Washburn to Detroit
Dave · July 31, 2009 at 9:07 am · Filed Under Mariners
For Luke French and Mauricio Robles.
Awesome. French is Washburn – a strike throwing flyball lefty who fits Safeco perfectly and should slide in as a nice back-end starter. He just doesn’t cost any money, and we have him for the next six years. That they threw in Robles, a 20-year-old lefty with a ton of strikeouts in A-ball, is just gravy.
This is a fantastic deal. The M’s didn’t even get worse. It’s 50-50 on who pitches better the next two months, French or Washburn. And, of course, we get to keep French next year without paying anything for him.
Sweet, sweet deal.
Yes, yes and YES! I have nothing more.
woohoo! I like it! Any word on how Robles projects down the line?
What is French’s arsenal of pitches and what kind of velocity are we talking about?
I agree. Love to see the M’s offloading some salary, while picking up Robles and Manuel to replace the three arms we sent to the Pirates. I’m interested in seeing where French lands in the rotation, though. After yesterday’s performance by Olsen, I’m willing to bet he’ll at least take his spot, if not the next one up.
This is fantastic. I couldn’t be more excited.
Great move. Don’t stop there Jack. Adrian Gonzalez is available.
Detroit fans, for the majority, think we got fleeced. I couldn’t disagree more.
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
The little “doubtfulness” I have about Z after the Wilson trade is gone. GO JACK Z!!
This guy in Detroit thinks Robles is going to be really good.
Farewell sweet prince.
Detroit fans, for the majority, think Washburn is as good as his ERA. As well, to the casual fan, a veteran name is more valuable and more reliable than a couple of prospects who haven’t done anything yet. We know Washburn will be good, who knows about this 24 year old kid.
The M’s gave up nothing useful and got something. Easy win.
A reasonable starting pitcher under club control for 6 years, for 2 months of Washburn! This is as good as the betancourt trade.
Robles is short (5′10″), so superficially at least there’s some similarity to Derrick Saito from the Betancourt trade. At any rate, what with these two coming in and the guys leaving for Wilson and Snell, we’re clearly not in the Bob Fontaine era of favoring tall pitchers any more.
From what I have been reading, he’s a very young Washburn under club control for what, 6 years? This was a GREAT trade. Sounds like the Robles kid has tremendous upside. High K rate. What’s no to like?
True, we gave up three arms to get Wilson and Snell, but then he lands these two young, high upside kids? We also have to remember the two promising pitchers we got for Yuni (how on earth did Jack pull that one off???). What’s not to love about watching Zduriencik work his stuff? Trade deadline is actually fun and exciting now. Thanks Jack!
From Eric Karabell’s column at ESPN.com:
Shouldn’t Detroit fans be worried about Washburn without a great outfield defense behind him? We saw what a difference just having Ibanez out of the OF has made for Washburn.
Is Detroit’s OF D on par with Seattle’s?
Nice. Robles sounds better than any of the pitching prospects we gave up in the Jack Wilson trade.
That’s not Karabell’s column, you’re confused by the fact that they show his picture and a link to his column in the box. He’s a fantasy baseball guy, so there’s absolutely no reason to pay attention to him. As the story itself notes, Gammons is the source here, while the full story is a combination of Jayson Stark and the AP.
That Z would listen to offers for Felix is sweet.
He’d give up Felix for the right price. That price is just very high.
It’s really nice to have a GM with the cahones to not even bother calling back the Yankees. With our previous GMs it always felt like we were dealing from a position of weakness. This feels totally different and I like it.
I am very very happy that we made a move, and I like French as a potential 4th starter, and if Robles develops a secondary pitch then hes going to be fine, despite being a bit of a pitching midget.
I just can’t help but wonder if the value woulda been a lot higher had they made the move 2 weeks ago, but thats ok. Good job, Mr. General Manager.
This trade is great for both sides. As an avid Detroit fan, I can say that Frenchy is a big guy who throws a nice slider and isn’t afraid to work inside.
Washburn will fit in well in Detroit. Comerica is spacious and Curtis Granderson is even better than Guti. Hopefully that will make up for Maggs in right… he’s gonna like the run support better there, that’s for sure.
THE BUS IS GONE!!! Woo hoo!!
