Josh Johnson Out For Season
Blue Jays right-hander Josh Johnson recieved some unfortunate news yesterday when he learned that his season is officially over. Gregor Chisholm and Evan Peaslee of MLB.com reported that a visit with Dr. James Andrews revealed that Johnson's strained right forearm wouldn't require surgery but would still put an end to his 2013 campaign.
It's hard to see Johnson, who hasn't pitched since Aug. 6, cashing in on a hefty deal this winter, given his overall struggles. Johnson gave Toronto 16 starts in total this season, racking up a 6.20 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 45.1 percent ground-ball rate. Optimists could look to Johnson's 4.61 FIP, 3.58 xFIP and 3.73 SIERA and expect a rebound. More than 18 percent of fly-balls allowed by Johnson left the yard — an eight percent increase over the league average. Because of that unnaturally high rate, there's reason to believe more in his K/BB numbers than his home run totals. Johnson carried a 7.2 percent HR/FB ratio into the 2013 season.
It once seemed likely that the Blue Jays would extend Johnson the qualifying offer of nearly $14MM to ensure draft pick compensation if he signed elsewhere, but that's far from a given at this point. It's not inconceivable that the 29-year-old could still fetch a decent offer in a thin pitching market. At this point though, it looks likely that the Blue Jays will get stuck with the bill on a player who has not panned out for them as they hoped when they acquired him along with Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle in last November's blockbuster with the Marlins.
Steve Adams contributed to this post.
Lincecum, Pence, Lopez Claimed Off Waivers
Giants stars Tim Lincecum, Hunter Pence and Javier Lopez all went on waivers Saturday and were quickly claimed by teams, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. However, someone familiar with the situation told Heyman that "none of them are going anywhere."
While the Giants could still trade any of the players, it appears that either the claiming teams were doing so in order to block trades or the Giants weren't really interested in trading any of the three. The Giants could save close to $8MM by dropping the pending free agents, but there's reason to believe that they were never eager to deal three players who have helped them win World Series titles. With Lincecum and Pence, the Giants have extra incentive to keep them as they plan to extend qualifying offers and collect draft picks if they go elsewhere.
Lincecum owns a 4.55 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 but he is seen as someone who can help teams as a reliever or starter and one rival exec is confident that he's "better than a 4.5 ERA pitcher." The right-hander is owed $4.2MM for the remainder of the year. Pence, who makes about $2.8MM and Lopez, who is owed just $859K until the end, were locks to be claimed. At any rate, it appears that all three men will finish the season in San Francisco.
Quick Hits: Mets, Harvey, Indians, Morneau, Twins
The Mets got some difficult news today as they learned that young star Matt Harvey has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. GM Sandy Alderson said that Harvey is unlikely to pitch again this season and they'll need two to three weeks to determine if he will require Tommy John surgery, writes Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. Here's more from around baseball..
- If the Indians are going to have a chance at making the postseason, they're going to need their three of their highest-paid players to step it up, writes Dennis Manoloff of The Plain Dealer. Manoloff says that Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, and Asdrubal Cabrera will need to produce if they plan on catching the Tigers for the AL Central crown or the A's for the second wild card spot.
- Agent Scott Boras emphasized that surgery isn't an automatic for Harvey, Rubin writes. "When you're talking about the term 'partial tear,' you're talking about 5 percent to 95 percent," Boras said of the Mets pitcher. "You have to get in and get the specifics and get more information medically before we can really make a determination as to what we're dealing with."
- One Mets official acknowledged that losing Harvey for a significant amount of time would impact their timetable for contention, writes Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. With "another bat or two," Zack Wheeler, and a healthy Harvey, the official felt that the Mets could have had a puncher's chance at a strong season in 2014.
- In a fan mailbag, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com explains that a Justin Morneau trade is highly unlikely as he is still owed roughly $3MM through the end of the season and the Twins probably won't get much for a one-month rental. Bollinger also tackles questions on top prospects Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton as well as a possible reunion with Johan Santana.
AL West Notes: Mariners, Astros, Walker
The Mariners designated Aaron Harang for assignment earlier this evening but that might not be the only roster move made by GM Jack Zduriencik & Co. this week. This morning, Kendrys Morales was claimed off revocable trade waivers, giving the M's and the mystery club a total of two days to hammer out a trade. It was believe that the Mariners rebuffed interest from the Rangers and other clubs in late July with the hopes of re-signing Morales this winter, but the right deal might cause them to think otherwise. Here's more out of the AL West..
