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Pirates Designate Hayden Penn For Assignment

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5:52pm:  Penn was DFA'd in order to make room on the roster for lefty Brian Burres, writes Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  Burres has a 6.01 ERA with 5.7 K/9 and 7.1 BB/9 in 265 big league innings.

4:37pm: The Pirates have designated righty Hayden Penn for assignment according to the team. They claimed him off waivers from the Marlins just two weeks ago.

The 25-year-old Penn appeared in three games for Pittsburgh this year, giving up eight hits and eight runs in just 2.1 innings. He walked three and struck out no one. Penn's Triple-A numbers are strong; he's posted a 3.85 ERA and a 7.5 K/9 in 278.1 innings at the level.

Top Trade Chips: NL East

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Let's continue our top trade chips series today with the NL East…

  • Braves: The Braves aren't going to move Tommy Hanson and/or Jason Heyward, and they already traded away their top piece of bait this winter when they sent Javier Vazquez to the Yankees. What Atlanta does have is cache of big time pitching prospects in 20-year-old Randall Delgado,19-year-old Julio Teheran, and 19-year-old Arodys Vizcaino that they could dip into if needed.
  • Marlins: Florida has been reduced to flipping players before they get expensive through arbitration, nevermind get close to free agency. Dan Uggla is the team's highest paid player and also one of its most productive, but he's perpetually on the block because he's owed $7.8MM this season and will make even more in 2011 through arbitration. The Marlins could trade him, put Chris Coghlan back at second (his natural position), and call up super-prospect Mike Stanton to fill the vacant outfield spot.
  • Mets: Even though Carlos Beltran's knee is problematic and Jeff Francoeur is a perennial non-tender candidate, the team's best piece of trade bait is 21-year-old outfielder Fernando Martinez. Lefty reliever Pedro Feliciano could be used as trade fodder, but if ownership decides to part ways with GM Omar Minaya, then they could be in for a full blown firesale. Everyone not named David Wright would be available.
  • Nationals: Forget Stephen Strasburg, it's obviously not happening. However, GM Mike Rizzo has a valuable piece in Josh Willingham, who is no stranger to the trade rumor circuit. He is under team control through 2011, and his production isn't far off from Bay's. Relievers Matt Capps and Brian Bruney could be dealt as well.
  • Phillies: Philadelphia unloaded most of their top prospects to acquire Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay in the last nine months, so the cupboard is pretty bare. They could shop hard-throwing and oft-injured reliever Scott Mathieson, but the doomsday scenario could find Jayson Werth on the block if the Phils don't think they can re-sign him after the season. Of course that's highly unlikely, he's only the second or third best player on the top team in the league.

Ryan Langerhans Clears Waivers

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MONDAY, 2:52pm: Ryan Divish of The Tacoma News Tribune tweets that Langerhans has cleared waivers and will report to Triple-A Tacoma.

THURSDAY, 2:14pm: The Mariners designated outfielder Ryan Langerhans for assignment to make room for reliever Jesus Colome, tweets ESPN's Shannon Drayer.  This ends the Mariners' six-man bullpen experiment.  U.S.S. Mariner's Dave Cameron wrote yesterday that while he feels a six-man pen can work, he's not sure the Mariners are presently built for one.  Talking to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, Ms GM Jack Zduriencik explained why Langerhans was cut instead of Mike Sweeney.

Langerhans, 30, hit .218/.311/.386 in 122 big league plate appearances last year.  He hit .278/.371/.488 at Triple A.  Langerhans was non-tendered by the Mariners in December but re-signed a week later.

Fielder Looking For Mauer & Teixeira Money?

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A person familiar with the talks between the Brewers and Prince Fielder suggests that the eight year, $180MM+ contracts signed by Joe Mauer and Mark Teixeira are viewed as just a starting point by the first baseman's people, says SI.com's Jon Heyman. Another suggested that Fielder is seeking to join Alex Rodriguez in the $200MM club.

Owner Mark Attanasio remains hopefully that they'll be able to keep their star first baseman, but he and Scott Boras "appear to have taken a vow of silence regarding the most important player negotiations in the Brewers' history." One player told Heyman that he thinks the team's chances of retaining Fielder are "very slim," and a team official conceded that even though he enjoys Milwaukee, the team doesn't sense that he'll take a discount to remain there.

