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Perrotto’s Latest: Position Battles, Roberts, Pudge

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John Perrotto’s Every Given Sunday column is up over at Baseball Prospectus. This week, he takes a look at some of the position battles teams will face entering Spring Training. And, as always, there’s some interesting items in his Rumors & Rumblings section. Let’s take a look:

  • Some of the more interesting position battles mentioned: 1B/DH/RF in Oakland (Daric Barton, Jack Cust, Jason Giambi, Aaron Cunningham, and Travis Buck all in the mix), Tampa’s closer if Troy Percival gets hurt or falters (Dan Wheeler, J.P. Howell, Grant Balfour), and the White Sox rotation behind John Danks, Mark Buerhle, and Gavin Floyd (Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Bartolo Colon, Jeff Marquez).
  • Brian Roberts still wants a four-year deal before Spring Training starts up, or he’ll cut off negotiations. Does Roberts make more sense as a cornerstone in Baltimore or as a trade chip?
  • Perrotto feels Tom Glavine will inevitably re-sign with the Braves.
  • The White Sox have minor interest in signing Ivan Rodriguez as a backup for A.J. Pierzynski. I’m sure Pudge would prefer a starting gig, but at this point, it’s tough to be picky.
  • We’ve heard a lot about the Orioles having interest in Rich Hill lately, but Perrotto reminds us that the Mariners are interested in the 28-year-old lefty as well.

Rays, Shouse Agree To Deal

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SUNDAY: Marc Lancaster has a conflicting report on the Shouse deal. He says it’s a one-year deal with an option, not a two-year deal. Says Lancaster, "ESPN.com first reported the deal, calling it a two-year contract, but our information is that only 2009 is guaranteed, with a team option for 2010." Shouse’s agent, Slade Mead, was quoted saying, "He will get a two-year deal."

SATURDAY 3:37pm: The Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to a two-year deal with Brian Shouse, reports Buster Olney.

The deal is pending a physical, which is reportedly scheduled for Thursday.

The 40-year-old lefty went 5-1 with a 2.81 ERA in 51.3 innings with the Brewers in 2008.  He held lefties to a .180/.196/.290 line in 104 plate appearances.  Since Shouse declined the Brewers’ offer of arbitration in December, Milwaukee will receive a supplemental pick.

Ken Rosenthal believes that the deal would likely be for somewhere between $1-2MM per season.

Cafardo’s Latest: Players Out Of Options

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Lots of stuff in Nick Cafardo’s column in the Boston Globe to go over.

With around 100 free agents vying for less than 20 remaining roster spots, things become more interesting with 227 players on big-league rosters who are out of options. If a player is out of options and is not rostered, he has to either be traded or designated for assignment. If designated, that player has to clear waivers. This could affect remaining free agent signings. Cafardo makes note of a few who are out of options and may wind up as trade fodder or designated for assignment before the season begins:

Red Sox: George Kottaras
Yankees: Melky Cabrera
Cubs: Chad Gaudin, Rich Hill (possibly heading to Baltimore?)
Brewers: Tony Gwynn Jr.
Indians: Anthony Reyes, Andy Marte
Twins: Boof Bonser, Philip Humber
Rays: Jeff Niemann
Orioles: David Pauley

  • With Jason Varitek re-signed, the Red Sox will either have to trade catcher Kottaras or designate him for assignment.
  • Cafardo notes Niemann is a former No. 1 pick and the righthander should garner some attention.
  • Bonser or Humber could be traded to land a reliever. Cafardo also mentions Delmon Young as a possible trading chip.

A few more bullets from Cafardo’s notebook:

  • Scott Boras thinks the World Baseball Classic will showcase Ivan Rodriguez and generate "even more" interest for the 14-time All-Star catcher.
  • Cafardo mentioned Manny Ramirez to Omar Minaya and Minaya laughed it off saying, "We’ll look into adding some offense, but only if it makes sense."
  • All quiet on the Jake Peavy front.
  • Cafardo calls Randy Johnson’s $8MM deal from the Giants as "a stroke of genius" by his agents.
  • In case you missed it, Bobby Kielty signed a minor-league deal with the Mets last week.

Rays Rumors: Navarro, Aybar

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According to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times, the Rays are looking at multiyear deals for Dioner Navarro and Willy Aybar.

DRaysBay echoes Tampa Bay’s desire to lock up the two, which would allow the team to avoid arbitration hearings.

Navarro will have three arbitration years: ’09, ’10 and ’11; and Aybar will have four years: ’09, ’10, ’11 and ’12. The Rays, who don’t typically negotiate once arbitration figures have been submitted, appear to be willing to negotiate with these two.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Mariners, Young, Shouse

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Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports compiles a number of rumors from around the majors:

  • The Mariners need to free up money, but to do so, they’d likely have to trade one of Adrian Beltre, Jarrod Washburn or Miguel Batista. All three will be free agents after the season, but moving one of them would be "extremely difficult."
  • The Mariners and Yankees considered a Hideki Matsui-Washburn swap, but Matsui’s contract ($13MM) pays him more than Washburn’s ($10.35MM) so they didn’t find a match.
  • The Twins are looking to move Delmon Young.
  • They showed interest in Washburn last year, but only some of Rosenthal’s sources believe he and Delmon Young could be the foundation for a larger deal.
  • Rosenthal has a source who says the Yankees are not currently pursuing Juan Cruz. Yesterday, we had a discussion about the rules regarding free agent quotas.
  • The Yanks like their bullpen, but they could try to add an arm if they trade Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher.
  • The Rays are making a strong run at Brian Shouse.
  • The Orioles would not likely have to give up much more than a low-level prospect to deal for Rich Hill.