- The Astros own the worst record in the big leagues but they are also MLB's most profitable team as they have a remarkably low $13MM payroll, according to Dan Alexander of Forbes Magazine. Owner Jim Crane has previously said that he eventually plans on making Houston's payroll one of the largest in the majors, but Alexander argues that Crane is likely to use some of the team's profit to help pay down the $275MM debt he took on when he bought the club.
- The Astros responded to the article this evening in a statement to the press, arguing that the "information reported in the Forbes article relating to the Astros’ revenues, the Astros media rights fee from CSN Houston, and CSN Houston’s per subscriber rate are all significantly inaccurate" and as a result, "the conclusion about the Astros operational profit is significantly inaccurate."
- Mariners assistant GM Tony Blengino wasn't let go by the club, but actually requested to look into other MLB opportunities since his role in the organization has decreased, writes Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. The stats guru said that when he called the Mariners last week, he was advised that his contract for 2014 would not be renewed.
- More from Baker, who wonders if today's move with Harang was done to open up a rotation spot for Triple-A starter Taijuan Walker. Walker was ranked as the No. 20 prospect in the country by Baseball America prior to this season.
AL East Notes: Orioles, Rays, Soriano, Red Sox
Here's a look at the AL East as the Rays and Red Sox jostle for control of the division..
- Orioles Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette told reporters, including CSNBaltimore's Rich Dubroff, "We’ve pursued some hitters, but we haven’t been able to find the right fit." Duquette added he's looking at options to improve the bullpen, but those may come from Triple-A.
- The Rays were able to acquire outfielder David DeJesus and his approximately $2.4MM salary committment because they are "under budget," a Major League source told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).
- Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman made moves this summer with depth in mind, writes Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune. “We talked about it in July, our biggest focus was on augmenting our depth,” Friedman said before Friday’s win. “Essentially right now we have a 37-game season and we’re doing everything we can to put together the most talented team we can going down the stretch. The fact that we play 37 games in 38 days also factored in, something where us having as much depth as we could was important. In our minds this is arguably the deepest roster we’ve had.” The Rays added reliever Jesse Crain in late July, signed designated hitter Delmon Young to a minor league deal on Thursday, and traded for outfielder David DeJesus on Friday.
- The Yankees' acquisition of Alfonso Soriano represents the sixth time in 19 years the club landed an established slugger during the season who had at least the following season left on his contract. Joel Sherman of the New York Post runs down the previous five occurences and ranks them by success. He concludes that those acquisitions - Ruben Sierra, Cecil Fielder, David Justice, Raul Mondesi, and Bobby Abreu - helped the Yanks in the season they were acquired but most of them were problematic beyond that.
- A year after shocking the baseball world, Red Sox GM Ben Cherington has no regrets about his megatrade with L.A., writes Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald.
Edward Creech contributed to this post.
MLBTR Regular Features
If you're a regular MLBTR reader, you'll be familiar with our chats, Week In Review posts and Baseball Blogs Weigh In feature. Here's some more detail on when you'll see our weekly features and exactly what to expect from them:
- MLBTR Chats - Join Tim Dierkes every Tuesday at 2pm CDT to chat about the latest trades, signings and rumblings around the Major Leagues.
- Baseball Blogs Weigh In - Every Friday, I feature some of the best writing from baseball blogs around the web. Whether it's opinion, stats or something else entirely, you can connect to the best of the blogosphere once a week on MLBTR. If you want to submit a post of yours, you can reach me at zachbbwi@gmail.com.
- Week In Review - It's remarkable how much happens in seven days. Every Sunday night, MLBTR summarizes the week's biggest stories in our Week In Review posts.
- MLBTR Originals - Edward Creech gathers all our original analysis and reporting in one place every Sunday night.
Cafardo On Kuroda, Zduriencik, Choo, Arroyo
The waiver trade deadline is one week away, meaning that teams have to work fast if they want to make an out-of-house upgrade for their playoff roster. Will there be a flurry of moves to close out August? “I doubt it,” one National League General Manager told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. “There’s a lot more blocking going on this year.” Here's more from today's column..
- The Yankees increased Hiroki Kuroda’s salary from $10MM in 2011 to $15MM in 2012 and Cafardo wonders aloud if they'll have to tack on another $5MM to keep him in 2014. One Yankees official said they need to do whatever they can to make that happen, as the right-hander, even at 39, would still be the best starting pitcher on the open market. Kuroda has pondered retirement but a sizable deal like that could keep him in place.
- Baseball people would be surprised if the Mariners replace Jack Zduriencik with one year remaining on his contract. The feeling is the M's have some good young talent on the way and if Zduriencik can retain Kendrys Morales, Raul Ibanez, and Mike Morse, he has a chance to really make some progress. Zduriencik raised some eyebrows when he held on to that trio this summer, but he believes he can re-sign a couple or all three.
