Major League Mongering will look at players rumored to be on the move between now and the July 31st pseudo-trade-deadline.
John Schuerholz is really going for broke at this deadline. On top of the Mark Teixeira trade, which is pretty much done, and the Octavio Dotel trade, which is almost done, apparently the Braves are also interested in acquiring Bronson Arroyo from the Reds for young starter Jo-Jo Reyes. John Fay has a short update on his Cincinnati Enquirer blog that passes the rumor along.
Arroyo just signed a long-term deal with the Reds and he would give the Braves one more proven starter with post-season experience to pitch behind John Smoltz and Tim Hudson in that rotation. Of course, they will have also sold the farm (Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Kyle Davies (if the Dotel trade goes through), and Jo-Jo Reyes) and be expected to win and fast.
As for the Reds, Fay notes that it would be hard to convince Cincy fans that this is a good move and he's probably right. Reyes has a lot of promise, but Arroyo and Aaron Harang have given the Reds the solid pitching they've been desperate for since the move to Great American Ballpark and trading Arroyo now after his ugly first half is definitely selling low.
Major League Mongering will look at players rumored to be on the move between now and the July 31st pseudo-trade-deadline.
If you thought the Braves were finished after landing Mark Teixeira from the Rangers yesterday, you were wrong. Dead wrong. Sources are saying that not only have the Braves landed the best hitter available, they're also on the verge of acquiring one of the best relievers available.
In addition to reaching a preliminary agreement for Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira, the Braves are close to a deal for Royals closer Octavio Dotel, according to major-league sources.
In exchange for Dotel, the Royals would receive right-hander Kyle Davies, according to the Kansas City Star. Davies, 23, is 0-1 with a 4.50 in two starts for Class AAA Richmond after going 4-8 with a 5.76 ERA in 17 starts with the Braves.
The deal isn't official yet, but it's likely going to be soon. Apparently both teams have already agreed to it, but the Braves are waiting until they finalize the deal for Teixeira before making this one official.
If this deal does go through, I think that the Braves will have cemented their status as the biggest winner of this season's trade deadline. Not only have they added a huge bat to the lineup that also provides insurance in case Andruw Jones leaves, they've also gotten a lefty reliever they sorely needed, and now one of the best bullpen arms available.
Dotel has converted 11 of his 14 save chances with Kansas City this season, and can help the Braves shorten the game by going to him and Rafael Soriano before getting to Bob Wickman in the ninth.
They may be in third place behind the Mets and Phillies right now, but with these moves I won't be surprised if they're on top of the division come season's end.
As for the Royals, Dotel had talked recently about how he'd like to stay in Kansas City, but it just didn't make sense for the Royals. On a team where money is tight, it's counterproductive to pay veterans a couple of million when you have a younger guy just waiting to take his spot in Joakim Soria. They'll also be getting Davies and the Royals are always in need of starting pitching.
Major League Mongering will look at players rumored to be on the move between now and the July 31st pseudo-trade-deadline.
If there's one thing that signals trade deadline day in baseball, it's the annual Pittsburgh Pirates Red Light Special! They haven't made any moves yet, but they do have some of the top relievers that are still on the market (Shawn Chacon, Damaso Marte, Salomon Torres) and they also appear determined to dump Jack Wilson, their highest paid player, on whoever will take him.
While it looked for a while like they wouldn't have any takers on Wilson, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the Detroit Tigers are interested. This move would make sense on a couple levels. Wilson is the type of player Jim Leyland seems to love having, even if it's only for the bench. The two GMs involved, Dave Littlefield and Dave Dombrowski, worked together in Florida and they pulled off a deadline deal last year (Sean Casey to the Tigers for a minor league reliever).
Wilson would make a much better bench/utility guy for the Tigers than the suspended Neifi Perez. He's not a better hitter than anyone in the Tigers lineup, but he's not taking a starting spot away from Carlos Guillen or Placido Polanco so there's not much reason to worry that the Tigers would try to start him. It would really just be a move to shore things up on the bench in Detroit.
Major League Mongering will look at players rumored to be on the move between now and the July 31st pseudo-trade-deadline.
Despite a mediocre 4.50 ERA, Al Reyes has been an amazing find for the Rays, posting a 1.08 WHIP with 43 strikeouts in 38 innings this year. He hasn't picked up a save in more than a month, but that's more a function of the Rays not having any late-inning leads to protect than anything else considering he's converted 17 of 18 opportunites. With the Brewers setting a high market price for talented short relievers, the Devil Rays are shopping the 37-year-old Reyes. From the St. Petersburg Times:
"There's still some players we've targeted that we'd like to acquire and are trying to figure out a way, whether in a straight deal or in a three-way (trade), to accomplish that," executive vice president Andrew Friedman said Sunday. "It's not that likely, but we're still working toward accomplishing a few more goals before Tuesday." ...
The Mariners seem most interested (with two scouts at the Trop) and have young catching. The Mets are among other teams following Reyes. If they don't have what the Rays are looking for, a three-way deal is a possibility.
So what would the Rays want in return? Oddly enough, they're reportedly looking to improve their bullpen, which makes sense considering they just dealt Ty Wigginton for Dan Wheeler. While it seems counterproductive to improve a bullpen by dealing your closer, the lack of quality middle relief has been perhaps the team's biggest Achilles heel. Sure, simply moving Reyes to middle relief would help, but his value is highest when he's viewed as a closer capable of pitching in high-pressure situations, so I'm guessing they're hoping to move him for a young pitcher or two who can grow into their roles in the bullpen.
Chicago would take Wily Mo Pena but want either Manny Delcarmen or Justin Masterson. The Red Sox will not part with either for a rent-a-player like Dye, who is eligible for free agency after the season.