Navarro Arbitration Hearing Date Is Set

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The Tampa Tribune’s Marc Topkin reports that the Rays and catcher Dioner Navarro have an arbitration hearing date set for February 9.

Navarro’s representatives have requested $2.5MM and the Rays have offered him $2.1MM.  An arbitrator will decide between one of the two figures and announce his decision a few days after the hearing.  Navarro hit .295/.349/.407 last season with seven dingers and 54 RBI.

Padres, Nats Interested In Ohman

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According to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick the Nationals and Padres are among the teams interested in Will Ohman. Both teams are "bottom fishing," and are considered secondary options for the lefty reliever.

Ohman hoped for a deal similar to the ones signed by Jeremy Affeldt ($8MM, two years) and Damaso Marte ($12MM, three years). He’s generated lots of interest and has a new contract offer from an unnamed team.

Crasnick mentions the Dodgers and Mets as potential suitors for Ohman, and the D’Backs, Orioles, Rangers, Indians, Rays and Braves have all reportedly had interest in him.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pirates, Rays, Pettitte, Cubs, Dodgers, Gomes, Mauer, Cruz

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On this date 28 years ago, the Red Sox traded Fred Lynn to the California Angels for Frank Tanana and Joe Rudi. After six seasons that included an MVP and six all-star appearances, the Red Sox were forced to trade Lynn when the front office failed to mail a new contract to Lynn by the mandated deadline. Without the new contract, Boston was faced with the possibility that Lynn would be declared a free agent (Carlton Fisk was declared a free agent for the same reason). The player’s association dropped their case when Lynn agreed to a contract extension with the Angels. With many of this year’s free agent class still waiting for contracts to be mailed, let’s take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…

  • Bucco Blog sees an Adam LaRoche-Jonathan Sanchez trade as a "win-win deal."
  • DRays Bay would like to see the Tigers take either Troy Percival or Dan Wheeler off the Rays’ hands.
  • Mets Geek makes a case for the Mets signing Andy Pettitte.
  • Goat Riders of the Apocalypse are not worried that the Cubs have traded away yet another former top prospect.
  • Center Field isn’t buying that Jason Varitek didn’t know about the draft pick compensation as a result of his refusing arbitration.
  • Her Rays isn’t taking the loss of Rocco Baldelli well at all.
  • Dodger Thoughts doesn’t understand why the Dodgers keep spending money on veteran, offensively-challenged backup catchers that will never play.
  • Anaheim Angels all the way says the Reds replaced "90% of Adam Dunn" with Jonny Gomes and a very favorable contract. On Baseball and the Reds is not sure Gomes’ offense will offset his horrible defense and sees him as a decent platoon option.
  • UmpBump grades the Rays offseason favorably.
  • El Lefty Malo laments the contract of Dave Roberts and feels he is the type of player that would be forced to retire if he were a free agent this off-season.
  • Twins Geek speculates on what it would take to sign Joe Mauer to a long-term deal.
  • Bullpen Call sees only the Mets and Yankees as options for Juan Cruz.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here.

Dewon Day Clears Waivers

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According to Bill Chastain of MLB.com, right-hander Dewon Day cleared waivers earlier today and was outrighted by Tampa Bay to Triple-A Durham.

Day, 28, spent the 2008 season in the White Sox organization, posting a 6.61 ERA in 13 starts in Double-A Birmingham and a 4.56 ERA in 21 relief appearances in Triple-A Charlotte.

He was claimed off waivers by the Red Sox in October and then by the Rays on Friday. He has an invitation to Major League Camp in Spring Training.

Verducci On Hamels, Shields, Lowe, Manny

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Let’s take a look at the latest from SI.com’s Tom Verducci.

  • Interesting line: "One journeyman reliever, for instance, turned down a $2 million offer, saying he would retire before taking that kind of money."  Many veterans will choose between swallowing their pride and retiring this spring.
  • Verducci makes a comparison between Cole Hamels and James Shields, who were called up 19 days apart.  The extra service time for Hamels gave him Super Two status, meaning he became arbitration-eligible four times instead of three.  That decision probably cost the Phillies more than $10MM.
  • The Mets were willing to give Derek Lowe $14MM per year.
  • The Giants don’t believe Manny Ramirez is anywhere near a decision right now.  He’s a special case for them (they’re not in the market for an outfielder) but they won’t enter a bidding war.
  • The Blue Jays aren’t interested in Orlando Cabrera; they’re content with Marco Scutaro.
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