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ACES Leading In Multiyear Deals

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Top free agents often choose the Boras Corporation if they're looking for the maximum payday.  But there is evidence that mid-tier players should look to ACES if they crave the security of a multiyear deal.

So far this offseason, ACES is the leader in multiyear deals with six: Randy Choate, Ty Wigginton, Joaquin Benoit, John Buck, Jhonny Peralta, and Brandon Inge.  They have potential for one more with Grant Balfour.  Only one other agency has brokered more than two multiyear deals this winter.  Legacy Sports has done four: Orlando Hudson, Bobby Jenks, Carl Crawford, and Adam Dunn.

ACES is the unofficial multiyear deal leader for last offseason as well with eight agreements reached (three with the Phillies).  This winter we still have several remaining free agent multiyear deal candidates, spanning various agencies: Balfour, Adrian Beltre, Brian Fuentes, Kevin Gregg, Adam LaRoche, Carl Pavano, Scott Podsednik, and Rafael Soriano.  We'll also see multiyear extensions probably beginning in January and running into April.

Blue Jays Sign Corey Patterson

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The Blue Jays announced six minor league signings today: outfielder Corey Patterson, righty Winston Abreu, catcher Ryan Budde, lefty Sean Henn, lefty Mike Hinckley, and righty Brian Stokes.  The deals for Abreu, Budde, Henn, Hinckley, and Stokes were reported on previously.

Patterson, 31, hit .269/.315/.406 in 340 plate appearances for the Orioles this year, playing mostly left field.  He came up as a center fielder with the Cubs, who drafted him third overall in 1998.  As Patterson can be a useful fourth outfielder, I thought he might be able to snag a big league contract.  He is represented by Jim Bronner and Bob Gilhooley.  The Jays' current outfield picture includes Travis Snider, Vernon Wells, and Rajai Davis, with Jose Bautista and Adam Lind seemingly more likely to occupy infield corners.

Abreu, 34 in April, spent the 2010 season with Tampa Bay's Triple-A affiliate.  His signing was announced by Baseball America's Matt Eddy earlier this month, but the journeyman deserves elaboration here at MLBTR.  In Triple-A Abreu posted a 2.28 ERA, 13.3 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, and 0.2 HR/9 in 55 1/3 innings.  Abreu has done that type of thing at Triple-A before, but has yet to receive an extended big league trial.

A note about Henn: the Blue Jays originally claimed him off waivers from the Orioles in October of last year, marking GM Alex Anthopoulos' first move.

Athletics Sign Rich Harden

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Rich Harden is returning to Oakland, as the Athletics continue to collect starting pitchers with injury concerns.  Harden's one-year deal, which is now official, is worth $1.5MM plus incentives, so the risk is low in this case.

ESPN.com's Buster Olney hears that Harden will compete for a rotation spot in Spring Training (Twitter link).  Another signing of this type, Brandon McCarthy, could be his main rival.  Harden spent the first five and a half seasons of his career in Oakland, where he posted lofty strikeout numbers and a 3.42 ERA between trips to the DL.  Last winter the Athletics brought in Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer as their injury-risk signings, committing $12MM to the pair despite both missing the entire 2009 season.  This year, they've guaranteed only $2.5MM to Harden and McCarthy.

The 29-year-old Harden continued to encounter health issues in 2010, but the low ERA and remarkable strikeout rate were nowhere to be found. Harden battled glute and shoulder injuries this year and posted a 5.58 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 6.1 BB/9 in 92 innings for the Rangers.  His 51.2% flyball rate was the third-highest in baseball among those with 90 innings, so he's suited for a big ballpark.

Seven teams other than Oakland reportedly had some interest in Harden: the Yankees, Twins, Rays, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Mariners, and Rockies. WMG represents Harden.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle broke news of the agreement and SI's Jon Heyman added the amount.

Tim Dierkes contributed to this post.

Mets Waiting For Pitching Prices To Drop

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The Mets are waiting for the asking prices of low-risk, high-reward starting pitchers to drop, reports Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.  They've got about $4MM to work with, though the Mets say that number is flexible.

Martino expects the Mets to choose between Freddy Garcia, Chris Young, Jeff Francis, "and any other established or semi-established starter."  There are plenty of other similar free agents, including Jeremy Bonderman, Doug Davis, Justin Duchscherer, Rodrigo Lopez, Kevin Millwood, and Brad Penny.  However, Mike Puma of the New York Post wrote on Friday that Young "appears to be the only free agent starting pitcher the Mets are seriously considering."  Puma wrote of a "growing sense" the Mets will turn to a trade, with Tom Gorzelanny and Matt Garza on the radar.  John Maine is unlikely to return, according to new Mets GM Sandy Alderson at the Winter Meetings.

