Rusney Castillo Declared Free Agent, Represented By Roc Nation
Cuban free agent outfielder Rusney Castillo, 26, has officially been declared a free agent and will be represented by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports, reports Ben Badler of Baseball America. The 26-year-old is expected to hold a showcase for interested clubs soon.
Badler writes that, while Castillo is not viewed as an impact talent on the level of some of his countrymen who have broken into the bigs in recent years, he is definitely considered to have major league ability. Scouts have been split as to whether he is more likely to be an everyday option or a fourth outfielder. Castillo is a solid line-drive hitter with excellent speed, says Badler, and is said to be capable of playing center.
While it is far too early to handicap where Castillo will ultimately sign, the Orioles and Dodgers are among the clubs that have reportedly scouted him recently. As Badler notes on Twitter, the news is also notable for Castillo’s choice of representation. Roc Nation, which famously announced its entrance by taking on Robinson Cano as a client (and also represents C.C. Sabathia), appears now to be positioning itself in the Cuban market.
Johan Santana Tears Achilles Tendon, Out For Year
Orioles hurler Johan Santana has torn his achilles tendon and will miss the season, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links). Baltimore had signed Santana to a minor league deal that included a $3MM base salary and up to $5.05MM in incentives.
The Orioles had just purchased Santana’s contract and moved him to the 15-day DL as he completed his rehab from left shoulder surgery. With Santana no longer an option, executive VP Dan Duquette says that the club will look to add depth over the summer, possibly via trade.
Though Santana was only working in the high 80s with his fastball, he had found success with that level of heat earlier in his career. Once perhaps the best pitcher in the game, Santana last threw in the bigs in 2012 with the Mets, when he posted a 4.85 ERA in 117 innings with 8.5 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. For his career, Santana owns a 3.20 ERA with 8.8 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9.
Now 35 years old, and having already rehabbed two significant shoulder surgeries, it is fair to wonder whether Santana will make another attempt at a comeback. The initial word is that we should not count him out, per a report from Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (Twitter link). When asked if Santana’s career was in jeopardy, agent Peter Greenberg responded: “No. Not with this guy.”
Rangers In The Mix For Kendrys Morales
The Rangers are among several teams that are considering signing first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. With the first day of the draft now past, teams can sign Morales without sacrificing a pick.
As Grant notes, the Rangers are anticipating around $8MM in insurance claims to flow back to the club due to the injuries to first baseman Prince Fielder and pitcher Matt Harrison. Texas opened the season with a record $133.5MM payroll, but has struggled to play up to expectations with a series of notable injuries.
A serious pursuit of Morales would certainly signal that the club hopes to stay in contention in spite of its many losses. The Rangers stand at .500 entering today’s action, seven games back of the A’s in the AL West. Grant says that Texas is interested in adding another power bat alongside the struggling Mitch Moreland after losing Fielder from the middle of the lineup. Of course, Fielder and Moreland were already falling well short of their anticipated production, and Morales’s bat represents a clear upgrade over the team’s current internal options.
Giants Designate David Huff For Assignment
The Giants have designated lefty David Huff for assignment, reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). The move was made to clear roster space for the return of Matt Cain from the DL.
Huff, 29, came to San Francisco from the Yankees after he lost his roster spot to Masahiro Tanaka. Through 20 innings this season, Huff has scuffled to a 6.30 ERA. He has posted 5.0 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 on the year, both of which are worse than the marks he put up in each of the last two seasons.
The former first-round pick came up as a starter with the Indians, but shifted primarily to the bullpen last year. He has been solid against same-handed hitters thus far in 2014, allowing just a .659 OPS, but righties have hit a blistering .354/.415/.479 against him.
Draft Rumors: Rodon, Marlins, Freeland
As the draft approaches, we’ll keep tabs on the latest news and rumors right here:
- Top college arm Carlos Rodon is said to be asking for a bonus of over $6MM, reports Scout.com’s Kiley McDaniel (via Twitter). In McDaniel’s view, that makes Brady Aiken a strong favorite to go first overall to the Astros. The top overall slot comes with an approximately $7.9MM allotment, with the second choice landing at just over $6.8MM.
- Sitting at number two, the Marlins “appear to be focusing” on Rodon, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Rodon, who was born in Miami and is of Cuban descent, has been widely tied to the second slot in recent mock drafts. The Fish will not hesitate to add power arms due to the recent injury to Jose Fernandez, reports MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. If we saw a guy who looked like Jose out there again, we’d go right after him,” said VP of scouting Stan Meek. “We want exactly that kind of guy.” Meek said that there was little to take away from Fernandez’s Tommy John procedure, other than the inherent risk in hard throwers: “[W]ith the velocity guys are throwing with today, you just can’t predict who is going to go down.”
- Evansville southpaw Kyle Freeland has “bad” medicals, a scouting director tells McDaniel (Twitter link). That has led some teams sitting late in the first round to decide to pass on Freeland, says McDaniel, who notes that the Rockies could still grab him with the eighth choice (potentially at a cut rate). In the introduction to its most recent mock draft, Baseball America noted that a clean MRI for Freeland has not cleared up concerns with his elbow for all clubs.
