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Quick Hits: Oswalt, Andruw, Dobbs, Cuddyer

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A few notes to pass along as Tuesday becomes Wednesday …

  • The Red Sox haven't ruled out signing Roy Oswalt, tweets Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, although sources say the right-hander is not a priority for them. Earlier today we heard that interest in Oswalt has spiked significantly since he's been telling teams he's willing to sign for a one-year deal.
  • It seemed inevitable that Yankees would re-sign Andruw Jones earlier this offseason, but Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports the camps have not made much progress and that the outfielder is garnering interest from other teams, including the Red Sox.
  • The Nationals are among the final three suitors for free agent pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs, a source tells Bill Ladson of MLB.com, who adds that the Marlins are reported to be in the mix, as well.
  • Rockies outfielder Michael Cuddyer told reporters, including Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities radio, that he and the Twins never had discussions about re-signing once they reached agreement with Josh Willingham (Twitter link).
  • The Braves thought they may have been close to trading Jair Jurrjens to the Reds last weekend until Cincinnati instead acquired Mat Latos from the Padres, writes MLB.com's Mark Bowman in a mailbag.
  • In an interesting thinkpiece at Baseball Prospectus, Ben Lindbergh examines why it's becoming increasingly difficult for a GM to stand out from his peers.

Yoenis Cespedes Links: Tuesday

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With the Rangers now officially owning the rights to negotiate with Yu Darvish, another international player, Yoenis Cespedes, takes center stage. The difference, as Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com notes, is that Cespedes will be a free agent in the traditional sense, with every team being allowed to negotiate with the center fielder as they would any other player. Here's the latest on Cespedes:

  • The expectation in baseball is that the bidding for Cespedes could get "crazy." One team official said the outfielder's agent is seeking $25-45MM, but many believe the total value of the contract will exceed that.
  • Some teams regard the Marlins as the early favorite to sign Cespedes.
  • The White Sox, who have a strong track record with Cuban defectors Alexei Ramirez and Dayan Viciedo, reportedly held a private workout for Cespedes.
  • The Yankees are expected to be involved but their interest has been described as "moderate."
  • The Yankees are reluctant to spend big on a player based on video and scouting sessions, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. 
  • Sherman adds that the Tigers like Cespedes, and that owner Mike Ilitch is known to expand his budget for the right player (via Twitter).
  • Knobler, meanwhile, tweets that the Tigers have a pretty limited budget to bid on Cespedes.

NL West Notes: Cuddyer, Belisario, MacDougal, Ross

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A few items of note to pass along out of the NL West …

  • Newly signed Rockies outfielder Michael Cuddyer will earn a base salary of $10.5MM in each year of his three-year contract, although he can earn an additional $1.5MM in incentives in the deal's final year, 2014, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post. 
  • Cuddyer will man right field for the Rox, while Carlos Gonzalez shifts over to center, tweets Thomas Harding of MLB.com.
  • Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario, who missed the entire 2011 season due to visa issues, has secured a visa and is expected to be in camp on time for the start of Spring Training, according to Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times. 
  • However, Belisario will have to serve a 25-game suspension, which are typically doled out when players fail to comply with treatment programs, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Belisario had issues with substance abuse in 2010 and 2011, which is in part why he had trouble obtaining a visa.
  • Dodgers GM Ned Colletti says he's still in the market for another reliever despite re-adding Belisario to the bullpen picture, tweets Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles. Gurnick reports the Dodgers remain in negotiations to bring back right-hander Mike MacDougal.
  • Free agent outfielder Cody Ross, who spent the past season and a half with the Giants, is now seeking a two-year contract, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Ross was originally looking for a three-year pact, but that was only to remain in pitcher-friendly San Francisco, according to O'Brien.

Rockies Sign Carlos Torres

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The Rockies have signed right-hander Carlos Torres to a minor league contract, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes has learned.

Torres, who spent 2011 with the Yomiuri Giants organization of NPB, last appeared in the Major Leagues with the White Sox in 2010. The 29-year-old has logged 42 innings in his big league career, fanning 7.5 batters per nine innings but struggling with his control at 5.93 BB/9.

