Indians Acquire Luke Carlin
The Indians acquired catcher Luke Carlin from the Pirates for a player to be named later, tweets Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The backstop had signed a minor league deal with the Pirates in mid-January.
Carlin, 29, has big league time with the Diamondbacks and Padres. This year in Indianapolis he hit .239/.331/.317, a big dropoff from his work in the Pacific Coast League the previous two years.
Scot Shields May Be Designated Soon
Angels reliever Scot Shields "could be designated for assignment soon," in the opinion of Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times. Relievers Jason Bulger and Brian Stokes, both dealing with shoulder injuries, may return from the disabled list soon. Shields could be a roster casualty.
Shields, a 35-year-old righty, is a lifelong Angel. As DiGiovanna notes, he's the last remaining link to the '02 World Series champion team. Shields' control has never been great, but it's been terrible the last two years. Since 2009 he has a 6.23 ERA, 7.3 K/9, and 7.3 BB/9, with seven home runs allowed in 56.3 innings. He had knee surgery last summer.
Shields signed a three-year, $14.6MM extension in March of '07, a contract that began with the '08 season. Angels GM Bill Stoneman committed to four years of Shields at top dollar. He was 31 at the time and had compiled a staggering 284.6 relief innings over 2004-06.
Last Year’s Non-Tenders
On October 5th and November 20th of last year I named my non-tender candidates. On December 12th, many players were actually cut. With the benefit of hindsight, consider these groupings:
Thankfully Tendered Contracts: Jose Bautista, Matt Lindstrom, Delmon Young, Matt Belisle
The Blue Jays tendered Bautista a contract and signed him the following day at the same salary he had in 2009 ($2.4MM). To me that's a sign that if Bautista had communicated the desire for a raise prior to the December 12th deadline, he would've been non-tendered. The Astros did well to buy low on Lindstrom, who probably wouldn't have been tendered a contract had he stayed with the Marlins.
The Twins never considered cutting Young despite an unimpressive '09 season. He's only earning $2.6MM this year, anyway. Including him on the list of non-tender candidates was entirely my bad idea. Belisle received a very small raise from the Rockies and has been excellent out of their pen.
Should Have Been Tendered Contracts: Matt Capps, John Buck, D.J. Carrasco, Kelly Johnson
Jonny Gomes was left off the list since the Reds were able to re-sign him cheaply. Given the strong play of Martin Prado for the Braves, you could make the case that cutting Johnson was the right move. But we are operating with the benefit of hindsight here, and maybe they could've found him some playing time and rebuilt his value.
Capps was a surprise non-tender by the Pirates. GM Neal Huntington did well in the Octavio Dotel trade, but what if he had been able to peddle both relievers? Retaining Buck would've made sense for the Royals, but they spent more money on a player lacking upside in Jason Kendall. I wouldn't say the White Sox badly needed D.J. Carrasco, but he retained value this year.
Should Have Been Non-Tendered: Bobby Jenks, Mark Teahen, Jeremy Hermida, John Maine, Conor Jackson, Dioner Navarro, Brian Bruney, Kelly Shoppach, Jeff Francoeur
In mid-December most of these risks were worth taking. Jenks hasn't been as bad as his 5.13 ERA, but the White Sox could've spent that money elsewhere. Obviously traded players like Bruney, Hermida, Shoppach, and Teahen weren't going to be non-tendered by their new teams. But did the White Sox and Rays have to give Teahen and Shoppach multiyear deals? Overall these nine players earned over $30MM in 2010.
Will The Mets Try To Trade Carlos Beltran?
From 2001-2008, Carlos Beltran was at least a five-win player every year except for '05. Even last year, despite missing July and August with a bone bruise behind his knee, Beltran provided value. However, the Mets and Beltran battled about his decision to have January knee surgery, a procedure that delayed his 2010 debut until July 15th. Beltran's first 90 plate appearances and 180 innings in center field have gone so poorly that David Waldstein of the New York Times says the Mets would let him go for nothing if a team claims him off waivers this month.
Waldstein finds a waiver claim "extremely unlikely," as Beltran is owed over $5.5MM this year and $18.5MM in 2011 before his contract is up. He has a full no-trade clause. Waldstein expects the Mets to be open to trading Beltran this winter but believes the outfielder's salary will be an impediment. He suggests the Mets would be reluctant to assume much of Beltran's contract in a trade.
