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Archives for February 2016

NL Central Notes: Arrieta, Braun, Bruce, Waldron

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The Cubs will keep an eye on Jake Arrieta’s workload this season to ensure that the Cy Young Award winner is still fresh for October, Joe Maddon tells reporters (including ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers).  Arrieta threw 248 2/3 innings in the regular and postseason in 2015, far above his previous career high of 176 2/3 frames in 2014.  While Arrieta takes pride in being a workhorse and finishing games, “there’s certain sacrifices that need to be made and I’m more than willing to make those sacrifices to be better for my team later in the season,” he said.  Jon Lester and John Lackey will also have their innings monitored, Maddon said, as the Cubs clearly have their eyes set on being at full strength for the postseason.  Here’s some more from around the NL Central…

  • Ryan Braun will indeed be moving back to left field this season, Brewers manager Craig Counsell confirmed to media (including the Associated Press).  “We talked it over and discussed it, and I think with the players that we have on our roster this year, it’s an advantageous decision for both Ryan and the players we have involved,” Counsell said.  Milwaukee’s left field spot was opened up when Khris Davis was traded to Oakland, and there had been speculation that Braun would be shifted to give highly-touted youngster Domingo Santana regular playing time in right.
  • Also from Counsell, he discusses his first Spring Training as a big league manager and many other topics as part of a Q&A with Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  • Jay Bruce has been the subject of several trade rumors this offseason but he’s taking everything in stride, the Reds outfielder told reporters (including C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer.)  When asked if the trade speculation made it awkward to be in the Reds’ clubhouse, Bruce said “No, not at all.  If it were somewhere else, it’d be awkward right now.  This is what I know, this organization has been much more to be than just a baseball team. I’ve been here since I was 18 years old, and this is all I know.  I look forward to still being here and if something does happen, I completely understand.  It’s part of the business.  I mentioned before, obviously, I truly believe the Reds have to do everything they can do improve the organization and if they end up feeling that making a move with me is part of that plan, I respect them for that.”
  • The Cardinals have shut down right-hander Tyler Waldron due to an impingement in his throwing shoulder, the team told media (including MLB.com’s Barry W. Bloom).  Waldron, 26, was a non-roster invite to the Cards’ camp.  He has a 4.54 ERA over 492 minor league innings in the St. Louis and Pittsburgh farm systems.  Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said Waldron was being shut down indefinitely and he wasn’t sure when the righty would be throwing again.

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/21/16

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Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post…

  • The Marlins released left-hander Troy Patton, the team announced.  Patton was a non-roster invite to Miami’s spring camp after signing a minor league deal with the club in December.  Patton’s 2015 season was limited to 30 1/3 innings for the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate, as he missed much of the year serving an 80-game suspension for testing positive for amphetamines.  The southpaw has a 3.25 ERA, 7.2 K/9 and 3.14 K/BB rate over 169 career innings with the Astros, Orioles and Padres, though only 14 of those frames have come in the last two seasons.
  • The Angels have hired Brendan Harris and Ben Francisco as pro scouts, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times reports (via Twitter).  The hirings would suggest that Harris and Francisco are retiring after lengthy professional careers that saw both men play for six different franchises and play their last big league games in 2013.  Harris spent eight seasons in the majors, with 390 of his 529 career games coming as a regular with the Rays and Twins from 2007-09.  The versatile Harris saw lots of time at shortstop, third base and second base over his career and he hit .256/.314/.381 over 1876 plate appearances with six different franchises.  Francisco saw regular action in the outfield with Cleveland and Philadelphia from 2007-2011 before bouncing around to four other clubs in his final two seasons.  Francisco hit .253/.323/.418 with 50 homers over 1771 Major League PA, though he may be best remembered in Philadelphia for his three-run homer that helped the Phillies win Game 3 of the 2011 NLDS against the Cardinals.  MLBTR congratulates Harris and Francisco on their fine careers and wishes them the best as they move into the scouting world.

