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AL East Notes: Rays, Orioles, Markakis

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The Blue Jays remain among the favorites to sign either Ervin Santana or Ubaldo Jimenez, despite their quiet offseason thus far, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  In fact, the Jays could be quite aggressive in the New Year.  Rosenthal writes that they could acquire as many as two starters before the offseason is over and they've also discussed trades for significant starters, including the Cubs' Jeff Samardzija.  More out of the AL East..

  • Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said he is looking to add another bench player and remains on the lookout for another arm for the bullpen, writes Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Tribune.  Friedman also indicated that this year's payroll could be a record high, beating 2010's total of $72.8MM.  If that's the plan, it could be an indication that they plan to hang on to David Price.
  • Like the Blue Jays, it's been a pretty quiet offseason so far for the Orioles, but Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com fully expects the club to go out and get another starter based on the current makeup of the rotation.  For now, it looks like Chris Tillman, Wei-Yin Chen, Miguel Gonzalez, and Bud Norris are in the rotation. The fifth spot is wide open, but left-hander Zach Britton is the likely favorite because he's out of options.
  • Nick Markakis potentially could be entering his last season with the Orioles in 2014, a year where he will be paid $15MM with a club option at $17.5MM.  While it would take an exceptional season for that to be triggered, the O's would happily settle for a return to the norm for Markakis in 2014 and worrying about 2015 later, writes Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com.

Cafardo On Red Sox, Denorfia, Cruz, Kemp

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In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that there were two disasters in the city of Toronto last year: mayor Rob Ford and the Blue Jays.  Despite the high expectations, the Blue Jays fell flat and they'll have to rally back this season to re-energize their fan base.  The Blue Jays are at a disadvantage, Cafardo writes, because players aren't always open to playing north of the border and tend not to realize how great it is until they're there.  More from this week's column.. 

  • The Brewers need a first baseman and Mike Carp of the Red Sox appears to be a good fit.  Whether Boston would deal him remains to be seen, however, as they enjoyed his off-the-bench contributions last season.  Carp has shown that he can play every day but he won’t get that opportunity with the Red Sox unless there’s an injury to Mike Napoli. 
  • While the Red Sox don’t believe they can carry another outfielder, they have expressed some interest in the Padres' Chris Denorfia, a righthanded bat with a little power who can play center field.  The Red Sox might be able to swing a move like this, Cafardo writes, if they deal Carp or Daniel Nava somewhere.
  • A few general managers think that a one-year pillow contract would make sense for free agent outfielder Nelson Cruz.  It seems that he needs to reestablish his value and if he'd do a one-year pact, it could open more opportunities for him with clubs like the Mariners, Mets, Blue Jays, Orioles, and others.  The 33-year-old remains one of the best power hitters out there, but teams are wary about PED guys after they’re off the stuff.
  • Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp could still be trade bait as he starts to show what he can do in spring training.  Said one scout familiar with Kemp, “I think he’s going to be a guy who will be OK this year, but you’ll get the best of Kemp the following year as he’s recovered completely from the ankle.”
  • The Reds have been very quiet this offseason, but Homer Bailey’s name has come up quite often as possible trade bait.  In fact, they could possibly bring back Bronson Arroyo if they can deal Bailey.

AL Notes: Orioles, Rosario, Blue Jays

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The Orioles have collected a large number of candidates to replace Nate McLouth in the left field, CSNBaltimore.com's Rich Dubroff reports. They already had Nolan Reimold, Steve Pearce and Henry Urrutia (who could also DH), and this offseason, they've added David Lough, Francisco Peguero, Julio Borbon, Xavier Paul and Quintin Berry. The Orioles could also add another righty-hitting outfielder or two before spring training starts as they aim to patch together a group of players to play alongside center fielder Adam Jones and right fielder Nick Markakis. Here are more notes from the American League.

  • Major League Baseball has officially announced the suspension of 2B/OF prospect Eddie Rosario for a drug of abuse, and the Twins are disappointed, reports Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. "Losing 50 games, that's a huge setback," says GM Terry Ryan. "That's a lot of development time, a lot of learning that he'll miss. It sets back his progression [toward] going up to the big leagues." MLB.com ranks Rosario the Twins' fifth-best prospect. He hit .302/.350/.460 while collecting 544 plate appearances between Class A+ Fort Myers and Double-A New Britain in 2013.
  • The Blue Jays announced that they have re-assigned bullpen coach Pat Hentgen due to family issues. Bob Stanley, who was the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons' pitching coach in 2013, will serve as the Jays' bullpen coach in Hentgen's absence.