"When you evaluate players at the major league level, those who have done certain things by age 25 are extraordinary, and two of those things are 40 home runs and 125 RBIs. You certainly can count the number of players who have done that,'' said Boras. "Extraordinary performance at a young age gives you totally different career indices."

There's no denying that Fielder has been immensely productive in his young career, but such production at first base isn't the same as getting from a catcher or shortstop/third baseman. Teixeira, another Boras client and first baseman, is viewed as a better bet to remain productive into his 30's because there are no concerns about his size going forward.

Fielder, 26 in May, has hit .288/.393/.575 over the last three seasons, averaging 43 homers per year. He'll make $10.5MM this season, and will be eligible for arbitration in 2011 before becoming a free agent after that season. Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, and Adrian Gonzalez can all potentially be part of the same free agent class, so if a team doesn't want to meet Fielder's demands, they'll have plenty of alternatives.

Rosenthal On Bullpens, Marcum, Crawford

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Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has a few hot stove offerings…

  • Rosenthal names the Cubs, Cardinals, Rays, Phillies, and Marlins as teams with bullpen question marks.  I'm thinking the Blue Jays might be able to extract something useful for their veteran relievers in a few months.
  • Rosenthal speculates that Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum would be attractive on the trade market.  Marcum is under team control through 2012.  It's not known whether the Jays would entertain trading Marcum for even younger and cheaper players.
  • Carl Crawford should command at least $12-14MM per year and at least a seven-year contract as free agent, opines Rosenthal.

Ricketts: Cubs Have Payroll Flexibility For 2010

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New Cubs owner Tom Ricketts joined WSCR's Mully and Hanley show this morning; listen to the audio here.  Asked about payroll flexibility, Ricketts replied:

With respect to this season, there's still some flexibility in the payroll should there be something that comes up down the line that looks like a fit or a need.

The Cubs' payroll is already north of $140MM, but it appears that family ownership will allow for added flexibility.  Over the offseason the Cubs added $26.7MM total for four free agents ($9.9MM in 2010 salaries).  Raises for current players exceeded $14MM, led by Ryan Dempster's $4.5MM increase.  On the flip side, money was saved by the departures of Milton Bradley, Aaron Miles, Neal Cotts, Kevin Gregg, Rich Harden, Aaron Heilman, and Reed Johnson.

It wouldn't be surprising to see the Cubs add a reliever this summer.  The offense could be tricky to augment, as the Cubs are locked in with sizeable contracts aside from catcher and the middle infield.

Free Agent Contracts Gone Sour

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Imagine the amount of number-crunching, scouting reports, and intangible assessments that must occur before a team signs a free agent to a multi-million dollar contract.  Presumably, team execs dissect every angle and feel completely justified before making one of these huge commitments.  Why, then, have so many free agent contracts from the 2008-09 offseason already gone sour?  Check it out…

  • The Braves, feeling light on starting pitching, committed $60MM to Derek Lowe and $23MM to Kenshin Kawakami.  A year later neither contract could be moved, and the Braves had to part with Javier Vazquez after an ace-like performance.
  • Manny Ramirez finally signed a two-year, $45MM deal in March of '09.  He started off raking, but his PED suspension came down on May 7th.  Manny hit .269/.389/.492 after the suspension, which was considered by many as a disappointment.  He declined the chance to opt out of $20MM for 2010.
  • Francisco Rodriguez signed for less than expected, getting three years and $37MM from the Mets.  He showed the worst control of his career in '09, and now the concern has to be that he'll meet the criteria to get his $17.5MM option for 2012 guaranteed.
  • Oliver Perez signed for three years and $36MM, which Scott Boras actually preferred to the Mets' idea of four years and $44MM.  Perez was a disaster in the first year of the contract.
  • The Cubs have already dumped Milton Bradley; they were happy to save $5MM on his $30MM contract.
  • Kerry Wood makes little sense for the Indians now, not that they could move his contract.  He's begun the season on the DL with an upper back strain.
  • That's just the $20MM and up contracts; commitments to Brian Fuentes, Pat Burrell, Jamie Moyer, Damaso Marte, Koji Uehara, Kyle Farnsworth, Nick Punto, Willy Taveras, and Juan Cruz are also viewed as unfavorable.  Which 2009-10 signings will make this list after one season?  It may be a smaller group, as teams are shying away from multiyear commitments. 

