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D’Backs, Rays Working On Hellickson Trade

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FRIDAY: The Diamondbacks are in negotiations with the Rays, and a deal could be in place soon, reports Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (Twitter links).

MONDAY, 9:14pm: The Rockies aren’t the mystery NL team, The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders reports (via Twitter).

1:47pm: The D’Backs have interest in Hellickson, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). However, it’s not clear that Arizona is in or has had any advanced talks with the Rays.

9:27am: The Rays are moving toward dealing right-hander Jeremy Hellickson to an unknown National League team, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Times (via Twitter). A deal is likely to get done this week, Sherman adds.

Hellickson, who turns 28 next April, was limited to 63 2/3 innings in 2014 as he recovered from January surgery to remove loose bodies from his throwing elbow. The 2011 AL Rookie of the Year pitched to a 2.95 ERA in a stellar rookie season, but he’s never graded out well when looking at sabermetric indicators such as FIP, xFIP and SIERA. Each of those three metrics pegs Hellickson between 4.34 and 4.38, suggesting that his strong work early in his career was a bit of a mirage, likely propped up by a BABIP south of .260 and a strand rate north of 80 percent.

Over the past two seasons, Hellickson has an even 5.00 ERA in 237 2/3 innings. On the plus side, he’s bumped his K/9 to 7.2 over those past two seasons and dropped his walk rate to 2.7 per nine — both of which are improvements over the marks he posted early on in his career.

Though Hellickson has struggled recently and never graded out that well from a sabermetric standpoint, there’s plenty of upside to be had from an acquiring team’s standpoint. He’s still in his prime and was ranked among the game’s Top 10 prospects by both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus prior to his promotion to the Majors. The Scott Boras client can be controlled through the 2016 season and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn a very reasonable $3.9MM in 2015.

Though the Rays dealt Cesar Ramos to the Angels last week, a Hellickson deal would be the first significant move by new Rays president of baseball operations Matt Silverman and newly minted VPs Erik Neander and Chaim Bloom. The Cubs, Rockies, Giants, Pirates and Braves could all make some sense for Hellickson, and it’s of course worth speculating that new Dodgers president of baseball ops Andrew Friedman is interested in re-acquiring the right-hander.

West Notes: Mariners, Cruz, Padres, Haren

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The latest out of the game’s western divisions:

  • The Mariners have had conversations with Nelson Cruz and his agent since the start of the offseason, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reports. According to Morosi, Seattle does not have a club policy against signing players with past PED suspensions. A recent report stated that the team backed off of Cruz last year because of his recent Biogenesis situation, but it appears that will not be a roadblock this time around.
  • The Padres will listen to trade offers for their top three pitchers (Ian Kennedy, Andrew Cashner, and Tyson Ross) as well as catchers, Yasmani Grandal and Rene Rivera, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported yesterday. Presumably it would take quite an offer to part with Cashner or Ross, and Kennedy could be held and reassessed at the trade deadline. Behind the plate, the 26-year-old, former top prospect Grandal has yet to establish himself fully. Though he posted a solid 112 wRC+ last year, he also rated as one of the league’s worst defensive catchers. Rivera, meanwhile, came out of nowhere to post by far his most extensive and productive MLB season in 2014, slashing .252/.319/.432 over 329 plate appearances while grading out as one of the game’s best-fielding backstops.
  • Righty Dan Haren of the Dodgers has come up in trade chatter, but could retire if he is dealt away from Los Angeles, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. Haren exercised a $10MM player option to stay on the west coast, and Heyman indicates that he might prefer to hang up his spikes than pitch for any other club but the cross-town Angels.

Minor Moves: Vasquez, Mejia, Allen, Wren, Owens

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Right-handers Esmerling Vasquez and Miguel Mejia have signed with the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball, MLBTR has learned. The 31-year-old Vasquez last appeared in the Majors with the Twins in 2012. He has a lifetime 4.86 ERA in 168 2/3 MLB innings. Mejia, meanwhile, has spent the past two seasons pitching in Taiwan’s top professional league and was with the Lamigo Monkeys last season.

