Jeff Weaver Traded To Cardinals
Breaking word is that Jeff Weaver has been dealt to the Cardinals for minor league outfielder Terry Evans plus cash considerations.
Evans is a 24 year-old outfielder currently hitting .307/.369/.640 in 75 ABs for the Cards’ Double A affiliate. He struggled in High Class A last year, but mastered the level in two months this season. He’s been described as the "out of nowhere prospect who mashed his way out of A ball" by Viva El Birdos.
Weaver is expected to join the team in Houston. News of this trade comes courtesy of Fox Sports Midwest. A week ago, I wrote about how Weaver has had terrible luck and his strikeout and walk rates are similar to expectations.
Special thanks to the St. Louis Swarm Softball organization for passing this along.
Jocketty Aiming High
According to a source close to the Cardinals, Walt Jocketty is shooting for the stars if he is to trade prospects for a starting pitcher. Word is that the Cards will either acquire a front-line pitcher – Dontrelle Willis or John Smoltz – or none at all. The team does not have interest in the second-tier names floating around.
Beyond Willis and Smoltz, could any other top-flight starters be had? Purely my own speculation, but St. Louis could also consider attempting to deal for Jason Schmidt, Barry Zito, Gil Meche, or Brett Myers. Problem is, the first three guys are on teams that are very much in contention. The Phils are 6.5 games out of the wild card, but may try to rid themselves of Myers regardless. Myers doesn’t fit with the Cards’ classy image, but then again neither did Sidney Ponson.
Although Jocketty is not going to trade decent prospects for the Cory Lidles of the world, Jeff Weaver still could be worth a flier. Viva El Birdos points out that Weaver would cost just $115,000 for the balance of the season now that he’s been designated for assignment.
Another Option For St. Louis
My Mets source has sent an update regarding the recent Victor Diaz information. Seems the Cards just weren’t offering enough in Mark Worrell for Diaz. Diaz remains widely available, and could be used to acquire a decent second baseman like Mark Grudzielanek.
The Cardinals have another outfielder on the radar – old favorite Reggie Sanders. Reggie is 38 now, and he’s not showing any ability to get on base as a regular for the Royals. Still, his .259/.301/.476 line (8 home runs) is not far from his work with St. Louis back in ’04. Sanders typically walks about 7-8% of the time, but this year it’s been below 6%. I guess his new club is influencing his style – KC is second to last in the AL in walks this year.
Sanders’s .777 OPS is just the 12th best among AL right fielders. He signed a two-year, $10MM deal with the Royals last offseason. He’d probably play left field if he returned to St. Louis. As a group, the Cardinals’ left fielders have hit just .243/.305/.321 with one home run. At the least, Sanders would provide a power threat.
The Cardinals will likely settle for a second tier outfielder in the trade market, as I’m told Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright are being slotted into the 2007 rotation.
Cards Interested In Victor Diaz
Walt Jocketty and the Cardinals are currently mulling over various options to add an outfield bat, and one player who is definitely on the radar is Victor Diaz.
The 24 year-old Diaz had a fine year in 2005 between Triple A and the Majors. However, after losing the Mets’ right field battle to Xavier Nady this year Diaz has become the odd man out. He’s stumbled to a .245/.310/.371 line in Triple A and his stock is at an all-time low. Still, Diaz has shown 25 HR power and was projected to hit .265/.323/.469 for the Mets by Baseball Prospectus’s PECOTA system.
New York doesn’t have much use for Diaz, and one player they like is 24 year-old righthander Mark Worrell in the Cardinals’ system. Worrell uses an unorthodox, sometimes sidearm delivery to retire hitters. He did a fine job as a closer in A ball last year, but the jump to Double A hasn’t been so kind. Worrell has 15 saves and a 1.28 WHIP, but he also owns a 5.27 ERA. Walks and home runs have been a problem.
It’s a swap that makes sense – a couple of minor leaguers who have not met expectations this year. My Mets source tells me that discussions are ongoing.
Olney: Cards Considering Stewart/Hunter
I haven’t addressed the Cardinal outfield situation since March 5th. Since then, many things have changed:
Kevin Mench is hitting .300/.328/.591 with 9 home runs. He’s been driving in a lot of runs as the Rangers’ sixth place hitter. What’s more, Jason Marquis has stunk it up (6.00 ERA) and John Koronka came out of nowhere to toss four quality starts in seven tries. Can’t see any kind of Mench for Marquis swap now.
