Rockies Sign Tim Redding
The Rockies signed righty Tim Redding to a minor league deal, reports Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post. Renck notes that the Rockies nearly acquired Redding from the Nationals in a deal involving Willy Taveras, prior to the '09 season.
The Nats non-tendered Redding after he chewed up 182 innings for them in '08. The Mets signed him for $2.25MM in January, but his season was marred by shoulder and toe injuries. Redding, 32 in February, posted a 5.10 ERA, 5.7 K.9, and 3.8 BB/9 in 120 innings and was non-tendered once again.
The Rockies' 2010 rotation stacks up as Ubaldo Jimenez, Aaron Cook, Jason Hammel, Jorge de la Rosa, and Jeff Francis, with Redding providing insurance.
Cubs, Rays, Giants After Chan Ho Park
WEDNESDAY, 1:44pm: Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that the Giants like Park, but want him on a minor league deal.
MONDAY, 8:51pm: SI.com's Jon Heyman tweets that the Cubs and Rays are looking at Chan Ho Park, who relieved for the Phillies last season.
Park put up a mediocre 4.43 ERA last season after a 3.40 mark in 2008, though his walks and strikeouts stayed fairly steady. Park has been far better as a reliever in both seasons- a 2.52 ERA out of the bullpen in 2009, and a 7.29 ERA as a starter.
Park will be 37 in June, so he's certainly not worth a multi-year deal. But he's a fairly decent option in the middle of the game, and should provide bullpen depth for some team.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Wednesday
The latest arbitration-eligible players agreeing to 2010 contracts can be found below. Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball has a nice table with the results for the 44 who filed.
- Cubs lefty Sean Marshall agreed to a one-year deal, according to a team press release. Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald says Marshall will earn $950K, a bit short of the midpoint. Marshall had filed at $1.175MM in his first arbitration year, the Cubs at $800K. Ryan Theriot and Carlos Marmol are the team's two outstanding cases.
Cubs Sign Chad Tracy
The Cubs officially signed infielder Chad Tracy to a minor league deal today. ESPN's Bruce Levine and Jayson Stark first reported the agreement last night, which is worth $900K if Tracy makes the team and another $525K if he reaches 450 plate appearances.
Tracy, 30 in May, struggled to a .237/.306/.389 line in 288 plate appearances for the Diamondbacks last year. Tracy's future looked bright in May of '06, when he inked a three-year, $13.25MM deal with the D'Backs coming off a .308/.359/.553 season. But even then he was shielded against lefties, against whom he's never had success. Tracy's left knee began to bother him, and he had microfracture surgery in September of '07. A blood clot complicated his recovery. In March of '09, Tracy told MLB.com's Steve Gilbert the knee was no longer a factor.
Tracy gives Chicago a left-handed reserve bat and corner infield backup for Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee. The Rockies, Orioles and Mets had also shown interest in the veteran infielder, who will be changing addresses for the first time in his six-year major league career.
Tim Dierkes contributed to this post.
Orioles Make Offer To Will Ohman
The Orioles offered a minor league deal to lefty reliever Will Ohman, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. Ohman will throw for the O's and other clubs this week. Ohman, 32, had a lost 2009 season after signing with the Dodgers on March 30th. Shoulder problems led to September surgery. When he's right, Ohman can shut down lefties. Connolly adds that the Orioles are still in talks with southpaw Mark Hendrickson.
Connolly also notes that Miguel Tejada's one-year, $6MM deal to return to Baltimore is official. Connolly speculates that reliever Dennis Sarfate could be designated for assignment to make room for Tejada. You may recall that Sarfate came to the Orioles from the Astros in the December '07 Tejada trade.
Three Teams In On Orlando Hudson
Last offseason was disappointing for second baseman Orlando Hudson. He signed with the Dodgers on February 20th, accepting one year and a $3.38MM guarantee. He had a decent '09 season, managing to stay healthy and hit most of his incentives. Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports have the latest on Hudson's search for a new team.
The Nationals and Rays are known to be pursuing Hudson, with the Nats possibly offering more money. The writers say a mystery team is also in the mix, and speculate on the Twins. The Rockies could be another match, but Minnesota and Colorado would be looking for a bargain.
ESPN's Buster Olney first reported the Rays' interest in Hudson yesterday, but Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times finds a signing unlikely. And in an interview with MLB.com's Bill Ladson, Hudson alluded to the Indians and Padres. Those clubs are considered longshots.
