Rays Rumors

Indians Remain Aggressive

By Tim Dierkes | July 27, 2011 at 10:27am CDT

The Indians remain aggressive after their failed run at Carlos Beltran, tweets Yahoo's Jeff Passan. Passan says the Indians are "trying to move on" Colby Rasmus, B.J. Upton, and Hiroki Kuroda.

Though a deal was never presented to Beltran, the Indians offered to pick up all of his contract and send a good player to the Mets, reported MLB.com's Peter Gammons yesterday. Rasmus, meanwhile, may be headed elsewhere.

Eight-Player Deal Sending Rasmus To Jays For Jackson Imminent

By Tim Dierkes | July 27, 2011 at 7:00am CDT

12:08pm: The Cardinals will send Rasmus, Trever Miller, Brian Tallet, and P.J. Walters to the Blue Jays for Jackson, Rzepczynski, Dotel, and Corey Patterson, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. Olney adds that Miller is then expected to be traded to the White Sox.

12:01pm: This trade is not yet official because of the money involved, tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. He says that aspect may need to be reworked before it's approved.

11:35am: A trade of Rasmus to the Blue Jays for Jackson, Dotel, and Rzepczynski is imminent, reports Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He says an announcement could come early this afternoon.

11:22am: Edwin Jackson is definitely going to be traded by the Blue Jays, tweets SI's Jon Heyman. Heyman heard it's going to be for Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus. Rasmus being under team control through 2014 and still highly-regarded, the Cards will require more than just two months of Jackson. The two teams have talked about Marc Rzepczynski and Octavio Dotel, notes Olney, and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets that the Cards asked about outfielder Eric Thames.

Rasmus is a popular trade target. ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that the Rays offered one of Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis, and Alex Cobb, and the young center fielder is very much available. The Indians have interest as well.

Miller On Upton, Angels, Slowey

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | July 26, 2011 at 11:50pm CDT

Scott Miller of CBSSports.com has updates on the trade market. Here they are…

Miller’s sources expect the Rays to trade B.J. Upton by Sunday (click here for the latest on Upton).
Angels owner Arte Moreno has approved a payroll increase, according to Miller. The Angels are looking for a third baseman, but they would send Erick Aybar to the Mets for Jose Reyes straight up, according to Miller. The Mets, however, aren’t interested; they’ll keep Reyes instead.
Minnesota is expected to trade Kevin Slowey, who continues to draw interest, according to Miller. Earlier tonight, we heard that the Rockies are interested in Slowey.

Passan On Upton, Nationals, Melky, Francoeur

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | July 26, 2011 at 11:30pm CDT

The latest on the trade market from Yahoo’s Jeff Passan…

A number of MLB officials tell Passan that they consider the Nationals the favorites for B.J. Upton. However, a Rays official says there’s no favorite at this point (click here for the latest on Upton).
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo has told teams that pitching prospect Brad Peacock is not available.
Nationals executives and scouts have told others that Ian Desmond is available (despite reports that that Washington will hold onto its shortstop).
The Royals are leaning toward keeping Melky Cabrera in 2012, according to Passan. Cabrera, who is having an excellent season and remains under team control next year, might not fetch enough in a trade for GM Dayton Moore to pull the trigger.
The Royals are hoping to work out some kind of contract for next year with Jeff Francoeur. The sides have a 2012 mutual option for $4MM, but the Royals would likely have to offer more to lock Francoeur up for next season. They get the impression that the 27-year-old is interested in staying in Kansas City.

B.J. Upton Rumors: Tuesday

By Tim Dierkes | July 26, 2011 at 2:50pm CDT

The latest on Rays center fielder B.J. Upton, who owns a .229/.310/.399 line on the season:

The Rays had a scout watching the Nationals' Triple-A team yesterday, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
The Giants are showing strong interest, tweets SI's Jon Heyman.
The Indians, Giants, Braves, and Pirates are among the teams in on Upton, report Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal. The Royals are not seriously pursuing Upton, while the Brewers, Rangers, and Phillies are not involved.
The Nationals have balked at trading pitchers Ross Detwiler or Brad Peacock for Upton, reports ESPN's Jayson Stark. One executive says the Giants have moved in.
Five teams are "in play" for Upton, a source tells Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter link).

My apologies for an earlier error in which I erroneously attributed Joel Sherman's "asking for a ton" quote to the Rays and B.J. Upton. The quote actually referred to the Cardinals and Colby Rasmus.

