Baseball Rumor Mill

Latest on Manny, 1/2: Giants, Dodgers

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:46:59 EST

Here's the latest news on Manny Ramirez:

Troy E. Renek of the Denver Post reports that the Giants are quietly trying to sign Ramirez.
Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated confirms the reports and notes that the Giants are likely serious players and could steal Ramirez away from the Dodgers.
Harry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle notes that the only way the Giants would sign Ramirez is under specific financial conditions. It does not sound like the Giants are likely to get into a bidding war for Ramirez.
Dennis O'Donnell is reporting that the Giants have offered Ramirez a three year contract with a club option for the fourth year. In the same article, however, O'Donnell notes that a Giants representative said "It's not happening" in response to signing Ramirez.

News and Notes From Sherman, 1/2: Red Sox, Lowe, Ramirez, Marquis

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:07:18 EST

Let's take a look at The New York Post's Joel Sherman's latest entry:

Despite failed attempts to sign Mark Teixeira and trade for Hanley Ramirez, the Red Sox are still interested in acquiring a star player.
Derek Lowe will not accept the same annual salary ($12M) and less total money ($36M vs. $48M) than Carlos Silva. The Mets offer was three years, $36M.
Sherman feels that Manny Ramirez signing with the Giants makes sense.
The Mets are interested in Jason Marquis of the Cubs, but want to address a top of the rotation starter before moving on to a #5 starter like Marquis.

Cubs Rumors: Peavy, Bradley

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:43:20 EST

Let's look at the latest Cubs rumors:

In response to whether trade talks between the Cubs and Padres for Jake Peavy would reopen after the Mark DeRosa trade which has freed up some money for Chicago to spend, Kevin Towers told Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports that it was "doubtful". Similarly, Towers told Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union Tribune that the Cubs recent trades are not likely to impact trade talks between the two teams for Peavy. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times agrees with Towers statements.
The sentiment seems to be that the $8M that the Cubs have freed up for 2009 is to assist with signing Milton Bradley. Bradley is reportedly looking for three years and $30M. Wittenmyer notes that the Cubs are still confident that they will sign Bradley and Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune contends that Chicago is Bradley's top choice. Bruce Levine of ESPN Radio takes it another step and says that Bradley landing in Chicago is a "done deal". Levine also reports on Aaron Miles signing a two year contract with the Cubs.

Red Sox Tried To Trade For Hanley Ramirez

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:49:25 EST

While the other Ramirez, Manny Ramirez, has been dominating the headlines, Jon Heyman and Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated report that the Red Sox attempted to acquire Marlins star Hanley Ramirez for a large package of young players. The attempt appears to come as a response to the Red Sox missing out on slugger Mark Teixeira who landed with the rival Yankees. The Marlins are known to be interested in Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz, but a deal would likely take at least one or two more star players. Perhaps Lars Anderson, Michael Bowden, or Jed Lowrie, though that is just my speculation.

News and Notes From Rosenthal, 12/23: Ramirez, Peavy, Bradley, Burrell

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:19:07 EST

Let's go to Ken Rosenthal for some non-Mark Teixeira news:

The Angels do not appear interested in Manny Ramirez. Angels general manager Tony Reagins made a comment to this effect earlier today anyway.
Padres general manager Kevin Towers notes that if there is any interest from other teams about acquiring Jake Peavy in the future, there will be no word about it.
The Cubs like their chances of signing Milton Bradley but the Rays, Nationals, and Yankees are interested as well. However, it seems safe to assume that the Yankees may no longer be in the market for Bradley.
Rosenthal feels that the Rays, Mariners, Rangers and Reds are all possible destinations for Pat Burrell.
Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla and Hank Blalock are all available to acquire via trade as the Rangers are looking to lower their payroll.
The Brewers have inquired about Adam Dunn.
Bobby Abreu is allegedly still in touch with the Yankees. Again, another free agent that now seems less likely to play in New York.

