Cubs Claim Shane Peterson, Ryan Lavarnway
2:05pm: The Cubs announced that they have also claimed Ryan Lavarnway off waivers from the Dodgers. To make room on the 40-man roster for the pair of moves, right-handed pitcher Donn Roach and infielder Logan Watkins were designated for assignment.
The 27-year-old Lavarnway .283/.389/.370 in 257 plate appearances for Triple-A Pawtucket in 2014. He has a strong minor league track record as a hitter, with a .375 career minor league on-base percentage, and could potentially help a team in need of a right-handed bat for its bench. His stint with the Dodgers was brief and he has traveled quite a bit in the last month. Lavarnway was DFA’d by the Red Sox just prior to his cup of coffee with Los Angeles.
12:38pm: The Cubs have claimed outfielder Shane Peterson from the A’s, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).
Yankees Designate Preston Claiborne For Assignment
The Yankees have designated Preston Claiborne for assignment, according to ESPNNewYork.com’s Andrew Marchand (on Twitter).
Claiborne, 26, has made 62 relief appearances for the Yankees over the last two seasons, pitching to a 3.79 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. In parts of three seasons at the Triple-A level, Claiborne owns a 3.80 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9.
You can keep track of Claiborne’s status using MLBTR’s DFA Tracker.
Angels Acquire Johnny Giavotella From Royals
1:57pm: The Angels formally announced the deal. Right-hander Brian Broderick will be sent to the Royals to complete the transaction.
Broderick, 28, has just 11 big league appearances to his credit with all of them coming in 2011. He was recently signed out of the Mexican League by KC.
1:55pm: The Angels are close to acquiring second baseman Johnny Giavotella, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com (on Twitter). Giavotella was recently designated for assignment by the Royals. It’s not clear who is going to Kansas City in the deal, but it figures to be a minor trade (link). Gonzalez adds that the deal could be announced today.
Giavotella, 27, received a fairly lengthy look at second base for the Royals in both 2011 and 2012 but combined to bat just .242/.271/.340 in 376 plate appearances. He’s received shorter call-ups in each of the subsequent seasons but hasn’t fared much better at the plate; overall, Giavotella is a lifetime .238/.277/.344 hitter in the Majors.
A second-round pick out of the University of New Orleans in 2008, Giavotella does carry with him quite an impressive track record at the Triple-A level. In 1840 plate appearances there, he’s slashed .315/.384/.451. It should be noted, however, that those numbers have come in the very hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
Mets Trade Gonzalez Germen To Yankees
The Mets and Yankees have completed a rare trade with one another. The Mets traded pitcher Gonzalez Germen to the Yankees for cash considerations, as Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com tweets.
Germen, who turned 27 in September, was designated for assignment earlier this week by the Mets. The right-hander has made a combined 54 appearances out of the Mets’ bullpen over the past two seasons, pitching to a 4.31 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 4.2 BB/9 and a 36.8 percent ground-ball rate. He’s averaged 92.9 mph on his fastball in that time while notching a swinging-strike rate of 14.2 percent, but Germen was also exceptionally homer prone and had enough command problems that the Mets deemed him expendable.
This marks the first trade between the two New York teams since they swapped Mike Stanton and Felix Heredia in 2004.
Germen is now out of DFA limbo, but there are plenty of other MLB players awaiting their fate. Keep up on all of the latest with MLBTR’s DFA Tracker.
Blue Jays Claim Juan Oramas
The Blue Jays announced that they have claimed left-hander Juan Oramas off waivers from the Padres. Oramas, 24, has spent all eight of his professional seasons in the Padres’ system.
Oramas, 24, owns a 4.32 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 across parts of three seasons at Triple-A. He spent last season with the Friars’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, posting a combined 4.75 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 134 1/3 innings pitched.
Oramas has appeared among San Diego’s Top 30 prospects, according to Baseball America, in each of the past four offseasons. In last offseason’s scouting report, BA noted that Oramas has the potential for three Major League pitches “with a feel to deploy them for maximum impact,” while also praising the southpaw for hiding the ball well.
The Blue Jays’ 40-man roster now stands at 38.
