Diamondbacks Acquire Carlos Rosa
The Diamondbacks have acquired righthander Carlos Rosa from the Royals in exchange for shortstop Rey Navarro, tweets David Holtzman, the director of media relations for the Royals.
Rosa, 25, posted a 4.56 ERA, 10.1 K/9, and 4.1 BB/9 in 71 Triple A innings last year. Early in 2010, his peripherals have moved in the wrong direction. Baseball America notes that Rosa was originally part of the Mike Jacobs trade in October of '08, but elbow concerns prompted the Royals to send Leo Nunez to Florida instead. BA writes that Rosa, who was converted to relief last year, had the best fastball in the Royals' farm system. However, his secondary pitches need work.
Navarro, 20, was promoted to High-A Visalia for the 2010 season. In 2009, the switch-hitter hit .262/.308/.339 for Single-A South Bend. BA sees him as a plus defender capable of playing a variety of positions.
Has Justin Speier Retired?
The Rockies are operating under the assumption that reliever Justin Speier has retired, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post.
Colorado signed the 36-year-old to a minor league deal in January and cut him loose on April 3rd. Upon being released, Speier said that he would retire if he could not land a major league gig even though the Rockies had offered him a spot in Triple-A. Because he never reported to Colorado Springs, the organization assumes that he is done with baseball.
According to Baseball Reference, Speier has earned more than $20MM for his career, not including the $5.25MM he is owed by the Angels this season. In twelve big league seasons, the righthander has posted a 4.11 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9.
Boston Acquires Niuman Romero
The Red Sox have acquired infielder Niuman Romero from the Indians for cash considerations, tweets Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer. The 25-year-old has been in Cleveland's farm system since 2005.
Romero made his major league debut in September of last season, appearing in 10 games for the Tribe. He saw his first promotions to Double-A and Triple-A in 2009, where he was less than stellar offensively. The native of Venezuela hit .240/.306/.292 in his stops in Akron and Columbus.
The acquisition comes days after the BoSox DFA'd Kevin Frandsen, who was claimed by the Angels.
Are Mets Looking To Move Murphy?
The Mets want Daniel Murphy to learn to play multiple positions in part because it would increase his trade value, writes Brian Costa of the Star-Ledger. A person familiar with the team's thinking told Costa that they will send the first baseman to Triple-A when he returns from a right knee sprain. The demotion will give him an opportunity to learn other positions and take more at-bats than he would in the majors.
The 24-year-old Murphy has been unseated at first base by 23-year-old Ike Davis. If Murphy can acclimate himself to left field and second base, he would become a more valuable asset whether he stays or goes elsewhere.
In his 204 games on the varsity squad, Murphy has hit .275/.331/.437. His career UZR/150 at his preferred position is 8.6, while he posted a -9.0 in left field. However, sample size should be taken into account as he played just 59 total games in left.
Odds & Ends: Stanton, Mariners, Indians, Salome
Friday night linkage..
- John Sickels of Minor League Ball looked at interesting high school hitters in the 2010 draft. Sickels portioned out the goodness in two parts: part one and part two.
- Tom D'Angelo of the Palm Beach Post spoke to Larry Beinfest, Marlins' baseball operations president, who doesn't sound as though he's in a rush to call up Mike Stanton.
- Rather than place Jesus Colome on waivers, the Mariners optioned Shawn Kelley to Triple-A Tacoma to make room for Cliff Lee. M's manager Don Wakamatsu told Ryan Divish of The News Tribune (via Twitter) that there was "not a chance" that Colome could have cleared waivers.
- The Indians have called up righty Hector Ambriz, whom they selected from Arizona in the Rule 5 draft, writes Dennis Manoloff of The Plain Dealer. The Tribe had until May 8th, the end of his rehab assignment, to decide what to do with him.
- Brewers catching prospect Angel Salome will be given additional time off following the birth of his child, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel.
Heyman On Fielder, Pujols, Adrian
Some tidbits from Jon Heyman on the early edition of MLB Tonight on the MLB Network,..
- Heyman doesn't envision the Brewers getting a deal done with Prince Fielder. While he was complimentary towards club owner Mark Attanasio, he doesn't see Milwaukee ponying up the $25MM a year that it will likely take to hang on to him. This means that they'll have to trade him at the end of next year or let walk as a free agent.
