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Minor Deals: Jesus Guzman, Enrique Gonzalez, LaHair

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Today's minor signings…

  • The Padres signed third baseman/left fielder Jesus Guzman to a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned.  Guzman, 26, hit .321/.376/.510 with 18 home runs in 492 Triple-A plate appearances for the Giants' affiliate this year, his second extended stint at the level.  He'd been designated for assignment in January to make room when the Giants re-signed Bengie Molina, but remained in the organization for the 2010 season.
  • The Tigers re-signed righty Enrique Gonzalez to a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned.  Gonzalez, 28, posted a 3.41 ERA, 7.4 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, and 1.2 HR/9 in 66 Triple-A innings across eleven starts this year, also racking up 26 big league relief frames.  He'd been designated for assignment in August and outrighted shortly thereafter.
  • The Cubs re-signed first baseman/left fielder Bryan LaHair to a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned.  LaHair, 28, hit .308/.385/.557 with 25 home runs in 478 Triple-A plate appearances this year, his fifth stint at the level.

Justin Upton Rumors: Saturday

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Yesterday we learned that at least 15 teams inquired about the availability of Arizona's Justin Upton at the GM Meetings, and that five of those clubs wanted to push talks further along. We also learned that the 23-year-old can block trades to Athletics, Indians, Royals, and Tigers. Here are today's batch of Upton rumors, with more to come throughout the day…

  • ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that a lot of people in the game are wondering why the Diamondbacks are so intent on marketing their budding star. They're curious if something's wrong.
  • ESPN's Keith Law (Insider req'd) lists four reasons why new GM Kevin Towers might want to deal Upton, noting that he may have concerns about his on-field potential, makeup, and health.

Cardinals Remove Four From 40-Man Roster

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The Cardinals have removed Adam Ottavino, Nick Stavinoha, Daryl Jones, and Steve Hill from their 40-man roster according to MLB.com's Matthew Leach. All four players will now be exposed in next month's Rule 5 Draft. 

Jones, 23, hit .244/.335/.361 in 518 Double-A plate appearances this year. Ottavino, 25 on Monday, made five appearances with St. Louis this year (three starts), posting a 8.46 ERA with 12 strikeouts and nine walks in 22.1 innings. Hill, 25, received just three plate appearances with the Cardinals this year, hitting a home run for his first career hit. The backstop is a .289/.341/.510 hitter in the minors. They were ranked the 4th, 11th, and 24th best prospects in the team's farm system according to Baseball America's 2010 Prospect Handbook, respectively.

Stavinoha, 28, has received 278 plate appearances with the Cards over the last three seasons, hitting .234/.256/.325 with 54 strikeouts and just seven unintentional walks. He is a .301/.345/.469 hitter in almost 1,400 Triple-A plate appearances and has experience playing both outfield corners as well as first base. 

Minor Deals: Sborz, Huber, Royals, Ruiz

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We'll keep track of all of the day's minor deals right here:

  • Righty reliever Jay Sborz, 26 in January, signed a minor league deal with the Braves with a Spring Training invite, MLBTR has learned.  Sborz was outrighted by the Tigers on November 4th after posting a 4.74 ERA, 8.7 K/9, 4.9 BB/9, and 1.6 HR/9 with 19 saves in 43 2/3 Triple-A innings this year.
  • The Twins signed Justin Huber to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training, tweets Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  Huber last played in the majors with Minnesota in 2009, and has a .580 OPS in 175 career plate appearances.
  • The Royals announced that four players have been designated for assignment: Jordan Parraz, Victor Marte, Gaby Hernandez and former #1 overall pick Bryan Bullington.
  • The Rays released first baseman Jose Ruiz, according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times (on Twitter).
  • The Tigers announced that they signed Al Alburquerque to a major league deal for 2011. GM Dave Dombrowski says the team has been impressed with the right-hander's winter ball performance and expects him to compete for a bullpen job in Spring Training. The 24-year-old has struck out 191 batters in 174 1/3 minor league innings in the Cubs and Rockies organizations.
  • The Yankees have released Jonathan Albaladejo, who signed with a Japanese team, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (on Twitter).
  • The Diamondbacks claimed right-hander Juan Jaime from the Nationals, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson (on Twitter). The 23-year-old right-hander didn't pitch in 2010, but he has a 2.42 ERA with 11.8 K/9 and 5.7 BB/9 in 111 2/3 minor league innings.
  • The Blue Jays signed Mike Hinckley, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America. The lefty posted a 1.93 ERA in 28 games with the Nationals from 2008-09. Last year he posted 6.8 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 46 2/3 innings in the upper minors.
  • Josh Barfield, Ryan Feierabend and Brandon Moss all got Spring Training invitations from the Phillies according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.

