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Archives for January 2014

Minor Moves: Ricardo Nanita, Travis Buck

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Here are Monday's minor moves from around the league…

  • The Blue Jays announced on Twitter that they've re-signed outfielder Ricardo Nanita to a minor league deal with an invite to Major League Spring Training. The 32-year-old Nanita has spent the past four seasons with the Jays' minor league affiliates, where he's batted over .300 overall. He struggled a bit in 2013, slumping to .258/.312/.376.
  • The Padres have re-signed outfielder Travis Buck to another minor league deal, according to Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish (Twitter link). Last season marked the first time since 2006 that Buck did not appear in a Major League game. The 30-year-old CAA client appeared in 35 games at Triple-A Tucson where he batted .256/.296/.464. Buck did not receive an invite to Major League Spring Training, Cotillo adds in a followup tweet.
  • Carlos Peguero of the Mariners is the only player that is currently in DFA limbo, as can be seen in MLBTR's DFA Tracker.

Dodgers, Ramirez Remain In Early Stages Of Extension Talks

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The Dodgers locked up Clayton Kershaw with a historic seven-year contract extension last week, guaranteeing the game's best pitcher an annual salary of at least $30MM for the next five seasons and possibly as much as $215MM over seven years. That pact crosses one major extension candidate off GM Ned Colletti's list, but Hanley Ramirez still has just one year left on his deal. According to Yahoo's Tim Brown, the Dodgers and Ramirez remain in the "early stages" of extension discussions, but talks are ongoing (Twitter link).

Apparently, not much has changed on the Ramirez front since late November, when talks were then said to be ongoing as well. Clearly, the Dodgers have had their fair share of business to attend to, as since that time they've extended Kershaw, aggressively pursued Masahiro Tanaka and signed five free agents to Major League deals. As shown in MLBTR's Transactions Tracker, Brian Wilson, J.P. Howell, Chris Perez, Jamey Wright and Juan Uribe have all been signed in that time, and the club also worked out a trade with the Mets for their Rule 5 Draft selection.

Presumably, their courtship of Tanaka is the top priority in the coming week, given the fact that the highly touted right-hander's deadline to sign is this Friday. Adding Tanaka to the mix would seem to be the final piece to a rotation that already includes Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-jin Ryu and Dan Haren, leaving a Ramirez extension as one of the last remaining keys to the offseason. Of course, landing Tanaka could lead to further trade discussions for Colletti in regards to Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett (my own speculation). Bronson Arroyo is reportedly on their short list of targets, should Tanaka not agree to don Dodger blue for the next several years.

Regardless, a great deal of the Dodgers' work appears to be done for the winter, which would leave Colletti and his staff with roughly two months to work out an extension for Ramirez prior to Opening Day 2014.

A’s Sign Scott Kazmir

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JAN. 20: MLBTR's Tim Dierkes has the specifics on Kazmir's contract (Twitter link). Kazmir will receive a $4MM signing bonus and be paid $7MM in 2014. He'll earn $11MM in 2015, and his contract contains a clause that gives him a $500K bonus if he's traded.

DEC. 4: Though they have plenty of in-house rotation candidates, the Athletics clearly consider Scott Kazmir to be superior to many of them. Oakland officially announced today that they have signed the left-hander to a two-year contract that is reportedly worth $22MM. Kazmir is represented by the Legacy Agency.

Kazmir-Scott

Kazmir, who turns 30 next month, reemerged as a legitimate Major League starter in 2013 after a two-year hiatus from significant big league action. After pitching to a 5.54 ERA in 299 innings from 2009-11 and seeing his average fastball velocity drop below 87 mph, Kazmir returned with a 92.5 mph heater and posted a 4.04 ERA In 158 innings for the Indians. He averaged 9.2 strikeouts and 2.7 walks per nine innings to go along with a 40.9 percent ground-ball rate. Sabermetric stats like FIP (3.51), xFIP (3.36) and SIERA (3.45) all pegged Kazmir as significantly better than his ERA would otherwise indicate. Because he did not receive a qualifying offer from Cleveland, Kazmir's agreement won't require the A's to sacrifice their first-round pick.

Kazmir's $22MM guarantee falls just $1MM shy of Tim Hudson's two-year, $23MM deal with the A's Bay Area rivals — the San Francisco Giants. Oakland was said to finish as the runner-up in that sweepstakes. Kazmir's guarantee and their unwillingness to top the Giants' offer to Hudson suggests that this could be the highest the A's were capable of going in their pursuit of a pitcher.

