Around MLB

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Nov 21, 2007 1:55 AM EST Comment 8 comments

Despite Andruw Jones' awful 2007 season, agent Scott Boras says that the ex-Braves center fielder will not be looking for a one year contract to rehabilitate his numbers next season. Rumors had suggested that Jones might have been considering that possibility, given his .724 OPS last season and a saturated CF market this winter that also includes Torii Hunter. Jones is considered a distant second choice among baseball executives. The article mentions the Washington Nationals as a possible landing spot for Jones in 2007, given the fact that Nationals President Stan Katsen was with the Braves for much of Jones' tenure in Atlanta.
This hasn't been a particularly good week for "superagent" Scott Boras. In addition to the low value of Andruw Jones as exhibited in the above bit, Alex Rodriguez shunned him to re-negotiate a deal to stay with the New York Yankees last week. And yet another player has dropped Boras as player representative: Kenny Rogers. The 43 year old Rogers is attempting to negotiate a deal that will ensure his continued employment in the Detroit organization, coming off of an injury-plagued 2007 season.
Speculation out of Baltimore is that Orioles ace Erik Bedard could be a Los Angeles Dodger by the start of next season. Yahoo! cites a source familiar with negotiations in reporting that OF Matt Kemp could anchor the Dodgers' side of a potential trade. Bedard will be 29 at the start of next season, and he represents one of the few pieces of value that Baltimore has and wants to scrap in exchange for young talent that will enable them to further a more complete rebuilding process. Bedard pitched to a 3.16 ERA in 28 starts last season before being shut down for the final month. The usual suspect Dodger prospects are mentioned as potential supplementary pieces; Tony Abreu, Andy LaRoche, Clayton Kershaw, James Loney, Andre Ethier, and Delwyn Young being among those explicitly mentioned. Interestingly enough, the article also mentions the Dodgers as being eager to upgrade over Juan Pierre in center field. It seems to me that this possibility could have been foreseen before Ned Colleti decided to spend $45 million over five years to lure Pierre to Southern California.
Speaking of Southern California, both the Dodgers and the Angels appear to be in on the Miguel Cabrera sweepstakes. Ken Rosenthal reports that Cabrera could be gone before Thanksgiving as talks heat up. Sources say that both teams are just "one player away" from winning the Cabrera prize, with the Indians and White Sox on the fringes of realistic trading partners. Kemp and Kershaw are again mentioned as possible pieces for Los Angeles in a trade. The Angels, meanwhile, have reportedly offered up IF Howie Kendrick, RHP Ervin Santana, RHP Chris Bootcheck, and another player that isn't known, possibly Nick Adenhart. Other sources say that this was not the combination offered. And round and round we go.
In a separate column, Rosenthal states that the Mariano Rivera contract has upped the playing field for future free agent contracts for closers. He uses Angels RHP Francisco Rodriguez as a specific example; he will be a free agent after next season. Rosenthal also floats Joe Nathan as being in this category. As it pertains to the Rays, Rosenthal said that Francisco Cordero's contract could more realistically set the pace for free agent deals, though he adds that Cordero has not garnered much interest outside of Milwaukee.
Rosenthal's article also mentions the possibility of free agent Jason Kendall landing in Milwaukee. The article bit, written before the Brewers traded C Johnny Estrada to the Mets for RHP Guillermo Mota yesterday, makes perfect sense in light of the trade.
In other O's related news, the same column reports that 3B Melvin Mora could be on his way out the door should he agree to waive his no-trade clause. Rosenthal mentions Philadelphia as a possible destination, and reports that Mora would be willing to move to left field to make a deal work. The O's also might still be able to trade C Ramon Hernandez to the Mets, but in not-so-subtle terms, Rosenthal implies that their demand of a top prospect in return is ridiculous, especially when you take into account the fact that Hernandez is owed $15.5 million over the next two seasons.
New Pittsburgh GM Neal Huntington is fielding offers for relievers RHP Salomon Torres and LHPs Damaso Marte and John Grabow. All are coveted during an off-season in which the free agent crop is significantly more expensive.
Rosenthal speculates that free agent RHP Matt Clement could be a fit for the San Diego Padres.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the White Sox are the leading contenders for free agent CF Torii Hunter, and that he could be clad in a Sox uniform by this time next week. The Sun-Times reports that the Sox's move to trade Jon Garland to Anaheim for SS Orlando Cabrera over the weekend was primarily triggered by a desire to free-up payroll to sign Hunter. Representatives for Hunter have reportedly met twice in the last two weeks with the Sox brass, and apparently talks are getting serious.

On another note, the guys at BBTF got around to discussing the Rays' stadium proposal on Monday, and predictably high levels of snark followed. Here are just some of the best comments:

I remember the history channel showed an archaeologist's recreation of the Roman Colosseum that had a canvas canopy partially, not unlike what's being shown here. The Rays should've built it about five years ago and had Chuck Lamarr and Vince Namoli in Roman togas sitting in their air-conditioned boxes eating grapes and observing all the gore and senseless death beneath them.

hey, how are they going to keep the birds off those wires. The Seagulls.
can't have birds crapping on the customers.

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Re: Around MLB

"hey, how are they going to keep the birds off those wires. The Seagulls. can't have birds crapping on the customers."

They could have the same architects who designed the catwalk at the Trop handle the new stadium design. Baseballs ricocheting off wires; you get a ground rule double if you hit a bird on a wire.

by floridaroar on Nov 21, 2007 10:20 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Around MLB

Someone over at BBTF brought up the fact that the angle of the wires would probably keep the birds off them.

The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.

by pocket8pin on Nov 21, 2007 4:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I'm a bit shocked about Cordero

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 21, 2007 6:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

As am I

You'd think someone of his ability would get more attention.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Nov 21, 2007 11:12 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Quick, get Andrew on the phone!

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 21, 2007 11:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Around MLB

Say Hey guys, seagulls have webbed feet, they can't sit on wires. . . they can poop, but they have to be moving over a stadium to do it

by sey hey on Nov 21, 2007 7:34 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Just looked it up

You're right. I don't know why I didn't know that; obviously it is a shorebird, but you don't really see them swim that often. They're usually standing on the beach or flying.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Nov 21, 2007 11:12 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Around MLB

I've been wondering why nobody else has picked up on AJones to the Nationals, what better time for that team to spend some $$ than on a well-known CFer, still at the tail end of his prime, who Kasten surely knows from his Braves days, and would let them trade Church for pitching? An OF of Kearns, AJones, and Wily Mo along with steak_grows_on and Zimmerman in the lineup, could put up quite a few runs in their new non-gigantic ballpark...

by das411 on Nov 22, 2007 1:22 AM EST reply actions 0 recs