- Here are some more general draft sources to read through as you warm up for the evening: In a post that ties together all of his draft materials, McDaniel provides a wealth of information, including the latest on the rumored signability situations of various well-regarded prospects. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca cites several industry sources who like the draft’s pitching depth, especially at the high school level, and breaks down the best available players. In a piece for Baseball Prospectus, Kevin Whitaker explores what he calls the “coattail effect”: the tendency of less-touted players to see a bump in their draft stock by playing with higher-rated teammates. Rob Neyer of FOX Sports provides a fascinating oral history of the Cardinals‘ productive 2009 draft, including plenty of information from current Astros GM Jeff Luhnow. Dave Cameron of Fangraphs writes that, while the data shows that high school arms are generally riskier than those that have seen time at college, it does not suggest that a prep pitcher should never be taken first overall. Colleague Tony Blengino explains how teams’ draft boards are put together and utilized.
NL West Notes: Hudson, Lyles, Pennington, Webb
Giants veteran Tim Hudson clarified recently that he bears no ill will toward his prior team, the Braves, as Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Though he was initially offended when Atlanta offered him only $2MM on a one-year deal, Hudson said that the club ultimately made multiple, “fair offers at the end.” Hudson, who ultimately signed a two-year, $23MM deal, continued: “I totally understand [the Braves’] side of things. I’m not and wasn’t bitter at all.”
Here’s more out of the NL West, with an unfortunate focus on injuries:
- The struggling Rockies received bad news last night with starter Jordan Lyles going down with a broken left hand, reports Nick Groke of the Denver Post. Though the injury was to Lyles’s non-pitching hand, he will hit the DL, though the precise prognosis remains unknown. Colorado has already dipped into its prospect ranks to call up Eddie Butler, and could again look to the minors (or displaced starter Franklin Morales) to cover for the absences of Lyles, Brett Anderson, and Tyler Chatwood. In concert with the team’s slide in the standings, it is looking increasingly unlikely that the Rockies will look to add to the club over the summer; now fully eight games back in the NL West, the team may soon be pegged a seller.
- Diamondbacks middle infielder Cliff Pennington has undergone surgery for a torn ligament in his left thumb, the club announced. He is not expected to begin baseball activities for eight to ten weeks. As I noted yesteday, the injury — especially given its newly-reported severity — could potentially have some impact on how the club proceeds over the summer. It is also bad news for Pennington’s upcoming free agency; the 29-year-old, who is in the back end of a two-year, $5MM deal, has slashed just .242/.313/.312 through 382 plate appearances with Arizona.
- Former Diamondbacks ace Brandon Webb looked back at the disappointing run of shoulder injuries that derailed his career, in a piece from MLB.com’s Barry Bloom. His initial shoulder troubles seemingly emerged out of nowhere one afternoon, but Webb never returned to a big league mound despite years of trying. “That was the most frustrating part, never being able to come back, especially when everything seemed to look fine in the pictures and all that,” says Webb. “That was the toughest part, to go from the top of the game, probably one of the best pitchers in the game, to be done.” Then-pitching coach Bryan Price says that it remains difficult to draw any lessons from Webb’s situation. “If you look back at his delivery, there wasn’t a reason,” he said. “He pitched a lot, but he was a low pitch-count guy. It’s one of those things that we’ll be left to guess about.”
Draft Notes: Negotiations, Mocks, Wall, White Sox, Twins, Padres
As noted last night, the exchange of information between teams and draftee advisers is a widespread, critical component of the MLB amateur draft process. It is also, of course, one that takes place in something of a gray area, owing largely to the NCAA rules that threaten the amateur status of players who retain advisers. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports has obtained and published an interesting memorandum sent by MLB to its member clubs, which was later forwarded by the MLBPA to certified agents, setting forth the rules by which parties are expected to engage one another. According to the memo, clubs cannot enter into pre-draft agreements or understandings. Teams are permitted to ask what a player would sign for, but cannot condition a selection on a promise that the player will accept a certain bonus. Likewise, advisers are forbidden from saying that a player has a deal with another club or threaten to do so if demands are not met. Passan calls the document “a farce,” writing that “both parties drawing up these rules ignore them fundamentally.”
Here’s the latest as the hours tick down to the draft, which is set to begin at 6:00 central time (with the Astros’ first overall pick expected to be made at 6:12 CST):
- The MLB.com prospect team has published its latest mock draft, with both Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis agreeing that Brady Aiken, Carlos Rodon, and Tyler Kolek will go 1-2-3. They disagree on the next choice, with Mayo tabbing catcher Kyle Schwarber to the Cubs and Callis predicting that Chicago will instead go with outfielder Michael Conforto. (Each prognosticator predicts just the opposite result with the Rockies‘ in the eighth slot.)
