MLBTR Seeks Part-Time Writers
We’re looking to add to the MLB Trade Rumors writing team. The position pays on an hourly basis. The criteria:
- Exceptional knowledge of all 30 baseball teams, no discernible bias. Knowledge of hot stove concepts like arbitration and free agent compensation.
- Availability to regularly work a 1-5pm CDT shift or 5-11pm CDT shift every Sunday is required. Weeknight shifts may also become available.
- Writing experience is necessary and online writing experience is preferred.
- Attention to detail and ability to follow the MLBTR style and tone.
- Ability to analyze articles and craft intelligent, well-written posts summing up the news concisely.
- Ability to use Twitter and an RSS feed reader such as Google Reader. In general, you must be able to multi-task.
- If you're interested, email mlbtrhelp@gmail.com and explain how you stand out in a couple of short paragraphs. Hundreds will apply, so we cannot respond to most applications.
Aaron Miles Aims To Play In 2012
Free agent infielder Aaron Miles hopes to play this season, so he's staying in shape in anticipation of the right opportunity. Agent David Schwartz says the 35-year-old Miles will be ready if an opening emerges.
Miles became a fixture on last year's Dodgers team, hitting .275/.314/.346 in 490 plate appearances. He hasn’t played much shortstop in recent years, but Schwartz says his client can fill in at short, second and third if necessary. Miles spent considerable time at second and third last year, and appeared briefly at shortstop, a position he hasn't played much since 2008.
Quick Hits: Lannan, Martin, Nationals, Orioles
Giants closer Brian Wilson will undergo his second Tommy John surgery tomorrow. Over the weekend we heard that his season was over and that another elbow procedure was likely. Make sure you follow @CloserNews on Twitter for all your fantasy bullpen needs. Meanwhile, here's the latest from around the league…
- Nationals southpaw John Lannan is still not drawing trade interest according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. His $5MM salary continues to be a problem, with one executive saying "teams would rather use a low-paid Minor Leaguer for the fifth spot before dealing with Lannan's money."
- The Yankees have no plans to talk to Russell Martin about a contract extension soon, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Martin will become a free agent after this season, and the two sides briefly discussed a multi-year deal this past offseason.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that a panel of baseball officials will help resolve a local television revenue dispute between the Nationals and Orioles. The two clubs share ownership of MASN, but the O's hold a substantially larger stake. The current deal was hammered out when the Nats moved to Washington in 2005.
Minor Moves: Pendleton, Stange, Main, Canham
Here are the most recent minor moves, via Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus and Matt Eddy of Baseball America…
- The Rays have signed right-hander Lance Pendleton, reports Roger Mooney of The Tampa Tribune (on Twitter). The 28-year-old posted a 6.75 ERA in 18 2/3 innings split between the Yankees and Astros last season.
- The Diamondbacks released right-hander Daniel Stange, Goldstein tweets. Stange, who pitched in the Majors in 2010, owns a 4.36 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in seven minor league seasons. Goldstein considered the 2006 seventh rounder a sleeper early on in his minor league career.
- The Marlins signed Michael Main, Goldstein tweets. Miami has listed the 2007 first rounder as an outfielder, though the Rangers drafted him as a right-handed pitcher. Main posted a 4.95 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 305 innings in the minor league systems of the Rangers and Giants.
- The Cardinals signed catcher Mitch Canham, Goldstein tweets. The Padres selected Canham in the supplemental first round back in 2007.
- The Orioles released former minor league closer Winston Abreu, Eddy tweets. The right-hander signed with the Mexico City Red Devils.
Make Or Break Year: James Loney
Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw are arguably the best player and the best pitcher in baseball, respectively, and both came up through the Dodgers' farm system. Los Angeles has also produced an All-Star closer (Jonathan Broxton), an All-Star catcher (Russell Martin), another All-Star starting pitcher (Chad Billingsley), and numerous other pieces in recent years. One player who has not developed as expected is first baseman James Loney.
One year ago, the 27-year-old Loney was a non-tender candidate after hitting .267/.329/.395 with ten homers in 648 plate appearances in 2010. He started slowly last season, hitting just .254/.305/.327 through his first 434 plate appearances before turning it on in the second half and hitting .388/.438/.679 in his final 148 trips to the plate. That late-season hot streak likely saved Loney's job, as the Dodgers tendered him a contract and will pay him $6.375MM in 2012.
