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No Deadline For Hamels Extension

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Phillies lefty Cole Hamels has no deadline in contract extension talks, he told reporters today at a press conference.  MLB.com's Todd Zolecki has a transcript.

Asked whether Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee are good contract comparisons, Hamels didn't say much to reveal his asking price in years or salary.  He also didn't give a "yes" or "no" when asked if he'd take less to stay in Philadelphia, replying, "The only way to answer that is I don’t know any better."  When asked whether his agents are currently in negotations with the Phillies, Hamels said, "I know they're supposed to."

The Phillies will have every opportunity to extend Hamels, explained agent John Boggs in January, though not at Jered Weaver money.  Team president David Montgomery expects it to come down to what each side considers an appropriate length.  I imagine Hamels expects at least six guaranteed years, though that's a guess.

Yankees Notes: Chavez, Rivera, Martin

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Yankees position players are due in Tampa on Friday, and new designated hitter Raul Ibanez will be among them.  The latest on the team:

Extension Candidate: Brandon McCarthy

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The Athletics' one-year, $1MM base salary deal with righty Brandon McCarthy turned out to be one of the best contracts of the 2010-11 offseason, as the 28-year-old went on to rank 13th in the American League with a 3.32 ERA.  McCarthy showed an ability to go deep into games, ranking 10th in the league with 6.83 innings per start.  Despite having fewer than 550 career big league innings on his resume, McCarthy will reach six years of service this season.  It's been a long road to traditional free agency.  

McCarthyPrior to the 2005 season, Baseball America ranked McCarthy the 49th-best prospect in the game, though on the White Sox he was outranked by Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney.  In February of that year, manager Ozzie Guillen compared McCarthy to Jack McDowell, adding, "He's going to be something special."  By May, McCarthy made his big league debut, replacing an injured Orlando Hernandez to face Mark Prior.  McCarthy continued to fill in for El Duque periodically as a rookie, but the Sox went with Hernandez on the playoff roster and he came up big as a reliever in the team's World Championship run.

McCarthy spent most of '06 in Chicago's bullpen, and GM Kenny Williams noted he was "very much a part of our future" when July trade rumors swirled.  It seemed McCarthy finally had his full-time rotation spot when Williams traded Freddy Garcia to the Phillies in December of that year, but then the GM shipped McCarthy to the Rangers for John Danks and others in a bold trade a few weeks later.

A blister problem affected McCarthy for much of '07, but a bigger concern was revealed in August when he hit the DL for a stress fracture in his right shoulder.  The injury seemed minor at first, but then elbow soreness surfaced the following spring.  He pitched only 53 2/3 innings in '08 and was sidelined again in each of the '09 and '10 seasons due to the stress fracture in his shoulder.  By November of 2010, Rangers GM Jon Daniels decided to remove McCarthy from the 40-man roster, making him a free agent.

Toward the end of '09, McCarthy began to consider major changes to his repertoire and mechanics, he told Ryan Campbell of FanGraphs.  By the time he was pitching in Winter Ball in what amounted to a free agent audition in 2010, McCarthy had fine-tuned his new approach.  He scored a Major League contract with the A's and won their fifth starter job out of spring training.  That same shoulder stress reaction came back in May, leading to a six-week DL stint.  McCarthy stayed healthy and effective thereafter, earning a total of $1.95MM with incentives.  He received a $4.275MM contract for 2012, an arbitration raise of more than $2.3MM on his '11 earnings.

McCarthy has been a free agent before, but if he impresses again in 2012, this time will be different.  To date, it does not appear the A's have had extension talks with McCarthy.  Their hesitation is understandable, with McCarthy having totaled 229 pro innings from 2008-10.  He hasn't had an injury-free campaign since '06, and the same shoulder problem continues to affect him.

Still, there's a ton to like about McCarthy, who in 25 starts provided over $20MM worth of value last year according to FanGraphs.  Even with the DL stint last year, he tossed 170 2/3 innings over 25 starts.  He's 28 and comes with the pedigree of a top prospect.  He's got excellent command and posted a career-best 46.7% groundball rate last year, suppressing career-long home run concerns.  And for those thinking his success is owed to the Oakland Coliseum, consider McCarthy's 3.40 xFIP away from home last year.

In terms of starting pitchers extended entering walk years, Ryan Vogelsong, R.A. Dickey, Wandy Rodriguez, and Joe Blanton could be comparables, as our extension tracker shows.  Vogelsong and Dickey were feel-good stories who had unexpected success in one season, and both signed two-year deals in the $8MM range with club options attached.  Both, however, were coming off seasons in which they earned under a million bucks.  McCarthy earned almost $2MM last year, and makes $4.275MM this year.  Short of a completely lost 2012 season, he could at least replicate that salary on the free agent market.  He may not feel the urgency to cash in that Vogelsong and Dickey did.  

