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Archives for January 2014

Balfour Expected To Sign Within The Next Week

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Free agent right-hander Grant Balfour is expected to make a decision as to where he will sign "within a week, if not in the coming days," a person close to his situation tells Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reported over the weekend that the Nationals are in the mix for Balfour, and Kilgore writes that it should be known soon how serious that level of interest is. GM Mike Rizzo appeared on the MLB Network this morning and spoke in general terms regarding Balfour (via Kilgore):

"Sometimes, you get some values at this time of year. We’re looking for any way to strengthen a weakness we have. We feel our bullpen is extremely strong. It’s a big part of our ball club. But if we could strengthen a strength, that never hurts, either. You can never have too many good players. Especially in January, you can never have too many good arms, too many starters, too many relievers."

In his weekend report, Rosenthal noted that the purpose of backloading the two-year deals inked by Jordan Zimmermann and Ian Desmond was to create financial flexibility for the 2014 season. The club saved in the vicinity of $3.5MM by backloading those deals, and that money, paired with a trade of Drew Storen — something both Rosenthal and Kilgore note as a possibility — would seem to free up enough payroll to add Balfour. Storen is set to earn $3.5MM next season.

The 36-year-old Balfour agreed to a two-year, $15MM with the Orioles back in December, but that contract fell through due to medical concerns from Baltimore. While the initial reaction to the deal was anger from Balfour and his agents because multiple doctors said his shoulder was perfectly healthy, recent reports have indicated that Baltimore backed off due to concerns in Balfour's wrist and knee.

Phillies Sign Chad Gaudin

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12:44pm: Gaudin will earn $750K if he makes the roster with the Phillies, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish.

9:24am: The Phillies have signed right-hander Chad Gaudin to a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training, the team announced via press release.

Gaudin, a Reynolds Sports Management client, was excellent for the Giants in his age-30 campaign last season. The former 34th-round draft pick totaled 97 innings of 3.06 ERA ball with 8.2 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and a 38.4 percent ground-ball rate with San Francisco. Gaudin appeared in 30 games and made 12 starts last year — his first action as a starter since 2009.

Throughout his career, Gaudin has served as both a starter and reliever. He made a league-leading 34 starts with the A's in 2007, and 87 of his 344 career outings have been starts. Gaudin can serve as rotation depth for Philadelphia should Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez end up needing some minor league seasoning or in the event that their signing of Roberto Hernandez doesn't pan out. If the Phils' rotation holds as projected, Gaudin should be able to provide a boost to a relief corps that posted baseball's fourth-worst collective ERA in 2013 (4.19).

Brett Tomko On His Comeback Bid

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Brett Tomko enjoyed a long career in Major League Baseball that included pitching in big games and stops in the postseason.  While some athletes in his position – accomplished professionally with a young family – would choose to relax and enjoy post-retirement life, the 40-year-old is enthusiastic about his bid to return to the bigs in 2014.

The veteran says he has every reason to be confident, because he's been counted out before and proved the naysayers wrong.  In the midst of his 100th career win late in 2009, he suffered a pinched nerve that caused him to lose feeling from his elbow to the middle of his hand.  When doctors jammed needles into Tomko's right arm as part of a nerve test to assess the damage, he didn't feel them.  The next year, the veteran pitched in the lower levels of the A's minor league system and got shelled by "18 and 19 year olds" as he couldn't get his fastball above 83 mph.  

He eventually got his velocity back, however, and hooked on with the Rangers in 2011 where he pitched in Triple-A after some time on the varsity squad.  He spent the bulk of 2012 with the Reds' Triple-A affiliate, but during his final start of the year, he dislocated his right shoulder.  Now, after a year of independent ball, Tomko says he's anxious to show MLB what he's capable of.

"I was basically told by a lot of doctors that I'd never pitch again and that kind of made me appreciate things more," Tomko said. "It gave me a new perspective on baseball and how great it was that I got to play for the last 18 years and how much I enjoyed playing.  I enjoy everything about the process: traveling to new cities, the competition..there's nothing I really don't enjoy about it."

