Juan Rincon Designated For Assignment
According to John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press, the Tigers designated reliever Juan Rincon for assignment to make room for Dontrelle Willis. Rincon, 30, posted a 5.23 ERA in 10.3 innings for the Tigers this year. The Tigers had signed Rincon to a minor league deal back on January 20th.
Willis made four minor league starts at various levels, posting a 3.86 ERA and 3.16 BB/9. Under the contract extension signed in December of '07, Willis will earn $10MM this year and $12MM in '10.
2010 Options: Florida Marlins
The Marlins' only 2010 option is Ross Gload, who will presumably not be retained at $2.6MM. The more interesting story with the Marlins is their arbitration-eligible players. Hopefully future trades will make more baseball than financial sense.
There's second baseman Dan Uggla, who is earning $5.35MM in '09 (his first arb year). He's off to a terrible start: .189/.304/.358 in 125 plate appearances. He'll need to get back on track for another team to consider him worth $6-7MM. Otherwise, will the Marlins consider non-tendering him?
First baseman Jorge Cantu has taken it to another level, hitting .294/.360/.608 with 8 HR and 32 RBI in 114 plate appearances. Anyone want a 30 HR, 110 RBI corner bat for $5-6MM?
Outfielder Jeremy Hermida is drawing walks again (in almost 19% of his plate appearances) but he's slugging .375. He's just 25, and should pass $3MM next year. Hermida's not a sure thing but remains intriguing.
Ricky Nolasco and Josh Johnson will also get raises through arbitration, but are probably off-limits. In addition, the Fish have multiple quality relievers entering arbitration for the first time.
Brewers Sign Frank Catalanotto
According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Brewers signed first baseman/outfielder Frank Catalanotto to a minor league deal today. The Cat will begin in extended spring training and then go to the minors, with an eye on a big league bench role.
The Rangers released Catalanotto on April 1st, so they'll pay most of the $6MM owed to him. He should be useful, having hit .274/.342/.399 last year in 278 plate appearances.
Odds & Ends: Proctor, Dunn, Contreras
Links for Tuesday…
- According to Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Marlins reliever Scott Proctor is out for the season with Tommy John surgery. So that's $750K down the tubes, though Rodriguez wonders if they might re-sign him to an incentive-laden deal after the season.
- New blog post at Live to Play, Play to Live chronicling Miguel Angel Sano's 16th birthday party. His day began with a tryout for the Giants.
- Sports Illustrated names the game's best and worst owners.
- WEEI's Alex Speier says that if Daniel Bard never returns to the minors, he'll eventually be the second player to achieve Super Two status under Theo Epstein.
- Sam Miller of the OC Register asks who hangs up on a Jonathan Sanchez for Brandon Wood swap.
- I noticed that Preston Wilson surfaced with the Long Island Ducks. Brad Halsey, Dan Miceli, Ken Ray, and Lew Ford are also on the team, which is managed by Gary Carter.
- Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has a bunch of new info on the Moneyball movie, which comes out in 2011.
- Adam Dunn told John Shea of the Chronicle that he was open to signing with the Giants but did not hear from them.
- Jose Contreras cleared waivers, which is not a surprise given the $8MM+ left on his contract.
2010 Options: Atlanta Braves
Pitcher Tim Hudson is the only member of the Braves with a 2010 option. It's a $12MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout. Back in January, David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said the Braves "fully intend to exercise it, barring some unexpected turn of events." Hudson hopes to return in August from Tommy John surgery, and even seems willing to come back as a reliever to help more quickly. In February, talking to MLB.com's Mark Bowman, Hudson expressed his desire for the Braves to pick up the option:
"If I'm healthy, I hope they like what they see enough to pick up the option. If not, I'm still young. If everything goes right with this elbow, I see myself pitching another seven or eight years. I've got a new elbow. I'm ready to go. There's no other place I'd rather be, that's for sure."
It's safe to assume that if the Braves exercise Hudson's option, he won't choose to void it in search of a bigger contract. The Braves' 2010 rotation would be deep, with Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens, Javier Vazquez, Kenshin Kawakami, Hudson, and Tommy Hanson. Kawkami is off to a shaky start, but his $23MM contract runs through 2011.