Rangers Notes: Victorino, Beltre, Daniels

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Here’s the latest from the Rangers’ camp…

  • The Rangers have considered signing Shane Victorino, but only on a minor league deal, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo reports (Twitter link).  Texas is known to be looking for veteran outfield help, with such names as Alejandro De Aza, David Murphy, Will Venable and (as ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reported earlier today) Drew Stubbs also receiving some consideration.  It’s been rather a quiet offseason for Victorino, who is returning to switch-hitting and looking for a one-year contract to rebuild his value after two injury-plagued seasons.  Despite Victorino’s impressive career track record, a minor league contract could be his best option at this late juncture in the offseason; from the Rangers’ perspective, they only seem willing to address their outfield depth need in the form of minor league deals anyway.
  • Adrian Beltre told reporters (including MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan) that he thought about undergoing surgery to repair the torn ligament in his left thumb last July.  Beltre suffered the injury in May and spent most of June on the DL, though he was still in a great deal of pain even after returning.  The veteran third baseman was able to tough it out the rest of the season, however, and only underwent surgery after Texas was out of the playoffs.  As he prepares to enter his 19th MLB season, Beltre said he’s certainly aware of his age but overall, “my body feels pretty good….on the field, I don’t think I have any limitations.“
  • Beltre and GM Jon Daniels both confirmed that there’s mutual interest in working out a contract extension to keep Beltre in Texas beyond the 2016 season.  Despite Beltre’s age, Daniels called him “a unique guy” and said “you want to be cognizant of age — older players have more risk — but there are some guys ahead of the curve and he has proven to be one of those guys in more ways than one. Age is a factor, but it’s less of a factor than other guys.”
  • In other Rangers news from the last two days, the team signed Jeremy Guthrie to a minor league deal and learned that Tanner Scheppers will miss at least five months due to surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left knee.

MLBTR Originals

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

  • All-Star Giants second baseman Joe Panik joined host Jeff Todd on this week’s edition of the MLBTR podcast.  Panik discussed his offseason rehab from a back injury, the development of his power at the plate, and how his background as a finance major impacts how he follows contractual matters in baseball. He also shared fond memories of his time with retired teammates Jeremy Affeldt and Tim Hudson as well as a story of an influential conversation with teammate Hunter Pence early in his career.  A new episode of the podcast is released every Thursday and can be accessed on iTunes, SoundCloud, and Stitcher.
  • We’re now more than halfway through the month of February and David Freese finds himself still on the open market.  Recently, MLBTR’s Steve Adams surveyed the market for the third baseman to try and find a fit.  Freese has been a league-average or better bat throughout his career according to both OPS+ and wRC+, and he’s coming off a pair of seasons in Anaheim where he batted a combined .258/.322/.401 (106 OPS+, 108 wRC+).  At the same time, there are reasons not to be so gung-ho about the veteran and many of the clubs with clear third base issues have taken care of that position already.
  • In Tuesday’s chat, Steve fielded questions on the White Sox, Juan Uribe, the Khris Davis trade, and how to make the ideal mac and cheese.
  • In the latest edition of the MLBTR Mailbag, Steve answered questions on the Cardinals, Braves, and the Orioles’ farm system.
  • If you’re not already, you should be following MLB Trade Rumors on Instagram.

Nationals To Sign Juan Gutierrez

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The Nationals will sign right-hander Juan Gutierrez to a minor league deal, according to MLBTR’s Steve Adams (on Twitter). The deal does not include an invite to Washington’s big league camp.

Gutierrez appeared in 114 games for the Royals, Angels and Giants over the 2013-14 seasons, posting a 4.08 ERA, 6.7 K/9 and 2.47 K/BB rate over 119 relief innings.  The 32-year-old was non-tendered by San Francisco following the 2014 season and re-signed with the team on a minor league deal, though he exercised a June 1 opt-out clause in his contract since he wasn’t on the Giants’ Major League roster.  Gutierrez signed on with the Phillies and Nationals on minor league deals as well in 2015 but never cracked the bigs, ending up with a 3.98 ERA over 61 innings at the Triple-A level.

Tanner Scheppers To Miss Half Of Season

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Rangers right-hander Tanner Scheppers has torn cartilage in his left knee and will miss at least the first half of the season, as The Associated Press writes.   The veteran is scheduled for surgery on Wednesday.