Rangers, Napoli Discussing Long-Term Extension

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The Rangers have had several discussions with catcher Mike Napoli regarding a long-term contract extension, a source tells Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com, although the talks are still early in the process. Napoli is arbitration eligible for the final time this offseason and is slated to earn $9.2MM in 2012 through that process, according to the model created by Matt Swartz for MLBTR.

Napoli, who turned 30 in October, enjoyed a career season with the Rangers after being traded twice following the 2010 season. The right-handed hitter posted single-season bests with 30 homers, 75 RBIs, and a .320/.414/.631 line. 

Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com first reported earlier this month that the Rangers were hopeful of working out an extension with Napoli.

The Latest On Gio Gonzalez

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The Gio Gonzalez trade rumors have been vast and varied so far this offseason. Here's the latest on the A's left-hander from Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com:

The Mets and Mariners are now among the teams in on Gonzalez, a source tells Rosenthal (Twitter link), while the Marlins, Reds, Red Sox and Rangers remain in the mix.

As well, the Nationals are interested in Gonzalez, according to Rosenthal (via Twitter), who adds that Washington considers White Sox lefty John Danks an alternative. The Nats' focus remains acquiring a left-handed starter after missing out on Mark Buehrle, who signed with the Marlins.

The Mets are an odd addition to the growing list of Gonzalez suitors, as they have been rumored to be open to trading one of their young pitchers, Jonathon Niese. The Mariners, meanwhile, are thought to be seeking offense – including, perhaps, Prince Fielder – although Gonzalez would make for a nice No. 2 or 3, along with Michael Pineda, behind ace Felix Hernandez.

The Latest On Yoenis Cespedes

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With several of this offseason's top free agents off the board, we should be hearing a lot more about Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes in the upcoming weeks. Here's the latest on the center fielder, courtesy of Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports:

Cespedes and his agent, Adam Katz of Wasserman Media Group, are starting negotiations at "Chapman money," one general manager tells Passan, in reference to Aroldis Chapman's six-year, $30.25MM contract with the Reds. The GM said Cespedes might even get a six-, seven- or eight-year deal. The GM also said he's "never seen a more confident agent" than Katz is with Cepedes, adding that the new CBA has increased the outfielder's market (Twitter links).

It's not so surprising to hear from an exec that Katz has high hopes for his client. For what it's worth, we also heard during the Winter Meetings that Katz is seeking a contract twice the value of Chapman's – $60MM – for Cespedes, which would certainly raise the stakes significantly in the bidding.

While Chapman hasn't been terrible, he hasn't exactly fulfilled his promise yet, either, so it's possible that could work against Cespedes. Then again, they are different players at different positions, and it doesn't appear that Daisuke Matsuzaka's troubles have had much of an effect on the bidding for Yu Darvish, as a roughly analogous comparison.

Orioles Notes: Scott, Offseason Plan

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After introducing the newly signed Tsuyoshi Wada to the media today, Orioles GM Dan Duquette addressed his club's offseason to date and future plans with reporters, including Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. Here's the latest: 

  • Duquette said he's interested in bringing back slugger Luke Scott, who was non-tendered on Monday, but cautioned that a deal is no sure thing. As for the non-tendering, he explained: "We just felt his value in arbitration was much higher than his actual market value."
  • A left-handed-hitting outfielder and a DH remain on the club's offseason wish list.
  • On whether any swaps are possible, Duquette said: “We’ve got a couple trade discussions that are still alive."
  • The decision on whether Jim Johnson and Brad Bergesen will be starters or relievers in 2012 will be left up to manager Buck Showalter in the spring. Johnson is eligible for arbitration for the second time this offseason and projects to earn $2.5MM through that process.

Jocketty Discusses Reds’ Offseason

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After winning the NL Central in 2010, the Reds fell short of the playoffs last season, stumbling to a relatively disappointing 79 wins. With a strong nucleus of position players and complementary pitchers in place, Cincinnati is expected to make a push for a top-of-the-rotation starter and perhaps a closer this offseason.

But aside from ongoing negotiations to extend second baseman Brandon Phillips, it has been a pretty quiet winter thus far for the Reds, which GM Walt Jocketty addressed with Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com.

The shortage of activity has not been for a lack of trying, according to Jocketty:

“We have to keep being aggressive and try to improve. What we thought we had to do for 2012 was really address our pitching. That’s what we’ve been busy trying to do, but without success so far.”

