New Year's First Rumor Thread!

Aumont is going to try to transition back to starting this season

Interesting… their system isn’t as stacked as it’s been in the past right now, so increasing payroll might be the only way to stay competitive in the near future.

But it’s not like I have a “source” it’s just the general sentiment I’ve heard.

Working to sign Carrasco, Dotel

Only mention this because I’m surprised Carrasco only gets a minor league deal. May have been a mopup type but a 3.46 FIP ain’t bad. With the market for relievers, maybe the M’s could pick up someone like Calero on the cheap.

We re-signed Brad Nelson! Woo! World Series!

Pretty much closes the book (if Kotchman hadn’t already).

Classy guy, and I hope he finds a home outside of Pitt/KC/DC.

Mets and Molina are closer to deal
Nationals are trying to sign Orlando Hudson

Any chance Seattle could sign him to a one year, low base salary, incentive laden deal? Or maybe even a minor league deal (le sigh…).

Base Salary: League Minimum
I would imagine incentives would go like this:
Pitch at least 100 innings…………………$500,000
Pitch at least 150 innings…………………$1,000,000
Pitch at least 200 innings…………………$2,000,000
Pitch in the 6th inning in a game….$1,000,000
Pitch a complete game…………………….$3,000,000
Match your 2007 SO total…………………$4,000,000
Do not get injured…………………………….$5,000,000
Have Seattle forget how shitty of a trade it was to acquire you………$10,000,000

Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports reports that reliever Jose Valverde has signed a two-year, $14 million contract with the Tigers.
The new contract reportedly includes an option for a third year at $9 million. The Tigers considered going with some combination of Joel Zumaya, Ryan Perry and Daniel Schlereth in the closer role, but they actually upgrade bigtime from Fernando Rodney here. Likewise, Valverde actually managed to do quite well for himself, given that the Tigers were the only realistic possibility for him to close. Because Valverde was a Type A free agent, the Tigers will surrender their first-round pick (19th).

I would have expected a lot more

Other players involved, apparently. Twitter linkage

Would Ty Wiggington work as the utility guy the M’s need? He plays the right side of the infield to complement Hannahan on the right, and also has considerable time in the outfield. I know he’s not great value ($3.5 due in final year of contract), but as a safety net for multiple positions we could do worse. I also do not believe in the negative WAR value he posted last year. All of the predictions have him bouncing back from an uncharacteristically bad outing last year, and he would improve upon his UZR from last year if acquired, as he would play much easier defensive positions (LF, 2B, 1B) as opposed to 3B. That’s pretty much the logic for acquiring him. Now someone tell me why the Mariners shouldn’t.

Can anyone confirm?

At least there’s theoretically some upside to that move

GMJ on his way to the Mets. Apparently LAA will pay the majority of his salary but… sweet mother of god. Also, Olney reports that the M’s are working on getting rid of their do-nothing second baseman.