Pirates Rumors: Dotel, Ankiel, Iwamura
The Pirates won't spend as much on free agents as their division rivals, the Brewers and Cardinals, but they're still being aggressive. Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Pirates are gaining momentum with Octavio Dotel, though talks with Rick Ankiel aren't progressing as well.
The Pirates, who made initial inquiries on Jose Valverde and Kevin Gregg before talks with the two relievers slowed, have offers out to Dotel and other relievers. As Ed Price reported yesterday, the Pirates are interested in Dotel's former teammate, D.J. Carrasco.
The Pirates aren't willing to promise any free agent – including Rick Ankiel – a starting job. The outfielder's agent, Scott Boras, hopes to find a full-time role for his client, so talks aren't developing, though the Pirates are open to signing the one-time pitcher.
Kovacevic also updates us on a couple former Rays. In this article, we hear that Akinori Iwamura has a release clause in his contract that allows him to become a free agent before he has six years of service time. He'll hit the open market after this year year if the Pirates don't lock him up. Also, the Pirates aren't interested in Jonny Gomes.
Jose Valverde Has Four Offers
FRIDAY, 8:12am: MLB.com's Jason Beck hears (via Twitter) from another source who agrees: Valverde has four offers and the Tigers are interested.
THURSDAY, 3:17pm: The market for Jose Valverde finally appears to be picking up. It's been relatively quiet for a few months, but the reliever now has four offers, according to Yahoo's Tim Brown (via Twitter). All of the offers are for closing jobs and two of them are multi-year proposals. Brown says the Tigers and D'Backs "are in," so they've presumably made two of the offers.
The incumbent closers for the Blue Jays, Marlins, A's and Pirates don't have much seniority, but it's hard to imagine these teams spending big on Valverde.
Odds & Ends: Yankees, Cardinals, Delgado
Some more links for the evening…
- Chad Jennings of LoHud.com provides an extensive breakdown of the Yankees' potential outfield options.
- Cardinals GM John Mozeliak says his team will decide in the near future "if we have a bullet to use what would we use it on," according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter).
- Ed Price of AOL FanHouse tweets that the Pirates are the leaders for D.J. Carrasco, who is being pursued by three other teams. In a separate tweet, Price adds that the Mets plan to scout Carlos Delgado this weekend in Puerto Rico.
- ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports that Josh Johnson is definitely not switching agents any time soon. Matt Sosnick represents the big righty.
- Justin Sablich lists the best remaining free agents for the New York Times.
- Chien-Ming Wang is telling friends he's prepared to move on from the Yankees, according to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. Abraham says Wang should be ready to join an MLB rotation in May.
- David Aardsma could come close to tripling his 2009 salary of $419K, according to MLB.com's Jim Street. The reliever is one of five arbitration-eligible Mariners
- MLB.com's Dick Kaegel tweets that Noel Arguelles passed his physical with the Royals, making official the five-year $7MM deal he agreed to earlier in the offseason.
- Larry Larue of the Tacoma News Tribune says Russell Branyan's likely not returning to Seattle now that the Mariners are poised to add Casey Kotchman.
- Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog hears from people connected to the Mets that they are interested in John Smoltz. The NL East is all over Smoltz – the Phils and Nats have interest, too.
Orioles Notes: Mora, Tejada, Atkins, Hill
A pair of former Oriole bats are still looking for somewhere to sign, and Baltimore has shown no interest in bringing back either Melvin Mora or Aubrey Huff, according to Dan Connolly and Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun. Here are some more Baltimore-centric tidbits from their piece:
- The O's may not be interested in Mora, but we heard earlier in the week that a few other clubs are. Mora confirms that several teams have been in touch with his agent, including the Rockies, Cardinals, and Angels.
- The Orioles are still looking to add a corner infielder. Although they've had discussions with Miguel Tejada's representation, "a reunion remains unlikely."
- The club would prefer to play Garrett Atkins at first base, rather than at third. The greater number of affordable first basemen left on the market, however, may force their hand.
- A handful of teams, including Baltimore, have extended minor league contract offers to Rich Hill, but the lefty has yet to make a decision.
Padres Sign Mark Worrell
The San Diego Padres have signed Mark Worrell to a minor league contract, according to Corey Brock of MLB.com.
The 26-year-old right-hander was non-tendered by the Padres last month, after he missed the 2009 season following Tommy John surgery. Worrell was initially acquired by San Diego last winter, in the deal that sent Khalil Greene to St. Louis.
Gammons On Chapman, Lowell, Damon
Peter Gammons answered fans' questions today in a chat session for the Boston Globe. Most of the inquiries were Red Sox-related or required some guesswork from Gammons, but let's check out a few highlights….
- Gammons speculates that the Angels will end up landing Aroldis Chapman, pointing to Chapman's connection to Kendry Morales as a possible factor.
- Mike Lowell's hip is improving and his thumb injury shouldn't be an issue by March. Gammons thinks there will still be some teams that would be willing to take on $2-3MM of the third baseman's contract, and that the Red Sox will eventually be able to trade him.
- The Red Sox may try to acquire another big bat sometime down the road, but right now the team doesn't seem too concerned about it. They think their improved defense will help make up for the offense they lost when they parted ways with Jason Bay.
