Braves Closing In On Deal With George Sherrill
The Braves are closing in on a deal with lefty reliever George Sherrill, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. Sherrill, 34 in April, was non-tendered by the Dodgers after a lost 2010 season. He's always been useful and sometimes dominant against lefties in his career. The Braves could be strong on the southpaw relief front, with Eric O'Flaherty and Jonny Venters already in the fold.
Royals Reach Agreement With Jeff Francoeur
The Royals announced they've reached an agreement with outfielder Jeff Francoeur on a one-year deal with a 2012 mutual option. Francoeur will receive a $2.5MM guarantee with another $500K in incentives, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. The option is worth $3MM. The match comes as no surprise, with Royals GM Dayton Moore showing longstanding interest and also a tendency to acquire players who played for his former employer.
Francoeur, 27 in January, hit .249/.300/.383 overall in 503 plate appearances this year for the Mets and Rangers but did have a nice 56 PA Texas stint. Francoeur was once an up-and-comer with the Braves, hitting 29 home runs as a 22-year-old. The Dodgers, Indians, Rockies, and Phillies were also linked to Francoeur, who is represented by Molly Fletcher at Career Sports.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first tweeted a deal was close.
Scott Boras Holds Court
Agent Scott Boras is holding court at the Winter Meetings; here's the latest.
- Boras has not met with the Indians about a Shin-Soo Choo extension and doesn't expect to at the Winter Meetings. He says the Indians being a "developmental team" might stand in the way.
- Boras says Carlos Beltran plans to be a Met this season. Beltran has full no-trade rights.
- Magglio Ordonez is working out for teams today. The Tigers were set to attend, says MLB.com's Jason Beck. The market for Ordonez is said by Boras to be aggressive, with a multiyear deal expected. More specifically, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports that Ordonez wants at least two years at $10MM or more per.
- Adrian Beltre hasn't closed the door on signing with the Athletics.
- Prince Fielder is open to extension talks with the Brewers, but Boras did plenty of qualifying.
Athletics Targeting Premium Relievers
The Athletics still have money to spend after their attempts to sign Adrian Beltre and Hisashi Iwakuma fell through, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, and they're now targeting premium relievers in addition to outfield/designated hitter types.
Rosenthal feels that someone like Scott Downs could work, with Oakland's first-round pick protected. Most top relievers remain unsigned, including Rafael Soriano, Bobby Jenks, Brian Fuentes, Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier, and Koji Uehara.
Adam LaRoche-Nationals Deal Not Imminent
11:35am: A LaRoche-Nationals deal is not imminent and not at all a lock, tweets Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.
11:00am: It "sounds like Adam LaRoche [is] headed to [the] Nationals," tweets Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse. The market for first basemen is shrinking, with LaRoche and Derrek Lee the best two options still on the board.
Reds Close To Deal With Miguel Cairo
Miguel Cairo is close to returning to the Reds, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
Cairo, 36, hit .290/.353/.410 in 226 plate appearances for the Reds, playing mostly at the infield corners.
Braves, Brewers Still Talking Trade
The Braves and Brewers continue to discuss trades that would send an outfielder to Atlanta for a young pitcher, reports MLB.com's Mark Bowman. However, the Brewers are more inclined to move Carlos Gomez than Lorenzo Cain. The Brewers requested Mike Minor for Cain, and the Braves balked at trading him or their other top young arms.
Cubs Sign Carlos Pena
Carlos Pena and the Cubs have officially agreed to terms on a one-year deal believed to be worth $10MM, half of which is deferred.
Pena, 33 next May, saw his average slip below the Mendoza Line in 2010, totaling a line of .196/.325/.407. While the average and strikeout rate (32.6%) are concerns, Pena still managed to hit 28 home runs. That he managed a .325 OBP with a sub-.200 average speaks well to his plate discipline (14.9 BB%), and his average was deflated by a career-low .222 BABIP. Pena was affected by plantar fasciitis during the season, from which he is now said to be recovered.
Earlier, it was believed that Pena and agent Scott Boras were looking for a two or three-year deal, which would have been unsurprising in what's shaping up to be a players' market. However, one-year "pillow contract" will allow Pena to rebuild stock in the National League and enter a first base class that could be weak beyond Prince Fielder, if the Red Sox and Cardinals hammer out their rumored extensions with Adrian Gonzalez and Albert Pujols, respectively. A strong 2011 will position Pena as the second-best first base option on the market. This year, he drew interest from the Orioles, Nationals, Mariners, Braves, and Blue Jays as well as the Cubs.
MLB.com's Carrie Muskat first wrote that the deal was close, then later added the numbers via Twitter. Jon Heyman broke the news (via Twitter) that the two had agreed to terms.
White Sox Re-Sign Paul Konerko
The White Sox reached an agreement with first baseman Paul Konerko on a three-year deal, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The deal is worth $37.5MM, tweets SI's Jon Heyman. The contract includes deferred money, as outlined by MLB.com's Scott Merkin. The contract has now been officially announced by the White Sox.
Konerko gets a slight raise, but still falls short of Adam Dunn's new deal with the Sox. Konerko is represented by Craig Landis of LSW Baseball. GM Kenny Williams talked about moving on yesterday, but chairman Jerry Reinsdorf got involved. Considering Konerko a special case, the Diamondbacks offered him three years and $30MM. Landis said Konerko was very tempted by the offer.
Konerko, 35 in March, led all free agents with 39 home runs in 2010. He hit .312/.393/.584 in 631 plate appearances, perhaps the best season of his career. He's been Chicago's first baseman since '99.
Teams Have Inquired On Matsuzaka
9:40am: The Sox have shown no active desire to trade Matsuzaka, notes WEEI's Alex Speier.
7:27am: In his latest column for the Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo cites Major League sources in saying that Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein has received inquiries on Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Cafardo says Epstein is hesitant to move Matsuzaka because he doesn't want to weaken the depth of starting pitching he's built up for his club without getting a big return. Boston currently has a rotation consisting of Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, and John Lackey, with Tim Wakefield under contract for 2011 as well.
It makes sense that with struggles from some of his starters last season, particularly Beckett, and little available via free agency, Epstein wouldn't want to begin moving starting pitchers. There's also the issue of Matsuzaka's full no-trade clause, which would allow the 30-year-old right-hander to veto a trade to any club.
While Matsuzaka has been the cause of some recent speculation in regards to the Carlos Beltran rumors, it seems as though the odds are stacked against Epstein moving him, or any of his starters for that matter.