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Archives for April 2012

Moores To Sell Padres

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 10, 2012 at 3:52pm CDT

The Padres announced that chairman John Moores intends to sell the team. Steve Greenberg and John Moag, who are advising Moores on the team's sale, say the process could take months.

"Three years ago, I made the difficult decision to sell the club, and I didn’t expect to have to make that same decision again,” Moores said in a press release.

The Padres had planned for Jeff Moorad to become the team's controlling partner, but the former agent recently dropped his application after failing to generate enough support from MLB owners. The Dodgers will soon sell for $2.15 billion, which could provide Moores with leverage as he proceeds with the sale.

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San Diego Padres

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Offseason In Review: Cleveland Indians

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 10, 2012 at 2:35pm CDT

The Indians fortified their rotation and signed a first baseman, but choosing to retain two longtime players set the team back in the short-term.

Major League Signings

  • Roberto Hernandez, SP: one year, $7MM. Club option exercised, later re-structured.
  • Grady Sizemore, OF: one year, $5MM.
  • Casey Kotchman, 1B: one year, $3MM.
  • Total spend: $15MM.

Notable Minor League Signings

Dan Wheeler, Ryan Rohlinger, Julio Lugo, Ryan Spilborghs, Fred Lewis, Jeremy Accardo, Argenis Reyes, Chris Ray, Robinson Tejeda, Andy LaRoche, Jose Lopez, Felix Pie.

Trades and Claims

  • Acquired SP Derek Lowe and $10MM from the Braves for RP Chris Jones.
  • Acquired SP Kevin Slowey from the Rockies for RP Zach Putnam.
  • Acquired RP Jairo Asencio from the Braves for cash considerations.
  • Acquired 1B Russ Canzler from the Rays for $100K.
  • Acquired OF Aaron Cunningham from the Padres for RP Cory Burns.
  • Acquired cash considerations from the Blue Jays for IF Luis Valbuena.

Extensions

  • Asdrubal Cabrera, SS: two years, $16.5MM.
  • Carlos Santana, C: five years, $21MM.

Notable Losses

  •  Kosuke Fukudome, Jim Thome, Chad Durbin, Kelvin De La Cruz, Putnam, Burns, Valbuena.

When the offseason began, the Indians lacked outfield depth and answers in the rotation. They addressed both weaknesses over the winter, and could be considered a sleeper team for 2012. But this team also has its share of shortcomings.

Asdrubal Cabrera - Indians

Back in October, the Indians faced the possibility that they’d lose longtime fixtures Fausto Carmona and Grady Sizemore. They moved quickly to exercise Carmona’s option and allowed Sizemore to hit the open market before signing him at a bargain rate. At the time, both decisions seemed prudent.

However, Carmona had been using an assumed name and lying about his age. The Dominican government dropped charges against the right-hander, who's now known as Roberto Hernandez. He remains in the Dominican Republic, and though the Indians have re-structured his contract, it’s still a blow for the team. Hernandez isn’t helping them win games and he could face a suspension upon his return if the Juan Carlos Oviedo situation is to serve as precedent. The Indians now face an uncomfortable set of circumstances, even though Antonetti’s decision made sense in October, when he exercised the groundballer’s option.

Sizemore’s injury came as less of a surprise than Carmona's identity issues, but it's similarly disappointing from the Indians’ perspective. He'll miss at least another month or two recovering from back surgery, and Shelley Duncan will get lots of playing time in left as Michael Brantley shifts to center. The Indians invested considerably to retain Carmona and Sizemore, but there’s no guarantee either player will help the team win in 2012. The team’s biggest offseason investments have already become its biggest disappointments.

"Grady’s injury certainly hurts," Antonetti told me via email. "But I feel as if we were able to improve the team from last year. If we stay healthy and our young players develop, we have a chance to have a good team."

That Duncan, Jack Hannahan and Casey Kotchman occupy three of the team's four corner positions may be cause for concern. None of those players have hit 15 homers in a Major League season. However, Hannahan and Kotchman are expected to provide strong defense behind the Indians' pitching staff. Third base prospect Lonnie Chisenhall and first baseman Matt LaPorta, who are both playing at Triple-A Columbus, have more offensive upside than the team's current starters and could join the big league club by the time the season's up.