AL East Notes: Orioles, Yankees

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We'll kick off the first weekend of 2014 with a few quick AL East notes …

  • The Orioles have had trade discussions with the Mets involving not only Ike Davis, but also Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda, reports Educardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun. But, as we learned already with regard to Davis, the talks never gained much traction given the Mets' focus on picking up a top young arm from the Orioles' system.
  • Baltimore's first priority is adding starting pitching, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, taking precedence over the search for a DH and the possibility of adding a reliever. The O's are not shopping at the top end of that market, however. Meanwhile, the club's interest in Kendrys Morales is "waning," Kubatko senses. When asked whether the Baltimore roster was good enough to challenge for the post-season as presently constructed, executive VP Dan Duquette walked cautiously: "I think we have more work to do to accomplish that, but we're making progress. We added a couple left-handed hitters and there are some opportunities to help our pitching staff." 
  • Looking forward, the Yankees have six deals on the books that are likely to prove a burden, opines Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. The list (with remaining guaranteed years and money): Alex Rodriguez (four years, $90MM), Mark Teixeira (three years, $69.375MM), Ichiro Suzuki (1 year, $6.5MM), C.C. Sabathia (three years, $71MM), Jacoby Ellsbury (7 years, $153MM), and Derek Jeter (1 year, $12MM). Of course, each of these contract situations carries different kinds of concerns. Three are somewhat unsurprisingly problematic back-ends of long-term deals, though there is still some hope that the Yanks will get some value out of the remainder of those contracts. Two appear to be fairly substantial short-term drains for an organization that hoped to get under the luxury tax threshhold, but otherwise will not impact finances past 2014. And one is a freshly-inked long-term contract that could become a problem in the future — much in the way the earlier Rodriguez, Teixeira, and Sabathia contracts have shaken out of late — but which was presumably necessary to lure a top-tier talent to the Bronx.

East Notes: Braves, Rays, Berry, Red Sox

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With an unfavorable TV deal, the Braves are becoming the Rays, SB Nation's Grant Brisbee argues. That's a bit hyperbolic, as Brisbee acknowledges, but the Braves' payroll has fallen from third in the big leagues in 2000 to 16th in 2013, because their payroll hasn't really risen since then, while it has for most other teams. That's a trend that could continue, unless the Braves' new stadium dramatically changes their fortunes. That means they have to rely more on making smart moves than on spending money. Here's more from around the East divisions.

  • James Loney says the Rays, Brewers, Pirates and Astros all made him similar offers, Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune tweets. "I felt [Tampa Bay] was going to be the best option and this is where I wanted to be," Loney says.
  • If the Rays keep David Price in 2014, they will have a higher payroll than they had in 2010, when it was $72.8MM, Mooney reports. That's not a sustainable figure in the long term, Rays GM Andrew Friedman says, but the team has a chance to be "great" in 2014 (Twitter links).
  • The Orioles are still interested in re-signing Francisco Rodriguez, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. The Orioles could then use him as a backup plan at closer in case Tommy Hunter struggles. Fernando Rodney might cost too much for them, Kubatko suggests.
  • Orioles executive Dan Duquette says newly-acquired outfielder Quintin Berry is a strong defensive outfielder and "he's shown good on-base capability, particularly against RH pitching," Kubatko tweets.
  • It's not likely the Red Sox will sign or trade a starting pitcher before the beginning of spring training, tweets Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald writes. Boston currently has a solid set of starting pitching options in Jon Lester, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz, Jake Peavy, Ryan Dempster and Felix Doubront, plus Brandon Workman, Allen Webster and others. Lauber's tweet suggests the Red Sox will not attempt to trade someone like Lackey, and they will not sign Masahiro Tanaka.

Minor Moves: Quintin Berry

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Here are today's minor moves from around baseball.

  • The Orioles have announced the signing of outfielder Quintin Berry to a minor-league deal with a spring training invitation. Berry, 29, played for three different Triple-A teams in 2013, hitting .191/.309/.257 in 381 plate appearances between them. He also appeared in 13 regular-season games and three postseason games with the Red Sox. In 2012, he played in 94 games for the Tigers, during which he stole 21 bases without being caught.

Latest On Luis Ayala

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The Tigers, Indians, and Orioles are among the teams that have shown interest in right-handed reliever Luis Ayala this offseason, MLBTR has learned.  Ayala has received strong interest overall, and seeks a Major League deal.  

