Morning Tidbits
Hmm. Not much really going on this A.M. Hopefully we’ll see some rumors crop up as the day progresses. Until then, here are just a few teasers on this Black Friday.
- Remember when the Blue Jays claimed Cory Haerther off waivers from the Cardinals? Well, now the Cardinals have claimed Haerther off waivers from the Blue Jays and have added him to the 40-man roster, thus protecting him from the Rule 5 draft.
- "Indications are" that the Twins are talking with closer Joe Nathan about a contract extension. Nathan has one year left on his deal, and could price himself out of the Twins range. No word on the number offered.
- C.J. Henry was a 2005 first-round draft choice of the Yankees. After a rough introduction to the pros, Henry was sent to the Phillies in 2006 as part of the Bobby Abreu deal. Well, the Phils have released him, and despite stories that he was going to play college basketball, he has re-signed with the Yanks.
- Infielder Ramon Vazquez has re-upped with the Rangers for one year and $810,000. He hit .230/.300/.373 in 300 at bats in 2007.
Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues.
Torii Hunter – Additional Thoughts
Random thoughts in the aftermath of the Torii Hunter shocker…
- We can’t really say whether the Hunter signing was about money or winning, because a winning team made an offer far beyond any other club. It is inconclusive.
- U.S.S. Mariner notes that Hunter received the same contract Ichiro did, but he’s not the same caliber of player.
- David Pinto sees a very old Angels outfield in the future.
- The Rangers were at five years, $75MM with a club option for 2013. Both Texas and the White Sox may now turn their attention to Aaron Rowand. Suddenly his perception that he’s a $14MM player seems more realistic.
- The Twins must be pleasantly surprised – they get the Angels’ 27th overall pick next June. All the other teams thought to be in the mix for Hunter had their first round picks protected. The loss of the pick just accentuates how much the Halos overpaid here.
Odds and Ends: Fukudome, Eckstein, Lowell
Ah yes, the odds and ends post, where I cobble together the day’s random links.
- The Rangers have mild interest Scott Podsednik. Pods had two separate stints in the Rangers organization but never reached the bigs with them.
- The Big Lead has an interesting interview with Yahoo baseball guy Jeff Passan, wherein a run-in with Jose Lima is recounted. Passan also takes on Fire Joe Morgan a bit.
- Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog is hearing that Kosuke Fukudome is looking for three years and $30MM. Sounds fair.
- The Angels are considering signing David Eckstein and/or Darin Erstad, for some reason.
- Bob Dutton reports that the Royals can be patient with their offer to Torii Hunter, while the White Sox want a quick resolution. Bonus: a rather large, but not too pixellated picture of Hunter at the Dutton link. Hunter, by the way, could save $750K per year if he signs with the Rangers because Texas has no state income tax. Hunter is also considering the Las Vegas 51s for that same reason, I heard.
- Per Buster Olney, the Dodgers put in a three-year offer to Mike Lowell. He takes this as a sign they weren’t serious, but Ned Colletti has shown a tendency to offer fewer years and more per year. He did this with Rafael Furcal and Jason Schmidt. So maybe the Dodgers put out a 3/45 offer or something.
- The Phils picked up oft-injured outfielder Chris Snelling from the Rays for cash. He’s yet to accumulate 100 big league at-bats in a season, but maybe that’ll change in 2008.
- Ed Wade + relievers = trouble. Doug Brocail is on the radar.
- McCovey Chronicles lists some realistic position player targets for the Giants, including Jeff Clement, Andy Marte, and Adam Lind.
Hunter Receives Five Offers
Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times, normally their Cubs guy, has the scoop on the Torii Hunter situation.
Wittenmyer says Hunter has at least five offers in hand. Four of them are for five years, while the Rangers have offered six. This doesn’t count the Twins’ lowball 3/45 offer.
So which five clubs have made proposals to Hunter? The Rangers, White Sox, Dodgers, Royals, and Nationals comprise the list. Wittenmyer notes that the Dodgers could get aggressive on Hunter if they miss out on Miguel Cabrera. Also, the Yankees could trade Melky Cabrera and jump in. The amounts offered aren’t well known, but Wittenmyer says the Rangers are just under $15MM per year.
Hunter hopes to decide next week so he doesn’t have to attend the Winter Meetings the week after that. Don’t underestimate the Royals, who blew everyone away last year by winning the bidding for Gil Meche. Still, the White Sox and Rangers are the clear frontrunners.
Mets Acquire Estrada For Mota
UPDATE: Non-tendering Estrada is still an option for the Mets, but they’ve unloaded Mota’s contract. The Mets may shop around for better options, knowing they have an adequate fallback. According to Jamey Newberg, the Mets found the asking prices for trade targets Gerald Laird and Ramon Hernandez to be unacceptable.
The Mets found their catcher today in the person of Johnny Estrada. To get him from the Brewers, Omar Minaya only had to surrender Guillermo Mota.
It was a swap of a couple of unwanted guys. The Brewers would’ve non-tendered Estrada rather than pony up $4MM+ for him. However they’ll probably plop down something close to that for Jason Kendall, who is superior to Estrada only in the intangibles department. Doug Melvin offered Estrada to the Mets while naming six different players he’d accept in return.
Mota was actually decent in terms of his 2.6 K/BB ratio this year, but he was hittable and home run prone. Maybe the Brewers can make something of him, though at $3.2MM it’s a slightly pricey gamble. Mota of course brings more steroid stigma to Milwaukee’s pen, which already has Derrick Turnbow.
Rangers, Hunter Talking Five Year Deal
According to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan, Torii Hunter denied the Chicago Sun-Times report that he would sign with the Sox this week. The White Sox, Dodgers, and Rangers remain the major players for Hunter.