More minor moves from around the league…

  • First baseman Brandon Allen has re-signed with the Mets, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York tweeted yesterday. The 28-year-old Allen, once considered a Top 100 prospect, hit .266/.368/.434 with the Mets at the Triple-A level last season.
  • The Brewers announced today that they’ve acquired outfielder Kyle Wren — the son of former Braves GM Frank Wren — from Atlanta in exchange for righty Zach Quintana. (W.G. Ramirez was the first to report Quintana’s trade earlier this week, on Twitter.) The 23-year-old Wren hit .290/.350/.360 between Class-A Advanced and Double-A last season, while Quintana struggled to a 5.70 ERA in 85 1/3 innings with Milwaukee’s Class-A affiliate. He was a third-round pick by the Brewers as recently as 2012, however.
  • Baseball America’s Matt Eddy has several minor league deals to report (All Twitter links). The Athletics have inked catcher Carson Blair and lefty Rudy Owens; the Marlins have signed righty Ryan Reid, lefty Pat Urckfitz and center fielder Kenny Wilson; and the Braves have signed right-hander Victor Mateo and lefty Francisco Rondon.

Tigers Re-Sign Victor Martinez

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5:10pm: Martinez will be paid $14MM in 2015 and then $18MM from 2016-18, tweets Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. He also receives a 10-team no-trade clause for the 2015 season, after which his full 10-and-5 rights kick in.

12:40pm: Victor Martinez was reportedly the Tigers’ top priority this offseason, and the team characteristically struck quickly, announcing Friday a new four-year deal that will reportedly guarantee the Octagon client $68MM to reprise his role as the club’s primary DH. The contract reportedly contains some no-trade protection as well.

Victor Martinez

Despite the potential loss of other key free agents Max Scherzer and Torii Hunter., bringing Martinez back was of utmost importance to Detroit.  The 35-year-old Martinez enjoyed perhaps the finest offensive season of his 12-year career in 2014, slashing .335/.409/.565 with a career-high 32 homers. He led the league in both on-base percentage and OPS. At the GM Meetings in Phoenix today, GM Dave Dombrowski told MLBTR’s Jeff Todd that it is hard to set a ceiling on Martinez’s value to the Tigers. Declining to discuss specifics, Dombrowski said that the club knows it will need to pay a steep price to retain the DH, but will push hard to do so and thereby maintain its dangerous 3-4-5 combination.

As Jeff highlighted earlier today, the Tigers already have $146MM in commitments to the 2015 roster when factoring in guaranteed contracts and projected arbitration salaries. Martinez will reportedly earn $17MM per season, bringing Detroit’s commitment to next year’s roster to a hefty $163MM — just $1MM shy of the team’s franchise record Opening Day payroll of $164MM, set this past season. At this point, it seems likely that they’ll exceed that mark, barring some trades to alleviate salary, as the club is reportedly interested in beefing up its bullpen as well and still has some potential question marks in the outfield.

Martinez, one of the most attractive bats on the free agent market, has also been connected to the Mariners, White Sox and Blue Jays at various points over the past month or so. Some questioned whether the Tigers had the capability to add yet another significant long-term contract to the books with the likes of Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and, to a lesser extent, Anibal Sanchez and Ian Kinsler bogging down the team’s payroll in future seasons. The four-year commitment to Martinez runs through the 2018 season — the same year in which Cabrera and Verlander are owed respective salaries of $30MM and $28MM. Detroit is also committed to paying $6MM of Prince Fielder’s salary that season even though he, of course, is now with the Rangers.

From a roster standpoint, the long-term commitment to Martinez is significant, in that it prevents a roadblock to giving Cabrera any significant time at DH over the next four seasons. While Cabrera is again playing first base (and doing a fine job, per UZR and DRS) rather than struggling to get by at the hot corner, he’s also begun to show signs of age, playing through significant injuries in each of the past two seasons. Detroit will now have to hope that the aging MVP candidate’s body can hold up for four more seasons of full-time duty in the field (or close to it).

The Tigers made a one-year, $15.3MM qualifying offer to Martinez, who naturally rejected in favor of testing the open market. Had he signed elsewhere, the Tigers would have netted a compensatory draft pick. However, he’ll instead return to the fold, perhaps for the remainder of his career, as he’s said he doesn’t want to play past 40, and this contract would run through his age-39 season. Martinez’s departure from the free agent market is good news for other bats such as Nelson Cruz, Melky Cabrera and Billy Butler, who now face less competition.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that the two sides were getting close on a four-year deal (Twitter link). Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes noted that the contract was near $70MM in value (Spanish link), and Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported the agreement and final terms (All Twitter links).  Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reported news of the no-trade protection (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pirates Sign A.J. Burnett

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The Pirates announced that they have signed right-hander A.J. Burnett to a one-year deal. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports that the Frontline Athlete Management client will receive an $8.5MM guarantee (Twitter link).

