Reds Re-Sign Jonny Gomes
The Reds officially re-signed outfielder Jonny Gomes to a one-year, Major League deal with a club option for 2011. John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer broke news of the agreement, and ESPN's Jerry Crasnick tweeted details.
Gomes, 29, hit .267/.338/.541 in 314 plate appearances for the Reds in '09 before being non-tendered. 35% of his plate appearances came against lefties, and his defense was suspect. Gomes had a hard time finding a job as a free agent, and perhaps the Reds saw that coming. He will be arbitration-eligible again if the Reds decline his 2011 option.
Fantasy Baseball Second Baseman Rankings
Check out our second baseman rankings over at RotoAuthority.
Offseason In Review: Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays are next in our Offseason In Review series.
Major League Signings
- John McDonald, SS: two years, $3MM.
- Alex Gonzalez, SS: one year, $2.75MM. Includes $2.5MM club option for '11.
- Kevin Gregg, RP: one year, $2.75MM. Includes $4.5MM club option for '11 and $8.75MM club option for '11 and '12.
- John Buck, C: one year, $2MM.
- Total spend: $10.5MM.
Notable Minor League Signings
- Jose Molina, Shawn Hill, Raul Chavez, Joey Gathright, Jeremy Reed, Lance Broadway, Steven Register, Jorge Padilla, Chris Lubanski, Willie Collazo
Trades and Claims
- Claimed P Sean Henn off waivers from Orioles
- Claimed 2B Jarrett Hoffpauir off waivers from Cardinals
- Claimed SS Mike McCoy off waivers from Rockies
- Acquired P Zech Zinicola in Rule 5 draft from Nationals
- Acquired SP Kyle Drabek, OF Michael Taylor, and C Travis d'Arnaud from Phillies for SP Roy Halladay and $6MM
- Acquired 1B Brett Wallace from Athletics for OF Michael Taylor
- Acquired P Brandon Morrow from Mariners for RP Brandon League and OF Johermyn Chavez
- Acquired P Merkin Valdez from Giants for cash considerations
- Acquired P Dana Eveland from Athletics for cash
Notable Losses
- Roy Halladay, Marco Scutaro, Rod Barajas, Brandon League, Kevin Millar, Brian Wolfe, Joe Inglett, Brian Bocock, Russ Adams, Michael Barrett
Summary
Alex Anthopoulos' first winter as Blue Jays GM started off quietly, with an October waiver claim for Henn. His major moves came a few months later, as he traded Halladay, Taylor, League, and Chavez and netted Drabek, d'Arnaud, Wallace, and Morrow. His free agent moves were sensible, affordable replacements for Scutaro and Barajas. There was also a typical smattering of minor league signings and the interesting under-the-radar pickup of Valdez.
Anthopoulos' moves should be judged on two criteria: did he waste significant money trying to stay respectable in a rebuilding year, and did he get enough for Doc? Gregg was a free agent head-scratcher, but it's hard to quibble with the other $7.75MM spent. The answer to the latter question appears to be yes. If we judge the Halladay trade on what we know now, Anthopoulos acquired at least two badly-needed top 50 prospects in Drabek and Wallace.
Odds & Ends: Floyd, Looper, El Duque, Manny
Links for Monday…
- Cliff Floyd is currently doing TV work, writes Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post.
- MLB.com's Bill Ladson tweeted that the Nationals offered contracts to Chan Ho Park and Braden Looper. Park went with the Yankees, while Looper told the Nats he's going in a different direction.
- Orlando Hernandez is looking to get back in the game, tweets Yahoo's Tim Brown.
- Magglio Ordonez wants to play at least four more years, reports Tom Gage of the Detroit News.
- FOX Sports' Jim Bowden questioned Justin Upton, Theo Epstein, Jon Daniels, Dayton Moore, Kevin Goldstein, and Dave Cameron about modern statistics, and it made for an amusing video segment.
- Chico Harlan of the Washington Post talked to several Nationals players about their arbitration hearings, which were not enjoyable. ESPN's Rob Neyer doesn't think it makes sense for players to attend.
- Manny Ramirez believes this is his last year with the Dodgers, reports Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times.
- Duaner Sanchez signed with the Mexico City Red Devils, reports Noroeste. Though Sanchez is said to be throwing "an easy 90 mph," his shoulder is still not 100 percent. He hopes to find his way back to the bigs after being released by the Padres in May of '09. Thanks to Nick Collias for the translation.
- Jesse Lund of the Twinkie Town blog has an excellent discussion with Twins assistant GM Rob Antony. Antony provided details on the J.J. Hardy trade talks, and also noted that the Kevin Kouzmanoff rumors were "a little blown out of proportion."
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post doesn't buy the idea that the pressure will be off for Javier Vazquez as the Yankees #4 starter.
- Regarding catcher A.J. Pierzynski entering his contract year, White Sox GM Kenny Williams told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, "At some point, we'll check in with A.J. and his guys on expectations."
- The Diamondbacks offered Dominican shortstop Edward Salcedo around $1MM, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.
Carl Crawford Enters Contract Year
Rays executive Andrew Friedman will probably address Carl Crawford's contract situation next week, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The 28-year-old outfielder is slated to earn $10MM in 2010 before he reaches free agency. Rays owner Stuart Sternberg said on Friday, "We're going to do everything we can to make sure he stays here longer."
Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times spoke to Crawford, who would prefer not to negotiate during the season. Crawford hopes to stay with the Rays, but also noted that "you go [to free agency] to be paid like the guys playing against you."
In a January article, ESPN's Buster Olney noted that Crawford "may turn out to be one of the big beneficiaries" of teams' increasing emphasis on defense. Disciples of UZR might suggest Crawford is worth north of $15MM a year, potentially more than a quarter of the Rays' projected 2011 payroll.
Rod Barajas Considering Offers From Mets, Rangers
FRIDAY, 7:20pm: Barajas is now weighing multiple minor league offers, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. In addition to the Mets' $1MM proposal, Barajas is considering a $1.5MM offer from the Rangers, according to Rosenthal's source.
THURSDAY, 7:57am: Barajas is likely to accept the Mets' offer, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (via Twitter). The minor league deal would be worth $1MM.
WEDNESDAY, 12:57pm: Speaking to Brian Costa of the Newark Star-Ledger, a Mets official denied that they're making a "hard push" for Barajas. They have interest on a minor league deal.
7:40am: The Mets are making a "hard push" to sign free agent catcher Rod Barajas on a one-year deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Barajas is the only starter available at the position, and the Mets still have a need. The Mets offered a low-dollar, minor league deal, tweets SI's Jon Heyman.
Barajas, 34, hit .226/.258/.403 in 460 plate appearances for the Blue Jays last year, earning $2.5MM. Consider him the poor man's Bengie Molina.
Johnny Damon Rumors: Friday
7:15pm: Morosi and Ken Rosenthal at FOX Sports provide another Damon update, writing that the Tigers' offer to the outfielder could be worth up to about $7.5MM, with some of it deferred. They acknowledge that it's anyone's guess where the 36-year-old lands, suggesting that the Rays and Braves could still be under-the-radar players for Damon.
5:36pm: Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports (via Twitter) that, according to Dombrowski, Williams' comments will not affect the Tigers' approach to Damon.
5:00pm: Let's not rule the White Sox out completely. Williams told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times that Damon has until Sunday morning to take the team's last offer.
4:27pm: Williams told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune that Damon and Boras were willing to be creative (Twitter link). Ultimately, Williams says "the total dollars and cents didn't make sense" for the White Sox.
3:41pm: ESPN.com's Buster Olney hears that Scott Boras wants two things from the Tigers. First, he's asking them to remove all deferred money from the one-year $7MM deal they have offered. Second, he wants the Tigers to add a second year (Twitter links).
3:26pm: The White Sox have pulled their offer to Damon, reports Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com. White Sox GM Kenny Williams said he had to withdraw it.
"It became clear to us in our recent negotiations that the money that we were offering was not going to be good enough for Johnny at this time," Williams said.
Williams said the White Sox are "very much interested in" Damon. Levine hears that the White Sox offered him $6MM. Levine's sources tell him that the Tigers never offered a two-year deal; they have only offered a one-year $7MM contract.
9:29am: Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski went public with his interest in Johnny Damon yesterday, confirming to Patrick Zier of the Lakeland Ledger that he's offered Damon a contract. Dombrowski would not discuss the particulars of the offer, though a source of Zier's "would be very surprised if it's for more than one year."
As you know, Scot Gregor of the Daily Herald finds the White Sox an unlikely landing spot for Damon given GM Kenny Williams' plan to "talk about this on Sunday."
ESPN's Buster Olney spoke to one executive involved in Damon talks in recent months who said, "There is so much BS out there, and [I] don't want to contribute to it."
Rays Links: Soriano, Crawford, Pena, Branyan
Rays links are plentiful this afternoon…
- Rays owner Stuart Sternberg talked to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times about impending free agent Carl Crawford: "We're going to do everything we can to make sure he stays here longer."
- Sternberg told MLB.com's Bill Chastain that the Rays wouldn't normally spend $7.25MM on a reliever, so they plan on having "a little fun" with Rafael Soriano this season.
- Topkin says the Rays also hope to retain Carlos Pena, though Dave Cameron of FanGraphs feels that a Russell Branyan signing could set the stage for a midseason Pena trade. Cameron wonders if it might be too risky for the Rays to offer Pena arbitration even if he has a solid 2010, given the 2011 salary he could receive. For what it's worth, Pena just made Type A status for the 2008-09 seasons at 73.750 points.
- ESPN's Jayson Stark writes about the Rays' two biggest additions: closer Rafael Soriano, and potentially a full season of Wade Davis.
- Check out our Rays Offseason In Review from Wednesday.
Nationals Win Arbitration Case Against Sean Burnett
The Nationals won their arbitration case against lefty reliever Sean Burnett, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson. He'll earn $775K as opposed to $925K in his first arbitration year. By beating Burnett and Brian Bruney this week, the Nats saved $500K.
Talking to Ladson, Burnett had this to say about the hearing: "It was interesting. I learned a lesson. I don't want to deal with it again."
Padres Sign Josh Barfield
The Padres signed second baseman Josh Barfield to a minor league deal with no Spring Training invite, reports MLB.com's Corey Brock. Barfield, 27, hit .252/.271/.331 in 319 appearances for the Indians' Triple A club in '09 and was outrighted in August.
Barfield came up with the Padres, posting a fine rookie season in '06. Former GM Kevin Towers sold high on him, sending Barfield to Cleveland after the season for Kevin Kouzmanoff and Andrew Brown.