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Rays Designate Michael Kohn, Cole Figueroa For Assignment

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The Rays have designated right-hander Michael Kohn and infielder Cole Figueroa for assignment, the team announced.

Kohn, 28, was signed to a Major League deal by the Rays earlier this offseason after being outrighted by the Angels. The South Carolina native has shown the ability to miss bats at the Major League level, striking out 107 hitters in 110 1/3 innings, but he’s also battled with control issues, walking 73 hitters in that time. The Rays were impressed enough with Kohn to give him that Major League deal, but if he once again clears outright waivers, he’ll be able to elect free agency in search of a new contract.

Figueroa, 27, was originally acquired by the Rays in the Jason Bartlett trade back in 2010. He picked up 49 plate appearances with the Rays this year — his first big league action — but hit just .233/.286/.326 in that small sample. Figueroa is a career .285/.359/.378 hitter in nearly 1200 Triple-A plate appearances and has extensive experience at shortstop, second base and third base.

Yasmany Tomas Rumors: Thursday

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Here’s the latest on Yasmany Tomas, the 23-year-old Cuban slugger who is among the exciting international players demanding attention:

  • Tomas is growing tired of the “dog-and-pony show” and wants to sign as soon as he can but he is being urged by others to show patience, sources tell Yahoo’s Jeff Passan. The Phillies, Royals and Padres have shown the most interest in landing him, though the D’Backs and Mariners “lurk as possibilities,” and Atlanta is also in the mix. The Giants have seen Tomas four times, Passan adds.

Earlier Updates

  • The Padres are still in on Tomas up to around the $70MM level, Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs hears (Twitter link).
  • The Braves are set for a private workout and should be considered part of the sweepstakes, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. As Heyman noted earlier today, Tomas has a visa and could be in attendance at the Winter Meetings in San Diego. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reported recently that several dark horses could be in the race, and Atlanta would certainly qualify.
  • The Phillies are increasingly concerned with the defensive part of the equation on Tomas, reports MLB.com’s Paul Hagen. The club is “backing off” somewhat, despite generally being viewed as the front-runner to land him. Philly sees Tomas more as a DH, per Hagen, but could be more intrigued if his asking price begins to creep down.
  • Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com echoes those thoughts (Twitter links). He says the team believes in Tomas’s bat, but is worried about both his defense and conditioning and is not interested in guaranteeing him nine figures.
  • For his part, Ben Badler of Baseball America sees the Giants and Phillies as the most likely landing spot for Tomas. A rival executive tells ESPN.com’s Jayston Stark (Twitter link) that he believes the Phils remain the easy favorite, with Stark noting that the bidding on Tomas has been making “furious progress.”

Padres Join Sox, Giants In Serious Pursuit Of Sandoval

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Yesterday was an active one for Pablo Sandoval chatter, and today is shaping up in like fashion. As his market continues to develop, we’ll keep tabs on the latest here:

  • There’s very little separation between the current offers of the Giants, Red Sox and Padres, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. All three teams are in the five-year, $90-95MM range, while the Blue Jays, Cafardo hears, are wavering

Earlier Updates

  • The Padres have joined the Red Sox and Giants as one of the most aggressive teams on Sandoval, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. While the White Sox and Blue Jays have interest they’re not believed to be as aggressive as the other three clubs. Heyman refers to the Padres as a “shocking” entrant in the race for a free agent of this caliber, and indeed, few pegged San Diego as a serious suitor for the Panda heading into the offseason.
  • The Blue Jays do not have an offer out to Sandoval or anyone else, GM Alex Anthopoulos told reporters, including Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link). Neither does the team have plans to make any offers in the next 24 hours, he said. Prior reports have suggested that Toronto was lining up a bid for Sandoval.
  • The Red Sox have not yet made Sandoval an offer, his brother and agent Michael Sandoval tells Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com (Twitter link).
  • The Giants feel they are very much in the hunt for Sandoval’s services, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. “We’ve got every indication that we’re right in the middle of it,” said assistant GM Bobby Evans, who went on to say that he believes “the interest is sincere” and that he thinks the player’s affinity for his long-time club could play some role. Sandoval’s agent, Gustavo Vasquez, has requested that San Francisco submit its best offer, according to Evans.
  • Evans also said in a radio appearance on KNBR today that he expects Sandoval to sign fairly quickly, possibly before Thanksgiving. (Via Alex Pavlovic of the Mercury News, on Twitter.) “I sense Pablo really edging towards trying to wrap this up,” said Evans.

