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Mariners Show Signs Of Interest In Jose Guillen

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The Mariners have shown "signs of interest" in Jose Guillen according to Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star, but exactly just how much interest is tough to gauge. Royals' officials indicated that they have yet to receive a formal inquiry.

Guillen, 34 this month, is having a resurgent year with the bat. He's hitting .275/.318/.542 with eight doubles and eight homers in 129 plate appearances, though he's almost exclusively a DH nowadays. This season is the final one on his contract, which is putting $12MM in his pockets this summer.

The Mariners have made no secret about their desire to add offense, especially since their DH spot has been a non-factor – just a .189/.250/.207 batting line with just two extra base hits (both doubles). Mike Sweeney (.172/.273/.172) and Ken Griffey Jr. (216/.266/.243) have been the main culprits. For comparison's sake, NL pitchers are hitting .164/.205/.202, less than a 40 point difference in OPS.

Kansas City would assuredly have to eat some money to make a deal happen, and generally speaking, the more money a team eats, the more they get in return. They've been said to be looking for any kind of pitching, just like everyone else.

Odds & Ends: Strasburg, Piniella, Ely, Marlins

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Jamie Moyer, we are all witnesses.  Some quick notes as we finish up the work week….

  • Stephen Strasburg allowed just one hit and one walk over six shutout innings in his debut for Washington's Triple-A affiliate, reports The Associated Press.
  • Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com predicts the Cubs' woes may drive Lou Piniella into retirement when his contract is up after this season.
  • The Los Angeles Times' Steve Dilbeck thinks the Dodgers erred in sending rookie right-hander John Ely back down to the minors so quickly.
  • Clark Spencer of The Miami Herald has some details of Florida owner Jeffrey Loria's chat with reporters today.  Loria dismissed any problems between him and manager Fredi Gonzalez, though Spencer notes that Loria "never exactly came out and said Gonzalez's job was 100 percent secure."  Loria was vague about when Mike Stanton would be called up to the majors, but the owner noted that the Marlins "don't want him to come and fail. If he's going to come here, he's going to come here to stay."
  • Speaking of Stanton, his name came up more than once during Baseball America's J.J. Cooper's chat with fans today.  When asked if he'd rather have Stanton or Jason Heyward for the next 10 years, Cooper's answer was "Heyward and it didn't really take any time to think about it," though that's more of a nod to Heyward's limitless potential than a slight towards Stanton.
  • Brian McCann revealed today that he is having more vision problems, and he will again start wearing glasses in the field, reports David O'Brien of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  • ESPN's Buster Olney reports (via Tweets here and here) that the Mariners will still be paying Milton Bradley while he is on the team's restricted list.
  • Jean-Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News writes that of all the catcher possibilities the Rangers looked at over the winter, little-regarded Matt Treanor became the team's "savior" due to his solid defensive and game-calling skills.  (Probably on purpose, Taylor doesn't mention Treanor's .619 OPS.) 
  • Aaron Rowand, like Barry Zito, is also starting to live up his big Giants contract, writes Mychael Urban of CSNBayArea.com.  Urban notes that Rowand's early-season success may be due to a better offseason fitness regiment and a total swing overhaul.

Odds & Ends: Santana, Red Sox, Lee, Saunders

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Thursday night linkage..

Stark On Gordon, Dunn, Lowell

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The five most untradeable contracts in baseball?  ESPN's Jayson Stark's poll of baseball executives say it's Alfonso Soriano, Vernon Wells, Travis Hafner, Carlos Lee, and Barry Zito.  Hard to argue; check out our Bad Contract Swap Meet from last year for a look at other ugly deals.  It was interesting to see Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kosuke Fukudome nab honorable mentions in Stark's poll.  On to his other rumblings…

  • Stark's conversations led to repeated mentions of the new collective bargaining agreement, which will go into effect in December of 2011.  The uncertainty will have an impact – will 2011 draftees lack leverage, knowing that a slotting system could be installed the following year?  Does it make sense to worry about Super Two status for Mike Stanton now, when that provision might not exist in 2012?
  • Teams have kicked the tires on Alex Gordon, but the Royals have no interest in trading him.  MLBTR's Luke Adams led a discussion post on Gordon yesterday.
  • The Dodgers are scouring the trade market for starting pitching, while the Royals and Phillies seek bullpen help.  The Mariners and Braves are trying to add offense.  The Diamondbacks are actually more interested in starting pitching than relief, and are expected to have Chris Snyder available once Miguel Montero returns.
  • A "baseball man familiar with the Nationals' thinking" expects Adam Dunn to return in 2011, though not necessarily via an in-season extension.
  • A friend of Mike Lowell tells Stark the third baseman would love to play for the Twins or Angels if the Red Sox plan to trade him.
  • The Phillies have recently adopted a stance against full no-trade clauses, which is reflected in the Roy Halladay and Ryan Howard extensions.

