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Archives for March 2010

Odds & Ends: Gaudin, Jones, Stauffer, Oliver, Lowell

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Links for Saturday…

  • The Phillies considered Chad Gaudin according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, but they decided he wasn't enough of an upgrade over what they already have in-house.
  • The Twins have informed Jacque Jones that he will not make the team, reports MLB.com's Kelly Thesier. Minnesota brought the long time Twin back on a minor league deal in February.
  • On the heels of another strong outing from Tim Stauffer, MLB.com's Corey Brock speculates (via Twitter) that the Padres could receive a mid-level prospect from a team in need of pitching if they opted to trade him. Stauffer's four shutout innings today lowered his spring ERA to a tidy 2.57 with an 11:3 K:BB ratio through 14 innings.
  • Jon Paul Morosi tells the great story of Darren Oliver's resurgence after nearly retiring in 2005 and wonders who the next veteran will be to make a similar run.
  • Doug Mientkiewicz was told he will not make the Dodgers' Opening Day roster, according to a report from the Associated Press. Mientkiewicz was excused from camp today so he can weigh his options in regards to his future in baseball.
  • Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe says Mike Lowell's injury "almost kills his trade value, which was already low to begin with." Lowell suffered a knee contusion when he fouled a ball off his left knee Friday. 
  • Blue Jays' team president and CEO Paul Beeston chatted with fans on the team's official site yesterday. He discussed the latest on Adeiny Hechevarria and the club's policy on long-term contracts, among other topics.
  • ESPN's Buster Olney says that some general managers believe the reason there's so little movement on the trade front is because there are still viable alternatives on the free agent market.
  • As Joe Christensen of The Star Tribune notes, Joe Mauer's new deal may have turned one of the team's top prospects in a prime piece of trade bait.
  • New Padres' GM Jed Hoyer isn't as brash as Kevin Towers used to be, writes Nick Canepa of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Red Sox Will Not Go Beyond Four Years For Beckett

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The Red Sox will not offer Josh Beckett anything more than a four year contract extension reports ESPN Boston's Gordon Edes. The two sides have been discussing a new deal, but long-term concerns about the righthander's shoulder have dissuaded the team from offering their ace a fifth year.

It had been assumed that the five year, $82.5MM deals signed by John Lackey and A.J. Burnett in the last two years would be used as a benchmark for Beckett's new deal. Edes says that team officials had concerns about his shoulder when they acquired him from the Marlins, but not enough to walk away from the deal. 

Beckett will earn $12.1MM in 2010 after the club option on his three year, $30MM option vested last season.

Should The Orioles Try To Lock Up Wieters Now?

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Last weekend the Twins shook up the baseball world by signing catcher Joe Mauer, their franchise player, to an eight year contract worth $184MM. It's the fourth richest contract in baseball history and by far the biggest for a backstop. After seeing what it took to sign Mauer a year before he hit the open market, would it behoove the Orioles to approach Matt Wieters, their franchise catcher, about a long-term deal now?

The 23-year-old Wieters reached the big leagues last year with similar hype to what surrounded Mauer when he first arrived in the show. Although his overall batting line of .288/.340/.412 in 385 plate appearances was solid yet unspectacular, he finished the season strong by hitting .331/.389/.479 in his final 157 plate appearances. The expectation is that Wieters will develop into a switch hitting version of the Twins' catcher, though it's unrealistic and unfair to expect anyone to match what Mauer's done in his career to date. 

Because he wasn't called up until the end of May, Wieters won't be eligible for free agency until after the 2015 season. Even though he was a high profile draft pick in 2007, he did not sign a Major League contract, instead opting for a $6MM bonus up front. Ryan Braun (eight years, $45MM) and Evan Longoria (six years, $17.5MM plus two options) are the only two position players in recent memory to sign a long-term deal with less than one year of service time, and they both play a less demanding position than Wieters.