Yankees Sell Zelous Wheeler’s Contract To Rakuten Golden Eagles

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10:25pm: The Yankees received $350K for the rights to Wheeler, reports Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (via Twitter).

6:31pm: The Yankees have sold the contractual rights of infielder Zelous Wheeler to the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball, thereby freeing a spot on their 40-man roster, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (on Twitter).

Wheeler, 28 in January, made his big league debut with the Yankees this season and batted .193/.230/.298 with a pair of homers in 62 trips to the plate. The former Brewers prospect was a 19th-round draft pick in 2007 and has a solid track record in Triple-A, having posted a .277/.352/.434 batting line in 817 plate appearances. The move likely affords Wheeler the opportunity to earn a significantly larger payday in Japan than he would have in the U.S., and the Yankees will receive a small amount of financial compensation, making it an appealing proposition for all parties involved.

Angels Designate Alfredo Marte For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they’ve designated outfielder Alfredo Marte for assignment to clear a roster spot for the newly acquired Dan Robertson.

The 25-year-old Marte was selected off waivers from the Diamondbacks last month after posting a strong .319/.407/.519 batting line at the Triple-A level this past season. He’s picked up a combined 162 plate appearances between the 2013-14 seasons with the D’Backs but managed just a .174/.236/.282 batting line in that time.

Angels Acquire Dan Robertson From Rangers

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The Rangers announced that they have traded outfielder Dan Robertson to the Angels in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

The 28-year-old Robertson appeared in 70 games for an injury-riddled Rangers team in 2014, slashing .271/.333/.333 and playing all three outfield spots. Robertson had spent his entire career with the Padres prior to being acquired by the Rangers in exchange for cash back in April. He’s a .294/.371/.396 hitter in 278 career games at the Triple-A level.

Minor Moves: Duran, Fuentes, Bartsch, Gimenez

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Here are the day’s minor signings from around the league:

  • The Mariners have acquired minor league right-hander Sam Gaviglio from the Cardinals in exchange for minor league infielder Ty Kelly, the teams announced. Gaviglio, 24, had a 4.28 ERA with 8.3 K/0 and 3.0 BB/9 in 136 2/3 innings at Double-A this season. He made 25 appearances, with 24 being starts. Kelly, 26, hit .263/.381/.412 with 15 homers and 11 steals at Triple-A. The former Orioles draftee has a lifetime .280/.402/.409 batting line in 841 PA at that level.

Earlier Updates

  • Left-hander Omar Duran has agreed to a minor league deal with the Tigers that includes a Spring Training invitation, MLBTR has learned. Duran, 24, had spent his entire career in the Athletics organization, never moving above the Double-A level. But he was consistently productive last year after matching his double-digit strikeout marks with manageable walk totals.
  • The Royals announced that they have acquired outfielder Reymond Fuentes from the Padres in exchange for left-hander Kyle Bartsch (Twitter link). Fuentes, 23, was one of the four players San Diego received from the Red Sox in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez. The 23-year-old former first-rounder batted .294/.363/.416 with five homers and went 25-for-28 in stolen base attempts between Double-A and Triple-A in 2014. Bartsch, also 23, spent this season at Class-A Advanced Wilmington where he notched a 2.29 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 55 innings of relief, showing effectiveness against both lefties and righties.
  • The Rangers have added catcher Chris Gimenez and righty David Martinez to minor league deals with invitations to camp, the club announced. Gimenez, 31, bounced around quite a bit last year and ultimately managed a .241/.313/.328 line over 128 plate appearances at the big league level — the sixth year in a row that he spent at least some time on an active roster. Martinez, 27, has just 18 1/3 big league frames to his credit and had spent his whole career with the Astros. He has worked in a swingman capacity in the upper minors in recent seasons.

