Rumors for January, 2010
Florida Marlins agree with Dan Uggla, Anibal Sanchez and Renyel Pinto on one-year deals
Posted by: | CommentsThe Florida Marlins avoided salary arbitration by signing three players to one-year contract. The Marlins inked second baseman Dan Uggla, RHP Anibal Sanchez and LHP Renyel Pinto.
According to Joe Firsaro of MLB.com, Uggla, 29, signed a one-year, $7.8 million deal. “It feels good to get this out of the way,” Uggla said. “I can’t say that I’m going to for sure be a Marlin, because no one knows that. But I feel with the situation I’m in, I’m happy to be with the Marlins. I love it down there. They worked really well with me to come to an agreement, so I don’t have to go to an arbitration hearing. So I’m happy.” It was speculated that Uggla was going to be traded this winter to teams such as the Giants or Braves. You can see Uggla’s complete contract details and statistics here.
Sanchez, 26 in February, was 4-8 with a 3.87 ERA in 16 game starts with the Marlins in 2009. Sanchez will make $1.25 million, and he can earn another $100,000 for games started in 2010. You can see Sanchez’s contract history and statistics here.
Pinto, 27, was 4-1 with a 3.23 ERA in 73 games with the Marlins in 2009. You can see Pinto’s contract history and statistics here.
Indians acquire infielder Brian Bixler from Pirates
Posted by: | CommentsAnthony Castrovince of MLB.com reports that the Cleveland Indians have acquired middle infielder Brian Bixler from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday. In return for Bixler, the Indians sent Minor League third baseman Jesus Brito.
| Team | Acquires |
| Indians | INF Brian Bixler |
| Pirates | 3B Jesus Brito |
Bixler, 27, played parts of two seasons with the Pirates. He has a career .178 batting average with a .238 on-base percentage and 5 home runs. He was the Indian’s second-round selection in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft. You can see Bixler’s contract history and statistics here.
Brito had a combined .353 batting average with a .998 OPS with short-season Mahoning Valley and the Indians’ Arizona League team last year.
10 ways Major League Baseball is pitching in for the Haiti disaster relief
Posted by: | CommentsOn a more serious note, I’d like to bring your attention to the crisis in Haiti. On January 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Haiti. MLB Secrets encourages everyone to assist in the disaster relief. We encourage everybody to donate to UNICEF or donate to CARE. You can do so by clicking on this link and donating through Google.
Here are a few ways that Major League Baseball and its teams are pitching in to help those in need in Haiti:
- Commissioner Bud Selig and MLB will donate $1 million to UNICEF which will provide the necessary supplies, clean water and sanitation, medical supplies and temporary shelter.
- The Cubs set up a booth at the 25th annual Cubs Convention to collection donations from people. Every dollar will be matched by both Cubs Charities and the Ricketts family, the team’s new owners.
- The Giants and the Giants Community Fund are auctioning off: (1) 10 pitches from a Giants starting pitcher, (2) private meeting with Tim Lincecum and (3) private hitting instruction with Pablo Sandoval and hitting coach Hensley Muelens.
- The Angels are participating in “Hope For Haiti”: three “drive-through” fund raising events that will raise money for Haiti.
- The Yankees are donating $500,000 in support of rescue and relief efforts.
- David Ortiz has ordered a collection of canned goods, water and other goods.
- Miguel Tejada was preparing a container van with emergency supplies that would be sent to Haiti. This included water, canned food, medicine, powdered milk and kids’ clothes. He encourages all of his MLB colleagues, particularly Dominicans, to step up and help the victims.
- The Reds have asked fans to bring clothing and personal-care items for Haitian children to Cincinnati’s National Underground Railroad Freedom Center on Monday
- The Blue Jays, Rogers Communications and the Rogers family have announced a mobile giving campaign that allows customers to donate funds. Additionally, they are donating $250,000 in funds and goods to the Partners in Health organization for the recovery process.
- Blue Jays reliever Dirk Hayhurst (Twitter), has created a personal fundraising page through the MercyCorps organization and is giving away a Roy Halladay-signed ball as enticement.
Information for this article came from MLB.com.
