Nate Schierholtz Rumors
NL Notes: Soriano, Teheran, Phillies, Helton
On this date in 1896, the National League forbids players from deliberately soiling baseballs (and thus enabling the legend of future Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry)‚ declares "a ball cutting the corners of the home plate‚ and being the requisite height‚ must be called a strike" and empowers umpires to eject players. Here's the latest news and notes from this century's National League:
- The Cubs don't anticipate the Yankees inquiring about Alfonso Soriano in the wake of Curtis Granderson's broken right forearm, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Earlier today, ESPN's Buster Olney wrote such a deal could make sense for the Yankees.
- Nate Schierholtz explained to reporters, including the San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman, why he signed with the Cubs when he reportedly had offers from contending teams like the Yankees. "There were a lot of factors that played into it," the outfielder said. "I think this team is young and we have a very good chance to win quick. I really believe in this team."
- Right-hander Julio Teheran would have to struggle mightily to lose the fifth spot in the Braves' starting rotation, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith charted recently, the Braves could maintain team control over Teheran through 2019 by waiting until late-June to recall him. The Braves could also prevent Teheran from earning Super Two status by keeping him in the minors until mid-August.
- The Phillies have ten outfielders in camp and manager Charlie Manuel says a roster decision on at least four of them will need to be made about two-thirds of the way through Spring Training, reports David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News.
- Todd Helton told Yahoo! Sports' Tim Brown he understands his career is coming to an end. "I realize I'm never going to be sitting here in this moment again," the 39-year-old Rockie said. "There are many factors in this. My family. What it's like to be away from home. I love everything about this, but the travel."
Cubs To Sign Nate Schierholtz
The Cubs agreed to a one-year deal with outfielder Nate Schierholtz, the team announced. The deal is worth $2.25MM with $500K in incentives, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, who first reported the agreement. Schierholtz, 29 in February, was non-tendered by the Phillies last month. He's represented by Lapa/Leventhal.
Schierholtz hit .257/.321/.407 in 269 plate appearances for the Giants and Phillies this year, playing mostly right field. He could assume that position for the Cubs, as they could use David DeJesus in center field. Schierholtz has less than five years of Major League service time, so the Cubs will have the opportunity to retain him for 2014 as an arbitration eligible player if he has a solid campaign. He's generally regarded as a strong defender, and the Cubs are in a position to give him 500 big league plate appearances for the first time in his career. He was popular at the Winter Meetings, generating interest from the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, Orioles, and Mets, according to Crasnick. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports says Schierholtz even turned down a two-year offer in the $5MM range.
With Schierholtz, the Cubs have committed $90.05MM to nine free agents. They have also agreed to sign Kyuji Fujikawa, Scott Feldman, Scott Baker, Dioner Navarro, Shawn Camp, Ian Stewart, Carlos Villanueva and Edwin Jackson.
Photo courtesy of U.S. Presswire.
AL East Notes: Rays, Yankees
The Orioles' re-signing of left fielder Nate McLouth sums up the Winter Meetings Day 3 action coming out of the AL East. The latest around the division:
- The Rays pursued right fielder Nate Schierholtz to the end and finished a close second, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. Schierholtz ultimately signed a one-year, $2.25MM deal with the Cubs.
- "There's a few potential outcomes that are really exciting to us and we're going to work toward trying to make them materialize," Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times earlier today.
- The Yankees never made offers to Jeff Keppinger and Eric Chavez, tweets Jack Curry of YES Network.
- Scott Boras questioned the Yankees' choice to reduce payroll, according to Tyler Kepner of the New York Times. Responded president Randy Levine, "Scott’s a great agent, but he’s an agent. Last I looked, he had zero experience running a professional sports team. I think the Yankees have done pretty well following our own course. My advice to Scott is stick to your day job representing players."
Latest On Nate Schierholtz
5:52pm: The Braves have interest in Schierholtz, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
1:00pm: The Orioles made an offer to Schierholtz that was turned down this morning, tweets Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. The O's eventually inked Nate McLouth.
9:27am: Having generated plenty of interest since hitting the free agent market last week, Nate Schierholtz is making "good progress" toward a new deal, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney. Olney adds that the Yankees are the early favorites to land the 28-year-old (Twitter links).
