Those pitching prospects weren't acquired to develop. They're going to be chips to deal next July at the trade deadline.

Yanks discuss trading right-hander Wright to Orioles

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- The Yankees and Orioles were discussing a deal Saturday that would send Jaret Wright to Baltimore for prospects.

Wright and Yankees teammate Mike Mussina filed provisionally for free agency Saturday, awaiting decisions on team options for 2007.

New York had until Sunday to exercise a $7 million option on Wright, a deal that carries a $4 million buyout. While the Yankees have until Wednesday to decide on Mussina's $17 million option, which has a $1.5 million buyout, the team and the pitcher's agent have been discussing a new two-year contract in the $20 million to $25 million range.

Wright, a right-hander who turns 31 next month, has been a disappointment in two seasons with the Yankees. He was 5-5 with a 6.08 ERA in 2005, when he injured a shoulder and was limited to 13 starts, then went 11-7 with a 4.49 ERA this year, only rarely lasting past the sixth inning.

A trade would leave Chien-Ming Wang and Randy Johnson, coming off back surgery, as the only definite returning starting pitchers for the Yankees, likely to be joined by Mussina. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman admitted Thursday that the team can't count on Carl Pavano, who hasn't pitched for the Yankees since June 2005 because of shoulder, backs, buttocks, elbow and rib injuries.

It was not clear which players the Orioles would send to the Yankees if a deal was struck.

Wright move? O's reportedly to acquire Yanks' righty
ESPN.com news services

Jaret Wright reportedly will be staying in the AL East next season -- but not with the Yankees.



New York will trade the right-handed starting pitcher to the Baltimore Orioles, according to newspaper reports out of New York and Baltimore.

The Baltimore Sun, citing two Orioles sources, is reporting that Baltimore will send reliever Chris Britton to the Yankees for Wright and $4 million, the amount it would have cost the Yankees to buy out Wright's contract.

The trade won't become official until the commissioner's office signs off on the deal, since more than $1 million in cash is being exchanged, the newspaper reported.

Wright, a right-hander who turns 31 next month, has been a disappointment in two seasons with the Yankees. He was 5-5 with a 6.08 ERA in 2005, when he injured a shoulder and was limited to 13 starts, then went 11-7 with a 4.49 ERA this year, only rarely lasting past the sixth inning.

The trade will leave Chien-Ming Wang and Randy Johnson, coming off back surgery, as the only definite returning starting pitchers for the Yankees, likely to be joined by Mike Mussina.

While the Yankees have until Wednesday to decide on Mussina's $17 million option, which has a $1.5 million buyout, the team and the pitcher's agent have been discussing a new two-year contract in the $20 million to $25 million range.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman admitted Thursday that the team can't count on Carl Pavano, who hasn't pitched for the Yankees since June 2005 because of shoulder, backs, buttocks, elbow and rib injuries.

Britton was 0-2 with a 3.35 ERA and one save in 52 games for the Orioles in 2006.

It's all but official...Jaret Wright is G-O-N-E!!!

Thing is, I just don't think A-Rod will be moved in the off-season. I don't know why, but I just have this good feeling of instinct that it just won't.

Hughes? Matsuzaka? Karstens? There are a few more options from within, but the Yankees also have A-Rod and possibly Melky to dangle for teams during this offseason.

I haven't heard anything about Hughest being moved up and again, ESPN is reporting Boston has the high bid for Matsuzaka

Focused on Retooling Rotation, Yanks Deal Wright

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By TYLER KEPNER
Published: November 13, 2006

The baseball off-season, so often a drama in slow motion, is on fast forward for the Yankees. Before he boarded a plane yesterday for the general managers meetings in Naples, Fla., the Yankees’ Brian Cashman had already accomplished more since season’s end than most of his counterparts.
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Richard Perry/The New York Times

Jaret Wright will be reunited in Baltimore with the pitching coach Leo Mazzone.
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Steve Nesius/Associated Press

The Yankees acquired reliever Chris Britton from the Orioles Sunday in the first trade between the teams since 1992.

The Yankees are closing in on a new contract for starter Mike Mussina, they traded outfielder Gary Sheffield to Detroit on Friday, and yesterday they sent starter Jaret Wright to Baltimore for reliever Chris Britton.

“So far, we are being aggressive if something makes sense,” Cashman said. “We’ve made two trades before the G.M. meetings even start; I’ve been with the Yankees for 20 years, and I don’t remember that ever happening. We’re ready and prepared to hit the ground running.”

The Yankees could have let Wright go by paying a $4 million buyout, or brought him back at a $7 million salary. Instead, they found an alternate solution: They sent the $4 million and Wright to the Orioles, who were eager to reunite Wright with the pitching coach Leo Mazzone.

“In this marketplace, there’s value in having a starter for $3 million,” said Jim Duquette, the Orioles’ vice president for baseball operations. “And the last time Leo and Jaret were together, in Atlanta, it was a pretty positive experience. We thought it would be a good chance to get them reunited and hope for similar results.”

Working with Mazzone for the Braves in 2004, Wright went 15-8 with a 3.28 earned run average and piqued the interest of the Yankees, who signed him as a free agent. But his uneven performance over two years — 16-12 with a 4.99 E.R.A. — made him expendable.

Wright’s departure leaves the Yankees thin in the rotation past Chien-Ming Wang and Mussina, whose agent, Arn Tellem, said through a spokeswoman that he and Cashman had been having positive talks.

The Yankees and Mussina have been discussing a two-year contract that would probably pay Mussina about $11 million a season.

“Arn and Brian have had very productive talks and are making very good progress,” said the spokeswoman, Erin Estrada.

