Odds and Ends: Ibanez, Dunn, Blake, Stewart
Let’s kick off the morning with some random links.
- Live chat here today at 2pm CST.
- Brian Matusz is hopeful about striking a deal with the Orioles by Friday’s deadline. Roch Kubatko has a source saying it’s likely.
- Baseball America’s Jim Callis warns us not to listen to the posturing – he still expects all the first-round draft picks to sign with the possible exception of Allan Dykstra.
- Should the Mariners offer Raul Ibanez a three-year deal at $10-11MM per?
- No word yet on possible Rays acquisitions in wake of the Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria injuries. Marc Lancaster wonders if Kenny Lofton or…don’t say it…Barry Bonds would make sense.
- The Mets had no interest in Adam Dunn. They wonder about his passion, according to Joel Sherman. Did you know he doesn’t like baseball?
- The Phillies were more interested in Casey Blake than Manny Ramirez.
- Athletics Nation looks at some free agent options for ’09.
- Shannon Stewart didn’t understand his latest Blue Jay Experience.
- The Yankees, Mets, Angels, and Padres have scouts at the Olympics to watch Hitoki Iwase, Koji Uehara, Kenshin Kawakami, Yu Darvish, and Kyuji Fujikawa.
White Sox Not Pursuing Washburn
TUESDAY, 9:30am: De Luca’s latest article confirms Chicago’s lack of interest in Washburn. De Luca says Washburn has "passed through waivers," by the way.
MONDAY, 10:22pm: Kenny Williams’ comments to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin seem to indicate a lack of interest in Washburn.
9:48am: According to Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times, the White Sox are pursuing Mariners starter Jarrod Washburn as a replacement for Jose Contreras. Contreras may be out for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times heard from team sources on Saturday that Washburn cleared waivers. Based on the Yankees rumors last month, it appears the Mariners are unwilling to unload Washburn solely for salary relief ($10.35MM in ’09).
ESPN’s Buster Olney had a conflicting report in yesterday’s blog. Olney heard the claiming window remains open on Washburn until 12:30pm CST today, and the White Sox are considering putting one in. Additionally, Ken Rosenthal said on Saturday that the Yankees will put a claim in for Washburn. The Yanks have a worse record, so they’d win such a battle.
Olney also mentioned that Paul Byrd might make sense for the Sox. Byrd has already cleared waivers. Phil Rogers believes Aaron Poreda could be an option.
Heyman’s Latest: Lucchino, Manny, Rangers
I wanted to let the Dunn trade cool off a bit before diving into Jon Heyman’s latest.
- Heyman "people in high places in baseball" who believe Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino might leave after the season, possibly for the Dodgers. He’s still butting heads with Theo Epstein apparently.
- Heyman doesn’t buy the idea that Scott Boras orchestrated Manny Ramirez‘s departure from Boston. He also doesn’t buy the idea of Ramirez playing in New York.
- Nolan Ryan would like Tom Hicks to sell the Rangers to him, but Hicks has shown no willingness to do so.
- Players such as George Sherrill, Brian Fuentes, and Raul Ibanez are not expected to clear waivers. No surprise there.
Jarrod Washburn Placed on Waivers
3:32: I’m a bit confused by these two reports, as I thought there was an automatic waiting period of three business days. Either there’s something I’m missing (entirely probable) or there’s a discrepancy here. I’ll keep looking for something definitive.
1:09pm: The Seattle Times is reporting that Washburn has cleared waivers.
11:48am: Jarrod Washburn was put on waivers yesterday by Seattle. They’ll expire on Tuesday. Are the Yankees still interested? Ken Rosenthal didn’t think so, but that was last week. Last we heard, the Mariners wanted quite a bit, and the Mets, Rockies, and White Sox had also been mentioned as possible suitors.
Washburn turns 34 in less than a week, and has a 4.76 ERA this year. Next year, he’s owed $10.35MM. Maybe the Mariners have decided to come down their asking price.
Odds and Ends: Sabathia, Teixeira, Ibanez, Giles, Lee
CC Sabathia is 6-0 since getting traded to the Brewers, and naturally his teammates are thrilled to have him. Especially Prince Fielder, who said of his new ace, "I’m like his mini-me."
Angels owner Arte Moreno said it was "emotional" for him to trade home-grown first baseman Casey Kotchman, but that he won’t regret the move even if new Angel Mark Teixeira leaves as a free agent after the season. He mentioned budding AAA star Kendry Morales as a possible replacement.
The News Tribune’s Larry LaRue worries that the Mariners won’t be able to keep Raul Ibanez after the season. Ibanez has said he’d like a 4-year deal, but LaRue sees the M’s offering three at most. Plus, he notes that it’s a little late for them to start talking about a contract extension.
Brian Giles is annoyed that details of his vetoed trade to Boston became public. "I didn’t know everybody was supposed to know, especially when it wasn’t a done deal and it wouldn’t go down," Giles said. "It’s kind of between myself and my agent and Boston and the Padres." He also expressed a desire to stay with the Pads—a preference that was greeted with suspicion by the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo.
And President George W. Bush thinks Carlos Lee‘s contract is just fine.
Odds and Ends: Delgado, Heilman, Teixeira, Alvarez
Time for today’s linkage.
- Geoff Baker tries to determine who "won" the Jose Vidro trade.
- Ken Davidoff doesn’t expect anyone of value to clear waivers. We didn’t have much August trade action last year either. Some decent names were dealt in August of ’06 though – David Wells, Shawn Green, Jamie Moyer, Livan Hernandez, Ryan Franklin, Eric Hinske, and Scott Schoeweneis.
