MLB Hot Stove: Free Agent Rumors, Trade Talk and More
MLB's Hot Stove season is mere days away at this point. All that needs to happen before us baseball geeks can suffocate ourselves with rumors and spotty ESPN coverage is for that Fall Classic thing to wrap itself up.
But while the World Series may still be in full swing, the offseason has already begun for the other 28 general managers in Major League Baseball. The same goes for the myriad free agents and players on the trade block out there.
Here are 10 updates on some of the sexier names out there.
10. Javier Vazquez
1 of 10
Once again, the Yankees can't get Javier Vazquez off their roster fast enough. His second go-around in New York was even worse than the first, as Vazquez finished 10-10 with a 5.32 ERA. He went 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA in his only other season in The Bronx back in 2004.
Vazquez is pretty obviously a National League pitcher. And that's where he wants to be.
A report from MLB.com's Bill Ladson cites sources close to the beleaguered pitcher that claim the Nationals are Vazquez's top choice.
This could definitely be a mutually beneficial situation if Vazquez's price is reasonable enough. The Nats had a 4.13 team ERA in 2010, which was better than only five teams in the NL. That number jumps to 4.30 when they played away from their cavernous home ballpark.
If Vazquez were to end up with the Nats, he would essentially be returning to his roots. He came up with the Montreal Expos, and won 64 games in six seasons before he was traded to New York for the 2004 campaign.
9. Mariano Rivera
2 of 10
Yankee co-owners and GM Brian Cashman have officially kicked off the first of their offseason meetings today, and Mariano Rivera is one of several would-be free agents on their minds.
The Yankee brass have already stated that Mo is one of the "legacy players" that they have every intent on bringing back (the others being Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter).
Rivera made his usual $15 million this season, in which he was his typical dominant self. He finished with a 1.80 ERA in 61 relief appearances, converted 33 of 38 save opportunities and held opponents to a .183 average.
Seeing Rivera back in pinstripes for something like $15 million is probably a foregone conclusion if he does want to come back, which he hasn't commented on since the end of the season. Hal Steinbrenner has said that he won't make any deals that "place the franchise in any long-term financial jeopardy," but you have to figure that a one-year deal wouldn't fall into that category.
But when Yankee manager Joe Girardi was asked about Rivera, he seemed hopeful.
"I don't know how much longer Mo wants to pitch," he said. "It's hard to say. I'm sure he's evaluating from year to year on how he's doing and how he physically feels, and his family life, and everything involved. But, gosh, he still looks really good to me."
8. Hisashi Iwakuma
3 of 10
The next great Japanese pitching star is set to come to America.
Starting today, teams from around Major League Baseball are allowed to start posting their bids for Japanese right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma, whose rights are controlled by the Rakutan Golden Eagles.
The business is the same as Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox before the 2007 season. Any team that wants Iwakuma must first win the bidding war, and then negotiate a contract with him.
According to Yahoo Sports, Rakutan is looking for a big somewhere in the neighborhood of $16 or $17 million.
Iwakuma was the winning pitcher for Japan in the clinching game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He's posted an ERA of 3.40 in four consecutive seasons with Rakutan.
It's going to be interesting to see how Daisuke Matsuzaka's troublesome time in Boston is going to effect the amount of money that goes into a deal for Iwakuma.
.png?w=256)
7. Manny Ramirez
4 of 10
There was no market for Manny Being Manny when he was a free agent two years ago, when he was coming off an awesome stint with the Dodgers that saw him hit .396 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs in 53 games in Los Angeles.
There's even less of a market now, as he has played in just 194 games over the last two seasons, and has seen his numbers drop dramatically. Oh, and there was that whole 50-game suspension thing.
So, where does Manny want to play? Well, the man himself likes what's going on in Toronto.
Talking about the Blue Jays' hiring of John Farrell as their manager, Ramirez told ESPN Deportes that he liked the move.
"John has tremendous knowledge of the game, a very pleasant man and he trains ballplayers," said Manny. He went on to say "Farrell is a manager for whom I would like to play, and Toronto is a team I've liked since they had all those Dominican players in the '80s."
Interesting. This would be a reunion for the two, as Ramirez and Farrell shared the same dugout from 2007-2008. Unless the Red Sox aren't telling us something, Farrell is probably one of the only people that Ramirez didn't piss off while in a Red Sox uniform.
The problem is where Manny would play in Toronto. Adam Lind is a pretty good DH, even despite his down year. The Jays could put Manny in left, but why would they want to do that?
6. Victor Martinez
5 of 10
When Victor Martinez rejected a two-year contract offer from the Red Sox in September, the writing was pretty much on the wall that the switch-hitting veteran catcher was not going to be returning to Beantown.
A couple days ago, Peter Gammons popped up on Boston's WEEI and expressed his own doubts about Martinez's return, and also dropped a hint at where Martinez will end up.
“I don’t expect Victor Martinez to come back," said Gammons. "I think Detroit is going to give him four or five years. And I don’t think anybody else is going to give him four or five years to be a catcher."
So, there you have it. It looks like Martinez will be headed back to the AL Central. Sure, it might be a little premature to celebrate now, but you can usually trust Gammons.
5. Adam Dunn
6 of 10
A couple days ago, the word came down from the Elias Sports Bureau that Adam Dunn is officially a Type A free agent.