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Burnett, who turns 38 in January, spent the 2012-13 seasons with the Pirates and revitalized his career in black and gold while helping the Bucs to end a historic playoff drought. However, the Pirates declined to make him a qualifying offer following that season and didn’t feel they were able to offer him a salary commensurate with his market value, which proved to be true, as he signed a one-year, $16MM contract with the Phillies. That contract contained a mutual option that vested as a player option, but Burnett turned down a guaranteed $12.75MM from the Phils to take $4.25MM less and return to Pittsburgh — a team and environment of which he spoke fondly even after his departure.

After posting a combined 3.41 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 393 1/3 innings as a Pirate, Burnett struggled in Philadelphia, posting a 4.59 ERA in 213 2/3 innings. Burnett’s walk rate spiked while his ground-ball and strikeout rates dipped, resulting in the inflated ERA and an NL-worst 18 losses (though the Phillies’ poor team performance obviously impacted that last number). Burnett pitched the entire season with a hernia that required offseason surgery — another likely factor in his 2014 struggles.

Burnett will return to a Pittsburgh rotation that faces the potential losses of both Francisco Liriano and Edinson Volquez, who are now free agents. He’ll slot in behind Gerrit Cole and perhaps Vance Worley and Jeff Locke, though the Pirates figure to be active in seeking to add other experienced arms to the 2015 rotation. A return to the Pirates could boost Burnett’s performance, as the move will again pair him with pitching coach Ray Searage and an infield that is known to be above the most aggressive in baseball, in terms of shifting (a welcome sight for Burnett’s ground-ball generating arsenal).

One question for Burnett is whether or not he will again be throwing to the talented Russell Martin, who is a free agent as well and is expected to be too expensive for the Pirates to retain. The Bucs recently acquired Francisco Cervelli from the Yankees, who could pair with Chris Stewart to form this year’s catching tandem for manager Clint Hurdle if Martin is not retained.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

New York Notes: Drew, Toritani, Reynolds, Cervelli Trade

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Both the Yankees and Mets are interested in free agent shortstop Stephen Drew, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The possibility of Drew going to either New York squad as a free agent was a prolonged saga that never came to fruition last offseason (though Drew did eventually end up a Yankee via trade). However, as Sherman points out, it could be different this time around, as Drew may have to settle for a one-year deal. (I’d personally wager that Drew can top the $4MM guarantee suggested by Sherman, but I agree with his point in a general sense.) Both teams are in the process of trying to determine whether his 2014 swoon was due to a late start to the season or if it was the beginning of a stark decline in his offensive skills.

Here’s more on the Mets and Yankees…

  • Also within Sherman’s piece, he notes that neither team is currently interested in Japanese shortstop Takashi Toritani. The 33-year-old Toritani recently hired Scott Boras as his agent and is said to be weighing a jump to the Major Leagues, but only if it means regular playing time. An absolute iron man in 11 seasons with Japan’s Hanshin Tigers, Toritani hasn’t missed a single inning at shortstop over the past 10 seasons (1,444 games), hitting .285/.372/.412 in that time.
  • Mets prospect Matt Reynolds spoke with Adam Rubin of ESPN New York about the strides he’s made on both ends of the game in the past year. The shortstop said he felt playing at Triple-A Las Vegas helped improve his defense immensely, because the infield is so fast there. “Vegas’ infield is one of the fastest infields I’ve ever played on,” said Reynolds. “…You’re playing in the middle of the summer with 115-degree weather and the infield is rock solid. …it taught me to get ready early and to use my hands.” GM Sandy Alderson said Reynolds will return to Vegas to open next season.
  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman said that his top priority is finding a starting shortstop, writes NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty. Cashman adds that he feels the Yankees’ payroll will be “high” and “impressive” this year, stating that ownership has always had an “impressive commitment” to the fanbase and he hopes to use that support to improve the roster.
  • In a second piece from Kuty, Cashman talks about the trade of Francisco Cervelli for Justin Wilson. Surprisingly, Cashman notes that he discussed this exact swap with Pirates GM Neal Huntington two years ago, but the sides didn’t follow through on the deal at that time. Cashman wouldn’t commit to John Ryan Murphy as the backup to Brian McCann just yet, mentioning Austin Romine’s name as well.

MLBTR Seeking Comment Moderators

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MLBTR is looking for additional moderators to read through comments and make sure that they’re not in violation of our commenting policy.

It’s not a paid position, but it will keep you connected to the latest trade and free agent rumors. If you’re a frequent MLBTR commenter who can help us keep the comment section clean, send a short e-mail to mlbtrmods@gmail.com with the following: your username, the email (or other) account you use to comment on MLBTR, your availability, and a short explanation as to why you’d be a good fit. If you’re responsible, respectful and interested in contributing at MLBTR, we want to hear from you.

