Draft Notes: Cole, Rendon, Hultzen, Gray
It's far too early in the spring for teams to have their draft boards finalized, as Keith Law pointed out at ESPN.com this week. With nearly two months remaining between now and the draft, a lot can change, but that doesn't stop Law from passing along the latest on the early intentions of some teams with high picks:
- Law hears that the Mariners will take either Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon with the second pick in the draft, depending on which player is available after the Pirates select first overall.
- The D'Backs, who pick third, covet Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen, according to Law.
- The Orioles are 'extremely likely' to take a college pitcher with the fourth overall pick. They could take Hultzen or Georgia Tech left-hander Jed Bradley.
- The Royals (5th pick) are also likely to take a college arn and they're interested in UConn right-hander Matt Barnes, Hultzen and Bradley.
- The D'Backs (7th pick) and Cubs (9th pick) have Vanderbilt right-hander Sonny Gray high on their internal rankings, according to Law.
2012 Contract Issues: Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles are next in our 2012 Contract Issues series.
Eligible For Free Agency (6)
- Vladimir Guerrero and Derrek Lee were signed as free agents to one-year deals totaling $15.25MM plus incentives. Ideally, Orioles minor league player of the year Joe Mahoney will be ready to take over at first base in 2012.
- Mike Gonzalez, signed as a closer at the cost of $12MM and a draft pick, seems to be third in the pecking order in an improved Orioles bullpen. He's in need of a healthy year.
- J.J. Hardy will be eligible for free agency, probably a year later than he thought he'd be. Right now he's headed to the DL for a strained oblique; Hardy hasn't had 500 plate appearances in a season since '08. Though Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins may also be on the free agent market, Hardy should be fairly popular. His backup Cesar Izturis is also eligible for free agency.
- Justin Duchscherer hopes to make his Orioles debut on April 21st. He's battling hip and back issues.
Contract Options (1)
- Koji Uehara: $4MM option vests with either 55 appearances or 25 games finished. Though his elbow started barking during Spring Training, Uehara still has a good chance of meeting one of the requirements.
Arbitration Eligible (11)
- First time: Robert Andino, Brad Bergesen, Jake Fox (close to projected Super Two cutoff), Alfredo Simon (if he's activated early enough)
- Second time: Adam Jones, Felix Pie, Jim Johnson, Josh Rupe
- Third time: Jeremy Guthrie, Jeremy Accardo
- Fourth time: Luke Scott
A few of these players will fail to accrue enough service time to be arbitration eligible or will be non-tendered or released. Jones, Guthrie, and Scott are the three cases that will be worth watching. Guthrie and Scott could cost $9MM each, and Jones around $6MM. It's hard to say at this point whether Scott will be a non-tender candidate.
2012 Payroll Obligation
The Orioles have a 2012 payroll obligation of about $36MM for 2012 according to Cot's Baseball Contracts, with Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts, and Mark Reynolds leading the way. Assuming Uehara, Jones, Guthrie, Scott, Pie, and Johnson are retained, they'll be in the $69MM range – about $18MM short of the 2011 Opening Day payroll. The Orioles should again have payroll space to work with, especially if one of the more expensive arbitration eligible players is traded.
Trade Candidate: Jeremy Guthrie
Buck Showalter's Orioles are off to a roaring start this year, winning six of their first nine games and sitting atop the AL East for the first week-and-a-half of the season. The start has been fueled by pitching, as the O's boast a 3.33 ERA and have held their opponents to one run or less in five of nine games.
The leader of the pitching staff is veteran Jeremy Guthrie, who started on Opening Day for the third time in four years. He shut out the Rays over eight innings in that game, then returned from a brief bout with pneumonia to hold the high-octane Rangers' offense to one run over six innings this afternoon. Since Showalter came aboard last year, Guthrie owns a 2.76 ERA in 13 starts (91 1/3 innings).
At 32 years old however, Guthrie might not be in Baltimore's long-term plans. Back in February we heard that they may have already "ruled out an extension" for the right-hander, who is under team control in 2012 as an arbitration-eligible player before being hitting the open market after the season. He'll earn $5.75MM this season, a bargain even if he pitches to his 4.11 career ERA the rest of the season.
If made available, there would certainly be plenty of teams looking to acquire an AL East battle-tested right-hander they could control for another season. Guthrie has also proven to be durable, throwing 200 innings in each of the last two years and at least 170 in each of the last four. The Yankees would surely be in the mix, and we know the Rangers have scouted Guthrie in the past. The Tigers, Red Sox, Rockies, Cardinals … it wouldn't be a surprise to see any or all of those clubs having interest as well.
The Orioles have already received a tremendous return on their investment, acquiring Guthrie off waivers from the Indians back in January 2007 and paying him less than $5MM since. We know they're looking to add rotation depth right now, not subtract it, but if they slide back in the race as the season progresses, it could be time to cash in further and turn the righty into several young players via trade.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
Orioles Notes: Martinez, Wieters, Jones
The Orioles will attempt to recover from their first loss of the season tonight when they face Brad Penny and the Tigers. In the meantime, here are some links…
- Victor Martinez tells Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun that he appreciated the Orioles' interest in him this offseason, when they offered $48MM over four years to become their first baseman. "It was a pretty tough decision," Martinez said. Instead, he signed with the Tigers for $50MM.
- Orioles pitching coach Mark Connor told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that catcher Matt Wieters is "by far the most amazing 'feel' guy at that age" he has ever seen. Wieters' tempo and game-calling are impressing the Orioles. Those skills were a big reason the Orioles weren't interested in Martinez as a catcher.
- Peter Schmuck of the Sun isn't looking to nitpick, but he says Adam Jones' approach at the plate is one potential area of concern for the Orioles early on.
