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NL Notes: Chapman, Stewart, Rockies, Braves

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St. Patrick's Day is as much of a baseball holiday as Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or Labor Day thanks to former Reds GM Dick Wagner. Tom Singer of MLB.com chronicles how the baseball tradition of wearing the green came about 35 years ago. Elsewhere from the Reds and the rest of the National League:

  • Reds GM Walt Jocketty expects a decision in the next few days on whether Aroldis Chapman will pitch out of the bullpen or be moved into the starting rotatation, reports MLB.com's Mark Sheldon. Chapman stated publicly he wants to close, which didn't sit well with Jocketty. "We don’t let every player tell us how they want to be used," the GM told MLB.com.
  • Ian Stewart's lingering left quad injury could affect his chances at making the roster and how the Cubs build their bench, writes MLB.com's Carrie Muskat. Brent Lillibridge, Luis Valbuena, Edwin Maysonet, and Alberto Gonzalez are competing to fill that void while manager Dale Sveum mentioned Steve Clevenger could be an interesting option and added the team is watching all the waiver wires. 
  • The Rockies are giving serious consideration to making Nolan Arenado their starting third baseman with one club official telling Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com "it’s a tough call." If Arenado receives the nod, Rosenthal believes incumbent third baseman Chris Nelson could be used to acquire a veteran starting pitcher.
  • Within the same piece, sources tell Rosenthal the Rockies want to move Ramon Hernandez and are willing to assume some of his $3.2MM salary to facilitate a trade.
  • Don't expect the Braves to have any interest in the recently released Matt Diaz because there isn't a need right now, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  • The Marlins have returned Rule 5 selection Braulio Lara to the Rays, reports Joe Capozzi of The Palm Beach Post. The left-hander appeared in four games for the Marlins this spring throwing four innings allowing two earned runs on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks.

Players Reflect On Arbitration Hearings: Dan Uggla

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Braves second baseman Dan Uggla went to arbitration with the Florida Marlins in 2009 after hitting 90 home runs and accumulating 270 RBI during his first three seasons in the big leagues. The Marlins filed at $4.4MM while Uggla requested $5.35MM. Uggla won his case, earning one of the biggest salary jumps ever for a player going through the arbitration process for the first time. Uggla, now a Gaylord Sports Management client, was a Beverly Hills Sports Council client at the time he won his arbitration hearing. He spent a few minutes reflecting on his case with B.J. Rains for MLB Trade Rumors:

“Obviously it’s a very long process. Negotiations are usually never quick. We negotiated all the way up until the time we had to give each other the numbers. My case was a little bit different because with the Marlins, once you submit your number, there’s no more negotiations. Usually in arbitration you can submit your numbers and still come to an agreement but with the Marlins, if you don’t come to an agreement before that then you're going into the room and going to the hearing, so mine was different.

“It made sense for me to go ahead and take that chance and go into the room because there was such a big difference and we were so far apart. I didn’t know it until they put their number in, but they put in $4.4MM and they were offering me $4.5MM or something like that, that was their highest offer, so it made sense for me to go into the room. Plus I believed that I was supposed to earn what I put in for.

“When I was as confident as I was in my case, it was worth every penny to go into the hearing. Say if I thought I was worth $5.35MM and they were coming in offering me $5.1MM, then you have to start weighing your options. If they are offering you $5.1MM and then they drop it down and put their number at $4.4MM, you have to weigh your options and say, ‘Hey, I don’t know if $200K is worth the chance of losing a million,’ but we were never close. We were never close. I had a chance to lose $100K from where they offered me because we never got within $800K or $900K.

“Inside the room, it’s not them truly trying to put you down. It’s a business thing. My side is business and their side is business. They are trying to get me for a certain price and I’m trying to get my salary to a certain price. It’s not necessarily them telling you how bad you are, they are just trying to present a case to where they believe you should earn X instead of Y. I knew that going in. It didn’t bother me at all. It’s just a process, the business side of it. A lot of people would say, ‘Man, I didn’t know I was that bad’ or ‘I can’t believe they would say that about me,’ but you better prepare yourself to hear it because they will say it. It’s not to demise your character or not to put you down in any way, it’s just for them to present a case to win their case, just like we’re presenting a case to say I’m a little better than I actually am.

