Minor Moves: Valdez, Graham, Iribarren, Morales, Jackson, Hensley
We'll keep track of today's minor moves here (information courtesy of MLB.com transactions page):
- Righty Jose Valdez has inked a minor league contract with the Red Sox. The 30-year-old has seen 24 big league games with the Astros, but worked last year at Triple-A, putting up a 5.72 ERA in 39 1/3 innings. Valdez has shown the ability to miss bats (career 8.7 K/9), but also tends to miss spots (5.2 BB/9).
- Tyler Graham, a 29-year-old outfielder, has signed a minor league deal with the Giants. Graham spent all of 2006-11 with the San Francisco organization, then split 2012 between the Giants and Diamondbacks. He got a cup of coffee with the D-Backs (two plate appearances), but ended up out of the MLB structure thereafter. Last year, he bounced between four Independent and Mexican League clubs. In his last full Triple-A season, 2011, Graham posted a .273/.337/.338 line with 60 stolen bases.
- The Reds have signed a minor league deal with second baseman Hernan Iribarren. The 29-year-old Venezuelan received 29 plate appearances over 2008-09 but has yet to return. Last year, with the Rockies' Triple-A affiliate, Iribarren slashed .312/.367/.407 in 286 plate appearances.
- Outfielder Angel Morales has reached agreement on a minor league contract with the Marlins. The 2007 third-round pick had spent his entire career with the Twins organization, reaching the Double-A level last year at age 23. Morales earned the promotion with a .297/.364/.525 start to the year in 234 High-A plate appearances, but failed to follow up in the penultimate level of the minors (.169/.230/.307 in 184 plate appearances).
- The Nationals have signed southpaw Zach Jackson to a minor league deal. Now 30, Jackson saw 105 1/3 innings over the 2006-09 period after being drafted in the first round of the 2004 amateur draft. Jackson has bounced around the league, failing to stick as a starter. Last year, after converting full-time to relief for the Royals, he pitched to a 1.32 ERA in 41 innings at Double-A and Triple-A. Jackson managed a sturdy 2.57 K:BB ratio in 2013, but did so on the back of just 4.0 K/9 (against a career-low 1.5 BB/9).
- Washington also signed righty Clay Hensley to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite, MLB.com's Bill Ladson reports on Twitter. The 34-year-old last saw MLB time in 2012 with the Giants, when he had a 4.62 ERA over 50 2/3 innings of relief. Over his career, Hensley has started 49 big league games and appeared in over 200 others out of the pen. He threw to a 2.57 ERA in 35 Triple-A innings last year with Reds and Brewers affiliates, registering 9.8 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9 in the process.
- One player appears in MLBTR's DFA Tracker with an unresolved case: Carlos Peguero of the Mariners.
Cherington On Additions, Starters, Drew
Red Sox GM Ben Cherington spoke with reporters today, touching on a number of relevant topics. He left the impression that Boston has done most of the heavy lifting for 2014, but is still working to make several improvements.
- The club is not done adding to the roster, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports, with Cherington citing the bullpen, outfield, and infield as possible areas where an acquisition could be made. "I think it's likely we'll add to the roster," said Cherington. "Whether it be in the form of a major league deal or a minor league deal remains to be seen. But [I am] confident that we'll add some players before Spring Training. We're actively working on that now."
- Cherington indicated that he does not foresee making any significant trades, Jason Mastrodonato of MassLive.com tweets. Though the post-Tanaka pitching market blitz could result in interest in Sox starters, Cherington said that the club does not expect to deal from its starting depth, as Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald notes.
- Cherington did not, however, give any indication that progress had been made with free agent shortstop Stephen Drew. Though he said that dialogue has continued, as Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal tweets, the GM explained that "the time spent on it publicly is not consistent with the time we're spending on it."
Phillies Sign Bobby Abreu
9:05pm: Abreu can opt out of the deal if he is not placed on the MLB roster by March 26th, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. That early date, of course, will pressure the Phillies to carry Abreu on the Opening Day roster or risk losing him.
Abreu's deal calls for him to earn a $50K bonus if he is named Comeback Player of the Year, Sherman adds.
2:07pm: The Phillies have officially signed outfielder Bobby Abreu, the club announced. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com first reported the deal (Twitter links). Abreu will return to Philadelphia on a minor league contract, ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick tweets, with Heyman adding that he would earn $800K if he breaks camp with the club.