Scheppers, 29, was a staple in the Rangers’ bullpen in 2013, pitching to a 1.88 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 across 76 appearances.  However, injuries have slowed him down ever since.  In 2014, Scheppers made only four starts and four relief appearances thanks to right elbow inflammation.  In 2015, the reliever was hampered by his knee and a sprained right ankle, limiting him to only 42 outings and production that was not in line with his career best.  In total, he posted a 5.63 ERA with 7. 5 K/9 and a sky-high 5.4 BB/9.

Scheppers was drafted by the Rangers in the first round (44th pick) of the 2009 amateur draft.  He is not scheduled to reach arbitration until after the 2016 season and will not be eligible for free agency until after the 2018 season.

AL East Notes: Dickey, Blue Jays, Orioles, Fowler

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Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey revealed to reporters that he underwent surgery at the end of last year to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, as Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com tweets. Dickey was the subject of trade rumors over the winter but the club denied actively shopping him.  It’s also not clear if the Blue Jays could have gotten much for the knuckleballer considering that he is entering his age-41 season, only under contract for 2016 and earning $12MM.  News of Dickey’s knee surgery probably doesn’t do much to help his trade value going forward, either.

Here’s more from the AL East:

  • Orioles veterans are happy to see the team continuing to make free-agent acquisitions, Eduardo A. Encina of The Baltimore Sun writes.   “He’s an awesome guy,” Hardy said of Yovani Gallardo, who was his teammate for a time. “Good pitcher. Obviously, you guys can see his numbers. He’s only had one losing season in, what is it, nine years? Great guy, great teammate. He’ll fit right in.”    On Saturday night, the Orioles and Gallardo agreed to a three-year, $35MM deal with a $13MM club option for 2019.
  • The Orioles haven’t landed Dexter Fowler yet, but Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com says the O’s might as well part with two picks in order to fill the 2016 team’s main holes in the rotation and outfield.  Fowler would bring a capable leadoff hitter and table-setter with a healthy career on-base percentage and Melewski feels he would be well worth the draft pick compensation.
  • After signing Gallardo, Orioles manager Buck Showalter isn’t sure what the corresponding 40-man move will be, but he says it won’t necessarily be a pitcher, as Rich Dubroff of CSNMidAtlantic tweets.

Follow MLBTR On Instagram

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Recently, MLB Trade Rumors launched a brand new official Instagram account: @TradeRumorsMLB.  Each day, we’re sharing conversation-inspiring images about the hottest topics in baseball.  From there, we invite you to give us a like, weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section, and even share the link with a friend.

On Saturday, immediately after news of the Orioles’ agreement with Yovani Gallardo broke, MLBTR’s Instagram gave fans a sneak peek at what he will look like in his new jersey.  Just before that, MLBTR asked readers to predict the landing spots for Yulieski Gurriel and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. a.k.a. the Super Gurriel Bros.  Another recent image asked readers to weigh in whether the Orioles would sign Pedro Alvarez or Dexter Fowler or instead trade for Jay Bruce.

So, what are you waiting for?  If you don’t have an Instagram account, this is the perfect excuse to sign up and get one.  Follow us on Instagram today!

Rangers Interested In Drew Stubbs

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The Rangers have discussed Drew Stubbs as an outfield depth option, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com tweets.  However, Texas only wants to sign him to a minor league deal.

Texas signed Stubbs to a minor league deal back in August after he was cut loose by the Rockies.  After slashing .216/.286/.431 across 51 games for the Rockies, Stubbs hit just .095/.269/.143 for Texas in a limited sample size of 26 plate appearances.  For his career, Stubbs has hit .244/.313/.395 at the plate across seven years.

Stubbs provided the lefty-heavy Rangers with a useful option down the stretch last season and he could be called back to fill the same role in 2016.  Still, the Rangers are not presently willing to give the 31-year-old a guaranteed spot on the varsity squad.  We haven’t heard much about Stubbs’ free agency in recent weeks, so an incentive-laden minor league pact might be a good solution for both sides.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Braves, Pirates, Cardinals

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Here’s our weekly look around the baseball blogosphere:

Please send submissions to Zach Links at ZachBBWI@gmail.com

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