Braves Acquire Dan Uggla
The Braves landed one of baseball's most powerful second basemen today, acquiring Dan Uggla from the division rival Marlins for utility man Omar Infante and lefty reliever Mike Dunn.
Uggla, 31 in March, had another fine season in 2010 with a .287/.369/.508 line in 674 plate appearances. Uggla is one season away from free agency, and extension talks with the Marlins broke off after he rejected a four-year, $48MM offer. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports feels that the Braves will attempt to sign him long-term. Martin Prado will step in at third base as Chipper Jones recovers from knee surgery or log innings in left field if necessary, tweets Rosenthal. Uggla should be happy to remain at second base.
Infante, a super-utility type, hit .321/.359/.416 in 506 plate appearances for the Braves this year. He's under contract through 2011 at $2.5MM with another possible $1MM in plate appearance incentives. The loss may put the Braves in the market for a utility player, writes MLB.com's Mark Bowman. Dunn, 26 in May, is a hard-throwing left-handed reliever who came to Atlanta from the Yankees a year ago in the Javier Vazquez deal. Dunn racked up big-time strikeout and walk numbers this year between Triple-A and the Majors. The intra-division asking price for Uggla was expected to be large, but this is a disappointing return for the Marlins. They have succeeded in revamping their bullpen for the long-term, adding Ryan Webb, Edward Mujica, Dustin Richardson, and Dunn in recent trades.
The Cardinals, Blue Jays, Nationals, and Tigers were other reported suitors for Uggla.
ESPN's Jerry Crasnick broke news of the agreement on Twitter, and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and Mark Bowman of MLB.com provided updates as the story developed.
Marlins Close To Signing John Buck
3:53pm: Buck's three-year deal with the Marlins will be worth $18MM, tweets Rosenthal. This will be Florida's biggest free agent signing since Carlos Delgado in 2005.
2:03pm: The Marlins are close to signing Buck to a three-year deal, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. We had speculated on the three-year possibility just a few hours ago.
10:26am: The Marlins are working hard to sign free agent catcher John Buck, an official from another team told Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (Twitter link). Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Marlins are definitely interested in Buck, but not close to a deal. Yesterday, Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos described Buck's market as "very, very strong" and implied his agents at ACES seek a multiyear deal. Buck, 30, hit .281/.314/.489 with 20 home runs in 437 plate appearances for Toronto this year. He signed for $2MM after being non-tendered by the Royals.
Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post reported yesterday that the Marlins and A.J. Pierzynski share mutual interest, but he might be too pricey for the Fish.
Rangers Met With Cliff Lee Yesterday
Rangers executives Chuck Greenberg, Nolan Ryan, and Jon Daniels flew to Little Rock, Arkansas yesterday and met with free agent lefty Cliff Lee for about two hours, reports Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Yankees GM Brian Cashman made the same trip by himself on Wednesday of last week.
Last we heard, Lee's agent Darek Braunecker was leaning against making the trip to Orlando for the GM Meetings. Braunecker told ESPN's Andrew Marchand "there has been significant interest from a multitude of teams," and he doesn't feel it's necessary for Lee to visit various cities.
Five Teams Interested In Jeff Francis
Free agent lefty Jeff Francis is drawing interest from at least five clubs, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick: the Pirates, Mariners, Brewers, Astros, and Rockies.
Francis, 30 in January, posted a 5.00 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, and 47% groundball rate in 104 1/3 innings this year for the Rockies. Baseball Prospectus' SIERA stat suggests Francis' work was more deserving of an ERA around 4.00. Francis missed all of last season after having shoulder surgery in February of '09, and had some lingering issues this year. The Rockies declined his $7MM club option earlier this month. If Francis' shoulder checks out, many teams will have interest in plugging him into the back end of their rotation on a one-year, incentive-laden deal.
Wainwright’s 2012, 2013 Options Affected By Cy Vote
With today's second place Cy Young finish, Cardinals righty Adam Wainwright took a major step toward seeing his 2012 and 2013 contract options become guaranteed. The options will become locked in if he does not finish the 2011 season on the disabled list, reports MLB.com's Matthew Leach. He'll earn $9MM in '12 and $12MM in '13, plus award bonuses for his Cy Young votes. Thanks to Mike Lutz for pointing this out via Twitter, and to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the details.
