Mariners Rumors

Odds and Ends: Wigginton, Andruw, Royals

By Tim Dierkes | December 16, 2008 at 3:00pm CDT

Links and notes for Tuesday…

The Rays held a "get-to-know you" chat with free agent reliever Joe Nelson. Also, exec Andrew Friedman doesn’t see their pursuit for a hitter lasting into late January.
The Mets will not be affected by the money a few of their owners lost in the Bernard Madoff scheme.
Argenis Reyes and Ambiorix Burgos are now free agents after being non-tendered.
RotoAuthority has a running list of pitchers who are moving from the AL to the NL for 2009.
I chatted about the Yankees with Coast To Coast Baseball.
El Lefty Malo discusses the idea of the Giants signing Ty Wigginton.
Kevin Baxter passes along quotes from Andruw Jones regarding the future.
Rany Jazayerli weighs in on recent Royals moves.
Bleeding Blue and Teal tells us about Taiwanese lefty Fu-Te Ni, who may sign with a Major League team.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Abreu, Griffey, Varitek

By Tim Dierkes | December 15, 2008 at 4:54pm CDT

The latest hot stove info from Ken Rosenthal…

One executive told Rosenthal Bobby Abreu seeks a three-year, $48MM deal. He may have a hard time convincing someone he’s worth $16.5MM more than Raul Ibanez.
Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik, rather than his bosses, has final say on whether to sign Ken Griffey Jr.
If the Mets can move Brian Schneider, they could pursue Jason Varitek. They might have to give him a multiyear deal (and also surrender their second-round pick to the Red Sox). The Mets reportedly discussed Schneider with the Red Sox several weeks ago. Rosenthal says some execs still believe in the Mark Teixeira-Varitek package deal idea though. It doesn’t really make sense to me.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Yankees, Teixeira, Bradley, Furcal

By Nat Boyle | December 14, 2008 at 5:45pm CDT

Ken Rosenthal has his latest article up. Let’s go through it.

Milton Bradley is weighing his options with the Cubs and Rays. Joe Maddon and the Rays may be a better fit than Lou Piniella and the Cubs. And spending time at DH would allow him to "protect his oft-injured body." But will the Rays meet Bradley’s asking price when they can turn to Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Garret Anderson, or Pat Burrell instead? Rosenthal adds that the Reds, Angels, and Nationals are also interested in Bradley.
Rosenthal says the Yankees are aiming to keep their payroll lower than last season. Despite gorging this holiday season, they’re shedding more than they’re putting on.
With regards to Mark Teixeira, Rosenthal reports one general manager says there is a lot of bluffing going on right now to get the Red Sox to go higher.
Ty Wigginton has received calls from four teams since being non-tendered by the Astros. His replacement in Houston has yet to be established. Chris Johnson, the team’s third base prospect, had a .539 OPS in Triple A last season.
Jerry Hairston Jr. is receiving interest from the Reds and three AL clubs, the Mariners likely being one of them. Says Rosenthal, "Hairston, 32, plays six positions and was a favorite of new M’s manager Don Wakamatsu when both were with the Rangers." Not sure where the Phillies fit in, but Jay Bruce said Hairston was considering them. And John Perrotto has the Pirates in the mix for Hairston.
The reason Rafael Furcal rejected the A’s offer was that he wants to stay with the Dodgers, so says "one agent." Meanwhile the Dodgers appear to be daring Furcal to leave for a lesser club before making an offer.

Odds and Ends: Burrell, Braves, Red Sox

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 12, 2008 at 7:53pm CDT

Links for Friday night…

The Reds are going to call Pat Burrell’s agent.
Ken Rosenthal breaks down the Braves’ options now that they’ve lost out on A.J. Burnett. Could they sign Rafael Furcal as a second baseman and move Kelly Johnson to left field?
The Red Sox signed five players to minor league deals, including Paul McAnulty and Billy Traber.
T.R. Sullivan takes a look at the market for Ben Sheets from the Rangers’ perspective.
Keith Law calls the Raul Ibanez signing ’absurd’ for the Phillies.
Orioles manager Dave Trembley thinks his team is still in the running for Mark Teixeira.
Dean Jones Jr. breaks down the Orioles’ Rule 5 draft selections.
Dave Dombrowski isn’t the only one who’d like to bring John Smoltz to Detroit. Even college basketball coach Tom Izzo likes the fit.
Jay Bruce also plays GM; he wants the Reds to keep their young pitching. Bruce also revealed that Jerry Hairston Jr. is considering the Phillies and Mariners in addition to the Reds.

