Stark’s Latest: Burnett, Cantu, Lowe, Furcal
Jayson Stark’s got a heaping helping of hot stove updates in his most recent blog post at ESPN.com.
- The Braves’ most recent offer makes them the frontrunners for A.J. Burnett, says Stark.
- We’re still waiting for another team to come close to the Yankees’ offer for C.C. Sabathia. Stark suggests Sabathia may make up his mind by next week. He also says there’s "increasing buzz about the Yankees’ interest in Ben Sheets."
- The White Sox appear to have expressed some interest in Jorge Cantu.
- Stark doesn’t think the Phillies stand a very good chance of signing Derek Lowe.
- Only the Dodgers and A’s, and perhaps the Orioles, remain interested in Rafael Furcal.
- If the Dodgers end up missing on Furcal and Casey Blake, their focus might shift to names like Ty Wigginton and Adrian Beltre.
Odds and Ends: Teixeira, Izturis, Gaudin
Links for Thursday…
- Check out this week’s minor league transactions. Some familiar names were signed.
- The Red Sox officially announced the signing of Junichi Tazawa.
- J.C. Bradbury likes the Dustin Pedroia contract.
- Sox Machine has parting words for Javier Vazquez, whose trade to the Braves was officially announced today. ESPN’s Keith Law tells you all you need to know about the players involved in the deal. Tyler Flowers is the key, Santos Rodriguez the wild card.
- The Rockies’ talks for lefty reliever Joe Beimel continue. In another article, Patrick Saunders looks at the team’s wish list.
- Rob Neyer believes teams are starting to figure out defensive evaluation, creating a weak market for lumbering LF/1B/DH types.
- Jesse Spector spoke to Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski.
- T.R. Sullivan says the Tigers’ talks for Rangers catcher Gerald Laird continue.
- Larry Dobrow offers suggestions to fix the Reds.
- Aaron Gleeman says the Twins have already missed several good opportunities to affordably improve their bullpen.
- Viva El Birdos explains why the Cardinals should’ve offered arbitration to Russ Springer and Braden Looper.
- Lee Jenkins provides insight into Mark Teixeira – the perfect baseball player and ideal Boras client.
- Roch Kubatko says Cesar Izturis remains a strong possibility for the Orioles.
- Fred Claire notes that Jack Zduriencik will always remember Russell Branyan as his first free agent signing. Geoff Baker examines the Branyan signing and the Ken Griffey Jr. idea.
- Paul Sullivan suggests Chad Gaudin is a non-tender candidate for the Cubs. He’s set to get an arbitration raise on this year’s $1.775MM salary.
Mariners Make Putz Available
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Mariners have made closer J.J. Putz available. The Mets will talk with the Ms about him at next week’s Meetings, but the Indians and other clubs will likely get involved. It sounds like the Mets would be happy to acquire Putz rather than give four years to Francisco Rodriguez/Brian Fuentes or three to Kerry Wood. Matthew Cerrone has more on the Mets’ bullpen plans here.
Putz, 32 in February, posted a 3.88 ERA in 46.1 innings this year. He struggled with his control, and hits dropped it at an inordinate rate. His average fastball velocity remained around 95 mph despite ribcage and elbow injuries. He’s set to earn just $5MM in ’09 with an $8.6MM club option for ’10. Putz could be a great pickup, as he was flat-out dominant from 2006-07.
Sherman adds that the Rays offered Chad Bradford to the Mets, hoping to move his $3.5MM salary. His salary doesn’t suit the Mets either, though.
Mariners Sign Russell Branyan
THURSDAY: We didn’t mention this yesterday – Branyan gets $1.4MM on his one-year deal.
WEDNESDAY: According to Ryan Divish of the Tacoma News Tribune, the Mariners signed infielder Russell Branyan to a one-year deal. Branyan, 33 later this month, hit .250/.342/.583 in 152 plate appearances for the Brewers this year. It’s hardly an impact signing, but Branyan’s still a solid pickup as long as he doesn’t face lefties. The Mariners seemingly plan to give Branyan near-regular playing time.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Dunn, Burrell, Manny
6:16pm: MLB.com’s Mark Bowman says the Braves are not interested in Dunn because they seek a right-handed bat. Does that rule out Raul Ibanez as well?
1:51pm: The latest from Ken Rosenthal:
- The Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, and Phillies are pursuing free agent outfielder Rocco Baldelli.
- Now that Adam Dunn wasn’t offered arbitration, the market is starting to take shape. The Braves, Mariners, and Nationals are interested, and the Dodgers and Angels consider him a fallback option. How about Dunn and Russell Branyan in the same lineup? Rosenthal considers the Yankees another possibility.
- Teams considering Pat Burrell, who was also not offered arb: the Mariners, Angels, and Giants.
- Rosenthal considers the Giants a darkhorse for C.C. Sabathia. Tim Brown says the Giants may be closing in on Edgar Renteria; Rosenthal has the Dodgers and Cardinals as other suitors.
