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Archives for February 2012

NL Central Notes: Garza, DeWitt, Jocketty, Brewers

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The Pirates have agreed to acquire A.J. Burnett from the Yankees in exchange for two minor league prospects and cash, though the trade won't be finalized until Burnett passes a physical and the commissioner's office signs off on the $20MM the Yanks are sending to Pittsburgh to help cover Burnett's salary.

Here's more news from around the NL Central…

  • Matt Garza was mum about the possibility of a multiyear deal between he and the Cubs.  “I don’t talk about that,” Garza told MLB.com's Carrie Muskat. “That’s between my agent and myself, and my agent and the front office. If they want to contact us, whatever way it works, is great. My main focus is getting ready for April 5 and having fun again.”
  • Also from Muskat, the Cubs are still waiting on Blake DeWitt's status.  DeWitt was designated for assignment on February 6, and if he clears waivers, he can either choose free agency or join the Cubs as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.  
  • Since becoming the Reds' general manager, Walt Jocketty has re-acquired several players that he originally acquired when he was the Cardinals' GM, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
  • The Brewers are already over budget for 2012, reports Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  Haudricourt discussed several Brewers-related topics as part of this chat with fans.

AL Central Notes: Inge, Royals, Hernandez, Twins

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Happy birthday to former White Sox farmhand Michael Jordan, who turns 49 years old today.  Jordan played one season of Double-A ball with the Birmingham Barons in 1994, hitting .202/.289/.266 in 497 plate appearances.  On the strength of those numbers, Jordan was named ESPN's greatest athlete of the 20th century.  In hindsight, it's possible ESPN may have also taken Jordan's basketball career into consideration, but you'd have to take that argument up with the gang at MLBTR's new sister site Hoops Rumors. 

Here's the latest from around the AL Central…

  • Brandon Inge will be given a chance at the Tigers' second base job during Spring Training, manager Jim Leyland told reporters (including John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press).  Inge joins Ryan Raburn and Ramon Santiago in battling for playing time at second.  With Miguel Cabrera now playing third, Inge finds himself without a position.  Inge has been a strong defensive third baseman throughout his career (a +5.6 UZR/150) but he has never played second during his 14-year professional career.
  • Rany Jazayerli thinks the Royals should have acquired at least one more proven starting pitcher this offseason, arguing that such a move could have possibly given Kansas City a shot at the division title.
  • Roberto Hernandez (a.k.a. Fausto Carmona) is visiting baseball camps in the Dominican Republic to teach young players not to lie about their identity or true age, writes Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Jorge Brito, Hernandez's agent, didn't say whether these visits were necessary for Hernandez to regain his ability to leave the Dominican and rejoin the Indians.
  • MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger gives his thoughts about what the Twins' Opening Day roster could look like.

Poll: Who Had The Better Offseason, Marlins Or Nats?

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The NL East was the most improved division in baseball this winter and it was almost entirely due to the efforts of just two teams.  The Marlins and Nationals both made big strides towards joining the Phillies and Braves in what could be a spirited pennant race this season.  (Sorry, Mets fans.)

With their new ballpark opening this April, the Marlins decided to take the opportunity to overhaul the entire franchise, debuting new uniforms, a new logo and even a new name, as the Florida Marlins made way for the Miami Marlins.  The first major move came when Ozzie Guillen was hired as the team's new manager and then the Fish took the free agent market by storm.  Miami signed Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell for a combined $191MM — a stunning outlay for traditional small-payroll club.  The starting rotation was further bolstered by trades for Wade LeBlanc and the controversial Carlos Zambrano.  Between these moves and Josh Johnson and Hanley Ramirez looking to rebound from injury and a poor season, respectively, it's easy to see why some pundits have picked the Marlins to reach the playoffs this year.

The Nationals are also getting some love from the preseason analysts.  Washington's offseason was a bit more low-key to start with, as the club focused on bolstering their minor league depth, re-signing Chien-Ming Wang and adding Ryan Perry to the bullpen.  January, however, was much busier, as the Nats dealt four of their best prospects in order to acquire Gio Gonzalez from the A's and then promptly locked the left-hander up in a five-year extension.  GM Mike Rizzo then completed his search for starting pitching by signing Edwin Jackson to a one-year contract, thus pairing Jackson and Gonzalez along with Wang, Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmermann in what could be one of the strongest rotations in baseball.

The Marlins are clearly trying to win now.  The Nationals may still be looking to 2013 as their true "go for it" year, but with Strasburg recovered from Tommy John surgery and other impact players like Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse on board, it wouldn't be surprising to see Washington contend right now.  With all this in mind, which team's offseason do you think was the most impressive?

