Hot Stove News
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by Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook and Etcetera
Hot Stove League News: Glavine to Leave Mets
Tom Glavine may be signing with the Braves even if it is less money than was offered by the Mets when he declined his option. Glavine who finished his 2007 season in probably the worst start of his career gave up 7 runs in a 1/3 of an inning before being pulled. The loss ended any hopes the Mets had of being in the playoffs.
Frank Wren the new Braves GM plans to talk to Glavine next week when free agents can be contacted. Glavine would give the Braves three front line starters along with John Smoltz and Tim Hudson.
Arizona Fall League Statistics
Hitting
Hits - Sam Fuld Braves 36
Doubles - Sam Fuld Braves 9
Triples - Chris Lubanski Royals 3
Home Runs - Juan Miranda Yankees, Caleb Stewart Mets, Nolan Reimold Orioles and Matt LaPorta Brewers 5
Runs Batted In - Matt LaPorta Brewers 20
Total Bases - Sam Fuld Braves 58
Stolen Bases - Brett Gardner Yankees and Eugenio Velez Giants 14
Slugging Percentage - Delwyn Young Dodgers .810
Pitching
Wins - Matt Harrison - Rangers? 5 (may be with Braves unless traded to Rangers)
Losses - Greg Miller Dodgers
ERA - Jake Arrieta 0.00 (no runs in 14 innings)
Earned Runs Allowed - Mike Prochaska Rays and Hayden Penn Orioles 16 (Prochaska and Penn have both allowed 16 earned runs in 17 innings)
Base on Balls - Nick Perreira Giants (13 walks in 24 innings)
Strikeouts - Nick Perreira 26
Saves - Bob McCrory Orioles
Torre Says A-Rod May Join Dodgers
Joe Torre has said that he thinks Alex Rodriguez may join the Dodgers. I still don't believe he will join the Dodgers unless they offer the best deal. His loyalty to Torre only goes so far and if there is a wide gap in what the Dodgers offer and Pirates offer he will go to the Pirates for instance. It will be interesting to see how this scenario with Rodriguez plays out.
It seems like it is mostly West Coast teams that are interested in him. I really don't think A-Rod wants to return to New York under any conditions and is happy to be out of there. In the next few weeks it will be clearer as to which teams would pay the kind of money A-Rod wants and if there is any collusion among teams to hold down the price on A-Rod. To avoid collusion all they need to do is for each team to set what salary they will offer A-Rod and stick with it even if he turns it down. The main thing is that the clubs don't contact each other and set a certain salary that all of them would offer him. That is when collusion charges could be filed.
Johan Santana Could Be Traded
Reports say that Johan Santana may be traded during the offseason by the Twins. It would be a staggering blow for the Twins to lose both Torii Hunter and Santana in the same offseason. The Twins didn't do that well with both of these players last season so losing them would be a disaster unless they could get at least two top of the line players for Santana and one of them would have to be a pitcher.
Whether the Twins would be willing to trade Santana remains to be seen but one thing for sure is that it is highly unlikely he will be signed to a long term contract by the Twins. Twins were disappointed in the second half performance of Justin Morneau who hit only 7 home runs after the All Star game after hitting 24 before the game and drove in 74 runs before the All Star game and only 37 after the game. His slugging percentage was 200 points lower in the second half.
If the Twins lose Santana and Hunter and Morneau doesn't come back from a disappointing second half the Twins will not be a factor in the AL Central race in 2008.
Note: Etcetera portion which is non-baseball related can be read at baseballetcetera.blogspot.com