- In its latest iteration, the Baseball America mock largely concurs with MLB.com through pick eight, but begins to differ at that point.The biggest disconnect occurs at the tenth slot, where BA expects the Mets to take high school second baseman Forrest Wall. MLB.com sees Wall lasting until the Rangers select 30th overall, while noting that he could be nabbed by New York.
- White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper says that he likes all four of the arms rated most highly by the team, including the three mentioned above along with Aaron Nola, but prefers Aiken, reports Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com. “I liked them all,” said Cooper. “I liked the kid Aiken maybe the best. But a high school kid, that’s going to be a little longer. The closest to the big leagues Rodon and the second closest was Nola. It’s hard not to like the stuff coming out of the hand of Kolek. Those high school kids, there’s work to be done there.”
- Expectation is building that the Twins will go with shortstop Nick Gordon at fifth overall, with Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reporting (Twitter links) that the team has seen him more than any other. Indeed, two key team executives have watched him in action more than ten times apiece, says Wolfson.
- The Padres are eyeing a position player with the 13th overall pick, likely from the college ranks, reports MLB.com’s Corey Brock. “We’ve tried to go back and get to know and see these college players more,” said scouting director Billy Gasparino. “We have been really aggressive with high school guys, but this year feels like a good college crop.” Of course, as Brock notes, the team’s ultimate direction remains very much dependent upon who goes before they are on the clock, and it would not be surprising to see the club add an arm.
- If you haven’t already, remember to check out MLBTR’s Q&A sessions with top draft prospects Braxton Davidson, Aaron Nola, Jacob Gatewood, Michael Chavis, Nick Gordon, Nick Burdi, and Bradley Zimmer.
Yankees Designate Scott Sizemore Off Active Roster
12:06pm: The Yankees announced via press release that Sizemore has, in fact, been designated off the active roster and optioned to Triple-A. It would appear, then, that he will remain under team control, though it is not yet clear whether he has cleared optional assignment waivers. Because Sizemore does not have five years of MLB service, he would not have the right to refuse an optional assignment.
11:24am: Sizemore has actually been outrighted, according to the MLB.com transactions page. That would take him off the club’s 40-man (and active) roster, and leave Sizemore with the right to decline the assignment, since he has previously been outrighted.
10:57am: Sizemore has only been designated off of the 25-man roster, it would appear, as Dan Barbarasi of the Wall Street Journal tweets that he will be placed on optional assignment waivers.
10:09am: The Yankees have designated infielder Scott Sizemore for assignment, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). The move creates active roster space for Carlos Beltran, who was activated from the DL.
Sizemore, 29, registered five base knocks for New York in 16 plate appearances over six games. He carries a .265/.333/.361 triple-slash in 165 trips to the dish at Triple-A on the year. Sizemore has seen time in parts of four MLB seasons, with his best work coming in 2011 when he compiled a .245/.342/.399 line through 429 plate appearances with the Tigers and Athletics.
NL Notes: Mazzaro, Pirates, Phillies, Capps
Pirates reliever Vin Mazzaro has been placed on outright waivers but has not yet cleared, reports MLBTR’s Zach Links (Twitter links). A source tells Links that a full resolution of Mazzaro’s situation will occur today. Mazzaro was designated for assignment on May 26th, which, as MLBTR’s DFA Tracker shows, would have suggested resolution yesterday; Links posits that the extra day could be a result of a delay in processing owing to the Memorial Day holiday.
- The Pirates have a glaring need for a starter, writes Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Kovacevic says that the team should be able to afford a player like Jeff Samardzija or even David Price, both in terms of prospects and payroll.
- While it is easy to say that the Phillies should become sellers, the reality is that the club lacks attractive pieces or a young core that can be built around, writes ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Insider subscription required and recommended). Even the players who are performing well — such as Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz, Marlon Byrd — have middling value because they are owed significant amounts of money beyond the season (or, in the case of Rollins, soon will be; his $11MM option will vest barring injury). While that might be less of a deterrent in the cases of Cliff Lee and Chase Utley, the former has still not yet resumed throwing while the latter may be too intertwined with the franchise’s identity to be dealt. Of course, any hypothetical trade scenarios could be complicated yet further by the fact that many of the team’s veterans have limited or full no-trade protection.
- In a seemingly rare bit of good news after a pitcher travels to see Dr. James Andrews, Marlins reliever Carter Capps will forego surgery in favor of rest and rehabilitation, reports Juan C. Rodriguez of the Miami Sun-Sentinel. An extended delay is still in the cards, as Capps will be shut down for at least a month. He was originally placed on the 15-day DL retroactive to May 26, but has since been transferred to the 60-day DL.
Mets Designate Buddy Carlyle For Assignment
The Mets have designated righty Buddy Carlyle for assignment, reports Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter). Outfielder Andrew Brown will take his spot on the active roster.
Carlyle, 36, received just two appearances with New York this year, working four-and-a-third innings without allowing a run. He has seen sporadic MLB action over parts of eight seasons, notching 256 1/3 innings and compiling a 5.51 ERA. Through 21 1/3 innings at Triple-A this year, he had worked to a strong 1.27 ERA with 11.0 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9.