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Archives for March 2010

Odds & Ends: Lo Duca, Pujols, Strasburg, Guzman

By Tim Dierkes | March 18, 2010 at 2:35pm CDT

Links for Thursday…

  • The Mariners watched free agent catcher Paul Lo Duca this spring, reports Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post.
  • Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch weighed in on the Cardinals' Albert Pujols extension situation in his chat yesterday.  Strauss gives a 75% chance Pujols remains a Cardinal for life.
  • Using Tim Lincecum for comparison, Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post estimates delaying Stephen Strasburg's Nationals debut until late May could save the team $18MM.
  • Nationals GM Mike Rizzo told MASN's Ben Goessling that while he considers all trade possibilities, he's "certainly, certainly not" trying to trade Cristian Guzman.
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Seattle Mariners St. Louis Cardinals Washington Nationals Albert Pujols Cristian Guzman Paul Lo Duca Stephen Strasburg

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Blue Jays Release Casey Fien

By Tim Dierkes | March 18, 2010 at 1:28pm CDT

The Blue Jays released pitcher Casey Fien, tweets MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.  The poor guy has already bounced from the Tigers to the Red Sox to the Jays this winter.  Bastian's colleague Jason Beck chronicled Fien's travels ten days ago.

Fien, 26, posted a 3.41 ERA, 10.2 K/9, and 2.3 BB/9 in 58 Triple A relief innings last year.  He struggled in 11.3 big league frames, which marked his Major League debut.  Baseball America ranked Fien 27th among Tigers prospects, writing that he "profiles as a middle reliever."  Still, his minor league command is intriguing.

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Toronto Blue Jays Transactions Casey Fien

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Blue Jays Return Zinicola To Nationals

By Tim Dierkes | March 18, 2010 at 12:46pm CDT

The Blue Jays were forced to return Rule 5 righty Zech Zinicola to the Nationals, reports MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.  Bastian learned that the Blue Jays attempted to work out a trade with the Nats, but Washington declined and instead paid the $25K to get Zinicola back.  The 25-year-old Zinicola posted a 5.33 ERA, 7.8 K/9, and 3.2 BB/9 in 54 minor league innings last year.  Two years ago, Baseball America suggested Zinicola "has the stuff to be a late inning reliever in the Majors, but he needs to be more consistent with his command and mental approach."

Bastian notes that at least eight pitchers are still vying for four Toronto bullpen spots, and Merkin Valdez, Shawn Camp, and Dana Eveland might have a leg up because they're out of options.

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Toronto Blue Jays Transactions Washington Nationals Zech Zinicola

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Rizzo Optimistic About Dunn Extension

By Tim Dierkes | March 18, 2010 at 11:40am CDT

Nationals GM Mike Rizzo told MASN's Ben Goessling yesterday that extension talks with Adam Dunn's agent Greg Genske are "amicable and upbeat."  The two sides have met since the beginning of Spring Training.  Rizzo does not consider Opening Day a hard-and-fast deadline.

Dunn, 30, hit .267/.398/.529 in 668 plate appearances for the '09 Nationals, logging 540 innings at first base and 685 in the outfield.  He's set to earn $12MM as he enters the second year of a two-year contract.  In the opinion of Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post, a three-year, $40MM extension would be a win for the Nats. 

Rizzo spoke very fondly of Dunn to MLB.com's Bill Ladson in February, even suggesting the slugger has a shot at the Hall of Fame.  Rizzo said Dunn will work hard to become an average defender at first base.

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Washington Nationals Adam Dunn

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Red Sox Acquire Celestino To Complete Kotchman-Hall Trade

By Tim Dierkes | March 18, 2010 at 11:03am CDT

The Red Sox acquired minor league righty Miguel Celestino to complete the January Bill Hall–Casey Kotchman trade with the Mariners.  The Sox had also received $7.15MM in that deal.

Celestino, 20, posted a 4.72 ERA, 6.5 K/9, and 3.1 BB/9 in 66.6 Rookie ball innings last year.  He's never placed among the Mariners' top 30 prospects as ranked by Baseball America.

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Boston Red Sox Seattle Mariners Transactions

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Rockies Eyeing Juan Cruz

By Tim Dierkes | March 18, 2010 at 11:01am CDT

The Rockies are showing interest in Royals reliever Juan Cruz, reports Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.  Joe Beimel was named as a Rockies target as well recently, in the wake of Huston Street's shoulder injury.

Last year the Royals signed Cruz on February 28th, as the hard-throwing reliever was hampered by his Type A status.  The Royals ultimately gave up the #60 pick in the draft and inked Cruz to a two-year, $6MM deal with a club option for 2011.  Though he continued to throw 94 mph in his first season with Kansas City, Cruz's strikeout rate disappeared as he dealt with a shoulder strain.

Cruz has $3.75MM remaining on his contract, so the Royals would presumably have to eat salary to make a deal happen.

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Colorado Rockies Kansas City Royals Juan Cruz

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Offseason In Review: Milwaukee Brewers

By Tim Dierkes | March 18, 2010 at 10:35am CDT

The Brewers are next in our Offseason In Review series.

