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Minor Moves: Burton, Reyes, Wood

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Today's minor moves…

  • Jared Burton elected free agency, according to MLB.com's Mark Sheldon (on Twitter).  The 30-year-old right-hander showed promise out of the 'pen in 2007-08, but has appeared in just ten MLB games since 2010. He spent time on the 60-day DL with shoulder inflammation in 2011.
  • The Padres signed 16-year-old outfielder Franmil Reyes out of the Dominican Republic for $700K, tweets MLB.com's Corey Brock.  Baseball America's Ben Badler has more on Reyes.
  • The Pirates announced they've signed reliever Tim Wood to a minor league deal.  The 28-year-old had eight big league innings for the Bucs this year, and posted a 3.49 ERA, 6.2 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.4 HR/9, and 24 saves in 49 Triple-A relief innings for the Pirates and Rangers.

LaCava Turns Down Orioles’ Offer

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The Orioles offered Blue Jays assistant GM Tony LaCava their general manager job and he turned the position down, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Instead, LaCava will remain Toronto's assistant GM and Baltimore will resume its search for Andy MacPhail's replacement.

The Orioles also interviewed director of player development John Stockstill and Dodgers assistant GM De Jon Watson for the job. Angels GM Jerry Dipoto had interviewed for the position before accepting his job in Anaheim.

The Blue Jays had been preparing for the possibility that LaCava would leave, according to Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. There was major concern in Toronto that LaCava would bring personnel with him to Baltimore if he had accepted the job, according to Ghiroli. He explained his decision to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun.

“This was about the Toronto Blue Jays more than it is anything about the Baltimore Orioles," LaCava said. "The Orioles were classy in everything they did and I think they are going to go down the right path. For me, it was how much I love the Toronto Blue Jays and I really, really treasure my relationship with my general manager, Alex Anthopoulos, and I really want to see this through with him."

LaCava, Toronto's vice president of baseball operations and assistant General Manager, met with Orioles owner Peter Angelos yesterday. LaCava oversees player development and Latin American operations for the Blue Jays and has also worked for the Angels, Braves, Expos and Indians. He interviewed for GM jobs in Pittsburgh and Seattle in the past. For more on LaCava and Watson check out MLBTR's GM Candidate pieces.

A.J. Preller's name has come up in Baltimore, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (on Twitter). MLBTR's Tim Dierkes spoke with the Rangers executive in October.

Yankees Notes: Sabathia, Darvish, Montero, Garcia

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It's been a busy day for the Yankees. They've announced their extension with GM Brian Cashman and declined their option on Andrew Brackman, making the right-hander a free agent. Reactions to C.C. Sabathia's extension have continued streaming in and we have some more notes to pass along from Cashman's conversation with reporters. Most of the quotes below come via Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger:

  • By signing Sabathia, the Yankees added "the most important piece" of the offseason, Cashman said.
  • "Offense is not a problem with this club," Cashman said. He's right – the Yankees scored more runs than any MLB team but the Red Sox and their starting lineup returns in 2012, so pursuing Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols doesn't seem likely. 
  • The focus of the winter is "pitching, pitching, pitching," Cashman said.
  • Cashman said the organization is better-positioned to evaluate Japanese players than it was a few years ago. The Yankees could express interest in Yu Darvish, the Japanese right-hander who may be posted this offseason.
  • Jesus Montero's role with the Yankees has yet to be determined: he could DH, catch on a semi-regular basis or be a bat off of the bench. Cashman expects Montero to contribute in the Major Leagues.
  • Cashman said picking up Nick Swisher's $10.25MM option was an easy decision.
  • Agent Peter Greenberg says there’s mutual interest between the Yankees and free agent Freddy Garcia in working out a new deal, according to Mark Hale, George A. King III and Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The Yankees would likely offer the Type B right-hander arbitration.
  • I examined the Yankees' offseason last week.

Projected Arbitration Salaries

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As explained in these three posts, Matt Swartz has developed a very accurate model for MLBTR to project arbitration salaries.  By my count there are 196 remaining arbitration eligible players.   Click here to download an Excel spreadsheet with our projected salaries, or click below to see everything.

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Tigers Notes: Ordonez, Guillen, Catcher, Jose Reyes

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Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski spoke to reporters today; here's the latest from John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press on Twitter.

Yankees Decline Option On Andrew Brackman

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The Yankees declined their 2012 option on righty Andrew Brackman, GM Brian Cashman told reporters on a conference call today.  The 6'10" 25-year-old righty is now a free agent; ESPN's Keith Law explains that Brackman's contract called for the Yankees to release him if they didn't pick up his option. 

Brackman, 25, made his Major League debut this year with three relief appearances.  The Yankees drafted him 30th overall out of North Carolina State in 2007 and signed him to a $4.45MM Major League contract.  The Yankees knew at the time that Brackman needed Tommy John surgery.  Brackman made it up to Triple-A this year, where he was shifted to the bullpen.  He posted a 6.00 ERA, 7.0 K/9, 7.0 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 in 96 innings.

Beltran Switches From Boras To Lozano

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One of the offseason's biggest free agents is leaving baseball's most notorious agency.  Carlos Beltran has switched from the Boras Corporation to Dan Lozano's Icon Sports Group, reports ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.  Boras gets a taste of his own medicine here, as he's well-known for taking prominent free agent clients from other agencies as big paydays are approaching.