Also, Jim Edmonds is hitting .240/.333/.417, and Will Carroll thinks he may have to shut it down for a while to get completely right again.
Toss in a strained elbow for Sidney Ponson (who has a 2.81 ERA) and a sore back for Mark Mulder, and the Cardinals can’t afford to deal a starting pitcher right now.
The need for an outfielder persists. So Taguchi isn’t hitting. Larry Bigbie was activated yesterday, and he deserves a shot. According to Cardinals Diaspora, a recent Buster Olney report indicates interest from Walt Jocketty in Torii Hunter or Shannon Stewart. As noted in the post, Stewart is more their style. He makes $6.5MM this year and is off to a .295/.352/.384 start. PECOTA expects his age 32 season to finish around .272/.335/.406. Is that really any better than the .264/.334/.423 season projected for Bigbie?
The Craig Wilson option remains a viable one, and Luis Gonzalez‘s .832 OPS ain’t bad. Cards fans dream of Miguel Cabrera, but Dontrelle Willis seems more likely to be dealt this summer. Haven’t seen any smoke on that one for a while, though the Cards did show interest. Anthony Reyes remains the best trading chip, as he has a 3.62 ERA and 35/5 K/BB ratio at Triple A. About a week ago, Viva El Birdos noted some interesting developments surrounding a Reyes start.
A few more possibilities, based on my own speculation: Eric Hinske, Reggie Sanders, Alfonso Soriano, Emil Brown, Brady Clark, Jose Cruz Jr., Matt Lawton, David Dellucci, and Victor Diaz.
If I were GM? I’d probably start with Lawton but see what it would take to get Reggie back.
Cubs Shopping Maddux?
A good one from the rumor mill over at Gotham Baseball. Unfortunately their page is not working right now so here’s a link to MetsBlog’s take on Gotham’s report. According to Gotham, Greg Maddux is being shopped. Interested parties: Mets, Yankees, Brewers, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Royals, and Cardinals.
The Cubs would essentially be reducing their rotation to "Carlos Zambrano and pray for a tornado," but Maddux is an impending free agent. My opinion from a couple of weeks ago: he’s the same old Mad Dog, just with a well-timed hot streak. Still, dealing him now would be a very early white flag for a Cubs team with a $94MM payroll. Doesn’t seem to compute. And the obligatory intradivision thing must be cited for the Brewers and Cards. I am surprised no West Coast teams have been mentioned.
Miscellaneous Rumors
There are a few trade-related nuggets in the newspapers today, but I don’t expect anything major to go down until June.
The Reds are trying to find a taker for Tony Womack, who has thankfully been pushed out of their infield and demoted. That is what we call a million dollar mistake. I guess Brandon Phillips makes up for it, at least until his bat runs cold.
Jay Payton and his agent are being vocal about finding him his 500 ABs with another team if necessary. The best fit I can find is the Cardinals.
The Yanks plan on declining Mike Mussina‘s option and re-signing him to a more reasonable deal. The decline is a no-brainer at $17MM, but I’m just remembering what happened with Jon Lieber. New York had some goodwill there after paying Lieber to rehab, but he still jumped ship after seeing the market. This is a different situation given Mussina’s tenure, and he has said he wants to stay put. I’m just saying, it’s not a 100% lock.
Howie Kendrick got the call, but it took an injury, and not a trade, of Maicer Izturis. My guess is that Izturis will spend at least a month on the shelf and that Kendrick will stick for the rest of the season. If Kendrick can hit as expected between pinch-hitting, DHing, and spot starting at 2B/3B, there will be plenty of interest for Adam Kennedy in the coming months. Kennedy is a 3-4 win guy who could really help the Mets or Cardinals for half a season.
Cardinals Kicking Tires On Cabrera
That’s right, a friend of MLBTradeRumors informs us that a team source has confirmed that the Cardinals are "checking into" Miguel Cabrera. An unknown third team would definitely be involved to broker a deal.