Luhnow On Free Agents, Catchers, Outfield

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There is nothing imminent for the Astros, reports Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle, but GM Jeff Luhnow says he got a “pretty good feel” for price tags and availability for possible targets.

Here’s more out of Houston:

  • Luhnow left Drellich with the impression that the organization is ready to be a player on the open market. The GM says that, with two top-five protected picks, draft pick compensation is less of a deterrent. And the club would consider burning all of its open 2015 payroll space on one, premium player in the right circumstances.
  • Houston is at least 50-50 on dealing away a catcher after acquiring Hank Conger, Luhnow tells Drellich. “Because we have three major league catchers, I’ve had clubs inquire about all our catchers quite frankly,” said Luhnow. “So we need to figure out some resolution prior to Opening Day. There’s no urgency.”
  • An executive with another club said that the asking price is high on Jason Castro. Somewhat interestingly, the GM noted that a Castro-Conger duo presents some platoon issues. “A right-handed hitter complements Jason,” said Luhnow. “Conger’s better from the left side.”
  • The Astros are not prioritizing outfield help at the moment, Drellich tweets. Players like Nori Aoki and Ichiro Suzuki do not hold appeal to Houston, according to Luhnow.

Yasmany Tomas Rumors: Friday

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A report yesterday indicated that Cuban slugger Yasmany Tomas would fly to the United States this weekend to meet with agent Jay Alou, and a deal could be close. However, Alou himself noted that Tomas will meet with four teams in the next 48 hours, suggesting that it may be too early to say they’re on the brink of signing. MLBTR’s own Tim Dierkes reported that three of the four clubs would be viewed by the public as “very unlikely” teams, so there are some dark horses at play. One could be the Giants, who Peter Gammons reported are interested in Tomas as a third baseman.

All that info is just from yesterday, and the link above has even more details. We’ll keep track of today’s Tomas rumors in this post…

  • MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez tweets that Tomas is spending his 24th birthday (which is today — happy birthday Yasmany!) in the Dominican Republic working out for the Royals at a number of positions, including center field.

Earlier Updates

  • The Royals saw Tomas just yesterday in the Dominican Republic, tweets Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star. While club officials remain doubtful that they’ll have the money to land him, the team is making an effort to sign Tomas, he adds.
  • The Twins have been listed as a team with interest and would certainly fit Tim’s dark horse label, but Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweeted yesterday that Minnesota isn’t close to anything with Tomas.

Rangers Extend Jon Daniels, Thad Levine

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FRIDAY: The Rangers have officially announced both extensions. While specifics weren’t divulged, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets that each received a three-year deal. Anthony Andro of FOX Sports Southwest adds that the deals kick in at the end of their pre-existing contracts, meaning they’re now signed through 2018. In the press release, co-chairmen Ray Davis and Bob Simpson issued the following statement:

“Under Jon’s and Thad’s leadership, the Rangers have created a strong overall organization that has combined major league success with a productive scouting and player development operation over a number of years. Jon and Thad are skilled executives who are well respected around the game and completely committed to once again delivering a winning team for our fans.”

THURSDAY: The Rangers have extended general manager Jon Daniels and assistant GM Thad Levine, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. The exact terms of the extensions are unknown to this point, but Daniels’ contract was slated to expire at the end of the 2015 season.

Jon Daniels and Thad Levine

Daniels succeeded John Hart (now the Braves’ president of baseball operations) as GM of the team following the 2005 season at the incredibly young age of 28. He’s been in his role for nearly a decade now, and in that time, the Rangers have made their first two World Series appearances. The team struggled in 2014, finishing with just 67 wins, although a nearly unthinkable list of injuries was largely to blame for that disappointing performance.

The 41-year-old Levine was also appointed to his current post in October 2005 and has been long rumored as a GM candidate himself. He withdrew his name from consideration from the D’Backs GM search prior to the team’s hiring of Dave Stewart. When former Rangers AGM A.J. Preller became GM of the Padres, Levine took on the oversight of the club’s international scouting operations, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News wrote back in September.

As can be seen in MLBTR’s Transactions Tracker, Daniels and Levine were behind what is considered one of the best trades in Rangers history — the Mark Teixeira trade to the Braves that netted Texas Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, Neftali Feliz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and minor leaguer Beau Jones. However, some Rangers fans are likely more focused on last offseason’s Prince Fielder/Ian Kinsler swap, which to this point has certainly not panned out for Texas.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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