“I talked to my agents and they’ve been in many cases before and they prepared me the best they could. They have booklets and stuff and I had a book real thick of comparisons and charts and stuff. My agents did a great job of going over everything. Anything and everything you could find it was documented.

“It’s a crapshoot. There’s no guarantee. You can present the best case you can and still get beat. I still have a great relationship with the front office of the Marlins to this day. You have to understand as a player, they aren’t trying to personally attack you. They are trying to get their payroll at a certain point and that’s one of the ways they are trying to do it. It’s the business side of baseball.”

Quick Hits: Andrus, Braves, Astros

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On this date two years ago, Chuck Greenberg resigned as the Rangers' CEO after encountering philosophical differences with others in the team's ownership group. The Rangers' leadership structure is again making headlines, as ownership looks to determine what Nolan Ryan's role will be going forward. Here are some links from around MLB, starting in Texas…

  • Dan Szymborski of ESPN Insider explains why the Cardinals are a perfect fit for Elvis Andrus of the Rangers. St. Louis needs a shortstop after losing Rafael Furcal to injury and the Rangers could part with Andrus to create space for Jurickson Profar. The Rangers could look to acquire a pitching prospect such as Trevor Rosenthal, Shelby Miller or Carlos Martinez from the Cardinals' top-ranked farm system.
  • Atlanta GM Frank Wren told James Wagner of the Washington Post that most of the Braves' offseason moves revolved around their own needs, rather than the Nationals' roster. Wren explained that he wanted to add right-handed balance to a lineup that had become too left-handed. "I can’t say that anything we did this offseason was reactionary,” he said.
  • FanGraphs' David Laurila spoke with Sig Mejdal, the Astros' director of decision sciences, about his role in Houston and the place of analytics in baseball.

NL Notes: Goldschmidt, McCann, Nationals, Stewart

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Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers says he has discussed a contract extension with first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, according to AZCentral.com's Nick Piecoro. Goldschmidt is represented by Joe Sambito of SFX. Piecoro quotes a source saying that it would be "a surprise" if Goldschmidt and the Diamondbacks were to strike a deal in the near future, however. Last month, the Diamondbacks attempted to initiate talks with Goldschmidt, but Goldschmidt had indicated that he wanted to go year-to-year in an attempt to build up more value.

Goldschmidt, 25, would be eligible for arbitration after the 2014 season and eligible for free agency after the 2017 season. MLBTR's Extension Tracker reveals that, in the past five years, no first basemen with between one and two years of service time have signed long-term deals, so establishing a baseline value for Goldschmidt is difficult. (Goldschmidt himself had told Towers in February that he wanted to build up more service time before discussing an extension in order to get a clearer sense of who is "peer group" was.)

Allen Craig, who recently signed a five-year, $31MM extension with the Cardinals, shares passing similarities with Goldschmidt as a hitter, but also has a year more service time than Goldschmidt. Craig will make $11MM in the final guaranteed year of his contract. Replacing that year with a pre-arbitration salary for the first year of a potential Goldschmidt deal produces a starting point of five years and $20.5MM, which would cover all of Goldschmidt's remaining pre-arbitration seasons. The Diamondbacks would presumably also want to add a team option or two at the end of the deal, giving them the chance to buy out one or more of Goldschmidt's free agent years.

Here are more notes from the National League.

