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General managers' meetings Archives

November 6, 2008

GMs' meetings: One final wrap-up

  • The Yankees are indeed speaking with the Brewers about acquiring Mike Cameron, a source confirmed, as first reported by The New York Post. Melky Cabrera and Ian Kennedy have been discussed, although the Yankees are not inclined to give up Kennedy in this package.

    The trade makes sense because the Yankees need a one-year stopgap in centerfield. They hope that youngster Austin Jackson is ready to play a significant role at the big-league level in 2009.

    Jon Heyman reported that the Brewers can't deal Cameron until they know for sure that they're not re-signing CC Sabathia. Cameron and Sabathia became good friends during Sabathia's time in Milwaukee.

  • The Mets, who want to remake their bullpen almost completely, are shopping Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis and Pedro Feliciano around. There definitely will be takers for Heilman and Feliciano; among the teams that like Heilman at some level, are Oakland, Tampa Bay and Texas, and Feliciano has value to any club looking for a left-hander.

    The Mets would be willing to pay some of the $3.6 million owed to Schoeneweis in 2009. They feel that Schoeneweis could have appeal to other clubs because of his strong numbers against lefty hitters (.520 OPS in 2008).

  • The Rangers are looking to deal from their surplus of catchers to acquire a pitcher. The Red Sox and Florida are among the most interested teams.

  • Brian Cashman confirmed that he's looking to add Mick Kelleher as a first-base coach, shift Tony Pena to bench coach and Rob Thomson to third-base coach. An official announcement should be coming shortly.

    Cashman said that he wasn't looking to Kelleher, specifically, to work with Robinson Cano. Said Cashman: "I’m not looking for a coach that’s a motivator of Robby. Robby is a self-motivated guy. …His batting came around in the end. I just think you’ll see Robby back to his old self. The job description has nothing to do with, ‘I need a coach to fix Robby Cano.’ I think Robby is fixed already. How he finished demonstrates that."

  • Cashman, on this winter: "I have no idea where this ride is going to take us."

  • Cashman again: "I certainly have players that teams are interested in, some more than others. And I certainly have players that no one is interested in."

  • Padres GM Kevin Towers said that he is more likely to trade Jake Peavy now than he was when he arrived at this hotel on Saturday. Said Towers: "The train is out of the station now. I don't know if it's going to come back."

    Towers said he's engaged in conversations with three National League clubs - the Braves, Cubs and Dodgers - and that he thinks he'll get a deal done prior to the winter meetings, which begin on December 8.

  • The Yankees just announced that they would decline the $6 million team option on Damaso Marte for 2009. They should let him go and collect the two draft picks.

    All right, gotta fire off some stories for the newspaper and then it's on the plane home. Thanks for all of the interaction this week. It was fun.

    • Posted by Ken Davidoff on November 6, 2008 3:39 PM | | Comments (18)

    GMs' meetings: Could the Angels give CC Sabathia what he wants?

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    In contemplating CC Sabathia's free agency, here are the primary forces I see in play:

    1) Sabathia's preference to play on the West Coast.
    2) The Yankees' intention to blow away all other competitors for Sabathia's services.
    3) The Players Association's goal of constantly raising the bar for players.

    Is there a way for Sabathia to appease both his own desire and the union's, while dissing the Yankees in the process?

    I can think of only one solution: The Angels. They're the only team, besides the Yankees, that I can see possibly offering Sabathia more than the six-year, $137.5 million package that the Mets gave to Johan Santana.

    Can't envision the Dodgers going that high, and Sabathia's friends think he still hopes the Giants will get involved. But how can the Giants sign Sabathia to that rich a deal when they already have Barry Zito on their payroll?

    No, I see just the Angels. And maybe not even them. After all, owner Arte Moreno is a staunch Bud Selig ally and tries to do right by the commissioner.

    However, Moreno is ultra-competitive, and he has to be fuming that his team went down so easily in the playoffs yet again. The Angels traditionally work quickly in the winter - last year, they signed Torii Hunter on Thanksgiving - and they have set new precedents in the past. Last year, Hunter's five-year, $90-million contract broke the record for AAV for a centerfielder.

    Because the Angels like to work quickly, they have made noise about moving on without Mark Teixeira, if the first baseman doesn't come to terms during the window of exclusivity. There's a better chance that Teixeira will join Barack Obama's cabinet than his signing before he attains full free agency. So maybe that embiggens the likelihood of the Angels trying to blow Sabathia away with a record-setting package.

