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Orioles To Sign Xavier Paul

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The Orioles have signed outfielder Xavier Paul to a minor league contract with an invite to big league camp in Spring Training, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The Paragon Sports International client was non-tendered by the Reds on Dec. 2 this year. He had been projected to earn $1MM via arbitration, per MLBTR's Matt Swartz.

Paul, 29 in February, enjoyed a solid season at the plate, batting .244/.339/.402 with seven homers in 239 plate appearances. Paul hit right-handed pitching particularly well in 2013, slashing .253/.349/.426 with all seven of his homers facing opposite-handed pitching. Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs saved are not optimistic about his defense, however, as both grade him as a below-average left fielder.

Quick Hits: Morales, Tanaka, Dodgers, Giants

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Kendrys Morales is being pursued by National League teams as well as American League teams, agent Scott Boras tells Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter links). Boras describes Morales as a "first baseman who can DH" but Morosi thinks that the draft pick compensation issue will hurt his value.  More from around baseball..

  • One GM tells Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter) that he doesn't think there's any doubt that Masahiro Tanaka will get more than $100MM.
  • The Rakuten Golden Eagles can only take in $20MM under the new posting system, but Ben Badler of Baseball America came up with a sneaky way for the club to make more off of the superstar pitcher.
  • The Rangers are doing significant background work on Tanaka, tweets Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.  Texas has room for just one significant expenditure, which could slow their movement on Shin-Soo Choo, Passan adds.
  • It's odd to see setup men Boone Logan and Joe Smith get more guaranteed money than established closer Grant Balfour, even if it's over three years rather than two, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Balfour agreed to a two-year, $15MM deal with the Orioles earlier today.
  • The Yankees' last couple of signings would suggest that they seriously intend to get under the $189MM threshold, so a surprise victory for Alex Rodriguez in his battle would hurt the club quite a bit, Heyman tweets.
  • The Rockies are looking for a bench player, but it's not a priority, writes Troy Renck of the Denver Post (Sulia link).

AL East Links: Floyd, Ackley, Ortiz, Rays

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Despite pitching just 28 1/3 innings in 2013, Gavin Floyd inked a one-year deal with the Braves yesterday that is worth $4MM and could reach $8.5MM via incentives. That's a fine payday for a mid-rotation arm coming off Tommy John surgery, but Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports that Floyd could have been paid even more handsomely. According to Connolly, the Orioles offered Floyd a two-year deal that could have reached $20MM after incentives, but Floyd turned them down. Here's more out of the AL East…

Minor Moves: Bell, Marrero, Tigers, Goedert

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Here are today's minor moves from around the league…

  • The Dodgers have signed third baseman Josh Bell, tweets Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. The one-time top prospect has only seen 282 career MLB plate appearances, over which he has a meager .195/.223/.265 triple slash with four home runs. Spending time at Triple-A in the Yankees and White Sox systems last year, Bell hit a combined .226/.324/.356 in 210 plate appearances.
  • The Orioles have signed first baseman Chris Marrero to a minor league contract, according to Baseball America's Matt Eddy (on Twitter). Now 25 years old, the former No. 15 overall draft pick and top prospect has a .232/.256/.272 batting line in 133 career Major League plate appearances but has a solid .281/.353/.413 line in 1140 career PAs at Triple-A.
  • Right-hander Luis Marte and infielder Danny Worth have both cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Toledo, the Tigers announced. Marte, 27, was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for Rajai Davis. Worth, 28, was DFA'ed to clear a roster spot for Joba Chamberlain.
  • The Blue Jays have signed infielder Jared Goedert to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter links). The 28-year-old spent last season in the Pirates organization, batting .241/.316/.390 with 11 homers in 519 plate appearances. The longtime Indians farmhand is primarily a third baseman and owns a career .261/.332/.459 batting line in 1562 Triple-A plate appearances.