- After a surprising 4-1 start thanks to their impressive pitching, the Orioles are 15th on WEEI.com's power rankings.
Orioles Eyeing Rotation Depth
Baltimore's front office is 'poking around' for No. 5 starter types, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). The undefeated Orioles have allowed just one run in each of their first four games, but now that Brian Matusz is on the 15-day disabled list with an intercostal strain, the team's rotation is thinner than expected.
Jeremy Guthrie, Jake Arrieta, Chris Tillman and Zach Britton have impressed so far and Brad Bergesen will start against the Tigers tomorrow. It's a promising, but inexperienced group, so it's not surprising to see that president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail has some interest in adding depth.
Potentially available starters include Kevin Slowey, free agent Carlos Silva, Jo-Jo Reyes and former Orioles starter turned Braves minor leaguer Rodrigo Lopez. Though there's no indication that the Orioles are interested in those arms, their names could come up in conversation.
Quick Hits: Pelfrey, Wandy, Beato, Bennett
Links for Monday, before Josh Beckett makes his 2011 debut. Will he live up to his extension?
- Rival executives don’t expect Mariners ace Felix Hernandez to be available this summer, but they’re eyeing Wandy Rodriguez and Mike Pelfrey as potential trade targets, according to ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark.
- If you want to look a little further ahead, check out Tim Dierkes' preview of which starters will be available next offseason.
- ESPN.com's Keith Law suggests the Orioles will regret leaving Pedro Beato off of their 40-man roster last fall. The Mets nabbed the reliever in the Rule 5 draft and he's now on the team's active roster.
- Former Braves reliever Jeff Bennett is trying to revive his career after seeing it hit rock-bottom, as Greg Sullivan of the Tennessean writes.
AL East Notes: Cole, Penny, Davis, Vlad
A few AL East links, as the Orioles enjoy first place…
- Check out some interesting quotes from Yankees executives Brian Cashman and Damon Oppenheimer in Tyler Kepner's profile of potential #1 draft pick Gerrit Cole for the New York Times. MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith spoke to Cole in March.
- The Rays and other teams approached Brad Penny during the offseason about becoming a closer, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- Three club options "are far too many" from a player's point of view, writes SI's Jon Heyman in reference to Wade Davis' new contract with Tampa Bay. Davis' agent B.B. Abbott explained to MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith on Thursday that the pitcher felt the contract represented a worthwhile tradeoff.
- Not much is known about Vladimir Guerrero's personal life, but Kevin Van Valkenburg and Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun shed a little light on his personality.
Quick Hits: Zito, Orioles, Meyer, Cardinals
Links for Sunday, as Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler become the first set of teammates in MLB history to homer in each of their team's first three games…
- Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) knows that the point has been made before, but he finds it unfathomable that the Giants thought it smart to give $126MM to Barry Zito.
- The Orioles released minor league outfielder Danny Figueroa, tweets Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com.
- The Phillies have released Dan Meyer from their minor league camp, tweets Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.
- Within his Sunday Baseball Notes, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that the Rangers "haven't closed the door" on a Michael Young trade. Cafardo says not to rule out the Phillies, though the Phils are a little more optimistic about Chase Utley's health than they were a couple weeks ago.
- Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. says his club has room to add payroll this season "if the right situation develops," according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- WEEI.com's Alex Speier discusses former first round pick Jason Place, who the Red Sox released yesterday.
- In an article for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Terry Pluto takes a look at the Indians' future infield.
East Notes: Simon, Red Sox, Feliciano, Mets
Let's take a look at some items from the AL and NL East..
- An Orioles source confirmed to Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun that Alfredo Simon arrived in Tampa on Saturday afternoon and will work out at the team’s minor-league complex within the next few days.
- Don't get accustomed to the Red Sox signing $100MM players, cautions Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal.
- Orioles pitcher Alfredo Simon hasn't been totally cleared of wrongdoing in a fatal shooting, but he has been able to secure a visa which allowed him to travel to the United States. Simon's agent, Phil Issac, says that Simon will arrive in Florida this afternoon, writes Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun. Zrebiec writes that it's too early to speculate about his availability, but the veteran will begin a throwing program and start preparing for the 2011 season.
- Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez wants to stay with the club beyond 2011, writes Bill Ladson of MLB.com. The catcher has been brought up in trade rumors as some believe that the club could make Jesus Flores the backup after handing the keys over to Wilson Ramos behind the plate.
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman said that Pedro Feliciano was "abused" by the Mets' use of him in recent years, tweets Jim Baumbach of Newsday.
- One group of bidders interested in buying a share of the Mets includes Tampa Bay Rays minority owner Randy Frankel, writes Michael O'Keeffe of the New York Daily News.
Lame Duck General Managers
By now, I'm sure you've looked over our list of players that will be free agents after the 2011 season numerous times, but what about general managers? With some help from Cot's Baseball Contracts, here's the list of GMs without contracts for 2012…
- Andy MacPhail, Orioles – Technically, MacPhail isn't the GM, he's the president of baseball operations. He's still the guy calling the shots though. Last October we heard that he doesn't have any plans to approach owner Peter Angelos about a new deal before his current one expires.
- Neal Huntington, Pirates – Team president Frank Coonelly said he expects Huntington to be in Pittsburgh "for a long time" earlier this year.
- Walt Jocketty, Reds – Cincinnati is clearly a team on the rise, so it seems likely that ownership would want to bring Jocketty back after the season.
- Dave Dombrowski, Tigers – A few months ago we heard that the fates of Dombrowski and manager Jim Leyland could be a package deal based on the team's performance in 2011.
- Brian Cashman, Yankees – The third longest-tenured GM in the game would seem to be on rocky ground after being over-ruled by ownership on the Rafael Soriano signing, but we heard afterwards that he still has the "full backing" of the Steinbrenners.