  • A return to form by Brian McCann will likely ensure that the he signs with a new team next winter, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. McCann, who is recovering from labrum surgery, will likely return to the Braves' lineup about two weeks into the season. Some of McCann's old teammates tell Rosenthal that McCann was unhappy last season, when he played through injury and hit only .230/.300/.399, down from .270/.351/.466 in 2011. A phone call from GM Frank Wren to McCann after the season may have helped improve the relationship between the team and its star catcher, but that might not matter once he becomes a free agent at the end of the season. If McCann hits well in 2013, the Braves might not be able to afford him, Rosenthal says; if McCann hits poorly, the Braves might not want him, at least not an expensive long-term deal.
  • The Nationals added Rafael Soriano this offseason, but not a lefty reliever, despite the departures of Sean Burnett and Tom Gorzelanny, MLB.com's Marty Noble notes. That likely leaves Zach Duke as the only lefty in the Washington bullpen. But manager Davey Johnson, who can count on tough righty relievers like Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard and Craig Stammen in addition to Soriano, says it's no problem that the Nats didn't acquire another lefty. "I don't have room for another lefty reliever," he says.
  • Cutting Ian Stewart, who is suffering from a quad injury, doesn't make sense for the Cubs, Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago argues, since the savings from cutting Stewart would be insignificant. The Cubs can avoid paying most of Stewart's one-year, non-guaranteed contract if they release him in Spring Training, but the entire cost of the deal is just $2MM.

Braves Could Listen On Venters

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THURSDAY, 7:39pm: The Braves haven't had any internal discussions about trading Venters, David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Twitter link).  The Venters trade rumor "appears to be unfounded," writes MLB.com's Mark Bowman, and with relievers Eric O'Flaherty and Jordan Walden both dealing with injuries, Atlanta may not be able to afford moving Venters.

WEDNESDAY, 10:44am: There's talk among scouts that the Braves will listen to trade offers for left-handed reliever Jonny Venters, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter). However, the Braves say they love the depth in their bullpen, particularly from the left side.

Venters appeared in 66 games in 2012, posting a 3.22 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 58 2/3 innings. The 27-year-old has a 2.23 ERA with 10.1 K/9 in three seasons with the Braves. Those numbers earned him a raise to $1.625MM this offseason when he was arbitration eligible for the first time. Venters is under team control through 2015.

If the Braves were to trade Venters they'd still have left-handers Eric O'Flaherty and Luis Avilan available in the bullpen. Teams such as the Nationals, Tigers and Dodgers could have interest in a reliever of Venters' caliber in my view. The Braves could seek a left-handed hitting bench player if they do consider trading Venters.

Offseason In Review: Atlanta Braves

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The Braves crafted a dynamic outfield by acquiring the Upton brothers, but were weakened at third base in the process.

Major League Signings

  • B.J. Upton, OF: five years, $75.25MM. 
  • Gerald Laird, C: two years, $3.3MM.
  • Brian McCann, C: one year, $12MM. Club option exercised.
  • Tim Hudson, SP: one year, $9MM. Club option exercised.
  • Paul Maholm, SP: one year, $6.5MM. Club option exercised.
  • Reed Johnson, OF: one year, $1.75MM. Includes $1.6MM club option for 2014 with a $150K buyout.
  • Ramiro Pena, IF: one year Major League Deal
  • Total Spend: $107.8MM.

Minor League Signings

Traded and Claims

Notable Losses

Needs Addressed

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The Braves set out to secure two outfielders this offseason, and they wound up with an impressive combination in the Upton brothers.  Justin (pictured) is 25 and B.J. is 28, so both players are in the prime of their careers.  Justin, the first overall draft pick in 2005, has seemed on the cusp of superstardom for years.  He put up big seasons in 2009 and '11, but showed disappointing power in '10 and '12.  Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers publicly acknowledged entertaining trades for Justin for the second consecutive offseason, and finally pulled the trigger this time.  It had to have weighed on the player's mind.  Getting out of Arizona should be a big win for him, and playing alongside his brother is the icing on the cake.  B.J., drafted second overall in '02, has had a very good Major League career.  He's prone to the strikeout, and the subsequent low batting averages suppress his OBP.  He's also a 25-30 home run player with strong center field defense.  If he finds a way to cut down on the strikeouts, he too could unlock superstar potential.

The Upton brothers both bat right-handed, complementing left-handed bats like Brian McCann, Freddie Freeman, and Jason Heyward.  In Freeman, Heyward, Andrelton Simmons, and the Uptons, the Braves have secured a strong core of position players for at least the next three seasons.