Odds & Ends: Bradley, Miles, Harwell, Zito

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Links for Wednesday, as Ty Wigginton continues his assault on the American League…

  • Milton Bradley left the Mariners in the middle of last night's game, reports ESPN's Mike Salk.  The distractions become difficult to tolerate when he's hitting .214/.313/.371. GM Jack Zduriencik says Bradley asked the organization for help following last night's incident and will sit out for a few days while he works out personal "issues," according to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times.
  • Bradley, for his part, texted Peter Gammons (Twitter link) to say: "Any reports I said I'm packing up and leaving are 100% fabricated."
  • The Cardinals aren't sure yet whether Aaron Miles will work his way up to the bigs, writes Andy Jasner at MLB.com. The team is evaluating Miles' progress after signing him to a minor league deal last week.
  • Baseball fans are mourning the loss of Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell, who was 92. A public viewing will take place Thursday night at Comerica Park.
  • Barry Zito's 2014 option for $18MM vests if he starts racking up 200 inning seasons, reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.  Even if it remains a club option, the Giants face a hefty $7MM buyout.
  • Baseball America's Jim Callis says Texas high school righty Jameson Taillon is the consensus #2 in the June draft.  Will the Pirates spring for him?  Will the Orioles have a shot at #3?

Odds & Ends: Crawford, Raynor, Lackey, Strasburg

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Links for Tuesday, as Tim Lincecum reclaims the MLB strikeout lead…

  • Marc Topkin of The St. Petersburg Times spoke to Crawford, who said he was misquoted in the upcoming Sports Illustrated piece mentioned below. "Nothing's changed, no decisions," he said. "I don't know what Carlos [Pena] is doing.''
  • Pirates' GM Neil Huntington told Chuck Finder of The Pittsburgh Post Gazette that he tried to made a deal with the Marlins that would allow Rule 5 pick John Raynor to remain with the Pirates, but to no avail. Raynor was returned to Florida today.
  • John Lackey said he wasn't surprised when the Angels let him depart as a free agent given their trade record with letting home grown players leave, according to Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles. "It's different," said Lackey. "The way they preach the team game and giving it up for the team. That's a little suspect. You're supposed to give it up for the team. When the time comes, they might not want to give it up for you. But I totally knew that was a possibility. I was prepared for that. That's the nature of the game today."
  • Stephen Strasburg has been promoted and will make his Triple A debut Friday against Freddie Freeman and the Gwinnett Braves, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson.  ESPN's Rob Neyer notes that Strasburg seems to be on the Mark Prior path to the bigs, perhaps delayed a few weeks for cost savings.
  • MASN's Ben Goessling says Nats 2006 first-round pick Colton Willems has decided to retire.  The team has the pitcher on the restricted list in case he changes his mind.
  • An upcoming Sports lllustrated piece on Carlos Pena features this quote from Carl Crawford: "This core group is going to still be together, me and Carlos are the only two guys that are going to be leaving."
  • The Royals granted reliever Roman Colon his release so he can sign with the Kia Tigers of Korea, according to the team.  Just three months ago, Colon and Juan Cruz were in the mix to be Joakim Soria's primary setup man.  The Royals' bullpen sports an AL-worst 5.56 ERA in 81 innings.
  • White Sox GM Kenny Williams wouldn't rule out a fire sale at a later date, but said the team's aggressive nature will probably prevent it (Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reporting).
  • ESPN's Buster Olney explains that his Saturday story about Cliff Lee being likely to reach free agency was prompted by a call Olney made to Lee's agent.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Blue Jays attempted to sign Kelly Johnson to play left field during the offseason, offering more than the $2.35MM Johnson received from Arizona.  Johnson told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic in March that he strongly considered offers from the Blue Jays, Pirates, and Indians.
  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post points out that the upon acquiring Javier Vazquez, the Yankees considered two 2011 draft picks part of the deal.  Already, Vazquez's Type A status and arbitration offer are in question.  We'll be able to give you Vazquez's exact Elias standing later this month, when Eddie Bajek makes his first pass at 2009-10 rankings.
  • Dejan Kovacevic's latest article for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests the Pirates were overly optimistic about Akinori Iwamura, currently their highest-paid player.
  • Click here to listen to my radio appearance on KFNS St. Louis from earlier today.

