In today's blog post at ESPN.com, Buster Olney writes about Miguel Tejada's trip to Haiti, plus what other agents have privately speculated about what a fair deal for Felix Hernandez (six years and $110 million) would be.
Here's the rest of Olney's rumors…
- Mets' GM Omar Minaya was never given a budget this offseason. The front office is making recommendations to COO Jeff Wilpon on a case-by-case basis without knowing if they're approaching a payroll limit. It's easy to see how that could become a problem.
- The Orioles continue to look for a corner infielder, preferably a third baseman so that Garrett Atkins could man first. Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun notes that Andy MacPhail has had talks with the agents for Joe Crede and Tejada.
- Last week's GM meeting went so well that it ended up lasting five hours longer than originally scheduled. They discussed changes to the draft among other things, but Olney notes that some executes are concerned that a slotting system may lead to a situation where having the first overall pick is viewed as a bad thing because of the bonus required to sign the player. Allowing teams to trade picks would solve that.
- Some scouts question how Bryce Harper's size will impact his game going forward. Harper, the projected top pick for the 2010 Draft, is already 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds at age-17. "You worry that if he gets too big, his swing just won't be quick enough when he starts facing guys who throw harder," said one evaluator.