Ayala, 36 this month, posted a 3.27 ERA, 6.0 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 0.55 HR/9, and 58.9% groundball rate in 33 innings for the Orioles and Braves in 2013.  Ayala began 2013 with Baltimore, but was traded to the Braves in April and later spent time on the DL for an anxiety disorder.  Among relievers with at least 30 innings in 2013, Ayala's groundball rate ranked 15th in MLB.  In addition to the aforementioned teams, I think clubs such as the Yankees, Mariners, Marlins, Mets, and Brewers may be fits for Ayala.  It seems likely that the free agent market will pick back up starting Monday as executives return to the office.

Orioles Notes: Morales, Free Agents, Hardy

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The rumor mill is slowly beginning to turn again with the end of what MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko calls "baseball's dead zone" — the period of general inactivity between Christmas and New Year's Day. For Orioles fans, that means a return to clamoring for the club to make some impactful additions to its roster. (Baltimore's most expensive addition to date has been reliever Ryan Webb, who was non-tendered by the Marlins.) But, as Kubatko notes, there are a good number of high-quality players still available on the open market, many of whom have been linked to the O's in some manner. Here's more from the O's:

  • The Orioles could be a legitimate landing spot for Kendrys Morales, Kubatko suggests. Baltimore is not concerned with his fielding, and is less hesitant to give up a draft pick than in years past, according to Kubatko.
  • One other avenue for landing a bat, of course, is via trade. Kubatko says he has heard "rumblings" that executive VP Dan Duquette is working on a deal that could be nearing the stage of reviewing medicals.
  • The O's have not made a sizeable free agent investment to date, though the club figures to be in on several remaining players, writes Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. Morales, a starter such as Bronson Arroyo or A.J. Burnett, or a closer like Fernando Rodney remain realistic possibilities to land in Baltimore. Yet it remains fairly likely that the club will not ultimately add any of the better players left on the open market, Connolly opines. 
  • Otherwise, Duquette could focus on addressing the team's own players. J.J. Hardy is the most likely current player to land an extension in Connolly's estimation. 

East Notes: Red Sox, Orioles, Mets

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If the Red Sox don't re-sign Stephen Drew, they'll likely go into the 2014 season with Jackie Bradley Jr. in center field and Xander Bogaerts at shortstop, and that will be a gamble, given their inexperience, WEEI.com's Alex Speier writes. To find a World Series-winning team that had rookies as their primary starters at center field and shortstop, one has to go all the way back to the 1959 Dodgers, with Don Demeter and Maury Wills. That doesn't prove much, of course. A few decades' worth of World Series-winning teams isn't a huge sample size, and as Speier points out, the Red Sox have recently blended in young up-the-middle players in Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie while still having very successful teams. But there may be value in having stability at tough defensive positions. Here are more notes from the East divisions.

Orioles Notes: Rodney, Balfour, Lough

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The Orioles have talked with the Mets about Ike Davis, but it sounds like the asking price coming out of Queens is a touch high.  The Mets tried to get the O's to part with top pitching prospect Eduardo Rodriguez in a deal but, unsurprisingly, Baltimore said no.  Davis to GM Dan Duquette & Co. may not happen, but Orioles fans would like to see something significant go down.  More out of Baltimore..

  • Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com looks at Fernando Rodney as a closer candidate for the Orioles in the wake of Grant Balfour's non-deal.  Rodney offers a big strikeout rate, a power arm, and decent groundball numbers, all characteristics that surely make him attractive to the O's.  However, his $10MM asking price is likely a turnoff for the cost-conscious Orioles.
  • Peter Schmuck of The Baltimore Sun fears that the Orioles' window of opportunity might be closing as the New Year approaches.  Nobody expected Baltimore to go out and get Robinson Cano or Jacoby Ellsbury this winter, but the Jim Johnson trade and the collapse of the Balfour agreement have left them with a lot of uncertainty at a time when division rivals have combined to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on free agents and will do even more.
  • In today's column, ESPN.com's Buster Olney ranks the top ten defenses in baseball.  The Orioles are at the top of the heap thanks in part to third baseman Manny Machado, who is "the best at his position, and it’s not close," according to one talent evaluator.   Newcomer David Lough also helps their case as he posted one of the best UZR/150 ratings among outfielders with at least 650 innings last season.  Baltimore acquired Lough in exchange for Danny Valencia earlier this month.
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