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Archives for December 2013

Orioles Working To Trade Jim Johnson

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The Orioles are working on trading closer Jim Johnson, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). The Athletics are "most involved" in those discussions, says Rosenthal, while the Dodgers are also talking but do not expect to land the big righty. 

With Johnson projected to earn $10.8MM in his final season of arbitration by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, he has increasingly been the subject of trade speculation. For an Orioles club that seems constrained in its efforts to fill other needs because of salary concerns, shedding Johnson certainly has some appeal. After all, as MLBTR's Tim Dierkes explained in the above-linke post, the save numbers that have driven up his salary arguably overstate his true value. Last year, Johnson registered a 2.94 ERA in 70 1/3 innings, and his 2013 FIP (3.45) and xFIP (3.38) do not frame him as a dominant reliever.

In that respect, the interest of the Athletics is somewhat surprising. Though the club does need to replace closer Grant Balfour in some manner, it would cut against GM Billy Beane's track record to dedicate that much cash to a single reliever. And while the Dodgers have not hesitated to throw dollars at the bullpen, the club is set with Kenley Jansen at closer and is already carrying the sizeable contract of Brandon League. 

Cardinals To Non-Tender John Axford

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The Cardinals will non-tender reliever John Axford, tweets Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis will, however, tender contracts to Jon Jay, Peter Bourjos, and Daniel Descalso.

Axford was strong down the stretch after coming over from the Brewers following the revocable waiver trade deadline. Milwaukee added reliever Michael Blazek in the deal. The earlier portion of his 2013 season was less stellar, however, as he threw to a cumulative 4.02 ERA in 65 innings. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected Axford to earn $5.7MM in arbitration, making him an expensive piece for a Cards' pen that features numerous solid young arms.

Melky Cabrera Switches To The Legacy Agency

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Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera has changed agents, moving from ACES to The Legacy Agency, reports Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal (via Twitter). He will be represented by Peter and Ed Greenberg, along with Chris Leible.

Cabrera is already under contract for 2014, the second year of his free agent deal with Toronto. He will make $8MM as he looks to bounce back from a disappointing 2013 campaign in which he saw just 372 pate appearances and posted a .279/.322/.360 slash line. Cabrera is set to hit free agency before the 2015 season at age thirty.

Red Sox Non-Tender Andrew Bailey

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The Red Sox have declined to offer arbitration to right-handed reliever Andrew Bailey, the club announced (via a tweet from Mike Salk of WEEI.com). The 29-year-old will now hit the open market. He is represented by Jim Murray of Excel Sports Management.

Last year, Bailey threw 28 2/3 innings for the Sox, notching a 3.77 ERA and posting a strong 12.2 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9. His season ended after he suffered a shoulder injury, however, which ultimately required surgery. Bailey was a major part of the deal that sent Josh Reddick to the Athletics before the 2012 season.

We had heard yesterday that Boston would tender a contract to Bailey, but that obviously did not occur. As noted in that post, Bailey is expected to miss a significant portion of 2014, though he says his rehab is progressing well.

Blue Jays Sign Dioner Navarro

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7:21pm: The Blue Jays have officially announced the signing via press release.

1:14pm: Navarro's contract will pay him $3MM in 2014 and $5MM in 2015, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link).

9:02am: Navarro's contract is pending a physical and will guarantee him $8MM over two years, according to Rosenthal (on Twitter).

8:32am: The Blue Jays have reached an agreement with catcher Dioner Navarro on a two-year deal, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Navarro is a client of Melvin Roman's MDR Sports Management.

Navarro-Dioner

After hitting .207/.267/.311 from 2009-11, Navarro put himself back on the map with a respectable showing with the Reds in 2012, but his .755 OPS that season came in a sample of just 74 plate appearances. It wasn't until this past season with the Cubs that Navarro proved he can still hit at the Major League level in a big way. In 266 plate appearances with the Cubs, Navarro slashed .300/.365/.492 with 13 home runs.

Catcher was a clear area of need for the Blue Jays this offseason after J.P. Arencibia, Josh Thole, Mike Nickeas and Henry Blanco combined to bat .190/.235/.335 in 2013. No team received a lower batting average or on-base percentage from its group of catchers than Toronto in 2013.

Navarro will turn 30 in February, and his signing could cost Arencibia his job, as Rosenthal notes in a second tweet. Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos recently said in a radio interview that Arencibia would not be with the club as a backup in 2014 (as chronicled by Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith). Navarro's two-year deal seems to indicate that he's in line for significant playing time, and the club would also like to use Thole to catch R.A. Dickey, says Rosenthal. As such, Arencibia, who projects to earn $2.1MM via arbitration this winter, could find himself on the move today, as tonight is the deadline to tender him a contract for the 2014 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Yankees Closing In On Deal With Jacoby Ellsbury

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The Yankees are closing in on a seven-year deal with Jacoby Ellsbury, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.  "It could happen," someone familiar with the talks told Heyman.  It is believed the deal would top Carl Crawford's $142MM, seven-year deal.

