Glavine meets with the Braves, may sign elsewhere today

[nyy26wc]

1) Tom Glavine had a 6 hour meeting with the Braves yesterday that did not go well. Barring a late change by either party, the Braves seem out of the running. Meanwhile, the hot rumor is Glavine will decide today between either the Phillies or Mets.

2) The Yankees have re-signed free agent 3B Robin Ventura to a 1 year, $5 million contract, contingent on his passing his physical.

After -6 RCAA/.777 OPS and 1 RCAA/.778 OPS seasons with the Mets, Ventura hit .458 SLG, .368 OBA, .826 OPS, 14 RCAA in 141 games. He has a .812 career OPS, compared to his league average of .761, and 162 RCAA in 1839 games.

3) The Cubs-Dodgers trade was completed, with a couple of additions. The Cubs traded C Todd Hundley and OF Chad Hermansen to the Dodgers for 1B Eric Karros, 2B Mark Grudzielanek and $2 million.

Hermansen was once a Pirates prospect, but they lost interest when he never got hot in the small sample sizes he was given in the majors. He hit .376 SLG, .276 OBA, .651 OPS, -13 RCAA in 100 games in 2002 (first 65 with the Pirates), the first time he played more than 33 games. Hermansen has a .601 career OPS, compared to his league average of .777, and -34 RCAA in 174 games.

4) The Orioles named Jim Beattie as Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and Mike Flanagan was named Vice President of Baseball Operations. The two will share the GM duties.

According to Beattie, the Orioles are not interested in Frank Thomas. It looks like Thomas is staying with the Whitesox.

5) The Cubs placed INF Chris Stynes on irrevocable waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release.

After 15 RCAA/.732 OPS and -10 RCAA/.732 OPS seasons, Stynes hit .374 SLG, .314 OBA, .688 OPS, -6 RCAA in 98 games. He has a .746 career OPS, compared to his league average of .775, and -17 RCAA in 616 games.

6) The Yankees signed OF Chris Latham to a 1 year contract. He'll make $400,000 in the majors, $100,000 in the minors.

Latham had a .544 OPS/-16 RCAA in 106 games with the 1997-99 Twins and 2001 BlueJays.

7) Astros P Brad Lidge had surgery to repair cartilage in his left knee and is expected to be ready for spring training.

Lidge had a 6.23 ERA/-2 RSAA in his first 6 major league games (1 start).

8) The Tigers signed 2B Warren Morris to a minor league contract.

Morris was 0 for 7 in 4 games with the Twins and has a .715 career OPS, compared to his league average of .794, and -37 RCAA in 343 games. Morris was the Pirates starting 2B in 1999-2000.

9) According to ESPN.com, "ESPN's Peter Gammons reported Wednesday night that Phil Nevin invoked his no-trade clause and shut down a possible trade to Cincinnati for Griffey. Also Wednesday, Reds GM Jim Bowden told the Cincinnati Enquirer, "We have not had trade talks with the Padres." However, multiple reports indicate there were discussions, although they seem to be dead at this point. Wednesday, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported the teams had discussed the deal, quoting Padres GM Kevin Towers as saying only, "No comment," but not denying the talks."

According to the Cincinnati Post, Reds GM Jim Bowden doesn't have the authority to trade Griffey, without prior permission from owner Carl Lindner.

10) According to the NY Daily News, the Mets are interested trading for Joe Randa and declining arbitration to Edgardo Alfonzo.

11) According to the Detroit Free Press, the Tigers don't plan on offering arbitration to free agent P Juan Acevedo.

12) According to the LA Daily News, Shawn Green says he'll move to 1B, if the team asks him to do it. Meanwhile, the paper reports Dodgers GM Dan Evans has spoken to Cliff Floyd's agent a few times in the past few weeks, but in order to sign him, they want to cut more payroll.

While there are rumors that Jeff Kent is going to the Dodgers, that paper reports it's not likely, with Evans saying the team is willing to have prospect Joe Thurston get a shot at winning the starting 2B job.

13) Angels CF Darin Erstad will have surgery today on his right hand and is expected to be ready for spring training.

14) According to Expos President Tony Tavares, "Both of these players [Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon] will be in the last year of their contracts in 2003 and free agents afterward, and like any other club, we'll see what it takes to lock them up. If we can't . . . well, like anybody else, it can have an adverse effect on a team to keep around two players in that position."

15) According to the Toronto Globe, the BlueJays are interested in Giants P Russ Ortiz.

[KCBOOMER]

Originally posted by nyy26wc
1) Tom Glavine had a 6 hour meeting with the Braves yesterday that did not go well. Barring a late change by either party, the Braves seem out of the running.

10) According to the NY Daily News, the Mets are interested trading for Joe Randa and declining arbitration to Edgardo Alfonzo.

1) I don't know why the Braves even wasted their time talking to Glavine. He wants four years at staff ace dollars and the Braves know that isn't a smart move.

2) Go Mets!

[Dr. Bob]

So, who should the Royals ask for in return for Randa? I'd be willing to bet they'd ask for Rey Ordonez and Jeromy Burnitz...

[gyb13]

Originally posted by KCBOOMER
1) I don't know why the Braves even wasted their time talking to Glavine. He wants four years at staff ace dollars and the Braves know that isn't a smart move.

there had been speculation that Glavine would've been willing to come back to the Braves on a 3-yr deal and that he was using the other teams as leverage....of course, there has been speculation about everything...