The Dodgers have been using the left-handed hitting Loney as part of a first base platoon with the right-handed Juan Rivera so far this year, and he's hitting just .194/.306/.258 in the early going. He's a career .299/.359/.453 hitter against righties and .250/.307/.365 against lefties. Other than seven innings of right field experience much earlier in his career, he's limited to first base and doesn't offer any versatility.
Loney will be a free agent after the season and first basemen with minimal power usually aren't hot commodities on the open market. His career high is 15 homers back in 2007, which he did in just 96 games. Since then he's hit no more than 13 homers while playing no less than 158 games in a season. A player Loney's age is just entering his prime, but his performance has declined in recent years and now he might hit the open market with his value at its nadir.
Photo courtesy of US Presswire.
Blue Jays Would Like To Add Impact Bat
The Blue Jays dabbled in the Prince Fielder market this past offseason, and today GM Alex Anthopoulos told Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio that he would still like to add an impact bat.
"[If] I had to pick one area [to improve], you'd love to get one more bat," said the GM. "That's not to take anything away from our offense – 'cause we were top five in the American League in offense last year and I think we're improved – but you just see how over six months having that great offense can really carry you … One more middle of the order bat right now would be outstanding to just wear down the other teams."
Toronto came into today with 54 runs scored, the fifth most in the AL despite sluggish starts from Jose Bautista (.222/.348/.417) and J.P. Arencibia (.063/.118/.156). With Adam Lind showing signs of life after two down years, the most obvious spot for an offensive upgrade would be left field, although Eric Thames likely has a long leash and Travis Snider is lurking in Triple-A.
Ivan Rodriguez To Retire
Ivan Rodriguez will announce his retirement, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports (on Twitter). The announcement will take place with the Rangers on Monday, the team he started his career with.
Rodriguez, 40, spent last season with the Nationals, hitting .218/.281/.323 with two homers in 137 plate appearances. That does not do his Hall of Fame caliber career justice, however. Pudge is a .296/.334/.464 career hitter with 2,844 career hits and 311 homers. He's a 14-time All-Star, a 13-time Gold Glove award winner, a seven-time Silver Slugger award winner, and the 1999 AL MVP. He finished in the top ten of the MVP voting three other times.
During his peak from 1998-2004, Rodriguez hit .322/.363/.538 with 162 homers. He played in 878 of 1,134 possible games, roughly 125 per season. Among catchers, Pudge ranks first all-time in hits (2,844), first in doubles (572), seventh in homers (311), fifth in RBI (1,332), and third in WAR (74.1). Thirteen of his 21 big league seasons were spent with the Rangers, but he also played for the Marlins, Tigers, Yankees, Astros, and Nats. Pudge helped Florida to the 2003 World Series title.
Rodriguez earned over $120MM during his career according to Baseball-Reference.com. His $8.5MM annual salary from 1999-2002 was the second highest annual salary for catcher in baseball history at the time. He was the highest paid catcher in baseball during the 2006 and 2007 seasons at $10MM each year.
Photo courtesy of US Presswire.
Quick Hits: Wright, Bowden, Jurrjens
The Rays locked Evan Longoria up to a historic six-year, $17.5MM extension on this date in 2008. Then a rookie with just six games of experience, Longoria has since evolved into one of the game's top players. Here are today's links…
- An insider recently told Andy Martino of the New York Daily News that he has a gut feeling the Mets will extend David Wright (Twitter link). However, an extension for the hot-hitting third baseman isn’t a priority at the moment. The Mets have a $16MM club option for Wright's 2013 season.
- Michael Bowden hadn’t been placed on waivers as of yesterday, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com tweets. The Red Sox recently designated Bowden for assignment along with Luis Exposito, who has since been claimed by the Orioles.
- Tim Lincecum, Kevin Youkilis and Jair Jurrjens are among the players who may be making their general managers nervous so far this season, Jim Bowden writes at ESPN.com.
Twins Designate Luke Hughes For Assignment
The Twins have designated infielder Luke Hughes for assignment, the team announced. The move creates room on the roster for Jason Marquis, who was recalled after opening the season in the minors.