Details On Tigers’ Failed Putz Bid

By Tim Dierkes | December 12, 2008 at 9:20am CDT

Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press has the details on the Tigers’ failed bid for J.J. Putz:

One proposal involved the Tigers sending Matt Joyce to Tampa Bay and outfielders Wilkin Ramirez and Casper Wells to Seattle. Putz was the only player the Tigers would have received.

According to Joe Strauss, the Cardinals also pursued Putz (as well as Aaron Heilman).

After the proposal failed, the Tigers shipped Joyce to Tampa Bay for Edwin Jackson. Brian Fuentes may be the Tigers’ best remaining option from a baseball standpoint, but Morosi believes they’d have to move other contracts off the books to afford him. I’m surprised – they’ll spend less than $10MM in ’09 on their new catcher, shortstop, and starter.

Sherman’s Latest: Lowe, Saito, Teixeira

By Tim Dierkes | December 12, 2008 at 8:51am CDT

The latest from Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Mets GM Omar Minaya recently admitted he did not expect to pursue A.J. Burnett or Derek Lowe, saying, "I’m probably not going to be in there right now, financially. Not after spending all the money that I did on K-Rod." Sherman isn’t sold, though – he thinks Lowe’s price could drop and give the Mets a shot.
The Dodgers haven’t received a counter-offer to their two-year, $45MM proposal, so they won’t be making another bid. Sherman adds that they are planning to non-tender Takashi Saito.
The A’s remain the frontrunners for Rafael Furcal.
Sherman says the Nationals have bid seven years and $140MM for Mark Teixeira. That offer was reported on Wednesday to be eight years, $160MM. Sherman says the backup plans are Adam Dunn and Orlando Hudson. I believe the Hudson link is new.
The Mariners had tried to pry Jonathan Niese from the Mets for J.J. Putz. Sherman also notes strong interest in Aaron Heilman. He says the Mets and Cubs did not discuss Jason Marquis, contrary to reports.

Mark Teixeira Rumors: Thursday

By Tim Dierkes | December 11, 2008 at 9:56pm CDT

9:56: Jeff Zrebiec says that even with larger offers on the table, the Orioles do not plan on upping their offer for Teixeira. The Orioles’ offer is believed to be seven years, and in the $140-150MM range. The Orioles have discussed Eric Hinske and Hank Blalock as fallbacks if Teixeira signs elsewhere.

2:38pm: Tim Brown and Gordon Edes talked to involved execs (not with the Angels) who believe the Boras camp is "using the media to ratchet up the price beyond what any team had actually offered."

Brown and Edes say the Angels were told the Red Sox and Nationals offered eight years at about $20MM per. The Angels don’t want to do an eighth year, so they’ll look into trades for Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko, and possibly Adrian Beltre. Raul Ibanez is the top free agent backup plan.

Brown and Edes believe Boras could insist on an opt-out clause in a deal with the Nationals.

8:59am: Mike DiGiovanna says the Angels "are believed to be willing to offer at least seven years for something in the $160-million range" for Tex.

8:51am: Jon Heyman says the Yankees have re-entered the Teixeira sweepstakes.

2:40am: Summing up the reported offers made to Mark Teixeira:

Orioles: seven years, $140-150MM
Nationals: eight years, $160MM
Angels: reluctant to exceed seven years; no offer yet? (Boras implied there was)
Red Sox: making progress; no offer yet? (Boras implied there was?)

By the way, Joe Haggerty transcribed the full Scott Boras talk from yesterday at his site.

Beltre Adds Twins To No-Trade Clause

By Tim Dierkes | December 11, 2008 at 2:12pm CDT

Yesterday, La Velle E. Neal of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune heard about no-trade problems for the Twins with Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre. Today, Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times has further detail:

When [the Twins] attempted to investigate a possible deal, they discovered that — since the last time they’d looked into Beltre during the season — he’d added the Twins to a list of teams on his limited no-trade clause. Twins officials were somewhat surprised, though it’s not unusual. When a player sees a team showing public interest in trading for him, they will sometimes amend their no-trade to include that club and then use it as a bargaining chip down the road. Usually, some kind of cash settlement is needed.

If players can freely swap out or add teams to their partial no-trade clause, why do such clauses exist? Did Scott Boras negotiate some type of flexible no-trade clause, or are all partials like this? I don’t have the answers, but Baker says this is a "workable" scenario in regard to the Twins and Beltre. He seems to be the best available third baseman. Any team acquiring him gets him for one year plus probable Type A draft pick compensation if he’s offered arb and leaves.

