Elmer Dessens Signs Minor-League Deal With Mets
The Associated Press is reporting that the Mets have re-signed reliever Elmer Dessens to a one-year, minor-league contract. Under the terms of the split deal, Dessens would earn $700K if makes New York's 40-man roster, and $90K if he pitches in the minors. He can earn an extra 30K if he makes 20 major league appearances, with an extra $30K then added for every additional 10 appearances.
Dessens, 38, signed with the Mets last February and compiled a 3.31 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 28 relief outings in 2009. Re-signing in New York prevents Dessens from taking on yet another new address, as the veteran right-hander has pitched for nine teams in his 13-year big league career.
Discussion: Kevin Correia
8:08 PM: MLB.com's Corey Brock (via Twitter) is saying that the Padres are, in fact, going to try and deal Correia before Saturday's non-tender deadline rather than just let the pitcher leave.
7:09 PM: As reported last Monday, right-hander Kevin Correia will likely not be tendered a contract by the Padres before Saturday's non-tender deadline. Correia was a bargain for the Padres last season, earning $1.1MM and posting a 3.91 ERA, 2.22 K/BB ratio and a team-leading 12 wins in 33 starts. Numbers like that will earn Correia a significant raise — one that San Diego doesn't seem inclined to pay.
Though it appears that Correia, a San Diego native, will be leaving his hometown, it could be argued that his local club is doing him a financial favor by letting him explore free agency. There could even be a minor bidding war over the right-hander given the number of teams that have already been mentioned as possible suitors. Ken Rosenthal listed the Brewers, Mets and Dodgers as potential destinations for Correia, and the LA Times' Jon Weisman echoed the Dodger possibility given Los Angeles' interest in pitching. Evan P. Grant of the Dallas Morning News mentioned (via Twitter) the Rangers might also have an eye on Correia, though Texas already seems to have a number of young pitchers ready to start. Plus, it may be a dicey proposition for a career NL West pitcher to move to not just the AL, but to a hitter-friendly stadium like Rangers Ballpark.
Correia was not an overly big beneficiary of PETCO Park last season (a 3.68 ERA and 1.25 WHIP at home, 4.18 ERA and 1.36 WHIP on the road), so there is reason to believe that his good showing in his first year as a full-time starter can extend outside San Diego's city limits. What other teams do you think should make a play for Correia, and if your favorite team was the one signing the right-hander, what do you think a reasonable contract would be for his services?
Jose Arredondo To Miss 2010 Season
In addition to their other needs, the Angels may now also be on the market for some cheap right-handed bullpen help. ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. (via Twitter) reported that Jose Arredondo will have Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow in January and be sidelined for all of next season.
Arredondo posted a 1.62 ERA in 52 games (plus 3.2 scoreless playoff innings) during his 2008 rookie year, but struggled to a 6.00 ERA in 43 games with Los Angeles in 2009. He was sent down to the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees at midseason and spent some time on the disabled list with a strained elbow ligament.
Gammons On Bay, Beltre, Red Sox
Peter Gammons' departure from ESPN has become a story in itself during this busy off-season, and Gammons' media rounds continued today as a guest on the WEEI Sports Radio Network's Big Show. A full transcript is available here, but here are some of the hot stove items that Gammons had to share….
- Gammons said that Jason Bay "does not want to play in San Francisco, pure and simple," in spite of the fact that the Giants would be willing to offer Bay the five-year contract that he is apparently seeking.
- The Angels won't be players in the Bay sweepstakes, as Gammons predicted they will instead spend their money to re-sign John Lackey.
- Gammons thinks the Mariners might still make an offer to retain Adrian Beltre, though such a move might create some issues with the newly-signed Chone Figgins, who came to Seattle under the impression that he would be the new third baseman. Gammons reported that Beltre "hates" Safeco Field.
- Given Roy Halladay's injury history, Gammons said "it would be a disaster" for Boston to trade Casey Kelly and Clay Buchholz for Halladay and sign the Toronto ace to a long-term contract.
- If the Red Sox don't end up with either Bay or Matt Holliday, Gammons opined that Boston could pursue a defense-first strategy for a season by signing Mike Cameron and Xavier Nady. Or, Boston could just save their money now and stand pat until mid-season before making any trades.