The Indians added ground ball pitcher Derek Lowe to the rotation soon after the offseason began, taking on $5MM of the right-hander's 2012 salary. Though the Braves seemed eager to move Lowe, this acquisition makes sense for the Indians. He's an extreme ground ball pitcher who should provide 180 innings of league average production in 2012 (last year's 5.05 ERA was deceptively high). The Indians traded for fly ball pitcher Kevin Slowey later on, and he'll provide depth at Triple-A for now.

The Indians appeared to have interest in left field/DH types such as Jason Kubel, Michael Cuddyer and Josh Willingham early in the offseason. Later, the team was linked to players such as Vladimir Guerrero and Bobby Abreu, so the team had interest in adding offense.

If the Indians get off to a hot start, like they did in 2011, I'm guessing they'll be in the market for a left fielder who can hit. Duncan offers power, but doesn't get on base enough to be considered a well-rounded offensive threat. Next offseason, when Hafner's contract expires, the Indians could find themselves pursuing traditional DH types for the first time in years.

The Indians' relievers pitched respectably in 2011 and with the bullpen's key members under team control for the coming season, Antonetti didn't need to spend on relief. He did well to add Dan Wheeler on a minor league deal, since comparable pitchers obtained Major League deals worth $1MM or more. Newly-acquired right-hander Jairo Asencio currently has a spot in Manny Acta's bullpen, but if he falters the Indians have a number of qualified relievers at Triple-A. They'll prove useful over the course of the 162-game season.

Antonetti and team president Mark Shapiro have shown restraint in recent years and their team has no bad contracts going forward. Last offseason, Antonetti's first as Cleveland's GM, included minimal spending on free agents. In fact, until last week, no Indians were under contract beyond 2012.

The Indians recently agreed to a two-year extension with Asdrubal Cabrera that keeps the shortstop in place through 2014. I like this deal for the team, since it buys out a free agent season — Cabrera's age-28 campaign — for a reasonable price without exposing the club to unnecessary long-term risk.

The Indians obtained the rights to a free agent season of Carlos Santana's by committing to the switch-hitter for the next five seasons. They don't appear to have obtained a substantial discount for his arbitration seasons (Joe Mauer and Brian McCann earned comparable amounts for that five-year chunk of their careers), but it made sense for the Indians to extend their control over Santana.

The Indians’ current position seems relatively strong. With no bad contracts on the books and many young players ready to contribute in the Major Leagues, they could break out before long. Yet their most recent offseason didn’t feature franchise-altering trades or free agent signings. Instead, Antonetti added supplementary players during another relatively quiet winter.

Photo courtesy of US Presswire.

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Cleveland Guardians Offseason In Review

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Extension Notes: Masterson, Kinsler, Santana

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 10, 2012 at 1:30pm CDT

Ian Kinsler (five years, $75MM), Carlos Santana (five years, $21MM) and Brandon Phillips (six years, $72.5MM) are the latest star players to sign long-term extensions. Here's more extension chatter from around MLB…

  • The Indians have spoken to the representatives for Justin Masterson about an extension, but the sides appear to remain far apart, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets. Talks seem to be on hold for the time being. Tim Dierkes suggested in January that a four-year deal in the $27MM range could work for the Indians and the Randy Rowley client.
  • Dave Cameron of FanGraphs shows that the aging curve for second basemen is pretty steep, but says the Kinsler contract was a deal worth doing for the Rangers.
  • Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has the year-to-year breakdown for Santana's deal (on Twitter).
  • Mike Axisa explains that the Santana extension doesn't provide the Indians with a substantial discount in a piece at FanGraphs. However, the Indians did extend their control over the catcher.
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Cleveland Guardians Texas Rangers Carlos Santana Ian Kinsler Justin Masterson

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Reds To Extend Brandon Phillips

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 10, 2012 at 12:40pm CDT

The Reds announced that they have agreed to extend second baseman Brandon Phillips through 2017. The ACES client will earn $72.5MM over the course of his new six-year contract, according to Jim Bowden of ESPN.com and MLB Network Radio. 

Brandon Phillips - Reds (PW)

Phillips would have been eligible for free agency following the 2012 season if the Reds hadn't locked him up. Instead, he'll be in Cincinnati through his age-36 season.

Phillips, now 30, posted a .300/.353/.457 line with 18 home runs and 38 doubles in 675 plate appearances last year. He won his third Gold Glove in 2011, and advanced assessments of his fielding confirm he is a strong defender.

This marks the second major commitment by Reds ownership in two weeks. Joey Votto agreed to terms on a ten-year, $225MM extension eight days ago.

