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Archives for January 2014

Marlins Sign Ty Wigginton

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The Marlins have signed Ty Wigginton to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite, the club announced. The 12-year MLB veteran is an ACES client.

Wigginton, 36, has spent most of his career at the corner infield, though he has seen some time up the middle and in the corner outfield. He has only played several seasons as a regular — most recently, in his 2010 All-Star year with the Orioles — but has seen at least 400 plate appearances in eight seasons. 2012 was Wigginton's last full season of MLB action. He posted a .235/.314/.375 line and eleven home runs in 360 plate appearances for the Phillies.

Wigginton has been a free agent since the Cardinals released him last July. He had signed a two-year, $5MM deal with St. Louis, but was cut loose after struggling to a .158/.238/.193 line in his first 63 plate appearances for his new club.

The Marlins entered the offseason with a hole at third and plenty of roster opportunities to compete during the spring. It could be an uphill battle for Wigginton to earn a roster spot. Among the organization's non-prospect mix, fellow minor league signee Casey McGehee figures to have the inside track at the hot corner, and Greg Dobbs makes sense as a backup or platoon-mate since he swings from the left side. Also under team control is Ed Lucas, who played 61 games at third last year for the Fish and was the team's only infielder to post a positive fWAR.

Kevin Mather Named President Of Mariners

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TODAY: Seattle officially announced Mather's promotion to the role of president and COO via press release. Meanwhile, the club announced that fellow executive Bob Aylward will take over as Chairman of the Board of NW Sports Net LLC (the club's TV network). Previously, both roles had been under Armstrong's jurisdiction.

Mather said (through the press release) that he will "support[] Jack Zduriencik as he continues to lead the baseball operation and builds the Mariners both for 2014 and for future seasons." Speaking to reporters later today, Mather said that he views his role as coordinating the business and baseball operations side of the club, Shannon Drayer of ESPN Radio Seattle tweets. Mather added that the club has enough payroll flexibility to add additional players this offseason, tweets Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune.

YESTERDAY: The Mariners are expected to name Kevin Mather as the club's new president, reports Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times (via Twitter). Mather will move up from his current position as VP of finance and ballpark operations, taking charge after a long term at the helm for the outgoing Chuck Armstrong.

Mather has held his role since all the way back in 1996, when he came to Seattle from the Twins organization. This 2012 profile from the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin paints Mather as a shrewd businessman who keeps a close eye on the bottom line. According to the piece, Mather oversaw the building of Safeco Field, and since that time has run the facility, handled its lease, and largely controlled the team's finances.

Mather will take over a club that enjoys a substantial new TV deal and a nice home park that he helped to build. One priority could be to improve the team's lagging attendance figures. (Last year, the Mariners were 25th in baseball at getting people in the seats, with a total draw closer to that of the last-place Rays than the 22nd-place Diamondbacks.) With the Seattle president position reportedly set to oversee both business and baseball operations of the club, Mather (along with GM Jack Zduriencik) will be tasked with building a winner in a tough AL West division after spending big money to extend ace Felix Hernandez and making a huge splash by adding superstar Robinson Cano.

Red Sox To Sign Jose Mijares

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The Red Sox have agreed to terms with southpaw reliever Jose Mijares on a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Mijares will earn $1MM if he lands on the MLB roster, MLBTR's Zach Links reports (Twitter links), and could earn around an additional $1MM in incentives tied to games pitched. The deal includes an opt-out date in March, adds Links.

Mijares, 29, spent last season with the Giants. His 4.22 ERA in 49 innings was among the second-highest of his career, but Mijares had attractive rate statistics (9.9 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9). Mijares suffered from a staggering .410 BABIP, the highest mark in all of baseball among pitchers with at least 40 innings. Advanced metrics like FIP (3.05), xFIP (3.90), and SIERA (3.45) thought Mijares outperformed his ERA last year.

Mijares looks increasingly to be a lefty-on-lefty guy. Over his career, he has allowed a .818 OPS to righties and a .623 OPS to lefties. But those splits were even more pronounced last year, as Mijares gave up a .961 OPS to righties and .710 mark to same-handed hitters.

Orioles, Blue Jays Active On Starting Pitching Market

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According to separate reports, both the Orioles and Blue Jays are active in the market for starting pitching. Both clubs have been fairly quiet in free agency to date, at least in terms of dollars committed. (Baltimore gave $4.5MM to Ryan Webb, but otherwise has not promised much above league minimum for any players; Toronto has given out only one MLB contract, guaranteeing $8MM to Dioner Navarro.) 

The Orioles have had "recent, active dialogue" with several starters, including sought-after names like Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Bronson Arroyo, according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). As Connolly recently reported, the club's interest in closer Fernando Rodney may take a backseat to starting pitching in terms of priority. 

Meanwhile, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos says that the club is "not done yet," as Sportsnet.ca's Ben Nicholson-Smith reports. Noting that plenty of options remain, Anthopoulos expressed hope in making new acquisitions, but cautioned that, "at the same time we're not going to force anything." The Toronto GM said that the club likes the upside of several of its in-house starting options, including the rehabbing Brandon Morrow. He also warned that players with draft-pick compensation attached — which can refer only to Santana and Jimenez, among pitchers — could remain unsigned "into February and even into March."

