Athletics Acquire Kevin Kouzmanoff
The A's acquired Kevin Kouzmanoff and Eric Sogard from the Padres for Scott Hairston and Aaron Cunningham. Oakland GM Billy Beane dealt from outfield depth to add certainty at third base, while San Diego GM Jed Hoyer strengthened his outfield with a former Padre.
Kouzmanoff, 28, hit .255/.302/.420 in 573 plate appearances for the Padres last year. He's arbitration-eligible for the first time. His glovework grades out as slightly above average, according to UZR/150.
Baseball America ranked Sogard as San Diego's 17th best prospect coming into the 2009 season, before he hit .293/.370/.400 with more walks (58) than strikeouts (47) in Double-A.
Former Padres GM Kevin Towers dealt Hairston to the A's in July. Now the 30-year-old heads back to San Diego. He hit well with the Padres last year but struggled with the A's. He's arbitration-eligible for the second time.
Cunningham, 24 in April, spent most of '09 at Triple A where he hit .302/.372/.479. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick mentions in a tweet that Cunningham recently underwent surgery for a sports hernia. This is Cunningham's third time being dealt.
MLBTR first reported the trade, with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle naming the players involved and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports pointing to the deal's completion.
Our apologies for initially naming Gio Gonzalez as part of this deal.
Cardinals Notes: Ludwick, Schumaker, Ankiel
Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak conducted a Q&A session with fans this afternoon. Here are some highlights courtesy of Joe Strauss (via Twitter) and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as well as Matthew Leach of MLB.com…
- Mozeliak says that discussions with Skip Schumaker and Ryan Ludwick – both of whom are arbitration eligible – are confined to one season. Ludwick had a down year in 2009 as he turned in an OPS of .775, his lowest as a Cardinal. The two parties avoided arbitration last year by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $3.7MM. The figure was an even compromise as the outfielder requested $4.25MM and the organization submitted $2.8MM. Meanwhile, Schumaker is arbitration eligible for the first time in his career and should see a pay bump as he has had similar offensive production this season at second base after moving in from the outfield.
- The return of Rick Ankiel would be a "longshot" according to Mozeliak as the club cannot offer him the at-bats that he wants. We haven't heard any word of Ankiel being close to signing with a club, but his agent Scott Boras claims to be having "a lot of conversation" about the 30-year-old.
- St. Louis is not entertaining the idea of inviting Jim Edmonds to camp. The 39-year-old last played in 2008 for the Padres and the Cubs, where he posted .235/.343/.479 and 20 HRs in 401 plate appearances.
- Mozeliak confirmed that the club will watch Ben Sheets throw next week, though Leach writes that he's not likely to be a fit for St. Louis.
Players To Avoid Arbitration: Saturday
We'll recap all of the players who agree to deals to avoid arbitration throughout the day here. Be sure to check back in, there's bound to be plenty of updates. Here's yesterday's list.
- The White Sox avoided arbitration with both Bobby Jenks and Carlos Quentin, signing both to one-year deals. Jenks will earn $7.5MM in 2010, while Quentin will receive $3.2MM after earning just $550K in 2009.
- The Giants and reliever Brandon Medders avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $820K deal, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
- MLB.com's Mark Sheldon reports that the Reds and Nick Masset have avoided arbitration, agreeing to a two-year deal. Masset is set to earn $1.035MM this season and $1.545 next season, according to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Padres Avoid Arbitration With Heath Bell
The Padres have officially avoided arbitration with their closer, agreeing to terms on a $4MM salary with Heath Bell, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock. It's a substantial raise over the $1.255 salary Bell made last year, but the righty had an All-Star season.
Brock tweets that the Padres don't have plans to offer Bell or Kevin Kouzmanoff multi-year deals. Both players could be trade bait this summer.
