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Nationals To Sign Alex Cora

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The Nationals agreed to sign Alex Cora to a minor league deal worth $900K plus $600K in incentives, according to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post (on Twitter). MLB.com's Bill Ladson first reported that the Nats were in serious talks with the Scott Boras client.

Cora played all four infield positions in 2010, though most of his big league experience has come at second and short. The 35-year-old hit .210/.266/.278 with the Mets and Rangers last year, before Texas released him in September.

The Mets finalized a deal with former Nationals utility player Willie Harris today, so the NL East rivals are swapping utility players in a way. Harris was a member of the Nationals from 2008-10 and Cora suited up for the Mets from 2009-10.

As Kilgore points out (on Twitter), at least nine Boras clients are in the Nationals organization. Cora joins Ivan Rodriguez, Rick Ankiel, Danny Espinosa, Jesus Flores, Alberto Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg,  Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth.

Olney On Sizemore, Jones, Votto, Pujols

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Grady Sizemore tells ESPN.com’s Buster Olney that it's "miserable" to have to sit and watch others play. The center fielder, who is on track to be ready for Opening Day after microfracture knee surgery, says he can't wait to return to the playing field. Here are Olney’s thoughts on Sizemore, plus rumors from around the league:

  • Sizemore’s contract includes an $8.5MM option for 2012, so within a year the Indians will have to decide whether to exercise the option, let him hit free agency or trade him.
  • The Yankees are the frontrunners for Andruw Jones, Olney reports (on Twitter).
  • Joey Votto’s three-year, $38MM extension makes sense for both sides, in Olney’s opinion.
  • It’s apparent that talks between the Cardinals and Albert Pujols “are not going as smoothly as the Cardinals want,” Olney writes. Click here to vote on Pujols’ future in St. Louis. 

Mets Sign Willie Harris

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The Mets have signed Willie Harris to a minor league deal and invited him to Spring Training, according to the team. Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com first reported the agreement. The utility player will have a good chance of making the team's Opening Day roster, Rubin writes.

We heard last week that Harris had two offers and would not return to Washington, where he played from 2008-10. Harris played all three outfield positions and backed up at third base last year. The 32-year-old posted a .183/.291/.362 line with 10 homers in 262 plate appearances. Harris bats from the left side and generally maintains an above-average strikeout to walk ratio.

The Mets, who had been looking for a fourth outfielder, now figure to continue their search for starting pitching.

Poll: The Cardinals & Albert Pujols

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The Cardinals have until Spring Training to work out an extension with Albert Pujols. Since he's the face of the franchise and arguably the best player in the game, there's a fair amount of pressure on the team not to let the slugger hit free agency. After all, the bidding for a three-time MVP coming off of consecutive home run titles would likely accelerate in no time. Now, the Cards have exclusive negotiating rights with their first baseman.

With just one season remaining on his current contract, Pujols has a fair amount of leverage. If the Cardinals don't meet his demands, he can resist their overtures and wait for other clubs to enter the bidding after the season. And a player of Pujols' caliber could potentially ask for an Alex Rodriguez-like deal on the open market.

Which means everyone wants to know the answer to this question:

Mets Closing In On Deal With Chris Young

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The Mets are closing in on a deal with Chris Young, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. The deal is pending a physical. That could be more than a formality for Young, who missed most of last season with a shoulder strain before pitching in September.

Reports earlier in the month suggested Young was nearing a decision and willing to accept less than $2MM in guaranteed money. A deal with the Mets would reunite him with two of his former Padres bosses, current Mets execs Sandy Alderson and Paul DePodesta.

This post was first published January 17th.

MLBTR Originals

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Here's a look back at some of the analysis and reporting MLBTR's writing team delivered this week..

Week In Review: 1/9/11 – 1/15/11

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It's time to take a look back at the week that was..

Orioles Avoid Arbitration With Adam Jones

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7:38pm: The deal is worth roughly $3.25MM, according to Connolly (via Twitter).  That's about what MLBTR's Tim Dierkes predicted in August, as Jones gets his first big payday after losing a Super Two tiebreaker the previous offseason.

6:37pm: The Orioles have agreed to a one-year deal with Adam Jones, according to Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun (via Twitter).  This year was the outfielder's first as an arbitration-eligible player.

