Good ol’ MLBTR points us to another Tony E. Renck-generated non-rumor: “Keep an eye,” Renck writes, “on the Yankees’ interest in Brian Fuentes.” The Yanks have long been interested in Fuentes, and Tim at MLBTR speculates that the Yanks could pursue Fuentes to fill in the role vacated by Joba Chamberlain. If not Fuentes, then perhaps the Yanks will revisit Damaso Marte whom the Yanks once traded for Enrique Wilson.
Rumors, rumors everywhere
I’ll recap this afternoon’s snoozer later on. First, some rumors! Troy Renck in the Denver Post speculates that the Rockies, if the situation is right, could be interested in LaTroy Hawkins (Scroll to the Footnotes section). I say, “Sounds good to me.” Get Dan O’Dowd on the phone.
In C.C. Sabathia news, Ken Rosenthal speculated on TV (video link) that the Indians, if they slip out of contention, could look to deal Sabathia. They would expect a Dan Haren-type package, and the Yanks and Dodgers are expected to be interested. My problem with this is the same issue I had with the Santana deal: I don’t want to see the Yankees give up a bunch of young kids for what amounts to half a season of Sabathia and the exclusive rights to sign him to a long-term deal. The Yanks can land him in November if they want, and there’s no reason now to sell the farm for him.
The Great Teixeira Race
As the Yankees and the Mets both deal with underperforming first basemen at the ends of lengthy and expensive contracts, Dan Graziano takes a look at the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes and concludes that the Yanks and Mets will emerge as the two most likely bidders for Teixeira’s service. Throughout the piece, Graziano bemoans the old sluggers on the New York teams and calls Teixeira — 29 at the start of next season — a “a breath of fresh air for either New York team.”
But the problem is that Teixeira will be a breath of fresh air only until he too starts getting old. I don’t think Teixeira will sign for anything less than seven years, and while I’m not opposed to the idea, his contract will eventually be as problematic as Jason Giambi’s and Carlos Delgado’s are right now. While “in with the young, out with the old” is a sound philosophy, the young grow old quickly.
What do the Red Sox want with Kei Igawa?
Via Rich comes an interesting tidbit in this Ken Davidof blog post:
Well, I think it’s about time for me to give up on Kei Igawa. I didn’t see Friday’s game, but the brutal numbers speak for themselves. My faith was based on the faith of people whose opinions I respect. The Padres claimed Igawa on waivers last year, and San Diego GM Kevin Towers routinely makes great pitching acquisitions. And the Red Sox have been hoping that the Yankees give up on Igawa, so that Boston can make an end-around effort to get him (obviously, the Yankees wouldn’t give Igawa directly to the Red Sox).
While we know that the Padres were interested in 2007, Buster Olney feels that the Padres have long since passed the point of caring about Kei Igawa. But enter the Red Sox. Davidof suggests that the Red Sox are now interested in Igawa and I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why. A left-handed fly-ball pitcher throwing in Fenway would get utterly rocked by opposing teams. Plus, the Red Sox are not suffering from a lack of pitching depth.
So what’s the story here? Why would the Red Sox even be remotely interested in Igawa? Unless they wanted to stick to the Yanks by turning Igawa’s waist-high, 88-mph fastballs into something they aren’t and will never be, Igawa’s just not a name that makes sense in Boston.
How much is that first baseman in the window?
Well, if the first baseman in the window happens to be one playing in Altanta and represented by Scott Boras, the asking price could be $20 million a year for 10 years, according to Jon Heyman. Heyman, relying on some unnamed sources, reports that Scott Boras will expect conversations for Mark Teixeira’s services to start at $200 million for ten years. Teixeira will turn 29 at the start of his big payday, and while Heyman says, on page two, that the Yanks are the clear front runners to land the first baseman, I’d feel much better with a five- or six-year deal with some options.
Yanks could aim Lowe in 2009
From the “It’s Never Too Early for the Hot Stove League” department comes this gem from Boston Herald columnist Tony Massarotti: The Yanks could push hard for Derek Lowe’s services when the durable righty becomes a free agent this season. The Yankee fan in me would rather stab myself in the face than watch Derek Lowe pitch every five days, and I’d much rather see Yanks push hard for C.C. Sabathia. However, outside of his last year in Boston, Lowe has put up pretty good career numbers and has a six-season streak of 32 starts or more. The Yanks could do far worse in the short term if C.C. stays in Cleveland, but with Joba, Wang, Pettitte, Hughes and Kennedy right now projecting to start in 2009, it seems that the Yankee rotation is full. (HT to MLBTR)
Dissecting the TBS announcers
As part of a multi-billion-dollar deal to broadcast baseball, TBS gets the non-exclusive rights to Sunday baseball games. This weekend, while I watched the Sabathia-Wang pitcher’s duel on the YES Network, fans around the country could tune in on TBS.
While watching the game, Maury Brown, the man behind the Biz of Baseball site, transcribed some of the more interesting tidbits from the broadcast. The first topic I found interesting focused around CC Sabathia:
CC Sabathia on his impending free agency: “This is home, I mean I’ve been here since I was 17 years old, eleven years now. This is the only place I know and I feel comfortable here, coming in from the parking attendants to the General Manager I feel comfortable, so that’s been the biggest difference.”
Martinez on the CC Sabathia’s needs versus those of the MLB Players Association: “He is very genuine and sincere about his desire to stay here (in Cleveland). Get the deal done and don’t let the outside influences cloud your judgment. The Players Association want him to set the standard for free agent contracts in this off-season and at his age, 27, he’ll turn 28 in July, he is the premiere free agent pitcher on the market. (Johan) Santana’s contract of 137 million with the Mets, they want him to out do that contract, and I don’t know if that is going to make him happy.
While Buck Martinez and Chip Caray were discussing this, so were the Yanks’ announcers. It seems that Kevin Millwood, unhappy in Texas despite the big bucks, called his former teammate and warned him to pitch where he is happy even if that means giving up a few dollars. For the Yankees, this could be a sign that they shouldn’t be counting on overwhelming Sabathia with dollars. Perhaps Sabathia will elect to remain with Cleveland for fewer dollars if the team makes a ballpark offer.
On the other hand, it seems that Sabathia knows he could have a four-year, $80-million extension from the Indians and has elected to pitch out the season anyway. If he continues to throw like he has in his last two outings, he’ll easily clear that $80 million and stands to land a deal in between those signed by the Giants’ reliever Barry Zito and the Mets’ starter Johan Santana.
The other topic was, of course, Joba Chamberlain. Take it away, Buck Martinez:
“I know there has been a lot of controversy surrounding Joba Chamberlain about whether he should start or be used as an eighth inning set-up guy and as a former manager this is where he was meant to be in my mind…I believe he can turn into Mariano Rivera in a couple of years when Rivera steps aside.”
In less than a couple of years, he could be an ace starter giving the Yankees way more than one inning every two or three games. With Rivera under contract for three more years after this one, why waste Chamberlain in the eighth inning for years on end? But then again, we’re just beating a dead horse with this one.
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