Rizzo On Finding Middle Ground With LaRoche
Earlier today, the Nationals and first baseman Adam LaRoche reached agreement on a two-year, $24MM deal with a mutual option for the 2015 season. Both parties had well-documented interest in a reunion, but they were at an impasse over the length of the deal.
LaRoche, 33, wanted a three-year deal while the Nats said that they would not go beyond two. It was reported that the Nationals were confident that no one would go to three years for the veteran, but General Manager Mike Rizzo told reporters on a conference call this afternoon that he saw it as a very real possibility.
"He's a terrific player coming off of a terrific year. And you know, the market for that kind of player is huge, so it did cross our mind. We were being really honest with Adam and his people, this was about us having a good in-house backup plan that we didn't really have to worry about. If a team was going to overwhelm Adam, we had our Plan B in place, but all along Adam was our first choice and our Plan A," Rizzo said.
With Mike Morse in place as a backup plan, Rizzo said that he found himself in an "enviable position in negotiations" and that allowed the club to be patient in their talks with LaRoche. While Rizzo was willing to wait for the right deal, he admitted that he was anxious to get everything squared away.
"We were both getting tired of the process. We had a lot of conversations back and forth with his representatives. [Adam and I] had a few private conversation and I made it clear to Adam that it was time to make a decision. Our offer was on the table for quite a while and we had other things to move on to. He made it clear that he wanted to move on too," said the GM.
While Rizzo is now open to moving Morse in a deal and has a number of interested suitors, he says that he won't move the first baseman/outfielder unless he can get impact players in return, whether they're big league ready or minor league prospects. If that kind of deal doesn't present itself, then Rizzo won't force a trade involving a "middle of the lineup hitter that's fairly attractively priced."
The Nationals tried to add a left-hander reliever this winter and still might, but Rizzo says that he didn't sign a southpaw in part because the club feels comfortable with the bullpen pieces that they already have in place. Rizzo believes that his right-handers get lefties out better than most left-handed specialists and noted that manager Davey Johnson isn't a big fan of lefty-on-lefty matchups anyway. The Nats were heavily linked to J.P. Howell before he signed on with the Dodgers last week.
Tigers, Cubs, Orioles Discussed Three-Way Deal
The Tigers and Cubs are discussing a potential three-way trade that would send Rick Porcello to Chicago with the Orioles as the third party, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The Tigers want Baltimore involved because they want shortstop J.J. Hardy and they don't feel that the Cubs have the necessary components to make it a two-team trade.
For the O's to part ways with Hardy in a deal, the Cubs would have to send pitching to the Orioles. However, Kubatko thinks that the O's will have to be overwhelmed by an offer in order to part with Hardy. Dan Duquette & Co. are happy with the left side of their infield and they don't intend on moving Manny Machado to shortstop this year.
The Orioles are also one of the teams that are interested in Porcello and it's logical to think that they could just hammer out a two-team swap with the Tigers instead. The Padres, Mariners, and Pirates have also expressed interest in the right-hander recently. The 24-year-old posted a 4.59 ERA with 5.5 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and a 53.2% ground ball rate last season and is under team control through 2015.
D’Backs, Orioles Discussed Kubel, Upton
Monday: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports adds (via Twitter) that the Orioles have also shown serious interest in Justin Upton over the past few weeks, but talks between the two sides have sputtered. The Orioles are shifting their focus to starting pitching. They've expressed interest in bringing Joe Saunders back recently.
Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun adds (via Twitter) that the Orioles find Arizona's asking price for Upton too high.
Saturday: The Diamondbacks are looking to get young pitching from the Orioles in a trade for outfielder Jason Kubel, but Baltimore has been disinclined to do that to this point, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Arizona has a surplus of outfielders and some believe that they would prefer to trade Kubel than Justin Upton at this stage.
Kubel hit .253/.327/.506 with a career-high 30 home runs in 141 games with Arizona last year. The 30-year-old is due to earn $7.5MM in 2013 with a mutual option for the same amount in 2014.
Steve Adams contributed to this post.
Rangers Sign Lance Berkman
After losing Josh Hamilton to free agency, the Rangers have turned to Lance Berkman to add some thunder to the lineup. The team officially announced the signing of the Big Puma to a one-year deal with vesting option for 2014. The Moye Sports Associates client reportedly will receive a $10MM salary with, and his $13MM vesting option triggers at 550 plate appearances. If he fails to reach 550 plate appearances, the club can still exercise a $12MM option or elect a $1MM buyout.