The Kazmir signing likely puts an end to Oakland's interest in a reunion with Bartolo Colon. Kazmir figures to join a rotation that includes Sonny Gray, Jarrod Parker, A.J. Griffin and one of Tommy Milone, Dan Straily and Brett Anderson. Anderson, who makes $8MM in 2014 and has a $12MM option for the 2015 season, appears to become a prime trade candidate as a result of this signing (if he wasn't already).

Kazmir's contract continues the upward trend we've seen for free agent starting pitcher salaries this offseason. Prior to season's end, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes projected a two-year, $16MM contract that may have seemed aggressive at the time but still fell short of his ultimate guarantee. Agent Brian Peters of the Legacy Agency did well to secure such a payday despite his client's spotty history.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that the agreement was close (on Twitter), and Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported that it'd be a two-year contract (Twitter link). Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio broke the news of the two-year, $22MM agreement (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Central Links: Wong, Reynolds, Baez, Cubs

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The Cardinals' Kolten Wong sits atop the list of baseball's 10 best second base prospects compiled by Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com. As Mayo points out, St. Louis' trade of David Freese allows Matt Carpenter to move to third base, opening second for the highly touted University of Hawaii product. Rougned Odor, Mookie Betts, Arismendy Alcantara, Devon Travis, Jonathan Schoop, Taylor Lindsey, Eddie Rosario, Micah Johnson and Wilmer Flores round out the free list, which also includes scouting reports on each prospect. Here's more out of the NL Central…

  • Fangraphs' Mike Petriello writes that the Brewers' signing of Mark Reynolds is more beneficial to them than it would be another club due to Milwaukee's historically bad group of first basemen in 2013. If Reynolds can even play at replacement level, he'd provide a four-win improvement, and with Miller Park being among the four best parks in the game for right-handed power, Reynolds could be above replacement level. While it could be a nice move, Petriello continues, Reynolds serving as the offseason's biggest move isn't a defensible outcome. Milwaukee has yet to sign a big league free agent, but they also haven't pulled the trigger on a rebuild, making their offseason puzzling, he concludes.
  • Top Cubs prospect Javier Baez will begin the season playing shortstop at Triple-A, but he could also receive some work at second base to accelerate his path to the Majors, writes Carrie Muskat of MLB.com in a wrap-up piece from this week's Cubs Convention. Director of scouting and player development Jason McLeod tells Muskat that the goal is for Baez to play short for as long as he can, but McLeod concedes that the 21-year-old has a lot of work to do on defense.
  • Muskat also writes that McLeod and president Theo Epstein have some history with righty Justin Grimm, who was acquired in the July haul for Matt Garza. McLeod drafted Grimm when he and Epstein were with the Red Sox, but Grimm elected to honor his commitment to Georgia. When McLeod and Epstein were scouting one of his college games, Epstein walked down 15 rows to jokingly tell McLeod, "You're fired" after seeing Grimm unload an array of 97 mph fastballs.
  • McLeod told Muskat that the team has scouted Masahiro Tanaka "extensively" over the past few years and that the evaluation process is complete. "…we'll find out in the next week," McLeod said regarding the former Rakuten ace.

Carlos Santana Expects To Play Third For Indians

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MONDAY: In the "Around the Horn" section of his latest column, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes that despite Santana's comments, club officials will wait until Spring Training to make a definitive call on his position. The team still hasn't ruled out using Chisenhall at third base, according to Rosenthal.

FRIDAY: Carlos Santana has served as the club's primary backstop for the last three seasons, but says he is preparing to play at the hot corner in 2014, according to ESPNDeportes.com's Enrique Rojas (Spanish language link). Though Santana was known to be trying his hand at a return to third — where he spent some time early in his professional career — this report indicates a much more serious likelihood of a position shift.

As Santana explains (all translation errors mine), he is only preparing to play third at this point in time. "Those are the plans of the team at this moment," Santana said. Indicating that the club asked him to give third a try, Santana said he "took a month thinking about it before accepting."

Santana seemed destined to spend less time at the catcher position anyway next season, for several reasons. To begin with, the 27-year-old's bat is good enough to play anywhere on the diamond. Last year, he posted a .268/.377/.455 triple-slash, including twenty home runs, in 642 plate appearances. That was good for a 137 OPS+, a particularly impressive mark given that Santana labored behind the dish for 84 games.

