Mark Polishuk | MLB Trade Rumors

Outrighted To Triple-A: Josh Lueke, Kent Matthes

By Mark Polishuk | June 9, 2014 at 2:58pm CDT

Here are today’s outright assignments…

Rays righty Josh Lueke cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Durham, MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Tampa designated Lueke for assignment two days ago in order to clear roster space for fellow righty Kirby Yates.
The Athletics have outrighted outfielder Kent Matthes to Double-A Midland, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Matthes was originally designated for assignment on Friday. The 27-year-old outfielder has a .217/.275/.370 slash line and five homers in a combined 200 PA for the Athletics’ Triple-A and Double-A squads this season.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Wieters, Scherzer, Rollins, Delmon

By Mark Polishuk | June 9, 2014 at 2:19pm CDT

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has been plenty busy over the past few days, digging up rumors from all around the league. Here are some highlights from his latest work…

Two sources tell Rosenthal that Matt Wieters’ throwing program is going poorly and surgery is looking more likely (Twitter links). A third source, however, cautions that it’s too soon to make that judgment, adding that Wieters has good days and also bad days at this time.
In this weekend’s Full Count video, he notes that while many were shocked by Max Scherzer’s decision to turn down $144MM in an attempt to secure more on next year’s free agent market, Scherzer has an insurance policy on his right arm that Scherzer says “takes the injury risk out of it.” While the policy likely doesn’t cover the full amount of that offer, it sounds to be a substantial amount. Rosenthal adds that Jon Lester has a similar policy, though not for nearly as much money as Scherzer’s policy.
Some friends of Jimmy Rollins feel that he’ll be willing to waive his 10-and-5 rights to approve a trade once he passes Mike Schmidt for the franchise lead in hits. Others feel he and his wife, a Philadelphia native, prefer to stay no matter what. Of course, Rollins’ $11MM vesting option damages his trade value as well, as he will easily reach the required plate appearances if he stays healthy.
The Giants are looking to upgrade at second base this summer. While they could use a starting pitcher, they aren’t likely to make an addition that would turn Tim Lincecum into a $17MM bullpen arm. The Athletics, on the other hand, could use a starting pitching upgrade and have the necessary catching depth to make a move.
The Orioles are willing to move Delmon Young, who is batting .286/.318/.369 and has lost most of his plate appearances to Steve Pearce. While Young isn’t the hitter than Kendrys Morales is, Rosenthal lists him as a low-cost alternative to teams that missed out on Morales; Young is set to earn about $600K over the rest of the season.

Earlier Updates

The Mariners are looking to add a starting pitcher, a rival executive tells Rosenthal (link to his latest Notes column). Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Roenis Elias and Chris Young make up the top four of Seattle’s rotation, and with James Paxton and Taijuan Walker battling injuries, the M’s have had trouble filling the fifth starter’s role. Adding payroll in a trade could still be an issue for the Mariners, Rosenthal adds.
A clause in John Lackey’s five-year, $82.5MM deal with the Red Sox allowed the team to extend the contract through 2015 and pay Lackey a league minimum salary if he missed significant time with an arm injury. This clause was enacted when Lackey underwent Tommy John surgery two years ago, though it’s not certain that Lackey would be such a bargain for the Sox since Rosenthal suggests that the veteran righty could simply retire rather than play for what would amount to roughly $265K (after taxes) in 2015. Rosenthal thinks a two-year extension would be beneficial to both Lackey and the Red Sox in this situation.
The Tigers’ biggest need is still in the bullpen thanks to Joe Nathan’s unexpected struggles. Relief help would be easier to find than a short-term shortstop, as Rosenthal notes that most of the ideal veteran shortstop options are playing for contenders (though Stephen Drew could be a trade possibility if Boston falls out of the race). If a proven shortstop can’t be found, the Tigers may have to make do with rookie Eugenio Suarez.
Rosenthal feels the Cubs should make a trade for David Price, a move that would address both the club’s desire to add pitching and help the Cubs answer criticisms of their payroll if Price was extended.
While top Dodgers prospect Joc Pederson has been on fire at the Triple-A level, Rosenthal said the club isn’t in a rush to promote him. Beyond just the fact that L.A. has a crowded outfield, Dodgers officials feel the 22-year-old Pederson still has to solve some maturity issues, cut down on his strikeouts and perform better against left-handed pitching.

AL East Links: Balfour, Price, Drew, BoSox

By Mark Polishuk | June 9, 2014 at 1:16pm CDT

Grant Balfour is no longer the Rays’ closer, as manager Joe Maddon told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that his team is moving to a closer committee. The demotion comes as no surprise following Balfour’s rough performance on Sunday, when he allowed the Mariners to score five runs in the ninth inning. Balfour has struggled badly this season, posting a 6.46 ERA and recording almost as many walks (20) as strikeouts (21) over 23 2/3 innings of work. The 36-year-old signed a two-year, $12MM free agent contract with Tampa in the offseason. If you have Balfour on a fantasy team, stay tuned to @CloserNews (MLBTR’s save-centric sister Twitter account) to keep tabs on the Rays’ bullpen and other late-game situations throughout baseball.

