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Archives for September 2009

Rays DFA Joe Nelson

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According to Marc Topkin of The St. Petersburg Times, the Rays have designated reliever Joe Nelson for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for the recently acquired Sean Rodriguez. GM Andrew Friedman said the move was made out of "respect" for Nelson after the team decided not to call him up this month, giving him a chance to catch on in another team.

Nelson, 34, had a 4.02 ERA in 40.1 IP for the Rays, but he put nearly three men on base every two innings. His performance in Triple-A was no better: 5.87 ERA, 1.89 WHIP in 15.1 IP.

Discussion: AL Rookie Of The Year

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Let's get away from the hot stove for one post and talk about the American League Rookie of the Year candidates.  Rattling off some of the top names:  Nolan Reimold, Elvis Andrus, Gordon Beckham, Brett Gardner, Andrew Bailey, Brad Bergesen, Jeff Niemann, Ricky Romero, Jose Mijares, Tommy Hunter, Rick Porcello, Brett Anderson, and Scott Richmond.  Who's been the most valuable rookie in 2009?  And which of these players would you most want on your team moving forward?

The last few AL ROY winners: Evan Longoria, Dustin Pedroia, Justin Verlander, Huston Street, and Bobby Crosby.

Rays Acquire Sean Rodriguez In Kazmir Trade

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2:38pm: The Rays acquired Rodriguez as the player to be named later in the Kazmir trade, according to Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse (via Twitter).  Rodriguez, 24, is hitting a robust .299/.400/.616 at Triple A this year.  A few days ago the Rays acquired Alexander Torres and Matt Sweeney as initial pieces of the Kazmir deal.  My question: why didn't another team claim Rodriguez on waivers, just to prevent the Rays from getting a look at him in September?

The Rays seem set in the middle infield for 2010 with Ben Zobrist, Jason Bartlett, and Rodriguez.  Just speculating, but they could choose Akinori Iwamura's $250K buyout over his $4.25MM option.

TUESDAY, 12:33pm: The Angels promoted Wilson but not Rodriguez, causing Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times to speculate that the former is in the Kazmir deal.

MONDAY: Triple-A infielder Sean Rodriguez and catcher Bobby Wilson are candidates to be the player to be named later in last weekend's Scott Kazmir trade, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com. It is unclear if those two are part of a pool of prospects the Rays could consider, or if they've already made their decision.

Both players have big league experience. Rodriguez, 24, is a .282/.381/.502 career hitter in the minors, and has gotten 216 plate appearances with the Angels spread out over the last two seasons. Wilson, 26, has hit .283/.338/.423 in his minor league career, but he's come to the plate just seven times for the Angels over the last two year. Baseball America's 2009 Prospect Handbook notes that he "draws praise for his game calling ability." 

Odds & Ends: Diamond, Penny, Pelekoudas

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Links for Tuesday…

  • Chat today, 2pm CST.
  • The Rangers designated pitcher Thomas Diamond for assignment, according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan.  Diamond was the 10th overall pick in the 2004 draft.  He was considered the #52 prospect in the game by Baseball America in '05, but he had Tommy John surgery in '07 and dealt with shoulder soreness this year.
  • ESPN's Buster Olney says the Angels were in on Brad Penny, with a bullpen role in mind.
  • Stephen Strasburg has a few things to learn about dealing with media attention, says John Feinstein of the Washington Post.
  • Mariners Associate GM Lee Pelekoudas has resigned to pursue other career opportunities, according to a team press release.  Pelekoudas was the Ms' interim GM before Jack Zduriencik was hired.  He spent 30 years in the organization. 
  • USA Today's Paul White writes about the stigma of a college degree for ballplayers.
  • Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star suggests newly-extended GM Dayton Moore, and not the Glass family, is accountable for the Royals' future performance.
  • Reliever Luis Ayala, recently designated for assignment by the Marlins after pitching badly, was upset by the team's "lack of respect" (Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reporting).  Ayala earned $1.3MM for his 5.63 ERA this year in 40 innings.

