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Cafardo On Davis, Hanrahan, Worley, Hill

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In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe wonders why pitchers seem to be hitting the disabled list at a higher rate throughout the minor and major leagues.  Not only are young pitchers including Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy, Jarrod Parker, and Bruce Rondon undergoing Tommy John surgery this spring, but Medlen and Beachy are actually having the surgery for a second time.  “I think pitchers are getting abused at a younger age,” Hall of Famer Tom Glavine told Cafardo. “Most of them are max-effort guys, so it reaches the point where the stress finally causes a breaking point.”  More from today's column..

  • The Mets do not anticipate a deal involving first baseman Ike Davis.  The Mets resumed gauging interest in Davis last week but so far, no inquiries have really blown them away.  The Orioles are still among the clubs with interest.
  • Joel Hanrahan has shifted his training base to Tampa, moving toward his first showcase for teams, which should happen shortly.  The Red Sox have some interest in bringing back Hanrahan, but with teams like the Tigers, Orioles, and Yankees in need of back-end relievers, he probably won't wind up back in Boston.
  • Twins pitcher Vance Worley, who is out of options, was placed on waivers Friday, then outrighted to Triple-A when he cleared.  Minnesota may still deal Worley and a return to the Phillies would not be out of the question.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Davis, Australia, Orioles

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On this date in 1990, Howard Spira was arrested for extorting money from Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner was alleged to have paid the Bronx gambler $40K to dig up dirt on outfielder Dave Winfield.  Here’s this week’s look around the baseball blogosphere..

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Zach can be reached at ZachBBWI@gmail.com.  

Kyle Farnsworth Opts Out Of Mets Contract

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3:20pm: Alderson confirms Farnsworth has been released, but could be re-signed in a couple of days, tweets Rubin. MLB.com's Anthony DiComo tweets the Mets tried to re-sign him today, but there may be interest from another club. 

1:20pm: Rubin tweets a source tells him Farnsworth and the Mets are in talks presumably discussing a minor league deal with an in-season opt out.

11:47am: Kyle Farnsworth has decided to exercise the out clause in his contract with the Mets, agent Barry Meister told Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com.  The reliever was informed by GM Sandy Alderson and assistant GM John Ricco earlier today that he would not be on the Opening Day roster.

"The Mets gave him every opportunity and we are very appreciative of the way Sandy and John handled the situation," Meister said.

Farnsworth, 38 in April, spent last season with the Rays and Pirates, posting a combined 4.70 ERA with 6.6 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 45.5 percent ground-ball rate.  ERA estimators such as FIP (4.14), xFIP (3.73) and SIERA (3.64) all feel that Farnsworth was better than the 4.70 mark indicates.  However, he also posted his lowest K/9 rate since his rookie season in 1999 and his 92.6 mpg average in fastball velocity was a career-low.

Edward Creech contributed to this post.

Tigers, Scherzer Done Talking Extension For Season

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3:00pm: Morosi tweets the Tigers' offer was for six years and $144MM, identical to Cole Hamels' 2012 extension.

1:07 pm: Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports also spoke with Boras and the agent indicated both sides were active in talks and there was a price point at which Scherzer would have said yes, but he declined to disclose the details of his proposal to the Tigers (Twitter links).

12:25 pm: Scott Boras tells ESPN.com it wasn't Scherzer who rejected the extension offer, but the Tigers. "Max Scherzer made a substantial long-term contract extension offer to the Detroit Tigers that would have placed him among the highest-paid pitchers in baseball, and the offer was rejected by Detroit,'' Boras said. "Max is very happy with the city of Detroit, the fans and his teammates, and we will continue negotiating with the Tigers at season's end."

10:58am: An industry source told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark that the Tigers' offer to Scherzer was for a slightly lower figure than the $25.7MM per year that Justin Verlander received in the extension he signed last spring.  However, the deal still would have placed Scherzer among the top six highest-paid pitchers in baseball in terms of average annual value.

That means that the offer would have averaged at least $24MM a year. The only pitchers currently earning that much or more are the Clayton Kershaw ($30.7MM per year), Verlander ($25.7MM), Felix Hernandez ($25MM), Zack Greinke ($24.5MM), C.C. Sabathia ($24.4MM), Cliff Lee ($24MM), and Cole Hamels ($24MM).

It's worth noting that there's no word yet on how many years the Tigers offered Scherzer or whether there was an opt-out clause in the final proposal.

8:11am: The Tigers announced that Max Scherzer has rejected the Tigers' latest extension offer, meaning that talks between the two sides are done for the season.  The pitcher has made it known that he would not negotiate a new contract during the 2014 season.

"This can be a major distraction," Scherzer said back in February. "I understand I have a chance to secure my future here with the team. I want that to happen. But at the same time, I’m not going to drag negotiations out into the season."

The Tigers' release indicates that the club made a "substantial, long-term contract extension offer…that would have placed him among the highest paid pitchers in baseball."  Moving forward, they say, there will be no further talks during the year.

Scherzer, a Scott Boras client, will play out his last arbitration-eligible season on a one-year, $15.525MM deal that broke the record for a raise by a five-year service time pitcher.  The 29-year-old was stellar last season, posting a 2.90 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 214 1/3 innings. With Clayton Kershaw locked up and taken out of the 2015 free agent market, Scherzer will now stand as the premier pitcher next winter.   

While no one can reasonably use Kershaw as a comparable, his new seven-year, $215MM deal with the Dodgers certainly raises the ceiling for top starters like Scherzer.  As our own Jeff Todd noted in January, Masahiro Tanaka's seven-year, $155MM deal ($175MM when including $20MM posting fee) could have been relevant to Boras' case.

