Phillies Sign Oscar Villarreal
The Phillies signed pitcher Oscar Villarreal to a minor league deal, tweets Ed Price of AOL FanHouse. Villarreal, 28, signed with the Royals before last season but eventually developed the need for Tommy John surgery. He threw for teams on Friday, with the Phillies, Red Sox, Rockies, and Diamondbacks in attendance.
Villarreal's upside is limited, as he's prone to the longball and has a 1.75 career K/BB.
Justin Verlander Extension Reactions
The Tigers agreed to a five-year, $80MM deal with ace Justin Verlander yesterday – $2MM more than Felix Hernandez received upon signing in January. The deal buys out Verlander's final two arbitration years and three free agent seasons. Reactions from around the web:
- ESPN's Buster Olney compares Verlander to Dwight Gooden, and says the Tigers "are right to commit an enormous contract to a guy who won't be 27 for another couple of weeks, and who has established a nice base for what might turn out to be a Hall of Fame career." Interestingly, Baseball-Reference lists Wade Miller and Hernandez as Verlander's top two comparables.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post notes the rarity of under-30 aces reaching the free agent market.
- Zack Greinke will be 29 when he's eligible for free agency after the 2012 season, writes Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star. More so than Verlander, Greinke and Hernandez are positioned to enter free agency in their prime if they choose.
- MLB.com's Jason Beck says the Tigers are one of three teams now on track to have two players earning more than $20MM at the same time. ESPN's Rob Neyer points out that the Tigers "will shed an immense amount of payroll obligations over the next couple of years."
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports still feels that Verlander "has accomplished more than Hernandez in the major leagues." I still disagree, but they're close and the contracts are virtually a wash.
Pirates Notes: Harper, Free Agents, Ankiel
This offseason, the Pirates spent about $14MM to add Akinori Iwamura, Octavio Dotel, Ryan Church, Brendan Donnelly, Bobby Crosby, D.J. Carrasco (non-guaranteed), and Javier Lopez. They shedded one decent-sized salary in Matt Capps, but re-invested in a veteran bullpen. Team president Frank Coonelly chatted with fans yesterday at MLB.com; let's take a look.
- Asked about Bryce Harper, Coonelly said the Pirates are scouting the much-hyped potential draft pick but he "is clearly nowhere nearly as developed as Stephen Strasburg was this time last year." In a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, Chuck Finder clarified that GM Neal Huntington was not saying Saturday that Harper ranked "No. 9, No. 10 or worse on their draft board." Reading Huntington's specific quotes, he didn't actually reveal much about the Pirates' draft plans.
- Coonelly feels it's likely the Pirates head to Spring Training with the current group, but they'll be "keeping tabs on certain free agents who might be a fit if their financial demands soften." Maybe they'd bring in another fifth starter candidate?
- Coonelly said Church was a better fit for the Pirates than Rick Ankiel, because the Pirates were not willing to guarantee Ankiel a starting job.
- The Pirates' massive overhaul is over, as Coonelly stated, "We do not anticipate an exodus of players off the roster at this year's Trade Deadline."
Odds & Ends: Everidge, Lincecum, Lewis, Manny
Links for Wednesday…
- Tommy Everidge cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma according to the Pacific Coast League transactions page. The Mariners designated Everidge for assignment last week to make room on the roster for Eric Byrnes.
- Various agents think the Giants and Tim Lincecum will somehow avoid an arbitration hearing regardless of how poorly talks are going, reports MLB.com's Chris Haft.
- The Astros signed 18-year-old Nicaraguan first baseman Mesac Laguna yesterday, reports Roger Olivas of El Nuevo Diaro.
- Free agent journeyman Nelson Figueroa hopes to return to the Mets but wants to avoid the minors, reports Angel Pinto Vaamonde of the blog BeisbolVenezolano.net. Thanks to Nick Collias for translations on these two bullets.
- Colby Lewis heard from 12 or 13 teams before signing with the Rangers, reports ESPN's Tim Kurkjian. The A's and Twins also offered two-year deals.
- Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball explains how an arbitration hearing works. Hearings are scheduled through February 21st, with Tim Lincecum's case drawing the most attention.
- Manny Ramirez "seriously considered opting out of his contract to return to the American League for a designated-hitter role," reports MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. The idea seems silly now, but in November it wasn't ridiculous to think Manny might've preferred to chase, say, a two-year, $32MM deal elsewhere.
- Bill Shanks of Scout.com talked to Braves assistant GM Bruce Manno, who replied "Never say never" when asked about Johnny Damon. Still, Manno likes the club as it stands. And MLB.com's Mark Bowman believes the Braves are not actively pursuing Damon.
- Rany Jazayerli examines a "delusional" quote from an anonymous Royals official regarding the team's 2008-09 offseason.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs says the Blue Jays should have significant payroll flexibility after the 2010 season.
- MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince doesn't see Orlando Hudson as a fit for the Indians.
Slusser On Tomko, Kennedy, Nomar
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle addresses free agents Brett Tomko, Adam Kennedy, and Nomar Garciaparra in a new blog post.
- Tomko suffered a nerve injury on September 14th that caused his biceps to atrophy to the point of resembling lumpy gravy. The biceps is better now, but Tomko trying to pitch through forearm numbness. He hopes to be game-ready by the start of the season and spoke of a preference for the A's or Giants.
- Kennedy is talking to the Nationals and Indians, but continues to wait on Orlando Hudson's decision.
- Nomar is "widely expected" to retire. If he does, he'd bow out at age 36 with a career line of .313/.361/.521.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Wednesday
With hearings set to begin, expect more arbitration settlements…
- The Mariners reached an agreement with first baseman Casey Kotchman, reports MLB.com's Jim Street. Larry Stone of The Seattle Times tweets that he will be paid just over $3.5MM in 2010, which is exactly the midpoint of the two filing figures.
Moorad Finds Adrian Gonzalez Extension Unlikely
Padres CEO Jeff Moorad stated the obvious yesterday regarding first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune has the quote:
"While I’d be thrilled to have him part of the organization for the long term, the early signals indicate his cost will be greater than our ability to pay."
Gonzalez's agent John Boggs agreed, and explained that he expects a trade:
"The feeling we're getting is more than likely (the Padres) are going to have to trade Adrian because (they) can't afford him."
These quotes are far from groundbreaking, so consider this your official Gonzalez Trade Prediction post. Tell us the acquiring team and players given up. Keep in mind that at $10.25MM over the next two years, any team willing to surrender the right players could acquire Gonzalez. Given their first base incumbents, though, the Cardinals, Brewers, Phillies, Reds, Yankees, and Twins appear unlikely.
Rays Claim Mike Ekstrom
The Rays claimed reliever Mike Ekstrom off waivers from the Padres, reports Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. He'd been designated for assignment a week ago to make room for Jon Garland.
Ekstrom, 26, was done in by hits and home runs allowed in an 18.3-inning big league stint last year. At Triple A, he had a 1.73 ERA, 6.2 K/9, and 2.3 BB/9 in 62.3 innings.
Brewers Claim Marco Estrada
The Brewers claimed pitcher Marco Estrada off waivers from the Nationals, reports Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. In a corresponding move, Milwaukee designated Tim Dillard for assignment.
Estrada, 26, posted a 3.63 ERA, 6.5 K/9, and 2.2 BB/9 in 136.3 Triple A innings last year. In their new Handbook, Baseball America had him ranked as the Nationals' #18 prospect. They praised his change-up, and suggested he could become a back-end starter despite being undersized. The Nats designated him for assignment recently to make room for Tyler Walker.
Dillard, 26, posted a 4.51 ERA, 3.9 K/9, and 3.2 BB/9 in 147.6 Triple A innings last year. He'd spent the previous year as a reliever. He garnered a mention as the Brewers' #30 prospect in the '09 Handbook, when he profiled as a "resilient middle reliever." It seems clear that the Brewers upgraded going from Dillard to Estrada, and Dillard may be retained anyway if he's not claimed off waivers.
D’Backs Notes: Kendrick, Byrnes, Reynolds
The Diamondbacks' main additions this offseason have been Adam LaRoche, Edwin Jackson, Ian Kennedy, Kelly Johnson, Aaron Heilman, and Bob Howry. They also exercised Brandon Webb's option and received Tony Abreu as the player to be named later in the Jon Garland trade. On the flip side, they subtracted Max Scherzer, Doug Davis, Yusmeiro Petit, and Daniel Schlereth from the pitching staff.
MLB.com's Steve Gilbert interviewed D'Backs managing general partner Ken Kendrick, while AZ Snakepit's Jim McLennan talked to GM Josh Byrnes. Hot stove notes:
- Regarding LaRoche, Kendrick said, "There were a couple of other possibilities, and we were going to be able to do one of them."
- Given the losses of Webb and Conor Jackson last year, Kendrick considers them on par with big free agent additions for 2010.
- Kendrick spoke of four or five guys the D'Backs would prefer not to go year-to-year with, third baseman Mark Reynolds among them. Kendrick believes the time for those discussions is before the season begins. Reynolds will be arbitration-eligible for the first time in 2011, as he just missed the cutoff this time around.
- Byrnes spoke of "a pendulum in the game," where some teams chase a new philosophy to the extent that it creates a market inefficiency.
- Byrnes carefully explained why he traded Scherzer, suggesting Jackson has gotten "to that next level" while Scherzer hasn't. He also explained how that three-way deal came together – 90% was done quickly, and then there was "about a month of starting at each other and seeing if there were another deal, improvements or alternatives out there either club liked."