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Archives for November 2013

Orioles Notes: McLouth, Free Agents, Wieters, Hardy

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Here's the latest out of Baltimore …

  • The Orioles remain interested in bringing back outfielder Nate McLouth and have engaged in discussions with his agency (The Sparta Group), reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. The O's have yet to make a formal offer, says Connolly, and when they do it might need to include a figure for the 2015 season, as McLouth is looking likely to command multiple years. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes predicted that the 32-year-old would land a two-year, $10MM deal.
  • Baltimore may not spend a lot on the free agent market, but the team has been aggressive early in making multiple offers to targets, writes MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli. She sees the club targeting the mid-tier starting pitching market. 
  • Meanwhile, says Ghiroli, it would remain surprising to see catcher Matt Wieters trade hands before 2014. But "an extension is becoming more and more remote," in her opinion.
  • Trade speculation has also recently hit shortstop J.J. Hardy, but Ghiroli throws cold water on that idea as well. As she explains, dealing Hardy opens up a hole in the lineup even if Manny Machado is shifted to short, since then the team would have no obvious choice to man the hot corner. Of course, an overwhelming return could nevertheless be enticing, and that could well be precisely what the O's sought in approaching the Cardinals with interest in Shelby Miller.

Central Notes: Twins, Scherzer, Shields, Samardzija

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We've heard a lot today on the Twins' interest in acquiring starting pitching, with two of the market's top arms — Ricky Nolasco and Matt Garza — both being mentioned as realistic targets. The club is willing to hand out as many as five years in a deal with a starter, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reports via Twitter. Minnesota is definitely interested in both Nolasco and Garza, he adds, though that isn't to say it would necessarily go to five years on either or both. Here's more on the starting pitching in baseball's central divisions:

  • Though he says he understands the business logic that could force him to be traded, Tigers ace (and newly-minted Cy Young winner) Max Scherzer told MLB Network's Jim Bowden (on SiriusXM) that he hopes that does not occur. Scherzer said that he and agent Scott Boras had indicated to Detroit that he was "open to" an extension, but acknowledged that "no actual dialogue has been talked or anything like that." Ultimately, said Scherzer, he will "see how the business game works out and whether or not we go down that path."
  • Meanwhile, Boras acknowledged that GM Dave Dombrowski would likely "invite a number of people to come in and look at all of his diamonds," referring to Detroit's most attractive trade assets. "But in the end I don't think Dave is in the business of anything other than what Mr. Illitch's goal is, and that is to win a world championship," Boras continued. As he further explained, Dombrowski could be discussing Scherzer with other clubs in part to guage his value and to see how those teams value their own players.
  • Royals starter James Shields says that he has not had any talks with his club about an extension, ESPN.com's Jim Bowden reports via Twitter. Shields, who is in the last year of his deal, did say that he is open to exploring a new contract that would keep him in Kansas City. Having dealt recently-anointed AL Rookie of the Year Wil Myers to get Shields, one would think that GM Dayton Moore will at least make an attempt to secure his services beyond 2014. 
  • Cubs GM Jed Hoyer indicated that the club has talked about an extension with starter Jeff Samardzija, David Kaplan of CSNChicago.com reports via Twitter. "We've had discussions with Samardzija because we like him and want to keep him," said Hoyer. "We'll see where things go. We like hearing he wants to be here." Hoyer's comments seem to make an extension for the 28-year-old seem more plausible than we've recently heard. Absent a new deal, Samardzija will hit the open market before the 2016 season.
  • The Cubbies' GM also emphasized that the front office was not going to change its approach to placate anxious fans Kaplan also tweets. "We will not hit the fast forward button on our plan simply because people are impatient," Hoyer said. "It will make it worth it in the end."