Dodgers GM Talks Brandon McCarthy, Brian Wilson
The Dodgers’ major overhaul continued today when they officially signed right-hander Brandon McCarthy to a four-year deal worth a reported $48MM. Few doubt McCarthy’s ability and those who put a great deal of faith in his sabermetric numbers are excited about what he can do in 2015 and beyond. However, the length of the 31-year-old’s pact gave pause to some people due to his injury history. Not only did the Dodgers take a risk with McCarthy – they doubled down by agreeing to sign Brett Anderson to a one-year, $10MM contract. Earlier today I asked Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi about the club’s willingness to roll the dice on those pitchers.
“There’s a risk-reward calculation that all teams make. Teams always have to consider these things with pitchers and [Dodgers head trainer] Stan Conte has been very involved in our process as far as histories and health risks go,” said Zaidi, who did not mention Anderson by name as his deal is not yet official. “Going forward with any pitcher now, it’s part of the cost-benefit analysis. You could have a guy who pitched 200-plus innings in the last four years that has a really bad elbow and that could go at any moment. Conversely, you could have a guy who has an injury history that you feel may be over the hump,”
“With Brandon and the other pitcher we’re evaluating, we’re trying to figure out how they’ll perform in 2015 and beyond.”
Zaidi, of course, is familiar with McCarthy and Anderson thanks to their time together with the A’s. He had nothing but praise for McCarthy, saying that there was no other pitcher in Oakland that he felt more comfortable with on the mound. Zaidi had a tremendous amount of confidence in the right-hander, he said, due to his “intelligence and attention to detail and game planning” as well as his command.
The Dodgers GM sounds equally confident in the status of McCarthy’s shoulder. Zaidi believes that those issues will be in the past thanks to a new offseason routine that calls for additional upper body work. The “proof is in the pudding” when it comes to McCarthy, who managed to add an extra 2 miles per hour to his fastball late in his career.
Midway through the conference call, reporters were informed that Brian Wilson was designated for assignment to make room for McCarthy on the roster. I asked Zaidi if Wilson was struggling this winter in his effort to get back to his old form.
“We’ve been keeping tabs on him in the offseason and this was not a move we made out of any medical concern. It was more related to performance and it’s a position where we had to make a move because we had a surplus,” Zaidi explained.
It appears that recent bullpen additions like Joel Peralta, Juan Nicasio, and Chris Hatcher have leapfrogged Wilson, leaving him without much of a role to play in Los Angeles in 2015. Their newest addition, meanwhile, will be counted on to serve as the fourth starter behind Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, and Hyun-jin Ryu.
AL Notes: Rios, Mariners, Rangers, Murphy, Twins
Here’s the latest from the American League:
- With Melky Cabrera off the board, Alex Rios remains on the Mariners‘ radar, tweets Bob Dutton of The News Tribune. Cabrera agreed to a three-year contract with the White Sox yesterday, which should pay him roughly $14-$14.5MM per season.
- MLB.com’s Greg Johns entertains other scenarios (both external and internal) in which the Mariners can fill their vacancy in right field.
- The Rangers have $10-12MM in financial flexibility remaining; but, because of the health questions surrounding their core players, they could sit on that cash until midseason when they will have had time to gauge what kind of team they really have, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
- Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes wonders if Indians outfielder David Murphy is more of a platoon player at this stage of his career and believes a reader’s proposed trade of Murphy to the Mets for Ohio native Jon Niese would favor the Indians.
- The White Sox have filled many holes with their high-profile acquisitions this offseason, but right field, second base, third base, and catcher remain areas of concern, opines Jim Margalus of South Side Sox.
- The Twins have invested heavily in the free agent market this offseason and last because payroll was shed and there’s optimism over the performance of Minnesota’s young core, writes 1500ESPN.com’s Phil Mackey.
AL Central Notes: Cabrera, Viciedo, Scherzer, Tigers
Melky Cabrera didn’t receive any four-year offers, so he chose to play in his preferred Eastern half of the country and sign a three-year pact with the White Sox, tweets Enrique Rojas of ESPN.com (link in Spanish). Cabrera became the latest splashy acquisition for the White Sox late last night joining Jeff Samardzija, David Robertson, Adam LaRoche, and Zach Duke in an effort to bring the club from 73 wins in 2014 to contention in 2015.