    CC's friends don't see him leaving gobs of money on the table. But what if the Angels offer six years and $145 milllion, and the Yankees offer six years and $150 million? Or what if the difference is even more dramatic?

    The union wants its clients to pick up every last dollar, understandably. Yet ultimately, the goal is to keep raising the bar, so as long as Sabathia surpasses Santana, the PA can complain only so much.

    Would Sabathia allow himself to step away from $10 million? $20 million? I bounced this scenario off a friend of his, and the friend did think it was more feasible if CC was still breaking Santana's record.

    We'll see how this plays out; this is all speculative, on my part. Just something else to contemplate, as we prepare for what will be a very exciting baseball winter (even if it's a little dull at the moment).

  • You can read my stories for Newsday here, here and here.

    Back in the good old days of sports media, if a competitor had a story you didn't have, and you believed that story was inaccurate, you could just ignore it. But that's not realistic anymore, not with you folks understandably asking me about everything out there.

    So...no on this. The Yankees know they're not getting Jake Peavy. He doesn't want to come to New York, despite whether his agent did or didn't include the Yankees in that informal list. The Braves and Cubs are the clear leaders for Peavy's services. Seems like a good chance that a trade will be completed before full free agency begins on Nov. 14th.

    And there have been rumors of a three-way trade in which the Yankees gave up Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano and wind up with Matt Holliday, with the Mariners also involved. No. The Yankees would trade Cano in the right deal, but the right deal isn't a one-year rental of Holliday.

  • Quick day today. The GMs meet in the morning, then they all sprint out the door to make mid-day flights home. So this won't be as frenetic as the last two days. I myself have a 3:55 (California time) flight home, so I'll check in again, at least once more, before concluding the blog coverage of the meetings.

    • Posted by Ken Davidoff on November 6, 2008 2:56 AM | | Comments (25)

    November 5, 2008

    GMs' meetings: Wrapping up Wednesday

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    OK, one more cleaning of the notebook before I begin the job for which I get paid...

  • The Dodgers have offered Manny Ramirez a contract with the second-highest annual average value among current players, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti told reporters about an hour ago. That means a salary between's Alex Rodriguez's average of $27.5 million and Johan Santana's average of $22.9 million.

    It's believed the offer is only for two years, and Colletti said there's an option.

    Obviously, this offer isn't going to get it done, not at this point, and I'm guessing that Joe Torre is telling Colletti, "Forget about Manny, let's work on Sabathia."

  • The Yankees have spoken with the White Sox about their interest in Nick Swisher. The person with whom I spoke about this stressed to me that the talks were extremely preliminary. The White Sox are not looking to dump Swisher, contrary to some reports out there. They'd much rather unload someone like Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko or Jim Thome, although those are three challenging assignments.

    So stay tuned on this one. If the Yankees strike out on Mark Teixeira, and if the White Sox can't get anything done elsewhere, then maybe this advances. For now, though, it's but a whisper. And thanks to Dennis for prompting me to ask this question.

    As for Brad Penny, Dennis, he's not going to be atop anyone's list. But the Yankees aren't in a position to rule out anyone - well, besides Carl Pavavno.

  • The Yankees have met with Scott Boras to discuss Teixeira. They also have interest in Derek Lowe. A friend of Lowe's predicted to me today that Lowe would wind up coming back East. Reggie Jackson recently saw Lowe at a golf tournament in California and gave a recruiting pitch.

  • The Mets have spoken with Paul Kinzer, the agent for Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez.

  • The White Sox are not anxious to unload Javier Vazquez.

  • Omar Minaya, on Manny Ramirez: "He's an offensive player. He's been a very good player. But for us, where we are right now, where is it we're going to invest? Our priority right now is we have to address our pitching. We have to look at that first. (Ramirez) is a free agent, but today we have to look at how to improve our starting pitching and our relief pitching.”

    Minaya also said that Fernando Martinez would play winter ball in the Dominican Republic, and that he would probably begin 2009 at Triple-A Buffalo.

  • The Mets have let go scout Jerry Krause, who is best known for being the Chicago Bulls' general manager, but who worked the past few years as a baseball scout, first with the Yankees and then the Mets.

  • Brian Cashman said that he has interest in bringing back Andy Pettitte, and he knows that Pettitte feels the same way. "Typically, that's two good steps to getting it done. But we're not there yet."