Marlins Links: Gaby, Anibal, Reyes, Cespedes, Pudge

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Here's the latest from South Beach…

  • Once Albert Pujols was off the market, the Marlins told Gaby Sanchez and his agent that rumors about Miami pursuing Prince Fielder were false and that the club wasn't looking for another first baseman, reports MLB.com's Joe Frisaro.  Sanchez said he wasn't offended that the Marlins were pursuing Pujols: "He's proven what he can do for 10 straight years. I still have so much time to go."
  • Anibal Sanchez told reporters (including MLB.com's David Villavicencio) says the Marlins haven't approached him about a contract extension but he'd be open to signing such a deal.  MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith recently examined Sanchez as an extension candidate.
  • Sanchez also didn't mind his recent arbitration hearing with the Marlins, where he won his case and earned an $8MM salary for 2012.  "I think everybody thought they were going to say a lot of things that were bad about me. But I didn't think they said anything bad or that I didn't know. It's part of the business," Sanchez said.
  • Jose Reyes understands that the Mets didn't have the finances to re-sign him, but he wished his former team would've at least made some kind of offer, reports Dan Martin of the New York Post.
  • The Marlins offered Yoenis Cespedes a six-year, $36MM contract, reports Frisaro.  The team wanted a six-year deal since they felt Cespedes would need minor league seasoning and didn't want to pay him a large salary if he'd be spending time in the minors.  Cespedes instead agreed to sign with the A's for $36MM over four years.   
  • With Cespedes gone, Frisaro says the Fish aren't expected to add any more players before Spring Training, though they could look for veteran starting pitching later in camp.  The Marlins aren't interested in Ivan Rodriguez for the backup catching job.

Red Sox Notes: Varitek, Pitching, Trainers, Melancon

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It was on this day in 1971 that the Red Sox signed Carl Yastrzemski to a three-year, $500K deal that was (at the time) the richest player contract in baseball history.  Fast-forward 40 years and the annual minimum salary for a Major League player in 2011 was $414K.

Here are some items about the modern-day Sox…

  • The 64-player roster released by the Red Sox yesterday is "most likely" not going to change as their Spring Training camp begins, a source tells WEEI.com's Rob Bradford.  This means that it is unlikely that the Sox will add free agents like Roy Oswalt or Jason Varitek to the mix.
  • Varitek has "not made any decisions yet" about playing in 2012, Varitek's agent Scott Boras tells Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald (Twitter link).  In case you missed it, another longtime BoSox veteran will announce his retirement today, as Tim Wakefield is hanging up the glove after 19 Major League seasons.
  • The club's pitching woes have been caused by the lack of homegrown arms delivering over the last two seasons, says WEEI.com's Alex Speier.
  • Following last season's collapse and all of the subsequent front office changes, the Red Sox are entering their most uncertain Spring Training in years, writes Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. 
  • Also from Abraham, he looks at ten pressing questions facing the Red Sox heading into the 2012 campaign.
  • As part of a larger piece about team's offseason turnover, John Tomase of the Boston Herald notes that the Red Sox parted ways with their team doctor and strength coach from last season and also demoted trainer Mike Reinold.  "Tired of watching their multimillion dollar investments break down, the organization cleaned house on the medical and training side of things, with the hope that new blood will reach players who in many cases resisted pleas to improve their conditioning," Tomase writes.
  • Mark Melancon deserves an open shot at the closer's job, argues ESPN Boston's Gordon Edes.  Melancon is currently expected to serve as a set-up man for another new acquisition, Andrew Bailey.

Tim Wakefield To Announce Retirement

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Tim Wakefield will announce his retirement at a press conference later today, according to a Red Sox media release.  The veteran knuckleballer had been considering the decision, saying that while he was interested in pitching in 2012, his first choice would be to return to the Red Sox, who were only offering him a minor league contract.

Wakefield, 45, was an eighth-round pick for the Pirates in the 1988 amateur draft.  He burst onto the Major League scene in 1992 by posting a 2.15 ERA in 13 starts to help Pittsburgh win the NL East, and also went 2-0 in his two NLCS starts.  Wakefield struggled afterwards, however, and was eventually released by the Bucs during Spring Training in 1995.  He signed with the Red Sox six days later and the rest was history, as Wakefield went on to spend the next 17 seasons hurling his knuckler at Fenway Park.

Wakefield retires with a career 200-180 record, a 4.41 ERA and 2156 strikeouts over 3226 1/3 innings pitched.  He is Boston's all-time leader in starts and innings pitched, and his 186 wins with the Red Sox ranks him third on the franchise's all-time wins list, just six behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young's shared mark of 192.  According to Baseball Reference, Wakefield earned just under $56MM in his 19-year career.