Aftermath of the Teixeira Signing

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:04:22 EST

The rumors of Mark Teixeira signing with the Yankees have been confirmed. Now let's take a look at the various reports about how the deal went down:

Bill Madden of the Los Angeles Times writes that Teixeira told him that he prefered New York over Boston and Los Angeles all along.
Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports gives a rundown of events that brought Teixeira to New York.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post notes that the decision to sign Teixeira, along with their entire 2009 off season haul (CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett) was made with the poor 2010 free agent class in mind. Sherman also points out that the team will now try to trade one of their outfielders: Nick Swisher, Johnny Damon, Xavier Nady or Hideki Matsui.
Danny Knobler of CBS Sports reports that the contract does not include an opt-out clause as Sabathia's did. He also notes that the Sox do not intend to go after Derek Lowe simply because they missed out on Teixeira.
It appears as if the Red Sox final offer was eight year, $168M according to Joel Sherman.

Teixeira To The Yankees?

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:34:02 EST

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated is reporting that the Yankees are on the verge of signing Mark Teixeira to an eight year, $180M contract. Recent rumors surrounding the Teixeira negotiations did not indicate that the Yankees were a serious bidder, but earlier reports indicated that New York was still lurking. The Nationals were rumored earlier today to have offered anywhere from $178M to $190M over eight or nine years while the Red Sox were rumored to have offered eight years and $170M.

Buster Olney of espn.com confirms Heyman's report, but indicates that the contract is "only" in excess of $170M, but not necessarily $180M specifically.

Pirates Rumors, 12/23: Baldelli, Wigginton, Mientkiewicz, Wilson

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:32:32 EST

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a good article up about the various Pirates rumors:

The Pirates are interested in Rocco Baldelli and have spoken with his agent several times. The Reds, Phillies, Red Sox and Yankees are also rumored to be interested.
They are no longer, however, interested in Ty Wigginton.
Doug Mientkiewicz is still a person of interest.
The Pirates can not seem to generate much interest to move Jack Wilson.
Daniel Cabrera signed with the Nationals for $2.6M, but the Pirates offered more money. Cabrera's motivation was to stay in the Baltimore/DC area.
Contract extensions with Nate McLouth and Paul Maholm have gone nowhere.

News and Notes From Olney, 12/23: Brewers, Lowe, Cabrera, Castillo

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:09:48 EST

Buster Olney of espn.com has a new column and a new post up. Let's take a look:

The Brewers will consider Trevor Hoffman, Brandon Lyon and Braden Looper to fill their open closer's role via free agency. If they do not sign a free agent, look for Carlos Villanueva to be the team's closer this spring.
Brewers general manager Doug Melvin confirmed that trade talks between Milwaukee and New York over a possible Mike Cameron for Melky Cabrera trade are likely dead.
The Dodgers are no longer interested in Derek Lowe even though his price tag continues to drop. They are considering Hoffman, however.
Orlando Cabrera figures to be impacted the most by Rafael Furcal spurning the Braves for the Dodgers. OC looked headed to LA if Furcal stayed with the Braves, but now OC has fewer suitors, if any. Miguel Tejada continues to pop up as a more reasonable alternative to Cabrera.
Olney reports that the Mets are still trying to find someone to take Luis Castillo. Good luck.

Teixeira Announcement Expected Today

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:54:09 EST

1:53 PM: The latest report from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has the Nationals offer at $180M over nine years and the Red Sox offer at $170M over eight years. The total value of the Nationals offer is $10M more than the Red Sox, but the average annual salary for the Red Sox deal is $1.25M more per year.

11:54 AM: Thom Loverro of the Washington Times is reporting that an "announcement will be made today regarding the future of Mark Teixeira." Despite earlier reports that the Nationals had increased their offer to $178-$184M over eight years, larger than anything reported by the Red Sox to this point, the Red Sox are still considered to be the lead contender to land the free agent slugger.

Peter Gammons and Buster Olney have confirmed the reports that Teixeira will decide soon. The Orioles appear out of the negotiations while the Yankees expect a possible last minute proposal from Teixeira with a "take it or we'll sign else where" mentality. The writers note that, in 2005, when another Scott Boras client, Carlos Beltran, was about to sign with the Mets, he presented the Yankees with a six year, $96M offer, which was $20M less than what he ultimately sign with the Mets.