Your Perception Of Boras
Joe Posnanski has an interesting blog post today about how difficult it is to shake off our early biases. He uses Scott Boras as an example, specifically Selena Roberts' account of the Alex Rodriguez-Mariners negotiations of 1993. Roberts' book frames these negotiations in typical anti-Boras fashion, despite signs that the Mariners may have been trying to take advantage of Rodriguez and his mother.
Posnanski's post reminds me of last year's Pedro Alvarez grievance. Initially most of us viewed the grievance as standard Boras greed, an attempt to gain free agency for Alvarez or at least a bigger contract. But in his September 16th article, Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus suggested MLB's deadline extension gave leverage to the Pirates while also taking away Alvarez's right of representation. Viewed in that light, Boras had an obligation to object.
Today's question: how do you perceive Scott Boras? Is he ruining the game, just doing his job, or something in-between?
Rosenthal On Ortiz, Braves, White Sox
The latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…
- Rosenthal notes how easy it would be for the Red Sox to find a left-handed hitter to top David Ortiz's 2009 production – many such bats are impending free agents and could be available in July. A shortstop and young catcher also remain on Boston's wish list. Unfortunately, with no-trade protection and about $22.5MM remaining on his contract, Ortiz is pretty much immovable.
- Former D'Backs pitching coach Bryan Price resigned in part due to reservations about working for new manager A.J. Hinch.
- Rosenthal notes the Braves' surplus of quality minor league arms, and suggests they're well-equipped to trade for a bat. The Braves rank 11th in the NL with 4.41 runs scored per game.
- The White Sox's rotation is looking a bit shaky given the ineffectiveness of Jose Contreras. Rosenthal says "the team eventually figures to be in the market for a starter." The Sox are hanging in there at 3.5 games out with a 14-17 record.
- Aside from Cliff Lee, Rosenthal believes Indians infielder Mark DeRosa could draw attention closer to the trade deadline.
Boston Pitching Surplus
ESPN's Buster Olney speculates on Boston's pitching surplus:
Eventually, it figures that Justin Masterson will go back to the Boston bullpen, and that will create the spot in the rotation for Daisuke Matsuzaka. If the Red Sox want to create another for Clay Buchholz, they would always have the option of taking offers for a veteran pitcher who has had quality starts in four of his six outings. That guy is Brad Penny, who might be a nice fit for a team like the Milwaukee Brewers or the Mets. That's all speculation at this point.
Even if Buchholz can't supplant Penny, how about John Smoltz? He's back on track and may even pitch an extended spring training game on Friday. The surplus also includes 22 year-old Michael Bowden, he of the 1.01 ERA in five Triple A starts.
The best bet for the Sox may be to just hoard this depth in the event of an injury. Even though most expect Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, and Penny to pitch much better from here on out, the fact is that Boston's rotation ranks dead last in the AL with a collective 5.81 ERA. They're 20-12 despite that stat.
Discussion: Best Free Agent Outfielder
Today's discussion question: who's the best outfielder of the 2009-10 free agent class? Is it still Matt Holliday, despite his slow start? Manny Ramirez, despite the PED-suspension? Does Jason Bay's quiet production get the nod? Maybe you prefer a leadoff man like Johnny Damon or a center fielder such as Mike Cameron? Make your case in the comments.
Odds & Ends: Byrd, Fox, Kobayashi
Links for Monday…
- MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince says the Indians signed 31 year-old reliever Blaine Neal to a minor league deal. Here's a look at Neal's minor league work – nice job for the Tigers' Triple A club last year.
- Masahide Kobayashi explains why he's struggled in the U.S., talking to Dennis Manoloff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
- MLB.com's Joe Frisaro wrote on Thursday that free agent pitcher Paul Byrd has a $3MM asking price.
- It might be time for Chad Fox to hang up the spikes. He owns a 3.79 ERA in 228 career innings. Would've been 3.45, without his Cubs career.
- Michael O'Keefe of the New York Daily News runs through the list of Scott Boras clients linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
- Rany Jazayerli likes Pedro Martinez as a comparable for Zack Greinke.
- A.J. Hinch's contract runs through 2012.
- RotoAuthority looks at the pitchers who have improved their walk rate the most this year.
- MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo gives an overview of this year's draft.
- Current members of the Newark Bears: Rob Mackowiak, Keith Foulke, Shawn Chacon, Abraham Nunez, Carl Everett, Jay Gibbons, and Michael Tucker.