Rangers turning up the heat for Cliff Lee?
Posted by Anthony Stalter (07/08/2010 @ 11:50 am)
MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan reports that talks between the Rangers and Mariners are heating up for pitcher Cliff Lee, although nothing is imminent at this point and there is still plenty of time before the July 31 trade deadline.
The Rangers have been actively looking for a front-line starting pitcher, they have made no secret that Lee is their top priority and they have the Minor League prospects to get him here. As far as talent in the farm system, the Rangers openly believe they are in far better position to acquire a major piece before the Trade Deadline than most any other team.
The club is still limited by financial constraints but Daniels admitted last week there is still some flexibility in the budget for the Rangers to do something before the July 31 Trade Deadline. The club has not been involved in the International amateur signing period for Latin American players this month in attempt to hold back final resources for the Trade Deadline.
There is little doubt that the Rangers have the talent to make the deal. The Mariners are reportedly looking for a big bat for their lineup and the Rangers have both Justin Smoak at the Major League level and Chris Davis at Triple-A Oklahoma City.
The Rangers are also deep in Minor League pitching although indications are they are not interested in talking about Tanner Scheppers or Martin Perez. But Derek Holland and Blake Beavan could be two names that might interest the Mariners.
I’ve maintained that Roy Oswalt would be a great fit for the Rangers, although the same hurdles (i.e. Texas’ financial restrictions) still apply. I would have to imagine that Oswalt would come cheaper (in terms of prospects) than Lee, but it’s tough to speculate what the asking price would be for either pitcher.
Here’s some food for thought when it comes to any deal involving Oswalt: At least one GM has stated that Houston’s Ed Wade is a tad difficult to deal with when it comes to trades. In a recent poll conducted by ESPN’s Buster Onley, it was said that Wade is always willing to talk, “but it seems like he’s never willing to put himself in a position to risk anything.”
Report: Twins offer M’s two prospects for Lee
Posted by Anthony Stalter (07/06/2010 @ 8:30 am)
According to Jeff Fletcher of AOL Fanhouse, the Twins have offered the Mariners prospects Aaron Hicks and Wilson Ramos for left-hander Cliff Lee, although the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the two clubs aren’t close to striking a deal.
At first glance, it appears that the Twins are offering too much. Hicks was selected with the 14th overall pick in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft and has a .792 OPS over three years in the minors. Ramos, although blocked by Joe Mauer at the big league level, has a .281 average over five seasons in the minors and reportedly has decent pop.
If Fletcher’s report is true, then the Mariners would have a hard time rejecting the Twins’ offer. At 34-48 and currently sitting in last place in the AL West, Seattle is out of contention and is desperate for young bats. Lee also becomes a free agent at the end of the year and the M’s aren’t expected to retain him with a long-term contract so they have to get something for him at this year’s trade deadline or be out of luck.
That said, the Mariners are going to take their time because they’ll have plenty of suitors for Lee. This would be one hell of an offer, but one would think that they would wait until closer to the deadline to move him in hopes that a desperate team overpays for his services.
Besides, rumors like this are usually denied about 34 seconds after I get the post up, which really, really makes me happy.
Report: Cliff Lee not on the trading block yet
Posted by Anthony Stalter (07/04/2010 @ 8:26 am)
Despite rumors stating that several teams are interested in the ace, the Mariners have yet to put Cliff Lee on the trading block according to the New York Daily News.
“It is the same thing with (Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik) as it has been all along,” the source said. “He knows to contact teams when he’s ready to deal. He hasn’t done that yet, but that could change any minute.”
According to people familiar with the Mets’ thinking, Lee remains the team’s top choice of all potentially available starters. Therefore, the Mets’ pursuit of pitching help will accelerate along with the lefty’s availability. Despite losses by R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi this week, the Mets remain content – for the moment – with the middle of their rotation, and are not interested in Kevin Millwood, Jake Westbrook or any of the other mid-level starters available.
According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Phillies are also interested in acquiring Lee (or re-acquiring Lee I should say), although GM Ruben Amaro Jr. “will not cut off his nose to spite his face.” In other words, Amaro remains open to the idea of trading for Lee but he’s not going to give up a small fortunate of players for him, which might be exactly what it will take to pry him from Seattle.
