Ruben Tejada Rumors

Quick Hits: Nathan, Bourjos, Yankees, Tejada, Rays

By Mark Polishuk [November 19, 2013 at 12:57am CDT]

Joe Nathan agreed with Jim Bowden's suggestions of the Tigers, Angels and Yankees as good fits for his services, the veteran closer told Bowden and Casey Stern on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM. Nathan said that finding a winning team was more important to him than location, he's prepared to be patient and see how his market develops, and he revealed that his old teammate Torii Hunter was trying to recruit him to come to Detroit. Tip of the cap to MLB.com's Jason Beck for providing an audio link to Nathan's interview and a partial transcript.

Here's some more news as we wrap up a busy day around baseball…

The Phillies have a long-standing interest in Peter Bourjos and would love to have him, but they don't have the young pitching the Angels would want back in a trade, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports. The Phils would have to get a third team involved to work out a deal, or forget Bourjos entirely and focus on other outfield candidates; Rosenthal suggests Grady Sizemore as a bench possibility.
Also from Rosenthal, rival scouts figure the Yankees will make a big push to sign international talent since they're already over the bonus pool limit for international signings and will be penalized anyway. It's worth noting that Joe Pawlikowski of the River Ave Blues blog believes Rosenthal may have miscalculated some figures and is actually saying the Yankees will overspend during the next international signing period, which opens on July 2, 2014.
MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez lists 10 teams who could possibly be trade partners for the Angels in their search for young, controllable pitching.
Ruben Tejada's possible grievance against the Mets is just the latest sign of strained relations between the shortstop and the team, and Andy Martino of the New York Daily News figures the two sides are close to parting ways.
The Rays plan to rotate Wil Myers, Desmond Jennings, Matt Joyce and David DeJesus at DH this season, a move that will help keep the players fresh and also allow the club to save money on signing a designated hitter, Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune writes.
Five teams have shown interest in Yuniesky Betancourt as a second or third baseman, agent Alex Esteban tells Sportsnet.ca's Ben Nicholson-Smith (Twitter link).
The White Sox aren't used to picking as high as third overall in the amateur draft, MLB.com's Scott Merkin writes, but the club is hoping to use the high pick and larger draft bonus pool to fuel GM Rick Hahn's plan to restock the farm system.

Ruben Tejada Could File Grievance Against Mets

By Charlie Wilmoth [November 17, 2013 at 10:06pm CDT]

Infielder Ruben Tejada could file a grievance against the Mets over a disagreement about his service time, Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan reports. Tejada is represented by the Legacy Agency.

The issue stems from a late promotion from Triple-A Las Vegas in September. Las Vegas was eliminated from the Pacific Coast League playoffs on September 7. The Mets waited to promote Tejada until September 10, and that left him with two years and 171 days of playing time. The Mets had promoted several players the previous day.

Another day of service time would have given Tejada three full years, thus potentially making him eligible for free agency after the 2016 season. As it stands, the earliest he can be eligible for free agency is after the 2017 season. He will, however, be arbitration-eligible this offseason as a Super Two player.

It is not uncommon for teams to time promotions based on service time considerations. Passan suggests, however, that they are not typically quite as obvious about it as the Mets were in Tejada's case.

If Tejada were to receive the extra day of service time, Passan writes, Charlie Furbush of the Mariners would become eligible for arbitration as a Super Two player. Super Two status is determined by a percentage of players with less than three years of service time, and Furbush would take Tejada's place among that group of players in such a scenario.

Tejada hit .202/.259/.260 in 227 plate appearances for the Mets last season. He currently appears to be in line to start at shortstop in 2014, although the Mets could pursue other shortstops in the offseason.

New York Notes: Santana, Murphy, Headley

By Zach Links [October 17, 2013 at 3:31pm CDT]

Here's a look at the latest on the Mets and Yankees..

The Mets and Johan Santana are very likely to part ways this winter but team insiders say that the door is open a sliver of a crack for a return, writes Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. When Martino suggested to one team source that the Mets would definitely cut bait with the left-hander, the person said, “that’s probably fair, but it’s premature to say never.”
A source told Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com not to expect multi-year deals this offseason for notable players under the Mets' control. The Mets' best candidates for a deal like Jonathon Niese's five-year, $25.5MM pact from last offseason would be the arbitration-eligible Daniel Murphy, Dillon Gee, and Bobby Parnell.
Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com asks if the Yankees should make a play for Chase Headley this winter. The Padres third baseman could be moved for the right package, but a baseball official familiar with the team's thinking says they'll need a "compelling offer" and the Bombers don't really have the necessary talent in their farm system to do that.
Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada has returned to The Legacy Agency as a client after spending time with Praver/Shapiro, tweets Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal. You can keep track of everyone's representation with the MLBTR Agency Database.

