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AL East Notes: Yanks, Stroman, Tanaka, Orioles

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Last night, Red Sox GM Ben Cherington appeared on WEEI radio and discussed a number of topics, including Stephen Drew, Masahiro Tanaka and David Ortiz. That post has been updated this morning to include the full audio of Cherington's 18-minute interview. Elsewhere in the AL East…

  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports notes that the Yankees have a 40-man roster crunch right now, but Alex Rodriguez's likely suspension would clear one spot. The Yankees will still need to clear more via trades or DFA, as they've yet to officially announce the signings of Brian Roberts and Matt Thornton, despite agreeing to deals with that duo on Dec. 17. Signing Masahiro Tanaka would require further roster manipulation (Twitter links).
  • Blue Jays manager John Gibbons isn't ruling out the possibility of top prospect Marcus Stroman making the team out of Spring Training, though he did caution that it's a long shot, tweets Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.
  • Nicholson-Smith also tweets that Gibbons says the Blue Jays are keeping tabs on Tanaka.
  • Wei-Yin Chen's recovery from surgery to remove bone spurs from his knee "hasn't been as seamless as some others have been," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said on WBAL Radio (via MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko). Though Showalter said he expects Chen to be fine, he did say his recovery has been slow and that the team is "keeping really close tabs" on Chen.
  • From that same piece, Showalter says Manny Machado "feels great." The manager added that his gut feeling is that Machado can be healthy by Opening Day, but the organization will not rush him. The O's will use Ryan Flaherty as their Opening Day third baseman if Machado isn't ready, writes Kubatko.

Minor Moves: Gamboa, Clark, Bucci, Portillo

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

  • Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports that the Rockies have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Richard Castillo. A former Cardinals prospect, the 24-year-old Castillo split 2013 between St. Louis' Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, posting a combined 4.08 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 147 2/3 innings. Baseball America twice ranked him among the Cardinals' Top 30 prospects, but he has not cracked that list for the past four years.
  • The Orioles announced that they've signed right-handed knuckleballers Eddie Gamboa and Zach Clark to minor league deals. Gamboa received an invitation to Major League Spring Training. The 29-year-old posted a 4.43 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 142 1/3 innings between Baltimore's Double-A and Triple-A affiliates in 2013. Clark, 30, made his big league debut in 2013, allowing three runs in 1 2/3 innings. He had a 7.84 ERA in 111 1/3 innings across four minor league levels last season.
  • The Brewers released right-hander Nick Bucci, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (on Twitter). Formerly one of Milwaukee's top prospects, Bucci dealt with a shoulder injury this season and pitched just two-thirds of an inning this season. The injury-plagued 23-year-old has pitched just 43 1/3 innings over the past two seasons.
  • The Padres have outrighted right-hander Adys Portillo to Double-A San Antonio, according to the team's transactions page. The 22-year-old was designated for assignment over the weekend to clear a 40-man roster spot for Joaquin Benoit. Portillo received a $2MM signing bonus in 2008 but has yet to provide the Friars with much of a return on that investment.

The Latest On The Orioles’ Pitching Search

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Reports yesterday once again connected the Orioles to right-hander Bronson Arroyo, reviving some early offseason linking between the two sides. In his latest piece, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun runs down the list of potential targets for Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette, including Arroyo.

Connolly offers a familiar refrain regarding Arroyo, writing that the right-hander seeks a three-year guarantee. Arroyo has been linked to many clubs to this point, but none has been willing to offer a third guaranteed season to the longtime Reds hurler to this point. Though Arroyo is as durable as any starter in the game, having authored nine consecutive seasons of 199 or more innings, he also turns 37 in February, making such a commitment a risk. Connolly writes that there is a sense that Arroyo would go to Baltimore if guaranteed a third season, and the club is "definitely interested." Duquette and the Orioles have maintained an ongoing dialogue with Arroyo's agent, Terry Bross, Connolly adds.

