Cafardo’s Latest: Varitek, Sheets, Glavine
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has a new article up in this Sunday’s paper:
- Mariners advisers have suggested bringing in Jason Varitek to improve the Seattle pitching staff.
- "Arbitration-strapped" Philadelphia may have interest in Ben Sheets as he becomes a bigger bargain by the day.
- Cafardo details the Kevin Youkilis contract extension, to the dollar.
- Kris Benson will work out for the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Rangers, and Cubs next Saturday.
- Tom Glavine would entertain an offer from Washington.
- If Atlanta takes on Andruw Jones, they would only have to take on $400K of the $21MM plus the Dodgers are paying him.
Manny Ramirez Rumors: Saturday
Free agent outfielder Manny Ramirez is still looking for a team, and several outlets are writing about him today.
- The New York Mets aren’t looking back at him.
- Money and the length of contract are causing the San Francisco Giants to remain on the sideline, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports.
- Bill Madden of the N.Y. Daily News has a list of teams in his column. He notes the Los Angeles Dodgers have no reason to bid against themselves. Madden’s list of teams? Dodgers, Mets, Giants, Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Garcia, Perez, O-Dog
A few quick notes from FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal…
- The White Sox, Rangers and Mets have strong interest in Freddy Garcia. Rosenthal believes he would accept a minor league deal if a team gives him a chance to start.
- The Diamondbacks are not willing to pay the money that Oliver Perez desires.
- Rosenthal notes that few teams have openly expressed interest in free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson and believes he could fall to the Nationals if large market teams give way.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pirates, Hudson, Tigers, Braves, Dunn, Yankees
On this day 29 years ago, Albert Pujols was born. 2009 will be the sixth year of his eight year, $111MM deal (safe to say Cards will pick up his ’11 option). According to Fangraphs, Pujols has already been worth $151.9MM in the first five years of the contract ($30.4M per season), begging the question: How much will Pujols command following the ’11 season, when he will be 32? Last winter, Alex Rodriguez signed for 10 years and $275MM prior to his age 32 season. With less than a month to go before pitchers and catchers report, many players are still looking for their own new contracts. Let’s take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- River Ave. Blues expands on Baseball Prospectus’ case against a salary cap and how small-market teams likely would not be able to support a minimum payroll.
- Bucco Blog says the value of young talent has kept the Pirates from rebuilding. Instead, the team has spent the last two years restructuring and are now moving on to the next phase.
- Jorge Says No examines the market for Orlando Hudson and feels the Nationals have to make a play for the second baseman.
- The Detroit Tigers Weblog takes a look at who is still available to close for the Tigers in ’09.
- Infield Chatter says the Braves were forced to overpay for Derek Lowe.
- Braves Blast takes a look at the Braves offseason and what is left to do: adding an outfield bat and extending Chipper Jones’ contract.
- On Baseball and The Reds takes a look at Adam Dunn‘s value, with the numbers suggesting he is not worth much more than $20MM over four years.
- Pinstripes Published makes a case for the Yankees acquiring Lastings Milledge from the Nats, while The Chuck Knoblog argues for Elijah Dukes.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here. This is by far the best way to get your blog linked on MLBTR.
Odds and Ends: Putz, Mitsui, Varitek
Links for Friday…
- Jacob Jackson proposes a new, simpler free agent compensation system.
- Jon Paul Morosi says the Mariners wanted Fernando Perez from the Rays in the failed talks that would’ve brought J.J. Putz to Detroit. The Rays were unwilling to do this in part because B.J. Upton will be unavailable to start the season.
- Koji Mitsui again failed to garner a bid from an MLB team.
- Aaron Gleeman discusses the Twins’ decision not to use certain advanced statistics.
- Tony Massarotti and Curt Schilling talk about the Jason Varitek situation.
- Former GM Woody Woodward is back with the Mariners, as a scout. The Pirates added former Tigers GM Bill Lajoie as a senior advisor to Neal Huntington.
- The Nationals have done little in the Japanese market, and they were never involved on Koji Uehara.
Nats To Sign Colome, Invite Dozens To Camp
The AP reports that Jesus Colome has agreed to a minor league contract with the Nationals. They released him last month.
Here’s the entire list of Nationals spring training invitees, via Pete McElroy of MASN Sports.
Nick Johnson Trade Talks With Oakland Resume
12:45pm: MLB.com’s Bill Ladson talked to a source who said nothing is imminent in these talks and they haven’t really heated up.
10:48am: According to Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post, the Nationals and A’s have revived trade talks for first baseman Nick Johnson. Sheinin notes that the Nats have previously shown interest in Daric Barton, though that might be a high price to pay for one year of the injury-prone Johnson. Another wrinkle is the A’s addition of Jason Giambi, but there would be ways to make it work.
Nationals Ink Towers To Minor League Deal
Bill Ladson of MLB.com reports that the Nationals have signed Josh Towers to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.
The 31-year-old right-hander spent all of last season at Triple-A Colorado Springs and finished with a 6-7 record and 6.27 ERA. He’ll need a really strong showing this spring to make the Nats.
Dunn Looking For Four Years, $56 Million
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick talked to an official of a team interested in Adam Dunn. That official said Dunn’s current asking price is four years, $56MM ($14MM per). Crasnick says the Braves and Nationals are more focused on trades.
Even in the depressed market Dunn has a case for more than the $30MM Milton Bradley received. But not significantly more, and Bradley’s deal protects against a first-year injury. Plus, Dunn’s list of suitors is small.
Nationals Rumors: Young, Swisher
Chico Harlan of the Washington Post has a few notes on the Nationals.
- The Nationals and Rangers have had basic discussions about Michael Young, but Harlan says the Nationals will not be players for him.
- So far the Nationals haven’t offered enough for Nick Swisher, but at the least he provides leverage to use on the team’s free agent targets.
- Adam Dunn and Orlando Hudson remain of interest. Harlan considers recent stories about their high prices to be posturing by the Nationals.