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Terry Ryan Diagnosed With Treatable Form Of Cancer

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There's saddening news out of Minneapolis today, as Twins general manager Terry Ryan has announced, via press release, that he has been diagnosed with a treatable form of cancer:

"During the course of a routine annual physical, Twins team physician Dr. Vijay Eyunni detected a lump in my neck which required further review. A subsequent biopsy confirmed the lump was cancerous, leading to an official medical diagnosis of Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Thankfully, incremental tests indicate the cancer appears to be confined to my neck and has not spread to other regions of my body."

According to his statement, Ryan is being treated at the renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. (about an hour south of the Twin Cities) as well as Minnesota Oncology (in the Twin Cities metro area). Said Ryan: "I’ve been assured this form of cancer is treatable and remain optimistic about my return to good health in the near future." (The entire statement can be read here.)

Ryan will not be attending Spring Training in Fort Myers, but the Twins will send assistant GM Rob Antony and vice president of player personnel Mike Radcliff to Florida to oversee the Spring Training operation.

We at MLBTR would like to wish a speedy recovery to Ryan and offer our condolences to him, his family, his friends and the Minnesota Twins organization for this tough, saddening news.

Royals Place Emilio Bonifacio On Release Waivers

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FEB. 10: The Royals have requested unconditional release waivers on Bonifacio, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish. Any team can now claim Bonifacio if they are willing to take on the entirety of his $3.5MM salary. Those claims will be determined according to last year's league-wide standings and are not subject to the in-season rule that would give AL teams the first shot at him (2013 league-wide standings are also used for the first month of the regular season, as opposed to league-specific priority). Should he clear waivers, he will be a free agent and can then sign with a team of his choosing.

FEB. 1: The Royals have designated infielder Emilio Bonifacio for assignment, according to a team release. The move clears space on the Royals' roster for Bruce Chen. Bonifacio, who will be 29 in April, hit .243/.295/.331 in 461 plate appearances divided between the Royals and Blue Jays in 2013.

In mid-January, the Royals agreed to a one-year, $3.5MM deal with him to avoid arbitration, so it comes as a surprise that they would designate him for assignment two weeks later. Chen's $3MM salary essentially replaces Bonifacio's $3.5MM, and arbitration contracts are not guaranteed, so the decision to designate Bonifacio may have been a matter of making room for Chen in the Royals' budget. The Royals could well trade Bonifacio in the next ten days. Pedro Ciriaco could pick up playing time as a utility infielder in Bonifacio's place.

Ervin Santana Progressing Toward Deal

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11:38am: MLBTR's Tim Dierkes reports (via Twitter) that there's "no way" Santana signs today. Dierkes' source says that there are three to four teams with serious interest.

10:59am: Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca hears from a source that Santana did indeed move closer to striking a deal this weekend. However, the Blue Jays "aren't the ones driving the sudden turn in his market," according to Davidi.

7:58am: The Orioles aren't close to a deal with Santana at this time, a source tells Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio (Twitter link).

MONDAY, 7:12am: Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets that there's no interest in Santana from the Twins, but he hears that the Orioles, Mariners, Dodgers, Yankees and Indians have all inquired on Santana within the past few days. Of course, the Dodgers signed Paul Maholm over the weekend, so they may no longer be in the market for another starter.

SUNDAY: Free agent starting pitcher Ervin Santana seems to finally be heading toward a deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. The Blue Jays and the Orioles have both been in touch with Santana. Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish, meanwhile, tweets that the Orioles will strongly pursue Santana or Ubaldo Jimenez this week.

Santana, of course, is coming off a strong 2013 season in which he posted a 3.24 ERA, 6.9 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 211 innings with the Royals. His path to a new team has been blocked, however, first by the uncertainty regarding Masahiro Tanaka's destination, and now by the fact that the team that signs him will have to forfeit a draft pick. As Rosenthal points out, the Jays' No. 9 and No. 11 picks are protected, which means they would only have to forfeit their No. 49 overall pick. The Orioles would lose their top draft choice, at No. 17.

Rosenthal notes that the Orioles are unlikely to be able to sign A.J. Burnett, as reports earlier this weekend indicated. They were among the finalists for Bronson Arroyo, but Arroyo recently agreed to terms with the Diamondbacks.

Nationals Avoid Arbitration With Tyler Clippard

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The Nationals and setup ace Tyler Clippard have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $5.875MM, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (on Twitter).

Clippard, 29 on Friday, exchanged figures with the Nats last month. He and his agents at Excel Sports Management filed for a hefty $6.35MM, while the Nationals countered at $4.45MM. His ultimate salary falls north of the $5.4MM midpoint but comes in south of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz's projected $6.2MM payday.