Odds & Ends: Draft, Kouzmanoff, Lincecum, Street
A few Saturday links…
- Via Twitter, Bob Elliott of The Toronto Sun spoke to a scouting director who indicated that a committee was forming to work on instituting a world-wide draft and slotting system. "This time it has a chance," said the scouting director.
- Athletics Nation gives A's fans four reasons why they should approve of the Kevin Kouzmanoff–Scott Hairston swap.
- MLB.com's Doug Miller says that whispers of a $20MM arbitration award for Tim Lincecum have "echoed loudly throughout baseball." Obviously, that would be an unprecedented award and break every arbitration record known to man, but it would also make Lincecum the third highest paid pitcher in baseball next season, behind C.C. Sabathia and Johan Santana.
- In a mailbag piece at MLB.com, Thomas Harding says that Huston Street could be a trade candidate if the Rockies drop out of the race and are unable to sign him to an extension. Colorado offered Street a three-year deal earlier this offseason.
- The 30-day exclusive negotiating window between the Hicks Sports Group and the Chuck Greenberg/Nolan Ryan group expired yesterday without the Rangers being sold. Maury Brown at The Biz of Baseball has the joint statement released by the two parties, which indicates that they are on the verge of an agreement.
- Tommy Rancel at DRays Bay estimates some arbitration values for Tampa's four remaining arb-eligible players.
Odds & Ends: Hairston, Brewers, Reds, Salazar
Some links for Friday…
- In an interview with 619 Sports out of San Diego, Scott Hairston said he found out he got traded back to the Padres by reading MLBTR. Cool!
- The Brewers will wait until next month before they consider making an offer to Mark Mulder, reports MLB.com's Adam McCalvy.
- John Fay of The Cincinnati Enquirer runs down the Reds' arbitration history.
- The Orioles have signed outfielder Jeff Salazar to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training, reports Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun.
- The Brewers are still in touch with Mark Mulder and Doug Davis, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- The Yankees offered Jesus Montero straight up for Roy Halladay, according to Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star (Hat Tip: River Ave. Blues).
- The Rockies watched Derrick Turnbow throw today, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post.
- The Nationals are still in the mix to sign Orlando Hudson, who hopes to sign soon (MLB.com's Bill Ladson reporting).
- Pete Caldera of NorthJersey.com hears of some mutual interest between the Yankees and Rocco Baldelli.
- The Rangers avoided arbitration with Brandon McCarthy, agreeing to a $1.32MM deal for 2010, according to Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels tells Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas that he'd like to add a catcher, but he's not about to rush. "We have some time," the GM said.
- Ryan Theriot tells Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune that he'd like the Cubs to sign Ben Sheets.
- The Mets signed Jolbert Cabrera to a minor league deal, according to Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (via Twitter).
- Writing for FanGraphs, Patrick Newman explains what the Rangers can expect from new signing Colby Lewis.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeted last night that the Mets contacted Jerry Hairston Jr..
- ESPN.com's Buster Olney says some people within the Mets organization believe Omar Minaya will be fired the first time his club slumps badly.
- Olney also notes that Adam LaRoche will be up against a crop of free agent first basemen that could include Carlos Pena, Lance Berkman and Derrek Lee after the season.
- Troy Renck of the Denver Post says the Giants, Padres, Rangers and Mariners have all called about Yorvit Torrealba.
- The Pirates aren't close to agreeing to terms with Zach Duke on his 2010 salary, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Duke made $2.2MM last year in his first season as an arbitration-eligible player.
- The Cardinals will watch Derrick Turnbow throw today, according to Rob Rains of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
- The Cards signed knuckleballer Charlie Zink to a minor league deal, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com. After eight years in the Red Sox organization, the 30-year-old will try to break camp with St. Louis.
- Bill James tells Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe that he's curious to see how much better the Red Sox are on defense this season.