Screw the Yankees, there’s no need to help those dirty cheaters. I will miss Wash, but Dr. Z just got a great deal for 2 more months(possibly) of Washburn.
great move, makes us that much better for next year
The more I look at this trade, the more and more I like it. And I liked it the second I saw it.
Robles really excites me. So young, tons of K’s, good fastball, improving command. Kinda small, but I am not a believer that that even matters. Size doesn’t mean anything for me.
Jack Z… you are my favorite Mariners (aside from Felix, but if you lock him up for years to come, then you can pass him up) haha
Thank you Jack! I could not be happier with this trade.
Shannon Drayer dropped an interesting tidbit this morning too:
The plot thickens…
Excellent move.
This was a good trade for both teams. Detroit does get better for 2 – 3 more months, and we get better in the long term. Heck, this was about as good as we could have hoped for, and the Detriot fans are right to be excited for their playoff run.
Great trade. I don’t think French is anywhere near the pitcher Washburn is but for the price and years of control, he’s definitely more valuable.
6′4″/220lb leftie, upper 80s fastball, good slider and change. Strong platoon split, and lots of flyballs. Ought to be helped tremendously by Safeco and our outfield defense.
Robles looks better than any of the 3 pitchers we gave up for Snell/Wilson.
A very nice haul for a pitcher who effectively had zero value to us.
I don’t think you will find many people here who agree with this.
I have a gut feeling that one of Mark Lowe, David AA, or Branyan is headed out. Maybe I am just hungry and my gut is giving out false signals.. haha
Good trade for the M’s, this would potentially give us a starting rotation next year that looks something like Felix/Snell/Rowland-Smith/French/Morrow assuming Jack Z doesn’t try to resign Bedard, meaning our oldest starter would be Snell at 29 which is exactly what you want for a rebuilding franchise. This trade does however raise the question of what the GM will do to get the power bat the M’s unquestionably still need now that he has moved his most valuable trade commodity for pitching.
Also, looks like Boston got Victor Martinez. The Indians are going to be SCARY in 2011 or 2012.
That need is not unquestionable.
Peter Gammons says the Mariner turned down at least a dozen offers for Felix
Harold Reynolds just said that Mike Sweeney has drawn interest and could be traded. That has to be crap.
Maybe if you give Granderson a 5 second head start or Guti has two broken legs, that’s about the only way this statement is true.
Thought this was funny from a Detroit comment board:
Next post:
According to Dave, Detroit didn’t really even get better.
Can someone comment on French and how his K rate in AAA skyrocketed from previous seasons? Perhaps he started throwing a splitter?
I have a feeling something might happen with Mark Lowe. He’s a guy who might be slightly overvalued right now and is replaceable.
Blasphemy! Off with his head!
This is very awesome. While other M’s fans will complain about how we got ripped off, let’s just sit back and enjoy regression to the mean.
Should have included Johnson in the deal….
Me too, especially with Josh Fields and Aumont getting closer to the majors. Maybe trade Sean White while his value is still high too.
The power bat is available in the person of Adrian Gonzalez, though it will cost us a lot of prospects…..
The need for one big bat is very questionable, but the need for a better hitting lineup is not. If the Mariners want to make a playoff run, they need more run production.
Getting more average or slightly above average bats is probably a better way to go about that, but they still need to do that and the M’s did just use their biggest trade asset.
We’ll have to see how Jack Z addresses this need in the offseason, but Washburn could have been used for that. I love this deal, but the 2010 M’s still have neeeds.
DO THE HAPPY DANCE! UNCE UNCE UNCE UNCE UNCE UNCE UNCE WOOT WOOT! USA USA USA USA! Today is a great day for the M’s and next year is gonna be even more awesome. So happy!
I’m surprised we’re not hearing more about some of the M’s relievers. Why not capitalize on Aardsma’s career year?
I don’t think French is anywhere near the pitcher Washburn is
Out of curiosity, who do you think is near to what Washburn is?
According to the rumors page over at ESPN, the Twins are interested in Sean White. I wonder what Z could get for him?
Also looks like the Dodgers are wanting Lowe. Interesting that a lot of these prospects Z picked this year look like excellent bull-pen arms. It will be interesting to see if he can turn some of these guys into a bat or two.
Speaking of bats, anybody else notice that LaHair has gone 11 for 12 in the series vs. Reno with 3 HR’s in two games? Maybe we have one of those needed bats already here.
