Misc. Free Agent News

[Guest]

Rich Harden To Miss 2012 Season

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [February 9 at 7:27am CST]

Rich Harden will miss the 2012 season while he recovers from an arm operation, Peter Gammons of MLB Network reports on Twitter. Harden had surgery last week to repair a torn capsule and aims to come back healthy in 2013.

 

The free agent right-hander started 15 games for the 2011 Athletics, but he's no stranger to serious injuries, having spent much of the 2006 and 2007 seasons on the disabled list. Harden, 30, posted a 5.12 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 82 2/3 innings for the A's in 2011. He drew interest as a starter and as a reliever this offseason from teams such as the Rockies.

 

 

30 years old, and I think he's pitched a full season twice in his career. Is it pretty safe to say that he's done, or does he have a chance to re-invent himself as a doiminant late inning reliever?

 

i'd think he could/should go the reliever route but maybe his arm can't handle that type of workload either

 

 

his stuff can be so nasty though. loved that changeup that just dropped.

[Cubswin11]

Yankees, Pirates Talking A.J. Burnett Trade

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [February 10 at 7:57am CST]

The Yankees and Pirates continue discussing a possible A.J. Burnett trade, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. The Yankees are willing to pay a substantial portion of the $33MM remaining on the right-hander’s contract through 2013, but the teams are still a few million apart. The Yankees first offered to pay less than one third of Burnett's salary, Heyman tweets.

 

The Yankees want to create payroll room for a designated hitter and appear to be leaning toward Raul Ibanez, perhaps because they prefer his ability to play the outfield. Johnny Damon and Eric Chavez also intrigue the Yankees as possible free agent additions, according to Heyman. The Pirates rejected the Yankees’ request for Garrett Jones, Heyman writes.

 

 

Why on earth would the Pirates reject a deal in which they's acquire an established starter, who could potentially be a front end guy for them if the price is Garrett Jones and the Yankees paying a big chunk of A.J.s salary? I'd take that deal for Bryan LaHair without thinking twice, and that's basically what Jones is.

 

The Pirates are a dark horse for the division, but they could still contend and adding a veteran starter, who'd be going from the AL East to the NL Central could really help their cause.

That really makes no sense why they would turn that deal down if all it was, was Jones straight up for Burnett with the Yankees eating a big portion of Burnett's salary. Does Jones even factor to start at an OF position or 1B for them this year? He basically has been a bench bat and has gotten 2-4 starts a week for them the last few years, iirc.

[jersey cubs fan]

Yankees, Pirates Talking A.J. Burnett Trade

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [February 10 at 7:57am CST]

The Yankees and Pirates continue discussing a possible A.J. Burnett trade, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. The Yankees are willing to pay a substantial portion of the $33MM remaining on the right-hander’s contract through 2013, but the teams are still a few million apart. The Yankees first offered to pay less than one third of Burnett's salary, Heyman tweets.

 

The Yankees want to create payroll room for a designated hitter and appear to be leaning toward Raul Ibanez, perhaps because they prefer his ability to play the outfield. Johnny Damon and Eric Chavez also intrigue the Yankees as possible free agent additions, according to Heyman. The Pirates rejected the Yankees’ request for Garrett Jones, Heyman writes.

 

 

Why on earth would the Pirates reject a deal in which they's acquire an established starter, who could potentially be a front end guy for them if the price is Garrett Jones and the Yankees paying a big chunk of A.J.s salary? I'd take that deal for Bryan LaHair without thinking twice, and that's basically what Jones is.

 

The Pirates are a dark horse for the division, but they could still contend and adding a veteran starter, who'd be going from the AL East to the NL Central could really help their cause.

That really makes no sense why they would turn that deal down if all it was, was Jones straight up for Burnett with the Yankees eating a big portion of Burnett's salary. Does Jones even factor to start at an OF position or 1B for them this year? He basically has been a bench bat and has gotten 2-4 starts a week for them the last few years, iirc.

 

Didn't it say the Yankees were offering less than 1/3rd of his contract? You are talking about Pittsburgh taking on $11m per year for two years for a guy who has been pretty crappy the last two years. Why would they want to do that?

[squally1313]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/7561727/former-usc-trojans-qb-mitch-mustain-signs-chicago-white-sox

 

I think this is one of those things that don't even need a punchline.