Here’s some more from the AL East…

The Rays could be sellers at the trade deadline, and Fangraphs’ Eno Sarris looks at some of the club’s veteran pieces with a particular focus on David Price. While Tampa Bay will rightly seek a big prospect haul for Price, Sarris notes the difficulty in finding a contender (especially outside the AL East) who has the necessary minor league depth to swing a trade. Sarris also notes that a fire sale seems unlikely, as the Rays will still look to contend in 2015.
Peter Gammons discussed several Red Sox topics in an interview on the Dennis & Callahan radio show this morning (WEEI.com’s Conor Ryan has a partial transcript). While Gammons doesn’t think the Red Sox regret signing the struggling Stephen Drew, “there are so many political angles at play here that you’ve just got to wonder, ‘What are they going to be a year from now?” Gammons believes the Boston media’s criticisms of Xander Bogaerts’ ability to play short pressured the club to re-sign Drew, whereas Gammons felt the Red Sox should’ve acquired an outfielder instead.
Gammons doesn’t see the Red Sox becoming major sellers if they fall out of the race because they want pitchers like Jon Lester and John Lackey back in 2015 and also “just because of the nature of the Boston fans and because of the nature of the market and because of NESN.” A.J. Pierzynski could potentially become a trade chip if the Sox fell far enough out of a playoff spot, which would open the door for Christian Vasquez to get called up and gain some big league experience.
Red Sox GM Ben Cherington won’t make moves for the sake of making moves, John Tomase of the Boston Herald writes, as the current roster will have to prove its worth as a contender over the next six weeks to convince the front office to pursue upgrades.
Orioles executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette appeared on Middays With MFB today (again, tip of the cap to WEEI.com’s Conor Ryan) and said that trade talk around the league is slow since so many teams are still technically in contention. “There aren’t many sellers, from what I can tell. Usually after the draft, which was just completed, teams will start calling around, but I only know that there’s just a couple of sellers right now….It’s going to be challenging to add to the team,” Duquette said.
The Yankees should look to shake up their struggling lineup by getting rid of Brian Roberts and Alfonso Soriano, Mike Axisa of the River Ave Blues blog opines. Since Derek Jeter won’t be moved down in the lineup due to his stature, Axisa suggests that Jeter actually become the leadoff hitter in order to have the Yankees’ best four hitters (Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mark Teixeira, Yangervis Solarte) all hit in a row.

Dodgers Agree To Terms With Alex Verdugo

By Mark Polishuk | June 9, 2014 at 12:21pm CDT

The Dodgers and second-round draft pick Alex Verdugo have agreed to terms on a $914.6K bonus, MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo reports (Twitter link). The bonus directly matches the assigned value of the 62nd overall pick. Verdugo had committed to attend Arizona State.

Verdugo, 18, is a Tucson high schooler who was drafted by the Dodgers as an outfielder, though he was also well-regarded as a left-handed pitcher. Baseball America, in fact, believes that Verdugo’s “professional future is definitely on the mound,” describing him as “a strike-thrower” with two breaking balls and a changeup, plus a fastball in the 88-90mph range.

BA ranked Verdugo as the 55th-best prospect in the draft and MLB.com ranked him 60th, though both rankings may have been made with him in mind as a pitcher. Dodgers VP of amateur scouting Logan White told MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick that pitching could still be in Verdugo’s future, as “if he doesn’t hit, he’ll go right to the mound. I think he can be a big league pitcher.”

Latest On The First Base Trade Market

By Mark Polishuk | June 9, 2014 at 10:10am CDT

First basemen who “are available” to be traded include the Yankees’ Kelly Johnson, the Phillies’ John Mayberry Jr., the Nationals’ Tyler Moore and the Pirates’ Gaby Sanchez, sources tell Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. Johnson and Sanchez are new additions to the rumor mill, while Mayberry and Moore have both been recently cited as possible trade chips.

The quartet is cited in the context of Mitch Moreland’s season-ending ankle surgery, leaving the Rangers dealing with yet another major injury. Despite losing a host of notable players to the DL, Texas is still just 2.5 games behind Seattle for the last AL wild card slot, and could still be looking to make additions down the stretch. Texas had previously had exploratory talks with the Nationals about Moore, though MLB.com’s Bill Ladson noted those talks weren’t serious.