ESPN's Jayson Stark reported on Monday that talks were moving faster than expected for the Scott Boras client.  Boras is notorious for waiting out the market to find the right deal as he did with Prince Fielder (signed in late January) and Michael Bourn (February).

Ellsbury offers more pop than the typical center fielder, with a career slugging percentage of .439 and isolated power of .141.  While his power is more of the doubles and triples variety, which is aided by his speed, he did hit 32 home runs in his stellar 2011 campaign.  In that year, Ellsbury led all of baseball with 9.1 wins above replacement, finished second in the AL MVP voting, won a Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove, and made the All-Star team.

The 30-year-old has also consistently posted above average UZR and DRS numbers in center field.  While he has come back to earth somewhat since '11, he checked in with 5.8 wins above replacement in 2013, which is second only to Robinson Cano among free agents. 

 

Yankees Will Not Offer Over $200MM To Cano

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The Yankees will not offer star free agent second baseman Robinson Cano a deal for over $200MM, reports Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. With a current offer of seven years and $160MM already on the table, the club plans to stand on that figure and does not foresee wiggle room of greater than about $15MM, says Passan.

As Passan goes on to explain, the major question hanging over negotiations is whether any other clubs will jump in at or above the current Yankee offer. He mentions the Nationals and Mariners as the two teams most likely to jump in as serious bidders for Cano. 

New York could be exerting pressure on Cano by beginning its spending and pursuing other free agents like Jacoby Ellsbury and Shin-Soo Choo. Ultimately, says Passan, "unless something drastic happens" the club will not sign Cano for anything approaching his current demands.

NL West Notes: D-Backs, Headley, Boggs, Lopez

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The Diamondbacks announced that they've hired Mike Harkey as their pitching coach and named Mel Stottlemyre Jr. bullpen coach. The 47-year-old Harkey has been coaching for 14 seasons, the past six of which have come with the Yankees on Joe Girardi's staff. Stottlemyre, 49, served as the D-Backs's pitching coach from 2009-10 and has served as the minor league pitching coordinator since. Here's more of the the NL West…

  • Peter Gammons of the MLB Network reports that the earliest the Padres would consider trading Chase Headley is next June. The team doesn't want to sell low on Headley coming off a season in which his OPS+ dropped by more than 30 points.
  • The Rockies have shopped Mitchell Boggs in trades as they attempt to gauge his value before determining whether or not to tender him a contract tonight, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post.
  • Renck also reports that the Rockies are expected to tender a contract to right-hander Wilton Lopez, despite the struggles he endured in 2013. Lopez posted a 4.06 ERA with 5.7 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 75 1/3 innings for the Rockies this past season after being acquired from the Astros for Alex White and Alex Gillingham.
  • Newly signed Angels reliever Joe Smith told reporters in a conference call that the Dodgers made him an offer on the free agent market but wouldn't guarantee a third year (Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times reporting on Twitter). The Dodgers appear to be seeking right-handed bullpen help, as they were also connected to Jim Johnson in trade talks earlier this morning.

Yankees Have Made Offer To Kuroda

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4:25pm: Carig tweets that Kuroda has been mulling the offer over, but a decision isn't expected until after next week's Winter Meetings.

3:21pm: The Yankees have an offer on the table to right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, reports Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com. Marchand reports that the offer is believed to be in the $15-16MM range. Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News adds that the Yankees have had the offer on the table for quite some time, and the team never expected an answer until at least December (Twitter link). Marc Carig of Newsday tweets that it's been about a month since the offer was extended.

Kuroda, 38, pitched to a 3.31 ERA with 6.7 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 46.6 percent ground-ball rate in 201 1/3 innings for the the Yankees in 2013. However, he also faded down the stretch, posting a 6.56 ERA in 46 2/3 innings in his final eight starts of the season. Kuroda has already rejected a $14.1MM qualifying offer from the Yankees and is said to be entertaining the thought of returning to Japan or looking for an opportunity in Southern California, where his family currently lives.

Ellsbury Talks Moving Faster Than Expected

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Scott Boras is known to be willing to wait until late January (see: Prince Fielder) and even February (see: Michael Bourn) to find the right deal for his clients, but that may not be necessary with Jacoby Ellsbury. Clubs have told ESPN's Jayson Stark that talks for Ellsbury are moving much quicker than had been anticipated, and Stark says a signing as soon as next week's Winter Meetings isn't out of the question (Twitter link).

If Ellsbury's market is indeed picking up, it's been a well-kept secret. To this point, the Mariners have been the most oft-connected team, though even they are said to be pursuing secondary free agents like Carlos Beltran and Kendrys Morales more than Ellsbury. The Rangers apparently prefer Shin-Soo Choo and won't push for Ellsbury, and the Red Sox are preparing to move on with alternatives (likely Jackie Bradley Jr.) as well.

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