Bryan LaHair: the new Mike Morse.
Uh, okay. Why is that? Is it because people are too high on him or he isn’t consistent? OR has he been talked about too much? I don’t want to offend with an oft-repeated idea like what happened with Morse…ad nauseum to be sure. Maybe LaHair is just starting to ‘get it’. No?
I wouldn’t mind seeing a guy like Northwerner Jayson Bay this off-season either. I think Z wanted to address the defense and pitching and will take care of the run production this off-season. I’m very excited about Ackley and Poythress, but that’s a ways down the road. We definitely need that addressed!
I am doing back flips over this one.
I don’t think anyone the last couple seasons could forsee the potention left in wash’s tank that allowed a 35 yr old on the decline to have a break out season like hes had.
The bottom line is we are keeping the staff (and Johnson) that created this monster lefty and we are replacing him with a 23 year old “clone” who has a much higher ceiling, i’m drooling with the potential there…
Not to mention his next 6 season’s (which are in seattle if WE chose) will cost roughly the same as if we paid out the Beavers remaining salary in a season that we are almost eliminated in.
(not to mention the 15% gratuity they added in Robles)
Ugh.
hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujahhhhhhhh! I can see Bavasi stroking his giant goatee thinking to himself ‘what a terrible deal for the M’s, that’ll make those Seattleites miss me!’
The Mariners need to find a way to grab Adrian Gonzalez… would be a perfect clean up guy who would not be intimidated by hitting in Safeco after spending years in San Diego. We should offer them Lowe, Rob Johnson, and Morrow… see if they will bite. I realize Johnson has one of the lowest “catching era’s” in baseball… but that is a bit of a baloney stat… and his bat is a bit too much Brad Ausmus like. Let Johjima finish out the season at the regular (better bat anyway), and look to grab a decent catching prospect/player from outside the organization in draft/free agency. Bottom Line — Go after Adrian Gonzalez — He has proven he can hit in a Grand Canyon with no support — should be perfect for our M’s!
I suppose not if the Mariners could maybe resign Banyan to DH and Carp or someone else could come up to play first and have the breakout year that Wlad and Clement never did, but i think the need for more offense becomes greater with every young starter the Mariners add at least if the plan is to win in 2010. A rotation this young has a lot of potential for inconsistency and the mariners will need to be able to win games 9 to 8 instead of just 3 to 2
This is just a random question, but when is Ackley projected to be in the M’s lineup and what position do you think he will be playing?
What I like about this deal is that it shows an overriding pattern of moves. Z isn’t working from trade to trade. There’s a plan here.
Tim Kurkjan says, “Seattle still has a chance to sign Washburn as a free agent at the end of this year.”
Is this likely?
If he hits like he suppose to he could be up mid season next year, think Beckham this year with the White Sox. I’d saying he’s our starting LF for sure by 2011.
Only possible downside to the trade: Chuck Armstrong now thinks he’s a vindicated baseball genius for holding onto Washburn at last year’s deadline. Shudder.
Robles pitched for the Venezuala WBC team? That sounds like a talented youngster not too far off to me.
I like the deal, though maybe not quite as much as Dave. The consensus in Detroit seems to be that French is nothing special; of course, Washburn was nothing special either (especially prior to this year) and French is younger and cheaper… but this doesn’t take the M’s any closer to having the kind of rotation that takes them to the postseason. Certainly you need a couple of innings eaters, and if French is that then that’s fine as far as it goes, but it still leaves at least one hole in the rotation ahead of him and behind Felix. Felix, Snell (no certainty there), somebody, French, RRS/Vargas. Yeah, maybe RRS or Vargas can step up, but maybe Snell likes Tacoma as much as he liked Indianaopolis. From where I sit there’s still a potential hole there that won’t be cheap or easy to fill. (Obviously I’m assuming Bedard isn’t pitching for the M’s one way or another — it sure would’ve been interesting to see what Zduriencik could’ve got in exchange for him if he’d been healthy enough to trade).
Robles is a nice add, and helps fill the void in Clinton left by the Snell trade. Which makes me feel better about that deal, too. Oh, and the M’s save about $4M in Washburn’s salary, which should take care of getting Ackley signed.
So yeah, nice deal. But I’m still worried about the rotation for ‘10.
