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Padres Notes: First Base, Bartlett, Cabrera

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Padres GM Jed Hoyer appeared on XX1090 sports radio in San Diego recently, touching on a variety of topics. Let's round it up…

  • XX1090 producer/reporter Marty Caswell tweets that Hoyer said the team's first base solution will likely be a free agent signing, not a trade. It would also be a one-year solution. Hoyer joked that he won't shave until they have a new first baseman.
  • "It’s something I can hope can get resolved quickly," said Hoyer with regards to the Jason Bartlett non-trade (via Caswell's Twitter). "There are several different issues we're working on." SI.com's Jon Heyman tweets that the deal is "better than 50-50" to get done.
  • Hoyer said he wouldn't mind having shortstop Everth Cabrera start the season in the minors to build confidence and let him accrue at-bats, tweets MLB.com's Corey Brock. A Bartlett would trade would certainly help make Hoyer's wish come true.

Red Sox Sign Lenny DiNardo

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The Red Sox have brought back a familiar face, signing lefty Lenny DiNardo to a minor league contract according to WEEI.com's Rob Bradford. He originally broke in with Boston back in 2004.

DiNardo, 31, owns a 5.36 ERA in 257 big league innings, most of which came as a member of the Athletics. He spent last season with Oakland's Triple-A affiliate and hasn't appeared in the big leagues since the end of the 2009 season with the Royals. DiNardo has experience both as both a starter and reliever, though he's performed considerably better coming out of the bullpen.

Diamondbacks Agree To Deal With Xavier Nady

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The Diamondbacks have agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.75MM with Xavier Nady. He can earn another $1MM in incentives. The first baseman/outfielder is a Scott Boras client and was in Phoenix for a physical on Wednesday.

Nady, 32, hit .256/.306/.353 with six homers in 347 plate appearances for the Cubs in 2010. He missed almost all of 2009 after having his second Tommy John surgery. D'Backs GM Kevin Towers had Nady with the Padres, continuing a theme that has seen him target (or acquire) many of his former players this winter, including Henry Blanco, Sean Burroughs, and Geoff Blum.

Nady signed a one-year contract worth $3.3MM guaranteed (he did earn another $1.05MM in incentives) coming off his injury, and I predicted that he would have to settle for a similar deal when I previewed his free agent stock back in September.

Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic originally reported that the two sides were close to an agreement. SI.com's Jon Heyman confirmed the agreement and added details, as did Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (all four Twitter links).

White Sox Offer Kerry Wood Two Years

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The White Sox just landed Jesse Crain, but they aren't done yet. Fred Mitchell and David Kaplan of The Chicago Tribune report that the ChiSox have offered Kerry Wood a two-year contract. 

Wood, 33, is reportedly seeking a two-year deal worth $12MM, and interestingly enough a Wood-White Sox rumor was shot down last week. The former Cub pitched to a 3.13 ERA in 46 innings in 2010, aided greatly by his brilliant stint with the Yankees. After being acquired at the trade deadline, Wood pitched to a 0.69 ERA with 10.7 K/9 in 26 innings with New York, though he walked way too many batters at 6.2 per nine innings.

Blue Jays Pursuing Octavio Dotel

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After letting Scott Downs and Kevin Gregg become free agents, the Blue Jays are interested in adding Octavio Dotel to their bullpen according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Last week we learned that Toronto was one of seven teams that inquired about the right-hander.

Dotel, now 37, bounced from the Pirates to the Dodgers to the Rockies in 2010 and posted a 4.08 ERA along the way. He picked up 21 saves as the closer in Pittsburgh and struck out over a batter per inning (10.5 K/9) overall. Dotel walked lots of hitters as usual (4.5 BB/9), but limited hits.

Latest On The Rockies’ Search For A Reliever

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The Rockies have been looking to strengthen their bullpen basically all offseason, but they haven't done much in that regard beyond trading for Felipe Paulino. They did make an offer to Matt Guerrier before he agreed to sign with the Dodgers, according to Troy Renck of The Denver Post (Twitter link), but their search for relief help won't stop there.

In a series of tweets, Renck says the Rockies maintain interest in Jesse Crain, but like many clubs they prefer not to go three years on a reliever. He adds that they also like Bobby Jenks and former Rockie Brian Fuentes, but they might be out of their price range. Finally, Renck says it would not be surprising to see them pursue Jon Rauch, though Chad Qualls, Hideki Okajima, and Mike MacDougal are interesting options as well. 

The back end of Colorado's bullpen is pretty well set with Huston Street, Rafael Betancourt, and Matt Belisle, but there's no such thing as too much depth. Street missed time with a shoulder issue and battled an oblique problem late in the season, and I'm sure the team would like to ease off Belisle, who led MLB with 92 relief innings in 2010.

Diamondbacks Close To Deal With Xavier Nady

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The Diamondbacks are closing in on a deal with Xavier Nady, reports Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. The first baseman/outfielder was in Phoenix for a physical on Wednesday. 

Nady, 32, hit .256/.306/.353 with six homers in 347 plate appearances for the Cubs in 2010. He missed almost all of 2009 after having his second Tommy John surgery. D'Backs GM Kevin Towers had Nady with the Padres, continuing a theme that has seen him target (or acquire) many of his former players this winter, including Henry Blanco, Sean Burroughs, and Geoff Blum.

Nady signed a one-year contract worth $3.3MM guaranteed (he did earn another $1.05MM in incentives) coming off his injury, and I predicted that he would have to settle for a similar deal when I previewed his free agent stock back in September.

The post was originally published on December 15th.

Athletics, Hideki Matsui Could Be Close To Agreement

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MONDAY, 6:54am: Slusser writes that "the deal might be finalized today, with a news conference likely to be held Tuesday if the details are finalized in time."  SI's Jon Heyman believes a deal would be for around $7MM a year.

SUNDAY, 10:46pm: Slusser says that even though Matsui has not yet visited Oakland, the A's are the front runner to sign him with no close second. She's heard about a possible one-year, $5MM contract, but believes that might be low given the two-year, $16MM offer they made to Berkman.

9:35pm: Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle says that the two sides could reach an agreement as early as this week (Twitter links). She adds that Arn Tellem, Matsui's agent, wanted to get proposals this weekend with a decision to follow.

8:10pm: The Athletics could be close to an agreement with Hideki Matsui, tweets Joe Stiglich of the Bay Area News Group. Oakland has had trouble getting free agents to take their money this offseason, most notably getting spurned by Adrian Beltre and Lance Berkman.

Matsui has been connected to the A's pretty much all offseason. The 2009 World Series MVP hit .274/.361/.459 with 21 homers for the Angels this past season, though he was much more impressive after the calendar flipped to June (.300/.392/.498). The 36-year-old Matsui could slot right in at DH for Oakland, though he did make 18 appearances in the outfield in 2010. 

Angels Are “Offensively Focused”

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After adding a pair of left-handers to their bullpen, the Angels are now "offensively focused" according to SI.com's Jon Heyman. He adds that they do not appear to be the mystery team in on Cliff Lee.

The Halos' offseason plan took a huge hit when Carl Crawford signed with the Red Sox, but they could always turn to Adrian Beltre. There has been talk about a reunion with Vladimir Guerrero as well, and there are a number of similar DH-centric types on the market, including Magglio Ordonez, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, and Jason Giambi. Those last four names are just my speculation, though.

MLBTR Originals: 12/5/10 – 12/12/10

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We didn't have much time for original content this week because of the winter meetings, so make sure you browse the Week In Review in case you missed anything along the way. Here's the original content we did come up with…

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