- Even if the Red Sox add another big-money starter, the team would like to keep Josh Beckett because of the leadership he provides to the younger pitchers.
- Speaking of clubhouse leadership, Gammons said that Marco Scutaro's ability to mentor Jose Iglesias was a factor in Boston signing the former Blue Jays shortstop. Another reason was that Scutaro had a clean bill of health, unlike Mark DeRosa, who Gammons said the Red Sox were "a little bit cautious" on signing due to his wrist problems last season.
Royals Sign Jason Kendall
6:24 PM: The Kansas City Star's Bob Dutton tweets that the deal is worth roughly the same as the two-year/$6MM contract Ivan Rodriguez signed with Washington earlier this week.
4:59 PM: The Royals signed catcher Jason Kendall to a two-year contract, according to a press release from the team. Kendall, 35, hit .241/.331/.305 in 526 plate appearances for the Brewers this year, catching 1,162 innings. Ivan Rodriguez and Brian Schneider also received two-year deals so far this winter.
The Royals entered the offseason intending to reboot their catching situation. They've declined an option on Miguel Olivo and signed Kendall, and may non-tender John Buck tomorrow.
Odds & Ends: Boyer, Chapman, Non-Tenders, Cubs
Links for Friday…
- The D'Backs agreed to a one-year deal with arbitration-eligible righty Blaine Boyer, tweets MLB.com's Steve Gilbert.
- ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. analyzes Aroldis Chapman's upcoming bullpen session – does it represent a loss of leverage? Arangure Jr. notes that Chapman received one offer so far – $15.5MM – from the Red Sox back when he was represented by Edwin Mejia.
- SI's Jon Heyman names his winners and losers of the Winter Meetings.
- Royals GM Dayton Moore expects a bigger non-tender group than years past, writes Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.
- Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald expects the Cubs to tender contracts to Mike Fontenot, Koyie Hill, Sean Marshall, Jeff Baker, and Angel Guzman, but not lefty Neal Cotts. Cotts is coming back from Tommy John surgery, and the Cubs could re-sign him to a minor league deal.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post criticizes the New York Times for letting his good friend Jack Curry go.
- MLB.com's Carrie Muskat says the Cubs acquired righty Arismendy Mota from the Nationals for cash considerations. Mota was taken by the Nats from the White Sox with the first pick of the Triple A phase of the Rule 5 draft yesterday.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick believes that while the free agent dollars are flowing now, "the euphoria will fade after the New Year."
- The Nationals officially announced their two-year deal for Ivan Rodriguez today.
Orioles, Mariners Interested In Jason Marquis
4:35pm: An Orioles official told MASN's Roch Kubatko not to get too excited about Marquis. Kubatko says the Orioles are "more likely to sign a pitcher who's coming off injury to an incentive-ladened deal." They're known to have interest in bringing Erik Bedard back, for example.
3:20pm: This week we learned that the Phillies, Mets, and Nationals are in on free agent starter Jason Marquis. Today Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports add two American League clubs to the mix: the Mariners and Orioles. Marquis' positive traits: he can eat innings, and he was third in baseball with a 55.6% groundball rate.
The FOX writers note that the Mariners are in on many free agent starters, including John Lackey, Ben Sheets, Doug Davis, and Jarrod Washburn. This is the first I've heard of the Sheets connection.
Indians, Blue Jays Eyeing Marcus Thames
The Indians and Blue Jays have interest in free agent outfielder Marcus Thames, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Thames, 33 in March, hit .252/.323/.453 in 294 plate appearances this year, logging 125 innings in left field. He's also spent time at right field and first base in his career. Thames earned $2.275MM this year, and the Tigers let him go in November.
Thames is better against left-handed pitching. His 2007-09 splits: .263/.326/.541 against lefties, .233/.281/.461 against righties.
Possible Non-Tenders To Watch
Baseball's non-tender deadline is tomorrow at 11pm CST, and MLBTR will of course have full coverage. Arbitration-eligible players, who typically have at least three but fewer than six years of big league service time, are sometimes cut loose to become free agents before reaching six years. That's non-tendering – the player was not tendered a contract by his team. A team can non-tender a player for various reasons, but primarily it's done because the player is injured or the team believes he wouldn't be worth his salary the following year. Most arbitration-eligible players tendered contracts get raises, even after subpar seasons.