Seems to me that Jocketty’s been looking to make that big splash all offseason, and obviously this would qualify. I would expect Anthony Reyes to depart as well as whatever other big-name prospect the team could wrangle. Reyes fits the bill as a Major League-ready, front rotation type starter. The Cards would use Cabrera in left field and could improve the club by as many as five wins with the addition.
Jason Marquis for Victor Diaz?
Just got word from my main Mets source with all sorts of good info.
With Pedro’s status a question mark at this point, Omar Minaya would like to add a proven veteran starting pitcher to the middle of the rotation. The Mets first preference is Jason Marquis (a New York native, for what it’s worth). They’ve offered a package beginning with Victor Diaz to entice Walt Jocketty. Diaz would probably be an upgrade over the Cards’ current left field options. The Mets aren’t thrilled with Diaz’s defense and would be content to try Xavier Nady in right field.
Other options include two Boston starters. The Mets would love to bring Matt Clement back to the NL, but they don’t want to give up a lot to get him and are wary of his salary. Bronson Arroyo‘s name has also come up.
The White Sox could also be a factor if they decide to part with Jose Contreras.
Keep an eye this spring on the right field battle, Pedro’s toe, and the 4th-5th starter spots in the rotation. A spring trade is a good possibility.
The Soriano thing has pretty much been debunked; the Mets will see where Kaz Matsui takes them and then try Anderson Hernandez as needed.
Cards Looking For A LF
You can’t help but be a little skeptical that the Cardinals plan to go with Larry Bigbie and So Taguchi as their left fielder all year long. Bigbie’s had a few tolerable years in ’03-’04, but let’s face it: he’s basically Todd Hollandsworth. You want him coming off the bench. Taguchi is in his mid-30s and certainly won’t manage league average production for a left fielder. Not to mention he’ll be needed to back up Jim Edmonds for a signficant amount of time. And third-stringer John Rodriguez may be on the outs.
I did what I always do when I want to dissect the Cardinals – I talked to Larry of Viva El Birdos. Most of the following is culled directly from Larry, who has his finger on the pulse of the team.
About a week ago, Cardinals’ beat writer Matt Leach opined that by the time the playoffs roll around, an impact bat or at least someone else will be starting in left field. According to Larry, other journalists covering the team are on the same page.
I threw out five guys that I thought could fit the bill: Luis Gonzalez, Carlos Lee, Kevin Mench, Ryan Church, and Jay Payton.
Larry considered Mench the frontrunner, saying, "Mench could come over during Spring Training; I
have this feeling a Mench-for-Marquis trade has been sitting there, shrink-wrapped and ready to be run through the bar-code reader, for two or three months. If the Cards decide in the next 2-3 weeks that Ponson-Reyes-Wainwright can cover them, they’ll pull the trigger."
I agree entirely. It’d be a deal that would help both teams, and Jason Botts could probably approximate Mench’s numbers for the Rangers. Botts’s 2005 season in Triple A was roughly the equivalent of a .252/.315/.444 line in the Majors. I have a lot of faith in Reyes, so the only wild card would be Ponson in the fifth spot.
On Gonzo, Larry said: "If they add Gonzalez, it won’t be until mid-season due to his large 2006 salary." That’d be $11.5MM, and don’t forget that Luis has trade veto power. My hunch is that he’d be willing to come to St. Louis if the D’Backs aren’t contending. A very solid candidate to be acquired by the Cards.
Larry rightfully dismissed Payton, Lee, and Church. The Cards don’t really have anything the A’s need for Payton; Lee presents a division rival trade, something that Jocketty hasn’t done for quite some time (perhaps dating back to Fernando Vina). He said that the front office may not see Church as a major improvement over what they have, though we both agree that he would be. Jose Guillen‘s current status doesn’t look too bad, but the Nats will still have a strong need for Church unless Soriano moves to center field.
To throw one more name into the mix, Cardinals Diaspora was researching a possible Craig Wilson trade. In a nutshell, Ryan says that while Wilson seems like a good fit, the Cards may be looking for a lefty and the Pirates may prefer to deal Sean Casey at the deadline. Good read.
There you have it. Granted this is all just educated speculation, but we did unearth the Cards’ interest in A.J. Burnett the last time we put our blogs/heads together.