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Brewers Sign Alex Gonzalez

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TUESDAY, 7:23pm: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter) that the deal is worth $4.25MM. A $4MM option for 2013 will vest with 525 plate appearances, a level Gonzalez has reached in each of the last two seasons.

MONDAY, 11:18am: The Brewers announced the signing of shortstop Alex Gonzalez today. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first tweeted news of the agreement last week, noting that it's a one-year deal with a vesting option for 2013.  Gonzalez will take over as Milwaukee's starting shortstop, a position occupied by Yuniesky Betancourt this year.  Gonzalez is represented by Eric Goldschmidt.  

Gonzalez, 34, hit .241/.270/.372 with 15 home runs in 593 plate appearances for the Braves in 2011.  UZR suggests Gonzalez was average defensively this year and above-average from 2006-10.  Gonzalez seems to represent an upgrade over Betancourt, but not by much.  In November, the Braves elected not to offer arbitration to Gonzalez, so they won't be receiving a supplemental draft pick for the loss.  The Cardinals and Giants had also been linked to Gonzalez.  

As our free agent tracker shows, the list of available shortstops includes Betancourt, Ronny Cedeno,Nick Punto, and Jimmy Rollins.  Most of the clubs that lost or need shortstops, such as the Giants, Braves, Rays, Mets, Phillies, and Astros, say they have acceptable internal candidates.  It doesn't seem like Rollins has much leverage to extract a big five-year deal out of the Phillies. 

American League Non-Tenders

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Today's American League non-tenders are below, but you can keep track of all teams in our non-tender tracker.

  • The Mariners announced that they non-tendered Dan Cortes and Chris Gimenez.
  • The Orioles announced that they non-tendered Willie Eyre, the right-handed reliever who was designated for assignment last week. They non-tendered Jo-Jo Reyes, according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link). The Orioles also non-tendered Luke Scott, tweets Connolly. Scott, who battled a shoulder injury in 2011 and underwent surgery this summer, projected to earn $6MM through arbitration. 
  • The Rays non-tendered Andy Sonnanstine, according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times (Twitter link).
  • The Rangers non-tendered right-hander Fabio Castillo, according to Anthony Andro of FOXSportsSouthwest.com (Twitter link).
  • The Red Sox announced that they non-tendered Rich Hill.
  • The Royals announced that they will non-tender left-hander Aaron Laffey.
  • The Twins announced that they've non-tendered left-hander Jose Mijares (Twitter link).
  • The Tigers non-tendered second baseman Will Rhymes, announced the team.  Rhymes is not yet close to being arbitration eligible, as he has less than one year of big league service time.  Rhymes, 28, hit .306/.377/.390 at Triple-A this year.

Non-Tender Tracker

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On average, each MLB team currently has about six arbitration eligible players.  I count 188 in total, from the White Sox and Astros with two each to the Giants with a dozen.  This winter, arbitration eligible players are those with at least two years and 146 days of MLB service and less than six years, who aren't signed to multiyear deals.

Tonight at 11pm central time, teams must decide whether to tender contracts to their arbitration eligible players.  Perhaps 20% of arbitration eligible players are at risk of being cut loose (non-tendered) tonight.  Of course, reaching free agency without having to accrue six years of service can sometimes be a positive.  Also, note that each year there are a few stray non-tenders who are not yet arbitration eligible, such as Alfredo Aceves last year.

We'll have posts for non-tenders in each league constantly updated today, but another great way to stay informed is MLBTR's non-tender tracker.  There you can see all the arbitration eligible players and filter by team and whether the player was tendered a contract.  Be sure to bookmark our non-tender tracker and check it throughout the day.

Brewers Will Not Bid On Prince Fielder

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Albert Pujols is off the board with a $254MM contract from the Angels, but Scott Boras is going to let the Prince Fielder market simmer this month.  The latest:

  • GM Doug Melvin confirmed to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the Brewers are out on Fielder (Twitter link). "I think Scott [Boras] understands that," Melvin told Haudricourt.
  • The Cubs are definitely in the mix for Fielder, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.  He adds that the Mariners are trying and the Blue Jays and Rangers are "among teams showing interest and thinking hard about it."  At the Winter Meetings, Rangers president Nolan Ryan told reporters his team is not in on Fielder.

