Aramis Ramirez Seeks Multiyear Deal
Aramis Ramirez might be the best third baseman available this offseason and he knows it. The 33-year-old told Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com that he’ll be looking for more than the $16MM option that’s on his current contract.
"If I hit the marketplace I should end up with a two or three-year deal," Ramirez told Levine. "The reason is, there aren't a lot of third baseman available this offseason. But if [the Cubs] approach me, I'm sure we can get something done. But probably not for one year."
Ramirez repeated that he wants to stay with the Cubs, who have a $16MM option for 2012. If they choose the option over a $2MM buyout, Ramirez will have to choose whether to accept the option or decline and become a free agent. Since the Cubs don’t have a permanent GM at the moment, it’s difficult to predict how they’ll approach the option or whether they'll have interest in a multiyear extension.
Ramirez hit his 25th home run of the season tonight, joining Billy Williams as the only players in Cubs history with 30 doubles and 25 homers in six different seasons. Earlier in the month, agent Paul Kinzer said Ramirez will seek a multiyear deal and suggested a return to Chicago would have been more likely if Jim Hendry had remained the Cubs' GM.
Sternberg On Maddon, Friedman, Payroll
Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg discussed his team’s "wonderfully improbable” playoff run with reporters tonight and Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times has the details, plus some personnel and payroll notes on the team:
- Sternberg says he expects manager Joe Maddon to return to Tampa Bay after his contract expires in 2012.
- No teams have asked permission to talk to Rays executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman about job opportunities elsewhere, according to Sternberg. “Andrew is a partner here, he’s a partner of mine,” he said. “And he treats this organization even better than I possibly can. There's nothing to report on that.”
- Sternberg didn’t expect the Rays to be last in attendance, so there’s no guarantee payroll will rise above $41MM in 2012. "I don't know, but we’ve clearly fallen short on our financial projections,” he said.
- There’s nothing new in terms of the Rays’ quest for a new stadium.
NL East Notes: Nationals, Beato, Braves
Ruben Amaro Jr. of the Phillies (#2) and Frank Wren of the Braves (#9) both make Jon Heyman's list of top GMs of the year at SI.com. Here are the latest notes from the NL East…
- Davey Johnson will return as the Nationals' manager in 2012 unless he changes his mind, Heyman reports. The team is required to conduct a full offseason search, however.
- Former Mets GM Omar Minaya expects to join a new team before the Winter Meetings, according to Heyman, who suggests the Indians and Rays are possibilities.
- As Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com explains, Rule 5 pick Pedro Beato is destined to finish the season with the Mets and become the team's official property.
- The Braves' rotation is limping to the finish line, as Jon Paul Morosi writes at FOXSports.com. Atlanta probably didn't expect Mike Minor, Julio Teheran and Randall Delgado to start consecutive games in a pennant race.
- I examined the free agent stock of Marlins starter Javier Vazquez earlier today.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Javier Vazquez
Javier Vazquez’s season ERA is an unremarkable 4.13. But consider that it was over 7.00 midway through June and the ERA seems outstanding.
It took a dominant second half for Vazquez to recover from his early-season struggles. Since the beginning of July he has a 2.45 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 84 1/3 innings. In other words, he has resembled the pitcher who finished fourth in the Cy Young voting two years ago, not the one who posted a 5.32 ERA in a disappointing return to the Bronx in 2010.
Vazquez’s season numbers are better than they were a year ago. He has pitched 167 2/3 innings with encouraging peripherals: 7.5 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 4.00 xFIP and an average fastball velocity of 90.3 mph, up from 88.7 mph a year ago.
Durability hasn’t been an issue for Vazquez, who has started at least 25 games and logged at least 150 innings every season since 1997. He’s the active leader in strikeouts with 2,514 and remains a viable option for teams looking to add depth to their rotations.
Not every team is a fit for Vazquez, though. He has preferred East Coast teams for their relative proximity to his native Puerto Rico, so clubs like the Padres and Dodgers are at a significant disadvantage. Vazquez appears to be considering retirement seriously, so it’s hard to imagine him returning for a 15th season unless it’s the right fit.
At this point in his career, Vazquez is an extreme fly ball pitcher – only four pitchers with 100 innings pitched or more have a lower ground ball rate than Vazquez’s 33.1%. He has always been homer-prone, so the jump in fly balls suggests teams with cozy stadiums should steer clear of Vazquez despite his recent dominance.
The Mets and Marlins, two East Coast clubs, play in parks that suppress home runs (according to ESPN’s park factors), but the Marlins move into a new stadium next year and it’s unclear how pitcher-friendly their new home will be. The Florida front office could offer Vazquez arbitration after the season, but draft pick compensation won’t be a factor, since the 35-year-old doesn’t project as a ranked free agent.
Given Vazquez’s age and interest in retirement, another one-year deal seems likely for the ACES client. His summer surge has seemingly eliminated the possibility that he’ll have to settle for a minor league deal and it may have set him up for another contract in the $7MM range.
Photo courtesy Icon SMI.
Revisiting The Felipe Paulino For Clint Barmes Trade
One month into the season, it looked like the Felipe Paulino–Clint Barmes trade would go down as a lose-lose deal. Paulino struggled through his first month with the Rockies and Barmes spent the first four weeks of the season on the disabled list while he recovered from a fractured left hand.
But Paulino has put together his best season yet and Barmes recovered from his hand injury on his way to a strong campaign in Houston. Win-win trade? Not quite. The Rockies gave up on Paulino after 14 2/3 ugly innings, so the Royals are the ones who benefitted from the 27-year-old’s turnaround.
Paulino, who struck out 11 without walking a batter in seven innings of work on Saturday, has a 4.10 ERA in 107 2/3 innings since the Royals acquired him in late May. His fastball clocks in over 95 mph, just as it has every season of his career, and his peripheral stats are strong: 8.3 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 45.1% ground ball rate, 3.81 xFIP.
