Outrighted: Thompson, Burton, Pirates, Tigers
Players outrighted off 40-man rosters today:
- The Reds announced that they outrighted Daryl Thompson and Jared Burton off of the 40-man roster. Burton would have been arbitration eligible for the second time and MLBTR projected a salary in the $900K range for the 30-year-old.
- The Pirates announced that they outrighted Brian Burres, Kevin Hart, Brandon Wood and Steve Pearce to Triple-A to create 40-man roster space. All four players can now elect free agency. Wood and Pearce would have been arbitration eligible for the first time this offseason, and though neither player projected to earn even $1MM, the Pirates decided to cut them loose instead of tendering contracts.
- The Tigers outrighted catcher Omir Santos and lefty Brad Thomas, tweets MLB.com's Jason Beck. Thomas would have been arbitration eligible, but it was clear he wouldn't make it to the point of being tendered a contract after missing much of the season with an elbow injury.
AL Central Rumors: Tigers, Indians, Twins
The AL Central has only one clear seller at this point in the Royals, and they don't have much to offer. The White Sox and Twins will add a lot to the trade market if they decide to wave the white flag. The latest on the division:
- The Tigers' list of starting pitching targets includes Ubaldo Jimenez, Hiroki Kuroda, Aaron Harang, Jeremy Guthrie, and Jason Marquis, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. However, the Padres are more inclined to keep Harang and try to re-sign him, tweets ESPN's Jayson Stark. Harang picked up his ninth win today in Philadelphia.
- The White Sox are scouting the farm systems of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies in case they decide to sell, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
- In a series of three tweets, Joel Sherman of the New York Post explains why the Indians are setting their sights low as they seek a right-handed hitting outfielder. I think the biggest point is that they expect Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo back in August.
- Indians corner infielder Jared Goedert cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, tweets Morosi. Another procedural note: Tigers lefty Brad Thomas is now on the 60-day DL rather than being outrighted, tweets MLB.com's Jason Beck.
- The Twins reached an agreement with Vanderbilt lefty Corey Williams for just under $600K, tweets ESPN's Keith Law. Williams, the team's third-round pick, signed above slot.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Brad Thomas
Here's where we'll keep track of the players who get outrighted to the minor leagues today…
- The Tigers announced that they reinstated left-hander Brad Thomas from the disabled list and outrighted him to Triple-A. He has 72 hours to accept or decline the assignment. The 33-year-old native of Australia allowed 17 hits, 11 earned runs and six walks in 11 innings before hitting the disabled list.
Tigers Gauging Trade Interest In Brad Thomas
The Tigers "have been gauging trade interest in left-handed reliever Brad Thomas and are willing to move him," reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The 33-year-old Australian is on a rehab assignment after going down with elbow inflammation in May.
Thomas is earning $800K this year, and could be retained in the future as an arbitration eligible player. 2010 was his one full year in the Majors; he was OK against lefties and ineffective against righties. The Tigers have three left-handed relievers on their active roster, so Thomas is expendable. The Tigers can keep Thomas on the rehab assignment for a few more weeks, writes MLB.com's Jason Beck, but then must make a decision since he is out of options. Click here to survey other potentially available left-handed relievers.
Top Trade Chips: AL Central
Let's continue our look at each club's top trade chips today with the AL Central…
- Indians: The Tribe have dealt their Opening Day starter in each of the last two seasons, and there's a good chance they'll do it again with Jake Westbrook in 2010. The 32-year-old righty will earn $11MM this season, the last one on his contract. After dumping Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez in cost-cutting moves last year, expect them to shop Westbrook around for prospects this summer.
- Royals: All four of Kansas City's outfielders come off the books after this season (assuming some options are bought out for six figures), so Rick Ankiel, David DeJesus, Scott Podsednik, and even Jose Guillen could be moved in a deal for a young player. The team would obviously have to eat a lot of money to move Guillen. The contracts of relievers Juan Cruz and Kyle Farnsworth also expire after the season, so there might be some interest in them.
- Tigers: Detroit isn't going to move any of their young power arms, but if they eat a large chunk of salary like they did with Nate Robertson, there might be interest in Jeremy Bonderman and/or Dontrelle Willis. Young backstop Alex Avila could make Gerald Laird expendable as well. The Tigers have four lefty relievers on their 40-man roster (Phil Coke, Fu-Te Ni, Daniel Schlereth, and Brad Thomas), and that demographic is always in demand.
- Twins: Minnesota has one of the best trade chips in the league, blocked catching prospect Wilson Ramos. Lefty Glen Perkins is pitching in Triple-A and seems to have fallen out of favor with the club after filing a grievance, so he could be made available as well. He has four years of team control left.
- White Sox: GM Kenny Williams isn't shy about emptying out the farm system in a trade for an established big leaguer, which has left him with little minor league ammo. Their best young prospects are catcher Tyler Flowers and starter Daniel Hudson, who would seem to have a future with the club, but I'm not going to put anything past Williams. Flowers could make A.J. Pierzynski or Ramon Castro expendable, ditto Hudson and Freddy Garcia. Gordon Beckham should be untouchable, obviously.
Stark’s Latest: Trade Block, Mets, Phillies, Tigers
ESPN's Jayson Stark has a new blog post up with some trade rumor nuggets for us. It's behind the Insider wall (if you don't have a subscription yet, what are you waiting for?), so I can't give away too much…
- Stark lists 16 players currently on the trade block. Among the names we haven't seen mentioned recently: Willie Harris, Andy Marte, Tim Stauffer, Omir Santos, and Brad Thomas.
- The Mets are looking to move one of their extra catchers, either Santos or Chris Coste, and are looking to add "major league-ready triple-A pitching depth." Aren't we all…
- The Phillies are looking to add all sorts of pitching depth, and have interest in the recently released Chad Gaudin.
- Scott Sizemore's rocky spring has the Tigers looking for a second base upgrade.
- Kansas City is shopping Brayan Pena in their perpetual search for starting pitching.
- The Braves have told other clubs that David Ross is available, "possibly in a catcher-for-catcher swap for a younger backup-catcher type."