My gut says the Orioles should take advantage of their right to pay Wieters close to the league minimum for the next two years before attempting to sign him long-term, but what do I know? Do you think the O's should try to sign Wieters long-term now, or is it too soon and too risky given the demands of the catching position? What kind of contract would be appropriate, something along the lines of what Braun and Longoria got, or a little less?

Remember, the Orioles are by no means a small market club; they offered Mark Teixeira (a Georgia Tech product like Wieters) a nine-figure deal last offseason and certainly appear willing to add payroll for the right players. Nick Markakis and Brian Roberts are already under contract for the long haul, and Baltimore also has Adam Jones, Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman, and Nolan Reimold under team control for the next several years. 

Stark’s Latest: Trade Block, Mets, Phillies, Tigers

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ESPN's Jayson Stark has a new blog post up with some trade rumor nuggets for us. It's behind the Insider wall (if you don't have a subscription yet, what are you waiting for?), so I can't give away too much…

  • Stark lists 16 players currently on the trade block. Among the names we haven't seen mentioned recently: Willie Harris, Andy Marte, Tim Stauffer, Omir Santos, and Brad Thomas.
  • The Mets are looking to move one of their extra catchers, either Santos or Chris Coste, and are looking to add "major league-ready triple-A pitching depth." Aren't we all…
  • The Phillies are looking to add all sorts of pitching depth, and have interest in the recently released Chad Gaudin.
  • Scott Sizemore's rocky spring has the Tigers looking for a second base upgrade.
  • Kansas City is shopping Brayan Pena in their perpetual search for starting pitching.
  • The Braves have told other clubs that David Ross is available, "possibly in a catcher-for-catcher swap for a younger backup-catcher type."

Cubs Outright Mike Parisi To Triple-A

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The Cubs have outrighted righthander Mike Parisi to Triple-A Iowa according to a team press release. Chicago selected Parisi from the Cardinals with the 12th pick of the Rule 5 draft this past December.

As Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post Dispatch explains, Parisi has already gone through the process of clearing outright waivers and being offered back to St. Louis as per the Rule 5 rules. However, since he had been outrighted once before in his career, Parisi was able to elect to become a free agent, which he informed the Cardinals he would do instead of returning to their minor league roster. So after all that, the Cubs retained Parisi on a minor league contract.

The soon to be 27-year-old got smacked around in seven Spring Training outings (7.45 ERA), though he owns a 4.27 ERA in the minors with a 6.6 K/9 and a 3.3 BB/9. He threw 23 innings with St. Louis back in 2008, walking more batters (15) than he struck out (13).

Orioles Acquire Steven Lerud

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Bob Dutton tweets that the Royals have traded minor league catcher Steven Lerud to the Orioles for a player to be named later.

Lerud, 24, was a third-round draft pick of the Pirates in 2003 and posted a line of .240/.339/.336 in 95 games for the Pirates' AA affiliate in Altoona last season. The Royals signed him as a minor league free agent back in December. Over six minor league seasons, Lerud owns a line of .228/.314/.363.

Rangers Acquire Andres Blanco

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Gordon Wittenmyer tweets that the Rangers have acquired Andres Blanco from the Cubs in exchange for a player to be named later.

Blanco, 26 in April, posted a line of .252/.303/.341 in 53 games (138 PAs) for the Cubs last season, while playing plus defense at second base, but below average at shortstop (warning: small sample sizes). Blanco's .644 OPS from last season is directly in line with his minor league numbers.

Wittenmyer writes that Blanco was out of options and out of opportunities to make the club this spring. The Rangers have been looking for a back-up infielder since having to void Khalil Greene's contract earlier this spring due to his ongoing struggles with social anxiety disorder.

Blanco is the third infielder acquired by Texas recently. On Wednesday, they traded Edwar Ramirez to the A's for Gregorio Petit, and earlier in the spring claimed Hernan Iribarren off waivers from the Brewers.

