Knobler On Pirates, Brewers, Morneau
The trade market remains relatively quiet, but it’s starting to take shape, as Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com explains. Here are some details from Knobler:
- Pirates GM Neal Huntington said this week that "you can't buy when people aren't selling." The 32-30 Pirates figure to be looking for offense this summer.
- The Brewers are simultaneously preparing for the possibility of becoming sellers and suggesting they could become buyers. They’ve told their scouts to identify prospects to target in the farm systems of contending teams, yet they won’t necessarily sell. They remain interested in keeping Zack Greinke, whose contract expires after the season.
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos asked the Twins about Justin Morneau, Knobler reports. Yet as one unnamed executive told Knobler “Alex calls about everyone." The Blue Jays are said to be particularly interested in Morneau, according to Knobler.
Indians To Sign Tyler Naquin
The Indians agreed to sign first round pick Tyler Naquin, Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game USA reports (on Twitter). The Texas A&M outfielder will obtain a bonus of $1.75MM.
Naquin "was one of the best pure hitters and had one of the strongest outfield arms in this year's draft," Jim Callis of Baseball America writes. MLB recommended a $2.25MM bonus for the 15th overall selection, so the Indians save toward their draft cap with the deal.
Olney On Red Sox, A’s, Trout, Harper, Morneau
It’s still a little early for struggling teams to acknowledge to fans that it’s time to start looking ahead to 2013 and beyond, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes. As a result the trade market remains relatively quiet. Here are some of Olney’s notes on team needs and possible deals:
- The Red Sox are now focused on adding starting pitching.
- The Athletics are ready to talk trades now, so Brian Fuentes, Grant Balfour and Bartolo Colon are available.
- General managers are impressed by Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, just like everyone else. One GM told Olney Trout’s faster than Rickey Henderson. "He just rockets around the bases; you don't find players that skilled," the GM said. “They're all tooled-up, and they know how to play," another GM said in reference to the pair of young stars.
- Rival executives view Justin Morneau as a tremendously risky trade target because of his $14MM salary and history with concussions (Twitter link).
- Olney had more details on the trade market last night.
Update On Timeline For Calling Up Prospects
In all likelihood, the wait is over. Teams can now call prospects up to the MLB level with the expectation that the players will not obtain super two status three winters from now. While there’s no way of predicting where the super two cutoff will fall in 2014, recent history suggests it’s now safe for teams to promote their best young prospects.
If a player gets called up tomorrow and never returns to the minor leagues, he’ll have two years and 110 days of service following the 2014 season (110 days remain in the 2012 championship season). Chances are that won’t be enough to qualify for super two status; the cutoff has been at least two years and 122 days in each of the past six seasons. Next winter, when baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement takes effect, the cutoff is expected to sit in familiar territory: two years and 134 days.
Heavily-hyped prospects such as Matt Wieters, Giancarlo Stanton and Stephen Strasburg were all called up around this time in recent years, and service time appeared to be a factor in each case. Now Shelby Miller, Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, Danny Hultzen, Mike Montgomery, Manny Banuelos, Brett Jackson, James Paxton and Matt Harvey are among the prospects who could safely be called up to MLB. Even if one of these players were to debut tomorrow, he wouldn't be on track for super two status. Prospects who already have MLB service time, such as Anthony Rizzo and Jacob Turner, are on different timelines, as I detailed this spring.
Players who qualify for super two status go to arbitration four times, instead of the usual three. In many cases, this means the player earns millions more than he otherwise would have.
Service time is just one element of a team's decision-making process. Plus, a substantial proportion of top prospects get optioned to the minor leagues early in their careers. The player's readiness and the team's needs generally trump service time considerations, but there's no denying they're a factor.
Cardinals Sign Michael Wacha
The Cardinals officially signed first-round draft pick Michael Wacha to a contract today. Terms weren't announced, but Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported (on Twitter) that Wacha received a $1.9MM bonus, which matches MLB's recommendation for the 19th overall draft selection. Wacha himself tweeted that he was flying to St. Louis for his physical on Wednesday.
