Rangers Sign Matt Brown
The Rangers signed infielder Matt Brown to a minor league contract and invited him to Spring Training, according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. The 27-year-old has a career minor league line of .269/.349/.461 in parts of nine seasons.
Brown, who has played mostly at third and first, has 124 minor league homers to his name, but has yet to go deep in the majors. He's only batted 27 times in the big leagues; all of his plate appearances came in 2007 and 2008 with the Angels.
Phillies Sign Danys Baez
The Phillies signed reliever Danys Baez to a two-year, $5.25MM deal today. SI's Jon Heyman first tweeted the agreement on Thursday of last week, while MLB.com's Todd Zolecki added the value today.
Baez, 32, posted a 5.0 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, and 4.02 ERA in 71.6 innings for the Orioles this year. Among free agents with 50 innings, Baez ranked behind only non-tenders Brian Bass and Mike MacDougal in terms of groundball rate. That makes him a good fit for Citizens Bank Park, though the multiyear commitment is questionable. Regardless, it's not nearly as bad as the three-year, $19MM deal the Orioles gave Baez in November of '06. In a September blog post, Stacey Long of Camden Chat reflected on that brutal $41.5MM commitment Mike Flanagan and Jim Duquette made to Baez, Chad Bradford, and Jamie Walker.
Tim Dierkes contributed to this post.
Multi-Year Deals So Far This Offseason
Here's a look at the multi-year deals teams handed out during the 2009 portion of the offseason. We're only including guaranteed multi-year deals for free agents. That means we're not counting one-year deals with club options (e.g. Juan Uribe), multi-year deals covering arbitration years (e.g. Chris Iannetta) or international free agents (e.g. Noel Arguelles). Here's the list of multi-year contracts so far:
- The Red Sox signed John Lackey to a five-year $82.5MM deal.
- The Mets agreed to sign Jason Bay to a four-year $66MM deal with a vesting option that could bring the value of the contract to $80MM.
- The Mariners signed Chone Figgins to a four-year $36MM deal.
- The Brewers signed Randy Wolf to a three-year $29.75MM deal with a club option for a fourth season.
- The Braves signed Tim Hudson to a three-year $28MM deal.
- The Angels signed Bobby Abreu to a two-year $19MM deal.
- The Phillies signed Placido Polanco to a three-year $18MM deal.
- The Red Sox signed Mike Cameron to a two-year $15.5MM deal.
- The Nationals signed Jason Marquis to a two-year $15MM deal.
- The Cubs signed Marlon Byrd to a three-year, $15MM deal.
- The Astros signed Brandon Lyon to a three-year $15MM deal.
- The Red Sox signed Marco Scutaro to a two-year $12.5MM deal.
- The Giants signed Mark DeRosa to a two-year $12MM deal.
- The Orioles signed Mike Gonzalez to a two-year $12MM deal.
- The Giants re-signed Freddy Sanchez to a two-year $12MM deal.
- The Angels signed Fernando Rodney to a two-year $11MM deal.
- The Mariners signed Jack Wilson to a two-year $10MM deal.
- The Cubs signed John Grabow to a two-year $7.5MM deal.
- The Brewers signed LaTroy Hawkins to a two-year $7.5MM deal.
- The Royals signed Jason Kendall to a two-year $6MM deal.
- The Nationals signed Ivan Rodriguez to a two-year $6MM deal.
- The Red Sox signed Tim Wakefield to a two-year $5MM deal.
- The Dodgers signed Jamey Carroll to a two-year $3.85MM deal.
- The Blue Jays signed John McDonald to a two-year $3MM deal.
- The Phillies signed Brian Schneider to a two-year $2.75MM deal.
- The Phillies signed Ross Gload to a two-year $2.6MM deal.
- The Phillies agreed to sign Danys Baez to a two-year deal worth an undisclosed amount.
So half of the teams in baseball have signed players to multi-year deals so far (for a total of 26 moves), but the Red Sox, Mets, Mariners, Brewers and Braves are the only teams to guarantee $20MM or more to a free agent so far this offseason. There's still lots of time, but the Yankees are noticeably absent from this list.
Lots of unsigned players are in position to command multi-year deals. Matt Holliday leads a group of free agents that also includes Adam LaRoche, Miguel Tejada, Adrian Beltre, Johnny Damon, Miguel Olivo, Bengie Molina, Rod Barajas, Yorvit Torrealba, Joel Pineiro, Jon Garland, Vicente Padilla and Jose Valverde.
Blue Jays Pursuing Aroldis Chapman
The Blue Jays are the latest team to enter the Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes, according to ESPN.com's Jorge Arangure Jr.. They held a private workout for the Cuban left-hander in Florida yesterday morning and met with his representatives. The Hendricks brothers were in Florida, so Arangure Jr. wonders if Chapman may be close to signing with someone.
The Blue Jays were one of the many teams to watch Chapman work out in Houston last month. After the workout, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos told fans on MLB.com that he was committed to adding amateur talent.
"We will be on top of every amateur player that is available," he said.
