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NL East Notes: Phillies President, Beachy, Marlins

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It’s unclear who is steering the ship for the Phillies, writes Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer. There is speculation that team president Dave Montgomery may have been ousted. The Phillies partially denied the report, saying “no determination [has been] made.” Others suggest a decision could be reached in January. Montgomery is currently recovering from jaw cancer surgery. Hall of Fame executive Pat Gillick is the interim president.

  • On a related topic, Phillies minority owner John Middleton may be interested in acquiring a majority share of the club. Middleton currently has a 48 percent stake in the team. From my vantage, the Phillies should try to get ahead of these stories which have plagued them all offseason. Uncertainty over future stakeholders can only hurt the club’s position with free agents and in the trade market.
  • Recently non-tendered Braves starter Brandon Beachy is drawing interest from 10 teams, tweets Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. The Braves are among the interested clubs, but aren’t the most aggressive. He’s expected to land a major league deal and has multiple offers on the table. Beachy is currently rehabbing from his second Tommy John surgery. An aggressive rehab schedule could have Beachy back on the mound in the early part of the season, but the average recovery time would indicate a mid-to-late season return.
  • Extension candidates top the list of Winter Meeting activities for the Marlins, writes Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Jose Fernandez, Christian Yelich, Adeiny Hechavarria, and Marcell Ozuna are among those with open discussions. Other topics of interest include the club’s interest in Jake Peavy and potential willingness to trade Garrett Jones.
  • Derek Jeter’s recent visit with the Marlins could signal his interest in purchasing the team, suggests Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. He has long talked about his plans to purchase a club, and he has some ties to Florida. It’s unclear if current owner Jeffrey Loria is willing to sell. Jeter doesn’t possess the wealth necessary to buy a majority stake in a major league franchise, but he could headline a consortium.

Chase Headley Rumors: Thursday

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With the top free agent third baseman off the board, here’s the latest on the next man up, Chase Headley:

  • 7:32pm: While the Marlins are interested in free agent third baseman Chase Headley, they are not the source of the $65MM mystery offer. Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald hears from multiple sources that no discussions are under way (Twitter link)
  • 12:58pm: Other teams are being advised that Headley has a four-year offer in hand that would guarantee him $65MM, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets. Needless to say, that would represent a very nice haul for the 30-year-old, who had a nice turnaround after being dealt to the Yankees in mid-season.
  • The Marlins are very interested in Headley, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. However, if Headley does indeed have the offer referenced by Passan in hand, it doesn’t appear to be from the Marlins, as Heyman notes that Miami “may be ready to make a significant offer.” Acquiring Headley could prompt a shift of Casey McGehee to first base, where he could platoon with Garrett Jones (Jones could also be traded, I would think). Heyman and others have reported the Yankees’ unwillingness to go beyond three years for Headley, so it’s possible that a strong four-year offer from Miami could land his services, Heyman speculates.

Mets Notes: Roessler, Mayberry, Blanks, Gomes

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The Mets have completed their coaching staff, naming Pat Roessler as the assistant hitting coach, writes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. For the last 11 years, Roessler served as the Yankees director of player development. Readers may recall the Mets hired another former Yankees staffer – Kevin Long – as their hitting coach earlier in the offseason.

  • John Mayberry and Kyle Blanks are on the Mets radar, tweets Marc Carig of Newsday. Everth Cabrera is another non-tender who could make sense, although Carig notes that’s his speculation. No deals are close. Carig further clarified that all right-handed outfield options likely remain on the table.
  • One right-handed bat who isn’t on the radar is Jonny Gomes, reports Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog. Cerrone bets that GM Sandy Alderson would have to move payroll to make room for Gomes. Given his limited utility as a lefty-masher, the Mets are probably better suited targeting a recent non-tender like Mayberry or Blanks.

Orioles Notes: Markakis, Outfielders, Young, Miller, Hitting Coach

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Orioles GM Dan Duquette talked shop with fans earlier tonight at a team function. After a week in which outfielders Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis signed with new teams, the focus is on the O’s next step. Although Baltimore will miss the pair of outfielders, they still have money to spend, tweets Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun. Here’s more from Duquette’s Q&A session.