He might not be on the trading block now, but I don’t think there’s any chance that the M’s hang onto Lee all season. When they acquired him from the Phillies last offseason, they thought they’d be contenders in 2010. But they haven’t been, and now they need to get something for him before he hits free agency in 2011. It wouldn’t make sense for the Mariners to hang onto him, continue to lose, and not recoup some of the prospects they lost when they made the deal for Lee last winter. (Not the actual prospects that they lost of course, but some prospects.)
Cardinals interested in Mariners’ Cliff Lee
Posted by Anthony Stalter (06/28/2010 @ 5:12 pm)
And this week’s Cliff Lee rumor is brought to you by…Jeff Fletcher of AOL Fanhouse and Rotoworld!
Jeff Fletcher of AOL Fanhouse has confirmed that the Cardinals are indeed interested in Mariners lefty Cliff Lee.
Where the talks currently stand is anyone’s guess. The Cardinals have a very thin farm system and really only boast one top prospect: 19-year-old potential ace Shelby Miller, who has struck out 60 batters in 44 1/3 innings at Single-A this season. If a deal is to happen, he will need to be part of it. Lee, 31, has a 2.39 ERA, a 0.91 WHIP and an incredible 76/4 K/BB ratio through 11 starts this year. He has thrown four complete games, one shutout.
The Mariners are looking for young bats in exchange for Lee and as Rotoworld points out, the Cards are a little thin in that area. If (and that’s a big if) the Rangers were able to overcome their financial restrictions and get involved, then it would be hard for St. Louis to match the compensation that Texas could offer out of its farm.
That said, the Cards have already shown that they’ll do whatever it takes to add missing pieces, as they proved last year by trading for Matt Holliday (who provided much-needed protection behind Albert Pujols). If there’s a deal to be worked out and St. Louis is seriously interested, then expect the Cards to be major players in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Baker: Mariners can’t keep Cliff Lee
Posted by Anthony Stalter (06/24/2010 @ 5:10 pm)
Despite their recent hot streak, Seattle Times columnist Geoff Baker writes that it’s too late for the Mariners to keep starter Cliff Lee.
Recent play aside, Cliff Lee is likely to be shopped. The Mariners need to start filling holes for next year and beyond and the Lee trade is the best place to start since there is no way he will sign here beyond 2010. He’s in line for a $100-million contract, which he probably has a better shot at getting now than he did last off-season, and is not going to take the massive (try 50 percent) discount the M’s would need to get to keep him. Why would he give them that? He’s been here only two months. … We can dream and dream about a 1-2 punch in the post-season, but this lineup is not good enough to get the M’s there.
Coming into the 2010 season, the Mariners believed that if they pitched well enough and played good defense that they could mask their deficiencies on offense. But seeing as how they’re 13 games back in the AL West and have scored the third fewest runs in baseball, that game plan is shot to hell. Not even Lee and Felix Hernandez can save them.
Baker’s right: at some point, the M’s are going to have to go out and get a big popper for the middle of their lineup. What good is it to have Ichiro on base all the time if he has nobody behind him to knock him in? It’s hard to fault Jack Zduriencik for building the roster around pitching and defense based on the park they play in, but clearly the M’s don’t even have enough offense to be a .500 team.
They need to get a bat in exchange for Lee – that should be Zdurienkcik’s main priority as the trade deadline approaches.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Twins to make a run at Cliff Lee?
Posted by Anthony Stalter (06/17/2010 @ 5:50 pm)
It was the Phillies yesterday, today it’s the Twins.
The daily Cliff Lee trade rumors have already begun.
Sources tell ESPN’s Tom Pelissero that the Twins are considering making a serious run at acquiring Lee from the Mariners. As Pelissero notes, Minnesota likes their starting rotation, but it might not be good enough to win in October. That’s where Lee comes in.
Lee went 22-3 with a 2.54 earned-run average for the Cleveland Indians in 2008. His numbers actually are better in several categories this season for the woeful Mariners — including a 0.932 WHIP and a 15:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio — even though he started the season with an abdominal injury that forced him to undergo plasma injection therapy.