- If Johnny Damon can't find a two-year contract that's close to his asking price, Gammons wouldn't be surprised to see the outfielder back in the Bronx next season.
Mariners Acquire Casey Kotchman
The Mariners officially acquired first baseman Casey Kotchman from the Red Sox for Bill Hall, a player to be named later, and cash. Jason A. Churchill of Prospect Insider says the PTBNL will be a minor league catcher. Churchill's colleague Chris Crawford first broke news of the Kotchman trade on Tuesday, with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeting the Hall element later.
WEEI's Alex Speier explained that this trade was closely linked to Boston's Adrian Beltre signing, and allowed the Red Sox to add Beltre without raising their luxury tax payroll much. The Mariners, meanwhile, have their regular first baseman and Russell Branyan replacement in Kotchman. In recent years Kotchman's defense has been strong, his offense subpar. He's arbitration-eligible this winter and figures to earn more than $3MM in 2010.
Red Sox Sign Adrian Beltre
Adrian Beltre left one defense-oriented team for another today and signed with the Red Sox. When he signed a five-year $64MM deal with the Mariners in 2004, Beltre was coming off a 48 homer season. Last year, he hit just eight homers, but his well-deserved reputation as one of the game's elite defenders earned him $9MM for the upcoming season and the chance to make even more in 2011.
Beltre, 31 in April, will earn a $7MM salary in 2010, in addition to a $2MM signing bonus. He has a player option for 2011 that's worth at least $5MM and will reach $10MM if Beltre makes 640 plate appearances this season. There's also a $1MM buy-out for 2011. It's not a lot of guaranteed money, but Beltre and agent Scott Boras could lobby for a long-term deal if Beltre re-establishes his offensive value in Fenway Park this year.
Jon Heyman tweeted that Beltre was close to a deal with the Red Sox and Buster Onley tweeted some details of the agreement before Tim Brown of Yahoo tweeted that Beltre had "reached an agreement" with the Red Sox. Peter Gammons, Peter Abraham, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, WEEI's Rob Bradford and Alex Speier followed up with the details.
According to the Boston Herald's John Tomase, Beltre turned down both a three-year and four-year deal in order to sign with the Red Sox. Rosenthal says Beltre turned down a pair of three-year, $24MM offers this offseason, apparently from the Phillies and A's. We'll see if he ultimately beats that amount over 2010-12.
The Mariners obtain a supplementary rounder in next year's draft for losing Beltre, who turned down their offer of arbitration.
Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.
Aroldis Chapman Decision Coming Soon?
4:13pm: The Baltimore Sun reports that the Orioles haven't been in touch with the Hendricks brothers since telling Chapman's representatives how they valued the pitcher.
1:40pm: Gordon Edes of ESPN.com hears that the Red Sox are still pursuing Chapman and remain "very much in the picture" to sign the lefty. The Red Sox have continued talking with Chapman's representatives since making their initial offer of $15MM-plus. Meanwhile, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe also hears that the Yankees are out.
THURSDAY, 6:35am: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeted last night that the Angels are "trying like crazy" to sign Chapman. Yahoo's Tim Brown tweets disagreement from an Angels source: "Despite what you read, we're not in that deep."
6:56pm: Clark Spencer of The Miami Herald tweets that internally, the Marlins have "conceded defeat" in the Chapman sweepstakes.
WEDNESDAY, 3:55pm: At least three teams are out on Chapman: the Astros, Yankees, and Mets (ESPN's Buster Olney via Twitter, and MLB.com's Brian McTaggart).
TUESDAY, 8:48pm: Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that the Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes may be nearing a close. According to Rodriguez, Chapman is saying that he "expects to sign within the next three or four days." As many as 15 clubs have shown some degree of interest in the Cuban left-hander, including several small-market franchises.
One such team, the Marlins, are particularly taken with Chapman since they hope that South Florida's large Cuban population will tempt the 21-year-old into signing at something of a hometown discount. Rodriguez reports that the Marlins have already made a $13MM contract offer to Chapman and have now raised that offer — a wise move given that the Red Sox have already offered Chapman $15.5MM.
The Marlins' maneuvering may be all for naught, however. An unnamed source tells Rodriguez that the Angels and Blue Jays seem to be the favorites to sign the Cuban left-hander, and that Chapman will sign with one of the two clubs for "around $21MM."
Matt Holliday Signs With Cardinals
Matt Holliday has officially signed what will surely be the biggest contract of the 2009-10 offseason. It's a seven-year, $120MM deal with a full no-trade clause. Holliday's vesting option for 2017 would be worth $17MM if he finishes in the top-10 in MVP voting in 2016; if the option doesn't vest, the Cards will owe Holliday a $1MM buyout.
ESPN's Buster Olney wrote Monday that the two sides were close to a possible seven-year deal and SI.com's Jon Heyman first reported that the Cardinals and Holliday had agreed to a deal. Heyman (via Twitter) and Matthew Leach of MLB.com delivered the specifics later.
Holliday, who will keep getting paid under this contract until he's 49, will be 36 in the last guaranteed year of the deal. By comparison, Jason Bay will be 34 in the last year of his deal, one that guarantees him $54MM less than the one Holliday signed.
Holliday falls short of the $18MM average salary he reportedly sought, but this contract is a huge win for Boras given the lack of competition. Click here to check out others' reactions to the deal.
Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.