West Notes: Villalona, Darvish, Mariners
A few notes to pass along out of baseball's West divisions …
- Former Giants top prospect Angel Villalona is expected to report to Spring Training after missing the entirety of the past two seasons while dealing with legal issues in his native Dominican Republic, writes Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. Villalona, a first baseman, has been on the Giants' 40-man roster since last fall. He's 21 now, so he's hardly beyond old, but he'll have plenty of catching up to do.
- The Rangers have a plan in place to ease Yu Darvish's transition from NPB to MLB, writes Tom Verducci of SI.com. Essential to their strategy is to ween Darvish off the high-pitch-count outings he frequently posted in Japan in favor of more efficient pitch counts. As well, the Rangers will limit Darvish's exposure to AL West opponents during Spring Training, and they could skip a couple of his starts in the second half.
- Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times has a look at how the Rangers and Angels positioned themselves shrewdly for their recent TV contracts, and cautions that it won't necessarily play out the same way for the Mariners — or other teams, for that matter.
Orioles Notes: Manny, Roster, Kim
The Orioles were busy earlier today. They signed reliever Luis Ayala to a one-year contract and then designated outfielder Matt Angle for assignment to make room for the right-hander on the 40-man roster. Here's the latest on the O's …
- GM Dan Duquette told reporters he doesn't see a fit for Manny Ramirez with Baltimore, tweets Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com. We heard last week that the O's, A's and Blue Jays were among the suitors for Manny, so it looks like that pool has been diminished by one.
- Duquette also said it's unlikely that he'll add any more players between now and the beginning of Spring Training, tweets Kubatko. So, it looks like the roster is set for now, and with Manny out of the picture, Wilson Betemit will likely have DH duties all to himself.
- The Orioles also issued an apology, via press release, to Korea Baseball Organization and Korea Baseball Association for "the club’s unintentional breach of protocol in failing to tender a status check in the process of signing Seong-Min Kim." Kim is the 17-year-old left-hander whom the O's signed last month — prior to him graduating high school — much to the dismay of KBO. The southpaw has been suspended from playing or coaching in South Korea, while the Orioles have been banned from scouting KBO games.
- To stay on top of Orioles news, be sure to follow their MLBTR Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Mitchell
We'll keep track of today's outrights in this post …
- The Dodgers outrighted infielder Russ Mitchell to Triple-A Albuquerque, tweets Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. Mitchell had a cup of coffee with the Dodgers in each of the past two seasons, slugging four homers in 101 career plate appearances in that time.
Quick Hits: Oswalt, Renteria, Pirates, Indians
Links for Friday…
- ESPN.com's Jayson Stark says Roy Oswalt is not going to sign with the Rangers or Phillies. The right-hander could end up in Boston, where he doesn't seem to want to play, or with the Cardinals, who are interested if Oswalt agrees to their terms.
- Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com suggests the Brewers, Cubs and Astros are all fits for Edgar Renteria, who intends to play in 2012 (Twitter link).
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review discusses the difficulty of luring free agents to Pittsburgh and points out that the Pirates have never signed a free agent for more than $10.5MM, which is what Clint Barmes obtained earlier in the offseason.
- The Indians don't have any guaranteed contracts on the books beyond 2012, MLB.com's Jordan Bastian points out (on Twitter).
- Keith Law lists sleeper prospects for all 30 teams at ESPN.com.
- Matt Eddy of Baseball America has the complete minor league transactions for February 2nd-7th.
Cardinals Sign Scott Linebrink
The Cardinals have signed Scott Linebrink to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to Spring Training, B.J. Rains of FOXSportsMidwest tweets. SFX represents the right-hander.
Linebrink posted a 3.64 ERA with 7.0 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 38.8% ground ball rate in 54 1/3 innings for the Braves in 2011. The 35-year-old owns a 3.51 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 12 MLB seasons. The Angels were the one team that was publicly linked to Linebrink this offseason. Given their interest in Luis Ayala and others, it appears that GM Jerry Dipoto still seeks relief help.
The Cardinals have also added J.C. Romero and R.J. Swindle to the bullpen mix since winning the 2011 World Series.
Latest At RotoAuthority.com
There's lots of fantasy baseball content at MLBTR's sister site, RotoAuthority.com. Here are some recent highlights…
- Steve Adams is now chatting about all things fantasy baseball, so head over to RotoAuthority and send him your questions.