With Masahiro Tanaka off of the market and Matt Garza seemingly close to following him, the starting pitching dam may finally have burst. As I noted on Tuesday, the long delay in Tanaka's situation has left an unprecedented number of substantial free agent business left to complete just weeks before the start of Spring Training — especially with respect to a number of quality rotation options.

Mets Re-Sign Daisuke Matsuzaka

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4:19pm: Matsuzaka would earn $1.5MM if he lands in the big leagues, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

2:34pm: The Mets have re-signed right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka to a minor league deal with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, the club announced on Twitter.

The 33-year-old Matsuzaka, a client of Relativity Baseball, started seven games down the strech for the Mets in 2013, posting a 4.42 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 but a very low 28.3 percent ground-ball rate in 38 2/3 innings of work. Despite his extreme fly-ball tendencies, Matsuzaka managed to allow just four homers in those 38 2/3 frames (0.9 HR/9).

Matsuzaka came to the Mets after being granted his release from Cleveland's Triple-A affiliate. Though he posted a solid 3.92 ERA with 95 strikeouts against just 39 walks in 103 1/3 minor league innings for the Indians, Cleveland didn't have room in its rotation for him and allowed him to explore opportunities elsewhere.

The Red Sox originally signed Matsuzaka to a six-year, $52MM contract after winning exclusive negotiation rights by submitting a $51.11MM posting fee to Nippon Professional Baseball's Seibu Lions. Matsuzaka was regarded as the game's top prospect by Baseball America prior to his arrival. He didn't live up to those expectations, though he did enjoy a pair of solid seasons in Boston before injuries and ineffectiveness stalled his career. Matsuzaka underwent Tommy John surgery midway through the 2011 season but is fully recovered from that procedure.

Matsuzaka figures to compete for the fifth spot in the rotation behind Bartolo Colon, Jon Niese, Dillon Gee and Zack Wheeler. He'll likely face competition from the likes of John Lannan, Jenrry Mejia, Jacob deGrom and Rafael Montero in Spring Training.

Phillies Avoid Arbitration With Ben Revere

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The Phillies have avoided arbitration with center fielder Ben Revere, agreeing to a one-year, $1.95MM deal, the club announced. MLBTR's Zach Links reports (via Twitter) that Revere can earn bonuses for awards such as an All-Star selection or Gold Glove, among others.

The deal delivers the 25-year-old a cool $450K more than was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz — a 30% bump over Swartz's $1.5MM projection. The higher mark also sets a nice baseline for Revere to work from. He will pass through arbitration three more times before qualifying for free agency in 2018. (Revere was a Super Two this year.)

Revere saw his 2013 season shortened when he broke his foot on a foul ball. Before the injury, he had a .305/.338/.352 line in 336 plate appearances. Promisingly, however, Revere had improved his OPS in each successive month of the season to that point (.456 in April; .712 in May; .805 in June; and .857 in July until the injury). Revere had also notched 22 stolen bases in that partial season of work. He has still yet to hit a big league home run after exactly 1,400 trips to the MLB plate.

Revere caps the Phillies' arbitration spending for the year. As MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows, the Phils paid out a total of $14.113MM, exceeding their total team projection of $12.7MM. The other Phillies to avoid arbitration were Kyle Kendrick ($7.675MM), Antonio Bastardo ($2MM), John Mayberry ($1.587MM), and Kevin Frandsen ($900K).

Orioles’ Deal With Tyler Colvin Falls Through

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JAN. 24: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Colvin's physical revealed that he still has back issues, causing the Orioles to reduce their offer from a Major League contract to a minor league deal. As such, Colvin will not sign and remains a free agent. Heyman points out that Colvin can now seek a big league deal with a club, knowing that he can sign a minor league pact with the O's as a fallback (Twitter link).

JAN. 22: A source tells ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link) that the Orioles found an issue with Colvin's physical, which could be creating an obstacle to the deal.

JAN. 15: The Orioles have agreed to terms with free agent outfielder Tyler Colvin, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links). Only a physical stands in the way of the deal, Connolly says, which is believed to be a guaranteed MLB contract. Colvin, 28, is represented by Relativity Baseball.

The left-handed swinging Colvin has seen MLB action in parts of five seasons. In 2012, his first year with the Rockies, Colvin posted a promising .290/.327/.531 triple-slash in 452 plate appearances. But he took a step back last year, earning only 78 MLB plate appearances and registering a meager .160/.192/.280 line in the process. He continued to hit at the Triple-A level, however, slashing .275/.377/.480 in 269 trips to the plate for Colorado Springs.

Colvin started his career with the Cubs before heading to Colorado in the Ian Stewart trade. The 13th overall choice in the 2006 draft, Baseball America considered Colvin the game's 75th-best prospect after the 2007 season.

Colvin joins a long list of outfielders that will join the O's for Spring Training. (The Sun's Eduardo Encina counts 12, on Twitter.) Other offseason outfield additions include Delmon Young, Quintin Berry, Xavier Paul, David Lough, and Francisco Peguero.

