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Rosenthal’s Latest: Gross, Weaver, Encarnacion

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Ken Rosenthal is on the scene with some new rumors.

  • Astros president Tal Smith arguing other teams’ arbitration cases.   Rosenthal finds it a bit awkward, while Keith Law finds it to be a hilarious conflict of interest.
  • Possible trades of Matt Murton to the Padres or Rangers seem to have fizzled.  The Padres may turn to the Brewers’ Gabe Gross, a player who previously caught the eye of the A’s, Indians, and Braves.  Our good friend PECOTA sees a .267/.366/.467 line from Gross this year.  With Gross and various veteran starters, the Brewers have some surpluses to work with.
  • Rosenthal believes the Cardinals’ interest in Jeff Weaver to be not especially serious.  They’ve got in-house candidates to start, and Matt Clement needing some time is not a revelation.
  • We’ve read about extension possibilities for Matt Capps and Alex Rios.  To that mix, Rosenthal adds Edwin Encarnacion.  The Reds might want to do it now; he seems primed for a big year.

Will Clemens Play In ’08?

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The tolerance for Roger Clemens’ annual "will he, won’t he" saga will be much lower this year in the wake of the steroid mess.  But the fact remains that we still don’t know whether he’ll try to play.   

Buster Olney devotes a portion of today’s blog to this question.  He thinks it’s in Clemens’ nature to defiantly keep pitching.  Olney says Clemens’ friends indicate he’d only pitch for Houston.  Olney speculates that the Cardinals might be one other club that would consider it. He could certainly help either team if he came with a price tag below $10MM.

In case you were wondering, Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA system sees the Rocket posting a 4.43 ERA in 107 innings this year (in the AL East it seems).  Somewhat related fact: Clemens appears in Joba Chamberlain’s comparables list.

Cards Eyeing Weaver, Colon

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With the price of free agent starting pitching dropping by the day and Matt Clement looking questionable, it’s only natural that the Cardinals would explore the market.  Indeed, John Mozeliak is looking at Jeff Weaver and Bartolo Colon.  Seems that Impacto Deportivo may have been misinformed on the whole Colon-to-Chicago thing.

Weaver seems the smarter option for a team looking for healthy innings.  If nothing else, Weaver can provide that.  Something tells me he’s not getting $8MM this time around.  His most recent success was in St. Louis, so maybe Dave Duncan can guide him to a league average season.

Colon is a wild card.  Even if his stuff isn’t there, if he can take the ball he has value.  He’ll obviously find the NL more to his liking.

Another possibility for the Cards is David Wells, according to Peter Gammons.  Gammons says Boomer "would like to come back for 20-something starts."

Cards Eyeing Weaver, Colon

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With the price of free agent starting pitching dropping by the day and Matt Clement looking questionable, it’s only natural that the Cardinals would explore the market.  Indeed, John Mozeliak is looking at Jeff Weaver and Bartolo Colon.  Seems that Impacto Deportivo may have been misinformed on the whole Colon-to-Chicago thing.

Weaver seems the smarter option for a team looking for healthy innings.  If nothing else, Weaver can provide that.  Something tells me he’s not getting $8MM this time around.  His most recent success was in St. Louis, so maybe Dave Duncan can guide him to a league average season.

Colon is a wild card.  Even if his stuff isn’t there, if he can take the ball he has value.  He’ll obviously find the NL more to his liking.

Another possibility for the Cards is David Wells, according to Peter Gammons.  Gammons says Boomer "would like to come back for 20-something starts."

Odds and Ends: Crisp, Stewart, Meyer

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Let’s round ’em up!

