Nationals Sign Wil Ledezma
This one slipped under the radar. Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post reported earlier tonight that the Nationals signed lefty Wil Ledezma to a minor league deal worth $750K. Ledezma, 28 in January, didn’t shut down left-handed hitters in 2008. They batted .255/.359/.364 against him.
Nationals To Let Milledge, Dukes Compete For CF
Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge are the Washington Nationals’ two candidates for the center field opening, MLB.com reports.
The Nationals, after missing out on the newest Cub, Milton Bradley, have decided to look internally for center field help.
Milledge (.268/.330/.402) played center field for the Nationals in 2008. He’ll turn 24 in April. Dukes (.264/.386/.478) will be 25 in June.
Redding Remains On Rockies’ Radar
Thomas Harding of MLB.com writes that despite the pending acquisition of Cubs starter Jason Marquis, the Colorado Rockies are still in the hunt for right-hander Tim Redding’s services.
Harding notes that the Rockies tried to trade for Redding with the Washington Nationals during the Winter Meetings.
Odds and Ends: Bard, Cubs, Guardado
Links for Friday (feels like a Monday)…
- Boston’s deal for catcher Josh Bard is official. Bard had offers from the Cubs and Nationals as well.
- SI.com’s Jon Heyman ranks the top 20 remaining free agents.
- RotoAuthority asks readers to name their #1 sleeper for 2009.
- The Marlins reportedly have interest in reliever Jesus Colome.
- MLB.com’s Barry Bloom explains that the arbitration filing period begins Monday. He gives a nice primer on the arbitration system for those that need to brush up. Ryan Howard is due for another big raise.
- Buster Olney does not like the Cubs’ recent moves, particularly the Mark DeRosa trade.
- Jeff Wilson says the Rangers remain in contact with free agent reliever Eddie Guardado.
Cubs To Win Battle For Milton Bradley?
Chico Harlan of the Washington Post believes the Cubs will win the sweepstakes for free agent outfielder Milton Bradley.
The Nationals made it known earlier this week that they also have serious interest in signing Bradley. But Harlan spoke to a source in Chicago who "thinks it’s just a matter of time before Bradley puts on the C– especially because Chicago just dumped some salaries to clear space for the 30-year-old free agent." Bradley is thought to be looking for a three-year, $30MM contract. The Cubs have cleared around $8MM from their ’09 payroll, so they should have no problem reaching his demands.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Jays, Mets, Red Sox, Nats, Yankees
On this date 32 years ago, commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended Braves owner Ted Turner for one year for tampering. Turner had announced publicly that the Braves would sign free agent-to-be Gary Matthews. Unfortunately, 30 years later, nobody was disciplined when the Angels signed free agent Gary Matthews Jr. to a $50MM contract. In the first two years of the deal, Matthews has been paid $15MM and his play has been worth -$600K (yes, that is negative) according to Fangraphs. With several big free agents still looking for new teams, will any of them be the next Matthews Jr? Only time will tell. In the meantime, let’s see what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- The Eddie Kranepool Society is not worried about Derek Lowe, feeling the deal will get done once the Mets add a fourth option year and sweeten the pot just a tad. They are also putting the Mets front office on notice about the possibility of letting Manny Ramirez slip through their fingers.
- Mets Geek feels the Mets still need to add one more piece to their revamped bullpen and suggest Wil Ohman or Joe Beimel are better options as a lefty specialist than what is already in-house.
- The Southpaw takes a look at some young players the Jays should try to target in the trade market, with Chin-Lung Hu at the top of the list.
- My Baseball Bias is not satisfied with just Mark Teixeira and wants to see the Yankees sign Manny Ramirez.
- Fire Brand of the American League makes a case for three players to be the Red Sox fourth outfielder, including Rocco Baldelli, Brad Wilkerson and Eric Byrnes.
- MLB Notebook takes a look at how the Nationals could spend the $20MM that would have gone to Mark Teixeira.
- River Ave. Blues says this offseason is proving to be a test of just how good Scott Boras can be.
- Sully Baseball is running a series of posts breaking down each team’s all-time home grown versus all-time acquired teams. Here he looks at the Astros.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here.
Nationals Rumors: Fielder, Milledge, O-Dog
MLB.com’s Bill Ladson has dug up more Nationals rumors…
- Prince Fielder is one of the left-handed power bats that interest the Nats. Ladson writes that "it’s doubtful" that the Brewers would part with him.
- Lastings Milledge "could be trade bait before the season starts."
- Ladson expects the Nats to go after Orlando Hudson, and suggests he could bat leadoff.
- Willie Harris will stay put in Washington.
- Nick Johnson could start the season at first for the Nats, but they’d rather avoid relying on him.
- Washington isn’t likely to make a play for a big-name starter.
Nationals Not Interested In Manny Ramirez
Bill Ladson of MLB.com has been told by a baseball source that reports of the Nationals’ interest in Manny Ramirez are false.
Ladson notes two fairly obvious reasons why Manny isn’t a good fit in D.C.:
- The Nationals are overloaded with right-handed hitting outfielders. They already have righties Josh Willingham, Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes, Austin Kearns and Wily Mo Pena under contract for ’08.
- And the obvious one: His age. Ramirez is 36. The Nats won a league-low 59 games last season and need to build for the long-term before they go signing old, high-priced free agents with big egos.
- Let’s not forget Jim Bowden’s November 12th quote: We are not pursuing Manny Ramirez."
Nationals Have Serious Interest In Bradley
According to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson, the Nationals have serious interest in free agent Milton Bradley. The Nats would try Bradley in center field. Bradley is the Cubs’ top target to play right field, so there could be a battle for his services.
Ladson adds that Adam Dunn and Orlando Hudson also remain on Washington’s radar. It seems that they intend to sign at least one solid free agent after failing to sign Mark Teixeira.
Dodgers Interested In Dunn, Abreu
4:28pm: A very Dodgers-centric day here at MLBTR. MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick reports that in addition to Dunn, the Dodgers will soon open up talks with Bobby Abreu. They’d like to move Andruw Jones or Juan Pierre if they sign an outfielder.
Gurnick adds that pitching is Ned Colletti’s priority – the Dodgers are eyeing Jon Garland, Randy Wolf, and relief help.
1:46pm: According to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, the Dodgers contacted Adam Dunn‘s agent over the holidays to express interest. If the Dodgers sign Dunn, Manny Ramirez could be in a really bad place. Other teams showing interest in Dunn: the Cubs, Nationals, Mariners, and Orioles. All five teams have surfaced in prior reports, with the Brewers also getting a mention while they were mulling a Mike Cameron trade.
There was a report nine days ago stating that the Cubs are Dunn’s first choice. Today Stark puts it this way: "The Cubs had believed to be his top choice before the Dodgers entered the mix."