Johnson has played 23 games at first for the Yankees this season, though he has spent the large majority of his career as a second baseman (plus some time at third and in left field). Despite Yangervis Solarte’s emergence, the Yankees’ infield depth is still thin, so it would be somewhat surprising to see New York move a versatile player like Johnson elsewhere. Johnson is still owed roughly $1.845MM from the one-year, $3MM deal he signed with the Yankees last winter.

Sanchez was the subject of some trade rumors last year, though he remained with the Bucs as the right-handed hitting half of a first base platoon. While he has a solid .255/.303/.510 slash line with five homers in 109 PA this year, Sanchez has made almost twice as many plate appearances against righties as he has against lefties since the Pirates have faced an unusually large amount of right-handed starters; Pittsburgh hitters as a whole have made only 366 PA against lefties in 2014, by far the lowest in the majors. Sanchez has a career .903 OPS against southpaws against just a .700 OPS against righties, so he could certainly provide a contender with a useful part-time or bench bat.

Rangers first basemen have combined for -0.9 fWAR this season, and five other teams (the Twins, Astros, Indians, Royals and Mariners) have also received sub-replacement level production from their first basemen.

Astros Extend Jon Singleton

By Mark Polishuk | June 3, 2014 at 9:56am CDT

TUESDAY: Passan has the year-to-year breakdown of Singleton’s contract (Twitter link). He will earn $1.5MM this season and $2MM per year from 2015-18. He notes that each of the second options have a $250K buyout as well.

MONDAY, 6:19pm: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports (via Twitter) that Singleton’s options are worth $2.5MM, $5MM and $13MM. Singleton would earn $17MM for his pre-arbitration and arb years, with the $13MM option being for his first year of free agency.

5:30pm: The future of the Houston Astros is getting brighter and brighter, and the latest ray of light will make his Major League debut tomorrow. The Astros announced today that they have not only promoted top prospect Jon Singleton, but also inked him to a historic five-year contract extension with three club options despite the fact that he’s never played a Major League inning. The Sosnick/Cobbe Sports client reportedly receives a $10MM guarantee, and his contract can max out at $35MM if all of the options are exercised and he reaches various performance bonuses.

Singleton will reportedly earn $9.5MM in salary over the five guaranteed years, plus a $500K buyout if the Astros decline their first option. The total value of all three option years is $20MM, with an extra $5MM available in bonuses and awards.

The extension sets a new precedent for players who don’t have any Major League service time. Singleton was already under team control through at least the 2020 season, though now the Astros have cost certainty over the slugging first baseman through all of his pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible seasons, not to mention his first free agent season should Houston use all of its team options. The 22-year-old Singleton is now locked up through his age-29 season.

The Astros aggressively pursued extensions with several of their young players over the last few months, pursuing deals with George Springer, Robbie Grossman and Matt Dominguez that would’ve covered all most or all of their arb and pre-arb years and given the team more options years, to boot. Springer’s proposed extension would have also locked him up prior to his ever playing a day in the bigs, the same as Singleton’s contract.

Originally an eighth-round pick of the Phillies in the 2009 draft, Singleton came to the Houston organization as part of the trade package for Hunter Pence in 2011. The left-handed hitting first baseman has been on a tear at Triple-A Oklahoma City this season (hitting .267/.397/.544 and hitting 14 homers over 239 plate appearances), rebounding from a tough 2013 campaign that saw him struggle at Triple-A and serve a 50-game suspension for marijuana use.

Despite his issues last season, Singleton was still ranked among the game’s top prospects in preseason rankings by MLB.com (42nd overall), ESPN’s Keith Law (78th) and Baseball America (82nd). The 2014 Baseball America Prospect Handbook ranked Singleton as the seventh-best prospect in Houston’s system and described him as having “middle-of-the-order potential” and “plus raw power,” whle also praising his bat speed and ability to draw walks. The BA Handbook questioned his consistency against left-handed pitching, though Singleton showed improvement by posting a .919 OPS in 77 PA against southpaws this season at Triple-A.

Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan was the first to report the agreement, while ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reported some of the specific terms (Twitter links).

Photo courtesy of Steve Mitchell/USA Today Sports

Draft Links: Padres, Ryan, Phillies, Jays

By Mark Polishuk | June 2, 2014 at 1:26pm CDT

The 2014 amateur draft is only three days away, so here’s the first batch of what will surely be a ton of draft-related items this week…