Four Teams Pursuing Fernando Rodney

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FRIDAY: Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com reports that despite reports that a match between Rodney and the Mets was "unlikely," the team is indeed in talks with the right-hander. Talks between Rodney and the Mets are believed to be about the closer's role, Rubin adds. He notes that this does not mean Bobby Parnell has had a setback in his recovery from surgery, but rather that there is at least some degree of uncertainty surrounding Parnell's health status.

Meanwhile, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports also hears that the Mets are in, adding that the Orioles still have interest in addition to a pair of unnamed teams (Twitter link).

THURSDAY, 3:57pm: One source tells Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun that the Orioles haven't had dialogue with Rodney's representatives in weeks. While a match is still possible — the O's have money and no established closer — Connolly gets the sense that starting pitching is still their priority (Twitter links).

1:24pm: The Orioles are "making progress" with free agent closer Fernando Rodney, tweets Jonah Keri of Grantland.com. In addition to adding a closer, Baltimore is expected to make one additional "significant" move, Keri writes.

After dealing away incumbent closer Jim Johnson, the O's have been looking for a replacement. Baltimore originally agreed to terms with Grant Balfour on a two-year, $15MM deal, but ultimately declined to go through with the deal after finding issues with Balfour's medicals. With Balfour now settling in with the Rays, Rodney is clearly the premier name remaining among free agents with significant closing experience.

Crasnick’s Latest: Tanaka, Posting System, International Free Agents

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ESPN's Jerry Crasnick offers an outstanding look at the ramifications of Masahiro Tanaka's seven-year, $155MM contract with the Yankees. According to Crasnick, Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers did not hide his disappointment at the result in a conference call, but also said he didn't feel the process was flawed: "We don't feel cheated whatsoever. We don't feel as if we weren't provided the same opportunities as the Yankees. They just had a better offer, and that's where he chose to go. You move on." Here are some additonal highlights…

  • Pirates president Frank Coonelly told Crasnick that he was surprised the media made him out as someone fighting for the rights of all small-market teams for suggesting the posting fee for Japanese players be subject to the luxury tax. "The posting fee, by definition, is part of the cost of signing a player," said Coonelly. "I've always believed it should be considered part of a club's payroll for competitive balance tax purposes. I wasn't speaking on behalf of small market clubs. I was simply speaking on behalf of one of 30 major-league clubs."
  • One anonymous Major League executive told Crasnick that the new posting system completely goes against everything the league has done to keep the cost of player acquisition under control (e.g. draft slotting, capping international spending, the luxury tax). Said the executive: "This is antithetical to everything the teams have tried to do over the last 20 years. So why did they do it? They did it to target the Yankees and Dodgers, because everybody knew they would be interested in Tanaka. The idea of having a $20 million posting fee to allow other teams to compete was ridiculous."
  • That same executive contended that the new posting system will help drive up the prices for Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez, Ervin Santana and future free agent starters. Coonelly completely disagreed: "Mr. Tanaka's contract may be a good comparable for the next outstanding young 25-year-old professional pitcher who comes over for Japan after a 24-0 season. I can't see him being much of a comparable for anybody else."
  • Crasnick also looks at the challenges that lie ahead in the international market, with one baseball official noting that should the next version of the posting system restructure the posting fee, it could lead to Japanese teams essentially selling players to MLB rather than trying to build competitive teams. Beyond that, Crasnick tackles the difference in how Latin American and Japanese free agents are treated by MLB. The entire article is well worth the read.

Braves To Sign Freddy Garcia

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12:48pm: Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that Garcia can earn an additional $1.25MM based on games started or an additional $1MM based on relief appearances. He can request out of his deal on March 25 if not on the roster.

11:51am: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Garcia would receive a $1.25MM base salary upon making the club out of Spring Training. His contract contains big incentives for games started but lesser incentives for relief work, Heyman adds.

10:51am: Freddy Garcia is headed back to the Braves on a minor league deal, reports Jerry Crasnick of ESPN (on Twitter). The 37-year-old Garcia is a client of the Legacy Agency.

Garcia struggled in 53 innings with the Orioles last season, posting a 5.77 ERA with a 26-to-12 K:BB ratio before being acquired by the Braves in late August. Upon his transition to Atlanta, "The Chief" turned back the clock and fired off 27 1/3 innings of 1.65 ERA ball with much improved rate stats of 6.6 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9. The turnaround was so stark that Garcia landed a surprising postseason start for the Braves in which he held a potent Dodgers lineup to a pair of runs on eight hits and two walks with six punchouts in six innings.

Garcia is a veteran of 15 Major League seasons and owns a career 4.15 ERA with 6.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate. He's seen time with the Mariners, White Sox, Yankees, Braves, Phillies, Orioles and Tigers in his big league career. The two-time All-Star finished second in Rookie of the Year voting back in 1999 and third in the American League Cy Young voting two years later in 2001 when he went 18-6 with a 3.05 ERA in a league-leading 238 2/3 innings.

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