NL West Links: Upton, Hall, Helton, Lee, Padres
The big news out of the NL West today is Justin Upton's rejection of a trade that would have sent him to the Mariners in exchange for four of Seattle's top young players. The deal would've been a big risk for both sides, though since the Diamondbacks have other outfield options to potentially replace Upton, the bulk of the risk would've fallen on Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik. As a source opines to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link), Upton may have "saved Jack Z's job" by rejecting the trade and keeping so much top-flight young talent in Seattle.
Here are some more items from around the NL West…
- The "strained relationship" between Upton and the Diamondbacks makes it seem that Upton will be playing elsewhere by Spring Training, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.
- In a chat with fans at MLB.com that took place before the latest Upton news broke, Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall discussed all of the speculation about the outfielder. "All of the media speculation is unfortunate, but not unusual," Hall noted, saying that other teams had been telling the media about their interest in Upton.
- Todd Helton told reporters (including Troy Renck of the Denver Post) that he is recovering well from hip surgery and confirmed he will return for his 17th Major League season. Helton is entering the final year of his contract with the Rockies and said in September that he wanted to play in 2013 if his health permitted.
- Dodgers prospect Zach Lee has no regrets about choosing baseball over college football stardom, he tells MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. Lee was the 28th overall pick of the 2010 draft and received a $5.25MM bonus to sign with the Dodgers instead of playing football at LSU.
- The millions earned by Major League stars obscures the fact that most minor leaguers earn very modest paychecks, as MLB.com's Corey Brock explores how several Padres prospects make ends meet during the offseason.
Rosenthal On Padres, Orioles, Rockies, Phillies
The Orioles showed serious interest in Justin Upton before talks with the Diamondbacks sputtered, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported last night. Here are some more of Rosenthal’s notes from around MLB…
- Rosenthal hears from one executive who expects the Padres to make another significant move. However, the Padres like their group of young starting pitchers and aren’t inclined to make a strong play for one of the remaining free agent starters. San Diego could still trade for a pitcher such as Rick Porcello, Luke Hochevar or Aaron Harang.
- Talks about a deal involving Upton and Chase Headley didn’t progress, Rosenthal reports.
- The Orioles continue seeking starting pitching and Joe Saunders remains a target. The Orioles also checked in on Porcello, according to Rosenthal.
- Though the Orioles spoke with Lance Berkman before he signed with the Rangers, they weren’t interested in spending big for the switch-hitting DH.
- Jeff Karstens, Derek Lowe, Aaron Cook and Jair Jurrjens are among the possibilities the Rockies are considering. The Rockies wouldn’t offer all of those pitchers Major League deals, however.
- Rosenthal suggests free agent reliever Rafael Soriano could be a longshot for the Rockies. Colorado would have to surrender its second round draft pick to sign the Scott Boras client.
- The Phillies continue seeking a right-handed hitting outfielder, Rosenthal reports. They’re still considering free agent Scott Hairston and trade candidates Alfonso Soriano and Vernon Wells. It’s possible the Phillies will go with platoons in both corner outfield positions.
D’Backs, Orioles Discussed Kubel, Upton
Monday: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports adds (via Twitter) that the Orioles have also shown serious interest in Justin Upton over the past few weeks, but talks between the two sides have sputtered. The Orioles are shifting their focus to starting pitching. They've expressed interest in bringing Joe Saunders back recently.
Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun adds (via Twitter) that the Orioles find Arizona's asking price for Upton too high.
Saturday: The Diamondbacks are looking to get young pitching from the Orioles in a trade for outfielder Jason Kubel, but Baltimore has been disinclined to do that to this point, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Arizona has a surplus of outfielders and some believe that they would prefer to trade Kubel than Justin Upton at this stage.
Kubel hit .253/.327/.506 with a career-high 30 home runs in 141 games with Arizona last year. The 30-year-old is due to earn $7.5MM in 2013 with a mutual option for the same amount in 2014.
Steve Adams contributed to this post.
Mets, Diamondbacks Discussed Upton, Kubel
The Mets talked to the Diamondbacks about potential trades involving outfielders Justin Upton and Jason Kubel, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). However, Arizona’s asking price is too high on Upton and Kubel isn’t a perfect fit for New York, according to Heyman. This suggests the Diamondbacks won’t be sending one of their surplus outfielders to the Mets, who continue seeking outfield depth.
The Padres, Braves, Mariners and Rangers have expressed some interest in trading for Upton this offseason. The right fielder can block trades to certain teams, including the Blue Jays and Mariners. Meanwhile, Kubel has also drawn trade interest from teams such as the Orioles.
In a recent poll of more than 13,000 MLBTR readers, voters were split on whether Upton or Kubel would be dealt. There’s an expectation that GM Kevin Towers will make a trade since Arizona has numerous internal options including Cody Ross, Gerardo Parra and prospects Adam Eaton and A.J. Pollock.
The Mets have been eyeing outfielders all offseason, but Andrew Brown and Collin Cowgill have been their highest profile additions to date. If the season opened today, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Lucas Duda and Mike Baxter would be among the leading candidates for regular playing time in New York.
