Ben Nicholson-Smith | MLB Trade Rumors

NL East Notes: Santana, Marlins, Phillies

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 12, 2013 at 4:36pm CDT

The Nationals won the NL East in 2012, displacing the Phillies atop the division after Philadelphia's five-year run. As impressive as the Phillies' streak of consecutive division titles was, it doesn't compare to the Braves' record of 14 in a row. Here’s the latest from the NL East as the Nationals look to prolong their stay atop the division instead of becoming a one-and-done winner like the 2006 Mets…

The Mets' relationship with Johan Santana is deteriorating and some liken the situation to the relationship between the Mets and one of their former stars. “This is Carlos Beltran all over again,” one longtime Mets official told Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.
Jose Reyes said he has "unbelievable memories" from his one year in Miami, Newsday’s David Lennon reports (on Twitter). But the Blue Jays’ leadoff hitter and shortstop doesn’t seem to mind that he’s now playing elsewhere. "I know I don't want to play for the Marlins no more," he said.
GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com that the bullpen could be a team strength for the Phillies after some offseason changes. "We've got to hope that we're better. We designed our bullpen to be better this year, and hopefully it will be," Amaro said. The Phillies signed Mike Adams to a two-year deal to improve their setup relief options.

Latest On Nolan Ryan, Rangers

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 12, 2013 at 3:04pm CDT

There’s sentiment among the Rangers that Nolan Ryan will remain with the organization, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. While it’s possible Ryan will resign, he wouldn’t do so to join Texas’ other MLB team. Nightengale reports that Ryan wouldn’t join the Astros even if dissatisfaction over his role with the Rangers causes him to step down.

Rangers GM Jon Daniels said he continues talking to Ryan about on-field matters regularly and wouldn’t want the Hall of Famer to leave. “It's a really good group, a really good organization, and Nolan is a big part of that," Daniels said. Daniels, the Rangers’ president of baseball operations, now has full autonomy over the team’s baseball moves.

Ryan has had disagreements with Daniels over staffing and player personnel decisions in the past. Under the team’s new management structure, Ryan can continue to make recommendations to Daniels and others. However, he’s not expected to enjoy a role as a 'figurehead' CEO.

Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram first reported eight days ago that Ryan could leave the team following the recent front office changes. Rangers co-chairman Bob Simpson said at that time that he wants Ryan to remain with the team long-term.

Diamondbacks Looking To Trade John McDonald

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 12, 2013 at 1:45pm CDT

The Diamondbacks are looking to trade shortstop John McDonald, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter). There's no room for McDonald in Arizona if infielders Willie Bloomquist and Cliff Pennington are healthy, Rosenthal writes.

McDonald appeared in 70 games as a shortstop, second baseman and third baseman last year, posting a .249/.295/.386 batting line with six home runs. The 14-year veteran has a reputation as an excellent defender, and UZR suggests that McDonald's play has remained solid in recent years.

McDonald, 38, is now entering the second season of a two-year, $3MM contract. He'll earn $1.5MM in 2013 then become a free agent. The Cardinals recently lost Rafael Furcal to Tommy John surgery and could consider a player such as McDonald. However, St. Louis has internal options in Pete Kozma and Ronny Cedeno.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Huff, Ortiz

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 12, 2013 at 12:24pm CDT

Earlier today we checked in on the Yankees’ search for position players and found that GM Brian Cashman views Ben Francisco as a bench player. As for the possibility of signing a free agent corner infielder, the Yankees continue weighing their options, including some familiar names. Here’s the latest from the AL East…

The Yankees don't have much depth right now, but their roster could have looked much different. Joel Sherman of the New York Post point out that in years past the Yankees might have been more aggressive in pursuit of free agents such as Russell Martin, Jeff Keppinger, Scott Hairston and Nate Schierholtz.
The Yankees have not reached out to free agent Aubrey Huff, Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger reports (on Twitter). Huff recently said he has pretty much retired. However, the Yankees have shown interest in retired stars such as Chipper Jones and Derrek Lee.
The Red Sox aren’t worried that David Ortiz’s heel injury will evolve into a long-term concern, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports (on Twitter). The Red Sox signed Ortiz to a two-year, $26MM contract in November, so he'll be in Boston through 2014.

MLBTR’s Extension Tracker

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 12, 2013 at 10:59am CDT

Teams and players often agree to contract extensions during the spring, after the top free agents have signed and arbitration cases have been resolved. Extensions are all about comparables, especially when it comes to arbitration eligible players. Coming up with the relevant position, salary and service time data would have been a serious obstacle for most observers until MLBTR introduced an Extension Tracker.

The tracker shows all contract extensions, whether they cover the player's arbitration years, free agent years, or both. All the extensions are listed by date, and our filter button allows you to change the date range. You can also filter by any combination of team, position, guaranteed years, amount in millions, number of options, service time, super two status, and agency. The service time filtering allows you to choose one or both boundaries of a range. Service time is denoted as years.days, so 4.148 means four years and 148 days. The player name is hyperlinked to MLBTR's post on the story of the extension.

