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Twins, Hanwha Eagles Working On Andrew Albers Deal

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9:43pm: The deal may be coming up against some friction, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The issue relates to Hanwha failing to follow MLB protocol by not notifying MLB of its intentions before negotiating with Albers.

As Berardino notes, the pitcher has reached a tentative agreement with his would-be new club on contract terms at this point. 

6:31pm: Albers' agent, Blake Corosky, indicates that Albers is increasingly likely to land in Korea this year, reports Kevin Mitchell of Canadian outlet The StarPhoenix. At this point, Albers is waiting for the two clubs to reach agreement on the terms of their arrangement.  

Albers would reportedly stand to earn a salary in the "high six figures," and would become a free agent following the season. If he stays in Minnesota, the 28-year-old would not be eligible for free agency until 2020, as he still has only 58 days of MLB service time. "The worst-case scenario," Corosky said semi-jokingly, "is he goes to spring training with the Twins — sort of what we expected five days ago."

12:50pm: The Twins and Eagles are negotiating a buyout of Albers, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca. Should the two teams finalize that agreement, Albers would likely head to KBO on a one-year deal worth roughly $1MM deal with the Eagles.

12:09pm: The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization have shown interest in Twins lefty Andrew Albers, but the two sides have yet to come to an agreement, MLBTR has learned. While a deal is possible, an agreement would be a ways off, if one comes to fruition at all.

The 28-year-old Albers made 10 starts for the Twins in 2013 — his first taste of Major League action. The soft-tosser posted a solid 4.05 ERA with 3.8 K/9, 1.1 BB/9 and a 43.5 percent ground-ball rate in an even 60 innings for Minnesota. The Twins plucked the Canadian southpaw out of the independent Canadian-American Association following the 2010 season, and he rose through the ranks to become the organization's Minor League Pitcher of the Year this past season. Albers posted a stellar 2.86 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 132 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level prior to his big league debut.

Should he remain with the Twins, Albers will be in the mix for the fifth spot in the rotation alongside Vance Worley, Sam Deduno, Scott Diamond and Kyle Gibson. Minnesota will have a front four of Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes, Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey, each of whom is guaranteed at least $5.5MM in 2014.

Phillies Sign Bobby Abreu

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9:05pm: Abreu can opt out of the deal if he is not placed on the MLB roster by March 26th, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. That early date, of course, will pressure the Phillies to carry Abreu on the Opening Day roster or risk losing him.

Abreu's deal calls for him to earn a $50K bonus if he is named Comeback Player of the Year, Sherman adds.

2:07pm: The Phillies have officially signed outfielder Bobby Abreu, the club announced. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com first reported the deal (Twitter links). Abreu will return to Philadelphia on a minor league contract, ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick tweets, with Heyman adding that he would earn $800K if he breaks camp with the club.

Abreu, who will turn 40 before the start of the year, did not play in the bigs last year. He has 17 MLB seasons under his belt, including nine with the Phils. In 2012, Abreu posted a .246/.361/.344 line in 257 plate appearances, most of them coming with the Dodgers. His last full season came in 2011. Fading power and declining defense left him at a replacement level in that campaign, though Abreu never lost his ability to reach base. (Across nearly 10,000 career plate appearances, he carried a lifetime .396 OBP and never fell below the .350 mark after he broke in as a full-time player.)

So, why the interest from Philadelphia? Abreu has been tearing up the Venezuelan Winter League with a .322/.416/.461 triple-slash in 180 regular season plate appearances. And as impressive as Abreu was during the winter league's regular season, his postseason stats were even more eye-opening. Abreu slashed .464/.549/1.214 (with eight home runs) in 56 playoff at-bats, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.

As CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury reported earlier, GM Ruben Amaro Jr. had heard "decent reports on [Abreu]" coming out of Venezuela, leading to the club's interest. According to Amaro, the club was "looking at all the left-handed bats still out there and he's one of them." It remains to be seen, of course, whether the Phils will nevertheless look to add another left-handed bench option in addition to Abreu.

The Phillies apparently had competition in landing Abreu. As Crasnick reports, the Mets and Indians were both interested in the veteran's services, as was a Japanese club.