The Nationals brought in a new closer in the form of Rafael Soriano last offseason, leaving Clippard with little hope of repeating his 32 saves from the 2012 campaign. A shift to the seventh and eighth innings didn't harm his production one bit, however, as he continued his success to the tune of a 2.41 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 73 innings. Over the past five seasons, Clippard has a 2.72 ERA in 383 1/3 innings to go along with averages of 10.3 strikeouts and 3.6 walks per nine innings pitched. He's controllable through the 2015 as a Super Two player, as he currently falls just 24 days shy of five full years of service (4.148).

As MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows, the Nationals have now successfully avoided hearings with all 10 of their arbitration eligible players.

Paul Maholm And The Starting Pitching Market

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The free-agent market for starting pitching has been slow to develop this offseason, but now that Masahiro Tanaka has chosen a team, signings are trickling in. Two recent NL West contracts demonstrate how uncertain that market can be. The Diamondbacks agreed to terms with Bronson Arroyo on a two-year, $23.5MM deal that includes an option for 2016, and the Dodgers signed Paul Maholm for one year and $1.5MM guaranteed, with the chance to make up to $5MM more in incentives.

There are clear differences between the two pitchers — Arroyo is a righty and Maholm is a lefty, and Arroyo has been the more durable of the two. That's a trend that might not persist, given that Arroyo is five years older than Maholm. But Maholm did miss a start in September due to elbow soreness (although an MRI revealed no structural trouble) and he pitched 49 fewer innings than Arroyo last year.

Arroyo and Maholm aren't that different, however. They're both low-upside, pitch-to-contact types who give their teams decent chances of winning as mid-rotation or back-of-the-rotation starters. And statistically, they're reasonably similar.

Arroyo

Year K/9 BB/9 fWAR
2011 4.9 2.0 -1.5
2012 5.8 1.6 2.4
2013 5.5 1.5 0.8

Maholm

Year K/9 BB/9 fWAR
2011 5.4 2.8 1.7
2012 6.8 2.5 2.2
2013 6.2 2.8 0.7

One could actually make the case that, over the past three seasons, Maholm has been better than Arroyo. As Fangraphs' David Cameron noted yesterday (via Twitter), Maholm appears to be quite a bargain in comparison. (I made a similar observation at my own blog.)

Others have noted the huge disparity between Maholm's contract and that of Jason Vargas, who received four years and $32MM from the Royals earlier this winter. Like Maholm, Vargas is a 31-year-old, pitch-to-contact lefty. Vargas has produced 4.5 WAR over the last three seasons, compared to 4.6 for Maholm.

The common thread here may be the perception that Arroyo and Vargas are more likely to give their new teams 200 innings. (Vargas only pitched 150 last season after missing time due to a blood clot, but he threw at least 201 in both 2011 and 2012.) If that's the case, however, the market seems to be overreacting. In theory, a team could easily get two Maholm-type fragile pitchers and hope for them to combine for 250 or so decent innings, rather than paying Arroyo or Vargas many times more. A team would have to clear an extra spot on its roster that way, but that seems like a small matter compared to the savings in dollars.

In fact, in a way, this seems to be what the Dodgers are doing — they'll have Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dan Haren for the first four spots, and then Maholm, Josh Beckett and Chad Billingsley will soak up the remaining innings. (Beckett and Billingsley are both returning from injury.) If Arroyo posts 200 innings, that's surely useful, but given that his innings aren't the highest quality, a team should be able to compensate for reduced back-of-the-rotation certainty with greater depth.

Among Arroyo, Vargas and Maholm, Maholm is probably the outlier. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes' projection for Arroyo's contract was almost exactly on the money, while Maholm's contract, at least the guaranteed portion, falls well short of Dierkes' projected one year and $7MM. Perhaps teams are simply extremely concerned about Maholm's elbow. (In fact, that seems at least somewhat likely, given Maholm's apparent openness to pitching in relief. One would think a pitcher of his caliber would be able to find a sure starting job somewhere.)

If not, though, Maholm's deal doesn't bode well for a pitcher like lefty free agent Chris Capuano. Capuano's value has been similar to Vargas or Maholm the past three seasons (with 4.8 total fWAR), but he only pitched 105 2/3 innings last year due to a series of injuries, and he has two Tommy John surgeries in his past. Given Capuano's tendency to pitch reasonably strong innings when healthy, though, he could give his next team great value. Maholm's contract could be a bargain for the Dodgers, and the team that picks up Capuano could be in line for a bargain as well.

Quick Hits: Tanaka, Goldschmidt, Mattingly

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The Diamondbacks didn't ultimately land Masahiro Tanaka, but the club feels that Paul Goldschmidt significantly helped their pursuit of the Japanese ace, Jules Tompkins of ArizonaSports.com reports. When the Diamondbacks met with Tanaka, they brought Goldschmidt along. "It was very interesting to watch the interaction between Tanaka and Goldy, it was very clear — even though the language barrier was there — that Tanaka was impressed that he was there," says Diamondbacks executive Ken Kendrick. "And he asked him several questions through the interpreter about our club and about Arizona." Here are more notes from around baseball.

