Heyman, Rosenthal On Cubs, Rays, Giants
SI's Jon Heyman and FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal posted new columns this morning. A few hot stove highlights…
- Heyman received indications that Tom Gorzelanny will remain in the Cubs' rotation when Ted Lilly returns Saturday. That would mean Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells, or Carlos Silva heads to the bullpen. Given his past experience in the Cubs' pen, Heyman finds Dempster the most logical choice. I respectfully disagree, as Dempster is the Cubs' best starter. I'd make Silva the long man and continue to scour the trade and free agent markets for relief help. Promoting Andrew Cashner merits consideration, if the Cubs don't think a temporary move back to relief would stunt his development. UPDATE: Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune tweets that Zambrano will go to the pen.
- Rosenthal finds a Rays sell-off unlikely, instead envisioning them as bullpen buyers. He notes that the Rays have attempted to trade for various star players the last two Julys.
- Rosenthal believes the Giants' biggest need is "a strong two-way threat in right field." He says potentially available players like David DeJesus and Corey Hart don't quite fit the mold. I'm just throwing it out there…could Elijah Dukes be a fit?
Top Trade Chips: AL East
Let's finish off our series with the toughest division in baseball…
- Blue Jays: The Jays already traded away most of their top pieces, but they still have three desirable relievers in Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, and Kevin Gregg. All three can become free agents after the season. There might be some interest in first baseman Lyle Overbay, who will also hit the open market after the season.
- Orioles: Considering how poorly he pitched before landing on the DL, I'm sure a large part of the Baltimore faithful wouldn't mind seeing Mike Gonzalez go. Alas, that won't happen anytime soon. There always seems to be interest in Luke Scott, who still has two more years of team control left. If they decide to sell at mid-season, Kevin Millwood and Jeremy Guthrie could find their way onto the block.
- Rays: The Rays are a player development machine, and they have enough young players to get get pretty much anyone they want. They have enough depth that they could trade one of Reid Brignac or Sean Rodriguez plus one of Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis, or Jeremy Hellickson and not miss a beat. If they fall out of it and decide to sell, it doesn't get much better than Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, and Carlos Pena. I believe the term is "stacked."
- Red Sox: Boston has held onto Clay Buchholz for this long, but with his name appearing so frequently on the rumor circuit, it really wouldn't be surprising if they moved him for a big time player. They might still be able to find a taker for Mike Lowell, and there would be interest in Manny Delcarmen if he were made available. They did lose a valuable chip when Junichi Tazawa went down with Tommy John surgery.
- Yankees: They seem unwilling to trade either Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain, so their best chip is the semi-blocked Jesus Montero. Of course, the Yankees have the ability to absorb even the ugliest of contracts, so maybe we should consider that their biggest trade chip.
Largest Contracts In Team History
We've already looked at the largest contracts by service time and position, so let's now dig up the largest contracts ever given out by each of the 30 teams. These are in terms of guaranteed money only, but some could end up being even larger because of incentives and option years.
- Angels: Torii Hunter, five years, $90MM
- Astros: Carlos Lee, six years, $100MM
- Athletics: Eric Chavez, six years, $66MM
- Blue Jays: Vernon Wells, seven years, $126MM
- Braves: Chipper Jones, six years, $90MM
- Brewers: Ryan Braun, eight years, $45MM
- Cardinals: Matt Holliday, seven years, $120MM
- Cubs: Alfonso Soriano, eight years, $136MM
- Diamondbacks: Randy Johnson, four years, $53.4MM
- Dodgers: Kevin Brown, seven years, $105MM
- Giants: Barry Zito, seven years, $126MM
- Indians: Travis Hafner, four years, $57MM
- Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki, five years, $90MM
- Marlins: Hanley Ramirez, six years, $70MM
- Mets: Johan Santana, six years, $137.5MM
- Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman, five years, $45MM
- Orioles: Miguel Tejada, six years, $72MM
- Padres: Jake Peavy, three years, $52MM
- Phillies: Chase Utley, seven years, $85MM
- Pirates: Jason Kendall, six years, $60MM
- Rangers: Alex Rodriguez, ten years, $252MM
- Rays: Wilson Alvarez, five years, $35MM
- Reds: Ken Griffey Jr., nine years, $116.5MM
- Red Sox: Manny Ramirez, eight years, $160MM
- Rockies: Todd Helton, nine years, $141.5MM
- Royals: Gil Meche & Mike Sweeney, both five years, $55MM
- Tigers: Miguel Cabrera, eight years, $152.3MM
- Twins: Joe Mauer, eight years, $184MM
- White Sox: Frank Thomas, seven years, $64.4MM
- Yankees: Alex Rodriguez, ten years, $275MM
Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.