- The Mets can retain Carlos Delgado for ’09 at essentially $8MM, since there’s a hefty $4MM buyout on his $12MM option. Back in May Delgado’s agent said it was a $16MM option. However, MetsBlog‘s Matthew Cerrone told me that is only the case with a top five MVP finish.
- Joel Sherman wonders whether Aaron Heilman will be a non-tender candidate this winter. Seems unlikely; he won’t be that expensive.
- Mark Teixeira‘s three favorite places to play are New York, Seattle, and Anaheim, for what it’s worth.
- Yahoo’s Kevin Kaduk considers "Dr. James Andrews" the worst three words in baseball. He also lists some other three-word contenders.
- The Pirates will not "grossly exceed" the market to sign Pedro Alvarez. They seem to be hoping Scott Boras will come down to the $4-6MM net present value range on August 15th.
- The Nationals are thinking around $2.15MM for Aaron Crow.
- RotoAuthority discusses trading injured players in fantasy leagues.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Price, John Hart, Ibanez
A look at Ken Rosenthal’s latest column…
- Rosenthal notes that the Rays have an ace in the hole with David Price available to boost their pitching staff when they deem him ready. I imagine the Rays won’t end up signing Freddy Garcia. The reports on Garcia are lukewarm, by the way.
- Teams are beginning to value free agent compensation draft picks more than ever. As a result, we’re seeing fewer salary dump trades. Rosenthal notes that it is possible for a team to receive a supplemental pick even without offering arbitration. That is true, but only if the free agent signs elsewhere before December 1st.
- John Hart might want to get back into the general managing game.
- The Rangers discussed acquiring Raul Ibanez, it seems.
Mariners Release Jose Vidro
As expected, the Mariners designated struggling DH Jose Vidro for assignment yesterday. They had not been able to unload his contract on anyone. Vidro is hitting just .234/.274/.338 this year in 330 plate appearances. It shouldn’t be hard to find a more productive DH.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Washburn, Teixeira, Griffey
Rumor-wellspring Ken Rosenthal has another Inside Pitch video:
- Jarrod Washburn to the Yankees has been put to bed. It won’t happen through waivers.
- Mark Teixeira wants a 10 year deal and that might limit his options to one city: New York. Only Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have 10 year deals. The Yankees and Mets may be the only players willing to go that high. Teixeira’s turned down a lot of money before, and indicated he wants to play for a place he likes and a team that contends every year.
- Ken Griffey Jr. could remain in the American League next year, and Rosenthal suggests a return to Seattle. He’s open to playing OF and DH but has also considered some 1B.
Players Not Traded
Assigning contender status is subjective, but I’m going to say that the following teams are not in the playoff mix: the Orioles, Royals, Indians, Mariners, Braves, Nationals, Reds, Astros, Pirates, Giants, and Padres. The Blue Jays and Athletics just missed the cut as fringe wild card contenders. With those 11 non-contenders in mind, let’s take a look at players not traded at the ’08 non-waiver deadline.
- Orioles: Aubrey Huff, Ramon Hernandez, Brian Roberts, Jay Payton, Jamie Walker, Kevin Millar, Chad Bradford, George Sherrill. Millar and Payton are free agents after the season, but there probably wasn’t much of a market for either. The rest are under team control through at least ’09, so Andy MacPhail still has time to find the right deal; read his comments here. Hernandez is an August trade candidate.
- Royals: Jose Guillen, Mark Grudzielanek, Ron Mahay, David DeJesus, Miguel Olivo. Moving the Guillen contract would’ve made sense, but we don’t know whether that was on the table. Kind of surprised to see Grudz still around. Mahay could be an offseason move, but the Royals might just want him for ’09. DeJesus’ name will probably come up at the Winter Meetings.
- Indians: Paul Byrd, David Dellucci, Jamey Carroll. Only Byrd was thought to generate a bit of interest. He could go in August.
- Mariners: Adrian Beltre, Jarrod Washburn, Raul Ibanez. The Ms still have time to move Beltre and Washburn if they feel so inclined. Ibanez is a possible Type A free agent, so the Mariners asked for a lot. Jayson Stark spoke to teams who characterized the Ms demands as "outrageous" in general. Geoff Baker gives his take on the Mariners’ deadline day.
- Braves: Mark Kotsay, Will Ohman. Wouldn’t be surprising to see Kotsay moved this month. Ohman we discussed here.
- Nationals: Austin Kearns, Dmitri Young, Cristian Guzman, Luis Ayala, Ron Belliard, Tim Redding, Odalis Perez. Some of these players have little trade value, while the Nationals prefer to keep others for ’09.
- Reds: Adam Dunn, Bronson Arroyo, Jeremy Affeldt, David Weathers, David Ross, Josh Fogg, Paul Bako. It seems that the offers just weren’t there for Dunn, who should net a pair of draft picks unless the Reds are gunshy about offering arbitration. I’m surprised Weathers and Fogg weren’t moved.
- Astros: Miguel Tejada, Randy Wolf, Jose Valverde, Ty Wigginton, Mark Loretta, Doug Brocail, Geoff Geary. The ‘Stros are acting like contenders. The worst outcome for fans would be if Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins add a few wins and worsen the team’s ’09 draft position.
- Pirates: Jack Wilson, John Grabow, Doug Mientkiewicz. The Pirates were quite active, and could still trade Wilson and Grabow this winter.
- Giants: Randy Winn, Dave Roberts, Bengie Molina, Rich Aurilia, Tyler Walker, Jack Taschner. Winn and Roberts are August trade candidates. The others might’ve made sense to trade.
- Padres: Greg Maddux, Brian Giles, Khalil Greene, Josh Bard. Maddux, with just one possible suitor, couldn’t be moved. Keeping Giles and Bard around makes sense for ’09, while trading Greene now would be selling low. The Padres did talk to seven different teams in the last few days.