Tomko is offering clubs more than just a positive attitude, though that's probably also a selling point, as he says that he's willing to pitch in Triple-A and eager to help young pitchers improve.  This offseason, the veteran has lost 20 to 25 pounds and has gotten his fastball up to the 90-93 mph range.  By his account, Tomko, who turns 41 in April, says that he feels as good as he did when he was 25.  He also played some winter ball for the first time in his professional career, spending a month in the Dominican Republic where he stifled big league hitters with regularity.

While in the Dominican, scouts from numerous teams – including the Mariners, Indians, Red Sox, Marlins, Nationals, Dodgers, and Mets – all spoke with Tomko and expressed varying degrees of interest.  The veteran has also chatted with the Angels and Yankees and will be throwing for the Orioles on Friday.  A few Asian clubs also approached him during his stint in the DR, and while he'll consider those opportunities, he says he would prefer a good Triple-A opportunity with a big league club.  Tomko says that agent Larry O'Brien will set up a formal audition for multiple clubs at the end of January or in the first week of February if he hasn't signed with a club by that time.

Tomko is taking it all one step at a time, but he's more than open to pitching beyond 2014 if the opportunity presents itself.  

"Physically, if I still feel as good as I did when I was younger, then I could see [pitching in 2015 and beyond].  I'll keep lacing it up until someone rips the uniform off of my back and says 'You're done.'" Tomko said.  "I tell my family all the time, I'd never go out there and embarrass myself, and if my stuff suffers or isn't the same or if my pitches have gone to the dumps, I'm done.  I feel like I can look in the mirror at any point and say it's been a good run, but I don't feel like I'm done.  I'm not throwing 95 or 96 [mph] like when I was 25 or 26, but I'll take 93.  If I was throwing 84, I'd say it's time to shut it down."

No matter what, Tomko says he wants to stay involved in baseball and would be open to different opportunities when he's done pitching, including coaching and serving as a TV analyst.  However, he's not thinking about any of that right now.

"I'd definitely want to stay in the game in some avenue, whether it's being with an organization in a role where you still help the young kids…I'm game for anything.  But, right now my focus is playing and pitching and working out.  I have the same mindset every year.  This February I'm going to be in camp somewhere and ready to pitch."

Poll: The Braves’ Potential Arbitration Hearings

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One of the most notable "file and trial" teams in baseball, the Braves have a team policy that they will not negotiate once arbitration figures are submitted. This is of particular note given the fact that three of their best players — Craig Kimbrel, Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward — were unable to come to an agreement in advance of the filing deadline. Now, all three are likely headed for hearings.

The gap between Kimbrel and the Braves is the largest, as he submitted a $9MM figure while the Braves countered at $6.55MM. As MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz pointed out back in November, Kimbrel's arb case is perhaps the most interesting of the offseason as there is truly no precedent for a closer doing what he's done to this point of his career.

Freeman is fresh off his first All-Star nod and a fifth-place finish in the NL MVP voting. He's looking at a $1.25MM gap between his $5.75MM figure and the Braves' $4.5MM figure. The gap between the Braves and Heyward is a mere $300K ($5.5MM vs. $5.2MM), which one would think is small enough that an agreement can be worked out.

However, GM Frank Wren flatly said, "We're done," following the exchange of arb figures, indicating that he does indeed plan on heading to trials. It's worth noting that the team did avoid arbitration with Jeff Francoeur the night before his scheduled hearing back in 2009, but the team's strict policy has been adopted since that time. With all this said, let's vote on each case. You can keep track of the results by clicking here.

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Quick Hits: Minaya, Mets, Padres

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For some fascinating information on the Latin American market, be sure to read this interview with longtime baseball man Omar Minaya, courtesy of Teddy Klein of metsmerizedonline.com. 

  • Minaya's former club, the Mets, may still add options for the starting rotation even after signing John Lannan, writes Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. "Lannan does not necessarily preclude us from signing another starter," said assistant GM John Ricco. 
  • Minaya's current team, the Padres, is probably not going to add a reliever "unless it's something small," a source told Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (Twitter link). Though the team has been said to be in the market for a lefty, it appears that the intent is to make a modest acquisition, if any.