Discussion: Next Young Pitcher To Be Extended
One of the game's best young pitchers signed a contract extension yesterday that will take him to his 30th birthday, as the Marlins finally locked up Josh Johnson to a four-year deal worth $39MM. The extension mirrors the deal Kansas City gave Zack Greinke before last season, and is just the latest example of a club willing to assume the risk of a breakdown in exchange for cost certainty.
Paul Maholm, Scott Baker, Ubaldo Jimenez, Adam Wainwright, Matt Cain, Jon Lester, and James Shields are other young arms who have sacrificed the superior earning power of the arbitration process for financial security in recent years. Who do the readers of MLBTR think the next young pitcher to agree to an extension could be?
Leaving aside the big names like Tim Lincecum, Justin Verlander, and Felix Hernandez, here's a few pitchers who already have, or will soon enter into their arbitration years…
- Yovani Gallardo – the Brewers' young ace struck out 204 batters and allowed just 150 hits in 185.2 innings last season, and will be arb eligible following the 2010 season.
- Matt Garza – one of Tampa's many young power arms, Garza has struck out 7.3 batters per nine innings in his career, and has made 62 starts over the last two years. He's arb eligible as a Super Two this offseason.
- Jair Jurrjens – perhaps the best pitcher no one talks about, Jurrjens led the NL in starts last year and owns a 3.21 career ERA. He'll be up for arbitration after the 2010 season.
- Wandy Rodriguez – his breakthrough season last year included a 3.06 K/BB ratio and 193 strikeouts in 205.2 innings. Wandy is arb eligible for the second time this offseason after earning $2.6MM in 2009.
Mets Avoid Arbitration With John Maine
The Mets have avoided arbitration with righty John Maine, reports MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. The AP (via SI.com) says that Maine will receive a $3.3MM base salary in 2010, with an extra $225K in performance bonuses (hat tip to MetsBlog.com)
Maine, 28, earned $2.6MM in 2009, though he only managed to make 15 starts because of a shoulder issue. He's posted a 4.01 ERA in four seasons in Queens after coming over from Baltimore in trade for Kris Benson following the 2006 season.
Players To Avoid Arbitration: Friday
Here's a list of the players who have avoided arbitration so far today, with more names sure to stream in:
- The Mets and John Maine have avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $3.3MM, plus incentives.
- MLB.com's Brian McTaggart reports that the Astros have agreed to deals with Chris Sampson and Jeff Keppinger for 2010, avoiding arbitration. Sampson gets $815K, Keppinger $1.15M.
- The Rangers and Dustin Nippert have avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $650K according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. The righty was eligible for arbitration for the first time after earning $412K in 2009.
- The D'Backs and Miguel Montero are close to agreeing on a $2MM salary for the coming season, tweets Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The sides have agreed to a deal, according to The Sports Network (via the Miami Herald).
- The Rangers agreed to pay Brandon McCarthy $1.32MM this year.
- The Dodgers agreed to a two-year deal with Matt Kemp. The center fielder will earn a total of $10.95MM over the course of the next two seasons.
- The Dodgers agreed to pay Chad Billingsley $3.85MM this year.
- The D'Backs and Conor Jackson agreed on a $3.1MM salary for the coming season.
- The Padres and Heath Bell agreed on a $4MM salary.
Tigers Have Not Expressed Interest In Damon
4:29pm: Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets that the Tigers aren't going to sign another outfielder. As he says, they're counting on Austin Jackson.
2:07pm: Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told Beck through a team spokesperson that the Tigers have not expressed interest in Damon. If the Braves aren't likely to sign Damon, where will he end up?
8:35am: Now that they've found a closer, the Tigers are looking for offense and Johnny Damon is one of the players they're considering, according to MLB.com's Jason Beck. The Tigers, who were first connected to Damon last night, have had preliminary talks with agent Scott Boras about Damon.
As Beck notes, the Tigers have an uncertain amount of payroll flexibility at this point, but it doesn't look like Damon will require a long-term commitment. The Braves are interested, but there are cheap corner outfield options out there, which limit Boras' leverage.