Quick Hits: Beckham, Lind, Tejada, Sveum, Ravin

By Charlie Wilmoth [September 19, 2013 at 10:31pm CDT]

Tim Beckham, the first overall pick in the 2008 Draft, entered the Rays' game as a pinch-hitter against the Rangers Thursday night and singled in his first big-league at-bat. It marked a milestone for the infielder, who crawled through the minor leagues, never hitting all that impressively at any level, before posting a line of .276/.342/.387 in 2013 for Triple-A Durham. All of the 20 players drafted immediately after Beckham made it to the big leagues before he did. (Many, of course, were drafted out of college; Beckham came out of high school.) Remarkably, as Baseball America's John Manuel notes (via Twitter), Beckham is the first player drafted by the Rays since 2007 to make it to the big leagues with them. That's surprising, given how vital young players are to a low-payroll team like the Rays and how successful they've been in recent years. Here are more notes from around the Majors.

Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has implied to first baseman Adam Lind that there's a good chance the team will pick up Lind's 2014 option, but nothing is certain yet, SportsNet.ca's Shi Davidi reports. "You know Alex pretty well, it’s pretty much the explanation I anticipated," says Lind, who will get either $7MM to play for the Jays or a $2MM buyout. The Jays also have options on Lind's services for 2015 and 2016. Lind has hit .282/.352/.486 so far this season. The team isn't required to make a decision about his option until shortly after the World Series ends.
Mets manager Terry Collins wants Ruben Tejada to take command of the shortstop position next season, Anthony DiComo and Chris Iseman of MLB.com write. "My message is real simple: this job is his," says Collins. "But he's got to show everybody that he wants it desperately." That doesn't rule out the possibility that the Mets could pursue a shortstop from outside the organization. The offseason free-agent market isn't a strong one, but a trade might be a possibility. Tejada has hit .202/.259/.260 in 227 plate appearances this season.
The Cubs aren't ready to say whether Dale Sveum will remain their manager in 2014, but the notion that the Cubs would fire Sveum is "laughable," says Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times. Morrissey raises the possibility that the Cubs hesitation on Sveum may have something to do with big-name managers like Joe Girardi and Ron Gardenhire being free agents this offseason. He argues that Sveum shouldn't be blamed for the struggles of Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro this season, suggesting that the pair might simply not be as good as the Cubs and their fans hoped.
The Brewers claimed pitcher Josh Ravin off waivers from the Reds today, and MLB.com's Adam McCalvy compares Ravin to Joe Nathan, noting that Ravin can throw in triple digits (Twitter link). Ravin wouldn't be the first player to find success as a reliever in the Majors after an unimpressive minor-league career, but Joe Nathan is a lofty name to drop when discussing a 25-year-old who posted a 5.82 ERA with 6.7 BB/9 in the minors this year.
Dodgers lefty Onelki Garcia is now represented by BHS Sports Council, CBS Sports' Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). Garcia posted a 2.90 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 5.1 BB/9 in the upper levels of the minors in 2013, and he made his big-league debut last week.

NL East Notes: Sandberg, Bowa, McCann, Tejada

By Zach Links [September 19, 2013 at 3:29pm CDT]

It seems to be a fait accompli that Ryne Sandberg will have his interim tag removed and be named full-time manager of the Phillies sometime in the next week or so, writes Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Whether the announcement happens in a matter of days, after the season finale against the Braves on September 29th, or shortly thereafter, the smart money is on Sandberg taking the full-time gig. Here's more on the Phillies and the latest out of the NL East..

More from Salisbury, who wonders if Larry Bowa could be joining Sandberg on his staff for next season. Bowa was in the Phillies’ dugout before Wednesday’s game and the idea of adding the 67-year-old has been discussed within the organization.
Braves catcher Brian McCann may not be back in Atlanta next season, but his focus is on the team's current run as they near the postseason, writes MLB.com's Mark Bowman. Many have speculated that McCann will find a big payday elsewhere this winter.
Mets skipper Terry Collins wants to see Ruben Tejada take control of the shortstop position in 2014. "My message is real simple: this job is his," Collins said of next year's starting shortstop role. "But he's got to show everybody that he wants it desperately." Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com recently wrote that the Mets could look out-of-house for their next shortstop and may even consider trading Tejada.
Peter Gammons of MLB.com (on Twitter) notes that Ed Lucas, who belted his fourth homer of the year for the Marlins last night, was a Winter Meetings job seeker last season. The Dartmouth grad spent nine seasons in the minor leagues before getting called up by Miami in late May.

