Green to AZ deal might be back from the dead

[Arles]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1962054

Green, who is due to earn $16 million this season, did not reach an agreement with the Diamondbacks on a contract extension before Thursday's deadline, but Arizona and the Dodgers requested a new window Friday night. Green and the Diamondbacks were given until Monday to agree to an extension that would allow the teams to finalize a revised trade.

The revised trade would send Green to Arizona for catching prospect Dioner Navarro, Diamondbacks general partner Ken Kendrick said.

At least one other Arizona player would go to the Dodgers, but Kendrick could not give any names. The earlier trade would have sent minor league pitcher William Juarez with Navarro to Los Angeles, and the Dodgers would have given the Diamondbacks $8 million.

The new trade may call for the Dodgers to send the Diamondbacks more money to help Arizona strike a new agreement with Green, but Kendrick would not comment on that.

"It's a slightly different deal," Kendrick said. "We hope we are able to come to terms with Shawn. We were relatively close on certain things and never really had a chance to get to other things.''

My guess is that Arizona is trying to add in a better prospect (Juarez wasn't even in Arizona's top 30 list) to go with Navarro to get more money back with Green. Supposedly (according to the East Valley Trib) AZ and Green were only about $2 mil off on the extension - mostly involving money in the first year. So, if Arizona could get $10 mil from LA I think the extension could be completed. It looks like LA's pushing this deal hard to free up enough cash to sign Lowe. The local station here said LA would need about $6 mil free in year one to make the offer they want to for Lowe. If they sent Green + $10 mil to AZ, they would free up that $6 mil.

Supposedly something should be done by Monday. Should be an interesting weekend.

[Franklinnoble]

I thought Dennis Green took the Cardinals job last year?

[Suicane75]

Next week it's off again. Then on. Then off. Then on again. Somewhere in there I stop giving a good god damn.

[cthomer5000]

This immediately transported me back to the 'parody threads gone crazy' day we had when Dennis Green was hired.

[Franklinnoble]

Quick... somebody ping Dennis Green!

[SackAttack]

Next week it's off again. Then on. Then off. Then on again. Somewhere in there I stop giving a good god damn.

I can't tell if you're talking about last year's A-Rod trade, or the Green trade.

[Denny Green]

Hey, someone call?

I'm already in Arizona folks, get it straight. Damned near was given the division too. Nice to see Randy running his mouth some more today too. A little more, and they might give him to me.

I'm out.

[stevew]

Any word on if the diamondbacks are gonna be able to sign Stephen Drew? I had read that the deadline was more or less on Monday.

[SackAttack]

Any word on if the diamondbacks are gonna be able to sign Stephen Drew? I had read that the deadline was more or less on Monday.

Tuesday. Monday's a school holiday, but if he isn't signed by the time he sets foot in class on Tuesday, the D'Backs are essentially out of luck this go-round.

[Crapshoot]

Just when you think Arizona can't get any dumber...

[Maple Leafs]

Dear baseball.

Just tell us when a trade is done, like you used to do. Enough with this "preliminary agreement pending physicals, renegotiations and commisioner approvals". Just tell us when it's done. Otherwise shut up.

Thanks,
The fans

[SackAttack]

Am I the only one who thinks that after the millions the D'Backs lavished on Glaus and Ortiz, that they shouldn't be allowed to ask for money in the Unit/Green trades?

[stevew]

Am I the only one who thinks that after the millions the D'Backs lavished on Glaus and Ortiz, that they shouldn't be allowed to ask for money in the Unit/Green trades?

Yeah, they are a bit crazy. I read that they are paying Schilling and Unit something like 30 million in deferred money this season, so it seems that they may be cash poor right now. I had heard that they were hoping to use the money they got in the Green trade to cover the bonus $tephen Drew wants.

[Arles]

They've basically cut $56 million in payroll from opening day 04 (Finley, Mantei, Dessens, Batista, Johnson, ...) and replaced it with about $26.5 million in 05 to guys like Vazquez, Glaus, Ortiz, Clayton and Counsell. When you add in the cash from New York, that's a net loss in payroll of about $39 million.

I don't see how that classifies as "spending like crazy". Right now, Arizona is at a salary level of $40 million (without figuring in the cash from NYY). If they add in Green, they will be at $56 million minus the $9 mil from NYY and the $8-10 mil from LA. When you figure the cash, Arizona would be at a player payroll about 1/2 of LAs (even after the Green trade).

[Arles]

Yeah, they are a bit crazy. I read that they are paying Schilling and Unit something like 30 million in deferred money this season, so it seems that they may be cash poor right now.
The deferred money is for a bunch of players and will be about $25-$30 million each season for the next five years. The players included in it include Randy Johnson, Schilling, Matt Williams, Jay Bell, Todd Stottlemyre, Bernard Gilkey and others. It's one of the reason Colangelo is not longer involved in the team.

I had heard that they were hoping to use the money they got in the Green trade to cover the bonus $tephen Drew wants.
I think that's right. If the LA deal goes through Arizona will have gained about $17-$19 mil in cash from the RJ and Green deals that they can use about $3-5 mil of that to immediately sign Drew. Then, they will probably trade Hillenbrand and save about $4 mil there to help get a CF and starting pitcher.