The Padres won’t draft Jeff Hoffman or Erick Fedde with the 13th overall pick, sources tell Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Both college right-handers recently underwent Tommy John surgery and though the team “briefly kicked the idea around” of taking one of the highly-touted pitchers in hopes of a full recovery, the risk seemed too high at that point in the first round. “We want to take someone who is healthy. There are too many good options on the board,” assistant GM Chad MacDonald said.
The Twins are likely to again focus on pitching in this draft, general manager Terry Ryan tells Jim Crikket of the Knuckleballs blog. “We’ll draft a lot of pitching just because of the attrition. We need to make sure we have numbers and competition,” Ryan said. “Actually the depth and some of the talent in our organization is starting to lean toward pitching….But we won’t have enough, so we’ll take a bunch more.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that Minnesota will draft a pitcher with the fifth overall pick, as Ryan says the team is just focused on drafting the best possible player. I’d recommend reading the entire interview, as Ryan also touches on such topics as his health and the Twins’ performance this season.
The Phillies could be altering their draft strategy of taking good athletes with high ceilings by instead opting for more proven players who are closer to making the majors, CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury writes as part of an interview with Phillies scouting director Marti Wolever.
Recent comments from Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos hint that his team could also be taking a somewhat more cautious approach to their draft process, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reports. “I’d say a big part of refining our process is maybe we’re starting to examine the level of risk we’re willing to take….It doesn’t mean we’ll be risk-averse, but maybe not take the same level of risk,” Anthopoulos told Sportsnet Magazine. “We’re just trying to balance it out a little bit more as we’re going through it. That’s not to say we’re not looking for talent, upside, all that kind of stuff. We’re trying to balance it.”

Latest On Jeff Samardzija

By Mark Polishuk | June 2, 2014 at 12:56pm CDT

12:56pm: A baseball source differs from the report referenced below, telling MLBTR there is no truth to the assertion that the Cubs have inquired about receiving a competitive balance draft pick as part of a Samardzija deal.

10:57am: The Cubs have asked about acquiring a competitive balance-round draft pick and the associated bonus slot money as part of their desired return for Jeff Samardzija, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reports. This would give Chicago an extra pick either between 35th-41st overall (Round A of the competitive balance picks) or 69th-74th overall (Round B) in this year’s amateur draft, should a trade be completed between now and Thursday.

Here’s a refresher on the order of the competitive balance round, which awards an extra pick to teams that play within the 10 smallest markets and/or teams with the 10 lowest revenues. Unlike other draft selections, competitive balance picks can be traded; just yesterday, the Marlins dealt the 39th overall pick to the Pirates in exchange for reliever Bryan Morris.

Passan cites the Rockies (picking at No. 35) as the best fit for Samardzija among the Round A teams with picks to trade, given Colorado’s long-standing need for starting pitching. The draft pick would just be part of a Samardzija trade package, of course, and I would guess the Cubs would also ask for Rockies pitching prospects Jonathan Gray or Eddie Butler in exchange for their ace. The Rox could possibly upgrade their rotation simply by promoting one of those two young arms, however, rather than deal assets for a veteran.

It seems unlikely that the Cubs would move Samardzija between now and Thursday’s draft, though they could still target a competitive balance pick in the 2015 draft. The competitive balance lottery for next year’s draft will take place in roughly six weeks’ times, and an extra pick could be a valuable trade chip for any contending teams who win those additional selections.

Royals Claim Blake Wood

By Mark Polishuk | June 2, 2014 at 12:43pm CDT

The Royals have claimed right-hander Blake Wood off waivers from the Indians, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter link). Wood was designated for assignment by the Tribe last week.

Wood was originally drafted by Kansas City in the third round of the 2006 draft and he posted a 4.30 ERA and 1.72 K/BB rate in 119 1/3 relief innings with the team in 2010-11. He missed all of 2012 recovering from Tommy John surgery and was waived by K.C. following the season. Wood struggled with Cleveland this season, posting a 7.11 ERA and issuing an equal number of walks (seven) as strikeouts over 6 1/3 IP of work.

With Wood claimed, only Jeremy Horst (Phillies), Vin Mazzaro (Pirates) and Wade LeBlanc (Angels) remain in DFA Limbo according to the MLB Trade Rumors DFA Tracker.

Astros To Promote Jon Singleton

By Mark Polishuk | June 2, 2014 at 11:59am CDT

The Astros have told slugging first baseman Jon Singleton that he will be promoted to the Major Leagues for tomorrow’s game, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports (via Twitter). MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo tweeted earlier today that “all indications” were that Singleton would be promoted as early as this week.

Singleton, universally ranked as a Top 100 prospect, has enjoyed a monster season thus far for Triple-A Oklahoma City, hitting .267/.397/.544 with 14 homers through his first 54 games. While service time considerations are often a factor in the timing of promotions — and likely were part of the reason that Singleton remained in Triple-A as long as he did — the Astros won’t be fretting over the amount of team control or the price to retain him through his arbitration years; Houston has reportedly agreed to a five-year, $10MM extension with Singleton that contains three club options, allowing the deal top out at $35MM.

Houston originally acquired Singleton along with Jarred Cosart, Josh Zeid and a player to be named later (Domingo Santana) in exchange for Hunter Pence back in 2011.

Steve Adams contributed to this post.

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