Tuesday Evening Rangers Notes: Winter Meetings Wrap-Up: Day 2
Joey Matschulat
Have the Texas Rangers placed shortstop Michael Young (pictured above) on the trading block? - kendrick/Flickr.comApologies for the lack of continuous updates today, folks -- the tentative plan for tomorrow is to roll out a single all-encompassing post that chronicles the entirety of the rumors to come out of the third day of Major League Baseball's winter meetings, but that may ultimately be contingent on factors beyond my control:
● In response to widely publicized allegations that the Texas Rangers are "quietly shopping" shortstop Michael Young, general manager Jon Daniels bluntly stated the following on Tuesday: "We're not shopping Michael. You get a lot of inquiries at these meetings but that's been the extent of it" (Richard Durrett, Dallas Morning News)
The Mets, Angels, Dodgers and Braves have all inquired into the availability of Young, with the Mets' interest presumably being contingent on dumping Luis Castillo's contract (and the guaranteed $18 million left on it) (Jon Heyman, SI.com)
Texas is unlikely to seriously consider the idea of trading Young according to Major League sources; in actuality, his five-year, $80 million contract extension more closely resembles a five-year, $60 million pact, since he has obtained some of that money in the form of a bonus over the last two seasons, and some of that $60 million is deferred money (Ken Rosenthal, FOXSports.com)
[What on earth do I say to a sudden burst of rumors and non-rumors like these? Young's contract is still quite prohibitive (as is his full no-trade clause, which regresses to limited no-trade protection from 2010 to May 2011 before reverting back to full no-trade protection when he attains his 10-and-5 rights that month) with regard to the completion of a trade, and there's next to no chance that he'll be moved regardless, but, still ... wow.]
● The Rangers' exploratory interest in free-agent right-hander Ben Sheets may be on the verge of materializing into something far more substantial; front office officials present at the club's Monday meeting with Sheets and agent Casey Close came away with the impression that the oft-injured, but also quite effective mainstay of the Brewers' starting rotation over the last five seasons was "quite interested" in pitching for Texas, though the decision to construct a legitimate offer would have to be approved by owner Tom Hicks first; nevertheless, the two camps are expected to hold further conversations (T.R. Sullivan, MLB.com)
The Yankees have made a two-year offer to Sheets worth approximately $30 million (John Perrotto, Baseball Prospectus)
[It would be nice if Hicks decided to again embrace the "player-specific" stance with regard to payroll expansion in this case, but then I'm a pretty big fan of Sheets, and the fact that the club has attained satisfaction with regard to his health being stable is a good sign. All indications appear to be that the contracts of veteran right-handers Kevin Millwood and/or Vicente Padilla would have to be purged from the system to enable a genuine pursuit, however, and I'm not sure how motivated the Rangers will be to do something like that if the bidding for Sheets quickly becomes exorbitant.
Have you noticed just how visible team president Nolan Ryan has made himself throughout these winter meetings, and the apparent positive influence he has had with regard to helping legitimize the Rangers' presence? It's refreshing.]
● Florida is attempting to trade for catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, but with limited success; the Rangers evidently covet 22-year-old right-hander Chris Volstad and would want him included in any such deal (Perrotto)
● Closer Francisco Rodriguez, a purported free-agent target of the Rangers earlier in the off-season, has reached an agreement with the Mets on a three-year, $37 million deal (Heyman)
● The Dodgers have come to terms with free-agent third baseman Casey Blake on a three-year deal worth slightly more than $17 million (Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports)
[Another purported player of interest to the Rangers bites the dust.]
● Cleveland has agreed to a two-year deal with free-agent right-hander Kerry Wood; earlier on Tuesday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote that the Rangers were "very interested" in acquiring Wood (Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune)
[Okay, so make that three. Right-hander Frank Francisco will reportedly go into 2009 spring training as the Rangers' closer.]