Hughes, 27, has hit .224/.285/.342 in 335 career plate appearances. He's spent time at every infield spot other than shortstop and is a .268/.330/.419 career hitter in the minors. Hughes is out of options and could not be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers.
Marquis will be making his first start for the Twins tonight. He made a pair of tune-up starts at Double-A after spending time away from the team because his daughter was in a bicycle accident near the end of Spring Training.
Top First-Time Arbitration Eligible Catchers For 2013
Carlos Santana and Jonathan Lucroy recently signed extensions, but some other catchers are on track for year to year raises through arbitration. Three of the game's top young backstops will be arbitration eligible for the first time following the 2012 season. Matt Wieters, Alex Avila, Buster Posey are well-positioned for 2013 salaries in excess of $2MM if they stay healthy this year.
Deals from long ago, players from different service classes and long-term extensions won't generally have sway in the arbitration cases for players such as Wieters, Avila and Posey who determine salaries year to year. Catchers are typically self-contained in arbitration, meaning players at other positions don't figure into the discussion most of the time. For comps to have pull with agents (and the MLBPA) and teams (and the Labor Relations Department), they have to be recent and relevant.
What's relevant? First-time eligible catchers who agreed to one-year deals via the arbitration system provide the framework within which the salaries for Wieters, Avila and Posey will be determined. Reaching back more than five years would be pushing it, which further limits the selection of comparables. Many top catchers (Brian McCann, Yadier Molina) signed long-term deals and other potentially comparable catchers like A.J. Pierzynski went to arbitration long ago (post-2003). These cases aren't centrally important to Wieters, Avila and Posey.
We're left with the Arb-1 salaries for Russell Martin ($3.9MM), Geovany Soto ($3MM), Nick Hundley ($2MM), Miguel Montero ($2MM) and Mike Napoli ($2MM). Each of those settlements came within the last five years and could help determine the earnings for this offseason's first-time eligible backstops. Before signing his first extension, Joe Mauer and the Twins exchanged arbitration submissions and arrived at a $3.9MM midpoint ($4.5MM vs. $3.3MM). Those six-year-old filing numbers could also figure in to next winter's cases.
Posey didn't play after a gruesome home-plate collision ended his season last May, so there's no way he'll measure up to players such as Avila, Wieters, Soto and Martin in terms of bulk stats like games, plate appearances and RBI. Posey resembles Soto, another NL Rookie of the Year winner, on a per-game basis, but he probably won't catch up to the Cubs backstop in terms of counting stats.
With a full season, Posey should have better bulk numbers than Hundley, Napoli and Montero did as first-time eligible catchers. Each member of that trio obtained $2MM their first time through the arbitration process, so a salary in the $2-3MM range is within reach for Posey.
If Avila plays in 104 games, makes 470 plate appearances, hits 23 homers and drives in 69 this season, he’ll have matched the career stats Soto had as a first-time eligible player. Avila could match Martin in homers, and a better platform year is within reach. But in terms of most significant counting stats, Avila won't measure up to Wieters and Martin, the record holder for first-time eligible catchers. Still, Avila's similarity to Soto should set him up for a comparable payday in the $3MM range.
Wieters will have distinguished himself from $2MM catchers such as Hundley, Montero, Napoli and John Buck by the time the season ends. In fact, it's not hard to argue that he has already done so. The switch hitter currently compares well with Soto's post-2010 career numbers despite his relative inexperience. He'll match Soto's career numbers with eight more homers and 21 RBI, but the Cubs backstop had a better career batting line. Even so, $3MM seems quite attainable for Wieters.
With a healthy season, Wieters would surpass some of the numbers Martin had as a first-time eligible player. The Orioles catcher is on track to have more games, plate appearances and RBI than Martin did when he set his record after the 2008 season. And Wieters' bulk numbers are already superior to those Mauer had as a first-time eligible player. However, Wieters doesn't offer Martin's speed or the batting average and on-base percentage that Martin and Mauer both had. Wieters' 2013 salary could be closer to $4MM than it is to $3MM, but it's unreasonable to expect him to break any records just yet.
These informal projections could change quickly. As Posey knows all too well, injuries can interrupt seasons and limit bargaining power. Playing time is one of the most important determinants of a hitter's salary, so these three catchers must stay healthy to remain on track. If all goes well, their salaries will climb above $2MM following the 2012 season.
Photo courtesy of US Presswire.