Rays Announce Leslie Anderson Signing
It's Cuban defector day here at MLBTR, as the Rays officially announced their signing of Leslie Anderson an hour after the Blue Jays made their Adeiny Hechavarria announcement. Anderson's four-year, $3.75MM agreement was first reported on March 11th.
The press release notes Anderson's athleticism and ability to play all three outfield positions and first base. When Anderson defected in September, his agent Jaime Torres drew a comparison to Alexei Ramirez.
Rosenthal On Bullpens, Marcum, Crawford
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has a few hot stove offerings…
- Rosenthal names the Cubs, Cardinals, Rays, Phillies, and Marlins as teams with bullpen question marks. I'm thinking the Blue Jays might be able to extract something useful for their veteran relievers in a few months.
- Rosenthal speculates that Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum would be attractive on the trade market. Marcum is under team control through 2012. It's not known whether the Jays would entertain trading Marcum for even younger and cheaper players.
- Carl Crawford should command at least $12-14MM per year and at least a seven-year contract as free agent, opines Rosenthal.
Could Rays Release Pat Burrell?
Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times writes that the Rays will have to consider cutting Pat Burrell loose if their designated hitter doesn't start producing. Although Tampa Bay management maintains that they have confidence in Burrell's ability, Topkin speculates that by mid-May or early-June, the club may run out of patience.
Burrell hit .221/.315/.367 in 2009 and is off to another slow start in 2010, the final season of his two-year contract. He'll make $9MM this year, a figure which will likely make him unmovable. Topkin thinks that at some point the Rays "will just have to accept their mistake and cut him loose."
If they were to cut ties with Burrell, the Rays would have other options available. Hank Blalock is currently in Triple A, waiting for an opportunity to earn Major League playing time. Additionally, Topkin points out that Rocco Baldelli has been taking regular batting practice at Tropicana Field and would like to play again. The long-time Ray would be a cheap right-handed alternative, and, as this Rays Index article suggests, Tampa fans would have more patience with him than they've had with Pat the Bat.
Burrell's $9MM salary would be a huge cost for the budget-conscious Rays to eat, so expect them to give the 33-year-old every chance to succeed. However, if his struggles continue and compromise the club's chances of contending, they could be forced to make a change.
Rays Sign Logan Kensing
The Rays signed righty Logan Kensing to a minor league deal, reports Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times. Kensing was designated for assignment twice during the '09 season, by the Marlins and Nationals. He re-signed on a minor league deal with Washington in December, but was released in March.
Kensing, 27, posted an 8.92 ERA, 4.8 K/9, and 4.3 BB/9 in 35.3 innings for the Nats and Marlins last year but was impressive in 33.3 minor league frames. Five years ago, Baseball America praised Kensing's makeup and described his repertoire as "a 91-94 mph fastball, solid-average slider, and developing changeup." Last year as a reliever, he averaged 93.4 mph on his fastball.
Odds & Ends: Embree, Rizzo, Votto, Rollins, Huffman
Links for Thursday…
- If you're viewing MLBTR on your cell phone, try mlbtraderumors.mobi!
- Alan Embree expects to exercise the opt out clause in his contract if he's not added to the Red Sox's big league roster by April 15th, reports WEEI.com's Ethan Landy.
- MASNSports.com about how a Major League trade comes together. Check it out, very interesting stuff.
