Quick Hits: Maholm, Chulk, Cardinals
Two years ago today, the Indians traded third baseman Mark DeRosa to the Cardinals for Chris Perez, with Jess Todd also going to Cleveland as the player to be named later. DeRosa injured his wrist shortly after the trade and struggled in his time with the Cards, but they received a consolation prize in righty Seth Blair, chosen in the 2010 draft as compensation when DeRosa signed with the Giants. Perez has racked up 42 saves as the Indians' closer. Todd was designated for assignment in April of this year, claimed by the Yankees, designated again in May, claimed by the Cardinals, and recently outrighted to Triple-A. On to today's links…
- Rangers reliever Darren O'Day may return this week from the 60-day DL, meaning the team will need to open up a 40-man roster spot.
- The Red Sox announced they activated righty Junichi Tazawa from the 60-day DL and optioned him to Double-A; lefty Rich Hill was placed on the 60-day DL to keep the 40-man roster at 40.
- Pirates lefty Paul Maholm reiterated to Karen Price of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he'd like to stay in Pittsburgh, but he's not going to beg or initiate extension talks. In general terms, GM Neal Huntington expressed a strong preference for avoiding in-season negotiations. He has a $9.75MM option on Maholm for 2012. For more on the Maholm situation, click here.
- Athletics reliever Vinnie Chulk can opt out of his contract Friday, notes SI's Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The 32-year-old righty has a 2.75 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, and 0.2 HR/9 in 39 1/3 Triple-A innings this year.
- Heyman talked to agents and executives, asking them to predict contracts for Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, and Jose Reyes. Everyone sees Pujols getting at least $27.5MM and at least six years. I have to wonder if he'd prefer a one-year deal if his return is less than stellar. Meanwhile, most of the participants saw Fielder getting $24-25MM a year and at least five years.
- The Cardinals could try to acquire two relievers rather than go after a big fish like Heath Bell, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
Indians Designate Adam Everett For Assignment
The Indians designated infielder Adam Everett for assignment, reports MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. Everett isn't sure of his next step, and retirement is possible. As Everett's career possibly comes to a close, the Lonnie Chisenhall era is about to begin in Cleveland, reports Bastian. Adding the top prospect would keep the Tribe's 40-man roster full.
Everett, 34, hit .217/.277/.233 in 67 plate appearances for the Indians, but he was brought aboard for his exceptional defensive abilities. Primarily a shortstop in his career, Everett played more third and second base for the Indians this year.
Chisenhall was ranked as the 20th best prospect in baseball by ESPN's Keith Law on May 31st. The 22-year-old third baseman is hitting .265/.352/.427 in 290 Triple-A plate appearances.
New York Notes: Crosstown Trades, Osuna, Reyes
The Yankees own the best record in the American League and a half-game lead in the AL East over the Red Sox. The Mets are at .500 and sit 4.5 games out in the wild card race. The latest on New York's teams…
- The Mets and Yankees have matched up on only nine trades in their history, which you can check out with our Transaction Tracker. Yanks GM Brian Cashman has authored three of them, acquiring Mike Stanton (2004), Armando Benitez (2003), and Robin Ventura (2001). Cashman told Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal, "There's never been an issue with it, but you'd better win the trade." Costa's article is an excellent discussion of cross-town dealing, so be sure to check it out.
- Speaking of Yankees-Mets deals, one Yankees person who spoke to SI's Jon Heyman called the chances of a trade for Francisco Rodriguez "less than 50-50." As I mentioned earlier today, K-Rod carries a lot of baggage.
- The Yankees will eventually need 40-man roster spots for Phil Hughes, Rafael Soriano, and Eric Chavez when they come off the 60-day DL. Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues breaks down the most expendable Yankees currently on the 40-man. The Yankees are one of 19 teams with a full 40-man roster.
- The Yankees, Rangers, Blue Jays, Athletics, and Padres watched Roberto Osuna throw in Mexico on Thursday, reports Roberto Espinoza of Vanguardia (link in Spanish). The Red Sox are also interested. The 16-year-old Osuna is one of the top pitchers in the July 2nd class.
- SI's Jon Heyman surveyed two executives and two agents about Jose Reyes' next contract, with three of the four expecting $20MM per year and six or seven years.
What Do The Indians Need?
The Indians have been exploring trades, tweets MLB.com's Jordan Bastian, but the market remains undefined with so many teams still in contention. Bastian adds that he expects the team to lean toward internal moves for upgrades at primary positions. He believes they could make deals for backup-type players, with high-priced acquisitions unlikely. The Indians are one game back in the AL Central after being swept by the Giants over the weekend.