And while any player can theoretically be more valuable while playing a defense-first position like catcher, Santana had increasingly struggled at the spot. Defensive Runs Saved panned Santana's work in 2013, and recent pitch framing metrics (e.g., here and here) have viewed him as a poor framer. There were good reasons for Cleveland to limit Santana's defensive impact, though of course third is hardly the easiest position. (And UZR has not looked kindly on Santana's 942 2/3 career innings at first, though he told Rojas that he never felt comfortable there.) 

Most importantly, perhaps, is the emergence of Yan Gomes, who was picked up from the Blue Jays in a deal that has strongly favored the Indians to date. The 26-year-old's emergence last year played a big role in fueling the club's Wild Card run. He hit .294/.345/.481 in 322 plate appearances, splitting time at catcher with Santana. In just 88 games, Gomes was worth 3.7 fWAR and 4.0 rWAR, drawing positive reviews for his defensive work.

The news on Santana could have hot stove implications. For one, it may explain why the club has done little to push Lonnie Chisenhall outside of inking David Adams, who has just 152 big league plate appearances under his belt despite the fact that he will turn 27 in May. For what it is worth, Santana is a better hitter from the right side (.855 OPS vs. .794 OPS hitting lefty), though he'd surely find his bat at another position in the lineup if he were to platoon at third.

Of course, if Cleveland no longer plans to give Chisenhall regular at-bats, it raises the question why the team was so hesitant to part with him in a prospective Matt Garza trade deadline deal. And if Santana were to spend significant time at third, it could make the 25-year-old a candidate to be dealt. He was once a top-25 prospect, and his career .694 OPS has come in only 682 plate appearances over three MLB seasons.

If Santana is able to play a passable third, moreover, it could impact the fate of both he and Gomes. Spending less energy behind the dish, and more time in the lineup, could lead to bigger offensive numbers for Santana. He would make for quite an interesting multi-position player, given his outstanding bat, and would increase his stock as a trade piece or eventual free agent. (He is signed through 2016, plus the Indians hold an option for the following season.) 

As for Gomes, the shifting of the club's prized young catcher off of the catching position would open up a world of opportunity. Gomes would presumably be looked upon as the catcher of the future in Cleveland. The Oliver and Steamer projection systems (via Fangraphs) both project him to keep hitting at better than league average, and view him as a three or four win player in a full-time role. Eligible for arbitration after the 2015 season, Gomes would have a chance to build real value through arbitration or as an extension candidate.

Steve Adams contributed to this post.

Quick Hits: Orioles, Cubs, Burnett

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The Orioles have behaved with a "lack of urgency" this offseason, writes Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan. The team has a number of key players set for free agency after the 2015 season, including slugger Chris Davis and catcher Matt Wieters. After that, the shape of the organization figures to change dramatically. That means they ought to go for it now, Passan argues, but they haven't so far. Here are more notes from around the big leagues.

  • The Cubs are a "wealthy team pinching baseball pennies," Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. The team appears to have the means to spend, Wittenmyer writes, but "there exists a sizable gap between available resources and baseball spending that could help assure the success of the rebuild."
  • The Cubs are evaluating their options with the fourth pick in this year's draft, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reports. "We feel we know who the top five are today," says senior vice president of scouting and player development Jason McLeod. "We’ll spend a lot of time with them. As things change, we’ll just scout the guy we think has the most impact for us." Gonzalez notes that the Cubs already have a connection to Vanderbilt pitcher Tyler Beede, who is one of the top-ranked prospects in the draft — Cubs minor league pitching coordinator Derek Johnson was Vanderbilt's pitching coach in 2012, when Beede was a freshman.
  • The Pirates are still waiting on A.J. Burnett, whose decision about whether or not to retire will have a dramatic impact on their offseason, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes. Bucs pitching coach Ray Searage says he has heard that Burnett is continuing to work out in preparation to pitch. If Burnett does not return, the Pirates will likely go with a rotation of Francisco Liriano, Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton, Wandy Rodriguez and Edinson Volquez, although Rodriguez is returning from injury. Brink notes in an aside that the Pirates could make a trade from their stockpile of relievers.

AL Notes: GMs, Price, Peguero

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Andrew Friedman of the Rays and Billy Beane of the Athletics have the most job security of any GMs in baseball, Scout.com's Kiley McDaniel writes. At the other end of the spectrum are Jack Zduriencik of the Mariners and Jerry Dipoto of the Angels. McDaniel writes that Zduriencik could hang on in Seattle with a playoff run in 2014, but that doesn't seem likely. Here are more notes from around the American League.

