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Around Baseball: Mariners Finalize Deal With Figgins; Yanks On Verge Of Adding Granderson; Other News
By Administrator | December 8, 2009
Atlanta: A day after reliever Rafael Soriano (unexpectedly) accepted the Braves offer of arbitration, the club designated OF Ryan Church for assignment to make room for Soriano on the 40-man roster.
Baltimore: According to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, Atlanta may flip Rafael Soriano to the Orioles (who are looking for a closer).
Florida: ESPNDallas.com’s Richard Durrett reports that the Texas Rangers offered the Marlins top prospects Justin Smoak and Neftali Feliz to Florida in exchange for right-hander Josh Johnson. This sounds like another one of those ridiculous hot stove rumors: as good as Johnson is, the Rangers would be CRAZY to trade major-league-ready talents like Smoak (1B) and Feliz (a hard-throwing righty who is a potential closer) for a pitcher with a questionable injury history.
Minnesota: The Twins designated pitcher Boof Bonser for assignment to make room for SP Carl Pavano on their 40-man roster.
New York Yankees: The Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers are on the verge of completing a three-team deal that will send CF Curtis Granderson to the Bronx.
While Granderson is the biggest name in the trade, the Diamondbacks will get exactly what they need (a pair of major-league-ready starting pitchers) while the Tigers will receive a bevy of high-ceiling prospects.
According to published reports, Arizona will get RHP Edwin Jackson (from Detroit) and LHP Ian Kennedy (from NY)… meanwhile, Detroit will receive four excellent prospects: Yankees top prospect (CF Austin Jackson), Yankees left-handed reliever Phil Coke, and Arizona fireballers Max Scherzer (a starter) and Daniel Schlereth (a potential closer).
If the trade goes down as reported, I REALLY like the Tigers haul in this deal.
Seattle: Former LA Angels infielder Chone Figgins has finalized a four-year, $36 million contract with the Mariners. The deal also includes a vesting option for 2014 that could make the total value of the contract worth $45 million over five years.
While Figgins was primarily a third baseman during the last three seasons, he has played 140 games at second base and shortstop… so it is possible that the Mariners could still re-sign 3B Adrian Beltre and then choose to move the 31-year-old to 2B (the M’s would LOVE to move incumbent Jose Lopez) or LF (which was a revolving door in 2009).
Figgins doesn’t seem to care where he plays, but it appears he has his heart set on hitting second in the Mariners batting order: “I was just personally thinking that Ichiro (Suzuki) is obviously one of the best leadoff hitters in the game. He’s able to do what he’s doing in the one-spot, so I figure with me plugged into the two-spot, being a little more patient at the plate, it makes an even more dangerous tandem.”
Texas: Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan has acknowledged that he has joined in a bid by Chuck Greenberg to purchase the Rangers. The current Rangers VP said that he would not work for Dennis Gilbert’s group if Gilbert ends up running the baseball operations for the ballclub.
Washington: Reports are swirling that C Pudge Rodriguez is on the verge of signing a two-year, $6 million contract with the Nationals.
Topics: Around Baseball |
