Cafardo's Latest: Young, Pedro, Red Sox, Hatteberg

The Phillies' health issues and the Red Sox' depth makes the two teams logical trade partners, says Nick Cafardo in his newest column for the Boston Globe. The Red Sox have spare infielders and outfielders they could offer Philadelphia to offset the injuries to Chase Utley and Domonic Brown. While the Sox and Phils are already the Vegas favorites to meet in the 2011 World Series, Cafardo wonders if a trade between the two sides could help that matchup happen. Here are the other items of interest from the Globe's Sunday Baseball Notes:

• If the Rangers were willing to eat some salary, a Michael Young deal "could be made" with the Cubs. As we heard this week, the Cubs probably can't afford to take on Young's contract, but, despite his defensive shortcomings, he would make some sense for Chicago at second base.
• Pedro Martinez says he's in good shape and has yet to rule out pitching somewhere in 2011. He thinks it would take him about six weeks to get ready if he were to make a comeback.
• Cafardo cautions that the Red Sox' starting pitching depth isn't as strong as it seems. Given Daisuke Matsuzaka's performance this spring, Cafardo thinks it would be prudent to keep Tim Wakefield around, just in case.
• The Red Sox are seeking a big-league-ready catcher they can keep in Triple-A in case of injury. Cafardo speculates that Rangers backstop Kevin Cash, a player the Sox have "always loved," could be a fit.
• Matt Albers is out of options, making him potential trade bait for the Red Sox. As Cafardo points out, the Sox would rather avoid exposing the right-hander on waivers to a team like the Rays.
• Scott Hatteberg is currently working as a special assistant to Billy Beane in Oakland. Agent Joe Urbon feels that Hatteberg's future could include a job as a manager, a possibility the former Athletic sounds willing to explore. "It’s something I could envision down the road," Hatteberg said. "As a catcher, you’re always involved in so many facets of the game that you get an idea of what it’s like."

Red Sox Sign Matt Albers

The Red Sox have signed Matt Albers, the team announced. Peter Gammons first reported the deal on NESN's Red Sox Hot Stove Live. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reported earlier in the week that the Red Sox had interest in Albers, who became a free agent when the Orioles non-tendered him earlier this month. Hendricks Sports represents Albers.

The 27-year-old spent three seasons in Baltimore after the Orioles acquired him in the Miguel Tejada trade. He posted a 4.52 ERA with 5.8 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in 75 2/3 innings last year. The right-hander has a 5.11 ERA in 317 1/3 career innings with the O's and Astros.

Albers has less than four years of service time, so the Red Sox will be able to keep him around for the 2012 and 2013 seasons if they so choose.

Red Sox Considering Matt Albers

The Red Sox are considering reliever Matt Albers as a depth signing, reports Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  We've seen Boston linked to most high-profile relievers, but Albers would likely be signed cheaply.

Albers, 28 in January, posted a 4.52 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 0.7 HR/9, and strong 56.5% groundball rate in 75 2/3 innings for the Orioles this year before being non-tendered.  The Orioles had acquired Albers three years ago as part of the Miguel Tejada deal.  He was diagnosed with a torn labrum in the middle of the '08 season, but chose rehab over surgery.

American League Non-Tenders

This post will list all the American League players non-tendered today, but the best place to track all 200+ arbitration eligible players is our new non-tender tracker.

• Blue Jays: Fred Lewis, Jeremy Accardo
• Red Sox: Hideki Okajima, Andrew Miller, Taylor Buchholz
• Mariners: Ryan Rowland-Smith
• Rays: Lance Cormier, Willy Aybar, Dioner Navarro, J.P. Howell
• Royals: Josh Fields
• Rangers: Dustin Nippert
• Angels: Kevin Frandsen
• Athletics: Jack Cust, Travis Buck, Edwin Encarnacion
• Yankees: Alfredo Aceves, Dustin Moseley
• Orioles: Matt Albers
• White Sox: Bobby Jenks, Erick Threets
• Tigers: Zach Miner

Orioles Release Garrett Atkins

JULY 6th: Atkins has cleared waivers and been released by the Orioles, making him a free agent, reports Connolly.

JUNE 27th: The Orioles have officially designated Atkins for assignment, reports Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. The move clears a spot for Uehara to be activated from the disabled list. Atkins told Ghiroli earlier this weekend that he wouldn't look at it as a bad thing if the O's decide to release him.

JUNE 24th: Baltimore will likely designate Garrett Atkins for assignment, writes Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun.  The O's must free up two spots on the 25-man roster in order to welcome back Brad Bergesen and Koji Uehara.