Last season Jones came close to replicating the numbers from his 2009 All-Star campaign.  The 25-year-old hit .284/.325/.442 with 19 homers in 621 plate appearances.  In five big league seasons, Jones owns a slash line of .274/.319/.427 with a respectable -4.7 UZR/150 in center field.

According to MLBTR's Arb Tracker, the O's now have five players who are still eligible for arbitration this winter.  Felix Pie, J.J. Hardy, Jeremy Guthrie, Jim Johnson, and Luke Scott are still scheduled to exchange figures with the club.

Pirates To Sign Jose Veras

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The Pirates have agreed to sign Jose Veras to a minor league deal, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com (Spanish link).  The reliever will earn a base of $1MM plus incentives if he makes the big league roster, Rojas tweets.  Otherwise, the veteran will make $15K each month in the minors.

Earlier this week we learned that six different clubs offered the right-hander a minor league deal.  Ultimately, Veras chose the Pirates over opportunities with the Giants, Rockies, Twins, Marlins, and Rays. 

Veras, 30, registered a 3.85 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9 in 48 innings for the Marlins last year.  Florida opted to non-tender him in early December.

This Date In Transactions History: Chan Ho Park

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9520976_Astros_v_Rangers A few weeks ago we found out that Chan Ho Park, now 37 years old, had decided to sign with the Orix Buffaloes rather than continue his MLB career. The contract will pay him a little over $1MM, a pittance compared to the more than $85MM that Baseball-Reference.com says he’s banked in a big league career that spanned parts of 17 seasons. The vast majority of that $85MM comes from the five-year, $65MM deal with the Rangers, a contract that was signed nine years ago today.

Texas was coming off a 73-win season and a last place finish in the AL West in 2001, when an Alex Rodriguez led offense was unable to overcome a pitching staff that allowed 968 runs. Park, 28 at the time, had just wrapped up an All-Star season with the Dodgers that saw him post a 3.50 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 234 innings. Over the previous five seasons, CHoP pitched to a 3.79 ERA with similar peripheral stats in over 1,000 innings with the Dodgers, throwing no fewer than 190 innings in each season. All it took was what was then one of the largest pitching contracts in baseball history to bring the two sides together.

Named the Opening Day starter in 2002, Park made a poor first impression with his new team. He allowed six runs in five innings against the A’s, and overall he pitched to a 5.75 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 4.8 BB/9 in 145 2/3 innings that year. After all those years of 190+ innings, Park visited the disabled list twice that season, once for blisters and once for a hamstring strain.

Park’s second season didn’t go any better. He posted a 7.58 ERA in just seven starts (29 2/3 innings), missing most of the season with a back issue. The injury popped up again the next year, when it limited him to just 16 starts (95 2/3 innings) with a 5.46 ERA. The good news is that Park was finally healthy in 2005, but the bad news is that he didn’t pitch any better. He made 20 starts (109 2/3 innings) with Texas (5.66 ERA) before they’d finally had enough.

Just a day before the ’05 trade deadline, the Rangers traded Park to the Padres for Phil Nevin, agreeing to pay $2MM of his 2006 salary. He fared a little better in San Diego but it didn’t matter. Texas had invested approximately $47.4MM in Park, and in exchange they received 380 2/3 innings with a 5.79 ERA and equally depressing peripheral stats (6.6 K/9, 4.5 BB/9). Homer prone even during his time with the Dodgers, Texas’ home park only exacerbated the problem. From 2002-2004, Park allowed one long ball for just about every 5 2/3 innings pitched.

Pitching contracts are inherently risky just because of the injury potential, and Park showed that. Throwing a baseball that hard and that often is an unnatural act and guys who do it for a living tend to get hurt, it’s simply part of the game. Unpredictability is another part of it. Park was an above-average workhorse starter during his five years prior to signing with Texas, and in fact his core stats (3.79 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 4.1 BB/9) during his last five seasons with the Dodgers look a whole lot like the last five years of Carlos Zambrano’s career (3.70 ERA, 7.7 K/9, 4.3 BB/9). He was just unable to sustain that performance in a new league and in a new park while battling injuries. As always, the lesson is: buyer beware.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

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