With the expensive Washburn having been replaced by the free Washburn, the M’s can now afford to extend Felix’s contract without denting their budget.
Besides, Robles was the main target in this deal. From what I have gathered, he’s a 20-year old left-handed strikeout artist with an improving walk rate, a fastball with late action, a rapidly developing curve, and is on pace to make his debut in 2011/2012 as a 22/23-year old.
French is the cheap, ready-to-eat-innings guy with multiple options who will battle for the 5th spot next spring.
Yeah I was guessing mid season next year or possible september call up. You think he’d be playing LF? What’s Saunders ceiling? Doesn’t Ackley also have the ability to play 2B?
He may very well have said that.
With Boras as his agent I really doubt he’s coming back to Seattle. If Washburn ends the year with a ERA below 3, Boras is going to want something crazy like a 4 year 50 million dollar deal for Washburn. He won’t get it but I’m sure that he’ll try.
lol, did you know that Washburn is 106 W-106 L for his career? Talk about Mediocre! I am very pleased with this trade. Needed to be done.
Bryan LaHair: the new Mike Morse.
Thanks Jeff, I was wondering who it would be.
Why is that? Is it because people are too high on him or he isn’t consistent? OR has he been talked about too much? I don’t want to offend with an oft-repeated idea like what happened with Morse…ad nauseum to be sure. Maybe LaHair is just starting to ‘get it’. No?
Wolfman, the fundamental problem is people irrationally seizing on somebody at AAA as an immediate solution, without understanding why their full track record and limitations (especially defensively) negate the possibility. In LaHair’s case, he’s on his third year in the PCL, so he’s starting to “get” how to hit AAA pitchers, sure. And he can boost his HR totals in places like Colorado Springs, Salt Lake, Las Vegas, and Reno (9 of 21). He still would hit something like .250/.300/.400 in the majors and need to be platooned. If he could play shortstop or catcher, it would sound great, but he shouldn’t even be in the outfield.
Never use W/L as an indiction of a pitchers talent. Did you also know that Washburn has the lowest run support of any pitcher in baseball since 2003? I’d say a 500 record is pretty solid. Just look at this year 8-6 with a 2.64 era. Just based off of that you would think he would be 10-4 or 11-3.
Kurkjian also said this a very smart move by the Mariners. Then he added the comment about how much Jarrod loves Seattle and that they very well may sign him back after this season.
I don’t know if he really believes this or if he just wanted to give a bunch of people at USSM heart attacks.
Of all the myriad ways to evaluate this trade, pointing to Washburn’s win-loss record is, by far, the worst way.
Thanks for the explanation, Mike. I admittedly knew NOTHING about his defense. My thoughts were purely looking at the offensive dilemma this team has now. Your explanation makes a lot of sense.
As for Adrian Gonzalez, have you folks seen what the Padres are asking for him??? We don’t have that kind of ammo unless the Padres WAY overvalue some of our players. It would be sweet though.
Really? I did not know that!!!! Thanks for the excellent wisdom! BTW: since when is posting a random tidbit “evaluating this trade”?
When you say it right before saying “I am very pleased with this trade,” that’s when.
You should read more.
Not that disagree with you re:Robles but I’ll remind everyone that Silva also pitched for Venezuala during the WBC.
Boy, you got me there.
With Scott Rolen reportedly headed to the Reds. Would it be a good idea to go after Edwin Encarnicion? As he becomes expendable. He could fill the void left by Beltre next season and beyond, assuming we don’t resign him.
1. We can’t get Adrian Gonzalez, he plays for are hated rivals, that be like the Red Sox trading Jason Bay to the yankees.
2. I’d love if we traded Branyan, keep capitalizing on career years; I love DA and Lowe, but i wouldn’t be heartbroken to see them traded either, especially if they could bring back anywhere near what Baltimore got for Sherril
3. I can’t see how anyone doesn’t love this deal. Washburn is Washburn, don’t let the dolphin mirage fool you. French is a younger cheaper Wash with a cooler name anyway. Add on top the guy we got that strikes 100 people out. If you combine this with the Snell/Wilson trade, every single move GMZ made has been a good one.
4. I wish it was 2011 already, M’s will be a powerhouse, and the Sounders fans will get to drive up to Vancouver and Portland in get in fights a shouting matches =D. Seattle will have a baseball to be proud of, and a rivalry to rival Red Sox-Yankees
Considering he can’t field…I would say he would be a poor fit.