Atkins has been disappointing so far this season, hitting .219/.282/.292 with one homer in 149 plate appearances.  The 30-year-old inked a one-year, $4.5MM deal with the O's over the winter.  Baltimore's acquisition of Jake Fox on Tuesday was a sign that Atkins' time in orange and black was nearing an end.

To clear the second spot, the Orioles could either demote Frank Mata to Triple-A or designate fellow reliever Matt Albers for assignment. Seldom used fourth outfielder Lou Montanez could also be shown the door, though he will likely be kept until Felix Pie returns from the disabled list.

Players Tendered Contracts

Midnight ET is the non-tender deadline, so we'll keep track of all the players who are offered and/or agreed to contracts today in this post. Keep coming back throughout the day for updates.

• Washington tendered contracts to Josh Willingham, Jesus Flores, Wil Nieves, Jason Bergmann, and Sean Burnett.
• Zach Duke was tendered an offer by the Pirates.
• The Marlins reached an agreement with Ronny Paulino.  The deal will be for one-year, $1.1MM.
• The Royals avoided arbitration by reaching one year deals with Brian Bannister ($2.3MM) Roman Colon ($660K), and Kyle Davies ($1.8MM).
• Dioner Navarro will remain with the Rays on a one-year deal worth $2.1MM.
• The White Sox will offer contracts to Bobby Jenks, John Danks, Carlos Quentin, and Tony Pena.
• Milwaukee will tender offers to six players: Dave Bush, Carlos Villanueva, Todd Coffey, Jody Gerut, Corey Hart, and Carlos Gomez.
• Toronto will tender an offer to Jeremy Accardo.
• Kevin Correia will remain with the Padres for one-year, $3.6MM.
• The Rangers have signed Esteban German to a 2010 contract.  He'll earn $600K in the majors and $200K in the minors.  They offered contracts to their other arbitration-eligible players including Scott Feldman, Chris Ray, Frank Francisco, C.J. Wilson, Dustin Nippert, Brandon McCarthy, and Josh Hamilton.
• Tampa Bay avoided arbitration with Lance Cormier by inking him to a one-year deal.  The contract will pay Cormier $1.2MM.
• The Twins will tender contracts to all 30 unsigned players on their 40-man roster.  That means Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier, J.J. Hardy, Brendan Harris, Francisco Liriano, Pat Neshek, Delmon Young, and many more figure to be in the Twins' plans in 2010.
• The following eight Cubs will receive offers from the team: Carlos Marmol, Ryan Theriot, Jeff Baker, Angel Guzman, Sean Marshall, Koyie Hill, Tom Gorzelanny, and Mike Fontenot.
• Atlanta tendered offers to relievers Peter Moylan and Boone Logan.
• The Marlins will tender offers to almost all of their arbitration-eligible players - Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu, Ricky Nolasco, Cody Ross, Josh Johnson, Leo Nunez, and Renyel Pinto.
• The Astros will tender offers to all remaining arbitration-eligible players.  This means Michael Bourn, Hunter Pence, Wandy Rodriguez, Matt Lindstrom, Tim Byrdak, Chris Sampson, Jeff Keppinger, and Humberto Quintero are invited back.
• Matt Albers and Cla Meredith have agreed to terms with the Orioles.  Albers' deal is worth $.68MM for one-year.  Meanwhile, Meredith will recieve $.85MM in 2010.
• Randy Choate agreed to a one year deal.  Terms of the deal are one-year, $700K.

Astros Acquire Miguel Tejada

UPDATE, 12-12-07 at 4:41pm: Richard Justice notes that Tejada can demand a trade after the '08 season.  That hadn't occurred to me; it diminishes his value to the Astros.

UPDATE, 12-12-07 at 12:04pm: Rosenthal says Tejada is expected to play short for the Astros; Adam Everett's time may be up.  Tejada's offensive output looks a lot better coming from short than it does coming from third, though it may be a moot point if Ty Wigginton is manning the hot corner.

FROM 12-12-07 at 11:42am:

This comes as a surprise, on the heels of a Rosenthal report to the contrary.  Jeff Zrebiec says the Astros have acquired Miguel Tejada for Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Troy Patton, Dennis Sarfate, and Mike Costanzo. 

That's a fine haul for Baltimore.  The Astros pretty much cleaned out their farm system for two years of an average-hitting third baseman.  The average NL 3B had an .804 OPS in '07; Tejada was at .799 in the AL.  I know some readers think I'm an Astro-hater but that's not the case.  I just think they gave up way too much here.  Patton was ranked their third best prospect by Baseball America, Costanzo sixth.  Scott is a cheap quality regular, and Albers was third on the team's 2007 top prospect list.