Twins Acquire Jon Rauch For Kevin Mulvey

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TUESDAY: Arizona will receive pitcher Kevin Mulvey as the player to be named later in the Rauch trade, according to John Gambadoro of Sports 620 KTAR.  Mulvey, of course, joined the Twins in February of last year as part of the Johan Santana trade.  The 24 year-old righty has a 3.93 ERA with 113 strikeouts and 54 walks in 149 Triple A innings this year.

FRIDAY: The Twins acquired Jon Rauch from the Arizona Diamondbacks for a player to be named later, according to an MLB.com press release. Rauch, who should become a free agent after next season, makes $2MM this year and his contract includes a $2.9MM club option for 2010. 

The 6'11'' righty has allowed 57 hits and 17 walks in 54.1 innings, striking out 35. Rauch, who turns 31 next month, has seen his strikeout rate dip and his walk rate rise this year, though his ERA is identical to last year's 4.14 mark.

Garland, Contreras Trade Reactions

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A couple of heroes of the 2005 postseason, Jon Garland and Jose Contreras, were acquired by NL West teams yesterday.  Let's round up reaction links.

  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports likes the stability Garland provides the Dodgers, and wonders if they should exercise his $10MM option for 2010.  The Rockies and Rangers both had interest in Garland, who turns 30 this month.  His contract states that he cannot be offered arbitration if he's a Type A free agent, but that's irrelevant since Garland is currently battling just for Type B status.  ESPN's Buster Olney says the D'Backs are paying the entire freight for Garland, so the Dodgers will give up a decent player (we don't know who yet).
  • Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says the Rockies acquired Contreras as a reaction to Aaron Cook's injury.  Contreras was the consolation prize after the Rox were unable to meet the D'Backs' demands for Garland.  The Sox will pay most of Contreras' remaining $2.7MM, compelling the Rockies to send pitching prospect Brandon Hynick to Chicago.  Hynick talked to Jack Etkin of Inside The Rockies about the trade.  Baseball America says he profiles as a back of the rotation innings eater, in their latest Handbook.
  • How do you rank the recent NL West rotation additions, weighing these two moves and the Giants' signing of Brad Penny?  Most folks would probably be inclined to say Garland, Penny, Contreras, but in one month's time anything can happen.  All three pitchers have free agency as extra motivation.

Discussion: J.J. Hardy

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When the Brewers demoted slumping shortstop J.J. Hardy on August 12th, GM Doug Melvin told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the move was performance-based and was not done to delay his free agency by a year.  Talking to Anthony Witrado of the JS yesterday, Hardy and his agent Mike Seal publicly called BS on Melvin.  After all, the Brewers chose the latest possible date to demote Hardy and still ensure he would not become a free agent until after the 2011 season.  Melvin would point to Hardy's .229/.300/.367 batting line.  Which side are you on?

Hardy was initially OK with the demotion, until his agent informed him of the Brewers' perfect timing.  The Brewers may prefer the younger, cheaper Alcides Escobar as their shortstop moving forward, making Hardy a prime offseason trade candidate.  Even with a pay cut, Hardy will make at least $3.7MM in 2010 if tendered a contract.  That seems a worthwhile gamble – FanGraphs had Hardy as a 4+ win player in each of the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

Which teams might pursue the 27 year-old shortstop?  Rumors linking Boston to Hardy date back to at least June.  Perhaps the Twins could renew their winter interest.  The Blue Jays and A's may also make sense.

Hendry Noncommittal On Harden’s Future

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Cubs starter Rich Harden has piled up 152 strikeouts in 129 innings this year, and doesn't turn 28 until November 30th.  With a strong, healthy September, the oft-injured righty could be a hot commodity on the free agent market after the season.  Will the Cubs attempt to re-sign him?  Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times couldn't get much out of GM Jim Hendry, who has to sort through Harden's health outlook and contract demands, as well as his team's ownership situation.  Wittenmyer says Hendry "seems interested in the idea" of bringing Harden back, and the pitcher would like to stay.