  • Cashman stressed that one of his goals is to improve team defense, which is why Jason Giambi is on the backburner for now.

  • New Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik, asked whether he would interview Willie Randolph for his managerial opening, said, "Possibly. Possibly." Zduriencik interviewed Randolph for the Brewers' opening a couple of weeks ago, before Zduriencik got his new gig.

  • Angels GM Tony Reagins, on whether his team had the wherewithal to sign both CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira: "There’s a chance that could happen, but it’s unlikely."

  • I haven't paid attention to the Gold Glove Awards since 1999, when Rafael Palmeiro won one for playing 28 games at first base.

  • Thanks to this site for the photo.

    • Posted by Ken Davidoff on November 5, 2008 8:26 PM | | Comments (6)

    GMs' meetings: Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte

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    Mike Mussina's agent Arn Tellem is here. Said Tellem of his client and whether he'll retire: "He hasn't decided yet. I think he'll decide sooner than later. It's a major life decision." The bet here still is that Mussina retires.

    Meanwhile, the Yankees want to wait on Mussina before they entertain Andy Pettitte's offer to come back. There are rumblings that Pettitte wants a two-year deal, and that won't be happening with the Yankees, who would ask Pettitte to accept a one-year offer in the neighborhood of $10 million. Pettitte made $16 million each of the past two years.

    Pettitte hasn't even filed for free agency yet, but when he does, and if this staredown is still going on with between Pettitte and the Yankees, expect the Astros to try to bring Pettitte back to his hometown. The Astros, from owner Drayton McLane to manager Cecil Cooper to ace Roy Oswalt, are very fond of Pettitte. It's a saga on which to keep an eye.

  • The Dodgers declined to exercise their 2009 team option on Brad Penny, making Penny a free agent.

  • Agent Larry Reynolds (Harold's brother) represents free-agent reliever Chad Cordero, who is rehabilitating from right shoulder surgery. Reynolds said that Cordero would be ready to return "eraly in the season, if not in spring training." Connecting Cordero to the Mets is natural, since Omar Minaya drafted Cordero during Omar's days running the Expos.

  • Scott Boras, always entertaining, shot down the idea that the economy would impact the free-agent market. Said Boras: "This market has been as agressive as any. ...Baseball didn't invest in derivatives and subprimes."

  • The GMs discussed the idea of eliminating the coin flip to determine the host of any "play-in" games - the 163rd regular-season game, like the White Sox and Twins played this year for the AL Central and the Rockies and Padres last year for the NL wild card. The home team in this game could be determined by head-to-head record, or division record for a division winner, or league record for a wild card.

    • Posted by Ken Davidoff on November 5, 2008 4:38 PM | | Comments (21)

    GMs' meetings: The Mets' continued quest for pitching

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    Just met Craig Landis, the representative for free-agent tarting pitchers Ryan Dempster and Jon Garland. They're clearly not the top options for the Mets - that would be Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez - but they'll have to consider them. Landis said he had a brief meeting with the Mets in which they expressed "preliminary" interest in his clients.

    "They’re looking at some other things," Landis said of the Mets. "We are. We decided to talk further after the meetings are over, sometime in the next week or two, after the 13th." Open free agency starts on Friday, Nov. 14th.

    Dempster put in a terrific year with the Cubs, and the industry speculation was that Dempster and the Cubs would quickly reunite.

    "I spoke to the Cubs here," Landis said. "They’re aware that, as of now, there’s very little possibility he’s going to sign soon with the Cubs. That’s what we’re planning as of now."

  • At the meetings this morning, MLB's security and investigations departments addressed the GMs; the investigations department started as a result of the Mitchell Report. It sounds like we shouldn't expect any more fallout from the Dominican scouting scandal that hit the Yankees, Red Sox and White Sox. At least, that's what baseball officials think.

  • These meetings are typically in warm, somewhat exotic locales - this is my eighth one, and they've all been in either Florida, Arizona or California - but next year, they're seriously considering holding them in Cooperstown. The Hall of Fame people are pushing for it; they'd love the publicity. I think it would be fun - and, speaking selfishly, no plane ride.

  • Thanks to this site for the Garland (and Torii Hunter) photo.

    • Posted by Ken Davidoff on November 5, 2008 2:13 PM | | Comments (9)

    GMs' meetings: The folly of spending big on setup guys

    madson.jpgI'm catching up reading the World Series program out here - let me know if you want me to give it away in a contest, when I'm done with it - and there's a two-page spread with one-line bios of each player from the two teams.