Here’s more on the White Sox and the rest of the AL Central Division:
- The White Sox‘s acquisition of Cabrera could pay off for Jose Abreu, writes JJ Stankevitz of CSNChicago.com.
- The White Sox are sure to trade Dayan Viciedo after signing Cabrera and Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter) wonders if the Mariners could be a possibility. The Mariners were interested in signing Cabrera, but lost out when the White Sox offered $42MM over three years.
- Tigers assistant GM Al Avila told Jim Duquette of SiriusXM (via Twitter) the club has had “no conversations” with Max Scherzer‘s camp. Last week, an industry source told MLB.com’s Jason Beck even though Scott Boras has openly said the Tigers won’t receive a chance to match an opposing team’s final offer for the hurler, Boras will, in fact, give owner Mike Ilitch a chance to match “at least as a professional courtesy.”
- The Tigers have long coveted Yoenis Cespedes and would have made a stronger bid for him in 2012 had Victor Martinez not suffered a season-ending knee injury in January of that year, according to Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press.
- Tigers President/CEO/General Manager Dave Dombrowski says right-hander Alex Wilson, acquired from the Red Sox along with Cespedes, is not just a throw-in but will compete for a bullpen spot in Spring Training, reports Fenech in a second article.
Cafardo On Hamels, Astros, Howard, Craig
In today’s column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that teams second guessing themselves is just a regular part of the offseason. A lot of folks are second guessing the A’s, but manager Bob Melvin has confidence in GM Billy Beane.
“We’re looking to get a little bit younger, yet if you want to look back to the end of 2011 and leading into 2012, we traded our last three All-Stars in [Trevor] Cahill, [Andrew] Bailey, and [Gio] Gonzalez and we ended up winning the division,” said Melvin. “We’re looking to compete again. This isn’t something where we’re breaking it down and moving in a different direction. The players that we’re getting back we like. There’s always a balance here for us in that we have to look down the road. We lost quite a bit of talent the last couple of years, making some trades. Billy is about as good as it gets as far as being able to handle that balance and keep us competitive currently, yet also having to look down the road for the future.”
More from today’s column..
- The Astros are a sleeper team in the Cole Hamels chase, Cafardo writes. The Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers, Padres, and Rangers are also interested in the Phillies left-hander, but Houston could join the bunch and the Giants may also be in if they can’t land James Shields.
- The Phillies are trying to get teams interested in Ryan Howard, and a team source indicated to Cafardo that they are willing to pay a great majority of his contract to move him. Howard is owed $60MM between 2015 and 2017, including a buyout. The Rays and Orioles have DH needs and he could theoretically fit the bill.
- Both the Marlins and the Brewers have active interest in Red Sox first baseman Allen Craig. Craig, 30, had some strong years with the Cardinals before joining the Red Sox at last year’s deadline.
- Agent John Boggs says that he’s having “discussions with several cubs” about client Ichiro Suzuki, though no deal is imminent at this time.
- Dan Uggla’s agent, Terry Bross, was trying to market his client for a comeback at the Winter Meetings. Cafardo hears that a lot of the 34-year-old’s decline may have had to do with an undetected concussion.
Jung-ho Kang Rumors: Sunday
Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang is set to be posted on Monday and is said to have interest from the Athletics, Giants, Mets, and several other clubs. The A’s and Mets would presumably be interested in Kang at shortstop. The Giants, meanwhile could use Kang at either third or they could shift Joe Panik to the hot corner and use Kang at second. We’ll keep track of the latest on the 27-year-old here..
- Many at the winter meetings felt that Kang is seeking a deal in the neighborhood of $24MM over three years, writes Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. Internally, the Mets appear to be split on Kang. Some scouts fear that Kang will not be able to play shortstop at the major league level and question whether his offense will translate. The Mets could use the kind of production that Kang put up in the KBO but they’ve also said that they’re willing to head into spring training with Wilmer Flores as their starting shortstop.