The Expos selected Phillips in the second round of the 1999 draft and sent him to Cleveland along with Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore for Bartolo Colon in 2002. Phillips didn't emerge as a star until the Indians traded him to Cincinnati four years later.

The Rangers agreed to a five-year, $75MM extension with second baseman Ian Kinsler last night. Both Kinsler and Phillips approached Chase Utley's record $85MM contract for second basemen without establishing a new record. That challenge falls to Robinson Cano of the Yankees.

Bowden first reported the agreement and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports added detail. Photo courtesy of US Presswire.

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Cincinnati Reds Transactions Brandon Phillips

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Regular MLBTR Features

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 10, 2012 at 11:20am CDT

If you're a regular MLBTR reader, you'll be familiar with our chats, our Week In Review posts and Mike Axisa's Baseball Blogs Weigh In feature. Here's some more detail on when you'll see our weekly features and exactly what to expect from them:

  • MLBTR Chats - Come by every Wednesday at 2pm CDT to chat about the latest trades, signings and rumblings around the Major Leagues.
  • Baseball Blogs Weigh In - Every Friday morning, Mike Axisa directs you to some of the best writing on baseball blogs around the web. Whether it's opinion, stats or something else entirely, you can connect to the best of the blogosphere once a week on MLBTR. If you want to send Mike a post of yours, reach him at: mike@riveraveblues.com.
  • Week In Review - It's remarkable how much happens in seven days. Every Sunday night, we summarize the week's biggest stories in our Week In Review posts.
  • MLBTR Originals - We gather all our original analysis and reporting in one place every Sunday night.
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NL East Notes: Ozzie, Nationals, Pelfrey

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 10, 2012 at 10:30am CDT

It didn’t take Ozzie Guillen long to stir up some controversy in Miami. The Marlins announced a five-game suspension without pay for their new manager following his recent comments about Fidel Castro. Here are the latest links from the NL East…

  • Guillen, who addressed the media this morning, faced “the biggest day of his professional life” today according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (all Twitter links). Heyman suggested Guillen’s job was "at risk” but said the community reaction will ultimately matter most.
  • Yahoo's Tim Brown writes that Guillen "possesses no authority on the subject of Fidel Castro."
  • There doesn’t appear to be any traction on a possible John Lannan for Marlon Byrd trade, Heyman tweets. The Nationals appear to have discussed Lannan and Byrd with the Cubs.
  • The Mets view Mike Pelfrey as an innings eater who stays in games, even if it's not always pretty, Newsday's David Lennon writes. Pelfrey says he's capable of more, but the Mets have low expectations for the right-hander.
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Miami Marlins New York Mets Washington Nationals John Lannan Marlon Byrd Mike Pelfrey Ozzie Guillen

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Recent Extensions For Pre-Arb Eligible Players

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 10, 2012 at 9:25am CDT

As players approach free agency, they generally gain leverage in contract negotiations with their teams. That’s how Joey Votto and Matt Kemp, two superstars within striking distance of free agency, obtained two of the offseason's most lucrative contracts.

But when players sign extensions early on in their careers, the deals take a different shape. Low-revenue Major League teams can’t afford $200MM mistakes, so they often choose to commit tens of millions to relatively unproven players in exchange for extended team control at a manageable rate.  These teams are investing less money in a commodity that’s less certain to pay off.

This offseason has already featured 11 extensions for pre-arbitration eligible players, as MLBTR’s Extension Tracker shows. The group – Andrew McCutchen, Derek Holland, Jon Niese, Alcides Escobar, Cameron Maybin, Sergio Santos, Jonathan Lucroy, Carlos Santana, Cory Luebke, Salvador Perez and Matt Moore — includes some players who have already become stars. Here are some more observations about the deals:

  • Club options are a must. Teams have obtained at least one option on each extension. 
  • These contracts are the domain of small market teams. The Padres (30th in Opening Day payroll), Royals (27th in payroll), Pirates (26th in payroll), Rays (25th in payroll) and Indians (21st in payroll) are responsible for seven of these 11 extensions.
  • WMG was the lone agency to broker more than one of these deals (Santana, Escobar).
  • Teams seem to prefer up the middle position players. Three catchers, two center fielders and a shortstop populate the list of pre-arbitration position players who signed this offseason. 
  • Starting pitchers can also cash in early; they obtained four of the 11 contracts.
  • Santos, a late bloomer who became a pitcher years into his professional career, is one of two players on this list who's over 25. Santana, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Sunday, is the other.