A pair of Indians position players are currently on the DL in first baseman Matt LaPorta and right fielder Shin-Soo Choo. LaPorta, who is recovering from a sprained ankle, will rejoin the team for batting practice on Friday and is eligible to be activated on July 4th. Choo is expected to need surgery on a broken thumb and might be out until mid-August. The Tribe will go with an Austin Kearns/Travis Buck platoon in right field initially. If they eventually look outside the organization, guys like Reed Johnson and Laynce Nix could merit consideration in my opinion.
The Indians rank eighth in the AL with 4.28 runs scored per game. Second and third base are potential areas of upgrade. As we've discussed, the Indians are giving Cord Phelps a shot at second now and still have Jason Kipnis in the minors. They could get more offense than what Jack Hannahan has provided at the hot corner, though top prospect Lonnie Chisenhall hasn't been amazing at Triple-A. The biggest offensive upgrade could come from Baltimore's Mark Reynolds, but he's more than a rental. A more reasonable alternative might be Kansas City's Wilson Betemit, though both players would represent defensive downgrades from Hannahan. Another option could be to acquire Colorado's Josh Fields and use him in various spots as the Sky Sox have been doing.
How about the rotation? Fausto Carmona has struggled all year. Should he eventually be considered for a long relief role, options abound at Triple-A, as outlined by MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince. Another reinforcement could come perhaps in August if Alex White recovers from a finger injury. So it appears the Indians will go the internal route here as well. If GM Chris Antonetti does explore the trade market, a few of these starters will be in the mix. There's no ace in the group, so Antonetti won't be switching to the buying side of a Cliff Lee or C.C. Sabathia type deal.
The Tribe's bullpen may lack household names, but with an AL-best 2.94 ERA Antonetti probably will not be in the market for relievers.
When Teams Prefer Type Bs
What do Kevin Correia, Octavio Dotel, Brad Hawpe, Orlando Hudson, Chad Qualls, and Javier Vazquez have in common? They were all Type B free agents who were surprisingly offered arbitration by their former clubs and then turned it down. The offers surprised me because I assumed the risk of the players accepting was too great. However, I couldn't account for the possibility of handshake deals – these players probably agreed beforehand to turn down arbitration offers, helping their former employers without hurting their own free agent stock.
If supplemental round picks Jace Peterson (Padres), Trevor Story (Rockies), Grayson Garvin (Rays), Hudson Boyd (Twins), James Harris (Rays), and Dante Bichette Jr. (Yankees) make Major League impacts, their respective teams may want to thank the above-named Type B free agents who were willing to agree to turn down arbitration offers. It's not a given - for example, the Rays didn't offer arbitration to Type B Carlos Pena, and the Yankees didn't offer to Lance Berkman or Kerry Wood. In total, 17 Type Bs were not offered arbitration last offseason.
Had players such as Hudson and Vazquez been rated as Type As, they would not have been so willing to turn down arbitration, since doing so would have required a new team to surrender a draft pick to sign them. The Twins and Yankees would have realized this and never made arbitration offers in the first place.
My point: star players aside, many teams would prefer their own free agents to be rated as Type Bs rather than Type As. So keep an eye on those currently on the borderline: Jason Kubel, Vladimir Guerrero, Aaron Hill, Carlos Guillen, Jason Frasor, and Chris Snyder.
Dodgers File For Bankruptcy
The Dodgers filed for bankruptcy, tweets Richard Sandomir of the New York Times. Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times reports that owner Frank McCourt loses the franchise upon filing under MLB rules, but bankruptcy court generally overrides that. This is McCourt's next move as he fights to keep the Dodgers.
McCourt's goal appears to be to have his MLB-rejected Fox deal approved in bankruptcy court, based on this Shaikin tweet. If the team's creditors sign off on the Fox deal, Shaikin says MLB would then have to explain to the bankruptcy court why the deal should be vetoed (Twitter link). Shaikin notes that McCourt says he has $150MM in interim financing to cover the costs of operating the team until then. He'll need almost $30MM to meet the Dodgers' payroll on Thursday. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the union has informed the Dodgers players that they will be paid on time.
Shaikin lists McCourt's largest creditors per the bankruptcy petition: Manny Ramirez ($21MM), Andruw Jones ($11MM), Hiroki Kuroda ($4.5MM), and Rafael Furcal ($3.7MM). Click here to enjoy the full list, on which Kaz Ishii makes an appearance.