  • A deal with Markakis was “fairly close a couple times,” tweets Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. However, concern over a herniated disc may have disrupted negotiations (tweet). Asked why a qualifying offer was made to Cruz and not Markakis, Duquette responded by saying Cruz’s production justified the offer, tweets Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com
  • In a series of tweets from Encina (links to Twitter), Duquette is comfortable with internal outfield options like Alejandro De Aza, David Lough, and Steve Pearce. On the farm, Dariel Alvarez and Mike Yastrzemski could play a role next season, although both may benefit from additional seasoning. The club will focus on upgrading the outfield and bullpen.
  • The Orioles and free agent Delmon Young have “dialogue going,” per Kubatko (tweet). The 29-year-old outfielder was effective for the O’s in a limited role last season. Among the highlights, he hit .302/.337/.442 in 255 regular season plate appearances and had a couple clutch hits during the postseason.
  • On the subject of reliever Andrew Miller, 23 clubs showed interest, tweets Kubatko. Duquette stressed that the Baltimore market isn’t ideal for a highly paid reliever, which is why they are not among the finalists.
  • Duquette mentioned that interviews for the  club’s hitting coach job were ongoing, tweets Encina. Some have already been conducted while others will be held during the upcoming Winter Meetings. No word yet on specific candidates.

Latest On Rays Managerial Opening

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Raul Ibanez has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Rays managerial opening, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. That leaves Indians bullpen coach Kevin Cash and Royals bench coach Don Wakamatsu as the two remaining finalists. The Rays are expected to make their decision no earlier than Friday. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com also tweets that a decision “will come tomorrow or soon thereafter.”

The 42-year-old Ibanez was one of three finalists for the Rays position. He cited a “desire to spend more time with [his] family” as the reason for the withdrawal. That probably also signals a plan to retire. He spent parts of 19 seasons in the majors, although he struggled throughout the 2014 campaign.

Latest On Yoan Moncada

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Top international prospect Yoan Moncada has arrived in the United States and is staying in Florida, Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel reported on Tuesday this week (Twitter link). The Cuban phenom has yet to be cleared by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, however, meaning he’s not yet eligible to sign (Major League Baseball has cleared him already, so he has half the clearance he needs).

As has been previously reported, the circumstances of Moncada’s defection from Cuba are mystifying, to say the least. The 19-year-old Moncada was allowed to leave the country legally and proceeded to establish residence in Guatemala. He’s being represented by a CPA from St. Petersburg that has never repped a professional athlete of any kind.

In an interview with Jorge Arangure of Vice Sports, Moncada’s agent, David Hastings, discussed his client. Hastings explains that Moncada was able to live in Guatemala with relative anonymity for months, but once reports indicated that he was now in that country, a showcase had to be hosted as soon as possible and armed security guards hired for protection. “Since that time,” said Hastings, “we’ve basically have had him sequestered, voluntarily, since it’s not the best place for anyone that’s potentially worth that much money to walk around.” The goal, Hastings continued, was for Moncada’s Guatemalan residency to remain under the radar while his client applied for a U.S. work visa, after which a showcase would be held in the U.S. without safety concerns.

Moncada drew 70-100 scouts at his showcase in Guatemala, with every club being represented and some sending as many as six people to watch. Hastings goes into more detail on the previously reported incident in which two Scott Boras employees were escorted away from the showcase by armed guards. He tells Arangure that he doesn’t feel he needs assistance from a more experienced sports agent in representing Moncada (though one NL exec told Arangure he thinks Moncada’s handlers are “naive”).

It’s still unknown when Moncada will be cleared to sign, and the date of that clearance does carry weight; if he’s cleared before June 15, he’ll be a free agent in the 2014-15 signing period, making the Cubs and Rangers ineligible to sign him (each incurred maximum penalties in the 2013-14 signing period). If he’s not declared until after that date, he’ll be a 2015-16 free agent, meaning the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays won’t be able to sign him due to penalties from the current signing period.

Latest On Padres’ Talks For Matt Kemp

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The Dodgers and Padres are in continued discussions on the possibility of a Matt Kemp trade, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). One scenario that has been discussed would have Yasmani Grandal headed to the Dodgers (among other pieces, presumably) with Kemp and some cash headed back to the Friars. However, Rosenthal is also careful to note that the Dodgers are still discussing Kemp with multiple clubs, and a deal with the Padres isn’t necessarily any more likely than it is with a different team yet.

The Padres have made a number of attempts to add an impact bat to their ranks this offseason but have fallen short in pursuits of both Pablo Sandoval and Yasmany Tomas. They were also linked to Adam LaRoche before he signed with the White Sox. Adding impact  bats on the open market is difficult for the Padres due to the fact that Petco Park is known to greatly suppress offense and perhaps also due to the team’s poor finishes over the past four seasons (eight or more games under .500 in each).

