Padres Designate Jorge Cantu For Assignment
The Padres have designated infielder Jorge Cantu for assignment, reports Ted Mendenhall II of ESPN Radio 1700 San Diego (Twitter link). As Mendenhall notes, the move opens a spot on San Diego's 40-man roster.
Cantu signed an $850K contract with San Diego in January and he hit just .194/.232/285 in 155 plate appearances for the Friars, making 37 starts (26 at first, 10 at third and one at second). His versatility may entice another team to give him a look but his numbers have tailed off considerably since his .289/.345/.443 performance with Florida in 2009.
Marlins Sign DeWayne Wise
The Marlins have signed outfielder Dewayne Wise and he will be assigned to Florida's Triple-A affiliate, tweets Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. This is Wise's second stint with the Fish in 2011; he signed the team in the offseason but exercised his contract's out clause in March when he didn't make Florida's Opening Day roster.
Wise was released by the Blue Jays last week. The defensive specialist posted a .931 OPS in 144 plate appearances at Triple-A Las Vegas, but given how that number is over 250 points higher than Wise's career Major League OPS, his offensive surge can likely be explained by the hitter-friendly Las Vegas ballpark. The Marlins are Wise's fifth team in his eight-year Major League career — he has also played for the Jays, Braves, Reds, and perhaps most memorably, the White Sox.
Angels Release Scott Kazmir
The Angels have released left-hander Scott Kazmir, reports Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times. (Twitter link) We heard earlier today that the move was imminent in the wake of Kazmir's poor performance in rehab starts, and DiGiovanna confirms that the Halos will indeed pick up the rest of Kazmir's remaining salary. That total will be the $7MM left on Kazmir's $12MM 2011 salary and the $2.5MM buyout of his 2012 option.
Kazmir posted a 3.51 ERA and 742 strikeouts in 689 2/3 innings for the Rays between 2005 and 2008, including a league-high 239 K's in 2007. Since then, he has dealt with a number of injuries, and Tampa Bay dealt him to the Angels in August 2009. The southpaw has managed just a 5.31 ERA and 5.7 K/9 in 35 starts with Los Angeles.
Minor Moves: Wade, Thomas, Diamond
Minor moves for Wednesday…
- The Yankees have signed right-hander Cory Wade to a Major League contract and called him up to the Major League roster, reports MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. Wade signed a minor league deal with New York on Monday. To make room, Hoch reports that Rafael Soriano was moved to the 60-day DL and Kevin Whelan was optioned to Triple-A.
- The Rangers have released catcher Michael Thomas, tweets Matt Eddy of Baseball America. Thomas was the player to be named later in the Jarrod Saltalamacchia trade last July. Eddy notes the Rangers considered converting Thomas to pitching.
- The Cubs released righty Thomas Diamond from their Triple-A club, tweets Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald. He'd been outrighted in May to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Doug Davis.
- The Diamondbacks purchased the contract of righty reliever Jeff Bennett from the Lancaster Barnstormers. It appears that Bennett will join Arizona's Triple-A club. The 31-year-old last pitched in the Majors with the Rays in '09.
Outrighted: Toregas, Hughes, Pucetas, Nieves
Players who cleared waivers and were outrighted to Triple-A:
- The Cubs announced that Brad Snyder has been outrighted to Triple-A Iowa. The outfielder was designated for assignment on the weekend.
- Catcher Wyatt Toregas was outrighted to Indianapolis by the Pirates, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He'd been designated for assignment on Sunday to open a spot for Mike McKenry.
- Lefty reliever Dusty Hughes was outrighted to Rochester to open a 40-man spot with the Twins for infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, according to the team's transactions page. They'd claimed Hughes off waivers from the Royals in January. The Twins will need another spot for Joe Mauer soon.
- Righty Kevin Pucetas, designated for assignment by the Royals on Friday to open a 40-man spot for Mike Moustakas, was assigned outright to Omaha today according to the Royals' Twitter page.
- The Brewers outrighted catcher Wil Nieves to Nashville, writes MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. George Kottaras' contract was selected. The Brewers' 40-man roster count remains at 37. The White Sox are the only other team under 38.
Quick Hits: Bautista, Brian Gordon, Kuroda
A year ago today, the Athletics traded reliever Sam Demel to the Diamondbacks for first baseman/outfielder Conor Jackson and cash. Demel is on the DL with a shoulder injury, though the groundballer should prove useful for Arizona. Today's links:
- Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista is profiled by Yahoo's Jeff Passan in a must-read article.
- YES Network's Jack Curry talked to Brian Gordon, the 32-year-old converted outfielder who could start for the Yankees tomorrow. Joel Sherman of the New York Post has more on Gordon, who he's heard compared to Aaron Small or Dustin Moseley.
- Sherman also discusses Hiroki Kuroda, who he feels could be a target for the Yankees if the Dodgers want to dump his salary and the righty is willing to waive his no-trade clause.
- Baseball America's Ben Badler looks at the top Dominican shortstops for July 2nd, including Raul Mondesi's son Adalberto.
- The Red Sox will not be serious players for Jose Reyes in free agency, tweets SI's Jon Heyman. They would probably not be inclined to block Jose Iglesias.
- Yusei Kikuchi's NPB debut was unimpressive, writes Patrick Newman. Kikuchi was a popular MLBTR topic in October of 2009, as the teenage southpaw considered bypassing Japan's draft to sign with an MLB club.