NL East Notes: Braves, O’Flaherty, Mets, Drew, Abreu

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Earlier this morning, I asked MLBTR readers about the Braves' upcoming arb hearings and how each situation would pan out (player wins, team wins, or agreement is reached prior to hearing). To this point, MLBTR readers think that Craig Kimbrel (63%) and Freddie Freeman (57%) will win their hearings, while about 46 percent think the Braves will win a hearing against Jason Heyward. Here's more on the Braves and the rest of the NL East…

  • The Braves have not had any recent discussions with lefty Eric O'Flaherty, according to David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (on Twitter). The Braves were once expected to re-sign their longtime setup man, who underwent Tommy John surgery early last season, but recent reports suggest he could be headed elsewhere.
  • As things stand, Atlanta GM Frank Wren and manager Fredi Gonzalez both stand to enter the season on expiring contracts, notes David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. O'Brien writes a lengthy breakdown of the merits of each key organizational figure.
  • Andy Martino of the New York Daily News writes that the Mets' stance on Stephen Drew hasn't changed; they still like Drew but aren't hot on his trail and are content to wait in order to see if his price drops. Agent Scott Boras has said that he and Drew can wait as well, Martino reminds.
  • New York is still looking for bullpen help, and the team is "somewhat" interested in Mitchell Boggs, a source tells Mike Puma of the New York Post (Twitter link). 
  • The Phillies made a notable minor league signing today, bringing back one-time club cornerstone Bobby Abreu. "The purpose of this signing is to see if he has anything left," said GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury. "We've seen him in [Venezuela]. He's in shape and swinging the bat well, and he's motivated to play. If he performs, great. If he doesn't, we have no obligation to keep him. But he will be given every opportunity to make [the] club." (Links to Twitter.) As Corey Seidman of CSNPhilly.com argues, players like Abreu and fellow minor league signee Chad Gaudin fill important depth roles at minimal cost.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.

Dodgers Sign Miguel Olivo, Griff Erickson

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The Dodgers have signed catchers Miguel Olivo and Griff Erickson to minor league deals with Spring Training invitations, the club announced. They will join a host of other catchers in camp, including A.J. Ellis, Tim Federowicz, Drew Butera, and J.C. Boscan.

Olivo, 35, saw just 80 plate appearances last year for the Marlins after having notched at least 281 trips to the plate for the prior ten years. He slashed .203/.250/.392 last year, and carries a career .241/.275/.417 line in nearly 4,000 career plate appearances.

Erickson, a 25-year-old who qualified for minor league free agency, will stay in the only professional organization he's ever known. He has spent much of the last three years at Double-A, and has never spent any substantial time at the highest minor league level. In 2013, Erickson posted a .199/.324/.414 triple-slash in 217 Double-A plate appearances.

Astros, Nolan Ryan Have Mutual Interest In Relationship

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The Astros and recently retired Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan have both expressed interest in exploring a working relationship, according to multiple reports today. Reid Ryan, the son of the legendary pitcher, is Houston's president of business operations.

Astros owner Jim Crane said today that he was "hoping to talk to Nolan [Ryan] pretty soon," reports Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle. "Certainly, we could make room for Nolan," said Crane. "We'll see how that works with the business side and the baseball side." The younger Ryan indicated that he would "love to have my dad work with the Houston Astros," but said he would leave it to his father and Crane to work things out.

Meanwhile, the Hall of Famer Ryan said that he would "look forward to [working with his son] if that turned out to be a doable deal," reports Mark Berman of Houston's FOX 26. Having already retired from his work with the Rangers, Ryan indicated that the Astros were the only club he would realistically be interested in working for.

Of course, none of the reports give any indication of the type of role that Ryan might occupy with the Astros. Reid Ryan is already perched atop the business hierarchy, with the respected Jeff Luhnow running things from the baseball ops side.

Masahiro Tanaka Links: Tuesday

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News on a landing spot for Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka has been expected between now and Thursday. But now Jayson Stark of ESPN.com tweets that the decision could take til Friday since Tanaka may stand on a physical taken during his trip to Los Angeles earlier in the month. As Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports explains (Twitter links), the results of Tanaka's January 9th physical were shared with interested clubs, but teams may want their own medical staff to get a firsthand look. Either way, Tanaka must be signed to a deal with no contingencies on or before Friday at 4pm central time. We'll keep tabs on today's news right here:

  • In case you missed it from this morning, ESPN.com's Buster Olney wrote an Insider piece that profiles Tanaka agent Casey Close of Excel Sports Management. The relatively non-promotional and rumor-free negotiation process reflects the businesslike personalities of both Close and Tanaka, Olney suggests.
  • Teams bidding on Tanaka are "in for at least 6 or 7 years," reports Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com (on Twitter). The average annual value will be "at or above" $20MM, Levine adds. Put those numbers together, of course, and Levine's report suggests that Tanaka will command at least $120MM (in addition, presumably, to the $20MM posting fee).
  • The Red Sox "do not appear to be among the finalists" in the Tanaka sweepstakes, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
  • Astros owner Jim Crane says that the team is interested in Tanaka, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (via Twitter). We heard yesterday that Houston may have been one of the clubs to have met with Tanaka and his representatives. It is still not known, of course, whether the 'Stros interest has manifested itself as a competitive, formal offer. And McTaggart tweets that, in his opinion, the club is a "longshot."
  • Once Tanaka officially comes off the board, baseball is set to experience a rush of important free agent signings that has not been experienced in recent seasons, as MLBTR's Transaction Tracker documents. On or after January 24, 2009, there were six multi-year free agent deals and three contracts that included at least $10MM in guaranteed money. Last year, five and three deals hit those respective marks on or after 1/24. The intervening years – 2012 (2/2), 2011 (0/0), and 2010 (1/1) — had much fewer substantial, late signings. Assuming that no major deals go down before Friday, however, at least eight still-available free agents seem quite likely to get multi-year deals that guarantee over $10MM: Tanaka, Kendrys Morales, Stephen Drew, Nelson Cruz, Bronson Arroyo, Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Ervin Santana. A good number of others — including A.J. Burnett, Paul Maholm, Chris Capuano, Grant Balfour, and Fernando Rodney — still have an excellent chance at scoring multiple years, eight-figure guarantees, or both.

Indians Notes: Arbitration Hearings, Masterson

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As MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows, the Indians (along with the Cubs) lead the league with four unsettled arbitration cases. Cleveland must settle or face a hearing with Josh Tomlin ($975K vs. $800K), Vinnie Pestano ($1.45MM vs. $975K), Michael Brantley ($3.8MM vs. $2.7MM), and Justin Masterson ($11.8MM vs. $8.05MM).

  • Though the Indians are known as a team that pursues a "file and trial" strategy on a case-by-case basis, the club has gone a league-high 22 years since it went to a hearing. But with four potential cases GM Chris Antonetti says "there's a very high likelihood we could end up in a hearing," tweets Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. 
  • Masterson's case features the greatest absolute dollar gap of any in baseball. With a $3.75MM bridge to gap, a hearing could be necessary, reports MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. 
  • Meanwhile, "little progress" has been made in discussions of a long-term deal between Masterson and the Indians, Bastian reports. The 28-year-old had an outstanding bounceback season in 2013, returning to his 2011 performance levels with a 3.45 ERA and even lower FIP, xFIP, and SIERA marks (3.35, 3.33, and 3.40, respectively). Set to hit the open market next year as one of several attractive starting pitchers, Masterson could cost the Indians $65MM to $85MM over five years in an extension scenario, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes has suggested.

Phillies Avoid Arbitration With Antonio Bastardo

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The Phillies have avoided arbitration with southpaw reliever Antonio Bastardo, the club announced. Bastardo will receive $2MM for 2014, and his contract includes incentives.

As MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows, Bastardo's salary lands under the midpoint between the two sides' submission amounts. At $2MM, Bastardo's salary is an exact match to the projection of MLBTR's Matt Swartz.

The 28-year-old Bastardo figures to play an important role in the Philadelphia pen next year. He missed the end of 2013 after taking a 50-game PED ban, but had been excellent to that point with a 2.32 ERA in 42 2/3 innings. Over his career, Bastardo has been effective against both lefties (.616 OPS against) and righties (.660).

Mets Sign John Lannan

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TUESDAY: Lannan will make $1.5MM if he reaches the bigs, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter), and could earn an additional $2MM in incentives tied to innings pitched and games started. He can opt out on June 14 if he is not put on the MLB roster within 24 hours, Sherman adds.

SATURDAY: The Mets have signed lefty starting pitcher John Lannan to a minor-league deal with a spring training invitation, according to a team release. Lannan, who is represented by CAA Sports. He'll provide depth for the Mets' rotation.

Lannan posted a 5.33 ERA with 4.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 74 1/3 innings for the Phillies in 2013. He would have been eligible for arbitration, but the Phillies outrighted him in October. The longtime Nationals pitcher has a 4.12 ERA with 4.7 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 858 lifetime innings.

Phillies Interested In Bobby Abreu

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The Phillies are interested in bringing back one of their cornerstones from the late 90s and early 2000s, as they're taking a look at Bobby Abreu, according to a report from CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick adds that the two sides are currently in discussions on a minor league deal (Twitter link).

Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. did not deny the fact that the Phillies were gathering intel on the 40-year-old Abreu, who has had a monster season in winter ball down in Venezuela and is looking to make a comeback. Amaro tells Salisbury that the Phillies are looking at all of the remaining left-handed bats on the market.

Abreu played in 1353 games as a member of the Phillies from 1998-2006, slashing a healthy .303/.416/.513 with 195 homers in his time in Philadelphia. He did not appear in a Major League or Minor League game last season but has drawn attention from multiple teams with his winter ball performance, including the Indians.

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