- Tom Warman suggests Matt Wieters, Adam Lind, Aaron Hill, Alexei Ramirez and Jason Heyward are among the underrated hitters who could help you win your league in 2012.
- Mike Axisa ranks this year's shortstops and Troy Tulowitzki, Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes lead the way. Mike's fourth-ranked shortstop might surprise some people.
- Edwin Van Bibber-Orr explains why Michael Morse will be a valuable fantasy pickup in 2012.
- Dan Mennella explains why Jhonny Peralta is a buy-low option and why it might be worth resisting the urge to draft Johnny Cueto early on.
Orioles Designate Matt Angle For Assignment
The Orioles announced that they have designated Matt Angle for assignment. The move creates 40-man roster space for Luis Ayala, whose signing is now official.
Angle debuted with the 2011 Orioles, playing all three outfield positions, and posting a .559 OPS in 95 plate appearances. The 26-year-old spent most of the season at Triple-A, where he posted a .271/.347/.344 line in 489 plate appearances.
AL East Notes: Uehara, Reyes, Red Sox
The Yankees are discussing a possible A.J. Burnett trade with Pittsburgh and the Orioles agreed to terms with Luis Ayala on a one-year deal earlier today. Here are some more AL East updates…
- The Orioles maintain interest in Koji Uehara of the Rangers, even after adding Matt Lindstrom and Ayala this week, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.
- Ayala and Dennys Reyes grew up together in a small town in Mexico, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun tweets. Both Paragon Sports International clients signed with the Orioles this offseason.
- The Red Sox have not avoided arbitration with David Ortiz, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney clarified this morning (Twitter link).
- ESPN.com's Jayson Stark suggests the Red Sox are still in play for Roy Oswalt, even though the right-hander doesn’t seem to want to sign in Boston.
A’s Notes: Ramirez, Ordonez, Matsui, Uehara
The A's agreed to extend GM Billy Beane through 2019 this week, but the offseason hasn't quite ended, so it's time to look ahead to Beane's next move. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and others have the details on the team's plans…
- Beane said he's looking to sign a DH for the middle of the lineup, Joe Stiglich of the Bay Area News Group tweets. The GM added that it's not easy to find a cleanup hitter right now.
- A's scouts saw Ramirez work out recently and they're interested, ESPN.com's Buster Olney confirms (Twitter link). A final decision on whether to try to sign him is expected within the next week.
- The A's continue pursuing Manny Ramirez and they're much more interested in him than Magglio Ordonez. Ordonez's health is more of a concern, Slusser writes. Signing Ramirez would be the last thing the A's do before starting Spring Training, and a deal could be reached after camp opens.
- People in the A's organization are intrigued by Kila Ka'aihue's power and if the A's sign Ramirez, Ka'aihue would likely get the chance to DH while Ramirez sits out his 50-game suspension.
- The A's have some interest in free agent DH Hideki Matsui, but he's a "real long-shot," Slusser reports. They've had some talks about Johnny Damon, who might be out of the team's price range.
- The A's are considering Koji Uehara, Slusser confirms. ESPN.com’s Buster Olney says “nothing is close” regarding Uehara and that the Rangers are looking to obtain a good return in talks with Baltimore (Twitter link). Ken Rosenthal reported Oakland's interest over the weekend.
NL West Notes: Rockies, Padres, Ayala
Matt Kemp's $160MM extension stands out as the largest financial commitment made by any NL West team so far this offseason and Michael Cuddyer's three-year, $31.5MM contract with the Rockies checks in as the biggest free agent deal signed by one of the NL West teams. Here are the latest links from the division…
- Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd told Troy Renck of the Denver Post that he expects his club to improve in 2012, but doesn’t expect any one player to radically alter the team’s chances of winning. “Overall, we don't think anyone we signed or traded for is going to sprinkle pixie dust on our issues or make them go away,” O’Dowd said. “That has to happen internally with us doing things the right way consistently."
- Padres president Tom Garfinkel said on XX1090 in San Diego that the reported terms of the team’s upcoming TV deal are too high, MLB.com’s Corey Brock tweets. USA Today reported yesterday that the Padres are poised to sign a 20-year deal worth $75MM annually.
- Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio and ESPN.com adds the Giants and Rangers to the list of teams that had interest in Luis Ayala before the right-hander agreed to terms with the Orioles (Twitter link).