Hoyer Talks San Diego Outfielders, Relievers
Last year this time, Jed Hoyer was two weeks into his tenure as Padres GM. Now, he's attending the Orlando GM Meetings with a better sense of his club and a surplus of outfielders. He told MLBTR that he likes having outfield depth, but Cameron Maybin, Ryan Ludwick, Kyle Blanks, Will Venable, Scott Hairston, Chris Denorfia, Aaron Cunningham and Tony Gwynn won't all end up on next season's Opening Day roster and Hoyer did acknowledge that a trade is possible.
"Whenever you have surplus, if a team asks about a guy, you're always going to be willing to listen," Hoyer said.
The Padres like Venable in right and Maybin in center. Tony Gwynn's 2011 role has been unclear since the Marlins sent Maybin to San Diego. He is a non-tender candidate (like Ludwick, Hairston and Denorfia) but Hoyer says Gwynn could be covering even more ground than usual at Petco Park next year.
"He's a guy we can use in all three outfield spots and going forward that's probably how we think of him," Hoyer said.
The Maybin trade left the Padres short on relievers, but don't expect immediate additions to the San Diego 'pen. The Padres are likely to replace the recently-traded Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica with other relievers later in the winter. As expected, Hoyer says the Padres will do a lot of their "damage" late in the offseason.
Mets Bring Back Four For Next Round Of Interviews
The Mets are bringing four managerial candidates back for a second round of interviews: Tim Collins, Chip Hale, Bob Melvin, and Wally Backman. Newsday's Ken Davidoff, The New York Daily News' Andy Martino (both Twitter links), and ESPN's Adam Rubin each delivered the news. Collins was said to be the favorite for the job over the weekend.
Sosnick On Nolasco & Bruce
Agent Matt Sosnick has two clients in their arbitration years, but right now extension talks for Ricky Nolasco of the Marlins and Jay Bruce of the Reds aren't far beyond the infancy stages. Here's what Sosnick told Clark Spencer of The Miami Herald regarding a possible deal for Nolasco…
"I would say certainly nothing's going to happen soon," said the agent. "But I would be surprised if something didn't end up happening. We have had some conversations and I think we've made some progress."
Nolasco earned $3.8MM in his second (of four as a Super Two) year of arbitration, but back in September we heard that "a significant gulf" existed between the two sides during negotiations. More recently the club indicated that signing Dan Uggla long-term was their first priority, but after today's trade Nolasco presumably moved up on the list. The 27-year-old righty (28 next month) pitched to a 4.51 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 157 2/3 innings this season.
As for Bruce, here's what MLB.com's Mark Sheldon passes along…
Bruce is due a significant raise as he enters his first year of arbitration (also a Super Two), and he's expressed interest a long-term deal in the past. Perhaps Nick Markakis' six-year, $66MM deal can be used as framework. Bruce had a monster season at age 23, hitting .281/.353/.493 with 25 homers.
Huntington On Rotation, Doumit, McCutchen
Pittsburgh GM Neal Huntington describes the market for available starters as "thin," but says the Pirates "need" to upgrade their rotation. Huntington told MLBTR that he is mindful of pitching prospects such as Rudy Owens, Jeff Locke, Bryan Morris, Jameson Taillon, Stetson Allie and Luis Heredia who are rising through the Pirates system. But they won't prevent him from offering multi-year deals to free agents.
"We're not opposed to multi-year deals for the right player," Huntington said. "But what we can't do is vastly overpay in terms of years and/or dollars just to get somebody … to make ourselves feel better in November. We've got to pay players for what they're going to do, not what they've done."
The Pirates don't have a distinct preference for left-handers or right-handers. Ideally, they'd get a pitcher who can strike people out, but as Huntington points out, every other team wants just that. Recent reports suggest the Pirates are interested in former Rockies lefties Jeff Francis and Jorge de la Rosa.
Former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, now the Pirates' skipper, has not yet discussed Ryan Doumit's 2011 role with Huntington in detail. At this point, Huntington says the Pirates can see him filling a number of roles in 2011.
"We've got the ability to have him catch some; he can be the complement to Chris Snyder; he's got the ability with some Spring Training work to maybe go play some at first and then also the opportunity to go play out in right field. So he's got some versatility," Huntington said.
Huntington declined to comment specifically on Andrew McCutchen, but he acknowledged that the Pirates generally have interest in giving top players security with extensions that cover some free agent seasons.
Diamondbacks Listening On Justin Upton
6:09pm: Marc Carig of The Star-Ledger says that like the Red Sox, the Yankees were just doing their due diligence when they called about Upton.
3:33pm: The Yankees talked to the Diamondbacks about Upton, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
12:56pm: The Red Sox expressed interest in Upton, report Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. However, one source tells the FOX writers the talks are "not far advanced," while WEEI's Rob Bradford heard the rumor has "no legs." Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe concurs, calling the discussions "more due diligence than actual trade talk" (Twitter link).
10:59am: You may have missed it yesterday, but USA Today's Bob Nightengale listed Diamondbacks right fielder Justin Upton as one of the big names GMs say are already "under discussion." GM Kevin Towers elaborated:
"I'm open to listening on anybody. We got more hits on Upton and [Stephen] Drew. They're difficult to move, but sometimes to make your club better, you have to move good players. You never know when a deal might present itself."
This could be little more than a GM taking the common stance that no player is untouchable. Today Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeted that while the D'Backs are listening on Upton, the return would have to be "big." He notes that they're much less inclined to move Drew – they'd have to be "blown away," given the lack of alternatives at shortstop.