As Rosenthal notes, the Reds own a few attractive prospects that are rumored to be sought by other teams — in particular, first baseman/outfielder Yonder Alonso and catchers Yasmani Grandal and Devin Mesoraco.

However, it sounds like Jocketty isn't comfortable with the asking price for the top available pitchers on the trade market: “They just want too many of ’em.”

To that end, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com tweets that the A's asked the Reds for Alonso, one of the catching prospects and another player in exchange for left-hander Gio Gonzalez. The Reds have also shown interest in Rays pitchers, including James Shields, and the Braves' Jair Jurrjens, tweets Knobler.

Meanwhile, the Reds' competition in the NL Central has arguably been weakened this offseason, writes Rosenthal. The Cardinals have lost Albert Pujols and are transitioning to a new manager, while the Brewers will almost certainly lose Prince Fielder to free agency and perhaps Ryan Braun to a 50-game suspension at season's outset.

So, Jocketty said he doesn't necessarily feel like he must make a move:

“But we feel that if we did nothing, we’d still have a club capable of contending and competing in our division all year. We felt that way last year. We just had some things that didn’t go well for us."

Jocketty's deliberateness could work to his advantage this offseason, according to Rosenthal, who speculates the Reds will "almost certainly" end up with one of free agent closers Francisco Cordero, Ryan Madson or Brad Lidge, or trade candidate Andrew Bailey of the Athletics.

D’Backs Acquire Cahill, Breslow From A’s

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SATURDAY: Slusser reports that the cash considerations going to the Diamondbacks will be "a couple of hundred thousand dollars."

FRIDAY: As was rumored earlier today, the Diamondbacks have acquired pitchers Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow from the Athletics for minor leaguers Jarrod Parker, Collin Cowgill and Ryan Cook, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links) and Steve Gilbert of MLB.com (Twitter). The Diamondbacks will also receive cash from Oakland, tweets Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.

The centerpiece of the trade for Arizona is Cahill, a right-handed starter who has logged more than 175 innings in each of his three seasons as a Major Leaguer. The groundballer (53.3% career rate) is under team control at least through 2015 and perhaps through 2017, depending on two club options. He'll join Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson at the top of the D'Backs' rotation, with Josh Collmenter and perhaps (or not) Joe Saunders at the back end.

On a conference call with reporters on Friday night, D'Backs GM Kevin Towers said the timing was right to make a move of this nature:

“A lot of it is just the depth that we have in the system. Certainly, Jarrod Parker was a tough piece to give up, but with Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs and Charles Brewer, we feel we’ve got depth in the starting rotation – also, Wade Miley. We see a window here, specifically in the NL West. We’re kind of in a go-for-it mode.”

Clearly, Cahill will be counted on as one of the mainstays of the D'Backs' rotation, but it wasn't long ago he seemed destined to remain in Oakland after inking a multiyear extension in April:

"I defintely thought I’d be with them a bit longer. But their history is, they usually keep guys when they don’t make too much, then trade them off for prospects. I thought I’d be there longer, but I'm glad to be part of a team that’s headed in the right direction."

Breslow, a lefty reliever, kicked around earlier in his career before latching on with the A's the past three seasons. He's posted a career 3.80 FIP, and with no significant lefty/righty splits, Towers said Breslow will likely be used as a swing lefty out of Kirk Gibson's bullpen in 2012. He is eligible for free agency after 2013.

In Parker, Cowgill and Cook, the A's get three prospects who all have far less than a full season of service time. Of them, Parker, a right-handed starter, is regarded by scouts as having the highest ceiling. Now 24, Parker pitched mostly in the minors in 2011 after missing all of 2010 due to Tommy John surgery. He was ranked No. 19 in Keith Law's top 50 minor league prospects in July.

Cowgill is a 25-year-old outfielder who made his Major League debut in 2011 after posting a .383 career on-base percentage in parts of four minor league seasons. Cook was a starter in the minors before being converted to relief work in 2011. He has a "strong arm, chance for a good slider," tweets Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.

John Gambadoro of Sports 620 KTAR in Phoenix first tweeted the rumored trade, and Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, Piecoro, Slusser and Gilbert all filled in with details.

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