Red Sox Expect Further Extension Talks With Jon Lester
The Red Sox are still holding out hope of keeping staff ace Jon Lester from reaching the open market, club president and CEO Larry Lucchino indicated in an appearance this morning on WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan (audio link). Lester, 30, owns a 3.45 ERA through 73 innings as he plays out the last year of an earlier extension.
Lucchino said that he “certainly expect[s]” to engage in further extension talks with Lester’s representatives at ACES before the big lefty becomes a free agent. Lucchino also downplayed the importance of the club’s reported offer to Lester of $70MM over four years, suggesting that it was a starting point rather than a maximum figure. “I think it’s a mistake to discuss the status of ongoing negotiations as it is a mistake to get fixated on an opening offer,” he said.
A late-breaking extension would hardly be unprecedented. The Phillies retained fellow top southpaw Cole Hamels just before the trade deadline two years ago, for instance. And last year, the Giants pulled off new deals with a pair of veterans who had all but reached the open market, extending Hunter Pence at the tail end of the regular season and locking up starter Tim Lincecum just before he would have officially become a free agent.
Rangers To Acquire Jason Donald From Royals
TODAY: Cash considerations are going back to the Royals in the deal, reports Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star (via Twitter).
YESTERDAY: The Rangers have agreed to acquire utilityman Jason Donald from the Royals, a source tells MLBTR. Hunter Samuels of Kings of Kauffman first reported the trade via Twitter.
Donald, 29, owns a career .257/.309/.362 line in 603 career MLB plate appearances, which he compiled with the Indians over 2010-12. He has spent each of the last two seasons at the Triple-A level, slashing .219/.268/.319 in 271 plate appearances with the Reds organization in 2013 and putting up a .231/.271/.308 line through 85 trips to the dish this year at Omaha.
The versatile Donald has seen most of his professional time at short, but also has spent time at second, third, and the outfield. Presumably, he will serve as minor league depth in the Rangers organization. A client of the Boras Corporation, Donald was a 3rd-round draft pick of the Phillies back in 2006.
Quick Hits: Tommy John, Commissioner, Mock Drafts
For those interested in seeking to understand the root of the elbow injuries that have plagued the game this year, you’ll want to take a look at this position statement from the American Sports Medicine Institute (hat tip to Peter Gammons). The statement closely ties professional ligament injuries to risky throwing patterns in amateur baseball, including over-use, throwing while fatigued, and pitching year-round. Latin American pitchers have experienced a similar incidence of TJ as have their North American counterparts, the statement also says.
Here are some more notes from around the game:
- As the search for a new commissioner picks up steam, sitting commish Bud Selig said today that it was possible that a successor could come from outside the game, ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark reports. “That’s a judgment call,” said Selig. “I know there’s been a lot of speculation in some stories. But that’s a judgment call this group will have to make. Understanding the culture of the sport is very important.” He emphasized that it “has to be an inclusive process,” though “people will have to make their own judgments on whether or not you want to stay inside baseball.”
- A familiar trio of the pitchers sits at the top of the most recent mock draft of ESPN.com’s Keith Law (Insider link). In that scenario, Law sees the Cubs looking to strike a below-slot deal with a player like college outfielder Michael Conforto with the fourth overall choice. Some well-regarded prep arms could fall into the sandwich and second round, Law notes, where teams that saved on their first picks will pick them with intentions of spending over slot.
- Attempting to approach the top ten picks of the draft as if he were the general manager making the final call, ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden (Insider link). While clubs often say they just want the best player available, Bowden says that few follow through with that. Clubs do draft with their needs (even at the major league level) in mind, says Bowden, in addition to financial, medical, and makeup considerations. Carrying through on his general observations, Bowden sends Evansville lefty Kyle Freeland to the Twins with the fifth overall pick and LSU righty Aaron Nola to the Phillies in the seven slot.
NL Notes: Diamondbacks, Mets, Zimmerman, Purke
As previously reported, before hiring Tony LaRussa, the Diamondbacks considered other candidates to slot in atop the club’s baseball operations structure or to take over directly for Kevin Towers as general manager. One candidate was former Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, who notes that it is likely (but not certain) that Beinfest would have slotted into the GM role. Arizona also spoke with Braves advisor John Hart, says Rosenthal, though that was purely for purposes of dispensing advice.