Major League Signings

  • Randy Wolf, SP: three years, $29.75MM.  Includes $10MM club option for 2013 with a $1.5MM buyout.
  • Trevor Hoffman, RP: one year, $8MM.  Includes $7MM+ mutual option for 2011 with a $500K buyout.
  • LaTroy Hawkins, RP: two years, $7.5MM. 
  • Doug Davis, SP: one year, $5.25MM.  Includes $6.5MM mutual option for 2011 with a $1MM buyout.
  • Gregg Zaun, C: one year, $2.15MM.  Includes $2.25MM club option for 2011 with a $250K buyout.
  • Craig Counsell, IF: one year, $2.1MM.
  • Claudio Vargas, RP: one year, $900K.
  • Total spend: $55.65MM.

Notable Minor League Signings

  • Chris Capuano, Scott Schoeneweis, Matt Treanor, Jim Edmonds, Trent Oeltjen, Adam Stern, Norris Hopper, Tim Dillard, Kameron Loe

Trades and Claims

  • Acquired CF Carlos Gomez for SS J.J. Hardy
  • Claimed C George Kottaras off waivers from Red Sox
  • Claimed SS Luis Cruz off waivers from Pirates
  • Claimed Rule 5 pick P Chuck Lofgren from Indians, later traded Omar Aguilar to retain him 
  • Claimed P Marco Estrada off waivers from Nationals

Notable Losses

  • Mike Cameron, Jason Kendall, J.J. Hardy, Felipe Lopez, Frank Catalanotto, Mike Rivera, Chris Duffy, Brad Nelson, Braden Looper, Seth McClung, David Weathers, R.J. Swindle, Hernan Iribarren, Jason Bourgeois, Omar Aguilar

Summary

Brewers GM Doug Melvin was active in free agency this offseason, adding seven players for over $55MM.  The focus was understandably on pitching, as the Brewers finished 15th in the NL with a 4.83 ERA in 2009.  $35MM was committed to the rotation for lefties Wolf and Davis, with a hefty $15.5MM going to the back end of the bullpen.

The Brewers' finances were limited in part by a pair of free agent pitching mistakes Melvin made previously, Jeff Suppan and David Riske.  Melvin was again aggressive in giving an extra year each to Wolf and Hawkins.  The latest additions at least come with better peripheral stats.  Bullpen-wise, the 37-year-old Hawkins and 42-year-old Hoffman received top of the market money.  Risky expenditures, but at least the Brewers weren't alone in making sizeable free agent reliever commitments.

The problem with the rotation upgrades is that the Brewers' rotation is still ugly after Yovani Gallardo and Wolf.  Playing around with CHONE's innings projections for the team's expected six starters (and limiting Suppan's impact) gives me a projected rotation ERA of 4.46.  That would've ranked ninth in the NL last year.

Given his desire to spend his available funds on pitching, Melvin swapped Hardy for Gomez and allowed Cameron to leave.  The Brewers had the best available shortstop in Hardy, but four years of Gomez is a solid return.  Even in 2010, Gomez might be Cameron's equal.

Can the 2010 Brewers bash their way to a division title?  They've got monsters in Braun and Fielder, but the keys might be a healthy season from Weeks and minimal regression from McGehee.

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Milwaukee Brewers Offseason In Review

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Indians Notes: Lincecum, Mateo, Hernandez

By Tim Dierkes | March 18, 2010 at 8:41am CDT

Tim Lincecum nearly signed with the Indians in 2005?  Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has the story…

  • The Indians drafted Lincecum in the 42nd round of the '05 draft.  Told it'd take $1MM to sign him, the Tribe offered $700K.  MLB draft exec Frank Coonelly wasn't pleased at the over-slot offer, but it still wasn't enough to convince Lincecum to sign.  A year later he went tenth overall to the Giants.  You can play "what might have been" with any team, but Lincecum would've changed the course of Indians history.
  •  The Indians are expected to work out Dominican outfielder Wagner Mateo, writes Hoynes.  Mateo has already tried out for the Diamondbacks.
  • Anderson Hernandez joins the mix for the Indians' utility job after yesterday's waiver claim.  Assistant GM Chris Antonetti noted that manager Manny Acta is familiar with Hernandez from managing him in Washington.
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Cleveland Guardians Anderson Hernandez Tim Lincecum Wagner Mateo

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Meet The MLBTR Writing Team

By Tim Dierkes | March 17, 2010 at 10:52pm CDT

MLB Trade Rumors employs a team of writers to bring you the latest hot stove news and analysis.  Let’s meet the team:

Tim Dierkes started MLB Trade Rumors as a hobby in 2005, and has since written over 12,000 posts as MLBTR grew into baseball’s most popular hot stove website as well as his full-time job.  MLBTR has received over 3.1 billion pageviews since its inception and is a favorite of baseball writers, executives, agents, players, and fans everywhere.  Tim currently lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife and four children.  He is a lifelong Cubs fan, but swears it does not affect his objectivity on MLBTR.  Follow him on Twitter: @timdierkes.

