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NL Central Notes: Arnsberg, Lyles, Reds

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Links from the NL Central as Brewers fans learn that Manny Parra could miss the start of the regular season with a back issue…

  • ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick examines an unheralded Astros rotation and one of the keys to its success: pitching coach Brad Arnsberg.
  • Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com places Jordan Lyles atop his list of Astros prospects and says the right-hander will arrive in Houston at some point this year, even if he starts off in the minor leagues.
  • Cincinnati VP Bob Miller told readers at MLB.com that the Reds have one of the deepest rotations he has ever seen. “While some will argue that we don't have a true No. 1 starter, I feel we have the potential for three or four guys to become true No. 1s,” Miller said.

Teams Calling About Reds Catchers

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Teams have been calling the Reds about their catchers, but their chances of making a deal don’t seem good. GM Walt Jocketty told John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he’s not looking to move any of his backstops.

“It’s a strength for us,” Jocketty said. “I really don’t want to take away from a strength. It can be very fragile.”

The Reds recently locked up Ryan Hanigan to a three-year, $4MM extension. He’ll join Ramon Hernandez in the majors this year while Corky Miller and prospects Devin Mesoraco and Yasmani Grandal play in the upper minors. But with Hernandez entering a walk year, a trade appears unlikely.

Though Ivan Rodriguez is dealing with an apparently minor calf injury, the Nationals have comparable catching depth and could deal a backstop. The Astros and Padres lost Jason Castro and Gregg Zaun, respectively, so both teams could be interested in dealing for a catcher. As MLBTR's Zach Links recently pointed out, the Angels are a potential match for the Astros.

Reds Agree To Extension With Ryan Hanigan

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The Reds and Ryan Hanigan have agreed to a three-year contract that will pay the catcher $4MM. Hanigan, who is represented by Tom O'Connell, will also have the chance to earn another $800K in escalators based on playing time.

2011 is Hanigan's final pre-arbitration season, so the deal buys out two of his arb years. According to Olney, the 30-year-old will make $450K this year, $1.2MM in 2012, and $2.05MM in 2013. The deal also includes a $300K signing bonus and $400K in possible incentives in each of the '12 and '13 seasons. The Reds will have Hanigan under team control for one more season after the contract expires.

Splitting time behind the plate with Ramon Hernandez for the last two years, Hanigan hasn't displayed much power, but has posted exceptional on-base numbers. In 536 plate appearances in 2009 and 2010 combined, the longtime Red hit .280/.381/.374.

As MLBTR's Transaction Tracker shows, Hanigan's will be the fifth contract extended for at least three years by the Reds this winter. ESPN.com's Buster Olney first reported the agreement and John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer confirmed that the Reds announced the deal.

Ohio Notes: Mesoraco, Johnson, Davis

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Some notes from the Buckeye State's two teams…

  • Catching prospect Devin Mesoraco, the Reds' first-round pick in the 2007 draft, is impressing the club during Spring Training with both his bat and his defense, reports MLB.com's Mark Sheldon.
  • The Reds didn't make major offseason acquisitions and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports argues that it was the right way for GM Walt Jocketty to approach the offseason.
  • Here are a few details on Nick Johnson's minor league contract from MLB.com's Jordan Bastian and Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  According to Hoynes, Johnson can opt out of his contract and become a free agent if he's not on the Indians' Major League roster by July 1.  Cleveland's $2.75MM team option on Johnson for 2012 will cease to be if Johnson isn't called up to the majors some point this season, tweets Bastian.  Of course, if Johnson isn't playing well enough to even earn a call-up, Cleveland wouldn't have been likely to pick up that option for next year anyway.
  • Right-hander Jason Davis, who pitched for the Indians from 2002-07, is on a tryout with the Tribe's minor league camp, reports Paul Hoynes (Twitter link).  Davis, who last pitched in the majors with Pittsburgh in 2008, has a 4.82 ERA in 144 Major League games, 56 of them starts.

MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith also contributed to this post

Minor Deals: Lamb, Hall, Johnson, Baisley

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Today's minor deals include a number of former Major Leaguers…

  • The Nationals re-signed Ron Villone, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (on Twitter). As Eddy points out, the 18-year veteran has been traded for Greg Vaughn and Andy Benes.
  • The Camden Riversharks of the Atlantic League signed Mike Lamb, Toby Hall and Jason Johnson, according to Mike Ashmore of the Hunterdon County Democrat (on Twitter). Lamb, 35, was a pinch hitter for the Marlins last year after missing the 2009 season; Hall, a nine-year veteran, hasn't spent time in the majors since 2008 and Johnson, a 37-year-old right-hander with 11 years of MLB experience, has been out of the majors for two years as well.
  • The Dodgers signed right-hander Steven Jackson to a minor league deal, according to Eddy (on Twitter). He appeared in 11 games for the Pirates last year, but got much more exposure in 2009 when he posted a 3.14 ERA in 40 relief appearances despite walking more batters than he struck out.
  • The Reds signed right-hander Tyree Hayes, the son of former MLB third baseman Charlie Hayes, according to Eddy (on Twitter). Hayes, 22, has yet to advance past Class A in five pro seasons.
  • The Twins signed former Royals prospect Joe Dickerson, according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (on Twitter). The 2005 fourth rounder didn't play last year.
  • The Angels signed former A's prospect Jeff Baisley, according to Goldstein (on Twitter). The 28-year-old played in 14 games for the 2008 A's and posted an .845 OPS in the upper minors of their system last year.

Cashman: Never Made Offer To Chapman

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WEDNESDAY, 9:45am: The Yankees "never made an offer" to Chapman, GM Brian Cashman tells ESPN's Buster Olney (Twitter link).

TUESDAY, 10:01pm: The Yankees really liked Aroldis Chapman. A Florida lawsuit against the left-hander's representatives claims that the Yankees made an “offer to Chapman valued at more than $54MM," according to Melissa Segura of SI.com (on Twitter, hat tip to River Ave. Blues).

Chapman, who accepted a six-year, $30.25MM deal from Cincinnati must have really liked the Reds to accept $24MM less from them. The 23-year-old Cuban struck out 19 of the 51 batters he faced in his cameo for the NL Central Champions last year. He posted a 3.57 ERA with 11.8 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9 in 95 2/3 innings at Triple-A before his callup.

The Yankees have a history of bidding on and signing top Cuban pitchers. They signed Orlando Hernandez in 1998 and pried Jose Contreras away from the Red Sox and others in 2003.

Offseason In Review: Cincinnati Reds

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The Reds are next in our Offseason In Review series.

Major League/International Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Trades and Claims: None

Notable Losses

Summary

In 2010 the Reds rode the league's best offense and an acceptable pitching staff to the NL Central crown, marking their first winning season since 2000 and first playoff appearance since '95.  In the offseason that followed, GM Walt Jocketty adopted the motto, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Due to payroll limitations, Jocketty's only real play to change the Reds significantly would have been through trades or by way of declining Arroyo's option.  In early November Jocketty decided to exercise Arroyo's 2011 option at a hefty $13MM, as opposed to a $2MM buyout.  It was a large commitment to a 34-year-old soft-tosser many teams would consider an innings eater, though six seasons in a row of 200-plus innings is a rarity.  A month later Jocketty tacked on two years, coming up with a new deal heavy on deferred money.  The Reds halved Arroyo's 2011 salary in the process. 

Otherwise Jocketty minimized his free agent expenditures, committing under $10MM to five position players.  I don't blame him; there wasn't much out there at left field or shortstop.  The bullpen features enough big arms to withstand the loss of Rhodes, though an arbitration offer would not have been a bad idea for the Type A lefty.  In addition to a full season of Aroldis Chapman, the Reds' 2011 pen features a sleeper in Jose Arredondo.  Signed to a minor league deal a year ago, he's fully recovered from Tommy John surgery.  The Reds will try Paul Janish and Renteria at shortstop with Cabrera's departure.  I don't mind the plan, though I'm curious if the Reds inquired on J.J. Hardy.

The Reds' front office spent the bulk of their offseason hammering out extensions with Bruce, Cueto, and Votto, and attempting one with Edinson Volquez.  Bruce's deal offers a chance at three affordable free agent seasons, and it makes sense for both sides.  Cueto's contract allows for two free agent years, and is riskier by nature since he's a pitcher.  But $16MM is the going rate for a good young pitcher's arbitration years in an extension, so this was a typical contract. 

Votto

As MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith outlined in January, Votto's deal was a head-scratcher from the Reds' point of view.  The Reds were not able to buy out any free agent seasons, which might have cost upwards of $20MM each.  At best the Reds received a mild discount of a few million dollars on Votto's first two arbitration years, compared to the year-to-year earnings of Prince Fielder.

