Archives for 2014

Dodgers Acquire Justin Germano

By Jeff Todd | August 15, 2014 at 3:59pm CDT

The Dodgers have acquired right-hander Justin Germano from the Rangers for future considerations, Rangers executive vice president of communications John Blake announces (on Twitter). Germano has been added to the Triple-A Albuquerque roster to begin his tenure with the organization.

Germano, 32, has seen only minimal action at the MLB level over the past two seasons but has spent time in the majors in parts of nine years. Overall, he owns a 5.40 ERA with 5.7 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 over 330 innings, including 48 starts. At Triple-A this year, working as a starter, Germano has pitched to a 4.51 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 over 131 2/3 frames.

Having only made two appearances for an injury-plagued Texas rotation, Germano will function as organizational depth for Los Angeles. The Dodgers have once again seen a solid pool of arms require some supplementation over the course of the year, with Josh Beckett, Chris Perez, and Paco Rodriguez all on the 15-day DL and Chad Billingsley, Paul Maholm, Chris Withrow, Onelki Garcia, Stephen Fife, and Ross Stripling among those who are down for the season.

NL West Notes: Preller, Fried, Tulo, Petit

By Steve Adams | August 15, 2014 at 3:45pm CDT

The latest from MLB.com’s Corey Brock is an outstanding background on A.J. Preller’s rise from a college intern with the Phillies and an unpaid Arizona Fall League worker to the general manager of the Padres. Brock spoke not only with Preller, but with some of his biggest influences, including Rangers GM Jon Daniels, former big league manager Jim Tracy, Rangers senior special assistant Jim Welke and Rangers director of pro scouting Josh Boyd. The article goes in depth on Preller’s love of international scouting and the great lengths to which he went to build the Rangers’ scouting presence in Latin America. Padres fans looking to learn more about their new GM should consider the piece a must-read, but it’s well worth the time of any baseball fan. Tracy, who worked with Preller back in 2001, tells Brock: “The Padres have hired themselves an absolute jewel. No one will outwork him. It’s impossible to do. I find it hard to believe that he will be outsmarted.”

Here’s more from the NL West…

On a more somber note for Padres fans, the team announced today that top prospect Max Fried will require Tommy John surgery that will sideline him for most, if not all of the 2015 campaign. Fried, who was drafted seventh overall in 2012, has had a lost season, as he opened the year on the shelf with a flexor strain and only returned to the mound in January. The 20-year-old totaled just 10 2/3 innings of work this season before being shut down. Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus all ranked him inside of the game’s Top 55 prospects heading into the season.
Andy Martino of the New York Daily News looks at the poor timing of Troy Tulowitzki’s season-ending hip surgery. Martino recalls that just a few weeks ago, one source told him that if the Rockies were ever going to trade their star shortstop, “this is the winter.” Major League sources told Martino that they saw the Mets, Yankees, Cardinals and Red Sox as possible fits for Tulowitzki, but health concerns — which already existed due to his lengthy injury history — will now be magnified and might make it tough to get a strong enough return. Tulo is guaranteed $118MM from 2015-20.
With Tim Lincecum again struggling on the mound — he has an 8.39 ERA since the All-Star break — Grant Brisbee of SB Nation’s McCovey Chronicles asks if Lincecum is still a better rotation option than teammate Yusmeiro Petit. Brisbee notes that from a peripheral standpoint, Petit is similar to Lincecum but with markedly better command, making him a potentially safer bet through season’s end. While he notes that the Giants would never bounce Lincecum from the rotation in favor of Petit, doing so might give them a better chance at making a push for the playoffs.

Poll: Was Manfred The Right Choice?

By Steve Adams | August 15, 2014 at 12:33pm CDT

Major League Baseball owners yesterday elected MLB COO Rob Manfred as the successor to Bud Selig and next commissioner of baseball. While Manfred’s vote technically passed unanimously, there was a pronounced split for much of the day. Reportedly, 22 of the 30 teams were in favor of Manfred for much of the day, but it took quite some time for a 23rd team — said by Jon Heyman of CBS Sports to be the Nationals — to give Manfred the final vote he required. At that point, the remaining seven teams altered their vote as “an olive branch for posterity” (to use the words of the L.A. Times’ Bill Shaikin), knowing that their preferred candidate had no chance to win anyhow.

That preferred candidate was Red Sox chairman Tom Werner, although Werner wasn’t the only other finalist to give a presentation to owners yesterday. Joining Werner and Manfred was MLB executive vice president of business Tim Brosnan, though he appeared to be the first of the three to withdraw from consideration.