For example, if you wanted to put Chris Sale’s recent extension in context, you could search for all of the starting pitchers with two-plus years of service time who signed five-year deals of $25MM or more since 2008. That search turns up many similar deals, since Sale’s deal fits within a pre-established template for pitcher contracts.

The extension tracker can be found under the Tools menu in the navigation bar up top, along with our, Arbitration Tracker, Agency Database and Transaction Tracker. MLBTR also has iPhone/iPad and Android apps.

Offseason In Review: Cleveland Indians

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 12, 2013 at 9:00am CDT

The Indians spent aggressively on free agents, hired a big-name manager and completed a major trade. Chris Antonetti’s third offseason in Cleveland was his most eventful winter yet, and in its aftermath, the Indians seem capable of surprising other American League clubs.

Major League Signings

Nick Swisher, OF: four years, $56MM. $14MM Vesting option for 2017.
Michael Bourn, OF: four years, $48MM. $12MM Vesting option for 2017.
Brett Myers, P: one year, $7MM. $8MM Club option for 2014.
Mark Reynolds, IF: one year, $6MM.
Ubaldo Jimenez, SP: one year, $5.75MM. Club option exercised.
Total Spend: $122.75MM.

International Signings

OF Takuya Tsuchida.

Notable Minor League Signings

Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Hermida, Ben Francisco, Ryan Raburn, Scott Kazmir, Jerry Gil, Rich Hill, Omir Santos, Matt Capps.

Trades and Claims

Acquired OF Quincy Latimore from Pirates for P Jeanmar Gomez.
Acquired OF Drew Stubbs, P Trevor Bauer, P Matt Albers and P Bryan Shaw in a three-way deal with Reds and Diamondbacks for OF Shin-Soo Choo, IF Jason Donald, RP Tony Sipp and 1B Lars Anderson.
Acquired IF Mike Aviles and UT Yan Gomes from Blue Jays for P Esmil Rogers.
Claimed IF Russ Canzler off waivers from Blue Jays. Later claimed off waivers by Yankees.
Claimed IF Mike McDade off waivers from Blue Jays.
Claimed P Blake Wood off waivers from Royals.
Claimed 1B Chris McGuiness from Rangers in Rule 5 draft.

Notable Losses

Travis Hafner, Lars Anderson, Casey Kotchman, Jack Hannahan, Jason Donald, Shin-Soo Choo, Tony Sipp, Scott Maine, Russ Canzler.

Needs Addressed

The Indians' deal with manager Terry Francona hinted at what would become apparent later in the 2012-13 offseason: ownership was ready to spend. After dismissing Manny Acta, the Indians hired Francona, who had worked in the Cleveland front office before managing the Red Sox to two World Series championships.

With Francona's assistance, the Indians started pursuing some of the offseason's top free agents. Nick Swisher required a four-year, $56MM commitment and the forfeiture of a second round draft pick. Yet he’s a skilled, durable player who fits the Indians’ needs. This deal makes the Indians a better team.

For most of the offseason the Indians didn’t seem particularly engaged in the market for Michael Bourn. Then, once the market for the center fielder cooled, the Indians struck, offering a four-year deal with a vesting option for a fifth season. This deal make sense from a value standpoint, as Bourn had been expected to sign for more than $12MM per season. Plus the Indians are just committed to Bourn for four years and didn’t have to surrender a first round draft pick to complete the deal.

Mark Reynolds should provide the team with his distinctive brand of power and strikeouts after signing a one-year deal. Jason Giambi, another free agent addition, will provide left-handed power off of the bench. The Indians also added to their bullpen and bench, bringing in newcomers Matt Albers, Matt Capps, Mike Aviles and Ryan Raburn.

The Indians entered the offseason in serious need of rotation help, and they did add starting pitching. Antonetti traded for Trevor Bauer and signed Brett Myers, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Scott Kazmir. The club's willingness to spend on the top players available extended to pitchers as well. Edwin Jackson, who obtained a four-year, $52MM contract from the Cubs, has said the Indians were also finalists for his services. Myers projects as the team’s third starter and the others are all in the mix for starting spots, giving Francona a new-look rotation.

Questions Remaining

Even after adding Bauer, Myers and Matsuzaka, the Indians’ rotation looks weaker than those of other American League teams. Ubaldo Jimenez and Justin Masterson were hittable last year, leading a rotation that posted a 5.25 ERA and averaged fewer than six innings per start.

The current group should pitch better than the ’12 team, which is something. Yet this rotation seems thin compared to the Tigers or other projected playoff teams in the American League. If the Indians are in contention midseason they could be searching for rotation help. In the meantime, agent Scott Boras can try to sell them on free agent right-hander Kyle Lohse.

Deal of Note

It was time for the Indians to trade Shin-Soo Choo. While Choo has significant on-field value, he’s one year away from free agency and not particularly receptive to extension talks. Credit Antonetti for obtaining Trevor Bauer, the third overall pick in the 2011 draft, in the deal for Choo.

It’s hard to imagine that the Indians could have done much better in the trade. They exchange one year of Choo for six years of Bauer, a 22-year-old who posted a 2.42 ERA with 10.8 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in the upper minors last year.