Masahiro Tanaka Links: Monday

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The Masahiro Tanaka clock is ticking, and the right-hander has until Friday to agree to a deal with his first Major League team. Recent reports have indicated that the Cubs are emerging as one of the favorites, but their status as a losing team could stand in the way of landing Tanaka. Yesterday it was reported that Tanaka could agree on Tuesday or Wednesday this week in order to give his new club time to perform the necessary physical and paperwork to make things official. We'll keep track of today's Tanaka-centric links here…

  • Whichever club is chosen by Tanaka should know by at least the end of the day Wednesday, tweets David Kaplan of CSN Chicago and WGN Radio. That way, explains Kaplan, the club has time for "additional medicals."
  • The Blue Jays "are not among the teams in consideration" for Tanaka, says Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star. But Toronto is definitely involved in adding a free agent starter from what Griffin calls the "next tier" of starting arms, and is willing to sacrifice a second-round pick to do so. (The Jays' two first-round choices are protected.)

Earlier Updates

  • Industry source believe that the Cubs will outbid the field in terms of years and dollars in order to land Tanaka, tweets Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com. Levine adds that at this point, no team knows how much its competitors have bid.
  • Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports writes that the Cubs may need Tanaka more than the Yankees or Dodgers, but he doesn't feel that Tanaka is interested in coming to America to pitch for a losing club. He feels Chicago would have to overpay in order to land Tanaka, which he says is not the Ricketts family's style. The Dodgers present the best set of circumstances in terms of available money, proximity to Japan, weather, a competitive team and a pitcher-friendly environment, Morosi writes.
  • Over the weekend, a rival executive told MLB Daily Dish's Chris Cotillo that he believes the Astros met with Tanaka, though he is unsure whether or not they made a formal offer (Twitter link).

Arbitration Links: Hearings, Braves, Duda

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Bluebird Banter looks at both the Blue Jays' most recent arbitration hearings and, more importantly for the general MLBTR readership, the most recent arb hearing from each team. The Indians have gone the longest without an arbitration hearing, having not taken a case to court since Jerry Browne and Greg Swindell back in 1991. Anibal Sanchez and Emilio Bonifacio are the two most recent players to win arb hearings, both coming against the Marlins in 2012. The whole table is worth checking out, featuring notable names like Kyle Lohse, Andruw Jones, A.J. Pierzynski and Oliver Perez. Here are some more links related to the possible arb cases we could see next month …

  • With several star Braves players (Craig Kimbrel, Freddie Freeman, and Jason Heyward) set to face a hearing, writes MLB.com's Mark Bowman, the effects on the organization could be long-lasting. First of all, if Kimbrel wins the $9MM salary he has requested, he would set himself up for two more massive arb paydays that could force Atlanta to deal him. As for Freeman and Heyward, both of whom are represented by Excel Sports Management, Bowman says that the confrontational hearing process could potentially make it at least marginally harder (or, at least, more expensive) to keep them around for the long haul. 
  • The Mets will continue to negotiate with first baseman/outfielder Lucas Duda after exchanging numbers, reports Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. The respective salary submissions ($1.35MM vs. $1.9MM) did not fall among the most difficult-to-bridge gaps, as noted in my roundup of notable arbitration situations from Friday.
  • Club GM Sandy Alderson also said today (courtesy of Rubin) that Duda could see time in the outfield next year, and could conceivably break camp with the Mets alongside Ike Davis. Since Duda has an option remaining, his 2015 arbitration case could suffer from a lack of playing time if he does not force his way onto the active roster for a substantial portion of the coming season.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.

 

Padres Fielding Trade Calls On Logan Forsythe

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The Padres have been contacted by multiple clubs with interest in utilityman Logan Forsythe, reports Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (via Twitter). Forsythe, who just turned 27, has spent most of his MLB time at second, though he has also logged innings at third, short, and the corner outfield.

Last week, we learned that the Yankees had inquired with San Diego about a trade for an infielder, with Forsythe reportedly the most realistic subject of a possible deal. While other clubs with potential interest remain unknown, Forsythe's versatility makes him a reasonable target for many organizations.

