Scott Kazmir Rumors: Thursday
27-year-old lefty Scott Kazmir was released by the Angels yesterday. The team ultimately received 188 innings of 5.31 ball, plus 10 2/3 postseason innings, since acquiring him on August 28th, 2009. The Angels gave up prospects Alexander Torres and Matt Sweeney that day, and infielder Sean Rodriguez was included as a player to be named later. The Angels still owe Kazmir over $9MM to cover his salary for the rest of the season and the buyout on his club option. Today's Kazmir links…
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman said he hasn't looked into the possibility of acquiring Kazmir but will eventually, tweets MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez. Cashman commented, "I know he's struggled."
- Kazmir is a "possibility" for the Mets, GM Sandy Alderson said in response to a question on WFAN's Benigno and Roberts (MetsBlog has more info). However, when pressed on the topic by Andy Martino of the New York Daily News, Alderson admitted his interest in Kazmir is the same as it is for everybody who hits the wire (Twitter link). Kazmir, of course, is a former first-round pick of the Mets who was traded by former GM Jim Duquette to the Devil Rays in '04. Kazmir's history with the organization is a factor, Alderson told Dan Martin of the New York Post.
- My take: signing Kazmir is a low-risk proposition that almost any team could justify, taking him on as a minor league project for the next several months similar to what the Nationals are doing with Oliver Perez. But that's only if Kazmir wants to sign right now and finds a good fit.
- "I don't have any regrets," Angels GM Tony Reagins said of the '09 Kazmir trade, speaking to Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times. Explained Reagins, "You make decisions in this business and live with the consequences."
- Angels manager Mike Scioscia remarked to ESPN's Mark Saxon and the AP, "He's still young and I'm sure at some point we hope he can unlock that secret of where he needs to be."
Contenders In Need Of A Second Base Upgrade
As many as six contenders could use help at second base, though not all of them will look externally. Several may never enter buying mode. But here's a look at the contenders that could consider a second base upgrade:
- Indians: Rookie Cord Phelps has entered the mix with Orlando Cabrera at second base. Phelps was hitting .299/.391/.488 at Triple-A, so if he gets established the Indians already have their upgrade on O-Cab. If not, Jason Kipnis has been similarly productive in the minors.
- Tigers: They've been using Ramon Santiago and Ryan Raburn of late. I'm sure they'd like Raburn to run with the job and provide offense, but he's shown little to date. There's always the option of giving Will Rhymes another go.
- Cardinals: Nick Punto is on the disabled list, leaving Skip Schumaker as the main second baseman and Tyler Greene as another option. The Cards could consider acquiring a shortstop and moving Ryan Theriot to second base.
- Giants: Starter Freddy Sanchez has a shoulder injury, and the plan is for rest and rehab over the next six weeks. Mike Fontenot should come off the DL soon, and the Giants recently signed Bill Hall.
- Blue Jays: Aaron Hill is the starter, though he hasn't done much. At five games out in the wild card, the Jays still have a chance, so they could try to upgrade.
- Marlins: Their second base starter is Omar Infante, who's had a rough year but has at least been a little better in June. Even if they do turn things around I don't expect the Marlins to look for an outside upgrade at second.
So who's available? Jeff Baker, Adam Kennedy, Jeff Keppinger, Clint Barmes, Jamey Carroll, Jerry Hairston Jr., Mike Aviles, and Mark Ellis are viable trade candidates. Ellis is currently on the DL, while Aviles is in the minors.
Minor Moves: Wade, Thomas, Diamond
Minor moves for Wednesday…
- The Yankees have signed right-hander Cory Wade to a Major League contract and called him up to the Major League roster, reports MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. Wade signed a minor league deal with New York on Monday. To make room, Hoch reports that Rafael Soriano was moved to the 60-day DL and Kevin Whelan was optioned to Triple-A.
- The Rangers have released catcher Michael Thomas, tweets Matt Eddy of Baseball America. Thomas was the player to be named later in the Jarrod Saltalamacchia trade last July. Eddy notes the Rangers considered converting Thomas to pitching.
- The Cubs released righty Thomas Diamond from their Triple-A club, tweets Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald. He'd been outrighted in May to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Doug Davis.