- The Brewers will need to increase their offer to Sabathia to six years to have a shot.
- Rosenthal believes Jason Varitek will accept his offer of arbitration. He also wonders if Orlando Cabrera could accept. He expects Ben Sheets to decline (I made an error on this eariler).
- Rosenthal ponders the chances of Manny Ramirez accepting the Dodgers’ offer of arbitration. Buster Olney says three GMs wondered the same. I was under the impression Manny declining arbitration was a condition of his trade.
- The Cardinals want to add a young starter with upside. They also may go after a closer like Brian Fuentes or Kerry Wood if prices drop.
- Rosenthal believes the Reds could discuss a two-year deal with David Weathers.
Mariners Offer Arb To Ibanez
TUESDAY: A quote from GM Jack Zduriencik on Ibanez:
"It’s a bonus to be able to get two picks if we don’t sign him. But foremost, we’d like to have him come back to be a player for us this year."
It seems that if the Ms would really like Ibanez back, they’d offer him a reasonable multiyear deal.
MONDAY: According to Larry LaRue of the Tacoma News Tribune, the Mariners offered arbitration to outfielder Raul Ibanez. It was an easy decision, as at least ten clubs have interest in Ibanez and he’s certain to decline the arb offer to sign a multiyear deal. As a Type A free agent, the Ms stand to gain two draft picks for him.
For some reason, only 56.5% of MLBTR readers expected Ibanez to be offered arbitration in our recent poll.
Mariners Make Free Agent Offer
According to MLB.com’s Jim Street, Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik made an offer to a position player free agent and expects to know more within 24-48 hours. That free agent is not Ken Griffey Jr., though Zduriencik has talked to his agent. Any guesses? One reader emailed wondering if the Ms could be the mystery team for Rafael Furcal.
Alan Embree is also on the radar; he acknowledged that the Mariners were one of ten clubs to express interest with his agent.
Odds and Ends: Gammons, Kawakami, Buck
Links for Monday…
- Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik admitted to have a conversation with Ken Griffey Jr.‘s agent, but wouldn’t reveal anything else.
- One of Matthew Cerrone’s readers dug up a Primera Hora article saying the Mets have been scouting free agent reliever Fernando Cabrera.
- Bob Klapisch looks at Pedro Martinez‘s four-year, $53MM deal and asks: was it worth it?
- Rays Index notes that Grant Balfour will use WBC participation as a bargaining chip in contract negotiations (he’s eligible for arbitration).
- Marc Hulet of Baseball Analysts looks at top hitters for the Rule 5 draft.
- Fire Brand of the American League did a Q&A with ESPN’s Peter Gammons. Some good stuff in there.
- A few notes from Patrick Newman at NPB Tracker. The Hanshin Tigers are reportedly considering offering $20MM over four years to Kenshin Kawakami, while Yu Darvish had his contract renewed at $2.7MM for next year.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the Mets want to add one starter and push Jonathan Niese to the #5 spot.
- Rany Jazayerli notes that a John Buck trade would make sense for the Royals.
- I mentioned the Royals’ signing of J.R. House earlier, but should add that they also signed Franquelis Osoria and Matt Tupman to minor league deals.
Odds And Ends: Tazawa, Hoffman, Halladay
Links for Saturday…
- Junichi Tazawa is expected to announce early next week that he will sign with the Red Sox. He turned down offers from the Rangers, Mariners and Braves.
- The Padres recently offered to talk with Trevor Hoffman, but he hasn’t responded. Tom Krasovic also has a Sandy Alderson quote that the Padres are "highly unlikely" to offer Hoffman arbitration.
- Robert MacLeod talked to Blue Jays insiders who believe trading ace Roy Halladay would send "the wrong signal" to fans since the Jays want to compete in 2009.
- Rob Neyer wonders how C.C. Sabathia‘s weight will affect his performance going forward.
- Joba Chamberlain tops Peter Abraham’s list of the 20 most important people to the Yankees organization.
- Peter Gammons asks five post-Thanksgiving questions about free agents and trades. Also within that blog post, Gammons mentions that Kevin Towers went to Sunday’s Chargers game with Brad Ausmus and hopes to sign him.
- Larry LaRue writes that the Mariners could use a couple good outfielders to go along with Ichiro.
- Bob Verdi expects a quiet retirement accouncement from Greg Maddux.
Griffey Drawing Interest
According to Jim Street of MLB.com, Ken Griffey Jr. is attracting lots of interest already.
Griffey’s agent, Brian Goldberg, told Street that he has been in contact with nine teams regarding his client – six in the American League and three in the National League. Keep in mind that Goldberg initiated contact with some of these teams. All of this information was first reported by John Fay on Monday.
Goldberg said that Griffey, who’s open to moving around, won’t price himself out of a job and would consider a contract with incentives.
Goldberg said that Griffey is open to a one-year contract from "the right team in the right place." The Mariners are one of the nine clubs, but Goldberg contacted them and the response was said to be "polite."