The Braves' bullpen posted a 2.76 ERA and 3.06 K/BB ratio last year, so it was hardly considered a big need going into the offseason.  Nonetheless, the swap of Hanson for Walden adds four years of control of another hard-throwing, intriguing reliever.  With their bullpen, the Braves could shorten a lot of games.  Plus, they've got depth in the event of an injury.  Braves GM Frank Wren also aimed to secure quality backups at catcher and outfield, and the signings of Laird and Johnson fit the bill.

Questions Remaining

For all the excitement of acquiring the Upton brothers, is this team better in 2013?  Prado had been slated to replace Jones at third base, and the Braves had to include him to acquire Justin Upton from Arizona.  With Prado traded, Bourn departed for the Indians, and Jones retired, the Braves lost a third of their 2012 offense.  Accounting for defense, swapping Bourn for B.J. Upton might be a wash in '13.  And while Justin Upton has the higher ceiling, he and Prado could provide comparable value this year as well.  Chris Johnson and Juan Francisco will man the hot corner, after Jones and Francisco took the bulk of the at-bats there in 2012.  Johnson, the right-handed side of that platoon, actually hasn't hit lefties well in his career.  The market for third basemen was weak this offseason, so Wren will have to be on the lookout this summer if the Johnson/Francisco plan isn't working.  The team also needs a strong April return from McCann following shoulder surgery; he's entering a contract year.

After exercising club options on Hudson and Maholm, the Braves felt they had the rotation depth to deal Hanson and Delgado and cut Jurrjens loose.  None of the departed starters were anything special in 2012, nor were they workhorses.  Still, the team enters 2013 with no pitchers who reached 190 innings last year, a feat accomplished by 28 hurlers in the NL.  Brandon Beachy should return from Tommy John surgery by July to give the rotation a boost.  

Deal of Note

Though the Justin Upton trade is not a clear win for 2013 because of the loss of Prado, the latter had only one year of control remaining at the time of the deal.  Upton has three, and he's still on the upswing.  Delgado, considered among the top 50 prospects in the game a year ago, needs to develop into at least a mid-rotation starter for Arizona to prevent this deal from heavily favoring the Braves.  It was a trade Wren had to make.  No one would be surprised if Justin Upton becomes a perennial MVP candidate in his age 25-27 seasons.

Hindsight being 20/20, the loss of the 28th overall draft pick and a five-year, $75.25MM deal for B.J. Upton was a fairly steep price for someone with a .298 OBP last year.  That's only true because Bourn and Swisher signed with the Indians for less than expected — Upton's contract seemed fair when it was completed in November.  Plus, Upton is the youngest of those three by a long shot, and competition seemed stiffer for his services at the outset of the offseason.

Overview

The Braves should contend for the next several seasons, with a strong core of position players, good young arms in the rotation and bullpen, and a pair of top 100 pitching prospects in Julio Teheran and J.R. Graham.  The Braves may not quite stack up with the Nationals on paper, but they're better off now than they were four months ago.

Quick Hits: Braves, Red Sox, Barton

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We can expect Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Clayton Kershaw to be among the game's best players in 2018, Dan Szymborski of ESPN Insider writes. Szymborski’s 30-player list includes many established MLB stars and some minor leaguers who have yet to make an impact at the highest level. Here are some more links for Thursday afternoon…

  • Scouts say the Braves are looking for a left-handed hitting bench player, ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports (on Twitter). The left-handed hitting Jordan Schafer and the switch-hitting Ramiro Pena are internal candidates to make the Braves as bench players.
  • Red Sox manager John Farrell said no third base additions are "being contemplated or imminent," Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal reports (on Twitter). Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reported this morning that there’s a belief free agent third baseman Scott Rolen would be interested in talking to the Red Sox.
  • Athletics first baseman Daric Barton didn't expect that Oakland would want him back this offseason, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Barton, who hit just .204/.338/.292 in 46 games last season, re-signed with the A's on a non-guaranteed $1.1MM deal.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