Odds and Ends: Papelbon, Bonds

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Your collection of links and rumors…

  • Interestingly, Pirates GM Neal Huntington put out a statement for Pirates’ fans.  He explains why the Pirates have been inactive this winter, and I agree with the logic.  This team doesn’t need to be wasting money on mediocre free agents.
  • Justin Huber is out of options, so he’ll either make the Royals or end up elsewhere.
  • Athletics Nation paints a picture in which the A’s are buyers at this year’s trade deadline.  A parallel universe with a healthy Rich Harden, if you will.
  • The Red Sox are exploring a multiyear deal for Jonathan Papelbon, according to Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe.
  • With 20/20 hindsight, Viva El Birdos rewrites how they might have conducted the Cardinals’ offseason moves.
  • No one wants Barry Bonds.  He’s in game shape, but one exec Andrew Baggarly talked to has heard no rumors at all.  Baggarly has talked to some baseball officials who believe Bonds might play in Japan in 2008.  Now that would be something.

Fogg Still Looking For Work

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Every year some free agent unexpectedly finds himself without a job in late February.  This year, that guy is Josh Fogg.  To rejoin the Rockies, Fogg would have to take a pay cut from his ’07 salary of $3.625MM, and he’d have to be open to bullpen work.

Will anyone take Fogg in for $4MM and give him a rotation spot?  The Nationals, Reds, Astros, and Cardinals seem like viable options.  Viva El Birdos isn’t thrilled with the Cardinals’ portrayal of Matt Clement’s health.  Since Clement won’t be ready for the start of the season, maybe St. Louis will add some depth with Fogg.  However, John Mozeliak implied a couple of days ago that he wasn’t going to make anymore acquisitions.

Odds and Ends: Perez, Jones, Howard, Burnett

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Let’s round up today’s linkage.

  • No more long-term discussions with Oliver Perez and the Mets.
  • Andruw Jones already wants to talk extension with the Dodgers.
  • The Cardinals are not likely to make anymore acquisitions.  In my view the team has question marks in right field, the middle infield, and the rotation.  Here’s a look at their MLB.com depth chart.  By the way, could Ryan Franklin be a league average starter?  They could try it if the current options don’t pan out.
  • Jim Salisbury thinks the Ryan Howard contract situation is a nonstory.  I think this is partially because (and I hope this doesn’t sound condescending) most fans do not understand the arbitration process.  Anyway Salisbury’s source says the Phillies would match Chase Utley’s seven-year, $85MM deal and might approach $100MM.  He says Howard may want "significantly more."
  • Ivan Rodriguez would like to play beyond the 2008 season and retire a Tiger.  If the Tigers can’t find a taker for Brandon Inge this year, he could be their starting catcher in ’09.
  • Carl Pavano doesn’t seem too popular in the Yankees’ clubhouse.
  • J.P. Ricciardi does not plan to do an extension during the season with A.J. Burnett.  I think Burnett will stay healthy enough to top the two years, $24MM he could get if he does not opt out.

Stark: Howard Not Likely To Accept Deal Similar To Pujols

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In a recent blog post, Jayson Stark notes that everybody should be paying close attention to the Ryan Howard arbitration case and speculates that Howard and the Phillies are much farther apart that the $3MM difference in their arbitration numbers. In fact, the distance between the two sides can be measured as the difference between Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.

Stark says:

The Phillies renewed Howard at $900,000 last year–precisely the same amount Pujols got from the Cardinals the year before he was eligible for arbitration. Next up, the Phillies will no doubt offer Howard a long-term deal that mirrors the seven-year, $100 million contract Pujols signed with the Cardinals in his first year of arbitration eligibility.

That might sound reasonable from afar. But there is no chance –zero–that the reaction to that offer…is going to sound anything like: Where do we sign?

A-Rod is more what this particular family has in mind.

The $7MM arbitration figure offered by the Phillies is the same amount Pujols made in the first year of his contract extension (his first arbitration-eligible season). The biggest argument against the Pujols comparison is that the Cardinals signed their young record-breaking slugger to a 7-year, $100MM contract in 2004, and there has been an explosion in baseball revenue in the last four years. The Phillies would argue that Howard’s numbers, while historic, are not equal to what Pujols accomplished in his first three seasons. The Phillies appear to be trying to balance performance against inflation.

Stark does not go so far as to say that Howard is seeking $250MM, but does speculate that it would take seven years and at least $150MM. If Stark is right, and the two sides cannot work out an agreement prior to the arbitration hearing, this could get ugly.

By Cork Gaines

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