Forsythe swings from the right side of the plate, and carries a lifetime .241/.310/.349 line in 762 plate appearances over three seasons. After a solid 2012 (107 OPS+), Forsythe struggled last year with a .214/.281/.332 triple-slash in 243 plate appearances. He will be eligible for arbitration for the first time next year.

From the Padres' perspective, Forsythe clearly does not have a starting spot and may be somewhat redundant with fellow utility player Alexi Amarista. With several other depth options also under contract — including Ryan Jackson, Brandon Wood, and Alberto Gonzalez — the club could try to flip Forsythe for a southpaw bullpen piece or low-level prospects.

Free Agent Notes: Brewers, Williams, Gaudin, Figgins, Tomko

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With the signings of Lyle Overbay and Mark Reynolds to minor league deals, the Brewers seem likely to spend roster spots on both of the veterans. "[First base] is a position where we may have to mix and match with Overbay, Reynolds, Juan Francisco," GM Doug Melvin told MLB.com's Dick Kaegel. "We've got numbers now to work with and guys can come into camp and be competitive. … I didn't think we'd be able to sign both Reynolds and Overbay, but sometimes the situation with two guys doing it, you might get some production." 

Let's have a look at some notes on a few other free agents who are likely to end up with one-year or minor league deals:

  • The Phillies are not pursuing Jerome Williams at present in spite of prior interest, reports Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. Philadelphia does, however, have an offer out to a swingman whose identity is not presently known, according to Cotillo. (Twitter links.)
  • About a half-dozen teams are "in on" pitcher Chad Gaudin, who is expected to reach agreement soon, reports Cotillo (via Twitter). Last we checked in on Gaudin, the Phils were being floated as a possible landing spot.
  • Red Sox scouts actually were in attendance to watch infielder Chone Figgins work out last week, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Cafardo had recently reported to the contrary. The 35-year-old signed with the Marlins last spring, but did not make it out of camp with the organization.
  • Righty Brett Tomko, who is reportedly on the comeback trail at age 40, will throw for the Orioles on Friday, tweets Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports. As MLBTR's Zach Links noted on Twitter, Tomko has received interest from multiple clubs and is said to be throwing in the low-90s.

Central Notes: Anderson, Meyer, Bourjos, Indians

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Former White Sox first-rounder and top prospect Brian Anderson is making one last comeback attempt, he tells MLB.com's Scott Merkin. After trying his luck as a pitcher, the soon-to-be 32-year-old Anderson is looking to catch on as an outfielder once again and believes he's made adjustments that will allow him to succeed. Making those adjustments didn't always come easily, he tells Merkin: "…I was too stubborn to fully commit to making adjustments. That led to my demise and my inconsistency at the plate. I wanted everything that came with the big leagues without having to prove myself." Anderson is hoping for a Spring Training invite with a chance to win a fourth outfielder gig before hitting his way into more playing time. Here's more out of baseball's Central divisions…

  • Steph Rogers of Getting Blanked interviewed Twins top pitching prospect Alex Meyer and covered a number of topics ranging from the best advice he's received to the transition to pro ball to the most beneficial aspects of winter ball. Meyer tells Rogers that he treasures the time he's been able to spend with former Reds left-hander Tom Browning in winter ball. Says Meyer of Browning, who pitched a perfect game in 1988: "If I can continue to pick his brain for the limited time I have left, it would be so beneficial."
  • New Cardinals center fielder Peter Bourjos told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he wasn't surprised to be traded by the Angels this offseason. Bourjos told Hummel that one of his goals with the Cards is to steal 40 bases, adding that it will depend on how he swings the bat because he knows drawing walks is not one of his strengths.
  • MLB.com's Jordan Bastian tackles a number of trade Indians scenarios in his latest Inbox piece but ultimately concludes that Asdrubal Cabrera, Justin Masterson and Lonnie Chisenhall will all be in the organization come Opening Day (though he doesn't believe Chisenhall will start at third base).
  • Earlier today, I ran down several NL Central notes, including pieces on Kolten Wong, Mark Reynolds and several Cubs topics.

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