Blanton and Rodriguez had provided innings and made decent money going year-to-year through arbitration.  Blanton, the lesser of the two, had his free agent years valued at $8.5MM apiece.  I don't think McCarthy can get to that level right now, but he's probably worth more than Vogelsong, who gave up a free agent year for $5MM.  $12-13MM over two years would be a reasonable risk for the A's on McCarthy, if they're OK with the condition of his shoulder.  Otherwise, McCarthy will be pitching with free agency on the horizon and the possibility of becoming one of several solid options for teams unable to afford what's left of Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, Zack Greinke, and Anibal Sanchez.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Blake DeWitt Accepts Outright Assignment

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Cubs infielder Blake DeWitt accepted his outright assignment, tweets MLB.com's Carrie Muskat.  Despite a $1.1MM contract, the Cubs removed DeWitt from the 40-man roster this month to open a spot for Adrian Cardenas.  He has a chance to earn his way back on the roster with a good performance this spring.

DeWitt, the Cubs' main return in the July 2010 Ted Lilly/Ryan Theriot trade with the Dodgers, hit .265/.305/.413 in 243 plate appearances last year.  A left-handed hitter, DeWitt played left field, second base, and third base in 2011.

NL Central Notes: Burnett, Madson, Kvasnicka

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Let's celebrate perhaps the last year of a six-team NL Central with spring training links for all the clubs…

  • Pirates infielder Gustavo Nunez, who was taken from the Tigers in December's Rule 5 draft, was placed on the 60-day DL with a right ankle injury, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.  Side effects of the move: the Pirates buy some time before deciding whether to put Nunez on the 25-man roster, and a 40-man roster spot is opened for new acquisition A.J. Burnett.
  • The Burnett acquisition creates competition at the back end of the Pirates' rotation, writes Biertempfel.  He believes Kevin Correia and Jeff Karstens will battle for the last spot, if everyone is healthy.  Burnett talked to reporters this morning.  One interesting news tidbit was his comment that one ever asked him about a potential Angels trade, though he confirmed he's not interested in the West Coast for family reasons.  Unprompted, Burnett debunked the rumors about his wife's transportation preferences, saying with a smile, "She loves to fly."
  • Ryan Madson's $8.5MM commitment with the Reds is spread out over three budgets, explains ESPN's Buster Olney: "$2MM during the 2012 season, $2MM in deferred salary on Nov. 1, 2012 — which is the start of the 2013 budget — and another $2MM in deferred salary, without interest, on Nov. 1, 2013, at the outset of the 2014 fiscal year. In the middle of that, they have a $2.5MM buyout on an $11 million option for 2013."  On the topic of his one-year deal, Madson told MLB.com's Mark Sheldon, "I take it as motivation to show people again, to prove that it's real.  It's unfortunate it's that way but I'm not complaining. I'm very happy. I'm very privileged to have this opportunity, and I just want to run with it and show people that I will be OK."
  • Righty Brett Tomko always wanted to come back to Cincinnati, he told John Fay of the Enquirer.  Tomko said it's taken two years to recover from a 2009 pinched nerve.
  • The Astros could have a new player at all nine positions for Opening Day 2012 compared to '11, writes Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle.
  • Astros 2010 supplemental first-round pick Mike Kvasnicka is moving back to catcher from third base, tweets Levine.  Kvasnicka was recently ranked 25th among Astros prospects by Baseball America.
  • "I'm not one to look back with animosity, however people or fans want to view my time there," former Cubs GM Jim Hendry told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.  Hendry noted that it was "just nice" to be wanted by the Yankees, "the most storied franchise in sports."  He's now with the Yankees as a special assistant to GM Brian Cashman, and isn't worrying about becoming a GM again.
  • "They always say contract years turn out to be great years," Brewers starter Chris Narveson mentioned to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.  Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum are entering contract years, while Randy Wolf has a $10MM club option for '13 with a $1.5MM buyout.
  • Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright refuses to put a limit on his innings following 2011 Tommy John surgery, he told MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch, but she notes that GM John Mozeliak has said 200 frames is likely out of the question.

Phillies, Kendrick Agree To Two-Year Deal

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MONDAY: Kendrick's contract pays $3MM in 2012 and $4.5MM in '13, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com.  The righty can make up to $500K per season in incentives based on starts.