Pirates Designate Duke, LaRoche, Young

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The Pirates have designated Zach Duke, Andy LaRoche and Delwyn Young for assignment, according to a team press release.  The moves do not come as a surprise, as MLBTR pegged all three as non-tender candidates earlier this month.

Following a season where he posted a 5.72 ERA in 29 starts, Duke was seen as a non-tender candidate given that he could've earned a $5MM salary through arbitration this winter.  In six seasons in Pittsburgh, Duke delivered a 4.54 ERA in 160 games (all but one of them a start) with a 1.92 K/BB ratio and a 4.7 K/9 rate.  Duke was an All-Star in 2009, has a couple of solid seasons under his belt and is left-handed, so it's likely he'll find work at the back end of another team's rotation.  MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch reports that the Pirates tried to negotiate a new deal with Duke and also explored trade possibilities before finally designating the southpaw.

LaRoche joined the Pirates as part of the big Manny Ramirez/Jason Bay three-team deal in July 2008.  He was Pittsburgh's regular third baseman in 2009 but became expendable after the Bucs called up Pedro Alvarez to man the hot corner.  Once seen as a promising infielder in the Dodgers organization (he was ranked 19th among all major league prospects by Baseball America in both 2006 and 2007), LaRoche has a .224/.304/.338 line in 1228 career plate appearances with L.A. and Pittsburgh.

Young is another former Dodger prospect who joined the Bucs in April 2009.  Young has an impressive career OPS of .876 in eight minor league seasons, but has never been able to find regular playing time at the major league level.  His line in two seasons with the Pirates: .255/.312/.393 in 595 plate appearances, with time spent at second base, third base, and the outfield corners.

Odds & Ends: Soria, Garland, Abreu, Ramirez

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Here's a round-up of news tidbits from around the majors today…

  • The Royals might as well also trade Joakim Soria if they're going to move Zack Greinke this winter, reasons Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman (Twitter link).  Soria will make $4MM next season and then has team options worth $6MM, $8MM and $8.75MM in 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively.  Those are big numbers for a closer on a non-contending team, but if Soria is moved to the rotation and keeps producing, those salaries will be bargains.  Interestingly, Soria has a limited no-trade clause that gives him the right to veto deals to the Cardinals, Cubs, Phillies, Red Sox, Tigers and Yankees. 
  • Heyman also tweets that Colorado wants to sign Jon Garland to a one-year contract with an option for 2012, but Garland will probably find a guaranteed multi-year deal elsewhere.
  • Bobby Abreu would be happy to become a full-time DH if the Angels were to sign a left fielder like Carl Crawford, reports MLB.com's Lyle Spencer.
  • Manny Ramirez's 2010 season is compared to the most recent walk years of Vladimir Guerrero and Gary Sheffield by Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci.  We know that Scott Boras sees Ramirez as this year's Guerrero, but Verducci points out that with the glut of DH-types on the market this winter, there's at least a chance that Ramirez could end up without a contract as Sheffield did last offseason.
  • Speaking of Manny, MLB.com's Jane Lee shoots down a reader's query about Ramirez possibly ending up in Oakland.  She says Ramirez is too expensive, would cost the A's a draft pick to sign him and Ramirez "wouldn't exactly fit the veteran-leadership mold the club is looking to also get out of their DH next year."  Bad news for those of us that thought Ramirez would end up in Oakland green in 2011.  Keep in mind that since Manny is highly unlikely to be offered arbitration by the White Sox on Tuesday, draft pick compensation will not be a factor.
  • Doug Melvin might be in "a no-win situation" in his attempts to trade or hold onto Prince Fielder, writes The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Anthony Witrado.
  • Tribe GM Chris Antonetti tells MLB.com's Jordan Bastian that a third baseman and a starting pitcher are his club's offseason priorities.  Antonetti says the Indians are specifically looking for a veteran hurler who can eat innings and provide "certainty" within the otherwise young rotation.
  • Now that Zach Duke has been designated for assignment, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweets that the odds of the Pirates signing a free agent starter have risen.  Biertempfel mentions Jorge de la Rosa, though the Bucs will have to out-negotiate several other clubs to sign him.
  • David Waldstein of the New York Times thinks Bob Melvin will be the next Mets manager, though he notes that "if this really were a horse race, I would box Melvin and [Terry] Collins in an exacta."

