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Reactions To Albert Pujols & The Cardinals

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The Cardinals and franchise player Albert Pujols failed to come to an agreement on a long-term extension before today's deadline, meaning the first baseman will hit the free agent market after the season. As you'd expect, plenty of reactions have poured in, some from team executives. Let's recap…

  • Team owner Bill DeWitt says the club "will honor [Pujols'] wishes and not discuss this matter until the completion of the season," reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). "[We] remain hopeful that Albert will finish his career in St. Louis," added DeWitt, according to Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (on Twitter).
  • "Albert is an iconic player," said DeWitt at an afternoon press conference. "We made every effort to extend his contract." Jon Heyman of SI.com passed along that quote (on Twitter).
  • Pujols' agent Dan Lozano released a statement, saying the "expiration of today's deadline does not eliminate the possibility of Albert returning to the Cardinals in 2012, but simply delays negotiations until the conclusion of the Cardinals' season." Bob Nightengale of USA Today passed that along.
  • GM John Mozeliak told Heyman that he believes Pujols wants to test the free agent market (Twitter link).
  • Joel Sherman of The New York Post compares a Pujols extension to Derek Jeter's new contract with the Yankees, saying that "teams have to stop paying for what players did and concentrate on what players are likely to do over the course of a contract."
  • Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports says that rejecting the team's offer(s) was the right move for Pujols.
  • Jeff Gordon of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cardinals should now go "all in" to win in 2011.
  • A source told ESPN's Andrew Marchand that the Yankees have no plans to look into Pujols' availability. Earlier today we heard that the Cardinals have no intention of trading their superstar despite not reaching a deal.
  • Cubs manager Mike Quade wouldn't comment on the Pujols situation when asked by Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune. Chicago's north siders are believed to be a potential match for Pujols if he does hit the market. 
  • Rosenthal says the Cardinals are taking a big risk by letting Pujols hit the open market.

Minor Moves: Geary, Perkins, Cotts, Petit

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Some minor league moves from early Spring Training…

  • The Padres signed righty reliever Geoff Geary, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy. He did not pitch in the majors last season, instead appearing in 31 games for the Triple-A affiliates of the Rangers and Dodgers (4.32 ERA). 
  • The Padres also released infielder Gregorio Petit, tweet Eddy. He signed on with San Diego back in December.
  • The Yankees signed righty reliever Fernando Hernandez, tweets Eddy. The 26-year-old pitched in three games with the 2008 A's as a Rule 5 Pick, though he spent last year with their Triple-A affiliate (4.77 ERA in 77 1/3 innings).
  • The Yankees also released Neal Cotts, reports Marc Carig of The Star Ledger (Twitter link). Cotts signed a minor league deal in November, but was still coming back from Tommy John and hip surgeries. 
  • The Blue Jays signed Vince Perkins, who they originally drafted back in 2000, tweets Eddy. The Canadian-born right-hander last pitched in 2009, when he made 53 appearances in the Cubs' minor league system (3.02 ERA).
  • The Braves signed left-hander Jose Lugo, tweets Eddy. The 25-year-old posted a 6.72 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9 in 85 2/3 innings with the Twins' Triple-A affiliate last season.

Indians Making Progress With Kevin Millwood

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FEBRUARY 12: The Indians are still unwilling to sign Kevin Millwood to a one-year, $4MM deal, tweets Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer.  Meanwhile, the club still has interest in Jeremy Bonderman, but on a minor league deal.

FEBRUARY 5, 3:26pm: Millwood is still talking with multiple clubs and has yet to decide where he will pitch in 2011, a source tells Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter).  Meanwhile, even though the Indians would prefer to bring someone in on a minor league deal, the team has not ruled out signing a pitcher to a big league contract, writes Bastian.

11:50am: The Tribe may try to bring in one starting pitcher but not two, and there's a still a chance they won't sign anyone, writes MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.  Cleveland has been connected to Jeremy Bonderman recently, and Bastian says the Millwood talks seem to indicate that a snag has been hit with Bonderman.

9:34am: The Indians are making progress with free agent Kevin Millwood, tweets Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. He notes that CEO Paul Dolan would have to approve the signing if it's a big league contract.

Just a few days ago we heard that Millwood's camp was still seeking $4-5MM, prompting MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith to list some potential suitors for the right-hander. Millwood, 36, is familiar with the Indians, having pitched in Cleveland back in 2005, when he led the league with a 2.86 ERA and finished sixth in the Cy Young voting.

