Nationals Sign Jason Marquis
The Nationals signed starting pitcher Jason Marquis to a two-year, $15MM deal today. MASN was first to report the agreement yesterday, with MLB Network's Hazel Mae adding the length and Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News tweeting the value. The Phillies and Mets were other clubs reportedly in the mix for the 31-year-old righty. Back on December 15th, Marquis explained to MLB.com's Bill Ladson that he found the ability to mentor the Nats' young pitching staff appealing.
Marquis racked up 216 innings for the Rockies this year with a 4.04 ERA, 4.8 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, and 55.6% groundball rate. The Rox will receive a supplemental draft pick for their loss. I have to wonder if Marquis agreed in advance to turn down their arbitration offer.
My take: this is an uninspired move by the Nationals. I understand that an innings-eater is needed to take pressure off young pitchers, but it's likely that similar pitchers will be available in March at a fraction of the commitment. Plus, unlike an Erik Bedard type gamble, Marquis doesn't have upside.
Dodgers Exploring Aaron Harang Trade?
10:58am: MLB.com's Mark Sheldon reports (via Twitter) that there are no new talks between the Reds and Dodgers. The Reds were not receptive to the Dodgers' offer.
TUESDAY, 9:34am: Yahoo's Jeff Passan hears that the trade talks are not dead. The Reds want a decent prospect plus George Sherrill for Harang, since they're willing to eat almost $10MM of Harang's $14MM salary to make the deal cost-neutral for the Dodgers.
THURSDAY, 6:55pm: "A source from one of the clubs" gives Yahoo's Tim Brown a different take, saying that a Harang deal between these two teams is "not happening."
6:02pm: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports that discussions between the Dodgers and Reds have "gotten beyond the tire-kicking stage" and that the two sides are "seriously contemplating" how to complete a Harang deal. Still, Stark's source says there's still a long way to go before anything is finalized.
8:37am: The Dodgers are exploring a trade for Reds starter Aaron Harang, reports Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times. The Reds seek "one or two players on the Dodgers' major league roster in return." Hernandez notes that if traded Harang would be guaranteed $15MM for one year; his 2011 option would become mutual and the buyout would increase. The Reds would have to pick up part of the tab.
You might be surprised to see the Dodgers considering a salary dump acquisition, given all the rumors of their lack of spending ability. But keep in mind that GM Ned Colletti freed up $8MM in the Juan Pierre trade, which is to be used toward a starting pitcher, second baseman, and bench players. $3.85MM already went toward Jamey Carroll, so Colletti doesn't have a ton to work with.
I'm not sure who the Reds are targeting from the Dodgers for Harang, but shortstop Chin-Lung Hu would make sense.
Yankees Sign Mike Rivera
The Yankees signed catcher Mike Rivera to a minor league contract, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Rivera had been non-tendered by the Brewers on the December 12th deadline.
Rivera, 33, hit .228/.326/.342 in 132 plate appearances this year as Jason Kendall's backup, missing time with an ankle sprain. He caught 271 innings. If the Yankees give big league playing time to Rivera and are happy with his performance, they can retain him in future seasons as an arbitration-eligible player.
Odds & Ends: Nationals, Podsednik, Duchscherer
Links for Monday…
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets that the Nationals still have money left to sign Matt Capps, assuming he wants to go there. Morosi expects Capps to decide on his next team this week.
- In a separate tweet, Morosi notes that the Tigers are only interested in Scott Podsednik if it's a one-year deal. Detroit has no interest in Rick Ankiel.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick reports that Justin Duchscherer has received contract offers from three unnamed teams, and he expects to decide on his 2010 home within a week.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Royals are interested in free agent outfielder Brian Anderson on a minor league deal.
- Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle sees Rajai Davis and Ryan Sweeney retaining starting jobs in the wake of the impending Coco Crisp signing. Slusser suggests a possible reduced role or trade for Scott Hairston. FanGraphs' Dave Cameron doesn't understand the move, noting that Davis and Sweeney are similar to Crisp. Crisp's physical will take place tomorrow, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney.
- Matthew Carruth of Lookout Landing explains that Mariners fans fully understand the dangers of Milton Bradley. The Seattle Times' Geoff Baker reflects on Carlos Silva's time with the club.
- Patrick Newman joins FanGraphs with a look at Japanese baseball imports and exports for 2010. Speaking of which, new Met Ryota Igarashi would like to be Francisco Rodriguez's set-up man.
Padres Acquire Dusty Ryan
The Padres acquired catcher Dusty Ryan from the Tigers for a player to be named later or cash considerations, tweets AOL FanHouse's Ed Price. Tigers minor league pitcher Scott Drucker broke the news first on Twitter. Ryan had been designated for assignment on December 10th in a move corresponding to the Curtis Granderson trade.