Considering that Kansas City only gave up cash considerations, the Paulino move looks especially favorable for the Royals. They need the pitching and can pencil the Dominican right-hander into their rotation going forward. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes estimates a raise from $790K to $1.6MM in 2012, so Paulino will remain affordable next year.
The Astros could use the pitching, but Paulino had his chances in Houston and the Astros needed a shortstop. For $3.925MM, Barmes has hit .249/.323/.388 with ten home runs. FanGraphs’ UZR suggests the 32-year-old plays above-average defense and their version of wins above replacement has Barmes as the 11th most productive shortstop in baseball this season (3.1 WAR).
He’ll hit free agency after the season and doesn’t project as a ranked free agent, so this may be all Houston gets out of Barmes. Even if he departs for nothing this offseason, the Astros will have done significantly better than the Rockies in this trade. It’s not that Colorado was necessarily going to keep Barmes – he was a non-tender candidate in the offseason – but the Rockies are the only team that didn’t profit from last November’s trade. The Royals ended up with a cheap, productive arm, the Astros got an affordable everyday shortstop and all the Rockies got was 14 2/3 innings of 7.36 ERA ball.
AL Central Notes: Zumaya, Twins, Tigers, Cabrera
Links from the AL Central before the Tigers host the Twins and the White Sox host the Indians…
- Joel Zumaya has started throwing in Florida, the first time he's done that since Spring Training according to MLB.com's Chris Vannini and Jason Beck. Zumaya won't make it back in time to pitch for the Tigers this year, but it's a "sign of hope" that he'll be ready for the start of 2012. The hard-throwing righty is a free agent after the season.
- The Twins fired Triple-A manager Tom Nieto and hitting coach Floyd Rayford, according to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. GM Bill Smith told MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger that the firing was due to the Triple-A team's performance over the last two years, not about mistakes made by rookies at the MLB level (Twitter link).
- Ryan Ford of the Detroit Free Press runs through some of the Tigers’ best (Ivan Rodriguez and Jose Valverde) and worst (Dean Palmer) free agent signings in recent memory.
- Justin Verlander has been generating MVP buzz recently and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports adds Miguel Cabrera’s name into the mix, along with Jose Bautista, Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez.
- Indians manager Manny Acta told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian that Asdrubal Cabrera has been his team's MVP "without a doubt." The shortstop, who played through some minor injuries this season, has a .275/.336/.462 line with 22 homers.
Miguel Tejada Plans To Play In 2012
Miguel Tejada told Enrique Rojas of ESPNdeportes.com that he has no intention of retiring. The shortstop, who was released by the Giants yesterday, says he’ll play winter ball in the Dominican Republic to get back in shape for another season in the Major Leagues.
Tejada is coming off of a disappointing season in San Francisco (he acknowledges that he didn't have a good time with the Giants). The 37-year-old hit .239/.270/.326 with four homers in 343 plate appearances. He split his time equally between third and short and even appeared at second base for the first time in his career.
Tejada, a 15-year veteran of the Major Leagues, will have to accept a substantial paycut from the $6.5MM salary he earned this season in order to play in 2012. He'll likely be looking at a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training 2012.
Minor Moves: Davis, Astros, Roemer
Here are the latest minor moves…
- The White Sox released Doug Davis, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America. They had signed the veteran left-hander to a minor league deal in July.
- Eddy has all of the other minor league transactions that took place between August 31st and September 6th.
- The Astros announced that they signed right-hander Alan Abreu as a non-drafted free agent out of Lander University. Abreu played primarily shortstop and center field in college, according to the Astros.
- The D'Backs released right-hander Wes Roemer over the weekend, according to the Pacific Coast League transactions page. Arizona released the former supplementary first round pick to clear 40-man roster space, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (on Twitter). Roemer posted a 4.39 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 164 innings in the upper minors this year. He has a 4.44 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in five pro seasons.
Stark On Madson, Astros, Beane, Nationals
MLB is building momentum toward two 15-team leagues with three five-team divisions per league, according to ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark. It doesn't appear that the players’ association will agree to expand the postseason unless owners agree to more balanced schedules and divisions, Stark reports. Here are the rest of his rumors…
- It appears that the Tigers and Rays will pick up their options for Jose Valverde and Kyle Farnsworth, respectively, this offseason.
- Two MLB executives predicted to Stark that Ryan Madson will sign a deal like the one Valverde obtained two winters ago: $14MM over two years plus an option.
- Multiple teams have expressed concerns about Francisco Rodriguez’s off-field “baggage,” though K-Rod stands out as one of the best free agent relievers of the winter.
- Stark hears that MLB has been slow to approve incoming Astros owner Jim Crane in order to apply leverage on Crane so that he’ll agree to move the Astros to the American League. Earlier today, Bob Nightengale of USA Today had a report that conflicts with Stark’s article.
- Friends of Billy Beane say the A’s GM has legitimate interest in the Cubs GM job, though he has an ownership stake and lots of freedom in Oakland.
- Nationals GM Mike Rizzo will interview managerial candidates this offseason before deciding whether Davey Johnson will return as manager in 2012.
- First base doesn’t appear to be a priority for Washington, but Rizzo says "you never want to say never” when it comes to possible offseason moves.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Jerad Head
The latest players to get outrighted to the minor leagues…
- The Indians announced that they outrighted Jerad Head to the Triple-A Columbus roster after he cleared waivers. The Indians designated Head for assignment on Wednesday after he made his MLB debut on August 28th. The 28-year-old corner outfielder hit .284/.338/.526 with 24 home runs in 463 Triple-A plate appearances this year.