Odds and Ends: Rule 5, Beltre, Schmidt, Bako

By Tim Dierkes | December 11, 2008 at 7:00am CDT

Stray links I’ve collected over the past few days…

John Manuel and Jonathan Mayo get us ready for the Rule 5 draft. Manuel has a second post on it here.
Sarah Green looks at A.J. Burnett’s possible commutes.
LEN3 suggests the Twins might be part of Adrian Beltre’s limited no-trade clause.
K-Rod signing analysis from Dave Cameron, Jesse Spector, and Keith Law. Also check out the usual solid analysis over at Ken Davidoff’s blog.
Law also takes on the Edwin Jackson, Ramon Hernandez, J.J. Putz, and C.C. Sabathia moves.
The Red Sox are likely to non-tender Kevin Cash. Josh Bard is one free agent on their radar. Also, Tony Massarotti learned that the Red Sox are strongly opposed to opt-out clauses.
UmpBump found some C.C. Sabathia rumors we missed on Monday. Also, the Brewers’ offer to C.C. had unique clauses and two club options.
The Dodgers knew Jason Schmidt had a partial rotator cuff tear when they signed him.
Rany Jazayerli on recent Royals rumors, reliever and otherwise.
Bruce Miles says the Cubs have some interest in bringing Paul Bako back.
Jason Davis, Raul Chavez, and R.A. Dickey became free agents. Davis may be headed to Japan.
Nick Piecoro says Junior Spivey is looking for a job.
Much of the money saved from recent White Sox trades was repurposed for Dayan Viciedo.

Mets Acquire Putz In Three-Team Deal

By Tim Dierkes | December 11, 2008 at 12:56am CDT

THURSDAY, 12:56am: Rosenthal raises the question of whether the Mets will exercise Putz’s 2010 option for $9.1MM now that he’s a setup man. I think if he’s worth that amount pitching the ninth he’s worth it pitching the eighth.

Putz seems excited about the trade, even if his agent says otherwise. Ben Shpigel explains how the deal came together while reporters were in an adjacent room.

WEDNESDAY, 11:02pm: Geoff Baker says the Mariners got three additional minor leaguers from the Mets: pitcher Maikel Cleto, outfielder Ezequiel Carrera, and pitcher Jason Vargas.

10:17pm: MLB.com’s Jim Street confirmed the deal. The Mariners give up Putz, Green, and Reed and get Heilman, Chavez, Carp, and Gutierrez. The Indians give up Gutierrez and get Valbuena and Smith. The Mets give up Heilman, Chavez, Carp, and Smith to get Putz, Green, and Reed.

The Mets succeeded in overhauling their bullpen without giving up premium pieces. Assuming Putz and K-Rod are healthy, they’ll be playing seven-inning games.

The Mariners can try Heilman the rotation, and add good outfield depth. I’m kind of lukewarm on the Indians’ benefit.

10:02pm: Geoff Baker says a previous incarnation with the Rays instead of the Mets fell apart. In that deal, the Tigers would’ve included Jeff Larish.

9:27pm: Rosenthal has an update:

Under terms of the deal, the Mets would get Putz, outfielder Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green. The Mariners would receive reliever Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez and first baseman Mike Carp from the Mets. They’d also get Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians and minor leaguers. The Indians would get reliever Joe Smith from the Mets and infielder Luis Valbuena from Seattle.

David Lennon seems to agree.

9:06pm: Jon Heyman says the Mets would surrender six players in this blockbuster.

8:40pm: MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince says the three teams "appear to be on the verge" of a deal. He says that if the deal goes through the Mariners would get Gutierrez and the Indians would get Joe Smith and Mariners prospect Luis Valbuena. Heilman and Jeremy Reed would also be involved in some capacity. Graziano suggests not all of the players in the trade have been decided upon. Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik admitted a proposal is on the table.

8:06pm: Rosenthal softened the language of his post – he now says the Mets are trying/working to acquire Putz rather than close to a deal. He also mentions that the deal would involve one or more prospects.

8:00pm: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Mets are close to acquiring Mariners reliever J.J. Putz in a three-team trade. Putz and K-Rod will be quite a late inning tandem. The Indians are also involved in the trade. Other players in the mix: Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, Mike Carp, and Franklin Gutierrez. Rosenthal is not sure yet who’s heading where.

Dan Graziano has the story as well, but does not mention the Indians.

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