Ryan, 25, hit .257/.359/.455 in 235 Triple A plate appearances this year. Heading into the season, Baseball America spoke of Ryan's "prodigious raw power" and "plus-plus arm," but considered his receiving skills a work in progress.
Indians Sign Saul Rivera
The Indians signed reliever Saul Rivera to a minor league deal, reports MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince. Rivera was released by the Nationals on December 7th to free up a spot for Brian Bruney.
The 32-year-old Rivera posted a 6.10 ERA, 4.9 K/9, and 3.3 BB/9 in 38.3 big league innings this year. He tossed another 45.6 innings at Triple A. He was fairly useful in the three previous seasons.
Indians Get Mitch Talbot In Kelly Shoppach Trade
Righty Mitch Talbot is the player to be named later from the Kelly Shoppach trade, writes MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince. The Indians traded Shoppach to the Rays on December 1st. The Rays also received cash in the deal, according to a team press release.
Talbot, 26, pitched mostly at Triple A this year. He posted a 4.47 ERA, 6.6 K/9, and 3.0 BB/9 in ten starts. He missed a few months with an elbow injury, so the Rays had him make six starts in the Arizona Fall League to get more work. He's out of options, so he'll presumably compete for a spot in the Indians' rotation. Heading into the season, Baseball America had this scouting report on Talbot:
Talbot has an 89-91 mph fastball with good movement, a hard slider with impressive late cutting action and a changeup that continues to show better fade and depth.
Shipping Aubrey Huff to the Astros in July of '06 really paid off for the Rays. They received Talbot and eventually spun him into Shoppach. They also received Ben Zobrist, who was immensely valuable this year.
Marlins Sign Danny Richar
The Marlins signed infielder Danny Richar to a minor league deal, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Richar elected free agency after being outrighted by the Reds back in November. The 26-year-old hit .290/.330/.438 in 181 Triple A plate appearances this year. The second baseman had labrum surgery in July. He came to the Reds from the White Sox in July of '08 with Nick Masset in the Ken Griffey Jr. trade.
Survey Feedback
Last week we conducted a survey asking readers to suggest ways to improve MLB Trade Rumors. After sifting through hundreds of interesting submissions, here are a few thoughts:
- MLBTR does not have links open in new windows automatically. Currently I prefer to let the user decide – just right-click and open in a new tab or window if you please.
- Auto-linking full player names to a stat website like Baseball-Reference would be helpful. We're working on it.
- A possible iPhone application – I've gathered ideas on what it would do, and will probably start having this built.
- RSS feeds by team – this wasn't possible when I looked into it a year or so ago, but I will see what can be done.
- Email and/or text message alerts – I like the idea, and will look into both.
- The commenting system – last week we switched over to TypePad Connect after noticing it allows threaded comments, editing, and deleting. However, it loads more slowly and we lost the numbered pages. If possible we may install something like Disqus.
- We now have comment moderators in place, so you should see some improvement. Disqus allows readers to report and rate comments, which is appealing.
- I will try to get back on track with weekly live chats.
- All Twitter links will be identified, either by us saying "Ken Rosenthal tweeted" or adding a "via Twitter" at the end of the sentence. I should also note that whenever possible, I go back and replace Twitter links with article links by the same journalist.
- Certain posts become frequently-updated behemoths and are difficult to read if you're coming to them for the first time. We are still going to add updates at the top of posts because that is where you look first. But once a signing or trade becomes official, we'll rewrite the post as seen here.
Yankees Aiming To Add Starter Soon
Yankees GM Brian Cashman will "almost certainly add a starter by New Year's," reports Mike Puma of the New York Post. Puma notes that the Yanks inquired on the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano, but did not like the asking price. Zambrano has a full no-trade clause and is well-paid – $53.75MM over the next three years. On the other hand, ESPN's Bruce Levine has a Cubs source that refuted the idea that the Yankees even inquired.
A few other names to consider from our trade market post: Derek Lowe, Aaron Harang, and Gil Meche (we're unsure on the availability of Meche). Another interesting name could be Jeremy Bonderman, given his $12.5MM salary for 2010. Note that the Yankees have not been connected to these four in trade rumors; we're just speculating. And there is the small question of whether the team has $10MM+ in payroll space for a veteran starter.
Puma finds a free agent addition more likely for the Yankees; his speculative targets are Jason Marquis, Joel Pineiro, and Ben Sheets. However, Ken Davidoff of Newsday talked to "a person in the Yankees' loop" who said Sheets is "not even on the board" currently. Pineiro's contract demands remain steep, and you have to wonder whether a low-strikeout National League lifer like Marquis offers anything over Sergio Mitre or Chad Gaudin. The rest of the free agent market is not terribly appealing.
Bottom line: Puma expects Cashman to add a starter in the next eleven days, but we have no idea who that will be.