Yankees Sign Burnett, May Be Out on Lowe

In an e-mail from ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, I asked him if he thought the Yankees would still be in on Derek Lowe now that they have signed AJ Burnett. His response…

I don’t think the Yankees want to make another long-term commitment for a pitcher. They’d like to bring in Andy Pettitte or (if that doesn’t work out) Ben Sheets on a short contract. But after investing $243 million in two guys, I don’t think they want to spend $60 million more on Lowe.

I’m not sure how Lowe’s market is going to shake out. The Red Sox would only be interested if he comes cheap, the Phillies just spent $30 million on Raul Ibanez today, and the Dodgers don’t expect to bring him back.

Everybody thought the Braves were the likeliest fit, but they’re not interested.

To me, that leaves the Mets as the best fit for Lowe. But I don’t think he’s going to sign for anything close to what Burnett received.

The Angels Put the Bill Stoneman Era Behind Them

Welcome to the top of the heap, Angels fans. Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Mark Teixeira is heading to Orange County for Casey Kotchman and Stephen Marek. This is a great move by the Angels, and I want to thank them for proving me wrong when I said earlier on this very blog that they wouldn’t pull the trigger. In the era of former GM Bill Stoneman, they never traded for anyone. They finally got some lineup protection for Vlad Guerrero, and if they lose Teixeira, oh well, they get two first round picks next year. For the Braves, they get a proven commodity in Kotchman to play first base, something they need, and he will be under their control for 3 years. Beers all around….

Manny To Mets Still Viable?

Updated 11:50 am- According to Gotham Baseball Magazine, one potential replacement for manny could be Pittsburgh’s Jason Bay. The Pirates would want minor league catcher George Kottaras in a package for Bay, the Red Sox would want Mets phenom Fernando Martinez. Yet another win, win, win (except for the Mets farm system, yeesh). Also, Bay would be under Red Sox control until after next year.

11:10 am-According to the Newark Star-Ledger, the Mets have contacted the Red Sox about disgruntled slugger Manny Ramirez, as it appears Omar Minaya wants him more than Mets management. I have no clue what the Mets could offer at this point(maybe Fernando Martinez), but Ramirez in a lineup with Wright and a red-hot Delgado couldn’t hurt. On the flip side, the Mets can also pick up his option for next season at 20 mil if they decide to keep him, so this would not have to be a rent-a-player philosophy. If the Red Sox do trade Man-Ram, I also wonder if that puts them back in the Teixeira race, and moves Kevin Youkilis to left field. If the Red Sox talk to Atlanta, and say figure out what the Braves might want from the Mets farm system, they could take the Manny haul and turn that into Teixeira. If Big Tex leaves at the end of the year, the Red Sox are compensated with 2 #1 picks in next years draft, and a farm system as deep as the Red Sox can afford that kind of turnover. If the Red Sox are serious about being done with Manny, and want to stop taking years off of Terry Francona’s life, they need to move this guy within the next 48 hours. Keep in mind though, if something changes withing the next couple of weeks, the Red Sox could conceivably trade Manny next month during the waiver-deadline, because I find it unlikely someone will claim him on waivers. Maybe Ted Thompson could trade Brett Favre for Manny?

Tuesday-7/31/07

The MLB non-waiver trade deadline is at 4pm est today, I will be on until 5 trying to keep things updated as fast as I can. Things we know right now….
-The Octavio Dotel to Atlanta deal is not done yet, and may not be. Looks like someone jumped the gun on that one. www.MLBtraderumors.com is reporting that the deal was Kyle Davies for Dotel. Kind of surprised Dayton Moore hasn’t gone for that already…
-Eric Gagne will be the biggest name bandied about, and Gordon Edes of the Boston Herald thinks the Sox are in the lead. Two problems with that include the Sox unwillingness to trade any of their good prospects for him and that Gagne has a no trade veto in effect for Boston. I personally think they are longshots, but that is just me.
-Joe Blanton was nearly traded to the Dodgers last night, but although the package they offered was pretty good, it wasn’t quite up to Billy Beane’s standards, at least for now. This could be a deal like the Teixeira to Atlanta one, where Beane takes the Jon Daniels approach and makes sure this is the best offer out there.
-Thank god Peter Gammons was able to recover from brain surgery last year. Not only because he seems like a good man and is pretty knowledgeable, but if I had had to go through another trade deadline with Steve Phillips being the main guy I would have lost it. If Phillips actually thinks a trade is good or was good, would a GM have the right to change his mind? This is like that episode of Seinfeld when George does everything the opposite of how he would normally do it. If gm’s around baseball did this, I don’t think a single one of them would get fired.

Watched two great games last night in Blue Jays-D’Rays and Angels-Mariners. The early game was pretty good in a sense that it was fairly well pitched, the D’Rays came back in the late innings to tie it up at 4. Both teams had their chances late, with the Rays’ Brendan Harris getting thrown out at home when John McDonald kept a ball form going to the outfield. Apparently the Rays gave Harris the green light because Carl Crawford, who had come into the game to pinch run, was due up next and was still battling a sore wrist. The Jays loaded them up in the top of the 11th but couldn’t push one across, which is an amazing feat against the Rays pen. Crawford of course led off the bottom of the inning with an opposite field shot to win it, so apparently the wrist wasn’t too bad.

Angels-Mariners was highlighted by the pitching duel between Kelvim Escobar, who went the distance for the Halos, and Miguel (Bernie Williams long lost twin brother) Batista. Batista was bailed out in the fourth when with the bases loaded and two out, Vlad Guerrero hit a screaming liner into left that Raul Ibanez was just able to keep from hitting the ground. The Angels never really mounted another threat. The interesting part of this game was watching fans making signs imploring M’s broadcaster Mike Blowers to send them rally fries (have no idea what that’s all about). Two 12 year-olds ended up getting them in the 8th inning, apparently paid for by FSN Northwest. They should do this for Sox games and Jerry Remy could send the winners down a pack of Marlboro Reds. (Rally Smokes anyone?)

Saw Roger Clemens At+T cell phone commercial last night, the dropped call one where he asks his wife if it’s ok to come back and play. Freakin hilarious.

I wonder how many frequent flier miles Erin Andrews has racked up. She is everywhere. That’s not a bad thing either.

A quick hit on the Kevin Garnett trade. It’s expected to be finalized today or tomorrow and should include Ryan Gomes and two #1 picks on top of the base deal reported yesterday. Apparently the only thing holding it up is the extension talks between Boston and Garnett’s agent Andy Miller. It’s going to be nice to have the Celts relevant again.

RIP Bill Walsh, a man who changed the game of football as we know it and by all accounts was a great person as well. I watched the America’s Game on the 88 49ers, and he came off very well in that, not only as a coach but as a person. Condolences to not only the Walsh family, but the Stanford and 49er families he left behind as well.