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International Notes: Blue Jays, Red Sox, Twins

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A new set of rules and restrictions for the international prospect market will take effect less than two weeks from now, on July 2. Each team will be working with an annual budget of $2.9MM for international players starting next month. Here are the latest rumblings regarding the international prospect market, via Ben Badler of Baseball America:

  • The Blue Jays had seemed to be in the lead for Venezuelan right-hander Jose Mujica, but may not be as closely linked to him as expected, Badler writes. The Red Sox and Diamondbacks have also been linked to the 15-year-old Mujica, who's considered by many scouts to be the top pitching prospect available in Latin America. 
  • The Blue Jays are still favored to sign 16-year-old Venezuelan Franklin Barreto, according to Badler. Some teams consider Barreto the top available prospect, but he will likely move from shortstop to another position.
  • The Red Sox, Padres and Royals have been mentioned as possible teams of interest on Venezuelan left-hander Jose Castillo, Badler writes. Some view the Dodgers and Orioles as sleepers for Castillo, who’s expected to obtain a generous bonus.
  • The Twins are showing heavy interest in Dominican shortstop Amaurys Minier, according to Badler. The 16-year-old switch-hitter is expected to become one of the highest-paid Dominican prospects.
  • Some believe the Pirates are in on Dominican third baseman Julio de la Cruz.

Kevin Youkilis Rumors: Thursday

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Potential suitors for Kevin Youkilis are waiting to see if the Youkilis of old returns, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports. So far this year, the 33-year-old has a .225/.311/.359 batting line, which means he's on track for the lowest batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage of his nine-year career. Here are the latest Youkilis rumors from Boston:

  • The Red Sox have stepped up their efforts to trade the infielder, and will have to absorb most of his $12MM salary to facilitate a deal, Cafardo writes. However, they want something more than salary relief for Youkilis, a homegrown player who developed into an All-Star.
  • The Indians are very much involved in talks and talks with the Diamondbacks don’t appear to be dead, Cafardo reports. The Phillies have scouted Youkilis, and the Dodgers could have interest, but the White Sox are more likely to pursue pitching help.

Draft Signings: Diaz, Blach, Cubs, Red Sox

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Here are the latest mid-to-late round draft signings…

  • The Mariners have signed third rounder Edwin Diaz for $300K reports ESPN's Kiley McDaniel (via Keith Law on Twitter). The right-hander was slotted for a $186K bonus.
  • The Giants have signed fifth rounder Ty Blach for a straight slot $225K, reports Jim Callis of Baseball America (on Twitter).
  • MLB.com's Carrie Muskat reports that the Cubs have signed fifth rounder Anthony Prieto ($200K), 10th rounder Chad Martin ($10K), 13th rounder Bijan Rademacher, 16th rounder Michael Hamann ($100K), and 22nd rounder Eduardo Orozco ($1K). Chicago has signed 21 picks so far.
  • The Red Sox have signed sixth rounder Justin Haley and 19th rounder Iseha Conklin according to WEEI.com's Alex Speier (on Twitter). Haley's slot number was approximately $164K.

No Extension Talks For Jacoby Ellsbury

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The Red Sox have been without reigning AL MVP runner-up Jacoby Ellsbury for most of the year due to a shoulder injury, part of the reason why they've had to use a dozen different outfielders. Today, agent Scott Boras told reporters (including WEEI.com's Rob Bradford) that there have been no discussions with the team about a long-term extension.

"We've only had the traditional discussions of one-year contracts," said Boras. "(GM Ben Cherington) and I will certainly begin contract discussions at year's end because we have to. We have at minimum a one-year contract to discuss. We're going to play through the season. Ben's operating his team and I'm signing draft picks, operating my team."

Boras went on to explain that Matt Kemp's eight-year, $160MM contract extension with the Dodgers isn't a fair reference point for a potential Ellsbury deal. 

"The Matt Kemp contract is not a free agent contract," said Boras. "It's not a barometer that has a great deal of relevance other than it's what players get who are not free agents and are really talented. So when you look at the free agent markets and you look at those types of contracts you can understand there is always a big disparity between a free agent contract and a contract that is signed before the player is a free agent."

Ellsbury will earn $8.05MM this season and remains under team control as an arbitration-eligible player next year. He can become a free agent after 2013. During the offseason, Ellsbury indicated a willingness to sign a long-term deal with the Red Sox but said he will leave negotiations up to Boras. MLBTR's Mark Polishuk suggested that a seven-year deal worth roughly $130MM could work for both sides, though that was predicated on another MVP-caliber season. The shoulder injury throws a wrench into that.

AL East Notes: Soriano, Werner, Guthrie, Orioles

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Rays prospect Chris Archer will make his Major League debut on Wednesday against the Nationals, filling in while Jeremy Hellickson is on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder fatigue.  Archer was ranked as the 89th-best prospect in the game by Baseball America before the season, though that was down from a #27 ranking the year prior due to Archer's fairly unimpressive 2011 campaign at Double-A.  This season, Archer has a 4.81 ERA, a 10.6 K/9 rate and 90 strikeouts (against 45 walks) in 14 starts for Triple-A Durham.