Jim Edmonds Rumors: Wants to play for the Cardinals in 2010
Posted by: | CommentsOn Sunday night, former Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds said he wants to come and play for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2010. At Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation event Edmunds went on stage and said , “I’m challenging him (La Russa) to let me come back and play for the Cardinals again for free.”
Edmonds has not played since September 2008 for the Chicago Cubs. However, according to Matthew Leach of MLB.com, the Cardinals are in need of a backup center fielder and a left-handed bat off the bench.
It is not known if Edmonds was joking or if he was serious. A couple of weeks ago, La Russa suggested that Mark McGwire may be put on the active roster come mid-season if the Cardinals are in contention, but he was only joking. La Russa nor GM John Mozeliak did not comment about Edmonds after the event ended.
Edmunds, 39, has a .284 career batting average with 382 home runs in 16 Major League seasons. You can see Edmund’s contract history and statistics here.
Jim Thome Rumors: A fit for the Rays, Tigers or White Sox?
Posted by: | CommentsScott Merkin of MLB.com writes an article about Jim Thome and where he may work for the 2010 season.
Merkin says that the Tampa Bay Rays are the best fit for Thome, 39. He could split time with former Phillies’ teammate Pat Burrell at DH.
The Tigers and the White Sox would be candidates for Thome since neither one has one set hitter at the DH position. Both teams are going with a DH-by-committee situation. Other teams that need a full-time designated hitter include the Orioles, Indians, Royals, Mariners and Blue Jays.
If Thome does not have a job by the start of Spring Training, he will sit down with his family and assess the next move. Thome said, “I’ve been blessed to do this a long time. I know I’m getting into the twilight of my career, but I don’t want to sit there and say I’m going play another year or two. The bottom line is you just want to keep playing if you can keep playing and not really put a number of years out there.”
Thome is a career .277 hitter with 564 home runs and 1565 RBIs. You can see Thome’s contract history and statistics here.
Jerry Hairston Jr. Rumors: Reunite with brother in San Diego?
Posted by: | CommentsKen Rosenthal of FOXSports reports that the San Diego Padres are close to signing a one-year contract with free agent infielder Jerry Hairston Jr. The deal is expected to pay Hairston Jr. more than $2 million.
If the deal goes through, he will be united with his brother Scott Hairston, who was acquired by the Padres from the A’s last week.
Hairston Jr., 33, hit 10 home runs, drove in 39 RBI’s and had a .251 batting average with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees in 2009. He had a salary of $2 million. You can see Hairston Jr’s contract history and statistics here.
MLB Rumors according to Buster Olney: A. Gonzalez, Giambi, Damon, Rabelo
Posted by: | CommentsToday’s article from Buster Olney of ESPN The Magazine reveals a few predictions, moves, deals and decisions:
- Olney believes the San Diego Padres will trade Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell before the July 31 deadline to get the maximum value for the two veterans.
- The Rockies are staying in contact with free agent Jason Giambi, but they are considering their other options first. You can see this article about the Rockies’ interest for Robb Quinlan and Fernando Tatis.
- The Tigers are not interested in Johnny Damon.
- Blue Jays’ GM Alex Anthopoulos will play hardball and plans to take their arbitration-eligible players all the way through the process if they cannot come to an agreement by Tuesday. The list includes: Shaun Marcum, Jason Frasor, Brian Tallet, Casey Janssen, Shawn Camp and Jeremy Accardo.
- Catcher Mike Rabelo signed a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers (his former team) and will compete for the team’s number 2 catcher’s position.
Rocco Baldelli Rumors: Cubs and Yankees interested
Posted by: | CommentsThe St. Petersburg Times reports that the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs are interested in free agent outfielder Rocco Baldelli.
Pete Caldera of northjersey.com suggests that Baldelli would fill the Yankees’ need for a corner outfielder/right-handed hitter and should fit within their hard budget of $2 million.
Baldelli, 28, hit .253 with 7 home runs and 23 RBIs in 62 games in his only season with the Boston Red Sox. He made $500,000 in base salary in 2009. You can see Baldelli’s contract history and statistics here.