Here’s more from Arizona and the rest of the National League:
- The April 2012 shoulder injury to then-Diamondbacks outfielder Chris Young had widespread ramifications both for player and club, writes Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Young, who had been off to a hot start that season, has never really been the same since. And the injury also led to then-teammate Justin Upton playing through a thumb injury. Upton’s step back that year, which could well have been injury-related, ultimately played a role in his departure, Piecoro observes.
- If Young’s current team — the Mets — want to improve its offensive performance, the club needs to boost its spending, opines ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Insider subscription required). With David Wright and Curtis Granderson eating up much of the team’s payroll space at its current spending levels, which reduces the team’s flexibility to add talent creatively without increasing its budget.
- Confirming recent suggestions, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports that the Nationals are planning to rotate Ryan Zimmerman between third, first, and left field when he returns from the DL. In addition to increasing the club’s ability to optimize the deployment of its position players, Washington hopes that Zimmerman’s future value to the team will see a boost from increased flexibility. The one-time stalwart at the hot corner, who has seen his defensive performance wane with shoulder issues, is in the first year of a six-year, $100MM extension that was agreed to before the 2012 season.
- Nationals prospect Matt Purke will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow, reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post (via Twitter). The 23-year-old lefty has largely disappointed since the Nats gave him a $4.15MM bonus in 2011 to sign out of TCU. As Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com notes on Twitter, Purke — who signed a big league deal — will be out of options by the time he recovers from the procedure.
AL Notes: Lester, Burnett, Santana, Suzuki, Polanco
Red Sox players made news this winter by campaigning openly for the re-signing of Mike Napoli. And Dustin Pedroia even agreed to defer salary in his extension, in part to free payroll space to make a run (which ultimately proved unsuccessful) at retaining Jacoby Ellsbury. As WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford writes, staff ace Jon Lester — one of the players who pushed to keep Napoli — will almost certainly benefit from much the same treatment. The clubhouse clearly wants Lester to be kept in Boston, says Bradford, who notes that there was “some grumbling” after reports emerged of the club’s somewhat underwhelming extension offer.
Here’s more out of the American League:
- Southpaw Sean Burnett, who signed a two-year, $8MM deal with the Angels before the 2013 season, learned today that he has suffered a torn UCL for the second time in his career, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Burnett had just worked his way back from an elbow injury that cut him down after just 13 appearances in 2013, and now seems destined to miss the rest of the year. That makes it rather likely, of course, that the club will decide to pay him a $500K buyout rather than picking up his $4.5MM option for 2015. The Halos currently feature only one lefty in the pen in Wade LeBlanc. Though the team has some options stashed in the upper minors, such as Nick Maronde and Buddy Boshers, none has Burnett’s track record.
- As expected, the Orioles are working to secure an extension of the June 1 opt-out date in starter Johan Santana‘s minor league deal, reports Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com. Assuming that can be worked out, Baltimore hopes to set Santana on a course that could bring him back to the majors as soon as June 18.
- Twins catcher Kurt Suzuki said he would be open to extension talks if the club is interested, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “It’s something that I think you’d be crazy not to listen,” he said. “You’re always open to those things.” Berardino notes that Minnesota previously extended former backstop Ryan Doumit at a similar point in the 2012 season, after originally signing him to a one-year deal as a free agent (as was the case with Suzuki). Nevertheless, a source says that it is still “too early” to consider a new deal for Suzuki, who could also be setting himself up as a nice trade piece with his .297/.363.405 start.
- While the Twins seem to have made the right call in locking up Suzuki to a modest deal, they missed out on an even bigger opportunity back in 2009 — though the club was not alone in that respect. As Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets, Minnesota was among about ten other clubs that made offers to outfielder Gregory Polanco which came in just under the Pirates’ winning bid of $175K.
AL Notes: Ventura, Zimmer, Paxton, Rangers, Suarez
While there are, thankfully, no new Tommy John procedures to pass on, the news out of the American League was once again dominated by injury situations involving young arms. Here’s the latest:
- The Royals avoided an immediate scare with Yordano Ventura, but the news was not all positive, explains Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Manager Ned Yost said on the club’s television broadcast today that trainers diagnosed Ventura with “valgus stress overload,” which Passan says can have longer-term complications. Passan lists cartilage damage, arthritis, bone chips, and instability (with possible exposure for the UCL) as problems associated with that condition.