Quick Hits: Valencia, Giants, Braves, Crain, Jays

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Brenda Branswell of the Montreal Gazette reports that a feasability study conducted by the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal and the Montreal Baseball Project suggests that a return to Montreal for MLB could be financially viable, given a set of realistic assumptions. Those assumptions include league average ticket prices and local broadcasting deal along with a "modest, but competitive payroll." The study estimated that the project would cost $1.025 billion — $525MM to acquire an existing team and $500MM to build a new stadium. Major League Baseball has deemed moving a team to the old Olympic Stadium to be an unacceptable scenario. Here's more from around the league …

  • The Orioles are looking at trade possibilities involving third baseman Danny Valencia, reports Jen Royle of the Boston Herald (via Twitter). Dealing Valencia could free a 40-man slot for a new addition, though he had figured to provide some insurance as Manny Machado recovers from knee surgery. The 29-year-old has seen scattered MLB action since a mediocre stint as the Twins' everyday third bagger in 2011. In 170 plate appearances last year for the Orioles, he had a nice .304/.330/.553 slash line to go with eight long balls.
  • As the Giants attempt to clear 40-man roster space for Michael Morse, they're pursuing minor trade ideas, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area's Andrew Baggarly tweets. Henry Schulman, meanwhile, tweets that one such minor trade could involve 1B/OF Brett Pill. The Brewers had previously shown interest in Pill, Schulman notes. The Morse signing is likely to become official tomorrow.
  • The Braves turned their attention to Gavin Floyd only after ruling out the possibility of trading for Jeff Samardzija, MLB.com's Mark Bowman tweets. In addition to Floyd, the Braves also looked at Edinson Volquez (who eventually went to the Pirates), Chris Capuano, and Bruce Chen.
  • Multiple teams have made offers to Jesse Crain, who is deciding if he wants to aim for a one- or two-year deal on the free agent market, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter links). Presumably, Crain is weighing whether or not to take the security of a two-year deal or gamble on re-establishing his value on a one-year pact.
  • With many second base options flying off the board, it's looking more and more like Ryan Goins will get a real chance as the Blue Jays' everyday second baseman in 2014, writes Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Nicholson-Smith runs down some of the remaining keystone options for Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos to pursue.
  • Jordany Valdespin has changed agencies, leaving ACES for Metis Sports Management, reports MLBTR's Tim Dierkes (on Twitter).

Steve Adams and Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

AL East Notes: Floyd, Balfour, Yankees, Victorino

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Before signing with the Braves for $4MM with an additional $4.5MM in incentives, starter Gavin Floyd reportedly turned down a two-year offer from the Orioles that could have reached $20MM in value with incentives, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links). In an interesting reversal of the usual bargaining positions of player and team, Connolly writes that Baltimore was not interested in giving a one-year deal to Floyd (who is still working back from Tommy John surgery) because it sought to secure another season at a reasonable price. Meanwhile, the previously-durable righty chose the shorter-term deal, presumably hoping to prove his health and command multiple years when he enters next season's free agent market at age 31.

Here's more from the American League East …

  • The Orioles have a two-year offer out to free-agent closer Grant Balfour, and they're considering adding a vesting option to sweeten the deal, MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko tweets. Balfour is reportedly hoping for a third guaranteed year.
  • In the wake of Robinson Cano's departure, the Yankees are unlikely to spend heavily on a second baseman, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. The Yankees let Omar Infante go to the Royals and Mark Ellis to the Cardinals, so if they were to acquire a player like Brandon Phillips, Dan Uggla or Rickie Weeks, they would likely expect the trading team to eat a good portion of their remaining salary. If the Yankees don't make some sort of big move, newly-acquired minor-league veteran Dean Anna could be part of the equation at second.
  • The Yankees are considering signing Michael Young or Brian Roberts to help in their infield, CBS Sports' Jon Heyman tweets. New York could also re-sign Mark Reynolds, according to Heyman.
  • Red Sox outfielder Shane Victorino underwent nerve release surgery on his right thumb today, the club announced via press release. Boston expects Victorino to be ready to join the team for Spring Training. Victorino's thumb issues had limited him late in the Sox' title run last year, but it sounds as if the club's offseason plans will not be impacted at this point.

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post. 

Latest On The Orioles’ Bullpen Search

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The Orioles have been linked to many relievers in recent weeks, but talks regarding the O's and Grant Balfour picked up the most steam. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports (via Twitter) that Balfour wants to sign with the Orioles, but Baltimore won't budge from its current two-year offer, and Balfour is holding out for a third guaranteed year.

Last week, it was reported that three teams had made two-year offers to Balfour, with one team possibly including a vesting option. That team, reportedly, was not the Orioles, though a vesting option would seem to be a fitting compromise given the demands of each side. Baltimore already traded Jim Johnson and his projected $10.8MM salary, making it somewhat surprising to see the O's pursuing one of the better free agent closers on the market.