[Backtobanks]

From MLBTR:

 

•Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com suggests the Brewers, Cubs and Astros are all fits for Edgar Renteria, who intends to play in 2012 (Twitter link

 

Heyman must have been drinking to include the Cubs.

[jumbo]

Yankees, Pirates Talking A.J. Burnett Trade

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [February 10 at 7:57am CST]

The Yankees and Pirates continue discussing a possible A.J. Burnett trade, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. The Yankees are willing to pay a substantial portion of the $33MM remaining on the right-hander’s contract through 2013, but the teams are still a few million apart. The Yankees first offered to pay less than one third of Burnett's salary, Heyman tweets.

 

The Yankees want to create payroll room for a designated hitter and appear to be leaning toward Raul Ibanez, perhaps because they prefer his ability to play the outfield. Johnny Damon and Eric Chavez also intrigue the Yankees as possible free agent additions, according to Heyman. The Pirates rejected the Yankees’ request for Garrett Jones, Heyman writes.

 

 

Why on earth would the Pirates reject a deal in which they's acquire an established starter, who could potentially be a front end guy for them if the price is Garrett Jones and the Yankees paying a big chunk of A.J.s salary? I'd take that deal for Bryan LaHair without thinking twice, and that's basically what Jones is.

 

The Pirates are a dark horse for the division, but they could still contend and adding a veteran starter, who'd be going from the AL East to the NL Central could really help their cause.

That really makes no sense why they would turn that deal down if all it was, was Jones straight up for Burnett with the Yankees eating a big portion of Burnett's salary. Does Jones even factor to start at an OF position or 1B for them this year? He basically has been a bench bat and has gotten 2-4 starts a week for them the last few years, iirc.

 

Didn't it say the Yankees were offering less than 1/3rd of his contract? You are talking about Pittsburgh taking on $11m per year for two years for a guy who has been pretty crappy the last two years. Why would they want to do that?

 

I read that the Pirates were looking to only take on $8MM in total salary, but Yanks were looking to make that $10MM. Then Yanks asked for Jones which cooled discussions. Pirates must have been thinking of just a minor leaguer going back. I think it was from Rotoworld

[El Duderino]

From MLBTR:

 

•Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com suggests the Brewers, Cubs and Astros are all fits for Edgar Renteria, who intends to play in 2012 (Twitter link

 

Heyman must have been drinking to include the Cubs.

 

i don't think he's a fit for anyone at this point, unless he wants to coach.

[davell]

Orioles signed Nick Johnson to a minor league deal a few days ago. Oh well, not the reason I'm posting. I went over to Orioles Hangout a bit ago because they messed up royally in signing a 17 yr old South Korean pitcher and it's gotten them banned from all stadiums in South Korea. Instead though, I noticed a post about the future of the site at the top. Curiously, I started reading and on page 10, hell starts to break loose. The editor of the site is evidently in a pissing match with the Director of Communications of the Orioles and the O's have decided not to spend any money on the site anymore, partly because the site isn't "positive" enough about the O's. They basically were spending about 5K a year on the site and giving some discounted tickets away. Don't get me wrong, we all made fun of those guys during the Roberts drama, but it's certainly a very active site, more than a team like the O's deserve. If that site shuts down over 5K or so a year, it just shows exactly how pathetic that organization is. Those guys are probably damn near the last Oriole fans on earth. At any rate, it's some pretty good internet drama, since there's no news going on with us.

[SouthSideRyan]

Orioles signed Nick Johnson to a minor league deal a few days ago. Oh well, not the reason I'm posting. I went over to Orioles Hangout a bit ago because they messed up royally in signing a 17 yr old South Korean pitcher and it's gotten them banned from all stadiums in South Korea. Instead though, I noticed a post about the future of the site at the top. Curiously, I started reading and on page 10, hell starts to break loose. The editor of the site is evidently in a pissing match with the Director of Communications of the Orioles and the O's have decided not to spend any money on the site anymore, partly because the site isn't "positive" enough about the O's. They basically were spending about 5K a year on the site and giving some discounted tickets away. Don't get me wrong, we all made fun of those guys during the Roberts drama, but it's certainly a very active site, more than a team like the O's deserve. If that site shuts down over 5K or so a year, it just shows exactly how pathetic that organization is. Those guys are probably damn near the last Oriole fans on earth. At any rate, it's some pretty good internet drama, since there's no news going on with us.

