The Diamondbacks signed Cuban left-hander Alexander Carreras for $400K, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. Carreras, who turns 22 on Sunday, had been training in the Dominican Republic with Edgar Mercedes.
Carreras can throw as hard as 93 mph, though some scouts say his fastballs generally sit in the 86-89 mph range. He also mixes in a hard cutter/slider, a breaking ball and a change-up, according to Badler. It appears likely that the lefty will start his career in the minor leagues.
A sizable gap still exists between the Giants and arbitration eligible right-hander Tim Lincecum as the sides explore a possible extension, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. Negotiations have taken place this winter, but the sides appear to remain a couple of years and tens of millions of dollars apart.
The Giants are believed to have offered Lincecum four years and $80MM or so this past summer and appear to have enhanced the proposal in the past few weeks. Lincecum is “thought to be seeking an eight-year deal,” but Heyman hears that the sides are also presently considering one and two-year options.
Lincecum projects to earn a 2012 salary of $19.2MM through arbitration. The Giants control his rights through 2013, when his salary could approach or exceed $25MM through arbitration. The Giants’ ultimate goal has been to buy out some of Lincecum’s free agent years, according to Heyman.
Lincecum, 27, has a 2.98 ERA with 9.9 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 47.1% ground ball rate in 1028 career innings. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client has two Cy Young Awards and four All-Star Game selections to his name. Only four pitchers — Roy Halladay, C.C. Sabathia, Justin Verlander and Dan Haren — have produced more wins above replacement since 2007, Lincecum's rookie season.
Today the Yankees agreed to a minor league deal with lefty Hideki Okajima. He's made 31 appearances against them over the years as a member of the Red Sox. Other Yankees news…
Athletics closer Andrew Bailey likely will be traded to the Red Sox or Rangers, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney, who notes that both suitors have interest and the chips needed. Earlier this month the Rangers won the right to negotiate with Yu Darvish and the Red Sox acquired Mark Melancon, but reports indicated both clubs remained interested in Bailey. The Rangers might have an excess of starters if they sign Darvish and keep Alexi Ogando out of the 'pen.
In a report a week ago, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports noted that the Rays are also in on Bailey.
WEDNESDAY, 12:05pm: "There is absolutely no truth to the Cody Ross stories," an excellent Rockies source told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. The source also told Saunders, "The Rockies have always liked Cody as a player but we have no fit at all in our outfield." Yesterday, Olney explained that the team's interest in Ross is conditional, based on whether they trade Smith.
MONDAY, 9:04am: The Rockies are in contract talks with Cody Ross, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Ross would presumably help the club create depth if they make a long-expected trade involving Seth Smith.
The outfielder was said to be seeking a three-year deal for some time but is now willing to sign a two-year pact. Earlier this month the Rockies seemed to have mild interest in Ross but it appears that they have ramped up their pursuit.
There's no shortage of suitors for Smith as he is drawing interest from the A's, Rays, Mariners, Braves, and Mets. Even though the talks that would have sent Martin Prado to the Rockies have gone cold, we learned over the weekend that Atlanta is still in on Smith.
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo joined Mike Ferrin on MLB Network Radio today; here are a few key comments.
On center field:
We see the 2013 free agent class at center field is much stronger than it is for the 2012 season. With that in mind we know Jayson [Werth] can handle the center field position. It's not a perfect world for us. He's a good defender out there and is ready, willing, and able to take on the responsibility to play center field. We recognize that we need a true gliding, defensive, rangy center fielder out there in a perfect world. As far as the 2012 season we're not going to make a kneejerk reaction and lock ourselves into anything long-term if it doesn't make sense for us.
MLBTR's 2013 free agent list can be seen here. Viable candidates for the Nationals could include Michael Bourn, B.J. Upton, and Shane Victorino, or perhaps Angel Pagan or Grady Sizemore if they have strong 2012 seasons.
On whether Rizzo will monitor the Prince Fielder situation:
Adam LaRoche is under contract for us, we're paying him a lot of money to play first base for us next year. We feel that he's going to have a bounceback season. We just want him to have his career norms: .265, 25, 85-100 RBIs and play great defense. We feel that his shoulder is rehabbed, he's 100%, and talking to him just recently he feels great and he's ready to contribute to us in 2012. As far as, are we going to dabble our toe in that water? Those are decisions that we make early on in the process and we've more or less decided that Adam is going to be our first baseman unless something extraordinary, out of the ordinary happened, that's how we're going to go to Spring Training.
WEDNESDAY: The Nationals officially announced their one-year deal with DeRosa today.
THURSDAY: The Nationals have agreed to sign Mark DeRosa, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported yesterday that the sides were nearing a one-year, Major League deal. The agreement with the utility player is pending a physical, Heyman notes. CSE represents DeRosa, who drew interest from at least four teams this offseason.