Minor Moves: Valdez, Diaz, Gonzalez, Souza, McCoy

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Here are today's minor moves, all via Matt Eddy of Baseball America (links to Twitter) unless otherwise noted …

  • Middle infielder Jeudy Valdez will join fellow former Padre Aaron Cunningham in moving to the Cubs organization, reports Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. The 24-year-old, who has posted double-digit home runs and steals in each of the last four seasons, does not receive a Spring Training invite in the deal.
  • The Marlins have signed shortstop Juan Diaz to a minor league deal. Eddy calls the 24-year-old a possible diamond in the rough. 
  • Righties Juan Gonzalez and Justin Souza have inked minor league pacts with the Dodgers. Gonzalez is a 23-year-old who just transitioned to the bullpen, where he put up a 2.14 ERA — driven by a large drop in his career walk rates — in 46 1/3 innings thrown for the Rockies' Double-A affiliate. Cotillo first reported the Gonzalez signing (via Twitter), nothing that he received a lot of interest. Souza, meanwhile, is a 27-year-old bullpen arm coming off of a 4.58 ERA over 55 innings pitched between the Double-A and Triple-A outposts of the Tigers. 
  • The Red Sox have reached minor league deals with lefty Tommy Layne and shortstop Mike McCoy. In his age-28 season, Layne put up a 4.50 ERA over 46 innings for the Pads' top affiliate in Tucson, but posted a 2.08 ERA in 8 2/3 big league innings (though he registered just 6.2 K/9 against 5.2 BB/9 in his 14 outings). McCoy has played in over a season's worth of MLB games, though spread over four years of brief apearances. His career triple-slash is .190/.273/.256 over 380 plate appearances.
  • The Diamondbacks have signed minor league free agents Danny Dorn, an outfielder, and Mark Thomas, a backstop. Dorn is a 28-year-old fresh off a .258/.335/.460 campaign in 565 Triple-A plate appearances at Toledo. Thomas is known as a defensive whiz behind the dish, but hit just .151/.195/.274 in 202 plate appearances last year for the Rays' Double-A squad in his age-25 season.
  • There are a host of new minor league deals out of Cincinnati, with the Reds inking lefty Lee Hyde, second baseman Rey Navarro, outfielder Mike Wilson, and catchers Rossmel Perez and Max Ramirez. Hyde, a 28-year-old former fourth-round pick, returns to the Cinci organization after a 1.98 ERA campaign in 54 2/3 innings spent mostly in Double-A. Navarro and Perez just played their age-23 seasons at Double-A. Wilson registered a sightly .300/.368/.472 slash in his age-thirty season at Triple-A in the Padres' organization. And Ramirez had a poor season at 28 years of age after putting up two straight better-than-.800 OPS years at the Triple-A level.
  • Heading to the Rockies as minor league free agents are lefty Pedro Hernandez, righty Nate Striz, and second baseman Rafael Ynoa. Hernandez washed out of Minnesota after getting bombed in twelve big league starts, though he was much more effective in the minors and is still just 24. Striz just turned 25, but has only thrown three innings above the High-A level. At 26, Ynoa is coming off of a series of campaigns in which he's just topped the .700 OPS level at Double-A; the former Dodger farmhand gets on base at a solid clip, though, and has stolen a decent number of bags (though he's also been caught at a troubling rate).
  • And staying with the Angels are righty Orangel Arenas, outfielder Julio Concepcion, and shorstop Jimmy Swift. Arenas made it to Triple-A for a brief stint last year at age 24 but was hit hard; Cotillo was the first to report the news of his signing (on Twitter). Concepcion has not moved past low-A ball and is 23 years old. And Swift, 25, was better at Triple-A (.303/.336/.422 in 118 plate appearances) than at Double-A (.259/.291/.367 in 324 plate appearances) in 2013.

East Notes: Murphy, Cano, Perez, Rays

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The Mets are looking for players to buy into their offensive philosophy, and that means finding guys with discipline at the plate, writes Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.  That might help to explain why the free-swinging Daniel Murphy has found himself on the pages of MLBTR over the last week or so.  Marlon Byrd, who signed a lucrative two-year deal with the Philies, didn't show up on the Mets radar because he also doesn't fit the bill for what the Mets are looking for.  Possible target Curtis Granderson, however, boasts a solid walk rate.  Here's more out of the AL and NL East..