- The Diamondbacks purchased the contract of righty reliever Jeff Bennett from the Lancaster Barnstormers. It appears that Bennett will join Arizona's Triple-A club. The 31-year-old last pitched in the Majors with the Rays in '09.
Outrighted: Toregas, Hughes, Pucetas, Nieves
Players who cleared waivers and were outrighted to Triple-A:
- The Cubs announced that Brad Snyder has been outrighted to Triple-A Iowa. The outfielder was designated for assignment on the weekend.
- Catcher Wyatt Toregas was outrighted to Indianapolis by the Pirates, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He'd been designated for assignment on Sunday to open a spot for Mike McKenry.
- Lefty reliever Dusty Hughes was outrighted to Rochester to open a 40-man spot with the Twins for infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, according to the team's transactions page. They'd claimed Hughes off waivers from the Royals in January. The Twins will need another spot for Joe Mauer soon.
- Righty Kevin Pucetas, designated for assignment by the Royals on Friday to open a 40-man spot for Mike Moustakas, was assigned outright to Omaha today according to the Royals' Twitter page.
- The Brewers outrighted catcher Wil Nieves to Nashville, writes MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. George Kottaras' contract was selected. The Brewers' 40-man roster count remains at 37. The White Sox are the only other team under 38.
Quick Hits: Bautista, Brian Gordon, Kuroda
A year ago today, the Athletics traded reliever Sam Demel to the Diamondbacks for first baseman/outfielder Conor Jackson and cash. Demel is on the DL with a shoulder injury, though the groundballer should prove useful for Arizona. Today's links:
- Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista is profiled by Yahoo's Jeff Passan in a must-read article.
- YES Network's Jack Curry talked to Brian Gordon, the 32-year-old converted outfielder who could start for the Yankees tomorrow. Joel Sherman of the New York Post has more on Gordon, who he's heard compared to Aaron Small or Dustin Moseley.
- Sherman also discusses Hiroki Kuroda, who he feels could be a target for the Yankees if the Dodgers want to dump his salary and the righty is willing to waive his no-trade clause.
- Baseball America's Ben Badler looks at the top Dominican shortstops for July 2nd, including Raul Mondesi's son Adalberto.
- The Red Sox will not be serious players for Jose Reyes in free agency, tweets SI's Jon Heyman. They would probably not be inclined to block Jose Iglesias.
- Yusei Kikuchi's NPB debut was unimpressive, writes Patrick Newman. Kikuchi was a popular MLBTR topic in October of 2009, as the teenage southpaw considered bypassing Japan's draft to sign with an MLB club.
Marlins Designate Brad Davis For Assignment
The Marlins designated catcher Brad Davis for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for recently-signed infielder Jose Lopez, tweets Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post. Righty Elih Villanueva, who was hammered by the Phillies today in his big league debut, was optioned to create a spot on the 25-man roster.
Davis, 28, was hitting .212/.294/.303 in 187 Triple-A plate appearances this year, a big step down from his work at that level in 2010. Davis spent some time in the Majors last year, but lost the spring battle with Brett Hayes to be the Marlins' backup catcher.
Draft Notes: Lamb, Bichette, Josh Bell, Beede
Two months away from the signing deadline, we won't be seeing over-slot signings anytime soon. Still, here's the latest.
- Clemson lefty Will Lamb, chosen 83rd overall in the second round by the Rangers, signed at slot for $430,200, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
- Dante Bichette Jr., drafted 51st overall by the Yankees in the supplemental round, tweeted that he'll "officially a Yankee very very soon." The Yanks received that pick as compensation for the loss of Javier Vazquez. Slot for that pick is around $695K. You can learn more about Bichette over at River Ave. Blues, where Mike Axisa profiled the slugger.
- ESPN's Keith Law tweets that he's told there is no dollar figure that would change Josh Bell's mind about going to college. Bell, drafted 61st overall by the Pirates, was one of the top draft talents but has made it clear he will honor his commitment to the University of Texas. Of course, he also hired Scott Boras as his advisor, so clearly the Pirates think there's a chance he can be signed.