There’s no question that the Indians are taking on risk here, too. Bauer has a distinctive long-toss program and unconventional training methods. He appeared to have strained relationships with catcher Miguel Montero and manager Kirk Gibson in Arizona. And he has struggled to limit walks as a professional. All of that said, Antonetti obtained a consensus top 20 prospect in baseball for a player whose time in Cleveland was almost up. Long-term this deal looks like a coup for the Indians, and Bauer could even help the team in 2013.

Overview

The Indians are a stronger team now than they were at the end of the 2012 season, and if they get some breaks and stay healthy they could contend. However, their starting pitching seems thin and could get exposed. They’ve earned their status as a sleeper team, but until their rotation proves otherwise I have trouble viewing them as a likely contender.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Yankees Notes: Ben Francisco, Chipper Jones

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 12, 2013 at 7:30am CDT

The Yankees acknowledged yesterday that they're interested in Derrek Lee, Chipper Jones and Scott Rolen. However, none of those veteran free agents seem particularly likely to sign with the Bronx Bombers at this point. Here's the latest from New York, starting with a player the Yankees actually did sign…

GM Brian Cashman said the Yankees signed Ben Francisco to a minor league deal in the hopes that he can compete for an extra outfield role and a spot on the Yankees' bench, Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports (via Sulia). “I think he’s definitely worthy for competition, so that’s what we’re going to take a look at," Cashman said.
Longtime owner George Steinbrenner would have loved the Yankees' unexpected and public pursuit of Jones, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. As farfetched as the idea of signing Jones was, some long shots have worked out for Cashman over the years.

NL West Notes: Dodgers, Hernandez, Rockies, Posey

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 11, 2013 at 11:26pm CDT

Earlier today we heard that the Padres haven't settled on a long-term strategy for third baseman Chase Headley. They'll hold onto him for now, but could trade or extend him later in 2013. Here are more notes from the Padres' division…

Danny Knobler of CBS Sports reports that the Dodgers' pursuit of trades for Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez began as early as last April. The new ownership looked ahead to the free agent market for first basemen and shortstops and knew the upgrades they sought wouldn't be available.
Yorvit Torrealba could force the Rockies into a decision regarding their catching situation, writes MLB.com's Thomas Harding. The team loves his veteran leadership and handling of young pitchers, and could look to trade Ramon Hernandez before the end of Spring Training.
The Rockies are scouting out of options pitchers who could appear on waivers later on this month, Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports. The Rockies' rotation features lots of uncertainty and some optimism at this stage, Renck writes. Here's MLBTR's list of out of options players.
Buster Posey and the Giants are not close on an extension, but if it happens, the best comparable for a deal would be Joey Votto's 12-year pact and not a three-year one, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com.
Prized offseason acquisition Zack Greinke left his Dodgers teammates this morning to have his right elbow examined by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, but the club insists that it's strictly a precautionary move, writes Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. The Dodgers are reportedly prepared to sit on their pitching surplus for now in part because of minor health issues that Greinke and Chad Billingsley are dealing with.

Zach Links and Steve Adams contributed to this post.

AL East Notes: Ortiz, Yankees, Blue Jays

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 11, 2013 at 5:27pm CDT

Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg recently told reporters that Tampa Bay executives haven't thought about trading David Price. "There’s been speculation but we haven’t had those thoughts at all," Sternberg said, adding that the Rays can accommodate a major contract for Price. Here are some more AL East-related notes…

The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham points out that David Ortiz's heel could cost him $4MM if he opens the season on the DL. The Red Sox slugger has an $11MM base salary in 2014 that jumps to $15MM if he spends 20 or fewer days on the disabled list in 2013 due to his pre-existing Achilles injury.
The Yankees have many weaknesses entering the 2013 season, but Alex Anthopoulos says it’s far too early to count the reigning AL East winners out. The Blue Jays GM pointed out to Joel Sherman of the New York Post that the Yankees won 95 games last year while dealing with significant injuries and suggested that they’ll be a contender again in 2013. “Just look at their rotation,” Anthopoulos said. “You might not want it in five years, but I think just about any team would take their rotation in 2013. Tampa has shown in this division what you can do with a strong rotation.”
Though Colby Rasmus appreciates the backing of Anthopoulos and the Blue Jays' front office, he generally prefers to work by himself, Mike Rutsey of the Toronto Sun writes. "I already had that fire in me. I just kind of needed to be like, left alone," Rasmus said of his minor league development.
Tim Britton of the Providence Journal outlines some of the ways the Red Sox could get by without David Ortiz should the designated hitter's heel injury force him to the disabled list for the beginning of the season. The Red Sox could rely on internal options such as Daniel Nava, Ryan Sweeney, Mike Carp, Lyle Overbay and Ryan Lavarnway. Alternatively, they could start Jackie Bradley Jr.'s service clock and add him to the 25-man roster. In Britton’s view it would be “foolish” to rush Bradley to the MLB level.

Steve Adams also contributed to this post.

Quick Hits: Andrus, Braves, Astros

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 11, 2013 at 4:40pm CDT

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.

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