NL Notes: Soriano, Teheran, Phillies, Helton

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On this date in 1896, the National League forbids players from deliberately soiling baseballs (and thus enabling the legend of future Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry)‚ declares "a ball cutting the corners of the home plate‚ and being the requisite height‚ must be called a strike" and empowers umpires to eject players. Here's the latest news and notes from this century's National League:

Quick Hits: Hurdle, Friedman, Braves, Gardenhire

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Josh Booty has won a non-roster invitation to the Diamondbacks' Spring Training camp by emerging as the victor on The Next Knuckler, an MLB Network reality show.  Booty, 37, was drafted fifth overall by the Marlins in the 1994 and accumulated just 30 Major League plate appearances with the Fish from 1996-98.  Booty played third base originally but is now trying to make it back as a knuckleball pitcher.

Here's the latest from around the majors…

  • Clint Hurdle is a favorite of Pirates owner Robert Nutting and has a better chance of staying with the team than GM Neal Huntington and president Frank Coonelly do if the Bucs struggle again, Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes.  Hurdle's contract was recently extended through the 2014 season.
  • "It has always been hard to sustain success as a small-market team and the new CBA does not impact that very much," Andrew Friedman tells Erik Hahmann of the DRaysBay blog.  "There are some interesting ideas within the new system but the overarching structure still tips the scales heavily in favor of the large markets (especially with growing revenue disparity).  The key to changing that will be moving to a system that doesn't penalize small-market clubs-in the draft order, in the competitive balance lottery, in the international arena–for being successful."  The Rays executive VP of baseball operations also addresses other league, management and roster topics during the interview.
  • The Braves spent much more to sign B.J. Upton than the Indians did to sign Michael Bourn, but Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution feels the Braves' offseason was better served overall by moving on from their former center fielder.
  • The Twins are known for their loyalty towards managers but MLB.com's Marty Noble writes that Ron Gardenhire's future with the team could be in question if Minnesota struggles again.  The Twins are coming off back-to-back last place finishes in the AL Central, though these were only the second and third losing seasons of Gardenhire's 11-year tenure as skipper.
  • The Royals' pitching acquisitions have left Aaron Crow with no immediate future as a starting pitcher, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star writes.  Crow was drafted (12th overall in 2009) as a starter but has pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in the majors and performed well.  Crow made the 2011 All-Star team and has posted a 3.13 ERA, a 9.2 K/9 rate and a 2.45 K/BB ratio over 126 2/3 relief innings in 2011-12.
  • Mark DeRosa and Henry Blanco may have limited on-field value at this stage of their careers but Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos tells Sportsnet.ca's Shi Davidi that good chemistry is a crucial part of a winning team and that the Jays will benefit from the two veterans' clubhouse leadership.   
  • Baseball America's Ben Badler recaps each team's significant international signings from 2012.

Kyle Lohse Rumors: Tuesday

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Kyle Lohse talked to B.J. Rains for MLBTR yesterday about his displeasure at twice going to arbitration hearings earlier in his career.  Lohse no longer has to worry about the arb process but has faced a different kind of awkwardness this offseason — he is still looking for a new team despite entering the winter as a top-ten ranked free agent.  Here's the latest on the Lohse market, with the newest updates at the top of the page…

  • A baseball executive tells ESPN Chicago's Bruce Levine that the 34-year-old Lohse will be fortunate to find a multiyear deal at this point given his age.  Levine passed on this information during a fan chat about the Chicago teams, and he notes that Lohse isn't a fit for the Cubs since the right-hander is "more of a contending team type pitcher right now."
  • The Pirates don't seem to be interested in Lohse, FOX Sports' Jon Paul Morosi reports (Twitter link).  Morosi feels Lohse would be "a great fit" in Pittsburgh and indeed, Lohse would arguably project as the ace of a Pirates rotation that currently has two starters (Francisco Liriano and Jeff Karstens) dealing with health concerns.  A.J. Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez and James McDonald are the Bucs' top three starters.
  • The Braves have no interest in Lohse, David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets.  Julio Teheran is slated to be the Braves' fifth starter, with Brandon Beachy on pace to rejoin the rotation at midseason after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June.
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