If the Tribe manages to bring Millwood back, one thing they can count on are innings. He's made no fewer than 29 starts or thrown fewer than 168 2/3 innings since 2004, eclipsing 190 innings in each of the last two seasons. Unfortunately he's posted an ERA north of 5.00 in three of the last four years, and his strikeout and ground ball rates have dipped down to 5.9 K/9 and 39.8%, respectively, over the last two years while his homer rate has climbed to 1.3 HR/9. 

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Young, Pujols, Mets, Tigers

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On this date ten years ago, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh was imploded. The former home of the Pirates opened in 1970 and housed World Championship teams in 1971 and 1979. Roberto Clemente picked up his 3,000th hit there, Mike Schmidt hit his 500th homer there, and the last winning Pirates team played there.

Here are this week's links…

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here. One email per week, please.

Quick Hits: Drese, Johnson, Delcarmen, Reyes

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Eleven year ago today, the Ken Griffey Jr. era came to an end in Seattle. The Mariners traded their franchise player to the Reds for a four player package highlighted by Mike Cameron and Brett Tomko, and later that day Junior signed a nine-year, $116.5MM contract. 

Here's a few links for the evening…

Make Or Break Year: Joel Zumaya

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46520100620057_Dbacks_at_Tigers Long before Aroldis Chapman defected from Cuba, Joel Zumaya was the guy breaking all sorts of velocity records. During the 2006 ALDS, MLB Advanced Media's pitch tracking system clocked one of his fastballs at 104.8 mph, heights previously unreached. Zumaya, now 26, burst onto the scene that year with a 1.94 ERA with 10.5 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 83 1/3 innings, holding opponents to a .187/.287/.270 batting line. The Tigers had their closer-in-waiting with Todd Jones nearing the end of his career, but injuries started to strike.

Since the start of the 2007 season, Zumaya has been on the 60-day disabled list five times, at least once per season. He had shoulder surgery to repair an AC joint separation in 2007, an injury he suffered helping his family move items in advance of California wildfires. Two years later he had another surgery on his shoulder, this time to correct a non-union stress fracture. Last year he suffered perhaps the ugliest injury of all, fracturing a bone in his elbow mid-pitch. 

That breakout 2006 season has been followed by four seasons with no more than 38 1/3 innings. Zumaya has been effective when he's been on the mound though, striking out 8.1 batters per nine and pitching to a 3.78 ERA over the last four years. He's not what he was that rookie season, but he's certainly been a quality relief arm, and quality relief arms have been rewarded with handsome multiyear contracts this winter.

Zumaya is now entering his final season of team control. He and the Tigers have already agreed to a $1.4MM salary for 2011, but that's a pittance compared to what he could make in the future with a strong and, most importantly, healthy season. Zumaya has already started throwing off a mound and is on track for Opening Day, but that's just step one of a season-long process.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Giants Sign Edgar Gonzalez

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The Giants have signed infielder Edgar Gonzalez to a minor league contract, reports Mychael Urban of CSNBayArea.com (on Twitter). He did not receive an invitation to Major League Spring Training.

Gonzalez, 32, appeared in 193 games with the Padres between 2008 and 2009, hitting .255/.312/.381 in 522 plate appearances while playing all four infield positions and the corner outfield spots. He spent the 2010 season with the Yomiuri Giants, and is the older brother of former Padres teammate Adrian Gonzalez.

Orioles Notes: Scott, MacPhail, Guerrero

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The Orioles avoided arbitration with Luke Scott today, but here's a few more tidbits from Charm City…

  • Scott's contract includes a standard awards package that could put another $350K into his pocket according to Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun.
  • President of baseball operations Andy MacPhail talked to a group of Baltimore School of Law students today, and The Baltimore Suns' Keith Van Valkenburg has the goods. MacPhail acknowledged that the team will not "be buying No. 1 pitchers" because they're expensive and fragile by the time they hit free agency. "It's just a bad place for us to spend our money."
  • MacPhail said the team intends to stay the course and build from within, especially on the mound. "Given the economics of it, it's the only approach. It's not just the right approach, it's the only approach. We have to stick with it."
  • The franchise is not able to sustain a $140MM payroll, and MacPhail doesn't foresee a salary cap anytime soon. "If you want a cap, OK, but in my opinion that means you're going to have no baseball for at least a year. Let's not fool ourselves into thinking the players will cave."
  • ESPN.com's Keith Law tells Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com that he doesn't like what the Orioles have done this offseason. Vladimir Guerrero is, in Law's estimation, "in the toaster" even if he's not yet toast. Blocking Nolan Reimold and Felix Pie with Guerrero doesn't make sense to Law.