SUNDAY: Kyle Kendrick has agreed to a two-year, $7.5MM contract with the Phillies, the team announced.  The right-hander, avoided arbitration with the club earlier this offseason by agreeing to a one-year, $3.585MM deal. This new contract will cover the 2012-13 seasons, effectively overwriting that previous agreement. Kendrick, earned $2.45MM in 2011 as he posted a 3.22 ERA with 4.6 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 114.2 innings of work. 

The deal buys out two of the 27-year-old Kendrick's arbitration seasons. As a Super Two player, he'll be arbitration-eligible for a fourth and final time following the 2013 season. As a fellow Super Two starter, Jason Hammel's two-year, $7.75MM extension with the Rockies last year likely served as somewhat of a framework for Kendrick and his representation at SFX. Kendrick's deal looks looks a bit more favorable, as he'll earn slightly less money despite the fact that he has a lower career ERA over more innings with more wins than Hammel did when he signed his deal — all factors an arbitration panel would consider heavily.

MLBTR's Extension Tracker shows that Kendrick joins Hammel, Ryan Vogelsong, Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, Chris Carpenter, and R.A. Dickey as pitchers to sign a two-year extension over the past two years. A look at our Transaction Tracker reveals that this is the fourth multi-year deal given out by GM Ruben Amaro Jr. this offseason. Jonathan Papelbon, Jimmy Rollins, and Laynce Nix all secured multi-year commitments via free agency.

Tim Dierkes and Steve Adams contributed to this post.

Rangers Sign Neal Cotts

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The Rangers signed lefty reliever Neal Cotts to a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned.  Cotts will not be in Major League camp, notes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.  Cotts, 32 in March, last pitched in the Majors for the Cubs in '09 before going down for Tommy John surgery.  He later signed minor league deals with the Pirates and Yankees, though the Yankees released him in February last year.

NL East Notes: Phillies, Wright, Mets, Blanton

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This morning we learned that Mike Cameron has decided to retire after 17 seasons in the majors.  The 39-year-old played for eight different teams during his career and won three Gold Gloves.  Here's more on the Nats and other notes from around the National League East..

  • Last week, the three-way trade the Phillies were looking to send Joe Blanton to the Angels for Bobby Abreu, then flip Abreu to the Yankees for A.J. Burnett, sources tell Buster Olney of ESPN.com (via Twitter).  The Phillies' thinking was that two years of Burnett would have provided at least a bit of a safety net if they lost Cole Hamels to free agency, Olney tweets.
  • Cameron's retirement will force the Nationals to get creative in center field and possibly look for another right-handed hitter at the position, writes Mark Zuckerman of Nats Insider.  Alternatively, Washington could let either Rick Ankiel or Roger Bernadina take the job outright or move Jayson Werth to center field and put Bryce Harper in right.
  • Bill Ladson of MLB.com (via Twitter) spoke with Cameron who said Nationals GM Mike Rizzo tried to talk the veteran out of retiring.  The center fielder said that he made up his mind last Wednesday.
  • Third baseman David Wright's future with the Mets is likely independent of the club's performance, writes Dan Martin of the New York Post.  The Mets hold a $16MM team option on the 29-year-old for next season, but Wright can void that option if he is traded.
  • Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton isn't worried about hearing his name in trade rumors, writes Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  The Phillies have reportedly shopped Blanton in order to create payroll flexibility and explored a three-way trade to land A.J. Burnett before he was traded to the Pirates.

MLBTR Originals

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Here's a look at this week's original reporting and analysis from the MLBTR staff..

Yankees Negotiating With Ibanez, Chavez

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SUNDAY,8:40pm: Eric Chavez confirmed to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (via Twitter) that he was waiting on the A.J. Burnett deal to come back to the Yanks, but the veteran says that his return is still 50-50.

6:06pm: The Yankees have a framework in place for a deal worth about $1MM plus incentives with Raul Ibanez, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  The deal has been on hold, however, because the club first had to be sure that they didn't have to take on a DH type such as Garrett Jones, Travis Hafner, or Bobby Abreu in an A.J. Burnett trade, Sherman tweets.

There's also mutual interest between Eric Chavez and the club in a return and that deal would also work out to $1MM plus incentives, but not before Ibanez's deal is finalized (Twitter links).

SATURDAY, 2:46pm: The Yankees have been negotiating extensively with representatives for Raul Ibanez, tweets Ken Davidoff of Newsday.  An agreement seems very likely once the A.J. Burnett trade is finalized.

This morning, we learned that the Yankees still prefer Ibanez to Johnny Damon because he's better against right-handers and in the field.  The club is reportedly intent on adding two bats to the fold.

 

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