December 7, 2006
Thursday’s Rumors
By
Amanda
Posted at 7:19 am
No official word from the Reds on any of what's going on, but there are plenty of rumors, including:
- The Pirates Zach Duke for an OF
- The Reds' interest in Rodrigo Lopez
- Chris Denorfia to the Marlins
- The Reds pursuing Eric Gagne
- Marc Lancaster moving to Tampa Bay
Maybe we'll get some real action today.
I’m kind of surprised the Pirates are still looking for an OFer. I thought Chris Duffy was working out for them. Once they [url=http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2480921]found him[/url], anyway.
Speaking of OFers…Narron [url=http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061206/SPT04/612060388/1071/SPT]says[/url] Norris Hopper is being overlooked. Why is that? His numbers look great. He’s a little old for a rookie, especially one who’s not a college boy, but his stats on offense and defense look nice. Why was he in the minors so long?
Also in that article…
[quote]Tony Perez said he heard the Reds are interested in his son Eduardo.[/quote]
I wonder if Hopper is the X-factor, and Kriv thinks he can be a productive MLB player this season. Otherwise, I cant see moving Deno…since Farney and Junior are brittle.
Any news on Hollandworth? Franklin?
No news on that duo of lovable losers, but the Rule 5 draft was today!
Yeah, I know exciting. But the Reds were actually active and [url=http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/spring/2006/12/thursday-moves.asp]picked a couple players[/url]. One’s a pitcher, and the other’s an outfielder who’s had troubles with substance abuse in the past. I hope he can keep clean and use his talent.
Still, it’d probably be a good idea to him away from Farney.
Actually, the Reds didn’t draft Hamilton in the Rule V; the Cubs got him and then the Reds immediately [url=http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061207/SPT04/312070012/1071]traded for him[/url] in a pre-arranged deal. Interesting gamble, and nice tat on the forearm there. The Reds were badly in need of someone to replace Felipe on that score.
There’s a piece in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that claims Jeff Cirillo has offers from the Reds and Twins, as well as an offer to re-sign with The Brew Crew. That article stated that Cirillo made $2,050,000 and hit .274 with 7 HR/59 RBI last year, which it says he split between the Brewers and Royals.
None of that information sounded quite right to me. So, I checked on both Baseball Reference and MLB.com. Both those sources indicate that Cirillo spent all of 2006 – and 2005 – with the Brewers, hit .319 with 3 HR and 23 RBI this year, and Baseball Reference says he signed with the Brewers as a free agent in 2005 and made $850,000 this season.
So I don’t know where the Journal-Sentinel got their information from, but it appears that Cirillo signed as a free agent with the Brewers in 2005, has been there ever since, and did not do any time in Baseball Hell (KC) this year – despite what it says in the Journal-Sentinel.
You’d think they’d get at least ONE thing right, though.
HMZ
Oh, forgot: Eduardo Perez.
He’s played with the Reds previously, back in 1996, 1997, and 1998, and logged some postseason experience with the Cardinals in 2002. He’s a decent enough fielder at first base, and has also logged time in both corner outfield slots and at third base. He’s a righthanded hitter, and does hit lefty pitchers better than righties (.265 to .232 for his career), but does not hit especially well for average (.247 in 13 seasons) and he did not inherit his dad’s power (79 career round-trippers, only 300 less than his father).
The Indians were paying him $1.75 million before they traded him to Seattle for a minor leaguer.
Just sayin’. Those are the facts. That’s what I do. OK? But if the Reds were to bring him back, even the respect his dad commands in Cinci may not be enough to keep longtime Reds fans from making the comparison to Champ Summers.
Of course, that probably means Krivsky’s on the phone with his agent as I’m typing this.
HMZ
Perez would be a good signing, since he’d be picked up as the right-handed platoon-mate to complement Hatteberg. He has a career .863 OPS against lefties, and has homered once every 17 ABs against them. He was at .834 and .897 against them the last two years, so he still has gas in the tank. I’d like him if Craig Wilson isn’t an option.
As for the other rumors…
Duke is a nice player, but we can’t afford to give up Dunn for him. I don’t buy the Pirates trading for Dunn or trading Duke in the division anyways.
Rodrigo Lopez sucks serious ass and isn’t worth giving up anything good for.
Deno can be traded to the Marlins, but I’d want something a bit better than Ricky Nolasco.
Where’d you hear the Gagne rumors? I think he’d definitely be worth the risk, but I find it hard to believe that this is anything more than the wishful thinking of a hopeful Reds fan somewhere. I can’t see us going after him.
I also haven’t seen the Lancaster thing anywhere other than on RR, so I don’t know if that’s true or not.
The Toronto Sun reported the Gagne rumors. There are a lot of other teams pursuing him, too, of course.
The Rule 5 draft was surprisingly exciting. The Yanks haven’t claimed anyone via Rule 5 for over a decade…but today, they grabbed Josh Phelps from the Orioles. I gather the Orioles weren’t happy. They were planning to use him, but didn’t protect him, I guess because they didn’t think anyone would want him. If NY thinks Phelps can be their 1B, Craig Wilson may still be up for grabs.
The Hamilton thing is interesting. He’s gotten a lot of media attention because of the drug thing. And he was playing for my local team, the Renegades. You have to think at 25, it’s not too late for him. If he stays healthy. And clean.
IIRC, the Reds have only two spots left on their roster. If one goes to Weathers, someone has to be cut to make room for the new Rule 5 acquisitions…right?
Other rumors…the Reds are still interested in a righty 1B, and are considering Mark Loretta, Eduardo Perez, Craig Wilson, Aaron Boone and Shea Hillenbrand.
The Dayton Daily News says the Marlins want Denorfia, but don’t want to trade Sergio Mitre, Jose Garcia, Renyal Pinto or Yusmeiro Petit – the pitchers the Reds have expressed interest in.