The Orioles have also had internal discussions about bringing back a familiar face in the form of left-hander Bruce Chen, Connolly reports. Chen's name has scarcely been mentioned to this point in the offseason, but the soft-tossing southpaw is coming off a season in which he posted a 3.27 ERA with 5.8 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 121 innings for the Royals. Of course, Chen also posted an astoundingly low 27.7 percent ground-ball rate in 2013, and his 51.9 percent fly-ball rate was the highest in the Majors for pitchers with at least 100 innings. Clearly, such trends would not bode well for a transition to the hitter-friendly parks of the AL East. LIke Arroyo, Chen will turn 37 this year.

Jason Hammel still doesn't figure to be an option for the O's, though Connolly seems to think the idea is becoming more plausible than it was earlier in the offseason. Both sides enjoyed their time together, he writes.

Names like Masahiro Tanaka, Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez and Matt Garza can all be effectively ruled out, writes Connolly. That's not surprising to hear, given Duquette's earlier statement that the club wouldn't be in the mix for Tanaka and the team's budgetary constraints. Santana, Jimenez and Garza are all likely to sign at least four-year deals, pricing them out of Baltimore's range.

Quick Hits: Boras, Drew, Red Sox, Orioles

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In an interview with Peter Gammons, Scott Boras expressed his confidence that Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales will find good contracts with teams that will put more value on their contributions than the value of (possibly second- or third-round) draft picks.  With that said, Boras also believes the free agent system needs to be changed to give players more freedom and to encourage teams to spend.  “We should be doing everything possible to try to get smaller market teams the necessary veteran leadership to contend,” Boras said.  His suggestions include banning qualifying offers for players over 30 years old, and a monetary compensation system for teams who lose free agents under age-30 that the clubs can re-invest in signings or draft spending.

Here's some more from around the baseball world…

  • An executive on a team that explored signing Stephen Drew told Andy Martino of the New York Daily News yesterday that Drew's medicals were raising some concerns.  Another source tells WEEI.com's Rob Bradford today (Twitter link) that Drew is "perfectly healthy.  No physical issues."
  • The Red Sox are looking to add outfield depth, Jason Mastrodonato of MassLive.com reports, and Scott Podsednik is one name on Boston's current long list of external candidates.  Ryan Gleichowski, Podsednik's agent, recently told Mastrodonato that Podsednik was in shape and eager to continue his career after sitting out the 2013 season.  We also recently heard that the Sox have some interest in Padres outfielder Chris Denorfia.
  • The Red Sox will have an estimated $96MM coming off the books following the 2014 seasons, WEEI.com's Alex Speier writes, leaving the team with lots of flexibility to re-sign David Ortiz and/or Jon Lester, as well as explore new player acquisitions.
  • The Orioles seem to be using a "stars and scrubs" strategy in building their team, Fangraphs' Dave Cameron writes, and the tactic doesn't seem to be working given the clear holes on the roster and their relatively limited payroll space.
  • Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal reports (subscription required) that Dan Lozano's MVP Sports Group has hired former Dodgers director of Asian operations Acey Kohrogi to serve as the firm's head of Asian operations.  Kohrogi spent 18 years with the Dodgers and helped them attract the likes of Hideo Nomo, Takashi Saito, Hiroki Kuroda, Chan Ho Park and Hong-Chih Kuo to the Major Leagues.
  • The Phillies' new 25-year, $2.5 billion TV contract will theoretically pay them an average of $100MM per year, though David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News crunches the numbers to explain how that $100MM average will actually work out to a much smaller annual payout.  MLBTR's Jeff Todd also recently examined the Phillies' TV deal and noted that the contract could just help the team continue its high-spending ways, rather than allow them to raise payroll even more.
  • The Giants' bullpen and the Blue Jays' second base platoon project as the worst positions on contending teams, according to Fangraphs' Jeff Sullivan.  The Giants' pen projects as below-replacement level as a group thanks to several pitchers that could be declining, while the Jays' Maicer Izturis/Ryan Goins platoon stands out as a weak spot.  The Dodgers' second base spot also technically makes Sullivan's list, though he says that's only due to a lack of information about the newly-signed Alexander Guerrero.