These deals seem to be on the rise. We saw five extensions for pre-arbitration eligible players last offseason and seven the previous year. Perhaps teams are drawing inspiration from the Rays, who have retained star-caliber players affordably with some successful early-career extensions.

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Indians Extend Carlos Santana

By Mike Axisa | April 10, 2012 at 8:35am CDT

The Indians announced that they have agreed to a five-year extension with switch-hitting catcher Carlos Santana. The deal, which includes a club option for 2017, is worth $21MM in guaranteed money. Santana is represented by Andy Mota of the Wasserman Media Group.

The contract covers the 2012-16 seasons: Santana's final two pre-arbitration seasons and his three arbitration seasons. If exercised, the club option would keep Santana in Cleveland for his first free agent season.

Cleveland acquired the switch-hitting Santana from the Dodgers for Casey Blake at the 2008 trade deadline. The 26-year-old went on to blossom into one of the game's best catching prospects, twice ranking in the top-30 of Baseball America's annual top 100 prospects list. Santana has hit .244/.364/.464 in roughly a year and a half as a big leaguer, and last season he hit .239/.351/.457 with 27 homers while splitting time behind the plate and at first base.

Santana was called up in early-June of 2010 and appeared likely to fall short of qualifying as a Super Two after the season. The Indians controlled him through 2016 before the extension. Not too many catchers with 1-2 years of service time have signed multi-year deals recently, as Jonathan Lucroy (four years and $11MM) represents the only notable example. 

The Indians signed Asdrubal Cabrera to a two-year deal recently, buying out one free agent year. Chances are they will explore an extension with Justin Masterson at some point as well. 

MLB.com's Jordan Bastian first reported the extension and Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweeted the financial terms of the deal. Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.

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Cleveland Guardians Transactions Carlos Santana

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Quick Hits: Padres, Berkman, Giants, Rays, Royals

By Zachary Links | April 9, 2012 at 9:43pm CDT

Here's the latest from around the league, on the night Yu Darvish made his MLB debut…

  • Padres owner John Moore has retained investment banker Steve Greenberg to broker a sale of the club, reports Dan Hayes of The North County Times. Hayes says the club could fetch up to $700MM after the Dodgers sold for $2 billion last month.
  • "If I could go back in time, I would have explored free agency earlier in my career," Lance Berkman told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  The veteran missed the boat on truly massive contracts for first basemen, but he's still earned upwards of $100MM over the course of his career.  Berkman, 36, is earning $12MM this year from the Cardinals.
  • Giants owner Charles Johnson told Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle that he plans to stay out of the club's day-to-day operations.  The billionaire upped his stake in the club in September 2011, making him the team's top shareholder.
  • In his latest mailbag, MLB.com's Bill Chastain says that he wouldn't be so sure that Rays fans have seen the last of Wade Davis as a starter.  James Shields will make $12MM in 2013 and it's not clear if the Rays will bring him back at that number or deal him.  If that were to happen then Davis would likely return to the rotation.
  • Many writers scoffed when the Royals handed the closer’s role to Jonathan Broxton this spring, but so far it looks like he might be ready to return to form, writes J.P. Breen of Fangraphs.  The 27-year-old's deal is worth $4MM plus $1MM in incentives based on games pitched.

Mike Axisa contributed to this post.

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Kansas City Royals San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants St. Louis Cardinals Tampa Bay Rays Jonathan Broxton Lance Berkman

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Athletics Designate Brandon Allen For Assignment

By Zachary Links | April 9, 2012 at 7:55pm CDT

7:55pm: Manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Joe Stiglich of The Bay Area News Group and MLB.com's Jane Lee) that the plan was for Barton to be the first baseman all along. Kila Ka'aihue played better, and he expects Allen to get claimed off waivers (Twitter links).

3:58pm: The Athletics designated first baseman Brandon Allen for assignment, according to a team press release.  The move allows Oakland to reinstate first baseman Daric Barton from the disabled list.

Allen, 26, was acquired from the Diamondbacks at last year's trade deadline along with reliever Jordan Norberto for right-hander Brad Ziegler.  With a glut at first base, the A's were said to be shopping Allen over the winter.

The first baseman/leftfielder has a .286/.401/.555 slash line across parts of three Triple-A seasons but yet to put it all together in the majors.  In 109 big league games for the D'Backs and A's, Allen has hit .205/.291/.375 with eleven homers.

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Oakland Athletics Transactions Brandon Allen

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