The remaining five years and $107MM on Kemp’s contract is a likely hurdle the Dodgers will need to overcome in any deal, but it’s in the same ballpark as the Padres’ offer to Sandoval, and as Rosenthal said, the Dodgers can kick in some cash to ease the contractual burden. Kemp has also been recently linked to the Orioles and Mariners, though the most recent indication was that Baltimore had gotten “nowhere” in talks for Kemp.

Grandal, on the other hand, is said to be among the Padres’ top trade chips, and the team is reportedly pushing him more aggressively than fellow backstops Rene Rivera and Austin Hedges. In the event that Grandal is traded, I’d expect the Padres to look at additional catchers (or perhaps take on the contract of A.J. Ellis, should a deal with the Dodgers be struck), as Hedges likely needs further minor league seasoning.

Mariners Sign Nelson Cruz

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5:00pm: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Cruz will earn $14MM per season plus his $1MM signing bonus, making it a four-year, $57MM deal.

DECEMBER 4, 11:09am: The deal is official, with the team announcing the signing today.

DECEMBER 1: The Mariners have agreed to a multi-year deal with Nelson Cruz, reports Dominican journalist Yancen Pujols (Spanish link). According to Pujols, it’s a four-year, $57MM contract. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick hears that the deal is still pending a physical (Twitter link). Cruz is represented by agent Diego Bentz of Relativity Sports.

Nelson Cruz

Cruz, 34, led the Majors in home runs this past season (40) while putting together an excellent .271/.333/.525 batting line. He ranked alongside Victor Martinez and Melky Cabrera as the best bats on the market this offseason, and he arguably provides the Mariners with the best power upgrade money could buy on the free agent market. Though he’s never approached the 40 homers he hit in 2014 previously, Cruz boasts a lifetime .232 isolated power mark and has averaged 37 homers per 162 games since 2009.

Of course, he’s also had difficulty staying on the field in that stretch. Cruz has a history of hamstring and quadriceps injuries in both legs, and he hit the DL for such maladies five times between 2010-11. He played a career-high 159 games in 2012 (a figure he matched in 2014) and was healthy in 2013 before a 50-game suspension cut his season short after he was connected to the Biogenesis PED scandal. Cruz admitted to making a mistake and taking a banned substance in 2012 after a bout with a bacterial infection called helicobacter pylori caused him to lose nearly 40 pounds in the 2011-12 offseason.

While many will forever connect Cruz to PEDs as a result of that infraction, he was tested extensively in 2013 and in 2014 without suspension, and he batted .269/.331/.518 in that time, so the Mariners are likely to have a significant offensive upgrade on their hands. He figures to see time in both right field and at DH with Seattle — two areas in which Seattle needed additional offense. Mariners DHs combined to bat just .190/.266/.301 last year, while their right fielders hit a pedestrian .255/.308/.413. Though the move to Seattle’s Safeco Field would appear to be a detriment to his right-handed pop, both ESPN Park Factors and Baseball Prospectus Park Factors indicated that in 2014, Orioles Park at Camden Yards was actually less homer-friendly for right-handed bats than Safeco Field. That’s not to say Cruz will repeat his career year, but the drop-off could be less significant than some are anticipating.

For all of the positives there are to say about Cruz’s offense, however, there are negatives when it comes to his defensive value. Cruz played a passable left field in a small, 500-inning sample with the Orioles in 2014, but he’s been below-average in right over the past four seasons and only figures to get worse as he ages. Given his history of leg injuries, it’s more than fair to wonder how much outfield time he can handle in 2015 and how much of his offensive value will be negated by his defense. Of course, if he spends much of his time at DH, there’s a chance he can still resemble the three to four win player he was in 2014.

The Mariners missed a Wild Card playoff berth by a mere game in 2014 after flirting with the idea of signing Cruz last winter but ultimately passing because they weren’t interested in adding any PED-linked players. That line of thinking has clearly changed now. It’s possible that Seattle decision-makers rightly realized that had they inked Cruz a year ago, they’d likely have made the playoffs. Whether that line of thinking justifies a four-year commitment to a defensively challenged player in his mid-30s is up for debate, but the M’s have every reason to make aggressive plays for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and Cruz should still be of significant help in those campaigns. This is the final season of Hisashi Iwakuma’s contract, and superstar Robinson Cano is on the back end of his prime, so it makes sense for the Mariners to push for contention now, even if the moves contain some downside in the 2017-18 seasons, as this one likely does.