    What struck me the most was the relievers. Not Brad Lidge. We already know plenty about him. But in reading about some of the guys who built the bridge from the starter for Lidge, you get a feel for how volatile relievers can be. Here are the writeups, with the pitchers' 2008 earnings from the Phillies inserted and their career stats linked:

    Clay Condrey ($420,000): Right-handed reliever Condrey made a career-high 56 appearances this season and boasted a solid 3.26 ERA.

    Chad Durbin ($900,000): Signed as a free agent before the season, Durbin poasted a stellar 2.87 ERA over 87.2 innings for the Phillies.

    Scott Eyre ($950,000): The veteran left-hander arrived in Philly in August and won three games, striking out 18 batters in 14.1 innings.

    J.A. Happ (about $390,000): Happ, a 6-foot-6 rookie with a low-90s fastball, posted a 3.69 ERA in eight Big League apperances this year.

    Ryan Madson (pictured above - $1.4 million salary): Madson finished the season with a 3.05 ERA in 76 appearances and established himself as an elite set-up man.

    J.C. Romero ($3.25 million): In his first full season in Philadelphia, left-handed relief specialist Romero led the team with 81 appearances.

    So the only guys making signficant money were Romero and the closer Lidge ($6.35 million). Romero was released by the Red Sox in 2007. Lidge was in and out of the closer's role for the Astros in '07.

    The Cubs designated Eyre for assignment in August of '08. Condrey and Durbin had done little of note in their careers prior to this season. Madson turned things around in '07, so he has two good years running.

    Not a long-term, consistently successful reliever in the bunch of middle relievers. The Mets should keep that in mind when shopping this winter. They have to sign a closer, and they have two decent options in Brian Fuentes and Francisco Rodriguez. But to start throwing money at a Juan Cruz, or a Joe Beimel, could be a mistake. Minaya knows all too well the risk of investing big bucks in a non-elite reliever.

    So what should the Mets do about their bullpen, then? It's much, much easier said than done, but try to strike gold on the Durbins and the Eyres of the world while maintaining roster and payroll flexibility.

  • The Jake Peavy situation gets more muddled every day. Kevin Towers told reporters yesterday that Peavy had actually narrowed his list down to three NL teams. Here is what Peavy's agent, Barry Axelrod, e-mailed me late last night:

    "I think we are probably dealing with semantics here. Jake has not approved a trade or potential trade to any team. The list was intended only to give the Padres some guidance on which teams Jake would consider. It is neither a definitive list nor an all-inclusive list. We are not adding or deleting teams as the process goes along. The list was provided for a singular purpose and there has been no subsequent discussion involving any pending trade and no request to Jake for approval of any team. I assume that will come if and when a proposed trade develops."

  • I think it was baileywalk who asked me whether the Yankees considered trading for Mike Jacobs, whom the Marlins dealt to Kansas City last week. The answer is no, for the reasons we would've suspected: Poor on-base skills, poor defense, can't hit lefties.

  • The stories I wrote for Newsday are here, here and here. But it's all stuff I gave you during the day on the blog. Such is the way of the way of the media world in 2008.

  • Oh, and for Yankees fans disappointed with yesterday's big news, perhaps this can provide some consolation.

  • Thanks to this site for the photo.

    • Posted by Ken Davidoff on November 5, 2008 3:19 AM | | Comments (17)

    November 4, 2008

    GMs' meetings: The Yankees coaching staff

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    We've been reporting on and touting Mick Kelleher for a few days now, but Joel Sherman of The Post first reported an important wrinkle in the Yankees' plans. It's very likely that Tony Pena will shift from first-base coach to bench coach and Rob Thomson from bench coach to third-base coach, and then Kelleher will come aboard as the first-base coach.

    I think this is smart, and could be quite impactful. Thomson has superb baseball instincts and should be a very good third-base coach. Pena is a dynamic person whom Joe Girardi largely shunned last year; now, Girardi will be expected to lean heavily on Pena. Although, I do remember that in 2004, Willie Randolph worked as Joe Torre's bench coach, and the two men had virtually no relationship.

    Kelleher, meanwhile, will be charged with fixing Robinson Cano, with whom he worked back when Cano was a low-level minor-leaguer in 2001 and 2002.

    It's a good start for the Yankees, in this crucial winter.

