Astros vote themselves off Beltran Island 

Posted 9:09 AM by Sean
The Astros have reportedly made Carlos Beltran a 5-year, $70-million offer, which sounds like a pretty good starting point for negotiations - except that, as his former team, they only have until midnight tonight to sign him or lose negotiating rights until May 1 (ditto Clemens and Kent). Beltran, meanwhile, insists that he's waiting for the best deal to come along, meaning the Astros' offer is essentially a fig leaf so the team can tell the fans it made a reasonable offer without actually having to pony up the kind of contract they know Beltran will eventually sign (best guess: 8 years at $15 million per).

Once tonight's deadline expires, that will leave the Phillies, Orioles, Angels, Yankees, Mets, Mariners, and Cubs as the teams "actively" pursuing Beltran, with the Red Sox and maybe one or two others lurking in the shadows. The long-anticipated Moreno-Steinbrenner cash throwdown may soon be upon us.

Andrade gone 

Posted 8:51 AM by Sean
26-year-old RHP Steve Andrade has been claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays.

Andrade never made the big club with Anaheim. In 2004, he began the year at Salt Lake, but was demoted to Arkansas after posting a 4.61 ERA in 13.2 innings of relief (15 H, 8 BB, 17 K). In Arkasnas, he gave up 37 hits in 48 innings pitched, had a nice 2.44 ERA, walked 12 and struck out 59. I'm frankly not sure why this was allowed to happen, unless Andrade was out of options. A few minutes' poking around finds no mention of such. He's performed pretty well at every level of the minors, and the Angels are going to need at least a couple of guys to step up and perform well in the pen over the next couple of years.

McP an "early contender for '05 Rookie of the Year" 

Posted 12:25 PM by Sean
John Sickels's Down on the Farm report on Dallas McPherson is encouraging. Bottom line: "If he develops as expected, the Angels won't miss Glaus, at least not enough to compensate for the amount of money it would take to keep him. McPherson's strikeouts do add a risk premium to his profile, but the upside is very high."

I have a feeling that spring training '05 is going to be pretty interesting, what with Figgins, McPherson, DaVanon, Izturis, Morales, Quinlan, and Rivera all trying to stand out from the crowd. If they're not all traded, that is.