Justin Upton Rumors: Friday

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Put an affordable 23-year-old with superstar potential on the trade market and you're going to hear some juicy rumors. We found out yesterday that the Diamondbacks are prepared to deal Justin Upton even if the move isn't popular with the team's fan base. The Blue Jays are showing strong interest in the right fielder and the Mariners, Marlins, Orioles and Red Sox are among the other interested teams. Here are today's rumors, with more to come throughout the day:

  • The Athletics, Indians, Royals and Tigers are the four clubs on Upton's no-trade list, tweets FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal.  Upton can be dealt to any of the other 25 teams without his approval.
  • At least 15 teams approached the D’Backs about Upton at the GM Meetings and five of those clubs wanted to push talks further along, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, who notes that the Yankees were not one of the five clubs in hot pursuit of the outfielder.
  • Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald says the Red Sox need to deal for Upton and Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic says it would be a mistake for the D'Backs to trade him.

No D’Backs Offer To Hiroyuki Kobayashi

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8:08pm: In a text to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers said the Kobayashi offer was "news to me!"  (Twitter link)

7:38pm: The Diamondbacks are prepared to offer a two-year, $3MM contract to Japanese pitcher Hiroyuki Kobayashi, according to Sponichi (and tweeted by NPBTracker's Patrick Newman).  We heard last week that Kobyashi was leaving the Chiba Lotte Marines for the majors, and it makes sense the reliever-starved Snakes would be interested in the right-hander.

Kobayashi became a full-time reliever in 2010, and posted a 2.21 ERA and 7.82 K/9 rate for the Marines.  The 32-year-old spent his previous three seasons in the Chiba Lotte rotation, so it's possible he could also be called upon as an emergency starter.  In Newman's look at the international free agent class coming from Japan, he said "Kobayashi doesn’t have a power arm, but attacks the strike zone."

Padres Notes: Nishioka, Hairston, Durango

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Here's the latest on the Padres from MLB.com's Corey Brock…

  • San Diego won't be making a bid for Japanese infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka. (Twitter link)  Brock says the club can't afford to get into the bidding or signing process.
  • As part of a reader mailbag, Brock says that the Padres' next focus is on finding help for the middle infield.  He thinks the Friars will be looking to sign an infielder to a one-year contract, similar to the deals David Eckstein (now a free agent) signed with the team over the last two seasons.  San Diego will be free to sign either a second baseman or a shortstop since Brock thinks Everth Cabrera could easily make the transition to play second if need be. 
  • Jerry Hairston Jr. and the Padres are both interested in having Hairston return in 2011.
  • The Cameron Maybin trade seems to leave Luis Durango without a position and, in Brock's opinion, without a spot on the roster.  Brock thinks Durango could be packaged with a pitcher in a trade since other teams could be attracted by Durango's speed.
  • Speaking of the Maybin deal, Brock believes "the Padres got a steal" from Florida.

Rangers Sign Barret Loux

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The Rangers have signed Barret Loux, reports T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com.  Anthony Andro of the Star-Telegram reports that Loux's contract is worth $312K.

Loux, 21, was drafted sixth overall by Arizona in the 2010 amateur draft but wasn't signed after he failed a physical due to a shoulder injury. The right-hander was granted free agency and drew the interest of several clubs after a pair of throwing sessions in September.

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