This might be fantasy baseball-type talk, but I can't help but notice that the money owed to Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano matches up closely with the money owed to Beltran, Luis Castillo, and Oliver Perez.
Cardinals To Sign Supplemental Pick Jenkins
Cardinals supplemental draft pick Tyrell Jenkins will sign with the Cardinals this week, according to Coleman Swierc of KLTV. He'll get a $1.3MM bonus, according to ESPN.com's Keith Law (on Twitter). Jenkins passed on a chance to play football at Baylor, explaining to KLTV, "I know that I will miss out on college, but me and my mom talked it over, and financially it was right, and this is the best choice for me." Baseball America estimates MLB's slot recommendation at $705,600, so Jenkins beat that easily.
Jenkins was drafted 50th overall this year, representing the Cardinals' supplemental pick for the loss of Joel Pineiro. The prep righty was the 43rd-ranked talent in the draft according to Baseball America. BA considered him the draft's most athletic pitcher, adding that he's "raw but has tremendous upside."
A couple of big-name Cardinals draft picks remain unsigned with seven days to go before MLB's deadline: 25th overall pick Zack Cox and 12th-round pick Austin Wilson.
Jed Hoyer’s First Year
Jed Hoyer has been the general manager of the Padres since October 26th, and much of his first year is in the books. We looked at Alex Anthopoulos yesterday; now it's Hoyer's turn.
- Signed Chris Denorfia to a minor league deal - 12-18-09. This early move was a winner, as Denorfia has a .266/.324/.456 line in 189 plate appearances for the Padres.
- Acquired Scott Hairston and Aaron Cunningham from Athletics for Kevin Kouzmanoff and Eric Sogard, 1-16-10. Cunningham has hit well in 85 big league plate appearances, though he didn't do anything with 246 PAs in Triple A. Hairston has disappointed in his return campaign. Neither Kouzmanoff nor his replacement Chase Headley have hit much. This trade might ultimately be settled by comparing the careers of Sogard and Cunningham, as the veterans could be non-tendered this winter.
- Signed Jerry Hairston Jr. to a one-year, $2.125MM deal – 1-18-10. Hairston has performed as expected – versatile glove, weak bat. He deserves credit for playing an apparently passable shortstop this year.
- Signed Jon Garland to a one-year, $5.3MM deal – 1-26-10. The Garland signing was praised as a bargain at the time, and he's provided 139.3 innings of 3.55 ball. His peripheral numbers predict something closer to 4.50 from here on out, but the innings are good value at that price.
- Signed Matt Stairs to a minor league deal worth $700K – 1-26-10. A knee injury is partially to blame, but Stairs hasn't hit at all this year.
- Signed Yorvit Torrealba to a one-year, $1.25MM deal – 2-9-10. Hard to go wrong with this below-market contract, and Torrealba has pleased the Padres with a .317/.381/.400 line.
- Acquired Miguel Tejada and $1.1MM from Orioles for Wynn Pelzer, 7-29-10. It remains to be seen if a move back to the NL will rejuvenate Tejada's bat, but they needed an infielder and there wasn't much out there.
- Acquired Ryan Ludwick from Cardinals and cash from Indians, giving up Corey Kluber and Nick Greenwood, 7-31-10. Nice move by Hoyer, picking up a power hitter many people didn't realize was available. Ludwick is under team control for 2011, too.
- The key to Hoyer's first draft will be signing prep righty Karsten Whitson, opines ESPN's Keith Law. Whitson was drafted out of high school, ninth overall.
- The Padres' surprising 64-46 record and first place standing indicates Hoyer has done something right or at least not made any moves to hurt the club. He inherited the majority of the team's stellar pitching staff, so Kevin Towers deserves a fist bump. The Garland and Torrealba signings were solid, though both players might have given the San Diego discount. Hoyer's trades have yet to show a return.