Another popular name on the free agent front in the past week has been John Axford, who inked a one-year deal with the Indians this weekend and is controllable for three more years via arbitration. Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports (also on Twitter) that the O's never made an offer to Axford, however, which Encina takes as a sign that the Orioles continue to be focused on Balfour as their new closer.

Orioles Nearing Two-Year Deal With Balfour

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12:41pm: The Orioles are closing in on a two-year deal with Balfour, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.

12:39pm: Things are heating up considerably today for Grant Balfour, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).

Recent reports have indicated that three teams have two-year offers on the table to Balfour, with the Orioles being the most aggressive team and the favorite to land him. Balfour reportedly wants to pitch for the O's, but he's holding out for a three-year deal. The Orioles are said to be set on two years, but last night they were said to be considering adding a vesting option to the deal as a compromise.

Cafardo On Trumbo, Middlebrooks, Burnett, Morales

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The Winter Meetings featured the three-team trade that sent Mark Trumbo to the Diamondbacks, as well as a number of other moves, but Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe argues that this year's meetings featured plenty of press, but comparatively little meaningful activity. Cafardo wonders whether baseball should issue a moratorium on moves before the Winter Meetings, so that the meetings themselves feature more signal and less noise. Here's more from Cafardo:

  • For the Diamondbacks, the Trumbo acquisition was about adding power, which is in short supply these days. "Just looking at the West, and looking at the National League and looking at the free agent market going forward, I just don’t know where you’re going to find power," says GM Kevin Towers.
  • If the Red Sox re-sign Stephen Drew, that would bump Xander Bogaerts to third base and make Will Middlebrooks a trade candidate. The Marlins, who are looking for a third baseman, would likely be interested.
  • Even after a report that the Orioles had interest in A.J. Burnett and had been in touch with his agent, the Pirates feel Burnett doesn't want to play for any other team. "There’s no reason for [Burnett] not to be back," says a Pirates official.
  • Four teams have offered two-year deals to free agent Bronson Arroyo, but Arroyo is holding out for a three-year deal, or maybe a two-year deal with a vesting option.
  • There doesn't appear to be a particularly robust market for Kendrys Morales, with the Mariners adding Corey Hart and Logan Morrison and the Angels likely to sign Raul Ibanez. The Orioles might be one possibility, but not at Morales' price.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles

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While the Yankees have spent big to bring Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran into the fold, the club continues to carry major holes in its infield and rotation, Fox Sports' Jon Paul Morosi writes. That the Yankees will need to acquire an impact free-agent starter to contend is a consequence of their failure to develop their own superstars, he says. Morosi ranks the Bombers' rotation as the AL East's third-best as things currently stand. Here's more out of the division:

  • Alex Rodriguez says he's confident he'll be manning third base for the Yankees next season, ESPN reports. "I'm preparing as always, working hard," Rodriguez told reporters in Spanish. The Bombers would be off the hook for A-Rod's $25MM salary in 2014 if his suspension is upheld, but the 37-year-old still has impact potential. If he's allowed to play, Rodriguez will relieve GM Brian Cashman of the need to find a third baseman in a free agent market that just saw the Dodgers give two years and $15MM to Juan Uribe. 
  • The Yankees' interest in Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney could pick up following the Royals' four-year, $30.25MM deal with Omar Infante, Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com tweets. Levine says the two teams have previously discussed Barney, who's considered a strong defender but hit just .208/.266/.303 in 2013.
  • Red Sox catcher Ryan Lavarnway is aware of talks to eliminate home-plate collisions, but he'd prefer the rule to remain as it is, Tim Healey writes for MLB.com. "I've talked to a few of the other catchers, and I think that in general we all want to see [the rule] the way it is," Lavarnway said. "We think that [home-plate collisions are] a part of the game."
  • The A.J. Pierzynski signing appears to call Lavarnway's role with the 2014 Red Sox into question, Healey says. Pierzynski and David Ross are expected to handle Boston's catching duties next season.
  • The Orioles will struggle to keep Rule 5 draft selection Michael Almanzar on the 25-man roster for the entirety of 2014, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. Like fellow Oriole Danny Valencia, Almanzar is limited to the infield corners and hits right handed. Almanzar has a .250/.302/.373 line in six minor-league seasons.
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