Zduriencik Looking For Offense

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On Saturday, Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider looked at a bunch of potentially players who could help the Mariners' anemic offense.  Ms GM Jack Zduriencik talked to the AP about the situation yesterday:

"I've made a tremendous amount of phone calls. I continue to make phone calls. I've made several phone calls in the last three or four days.  But it's like hunting season. It's not hunting season right now. Nobody's selling."

White Sox GM Kenny Williams said something similar to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times:

"I don't think anyone is really prepared to make any deals.  And any interest expressed in any players out there who are impact guys has been done for quite some time. There really isn't much substance to anything at this stage of the season. Another 30 games, and you'll start to see talk pick up."

It's true that we shouldn't expect many big trades in May.  I'm not sure why the Orioles and Royals wouldn't be willing to sell, but maybe they'd prefer to let the market develop. 

The Mariners might be able to improve the offense by replacing Ken Griffey Jr.  His .527 OPS is among the worst in baseball, but he's only had 63 plate appearances.  Zduriencik says Griffey still has some time to find his way out of the slump:  "You wait and see. You hope he gets on track.  It's early.  If he continues [to struggle] we will have to have some discussions with that."

Mariners Release Ricky Orta

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The Mariners released righty Ricky Orta to free up a 40-man roster spot for one of their recent call-ups, according to a team press release.

Orta, 25, posted a 1.94 ERA, 8.9 K/9, and 3.9 BB/9 in 41.6 Double A innings last year.  Baseball America ranked Orta 27th among Mariners prospects heading into the season, expecting him to reach the big league bullpen.  However, he had Tommy John surgery in the spring.

Mariners Release Eric Byrnes

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The Mariners have released Eric Byrnes, according to Larry LaRue of The News Tribune.  The veteran outfielder has posted a .443 OPS this season in 34 plate appearances.

The 34-year-old agreed to a one-year deal with Seattle in late January.  While Byrnes is earning $11MM in the final year of the three-year pact he signed with the D'Backs, the Mariners are responsible for just $400K of that sum.

Seattle has also made a trio of in-house adjustments, sending Matt Tuiasosopo to Triple-A while promoting Ryan Langerhans and Josh Wilson.  All four roster moves have been confirmed by a team press release. 

Shannon Drayer of ESPN Radio Seattle (via Twitter) points out that Langerhans and Wilson were not on the 40-man roster, meaning that another move is on the horizon.  She later tweeted that the move will not be shifting a player to the 60-day DL and it will likely not involve a player on the 25-man roster (also via Twitter).

Earlier this evening, both Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner and Larry Stone of The Seattle Times predicted that Byrnes' days in Seattle were numbered.

Odds & Ends: Royals, Byrnes, Colon, Twins

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A few links to browse, as we prepare for the Mets' third consecutive appearance on Sunday Night Baseball….

  • R.J. Anderson of Fangraphs weighed in on the Royals' demotion of Alex Gordon.
  • Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner (via Twitter) has a gut feeling that the M's will release Eric Byrnes tomorrow.  Heading into today's game, Byrnes had a slash line of .107/.265/.179 in 34 plate appearances.
  • Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star tweets that reports of the Royals selling Ramon Colon to Korea's Kia Tigers appear to be premature.  However, the deal for the righty should happen sometime mid-week.
  • In a guest piece at Minorleagueball.com, Twins' prospect guru Seth Stohs tells readers about five Twins prospects that you might not know, but probably should.
  • ESPN New York's Ian O'Connor spoke with Omar Minaya about several Mets-related issues, including his early impression of Ike Davis and Jerry Manuel's contract status. Minaya offers praise for Manuel, but says he won't be approached about an extension until season's end.
  • The New York Post's Joel Sherman writes that the Rays' front office will continue to keep their club competitive, regardless of how many fans are in the stands. He also opines that the presence of Desmond Jennings and Jeremy Hellickson in Triple-A Durham gives the team the flexibility to make a trade that would help them both immediately and in the long-term.
  • Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times examines how the Dodgers' cost cutting has affected their scouting and player development.
  • J.D. Durbin has signed a one-year deal with NPB's Softbank Hawks, according to Kyodo News. The 28-year-old right-hander last pitched in the majors in 2007 for the Phillies.
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