A.J. Burnett Rumors: Friday

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As we heard yesterday, the reported framework for an A.J. Burnett trade between the Pirates and Yankees was that Burnett would join the Bucs in exchange for two minor prospects and $13-$15MM in salary relief.  The trade is expected to be finalized within the next day or two, so here's the latest news…

  • The trade is "nearing [the] finish line," tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  The two prospects the Yankees will receive in the deal are A-level players and "not considered much."
  • The deal is "a bold, sharp major-league move" for the Pirates, writes Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
  • The Pirates and Yankees hope to take the proposed deal to the Commissioner's Office today, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney.  The trade requires league approval due to the large amount of cash involved.

Phillies Notes: Soler, Valdez, Wigginton

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Here's the latest from the City Of Brotherly Love…

  • "Industry insiders" consider the Phillies to be a longshot for Jorge Soler, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com.  Though the Phils are known to be one of Soler's top suitors, the team has never been big spenders on the international market and may balk at Soler's price tag.  Salisbury hears from one baseball executive who predicts Soler will end up with the Cubs, who are reportedly ready to offer the 19-year-old Cuban outfielder as much as $27.5MM.
  • The Phillies traded Wilson Valdez to the Reds since GM Ruben Amaro felt his team already had several other utility options in place, reports MLB.com's Todd Zolecki as part of a reader mailbag.  Zolecki says he was personally a little surprised by the Valdez deal.
  • One of those other utility options, Ty Wigginton, is excited to play for a contender, reports Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  In that piece, Amaro mentioned that Wigginton had been highly regarded by several Phillies scouts over the last few years.
  • David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News looks at five key questions surrounding the Phillies as they open Spring Training.

Quick Hits: Arbitration, Hamilton, Castillo, Kazmir

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Condolences go out to the family of Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, who passed away today following a long bout with cancer. He was 57. Carter hit .262/.335/.439 and made eleven All-Star Games in his 19 seasons, 12 of which came with the Expos. He backstopped the Mets to the 1986 World Championship. Here is some news from around the league…

  • The 142 players who filed for arbitration last month averaged a 112% raise reports the AP (via ESPN). That's down from 123% last offseason and the lowest average raise since 106% in 2007. Check out our Arbitration Tracker for the answers to all of your arbitration questions.
  • Rangers GM Jon Daniels reiterated that contract extension talks with Josh Hamilton are on hold, reports Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas. "The priority needs to be his recovery and his family and, secondarily, getting ready for the season," said the GM. "We're not going to get in the way of those things with contract talk.
  • The Diamondbacks have signed 16-year-old Dominican right-hander Luis Castillo for $80K according to a release, which said his fastball sits 84-87 mph. He also throws a curveball and a changeup.
  • The trade market is likely to heat up as the season progresses, writes MLB.com's Richard Justice. As he explains, most GMs feel confident in their team this time of year and prefer to take their time evaluating needs.
  • Scott Kazmir, who had been scheduled to pitch in front of scouts yesterday, won’t audition until Friday, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets. The left-handed free agent is feeling well, Olney writes.
  • Brandon Webb is throwing painlessly off of flat ground, agent Jonathan Maurer told Olney. Webb will throw in front of scouts at some point, Olney tweets.
  • Newsday’s Ken Davidoff adds up teams’ payroll commitments for 2015 and beyond and finds that nine clubs — the Orioles, Cubs, Indians, Astros, Royals, Mets, Padres, Giants and Mariners — haven’t committed a thing for ’15 or beyond.
  • Yahoo’s Jeff Passan examines the market for the top remaining free agents, including Roy Oswalt, Mike Gonzalez and a crowd of designated hitters.
  • Joe Jordan, the Phillies' new director of player development, breaks down a number of the team's top prospects with Joe Berkery of the Philadelphia Daily News.

Mike Axisa contributed to this post.

AL East Links: Kazmir, Orioles, Epstein, Wakefield

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The Red Sox announced minor league deals with Ross Ohlendorf and Mauro Gomez earlier today. Here are the rest of the links from their division…

  • The Red Sox will not be one of the teams in attendance for Scott Kazmir's workout tomorrow, reports Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe (on Twitter). The southpaw's audition was supposed to be today, but it was pushed back.
  • Korean pitching prospect Seong-Min Kim originally agreed to a $575K deal with the Orioles, Ben Badler of Baseball America reports.
  • Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun hears that while MLB hasn't approved the contract between the Orioles and the 17-year-old left-hander, MLB didn't technically void it. In any case it seems the deal for Kim will not go through as originally announced.
  • A Red Sox official expects compensation for Theo Epstein to be finalized "very soon," Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe tweets. The Red Sox and Cubs recently sent briefs to the commissioner's office explaining their perspective on the issue of how to compensate Boston for Epstein's departure to Chicago.
  • Agent Barry Meister didn't comment on whether Tim Wakefield will accept a minor league deal from the Red Sox, Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com tweets. It doesn't appear that Wakefield will accept the offer, Edes writes.

Mike Axisa contributed to this post.

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