Upton, 25, will earn $38.5MM through 2015, including a $9.75MM salary in 2013. Kubel, 30, has one more guaranteed year on his contract, which includes a 2014 team option. He'll earn $7.5MM this coming season.
NL Notes: D’backs, Rafael Soriano, Posey, Marlins
Seven years ago today, the Diamondbacks came to terms with Justin Upton, the first overall selection in the 2005 amateur draft, on a five-year, $6.1MM contract. The deal marked the largest signing bonus given in a minor league contract for a drafted player, who was not a free agent. Today, Upton is the prime trade target of the offseason. Just within the last 24 hours, we learned there is no match with the Padres, the Braves haven't engaged in Upton talks since before Christmas, and speculation that a deal will happen as soon as Arizona is offered the right mix of players. In non-Upton news involving the Diamondbacks and the rest of the Senior Circuit:
- If the Diamondbacks don't move one of their outfielders, look for Adam Eaton to open the season at Triple-A, according to MLB.com's Steve Gilbert. "That's not in a perfect world what we want to have happen," GM Kevin Towers told Gilbert. "But we're not going to move an outfielder in a lousy deal just to move an outfielder."
- Within the same piece, Towers says discussions have been held with the Diamondbacks' six arbitration eligible players and he expects those negotiations to go down to the wire. You can follow the Diamondbacks' arbitration cases and those of MLB's other 29 teams with MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker.
- Acknowledging it sounds crazy and doesn't really think it's going to happen, Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post urges the Nationals to sign free agent closer Rafael Soriano. Kilgore sees agent Scott Boras convincing owner Ted Lerner the franchise has a finite window of competing for titles and Soriano is the final, missing piece.
- Earlier today, ESPN.com's Buster Olney suggested the Giants should look into signing Buster Posey to a Joey Votto-type extension. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, however, would be surprised by such a deal because the Giants have been burned by long-term contracts given to Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand. Schulman tweeted a good starting point in Posey talks would be the $53.5MM given to Tim Lincecum during his four-years of arbitration eligibility.
- The Marlins are sifting through the batch of unsigned free agent relievers and are able to sign an inexpensive arm or two with the salary relief leftover from trading Yunel Escobar, according to the Miami Herald's Clark Spencer.
- Rick VandenHurk, released yesterday by the Pirates, will sign with the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization, according to Naver, a Korean news service, confirming a report first tweeted by Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net.
Cafardo On Cubs, Ellsbury, Morneau, Dodgers
When Theo Epstein took over the Cubs a year ago, he took the long range view and opted for an all-out gutting and rebuilding. This winter, however, he surprised some when he entered the bidding for Anibal Sanchez and signed Edwin Jackson to a lucrative four-year deal. Does that mean that the Cubs are better than he anticipated? “We’re certainly farther along than we were last year at this time,” said Epstein, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. “When we got here, we identified one core player [Starlin Castro] and now we can look around and see Anthony Rizzo, Darwin Barney, Jeff Samardzija , and others. We do have more positional prospects than pitchers, so we felt Jackson will be with us for many years to come.” Here's more from Cafardo..
- If Matt Garza can show teams that his elbow is in solid shape during spring training then the Cubs will consider offers for the right-hander. It's hard to read the Cubs' intentions though since they are building for the future while also signing veteran pitchers.
- Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is a hard sell to some teams because he is in his walk year and has struggled with injury, but there are other clubs out there looking to make a splash who may feel that one year of a motivated Ellsbury would be tempting.
- The Twins' Justin Morneau is in the final year of his contract at $14MM and Cafardo wonders if they would deal him if they got a nice group of young players. Teams like the Red Sox, Orioles, and Rays (even with James Loney) could be interested in first base help.
- Dodgers pitchers Chris Capuano and Aaron Harang are both available thanks to the club's offseason pickups and the expected return of Ted Lilly. Capuano should draw more interest since he is a lefty and coming off a decent season.
- The White Sox say they want to hang on to Gavin Floyd, but younger pitchers have made him expendable. It has been speculated that the White Sox won't look to move Floyd until John Danks is healthy.
- Andrew Bailey is slated to be the Red Sox set-up man in support of Joel Hanrahan, but Cafardo wonders aloud if they might be willing to deal him to address another need? Bailey didn't help his trade value after he returned from thumb surgery last year, but at least teams know he’s healthy.
- Cafardo gets the feeling that Justin Upton will be gone just as soon as D'Backs GM Kevin Towers hears the right mix of players. Of course, there has also been a great deal of talk surrounding Jason Kubel.
Padres, D’Backs Discussed Upton, Kubel, Headley
11:37pm: The Padres and D'Backs found no match in trade talks about Upton or Jason Kubel, reports Jack Magruder of FOXSportsArizona.com (on Twitter). San Diego doesn't want to move Headley and they don't have a spot for Kubel with Carlos Quentin on the roster.
3:27pm: The Padres and Diamondbacks have had on-and-off discussions about a deal involving Justin Upton and Chase Headley since July, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. However, those talks have yet to result in a deal.