- Meanwhile, he believes that Albert Pujols is now in line to receive a contract worth $30MM per season, perhaps up to eight years. The two sides tabled negotiations in March but will resume after the season.
- Even though the Padres are currently in first place in the NL West, Heyman believes that the club will deal Adrian Gonzalez. Heyman says it's unlikely that San Diego will allow their payroll to balloon in great excess of $50MM and therefore a re-up of Gonzalez won't fit in the budget.
Wagner To Retire At Season’s End
Braves closer Billy Wagner told manager Bobby Cox that he plans on retiring at the end of this season, writes Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The lefty says that he will not play out his $6.5MM option for 2011 which automatically vests if he finishes 50 games.
Cox told Wagner that he believes that he still has the ability to play for a few more years, but the 38-year-old says that he wants to spend more time with his family. Wagner, who turns 39 in July, will earn $7MM this season.
The fireballer is sixth on the all-time saves list with 386 and wants to reach 400, but he's only going to give himself the rest of 2010 to get there.
Odds & Ends: Tigers, Zobrist, Posey, Crisp
Sunday night linkage..
- The Tigers could use another arm in the bullpen, though they can likely find one in Triple-A Toledo, writes Steve Kornacki of MLive.com.
- Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times likes the Ben Zobrist contract extension for both parties. Zobrist officially agreed to a three-year extension with the Rays on Friday.
- Mychael Urban of CSNBayArea.com (via Twitter) says it's time for the Giants to call up a certain young right-handed slugger who can fill in at catcher and first base.
- We should see Coco Crisp's Oakland A's debut in about two weeks, writes Jane Lee of MLB.com. Billy Beane & Co. signed the outfielder to a one-year, $5.5MM deal in December of last year.
- Jim Bowden of FOXSports.com breaks down his favorite offseason moves. Bowden praises the Angels' acquisitions of Joel Pineiro, Hideki Matsui, and Fernando Rodney.
Discussion: Gil Meche
It's safe to say that Gil Meche is off to a less-than-stellar start as he has given up 16 runs with a 0.58 K/BB ratio in 12.2 innings of work. Even though he missed time early on this season with shoulder bursitis, Royals manager Trey Hillman doesn't believe that Meche is having any physical or mechanical issues (Ryan Young of The Kansas City Star reporting).
Meche, who shares the honor of having the largest contract in Royals history with Mike Sweeney, is set to earn $12MM in each of the two remaining years on his deal. The 31-year-old's contract didn't seem unreasonable at this time last year, as he turned in a 3.82 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 across his first two seasons in Kansas City. However, in the winter following his injury riddled 2009, the Royals told clubs that they would be open to dealing their former ace.
There were a few suitors for Meche over the offseason, including the Mets and the Cubs. Could Meche conceivably restore his trade value this season, or will the Royals be stuck with the $24MM bill?
Should Dodgers Look Into Signing Free Agent Starter?
Roughly one month ago, the Dodgers appeared to have a surplus of starting pitching. There were more than a handful of hurlers who were making a strong case for the fifth spot in the rotation. Carlos Monasterios, Charlie Haeger, Josh Lindblom, Ramon Ortiz, Eric Stults, and Russ Ortiz were all impressive during Spring Training. There were so many candidates to choose from that the Dodgers sold Stults' contract to a Japanese team. My, how things have changed.
Russ Ortiz was DFA'd after floundering in seven big league innings. Haeger hasn't found much success in 15.1 IP (three starts and one relief appearance) either. Now, the Dodgers have another hole to fill as Padilla is headed to the disabled list with a sore elbow. There are pitchers at the ready in Triple-A Albuquerque, including the aforementioned Lindblom and once-ballyhooed James McDonald, though all have their fair share of question marks. Padilla's injury aside, the Dodgers' starting five still looks like it could use a lift.
Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times drops the names of three notable starters still available on the open market: Jarrod Washburn, John Smoltz, and Pedro Martinez. Washburn seems to be holding out for a deal approaching the $5MM he was offered by Minnesota this winter. Smoltz won't completely rule out a return to baseball, though he's enjoying his television gigs. Pedro is reportedly maintaining contact with the Phillies, though he is said to still hold a grudge against the Dodgers over things that happened back when jheri curls were still somewhat in vogue.
Should the cash-strapped Dodgers look into signing one of these vets or should they find other ways to improve?