All three had their merits. Manfred has resided over labor negotiations and can boast 19 years of peace between MLB and the MLBPA, and he also has worked tirelessly to implement the current drug testing system in addition to spearheading last year’s Biogenesis investigation. Werner, whose background was in television before jumping to the baseball world, was believed by his supporters to possess the necessary knowledge to bolster MLB’s television ratings and revitalize interest in baseball among the youth of the United States and Canada. Brosnan’s business acumen was his strongest selling point, though he looked to be a distant third place behind his competitors not long after the announcement of the three finalists. (Of course, all three had their flaws as well, and MLBTR readers can get a brief rundown of each candidate in this piece from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.)

Prior to the announcement of the three finalists, other candidates for the position had included Giants president Larry Baer, Disney chief executive Bob Iger, Braves chairman Terry McGuirk, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski, MLB Advanced Media CEO Bob Bowman and former Yale University president Richard C. Levin.

Manfred has long been rumored to be the preferred successor of retiring commissioner Bud Selig, and in the end, the seemingly likeliest option wound up getting the nod. Manfred will become just the 10th commissioner of the league and presumably will hold this post for a considerable amount of time. Should baseball fans be happy about the outcome of the election? Let’s find out how the MLBTR universe feels…

Did the MLB owners make the right choice in electing Rob Manfred as the new commissioner?

Yes, Manfred was the right man for the job. 46.07% (3,552 votes)

No, a different candidate should have been named a finalist and been elected. 29.43% (2,269 votes)

No, Werner was the best candidate. 20.89% (1,611 votes)

No, Brosnan was the best candidate. 3.61% (278 votes)

Total Votes: 7,710

AL East Notes: Lester, Norris, Blue Jays, Cashman

By Steve Adams | August 15, 2014 at 10:34am CDT

In an appearance on WAAF’s Hill-Man Morning Show, Jon Lester explained recent comments that he wouldn’t necessarily go to the highest bidder this offseason (via WEEI’s Rob Bradford). “…I don’t need to go to the highest bidder if that isn’t going to make me happy,” said Lester. “I’m not going to just take the highest bid, the money, the most years just because it’s in front of you. … I make decisions based on me and my family and is this place — whether it’s Boston or one of the other 29 teams – is this place going to be good for me and my family?” Lester did note that he could still end up signing the highest bidder, of course, but the happiness of his family will be the top priority. Lester also repeated that he doesn’t have any hard feelings toward the Red Sox, and he discussed his farewell to owner John Henry as well.

Here’s more from the AL East…

Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos appeared on Sportsnet 590 The Fan with Mike Wilner and Ben Ennis today, and Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith provides some of the highlights. Of particular note was the fact that Anthopoulos said top prospect Daniel Norris could be a factor out of the team’s bullpen in September if he continues to pitch well. The 21-year-old Norris has skyrocketed up prospect rankings this year on the heels of a 2.25 ERA with 11.2 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 108 innings across Class-A Advanced, Double-A and Triple-A.
Nicholson-Smith also writes that the Blue Jays have made several waiver claims this month, but none have resulted in the acquisition of a new player. The team isn’t expected to make a trade today, but it will need to clear a roster spot for the returning Edwin Encarnacion. Nicholson-Smith notes that the Jays are willing to cut ties with out-of-options players, and Anthopoulos has expressed some frustration with Juan Francisco’s strikeout tendencies. However, he adds that the Blue Jays do value Francisco’s left-handed power.
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner isn’t committing to bringing back longtime general manager Brian Cashman in 2015, but the Yankee GM tells George A. King III of the New York Post that he’s not bothered by the situation. “That’s the process,” said Cashman, whose contract expires after the 2014 season. “There isn’t much to say at this point. That’s for another day.” Steinbrenner’s comments to King were of a similar nature, as he chose to focus on the season at hand rather than the future of his GM.
Steinbrenner also says he’s had no recent conversations with Alex Rodriguez, writes MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, but the Yankees are expecting A-Rod to return in 2015 following his 162-game suspension. The 39-year-old former MVP has three years and $61MM remaining on his contract.

Rob Manfred Elected Next MLB Commissioner

By Steve Adams and Jeff Todd | August 15, 2014 at 7:59am CDT

FRIDAY: Manfred’s initial contract will be a three-year deal, tweets Nightengale.

THURSDAY, 5:58pm: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Manfred’s support vacillated between 20, 21 and 22 voters over the course of the day. The Brewers and Rays pushed the vote to 21 and 22. Of the final eight holdouts, the Nationals were the team that eventually changed their vote and put Manfred over the top, Heyman adds.