Okay, so, I normally ignore national writers pretty much completely, but the headline on this is too good to pass up:
Tigers may have AL’s top rotation with Washburn
Well, I like this trade. French hopefully can replicate Washburn’s 2006-08 seasons, at a month’s worth of Washburn’s salary (with a better defense), this will turn out as a pretty good trade. Add in Robles, and it’s a good trade as of today.
I’d like to think Robles is a better (or at least as good as) value compared to the 3 minor-league pitchers we gave up to Pittsburgh, given their more limited-upside. I don’t know if anybody could better quantify that for me. But it sounds like he’d be up to the majors before any of them three. Don’t get hurt, young man!
Also, hopefully French will be adding a dolphin pitch at age 24 rather than 34. That will improve his career track.
Does anyone need some slightly used lumber? I’m dissasembling the gallows I was building for the M’s FO – don’t think I’ll need it now.
I know. I need to put my pitchfork and extra torches away now. =D
The Mariners need to find a way to grab Adrian Gonzalez… would be a perfect clean up guy who would not be intimidated by hitting in Safeco after spending years in San Diego. We should offer them Lowe, Rob Johnson, and Morrow… see if they will bite.
That isn’t even close to enough. We would have to sell the farm to get him.
Plus, Encarnacion’s in the Rolen deal — he’s part of the return for Toronto.
You know, if Snell can put his life and career back together, we could have a perfectly solid rotation next year. Even if you figure his ‘07 was an outlier, he posted FIPs of 4.58 and 4.57 on either side of it (and actually, a 4.57 this season as well, though with a significant drop in his K rate). Put that sort of performance together with a whole lot of LH innings from Hyphen, Vargas, now French, and perhaps Nick Hill, with half their games in Safeco and a great set of fielders behind them . . . well, it’s still Felix and the Four Dwarves, but when the dwarves can give you a lot of consistently league-average innings, you can win with that.
So… what’s the actual expectation of what Washburn will do the rest of the year? ZiPS has him posting a 4.15 FIP the rest of the season. (It’s been 3.75 to this point) Basically regressing towards his 4.54 career FIP.
Seattle, as a team, has posted a team ERA 0.48 below the team FIP. (2nd best differential in baseball to the Cubs) and Detroit is tied for 4th best with an ERA 0.29 below their FIP.
Washburn’s current ERA is 1.11 below his current FIP. Assuming a 4.15 FIP, and the same percentage change in ERA/FIP differential when moving to Detroit, that extrapolates to a 3.48 ERA for the rest of the season. Nearly a full run higher than current, but Detroit would take that in a heartbeat.
The thing you’d think would change at some point, though, is Washburn’s BABIP. It’s currently a very low .249. He hasn’t posted one close to that low since 2000, and his career BABIP is .280.
I think Detroit will be happy with Washburn, and they’ll need to be to make the playoffs since the White Sox apparently got Peavy at the last second.
Just to put it on the record, because so many of you seem to think otherwise, Jarod Washburn was worth every bit of the free agaent contract we signed him to. If you don’t believe that, just take a look around baseball, or just think about all the disastrous free agent pitcher contracts that you’ve seen. He gave us exactly what we signed him for: in 3 1/2 seasons, he gave us 111 starts as an average or better Major League starter. You can say he was lucky or it was the park or the defense or his FIP wasn’t that good, but at the end of the day, you have to agree that he took the ball almost every time out and did a credible job of keeping the team in games. Rather spectacularly this year, even. If you’re a pitcher that can go through your whole contract and come out of it being able to say that, you’re one of the rare ones. On the field, he was worth every penny we paid for him.
You might say that just shows how stupid Major League GM’s are to sign free agent pitchers to such big free agent contracts, and I don’t think I could give you much of an argument there. But the reality of it is what it is. That’s what free agent pitchers go for, and Washburn more than held up his end of the bargain.
I heard that Snell had suicidal thoughts and depression, and that is one of the reasons the Pirates sent him to AAA. That got me thinking, if he has had thoughts of suicide, maybe Seattle may not be the best of places to send him off to. Just a thought.
I’m starting to think that this Robles could be the bigger piece of the haul.
from a Detroit News story:
I could deal with that kinda stuff.