The prorated portion of Lee’s $9 million salary wouldn’t be prohibitive for an organization with a record payroll already. The obstacle would be putting together a package good enough for the Mariners to sacrifice the two draft picks they’d receive if Lee, 31, leaves as a free agent after the season.
The Twins’ first-round pick in 2007, Class-AA outfielder Ben Revere, is the most expendable of the team’s top assets, but it’d take more than that. And giving up top catching prospect Wilson Ramos would be a hefty price for a hired gun who might depart after only a few months.
It’s hard to see the Twins making a move like this, because they generally rely on the talent they have on their roster (which is mostly homegrown) to win. But if they’re serious about contending for a World Series this year, they might be willing to pay a significant price to acquire Lee.
Of course, Lee is a free agent next year and the Twins would have to justify giving up marquee young talent in exchange for a player that will more than likely move on to greener pastures next year. I just can’t see them parting with Revere and Ramos for a half season of Lee, but then again stranger things have happened. (You know, like Ted Lilly coming within three outs of a perfect game.)
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Report: Mariners want Cliff Lee back
Posted by Anthony Stalter (06/16/2010 @ 4:00 pm)
YES Network analyst Jack Curry had this to say via his Twitter page today:
Spoke to baseball official who has regular contact w Phils. He said they are itching to add a starter and would love to get Cliff Lee back.
Well of course they do. And I want the original “KITT” from the Night Rider TV series to drive around in all day, but unless several hundred things go my way soon, that isn’t going to happen either.
The chances of the Phillies re-acquiring Lee are slim to none. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has already said that the club isn’t going to make any major moves and trading for Lee could constitute as such. Amaro essentially chose Roy Halladay over Lee last winter and I highly doubt Philadelphia would be willing to part with more of its farm system to re-acquire the Mariners’ starter for half a season. (I’m just speculating here, but I doubt Lee would re-sign with the team that used him to get back to the World Series last year and then traded him away a few months later so they could get Halladay.)
If the Phillies are going to bring any starter back, it’ll be Pedro Martinez – not Lee.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Yankees expected to bid on M’s Cliff Lee
Posted by Anthony Stalter (06/09/2010 @ 1:00 pm)
According to the New York Post, the Mariners believe the Yankees will be “in the hunt” when they eventually shop starting pitcher Cliff Lee.
“They want one of the catchers and (Eduardo) Nunez,’’ a person familiar with Seattle’s thought process if they deal with the Yankees.
Austin Romine is catching at Trenton (Double-A) and Jesus Montero is catching for SWB (Triple-A). They are considered the top prospects in the organization, which also has young catchers Gary Sanchez and J.R. Murphy in addition to Francisco Cervelli, who is in the big leagues.
The immediate need for the Yankees is a bat but if the Mariners are going to shop Lee the Yankees will be interested because he will be a free agent after the season. Of course, he is making $9 million this season so even if the deal is made at the July 31 deadline the Yankees would have to pay him $3 million.
If they were to give up Romine or Montero, the Yankees would need assurances that Lee would sign an extension and not become a free agent.
What’s interesting about this report is that it states that the Mariners “believe” that the Yankees will be interested in Lee. It doesn’t say that the Yankees actually are interested in him. It would be a bold strategy on Seattle’s behalf to entice New York by stating that the Yankees are interested in Lee when they haven’t even been contacted by them yet. Of course, if they really want one of the Bombers’ two catchers, it wouldn’t be a bad plan of attack.
Of course, these are the Yankees that we’re talking about here. It would be newsworthy if they weren’t interested in a stud player.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Dodgers inquire about Lee and Oswalt, but are they serious about making a move?
Posted by Anthony Stalter (05/27/2010 @ 4:00 pm)
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers have asked the Mariners about starter Cliff Lee and the Astros about ace Roy Oswalt, although a trade of any sort seems unlikely at this point.
Even if the Dodgers were to agree to take on salary, the chances of a trade could depend on how deeply the Mariners and Astros wish to rebuild. The Dodgers’ top prospects are at the lower levels of the minor leagues, so the team would be an unlikely trade partner should the Mariners or Astros want a trade package to feature talent ready for the major leagues.