- The Blue Jays' first pick (21st overall) was high school righty Tyler Beede; Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein tweets of rumors that the Jays had a pre-draft deal done with him. Law tweeted a few days ago that Beede is going to sign for about $3MM, which would be about $1.7MM over slot.
- The Rays exceeded slot on second round pick Granden Goetzman, signing the prep outfielder for $490K according to Baseball America's Jim Callis. The Rays went over slot by less than five grand, though, and Callis says teams can exceed slot by up to five percent without going through the commissioner's office. Goetzman went 75th overall but was actually the Rays' 11th pick.
- If you have ESPN Insider, Law has a post up with names to watch for the 2012 draft.
If The Nationals Become Sellers
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo made one significant trade last July, sending closer Matt Capps to the Twins for catcher Wilson Ramos. After a hot start the 23-year-old Ramos is hitting an acceptable .248/.320/.410 on the season, and he belongs in the NL Rookie of the Year discussion with Danny Espinosa, Darwin Barney, Josh Collmenter, Brandon Beachy, Fernando Salas, Craig Kimbrel, Dillon Gee, and Mark Melancon. Let's see who Rizzo might part with this year, with his team ten games out in the NL East and 6.5 out in the wild card.
- Trading Jason Marquis (pictured) at the deadline would enable the Nationals to save about $2.4MM in salary. Marquis is showing career-best control, and an ERA under 4.50 from here on out would be a reasonable expectation. Though Marquis would probably be willing to turn down an arbitration offer again to help the team, he's nowhere near Type B status. Livan Hernandez is a free agent after the season as well, but given his ties to the organization he is more likely to stay put.
- Ivan Rodriguez's value can't be quantified by his .200/.273/.322 batting line, or at least that's probably what Rizzo is telling teams about the catcher. Rizzo said last month he'd want some kind of long-term piece for Pudge. Rodriguez is earning $3MM this year.
- Reliever Todd Coffey, non-tendered by the Brewers last offseason, has a 2.13 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 0.4 HR/9, and 44.1% groundball rate in 25 1/3 innings this year. The Rangers appear interested, and Coffey should be popular at the deadline. He's a free agent after the season and looks like a Type B in the National League. Coffey is earning $1.35MM this year plus incentives.
- Laynce Nix is an intriguing platoon bat, as he's hitting .275/.324/.506 with 28 home runs in 613 plate appearances against right-handed pitching since the beginning of the 2009 season. Type B status is a possibility once he reaches free agency after the season.
- Jerry Hairston Jr., Rick Ankiel, Alex Cora, Matt Stairs are veterans on one-year deals who could be shipped to contenders for bench roles.
- Click here to read articles about other potential sellers.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
Prince Fielder Won’t Rule Out Any Team
First baseman Prince Fielder, who is headed toward a massive free agent payday after the season, told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday he "doesn't have any problems with any team." Fielder was answering a question about whether he'd listen to an offer from the Cubs. The Scott Boras client was quick to emphasize that his focus is on the Brewers, his current employer.
There's not much of a story here, as we rarely see an elite free agent publicly rule out teams, especially midseason. Sure, Fielder probably hates the Cubs from a competitive standpoint, but eliminating them publicly would just be bad business.
Wittenmyer doesn't think the Cubs can afford to make a huge bid for Fielder – his source says the team's debt structure all but precludes a free agent megadeal for the next two or three years. Still, the Cubs appear to have a crazy amount of payroll flexibility after the season. Even if they slash payroll from $134MM to $120MM, they'd still have almost $50MM to play with in 2012 salaries. Of course, I'm not an accountant and it's more complicated than that.
Fielder, just 27, is having a season reminscent of the '07 and '09 campaigns that landed him among the top four in the MVP vote each year. He's at .300/.416/.617 with 19 home runs in 291 plate appearances. Fielder could aim for the biggest contract in baseball history for a player not named Alex Rodriguez.
MLBTR’s Agency Database
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A few players we don't have: J.A. Happ, Brandon Beachy, Sergio Romo, James McDonald, Neftali Feliz, and Charlie Blackmon. If you represent any of these players or know who does, an email to mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com would be much appreciated.