Giants To Sign Bill Hall
The Giants will sign Bill Hall, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The move comes after second baseman Freddy Sanchez dislocated his shoulder diving for a ball on Friday night. San Francisco is also without Pablo Sandoval (hand) and Mike Fontenot (groin). Fontenot left last night's minor league rehab game with tightness in his groin.
Hall, 31, hit .224/.272/.340 with the Astros before being released last weekend. He did hit .247/.316/.456 with 18 homers for the Red Sox last year, plus he's capable of playing almost every position on the field. Houston will pay Hall the majority of his $3MM salary; the Giants will only be on the hook for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum (less than $300K according to Rosenthal). The Orioles, Nationals, and possibly the Yankees also had interest in signing Hall.
Quick Hits: Beltran, Santana, Bundy, Hultzen
On this date three years ago, Ken Griffey Jr. hit home run number 600 off of Marlins lefty Mark Hendrickson. Slugger Jim Thome will resume his quest for 600 homers once the Twins activate him from the disabled list (Thome has 593 career homers). Here are today's links…
- The Mets are willing to eat some of Beltran's $18.5MM salary in order to get quality prospects in return, tweets SI.com's Jon Heyman. Approximately $11.4MM is still owed to him this year.
- Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times reports that the Dodgers have signed second round pick Alex Santana (on Twitter). MLB's slot recommendation for the 73rd overall pick is approximately $500K.
- Orioles' scouting director Joe Jordan spoke to MLB.com's Britt Ghiroli about this week's draft, saying they "don’t expect" to set any bonus records for first rounder Dylan Bundy. You can see Baltimore's five largest amateur signing bonuses here.
- Danny Hultzen (Mariners), Taylor Jungmann (Brewers) and Tyler Anderson (Rockies) are among the 2011 draftees who could make an impact in the Major Leagues before long, according to MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo.
- We’re looking forward to seeing pitchers like Hultzen in the big leagues, but building a rotation through the draft is harder than it seems, as Tom Verducci shows at SI.com. Even first rounders have a high rate of failure, Verducci explains.
- Former first rounder Scott Kazmir has a 15.15 ERA with a 13K/16BB ratio in Triple-A, so it appears that it's only a matter of time before the Angels release him, according to Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times.
- Jim Bowden of ESPN.com explains that he would pursue a two-year, $30MM extension with David Ortiz if he were running the Red Sox. Big Papi's consistency, history of health and hot bat all figure in to Bowden's analysis. Ortiz has a .326/.394/.612 line with 15 homers.
Cardinals Release Ramon Vazquez
The Cardinals have released Ramon Vazquez according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America. St. Louis signed him to a minor league deal back in January.
Vazquez, 34, hit a respectable .275/.362/.321 in 150 plate appearances for the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate, playing all three non-first base infield spots. He hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2009, when he followed up a breakout .290/.365/.430 performance with the Rangers with a .230/.335/.279 effort with the Pirates.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Todd, Gibbons, Kouzmanoff,
Here's where we'll keep track of all players who get outrighted to Triple-A today…
- The Cardinals have outrighted Jess Todd to Triple-A, reports Rick Hummel of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Todd returned to the team that originally drafted him after being claimed off waivers last month.
- Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times reports (on Twitter) that Jay Gibbons has accepted his outright assigment with the Dodgers and will report to their Triple-A affiliate.
- The A's announced that they outrighted Kevin Kouzmanoff to Triple-A (Twitter link). Oakland initially demoted the third baseman on Monday and they outrighted him today to create a 40-man roster spot for Graham Godfrey.
- Jake Fox cleared waivers and the Orioles outrighted him to Triple-A, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link). Fox is expected to report to the minors this weekend, according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter). Baltimore designated the utility player for assignment last week and were exploring possible trades, but rival teams, including the Pirates, weren't interested.
Blue Jays Sign Joe Musgrove
FRIDAY: Baseball America's Jim Callis reports that Musgrove received a $500K bonus, which would be below slot (Twitter link).
THURSDAY: The Blue Jays have signed supplemental first round pick Joe Musgrove according to information relayed by MLB, reports Baseball America's Matt Eddy (on Twitter). MLB says Musgrove is the first 2011 draft pick to sign a professional contract.
Musgrove, a high school right-hander from California, was selected with the 46th overall pick on Monday. The Blue Jays received the pick after Type B free agent John Buck turned down their arbitration offer and signed with the Marlins. Baseball America's Draft Database (subs. req'd) says "it's easy to dream on him becoming a big league workhorse starter" because of a heavy sinking fastball and a hammer curveball. Musgrove's signing bonus is unknown, but MLB's slot recommendation for the 46th overall pick is approximately $750K.
NL Central Notes: Astros, Fielder, Pirates, Cubs
When the Brewers take on the Cardinals tonight, St. Louis skipper Tony La Russa will be managing his 5,000th MLB game. Here are notes on the Cardinals, the Brewers and their NL Central rivals…
- The Astros announced that they have signed second round pick Adrian Houser via press release. His signing bonus is unknown, but MLB's slot recommendation for the 69th overall pick is approximately $530K.