Abreu, who will turn 40 before the start of the year, did not play in the bigs last year. He has 17 MLB seasons under his belt, including nine with the Phils. In 2012, Abreu posted a .246/.361/.344 line in 257 plate appearances, most of them coming with the Dodgers. His last full season came in 2011. Fading power and declining defense left him at a replacement level in that campaign, though Abreu never lost his ability to reach base. (Across nearly 10,000 career plate appearances, he carried a lifetime .396 OBP and never fell below the .350 mark after he broke in as a full-time player.)
So, why the interest from Philadelphia? Abreu has been tearing up the Venezuelan Winter League with a .322/.416/.461 triple-slash in 180 regular season plate appearances. And as impressive as Abreu was during the winter league's regular season, his postseason stats were even more eye-opening. Abreu slashed .464/.549/1.214 (with eight home runs) in 56 playoff at-bats, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.
As CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury reported earlier, GM Ruben Amaro Jr. had heard "decent reports on [Abreu]" coming out of Venezuela, leading to the club's interest. According to Amaro, the club was "looking at all the left-handed bats still out there and he's one of them." It remains to be seen, of course, whether the Phils will nevertheless look to add another left-handed bench option in addition to Abreu.
The Phillies apparently had competition in landing Abreu. As Crasnick reports, the Mets and Indians were both interested in the veteran's services, as was a Japanese club.
Dodgers Sign Miguel Olivo, Griff Erickson
The Dodgers have signed catchers Miguel Olivo and Griff Erickson to minor league deals with Spring Training invitations, the club announced. They will join a host of other catchers in camp, including A.J. Ellis, Tim Federowicz, Drew Butera, and J.C. Boscan.
Olivo, 35, saw just 80 plate appearances last year for the Marlins after having notched at least 281 trips to the plate for the prior ten years. He slashed .203/.250/.392 last year, and carries a career .241/.275/.417 line in nearly 4,000 career plate appearances.
Erickson, a 25-year-old who qualified for minor league free agency, will stay in the only professional organization he's ever known. He has spent much of the last three years at Double-A, and has never spent any substantial time at the highest minor league level. In 2013, Erickson posted a .199/.324/.414 triple-slash in 217 Double-A plate appearances.
Astros, Nolan Ryan Have Mutual Interest In Relationship
The Astros and recently retired Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan have both expressed interest in exploring a working relationship, according to multiple reports today. Reid Ryan, the son of the legendary pitcher, is Houston's president of business operations.
Astros owner Jim Crane said today that he was "hoping to talk to Nolan [Ryan] pretty soon," reports Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle. "Certainly, we could make room for Nolan," said Crane. "We'll see how that works with the business side and the baseball side." The younger Ryan indicated that he would "love to have my dad work with the Houston Astros," but said he would leave it to his father and Crane to work things out.
Meanwhile, the Hall of Famer Ryan said that he would "look forward to [working with his son] if that turned out to be a doable deal," reports Mark Berman of Houston's FOX 26. Having already retired from his work with the Rangers, Ryan indicated that the Astros were the only club he would realistically be interested in working for.
Of course, none of the reports give any indication of the type of role that Ryan might occupy with the Astros. Reid Ryan is already perched atop the business hierarchy, with the respected Jeff Luhnow running things from the baseball ops side.
Masahiro Tanaka Links: Tuesday
News on a landing spot for Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka has been expected between now and Thursday. But now Jayson Stark of ESPN.com tweets that the decision could take til Friday since Tanaka may stand on a physical taken during his trip to Los Angeles earlier in the month. As Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports explains (Twitter links), the results of Tanaka's January 9th physical were shared with interested clubs, but teams may want their own medical staff to get a firsthand look. Either way, Tanaka must be signed to a deal with no contingencies on or before Friday at 4pm central time. We'll keep tabs on today's news right here:
- In case you missed it from this morning, ESPN.com's Buster Olney wrote an Insider piece that profiles Tanaka agent Casey Close of Excel Sports Management. The relatively non-promotional and rumor-free negotiation process reflects the businesslike personalities of both Close and Tanaka, Olney suggests.
- Teams bidding on Tanaka are "in for at least 6 or 7 years," reports Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com (on Twitter). The average annual value will be "at or above" $20MM, Levine adds. Put those numbers together, of course, and Levine's report suggests that Tanaka will command at least $120MM (in addition, presumably, to the $20MM posting fee).
- The Red Sox "do not appear to be among the finalists" in the Tanaka sweepstakes, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
- Astros owner Jim Crane says that the team is interested in Tanaka, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (via Twitter). We heard yesterday that Houston may have been one of the clubs to have met with Tanaka and his representatives. It is still not known, of course, whether the 'Stros interest has manifested itself as a competitive, formal offer. And McTaggart tweets that, in his opinion, the club is a "longshot."