Schierholtz was traded by the Giants to the Phillies in the deadline deal that sent Hunter Pence to San Francisco. For the season, the outfielder hit .257/.321/.407 in 269 plate appearances. Despite a potential arbitration cost of around $1.6MM, according to MLBTR's projections, the Phillies elected not to tender Schierholtz a contract for 2013.
Orioles Notes: Saunders, McLouth, Correia, Schierholtz
Orioles manager Buck Showalter addressed reporters and appeared on MLB Network Radio today to discuss a few O's-related subjects. Let's round up all things Orioles, courtesy of Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com, MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli, and Jim Bowden of ESPN.com and SiriusXM (all links go to Twitter)....
- Orioles VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette told reporters he hopes to come home with a signed player by the end of the week.
- The Orioles met with Joe Saunders' reps today and had preliminary talks, tweets Connolly.
- The Orioles have interest in free agents Kevin Correia and Nate Schierholtz, and have had meetings with their agents in Nashville, tweets Connolly.
- Showalter spoke to free agent outfielder Nate McLouth earlier today, and GM Dan Duquette is expected to meet with McLouth's agent tonight. McLouth is looking for only a one-year deal, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, so he can re-establish his value and return to the market.
- The Orioles haven't given up on the idea of re-signing Mark Reynolds, who the club non-tendered last week.
- The O's are also hoping to re-sign Omar Quintanilla, another non-tender.
- If other clubs don't value Baltimore's young players as much as the O's do, the club won't make a trade just for the sake of making one, says Showalter.
- Baltimore's payroll will be between $90MM and $100MM next season.
- According to Showalter, MLB's managers were asked whether they were in favor of expanding instant replay, and 29 of 30 voted yes.
Olney: Winter Meetings Preview
The Winter Meetings begin shortly at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville. ESPN's Buster Olney, in an Insider-only post, writes past Winter Meetings have been dominated by free agent signings, but some GMs say there is more groundwork laid for possible trades this year than they can remember in the recent past. Here are some of the storylines that could play out this week, according to Olney:
- If Olney was Rangers' GM Jon Daniels, he would go all out to sign Zack Greinke and then trade some surplus pitching for offense.
- Some rival officials remain convinced the Diamondbacks will eventually trade Justin Upton, whose contract ($38.5MM due over the next three years) has become more attractive in the wake of his brother's deal with the Braves.
- The Indians have set the bar high in their demands for Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo. "Time will tell on whether they've lowered (the asking prices)," said a rival GM.
- The most likely of the Rays' established starting pitchers to be dealt is Jeremy Hellickson. On paper, the best matchup appears to be the Padres.
- The Reds are looking to acquire a leadoff hitter and could target Dexter Fowler.
- The Phillies continue to push on Angel Pagan. If Pagan signs with Philadelphia, the Giants could look to Shane Victorino, who is looking for $9-10MM annually.
- The Pirates have let other teams know that closer Joel Hanrahan is available and they are looking for starting pitching.
- In a separate tweet, Olney says the perception among rival executives is the signing of David Wright makes it much easier for the Mets to trade R.A. Dickey without fear of a PR backlash.
- Nate Schierholtz received calls from nine teams within the first 12 hours of being non-tendered with the Yankees in the mix and the Rays also a good fit (Twitter links).
National League Non-Tenders
Here are today’s National League non-tenders. All decisions must be in by 11pm CT tonight. Be sure to track all tender decisions using MLBTR's Non-Tender Tracker. Related resources include our list of non-tender candidates, our projected arbitration salaries and our arbitration eligibles series.
- The Diamondbacks have non-tendered Wil Nieves according to Jack Magruder of FOXSportsArizona.com (on Twitter).
- In addition to John Lannan, the Nationals have also non-tendered Tom Gorzelanny and Jesus Flores according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).
- The Cubs have non-tendered Ian Stewart, Jaye Chapman, and Zach Putnam according to MLB.com's Carrie Muskat (on Twitter).
- The Padres have non-tendered left-hander Juan Oramas, the team announced. He had Tommy John surgery this summer and is expected to miss the start of next season.
- The Mets also non-tendered Andres Torres and Manny Acosta, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports (on Twitter). Mike Pelfrey has been informed he'll be non-tendered by the Mets, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com reports (on Twitter). The Mets were expected to non-tender Pelfrey.
