Erik Bedard Mariners/Reds Rumors
UPDATE, 1-10-08 at 5:38pm: Churchill has further updated his right-hand sidebar referencing the Reds possibility. He says the O’s want Bailey, Votto, Cueto, and Edwin Encarnacion. This is particularly lopsided, and pushing Melvin Mora back to Cincy wouldn’t make it any less so. Mora may have negative value at this point. Meanwhile John Fay says nothing new has happened on the Reds/Bedard front.
UPDATE, 1-09-08 at 9:07pm: Rosenthal checks in with an update. If the Mariners would give up Chris Tillman, they could have a done deal. Baseball Prospectus’ Kevin Goldstein ranks the 19 year-old righty as Seattle’s second best prospect, giving him a number two starter ceiling. Rosenthal confirms that Jones is the centerpiece, while George Sherrill and Carlos Triunfel are in play.
Meanwhile, Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider says on the right-hand sidebar of this page that the Reds might step up their offer in an attempt to make a late play. He thinks they could give up Homer Bailey, Joey Votto, Johnny Cueto, and a fourth player, which would be absurd.
FROM 1-09-08 at 9:03am:
On Tuesday, both Ken Rosenthal and Jason Churchill carefully stated that the Orioles and Mariners were making progress on an Erik Bedard trade. The deal would center around Adam Jones but include other good young players as well. The Reds and Indians were named as other lingering Bedard suitors.
Larry Stone of the Seattle Times checked in on the Bedard situation today. His MLB source agreed that talks between the Mariners and Orioles have heated up. Andy MacPhail, however, would not use the words "heating up." Stone goes on to mention that the Mets "could be players" for Bedard in addition to the Ohio teams. Contrary to earlier reports, Stone was able to extract a quote from Ms GM Bill Bavasi that indicated Brandon Morrow was not off limits.
John Hickey admits that the rumors won’t die but doesn’t think the Mariners have made any actual progress on a deal. He agrees that Morrow seems a bit more available than he did before. Hickey suggests Josh Fogg could be a backup plan to Bedard for Seattle, noting that Fogg likes the idea of pitching in Safeco. The Reds are also believed to have interest in Fogg.
Odds and Ends: Reyes vs. Ramirez, Blanton, Colon
Let’s round up some random links for today…
- This is one of the more impressive rants I’ve heard. Seems that he lost his cool or something.
- Fantasy baseball shortstop smackdown: Jose Reyes vs. Hanley Ramirez.
- Ken Rosenthal says the Mariners inquired on Joe Blanton, but weren’t willing to trade Adam Jones within the division.
- Bartolo Colon is back in action for two more starts.
Marlins Interested In Luis Gonzalez
A new suitor has emerged for free agent left fielder Luis Gonzalez: the Marlins. According to Ken Rosenthal, they like the idea of bringing him aboard as a mentor and using him at first base and in left field. Gonzo will have to choose between playing time or a contending team.
Rosenthal notes the Brewers and Mariners as other possibilities. The Giants and Twins could also consider him. Gonzalez hit .278/.359/.433 for the Dodgers in ’07, earning $7.35MM. Rosenthal notes that he’s 498 hits shy of 3,000, but that would take four seasons of semi-regular playing time at the least.
Odds and Ends: Mantei, Foulke, Cairo, Guardado
Here are this morning’s random rumors and links.
- Matt Mantei will throw for the Tigers this week, and hopes to get a minor league deal. The 34 year-old hasn’t pitched in the bigs since 2005 for Boston.
- The D’Backs will watch Keith Foulke throw later this month as he attempts his comeback after a year off. The Indians and Red Sox are other teams Foulke may have special interest in.
- The Mariners signed Miguel Cairo in an effort to push incumbent second baseman Jose Lopez. Cairo has a career line of .267/.315/.367, while Lopez is at .261/.295/.379. Cairo is the lesser of two evils, I guess.
- Andy MacPhail is talking about (or at least posturing that) he’s going to start looking to fill holes via free agency since he’s not getting the right trade offers. I imagine Octavio Dotel is still on the Orioles’ radar to close.
- The Rangers were close to signing Eddie Guardado in December, and now they’re…still close.
Erik Bedard Rumors: Mariners, Reds, Indians
Erik Bedard staying put in Baltimore this winter? Maybe not. Ken Rosenthal and Jason Churchill both busted out brand new material this evening with the latest Bedard chatter. The upshot is that the Mariners seem to have a decent shot at him.
- Rosenthal says the Mariners will put Adam Jones, Jeff Clement, and Matt Tuiasosopo in the deal. He indicates that the Orioles could push to substitute and get one of Tony Butler, Chris Tillman, and Carlos Triunfel. Looks like Bill Bavasi is sticking to the idea of keeping Brandon Morrow. Rosenthal hedges his bets, but admits to "growing indications that the teams could be moving closer to a deal."