 

Why should the Orioles support a 3rd party message board? I mean, yeah, it looks bad now to haggle over 5K, but why would they even bother to begin with?

[davell]

I guess to make money off the guys from there that go to games and spend money on the team? Goodwill and all, I suppose? Probably not a great reason, but for a team in as bad a shape as they are, it's a pretty low thing to do to a group of rabid supporters. I understand why they may want to stop, but if I'm them, I'm not risking the probable fallout from that site. It makes more sense just to keep doing it, the money gets made up in merchandise sales and crap anyway, that they wouldn't get otherwise. Maybe it's not a good reason, but if I ran a team that was that God awful for as long as they've been, I wouldn't want to piss off a group of my best fans, especially since there's another team in the area doing the opposite and building an actual contender.

[jersey cubs fan]

I guess to make money off the guys from there that go to games and spend money on the team? Goodwill and all, I suppose? Probably not a great reason, but for a team in as bad a shape as they are, it's a pretty low thing to do to a group of rabid supporters. I understand why they may want to stop, but if I'm them, I'm not risking the probable fallout from that site. It makes more sense just to keep doing it, the money gets made up in merchandise sales and crap anyway, that they wouldn't get otherwise. Maybe it's not a good reason, but if I ran a team that was that God awful for as long as they've been, I wouldn't want to piss off a group of my best fans, especially since there's another team in the area doing the opposite and building an actual contender.

 

It's really stupid to say that they are cutting the funding because they aren't positive enough, but they should have just said they reeavaluated their business and have better use for the money.

[Clem Fandango]

Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com reports that the Cubs are interested in signing right-hander Ramon Ortiz to a minor league contract.

Ortiz, who turns 39 in March, posted a 4.86 ERA and 25/11 K/BB ratio over 33 1/3 innings with the Cubs last season. The veteran right-hander would be a long shot to make the Opening Day roster, but he could be useful insurance in the minors.

 

Laissez les bons temps rouler

[Little Slide Rooter]

Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com reports that the Cubs are interested in signing right-hander Ramon Ortiz to a minor league contract.

Ortiz, who turns 39 in March, posted a 4.86 ERA and 25/11 K/BB ratio over 33 1/3 innings with the Cubs last season. The veteran right-hander would be a long shot to make the Opening Day roster, but he could be useful insurance in the minors.

 

Laissez les bons temps rouler

 

He wasn't even very good in his prime and at the age of 39, there's a decent chance that he never lives up to the old Little Pedro moniker.Just let this one go Theo.

[Irishoshea21]

Kosuke to the White Sox. one year, one mil.

[MWV]

So it came to pass:

http://www.fukudome1.com/diary/sub/images/080426/02.jpg

I was wondering what would become of Kosuke. That gives the Sox De Aza, Lillibridge, Rios and Viciedo in the OF?

[jersey cubs fan]

He's at a nail salon?

[bukie]

He's at a nail salon?

I think that's the relatively unknown Grinder Ball Rule #14: Being a grinder requires impeccable nails.

[Old Style]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/chi-sox-sign-former-cubs-of-fukudome-20120214,0,4842477.story

[Guest]

that's a hell of a value

[WrigleyField 22]

Does Kosuke just like the city of Chicago? He had to have better offers than that right?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SouthSideRyan]

Does Kosuke just like the city of Chicago? He had to have better offers than that right?

 

 

I think he's said as much in the past. He was pretty terrible with Cleveland last year too.

[CubColtPacer]

Does Kosuke just like the city of Chicago? He had to have better offers than that right?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The Cubs were only able to have the Indians send 775,000 for 2 months of Fukudome. And then he was worse in Cleveland and will now turn 35 near the start of the year. He might have received an offer for 2 or 3 million, but he almost certainly didn't get anything substantial. He might be close to done.

[ConstableRabbit]

That's really a pretty good deal for the WS.

[UMFan83]

Yeah not a bad deal at all for the Sox. That said, the guy is 35 and is only productive in spurts. 750K seems about right for him.

[Pushfrog98]

Bullet dodged: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/02/giants-to-sign-ramon-ortiz.html