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Free Agent And Trade Market For Right-Handed Relievers

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The Red Sox, Blue Jays, Tigers, Twins, Rangers, Angels, Mariners, Braves, Mets, Marlins, Brewers, Cubs, Reds, Dodgers, Padres are among the many teams likely to seek right-handed relievers this offseason.  As usual, there are plenty of options of every variety.

Right-Handed Closers Available In Free Agency Or Trade

The free agent market for right-handed relievers with recent closing experience includes Jonathan Papelbon, Ryan Madson, Heath Bell, Francisco Cordero, Frank Francisco, Joe Nathan, Francisco Rodriguez, Matt Capps, Jonathan Broxton, and Jon Rauch.  David Aardsma is also a free agent, but he had Tommy John surgery in July.

Madson appears close to a four-year, $44MM contract with a fifth-year vesting option.  That contract would set the bar for Papelbon and limit his suitors.  Bell, Cordero, and Rodriguez seem certain to get multiyear deals, unless Bell accepts arbitration from the Padres.  Looking at just the free agents, the market appears flush with closing options.  Madson, Papelbon, Bell, Capps, Rodriguez, and Cordero are Type A free agents, but only the first three are likely to be offered arbitration and therefore would come with the cost of a draft pick.

The trade market for righty closers is largely speculative, but may include Andrew Bailey, Brandon League, Juan Carlos Oviedo, Huston Street, and even Joel Hanrahan and Drew Storen.

Other Right-Handed Relievers Available In Free Agency Or Trade

There are more than 30 additional right-handed relievers on the free agent market.  The list is all over the place in terms of quality and health, but I think Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel, Kerry Wood, Guillermo Mota, Mike Wuertz, Juan Cruz, Jason Isringhausen, Takashi Saito, Dan Wheeler, Scott Linebrink, Todd Coffey, LaTroy Hawkins, Chad Qualls, and Shawn Camp can get Major League deals.  If you filter to non-closers who pitched 50+ innings with a sub-4.00 ERA, a strikeout rate over eight per nine, and a walk rate under four per nine, you're left with only Dotel, Wood, and Mota.  If you're a velocity lover, you can't beat Fernando Rodney and Mike MacDougal.

The trade market has yet to take shape, but perhaps Koji Uehara, Grant Balfour, and Jason Frasor will be available.

Non-Tender Candidates

Several more right-handed relievers will join the free agent at the non-tender deadline.  Some could include Taylor Buchholz, Micah Owings, Clay Hensley, Andy Sonnanstine, and Matt Albers.

Check out our full free agent list, as well as our articles on the markets at catcher, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, right field, center field, designated hitter, and starting pitcher.

Latest On Yoenis Cespedes

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The market is strong for Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes, who currently resides in the Dominican Republic.  The paperwork required for the center fielder to play baseball in the United States should be done this month, advisor Edgar Mercedes told Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.  Said Mercedes, "I'm confident that he'll be in spring training with a major league club."  

Private workouts are beginning this week, with a large Marlins contingent scheduled to visit Thursday.  The Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Indians, Blue Jays, and Pirates are among the teams that will visit in the coming weeks, Mercedes told Goldstein.  Mercedes also answered questions about the legendary showcase video he produced for Cespedes.   

On Monday, the Rangers, Tigers, Nationals, and Athletics were named as other clubs interested in Cespedes, who is represented by Adam Katz of Wasserman Media Group.

 

D’Backs, Bloomquist Reach Two-Year Agreement

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The Diamondbacks reached a two-year agreement worth $3.8MM with utility man Willie Bloomquist, reports Scott Miller of CBSSports.com.  Peter Gammons was first to report the deal on Twitter.  Bloomquist had reached free agency by declining his side of a mutual option on November 1st.

A deal between the D'Backs and Bloomquist's agent Scott Boras seemed unlikely a few days ago, when Boras and GM Kevin Towers debated who owed who a phone call.  Boras explained to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic on Saturday, "It sounds to me like what happened is, they got upset when Willie opted out. They got emotional and they went out and signed a guy who hit .169."

