Uncategorized News & Rumors

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Yesterday I chatted with Matthew Cerrone of SNY.  Check it out.

ESPN’s Buster Olney looks at several free agents who currently reside in "compensation-pick purgatory": Orlando Cabrera, Juan Cruz, Jason Varitek, and Ben Sheets.  The cost to sign one of these four includes the loss of a draft pick, causing many teams to avoid them.  You can add Orlando Hudson and perhaps Oliver Perez to Olney’s list.  Darren Oliver (or his agent) saw this situation coming and chose to accept arbitration.  Tony Massarotti says the Red Sox would’ve been more inclined to sign Derek Lowe if they’d also signed Mark Teixeira, but now they don’t want to give up their first-round pick for Lowe.

There are Type As and Bs who would’ve made more money accepting their team’s arbitration offers; Olney names Paul Byrd and Jon Garland.  Peter Gammons mentioned Cabrera and Varitek yesterday.  Mark Grudzielanek might be another case, though most assume he had a prior arrangement with the Royals to decline.  Agents such as Bo McKinnis (Byrd), Craig Landis (Garland), Dan Lozano (Cabrera), and Scott Boras (Varitek) have some explaining to do.

Remember our "Surprisingly Not Offered Arbitration" list from December 2nd?  Here it is again:

Bobby Abreu
Joe Beimel
Pat Burrell
Adam Dunn
Braden Looper
Jamie Moyer
Randy Wolf
Kerry Wood

Aside from Wood and maybe Wolf, we can see now that most GMs made these decisions with excellent foresight.

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MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy talked to Brewers GM Doug Melvin, who said:

"I expect to be a little more active, and I think you’re more likely to get calls returned at this time of the year.  I think this week will see a lot of stuff going on.  Players start to get a little nervous after [New Year’s Day] if they don’t have a place to play."

Over 150 free agents remain unsigned, so it seems that a lot of the typical December action will be pushed to January.  Keep it right here with MLBTR; we won’t miss a beat.

Directory of MLB Trade Rumors contributors:

• Tim Dierkes
• Steve Adams
• Nat Boyle
• Cork Gaines
• Sarah Green
• Ben Jones
• Ben Nicholson-Smith
• Joe Pawlikowski
• Drew Silva
• Dan Slowey
• Alex Walsh
• Coley Ward

I don’t link to Cot’s Baseball Contracts often enough – it is the one website I go to for player contract information, every single day.  Bookmark it if you haven’t already.  Jeff’s information is always accurate and up-to-date.

My theory on the late-moving free agent market: teams are just being cautious, aiming for January bargains on players like Adam Dunn, Brian Fuentes, Derek Lowe, Orlando Hudson, and Ben Sheets.  Plus, many free agents wanted to wait out the Mark Teixeira negotiations to see who’d have money and needs afterward.

Murray Chass suggested another possible explanation in yesterday’s article.  He talked to "one prominent agent," who said, "There are a lot of rumblings that all the teams know exactly what everyone is doing with free agents."  Chass recalled the "information bank" of twenty years ago, when teams formed a database of all their offers.  Rob Manfred, executive VP of labor relations and human resources, offers a less sinister explanation: most offers are leaked out to the public.

Chass talked to another agent who believes budget cutbacks are to blame, which is hard to argue.  Chass’ article also discusses the salary cap issue, which he more clearly calls a payroll cap.

Got a link to a rumor, signing, or trade?  Email Ben Jones at benmlbtr@gmail.com this evening with your tips.

Richard Durrett of the Dallas Morning News passes along some of what Rangers GM Jon Daniels said in a radio interview yesterday. Daniels said the Rangers haven’t offered Ben Sheets a contract, but acknowledged that he’s been in contact with Sheets’ agent.

Durrett expects the Rangers to offer the righty a contract, but writes that "it’s still a long shot to expect Sheets to pitch" for Texas.