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Pirates Prioritize Adding Another Starter

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The latest on the Pirates…

Extension-Prone Agencies And GMs

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Some agencies are more open to multiyear extensions for their clients than others.  The Boras Corporation is notorious for avoiding such deals.  In the last three years, only Boras clients Carlos Gonzalez and Jered Weaver signed significant extensions, with Prince Fielder and Stephen Drew signing two-year deals covering arbitration years.  Certainly the agency's number of clients will correlate to its volume of extensions, and unfortunately I don't have the complete data needed to give a percentage of clients extended.  Using MLBTR's Transaction Tracker, these agencies have brokered the most extensions since the beginning of 2009:

  • CAA Sports (13)
  • Octagon (9)
  • Beverly Hills Sports Council (8)
  • SFX (7)
  • ACES (6), Praver/Shapiro (6), Sosnick Cobbe (6), Wasserman Media Group (6)
  • Legacy Sports Group (5), LSW Baseball (5), Moye Sports Associates (5)

Most active GMs have authored at least one contract extension since 2009, with exceptions for recent hires Dan Duquette, Ben Cherington, Terry Ryan, Jerry Dipoto, and Jeff Luhnow.  The leaders:

  • Dan O'Dowd/Rockies (10)
  • John Mozeliak/Cardinals (8), Kenny Williams/White Sox (8), Ruben Amaro Jr./Phillies (8)
  • Doug Melvin/Brewers (7)
  • Andrew Friedman/Rays (6), Brian Sabean/Giants (6), Ned Colletti/Dodgers (6), Walt Jocketty/Reds (6), Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer/Cubs (6)
  • Alex Anthopoulos/Blue Jays (5), Dave Dombrowski/Tigers (5)

White Sox GM Kenny Williams and CAA Sports appear high on both lists, so perhaps John Danks' recent deal shouldn't have been a surprise.  Carlos Quentin is another CAA client.  Ned Colletti, Andre Ethier, and CAA make another good combination.  Also on the CAA front, I wonder if Alex Anthopoulos has broached an extension for Brett Lawrie.  The Cubs' Matt Garza is another name to consider here.

Other combinations of extension-prone agencies and GMs might bode well for Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino, John Axford, Nyjer Morgan, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Melky Cabrera, Jeremy Affeldt, Kelly Johnson, Brandon Morrow, Jason Motte, Brandon Phillips, Delmon Young, Starlin Castro, Geovany Soto, Ryan Dempster, and Philip Humber.  Of course, those who just finished off-years are less likely to be extended now.

Agency and team matchups were found using MLBTR's Agency Database.  For my look at arbitration eligible extension candidates, click here.

Marlins Focused On Re-Signing Dobbs

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The Marlins' immediate priority is to re-sign utility player Greg Dobbs, reports MLB.com's Joe Frisaro.  He says the team hopes to finalize a deal soon.  The Nationals had also been in the mix for Dobbs, but Frisaro's colleague Bill Ladson tweeted four days ago they were unlikely to sign him.   

Dobbs, 33, hit .275/.311/.389 in a career-high 439 plate appearances for the Marlins this year.  He logged 755 innings at third base, also pitching in at first base and the outfield corners.  A left-handed hitter, Dobbs has struggled against southpaws in his career.  As a pinch-hitter, he has a career line of .259/.316/.430 in 316 plate appearances.  The Marlins offered Dobbs a two-year deal in late September, writes Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post.

Frisaro also notes that the Marlins are not expected to sign any more big-ticket free agents, but they're exploring the trade market for frontline starters.  He says the Marlins aren't seeking competition for the back end of the rotation, though Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald wrote recently that they're casting a wide net.

Arbitration Eligible Extension Candidates

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From Matt Moore to Chris Carpenter, extensions for players not eligible for arbitration happen all the time.  More commonly, though, arbitration eligible players are locked up to multiyear deals in January or February.  176 players are eligible for arbitration this offseason.  Of those, Matt Kemp, John Danks, Skip Schumaker, and Tony Gwynn Jr., have signed multiyear deals, 19 more have signed for 2012, and Landon Powell was designated for assignment.  Those on one-year deals can still potentially sign multiyear pacts, so the field of arbitration eligible extension candidates is large and merits narrowing to about 50 players.  My possibilities for multiyear deals:

Some of these players, such as Upton and Garza, are more likely to be traded than extended, but the Danks extension showed anything is possible.  Also, arbitration eligible clients of the Boras Corporation shy away from extensions, and Andrus, Bourn, Choo, Ellsbury, Fowler, Jurrjens, and Scherzer are part of that group. 