Stark On Shields, Pena, Fukudome, Rangers

By Tim Dierkes | July 26, 2011 at 12:41pm CDT

The latest from ESPN's Jayson Stark…

The Rays listened on James Shields last week, but now they've taken him off the market for July and apparently the upcoming offseason.
An executive who spoke with the Cubs says the level of interest in first baseman Carlos Pena has been exaggerated. That's pretty damning, since publicly the level of interest has always appeared tepid. Also, Stark says the Cubs believe Pena could get through waivers in August. I disagree with the notion that there will be a lot less money left on Pena's contract at that point, since half of the $10MM is to be paid in January.
Kosuke Fukudome might be the one Cub dealt at the July deadline. We still haven't heard which teams are on his partial no-trade list, however.
The Rangers are balking at including lefty Martin Perez in a deal. Perez is a consensus top-13 prospect in all of MLB. However, the Rangers will discuss their next tier of prospects - Tanner Scheppers, Robbie Erlin, Roman Mendez and Barret Loux, in Stark's mind.
A longtime friend of Drayton McLane believes McLane's last act as Astros owner will be to convince GM Ed Wade to retain favorite Hunter Pence.

Passan On Upton, Nationals, Melky, Francoeur

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | July 26, 2011 at 11:50am CDT

The latest on the trade market from Yahoo’s Jeff Passan…

A number of MLB officials tell Passan that they consider the Nationals the favorites for B.J. Upton. However, a Rays official says there’s no favorite at this point (click here for the latest on Upton).
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo has told teams that pitching prospect Brad Peacock is not available.
Nationals executives and scouts have told others that Ian Desmond is available (despite reports that that Washington will hold onto its shortstop).
The Royals are leaning toward keeping Melky Cabrera in 2012, according to Passan. Cabrera, who is having an excellent season and remains under team control next year, might not fetch enough in a trade for GM Dayton Moore to pull the trigger.
The Royals are hoping to work out some kind of contract for next year with Jeff Francoeur. The sides have a 2012 mutual option for $4MM, but the Royals would likely have to offer more to lock Francoeur up for next season. They get the impression that the 27-year-old is interested in staying in Kansas City.

AL East Notes: Niemann, Davis, Orioles

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | July 25, 2011 at 10:10pm CDT

We’ve already checked in on the AL East and taken detailed looks at its two biggest spenders, the Yankees and Red Sox. Here are some new notes from around the division, with an emphasis on teams that could be sellers:

Though the Rays have told teams they won't trade James Shields, they're willing to discuss Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis, according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com.
Rays manager Joe Maddon tells Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times that he has discussed dozens of trade scenarios with executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman (Twitter link). None of the scenarios have involved Shields, who appears to be off of the market.
Koji Uehara and Jeremy Guthrie are the names bouncing around MLBTR, but Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reminds us that teams have also called about other Orioles, including Adam Jones, Jim Johnson and Alfredo Simon.

Minor Moves: Adam Russell, Val Majewski

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | July 25, 2011 at 7:51pm CDT

Here are today's minor moves…

Reliever Adam Russell has cleared waivers and will join the Rays' Triple-A affiliate, reports Marc Topkin of The St. Petersburg Times (on Twitter). Tampa designated the right-hander for assignment last week after 32 2/3 unspectacular innings.
The Rangers signed first baseman/outfielder Val Majewski and assigned him to Triple-A, according to Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (on Twitter). The 30-year-old had a cameo with the 2004 Orioles, but has spent most of his pro career in the minor leagues, where he has a .289/.361/.457 line in parts of eight seasons. The former third round pick spent part of last year with Oakland's Double-A affiliate.

B.J. Upton Rumors: Monday

By Tim Dierkes | July 25, 2011 at 12:07pm CDT

Rays center fielder B.J. Upton may not crack the top 20 on our list of available bats ranked by wOBA, but his defense and potential are enough to make him a hot name on the 2011 trade market. The latest:

The Phillies have some interest in Upton, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post, but most calls to the Rays are coming from the Nationals, Braves, Pirates, Reds, and Cardinals. The Cardinals would have interest if they trade Colby Rasmus for pitching. Sherman adds that the Royals have interest in Upton with an eye on contending next year.
The Rays would want Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, Mike Minor, or Arodys Vizcaino from the Braves for Upton, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. Crasnick does not find the Braves likely to make such a move.

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