Edward Creech contributed to this post.

Carlos Pena, Chad Tracy Granted Release

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The Angels announced that Carlos Pena and Chad Tracy have been granted their unconditional release.  Earlier today, Yorvit Torrealba opted out of his deal to become a free agent rather than stay with the Halos.  Today was the deadline for the club to add all three to the 40-man roster.

Pena, a 13-year MLB veteran, was an everyday player until last season.  Spending most of 2013 with the Astros, Pena slashed .207/.321/.346 in 328 plate appearances.  As that line would indicate, Pena has hung his hat on his ability to get on base via the walk, which he has done at about twice the league-average rate throughout his career.  Once a major power threat – he hit 172 home runs between 2007 and 2011 – Pena's HR/FB rate has dropped from a peak of 29.1% down to around the 15% level in recent seasons.  Pena, who signed with the Angels in late January, does not plan on retiring because "I love the way it feels when you square up a ball, when you make a good play in the field" (per MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez on Twitter).

Even though Tracy batted just .202/.243/.326 in 136 plate appearances with the Nationals in a pinch-hitting role last season, he batted .269/.343/.441 in a similar role in 2012.  Tracy broke through with an outstanding sophomore campaign with the Diamondbacks in 2005 when he belted 27 homers and slashed .308/.359/.553.  However, he's been unable to replicate that form in his subsequent big league seasons.

Orioles Sign Brett Wallace

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The Orioles announced that they have signed corner infielder Brett Wallace.  Wallace will report to minor league camp.  The one-time top prospect was released by the Astros on March 12th.

Wallace, 27 and now with his fifth organization since being selected 13th overall less than six years ago, is coming off a season in which he batted just .221/.284/.431 with 13 homers in 285 plate apperances for the Astros. Wallace has never hit much in 1077 PAs at the big league level, but he's crushed Triple-A pitching to the tune of a .308/.375/.500 triple-slash in more than 1600 PAs.

Yorvit Torrealba To Opt Out Of Angels Deal

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Yorvit Torrealba is set to opt out of his deal with the Angels and become a free agent today, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.  The veteran was waiting to find out if he would be on the Angels' big league roster and it appears that he wasn't going to make the cut.

Torrealba, 35, hit .240/.295/.285 in 196 plate appearances as the backup to Wilin Rosario in Colorado in 2013.  He gunned down 29 percent of attempted base stealers in 2013, which is right in line with his career mark of 30 percent. A career .256/.315/.379 batter, Torrealba was brought aboard to provide Halos with some veteran depth behind primary catchers Chris Iannetta and Hank Conger.  Now, he'll try and find a big league opportunity elsewhere.

Jose Mijares Opts Out Of Deal With Red Sox

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Jose Mijares has opted out of his deal with the Red Sox, a source tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).  Mijares signed a minor league deal with Boston in late January.

As MLBTR reported at the time of the signing, Mijares' deal included an March opt out clause that he could trigger if he did not like his prospects in Boston.  Had things worked out, the 29-year-old would have earned $1MM on the major league roster with another possible $1MM tied to games pitched.

Mijares spent last season with the Giants and even though his 4.22 ERA in 49 innings was the second-highest of his career, his rate statistics (9.9 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9) were strong.  Unfortunately, the left-hander suffered from a staggering .410 BABIP, the highest mark in all of baseball among pitchers with at least 40 innings.  Advanced metrics like FIP (3.05), xFIP (3.90), and SIERA (3.45) indicated that Mijares outperformed his ERA last year.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Indians, Feliz, Matusz

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On this date in 2001, Sammy Sosa signed a four-year contract extension keeping the Cubs right fielder in the Windy City until 2006.  Here’s this week’s look around the baseball blogosphere..

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Zach can be reached at ZachBBWI@gmail.com.  

Cafardo On Stanton, De Aza, Porcello, Drew, Britton

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In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe wonders if Marlins star Giancarlo Stanton could wind up with the Red Sox.  Marlins GM Dan Jennings swears up and down that Stanton isn't going anywhere and even if he was for sale, Boston would be one of many clubs in pursuit.  If things suddenly changed and the Fish made Stanton available, Cafardo wonders if a package of Will Middlebrooks or Garin Cecchini plus Matt Barnes, Christian Vazquez, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Mookie Betts could get a deal done.  More from today's column:

  • The Twins have some interest in White Sox outfielder Alejandro De Aza, who is getting interest even though he's not everything a club would want in a center fielder, leadoff type.  Last season, De Aza slashed .264/.323/.405 with 17 homers in 675 plate appearances.
  • Major league sources say the Tigers are still willing to listen to offers on Rick Porcello. While he has shown promise, Detroit would like a hurler with more consistency.
  • The bidding for Ervin Santana has reportedly come down to the Orioles and Blue Jays.  Cafardo hears the Rockies were also in it for some of the day while the Phillies did their due diligence but did not appear to be in the hunt.
  • Bud Norris could be an alternative if Tommy Hunter can’t do the job as Orioles closer, but he also has trade interest and could have some appeal in the NL.  For budgetary reasons, the O's probably wouldn't go for Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon, but it's possible if the Angelos family believes that they have a chance to win it all.
  • One Red Sox player says that he's not crying for free agent Stephen Drew.  “Why not accept a $14.1 million qualifying offer for one year?” the player said. “Is that a bad deal? That’s a lot of money. Stephen would be here playing with us by now if he’d done that.”
  • Scouts are watching Orioles pitcher Zach Britton closely as he is out of options. Still only 26, Britton is still a pitcher scouts think they can salvage.  The O's are aware of his value and the interest other clubs have, but could stash him in the bullpen if they can’t get good value for him.

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