Marlins Designate Brad Davis For Assignment
The Marlins designated catcher Brad Davis for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for recently-signed infielder Jose Lopez, tweets Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post. Righty Elih Villanueva, who was hammered by the Phillies today in his big league debut, was optioned to create a spot on the 25-man roster.
Davis, 28, was hitting .212/.294/.303 in 187 Triple-A plate appearances this year, a big step down from his work at that level in 2010. Davis spent some time in the Majors last year, but lost the spring battle with Brett Hayes to be the Marlins' backup catcher.
Draft Notes: Lamb, Bichette, Josh Bell, Beede
Two months away from the signing deadline, we won't be seeing over-slot signings anytime soon. Still, here's the latest.
- Clemson lefty Will Lamb, chosen 83rd overall in the second round by the Rangers, signed at slot for $430,200, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
- Dante Bichette Jr., drafted 51st overall by the Yankees in the supplemental round, tweeted that he'll "officially a Yankee very very soon." The Yanks received that pick as compensation for the loss of Javier Vazquez. Slot for that pick is around $695K. You can learn more about Bichette over at River Ave. Blues, where Mike Axisa profiled the slugger.
- ESPN's Keith Law tweets that he's told there is no dollar figure that would change Josh Bell's mind about going to college. Bell, drafted 61st overall by the Pirates, was one of the top draft talents but has made it clear he will honor his commitment to the University of Texas. Of course, he also hired Scott Boras as his advisor, so clearly the Pirates think there's a chance he can be signed.
- The Blue Jays' first pick (21st overall) was high school righty Tyler Beede; Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein tweets of rumors that the Jays had a pre-draft deal done with him. Law tweeted a few days ago that Beede is going to sign for about $3MM, which would be about $1.7MM over slot.
- The Rays exceeded slot on second round pick Granden Goetzman, signing the prep outfielder for $490K according to Baseball America's Jim Callis. The Rays went over slot by less than five grand, though, and Callis says teams can exceed slot by up to five percent without going through the commissioner's office. Goetzman went 75th overall but was actually the Rays' 11th pick.
- If you have ESPN Insider, Law has a post up with names to watch for the 2012 draft.
If The Nationals Become Sellers
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo made one significant trade last July, sending closer Matt Capps to the Twins for catcher Wilson Ramos. After a hot start the 23-year-old Ramos is hitting an acceptable .248/.320/.410 on the season, and he belongs in the NL Rookie of the Year discussion with Danny Espinosa, Darwin Barney, Josh Collmenter, Brandon Beachy, Fernando Salas, Craig Kimbrel, Dillon Gee, and Mark Melancon. Let's see who Rizzo might part with this year, with his team ten games out in the NL East and 6.5 out in the wild card.
- Trading Jason Marquis (pictured) at the deadline would enable the Nationals to save about $2.4MM in salary. Marquis is showing career-best control, and an ERA under 4.50 from here on out would be a reasonable expectation. Though Marquis would probably be willing to turn down an arbitration offer again to help the team, he's nowhere near Type B status. Livan Hernandez is a free agent after the season as well, but given his ties to the organization he is more likely to stay put.
- Ivan Rodriguez's value can't be quantified by his .200/.273/.322 batting line, or at least that's probably what Rizzo is telling teams about the catcher. Rizzo said last month he'd want some kind of long-term piece for Pudge. Rodriguez is earning $3MM this year.
- Reliever Todd Coffey, non-tendered by the Brewers last offseason, has a 2.13 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 0.4 HR/9, and 44.1% groundball rate in 25 1/3 innings this year. The Rangers appear interested, and Coffey should be popular at the deadline. He's a free agent after the season and looks like a Type B in the National League. Coffey is earning $1.35MM this year plus incentives.
- Laynce Nix is an intriguing platoon bat, as he's hitting .275/.324/.506 with 28 home runs in 613 plate appearances against right-handed pitching since the beginning of the 2009 season. Type B status is a possibility once he reaches free agency after the season.
- Jerry Hairston Jr., Rick Ankiel, Alex Cora, Matt Stairs are veterans on one-year deals who could be shipped to contenders for bench roles.
- Click here to read articles about other potential sellers.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
Prince Fielder Won’t Rule Out Any Team
First baseman Prince Fielder, who is headed toward a massive free agent payday after the season, told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday he "doesn't have any problems with any team." Fielder was answering a question about whether he'd listen to an offer from the Cubs. The Scott Boras client was quick to emphasize that his focus is on the Brewers, his current employer.
There's not much of a story here, as we rarely see an elite free agent publicly rule out teams, especially midseason. Sure, Fielder probably hates the Cubs from a competitive standpoint, but eliminating them publicly would just be bad business.
Wittenmyer doesn't think the Cubs can afford to make a huge bid for Fielder – his source says the team's debt structure all but precludes a free agent megadeal for the next two or three years. Still, the Cubs appear to have a crazy amount of payroll flexibility after the season. Even if they slash payroll from $134MM to $120MM, they'd still have almost $50MM to play with in 2012 salaries. Of course, I'm not an accountant and it's more complicated than that.
Fielder, just 27, is having a season reminscent of the '07 and '09 campaigns that landed him among the top four in the MVP vote each year. He's at .300/.416/.617 with 19 home runs in 291 plate appearances. Fielder could aim for the biggest contract in baseball history for a player not named Alex Rodriguez.