  • The Rays should not trade David Price, Dayn Perry of CBS Sports writes. Price figures to be the Rays' best starter in what should be a contending season. Also, Price will likely out-produce the $14MM he'll make in 2014. If the Rays struggle this year, Keri says, they can reconsider dealing Price when the trade deadline rolls around.
  • The Mariners recently designated outfielder Carlos Peguero for assignment when they added John Buck. Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs points out that Peguero is out of options, and is unlikely to make it in the big leagues despite "big-time raw upside" — he strikes out too much and walks too little to take advantage of his power. Sullivan looks at players who have had seasons with strikeout and walk numbers comparable to those of Peguero's 2011 debut, and finds only a few who had meaningful careers, including Tony Armas, Don Demeter, Dick Stuart, and former Mariners star Bret Boone.

MLBTR Originals

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A look back at the original reporting and analysis found on MLBTR this past week:

  • Tim Dierkes spoke to Orioles Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette and agents Paul Kinzer and Dan Rosquete about the growing trend of signing six-year minor league free agents to Major League deals despite a lack of big league experience.
  • Tim also learned one of the players profiled, right-hander Erik Cordier signed by the Giants, had Major League offers from two other clubs.
  • Tim was the first to report right-hander Alfredo Aceves coming to terms with the Orioles on a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training.
  • Charlie Wilmoth spoke with Chase Lambin, the oldest active minor leaguer without any MLB experience.  They discussed the 34-year-old's career, the frustration of not yet receiving that big league promotion, and shifting his perspective to supporting his family while mentoring younger players with an eye toward coaching after his playing days are over.
  • Jeff Todd, using MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker, provided a two-part roundup (I, II) of Friday's exchange of salary arbitration figures. 
  • Steve Adams was first with the agreement between the Giants and right-hander Yusmeiro Petit to avoid an arbitration hearing.
  • Tim noted the Pirates, Jays, Braves, Marlins, Rays, and White Sox are among the teams believed to utilize the file and trial strategy in handling their arbitration cases.
  • The Dodgers paid Clayton Kershaw approximately $197MM to buy out six free agent seasons and became only the third franchise to give a player an opt-out in an extension, according to Tim.  
  • Zach Links was told interest in left-hander Scott Maine is picking up after positive reports from his stint in the Puerto Rican winter league, right-handed reliever Matt Guerrier is likely to throw for teams this week, and reliever Neal Cotts' new one-year, $2.2MM contract is fully guaranteed. 
  • Tim broke the news of agent Gustavo Vasquez, whose clients include Pablo Sandoval, Salvador Perez, and Luis Avilan, breaking away from the Morgan Advisory Group to form his own agency, SPS Sports Group.
  • Steve hosted this week's live chat.
  • Zach assembled the best of the baseball blogosphere for you in Baseball Blogs Weigh In.

Masahiro Tanaka Rumors: Sunday

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Masahiro Tanaka will reportedly command a contract in the neighborhood of $120MM over six years (plus the expected $20MM posting fee) and is said to have received such an offer from the Diamondbacks. Here's the latest with five days remaining before Tanaka's posting period expires Friday at 4pm CT:

  • The Cubs' convention this weekend was rather quiet, but that might have been different if Tanaka's deadline had been a week earlier, Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago writes. One source told Rogers that the Cubs would be willing to sign Tanaka for up to six to eight years at $25MM per year, while another told him the Cubs would be willing to go with that time frame, but at a lower price.
  • Tanaka's decision should come Tuesday or Wednesday to allow time for further medical exams to take place prior to the Friday deadline, an AL scout tells David Kaplan of CSNChicago.com (via Twitter).
  • Kaplan tweets the same scout tells him the Cubs' current state is the biggest drawback in their landing Tanaka. Yesterday, we learned the Cubs made a formal offer to Tanaka, but are considered a long shot to win the bidding. 
  • The White Sox, who also have reportedly have made a formal offer to Tanaka, are in the same boat as the Cubs, tweets Kaplan.
  • The Mariners may have been priced out of contention for Tanaka or the 25-year-old's interest in Seattle wasn’t as high as some thought, reports the Seattle Times' Geoff Baker. 

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Week In Review: 1/12/14 – 1/18/14

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It was a busy week at MLBTR, as we saw dozens of players sign one-year deals with their teams to avoid arbitration. Here's a look at the rest of the action from around the league.

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