- Once Tanaka officially comes off the board, baseball is set to experience a rush of important free agent signings that has not been experienced in recent seasons, as MLBTR's Transaction Tracker documents. On or after January 24, 2009, there were six multi-year free agent deals and three contracts that included at least $10MM in guaranteed money. Last year, five and three deals hit those respective marks on or after 1/24. The intervening years – 2012 (2/2), 2011 (0/0), and 2010 (1/1) — had much fewer substantial, late signings. Assuming that no major deals go down before Friday, however, at least eight still-available free agents seem quite likely to get multi-year deals that guarantee over $10MM: Tanaka, Kendrys Morales, Stephen Drew, Nelson Cruz, Bronson Arroyo, Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Ervin Santana. A good number of others — including A.J. Burnett, Paul Maholm, Chris Capuano, Grant Balfour, and Fernando Rodney — still have an excellent chance at scoring multiple years, eight-figure guarantees, or both.
Indians Notes: Arbitration Hearings, Masterson
As MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows, the Indians (along with the Cubs) lead the league with four unsettled arbitration cases. Cleveland must settle or face a hearing with Josh Tomlin ($975K vs. $800K), Vinnie Pestano ($1.45MM vs. $975K), Michael Brantley ($3.8MM vs. $2.7MM), and Justin Masterson ($11.8MM vs. $8.05MM).
- Though the Indians are known as a team that pursues a "file and trial" strategy on a case-by-case basis, the club has gone a league-high 22 years since it went to a hearing. But with four potential cases GM Chris Antonetti says "there's a very high likelihood we could end up in a hearing," tweets Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
- Masterson's case features the greatest absolute dollar gap of any in baseball. With a $3.75MM bridge to gap, a hearing could be necessary, reports MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.
- Meanwhile, "little progress" has been made in discussions of a long-term deal between Masterson and the Indians, Bastian reports. The 28-year-old had an outstanding bounceback season in 2013, returning to his 2011 performance levels with a 3.45 ERA and even lower FIP, xFIP, and SIERA marks (3.35, 3.33, and 3.40, respectively). Set to hit the open market next year as one of several attractive starting pitchers, Masterson could cost the Indians $65MM to $85MM over five years in an extension scenario, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes has suggested.
Phillies Avoid Arbitration With Antonio Bastardo
The Phillies have avoided arbitration with southpaw reliever Antonio Bastardo, the club announced. Bastardo will receive $2MM for 2014, and his contract includes incentives.
As MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows, Bastardo's salary lands under the midpoint between the two sides' submission amounts. At $2MM, Bastardo's salary is an exact match to the projection of MLBTR's Matt Swartz.
The 28-year-old Bastardo figures to play an important role in the Philadelphia pen next year. He missed the end of 2013 after taking a 50-game PED ban, but had been excellent to that point with a 2.32 ERA in 42 2/3 innings. Over his career, Bastardo has been effective against both lefties (.616 OPS against) and righties (.660).
Quick Hits: Minaya, Mets, Padres
For some fascinating information on the Latin American market, be sure to read this interview with longtime baseball man Omar Minaya, courtesy of Teddy Klein of metsmerizedonline.com.
- Minaya's former club, the Mets, may still add options for the starting rotation even after signing John Lannan, writes Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. "Lannan does not necessarily preclude us from signing another starter," said assistant GM John Ricco.
- Minaya's current team, the Padres, is probably not going to add a reliever "unless it's something small," a source told Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (Twitter link). Though the team has been said to be in the market for a lefty, it appears that the intent is to make a modest acquisition, if any.
Padres Fielding Trade Calls On Logan Forsythe
The Padres have been contacted by multiple clubs with interest in utilityman Logan Forsythe, reports Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (via Twitter). Forsythe, who just turned 27, has spent most of his MLB time at second, though he has also logged innings at third, short, and the corner outfield.
Last week, we learned that the Yankees had inquired with San Diego about a trade for an infielder, with Forsythe reportedly the most realistic subject of a possible deal. While other clubs with potential interest remain unknown, Forsythe's versatility makes him a reasonable target for many organizations.
Forsythe swings from the right side of the plate, and carries a lifetime .241/.310/.349 line in 762 plate appearances over three seasons. After a solid 2012 (107 OPS+), Forsythe struggled last year with a .214/.281/.332 triple-slash in 243 plate appearances. He will be eligible for arbitration for the first time next year.
From the Padres' perspective, Forsythe clearly does not have a starting spot and may be somewhat redundant with fellow utility player Alexi Amarista. With several other depth options also under contract — including Ryan Jackson, Brandon Wood, and Alberto Gonzalez — the club could try to flip Forsythe for a southpaw bullpen piece or low-level prospects.