Remaining Free Agent Power Hitters

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Offense is becoming harder to find these days, especially power. Only 23 players hit 30 or more home runs in 2011, compared to 34 players five years ago and 41 players ten years ago. Unsurprisingly, power hitters like Albert Pujols and Carlos Beltran have already landed sizable contracts on the free agent market while a number of other sluggers are still poised to cash in.

Perhaps the best way to measure power isn't home runs or even slugging percentage, but isolated power, or ISO. ISO is simply slugging percentage minus batting average, which effectively removes singles to tell you extra bases per at-bat. The league average ISO in 2011 was .144, and Jose Bautista led all qualified hitters at .306. Curtis Granderson was second at .290 and Mike Stanton was third at .275. No other hitter qualified for the batting title and cleared a .270 ISO this past season.

Here are the remaining unsigned free agents with better than league average ISO's in 2011 (min. 200 PA)…

  1. Prince Fielder – .267 ISO
  2. Andruw Jones – .247
  3. Carlos Pena – .237
  4. Jason Varitek – .203
  5. Jonny Gomes – .180
  6. Derrek Lee – .179
  7. Pat Burrell – .175 
  8. Raul Ibanez – .174
  9. Wilson Betemit – .169
  10. Cody Ross – .165
  11. Jorge Posada – .163
  12. Johnny Damon – .156

Extension Candidate: Matt Joyce

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Icon_7570143When it comes to signing young players to long-term contract extensions, no team has been as aggressive as the Rays in recent years. Left-hander Matt Moore became the latest to cash in when he signed a five-year, $14MM contract earlier this month despite having just 17 days of service time to his credit. Evan Longoria, James Shields, Ben Zobrist, and Wade Davis are also signed to similar contracts, and next in line could be outfielder Matt Joyce.

Joyce, 27, was acquired from the Tigers for Edwin Jackson three winters ago. The 2011 season was the first time he spent a full season in the Majors, and he rewarded the Rays by making the AL All-Star Team and hitting .277/.347/.478 with 19 homers and 13 steals. In 1,097 career plate appearances spread across 321 games (three games shy of two full seasons), Joyce is a .259/.345/.482 hitter with 64 doubles and 44 homers. The advanced metrics rate his corner outfield defense as a touch better than average.

Back in October, Tommy Rancel of ESPN Florida suggested that Zobrist's contract – four years, $18MM with two club options – could serve as a blueprint for a Joyce extension. Zobrist signed that deal one year before he was due to become arbitration-eligible, which is where Joyce is now. Zobrist was coming off an MVP caliber season (.297/.405/.543 with 27 homers) at the time though, and he offered much more defensive versatility. As a switch-hitter, he also didn't have the same platoon problem as Joyce, a left-handed bat with a .196/.280/.322 career line against southpaws. The blueprint could work, but the dollar figures will need some tweaking.

Unlike his teammates, Joyce could offer the club a true hometown discount since he grew up in the Tampa area. He also didn't receive a huge signing bonus as a 12th round pick in 2005, so getting some financial security at age 27 could be more appealing to him than most. The Rays love club options, so expect any deal with Joyce to contain a few of them, perhaps even as many as three. The Rays lost Carl Crawford to free agency last offseason and could lose B.J. Upton next offseason, but Joyce and fellow extension candidate Desmond Jennings form a solid outfield core going forward. One way or the other, Tampa controls the duo's contractual rights through 2015.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

NL East Links: Ramos, Nationals, Gonzalez

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Two years ago today, the Mets signed Kelvim Escobar to an incentive-laden one-year deal worth $1.25MM guaranteed. Escobar hurt his shoulder (again) and never did pitch for the Amazin's, and over the last four seasons he's appeared in just one game due to shoulder problems. Here's the latest from the NL East…