- It doesn’t appear that the Reds will have the finances to sign Shin-Soo Choo for the long term and the Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Cubs, and Red Sox could all have interest. Industry sources told Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com last week that the Cubs are expected to make a run at Choo. The outfielder ranks No. 5 on Tim Dierkes' 2014 Free Agent Power Rankings.
- Speaking of the Reds, Bronson Arroyo probably won't be back with the club and a National League team like the Cardinals, Mets, or Braves would probably suit him. Cafardo also notes that Cubs president Theo Epstein has an affinity for Arroyo.
- Agent Scott Boras would like to see clients Stephen Drew and Jacoby Ellsbury re-sign with the Red Sox long term. Naturally, he expects a vibrant market for both players.
- A.J. Burnett could be a candidate to stay in with the Pirates, even though he's hinted about retirement. If he goes elsewhere, it's hard to see him getting a long-term deal, but the Blue Jays could try to bring him back for the short term.
NL West Notes: Dodgers, Fife, Federowicz, Kennedy
Yesterday, Alex Speier of WEEI.com gave us a fascinating look at last August's blockbuster trade between the Red Sox and the Dodgers. It turns out that one of the biggest deals in recent memory came together rather quickly and Boston could have gone down a number of other paths that would have altered the future of both franchises. One year later, both teams are pretty happy with the way things turned out. Here's the latest out of the NL West, including more on the Dodgers..
- The Dodgers took a significant gamble in the Boston blockbuster and it has paid off, writes Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times. While GM Ned Colletti & Co. knew that they would have lots of money to work with thanks to the new ownership group, they weren't expecting anything on this scale. “They were pushing to go,” Colletti said. “I had my staff with me, standing there, right in the back of this booth. They looked at me, kind of stunned, and said, ‘Can we really do this?’”
- Aside from Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, a pair of former Red Sox farmhands are also thriving in L.A., notes Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal. Pitcher Stephen Fife and catcher Tim Federowicz came over to the Dodgers as a part of the three-team 2011 Erik Bedard deal.
- Flyball pitcher Ian Kennedy is enthusiastic about playing within the confines of Petco Park with the Padres, writes Dennis Lin of U-T San Diego.
Dodgers, Kershaw Were Close On $210MM Deal
The Dodgers and star pitcher Clayton Kershaw were close to agreement on a hefty seven-year deal worth roughly $210MM, major league sources tell Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. However, the Dodgers wound up backing off and the two sides have not negotiated in months, according to sources.
Talks are unlikely to pick back up between the two sides until the offseason and Kershaw's asking price could be even higher by that point. The 25-year-old leads the majors with a 1.72 ERA, which would be the fourth-best among all pitchers with 150+ innings since the mound was lowered in 1969. He also has a career-best 2.0 BB/9 rate to go with a solid 8.5 K/9 in his third consecutive All-Star season.
The contract discussed would have included an opt-out clause, giving the left-hander the right to become a free agent after five years, sources said. The average salary of approximately $30MM would have put him right next to the AAV C.C. Sabathia got on his one-year extension with the Yankees in October of 2011 on the all-time list.
The Dodgers, of course, still want to strike a deal with Kershaw, who is eligible for arbitration after this season and can hit the open market after the 2014 season. An opt-out clause after year five for Kershaw would delay free agency, but he'd be on the open market again at the age of 30.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Chen, D’Backs, Upton
On this date in 1989, Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life by Commissioner Bart Giamatti for gambling. The Reds’ manager signed a five-page agreement with Giamatti in which he agreed to a lifetime penalty but did not admit to gambling on the national pastime. Here’s this week’s look around the baseball blogosphere..
- Camden Depot looks at the frustrating Wei-Yin Chen.
- Inside The Zona says the Diamondbacks have shown a penchant for coming back in 2013.
- The War Room has part one of their 2014 Phillies preview.
- Kingdome Of Seattle Sports is glad that Justin Upton declined a deal to the Mariners.
- Philly Phanatics doesn’t blame Charlie Manuel for the team’s struggles.
- Baltimore Sports And Life scouted Hunter Harvey‘s debut in Aberdeen.
- Kings Of Kauffman crunches the numbers on KC’s playoff odds.
- Blogging Mets lays out the blueprint for the Mets in 2014.
- i70 Baseball gives a tip of the cap to Jon Jay for silencing critics.
- Sports Talk Florida looks at upcoming decisions for the Rays.
- Hardball Scouting evaluates Lucas Giolito.
- Phoul Ballz spoke with a top Phillies draft choice.
- Baseball Hot Corner has the all-PED team.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Zach can be reached at ZachBBWI@gmail.com.