Boras was taking a shot at John McDonald, another utility infielder who the D'Backs re-signed to a two-year deal earlier this month.  Towers has been generous with such role player multiyear contracts, as Geoff Blum was inked to a two-year deal a year ago.  The Diamondbacks are well-covered in case Stephen Drew is still recovering from July ankle surgery when the season begins.  They're also covered if they are not able to sign Aaron Hill, leaving an opening for a second base platoon.

Bloomquist, 33, hit .266/.317/.340 in 381 plate appearances this year, playing mostly shortstop and left field.  The Giants had also made an offer to him this month. 

Olney On Dodgers, Beltran

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The latest blog post from ESPN's Buster Olney (Insider required)…

More Potential Cuban Free Agents

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There's been plenty of hype this week on Yoenis Cespedes, a Cuban center fielder who defected this summer and could command Aroldis Chapman money or more.  But yesterday, MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez provided more interesting names.

19-year-old outfielder Jorge Soler and 23-year-old right-hander Armando Rivero participated in a showcase at the Yankees' complex in Boca Chica last week.  Like Cespedes, both players are in the process of becoming eligible to play in the United States.  

One year ago, Baseball America's John Manuel had this to say about Soler:  "Soler has a strapping 6-foot-3, 205-pound body and has five-tool potential.  Soler has bat speed and what one scout called 'explosive power' to go with above-average arm strength."  He's on the Yankees' radar, according to George A. King III of the New York Post.  Sanchez writes that Rivero "features a slider, split-finger fastball, sinker and changeup in his repertoire and reached 98 mph with his fastball in the showcase."  King says he's viewed as a reliever.

Sanchez notes that outfielders Henry Urrutia and Gerald Sanchez and lefty Omar Luis also participated in the showcase.

Cardinals Rumors: Matheny, Francona, Sandberg

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The latest on the Cardinals…

  • Francona and Oquendo seem to be favorites for the managerial opening, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (Twitter links).  However, Heyman hears Matheny is beloved by Cardinals people and has a "real shot" at the position.
  • Ryne Sandberg and Jose Oquendo are on deck for managerial interviews tomorrow, report Joe Strauss and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Terry Francona interviewed today.
  • GM John Mozeliak is hopeful the Cardinals will have a manager chosen by next week, though he won't artifically hasten the process, writes Goold.  Last week the Cardinals interviewed Chris Maloney, Joe McEwing, and Mike Matheny.
  • Rafael Furcal is willing to wait to negotiate a contract with the Cardinals until after their manager search concludes, according to Goold.
  • Albert Pujols is interested to hear the Cardinals' choice, writes Goold.  "Albert would stay if Oquendo got the job," former teammate David Eckstein told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports earlier this month.  

Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers Interested In Buehrle

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6:05pm: It's highly unlikely that the Yankees will make a serious run for Buehrle, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (on Twitter).

1:54pm: The Yankees, Red Sox, and Rangers are interested in free agent lefty Mark Buehrle, report Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, and the Marlins are meeting with him today.  Buehrle, 32, posted a 3.59 ERA, 4.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.92 HR/9, and 44.9% groundball rate in 205 1/3 innings this year.  The long time White Sox starter has pitched 200+ innings in every season since 2001.

The Marlins and Blue Jays are the teams most aggressively pursuing trades for starting pitchers, add Rosenthal and Morosi.  One GM said of the Jays' Alex Anthopoulos, "You can’t pin him down. He has interest in every one of your players."

James Shields, Wade Davis, Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, Jair Jurrjens, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Chad Billingsley, and Wandy Rodriguez are the pitchers "known or thought to be available in trades," according to the FOX writers.  Cahill and Billingsley are the new names here, but it's unclear whether they fall under "known" or "thought."  The availability of Rodriguez will depend on whether Jim Crane is approved as new Astros owner next week, as Crane does not share Drayton McLane's reluctance to move the 32-year-old.

