Nationals Rumors

Ken Rosenthal’s Latest

By Tim Dierkes | March 18, 2007 at 11:29pm CDT

Ken Rosenthal has been hard at work with his sources, and he has a new article at FOX Sports. Some highlights:

The Marlins and Dodgers are interested in Byung-Hyun Kim as a reliever, and the A’s could add him as the fifth starter instead of Joe Kennedy. Kim, a 28 year-old sidearmer, hasn’t closed since ’03 with Boston. A trade to Florida would make him the ninth inning favorite though. He’ll earn $2.5MM this year.
The Rockies like Mark Hendrickson of L.A., and they may release Josh Fogg this spring. I wouldn’t discard Kim while acquiring Hendrickson; Kim projects as a slightly better pitcher. Advantages to acquiring Hendrickson from Dan O’Dowd’s point of view: a slightly better groundball rate and two years remaining until free agency.
The Blue Jays want to give Josh Towers a rotation spot. Towers has nine Ks in nine innings this spring while allowing two runs. Does spring training really have that kind of influence on a team’s decision-makers? Towers will make $2.9MM this season, but he’s still pretty far from free agency. The Jays would like to trade John Thomson; otherwise they may release him. As a newly signed free agent Thomson can veto any deal. He’d be wise to take a trade to the NL, in my opinion.
Rosenthal thinks the Orioles and Nationals will be competing for Mark Teixeira, who will become a free agent after the 2008 season. Tex is a Maryland native, which usually doesn’t matter for a Boras client. But Boras might actually be able to use this to get the two clubs bidding against each other.

Red Sox Scouting Turnbow?

By Tim Dierkes | March 18, 2007 at 11:11pm CDT

My apologies for the lack of posts today; I had an all-day fantasy draft. Back to trade rumors: Adam McCalvy of MLB.com had several Brewers ones in today’s article.

To begin with, 26 year-old righty starter Ben Hendrickson cleared waivers and was sent to Triple A. He was angry about it, perhaps because he had a 2.45 ERA in five appearances this spring. Apparently the Nationals and Padres are interested, and both the Brewers and Hendrickson look forward to a trade. According to Baseball America, Hendrickson has a plus curve and an 88-91 fastball. He may be a Quad-A type player; PECOTA sees a 5.00 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in 109 innings.

The Red Sox had a scout watching Derrick Turnbow on Friday, though Doug Melvin says he’s not shopping the reliever. Maybe Sox pitching coach John Farrell can fix Turnbow’s walk problem, but it’s a long shot. Turnbow has two years and $5.5MM left on his contract. While that extension was ill-advised, it’s not nearly as bad as the Cubs giving Ryan Dempster three years and $15.5MM. In both cases, fairly small samples of decent control were taken as permanent and rewarded.

McCalvy also mentioned a "lunchroom rumor" that had the Padres looking at Brady Clark. Melvin said he hasn’t heard from the club. The Crew would love to shed Clark’s $3.8MM salary.

Marlins Trade Rumors

By Tim Dierkes | March 15, 2007 at 9:52am CDT

The Fish might do some minor dealing in the coming days. Let’s see what they have cooking.

For one, Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel thinks they should bring Armando Benitez back, now that he’s healthy. He says it would probably only cost the Marlins a million bucks in addition to the player(s) they trade. Benitez says he hasn’t been in shape like he is now since he played for the Orioles.

The Marlins may have their eye on a couple of Red Sox: center fielder David Murphy and pitcher Kyle Snyder. The Nationals also have interest in Snyder. Snyder, 29, hails from Florida for what that’s worth. He can probably post an ERA below 5 in the NL, so he belongs on someone’s roster. Murphy still has a chance to become a credible CF, especially if his new build adds a little power. Houston also likes Murphy.

Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post has another tidbit: though the Marlins scouted Jorge Julio, they’re not close to proposing a deal.

Finally, the Marlins have no interest in Javy Lopez but are drawing interest for outfielder Cody Ross.