Even though that deal hasn't worked out, the Diamondbacks continue to discuss Upton with other clubs, including the Rangers and Mariners while also considering offers for Jason Kubel. The Rangers want to build a package around third baseman Mike Olt rather than shortstop Elvis Andrus or infielder Jurickson Profar and they're willing to add a top pitching prospect and a third quality piece to the package, sources say.
However, sources tell Rosenthal that the D'Backs believe they could make an even better deal for Upton with another club like the Mariners, who are aggressively trying to add a power hitter. However, as we've heard before, Seattle is on Upton's four-team no-trade list and he's not inclined to approve a deal to the M's. The Mariners might be able to change Upton's mind with a lucrative contract extension.
Earlier this week we learned that the Braves have also inquired on Upton.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
Quick Hits: Upton, Liriano, Orioles, Headley
Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive VP of labor relations, told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that he’s not ready to say baseball’s collective bargaining agreement needs changes. While the CBA appears to have limited the market for certain players who declined qualifying offers, Manfred says it’s still early. “I’m not inclined to get into a discussion about changing an agreement when it hasn’t even operated for a full year.” As Rosenthal points out, draft pick compensation places an artificial burden on free agents. Here are some more links from around MLB…
- The Rangers aren’t a perfect fit for Justin Upton, because their lineup already includes many right-handed hitters, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney notes (Twitter links). The Braves could be a better fit, and could deal from a surplus of pitching. Olney reported yesterday that the Diamondbacks are open to dealing the right fielder.
- The Pirates haven’t announced their two-year, $12.75MM agreement with Francisco Liriano, but MLB.com’s Tom Singer still expects the deal to go through (Twitter link). The Pirates have been trying to get the left-hander to Pittsburgh for a physical.
- The Orioles have not watched free agent right-hander Javier Vazquez work out and they have no current plans to attend any of his scheduled sessions, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports (on Twitter). That said, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun suggested today that the Orioles could have some interest (Twitter link).
- Within an in-depth piece about third baseman Chase Headley, Padres GM Josh Byrnes revealed to MLB.com's Corey Brock that he pushed for the Red Sox to draft Headley back in 2005 when he was in the Boston front office. Headley, 28, is arbitration eligible for the third time this offseason.
Diamondbacks “Open” To Discussing Upton
6:52pm: The Braves and Mariners have inquired on Upton along with the Rangers, major league sources tell Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. One source said that Atlanta “made strong overtures” for Upton earlier in the offseason but came away thinking that the Diamondbacks were not motivated to trade him.
The Mariners are particularly eager to add a hitter and some have gone so far as to say that they're desperate to do so. They have checked in on the Dodgers’ Andre Ethier and the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton, according to sources. Upton might be the Mariners' most realistic pursuit, according to one source with knowledge of the team’s thinking. The M's have had “on-and-off” discussions with Arizona throughout the offseason, but Upton is not inclined to remove them from his four-team no-trade list.
3:44pm: Facing a surplus of outfielders following their deal with Cody Ross, the Diamondbacks are once again “very much open” to talking about trading Justin Upton, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports (all Twitter links). Their specific demands have changed, Olney notes.
Diamondbacks executives have viewed the Mariners as a possible trade partner for Upton, according to Olney. However, the Mariners are on Upton’s no-trade list, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported earlier in the offseason (Twitter link). The Blue Jays are also on the list, which is partially in place to provide Upton with leverage in talks.
Some officials are now convinced the Diamondbacks will trade Upton rather than Jason Kubel, Olney reports. MLBTR readers disagree. Approximately 34% of nearly 10,000 voters said today that they expect the Diamondbacks to address their outfield depth by trading Upton, but approximately 45% expect Kubel to be moved.
The Rangers, Diamondbacks, Rays and Indians discussed multi-team trade scenarios involving Upton at the 2012 Winter Meetings. Texas, Seattle and the Mets now seem like potential fits in my view.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Poll: The Diamondbacks’ Outfield Depth
The Diamondbacks have already traded an outfielder once this offseason, sending Chris Young to Oakland. Now that they've signed Cody Ross, they're positioned to deal another outfielder. Ross joins perpetual trade candidate Justin Upton and Jason Kubel in the team's starting outfield. Gerardo Parra projects as a bench player and prospects Adam Eaton and A.J. Pollock provide additional depth for general manager Kevin Towers.
Based on the most recent rumors surrounding the team, Upton and Kubel are potential trade candidates. However, there doesn’t appear to be a consensus on which player Towers will trade. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported this morning that the industry seems divided on the topic of which player the Diamondbacks would prefer to move (Twitter link). Teams seeking a high-ceiling player who's years away from free agency will prefer Upton, while teams seeking an affordable short-term fix could pursue Kubel. Which player will the Diamondbacks trade?
How will the Diamondbacks address their outfield depth?
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By trading Jason Kubel 41% (5,436)
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By trading Justin Upton 39% (5,215)
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They'll keep their outfield depth 12% (1,604)
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By trading Gerardo Parra 8% (1,054)
Total votes: 13,309