Odds & Ends: Bay, Byrd, Liriano, Duchscherer
Some links on the last day of a year we'll remember for Joe Mauer, Albert Pujols and the World Series Champion New York Yankees…
- Tigers catcher Gerald Laird and his younger brother Brandon Laird, a prospect in the Yankees farm system, were arrested following a brawl at the Celtics-Suns NBA game in Phoenix, Arizona, according to the Associated Press. Gerald lives in Arizona during the offseason while Brandon played in the Arizona Fall League this past year.
- Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (via his newly minted Twitter account) that Chan Ho Park's name has come up in the Giants' front office.
- Alex Speier of WEEI.com hears that Jason Bay was indeed interested in joining the Mets. The two sides didn't go longer than a day without talking once negotiations got started. An interesting note: Speier hears that the Mets never offered Bay a guaranteed five-year deal.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs considers Marlon Byrd an average player, but likes the Cubs' decision to sign him.
- Cameron tweets that the Mariners are "kicking the tires" on Francisco Liriano.
- Mike Lowell's thumb surgery was a success, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. Lowell appears to be available, but health concerns may prevent the Red Sox from dealing the third baseman and some of his $12MM salary (the D'Backs face a similar challenge with Chris Snyder).
- Just because Lowell's still in Boston doesn't mean the Red Sox won't consider other third basemen. Adrian Beltre is one option and R.J. Anderson of FanGraphs doesn't think $10-15MM is an unfair asking price for the Scott Boras client.
- Justin Duchscherer tells Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that he returned to the A's because he's comfortable in Oakland and appreciates the club's support through his struggles with depression. Slusser also has details on the incentives in the righty's contract.
- Joe Pawlikowski of River Ave. Blues wants the Yankees to stay away from free agent outfielder Marlon Byrd.
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the Pirates' failure to sign Dominican prospect Miguel Angel Sano was one of the club's low points this year. As Kovacevic says, "not every signing can be an absolute steal."
Rangers Looking To Add Bats
Now that Marlon Byrd's officially gone, the Rangers are looking for ways to replace his bat, according to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. GM Jon Daniels says he's looking for an impact hitter.
D’Backs Rumors: Valverde, Byrnes, Snyder
A D'Backs official tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that the team's payroll now sits at about $75MM. Piecoro gets the sense that the D'Backs have the flexibility to spend a little more, but not much. That means Jose Valverde could return to the D'Backs if his asking price drops (let's not rule that out; the market for Valverde isn't great right now).
Cubs Sign Marlon Byrd
The Cubs signed Marlon Byrd to a three-year $15MM deal today. The 32-year-old will play center field and push Kosuke Fukudome to right. Ken Rosenthal tweeted that the Cubs were nearing a deal with Byrd and Carrie Muskat followed up with the contract's length and value before Gordon Wittenmyer reported the specifics: the Cubs will pay Byrd just $3MM in 2010, $5.5MM in 2011 and $6.5MM in 2012.
A number of teams had been connected to Byrd, including the Braves. He had expressed interest in returning to the Rangers, but wanted a multi-year deal. As a Type B free agent, Byrd nets the Rangers a supplementary rounder in next year's draft.
Byrd, 32, hit .283/.329/.479 in 599 plate appearances with the Rangers last year, hitting a career-high 20 homers. He played mostly in center field, where his defense was below average, according to UZR/150. However, the sample size (889 innings) is limited, and UZR did like Byrd's defense in left.
Olney On Gonzalez, Holliday, Dodgers
ESPN.com's Buster Olney offers some storylines to look for in 2010 and turns up some rumors along the way. Here they are:
- The Padres will, "in all likelihood," gauge the market for Adrian Gonzalez this summer and deal him before the July 31st trade deadline. The Mets, Mariners and Red Sox could all bid for the slugger, but the list of suitors could change drastically by mid-summer.
- One GM expects the Mariners to consider offers for Felix Hernandez if they don't lock him up long-term. "They may seriously have to think about trading him," the GM said. Locking Felix up won't be cheap, either. As Olney notes, Hernandez could command C.C. Sabathia-type money ($161MM) if he were a free agent. Luckily for Mariners fans, Felix won't hit the open market until after the 2011 season at the earliest.
- Olney says the Orioles offered Matt Holliday $70MM or so at one point before moving on. Here's a look at some other offers Holliday has received.
- Executives tell Olney that the Dodgers' quiet offseason is giving other teams confidence and emboldening them to make more moves.
Matt Holliday Rumors: Thursday
12:57pm: Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Scott Boras might consider one or two-year offers for Holliday. However, there are nine-figure offers out there, so, as Miklasz says, a short-term deal seems "highly unlikely." Miklasz hears that Boras won't go for a five-year offer from the Cardinals. The agent seems to be going for a seven or eight-year deal, but the Cards remain confident in their chances of bringing Holliday back.
8:17am: Yesterday we heard that the Cardinals were "working toward an agreement" with Matt Holliday. Talks are picking up and the Cards' offer is apparently considerable. Jon Heyman and Buster Olney suggested that the Cards have offered $100MM or more, Tracy Ringolsby heard that the Cards offered $140MM and Derrick Goold said the sides have even discussed an eight-year deal.