Young Players Covet Long-Term Security

By Tim Dierkes | March 3, 2007 at 1:21pm CDT

Locking up promising young players to avoid their arbitration years has become all the rage these days. It can be argued as win-win, as the player trades some risk for a smaller AAV than he could get going year to year.

The Padres are looking to give first baseman Adrian Gonzalez a long-term deal after a contract renewal near the league minimum. They did this with Jake Peavy, though Kevin Towers renewed him in after each of his first two seasons.
The Nationals will meet with Ryan Zimmerman’s agent tomorrow. Barry Svrluga thinks David Wright’s contract could be the benchmark.
Felix Hernandez told John Hickey he’d been hoping for a multiyear deal with the Mariners rather than a renewal. If he improves upon his 2006 season and stays healthy, he might get around four years and $10MM. The Mariners have actually had talks with second baseman Jose Lopez regarding a multiyear deal.
Keep in mind that it’s definitely not a risk-free proposition for the team. Look no further than the four-year, $11MM contract given to Royals shortstop Angel Berroa following his Rookie of the Year 2003 season.

2007 Washington Nationals

By Tim Dierkes | February 28, 2007 at 11:22pm CDT

Ah, I bet you thought I wouldn’t come through with this one today, eh? Time to take a look at those lovable Washington Nationals.

Jim Bowden’s contract obligations:

C – Brian Schneider – $3.5MM
C – Jesus Flores – $0.38MM
C/1B – Robert Fick – $0.38MM
1B – Larry Broadway – $0.38MM
2B – Felipe Lopez – $3.9MM
SS – Cristian Guzman – $4.2MM
3B – Ryan Zimmerman – $0.38MM
IF – Ron Belliard – $0.75MM
IF – Travis Lee – $0.38MM
LF – Ryan Church – $0.38MM
CF – Nook Logan – $0.38MM
RF – Austin Kearns – $3.5MM
OF – Chris Snelling – $0.45MM

SP – John Patterson – $0.85MM
SP – Jerome Williams – $0.5MM
SP – Tim Redding – $0.38MM
SP – Shawn Hill – $0.38MM
SP – Matt Chico – $0.38MM
SP – Beltran Perez – $0.38MM

RP – Chad Cordero – $4.15MM
RP – Luis Ayala – $1.3MM
RP – Jon Rauch – $0.38MM
RP – Ryan Wagner – $0.38MM
RP – Ray King – $0.38MM
RP – Levale Speigner – $0.38MM

Injured:

1B – Nick Johnson – $5.5MM (June return expected for broken femur)
OF – Alex Escobar – $0.53MM (May start year on DL following Sept.labrum surgery)
SP – Brandon Claussen – $0.38MM (Hopes for a May return from rotator cuff surgery)
SP – Mike O’Connor – $0.38MM (November elbow surgery)

That’s my exhausting take on the 25-man roster. I’m no roster construction expert, but I read up on some popular Nats blogs and took my best shot. (By the way – Nationals Power is the new kid on the block. Check it out.) The players listed here amount to $35-36MM.

The Nats are committed to keeping Rule 5 pick Jesus Flores and want to use him as a backup catcher. Baseball America thinks a year on Washington’s bench would hurt the slugging catcher’s development, given that he’s jumping up from A ball. My version of the roster has Fick so that Flores won’t get overexposed.

Washington will be without perhaps their best hitter in Johnson until June or so. Broadway appears to be the favorite to start at first, with Travis Lee and Dmitri Young also in the mix. I’ll go with Lee for his oft-cited glovework. It’s still an open competition at this point.

Lopez has played twelve games at 2B in his Major League career, but the Nationals will try it in hopes of getting some value out of Guzman. Should Guzzie bomb again, Lopez moves to short and Belliard takes over at second.

It seems Church will get a crack at starting in left under a fresh manager, so he needs to make the most of it. Snelling will provide ample competition.