  • The Marlins have hired former Rays bullpen coach Bobby Ramos to be their Latin American player development coordinator, writes Juan C. Rodriguez of The Sun Sentinel. It's a new position the team created because none of their minor league coordinators are Hispanic, and they felt it was imperative to have a Spanish-speaker around all of their young prospects from Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, etc.
  • Mark Zuckerman of Nats Insider looked at the back of the Nationals' rotation, where Chien-Ming Wang, Ross Detwiler, and John Lannan are competing for two spots. Detwiler is out of options, but Wang and Lannan will earn $4MM+ next season.
  • Ken Davidoff of Newsday writes that he likes the Nationals' acquisition of Gio Gonzalez, even though it feels like an overpay for a pitcher who is good rather than great. With plenty of focus already directed at Stephen Strasburg, it seems unlikely that Gonzalez will be overwhelmed by attention in Washington.
  • Overall, the Nationals landed a good starter in Gonzalez, but the club has to realize that they will have to deal with some frustration over the next few years in addition to the positives, writes Dave Cameron of Fangraphs.

Two Teams Have “Viable” Interest In Iwakuma

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MONDAY: Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Athletics are "lukewarm" on Iwakuma, but there are two teams with "viable" interest in the right-hander. Oakland is not one of them, however.

SUNDAY: There are four teams talking to free agent Japanese right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma, according to Joe Stiglich of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). The Athletics, who won the bidding on Iwakuma last winter but couldn't work out a contract, are one of the four, says Stiglich.

The Rakuten Golden Eagles posted Iwakuma a year ago, but ultimately re-signed him after the righty was unable to agree to a deal with the A's. Oakland bid about $19.1MM for the right to exclusively negotiate with Iwakuma, but were reluctant to commit the type of salary the pitcher was seeking on top of the posting fee.

Iwakuma has now reached free agency, so the Sosnick-Cobbe client can sign a contract with any MLB club. Besides the A's, the Twins may be one of the four clubs involved. They placed second in the Iwakuma bidding last year, and were said to have him on their radar last month. Perhaps the Orioles are in as well — Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun wrote this week that Dan Duquette is "exceptionally well-versed in international players," and the O's have targeted arms such as Tsuyoshi Wada and Wei-Yin Chin since the new GM's arrival.

Cubs Agree To Sign Andy Sonnanstine

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The Cubs have agreed to sign Andy Sonnanstine to a non-guaranteed split contract for the 2012 season, the team announced. The Rays non-tendered the Beverly Hills Sports Council client earlier this month rather than give him a raise his second time through arbitration.

Sonnanstine, 29 in March, has worked mostly in relief over the last two seasons, pitching to a 4.78 ERA in 116 2/3 innings. He's made 80 starts and 52 relief appearances during his five seasons with Tampa, though his career strikeout (5.7 K/9) and walk (2.3 BB/9) rates are identical in the two roles. Sonnanstine is a fly ball pitcher and is very homer prone (career 1.3 HR/9), though his ERA is a full run lower when coming out of the bullpen (5.43 vs. 4.40).

Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein recently said the team's goal is to "build more depth on the starting pitching front, both in the big leagues and minor leagues," and Sonnanstine helps them accomplish that. He becomes the second pitcher the Cubbies have acquired in the last week, joining Travis Wood (acquired in the Sean Marshall trade). Chicago can retain Sonnanstine as an arbitration-eligible player in 2013.

Cubs Close To Deal With Jason Jaramillo

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The Cubs are close to a minor league deal with catcher Jason Jaramillo, MLBTR has learned.  The Pirates designated Jaramillo for assignment upon signing Erik Bedard this month, non-tendering him a few days later.

Jaramillo, 29, has accumulated 366 big league plate appearances over the last three seasons with the Pirates, hitting .235/.293/.327.  A former second-round pick of the Phillies, Jaramillo missed much of this season with an elbow injury.  The switch-hitter will be a candidate for the Cubs' backup catcher job behind Geovany Soto, a role filled by Koyie Hill the last several years.  Jaramillo is a native of Wisconsin.    

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