Elias Rankings Update
After the season the Elias Sports Bureau will take all players over the 2010-11 period, divide them into five groups for each league, and rank them based on various statistics. Then each player will be labeled a Type A, B, or none. Those designations and the possible accompanying arbitration offers determine draft pick compensation (click here for a refresher).
Eddie Bajek has reverse-engineered the Elias rankings, and he's providing that information exclusively at MLB Trade Rumors. Here's a look at how the players rank for the period beginning with the 2010 season running through June 25th, 2011. The Google spreadsheet below has separate tabs for each position group and can also be found directly here.
Poll: Jim Riggleman’s Option
Jim Riggleman's resignation last week has been an interesting study in discourse. Typically, it's advanced metrics that fuel our debates about players, but the recurring talking points with respect to Riggleman's acrimonious departure from Washington have been professionalism and ethics more so than wins and losses.
Riggleman tendered his resignation moments after a galvanizing win for the Nats, when they moved one game over .500 (38-37) with a walk-off victory over the Mariners. Apparently, Riggleman had been angling for Washington to pick up his 2012 club option for a while, but the team was not especially interested in considering that at that juncture.
Jon Heyman of SI.com tweeted that it made no sense for the Nats not to pick up Riggleman's option. The team had played well under him, after all. The Nats, however, merely viewed Riggleman as a place-holder manager until the team was ready to win, wrote Scott Miller of CBSSports.com. After all, Riggleman has just a .445 winning percentage in parts of 12 seasons as a big league manager.
If you were the Nats, would you have exercised Riggleman's option, or would you have allowed him to resign?
Would You Have Exercised Riggleman's Option?
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Yes - the team was playing well, and he earned it. 69% (7,276)
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No - he didn't have a track record of winning, and there was no reason to exercise it before the offseason. 31% (3,323)
Total votes: 10,599
Manager Notes: Riggleman, McLaren
Jim Riggleman's sudden resignation from his post as Nationals manager continues to elicit some interesting responses across the baseball landscape. Here's a couple items of note:
- Former Royals and Cardinals skipper Whitey Herzog, who was shocked by Riggleman's decision, shared some interesting opinions with Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- Herzog points out that Riggleman carried himself well when he was fired by the Padres and Cubs — the difference now is that Riggleman feels Nationals president Stan Kasten tried to low ball him by paying him less than what most managers are paid.
- As for Riggleman's future, Herzog told Hummel: If there's a team looking for a manager, they would be crazy not to hire him.That sentiment seems to be the exception among industry insiders and pundits, but it's worth noting that Herzog gave Riggleman his first coaching job in the bigs, so it seems like there's a personal relationship there.
- Interim manager John McLaren, who yielded to new manager Davey Johnson after Sunday's game, will become a West Coast scout for the balance of 2011, writes Bill Ladson of MLB.com.
- McLaren considered leaving the Nats when Riggleman resigned, according to Ladson, but he decided to stay at Riggleman's behest and after having productive talks with GM Mike Rizzo.
- McLaren admitted he was hurt that he was not allowed to finish out the season as Nats skipper but harbors no ill will after patching things up with the organization.
MLBTR Originals: 6/19/11 – 6/25/11
Here's a look back at the original work that was published here at MLBTR last week:
- For contenders with deep pockets, there are some intriguing, if highly compensated, players that could probably be had easily, writes Tim Dierkes.
- Yunel Escobar's extension with the Jays has its advantages for both the player and team, writes Ben Nicholson-Smith.
- Looking for a lefty reliever? Tim has the rundown on which guys might be available.
- Finding a backup backstop who can hit is no easy task, as Ben writes.
- Pending-free-agent Jamey Carroll spoke with Tim. Carroll is also a trade candidate.
- A handful of contenders could use an upgrade at third base. Others need help at shortstop.
- In a season of great parity, it's tough to figure how many sellers are out there. Tim considers this question.
- Tim conducted his weekly chat with MLBTR's loyal readers.
- Ben had a look at how baseball's newest $100MM-plus players are faring so far this season.
- Are the Twins playoff contenders? Ben asked that question and set up a poll for your input. The results are interesting.
- Carlos Quentin's bounce-back season has him poised to earn a contract extension with the White Sox, writes Mark Polishuk.
- Jim Riggleman's departure from the Nats prompted Howard Megdal to examine whether winning managers find new jobs.
- The steal-happy Blue Jays are reaping the benefits of their aggressiveness on the basepaths, according to Ben.
- Mike Axisa rounded up some of the best pieces from around the baseball blogosphere. Among the topics: Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez, Jeff Francis and Geovany Soto.