Overall, only Lopez, Zimmerman, and maybe Kearns can be expected to provide above average offense for their positions. This team will struggle to score runs, but expectations are low anyway. On the bright side, the defense looks respectable.

You can see my guess at the rotation; the first four seem fairly likely. Chico, a 23 year-old southpaw who came over in the Livan Hernandez deal, hasn’t pitched above Double A yet. He’s got a four-pitch mix and sits in the low 90s. An ERA below 5 would be a success if he makes the team. He’s got Jarrod Washburn among his comps.

The point has been made that this motley crew of starters can’t be worse than last year’s, and I agree. Redding, Williams, and Claussen are the right kind of gambles for the Nationals. I think they’d be satisfied if one solid guy emerged behind Patterson for ’08.

The pen is an intriguing mix, the purported strength of the club. Should Ayala bounce back from elbow surgery, he’ll form an underrated trio with Cordero and Rauch. King adds character, while Speigner is a Rule 5 attempt who closed in Double A last year.

Sure, the Nats will be bad. Still, they’ve got an impressive rookie manager and the ability to play the spoiler on certain nights. You gotta start somewhere.

Nationals Sign Ron Belliard

By Tim Dierkes | February 18, 2007 at 10:49am CDT

UPDATE: Baseball Digest Daily is reporting that the Nationals have signed Belliard to a non-guaranteed minor-league contract. RotoWorld says he’ll earn $750K upon making the team. A disappointing result for the second baseman.

It looks like the best Ron Belliard might be able to manage is a backup infielder role with the Nationals. The club is eyeing him for their bench, though they probably wouldn’t pay more than a million or two. Belliard had lousy luck, reaching free agency in a year with a surplus of second basemen.

If signed, Belliard would back up Felipe Lopez at second and Ryan Zimmerman at third. It’s not a hopeless situation for him, though. As Bill Ladson says, Lopez could shift back to short if Cristian Guzman is awful again or is dealt. This might be Belliard’s best shot at regular duty.

Earlier this month, Belliard was named in a federal extortion case.

Dmitri Young may become a Nat

By Tim Dierkes | February 14, 2007 at 3:50pm CDT

Dmitri Young is close to signing a minor league deal with the Washington Nationals. The Nats already have Travis Lee around to play first while Nick Johnson recovers, but Young would certainly give them more pop while they wait.

Young struggled in limited time last year, but has always been a consistent source of power, and is only a few years removed from a sparkling .297/.372/.537 campaign back in ’03 in Detroit. I would’ve expect Young would find an AL home before he landed with an NL team, but Jim Bowden seems to like guys like this, as he signed Matt LeCroy last offseason.

UPDATE: Tony Batista has signed a minor league deal with the Nats, too. He must not have gotten any good offers at all, because there are few teams likely to have less playing time for Batista than the Nats, unless Batista thinks he can sell himself as a shortstop.

By Jeff Sackmann
www.BrewCrewBall.com

Dmitri Young may become a Nat

By Tim Dierkes | February 14, 2007 at 3:50pm CDT

By Jeff Sackmann
www.BrewCrewBall.com

Long Term Deal for Cordero?

By Tim Dierkes | February 14, 2007 at 3:42pm CDT

The Nationals and Chad Cordero are discussing a multi-year deal to avoid their upcoming arbitration hearing. The two sides aren’t that far apart, but since they have a consistent, young pitcher on their hands, I’m sure the Nats would like to work something out.

Cordero wasn’t as good last year as he was in his eye-popping 2005, but he did manage a 3.19 ERA and a K:BB of better than 3:1. He may not have been the best closer in the NL named Cordero, but he still remains one of the best relievers in the league. It’s tough to see the Nats going more than three years (with an option for a fourth) for a young reliever, but such a deal would not only work nicely for Washington, but would make Chad an even more valuable trade commodity in the 07-08 offseason.

By Jeff Sackmann
www.BrewCrewBall.com