Athletics Non-Tender Jack Cust
Oakland has announced that they will not tender Jack Cust an offer, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). The writing has been on the wall for Cust since the A's acquired Jake Fox from the Cubs.
Cust is coming off of his weakest showing in his three years as a member of the Athletics, posting .240/.356/.417 with 25 homers. What teams should look into signing the soon-to-be 31-year-old slugger?
Braves Non-Tender Kelly Johnson
1:32pm: The Braves will not tender Johnson an offer, according to David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). Johnson made $2.8MM in a disappointing year for Atlanta.
11:48pm: The Braves are trying to trade second baseman Kelly Johnson according to FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal. If they can't work out a trade by midnight ET tonight, Johnson will be non-tendered.
Earlier this week we learned that Atlanta was getting nibbles on Johnson, however we haven't heard anything since. The 27-year-old hit just .224/.303/.389 last season, and has seen all three triple-slash stats decline for three straight years. UZR/150 has consistently rated Johnson's defense as below average.
Red Sox Acquire Boof Bonser
SUNDAY, 1:16pm: Bonser's deal is non-guaranteed and worth $650K, with a $25K bonus for either 20 starts or 45 appearances, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com (via Twitter).
SATURDAY, 9:26pm: The Twins acquired righty Chris Province from the Red Sox for Bonser, according to a press release. It should also be noted that the Sox signed Bonser for 2010.
THURSDAY, 8:53am: The Twins confirmed the move in a press release. They'll receive a player to be named later or cash for Bonser. It'll be an A or AA player, reports Kelsie Smith of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
8:28am: The Red Sox acquired pitcher Boof Bonser, according to the pitcher's agency Reynolds Sports Management. Bonser was designated for assignment on Tuesday to make room for Carl Pavano. The 28-year-old had labrum and rotator cuff surgery in February. Bonser sports a 5.12 ERA, 7.3 K/9, and 2.9 BB/9 over 391.6 career innings spanning three seasons.
Odds & Ends: Jacobs, Bradley, Lackey, Lyon
Some links to start the weekend…
- MLB.com's Joe Frisaro says that Mike Jacobs isn't a fit to return to the Marlins. The team's second best prospect is first baseman Logan Morrison, who is on the cusp of the big leagues after spending most of 2009 in Double-A.
- Milton Bradley continues to hamstring the Cubs this offseason, writes Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune.
- Tommy Bennett at Beyond The Box Score compared John Lackey to A.J. Burnett, and doesn't think he deserves a bigger contract than the Yanks' hurler.
- The Astros will make the Brandon Lyon signing official today, according to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart.
- Curious about what the 2010 draft order looks like following the recent signings? Check it out.
Roy Halladay Rumors: Saturday
11:07am: ESPN's Jayson Stark spoke to a source who says Toronto is pushing the Angels for lefty pitching prospect Trevor Reckling in any Halladay deal. Baseball America rating Reckling the fourth best prospect in the Angels' organization coming into the 2009 season.
9:44am: It's just a hunch, but Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com wonders if the Phillies are trying to move Cliff Lee as part of a three or four team trade to land Roy Halladay. The idea is that Lee would get moved to one team for prospects, then Philadelphia would then use those prospects to land Halladay, perhaps keeping some for themselves as well. That would sure be a fun deal.
Meanwhile, in today's blog post at ESPN, Buster Olney mentions that other GMs feel Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is "aggressively preparing" to move Halladay. He also notes that we still don't know if team ownership will approve a Doc trade.
Royals Rumors: Kendall, Myers, Crisp
SATURDAY, 9:35am: Bob Dutton of The KC Star says Kendall will earn $2.25MM in 2010 and $3.75MM in 2011, with another $250K in incentives. It's the same two year, $6MM deal Pudge Rodriguez received.
FRIDAY, 6:54pm: Royals GM Dayton Moore said on a conference call that the reported terms ($4MM) for Jason Kendall's deal are about right. The team expects him to mentor young pitchers and catching prospect Wil Myers, Moore said.
Kendall, who insists he feels like he's in his early twenties, says he wants to win in Kansas City. But it wasn't his only choice.
"There were other offers, but I'm a Kansas City Royal now," he said. " Dayton and the Royals called me the first day [of free agency]."
When asked about free agent Coco Crisp, Moore said the Royals "remain open" to all of the team's free agents, including the center fielder.