Mets Rumors: Choo, Ellsbury, Tejada, Harvey

By Steve Adams [September 11, 2013 at 12:37pm CDT]

Yesterday it was reported that the Mets are likely to target Shin-Soo Choo as a free agent this offseason. Choo projects as one of the top names available and would serve as a long-term upgrade in right field, should the Mets be able to entice him more than the host of other suitors Choo figures to have. Here's more on Choo and other Mets-related issues…

General manager Sandy Alderson told Jon Heyman of CBS Sports that he "certainly [hasn't] ruled out a big-ticket item" on the free agent market this winter, though he didn't mention Choo by name. One Mets-connected person told Heyman, however, that Choo "fits the bill" in terms of what the team is looking for.
Also in that piece, Heyman adds that Jacoby Ellsbury isn't likely to be a prime target for the Mets because they're pleased with the emergence of Juan Lagares in center. While Lagares' .264/.301/.385 batting line has hardly set the world on fire, he's been worth three wins above replacement, per Fangraphs, due to his incredible center field defense.
Finally from Heyman's article, one top Mets executive expressed relief that the team didn't end up signing Michael Bourn last offseason. The Mets, of course, pursued Bourn heavily and lobbied to be able to keep their No. 11 overall pick in signing him, but Cleveland swooped in with a four-year, $48MM offer and landed the speedster.
Ruben Tejada's play for the remainder of the season rest is important, because it might mean one less position that needs to be filled this winter, writes Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog. Yesterday, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com wrote that the Mets are likely to explore external options this winter and they may even shop Tejada.
Matt Harvey told reporters, including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, that he's optimistic about his chances to avoid Tommy John surgery. Harvey is slated to receive a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews next week, after which Andrews will confer with Dr. David Altchek on the best course of action for the Mets ace.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

East Notes: Ellsbury, Red Sox, Tejada, Mets, Yankees

By Zach Links [September 10, 2013 at 8:34pm CDT]

Earlier today, Tim Dierkes released his list of the top 34 free agent starting pitchers for this offseason. Yankees hurler Hiroki Kuroda comes in at No. 4 on the list, despite his age (39 in February) and a small streak of bad starts in August. In total, it has been another strong year for the veteran, who owns a 2.99 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9. Here's more out of the AL and NL East..

Red Sox outfielder and free-agent-to-be Jacoby Ellsbury didn't exacerbate his foot fracture by playing last week, a baseball source told Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald. Ellsbury will be in a walking boot for another few days and will rejoin the Red Sox on Friday at Fenway Park. He'll also be reexamined by doctors before he resumes physical activity.
It seems likely that the Mets will explore external shortstop options as an alternative to Ruben Tejada and he could even be traded this winter, writes Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. Tejeada will be first-time arbitration eligible with a salary less than $1MM, so he won't be cost prohibitive as a backup middle infielder if a more accomplished shortstop is brought in.
The Yankees' addition of Mike Zagurski signals concern over Boone Logan's continued elbow troubles, writes Andy McCullough of the Star Ledger.

NL East Notes: Braves, Tejada, Parnell, Galvis

By Steve Adams [September 10, 2013 at 10:40am CDT]

Jordan Schafer, Anthony Varvaro and David Carpenter exemplify the Braves' knack for getting the most out of the "free talent" market (players claimed off waivers or signed as minor league free agents), writes ESPN's Keith Law in his latest Insider piece. Law writes that the Braves have succeeded with tight payrolls in recent years by excelling in this area, and he also looks at the next wave of "free-talent" players on the horizon for the Braves. Here's more out of the NL East…

Ruben Tejada is expected to join the Mets today as a September callup, which will leave him one day shy of accumulating his third full year of MLB service time, writes ESPN New York's Adam Rubin. Rubin reported yesterday that the Mets would likely delay Tejada's promotion for that purpose, as it will keep Tejada from reaching free agency for an additional year.
Mets closer Bobby Parnell will undergo surgery to repair the herniated disk in his neck, manager Terry Collins told reporters, including Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Collins said that Parnell "should" be ready for Spring Training but would make no promises on that front. I'd imagine that any uncertainty surrounding Parnell would only further what should be an interesting offseason for the Mets on the bullpen front, with so many free agents in their 2013 relief corps.
The presence of Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley through at least the 2014 season (and likely the 2015 campaign due to Rollins' easily attainable vesting option) makes a utility role the most realistic option for Freddy Galvis if he's to remain with the Phillies long-term, writes Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News. Interim manager Ryne Sandberg feels that Galvis fits the mold of a strong bench player due to his defensive capabilities and "consistent progress and work with his batting."