Padres Designate Boyer, Asencio For Assignment

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The Padres announced that they have designated right-hander Blaine Boyer and outfielder Yeison Asencio for assignment.

Boyer, 33, returned to the Majors for the first time since 2011 this past season and pitched relatively well out of the San Diego ’pen. The well-traveled veteran tallied a 3.57 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 and a 42.5 percent ground-ball rate in 40 1/3 innings for manager Bud Black. Boyer has over five years of service time and projected to earn $1MM in arbitration (per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz), and the Padres instead opted to use that roster spot to protect themselves heading into the Rule 5 Draft.

Asencio, who turned 25 last Friday, batted a combined .291/.330/.433 with 15 homers and eight steals in 572 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A. Baseball America ranked him 24th among Padres farmhands in each of the past two offseasons, more recently noting that he’s a bad ball hitter with an aggressive approach and a very strong arm in right field.

Trade Notes: Porcello, Ramirez, Upton, Kendrick, Padres

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It’s already been a fairly active winter on the trade front, as we’ve seen the Brewers acquire Adam Lind, the D’Backs acquire Jeremy Hellickson, the Tigers acquire Anthony Gose and of course the Cardinals/Braves Jason Heyward blockbuster. All of this has come before the Winter Meetings, so action on the trade front only figures to increase over the next month. Here are some of the latest rumblings from around the league…

  • ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets that in addition to Jordan Zimmermann, Doug Fister and the Reds’ quartet of starters that are rumored to be available (Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos, Mike Leake and Alfredo Simon), Rick Porcello is believed to be attainable in trades. Rival evaluators feel that many players that are set to be free agents a year from now could be had for the right offer. The Tigers, of course, are aiming to contend in 2015, but Porcello is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $12.2MM in arbitration and could fetch a nice piece while freeing up some cash for GM Dave Dombrowski to address other areas of need.
  • Olney also hears (Twitter link) that the White Sox’ asking price on Alexei Ramirez is “steep to the degree that you’d want to be buying in for two to three years.” Ramirez is guaranteed $10MM next season and has a $10MM club option for the 2016 season with a $1MM buyout.
  • The Mariners will surely make a run at either Justin Upton or Evan Gattis, if they haven’t already, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter links). O’Brien gets the sense that top prospect Taijuan Walker is not completely off the table in trade talks with Seattle, but it would probably take more than one year of Upton to acquire him.
  • Angels GM Jerry Dipoto tells Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times that he’s had trade discussions regarding Howie Kendrick, but he’s in no way eager to move his second baseman. The Halos entered the offseason thinking they might be able to move Kendrick for a controllable, young rotation option but somewhat surprisingly did so by acquiring Nick Tropeano in the Hank Conger trade. “The only way we would move him is if we become a better club,” Dipoto tells DiGiovanna. “And it would take a heck of a deal for us to feel like we’re a better club by moving Howie.”
  • Though much has been made of the possibility that the Padres could trade Tyson Ross or Andrew Cashner to bolster the club’s offense, the team is now strongly considering hanging onto both pitchers, sources tell MLB.com’s Corey Brock. Interestingly, Brock’s report mentions reported trade interest in Ian Kennedy but does not state that the Friars are similarly likely to hold onto the 29-year-old. Kennedy will be a free agent next winter.

Giants Designate Juan Gutierrez For Assignment

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The Giants have designated right-hander Juan Gutierrez for assignment, according to the club’s transactions page.

The 31-year-old Gutierrez was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $1.7MM in arbitration next season. He pitched 63 2/3 innings of 3.96 ERA ball with the 2014 World Champions, averaging 6.2 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 along the way. Gutierrez was bothered by biceps inflammation in the month of August, for which he eventually received a cortisone injection.

The hard-throwing Gutierrez has also spent time with the Astros, D’Backs, Angels and Royals in his career, accumulating more than five years of service time. If he latches on with another club and earns a big league roster spot, he’d be a six-year free agent next winter as long as he logs about four months of time on a big league roster, which he’s done in each of the past two seasons.

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