Cardinals Make Formal Offer To Matt Holliday
SATURDAY, 8:44am: Joe Strauss of The St. Louis Post Dispatch spoke to a source that says the deal "does not offer an average annual value of $18 million." That number is significant because Holliday rejected a similar offer to remain in Colorado.
FRIDAY, 1:50pm: The Cardinals made a formal offer to Matt Holliday, GM John Mozeliak told Bernie Miklasz on ESPN 101 St. Louis this morning. Mozeliak expects to hear back from the Scott Boras camp within 48 hours.
Dodgers Sign Josh Towers
The Dodgers signed pitcher Josh Towers to a minor league deal worth $700K in the Majors, according to the AP. Towers, 33 in February, posted a 3.05 ERA, 4.8 K/9, and 2.1 BB/9 in 103.3 Triple A innings for the Yankees and Nationals organizations this year. Towers' best years were with the Blue Jays, namely an '05 season where he posted a 3.71 ERA in 208.6 innings. He has a career BB/9 mark of just 1.5.
Counsell May Sign By Monday
Barry Meister, who represents free agent infielder Craig Counsell, told MLB.com's Adam McCalvy that his client may have a deal finalized with the Brewers (or possibly another team) by Monday. Milwaukee made an initial offer to the 39-year-old veteran on Dec. 4, and then reportedly upped it yesterday. The conventional wisdom has been that Counsell will re-sign with the Brewers, given that he lives in the Milwaukee area and that both the player and team have seemed eager to work out a deal. No dollar amounts have been mentioned, but it would surely be a raise from the one-year/$1MM contract that Counsell received from the Brewers last winter. Despite Counsell's age, the offer may also be for more than one year in length.
Counsell has spent the last three seasons in Milwaukee and also played for the Brewers in 2004. He hit .285/.357/.408 over 459 plate appearances in 2009, notching a career-high in OPS for a season in which he had more than 189 PAs. Solid numbers aside, Counsell's value to the Brewers in 2010 will be to provide veteran leadership backing up the club's young infield corps of Mat Gamel, Alcides Escobar and Casey McGehee.
Should the talks between Counsell and the Brewers fall apart at the eleventh hour, we know that the Reds and Dodgers have also shown interest in the veteran utilityman.
Odds & Ends: Diaz, Cedeno, German, Ojeda
A few tidbits from around the majors….
- Blue Jays reliever Jeremy Accardo hopes to be non-tendered tomorrow, writes MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. The righty, 28 this month, dealt with a groin injury and bounced up and down between Triple A and the Majors this year. He earned $900K.
- Cases of players avoiding arbitration and signing for 2010, according to the AP: Matt Diaz of the Braves at $2.55MM, Ronny Cedeno of the Pirates at $1.125MM, and Esteban German of the Rangers at $600K. Diaz gets a 106% raise, heading into his third arbitration year.
- The AP also notes that the Nationals signed pitcher Ryan Speier for $425K. The 30-year-old toiled at Triple A for the Rockies this year, mainly.
- MLB.com's Steve Gilbert (via Twitter) reports that the Diamondbacks have avoided going to arbitration with Augie Ojeda by re-signing the veteran infielder to a one-year deal. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic says the contract is worth $825K. Ojeda, 34, has spent the last three seasons with Arizona and hit .246/.340/.345 in 309 plate appearances in 2009. The defensive specialist is a valuable utilityman, able to play second, third and shortstop.
- Twins GM Bill Smith tells Kelsie Smith of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that his traditionally low-spending team has "substantial funds" to cover arbitration raises and potential signings that could raise Minnesota's payroll into the $90MM neighborhood for next season. The general manager was predictably non-committal when asked if "substantial" translated to "enough to extend Joe Mauer."
- NPB Tracker passes on news from Japanese site Sanspo.com that the Yakult Swallows will announce next week that they have signed Eulogio De La Cruz. The right-hander was released by the Padres on Wednesday. De La Cruz has an 11.84 ERA in 15 appearances over three seasons with San Diego, Florida and Detroit.
- The White Sox seem ready to stick with Randy Williams as the only left-handed reliever (besides, of course, set-up man Matt Thornton) next season, as Chicago GM Kenny Williams told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. Gonzales notes that if the club changes its mind, a possible target could be former White Sox reliever Neal Cotts, who will be non-tendered by the Cubs tomorrow.