Padres Designate Mike Ekstrom For Assignment
The Padres designated reliever Mike Ekstrom for assignment to make room for Jon Garland, tweets MLB.com's Corey Brock. Ekstrom, 26, was done in by hits and home runs allowed in an 18.3-inning big league stint last year. At Triple A, he had a 1.73 ERA, 6.2 K/9, and 2.3 BB/9 in 62.3 innings. Ekstrom was designated for assignment once before, in April of '09.
Athletics Sign Ben Sheets
The A's signed Ben Sheets to a one-year deal worth $10MM plus performance bonuses today. The injury-prone righty took his physical and everything checked out fine. That's no surprise, since Sheets looked impressive last week when he auditioned for interested clubs.
It's a lot of money to guarantee a pitcher who hasn't taken the hill since 2008, but Sheets has considerably more upside than most. He pitched 198.1 innings for the Brewers in 2008, allowing 181 hits and 47 walks, striking out 158 for a 3.09 ERA.
Consider that most players are signing team-friendly deals at this point in the offseason and Sheets' contract looks pretty good. Consider that Rich Harden, who actually started 26 games last year, signed for $7.5MM this winter and the deal looks even better for Sheets and agent Casey Close.
CSNBayArea's Mychael Urban tweeted that the A's made Sheets a "competitive" offer and noted that the A's had scheduled a press conference. Danny Knobler of CBS Sports reported that the A's signed Sheets and Jon Heyman of SI.com added details, including the value of the deal.
Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.
Odds & Ends: Mariners, Giants, Wakefield
A wrap-up of some items on this busy Tuesday evening…
- Larry Stone of the Seattle Times looks at some of the free agents left on the market and wonders if the Mariners will be enticed to make one more move this winter. Neither Stone nor MLB.com's Jim Street think an Erik Bedard return is likely.
- Chris Haft of MLB.com covers a number of Giants-related topics in a mailbag, including how outfielder Fred Lewis "appears to have fallen out of favor with the organization" and "probably needs a change of scenery."
- Tim Wakefield tells CSNNE.com's Art Martone that he intends "on being one of the five starters" in the Boston rotation next season.
- SI.com's Jon Heyman reports that the Chuck Greenberg/Nolan Ryan-led ownership group paid a cool $570MM for the Rangers.
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was told by Brewers GM Doug Melvin that he is "working on one other thing….It would be a minor-league deal." Haudricourt speculates that Milwaukee is looking for a left-handed reserve outfielder and former Brewer Gabe Gross could be an option.
- The Dodgers are another team looking for a lefty backup outfielder, tweets MLB.com's Ken Gurnick.
- MLB.com's Mark Bowman says that a recent Chipper Jones comment about Atlanta possibly bringing back Javier Vazquez after 2010 is "wishful thinking" on the part of the Braves superstar. Bowman discusses a few other topics in the mailbag piece, including the wisdom of the Braves buying out the arbitration years of Jair Jurrjens and/or Tommy Hanson.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter) says that Robb Quinlan was a reserve option for the Twins if they hadn't signed Jim Thome. The right-handed Quinlan might have fit into the Minnesota bench a bit better than Thome, but if you had to pick between the two, I think most people would give Thome the nod.
Rays Interested In Orlando Hudson
9:36pm: Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times (via Twitter) thinks "it's unlikely anything happens" between Tampa Bay and Hudson, noting that the Rays are happy with Zobrist, Reid Brignac and Sean Rodriguez at second base. He does say, however, that the Rays "have interest in [a number] of free agents."
8:12pm: ESPN's Buster Olney reports (via Twitter) that Tampa Bay is "in on Orlando Hudson talks." The plan would be to install Hudson at second base while Ben Zobrist gets moved to right field. Olney says that the move "all depends on the price," which would presumably have to be significantly lower than Hudson's $9MM asking price.
The Nationals have been considered to be the leaders in the Hudson sweepstakes this winter, and MLB.com's Bill Ladson was told today by a source that the Nats "have a good chance" of signing the free-agent second baseman due to Hudson's close ties to Adam Dunn and Willie Harris.
Ladson also went straight to the horse's mouth and talked to Hudson himself, who told Ladson that "progress had been made." The interview also included this interesting passage from Hudson that cited two other teams in the hunt:
"I will sign soon enough. You can put it on the Internet and on TV. I'm going to sign. I can't say exactly when. It will not be long. I can't say if it's with the Nationals, San Diego or Cleveland. I can't say with whom. Something is getting done."
The Padres could be a longshot if, as MLB.com's Corey Brock tweeted earlier today, they've completed their winter shopping following the signing of Jon Garland. The Tribe also seem like unlikely suitors given Hudson's contract demands.