Steve Adams is a full-time staff writer for MLB Trade Rumors. MLBTR’s longest-tenured writer, Steve grew up in the Twin Cities and currently resides in Minnesota. He is a graduate of St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, where he studied English Literature with a Writing Emphasis and Public Relations (when his fantasy baseball schedule permitted). Steve has been a baseball fan since he can remember, and is thankful to be (barely) old enough to have vivid memories of his beloved Twins’ most recent World Series title in 1991. Steve has been writing for MLBTR since May of 2008, and began providing fantasy analysis for MLB.com in May of 2011. He has also written about the Twins for SB Nation’s Twinkie Town and fears that his voice may never fully recover from 2009’s Game 163 tiebreaker against the Tigers. You can follow him on Twitter: @Adams_Steve.

Anthony Franco gave up his dream of being an MLB player when he went hitless all season his final year of youth baseball. A Buffalo, NY native, Anthony was a Cubs fan growing up but lost track of baseball for a few years once he stopped playing. He rediscovered his passion for the sport in college at the University at Buffalo, where he got his first opportunity to write about baseball for Fantrax, a fantasy sports site. A part-time writer at MLBTR since 2019, Anthony joined the full-time staff in June 2021. Anthony graduated from UB with a history degree in 2017 and graduated from Boston College Law School in 2020. You can find him on Twitter discussing baseball, complaining about the Las Vegas Raiders, and raving about the occasional 1950’s movie: @affranco10.

Darragh McDonald grew up in the Toronto area and got to watch the Blue Jays win the World Series when he was 9 and 10 years old, thus dooming him to a lifetime of baseball fandom. He started writing for MLBTR in March of 2020, which somehow got nudged out of the worldwide headlines that month. A graduate of the Ryerson University Film Studies program, Darragh has also occasionally worked in television and written bad screenplays.

Mark Polishuk has been part of the MLBTR crew since October 2009.  He has also written about baseball, soccer and hockey for such outlets as Field Level Media, ESPN.com, The Boston Herald, The Canadian Press, The11.ca, Plastic Pitch, The Sports Xchange, The New York Post, and the official websites of both Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer.  A native of London, Ontario, Mark holds a BA in English/Film Studies from the University Of Western Ontario.  His greatest on-field achievement was performing an unassisted triple play during a softball game in eighth grade gym class — “Just like Bill Wambsganss!” Mark yelled at the time, a reference lost on his classmates.

Nick Deeds grew up in the Chicagoland area and has joined in his family’s generations-long tradition of Cubs fandom as long as he can remember. He was in high school when the Cubs finally ended their World Series drought in 2016, and since then his love of baseball has grown to include the entire sport, rather than just his home team. He began writing for MLBTR shortly after graduating from Western Illinois University with a degree in Political Science.

Leo Morgenstern grew up in Toronto but fell in love with baseball through Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and the rest of the 2008 Phillies. Since graduating from the University of Toronto in 2020, he has written about baseball all over the internet, covering the Phillies for the dedicated team blogs at SB Nation and Sports Illustrated and covering the game at large for FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus, Just Baseball, Pitcher List, and, most recently, MLB Trade Rumors. When he isn’t writing about, reading about, or actually watching baseball, he tries his best to be funny for The Beaverton, Canada’s least-trusted source of news. You can follow him on the website he still refers to as Twitter @morgensternmlb.

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Odds & Ends: Guzman, Sonnanstine, Jukich

By Tim Dierkes | March 17, 2010 at 9:15pm CDT

Links for Wednesday…

  • The Mets have no interest in trading for Cristian Guzman, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. Guzman could have played shortstop in New York while the Mets wait for Jose Reyes to get healthy. 
  • Dave Allen at FanGraphs thinks the Rays should use Andy Sonnanstine as a long reliever to start the season with an eye towards trading him if something comes up. Sonnanstine is going to get squeezed out of Tampa's rotation in a numbers crunch, but he has minor league options remaining.
  • The Cardinals are in trade talks with the Reds in hopes of keeping Rule 5 lefty Ben Jukich, reports Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
  • The Indians signed righty Justin Germano to a minor league deal, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Germano, 27, posted a 4.38 ERA, 4.97 K/9, and 1.18 BB/9 in 76 innings for the Softbank Hawks last year.
  • After working out for the Diamondbacks, Dominican outfielder Wagner Mateo will audition for at least four more teams according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.
  • Dan O'Dowd told Tyler Kepner of the New York Times he hopes Troy Tulowitzki retires a Rockie.
  • Joe Pawlikowski of River Ave. Blues explains why he does not expect the Yankees to sign Joe Mauer even if the superstar catcher reaches free agency.
  • Kiko Calero received calls from a dozen teams this winter, reports Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News.
  • Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner finds Seattle to be lacking in middle infield depth.
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Cincinnati Reds Cleveland Guardians Colorado Rockies New York Mets New York Yankees Seattle Mariners St. Louis Cardinals Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Washington Nationals Andy Sonnanstine Cristian Guzman Joe Mauer Kiko Calero Troy Tulowitzki Wagner Mateo

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