● The Twins have come calling about right-hander Joaquin Benoit, and are willing to part ways with 27-year-old Boof Bonser (Sullivan)
● Texas has expressed interest in bringing back reliable left-handed reliever Eddie Guardado (presumably on a one-year pact, if at all), and have met with free-agent right-hander Chad Cordero in Las Vegas; the Rangers requested to see Cordero's medical records earlier this winter as part of their due diligence on all potential signings (Sullivan)
[Both reasonable risks at the right price, though you would certainly assume that Texas would pursue Guardado more aggressively in light of their lack of left-handed relief depth. Kason Gabbard could be employed as the second southpaw in the bullpen behind the ever-mercurial C.J. Wilson if the Rangers don't unearth a more attractive option first.]
● Former pitching coach Mark Connor is returning to the organization as a pitching consultant (with a particular focus on the minor leagues), but will not be filling the position of minor league pitching coordinator that was recently vacated by Rick Adair; rather, Connor will work "with different pitching projects at all levels of the Minor Leagues" (Sullivan)
[This isn't necessarily a disaster in the making (and I say that as somebody who has been a rather vocal critic of Connor in the not-so-distant past), but I would be lying if I said this didn't induce a raise of the ole' eyebrow when I first caught sight of it. Still, there are more pressing issues to concern ourselves with than the re-acquisition of a single controversial coaching figure, no matter how suspect we might consider his teachings to be.]
● The Rangers will talk to free-agent right-hander Jason Jennings and his agent Casey Close (who also represents Sheets) later this week (Sullivan)
● If manager Ron Washington had to go into the 2009 season with his current roster, outfielder Nelson Cruz would be his pick to fill the cleanup spot behind Josh Hamilton (Durrett)
[It's put up or shut up time. For everybody.]
Reader Comments (26)
Bonser seems another SP who fits the profile sought this winter. Plus he lowers payroll, inching us closer to affording Sheets. Plus, even if he can't crack the rotation, he gives us another candidate to try out all year as one of 5 or 6 "long men." (an idea Nolan seems amenable to, saying "if a reliever has success one time through the line-up, why not stick with him?)
All we are saying is give Boof a chance!
(The only reason I'd not do that deal is b/c I had a better one with Jack Benny in place, e.g. Murphy & JB to the Cubs, Mendoza to SD for Vitters from CHC and another prospect from CHC or SD (or Philly if they're in on this).
Trade Young? Hell no! (unless you can get the farm for him - for instance, if LA wanted him, I'd demand Kershaw and Ethier - I think Texas would make that deal)
Benoit for Boof? Hell yes! Don't really like Boof - but he's a guy who could figure it out and be a decent 5th starter. Benoit I wouldn't count on for anything in 2009 after his 2008 season.
Franky as closer in 2009? That could really really backfire. It'd be better if they could sign SOMEONE who could step into that role in case Franky goes South again. He's not exactly been the model of consistency.
Bring back Guardado? Okay. Even if he isn't effective - which he was last year - he'd be a good tutor/mentor for the kids.
Figure out a way to land Sheets? Hell yes! Trade Millwood and FCat for a bat boy and some foam fingers in a salary dump, and sign Sheets. What can we actually count on from Millwood in 2009, anyway? Move him back to Atlanta - they have the $ and they are looking for pitching. Maybe JD could trade him for one of their slightly injured closers (Gonzalez or Soriano)
Salty for Volstad? Hell yes! Probably not going to happen, but one can dream, right? And this development can only help the "Salty for Buchholtz" conundrum.
Nelson Cruz for cleanup? Why not?
Kason Gabbard as lefty out of the pen? Yikes! Don't you have to be able to throw strikes?
Finally, don't you think that once Tex is signed, now that Blake is gone, that teams will start coming around asking about ol' Hank?
Fun times in Vegas.
Love the "Jack Benny."
Didn't Jack Benny have a bit where he was held up by a robber on the way home and asked "Your Money or your Life?"
robber: "Well?"
Benny: " I am thinking it over"
I think if Tom Hicks is willing to pay Barry "Bust" Zito 140 million over 8 years 2 years ago, he should be willing to over the 67 million threshold to sign Ben Sheets who actually wants to pitch here.