- Prince Fielder says he isn't competing with Albert Pujols or thinking about his next contract. But Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports says the Brewers' first baseman may be a safer free agent target than Pujols this coming offseason.
- Pirates owner Bob Nutting told Bob Cohn of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he is "extremely pleased" with the progress the 30-31 Pirates have made this year. “Tremendous improvement from last year,” Nutting said. “I'm very pleased where we are. And, I really believe that we're beginning to see the impact of the changes we've made in the organization over the last three and a half years.”
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wonders how long A’s GM Billy Beane will want to remain in Oakland and points out that the Cubs and Astros could be looking for new leadership before long. Beane would be a “leading candidate” for any GM job if he were not in Oakland.
- Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says new Astros owner Jim Crane should aim to draft and develop players as successfully as the Cardinals have.
Padres Sign Cory Spangenberg
Padres first round pick Cory Spangenberg has passed his physical and signed, reports MLB.com's Corey Brock (Twitter links). He received a $1.86MM bonus, approximately MLB's slot recommendation.
Spangenberg, in infielder out of Indian River Junior College in Florida, was the tenth overall pick in this week's draft. The Padres received that pick as compensation for failing to sign Karsten Whitson last year. San Diego would not have received another compensation pick next year if they failed to sign Spangenberg.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Harper, Braves, Madson
Two former Seattle Mariner superstars hit milestone home runs on this date. Three years ago it was Ken Griffey Jr., who took Mark Hendrickson of the Marlins deep for this 600th career homer. Six years ago it was Alex Rodriguez hitting his 400th career long ball off Jorge de la Rosa of the Brewers. Will any of this week's links be historically great? Let's see…
- Lasorda's Lair interviewed former big leaguer and one time elbow surgery test subject Tommy John.
- 1 Blue Jays Way interviewed Blue Jays prospect Zach Stewart.
- Phoul Ballz interviewed Phillies prospect David Buchanan.
- Pitchers & Poets wrote about Bryce Harper and the element of style.
- The Nats Blog compared Harper's minor league debut to Albert Pujols'.
- Capitol Avenue Club imagines a Braves team with Kelly Johnson, Omar Infante, and Mike Dunn.
- Crashburn Alley compared Ryan Madson to the rest of the upcoming class of free agent closers.
- Brotherly Glove, meanwhile, wonders if Madson is a must-sign for the Phillies.
- Redleg Nation explains why Brandon Phillips is still the Reds' second baseman of the future.
- Climbing Tal's Hill wonders if the Astros would listen to offers for Michael Bourn.
- Camden Crazies tells us why Mark Reynolds is both better and worse than we think.
- Bleacher GM lists some players the Orioles could look to trade.
- The Friarhood says Anthony Rizzo arrived just in time to make a run at the NL Rookie of the Year award.
- Wahoo Blues broke down the positions the Indians could try to upgrade at the trade deadline.
- Cubs Stats analyzed the Cubs' losing streak.
- Bleacher Nation wonders how the Cubs' debt will impact them in free agency.
- The Process Report looks at how Kyle Farnsworth has improved with age.
- DRays Bay assessed B.J. Upton's trade value.
- DC is for Baseball covered the Nationals draft from head to toe.
- FanSpeak explains why the Nationals need to sign third round pick Matt Purke.
- the composite looks at the last year of Stephen Strasburg's career.
- Tomahawk Chop doesn't think the Braves played it safe with their first round pick, Sean Gilmartin.
- Blogging From The Bleachers says the Athletics' pitching depth is being tested.
- Bronx Bombers Report wonders if the Yankees could make a run at Francisco Rodriguez.
- Rising Apple looked ahead to the Mets' arbitration cases.
- COSFBA compared some nameless fantasy options.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here. Only one email per week, please.
Royals Designate Kevin Pucetas For Assignment
The Royals announced that they designated Kevin Pucetas for assignment to create 40-man roster space for top prospect Mike Moustakas (Twitter link).
The 6'4" right-hander has a 5.07 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 60 1/3 innings at Triple-A. Pucetas, a 17th round pick of the Giants in 2006, has a 3.85 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in six seasons as a minor league starter. However, the 26-year-old has yet to post an ERA below 5.00 in three seasons at Triple-A.
NL West Notes: Giants, Ludwick, Burroughs
No team in baseball has scored fewer runs than the Giants, who have the best record in the National League West. They aren't the only team in the division that's having trouble scoring. The Padres are 29th in MLB in runs and the Dodgers are 25th. Here's the latest from the low-scoring NL West…
- The Giants promoted 21-year-old catching prospect Hector Sanchez from Class A to Triple-A, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. Giants GM Brian Sabean has expressed confidence in Eli Whiteside, but the club is eyeing other catchers.
- Padres GM Jed Hoyer and Reds GM Walt Jocketty shot down a rumor about a possible Ryan Ludwick–Chris Heisey swap, according to Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Tom Groeschen of the Cincinnati Enquirer, respectively.
- D'Backs third baseman Sean Burroughs is back in the Major Leagues after five years of late nights and parties, writes MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch. "I always say I went out to Vegas to become a rock star," Burroughs said.