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Archives for July 2011

Nationals Release J.C. Romero

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The Nationals released J.C. Romero, according to Ben Goessling of MASNsports.com (on Twitter). ESPN.com's Buster Olney reported yesterday that the Yankees would likely sign the left-hander to a minor league deal if the Nationals granted him his release.

Romero, who signed with Washington at the end of June, had a clause in his contract that enabled him to opt out if he wasn't in the Major Leagues by July 15th. Before signing with the Nationals, the 35-year-old posted a 3.86 ERA with 5.5 K/9 and 6.6 BB/9 in 16 1/3 innings for the Phillies, who released him last month. Romero missed time with a calf injury earlier this season.

Kevin Youkilis Talks Future In Boston

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Kevin Youkilis doesn’t expect to play until he’s 40, but he’ll “definitely” play on another contract for “a few more years” when his current deal expires. The 32-year-old infielder told Alex Speier of WEEI.com that he would like to reach ten years of service as a Major Leaguer and assure himself of a full pension.

Youkilis, who will have over seven years of service after the 2011 season, is under contract through 2012 and the Red Sox have a $13MM team option for 2013 ($1MM buyout). He has spent most of his career at first and third and would prefer to remain a position player as long as possible.

“I wouldn’t want to DH until I had to DH,” Youkilis said, before explaining that he’s open to another role. "If that’s the role that I have to play to help the team win, I’ll do it.”

Youkilis made his third All-Star team in four seasons this year after posting a .285/.399/.512 line with 13 home runs in the first half.

Olney On Market For Carlos Beltran

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The Mets have indicated that they will hold onto Carlos Beltran until they get exactly what they want for him, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney. They believe that a team in need of offense will give in to their demands and surrender a top prospect for Beltran, who earns $18.5MM this year.

Mets GM Sandy Alderson traded Francisco Rodriguez to Milwaukee this week, partly because they wanted to move before the market for relief pitching developed further. But the Mets believe Beltran is the best available outfielder, so they’re not in a hurry to trade him.

The Indians aren’t limiting themselves to small-budget options, according to Olney. Beltran would fit on the Pirates, the Tigers could be interested and the Giants would love to acquire him. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes recently named those teams, plus the Red Sox, Rays, White Sox and Reds as contenders that could use a corner outfield boost. Here's a look at what Beltran was traded for seven years ago.

Rays, Cards Had ‘Serious Talks’ About Rasmus In 2010

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The Rays and Cardinals had serious talks about a trade that would have sent Colby Rasmus to Tampa Bay last year, according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (on Twitter). The center fielder appeared to request a trade last summer, though he later denied doing so.

The Cardinals might be willing to move Rasmus now, though Strauss and colleague Bernie Miklasz suggest a deal is unlikely. Rasmus is the most attractive trade chip GM John Mozeliak has, but Miklasz expects the Cardinals and their center fielder to be “stuck with each other” for a while.

The Cardinals would most covet Jeremy Hellickson in a trade, according to Strauss. However, Tampa Bay doesn't necessarily covet Rasmus, especially at that price. Rays center fielder B.J. Upton homered in three of five games leading up to the All-Star break and his .239/.325/.427 line resembles Rasmus' .246/.329/.413 line.

Quick Hits: Iwakuma, Draft, Mariners

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On this date in 2009, the Nationals fired manager Manny Acta and replaced him with Jim Riggleman. A lot has changed in two years – Riggleman resigned as the Nationals' skipper over a contract dispute last month and Acta, now the Indians' manager, is a leading candidate for AL Manager of the Year. Here's the latest from around MLB…

  • The Rays, Indians, Astros and Angels scouted Hisashi Iwakuma's recent rehab start, according to a Sponichi report passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The 30-year-old right-hander posted a 2.72 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 from 2007-10 in Japan.
  • Jim Callis of Baseball America explains the give and take between the commissioner's office and the players' union when it comes to the double standard between draft-eligible amateurs and international free agents.
  • One NL executive told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick that we should expect an intense week leading up to the trade deadline, since teams will wait until the last possible moment before becoming ‘sellers.’
  • GM Jack Zduriencik told Greg Johns of MLB.com that he has discussed possible moves, but doesn’t want to get caught up in whether the Mariners will be buyers or a sellers this summer.

What The Royals Got For Carlos Beltran

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Carlos Beltran is now one of the hottest names on the trade market, and it's not the first time he has been on the block. Back in 2004, Beltran was approaching free agency when Allard Baird, Kansas City's GM at the time, sent him to Houston in a complicated three-team trade. The deal worked out tremendously for the Astros, who enjoyed 23 regular season home runs from Beltran plus a record eight home runs in the postseason.

The Royals didn't get similarly explosive performances from the trio of players they acquired: Mark Teahen, John Buck and Mike Wood. Teahen spent five season in Kansas City, where he posted a .269/.331/.419 line with 59 home runs. Buck combined steady power with a characteristically low batting average for a .235/.298/.407 line and 70 home runs in six seasons. Wood posted a below-average 5.28 ERA with 4.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 279 2/3 innings for Kansas City as a reliever and occasional starter.

The Royals lost Wood to the Rangers on waivers in 2006 and non-tendered Buck in 2009, a month after they traded Teahen for Josh Fields, who is now playing in Japan, and Chris Getz. That makes Getz the lone remnant of the Beltran deal on the Royals' active roster.

The 27-year-old infielder has appeared in 78 games for the Royals this year and has a .259/.320/.291 line with 17 stolen bases. Getz's numbers don't compare to Beltran's production and the '04 deal didn't produce a star for Kansas City, but it's somewhat surprising that the Royals have something to show for the switch-hitting outfielder, seven years after he was expected to leave as a free agent.

