Ben Nicholson-Smith | MLB Trade Rumors

Olney On Fielder, Byrd, Suzuki

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 29, 2011 at 1:20pm CDT

The Rangers, Reds and Yankees have some of the top infields in baseball, when offense and defense are considered, ESPN.com's Buster Olney writes. Olney suggests the Royals, Blue Jays and Indians have infields that are potentially on the rise. Here are his latest rumors…

Some rival executives strongly believe that the Nationals will be the eventual landing place for Prince Fielder. Agents say now is the time for Fielder to take advantage of the market and sign a long-term deal, according to Olney. Click here for the latest on Fielder, who was linked to the Nationals again today.
Olney suggests the Red Sox and Nationals could have interest in Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd, who will earn $6.5MM in 2012, the final year of his contract. The Red Sox could play Byrd in right and the Nationals could use him in center.
Though trading catcher Kurt Suzuki isn’t a priority for the Athletics, Olney suggests he’ll likely be playing elsewhere by the time next summer’s trade deadline passes (Twitter link).

White Sox, John Danks Agree To Extension

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 29, 2011 at 1:13pm CDT

Despite many rumors to the contrary, John Danks isn’t going anywhere. The White Sox announced that they have agreed to sign the left-hander to a five-year, $65MM contract extension. Danks will earn $8MM in 2012 and $14.25MM annually from 2013-16.

Danks would have been eligible for free agency following the 2012 season, his final year as an arbitration eligible player. Matt Swartz projected a 2012 salary of $7.6MM for the 26-year-old CAA client, who earned $6MM in 2011. That means the White Sox are paying $14-15MM for each of the four free agent seasons the deal buys out (Danks' age 28-31 seasons).

Jered Weaver's recent $85MM extension also covered one arbitration season and four free agent years. However, Weaver has superior career stats, was headed for a massive reward through arbitration and has finished in the top five in AL Cy Young balloting in both of the past two seasons. Weaver's deal was definitely out of reach for Danks and agent Jeff Berry.

Another comparable pitcher, Chad Billingsley, signed a three-year extension worth $35MM this spring. His deal covers his final season of arbitration eligibility and his first two seasons of free agency, which means Danks obtained two more years of security. However, Billingsley signed his deal (it's a team-friendly one) two full seasons before free agent eligibility, while Danks was just one season away from the open market. Danks and Billingsley are similar pitchers who have been compared to one another for years through the arbitration process.

Danks posted a 4.33 ERA with 7.1 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 43.8% ground ball rate in 170 1/3 innings for the White Sox this past season. Only 16 pitchers in baseball have produced more wins above replacement since 2008 (15.6).

Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, Zack Greinke, Jeremy Guthrie, Francisco Liriano, Shaun Marcum, Jonathan Sanchez and Anibal Sanchez are among the 2013 free agents who might look to use Danks' recent deal as a point of reference should they discuss possible extensions with their current teams.

Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported the news (Twitter links). Doug Seyller reported the agreement on Twitter and appears to have broken the story. Photo courtesy Icon SMI.

Prince Fielder Rumors: Thursday

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 29, 2011 at 11:01am CDT

Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said yesterday on MLB Network Radio that there's every reason to expect Adam LaRoche to play first base in Washington next year. "We've more or less decided that Adam is going to be our first baseman unless something extraordinary, out of the ordinary happened," Rizzo said. However, reports continue to link the Nationals to free agent first baseman Prince Fielder. Here's the latest on Fielder with the most recent updates up top:

A Nationals player told Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com that the club is on on Fielder. "We're in the market. We're still shooting for him," the player said. It's possible the player knows something Rizzo isn't saying publicly, but it's just as possible that the player spoke out of turn about a topic he hasn't been fully briefed on. We can be reasonably sure of one thing — that the unnamed player wasn't LaRoche himself.

Mariners Interested In Kevin Millwood

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 29, 2011 at 10:10am CDT

The Mariners have interest in free agent right-hander Kevin Millwood, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. Seattle is looking at veteran pitchers who could join Felix Hernandez, Michael Pineda and Jason Vargas in the projected 2012 rotation.