Cardinals GM John Mozeliak signed Wainwright to a team-friendly extension in March of 2008, during a brief period where double club options were popular. Had Wainwright not signed the deal, he would have been arbitration eligible for the third time this winter and eligible for free agency after '11. Wainwright doesn't appear to have any regrets; in fact, he told Leach and other reporters today he hopes to finish his career in St. Louis.
Rockies Release Manny Corpas
The Rockies released reliever Manny Corpas, reports Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post. Corpas, 27, had Tommy John surgery in September. He'd also undergone surgery to remove bone chips in that elbow in July of '09. $3.75MM remains on his contract, which he signed in February of '08.
This year Corpas posted a 4.62 ERA, 6.8 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 1.0 HR/9 and 42.5% groundball rate, picking up ten saves. The Rockies locked him up after his best season, several years before he would have been arbitration eligible. It was just unnecessary.
Roy Halladay Wins NL Cy Young Award
Phillies righty Roy Halladay unanimously won the National League Cy Young award today, seven years after taking home the American League trophy. Adam Wainwright, Ubaldo Jimenez, and ten others received votes; click here for the full results.
Odds & Ends: De La Rosa, Mariners, Thames
Links for Tuesday, as the GM Meetings commence in Orlando and we await the announcement of the NL Cy Young winner…
- The Pirates' top free agent target is Jorge de la Rosa, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The Brewers, Rangers, Nationals, Yankees, and Rockies have also been linked to the lefty. Correct me if I'm wrong, Pirates fans, but aside from Yoslan Herrera it seems the team's last multiyear free agent pitcher signing was Pete Schourek in December of 1998.
- The Mariners are expected to be limited to bargain bin shopping this winter, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. They've got plenty of needs, but expensive free agents don't make sense until they're closer to contention.
- Meanwhile the Softbank Hawks are working on signing Marcus Thames, according to a Sponichi report passed along by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman on Twitter. Thames, 34 in March, was productive in a part-time role for the Yankees this year.
- Brandon Backe intends to pitch in 2011, his agent told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter link). He's recovering from a rotator cuff injury.
- The Rockies will keep an eye on Bartolo Colon in the Dominican Republic, GM Dan O'Dowd told Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, but Renck finds a signing a long shot (Twitter link). MLBTR's Nick Collias filled us in on Colon yesterday.
- The Chiba Lotte Marines re-signed pitchers Hayden Penn and Bill Murphy, tweets Jason Coskrey of the Japan Times.
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman ruled out Leo Mazzone but not Rick Peterson for the team's new pitching coach, reports Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post muses on how the Mets should handle well-paid veterans Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, and Jose Reyes.
Orioles, 11 Others Eyeing Adrian Beltre
The market for free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre is hot, tweets SI's Jon Heyman, and the Orioles "seem very interested." Heyman tweets that a dozen teams are interested in the Scott Boras client. Last week Boras told MLB Network Radio hosts Casey Stern and Jim Bowden regarding Beltre, "I would have to say in my years of doing this I’ve never had so much interest in one player." Heyman believes Beltre could be the first star to go off the board, but I'd still be surprised to see him sign before December.
In addition to the contract, the Orioles would have to surrender their second-round pick to sign Beltre. There is recent precedent for that; they gave their second-round pick (#53 overall) to the Braves a year ago to sign Mike Gonzalez.
Beltre, ranked third on our Top 50 Free Agents list, is far and away the best available third baseman this winter. In addition to the Orioles, the Red Sox, Angels, Blue Jays, Indians, Athletics, and Giants could be looking for help at the hot corner. Even the Pirates were said a week ago by Heyman to have interest in Beltre, but not all the clubs named here will be willing to go four or five years at $15MM or more per season.
Yankees Interested In Pedro Feliciano
The Yankees expressed interest in lefty reliever Pedro Feliciano, tweets Ken Davidoff of Newsday. The rubber-armed 34-year-old figures to be popular this winter, with the Phillies, Angels, Mets, and others also seeking left-handed relief. The question for the Yankees, notes Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues, is whether they're willing to commit multiple years and a $3MM+ salary to Feliciano or a similar veteran given the money they already owe to Damaso Marte and Boone Logan.
Feliciano led the National League in appearances in each of the last three seasons. His detractors will suggest he's been overworked; his agents at MDR Sports Management will say it's proof of his durability. One Feliciano trait that cannot be argued: he's very tough on lefties.