I would not trade Kevin Millwood, he's the other Pitcher who tookit upon himself to sign with us instead of going somewhere else. He was never a "Ace" , more like a good second or third Starter.
I think Millwood has been a victim of unrealistic expectations. He has lost 15 pounds and will be in a contract year. Nolan Ryan has threatened the bullpen if comes to camp out of shape. If he underperforms in the first half of the season, trade him at the deadline or before.
Trading Michael Young would be Crime....I would want a Texiera Like Return in any trade. Michael Young is invaluble on the Field, in the the Clubhouse, and off the field. He is the modern day Rusty Greer in terms of Greatness and a Ranger for Life.
Millwood had a very good season in 2006, but the past two seasons he has compiled a losing record and an era above 5.00, among other embarrassments. I don't see how that can be explained away by "unrealistic expectations." The bottom line in my mind is that he hasn't been healthy (and part of that is his fault), and when he has been healthy, he has been largely ineffective. In many of his poor starts last season he would either get shelled in the first or second innings, or he would start off strong with 4 shutout innings, and then get bombed in the 5th. The latter leads me to believe that his stuff and velocity is regressing, and that he isn't properly conditioned.
My contention would be that if you could replace Millwood with Sheets in the rotation, you'd be improving the team drastically - and that's even taking into consideration the possibility of Sheets being injured for part of the season. Do we really think Millwood's going to give us 35 starts?
I do think that it's unlikely anyone would take a gamble with him, since his salary is so high, and if they do it will likely occur much later in the winter - when all the FA starters have been snapped up. I would expect that Sheets would be long gone by then, too - so all of this is probably just MOOT, anyway, as Hicks isn't going to give Sheets 40 million with Millwood's $ still on the books. Right?
LA isn't going to give up Kershaw - but if you were considering moving Young, you'd have to demand something like Kershaw in return, right?
Another tidbit worth mentioning:
The Orioles traded catcher Ramon Hernandez + money to the Reds for OF/3B Ryan Freel, and 2 minor leaguers. Depending on who those minor leaguers might be... you gotta wonder if that kind of offer was on the table for Laird.
I think that Moscoso will part of another trade later, kinda like Terell Sledge was...I think Mello is what they really wanted, another Neftali Feliz/Martin Perez Type Pitcher...I think Laird had lost a lot of value due to Salty/Teagarden/Max Ramirez ahead of him, we should be happy. The Reds were not giving us Homer Bailey, Period. When it comes to Millwood, it not surprise me if we sent him back to Atlanta. They are desperate for pitching, we could probably get a good return- not Texierra Return, but better than we got from Detroit for Laird.
I am not Millwoods biggest fan, but I am not ready to run him out on a rail just yet. Now Pacman Jones yes, but that is a different discussion entirely when it comes to knuckleheads.
The money to pay Sheets would be freed up by trading Blalock and Catalanotto..combined they make somewhere around $10 mil, so the Rangers would only be adding roughly 5 million a year to the budget. Seems Hicks could live with that type of expense.
According to ESPN, the Yankees are about to sign CC Sabathia for 7 years at 160 million. I will laugh if he turns into a Carl Povano/Randy Johnson/Chan Ho Park type of player and contract. That's quite a contract for a guy who is a lifetime 117 and 73 with a 3.66 Era. That takes the Yankees out of the hunt for Ben Sheets and it also means the Angels will not get CC!!
Can somebody tell who wants Catalonatto?
Yeah, nathan - didn't anyone learn from the Barry Zito contract?
I think there are some teams who could use Frank Cat, but not at 4 million. You don't pay 4 million for a pinch hitter.
I'm hoping we stand pat on our catchers for right now. If we somehow add Sheets through free agency, that would be great but we don't know what any of these three catchers can do over a full year. Let's let them compete and see who emerges as our true catcher of the future. I'm not completely sold on Salty but there's people out there who believe he will be a superstar. I'd hate to trade that away for an unproven pitching commodity. We have a ton of prospects who are a half season away from contributing, let's hold onto our chips and see what we got.