Martino says that while the Mets are not seriously pursuing Brandon Webb, they may be forced to wait for him to sign and set the market for pitchers with injury concerns.  Last offseason Ben Sheets signed on January 26th, after guys like Rich Harden, Brett Myers, and Penny.  So the Mets don't necessarily have to assume Webb and Young are tied to one another.  Regardless, Webb is expected to sign soon. 

It's been a quiet first offseason for Alderson, who has committed $3.8MM to Ronny Paulino and D.J. Carrasco and otherwise stuck to minor league deals and a couple of Rule 5 selections.

Analyzing The Offseason’s Biggest Contracts

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For just the third time in baseball history, three free agents have signed deals worth over $100MM in a single offseason. And Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth and Cliff Lee are far from the only players to cash in this winter. Adam Dunn, Derek Jeter and Victor Martinez all signed deals that guarantee them $50MM or more.

The last time as many as six free agents signed deals worth $50MM or more was the 2006-07 offseason, when the likes of Gary Matthews Jr. and Gil Meche were on the open market. The current offseason has drawn comparisons to the winter of 2006-07, but according to one barometer of the free agent market, teams have not yet matched the aggressive spending of four years ago.

A total of 41 free agents signed contracts worth $10MM or more in the 2006-07 offseason. Nearly two months into this offseason, 24 free agents have signed eight-figure deals, as MLBTR's transaction tracker shows*. Some players, like Adrian Beltre, Rafael Soriano, Adam LaRoche, Kevin Gregg and Carl Pavano could push that total higher and it may surpass 30 by the end of the offseason.

The arbitrary $10MM cutoff does an admittedly imperfect job of gauging teams' willingness to spend. But the sheer volume of eight-figure deals shows that teams spent at least as aggressively four winters ago.

*Not including players who signed contracts after being posted by Japanese teams.

Minor Deals: Stokes, Diaz, Barton, Brewers

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Rounding up today's minor signings:

  • The Blue Jays signed Brian Stokes, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (on Twitter). The 31-year-old struggled through 16 2/3 innigns for the Angels last year, but was useful for the Mets from 2008-09 before they sent him to L.A. for Gary Matthews Jr..
  • The A's signed right-hander Jonathan Ortiz, who combined a sinker and an above-average changeup to post 11.8 K/9 in the Yankees system this year, according to Eddy (all links go to Twitter).
  • The Tigers signed shortstop Argenis Diaz, who was non-tendered by the Pirates despite his strong glovework.
  • The Angels signed Ryan Braun – not the Brewers slugger, but the 30-year-old right-hander who posted a 2.20 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 5.3 BB/9 in 57 1/3 innings at Triple-A Charlotte last year. He last pitched in the majors for the 2007 Royals.
  • The Twins signed Matt Brown, a former Angel who should provide corner infield depth.
  • The Pirates re-signed Tyler Yates, who missed last season as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.
  • Brian Barton, who hit 19 homers and stole 18 bases in the Atlantic League this year, signed with the Reds, according to Eddy (on Twitter).
  • The Cubs signed lefty Polin Trinidad, who posted a 4.81 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 149 2/3 innings in the upper minor for the Astros last year (Twitter link).
  • The Brewers signed Edwin Maysonet and Shawn Riggans to minor league deals and invited them to Spring Training, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (on Twitter). Maysonet, 29, appeared in 46 games as a backup infielder for the Astros in 2008-09 and hit .248/.308/.329 in 356 minor league plate apperances last year. Riggans, who spent parts of four seasons with the Rays, barely played in 2010.
  • The Twins inked lefty Chuck James, tweets Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.  The 29-year-old former Brave had rotator cuff surgery in September of 2008.
  • The Nationals announced seven signings, including previously unreported contracts for Ryan Mattheus, Michael Aubrey, and Brian Bixler.  Mattheus, a 27-year-old right-handed reliever, was acquired by the Nats at the '09 trade deadline in the Joe Beimel deal, the same month he had Tommy John surgery.  His is a Major League deal.  Aubrey, drafted 11th overall by the Indians in 2003, hit .235/.310/.495 at Triple-A this year.  Bixler, a defensive-minded utility infielder, was acquired by Washington from the Pirates in August.

Team And Transaction-Only Feeds

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If you'd like to filter MLBTR's information by team or limit it to transactions only, we've got you covered.