Back in January of 2005, Boras authored Beltran's seven-year, $119MM contract with the Mets.  With the contract reaching its conclusion, Boras had lunch with Beltran in September to discuss his next contract.  However, the 34-year-old right fielder may have already been interviewing other agencies, as Crasnick says he did so this summer.

As MLBTR's agency database shows, Lozano will also be working on free agent deals this winter for Albert Pujols, Jimmy Rollins, and several other veterans.  Boras, meanwhile, still has Prince Fielder, Edwin Jackson, Ryan Madson, Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Pena, Bruce Chen, Johnny Damon, Mike Gonzalez, Magglio Ordonez, Andruw Jones, and Jason Varitek this offseason.

Follow @mlbtraderumors On Twitter

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In the last three years, Twitter has become an essential part of MLB coverage.  Nearly every baseball writer has a Twitter account, and the majority of news is broken through this medium.

Twitter isn't the perfect medium for disseminating baseball news and opinions.  Tweets are limited to 140 characters, so context is often lacking.  Plus, traffic that previously went to the website of a major news outlet now may go primarily to Twitter itself.  One early concern was whether baseball writers would take Twitter seriously and make sure to post only reliable information.  That concern is all but gone as we approach 2012.  In my experience, baseball writers realize they must treat Twitter with the same permanence and seriousness as words printed in a newspaper.

Twitter is free to join; you can do so here.  You can follow us @mlbtraderumors.  Following MLBTR means you'll see a tweet for each new post, including a link to MLBTradeRumors.com.  We also re-tweet information we've added to pre-existing posts, so you know there's been an update.  Retweeting is simply passing along a tweet authored by a baseball writer.

For my personal opinions and the occasional piece of inside information, follow me @timdierkes.  Many MLBTR writers are on Twitter as well.     

Offseason Outlook: Atlanta Braves

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The Braves are unlikely to do much free agent shopping, but improvements at left field and shortstop are possible. 

Guaranteed Contracts

Arbitration Eligible Players (estimated salaries)

Free Agents 

The 2011 Braves collapsed in epic fashion down the stretch, yet most of the pieces are in place for a competitive 2012 club.  That's fortunate, because GM Frank Wren has limited financial flexibility.

Assuming Moylan is non-tendered, the Braves will have about $84MM in commitments before accounting for minimum salary players.  That's $7MM less than the 2011 payroll of $91MM.  The Braves were closer to $100MM in 2008-09, but with a 5% drop in attendance this year raising payroll could be difficult.  Clearing $5MM of Lowe's salary yesterday was a win for the Braves, who did not envision him in next year's rotation.  Wren told reporters in October that Prado is likely back in left field next year, but otherwise I can see him traded or non-tendered.

Trading Jurrjens could serve the dual purpose of shedding $5MM and bringing back a bat, but Wren said this month: "We have a lot of pitching but I think it’s not something that we’re looking to trade from."  His statement could be interpreted in various ways, so we can't rule out a Jurrjens deal if the right offer comes along.  The Braves have more depth than most teams with their "Big Four" of young starters: Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, Mike Minor, and Arodys Vizcaino.  With Lowe gone, Hudson will be the lone 2012 starter who exceeded 152 MLB innings in 2011.  But if the Braves feel Brandon Beachy, Tommy Hanson, and perhaps Minor can handle full workloads, Jurrjens may be expendable.

I think teams will be wary of surrendering a lot for Jurrjens.  SIERA suggests he's a 4.40 type pitcher, despite his career ERA of 3.40.  His strikeout rate dropped to 5.3 per nine this year, and he's missed significant time the last couple years due to knee, oblique, and hamstring injuries.  Any big league hitter the Braves get back would probably come with similar question marks or red flags.

I'm unconvinced the Braves won't look into left field upgrades, though a reasonable free agent target like Josh Willingham could prove a wash with Prado.  Still, bringing in a left fielder would allow Prado to back up Jones at third base.  The Braves will need an answer at shortstop, with prospect Tyler Pastornicky the favorite at the moment.  The Braves showed with Freddie Freeman they're not afraid to pencil a rookie into a starting job, but Wren should probably bring back Alex Gonzalez or a comparable veteran as an insurance policy.  Since Gonzalez is a Type B free agent, an arbitration offer makes sense.

The Braves' rotation averaged only 5.91 innings per start, 11th in the NL and worst among contenders.  They were saved by the league's best bullpen, but Jonny Venters, Craig Kimbrel, O'Flaherty, and Cristhian Martinez probably can't provide 316 innings again.  Free agents Linebrink and Sherrill didn't shoulder that kind of a workload, but the Braves should probably sign at least one veteran reliever to take some of the load.  Overall it looks like another winter of limited free agent shopping, after the Braves spent only about $5MM on that market last offseason.

For the most part, the Braves' improvements will come from within, as better overall seasons from Uggla, Prado, Jason Heyward, and Bourn are entirely feasible.  More innings from the rotation will be another key to success.

Anthopoulos On DH, Encarnacion, Rauch

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Blue Jays reporter Alex Anthopoulos spoke with reporters today; here's the latest.  All links go to the Twitter accounts of Shi Davidi and Gregor Chisholm.

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