  • It was hard to find an executive at the GM Meetings who didn't expect to see Robinson Cano back with the Yankees, but almost everyone expects a leverage battle between the two sides, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  Sherman suggests that the Bombers could invoke a similar strategy to what they did with Andy Pettitte after the 2008 season.  The Yanks offered the hurler a pay cut from $16MM to $10MM and when he declined, they cautioned that the offer would go down if they signed someone else.  After they spent megabucks on Mark Teixeira, Pettitte (reluctantly) accepted a $5.5MM deal.
  • Mets GM Sandy Alderson told Mike Francesa of WFAN Radio that he wouldn’t trade Noah Syndergaard under virtually any circumstances, according to Matthew Cerrone of Metsblog.
  • The Nationals have interest in free agent Oliver Perez, a person familiar with the situation tells Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.  Left-handed batters hit .238/.358/.288 against the 32-year-old reliever last season.
  • After numerous conversations with player agents and other teams, Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman headed home from the GM Meetings with a better sense of potential moves, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  The Rays are looking for a first baseman, catcher, and one or two late-inning relievers. Friedman isn't sure if their next move is a trade or signing, but he "would be surprised" if nothing happened between now and the winter meetings on December 8th.

Matt Garza Open To Returning To Twins

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Matt Garza is open to a return to the Twins, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reports. Wolfson offers more on Garza, via Twitter, stating that he hears the Twins are more interested in Garza than Ricky Nolasco, despite earlier reports that the Twins are making a "strong push" for Nolasco.

The Twins met with Garza's agent, Nez Balelo of CAA Sports, at this week's GM Meetings in Orlando, Wolfson writes. However, as of this morning, Minnesota hasn't made a formal offer to any of its free agent targets.

Garza has worn three different uniforms since last donning a Twins jersey in 2007. Minnesota selected him in the first round of the 2005 draft and ultimately traded him to the Rays along with Jason Bartlett in an ill-fated deal that netted Delmon Young and Brendan Harris. It's worth pointing out that current GM Terry Ryan was in the GM's chair when Garza was drafted, but had stepped away from the position when Garza was traded. Bill Smith was the Twins' GM at the time of the Garza trade, but he's since been fired, and Ryan has reprised his role as Twins GM.

Garza turned in his seventh straight season of a sub-4.00 ERA in 2013, hurling 155 1/3 innings of 3.82 ERA ball with 7.9 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9. He opened the season on the disabled list but made all of his starts upon returning. Like Nolasco, he was traded midseason and therefore won't require a draft pick to sign.

Orioles Notes: Beltran, Wieters, Hardy, Markakis

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The Orioles are interested in Carlos Beltran, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, but their ability to land the slugging right fielder may be contingent upon whether or not they can trade Matt Wieters or another high-salary player to accommodate the lofty contract Beltran figures to sign. Other high-priced O's include closer Jim Johnson (projected to earn $10.8MM) and right fielder Nick Markakis ($15MM). Some other O's-related links for your Friday reading…

  • Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com writes that while many fans are surprised to have seen reports about the O's listening to offers on Wieters and J.J. Hardy, it shouldn't be that startling; the Orioles are willing to listen on any of their players. As he points out, Adam Jones' salary will continue to rise over the course of his contract, and they'll need to see if it's possible to extend Chris Davis and Manny Machado in the near future. Melewski feels that because Davis and Wieters are Scott Boras clients, it will be difficult to retain both, so the Orioles are right to keep all options open.
  • Mike Francesca of WFAN Radio in New York said on the air that the Mets and Orioles discussed Markakis at the GM Meetings, but nothing came of the talks (hat tip: Andrew Vazzano of SNY on Twitter).
  • Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette told Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com that he met with about half the teams in baseball at the GM Meetings this week as he looked to acquire another outfielder. Duquette also said he'd consider tendering Nolan Reimold a contract but needs an update on how Reimold is recovering from neck surgery.