Red Sox Sign Dennys Reyes

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The Red Sox signed Dennys Reyes to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, the team announced. Reyes will earn $900K if he makes the major league team with incentives that could push the value of the deal to $1.4MM, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com.

Reyes, 34 in April, had agreed to a one-year Major League contract worth $1.1MM with the Phillies earlier this offseason, but the deal was called off after the two sides "hit a snag." In 59 appearances with the Cardinals last year, the southpaw posted a 3.55 ERA with nearly as many walks (21) as strikeouts (25) in 38 innings. Left-handed batters gave him trouble, tagging him for a .307/.409/.453 batting line, but over the last three years it's a much more respectable .234/.312/.314.

Reyes will join a rebuilt Boston bullpen that now features Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler, assuming he makes the team. The Red Sox will be his 11th team.

Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports first reported the agreement.

Michael Young Requests Trade

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TUESDAY, 12:10am: Young feels a breach of trust occurred with the Rangers in part because they told him they were not trying to trade him when they actually were, tweets ESPN's Jayson Stark.  Stark adds that Young would be willing to consider expanding his eight-team list on a "case-to-case basis."

MONDAY, 10:34pm: MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan has the list of eight teams Young is willing to accept a trade to: Cardinals, Yankees, Twins, Astros, Rockies, Dodgers, Angels, and Padres. The team has said they are dealing with just those eight teams right now.

9:45pm: Grant passes along some strong words from Young…

"I've kept a low profile out of respect for the team, the coaching staff, my family and the fans because I didn't want to put anybody on an unnecessary roller-coaster. Now, I think it's important to address the inaccurate portrayal that is being painted. The suggestion that I've simply had a change of heart and asked for a trade is a manipulation of the truth."

"I want to be traded because I've been misled and manipulated and I'm sick of it."

Young wouldn't elaborate when asked how he was "misled and manipulated," instead saying it "would be unproductive for everybody, particularly my teammates and coaches. I know the truth and Jon Daniels knows the truth and I will sleep well."

9:16pm: Jeff Wilson of The Star Telegram hears that the Rangers would be willing to trade Young within the AL West as long as it helps improve the team. He reminds us that Texas traded high-end prospects to a division rival for Cliff Lee just last summer.

5:06pm: Michael Young has officially requested a trade according to Rangers GM Jon Daniels, reports Anthony Andro of The Star Telegram (Twitter links). The request came about a week ago, though Daniels said "nothing's imminent" according to SI.com's Jon Heyman (on Twitter).

"It's not our first choice," said Daniels. "We'd like to go to camp with him … If we can accomodate his request and upgrade the club he would like to do that."

Those quotes come courtesy of Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News and Troy Renck of the Denver Post (Twitter links). Team president Nolan Ryan said they're "going to do what’s in the best interest of the ballclub" according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Ryan would not speculate about whether the team would eat some of Young's salary, and he said he expects "proper compensation" for his third baseman according to Andro and Renck (Twitter links).

This is not the first time Young has requested a trade from the Rangers. He did so before the 2009 season, after the club asked him to play third base in deference to Elvis Andrus. Obviously nothing came of that, but Young still had a clearly defined role with the team back then. Now he's expected to be a part-time infielder and part-time DH with Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli on board.

Young, 34, has been mentioned in trade talk all winter, most notably with the Rockies. He was said to have "grown disillusioned about his diminished role" over the weekend, and we heard that Colorado would need Texas to eat about $20MM of the $48MM left on Young's salary to make a deal happen.

Young has a limited no-trade clause that allows him to block deals to all but eight teams, however Colorado is one of the eight. Ryan says that Young will not expand the list of teams he's willing to go to even though some of the clubs on the no-trade list have expressed interest in acquiring him according to Renck and Andro (all Twitter links). Daniels would not specify which teams have inquired about Young.

If Texas was willing to trade within the division, they might find suitors in the Angels and Athletics, though that is speculation on my part. Both clubs whiffed on Beltre and are known to be seeking upgrades at the hot corner. Colorado would use Young at second base full-time.

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