- C. Trent Rosecrans of CNATI.com learned from Reds GM Walt Jocketty last night that the team has yet to have contract extension discussions with first baseman Joey Votto. Yesterday we speculated on what it might take to lock Votto up long-term.
- An interesting Rays-centric back-and-forth continues, with Jeff Passan filing a reubttal on Jonah Keri's site.
- MLB.com's Adam McCalvy looks at the recent instances of teams signing home-grown pitchers to extensions.
- Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins was on the Dan Patrick Show talking about the surprise he and Jayson Werth felt when Cliff Lee was dealt. Rollins said the Yankees would've kept Lee and Roy Halladay and made a run with the pair of aces.
- Padres exec Paul DePodesta explains that while it was painful to lose Chad Huffman to a waiver claim, there's a silver lining in the organization's improved depth.
- Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has the details on Josh Beckett's new contract with the Red Sox, which totals $68,520,403.
- Many lesser-known players have been released in recent days; Baseball America's Matt Eddy has the details.
Odds & Ends: Lerew, Cuba, Coonelly, Hechavarria
Links for Wednesday…
- Anthony Lerew cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A, tweets Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star. The Royals designated Lerew for assignment over the weekend.
- Kat O'Brien of The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote a very interesting piece about what happens in Cuba once their players defect. Said one local cab driver: "[Aroldis] Chapman doesn't exist. He never existed."
- Pirates' team president Frank Coonelly chatted with fans at MLB.com. He fielded a question about what the Pirates would do with the second overall pick in June's draft if for some reason the Nationals pass on Bryce Harper.
- The Tigers released minor leaguer Kory Casto, reports Tom Gage of The Detroit News. Casto had been signed to a minor league deal after a .271/.334/.378 performance for the Nationals' Triple A club. Baseball America ranked him fourth among Nats prospects heading into the '07 season.
- Which of Zach Duke, Paul Maholm, and Ryan Doumit is most likely to be traded this summer? Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tackles the question.
- SI's Jon Heyman speculates that the Phillies would probably have to trade Raul Ibanez to be able to retain Jayson Werth after this season.
- Adeiny Hechavarria's visa has been approved and he's headed to the U.S. to take his physical this week for the Blue Jays, tweets ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr.
- Yahoo's Jeff Passan suggests the Rays will have long-term difficulty competing, while Jonah Keri offers a rebuttal.
- Rocco Baldelli still has hopes of playing baseball, according to this FOX Sports Florida article. He's currently rehabbing a shoulder injury and working with Rays minor leaguers.
- ESPN's Adam Rubin says the Mets will not place Canadian third base prospect Shawn Bowman on waivers until they've exhausted trade possibilites.
- In search of an accurate Mariners payroll number, Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times arrives at about $93MM.
- Tracy Ringolsby of Inside The Rockies explains why free agent Braden Looper would be a good fit for Colorado. On a related note, Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post learned that the Rockies are not interested in Jarrod Washburn.
- Elsewhere on the "nothing brewing" front, Jim Bowden of FOX Sports tweets that Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik told him the team has had no discussions regarding Pedro Martinez.
Odds & Ends: Rays, Indians, Padres
Tuesday night links..
- MLB announced today that the number of foreign-born players on Opening Day rosters has dipped to its lowest level in four years, according to Reuters. Just 27.7% of players in 2010 were born outside of the United States compared to the league's all-time high of 29.2% in 2005.
- Rays owner Stu Sternberg believes that his club is built for the long haul, writes MLB.com's Bill Chastain. It will be interesting to see what happens with Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena, who are in the final year of their contracts.
- Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer writes that the Indians' farm system is chock full of solid prospects. Hoynes breaks down the players to watch, from Triple-A to Single-A.
- Padres prospect Logan Forsythe will be shifting from third base to second base when Double-A San Antonio opens the season, wrote Tom Krasovic a few days ago. The 23-year-old, who is considered to be one of San Diego's top prospects, is being moved to ease a glut of third basemen in the Padres' system.