    Thanks to this site and this site for the Thomson and Kelleher photos. Kelleher is clean-shaven now and has gray hair.

    Posted by Ken Davidoff on November 4, 2008 11:29 PM | | Comments (6)

    GMs' meetings: Wrapping up for the day

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    OK, a few more items, and then I have to do the job for which I get paid, as Watchdog always puts it...

  • Brian Cashman didn't rule out bringing back either Jason Giambi or Carl Pavano, both of whose 2009 team options he declined yesterday. Realistically, I'd say Giambi has a 10 percent chance of coming back, and Pavano one percent. Cashman did meet with Tom O'Connell, the representative for Pavano, shortly after his daily media session.

  • As for Giambi, a return to the A's makes a great deal of sense. It became more logical yesterday when Oakland announced it brought back Bobby Alejo as its team strength coach. Alejo served the A's in that capacity from 1993 through 2001, then accompanied Giambi to New York and served as Giambi's personal strength coach. Alejo alienated virtually everyone on the Yankees and left the team in 2005.

    Asked whether this meant the A's wanted Giambi back, Oakland GM Billy Beane responded, "I wouldn’t be able to comment on that, because he’s not a free agent (Giambi hasn't filed yet for free agency). …But I will say this: If all it took to lure free agents was to hire strength coaches, I’d have a lot of strength coaches. If that was the currency that brought players in, I’d go hire them right and left."

    I asked Beane if the fact that Alejo spent so much time at Giambi's side, during a time when Giambi is now on record as having used steroids, gave him pause. Beane answered: "In this environment, it would behoove us to do due diligence in hiring that position. We were satisfied with that due diligence."

  • The Rays have surplus starting pitching, with phenom David Price headed for the rotation, but Andrew Friedman won't be giving guys away. The Rays have yet to talk to the Mets about a potential match. Tampa Bay still likes Aaron Heilman, although not as much as it once did.

  • In the actual GMs' meetings this morning, Bud Selig spoke to the GMs via videoconference and urged them to heed what was going on with the national and world economy. In other words, Bud found a new hook for his "Take it easy out there!" lecture. I couldn't confirm the rumor that Cashman missed this part of the meeting because he was filling a sack of thousand-dollar bills for CC Sabathia.

  • In another non-shocker, Darek Braunecker, the agent for A.J. Burnett, announced that Burnett would opt out of the final two years and $24 million of his deal. Braunecker met with the Blue Jays here, but Toronto's offer to retain Burnett was not enough; I don't know the numbers, but it's probably going to take five years and about $70-$80 million to sign Burnett. Braunecker stressed that Burnett still held very positive feelings toward the Blue Jays.

  • Something I missed yesterday: Scott Boras said that Greg Maddux intended to retire, after a career that will put him in the Hall of Fame in the minimum five years. "I think he was rather definitive," Boras said. "My belief from his point of view is that he will retire."

    I asked Boras whether Manny Ramirez was as fond of Hank Steinbrenner as Hank was of Manny. "I haven’t had a chance to have Manny-Hank discussions," the agent said. "I just think anybody who likes to win, anybody who watches what Manny did, it’s got to bring you to a place where you can say ‘There’s a real chance that player can help me achieve my objective.’"

  • Omar Minaya said he would likely meet with Boras over the next few days. The Mets are interested in retaining Oliver Perez, a Boras client.

  • Padres GM Kevin Towers clarified the Jake Peavy-to-the-Yankees stuff. Peavy's agent Barry Axelrod did mention the Yankees and Angels as possibilities. But "His preference is the NL. He likes the style of play. He like to hit."

  • The terrible umpiring in the World Series was discussed at the morning meetings.

  • The GMs spent the afternoon bowling. They have a lot of these bonding-type activities.

  • A thought on neutral sites for the World Series: No. The weather issue, to me, is tied into the ratings issue. Baseball is not football. A World Series isn't going to get a national following, at least at the outset, unless the Yankees, Red Sox or Cubs are involved. It's that simple.

    The ratings will be huge in the participating cities, and not too many other places. And those participating cities absolutely deserve World Series games in their home ballparks. This year's Game 3, which started at 10:06 p.m., might have infuriated the TV audience. But those who attended were completely engaged.

    Some years, the weather is just going to bite you. Look, this year's World Series became more compelling because of the suspended game.

    And if the Series would ever actually make it to seven games again, I think we'd see increased ratings at that point.