David Ortiz, Rick Ankiel, Joel Pineiro, Ryan Franklin, David Eckstein, and Jayson Werth are some of the better-known non-tenders of recent years. A year ago the more interesting names included Ty Wigginton, Joe Nelson, Willy Taveras, Jonny Gomes, and Takashi Saito.
There's talk the free agent market will be flooded with more non-tenders than usual tomorrow, but I'm skeptical. We came up with about 35 candidates, several of whom will be tendered contracts. Here are the more interesting names that stand a chance to be non-tendered:
- Kevin Correia, SP - At this point it appears Correia will either be non-tendered or traded, because the Padres do not want to give him a raise on this year's $1.1MM salary. Correia made 33 starts with a 3.91 ERA, so he'll make decent money on the open market as a mid to back-rotation starter.
- Garrett Atkins, 1B/3B - He has the name value, but his defense and ability to hit away from Coors are in question. This year, he didn't hit at Coors either.
- D.J. Carrasco, RP - Signed by the White Sox to a minor league deal in January of '08, Carrasco led all of baseball this year with 89.3 relief innings. His controllable stats weren't all that different from Brandon Lyon's.
- John Buck, C – Buck doesn't seem much worse than the veteran catchers currently entertaining two-year offers, and he's only 29. He's shown flashes of power at times.
- Jack Cust, DH/OF – Cust is the AL strikeout leader for three years running, but he's also hit at least 25 home runs and drawn at least 90 walks in each of those seasons. He'd fit best in a DH role.
- Ryan Garko, 1B - Garko, 29 in January, has some decent years under his belt but struggled after being traded to the Giants this year. He still handles lefties well.
- Chad Gaudin, SP/RP - Gaudin whiffed a batter per inning before being traded to the Yankees this year, though his control is suspect. He earned $2MM this year.
- Kelly Johnson, 2B – Dealing with a wrist injury, Johnson hit .224/.303/.389 and lost the starting second base job in Atlanta. He's an interesting pickup given his offensive success in the two years prior. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the Braves remain undecided on Johnson, with a tender-and-trade not out of the question.
- Dioner Navarro, C – The Rays have Kelly Shoppach now, so they may prefer not to pay Navarro $2MM+. Navarro had a decent year in '08 at .295/.349/.407.
- Brian Tallet, SP/RP – The 32-year-old lefty has control issues but had some respectable years out of Toronto's pen prior to making 25 starts this year. His numbers last year were better than John Grabow's this year.
- Chien-Ming Wang, SP – Wang, 30 in March, had fine years in '06 and '07 as the Yankees' mid-rotation groundball specialist. He had shoulder surgery in July, so the Yankees will non-tender him rather than pay anything close to this year's $5MM salary.
- Jonny Gomes, OF – Like Correia, Gomes would only be non-tendered out of cheapness. He hit .267/.338/.541 in 314 plate appearances for the Reds this year, though he did get to face lefties 35% of the time.
Olney On Damon, Halladay, Molina, Carroll
ESPN's Buster Olney kicks off his latest blog post with a poignant look at his relationship with Peter Gammons. As for the rumors…
- Olney says the Yankees and Johnny Damon appear to be far apart in early contract negotiations. Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News believes the Yanks will turn to Hideki Matsui, Mike Cameron, or Mark DeRosa if Damon won't take a two-year offer within two weeks or so. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says Damon seeks three or four years at $13MM annually, while the Yanks are at two years, $19MM (Bobby Abreu's contract).
- Olney heard the Blue Jays' asking price of the Phillies for Roy Halladay "is about the same" as it was in July. That doesn't seem logical, but we are talking about two different GMs here. Olney was able to confirm the reported Halladay demands the Jays made of the Yankees: Jesus Montero, Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes, and more.
- The Mets' initial offer to catcher Bengie Molina contains a vesting option. Olney doesn't speculate, but do you think the Mets were willing to guarantee the first two years?
- The Dodgers, Indians, and A's are among the teams eyeing Jamey Carroll, who seeks a two-year deal. Carroll may look at Craig Counsell's yet-unsigned deal as a precedent.