Hmm, yeah, I didn’t notice Perez’s OPS against lefties when I looked at his splits. The southpaws seem to walk him a lot. Good catch, Geki.
I don’t see Krivsky trading Dunn to a team in the division, either. If he goes somewhere, it would make more sense to send him to the AL. But…I haven’t found anything recent indicating Reds’ interest in Lopez, perhaps someone will be kind enough to provide a link.
Lopez is an innings-eater, and has had a few good years in Baltimore, along with a few not-so-hot years. He gives up too many homers to suit me. But who knows, if they can resurrect Lohse as a servicable #4 (as they seem to have done, or at least seem to think they’ve done) they might be able to make a servicable #5 out of Lopez, especially when you look at some of the detritus various teams around MLB – including the Reds – tried running out there as their #5 starters last year. Lopez still has some upside at his age. Supposedly the Orioles last year dangled Lopez for Wily Mo, but of course the Reds flipped them the Bird (pun intended) and opted to get Arroyo from the BoSox instead. In any case, no way do I trade Dunn for Lopez, if that’s what the rumor was claiming.
Nolasco, IIRC, was part of the booty Florida got from the Cubs in the trade for Juan Pierre. I’ve never seen him pitch, so I won’t comment on that one.
Finally, I believe Gagne is a Scott Boras client. Around the Reds’ organization, Boras seems to rank somewhere between Adolf Hitler and Vlad the Impaler in popularity. And we already have one closer with a large medical question mark attached to him. I don’t see that one happening.
Perez and Ben Broussard made a pretty productive DH platoon for Cleveland and Seattle last year, as Broussard mashes righties just as well as Perez does lefties. He and Craig Wilson are ideal options in my opinion, Loretta and Boone shouldn’t be considered as anything more than backups (not platoon players), and Hillenbrand should only be used if we can’t land anyone else.
If the Marlins wouldn’t give up Sergio Mitre or Renyel Pinto for Deno, they sure won’t give up Nolasco. I’m higher on Deno than most, but he’s worth more than the Marlins 10th best pitching specs.
I’ve just heard the Reds have interest in Lopez, and while he could experience some success by switching to the NL, he’s simply not a good starter. Him performing like Lohse did last year is probably the best-case scenario, and that seems unlikely. I’d take him, but I wouldn’t really give up anything of value for him and the Orioles want a quality offensive player in return. They’re taking advantage of the current pitching market and trying to get some gold for their own turd. Not worth the effort.
I agree that Gagne is extremely unlikely to happen, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it. Who is the other closer with a large medical question mark, though? Unless you’re talking about Guardado, I don’t know who you’re referring to — and Eddie is pretty much beyond “question mark” at this point.
Oh, and as for the Yanks grabbing Josh Phelps? Good move. I wouldn’t have been opposed to Krivsky taking Phelps to platoon with Hatteberg, honestly. He’s a poor defender, but he’s definitely a solid hitter, especially against lefties. He could potentially be as good as a Wilson or Perez at league minimum salary.
The thing is…the Yanks don’t need another poor-defending first baseman. They have Jason Giambi for that. 😛 They need someone with a good glove…who can hit better than Andy Phillips. I think they want to platoon someone with lefty Aaron Guiel, but Phillips isn’t ideal, because his splits are reversed.
Maybe the scouts think Phelps can improve his defense. Or maybe he’ll meet the fate of the last player the Yanks acquired via Rule 5: cut during spring training.
And the more I think about it, the more I think Hamilton is an odd choice for Rule 5, unless they can work out a deal with the Rays that lets them send him to the minors. He was playing for the Renegades this summer – a short season Class A team. And batting .260. I don’t see how he makes the jump to the majors from there. Are the Reds seriously considering carrying him on the roster all season?
I would guess they’ll either work out a deal with the Rays or they’ll find a reason to sit him on the DL this year. Or maybe he’ll come out and he’ll play well enough in spring training. The man has an insane amount of talent and his sample size last year was miniscule, so he could be able to contribute in the majors as a bench player.
[url=http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/pro/reds/2006/12/07/ddn120806reds.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=35]Tampa thinks[/url] they’ll be getting Hamilton back soon:
[quote]The large hook in this deal is that the Reds must keep the 25-year-old outfielder on their 25-man roster for the entire 2007 season or offer him back to the Devil Rays for $25,000. And the Devil Rays fully expect to get him back.
“At this point of his development, he needs to play, and it will be difficult for him to stick on the Reds roster,” Tampa Bay Executive Vice President Andrew Friedman said. “If we had kept him, he would have played this year at Class A. We fully expect the Reds to offer him back and we’ll take him with open arms.”[/quote]
Or maybe they’re just positioning themselves for trade negotiations…
Wow, it’s quiet here today. Where’s RHM? Hope she’s all right.
Scott Schoeneweis declined arbitration. The Yankees are rumored to be pursuing him. To replace Ron Villone, I guess, if they lose him. (He also declined arbitration.)
RHM has been busy sniffling, sneezing, and coughing the last three days. It’s been pretty miserable at the Mama household.
But, darn it all, I’m getting some content up tonight! I’ll do it even if I run out of vap-o-rub, even if I run ought of cough drops, even if have to blow my nose on my commemorative Reds bottle coozy!
So help me, Arroyo!
Sorry to hear you’re sick. 🙁
Maybe you should just rest tonight. We can entertain ourselves by starting rumors that you got all those germs snogging with cute baseball players at Redsfest…
Oh, BF, they don’t have to be cute… 😛
It’s OK; I can type a little. Just be prepared for the stuff I type to have some errors and not necessarily make a lot of sense. I’ve got a sinus infection, and not being able to breathe through my nose brings my IQ down about 20 points.