I don’t think that’s really true.
Marinerz24,
Have you ever been to Pittsburgh? Not the greatest place to be. Don’t forget he was playing for the Pirates.
One of the guys on that Detroit site basically keeps repeating variations of
Yes, that’s a quote. Hilarious.
Well, it’s barely true and only because he’s been having this fantastic walk year:
Total contract dollars paid: ~$33.8M
Total value of Washburn’s contribution: $32.2M
But he could easily have started giving up long balls again and sucked back down into negative territory by the end of the season. Prior to this year, he was about $7M in the red.
Agreed. Though it’s a nice luxury to have a “superstar” rotation at your disposal if you’re a GM or manager, I think of how the ‘99 Mets won 97 games and got to the NLCS playing blue chip defense behind a pitching staff with Al Leiter and (a 40-year-old) Orel Hershiser as “co-aces”.
I normally agree with the editors and majority of the posters but this time I don’t. I don’t think the M’s got anything of value back for Wash. French is not a top 5 prospect, hes a another typical 87mph lefty with below average stuff and good control. If he reaches his peak value hes Wash, a 10 win pitcher with a 4.30 era, who wont beat good teams. Robles has at best a chance to be a set up lefty as hes too small and does not have enough control to start.
I think the M’s should have either traded Wash for a quality long range prospect who may be 3 or 4 years away but atleast has all-star possibilities. A guy like Hicks from Minnesota. If you don’t get a top pick type player then wait the season out and collect a first round pick as comp.
I am sad Jack wants to win 81 games this year at the cost of the future. He gave away trading value and did get a player back that helps a team create a winner in 2011.
A guy like Hicks from Minnesota. If you don’t get a top pick type player then wait the season out and collect a first round pick as comp.
You weren’t going to get anything for Washburn after the season, because you can’t offer him arbitration (he’d accept, and become a massively overpaid budget buster), and as a Type B, the pick you were hoping to get would be in the 45-50 range anyway.
If you don’t like this trade, you are using bad logic. This isn’t a case where reasonable people can disagree. This is 2+2=4. If you think 2+2=5, well, you’re wrong.
Thank you Jarrod Washburn, we wish you happiness in Detroit. Welcome Misters Luke French and Maurico Robles we wish you success in M’s uniforms for many years ahead.
Dave I think with a solid year last year and a good one this year Washburn will likely be a type A free agent and no way at his age will he accept a one year arbitration deal he will want 3 year 30 million deal and he will easily get 3/30 on the open market as a left handed pitcher with a solid career and a very good 2009.
I agree Zack got fair value for Washburn but I think he went for a MLB ready lefty with 4/5th starter potential, and those guys can get you to .500 but not contend. The M’s are two years away and I think he should have went for a higher upside A ball talent.
I rather have 4 + 0 =4 then 2+2 =4, as 2s are easier find and 2s are role players. Give me a high risk 4 anytime over 2 role players.
He will not.
Washburn will not be a type A free agent.
He will get something like $12-$15 in arbitration.
He won’t get offered more than $10M per year in free agency.
Thus draft picks were not part of the equation. Seattle wouldn’t have offered arbitration, and Detroit won’t offer him arbitration either. This is as pure a rental as you’ll see.
Washburn might be interested in coming back to Seattle, but he’ll probably get offered more by some other team, and Zduriencik certainly won’t get into a bidding war (if he bids at all). His first choice would be the Twins (since they play just a couple hours from his Wisconsin home) but the Twins probably won’t offer him the best deal either (though he might take a lower offer to go there, depending on where he falls between the opposing poles of Boras and family).
I’m sure Zduriencik would’ve taken a guy like that if he was available. For Washburn, such a player clearly was not. Zduriencik is only “sacrificing the future” in some imaginary world where Bavasi-like GMs were on the other side of potential trades.
According to Ken Rosenthal (I think) on the Saturday Fox broadcast, when the Yankees inquired about Washburn Zduriencik asked for Austin Jackson, their top prospect. So he clearly was looking for a “quality long range prospect” if he could find a team desperate enough to deal one (or he just wanted to tell the Yankees to eff off).
Didn’t someone else report the M’s wanted Joba/Hughes? Pretty much all of these leaks appear to be attempts to make the M’s look unreasonable and justify the Yankees not getting Jarrod.