In the navigation bar, check out the Feeds By Team dropdown.  Clicking on the name of a team returns all the posts that reference that club.  For example, this page displays only posts with Braves-related rumors.  The newest will always be on top. 

Next to the word "Braves" you'll see an RSS button and a Twitter button.  The RSS button leads here, to the URL you'd put into your RSS reader to receive only our Braves rumors.  The Twitter button takes you to @mlbtrbraves, which shows all posts involving the team.  The MLBTR team Twitter pages are also a place to quickly receive info from team press releases, even if that info is not used on the main site.

Be sure to check out your favorite team's MLBTR page on Facebook so you can receive and comment on the latest rumors.

If you'd prefer to monitor only actual transactions, we've got several options.  Our Transactions page shows only posts marked as transactions, such as signings, trades, DFAs, and releases.  You can also get this same info on Twitter and RSS.

Odds & Ends: Uggla, Soria, Romero, LaRoche

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Fallout from the Zack Greinke deal continues to dominate the baseball landscape. We have more on that and some other items of note, too…

  • Dan Uggla and the Braves are still hammering out a contract extension, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta GM Frank Wren said the progress between the sides has been steady and there have been no setbacks, but nothing's imminent, according to O'Brien. We heard last week that the Braves remain optimistic about extending Uggla, who is entering his final year of arbitration eligibility.
  • The teams that inquired with the Royals about Zack Greinke were told that Joakim Soria will not be traded, tweets Jack Curry of the YES Network. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported earlier today that the Royals don't intend to move their closer. Soria, who will turn 27 in May, is considered one of the best young stoppers in the game and is signed to team-favorable terms through 2014, his age-30 season. Perhaps the combination of Soria's age and fair contract have persuaded the Royals to see that he's with Kansas City while its highly touted wave of young talent trickles into the bigs.
  • Free-agent reliever J.C. Romero hopes that Dennys Reyes' failed physical might facilitate his own return to Philly, writes Randy Miller of the Bucks County Courier Times. The 34-year-old Romero, who spent the past three-plus seasons with the Phillies after they acquired him in a midseason deal in 2007, said he'd "definitely" like to return, just as Cliff Lee did.
  • The Orioles' first choice to fill their vacancy at first base remains free agent Adam LaRoche, writes Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. Baltimore and LaRoche have been "heavily involved" in talks, and LaRoche is "waiting for a few things" before deciding on a team. The Nationals and Padres are also pursuing him.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports noted some leftover tidbits from the Greinke deal, and here are a few of the highlights: The Yankees made a strong push for Greinke in July 2010, but the pitcher didn't want to leave the Royals then. The Royals liked a package of prospects the Blue Jays offered for Greinke, but he didn't want to play for Toronto. One rival executive said the Brewers' acquisition of Yuniesky Betancourt with Greinke "nullifies" the benefits of adding the ace.
  • Greinke was readying for an offseason move late in the 2010 season, going so far as to shelve his toxic but arm-taxing slider, writes Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports.

Royals Designate Joaquin Arias For Assignment

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The Royals designated Joaquin Arias for assignment on Sunday, according to MLB.com's transactions page.

The 26-year-old utility infielder has been well-traveled of late, having been traded from the Rangers to the Mets in the August deal that sent Jeff Francoeur to Texas. The Royals then selected him off waivers in November before designating him for assignment.

Arias was once a touted prospect, going from the Yankees to the Rangers in the Alex Rodriguez swap. He has struggled with the bat, however, in limited action in the bigs (.276/.314/.362 in 275 plate appearances).

Bill Hall Talks Astros

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Before he signed with the Astros, Bill Hall drew interest from teams that wanted him to be a utility player again. The 30-year-old played seven positions for Boston in 2010 and while Hall takes pride in his versatility, he chose Houston because the Astros wanted to make him their everyday second baseman.

"I don't like the word utility player. I call myself a baseball player" Hall said on a conference call with reporters. "I'm really good at a lot of positions, but if I concentrate on one, hopefully I can be great."

Hall said he's excited about returning to the NL Central, working under manager Brad Mills and hitting for power to the opposite field. He hit 18 homers and posted a .247/.316/.456 line last year – respectable numbers that he intends to surpass in 2011.

Hall clubbed 35 homers for the Brewers in 2006, but hasn't topped 18 homers or a .456 slugging percentage since. He'll have the chance to do some damage against Milwaukee in 2011 and says he has already circled some dates on next year's schedule.

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