The Mariners might demand a more attractive prospect package because a half-season of Lee would come at $4.5 million. That would be one-fifth the cost of Oswalt, who is signed through 2011 — or one-ninth, if Oswalt asked the Dodgers to pick up a 2012 option in exchange for waiving his no-trade clause, for a total financial commitment of $39.5 million.
Even if a trade is unlikely to go down, it’s amazing to think that the Mariners could trade Lee this year. When they acquired him from the Phillies last winter, the hope was that he and Felix Hernandez would form the best 1-2 punch in baseball. But the M’s offense has been so bad this year that not even Lee or King Felix can do anything to help the club. Seattle has scored the least amount of runs in the American League and the second least in baseball. Only the Astros have scored fewer runs in the majors this season.
Getting back to the Dodgers, I wonder if this is their way to appease their fans after a lackluster offseason. Due to Frank McCourt’s ongoing battle with Jamie McCourt, the team didn’t break out their checkbook this past winter and fans weren’t too pleased with that given how close the club was to competing for a World Series last year. But if the Dodgers make it public that they’re interested in Lee and Oswalt, then it gives their fans the impression that they’re still willing to make a big move in order to win.
It’ll be interesting to see whether or not L.A.’s name comes up again if/when the Mariners and Astros put Lee and Oswalt on the market.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Posted in: MLB
Tags: Cliff Lee, Cliff Lee Dodgers rumors, Cliff Lee trade rumors, Dodgers trade rumors, Frank McCourt, Frank McCourt vs. Jamie McCourt, Jamie McCourt, Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB trade rumors, Roy Oswalt, Roy Oswalt Dodgers trade rumors, Roy Oswalt trade rumors
Wednesday MLB Trade Rumor Thread
Posted by Anthony Stalter (07/29/2009 @ 12:11 pm)
With the MLB trade deadline approaching on Friday, I’ll post everything I see and hear regarding the rumors in baseball. So bookmark this page and come back to it, because I’ll be updating it frequently throughout the day today.
Cliff Lee:
- FOX Sports.com writes that the Dodgers are pushing hard for Indians’ ace Cliff Lee, who is also being pursued by the Phillies. Philadelphia has already made a formal offer of Triple-A right hander Carlos Carrasco, shortstop Jason Donald, catcher Lou Marson and Single-A right hander Jason Knapp to Cleveland for Lee.
- Yahoo! Sports is also reporting that the Phillies are on the verge of acquiring Lee for Carrasco, Knapp and two more minor league players.
Jack Wilson and Ian Snell:
- According to a report by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates have traded shortstop Jack Wilson and Ian Snell to the Mariners for Jeff Clement, Ronny Cedeno and right handed pitchers Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin and Nathan Adcock. Clement is a 25-year old catcher who had been hot in Triple-A in May, but the Seattle organization seemingly soured on him long before that.
Freddy Sanchez:
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that a deal between the Pirates and Giants involving second baseman Freddy Sanchez could be imminent. Sanchez has been held out of the Bucs’ last couple games due to a knee injury, which could have slowed down negotiations between the two clubs. But apparently the injury isn’t serious and a deal could be done as early as today.
- The Gazette is reporting that there is no major issues with Sanchez’s knee and is currently listed as day to day.
- Dejan Kovacevic writes via his Twitter page that Sanchez gave the Bucs a contract proposal of 3-years, $20 million, but the club rejected it.
Jarrod Washburn:
- The Brewers are no longer pursing starter Jarrod Washburn according to FOX Sports.com. Milwaukee apparently doesn’t want to give up any of their top prospects in order to make a push this season, so what you currently see is what you’re going to get with the Brewers the rest of the season.
- Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse is reporting that the Reds have acquired outfielder Wladimir Balentien from the Mariners in exchange for RHP Robert Manuel.
Posted in: MLB
Tags: Baseball Rumors, Baseball trade rumors, Brewers trade rumors, Clff Lee, Cliff Lee trade rumors, Freddy Sanchez, Freddy Sanchez Giants, Freddy Sanchez Giants rumors, Ian Snell, Ian Snell Mariners, Jack Wilson, Jack Wilson Mariners, Jack Wilson traded, MLB trade rumors, MLB trades, Pirates trade rumors, Wladmimir Balentein
|