Nathan,
I don't think signing C.C. takes the Yankees out of anything. They still want to sign at least more more free agent starter, but likely two. If they buckle and give Burnett a 5th year, then Sheets would likely be their next best option giving him something horrendous like 20 million a year for 2 years or something. In any case, this is just proof that the Yankees are one of the worst run teams in all of sports and money is the only thing that covers up there complete incompetence. If there were ever a hard salary cap, they would topple as their New York brethern, the Knicks have. The CC deal is absolutely terrible since I don't think anyone would have gotten much higher than 6 years, 120 million meaning they grossly overspent, which means he really didn't want to pitch in New York. In any case, all indications this morning were that other than the Brewers, no other teams really got involved with CC because of the money they inherently knew the Yankees were going to bring to the table. But anyone with a clue about baseball knows the Yankees can and probably always will be able to buy who they want and only a very select few will turn their back on that kind of money.
Nathan, JDolla,
This morning ESPN had Buster Olney on to discuss a variety of topics at the winter meetings, and he said that the market for corner outfielders has absolutely collapsed. He said have joking that a team could get Dunn, Burrell, and Abreu for the 2 years 45 million Manny turned down from the Dodgers. Fact of the matter is at the end of all this guys like Giambi, or Burrell, or Bradley may very well be signing for 2 year deals for the kind of money Cat is already making. I think we're stuck with him unless we throw him in on a trade, but I can't for the life of me come up with a team that would spend that kind of money on a pinch hitter and not just sign a guy like Burrell, or Giambi, or good ole' Milton.
I think that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays going to the World Series and the Oakland A's going to the Alcs as mant times as they did recently, proves that the Yankee way does not work. What is scary is that Boston does both, they have a horrendous payroll and an excellent Farm system. Maybe we can emulate the Tampa Bay Rays, but never the Red Sox, since we have a cheap skate owner.
In terms of CC Sabathia, Yes they overspent, and it makes me sick that they could do the same with AJ Burnett and Ben Sheets.
I just hope these pitcher read about Ed Whitson's experience with the Yankees. He went to the Yankees in 1985 as a free agent and absolutely hated it. he felt like he pitched under a microscope the entire time.
Can't we send Catalanaldo to Japan?
Green Eggs,
My thinking is there's still one more piece that needs to fall into place here at the winter meetings before anything happens, and that's Texeira signing. Once he goes to the Red Sox, Nationals, or Angels then value on Blalock will increase and that could well be our next guy to be dealt. I have a sinking feeling however that if he ends up in Boston, we somehow end up with Lowell in a much bigger trade that involves Salty and Clay. Just to try to figure out something real quick:
Joaquin Benoit to the Twins for Boof Bonser
Hank Blalock and a middle prospect to the Giants for Jonathan Sanchez
Matt Harrison, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Boof Bonser, Martin Perez to the Red Sox for Clay Buccholz, Mike Lowell, and Dustin Richardson. Selling a little low on our side and here's to hoping Perez never reaches his ceiling, but would think the Sox would be all over that deal.
If the Sox don't get Tex, would be interesting to see if they'd be interested in taking on Blalock for a year to wait for Lars Anderson... and if we could flip him plus Salty for Clay without taking back Lowell's contract (and injuries).
Nathan,
Boston scouts well all around. There's no way anyone could have expected David Ortiz to become "Big Papi", but they evidently saw something in him. They've generally made good trades. I like Hanley Ramirez, but he's probably going to have to become the greatest SS ever to equate what Lowell and Beckett has given them (and there's still a good chance Beckett could anchor them for a few more World Series titles). But comparing the Red Sox and the Yankees is really apples to oranges because of almost all the people who work with major league baseball the guy I most admire is Bill James. I think when it comes down to people saying it's "not about the stats", sometimes they just haven't looked hard enough. With Bill James in their back pocket the Red Sox had a huge advantage for several seasons before other teams started to follow their lead in terms of going beyong AVG, HRs, RBIs, ERA, Ws, Saves.... the kindergarden of stats. 10 years ago K-Rod might have well been the highest paid player in baseball coming off his season, but now we have all these measurements to prove that he was an above average closer who got placed in an insane amount of closing situations.