Berkman will bring offense to a Texas team that lost a good amount of pop this winter and missed out on some of its favorite targets. After the departures of Hamilton, Mike Napoli, and Michael Young, Berkman will be expected to be more than a feel-good story in his return to the Lone Star State.
Last week it was reported that the Rangers along with the Orioles, Yankees, and Astros were all interested in the veteran's services. Berkman wasn't sure if he wanted to play in 2013, but it would appear that a pitch spearheaded by team president Nolan Ryan was enough to lure him away from retirement.
Berkman, who turns 37 in February, played in just 32 games for the Cardinals last season thanks to a left calf injury and a torn meniscus in his right knee. In his one season and change in St. Louis, Berkman posted a .295/.408/.533 slash line with 33 homers in 177 games.
The Rays and the Red Sox also had documented interest in Berkman this winter.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first first reported that an agreement was being finalized, with Jon Heyman of CBS Sports confirming the financial details of the contract (on Twitter). Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (all Twitter links) and ESPN's Richard Durrett (via Twitter) added details surrounding Berkman's 2014 option.
Mike Axisa and Steve Adams contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Braves Won’t Rule Out Michael Bourn
1:30pm: "Nothing’s changed. If we got a call and there was a deal to be made, we’d be open to it," Wren told David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). O'Brien also reports the Braves and agent Scott Boras haven't been talking; so, at this point, it's unlikely Bourn returns to Atlanta (Twitter links). However, if Bourn does re-sign with the Braves, O'Brien tweeted he's been told he would play left field.
10:23am: The Braves' signing of B.J. Upton in November ostensibly took them out of the running for fellow free agent center fielder Michael Bourn. However, General Manager Frank Wren told SiriusXM's Jim Bowden (on Twitter) that the club still hasn't closed the door on Bourn.
If Atlanta were to sign Bourn, Wren says that it would be a toss up on who would play center field and who would play left field (Twitter link). Bourn has 80 games in left field to his credit from his time in Philly while Upton played just one game there during his rookie campaign.
The Braves are still open to Bourn, but the Atlanta GM says that they haven't engaged in trade talks for Justin Upton in the last couple of weeks. Wren says that he wished Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers a Merry Christmas last month and hasn't spoken to him since (Twitter link).
Edward Creech contributed to this post.
Marlins Haven’t Talked Stanton Trade, Even Internally
There has been heavy trade speculation surrounding Marlins star Giancarlo Stanton ever since the club's blockbuster deal with the Blue Jays and the outfielder's subsequent displeasure with the team. The Marlins also publicly acknowledged that they are willing to listen on Stanton and any other player, as per their club policy. However, a team source tells Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald that they haven't even discussed the possibility of trading Stanton internally.
The source said flatly that the Marlins "are not moving" Stanton while another source who is familiar with the Marlins' intentions says that the club still plans to have him start the season in Miami and occupy the clean-up spot.
It was reported last night that the Padres and Marlins had preliminary talks about the 23-year-old, but Spencer was told that isn't the case.
Quick Hits: Posey, McCann, Berkman, Mets, Yankees
In today's column, Buster Olney of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req'd) writes that it would make sense for the Giants to look into a Joey Votto-type deal for catcher Buster Posey. The Reds locked Votto up on a ten-year contract extension in April of last year, keeping him in Cincinnati through 2023. In the meantime, the Giants have a fascinating arbitration case on their hands when it comes to Posey and Matt Swartz broke it all down with some interesting comparables last week. Here's more from around baseball..
- Braves GM Frank Wren told Jim Duquette (Twitter link) and Jim Bowden of SiriusXM that the team and catcher Brian McCann have agreed to table contract talks until the end of the year. McCann is entering the final year of his contract and will earn $12MM. Wren also told the duo that the club hasn't closed the door on free agent Michael Bourn.
- Olney also writes that some rival officials were surprised by the $10MM deal Lance Berkman signed with the Rangers. However, Texas likely reasoned that in an offseason where Mike Napoli got $13MM per season (assuming his deal goes through) and David Ortiz got a two-year deal for $26MM, Berkman at $10MM isn't an overpay.
- Several unresolved questions linger for the Mets and Yankees at this stage of the offseason, writes Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. The Mets are in the market for pitching and outfield help and they're more likely to get a notable name in the former than the latter. The Yankees are also in search of some extra pieces but GM Brian Cashman hasn't had any trouble finding gems in mid-to-late winter before.