- The Braves will non-tender Jair Jurrjens and Peter Moylan.
- The Phillies plan to non-tender Nate Schierholtz, ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick reports (on Twitter).
- The Pirates will non-tender Jeff Karstens, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports (on Twitter). Technically the Pirates are designating Karstens for assignment, Michael Sanserino of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (on Twitter). The team confirmed the move.
- The Brewers have non-tendered left-hander Manny Parra, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (on Twitter).
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
West Notes: Giants, Chavez, Dodgers, A's
Last night, Dodgers right-hander Chad Billingsley held the Cubs to four hits over seven innings en route to the club's 6-1 victory at home. With Cliff Lee reportedly off the market and Ted Lilly perhaps out for the season, Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com writes that the Dodgers will have to bank on more solid pitching out of the 28-year-old. Here's more out of the Western divisions..
- Before the trade deadline, the Giants offered Nate Schierholtz to the Yankees in an effort to land veteran Eric Chavez, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The Giants presumably pursued Chavez prior to acquiring Marco Scutaro, who has been plugged in at third base. Chavez, 34, is hitting .269/.332..486 with ten homers on the year.
- After trading for Joe Blanton and putting a claim in on Lee, the Dodgers continue to show that money is no object, writes Steve Henson of Yahoo Sports. GM Ned Colletti seems to be happy with his newly-found flexibility, but it seems unlikely that the Phillies will part with Lee.
- Catcher Kurt Suzuki was surprised to hear that the Athletics traded him to Washington but the veteran believes that the trade will work out for him as he will play every day, write John Shea and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Giants Acquire Hunter Pence
The Giants have to have bolstered their lineup with an All-Star caliber outfielder for the second consecutive summer. They acquired right fielder Hunter Pence from the Phillies for right fielder Nate Schierholtz, minor league reliever Seth Rosin and, minor league catcher/first baseman Tommy Joseph the Phillies announced.
Pence, 29, is hitting .271/.336/.447 in 440 plate appearances for the Phillies this year. He's under team control for 2013, though his salary could exceed $14MM. He'll boost a Giants lineup that ranks 11th in the NL with four runs scored per game. GM Brian Sabean snagged one of the best bats on the trade market last summer as well with Carlos Beltran, but Pence is more than a rental.
Pence joined the Phillies one year ago in a trade with the Astros, but amidst a disappointing season GM Ruben Amaro Jr. is cleaning house. Less than an hour ago, the Dodgers acquired another member of the Phillies' outfield in Shane Victorino. Los Angeles also acquired Hanley Ramirez and Brandon League, creating pressure for their NL West rivals.
Schierholtz, 28, appears to have requested a trade after seeing his playing time diminish. T he left-handed hitter has a .257/.327/.429 batting line in 196 plate appearances this year and a .270/.319/.412 line in his six-year career. He's earning $1.3MM this year and can be retained through 2014 via the arbitration process.
Rosin, a 23-year-old right-hander, stand 6'6". He has a 4.31 ERA with 10.9 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 56 1/3 innings at Class A so far this year. The 2010 fourth round pick has struck out three times as many batters as he has walked in the minor leagues.
Joseph, 21, is hitting .260/.313/.391 in 335 Double-A plate appearances this year. Baseball America wrote before the season that the 2009 second-rounder should be able to stay at catcher.
Jon Heyman first reported the trade today. Two days ago, Dennis O'Donnell of KPIX was first to report that the Giants had a deal in place for Pence involving Joseph. Todd Zolecki first reported that Rosin was in the trade. Danny Knobler confirmed Joseph's role in the trade.
No Formal Trade Request From Nate Schierholtz
3:38am: Schierholtz denied formally requesting a trade, talking to Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com.
1:15am: Giants outfielder Nate Schierholtz has requested a trade, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Earlier this month we heard that he was unhappy with his reduced role and would welcome a move to a team with more opportunity.
Schierholtz, 28, is hitting .247/.316/.418 with five homers in 190 plate appearances this season. The left-handed hitter has been limited to spot start and pinch-hitting duties because the starting outfield trio of Melky Cabrera, Angel Pagan, and Gregor Blanco have been so good. San Francisco is seeking a right-handed outfield bat prior to Tuesday's trade deadline.
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