DeRosa played in just 47 games in 2011 because of a strained left wrist. The versatile 36-year-old was productive in 2009, posting a .250/.319/.433 line and appearing at five different positions for the Indians and Cardinals. However, he has struggled to stay on the field since signing a two-year deal with the Giants two Decembers ago. When he did play for the Giants, DeRosa posted a forgettable .235/.313/.279 line.
The Matt Moore extension showed any young pitcher is a candidate for a multiyear extension, regardless of service time. Once the Giants gain clarity on the situations of Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, why not lock up Madison Bumgarner?
Bumgarner, just 22, quietly became one of the ten best pitchers in the National League this year. He posted a 3.21 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.53 HR/9, and 46% groundball rate in 204 2/3 innings. It's possible the best is yet to come, as the lefty posted a 5.8 K/BB ratio over his final 23 starts.
Bumgarner is represented by SFX, the agency that ranks fourth in extensions since 2009 with seven. Four of those were for starting pitchers Zack Greinke, Ubaldo Jimenez, Justin Verlander, and Clay Buchholz. The Giants have a GM in Brian Sabean who is open to extensions, so the biggest question may be whether Bumgarner prefers long-term security or maximum year-to-year earnings. Bumgarner received a $2MM signing bonus as the tenth overall pick in 2007, so he already has some measure of financial security.
Bumgarner has one year and 127 days of Major League service. Since January of 2008, four pitchers with at least one year of service but less than Bumgarner's 1.127 have signed multiyear extensions: James Shields, Jimenez, Brett Anderson, and Wade Davis. All signed four-year deals worth $10-12.6MM. The Rays' Davis and Shields each allowed for three club options, while Anderson and Jimenez have two. A third Rays starter, Moore, merits a mention in that he signed for more money than any of them, getting a $14MM guarantee with just 17 days of service. Moore's contract also includes three club options.
It's easy to see that Bumgarner is more accomplished than Shields, Jimenez, Anderson, and Davis were at the time their extensions were signed. Bumgarner has a 3.10 career ERA, while the others were all over 4.00. Anderson and Shields had similar strikeout and walk rates, but Bumgarner hasn't been nearly as homer-prone. Bumgarner has the most wins, at 20. Only Shields tops Bumgarner's innings total, a small 14-inning advantage that swings to Bumgarner when postseason innings are included.
If the Giants don't get at least one of Bumgarner's free agent years, an extension probably isn't worth considering for them. Unless the lefty's extension is to shatter precedents, he'll probably have to accept club options on his third arbitration year and first free agent season. If I were Bumgarner's agent, I'd be aiming for at least $16MM on a four-year deal. A big win would be to get his third arbitration year guaranteed, pushing the value to $23-24MM over five years. That might seem pricey now, but another strong season will push the required guarantee past $30MM.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
The Yankees agreed to a minor league deal with reliever Hideki Okajima, tweets David Waldstein of the New York Times. Earlier, Sports Hochi in Japan reported talks between the two parties were in the final stages and a deal could be reached shortly after the new year (as translated by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman).
Okajima, 36, has a 3.11 ERA across 246 1/3 big league innings, all with the Red Sox from 2007-11. He spent most of 2011 at Triple-A, posting a 2.29 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, and 0.53 HR/9 in 51 innings. As you'd expect, Okajima has been better against lefties in the Majors, with a 8.2 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 0.67 HR/9, and 3.87 xFIP across 107 1/3 innings per FanGraphs.
The Athletics have strong interest in five-tool Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. She says Yoenis Cespedes' price tag is too high for the A's, and his desire for either a four or ten-year deal doesn't work for them.
Soler, 19, has also been linked to the Yankees, Phillies, Nationals, Cubs, and Rangers this offseason. Nationals Director of International Scouting Johnny DiPuglia has watched Soler for years, and told Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, "He’s got a Hanley Ramirez-type body. Plus arm. Plus bat speed. He’s a good kid, a good-energy kid." Though Soler would need more minor league seasoning, it's been written he could have more upside than Cespedes. Soler is younger and more talented than the Rangers' Leonys Martin, wrote Baseball America's Jim Callis, so he figures to beat Martin's $15.6MM contract. Callis notes that the $2.9MM international signing cap installed in the new CBA doesn't begin until the 2012-13 signing period, so as long as Soler signs before July 2nd, there are no limitations.
Slusser also adds to the A's-San Jose story in another article. She talked to former Giants general managing partner Peter Magowan, who thinks San Jose is "wishful thinking" for the A's. She also learned from A's owner Lew Wolff and others that the stadium issue is not on the agenda for the owners' meetings in two weeks.
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