Upton, still only 23, regressed a bit in the first year of his six-year, $51.25MM contract. He hit .273/.356/.442 in 571 plate appearances, though a shoulder strain may have been partially responsible. Though he slipped in all three categories, his walk rate was actually higher than it was in '09. Since Upton would not have been arbitration eligible until now, almost all of his contract will be paid out over 2011-15.
Trading Upton would be very difficult from a public relations standpoint unless the D'Backs receive a comparable young star in return. It's difficult to picture Upton terrorizing the D'Backs over the next five years as a member of the Rockies, Dodgers, Padres, or Giants, but any club could afford Upton financially. In the opinion of Rosenthal's colleague Jon Paul Morosi, the Braves would be at the front of the line for Upton and they have the young arms to pull off a deal (Twitter link).
Braves Acquire Dan Uggla
The Braves landed one of baseball's most powerful second basemen today, acquiring Dan Uggla from the division rival Marlins for utility man Omar Infante and lefty reliever Mike Dunn.
Uggla, 31 in March, had another fine season in 2010 with a .287/.369/.508 line in 674 plate appearances. Uggla is one season away from free agency, and extension talks with the Marlins broke off after he rejected a four-year, $48MM offer. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports feels that the Braves will attempt to sign him long-term. Martin Prado will step in at third base as Chipper Jones recovers from knee surgery or log innings in left field if necessary, tweets Rosenthal. Uggla should be happy to remain at second base.
Infante, a super-utility type, hit .321/.359/.416 in 506 plate appearances for the Braves this year. He's under contract through 2011 at $2.5MM with another possible $1MM in plate appearance incentives. The loss may put the Braves in the market for a utility player, writes MLB.com's Mark Bowman. Dunn, 26 in May, is a hard-throwing left-handed reliever who came to Atlanta from the Yankees a year ago in the Javier Vazquez deal. Dunn racked up big-time strikeout and walk numbers this year between Triple-A and the Majors. The intra-division asking price for Uggla was expected to be large, but this is a disappointing return for the Marlins. They have succeeded in revamping their bullpen for the long-term, adding Ryan Webb, Edward Mujica, Dustin Richardson, and Dunn in recent trades.
The Cardinals, Blue Jays, Nationals, and Tigers were other reported suitors for Uggla.
ESPN's Jerry Crasnick broke news of the agreement on Twitter, and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and Mark Bowman of MLB.com provided updates as the story developed.
Marlins Close To Signing John Buck
3:53pm: Buck's three-year deal with the Marlins will be worth $18MM, tweets Rosenthal. This will be Florida's biggest free agent signing since Carlos Delgado in 2005.
2:03pm: The Marlins are close to signing Buck to a three-year deal, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. We had speculated on the three-year possibility just a few hours ago.
10:26am: The Marlins are working hard to sign free agent catcher John Buck, an official from another team told Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (Twitter link). Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Marlins are definitely interested in Buck, but not close to a deal. Yesterday, Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos described Buck's market as "very, very strong" and implied his agents at ACES seek a multiyear deal. Buck, 30, hit .281/.314/.489 with 20 home runs in 437 plate appearances for Toronto this year. He signed for $2MM after being non-tendered by the Royals.
Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post reported yesterday that the Marlins and A.J. Pierzynski share mutual interest, but he might be too pricey for the Fish.
Rangers Met With Cliff Lee Yesterday
Rangers executives Chuck Greenberg, Nolan Ryan, and Jon Daniels flew to Little Rock, Arkansas yesterday and met with free agent lefty Cliff Lee for about two hours, reports Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Yankees GM Brian Cashman made the same trip by himself on Wednesday of last week.
Last we heard, Lee's agent Darek Braunecker was leaning against making the trip to Orlando for the GM Meetings. Braunecker told ESPN's Andrew Marchand "there has been significant interest from a multitude of teams," and he doesn't feel it's necessary for Lee to visit various cities.
Five Teams Interested In Jeff Francis
Free agent lefty Jeff Francis is drawing interest from at least five clubs, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick: the Pirates, Mariners, Brewers, Astros, and Rockies.
Francis, 30 in January, posted a 5.00 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, and 47% groundball rate in 104 1/3 innings this year for the Rockies. Baseball Prospectus' SIERA stat suggests Francis' work was more deserving of an ERA around 4.00. Francis missed all of last season after having shoulder surgery in February of '09, and had some lingering issues this year. The Rockies declined his $7MM club option earlier this month. If Francis' shoulder checks out, many teams will have interest in plugging him into the back end of their rotation on a one-year, incentive-laden deal.
Wainwright’s 2012, 2013 Options Affected By Cy Vote
With today's second place Cy Young finish, Cardinals righty Adam Wainwright took a major step toward seeing his 2012 and 2013 contract options become guaranteed. The options will become locked in if he does not finish the 2011 season on the disabled list, reports MLB.com's Matthew Leach. He'll earn $9MM in '12 and $12MM in '13, plus award bonuses for his Cy Young votes. Thanks to Mike Lutz for pointing this out via Twitter, and to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the details.
Cardinals GM John Mozeliak signed Wainwright to a team-friendly extension in March of 2008, during a brief period where double club options were popular. Had Wainwright not signed the deal, he would have been arbitration eligible for the third time this winter and eligible for free agency after '11. Wainwright doesn't appear to have any regrets; in fact, he told Leach and other reporters today he hopes to finish his career in St. Louis.