- Meanwhile, the club is not sanguine about the possibility of its other top young arm — Kyle Zimmer — making his way back from a lat injury to help the big league club this year, reports Dick Kaegel of MLB.com. “We were looking down the road at maybe after the All-Star break, if Kyle was really throwing good and there was a need, he might be a guy that we could bring up to help us,” said Yost. Now, says Kaegel, Zimmer may not even be throwing a baseball by the All-Star break. While the skipper indicated that the long-term prognosis remains positive, the injury could certainly have implications for how Kansas City navigates the summer.
- Turning to the Mariners, one of the team’s rehabbing young starters, James Paxton, has been shut down after an MRI revealed shoulder inflammation, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (on Twitter). The club is hopeful that the rest period for the 25-year-old lefty will not be longer than one week, but it had been hoped that Paxton would be nearing a big league return. It bears noting that Paxton, who entered the year with 27 days of MLB service, has been adding time to his clock while on the 15-day DL.
- In spite of their extensive injury woes, it is too early to count the Rangers as trade deadline sellers, writes MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. “We’re in May,” said GM Jon Daniels. “The players aren’t giving up, and we certainly aren’t either.” Of course, the head baseball man also seemed not to rule out the possibility of the club ultimately deciding to recoup some future value if it cannot keep pace over the summer. “We’ll continue to evaluate it and let it play out,” he said. “We’ll make adjustments if we have to, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.”
- Ever since shortstop Jose Iglesias was lost for the season, speculation has run rampant about the possibility of the Tigers making an addition up the middle, but the club has thrived without a major move thus far. On the other hand, the club sits at second-to-last in the bigs in shortstop production (half a win below replacement level). As MLB.com’s Jason Beck reports, GM Dave Dombrowski recently got an in-person look at 22-year-old shortstop Eugenio Suarez, who has thrived in his first few games at the Triple-A level. “He’s done very well this year,” said Dombrowski. “Everybody has talked well of him.” Indeed, Suarez currently boasts a .291/.351/.520 line over 191 plate appearances, most of them at Double-A. While the GM certainly did not suggest that he was ready to hand the young Venezuelan the reigns, Beck notes that Suarez could well force his way into the big league conversation. Though Suarez has only just made it to the highest level of the minors, it could well make sense for Detroit to look at him at the major league level before deciding whether (and if so how) to shop at the trade deadline.
NL East Notes: Mets, Howard, Gonzalez, Capps
Dismissed Mets hitting coach Dave Hudgens set off some controversy today when he told Michael Kay of ESPNNewYork.com (audio link) that, if Mets GM Sandy Alderson “could do everything he wants to do, they would have a winner here,” and suggested that the club’s ownership needs to “let the purse strings loose.” Of course, it is worth noting that Hudgens added that he has no personal information as to how the front office is run. For his part, Alderson said that payroll was not the problem in New York, as Marc Carig of Newsday tweets.
Here’s more from the Mets and the rest of the NL East:
- The Mets received good news on top prospect arm Noah Syndergaard, whose MRI results were negative. As Andy Martino of the New York Daily News tweets, Alderson said that Syndergaard is “essentially fine.” Certainly, a prolonged absence for Syndergaard would have dealt another tough blow to the club’s timeline for putting a competitive MLB club on the field.
- Darin Ruf started in place of Ryan Howard against a lefty today for the Phillies, which could potentially be the beginning of a platoon, reports Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Howard has struggled mightily against same-handed pitchers over the course of the season, with a 41.7% strikeout rate and 73 wRC+. When asked if Ruf might keep seeing time against lefties, manager Ryne Sandberg responded: “Yeah, if it happens to work. It’s an opportunity to have a lineup like that, and if it produces that becomes an opportunity … to possible get some consistency with the offense against right-handed and left-handed pitching.” Howard, of course, is earning $25MM this year and is still promised an additional $60MM over 2015-17.
- Meanwhile, Phillies‘ international signee Miguel Gonzalez has experienced a case of dead arm and will be checked out by the team’s top physician, reports Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Gonzalez, 27, had been working on a rehab assignment at High-A, where he had allowed seven earned runs (on three strikeouts and nine walks) over 9 1/3 innings. “Hopefully, it’s nothing serious,” commented GM Ruben Amaro Jr. As Gelb implies, it looks increasingly unlikely that the club will get any major league production out of Gonzalez this year.
