Odds & Ends: Kuo, DeRosa, Dye, Blue Jays
With all the arbitration decisions flying around today, we haven't had time for an Odds & Ends until now.
- Diamond Leung tweeted last night that the Yankees "signed Taiwanese 18-year-old infielder Fu-Lin Kuo to six-figure bonus." Taiwan Baseball says Kuo received about $150K.
- Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has the Cardinals, Phillies, Mets, and Giants as suitors for Mark DeRosa. ESPN's Buster Olney heard that a few teams are concerned with DeRosa's range at third base.
- Fungoes shows us "when the hot stove is the hottest," graphically. Looks about right to me…peaks in December, stays hot in January.
- A.J. Burnett talked to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News about Roy Halladay potentially being traded.
- Juan Castro will take his physical Thursday according to Andy Martino of the Philadelphia Inquirer; if he passes, his one-year deal with the Phillies will be official.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick wrote about potential fits for Jermaine Dye, noting that the Yankees have discussed him internally. Crasnick says geography will not be a major factor for Dye.
- MLB.com's Jordan Bastian tweeted comments from Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos regarding their search for a catcher. Anthopoulos is eyeing some potential non-tenders. Dioner Navarro and John Buck come to mind, with Kelly Shoppach going to the Rays.
- The market for Miguel Tejada should be decent now that he certainly will not cost a draft pick. SI's Jon Heyman tweets that the Cardinals, Phillies, Giants, Rangers, and Astros are interested. Rangers?
- MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports that the Brewers officially announced their minor league deal with John Halama today.
- Nick Green's agent Tom O'Connell tells Ken Davidoff of Newsday his client is drawing "significant interest" on Major League contracts.
Marlins Do Not Offer Arb To Calero, Nick Johnson
The Marlins did not offer arbitration to Type B free agents Kiko Calero and Nick Johnson, nor did they offer to Brendan Donnelly or Ross Gload, tweets Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.
Calero merited consideration after posting a 10.4 K/9 and 1.95 ERA in 60 innings, but apparently the Marlins did not want to risk giving him a raise on this year's $500K salary. It's a similar story for Johnson, whose .426 OBP leads all free agents.
Yankees To Make No Arb Offers To Free Agents
The Yankees will not make any arbitration offers to their free agents, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. That includes Johnny Damon (A), Andy Pettitte (B), Xavier Nady (B), and Hideki Matsui (neither). The Yanks didn't make any offers last year either.
We predicted these correctly, though one could make a case for Damon or Pettitte. The market for Damon should improve, now that he will not cost a draft pick. Talking to George King of the New York Post, Damon's agent Scott Boras kind of hinted that multiple teams have interest in his client.
Twins Offer Arb To Carl Pavano
The Twins offered arbitration to Type B free agent Carl Pavano, tweets La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The move was expected after Pavano tallied a 5.10 ERA with 147 strikeouts and 39 walks in 199.3 innings for the Indians and Twins this year. He earned $4.35MM in total.
Marlins Still Optimistic For Josh Johnson Extension?
3:19pm: Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports say Johnson would accept a four-year, $42MM extension, but the Marlins offered three years and $23MM. It seems to me that both the Marlins and Johnson's agent Matt Sosnick are using Zack Greinke's deal as a baseline. The writers note that Johnson and Felix Hernandez have some similarities, but Felix might require four years and $40-50MM to extend.
2:17pm: ESPN's Jayson Stark says the Marlins are "telling other teams they still believe they'll wind up signing [Josh Johnson] to a long-term deal," despite reaching an apparent impasse in the talks last month. Furthermore, Stark talked to a source who spoke to a Marlins exec who says that the Fish offered three guaranteed years with an easy vesting option for a fourth. If that vesting option is the only real stumbling block, maybe the two sides can reach an agreement.
Dodgers Make No Arb Offers To Free Agents
The Dodgers aren't offering arbitration to any of their free agents, team spokesman Josh Rawitch told Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times. They've got Type As with Orlando Hudson and Randy Wolf, and Type Bs with Guillermo Mota, Jon Garland, Ronnie Belliard, Vicente Padilla, and Will Ohman.