2011 Contract Issues: St. Louis Cardinals

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The Cardinals have a pair of contract options due after the season:

  • Albert Pujols has a $16MM club option with a $5MM buyout.  This will easily be exercised, but the real story will be the progress of extension talks.
  • Lefty reliever Trever Miller has one of nine vesting options to follow this season.  His $2MM becomes guaranteed with 45 games in 2010, a plateau that has not been a problem anytime recently.  DL time due to a left arm or shoulder injury would cause this to become a club option.

The Cards will have four key free agents: Brad Penny, Dennys Reyes, Felipe Lopez, and Jason LaRue.  They're guaranteed a total of $11.45MM in 2010.

Raises to players under contract total $7.05MM, with Kyle Lohse, Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, Skip Schumaker, and Chris Carpenter getting bumps.

The arbitration group is light.  Kyle McClellan, Brendan Ryan, and Jaime Garcia are projected first-timers, while Ryan Ludwick is due for his third time.

Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.

The Blue Jays And Vernon Wells

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Vernon Wells will have negative trade value until his contract expires at the end of the 2014 season. Wells' deal is considered one of the worst in the game. After all, the three-time Gold Glover has $98.5MM coming his way even though his defense has deteriorated rapidly and he hasn't topped 20 homers in any season since 2006. 

But Wells underwent successful wrist surgery last offseason, he's a year removed from the hamstring problems that sidelined him last spring and he has four home runs in his first six games. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports said this weekend that Wells would probably waive his no-trade clause. No team would take Wells on if it meant shouldering nearly $100MM, but GM Alex Anthopoulos could potentially find a team that would take on some of Wells' salary – it's a question of how much.

Last winter, the Cubs signed Marlon Byrd to a three-year $15MM deal after a career year in which he hit .283/.329/.479 with 20 homers. Byrd is 32, a year older than Wells, but there was still enough interest for him to sign a multi-year deal. 

But this doesn't mean Wells could find a $15MM offer on the open market; in fact, it's hard to imagine any club offering more than a few million. Wells has just a .317 on base percentage since signing his long-term deal and his defense has cost the Blue Jays in recent years, according to UZR (Byrd's defense has been closer to average).

Toronto's supporters can still hope, though. If Wells hits well this year and has healthy enough legs underneath him to impress scouts and turn around his defensive numbers, teams may be willing to trade for Wells and pick up some of the money he's owed. Jerry Hairston Jr., Mark Kotsay and Rick Ankiel lead the next crop of free agent center fielders, so teams aren't about to find elite solutions on the open market. The Blue Jays will not be able to trade Wells without paying the vast majority of his contract, but they can dream about a deal that allows them to shed $10-20MM. 

Odds & Ends: Strasburg, Guillen, Marlins, Posey

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Some links as the first week of baseball comes to a close…

  • Stephen Strasburg, who struck out eight over five innings of work in his pro debut today, will be limited to about 100 innings this year, according to MLB.com's Peter Gammons (via Twitter). Gammons says Scott Boras negotiated that condition into the righty's deal with the Nationals last summer. However, Nationals farm director Doug Harris told MASN.com's Ben Goessling that a 100 inning cap for Strasburg "doesn't hold water" (Twitter link). Harris says 150-160 innings would be reasonable for Strasburg (Twitter link).
  • MLB.com's Jason Beck explains that Carlos Guillen nearly became an Indian six years ago.
  • Tom D'Angelo of the Palm Beach Post wonders how long the Marlins will let Cameron Maybin struggle before calling on top prospect Mike Stanton.
  • Buster Posey had a huge opening week in Triple A, so Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News wonders (via Twitter) how long the Giants can keep him in the minors. The timing of Posey's call up matters a great deal to the Giants, as I explained here.

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