Millwood posted a 3.98 ERA with 6.0 K/9, 1.3 BB/9 and a 42.2% ground ball rate in 54 1/3 innings for the Rockies over the course of the final two months of the 2011 season. The 37-year-old Scott Boras client spent most of the year pitching for the top minor league affiliates of the Yankees and Red Sox, posting a 4.32 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 89 2/3 minor league innings. The Rockies are the only other team that's been linked to Millwood so far this offseason.

Quiet Offseason About To Pick Up For Boras Corp.

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 29, 2011 at 9:32am CDT

No offseason is truly quiet at the Boras Corporation, which usually represents a top free agent or two and always prepares for arbitration cases and extensions. But to this point, the 2011-12 offseason has been relatively slow for the Newport Beach-based agency — at least in terms of actual deals. As MLBTR's Transaction Tracker shows, the Boras Corp. has found modest two-year contracts for Bruce Chen and Willie Bloomquist and one-year deals for Andrew Brackman and Gerald Laird.

It won’t be quiet for much longer. Four of the top five remaining free agents on MLBTR’s top 50 list — Prince Fielder (2), Edwin Jackson (6), Ryan Madson (14) and Carlos Pena (16) — are Boras clients. In total, five of the 17 unsigned free agents from MLBTR’s top 50 list are Boras clients, including the top three. Johnny Damon (39), and unranked free agents such as Ivan Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, J.D. Drew, Magglio Ordonez, Ryan Spilborghs, Jason Varitek, Rick Ankiel, Mike Gonzalez and Kevin Millwood join Fielder, Jackson, Madson and Pena on Boras’ list of unsigned clients.

The Boras Corp. hasn’t brokered a deal in recent weeks, but Boras has grabbed headlines on MLBTR and elsewhere by invoking names such as Bonds, Foxx and Gehrig while discussing Fielder and comparing Jackson to Yu Darvish. Though we can debate the validity of the comparisons, there’s no denying Boras now represents the best hitter available, the best starter available, the best closer available and a host of complementary players. Boras has waited the market out for this long, but with Spring Training in the not-so-distant future, it seems inevitable that the quiet offseason will soon pick up and many of Boras’ clients will agree to deals by the end of January.

Giants Sign Boof Bonser

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 29, 2011 at 8:22am CDT

We'll keep track of the day's minor moves right here…

The Giants signed right-hander Boof Bonser to a minor league deal, his agency, Reynolds Sports, announced on Twitter. Bonser has a 5.18 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 416 2/3 career innings and hasn't pitched at the Major League level since 2010. Bonser underwent Tommy John surgery early in the 2011 season and likely won't be ready to pitch for San Francisco until midway through the 2012 campaign. The Giants selected Bonser, now 30, with the 21st overall pick of the 2000 draft.

Quick Hits: Rays, Brewers, Whitesell, Pinto

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 28, 2011 at 11:13pm CDT

On this date in 1998, the Tigers traded Luis Gonzalez to the Diamondbacks for Karim Garcia. Gonzalez would hit 224 home runs in eight seasons with Arizona, including 57 homers during the team's 2001 Championship season. Here are tonight’s links…

Jim Bowden ranks the top ten contracts in baseball (from a team perspective) at ESPN.com and Rays players (Matt Moore, David Price and Evan Longoria) occupy three of the top four spots.
The Brewers started negotiations with Norichika Aoki in the $1-1.5MM range, according to a Sanspo report relayed by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. Milwaukee won the bidding for the Japanese outfielder with a bid of $2.5MM earlier this month.
The Chiba Lotte Marines announced that they signed former big league first baseman Josh Whitesell, according to a Sponichi report passed along by Newman.
Newman also relays a Sponichi report indicating that Softbank is working to acquire former big league lefty Renyel Pinto. The Orioles had some interest in Pinto this offseason.
Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus lists ten prospects who will look to turn their careers around in 2012 after disappointing 2011 campaigns. Wilmer Flores of the Mets, Aaron Hicks of the Twins and Jose Iglesias of the Red Sox appear on the list.
Dave Cameron of FanGraphs attempts to determine which active players are future Hall of Famers and considers Major Leaguers such as Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Carlos Beltran and Joey Votto along the way.