Payroll aside, the Reds did not need to tinker much with the NL's best offense.  They're bringing back a similar group, with plenty of upside for players like Bruce and Drew Stubbs.  Replacing Harang with a young in-house starting pitcher is an upgrade, especially if Homer Bailey's late-season success carries over.  The team is overly enamored with Arroyo and the Votto extension was player-friendly, but the painful aspects of those contracts will be realized after 2011.  The 2011 Reds are short on new faces, which is a positive in their case.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Quick Hits: Phillips, Olsen, Rangers, Greinke

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The great Mickey Mantle announced his retirement on this day in 1969.  The Mick was coming off his worst of his 18 Major League seasons, a .237/.385/.398 performance in 1968.  While a .782 OPS would be a pretty decent performance for most mortals, it was well behind Mantle's .977 career OPS.  Mantle retired with 536 home runs, seven World Series rings and legendary status with both the Yankees and the sport as a whole.

Some news items…

  • Brandon Phillips wants to play for the Reds beyond his current contract, and John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer speculates how much it might cost to keep Phillips in Cincinnati.  The club holds a $12MM team option on Phillips for 2012, and Fay thinks Phillips would have to accept less tham $12MM per season in a new deal.  Fay guesses Phillips will ask for a Dan Uggla-esque contract, while the Reds will try to sign him to a deal similar to Juan Uribe's pact with the Dodgers.  If I had to guess, I'd say the Reds' financial situation might make them hard-pressed to pick up Phillips' 2012 option, let alone give him another expensive, multiyear deal.  Another year of pennant contention and more fans in the Great American Ballpark would certainly change things, of course.
  • It came as news to Scott Olsen that Pirates GM Neal Huntington listed him as as a bullpen candidate if he doesn't make the rotation, reports Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  “They didn’t bring me in here to be a bullpen guy,” Olsen said. “They want to do that, we are going to have to have a conversation about it, and we haven’t had one about it.”  Olsen's contract with Pittsburgh includes $3MM in incentives based on the number of starts that Olsen makes, so obviously Olsen has a stated interest in staying out of the bullpen.
  • The Rangers' payroll for 2011 will be almost 70% higher than it was in 2010, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
  • Zack Greinke says he "kind of had to play the bad guy" by requesting a trade from the Royals, reports Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com.  "The way things were in Kansas City, if I hadn't done that, the fans would have been outraged if I was traded," Greinke said.  "The fans — I don't know why, but they really liked me."
  • Keith Law of ESPN.com lists six prospects who might be "this year's Mike Trout" and have a breakout minor league campaign.
  • One of Law's breakout candidates is Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos, a supplemental first-round pick (44th overall) for Detroit in 2010.  John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press talked to the 18-year-old about playing alongside his childhood hero, Miguel Cabrera.
  • The Cubs have already paid back the $3MM they owed Ryan Dempster in contract deferral payments, reports ESPNChicago.com's Bruce Levine.
  • Matt Eddy of Baseball America recaps the week's minor league transactions.

Machado, Alonso & Valencia Hire Dan Lozano

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Not long after landing Nick Swisher, agent Dan Lozano has added Manny Machado, Yonder Alonso, and Danny Valencia to his list of clients according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick and Keith Law (all Twitter links). Machado and Alonso were named the 14th and 73rd best prospects in the game, respectively, by Baseball America just yesterday. Law notes that all three players than Miami roots.

Machado, 18, was the third overall pick in the 2010 draft. In his brief professional debut last summer (39 plate appearances), he hit .306/.359/.472 with a homer and as many walks (three) as strikeouts. In the 2011 edition of their Prospect Handbook, Baseball America said Machado "has the look of a perennial all-star" with a chance to "become a .300 hitter with 20 homers a season as he matures." Machado was previously being represented by Scott Boras.

Alonso, 24 in April, was the Reds' first round pick in 2008, seventh overall. He made his Major League debut last September, hitting just .207/.207/.276 with ten strikeouts and no walks in 29 plate appearances. Alonso is a .298/.368/.458 career hitters in the minors, and he told Crasnick that he left Legacy Sports "about a month ago." His salaries are controlled through 2012 thanks to the five-year, $4.55MM big league contract he signed out of the draft.

As a first baseman in the Reds' system, Alonso is stuck behind NL MVP Joey Votto, which is why the club has had him try third base and left field in the past. So far neither position has stuck, and Alonso could wind up trade bait.

Valencia, 26, emerged as the Twins third baseman last season, hitting .311/.351/.448 with seven homers in 322 plate appearances. He finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.

NL Central Notes: Greinke, Wimberly, Lyon, Mier

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Notes from the NL Central…

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