NL East Notes: Bethancourt, Tejada, Zimmerman

By Steve Adams [September 9, 2013 at 8:42am CDT]

The Braves will promote top prospect Christian Bethancourt today, according to Tom Hart of FOX Sports in Atlanta (Twitter link). The 22-year-old catcher hit .277/.305/.436 at Double-A Mississippi this season. While those numbers don't look tremendously impressive, Bethancourt turned it on after a slow start, batting .300/.339/.521 with 11 homers from June 13 on. He currently ranks as the Braves' No. 3 prospect and the fifth-best catching prospect in baseball in the eyes of MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo. Here's more on Bethancourt and the rest of the NL East…

MLB.com's Mark Bowman tweets that Bethancourt's promotion will allow him to get acquainted with the Majors, which is a good thing, as it's likely that he or Evan Gattis will be the Braves' starting catcher in 2014. In doing so, Bowman implies that Brian McCann is likely to sign elsewhere as a free agent. That thought has been echoed by others in recent weeks, including David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Mets will stall Ruben Tejada's promotion back to the Majors, writes Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, and in doing so, they will delay his free agency until after the 2017 season instead of the 2016 season. Tejada hasn't exactly torn the cover off the ball of late, as he's batted just .275/.324/.364 from July through Sept. 2 at Triple-A Las Vegas — one of the most hitter-friendly environments in all of professional baseball.
Ryan Zimmerman has regained confidence in his throwing and believes he can continue to play third base for the Nationals, writes Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. Zimmerman concedes that he doubted his future at the hot corner earlier in the season. He tells Kilgore that his shoulder injuries in 2012 wore his right arm down to the point where he couldn't lift it above his head, causing him to develop bad throwing habits. He had surgery to repair the shoulder last October, but breaking those poor habits and rebuilding the strength in his arm has been a slow process, Zimmerman says. Ultimately, the decision on when to move to first won't be Zimmerman's, Kilgore writes. The team could even move Adam LaRoche this winter and make the switch in 2014.

Mets Notes: Tejada, Collins, Davis

By Zach Links [May 29, 2013 at 5:57pm CDT]

Earlier today, we looked at the latest on the Mets and Yankees as the two clubs continue to battle it out in their first Subway Series matchup of the year. For the 20-29 Mets, there's been a great deal of talk surrounding a major organizational shakeup – not from the outside, but from within. Here's more on that and other notes out of Queens..

Demotion or not, Ruben Tejada is going to be arbitration eligible for the first time next year, meaning that he's due for a salary jump, notes Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter). The 23-year-old entered 2013 at 2 years and 53 days of service time. So far this season, Tejada is hitting just .209/.269/.264 through 49 games.
Mets skipper Terry Collins is playing very coy on Tejada and Ike Davis, but Andy Martino of the New York Daily News (on Twitter) hears that both could be sent down before the end of the Subway Series tomorrow. Tonight will be a big game for both as they look to stay on the big league roster.
Martino (link) also hears that the Mets want to resolve the Davis situation before potentially demoting Tejada. However, GM Sandy Alderson could also just send both of them down at once. For more on the Davis/Tejada demotion situation, check out this blog post from Martino.
Had the Mets not come back against Mariano Rivera last night, it is an absolute certainty that both Davis and Tejada would have been optioned, Martino tweets. While neither player recorded a hit last night, the club likely wouldn't want to make such a move in the wake of a big win (link).

Full Story | Comments | Categories: Ike Davis | New York Mets | Ruben Tejada

Ruben Tejada Rumors

Quick Hits: Nathan, Bourjos, Yankees, Tejada, Rays

Ruben Tejada Could File Grievance Against Mets

New York Notes: Santana, Murphy, Headley

Quick Hits: Beckham, Lind, Tejada, Sveum, Ravin

NL East Notes: Sandberg, Bowa, McCann, Tejada

Mets Rumors: Choo, Ellsbury, Tejada, Harvey

East Notes: Ellsbury, Red Sox, Tejada, Mets, Yankees

NL East Notes: Braves, Tejada, Parnell, Galvis

NL East Notes: Bethancourt, Tejada, Zimmerman

Mets Notes: Tejada, Collins, Davis

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