Cafardo On Cubs, Ellsbury, Morneau, Dodgers
When Theo Epstein took over the Cubs a year ago, he took the long range view and opted for an all-out gutting and rebuilding. This winter, however, he surprised some when he entered the bidding for Anibal Sanchez and signed Edwin Jackson to a lucrative four-year deal. Does that mean that the Cubs are better than he anticipated? “We’re certainly farther along than we were last year at this time,” said Epstein, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. “When we got here, we identified one core player [Starlin Castro] and now we can look around and see Anthony Rizzo, Darwin Barney, Jeff Samardzija , and others. We do have more positional prospects than pitchers, so we felt Jackson will be with us for many years to come.” Here's more from Cafardo..
- If Matt Garza can show teams that his elbow is in solid shape during spring training then the Cubs will consider offers for the right-hander. It's hard to read the Cubs' intentions though since they are building for the future while also signing veteran pitchers.
- Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is a hard sell to some teams because he is in his walk year and has struggled with injury, but there are other clubs out there looking to make a splash who may feel that one year of a motivated Ellsbury would be tempting.
- The Twins' Justin Morneau is in the final year of his contract at $14MM and Cafardo wonders if they would deal him if they got a nice group of young players. Teams like the Red Sox, Orioles, and Rays (even with James Loney) could be interested in first base help.
- Dodgers pitchers Chris Capuano and Aaron Harang are both available thanks to the club's offseason pickups and the expected return of Ted Lilly. Capuano should draw more interest since he is a lefty and coming off a decent season.
- The White Sox say they want to hang on to Gavin Floyd, but younger pitchers have made him expendable. It has been speculated that the White Sox won't look to move Floyd until John Danks is healthy.
- Andrew Bailey is slated to be the Red Sox set-up man in support of Joel Hanrahan, but Cafardo wonders aloud if they might be willing to deal him to address another need? Bailey didn't help his trade value after he returned from thumb surgery last year, but at least teams know he’s healthy.
- Cafardo gets the feeling that Justin Upton will be gone just as soon as D'Backs GM Kevin Towers hears the right mix of players. Of course, there has also been a great deal of talk surrounding Jason Kubel.
Padres, D’Backs Discussed Upton, Kubel, Headley
11:37pm: The Padres and D'Backs found no match in trade talks about Upton or Jason Kubel, reports Jack Magruder of FOXSportsArizona.com (on Twitter). San Diego doesn't want to move Headley and they don't have a spot for Kubel with Carlos Quentin on the roster.
3:27pm: The Padres and Diamondbacks have had on-and-off discussions about a deal involving Justin Upton and Chase Headley since July, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. However, those talks have yet to result in a deal.
Even though that deal hasn't worked out, the Diamondbacks continue to discuss Upton with other clubs, including the Rangers and Mariners while also considering offers for Jason Kubel. The Rangers want to build a package around third baseman Mike Olt rather than shortstop Elvis Andrus or infielder Jurickson Profar and they're willing to add a top pitching prospect and a third quality piece to the package, sources say.
However, sources tell Rosenthal that the D'Backs believe they could make an even better deal for Upton with another club like the Mariners, who are aggressively trying to add a power hitter. However, as we've heard before, Seattle is on Upton's four-team no-trade list and he's not inclined to approve a deal to the M's. The Mariners might be able to change Upton's mind with a lucrative contract extension.
Earlier this week we learned that the Braves have also inquired on Upton.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
East Notes: Nationals, Yankees, Orioles, Victorino
The Nationals had their eye on left-hander J.P. Howell for quite some time but the Dodgers swooped in on him earlier today. After losing three lefties in Tom Gorzelanny, Sean Burnett, and Michael Gonzalez, the Nats could still add a southpaw, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Here’s more out of the AL and NL East..
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman told reporters, including Anthony Rieber of Newsday, that he isn’t interested in signing a reliever. “I cannot talk about players on the free-agent market,” Cashman said. “But I am not looking for bullpen help, I can tell you that.“
- Free agent Joe Saunders says that he wants to return to the Orioles in 2013 but is ultimately leaving the process in the hands of his agent, writes Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun. Saunders also has interest from the Angels, Mets, Twins, and Mariners and says that he wants to play for a contender.
- Shane Victorino, who signed a three-year, $39MM deal with the Red Sox this winter, says that a return to the Phillies was his first choice, writes Matt Gelb of the Phildelphia Inquirer.