Rangers Place Scott Feldman On Outright Waivers

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9:45pm: Feldman will join the Rangers' big league bullpen tomorrow, reports MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan.  The Rangers will need to clear a 40-man roster spot for the righty.  Either Andres Blanco is going to the 60-day DL, or someone is getting designated for assignment or outrighted.

10:02am: The Rangers placed starter Scott Feldman on outright waivers, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  The waivers expire in about two hours.  The Rangers' goal appears to be avoiding adding Feldman back to the 40-man roster, since his stay on the 60-day DL is ending and the roster is currently full.

Feldman had microfracture knee surgery in November of last year, and I think he'll clear waivers because of his contract.  He's owed about $1.8MM more this year, $6.5MM in 2012, and a $600K buyout for a total of almost $9MM through next season.  Feldman has made ten rehab starts this year, posting a 4.17 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 across 49 2/3 Double and Triple-A innings.

Feldman, 28, posted a 4.08 ERA in 189 2/3 big league innings in 2009, earning him the multiyear contract.  Teams looking for low strikeout innings eaters have safer options this month, such as Jason Marquis and Bruce Chen.

Francisco Rodriguez Trade Links

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Shortly after the All-Star game last night, the Brewers came out of nowhere to acquire Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez and $5MM from the Mets for two minor league players to be named later.  The deal came together quickly, tweets ESPN's Adam Rubin.  The Mets couldn't afford to wait much longer, because K-Rod has a $17.5MM option for 2012 that vests with 55 games finished, and the reliever racked up 34 closing for the Mets.  Details and links on the deal…

  • Agent Paul Kinzer never submitted the list of ten teams to which Rodriguez could block trades, according to David Waldstein of the New York Times. The Mets didn't want to lose the freedom to deal Rodriguez anywhere, so they made the deal once Rodriguez switched agents to Scott Boras. The Mets thought Boras would submit a list of ten teams or file a grievance in an attempt to do so.
  • Brewers GM Doug Melvin told Jim Memolo and Mel Antonen of MLB Network Radio that the list of five minor league players the Mets will choose from in September does not include the Brewers' "top top guys," but they are "players that could play in the big leagues."
  • The Brewers were not among the ten teams to which Rodriguez could block a trade, report Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.  That comes as no surprise, because new agent Scott Boras had indicated recently that his client would not approve a trade to set up if the team was among those ten.  The smart money is on K-Rod setting up for Brewers closer John Axford, though there's room for the new acquisition to safely finish ten or more games.
  • Though the agent had no influence on the trade, Rosenthal and Morosi note that it benefits Boras to get Rodriguez to free agency after the season, commission-wise.  I imagine Boras found all of this to be the likely scenario when he began representing K-Rod.
  • The Mets called around and offered similar deals to other teams, including the Yankees, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney.  He says the Brewers were willing to take on more money than any other team.  Alderson told the Brewers they had other deals for Rodriguez, so they'd have to pull the trigger now to get him, tweets Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.  The Yankees declined because they were wary of having two emotional relievers – K-Rod and Rafael Soriano – working before their preferred ninth inning, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
  • Joe Pawlikowski of FanGraphs says the trade is a big bet on Axford for the Brewers.
  • ESPN's Keith Law says the Brewers should have gone after a reliever who misses more bats, given the team's porous defense.  With all due respect to Law, I can't find an available reliever with a higher strikeout rate than Rodriguez's 9.7 per nine, outside of Koji Uehara.
  • K-Rod will diminish his free agent value if he makes any waves about his role with Milwaukee, writes Rosenthal.
  • Mets GM Sandy Alderson had to be the adult in the room and make this deal, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
  • Dan Mennella discusses the fantasy baseball ramifications of the trade over at CloserNews.

International Links: Felix, Tejada, Céspedes

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With over 20 international players across AL and NL rosters last night, the quotes were flowing in both of America's native tongues. Links are in Spanish…

  • Felix Hernandez wants to stay in Seattle well beyond the end of his contract in 2014, the reigning Cy Young winner told Manuel Lira at the Venezuelan paper Líder en Deportes. "Hopefully Seattle locks me up further," Hernandez said. "I want to sign for more. At least five years more." As for any chance of being traded to New York or elsewhere, Hernandez dismissed the notion as "just rumors."
  • At a charity event in the Dominican Republic yesterday, six-time former All-Star Miguel Tejada sounded undecided about the direction of his career. "I won't disgrace myself in order to continue playing," he told Juan Mercado of the Dominican daily Hoy. "With the pride that I have, I don't think anyone is going to see me embarrassing myself in baseball, when I feel that I'm not useful enough to be in the Major Leagues." On the other hand, Tejada told Freddy Tapia from Listin Diario, "I'm used to having good years with losing teams. Now the opposite is happening, and the truth is that I'm enjoying it."
  • Cuban National Team star center fielder Yoennis Céspedes has been missing for almost two weeks. In a piece today, Jorge Ebro at the Miami-based El Nuevo Herald explains, "His presence hasn't been reported, nobody responds at his telephone, and people are talking about three possible hypotheses: that he is in the power of the island authorities, that he is hidden somewhere in the country, or that he took to the sea," in an attempt to escape Cuba. Cuban baseball writer Fernando Vilá tells Ebro, "In years of following Cuban baseball, I don't remember a case like this."

Yankees Notes: Romero, Jimenez, Clippard

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If you're wondering which Yankee has impressed his teammates with his sense of style or which Yankee would be valuable in a brawl, check out Daniel Barbarisi's piece at the Wall Street Journal. If you're interested in the latest rumors surrounding the team, keep reading – you're in the right place…

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