Here's some other news from around the AL East…

  • Rafael Soriano's success as the Yankees' closer could lead to him opting out of his contract for 2013 and becoming a free agent, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  Soriano is set to earn $14MM from the Yankees in 2013, but could opt out in search of a longer-term commitment and a full-time closer's job, as Soriano will again be Mariano Rivera's set-up man if he stays in New York.  Sherman argues that Soriano's experience in high-pressure AL East games could help him find the multiyear deal that eluded most closers last offseason.
  • Red Sox chairman Tom Werner (in an interview with WEEI's The Big Show, as partially recapped by WEEI.com's Paul Flannery) denied Theo Epstein's recent statements about ownership pressure contributing to free agency decisions during Epstein's tenure as the team's general manager.  "We don't dictate who Theo or Ben [Cherington] should sign," Werner said. "What we do is we try to give them the resources to be successful. There's a sense that non-baseball people are telling baseball people what to do, but what we do is we try to create the revenue streams for our baseball operations people to be successful."
  • The Blue Jays have "been most active" in trade negotiations for Rockies' right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post.  We heard about Toronto's interest in Guthrie over the weekend but now that Guthrie has been moved to Colorado's bullpen, it will no doubt affect his trade value.
  • Former Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail deserves some of the credit for the team's early-season success, argues Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun.
  • The Orioles haven't made any progress with top two draft picks Kevin Gausman (4th overall) and Branden Kline (65th overall), tweets Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun.  Connolly "wouldn't be surprised if [negotiations] take a while" between the team and the two right-handers.

Kevin Youkilis Rumors: Tuesday

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The Red Sox have intensified their efforts to trade Kevin Youkilis, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reported last night. It appears that the Red Sox are willing to take on salary in a deal and that the Diamondbacks, White Sox, Dodgers, Indians, and Pirates have some interest. Here’s the latest on Youkilis…

Red Sox Intensify Efforts To Trade Youkilis

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The Red Sox have intensified their efforts to trade Kevin Youkilis over the past 24-48 hours, according to Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. One high-ranking National League official told the FOX Sports duo that Youkilis is being "shopped everywhere." The Red Sox are willing to include cash to facilitate the acquisition of better players in return.

Rosenthal and Morosi list the Diamondbacks, White Sox, Dodgers, Indians, and Pirates as teams with interest in Youkilis. They also note that the Reds are not interested, despite Youk's Cincinnati roots.

Scouts are expected to be on-hand this weekend to watch Youkilis and the Red Sox take on the Marlins. The 33-year-old corner infielder is in the midst of a 1-for-21 slump and has seen his triple slash line plummet to .215/.301/.345. He'll earn more than $7MM over the remainder of this season, and an acquiring team would have the option of picking up a $13MM option or paying a $1MM buyout.

Recently, it was reported that D-backs GM Kevin Towers was "reluctant" to pursue Youkilis.

Red Sox Notes: Pitching, Morales

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There's deep, multi-layered unhappiness among Red Sox players and staff, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes. Complaints are starting to spread across baseball and some within the Boston organization are already talking about looking for work elsewhere in the future, according to Olney. However, Olney points out that the Red Sox could win in spite of the bad energy, as the Yankees did in 1977-78. Here’s more detail on the 33-33 Red Sox…

  • The Red Sox are looking for a starting pitcher, according to Olney.
  • Franklin Morales has become a key contributor for the Red Sox after falling out of favor in Denver, as Alex Speier of WEEI.com explains. "We wanted to commit to turning him into a guy for us,” Boston GM Ben Cherington has said. Morales, who pitched effectively in a start against the Cubs last night, has a 3.14 ERA with 9.1 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 28 2/3 innings this year.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the Red Sox can still win the AL East if they put Daniel Bard back in the bullpen, dump Kevin Youkilis sooner rather than later, acquire a starting pitcher and remain patient.

Quick Hits: Tigers, Bryan LaHair, Red Sox Draft

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The Yankees completed a sweep against the Nationals on Sunday afternoon in Washington D.C. with a 4-1 victory. The win marked New York's third consecutive sweep of three games or more for the first time since 1998. With the Yankees taking three from the Nationals, the Reds (7-5) are now the lone MLB team with an all-time winning record against the Bronx Bombers. Here's the latest from around the majors…

  • Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski has already conceded his interest in acquiring a right-handed bat before the non-waiver trade deadline, but any potential move hinges on the health of Victor Martinez, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. “The possibility (of Martinez returning) exists in a strong enough fashion that you have to give it some thought, but I don’t really know where that stands – and I don’t know that we will know until July,” Dombrowski said in an interview Sunday morning. “We may get Martinez and (Al) Alburquerque back. Those would be two pretty good acquisitions, and our bullpen actually has pitched pretty well in recent times.”
  • ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports (via Twitter) that the Dodgers are not interested in Cubs first baseman Bryan LaHair but are talking with Chicago about right-hander Ryan Dempster. Los Angeles may want to reconsider its stance as LaHair has a slash line of .297/.380/.560 as compared to .261/.322/.368 for the Dodgers' first basemen.
  • According to calculations by Baseball America, the Red Sox will face increased penalties from MLB if they continue spending at their current pace to go 5% over their draft budget as pointed out by Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal. When a team exceeds its budget by 5% or less, it is penalized by paying 75% on the amount over the threshold. Teams that go over by 5 to 10% are mandated to pay a luxury tax of 100% on the excess spending and forfeit their next first round draft pick.

Red Sox To Sign Deven Marrero

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The Red Sox have agreed to terms with first round draft pick Deven Marrero, tweets Jim Callis of Baseball America. The Arizona State shortstop will receive a $2.05MM bonus, significantly higher than the $1.75MM recommended by MLB.

The selection marks the third consecutive draft in which the Red Sox selected a college player with their first pick. Marrero, selected 24th overall, is noted for his slick fielding. 

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