- The Marlins are hoping to avoid losing another pitcher to season-ending elbow surgery, as reliever Carter Capps will shut down and rehab an undisclosed elbow injury, reports Craig Davis of the Miami Sun-Sentinel. “He’ll be down for an extended period of time and start building back up, and see where we’re at,” said manager Mike Redmond. Capps, a hard-throwing 23-year-old righty, came to Miami in the Logan Morrison trade, and had tossed 12 innings of 3.00 ERA ball with an impressive 11.25 K/9 against just 2.25 BB/9. The injury situation is all the more difficult in light of the fact that the Fish surprisingly remain right in the thick of things in the NL East.
Minor Moves: Ramirez, Brach, Newby, Buckner, Boyer, Lo
We’ll keep tabs on the day’s minor moves right here …
- The Royals have signed catcher Max Ramirez to a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). Ramirez, 29, was once a top-100 prospect with the Rangers, but has only seen 140 career MLB plate appearances (all with Texas). He was the primary backstop for the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate from 2012-13, but posted an interesting .192/.382/.192 line in 68 plate appearance with the Reds’ top farm club this year before hitting the open market.
- Two Somerset Patriots right-handers have been signed away to affiliated ball on minor league pacts, tweets Mike Ashmore of MyCentralJersey.com. Brett Brach has signed with the Nationals, while Kyler Newby will join the Angels. Brach, 26, had spent his career in the Indians organization, briefly reaching the Triple-A level. The 29-year-old Newby, who has spent ten seasons in the minors and owns a lifetime 9.9 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9, threw to a 2.70 ERA in 60 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A in the Athletics organization last year.
- Billy Buckner and Blaine Boyer have each accepted assignments with the Padres‘ Triple-A affiliate, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. The pair of righties was designated for assignment (and, it turns out, exposed to outright waivers) on Sunday, in conjunction with a series of roster moves relating to the team’s acquisition of lefty Troy Patton.
- The Astros have released righty Chia-Jen Lo, according to the PCL transactions page. The 28-year-old Taiwanese native tossed 19 1/3 big league innings and even notched two saves last year for Houston. He worked to a 4.19 ERA with 7.4 K/9 against 6.1 BB/9. Lo, who was outrighted off of the club’s 40-man early this season, had struggled to a 4.74 ERA in 19 Triple-A innings in 2014, getting hit hard while striking out 8.1 and walking 5.7 batters per nine.
- MLBTR’s DFA Tracker shows several players in DFA limbo, with Blake Wood of the Indians joining Phil Irwin, Wandy Rodriguez, and Vin Mazzaro of the Pirates.
Mariners To Sign Xavier Nady
The Mariners have agreed to terms with free agent outfielder Xavier Nady, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). The sides were said to be in discussion on a minor league deal, according to an earlier report from Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune.
As Dutton explains, Nady will likely join the club’s Triple-A affiliate in hopes of earning a call-up. Should that occur, he would offer an outfield option to slot in against opposing southpaws for a club that has struggled in that department. (Seattle’s outfielders have mustered only a .273 wOBA and 70 wRC+ against lefties, as a unit.)
Though Nady is obviously past his prime, he does carry a career 112 wRC+ against opposite-handed hitters (against a 93 wRC+ against righties). He has continued that trend both in recent major league action and in his solid Triple-A campaign last year, when he put up a .879 OPS in 135 plate appearances against lefties.
Mariners Nearing Deal With Xavier Nady
The Mariners are close to reaching agreement on a minor league deal with veteran utilityman Xavier Nady, according to Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. Nady, 35, recently declined an outright assignment with the Padres.
Nady will head to Triple-A for a virtual tryout, Dutton explains, with a call-up likely if he impresses at Tacoma. The Mariners outfield mix is rather lefty-heavy at the moment, with Cole Gillespie (.580 OPS) and Stefen Romero (.566 OPS) providing minimal production from the right side of the plate.
Since his last season as a big league regular in 2008, Nady has managed only a .234/.287/.353 slash over 807 plate appearances. But he was solid at Triple-A last year, putting up a .296/.360/.456 line and 15 home runs in 495 trips to the plate for the Royals and Rockies organizations. Nady carried some of that regained pop forward to 2014, hitting three long balls in 42 plate appearances with the Padres this year, though he slashed just .135/.238/.405 in that stretch.