Wolf in particular seemed a lock to receive an offer. It's difficult to understand why the Dodgers chose not to; Jon Weisman of Dodgers Thoughts is depressed. Oddly enough, Wolf has avoided an arb offer for two years running despite being worthy both times. Surely he's not complaining; he's now more attractive to other teams. Ditto for Hudson.
Red Sox Ask Pedroia About Playing Shortstop
3:09pm: Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe learned from a team exec that the Red Sox will exhaust their free agent and trade options before turning to Pedroia at shortstop.
10:13am: The Red Sox asked Dustin Pedroia if he'd be able to play shortstop, according to ESPN's Peter Gammons. Pedroia's thoughts:
"They've put it out there and I've told them I'm all for it. I can do it. I can't wait for Tito [Terry Francona] to call me and ask, 'Can you do it?' I can do it. I really want to do it."
Right now it appears that the Red Sox are just considering the switch for Pedroia. As Gammons notes, shifting Pedroia would create flexibility, allowing the Sox to pass on Marco Scutaro and pursue Orlando Hudson or even Brandon Phillips.
As you know, other offseason considerations for the Red Sox include trading Mike Lowell and acquiring a third baseman, signing Jason Bay or Matt Holliday, and a possible Roy Halladay trade. Gammons downplays the idea of Boston acquiring Doc, saying the chances of them trading Clay Buchholz or Casey Kelly are minimal at best.
Arbitration Offer Rumors
We'll round up the days arbitration offer-related rumors in this post, so refresh it often. Our predictions can be found here. Once the decisions actually start coming in tonight, there will be one post for each of the 26 teams that have ranked free agents.
- ESPN's Jayson Stark believes neither Chan Ho Park (B) nor Scott Eyre (B) will get an offer from the Phillies, and that's backed up by GM Ruben Amaro Jr. (speaking to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki).
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the Yankees "almost certainly will not offer arbitration" to Johnny Damon (A), Hideki Matsui (neither), and Andy Pettitte (B). Sherman does not mention Xavier Nady (B), but we're guessing he won't get an offer. Newsday's Ken Davidoff believes Pettitte will get an offer (the lefty didn't last year).
- MLB.com's Adam McCalvy says the Brewers are "leaning against extending arbitration offers to any of their five compensation-eligible free agents, including Felipe Lopez." GM Doug Melvin explained that the Brewers would have a logjam if Lopez (B) accepted. Yesterday, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel said he expected the Brewers to offer arbitration to Lopez because the second baseman would probably turn it down. The team's other Type B free agents: Braden Looper, David Weathers, Jason Kendall, and Mike Cameron.
- Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cardinals will offer arbitration to Matt Holliday (A) but not Troy Glaus (B). Type Bs Mark DeRosa and Joel Pineiro are less certain, but DeRosa's agent assumes an offer is coming.
- Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald says the Red Sox will offer arbitration to Type As Jason Bay and Billy Wagner.
Pirates, Royals Interested In Jamey Wright
The Pirates are interested in free agent reliever Jamey Wright, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. Dutton notes that the Royals remain interested in re-signing him.
Wright, 35 later this month, soaked up 79 bullpen innings with a 4.33 ERA this year. His walk rate was ugly, but unlikely most free agent relievers he posted a strong groundball rate (59.1%). Wright earned $1.4MM for his efforts.
Astros Offer Arb To Valverde, Not Tejada, Hawkins, Brocail
The Astros offered arbitration only to Jose Valverde (A) and not Miguel Tejada (A), LaTroy Hawkins (A), or Doug Brocail (B), according to the team's Senior Director of Digital Media Alyson Footer.
Interesting relief choices; I'd predicted no arbitration offers to Valverde or Hawkins. That said, an offer to Valverde always made sense. He does not seem likely to accept arbitration and take a one-year deal. The Astros are known to have an offer on the table to Hawkins, so maybe they didn't want to complicate the picture by offering arbitration.
You might consider Valverde the loser here and Hawkins the winner, as Valverde will now come with a draft pick cost attached.