their Triple A squad soon. King spoke to a "person familiar with Seattle's thought process" who believes Jack Zduriencik will seek Triple A shortstop Eduardo Nunez as well as one of the Yankees' minor league catchers. King suggests that the Yankees would need assurances that they could sign Lee to an extension if they're required to surrender Austin Romine or Jesus Montero.
King believes renting Lee would hold appeal to the Yankees despite their strong rotation. The Yanks' boast a front five of C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes, and Javier Vazquez, and it's not clear who they'd bump for Lee. The most likely candidate, Vazquez, has a 2.73 ERA in 33 innings since returning from a break on May 12th. Trading Vazquez to clear a spot for Lee seems convoluted to me.
With Nick Johnson potentially out for the season, an offensive addition would be more fitting. To that end, King says the Yankees have scouts following the Astros in case Lance Berkman becomes available. Berkman is still owed $11.2MM heading into today's action, however.
Odds & Ends: Harper, Cardinals, Zaun, Snell
A few more links to browse, on the night of Buster Posey's first big-league home run….
- Nationals scouting director Kris Kline tells MASN's Ben Goessling that the club is optimistic about finalizing a deal with Bryce Harper earlier in the summer than they signed Stephen Strasburg last season.
- Tony La Russa suggests that the Cardinals could pursue starting pitching, writes Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. We've heard this a couple times since both Brad Penny and Kyle Lohse hit the disabled list.
- With this year's draft barely in the books, MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo looks ahead to ten top prospects that could be drafted in 2011.
- Gregg Zaun confirmed today that he will have season-ending surgery on his shoulder, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. At the time of Zaun's injury, we looked at the Brewers' backstop options.
- Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner (via Twitter) has trouble believing the Phillies would have chosen the Mariners' package for Cliff Lee over a Yankees' offer headed by Jesus Montero, as Ken Rosenthal reported earlier today.
- Cameron also predicts that Ian Snell will be designated for assignment after a disastrous outing tonight in Texas (Twitter link).
Odds & Ends: Mets, Orioles, Cliff Lee
Links for Wednesday, as the Pirates' Brad Lincoln hopes to capture just a small slice of Stephen Strasburg's success in his MLB debut…
- Joseph Pawlikowski of River Ave. Blues is skeptical about today's rumors connecting the Yankees to Cliff Lee. Pawlikowski expects the Yanks to add complementary players this summer, rather than big names.
- Brewers catching prospect Angel Salome has requested a move to the outfield, reports Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
- The Mets appear interested in Kevin Millwood, Jeremy Guthrie, and Jake Westbrook, writes MetsBlog's Matthew Cerrone.
- Vladimir Guerrero, Troy Glaus, and Jon Garland head up Jon Heyman's list of the top free agent bargains for SI.com.
- 39th overall pick Anthony Ranaudo chatted with WEEI's Alex Speier, explaining that the plan is for him to pitch in the Cape Cod League and then begin negotiations with the Red Sox.
- Cliff Lee would prefer cooler temperatures than he'd find in Arlington if traded, reports ESPN's Richard Durrett, but the lefty knows it's out of his control. Lee told Durrett he's not worrying about the trade deadline.
- White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was disappointed to see the team draft his son Ozney way down in the 22nd round, reports MLB.com's Scott Merkin.
- Southpaw reliever George Sherrill would like to remain with the Dodgers beyond 2010, reports Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times. In my opinion, Sherrill will need to re-sign after being non-tendered for that to happen, much like Jonny Gomes did with the Reds.
Taijuan Walker Hopes To Get Started
Ask Taijuan Walker to describe himself and he'll tell you that the Mariners selected a “considerate” young man with their supplementary round selection this year. Ask scouts to describe the 17-year-old they saw throwing mid-90s fastballs and “considerate” will probably not be the first word they use. They’ll tell you about a pitcher with a lively fastball and a promising, but inconsistent curve.
Walker may soon be able to show those pitches off in the Mariners’ system, since he has tentative plans to sit down and discuss a deal with the M’s once he graduates from high school this week.
“I want to get signed,” Walker said on a conference call today.
Walker was a promising hitter in high school and admires Mariners bats like Ichiro and Chone Figgins, but doesn’t mind giving up on hitting to focus on pitching.
2010 Draft Pick Gains And Losses
Using Mike Axisa's 2010 draft order, let's take a look at which teams gained and lost picks through free agent compensation during the offseason.
- Seven clubs added at least one pick without giving any up: the Angels, Blue Jays, Astros, Rangers, Cardinals, Rays, and Rockies.
- The Angels lost Chone Figgins and John Lackey, but they added the most and best picks: #18, #29, #37, and #40. This is a huge year for director of scouting Eddie Bane. The Blue Jays added three picks: #34, #41, and #80.
- The Astros, Rangers, and Cardinals each added two picks, with the Astros doing the best by snagging #19 and #33 for Jose Valverde.
- The Orioles and Mets were the only two teams to lose a pick without adding any; those are #53 and #57 respectively.
- The Mariners added #43 but gave up #18, while the Tigers added #44 and #48 while giving up #19.
- The Red Sox came out in pretty good shape despite signing a pair of Type As in John Lackey and Marco Scutaro. The Sox added #20, #36, #39, and #57 while losing #29 and #80. Losing a Type A who was offered arbitration brings in two picks, but signing such a player only costs one.