Yesterday was the first day teams could make offers to free agents on other teams, and the Yankees will probably try to sign two starters from a market that includes Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt, Jeff Suppan, Ted Lilly, Randy Wolf and Gil Meche.

As for the Japanese starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Yankees have little hope of signing him. Matsuzaka’s team, the Seibu Lions, has not formally accepted the highest bid for his negotiating rights, but the Boston Red Sox are expected to have made it. An announcement could come today.

The courtship of Matsuzaka could begin an aggressive winter for the Red Sox, who are said to have strong interest in J. D. Drew, who opted out of the three years and $33 million remaining on his Los Angeles Dodgers contract. If he signs with Boston, he would replace Trot Nixon in right field.

The Yankees’ lineup is mostly set, with a right-handed-hitting first baseman — Nomar Garciaparra, perhaps — the most pressing need. The rotation is much less stable, with Randy Johnson and Carl Pavano coming off injuries.

But Cashman said the Yankees were comfortable enough with their prospects to let Wright go. He named Jeff Karstens, Darrell Rasner, Phil Hughes, Humberto Sánchez, Tyler Clippard and Steven White as potential options.

“We’ve got a lot of depth to the starting rotation that’s coming from the farm system that will give us some choices,” Cashman said. “The last few days, we’ve shed a lot of payroll. My goal is to obviously reduce the team’s payroll and increase the team’s talent pool in terms of choices and flexibility. Hopefully, these last two deals have done that.”

The trade of Sheffield, which saved the Yankees $13 million, brought two Class A relievers and Sánchez, a Class AAA starter. The Wright trade brings Britton, a right-hander who turns 24 next month and went 0-2 with a 3.35 E.R.A. in 52 games as a rookie.

Britton has struggled with weight issues; he is 6 feet 3 inches and weighed 280 pounds by the end of last season. But he has two minor league options remaining and joins a setup group that includes Brian Bruney, Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth.

“We’re trying to transition to a younger, more flexible roster, and Chris Britton did a nice job last year,” Cashman said. “We feel he could be a long-term asset. We’re trying to be the best we can be in ’07 while trying to improve our long-term hopes as well.”

It was the first trade between the American League East rival Yankees and Orioles since 1992, when the Yankees traded pitcher Alan Mills to Baltimore for prospects. The Yankees had made a deal with every other major league team in the meantime.

“It’s hard to make a trade within the division, and I think they felt similarly,” Duquette said. “You really have to be careful.”

Sources: Red Sox big high of $42M for Matsuzaka

The Red Sox bid $42 million for the right to negotiate with prized Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, sources told ESPN's Peter Gammons. Boston's bid far exceeded any other team's offer.

Matsuzaka will learn Tuesday whether the Seibu Lions have accepted a bid for him by a major league team.


Major League Baseball and the Japanese commissioner's office will make simultaneous announcements at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday (10 a.m. Tokyo time Wednesday), MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said Monday at the big league general managers' meetings.


The amount of the highest bid was forwarded by the major league commissioner's office to the Japanese commissioner's office last Wednesday, and the Lions have until Tuesday to accept. Only if the offer is accepted will the identity of the winning team be revealed.

Matsuzaka, a right-hander who pitched for Japan's World Baseball Classic champions, is considered among the top prospects available this offseason.

If the Lions accept the top bid, the winning bidder has 30 days to reach an agreement with Matsuzaka. If a deal cannot be reached, he would return to the Lions for the 2007 Japanese baseball season and the bid will not be paid.

There are three reasons the deal would make sense for the Red Sox:

• Talent evaluators who have seen Matsuzaka say he's a top of the rotation-quality pitcher who would improve the Red Sox staff.

• If Boston signs him it would effectively plant a Red Sox flag in the growing Far East market.

• By merely winning the bidding the Red Sox would block the Yankees from acquiring Matsuzaka. By signing him, they would gain the same kind of advantage the Yankees gained when they signed Johnny Damon away from Boston.

Source: ESPN

A resounding F*CK!

If (or rather when) boston signs Matsuzaka, do you think boston will be the favorites to win the AL East AND the World Series? You've gotta admit, that pitching staff will look pretty deadly with Schilling, Matsuzaka, Beckett, Papelbon, etc.

No way.

Schilling's best days are behind him;Matsuzaka is unproven in the big leagues; Papelbon has to do it again to convince me he's good; and Beckett didn't impress last year.

I really thought at the beginning of last season that the Sox didn't have the talent to make the post-season.

It seems to me that the Yankees and Red Sox habitually make moves that are motivated by the need to spite each other that they lose focus on the essential ingredients necessary to put together a complementary team.

If (or rather when) boston signs Matsuzaka, do you think boston will be the favorites to win the AL East AND the World Series? You've gotta admit, that pitching staff will look pretty deadly with Schilling, Matsuzaka, Beckett, Papelbon, etc.

Favorites to win the AL East and World Series? Bah. They aren't even favorites to win the AL Wild Card. I wouldn't be surprised if they missed the playoffs again entirely.

I agree. Boston has their long-awaited ring. They spend as much as the Yankees. I'm sorry, but they don't have shit to call anything on the Yankees anymore.

Good, another sign-up for the Yankee Pension Fund.

Is it me, or was Irishman earlier trying to hype up the fucked Red Sox's chances in 2007, just to say that, when they do fail, that the "Red Cocks" can't cut the mustard with the Yankees?

Still, $51 million for just the right to negotiate with this unproven pitcher? That's like spending $100 on a phone call to order up a $20 blowjob. Its silly.

The problem I have with Boston fans is when they cry poormouth about how they can't compete with the Yankee payroll, blah blah blah. Well, they just spent $51 million to negotiate with a free agent. It doesn't get any more egregious than that.