Red Sox Would Move Lowell; Not Close To A Deal

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SATURDAY, 1:58pm: Buster Olney tweets that the Marlins are unsure as to why they've been linked to Lowell. According to Olney, the Marlins weren't even interested in Lowell prior to his recent injury.

FRIDAY, 1:20pm: The Red Sox aren't close to dealing Lowell, who left today's Spring Training game after fouling a pitch off of his left knee, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. Via Twitter, ESPNBoston's Gordon Edes notes that the Rangers and Marlins weren't scouting Lowell today.

9:25am: The Red Sox are still interested in dealing Mike Lowell and the infielder would consider a trade, according to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. Major league sources tell Abraham that the club remains interested in moving Lowell, who has one year and $12MM remaining on his contract with Boston. Lowell has no-trade protection, but he says he'd listen if the Red Sox come to him with a deal.

"If I was traded to another team, I would definitely evaluate it," Lowell said. "Obviously it's human nature to think about things."

Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reported yesterday that the Marlins' interest in the Miami product was "barely above zero." Scouts doubt his mobility and Lowell is aware that he's a better fit in the American League.

Do The Yankees Have A Leg Up For Recruiting Werth?

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Phillies' rightfielder Jayson Werth will be one of the hottest commodities on the free agent market next year, and the Yankees might have an ace in the hole if they choose to pursue him. As if they need any more help, Joel Sherman of The New York Post notes that Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson – a special advisor for the Yanks – has a longstanding relationship with Werth's family.

Jackson became good friends with Werth's stepfather Dennis when the two patrolled the Yankees' outfield in the late-70's/early-80's, and he also played with Dick Schofield during his Angels years, who is Jayson's uncle (his mother's brother, to be specific). Sherman says that Jackson and Werth had lunch together before the two teams played yesterday, and then were spotted on the field chatting before first pitch. The commissioner's office frowns upon members of different organizations interacting like that, but Sherman says it happens all the time and the league would have to be able to illustrate tampering to act in any way.

GM Brian Cashman said he didn't know of the meeting and was unaware of Jackson's relationship with Werth's family, but history has shown that he's not above bringing the heat to recruit big free agents. Last offseason he brought Jackson along to a key meeting during their courtship of CC Sabathia. 

Werth, 31 in May, finally started to deliver on some of the promise that landed him on Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects List four times from 1999 to 2003. A career .265/.360/.467 hitter in close to 2,300 big league plate appearances, Werth has hit .276/.376/.494 since arriving in Philadelphia during the 2007 season. His power has improved every year since then, topping out at 36 bombs last year, and he's a top notch defender in all three outfield spots according to UZR. Werth will earn $7MM this season as part of the two-year deal he signed last January.

Rosenthal’s Latest: D’Backs, Robertson, Pirates

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Some notes from Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com…

  • The Diamondbacks continue to pursue a number three or four starter in the wake of Brandon Webb's setback. A club official acknowledged that such a pickup was possible, but “I don’t think any team will be willing to give up that kind of pitcher at the start of the season.”
  • Rosenthal says the team has infield depth to use in a trade, and reiterated that they'd love to move Chris Snyder and the $11.25MM left on his contract. The Rangers and Red Sox are said to be looking for infielders, and the Mariners could join them following Jack Hannahan's injury.
  • The Tigers are shopping Nate Robertson, but Arizona doesn't consider him enough of an upgrade. Zach Duke and Paul Maholm are not available.
  • The best available starter may be Chad Gaudin, who was released by the Yankees on Thursday.  
  • The Brewers considered a Jeff Suppan for Snyder trade, but didn't want to take on Snyder's 2011 salary. Suppan will earn $12.5MM this season, the final one on his contract.
  • The Cubs do not expect to make a trade for a reliever before Opening Day, but they've scouted Jason Frasor and Scott Downs, plus Luke Gregerson of the Padres.
  • Nick Green has an out clause in his minor league contract, but the Dodgers may add him to the roster to serve as the backup shortstop.

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