Astros Links: Ryan, Young, Hawkins, Tanaka

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Astros owner Jim Crane has spoken to Nolan Ryan in the month since he left the Rangers organization, writes Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle, but no front office job or advisory position has been offered. Ryan pitched for the Astros from 1980-88, and his son, Reid, is the team's president of business operations, leading many to consider him a logical fit to land in Houston. Crane acknowledged to Drellich that there could be a fit down the road. Here's more on the American League's newest team…

  • Houston native Chris Young would be interested in patrolling the outfield for the Astros in 2014, he told MLB.com's Brian McTaggart: "I love Houston. I’m from Houston and play well in Houston and always have. Something about being home that’s refreshing to me. I love everything about the city and the team. They’re growing, and I feel they’re going to make some moves here soon. They have a good future. I’m open to all the possibilities."
  • Also from McTaggart, a reunion with LaTroy Hawkins doesn't appear to be in the cards for the Astros. Hawkins told McTaggart that he's received interest from multiple teams. I'd imagine that coming off a strong year and heading into his age-41 season, Hawkins would prefer to play for a contending team.
  • In a separate piece from Drellich, Crane took the "never say never" approach when asked about a potential pursuit of Masahiro Tanaka, noting that the Astros were one of the three finalists for Jose Dariel Abreu and offered in the neighborhood of $60MM. Of course, that sum might not cover the posting fee for Tanaka alone, and Crane conceded that it's unlikely the team would give out a significant long-term deal with so much talent coming through the minor league system.

Mutual Interest Between Yankees, Javier Lopez

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There's mutual interest between the Yankees and left-hander Javier Lopez, agent Barry Meister tells Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger. The two sides have had preliminary discussions and plan to have more substantial discussions later in the offseason once the Yankees have had time to address their biggest issues.

Lopez's primary goal, according to Meister, is to pitch on a contending team. "Of course, the Yankees are perennially that," he told McCullough. As McCullough notes, the Yankees have a need in the bullpen with Mariano Rivera retiring and Boone Logan hitting free agency.

Lopez, 36, pitched to a 1.83 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 39 1/3 innings in 2013, primarily working as a lefty specialist for the Giants. Lopez was incredibly good in that role, limiting opposing left-handers to a minuscule .156/.208/.222 slash line. He's said to be looking for a multiyear deal on the free agent market after finishing up a two-year, $8.5MM contract with San Francisco.

Blue Jays Sign Dan Johnson

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The Blue Jays announced that they've signed first baseman Dan Johnson to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.

Johnson, a client of TWC Sports, saw just five big league plate apperances with the Orioles in 2013 but slashed a healthy .250/.378/.439 between the Yankees' and Orioles' Triple-A affiliates, totaling 21 homers along the way. The 34-year-old is a career .236/.337/.411 hitter with 56 homers at the Major League level, including the dramtic two-out, two-strike, game-tying home run that he hit in the bottom of the ninth inning in the final game of the Rays' 2011 season.

Phillies Sign Clete Thomas, Cesar Jimenez

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The Phillies announced that they have signed outfielders Clete Thomas and Leandro Castro and left-hander Cesar Jimenez to minor league deals with invitations to Spring Training. The team also confirmed its previously reported signing of right-hander Shawn Camp.

Thomas, 30, batted .214/.290/.307 with four homers in a career-high 322 plate appearances for the Twins last season. The former Tiger is a career .250/.326/.423 hitter in parts of six Triple-A seasons and can play a solid defensive center field, making him a nice depth pickup for the Phils.

Jimenez, who turned 29 on Tuesday, posted a 3.71 ERA with 11 strikeouts and 10 walks in 17 innings for Philadelphia in 2013 and has a 4.96 career ERA in 65 1/3 Major League innings. Opposing lefties have batted .250/.311/.361 against Jimenez in 120 plate appearances over his big league career.

Castro, 24, spent the 2013 season with Philadelphia's Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley, batting .256/.280/.368 with eight homers and 20 stolen bases in 458 plate appearances.

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