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Archives for September 2011

Quick Hits: Draft, White Sox, Rodriguez, Nationals

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On this date nine years ago, Curt Schilling struck out his 300th batter of the season, joining Randy Johnson to become the first teammates to each strike 300 hitters out in the same season. Here are the latest links from around MLB…

  • Conor Glassey of Baseball America took an early look at the top 50 prospects for the 2012 draft (subs. req'd). Stanford right-hander Mark Appel tops the list, and Glassey says he has "Justin Verlander upside."
  • Ozzie Guillen will decide his own fate, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). He can return to the White Sox if he wants to and if not the Marlins would love to have him.
  • One executive told ESPN.com’s Buster Olney that Francisco Rodriguez’s public comments about his displeasure setting up aren’t going to help him in free agency. ”Everybody is going to think he is a me-first guy, totally selfish,” the person said. “Why would you say those things right now?"
  • Bill Price of the New York Daily News wonders if the Mets might be better off without Jose Reyes and David Wright.
  • GM Mike Rizzo told the Philadelphia Daily News that the Nationals feel that they're going in the right direction. "Our young players are getting opportunities and we're progressing. So I think it kind of shows not only our fan base, but the organization itself that we are improving," Rizzo said.
  • Paul Hagen of the Daily News wonders if Ryne Sandberg could end up managing in the Major Leagues next year.

Phillies Designate Three For Assignment

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The Phillies have designated Drew Naylor, Juan Perez, and Mike Zagurski for assignment according to a team press release. The moves free up 40-man roster spots for Erik Kratz, Joe Savery, and Brandon Moss, all of whom were called up from the minors. Domonic Brown and Justin DeFratus were also recalled.

Naylor, 25, pitched to a 4.63 ERA in 167 innings for Philadelphia's Double-A affiliate last year. The 33-year-old Perez posted a 5.70 ERA in 36 1/3 Triple-A innings this season, and was generally ineffective in five appearances with the big league team. Zagurski, 28, had a 2.65 ERA in 54 1/3 relief innings at Triple-A this season, and he also appeared in four games in the show. Naylor is a righty, but both Perez and Zagurski are left-handed.

Outrighted To Triple-A: Spears, Delaney, Ekstrom

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Here's the latest round of players that cleared waivers and were outrighted to the minors, courtesy of the International League transactions page…

  • The Red Sox outrighted Nate Spears to Triple-A. The 26-year-old infielder played in just three games for Boston before being designated for assignment to help make room on the roster for Trever Miller and Joey Gathright earlier this week.
  • The Rays outrighted Rob Delaney to Triple-A. Delaney, 26, was designated for assignment a few days ago to make room on the roster for top prospect Matt Moore. The right-hander spent most of the year in Triple-A, pitching to a 1.86 ERA in 67 2/3 relief innings. 
  • The Rays also outrighted Mike Ekstrom to Triple-A. The 28-year-old righty appeared in just one big league game this year, instead pitching to a 4.35 ERA in 68 1/3 minor league innings. Ekstrom was designated for assignment earlier in the week to make room on the roster for Russ Canzler.

Martin Expresses Interest In Staying With Yankees

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A month ago, Ben Nicholson-Smith identified Russell Martin as a non-tendered player who was contributing with a new team. If Martin gets his way, he'll be with that new team in 2012 as well. The backstop told George A. King III of The New York Post that he's interested in staying with the Yankees beyond the season.

"If you are asking me if I want to be here, yes. But they are in a nice position with the quality of kids they have," said Martin, referring to catching prospects Jesus Montero and Austin Romine, both of whom are with the big league team as September call-ups.

Martin is under team control next year, but that's hardly a guarantee he'll return. The Dodgers cut him loose last offseason because of declining production and a hip injury that ended his season in August. With the Yankees, Martin has hit .236/.322/.410 with 17 homers, more than he hit in 2009 and 2010 combined (12). He's also thrown out 35 of 121 attempted basestealers (28.9%).

Martin is arbitration-eligible for the fourth time this winter as a Super Two player. It's tough to predict his 2012 salary because he's coming off the non-tender, but it could exceed $7MM. The consensus is that Montero isn't a catcher long-term, and Romine has played just six games above Double-A, so there's certainly an opening for Martin on the Yankees roster next season.

Front Office Notes: Pirates, Mariners, Orioles

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The Pirates and Mariners recently agreed to extensions with their respective general managers and it appears that the Orioles will soon have to look to replace president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail. Here are the latest front office notes from around MLB…

  • The Pirates announced six promotions in their baseball operations department. Former scouting director Greg Smith is now an assistant general manager, as is former director of player development Kyle Stark. Tyrone Brooks is the Pirates' new director of player personnel and Joe DelliCarri is now the amateur scouting director. The Pirates also promoted Larry Broadway to director of minor league operations and Kevan Graves to director of baseball operations.
  • The Mariners announced that they hired Pete Vuckovich as a special assistant to GM Jack Zduriencik. The former Cy Young Award winner had worked on and off of the field for the Pirates in various roles since 1992. Vuckovich, now 58, won the 1982 American League Cy Young Award with the Brewers.
  • Jon Heyman of SI.com is hearing John Hart's name as a possibility for the Orioles' GM job (Twitter link). Hart, the former GM of the Indians and Rangers, is close to Orioles manager Buck Showalter, which helps his candidacy.

No Six Or Seven-Year Deals For Blue Jays

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The last time the Blue Jays signed a player to a seven-year deal, it didn’t work nearly as well as expected. Vernon Wells, who agreed to a seven-year, $126MM contract with the club in 2006, now plays in Anaheim and no one on the Blue Jays has anything more than a five-year deal. That’s not about to change, since president Paul Beeston won’t approve six or seven-year deals, according to Jeff Blair of the Globe and Mail.

Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols, the offseason’s top free agents and the favorite targets of many would-be GMs in the stands at Rogers Centre, have set themselves up for six, seven or eight-year deals in free agency. Though Adam Lind has posted a sub-.300 on-base percentage in successive seasons, the Blue Jays remain hesitant to spend big on the open market.

“When we look at free agents, we better believe those guys are a clear upgrade over what we have internally,” Alex Anthopoulos told Blair.

The GM acknowledges that the 75-74 Blue Jays have some “pretty glaring” issues to address over the winter. However, the Blue Jays say they’re happier with the talent on the current edition of the team than they were this time last year.

When I examined the market for Pujols and Fielder last week, I suggested they were possible fits in Toronto.

Stark On Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Thome

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The Dodgers and Marlins may turn out to be surprisingly big spenders this offseason, Jayson Stark writes at ESPN.com. Here are the details and the rest of Stark’s rumors…

  • Dodgers GM Ned Colletti told Stark that he intends be aggressive in his attempts to retain key contributors this offseason. "It's our intent to sign some of our core guys long-term," Colletti said. "It's also our intent to improve the club." Colletti acknowledged that it “remains to be seen" whether the Dodgers’ ownership issues will affect the team’s attempts to lock up the likes of Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Clayton Kershaw.
  • Florida president David Samson told Stark that this offseason will be different than most for the Marlins. "With our payroll going up, we have a chance to put together a team at a payroll level we don't currently have," Samson said. Rival front offices get the sense that the Marlins plan to go all-in this offseason before moving into their new stadium.
  • The Mets don’t appear to be interested in waiting around for Jose Reyes to weigh various offers this winter. 
  • Stark hears that Jim Thome is undecided about whether he’ll play in 2012.
  • MLB won’t add playoff teams in 2012, according to Stark.

Neukom On Sabathia, Pujols, Beltran

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The Giants announced this week that managing partner and CEO Bill Neukom is going to retire at the end of the year, but that hasn't stopped him from weighing in on some of the offseason's free agents. John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle has the latest (all links go to Twitter):

  • Neukom says the Giants “loved” C.C. Sabathia when he hit free agency after the 2008 season. ”I honestly believe he had a serious interest in coming with us." The Giants didn’t sign Sabathia since they weren’t prepared to pay "for years beyond which the time we think you’re not worth that amount of money.”
  • Sabathia can opt out of his seven-year, $161MM deal this offseason. 
  • Neukom weighed in on Albert Pujols with openness that MLB executives rarely show when publicly discussing other teams. “Is he worth $30MM per year for ten years?,” Neukom asked. “The Yankees don’t need a first baseman. Nor does Boston. Maybe the Cubs. Maybe the Dodgers. But is there a wealthy team that can afford to do that, say to themselves he will not be worth it for the last three or four years of a ten-year deal but we can absorb that?”
  • I examined the market for Pujols and Prince Fielder last week.
  • Neukom guesses that agent Scott Boras will ask for a five or six-year deal for Carlos Beltran. The switch-hitting outfielder says he’d consider returning to the Giants if they find a way to add some offense.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Italy, Wilson, Howard

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Five years ago today, Alfonso Soriano stole second base in the first inning against the Brewers, becoming the fourth member of the 40-40 club. Soriano, then with the Nationals, finished with 46 homers and 41 steals before signing his massive eight-year, $136MM contract with the Cubs after the season. Jose Canseco (1988), Barry Bonds (1996), and Alex Rodriguez (1998) are the only other players that have gone 40-40 in a single season.

Here's this week's batch of links, starting with a very interesting podcast…

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here. Only one email per week, please.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Ryan Madson

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A total of 17 relief pitchers signed multiyear deals last offseason and while there’s no guarantee that owners will spend just as freely this year, it won’t be surprising if they do. So with a number of closing jobs opening up around baseball, Ryan Madson’s job prospects are promising.

The 31-year-old right-hander has been consistently effective since returning to the bullpen in 2007, so agent Scott Boras will be able to point interested teams to an array of impressive stats. There’s Madson’s 2.63 ERA (supported by his 2.59 SIERA and 3.06 xFIP), his 94.1 mph fastball and his 31 saves. His peripheral stats are also strong – 0.33 HR/9, 9.1 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 50.7% ground ball rate – and he can handle hitters on both sides of the plate.

There's a line of thinking that opposes major commitments to relievers given the volatility of their stats from year to year and their limited ability to shape the outcome of a game or season (in relation to starting pitchers or position players). The era of four and five year deals for top closers may be over, but Boras can point to Madson's consistency in an attempt to obtain multiyear offers. The 6'6" Californian has kept his ERA at 3.26 or below, pitched at least 53 innings and struck out at least 6.9 batters per nine innings every season since 2007. 

Like Jonathan Papelbon, who will probably be the top free agent reliever of the year, Madson projects as a Type A free agent. Given the Phillies’ need for relief help and Madson’s current salary of $4.5MM, an offer of arbitration seems likely. Assuming Madson declines, he’ll cost teams other than the Phillies a top pick in next year’s draft, which will reduce some clubs’ interest.

A pair of MLB executives recently predicted to ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark that Madson will sign a deal like the one Jose Valverde obtained two winters ago: $14MM over two years plus an option (Valverde was a Type A free agent at the time). Madson seems destined for a multiyear deal and a three-year contract seems likely to me. Setup men such as Joaquin Benoit, Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier and Scott Downs found three-year deals last winter and Boras obtained $35MM over three years for Rafael Soriano. It's hard to imagine Madson signing for that much money, but some general managers and owners will probably be willing to guarantee Madson a third year for the promise of bullpen stability.

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