Checking In On Baseball’s Lowest Scoring Offenses

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 28, 2011 at 9:48pm CDT

The Giants won the 2010 World Series with an unspectacular offense and won 86 games in 2011 with one of the lowest scoring offenses in the game, but they're the exception, not the rule. Each of the five highest scoring MLB teams won at least 90 games in 2011, while the Giants were the only one of the five lowest scoring teams to avoid 90 losses.

Here's a look at what baseball's five lowest scoring teams have done to improve their offenses so far this offseason. Team name links go to a summary of the teams' moves on MLBTR's Transaction Tracker and 2011 run totals are in parentheses (for reference, the average MLB team scored 694 runs this past season):

Mariners (556) - GM Jack Zduriencik has added a number of former Major Leaguers on minor league deals and traded for John Jaso. The Mariners can expect more offense from Dustin Ackley, Justin Smoak, Franklin Gutierrez and others in 2012 and they may make an addition or two before Spring Training.
Giants (570) - The Giants traded for Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera, who have both been above-average offensive players in the recent past. The Giants could improve considerably with a full season of Buster Posey and possible improvement from Brandon Belt.
Padres (593) - The Padres traded for Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal earlier this month. Both could conceivably add to the Padres' offense in 2012, and Alonso could have an impact from day one. GM Josh Byrnes has also added role players John Baker and Jeremy Hermida.
Pirates (610) - The Pirates signed shortstop Clint Barmes, catcher Rod Barajas and outfielder Nate McLouth and traded for infielder Casey McGehee. However, none of the four acquisitions posted an OPS+ of 100 or better in 2011, so it would be unreasonable to expect a surge in scoring based on these additions.
Astros (615) – Former GM Ed Wade added a handful of players on minor league deals and waiver claims and Jeff Luhnow traded for Jed Lowrie after becoming Houston's new GM.

The Giants are best-positioned to make a significant offensive jump in 2012, in my opinion. Not only do Pagan and Cabrera provide possible upgrades, Posey's return and Belt's upside will likely invigorate the offense that finished last in the National League in scoring in 2011.

AL West Notes: Athletics, Fielder, Rangers

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 28, 2011 at 8:07pm CDT

The Athletics completed their third major trade of the offseason this afternoon, sending Andrew Bailey and Ryan Sweeney to Boston for Josh Reddick and prospects Miles Head and Raul Alcantara. Here’s the latest on the AL West, starting in Oakland…

A’s assistant GM David Forst says no more moves are imminent though there are still players of interest for the A’s, according to MLB.com’s Jane Lee. Right-handers Fautino De Los Santos, Joey Devine and Grant Balfour and left-hander Brian Fuentes are now possible closers for the team, Lee writes.
Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times explains why Prince Fielder will sign for more than three years and how the Mariners' TV deal impacts their ability to spend on free agents. Agent Scott Boras discussed Fielder’s value earlier today.
The last four digits of the Rangers' $51.7MM bid for Yu Darvish were 3411, tweets Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun. Rangers president Nolan Ryan wore #34 as a player and Darvish wears #11.

Latest On Edwin Jackson

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 28, 2011 at 5:54pm CDT

Edwin Jackson may not be an ace, but he’s the top free agent starter available at this point in the offseason. Agent Scott Boras told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that Jackson is a safer bet than Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish.

“If someone were to say that Yu Darvish would come in, average 200 innings, less than a 4.00 ERA and be a solid two or three starter, they would be elated,” Boras said. “The reality is, that is exactly what Edwin Jackson has done.”

Jackson, 28, posted a 3.79 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 with a 43.8% ground ball rate in 199 2/3 innings for the White Sox and Cardinals this past season. The hard-throwing right-hander has averaged 208 innings per season with a 3.96 ERA since 2009, but has a career ERA of 4.46 with 6.7 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 since he debuted with the Dodgers on his 20th birthday in 2003. Jackson ranked sixth on MLBTR’s list of top free agents entering the offseason, and he’s the top pitcher on the market now that Darvish and C.J. Wilson are unavailable.

Boras suggested the market for Jackson continues to develop as new general managers take in information about potential additions. Boras argued that no Japanese pitchers have averaged 200 innings with an ERA under 4.00 in their first three seasons in MLB, but Hideo Nomo accomplished just that with the Dodgers.

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