  • Dodgers manager Don Mattingly appreciates the confidence the organization showed in giving him a three-year contract, writes MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom. "The organization has shown confidence," Mattingly says. "I think it says that to fans, it says that to me and more importantly it says that to the players. It lets them know that we feel like this guy can do the job." Mattingly notes that one thing his contract doesn't give him is security — compared to the Dodgers' enormous payroll, Mattingly's contract is "a drop in the bucket," so if they feel the need to fire him, the contract likely won't constrain them.
  • In addition to the obvious cultural differences, Tanaka will have to adjust to a number of other factors as he prepares for his debut with the Yankees, Anthony McCarron of New York Daily News writes. That includes the size of the ball and the textures of the mounds, as well as more power-centric opposing lineups. 

Talks Quiet Between Stephen Drew, Mets

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11:52pm: Carig now cites another source (via Twitter) who says that Drew and the Mets have had "continuous discussions."

9:53pm: Free-agent shortstop Stephen Drew and the Mets haven't talked much recently, Newsday's Marc Carig writes. "Regarding Drew, there has not been much dialogue at all," a source close to the Mets told Carig.

Heading into mid-February, there isn't much indication that Drew is close to signing. Red Sox GM Ben Cherington has said that he didn't expect his team to sign Drew before spring training started. Meanwhile, the Mets' level of interest has seemed tepid, even though they currently have Ruben Tejada, who struggled through a miserable 2013 season, penciled in as their starting shortstop. As with a number of high-profile free agents who remain unsigned, the issue of draft-pick forfeiture appears to have had a significant impact on Drew's market. As Carig notes, however, Drew's agent, Scott Boras, is no stranger to 11th-hour deals, and he has a week to go before position players report to spring training.

MLBTR Originals

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A look back at the original reporting and analysis found on MLBTR the last seven days:

  • Zach Links spoke with baseball executives and agents about the impact of the new NPB posting system and they believe the agreement is already creating a level playing field so more teams can bid on Japanese talent, but may not have a major impact on salaries given to regular free agents. 
  • Mike Dillon of Reynolds Sports Management, who represents right-handed reliever Joel Hanrahan, told MLBTR reports his client would hold a workout for clubs this past week were inaccurate. "We do not anticipate Joel throwing for multiple clubs in a 'showcase' type of workout until early March when he will be closer to 100%," Dillon said. "Having said that, we are excited and very encouraged with Joel's progress."
  • Jeff Todd explored how Freddie Freeman's eight-year, $135MM deal may be the new contract extension model for players on the cusp of being arbitration eligible.
  • Tim broke the news of the Marlins signing right-hander Chaz Roe to a minor league pact with an invitation to Spring Training.
  • Tim was the first to report the Dodgers reached agreement with infielder Justin Turner.
  • Tim learned left-hander Brian Burres will hold a showcase for interested teams Monday in Florida.
  • Steve Adams asked MLBTR readers which of our remaining 2014 Top 50 Free Agents would sign next. Nearly 11% of you correctly predicted Fernando Rodney (#32) would be the one to put pen to paper before the others. Three days after the poll was posted, the right-hander signed a two-year, $14MM deal to become the Mariners' new closer.
  • Zach gathered the best the baseball corner of the web had to offer for two installments of Baseball Blogs Weigh In. 
  • Steve hosted the weekly live chat.

Pirates Notes: Offseason, Morales, First Base

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Pirates GM Neal Huntington says that one reason for the Bucs' relatively quiet offseason is that they didn't want to make moves that would hurt them beyond 2014, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. "We'll see if those situations come back available," says Huntington. "If not, we feel good about this club, we feel good about our core. We've got some guys that are deserving of opportunities and if they can't capitalize on those, then we begin to look elsewhere." After an extremely successful 2013 season, the Pirates' only significant moves this offseason have been signing free agent starting pitcher Edinson Volquez and trading for former Yankees catcher Chris Stewart. A.J. Burnett, one of their top starting pitchers in 2013, remains on the free agent market. Here are more notes on the Pirates.

  • Earlier today, one report suggested that, if the price were low enough, the Pirates would have interest in free agent Kendrys Morales to help them at first base. MLB.com's Tom Singer lists the pros and cons of signing Morales — Morales would help the Pirates at designated hitter in interleague series, Singer says, but his limited ability to play first base regularly is a detriment. Also, of course, there's the fact that Morales would cost the Pirates the No. 25 overall pick in the draft this June.
  • The Pirates' current options at first base include Gaby Sanchez (who will almost certainly make the team as a strong option against lefties), Andrew Lambo and Chris McGuiness. But the Bucs will continue to search for a first baseman to start against right-handers, Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune-Review writes. They might not acquire him until the end of spring training, when teams might be more motivated to make trades as they try to set their rosters.

Week In Review: 2/2/14 – 2/8/14

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Here’s a look back at this week at MLBTR.

Key Moves

Signed / Agreed To Terms

Retired

Designated For Assignment

Key Minor-League Signings

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