Cruz was also pursued heavily by the Orioles, but his former team wouldn’t budge from its unwillingness to guarantee a fourth season. Now, they’ll pick up a compensatory draft pick at the end of the first round next season, while the Mariners will surrender what would have been the 19th pick in the draft (they had been slated to pick 21st but moved up after the Mets and Blue Jays forfeited picks to sign Michael Cuddyer and Russell Martin, respectively). The departure of Cruz would seem to increase the chances that Nick Markakis will be back in Baltimore, and one would think it also lessens the likelihood of the Mariners acquiring Justin Upton from the Mariners — a player in whom they’ve reportedly shown interest. Speculatively speaking, Seattle could still pay a premium to acquire Upton as part of an aggressive run at the 2015 season, with Cruz spending most of his time at DH and Upton serving as the right fielder.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Notes: Martinez, MacDonald, Upton, Giants, Stauffer

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Former Rays bench coach Dave Martinez, who left the organization after he was not selected as a finalist for their managerial opening, has joined the Cubs’ coaching staff, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Martinez will assume the familiar role of serving as Joe Maddon’s bench coach, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports. That the well-respected Martinez wasn’t named a finalist in Tampa’s managerial search surprised many. He’s previously interviewed for other managerial gigs and is widely considered to be have a chance to manage in the Majors someday. Heyman also notes that Brandon Hyde, who was expected to serve as bench coach on what was a full Cubs staff, will be re-assigned, but the team is expected to move him to a significant role.

A few more notes from around the National League…

  • The Braves announced today that former Padres vice president/assistant general manager Chad MacDonald will join the front office as a special assistant to president of baseball operations John Hart. MacDonald, according to the release, will be involved in all facets of Atlanta’s scouting efforts, including international, amateur and professional scouting. He’s previously served as the Mets’ director of scouting and both the assistant director of scouting and director of international scouting for the Diamondbacks.
  • Interest in Justin Upton has increased since the Braves signed Nick Markakis, Heyman tweets. ESPN’s Jayson Stark hears that the Braves have fielded more than a dozen calls on Upton, who is considered by many to be the best available bat on the trade market (Twitter link). Atlanta is still in no hurry to move Upton, Stark adds.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, meanwhile, tweets that it’s still possible the Braves will trade Evan Gattis and hang onto Upton in order to at least position themselves to collect a draft pick should Upton depart following the 2015 season.
  • The Giants’ priorities at the Winter Meetings (and beyond) are third base and starting pitching, tweets Rosenthal. The team is in need of a left fielder but feels that Juan Perez, Gregor Blanco and Travis Ishikawa are all capable of handling the position. They’re not ruling out signing a free agent outfielder, but that priority has taken a back seat to the rotation and the hot corner.
  • The Padres are one of a number of to reach out to free agent righty Tim Stauffer, tweets Jeff Saunders of the San Diego Union Tribune. The 32-year-old Stauffer, formerly the fourth overall pick in the draft, posted a 3.50 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 64 1/3 innings (three starts, 41 relief appearances) for the Friars this past season. Friar has worked as a reliever in recent seasons but hurled 185 2/3 innings of 3.73 ERA ball for San Diego back in 2011.

Giants Avoid Arbitration With Hector Sanchez

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After avoiding arbitration with Travis Ishikawa earlier today, the Giants have also avoided arb with catcher Hector Sanchez by agreeing to a one-year, $800K contract, tweets Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The 25-year-old Sanchez served as a backup to Buster Posey for much of the season in 2014 and batted .196/.237/.301 with three homers in 177 trips to the plate. While those numbers represented a significant dip from the .267/.299/.370 batting line that Sanchez carried into the season, he rated as an average pitch-framer and threw out an above-average 31 percent of base stealers (14 of 45). He was also behind the plate for Tim Lincecum’s no-hitter against the Padres on June 25.

The Giants have a somewhat crowded situation at catcher with well-regarded rookie Andrew Susac also in the mix for playing time next season. However, as Schulman notes in a second tweet, arb contracts aren’t fully guaranteed, and it’s possible still that Sanchez could be traded or optioned to Triple-A to begin the season.

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