Minor Moves: Yankees, Jeroloman, Carpenter

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Today's minor moves…

  • The Yankees outrighted Colin Curtis to Triple-A and announced that Greg Golson is now a free agent, according to Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger (on Twitter).
  • The Twins confirmed the loss of Jim Hoey, adding that they outrighted recently-claimed shortstop Pedro Florimon to bring their 40-man roster count to 38.
  • The Blue Jays also confirmed the claim of Jim Hoey today, also noting they've outrighted catcher Brian Jeroloman and righty Drew Carpenter.  Their 40-man roster is now full.
  • The Brewers announced they've signed first baseman Travis Ishikawa to a minor league deal, and also confirmed their signing of Mike Rivera.  Ishikawa was designated for assignment by the Giants in March, and after clearing waivers went on to hit .251/.368/.383 in 211 Triple-A plate appearances.  Ishikawa injured his non-throwing shoulder in June while playing right field and had surgery that month.  His agent Jim McDowell tells MLBTR Ishikawa was cleared for baseball activities two months ago and will be at full strength for 2012.

Mets Claim Jeremy Hefner; Sign May, Olson

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The Mets claimed righty Jeremy Hefner off waivers from the Pirates, reports ESPN New York's Adam Rubin.  They also signed catcher Lucas May and lefty Garrett Olson to minor league deals.

Hefner, 25, was claimed by the Pirates from the Padres in November but designated for assignment by Pittsburgh on Friday.  The 25-year-old posted a 4.98 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, and 1.2 HR/9 in 157 1/3 innings at Triple-A this year.  Baseball America ranked him 15th among Padres prospects prior to the season, noting that his "three average offerings and feel for the strike zone make him ideally suited to fit in the back of a rotation."

May, 27, hit .238/.330/.427 in 286 Triple-A plate appearances this year for the Diamondbacks' and Royals' affiliates.  Olson, 28, is a former first-round draft pick who posted a 3.05 ERA, 6.4 K/9, 4.9 BB/9, and 0.7 HR/9 in 85 2/3 Triple-A innings for the Pirates' affiliate.

Blue Jays Focused On Gio Gonzalez

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The Blue Jays are focused on Athletics lefty Gio Gonzalez, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.  Last week, Slusser reported that 12 teams were interested in Gonzalez, and there were indications the A's and Jays might try to involve a third team to facilitate a deal.

The A's recently traded Trevor Cahill to the Diamondbacks, but ESPN's Buster Olney still thinks Gonzalez will be dealt.  Gonzalez, 26, ranked ninth in the AL with 197 strikeouts but led the league with 91 free passes.  He's under team control through 2015.  Gonzalez is a Super Two player for 2012 and MLBTR projects a $4.2MM salary.  That's not far from the current first-time starting pitcher arbitration record, and if Gonzalez stays healthy and continues pitching well I think he could earn nearly $40MM over his four arbitration years.

Pujols’ Wife On Cardinals’ Offer

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"The city of St. Louis has absolutely been deceived," said Albert Pujols' wife Deidre today on the Greg & Sandi show this morning on 99.1 Joy FM in St. Louis (thanks to Drew Silva for the link).  Deidre's thoughts on her husband's offseason…

  • Deidre was confused that the Cardinals said they wanted Albert to be a Cardinal for life but only offered a five-year deal.  She feels she and Albert have been given an unfair trial by the public, based on "deceiving numbers" in the media.  She explained, "The offer that people have seen on television…had that offer been the one that was given to us with guarantee, we would have a bird on our back.  It wasn't a guaranteed situation."  Deidre also confirmed they turned down a larger offer in taking $254MM from the Angels.  Marlins president David Samson told reporters they were at ten years and "a hair over $200MM," so it's unclear which team offered more than $254MM, if any.      
  • The Cardinals' ten-year, $210MM offer to Pujols included $30MM deferred without interest, tweets Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Deidre may have been referring to the Cardinals' initial bid of five years and $130MM.
  • Cardinals GM John Mozeliak commented on the negotiations to KFNS St. Louis.  He also agreed that it's safe to assume his team will not be in on Prince Fielder.

Blue Jays Claim Jim Hoey

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The Blue Jays claimed reliever Jim Hoey off waivers from the Twins, GM Terry Ryan confirmed on ESPN 1500 (hat tip: Aaron Gleeman).  Hoey indicated the same on Twitter.

Hoey, 28, struggled in 24 2/3 innings with the Twins this year, his first big league action since 2007.  He posted a 3.83 ERA in 42 1/3 Triple-A innings.  The Twins acquired the hard-throwing Hoey a year ago in the J.J. Hardy deal.

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