5:14pm: Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times tweets that Manfred passed 30-0 in the final vote. Presumably, once one owner flipped his vote, the other seven conceded the defeat and made the decision unanimous. Indeed, in a follow-up tweet, Shaikin calls the 30-0 vote “an olive branch for posterity” by the seven owners who were still opposed to Manfred.

5:01pm: Major League Baseball owners have elected Rob Manfred as the next commissioner of MLB, according to Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times (Twitter link).

Manfred, 55, will succeed Selig, who had announced that he would step down after the season. The former Brewers’ owner has been at the helm since 1992, when he was named acting Commissioner, taking over for Fay Vincent. His seat was formalized in 1998. During his tenure, baseball went through a devastating strike and still-lingering PED crisis, and also saw significant economic growth.

Manfred has been along for much of that ride, as Lynn Zinser of the New York Times wrote yesterday. After representing MLB as part of his practice with a large firm, Manfred entered league employment full-time in 1998 and spent fifteen years running point on many of the key labor issues that defined Selig’s stint.

The Harvard Law graduate’s ability to work with the MLB Player’s Association was perhaps seen as both a strength and weakness, as a minority group of owners emerged recently to challenge his assumed ascension. Red Sox chairman and part owner Tom Werner arose as the most plausible alternative, and managed to win the initial support off a reported eight owners during the early rounds of voting.

As Bob Nightengale of USA Today wrote yesterday, Manfred supporters will point to his status as head of labor negotiations and the 19 years of peace between MLB and the MLBPA. He also helped to implement baseball’s current drug testing system and headed last year’s Biogenesis investigation. His detractors, Nightengale notes, will point to the fact that baseball is the only sport without a salary cap. They also credit the drug testing agreement to the MLBPA for changing its stance and criticize Manfred for allowing all but $2 billion of the Dodgers’ $8.35 billion TV deal to be protected from revenue sharing.

After the first two rounds of voting, Manfred had just 22 of the necessary 23 votes of support, with the White Sox, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Angels, Nationals, Athletics, Diamondbacks and Reds all opposing. It’s unclear which of the eight opposing teams owners flipped his vote and tipped the scale in Manfred’s favor.

Carlos Gonzalez To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

By Steve Adams | August 14, 2014 at 11:22pm CDT

11:22pm: The Rockies have announced (on Twitter) that Gonzalez will indeed undergo season-ending surgery to repair the patellar tendon in his left knee. The operation will be performed by Dr. Tom Hackett next Monday.

8:08pm: Just one day after the news that superstar shortstop Troy Tulowitzki will miss the remainder of the season to undergo hip surgery, the Rockies are now facing the likely loss of their other best player for the remainder of the year. Carlos Gonzalez seems resigned to the fact that his season will end prematurely due to left knee surgery, reports Nick Groke of the Denver Post.

Rockies head athletic trainer Keith Dugger tells Groke that Gonzalez has been battling tendinitis in his knee since last season, and an MRI performed yesterday revealed that the injury had worsened in the past few weeks. Manager Walt Weiss, in particular, spoke definitively in regards to his stars’ injuries: “Everyone felt like that might be the case, that we might not have [Tulowitzki and Gonzalez] for the rest of the season, and unfortunately, that’s what it’s gonna be.”

Gonzalez himself didn’t offer a much more optimistic take, telling Groke: “I show up the first game and go 3-for-5 with a home run and I extend a single into a double. And then the next day I feel like I got hit by a bus. … It’s hard to play that way, when you go out there and feel like, ’I can’t move today. I just hope nobody hits the ball where I’m playing right now.'”

Both Tulowitzki and Gonzalez have seen their names pop up in trade rumors over the past month, but the injuries to both serve as a cautionary tale and a reminder to potentially interested parties. Neither player has been able to consistently stay on the field over the past few years. If this is the end of Gonzalez’s 2014 campaign, he will have averaged just 110 games over the past four seasons. Gonzalez has never played in more than 145 games — a total he reached back in 2010 when he finished third in the National League MVP voting.

The soon-to-be 29-year-old signed a seven-year, $80MM contract to be a building block for the Rockies, but the aforementioned 110-game average has come over the first four years of that contract, and he now has just three years remaining on that deal. The heavily backloaded contract still calls for Gonzalez to earn $53MM over the next three seasons — $16MM in 2015, $17MM in 2016 and $20MM in 2017. Those annual salaries are below market value for a full season of a healthy and effective Gonzalez, but they would present a risky investment for a team looking to acquire him via trade.

Overall, Gonzalez has batted .238/.292/.431 with 15 homers as he has battled knee injuries, a tumor in his index finger (which was surgically removed midseason) and a sprained ankle this season.