Odds & Ends: Hermida, Ransom, Chris Carter
12 years ago on this date, the Rangers sent Darren Oliver, Fernando Tatis, and Mark Little to the Cardinals for Royce Clayton and Todd Stottlemyre. Tatis was amazing in '99, while Oliver was solid as a starting pitcher. Clayton was pretty good for the Rangers, and Stottlemyre left as a free agent after the '98 season. For their loss, the Rangers got a supplemental draft pick in '99 and took a kid named Colby Lewis. Here in 2010, Lewis and Oliver are both Rangers again and make an excellent combo. Links for Monday…
- RotoAuthority explains why J.P. Arencibia is a player to target for 2011 in fantasy leagues.
- Jeremy Hermida, designated on deadline day, has been outrighted to Triple A according to this tweet from Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe.
- Similarly, Cody Ransom cleared waivers and accepted the Phillies' Triple A assignment according to this tweet from MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. Ransom was designated four days ago when the Phils acquired Mike Sweeney.
- Athletics top prospect Chris Carter will be promoted today, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The 23-year-old has a .262/.368/.531 line with 27 home runs in Triple A. It's amazing to look at the talent the Diamondbacks gave up in 2007 to get Dan Haren and Connor Robertson: Carter, Brett Anderson, Carlos Gonzalez, Aaron Cunningham, Dana Eveland, and Greg Smith.
Mariners Fire Don Wakamatsu
The Mariners fired manager Don Wakamatsu, tweets Brock & Salk of ESPN 710. They add that pitching coach Rick Adair, bench coach Ty Van Burkleo, and performance coach Steve Hecht were also let go. The Mariners confirmed the moves in a press release, stating that Daren Brown will step up from Triple A to manage the club and Carl Willis will take over as pitching coach. A key quote from GM Jack Zduriencik:
"I no longer have confidence that Don, Ty and Rick are the right long-term fit for our organization. New leadership is needed and it is needed now."
Wakamatsu took over as Mariners manager before the '09 season. His team posted a 85-77 mark in '09 but stands at 42-70 this year. Zduriencik had voiced his support for Wakamatsu six days ago.
Reds Acquire Jim Edmonds
The Reds acquired Jim Edmonds from the Brewers for outfielder Chris Dickerson, according to the team. Reds GM Walt Jocketty continues to reacquire favorites from his time with the Cardinals. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that the Reds won the claim on Edmonds despite another team making an attempt. That means the Phillies, Cardinals, and Giants passed. Jocketty and Brewers GM Doug Melvin matched up on a trade exactly one year ago, when the Brewers purchased David Weathers from the Reds.
Edmonds, 40, sat out 2009 and signed a minor league deal with the Brewers in January. He hasn't shown much rust, hitting .286/.350/.493 in 240 plate appearances. Edmonds has been shielded from lefties somewhat, but he'll make a nice complement to right-handed bats like Jonny Gomes and Drew Stubbs.
Dickerson is currently on a rehab assignment in Triple A after surgeries on his hand and wrist. The 28-year-old is a solid return for less than two months of Edmonds. He won't be arbitration-eligible until after the 2011 season, a big factor for the Brewers according to Melvin. Before the 2009 season, Baseball America ranked Dickerson 12th among Reds prospects, praising his athleticism.
C.J. Wilson’s Breakout Year
C.J. Wilson's switch back to starting has gone phenomenally well – his 3.30 ERA ranks 14th in the American League. The lefty will be arbitration-eligible one last time for 2011, and he should get a multimillion dollar bump from this year's $3.1MM salary.
Wilson has done a nice job keeping the ball on the ground, as his 49.2% rate ranks 15th in the AL among those with 100 innings pitched. He's needed the accompanying 15 double plays, as his 66 walks lead the league. Stats like SIERA and xFIP, meant to strip out some of things the pitcher has less control over, suggest an ERA around 4.50 is more reasonable moving forward.
Should the Rangers attempt to sell high and trade Wilson in the offseason? If new Rangers CEO Chuck Greenberg follows through and signs Cliff Lee, the potential $20MM+ salary could be partially offset by moving Wilson. It's not as if the Rangers are going to fool an uneducated team about Wilson's peripheral stats not matching his ERA. But they can point to these facts: he doesn't turn 30 until November, he's very good against lefties, and he gets groundballs. Acquiring Wilson could appeal to teams unwilling to give multiple years to free agents Ted Lilly, Javier Vazquez, Hiroki Kuroda, Jorge de la Rosa, or Carl Pavano.