Royals Interested In Carlos Zambrano

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5:02pm: Moore clarified his remarks to MLB.com's Dick Kaegel and said he shouldn't have publicly discussed a player under contract with another team (link on Carrie Muskat's blog). 

“It’s our job as a baseball operations department to listen and explore every potential opportunity that would improve our team,” Moore said. “We spend countless hours doing so and we invite everybody’s opinion as to how it pertains to how we could improve our team. And if one of our people brought up Carlos Zambrano, I would listen and ask questions about why they believe that. That’s all that was and I responded in that spirit.”

12:05pm: The Royals have interest in Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano, Mark Carman at 610 Sports Radio learned from talking with GM Dayton Moore yesterday (CSNChicago.com's David Kaplan has Moore's quotes).  Moore's comments on Zambrano when asked:

"We would have to be interested. We would have to explore it because that's what you should do. You should explore every opportunity. Carlos Zambrano is a heckuva competitor.  Carlos Zambrano has had a lot of success in the major leagues. Carlos Zambrano is actually a very pleasant, easy going, classy person off the field. Sometimes, as with all of us the competitiveness takes over and brings out qualities in us that we are not proud of. Obviously the Cubs grew tired of some of his outbursts but I believe in our coaching staff and we'll always take a chance and a risk on certain players. We'll see how that particular situation unfolds."

Zambrano is owed $18MM in 2012, and has a $19.25MM option that vests for 2013 if he finishes in the top four of the 2012 Cy Young vote.  The option seems highly unlikely to vest, but if Zambrano is somehow that good in 2012, perhaps his team wouldn't mind another year.  Moore's comments on Z's contract:

"He has a no-trade clause for 29 other teams so he is going to have to be comfortable wherever he goes and there is a lot of money attached to his deal. There is a vesting option that is a part of that worth $18 or 19 million going forward. We certainly wouldn't want to put ourselves in a position where we have to honor a contract of that nature."

The Cubs expect to address the Zambrano situation this week, writes ESPN's Buster Olney.  As I wrote in August, the 30-year-old righty has major negative trade value.  As a pitcher he's worth a few million dollars, so maybe the Cubs could trade Zambrano for a low-level prospect while assuming $15MM.  That assumes Zambrano would approve a trade without requiring compensation.  Jed Hoyer told Kaplan he has the ability to eat any contract he feels is necessary to improve the club.   It'd probably be better for the Cubs to instead take on a similar bad contract and hope for some value out of that player.

Heyman On Posada, Dodgers, Beltran, Morrison

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The latest rumors tweeted from SI's Jon Heyman…

Twins Rumors: Ryan, Payroll

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Terry Ryan returned to the role of Twins GM yesterday; here's the latest on the club.

  • Ryan will be the GM for as long as he wants to be, a member of the Twins organization told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.  "I don't know if it'll be for one year or 10 years," Ryan said yesterday, noting that if he likes the job he expects owner Jim Pohlad to let him stay.
  • Ryan alluded to a $100MM payroll for 2012 yesterday, down from the $113-118MM range the Twins had in 2011.  However, Twins president David St. Peter told Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Terry and I, frankly, have not had one discussion about our payroll for next year.  He’s been privy to it because nothing has changed from what we had been telling Bill [Smith]…I think it can be a fluid number. I’m hoping we can find a way to inch it forward."  Christensen guesses the Twins will ultimately have a payroll in the $110MM range.
  • If Kevin Slowey and Jose Mijares are not retained, I'd estimate the Twins' commitments in the $74MM range for 2012 before accounting for minimum salary players.  That could mean as much as $30MM to spend on 2012 salaries.
  • Ryan's said his first priority is to reach out to the agents for the team's own free agents: Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Joe Nathan, and Matt Capps.  

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