Diamondbacks Acquire Brett Jackson From Cubs

By Steve Adams | August 14, 2014 at 11:05pm CDT

The Diamondbacks have acquired former first-round pick and top prospect Brett Jackson from the Cubs in exchange for minor league reliever Blake Cooper, the Cubs announced. The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro tweets that Jackson will be assigned to Triple-A Reno in the D’Backs organization. Piecoro adds that Jackson had been claimed off waivers prior to the trade’s completion.

Jackson, 26, rated as one of the game’s top 100 prospects from 2010-12, according to both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus (he topped out at No. 32 on BA’s list and No. 44 on BP’s list). When his stock was at its highest, BA likened him to Jim Edmonds, noting that he had that type of ceiling at the plate, if not that type of Gold Glove caliber defense in center field. However, Jackson’s swing-and-miss tendencies caused his stock to plummet, as a problem he looked to have eliminated at the Double-A level resurfaced in Triple-A and still has yet to be corrected. Jackson was batting just .210/.298/.348 with a 37.3 percent strikeout rate for Triple-A Iowa this season and will look to deliver on some of his once sky-high potential in a new organization.

Cooper, also 26, was a 12th-round pick by the Diamondbacks in 2010 and reached Triple-A for the first time in 2014. Though he’s struggled to a 6.00 ERA in 24 innings there, Cooper was excellent at Double-A this year, posting a 1.85 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 34 frames. His command has faltered since moving up to the top minor league level, as he’s walked 17 hitters in his 24 innings at Reno. The 5’11”, 190-pound righty has never ranked among Arizona’s top 30 prospects, according to BA, and he didn’t rank on MLB.com’s midseason list of the D’Backs’ top 20 prospects either. In parts of five minor league seasons, Cooper has a 3.27 ERA with a 217-to-98 K/BB ratio (seven of those free passes were intentional) in 236 2/3 innings.

Because Jackson was waived by an NL team, the D’Backs had the second-highest priority of any club in placing a claim (by virtue of the second-worst record in the NL). Only the Rockies had a higher priority, and it’s not a surprise to see a team with as many outfield options as Colorado pass on a contact-challenged outfielder such as Jackson.

NL East Links: Collins, d’Arnaud, Asdrubal, Furcal

By Steve Adams | August 14, 2014 at 9:51pm CDT

Despite reports that Terry Collins is likely to reprise his role as Mets manager in 2015, Joel Sherman of the New York Post gets the sense that a change of skipper is a definite possibility in Queens. Sherman writes that the final six weeks are critical to determining whether or not Collins will return. He explains that the Mets’ upper management believe that plate discipline and power are the key to scoring runs, but the Mets rank 26th in walks in the second half and dead last in the Majors in walks this month. Those trends will have to change, writes Sherman, in order for Collins to remain. As it stands, there is a slight lean toward bringing Collins back, he states, but Sherman feels that Collins needs to demonstrate to his bosses that he is able to consistently emphasize the organizational philosophy.

Minor Moves: Brad Mills, Ernesto Frieri

By Jeff Todd and Steve Adams | August 14, 2014 at 6:38pm CDT

Here are the day’s minor moves …

The Blue Jays have outrighted southpaw Brad Mills to Triple-A Buffalo, according to the team’s transactions page. Mills, 29, was designated for assignment by the Jays on Tuesday and will have the option to elect free agency rather than report to Triple-A, having been outrighted in the past. He has a 9.15 ERA in 20 2/3 Major League innings this season but a sensational 1.81 ERA with 9.0 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 89 1/3 innings between the Triple-A affiliates for Milwaukee and Toronto this season.
After clearing waivers, righty Ernesto Frieri has accepted an assignment to the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate, Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com reports on Twitter. After starting the season as the Angels’ closer, Frieri was dealt to Pittsburgh and then designated for assignment when he failed to right the ship. Though other clubs might have been willing to take a chance on him, Frieri’s $3.8MM first-year arbitration salary no doubt scared off any claims. It seems all but certain at this point that Frieri will end up being non-tendered in the offseason.

Pirates Designate Matt Hague For Assignment

By Steve Adams | August 14, 2014 at 5:12pm CDT

The Pirates have designated Matt Hague for assignment and placed right-hander Stolmy Pimentel on the disabled list in order to clear roster space for the recently acquired John Axford, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Hague, a 28-year-old infielder, went 0-for-2 in his only two plate appearances for the Buccos in 2014. In a previous stint back in 2012, he batted .229/.270/.257 in 74 plate appearances — his only other Major League experience. The former ninth-rounder and Oklahama State product has been solid for Triple-A Indianapolis this season, batting .267/.365/.448 with 14 homers in 386 PA.

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