- Churchill says something similar: the Mariners and Orioles "may very well be making significant progress." Churchill sees a package of Jones, Triunfel, and George Sherrill as the likely scenario.
- Baseball Prospectus’ Kevin Goldstein recently listed his Top 11 Prospects for the Mariners. Clement was a five-star, Tillman and Triunfel four-stars, Butler a two-star, and Tuiasosopo an honorable mention. Jones would be first were he still considered a prospect.
- Both Ohio teams have interest in Bedard as well, but a trade to the Indians or Reds seems less likely. The Reds still won’t give up Jay Bruce.
Orioles Could Re-Sign Corey Patterson
It seemed the Orioles had no interest in retaining Scott Boras client Corey Patterson. However, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports that the Orioles have renewed their interest in the 28 year-old center fielder.
My guess is that the Orioles backed off when Boras told them his initial demands for Patterson (three years, $24MM maybe?) But now Patterson is still hanging around and no teams seem to be actively pursuing him. Connolly mentions the Cardinals, Braves, Twins, and Pirates as possible fits, but admits they’re long shots. Patterson was born in Atlanta.
Patterson has a chance to be a mild bargain if he rediscovers his power stroke. He’s striking out less and less, which could mean an improvement in batting average. The offensive bar is pretty low for center field if you play good defense.
The Orioles are still entertaining possible trades that could bring them a center fielder and take them out of the mix for Patterson. They could get Adam Jones in an Erik Bedard trade, or a "Chicago Cubs outfield prospect" in a Brian Roberts deal. I doubt this would be Felix Pie.
Pirates Rumors: Snell, Estrada, Villone
John Perrotto had some new Pirates’ rumblings in yesterday morning’s column.
- Don’t be so quick to dismiss the Ian Snell to Seattle rumor. Perrotto acknowledges it, noting that the Mariners would offer Jeff Clement but the Pirates would probably require Adam Jones.
- Perrotto believes the Pirates have backed off their pursuit of Johnny Estrada, though Dejan Kovacevic hasn’t heard this. I never thought Estrada made much sense for them.
- Perrotto says the Pirates have an eye on free agent lefty Ron Villone, who pitched for them back in ’02.
Odds and Ends: Lima, Clemens, Pagan
Some links of interest this evening…
- RotoAuthority ranks the top 24 catchers for fantasy baseball.
- Eduardo Encina says the Edwin Jackson to Seattle rumor won’t go away, but he’s still not buying it.
- Sox Machine notes that most of Kenny Williams’ trades come without warning.
- Jose Lima has signed on as a top of the rotation starter.
- Roger Clemens, Mike Wallace, blah blah blah. This is officially not interesting.
- Are the Cards looking for a lefty reliever? Does this mean Tyler Johnson is on his way out? Viva El Birdos suggests that Mark Hendrickson could be the acquisition.
- The Cubs shipped fifth outfielder Angel Pagan back to the Mets for a couple of minor leaguers. I tried to ignore this one for lack of interest, but the emails keep comin’ in.
Ian Snell, Jason Bay On Mariners’ Radar?
UPDATE, 1-5-08 at 10:29am: Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider says talks between the Pirates and Mariners for Bay and Snell "never went past the introductory stages" – the Bucs’ demands are not reasonable.
FROM 1-3-08 at 11:51pm:
Jake at Bucco Blog has been hearing a lot of buzz lately about the Mariners’ interest in Pirates’ righty Ian Snell. The 26 year-old posted a 3.76 ERA in 208 innings in 2007. He was an ace in the first half (2.93 ERA).
Snell seems somewhat comparable to Matt Garza, though he’s a bit older and has an extra year of service time. So maybe acquiring him doesn’t require a Delmon Young-caliber player, but something close. If Neal Huntington can get Adam Jones for him straight up, I think he should pull the trigger.
Latest Johan Santana Rumors
UPDATE, 1-2-08 at 10:45pm: Nothing new with Boston’s pursuit of Santana; Nick Cafardo says the Sox still have two different offers on the table for the Twins. Cafardo notes that Santana’s agent quoted the starting bid around seven years, $140MM – and the Red Sox are fine with that.
UPDATE, 1-2-08 at 4:19pm: LEN3 adds that the Mariners are not in the running for Johan. Coupled with the info below it seems to be between the Mets and Red Sox currently.
FROM 1-2-08 at 1:21pm:
Peter Abraham had a note this morning about Johan Santana. He says "there are no indications the Yankees will suddenly get back into the mix for Santana." Abraham notes that the main issue for the Yanks remains the massive extension they’d have to give Santana.
Back on December 28th Joel Sherman said the Yanks had "become more entrenched in their unwillingness to pay the price both in prospects and dollars." He noted that they were reluctant to hand over Phil Hughes or $130MM to Johan.
On the 27th, Jayson Stark said the Yankees last offer was Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Jeff Marquez, and an undetermined fourth player, but the proposal was off the table. Stark believed that Hank Steinbrenner could still decide to re-engage the Santana talks though.