- The Braves added picks #35 and #53, but surrendered #20.
Originally published 3-29-10.
Cafardo’s Latest: Lowell, Angels, Haren, Suzuki
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has a few hot stove notes in his latest column, but before he gets to those, he discusses Ken Griffey Jr.'s career, noting that the Mariner "walked away very quietly, with little fanfare, just as he said he would." Here are the rest of the highlights from Cafardo's piece:
- It doesn't appear any teams, besides maybe the Rangers, are too interested in Mike Lowell. Cafardo lists the Angels, Mariners and White Sox as potential matches, though a Sox official says Lowell "doesn’t fit for us right now."
- The Angels, meanwhile, seem committed to giving Mike Napoli playing time at first base for now, diminishing any interest they'd have in Lowell.
- The Diamondbacks have had internal discussions about trading Dan Haren, but one baseball executive expressed doubt that Arizona will pull the trigger. The exec pointed out that rebuilding from scratch isn't necessary in the NL West, since almost every team could be just a couple moves away from contending.
- Kurt Suzuki will likely be the Red Sox' top trade target this winter.
- A scout offers his opinion on the Orioles' young arms like Chris Tillman: "They’re kind of stuck and maybe have even taken a step backward. But sometimes that happens. Every kid has a hump they have to get over once they hit the big leagues." Last night, we discussed the possibility of the O's having a fire sale and turning their roster over to their youngsters for the remainder of the season.
Remembering the 1995 Trade Deadline
It was a grand time for the game of baseball. Plenty of critics, in the wake of the 1994 strike, declared baseball dead. Such declarations now stand in the Hall of Wrong, right between those who said that Mark Twain was dead (the first time) and Graydon Carter's claiming the death of irony.
Things were all turned around on the buyers and sellers front, too. The biggest seller? The New York Mets. Big buyers ranged from Cincinnati to Seattle. Indeed, money can't buy everything. So without further ado, on to the precious trade memories…
- For the low price of Frankie Rodriguez (not to be confused with K-Rod, of course) and a minor leaguer, the Red Sox acquired Rick Aguilera from the Twins on July 6. Aguilera was effective with the Red Sox, pitching to a 2.67 ERA and saving 20 games.
- A day later, the Orioles responded, trading Kimera Bartee and Scott Klingenbeck to the Twins for Scott Erickson. The pitcher was no longer in ace form, but Erickson won nine games and pitched to a 3.89 ERA with Baltimore.
- In the category of you win some, you lose some, the Phillies had a pair of roster moves that were noteworthy. On July 10th, the team released Norm Charlton. Mistake! Charlton went to Seattle, and managed a 1.51 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 47.2 dominant innings. However, on July 13th, the Phillies picked up Sid Fernandez, who had been released by the Orioles. El Sid had something left in the tank, to put it mildly, and he pitched to a 3.34 ERA in 11 starts, with 79 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings.
- The most ambitious trade of this deadline came on July 21 in an eight-player deal. Cincinnati traded Dave McCarty, Ricky Pickett, John Roper, Deion Sanders and Scott Service to San Francisco in exchange for Dave Burba, Darren Lewis and Mark Portugal. The trade worked out quite well for Cincinnati, with both Burba and Portugal pitching to ERAs under 4.00 while in the starting rotation. Lewis played his customary terrific defense, though his .588 OPS didn't overwhelm. But getting two frontline starting pitchers for a meager haul is a pretty sweet deal in any year.
- Finally, how did the Mets-as-sellers do? Well, Bobby Bonilla, during his best season at age-32, went to Baltimore on July 28 in exchange for Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa, two outfielders who were never able to crack a starting lineup consistently. Three days later, the Mets sent Bret Saberhagen to Colorado for Juan Acevedo and Arnold Gooch. Neither pitcher had much success; Gooch failed to reach the major leagues and Saberhagen pitched to just a 6.28 ERA in 1995, then missed all of 1996 due to injury. In other words: nobody in this trade managed to have nearly the career of a Dave Burba.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Lowell, Padres, Sale, Buehrle
On this date last season, Randy Johnson threw six innings of one run ball to beat the Nationals and earn his 300th career victory. The Big Unit called it career in January with 303 career wins despite having just 64 on his 30th birthday. His 4,875 strikeouts are the second most all time, though his 10.61 career K/9 is the best mark in history.
The four year, $53.4MM deal the Diamondbacks gave Johnson prior to the 1999 season might be the greatest free agent signing of all time. All he gave them in return was 1030 innings, 81 wins, 1,417 strikeouts, four Cy Young Awards and a World Championship. I'd call that one a win.
Here are a few links from around the world wide netweb…
- The Bottom Line wonders if Ken Griffey Jr.'s retirement opens the door for a Mike Lowell to Seattle trade.
- The Friarhood says it's time for the Padres to get serious about adding a middle-of-the-order bat.
- MLB Depth Charts checks in on prospects who were traded this past offseason.
- Bucs Prospects offers up a first hand scouting report on Florida Gulf Coast lefty Chris Sale, who's expected to be a high pick in next week's draft.
- Examiner wonders if the White Sox should trade Mark Buehrle.
- Meanwhile, Midwest Sports Fan suggests the ChiSox could be in for a turn around this month.
- More Hardball offer up a one-third mark of the season All-Star Team.
- Feeling Dodger Blue wonders if John Ely is the National League's second best rookie.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