If you're in the dark about what that means, we've got you covered. It means that if Dunn chooses to test the free agent waters, and he will, there will be some compensation for the Nats. All they need to do is offer him a one-year contract in arbitration, watch him reject it, and then wait for him to sign elsewhere. When he does, the Nats get two extra draft picks in the 2011 draft.
It gets more confusing than that, but you get the gist.
As for who will sign Dunn, several media outlets have cited the Chicago Cubs as the most likely destination for the big slugger.
In fact, one baseball agent said that a deal is imminent. According to a story in the Chicago Tribune, an agent named Matt Sosnick said this: "I would say (Dunn) is probably going to the Cubs, and he'll probably get three years and $40 million."
Definitely intriguing, but you have to figure there's an American League team out there who rightfully sees Dunn as a perfect DH. And at last check, the Yankees need a DH.
4. Zack Greinke
7 of 10
A little over a week ago, the Kansas City Royals officially put Zack Greinke on the block.
The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner, who is under contract through 2012 for $13.5 million each of the next two years, immediately becomes a prize in a free agent market that is relatively thin in pitching outside of Cliff Lee.
Naturally, Greinke is not going to come without a price. Kansas City GM Dayton Moore knows they won't be able to sign him after 2012, but has also said that he will only make the right trade.
“We know it’s going to make sense," said Moore, "at some point in time, to do something if we can’t sign him beyond 2012. We’ve just got to measure how (any deal) fits in today and long-term.”
Greinke's contract does have a partial no-trade clause, and Greinke has to provide a list of 8-10 teams he wants no part of after the conclusion of the World Series.
Greinke’s performance saw a notable dropoff from his 2009 numbers, as he finished 10-14, with a 4.17 ERA and 181 strikeouts. Contrast this with his 2009 season that saw him finish at 16-8, 2.16 and 242.
If the Yankees miss out on Cliff Lee, which seems unlikely given the depths they're known to sink to, New York fans shouldn't get too excited about landing Greinke.
Greinke, who has a history of anxiety issues, said this back in 2009: “Now, maybe New York would bother me, but I don’t think anywhere else would bother me anymore."
3. Derek Jeter
8 of 10
It's hard to believe that the great Derek Jeter could conceivably be a free agent for the first time in his career five days after the end of the World Series, which his Yankees (thankfully) missed out on.
A report from ESPN New York states that Jeter will be atop the agenda in today's meeting between GM Brian Cashman and co-owners Hank and Hal Steinbrenner.
The 36-year-old Jeter had probably the worst season of his career in 2010, setting career lows in batting average (.270), OBP (.340), slugging (.370) and OPS (.710). His 10 home runs matched a career low.
There are also notable concerns about Jeter's range in the field.
Nonetheless, the vibes coming out of Yankee land suggest that they'd rather have nobody else manning short but the 11-time All-Star.
“He’s the best candidate to play shortstop for this franchise,” said Cashman not too long ago.
However, when Joe Girardi was asked if Jeter's role would change if he were to sign up for another go-around, Girardi seemed to hint that it was definitely possible.
“I think you have to watch the level he plays at,” he said, and then added, “our lineup is maybe something that could change next year.”
2. Jayson Werth
9 of 10
There hasn't been a whole lot of movement on Jayson Werth quite yet, which makes sense. The Phillies are probably still trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
But, there has been some talk concerning Werth from Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, who is already trying to lower Werth's price. Amara was quoted as saying that Werth did not have “an extraordinary year.”
True, Werth's home runs and RBIs decreased from 2009 to 2010 (from 36 to 27, and 99 to 85).
But his agent, for all of our sins, is Scott Boras. And Boras is not buying Amero's assessment.
In an interview with CSNPhilly.com, Boras went off about how Werth's offense and defense both saw dramatic improvements. Feel free to check out what he said for yourself.
Boras doesn't mess around. He's the guy who got Zito, who isn't even on the Giants World Series roster, $127 million. The general consensus is that he'll seek something in the neighborhood of seven years and $120 million, similar to what Matt Holiday got from the Cardinals last year.
Holiday, for the record, is another Boras client.
1. Carl Crawford
10 of 10
Easily the best all-around position player on the market this year, the rumors about Carl Crawford's future whereabouts are already coming fast and furious.
As reported by Yahoo Sports' Mark J. Miller, baseball rumor extraordinaire Peter Gammons went on Boston's WEEI sports talk radio a few days ago and said that he had it on good authority that the Boston Red Sox were definitely going to be aggressive in their pursuit of Crawford.
The other interest, according to Gammons, will come mainly from out west, and possibly from New York.
"That will be a matchup with the [Los Angeles] Angels, and you know there are some puffs of smoke coming out of New York that suggest the Yankees might go after him, even though their primary need is pitching."
You have to wonder how serious the Yankees will be if they do decide to go after Crawford. Their outfield of Gardner in left, Granderson in center, and Swisher in right is pretty solid. Gardner in particular is a perfect fit for the bottom of their lineup, as he spoils a lot of pitches and can make life frustrating for just about any pitcher out there.
However, ESPN baseball tool Buster Olney came out this morning with this bit of knowledge: "If everything is equal... do not underestimate the impact of the fact that Crawford has built up a competitive callous against Boston and New York in his career."
In other words, Crawford might not be able to be bought. Thank you for that, Buster.
.png?w=480)