As for Frank Cat, 4 million dollars is a lot of money for a Japanese team to invest in a player who would be a subpar outfielder there and even in their smaller stadiums, probably would only have 20 HR power throughout a full season. I'd think there should be a slew of Japanese players who can do what he can do for a fraction of the cost.
Although I'm very pleased as a fan with the new direction of the team, and I'm excited about our incredibly well-stocked minor leagues, there is a little voice that keeps clearing its throat in the back of my mind, and whispering to me. It says:
"Hey - wouldn't it be great for once to think you could have BOTH a great farm system, and a team that takes chances and goes for the big free agents? Wouldn't it be great instead of our big signings this offseason being Golson and Moscoco, or a washed up 45? year old Randy Johnson (my inner voice doesn't have access to the Internet to check facts), or a 39 year old Guardado, were Sheets, Wood, AND someone like KRod? Wouldn't it be great to bring up those stud prospects AND sign quality MLB stars to play along side them?"
I here Hicks saying that the economy is prohibitive, but then I read one after another star signing big deals to play for big market teams, and I remember that DFW is actually not a small market. Shouldn't we be in on some of that action?
I know there's another side to it, but sometimes it feels good to let that little voice say his peace.
It's also probably worth noting that evidently just Homer Bailey won't net Jermaine Dye and that as of now, the White Sox appear to be backing off. Granted the Reds have no opening for catching now with the addition of Hernandez, but interesting to see this turn of events.
I'm proud of Cincy for holding out on Bailey's value. They may not be able to trade him now, but maybe that means they're willing to give him another chance to prove his worth (and a better attitude) this year.
JDolla,
we can always point fingers, but a lot of it boils down to Hicks having his interests in too many things. Perhaps if the only pro team he owned was the Rangers things would be a little different, but I think a lot of this is where Nolan Ryan will come in. I'm not sure Hicks knows a damn thing about baseball, and early on... leaned on the advice of his general managers. Obviously that led to some terrible signings, more losing seasons, less fans, less money, ect. But now you have Nolan Ryan in his ear. A legend of the game. An addition to the team that seems to have a lot of people at least mildy excited about the future. I think for the most part, his signing helps with the "building for the future" as I would think he and new pitching coach Mike Maddux would like to have a look at all these pitching options we seem to have to find out if 5 of them are of at least major league quality before we start making alot of noise in free agency. I know people (including) myself who would like to shed ourselves of Millwood and Padilla, but a contract year is a powerful thing. With both of them in it, you would have to expect more effort and focus as they try to go toward a big payday next winter. I think the best value would be to keep them this season (at least to start), see if they can't rack up 8-10 wins before the All-Star break and then deal them when we have a better feel for the health of McCarthy, Rupe, Diamond, and the future of Feldman, Hurley, Harrison, and whoever else I might have forgotton to mention. There value isn't going to shift a whole lot when you're talking about a 1 year rental vs. a 1/2 year rental unless it's in Millwood's case and he has to pitch 160+ innings I think for his next year to kick in and I can't imagine any team really wants that to happen.
JDolla,
it still puts them in a sticky situation since it's obvious they don't want him around. Nothing but negative things have been spun about him coming out of the Cincy area. It's just a bad situation, and they're going to mess around and end up getting crap back for him (though Laird really wasn't all that impressive of a return). I would think Bailey would love to go to Chicago and work with there terrific pitching coaches. If Chicago can't turn him around he probably never had a future in the league to begin with.
JD$, I love it, too, with all due respect: I don't know who coined him first as "Jack Benny."
Call me crazy, but I think it might have been the MLB Network's ownVictor Rojas.