There is a decent chance that the Red Sox will not make a substantive deal before tomorrow's 4 p.m. deadline, but stay tuned.
If I had to guess, I'd say that White Sox GM Kenny Williams and Red Sox GM Theo Epstein are in the middle of a staring contest. Williams has to know that asking for Wily Mo Pena and a pitching prospect is an awfully steep price for a slumping two-month rental, but he's probably hoping that the Red Sox panic at the next Yankees rumor that comes off the wire.
Even though it seems like we've been hearing Pena's name forever, he's still only 25 years old. His ability to hit for average will always be in question, but if he got an honest to goodness shot at everyday playing time, he might just end up hitting 40 home runs, especially in the launching pad knows as U.S. Cellular Field. If the "Dye for Pena" offer is still on the table and the Red Sox haven't flinched come 3:59 p.m. tomorrow, exect Williams to jump on it.
In addition to reaching a preliminary agreement for Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira, the Braves are close to a deal for Royals closer Octavio Dotel, according to major-league sources.
The Braves, Indians and Dodgers are the three finalists for Dotel, sources say. Royals general manager Dayton Moore, previously an executive with Atlanta, is intimately acquainted with the Braves' farm system.
Dotel may be just as important an acquisition to the Braves as Teixeira is, if it happens. Boy, my head is spinning. Imagine how fast the heads of other N.L. GM's are spinning at this hour. Time to hit those phones.
Let's look at things. For a little more than one season of Teixeira (he's eligible for free agency after 2008), who is certainly a good hitter but who has seen his home run power erode the past two seasons, and an unproven reliever, the Braves are giving up one of the better prospects in the game in Jarrod Saltalamacchia, as well low level shortstop Elvis Andrus (another of their top prospects) and two pitching prospects. That's quite a ransom. Throw that in with the three decent pitching prospects the Padres for the struggling Linebrink, and you've got quite a market for teams looking to sell of valuable assets.
But what does this mean exactly? The prices for guys that are on the block like Damaso Marte, Salomon Torres, Jermaine Dye, Eric Gagne, and even guys that might be available like Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr., have all just gone way up. So do the teams on the bottom of the standings try and trade someone maybe they hadn't considered before because of the potential to get some real value in return like the Rangers have? Or will the contenders just stand pat because of the escalating price tags, unwilling to mortgage the future for a run at the playoffs now? Judging the early activity levels, I'd guess the latter, but I suppose we'll have to wait and see.
The biggest shoe has dropped in the 2007 MLB non-waiver trade deadline. Mark Teixeira is an Atlanta Brave, and teams now have 24 hours to respond. Does anybody have the other shoe to drop? Let's look team by team:
New York Mets: Even though they're in first place with the best record in the National League, the Mets have some small holes that they could do well by filling now that the Braves have upgraded. Options include bullpen help (Chad Cordero and Eric Gagne have been discussed), and an upgrade at second base (Luis Castillo or Mark Loretta, perhaps?) What the Mets need more than anything though is for Carlos Beltran to be healthy, and for Carlos Delgado to continue to heat up after a very slow start to the season.
Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies are one game ahead of the Braves, so they're feeling it a little bit. Gagne would be a great fit here ... he would allow Brett Myers to return to the starting rotation while upgrading a bullpen that may have just lost Ryan Madson for the season. Speedy outfielder Michael Bourn could be used as bait. But in any event, they need pitching, pitching, pitching ... of all sorts
Major League Mongering will look at players rumored to be on the move between now and the July 31st pseudo-trade-deadline.
With all the denying of potential moves the Cubs have done in the past week, it's a safe bet to say they're going to be up to something by Tuesday. As they're one of the more intriguing teams to watch in all of baseball right now, people are watching their every move. The MLB Trade Rumors blog has now noticed that Matt Murton, who was tearing things up in AAA and just promoted to Chicago, was a late scratch last night and on the bench today. Jay Payton, who the Cubs may be interested in, is also on the bench today. Hmmm.
So, to recap, the Cubs might be trading Matt Murton to Baltimore or maybe Texas for another catcher or maybe an outfielder or possibly some bullpen help. But then, rumor is the name of the game here, so maybe Murton's on the bench because Lou Piniella just doesn't like him and Sweet Lou and Jim Hendry are being serious when they say the Cubs aren't going to do anything before the deadline.
Major League Mongering will look at players rumored to be on the move between now and the July 31st pseudo-trade-deadline.
If the Angels can't succeed in bringing Mark Teixeira to southern California, they have other options. There's a possibility they may still land Jermaine Dye, but with Juan Rivera set to return from the disabled list, it's a question whether they'd want another outfielder on the roster.
What the Angels really want is another bat in the lineup so they can all enjoy the benefit of the three-run homer from time to time. There's a pretty cheap low-risk/high reward guy within the same state, just a long drive up Interstate 5 to Oakland.
The Athletics are looking to move Mike Piazza, and the Angels should definetely be looking into getting him. He's not going to be as big a boost as a Mark Teixeira, but he will come cheap and could come up big once the postseason comes around. Not to mention that with the recent trade of Jose Molina, and injury to Mike Napoli, he'd give the Angels some insurance at the catcher position.
Piazza has missed a lot of time this season, but is still hitting .301 in 33 games. The Angels also won't have to give up any top prospects to get him.
Which means they could hold on to Joe Saunders and Dustin Moseley. Considering how horrible Ervin Santana has been this year, and the question mark that is Bartolo Colon, Saunders and Moseley are probably more important to the Angels right now than any bat they can bring in. To get rid of either one may solve the problem of not having enough power in the lineup, but it will just create a new hole in the starting rotation. Previously at FanHouse: Major League Mongering: Who's Going to Get Teixeira?
Major League Mongering will look at players rumored to be on the move between now and the July 31st pseudo-trade-deadline.
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