At the least, it'd make sense for the Cubs to offer arbitration to Harden after the season.  He currently projects as a Type A free agent, meaning the Cubs would snag two draft picks if he rejects an arb offer to sign elsewhere.  Arb offers are not always obvious to predict, however – I was surprised last year when GMs chose not to make offers to players such as Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, Adam Dunn, Randy Wolf, and Kerry Wood (several of those decisions showed excellent foresight).

As for the Twins' recent waiver claim of Harden, Hendry called it a non-story.  A dozen Cubs were claimed on waivers and pulled back, Aaron Heilman also among them.  What's surprising to me is that no NL team thought Harden merited a claim.

Thome Trade Reactions

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The White Sox sent designated hitter Jim Thome to the Dodgers last night, paying part of his remaining $2.4MM salary and receiving 26 year-old High A shortstop Justin Fuller ("just a player," according to Mark Gonzales' Dodgers source).  Thome is hitting .249/.372/.493 in 417 plate appearances on the season. 

The Sox are in third place in the AL Central, six games back (they've lost eight of their last nine).  Baseball Prospectus puts Chicago's playoff chances at about 5.6%.  Sox fans: would you have preferred to see Ken Williams focus on that 1 in 18 chance, and retain Thome?  On to our links…

  • In this ESPN story, Dodgers manager Joe Torre wouldn't rule out the idea of using Thome at first base occasionally.  But GM Ned Colletti rejected the notion, and said Thome suggested it'd have to be an emergency situation.  So Thome will mostly be a pinch-hitter, though he could DH if the Dodgers reach the World Series.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says Williams "shifted from buyer to seller in record time," given the recent acquisitions of Jake Peavy and Alex Rios.  The Sox have Peavy through 2012 and Rios through 2014.  Rosenthal also praises Colletti's many trade improvements (Thome, George Sherrill, Jon Garland, Ron Belliard), again done on a limited budget.
  • Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune thinks Williams threw in the towel too early.
  • Sox Machine runs through many interesting implications of the trade, including the chance to get a good look at Tyler Flowers.  South Side Sox wonders if the good vibes could compel Thome to re-sign for 2010.  Both blogs gripe about Chicago's July 7th Brandon Allen–Tony Pena deal.
  • Thome projected as a Type A free agent in the American League; we'll get you his NL status later today.  It's a moot point, as the Dodgers seem unlikely to offer arbitration.

Dodgers Acquire Jon Garland

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8:18am: Via Twitter late last night, Gilbert mentioned a rumor that the D'Backs may receive infielder Tony Abreu in the Garland deal.  He notes that Abreu would have to clear waivers; after the season as a player to be named later would also work.  The 24 year-old crushed the ball in Triple A this year.

TUESDAY, 12:10am: Gilbert says Arizona is paying the rest of Garland's salary for this year, as well as the buyout of his 2010 option. Sweet deal for the Dodgers.

MONDAY, 11:18pm: The Dodgers have acquired righthander Jon Garland, according to SI.com's Jon Heyman. MLB.com's Steve Gilbert says the Diamondbacks will receive a player to be named later in return.

GM Ned Colletti has been looking to add a starter to his club for what seems like an eternity, and Garland gives them someone they can count on to take the ball every five days. He's started at least 32 games every season since 2002, and is on his way to completing that feat again this year. He had a 4.29 ERA in 167.2 IP for the Diamondbacks this year, his first foray into the National League.

There is a $10MM mutual option for Garland's services in 2010, with the buyout amount depending on who declines the option. Assuming the deal was completed before midnight ET on August 31st, Garland is eligible for the Dodgers' postseason roster.

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