The Rangers had dinner with Hunter last night; he’s their top priority. Currently the two sides are talking about a five-year deal but Jon Daniels doesn’t expect anything to happen this week.
Odds and Ends: LaRue, Rogers, Hunter
Some random rumorage before I shut it down for the evening…
- My 2008 MLB Free Agents list is current; take a gander.
- The Cardinals signed Jason LaRue to be their backup catcher. LaRue had a nice five-year trend of rising OPS, culminating with an .806 mark in 2005. Then he lost all ability to hit whatsoever. Fortunately, he can still throw guys out. The Cards also inked a couple of sweet former Rated Rookies in Dewon Brazelton and John Wasdin.
- The Tigers have begun chatting with Kenny Rogers again, this time with The Gambler representing himself.
- Don’t buy that Torii Hunter White Sox jersey just yet – Hunter is finishing up a tasty meal at Tom Hicks’ house as we speak. If Hicks was smart he whipped up some chicken fried rice for Torii.
Odds and Ends: Kendall, Crisp, Gagne
I’m back in the swing of things, kind of. We’re still living out of boxes, but I’ve got a laptop and I’m digging into all the rumors I missed. Joe did a great job the last couple of days. Be sure to visit his Yankees blog, River Ave. Blues. On to today’s random rumors…
- I’m hearing that Jason Kendall could be a fallback for the Mets if they can’t pry Ramon Hernandez loose from the Orioles.
- The Blue Jays have about $4MM to spend, and J.P. Ricciardi likes the idea of Michael Barrett splitting time behind the plate with Gregg Zaun. It seems unlikely, though, because the Padres would have to not offer arbitration to Barrett. And Barrett would have to take a one-year, $4MM deal.
- Jamey Newberg discusses the idea of a Coco Crisp for Gerald Laird swap. He notes that the market for Laird should be picking up, but the Red Sox might prefer to wait to trade Crisp.
- Haven’t heard this one much yet…how about Eric Gagne for the Houston closer vacancy? Would Scott Boras present a problem?
- David Wells could be an option for the Mets, if he doesn’t retire or end up on the West Coast.
- One free agent from Japan who hasn’t gotten much press is Marc Kroon. He didn’t catch on in MLB but has been doing well for Yokohama the past few years. Kroon holds the record for the fastest pitch ever thrown in a Japanese game (161 km/h, which is about 100 mph). You can see that in this video (the second pitch he throws, the crowd loves it). Kroon is considering trying the Majors again; he says so on his website (note that his site plays music when you visit).
Rosenthal’s Latest: Bonds, Broussard, Hunter, Rowand, More
We missed an installment from good ol’ Kenny Rosenthal yesterday. He’s back today in full force (unlike another great rumor source, Buster Olney, who posted nothing really new in his blog today).
- The A’s, once considered the best bet for Barry Bonds, are no longer interested in the indicted slugger. Rosenthal thinks it’s likely that Bond’s trial will start after Opening Day, causing him to miss time regardless of the verdict. And then there’s the whole prison issue.
- The Rangers spoke to the Mariners at the GM meetings regarding the availability of Ben Broussard. Talks didn’t really go anywhere, since Broussard is a non-tender candidate. The Mariners might not be too keen on offering Broussard a raise over the $3.55 million he made last year, in which he managed just 264 plate appearances.
- Teams, including the Dodgers, might be more interested in Aaron Rowand over Torii Hunter because of one year and $30 million. Rowand is seeking five years, $60 million, while Hunter wants six and $90 mil. Hunter is far more proven a commodity, though, and is more athletic than Rowand. The negative in Hunter’s corner is that he’s two years older than Rowand.
- He mentions that the Cubs are interested in Luis Castillo and Kaz Matsui, both switch hitters, to play second base next year. The Astros and Mets are also in on Castillo, while the Rockies would like to re-sign Kaz — though they have a number of internal candidates, including Ian Stewart.
- The Padres are considering offering arbitration to Mike Cameron and Mike Barrett. Barrett seems like a no-brainer. He’s a Type A free agent, and would probably be worth a one-year deal. He could be pricey, though, as Ivan Rodriguez and Jorge Posada are making $13 million or more. Cameron also makes sense. The Padres still need a center fielder for 2008, and they’d do well to sign Cam to a one-year deal should he accept arbitration. Otherwise, the supplemental pick would be nice.
- Reggie Sanders will consider retirement if he can’t land a deal with the Dodgers, Giants, or Padres. Sanders missed most of the 2007 season with hamstring problems.
Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues.
Dodgers Pursuing Aaron Rowand
Buster Olney’s blog today had some good rumors to digest.
- Olney writes that the Dodgers are making a "heavy play" for Aaron Rowand. Apparently they love the idea of adding a good character guy to the clubhouse. They’d be paying $25MM for Rowand and Juan Pierre in their outfield for the next several years.
- The Phillies are making a "big play" for Mike Lowell. This certainly doesn’t jive with the speculation that the Phils only have $10MM to spend and it’s going toward pitching. By the way, Ruben Amaro Jr. ruled out the possibility of signing Torii Hunter.
- Olney has an exec source who believes Hunter will sign with the Rangers for six years and $90MM.
- Olney doesn’t see Kenny Rogers apologizing to the Rangers anytime soon.
- Mike Cameron has a better chance of re-signing with the Padres, now that his 2008 season will be reduced by 15% in playing time.
- Six teams are in on Matt Clement, but he’s still expected to land in San Diego. The Royals are probably one of the six.
- Speculation is growing that the Braves might consider bringing Andruw Jones back.