Orioles Interested In Bronson Arroyo

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The Orioles are among the teams to have shown interest in right-hander Bronson Arroyo, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. The question, notes Olney, is regarding contract terms.

Though they saved nearly $11MM in 2014 salary by trading Jim Johnson to the A's, the Orioles have done little with that savings to this point. They looked to be on their way to allocating a significant chunk of that money to a cheaper option in Grant Balfour, but the O's controversially backed out due to concerns over Balfour's physical.

The money saved on their ninth inning situation would likely be enough to pay Arroyo in the first year of a multiyear pact, especially if the contract were backloaded. Baltimore will have Nick Markakis' salary coming off the books following the 2014 campaign, which could allow them to pay Arroyo more following the first year of a deal.

Arroyo has also been connected to the Twins, Reds, Mets and Pirates this offseason, with the Twins and Reds being the most frequently mentioned suitors for the soon-to-be-37-year-old. Recent reports indicated that as many as four teams have made two-year offers to Arroyo, who is currently holding out for a third guaranteed season. Arroyo has thrown 199 or more innings in each of the past nine seasons, pitching to a 4.10 ERA in that time. He's also succeeded in a hitter-friendly environment — Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park — for the vast majority of that stretch.

AL Notes: Indians, Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles, Jays

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The Indians have had a quiet offseason thus far, with December's one-year pact with John Axford and a trade that netted them reliever Josh Outman in exchange for Drew Stubbs being their biggest moves. In a reader mailbag column, Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer writes that the Tribe's estimated 2013 attendance figure of 1.6 million — second-to-last in the majors — could be a factor in the club's quiet offseason. Fans might see more activity from the Cleveland front office if attendance returned to the 2.5 million to 3 million range that the Indians formerly drew, Hoynes says. Here's more from around the American League:

  • Jeff Sullivan examined the importance of rotation depth in a piece for Fangraphs. In 2013, teams got an average of 32 starts from pitchers who didn't rank among their top-five most heavily used starters. Sullivan notes that a pitcher like Ryan Dempster, who's been the subject of trade discussions as the odd man out in the Red Sox rotation, could end up being valuable for Boston when one factors in expected rates of starter attrition.
  • A trip to the postseason can exhaust a pitcher, former Cy Young Award-winner Orel Hershiser tells Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald. Red Sox pitchers Jon Lester and Koji Uehara each reached career highs in innings as they continued to throw into October last season. Lauber reports that Red Sox personnel have urged some of the club's pitchers to alter their offseason routines because of the higher workloads.
  • The Boston Herald's John Tomase sizes up the Red Sox's AL East competitors now that several have brought in new talent.
  • Yesterday, Brendan Kuty of NJ.com listed the six worst contracts on the books for the Yankees. Today, he named Brett Gardner (arbitration eligible), Alfonso Soriano (one year with the Cubs paying all but $5MM of his 2014 salary), David Robertson (arbitration eligible), Ivan Nova (arbitration eligible), Hiroki Kuroda (one year, $16MM), and Brian McCann (five years, $85MM) as the team's best bargains. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects arbitration salaries of $4MM for Gardner, $5.5MM for Robertson, and $2.8MM for Nova. 
  • It's time for the Orioles to spend, and starting pitching stands out as the team's greatest area of need, CBS Sports' Dayn Perry writes. Signing Masahiro Tanaka would provide the club with a front-of-the-rotation arm as it prepares for another grueling season in the AL East. Kendrys Morales is also a good fit for the Orioles' DH slot, Perry opines.
  • The Blue Jays have been quiet so far this offseason, but Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star sees five reasons for being optimistic about 2014.

Edward Creech contributed to this post.

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.
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