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December 10, 2012

Rumor Roundup

Monday, December 10

by Daniel Rathman

Ned Colletti and Dayton Moore stayed busy after returning from Nashville: The former reeled in Zack Greinke and Ryu Hyun-Jin over the weekend, and the latter snagged James Shields and Wade Davis from the Rays late Sunday night, sending a Wil Myers-led batch of prospects to Tampa Bay. While Moore’s rotation overhaul is largely complete, Colletti’s is expected to continue over the coming days and weeks.

Need a starting pitcher? Call the Dodgers, who may not be done yet
If you include the $27.5 million posting fee the Dodgers paid last month for the right to negotiate with Ryu, their combined outlay for Greinke and the Korean lefty comes to $208 million. Los Angeles now has five starting pitchers that are guaranteed seven-figure salaries for the 2013 season, and that count does not include Ryu, Aaron Harang, or Chris Capuano—not to mention any future additions, such as Anibal Sanchez or Kyle Lohse, who reportedly are still on Colletti’s radar. As you can infer from those numbers, and as CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman tweeted in the wake of the Greinke signing on Saturday, Harang and Capuano should not get too comfortable in Chavez Ravine.

Both Harang and Capuano were signed to two-year deals with third-year options last offseason, and while those back-loaded pacts were panned at the time, they now give Colletti an opportunity to restock a farm system that took a hit in August. The 2013 Dodgers roster appears set, at least in terms of players that Colletti could obtain in return, with the exception of the bench, which lacks thump. With both of those factors in mind, Colletti is likely to focus on minor leaguers in talks for his expendable starters, who are due $7 million and $6 million, respectively, next season.

One possible trade partner, the Royals, came off the board on Sunday, but while Harang (0.4 WARP)—whose walk rate has steadily hiked, from 7.5 percent in 2010 to 8.1 percent in 2011 to 10.8 percent in 2012—could prove difficult to move, Capuano (1.3 WARP) should draw plenty of interest as the free-agent crop thins. The Brewers, who last week considered shedding Corey Hart to create room in their budget for a starter, are a potential match, especially if the Dodgers are willing to cover salary to obtain a better prospect. The Twins, who added Vance Worley from the Phillies in the Ben Revere trade, could also use another starter, and Minnesota offers the pitcher-friendly ballpark to mask Harang’s and Capuano’s middling stuff.

With Greinke now a Dodger and Shields now a Royal, the stage is set for Sanchez, Lohse, and company, in the same way that B.J. Upton becoming a Brave and Denard Span becoming a National paved the way for the center-field market to develop at the Winter Meetings. The Dodgers’ trade chips are a useful alternative for general managers that fail to secure one of the second- and third-tier free agents, but they are unlikely to interest the team most affected by the weekend’s biggest signing and trade.

The Rangers moved on to Plan B… and now, on to Plan C
When Rangers GM Jon Daniels learned that Greinke had chosen the Dodgers, he turned his attention to Shields. But, among the other reasons Andrew Friedman had for pulling the trigger with the Royals on Sunday night, the Rays GM may have preferred Myers to any of the prospects—most notably infielder Mike Olt—that Daniels had put on the table. Now, as CBS Sports’ Danny Knobler tweeted hours after the Shields deal broke, Daniels and the Rangers have reached a crossroads.