The Texas A&M right-hander was touted by Baseball America as one of the year's top draft-eligible college pitchers. Wacha's repertoire includes the best changeup in the draft and a fastball that sits in the 90-93 mph range, according to the publication.
Details On Bidders For Padres
3:54pm: The sale is still fluid, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter). The O'Malley group and Jabara are definitely among the finalists, yet Kaplan isn't as certain and others could be involved.
2:39pm: Gary Jabara, Steve Kaplan, and the family of former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley appear to be the three finalists in the running to purchase the Padres, Bill Shaikin of the LA Times reports. Jabara, the founder of a wireless communications company, and Kaplan, an investment advisor, are based in Los Angeles/Orange County, rather than San Diego.
Bidders had to be prepared to spend $800MM to become one of the three finalists, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. However, some people say owner John Moores’ asking price isn’t justifiable given the Padres’ revenues, according to Heyman.
Moores could select a buyer by next week, according to FOX Sports. The sale price reflects the team’s rising value, but will also include equity in FOX Sports San Diego.
Cubs Notes: Dempster, Garza
Some links for Thursday afternoon as the Cubs host the Tigers at Wrigley Field…
- Ryan Dempster and president of baseball operations Theo Epstein discussed potential trades yesterday, Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com reports. As many as ten teams have interest in Dempster, who earns $14MM this year and can block any trade. "We discussed a lot of things and obviously there are a lot of things being talked about," Dempster said. I looked at the right-hander’s trade value earlier today.
- Matt Garza said he enjoys playing in Chicago but will embrace the challenge of pitching for another club if necessary, Alex Speier of WEEI.com reports. "I just want to keep playing. It doesn’t matter where. I’ll pitch on the freaking moon," he said. "The AL East doesn't scare me a bit,” Garza added.
- The Cubs designated catcher Koyie Hill for assignment earlier today, in case you missed it.
Pirates To Sign Barrett Barnes
The Pirates agreed to sign supplemental first round selection Barrett Barnes, Jim Callis of Baseball America reports (on Twitter). The Texas Tech outfielder will obtain a $1MM bonus. Scott Lacefield, the Texas Tech associate director of athletics communications, first reported the deal on Twitter.
MLB recommended a $1.136MM bonus for the 45th overall selection, which the Pirates obtained as compensation for losing free agent Ryan Doumit. For more detail on top draft bonuses, MLBTR has a list of which supplemental round picks have signed.
Latest On Kevin Youkilis
Ben Cherington said in a recent appearance on WEEI’s Mut & Merloni show that there’s nothing going on regarding trade candidate Kevin Youkilis. The general manager acknowledged that several teams checked in on Youkilis “a while back,” but said the Red Sox aren’t looking to make a trade. Here are the details, along with more notes on Youkilis:
- “Right now we're focused on getting Kevin going,” Cherington said. “He's an important part of the team and we know that when he's clicking and feeling good he makes our lineup very tough to pitch to" (quotes via WEEI’s Kirk Minihane). Youkilis, who earns $12MM this year, has a .219/.303/.352 batting line through 145 plate appearances.
- One general manager suggested to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com that the trade market for Youkilis is far from robust. "Good luck with that,'' the GM said. A Red Sox person told Heyman that there seem to be at least two interested teams, but the White Sox don't seem heavily involved on Youkilis at the moment.
Outrighted: Donnie Murphy
The latest outright assignments from around MLB…
- The Marlins outrighted utility player Donnie Murphy to the minor leagues, according to the transactions page at CBSSports.com. The Marlins designated the 29-year-old for assignment over the weekend, after he posted a .136/.250/.318 batting line in 52 plate appearances. Murphy has played for the Royals, Athletics and Marlins in seven MLB seasons.