Bargain Bin Rumor/Transaction Thread

Shed a tear when I saw your picture still on the wall at Safeco

I hope this will be another one of their low risk, high reward deals. This would also be a somewhat home town deal as well, which will be good for him.

John Parham. College backstop, can’t hit much except for one year, never drafted.

News!

Also the White Sox have Daniel Cabrera now. I don’t know when that happened.

Putz “never really had a physical” with the Mets.

"When the trade went down last year, I never really had a physical with the Mets," said Putz. "I had the bone spur (in the right elbow). It was discovered the previous year in Seattle, and it never got checked out by any other doctors until I got to spring training, and the spring training physical is kind of a formality. It was bugging me all through April, and in May I got an injection. It just got to the point where I couldn’t pitch. I couldn’t throw strikes, my velocity was way down."

"I knew that I wasn’t right. I wasn’t healthy. The toughest part was having to face the media and tell them that you feel fine, even though you know there’s something wrong and they don’t want you telling them that you’re banged up."

Link:

"I saw guys getting traded in the offseason, and it makes you realize you might not be here for long," Ackley said last week after a workout at the Mariners’ training facility. "I thought that being drafted this year that it would be less likely they would move me, but you’re always kind of thinking about it."

Um, aren’t we barred from trading any draft pick until one year after either he was draft or when he signs the contract with us? I think Ackley can’t be traded until this summer.

This THT article makes it look like he’s waiver eligible. He’d be a great waiver pick up for anyone if that’s the case.

Bedard?

Stolen out from Jack Z’s nose, I’m sure. The man sure knows how to put on a hat, though.

Hmm, more than Felix. Link

Mychael Urban of CSNBayArea.com reports that talks between the Giants and Tim Lincecum aren’t going well.
Lincecum asked for $13 million and was offered $8 million when arbitration figures were exchanged last month. They already appear destined for a hearing, one that Lincecum will surely win, but multiple sources have told Urban that San Francisco’s young ace has dismissed several two-year deals from the club. Proposing a two-year deal is telling, not only because he will have two more years of arbitration after the contract, but it may play into concerns about his durability. That’s pretty much the only leg the Giants have to stand on when a pitcher wins consecutive Cy Young awards, but this could get more contentious than they would have hoped.

Floating out there. Not hearing many rumors. CHONE projects his bat at 1.7 WAR. A bit generous after a down season, but his defense is also generally well-regarded. Some attempts at quantifying catcher defense were done by Driveline Mechanics here. As you can see, Barajas seems overall to be a far cry better than Johnson and Bard, particularly at blocking pitches (something that is fairly obvious having seen all 3 play).

His bat doesn’t play very well in Safeco, and I don’t know exactly how much he’d cost (the Mets may want him now), but am I crazy for entertaining the possibility? Seems like he could add a cheap win or so while not pushing out anyone too valuable.

Linky

But a new contract with a low base salary and high incentives could be the way to go.

I have now heard that the deal is a one-year $1.5 million base salary contract that includes a shipload of incentives. Bedard, you might recall, made $7.5 million last season. At his age — he will be 29 on March 5 — most of his career is in front of him and he could use this season as a springboard to a multi-year contract next year.

And according to my good buddy Kirby Arnold of the Everett Herald, Bedard could soon be on is way to Peoria, Ariz.

I’m getting all giddy just thinking about it.

he mentioned the Tigers salary-dumping Miguel Cabrera this year. Various comments poo-pooed that idea, but I wonder if Jack Z could have something like this in mind. It would seem to be one possible explanation for his hesitance to spend the money most people think he has.

Are there any contracts out there that teams might be looking to move mid-season?

so I guess Lopey stays another year. I feel an overwhelming sense of relief that we can finally stop talking about this. Also, I think this pretty much closes the door on Washburn going to the Twin cities.

Larue gave him a call, and says “no offers in hand” … who knows.

A baseball source told Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com that free agent first baseman Russell Branyan was seeking a three-year deal “somewhere between $20 million and $30 million.”

Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports that the Twins are closing in on a one-year, $5 million contract with Orlando Hudson.

Looks like Jose Lopez is staying put. Oh well.

And with all the talk of the awesome offseason the Mariners are having, the Twins have been having a pretty good offseason as well.

“I still feel there is a quality market for Johnny Damon,” Boras said, “and I’m negotiating with a number of teams. There are three teams out there that if they don’t have Johnny Damon, they’re not winning the division. He’s the difference in these teams making the playoffs or not contending.” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale speculates that two of those three teams are the Braves and Tigers. It certainly adds up, whether they truly need Damon or not.

Woot?

I remember when people thought he was going to be huge. They were perhaps right but not in the way they anticipated.

Apparently they’re offering Damon 2/14. It’s good to be a Twins fan these days.