Astros Sign Landon Powell
The Astros signed catcher Landon Powell to a minor league deal and invited him to big league camp, Alyson Footer of the Astros tweets. The A's had released the 29-year-old SFX client five days ago.
Powell has a .207/.284/.328 line in 406 plate appearances over the course of three seasons with the Athletics. He has played some first base, but spent most of his time behind the plate. Just 60% of stolen base attempts against Powell have been successful since 2009.
Powell joins catchers Jason Castro, Chris Snyder and Humberto Quintero on the Astros' depth chart. The A's owe Powell approximately $103K even after cutting him from the roster last week.
Quick Hits: Twins, Rangers, Orioles, Mariners, Mitre
Tuesday night linkage..
- Free agent reliever Michael Wuertz says his tryout will be early next week with plans to be finalized in the next day, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Minneapolis. The Twins are expected to attend.
- Signing closer Joe Nathan allowed the Rangers to move Neftali Feliz into the rotation while keeping skipper Ron Washington comfortable by continuing to have an established closer, writes Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com. Nathan inked a two-year, $14.75MM deal with Texas last November, though the club typically doesn't give multi-year deals to relievers.
- There were at least 40 scouts on hand to watch the Orioles today, tweets Eduardo A. Encina of The Baltimore Sun.
- The Mariners reported a financial loss for a fiscal year with a $7.3MM deficit for 2011, writes Greg Johns of MLB.com. This marks just the second time since the opening of Safeco Field that the M's find themselves in the red.
- The bidding groups for the Dodgers appear to have been whittled down to five from seven tonight, a person familiar with the meetings tells Mike Ozanian of Forbes.com. The highest bid was $1.6 billion from Magic Johnson and former baseball exec Stan Kasten, whose purchase would be partially financed by private equity. The lowest bid from the five groups was $1.3 billion.
- Looking at at future payroll commitments, major league assets, farm systems, ownership status, and front office strategies, ESPN.com's Keith Law (Insider sub. req'd) tries to hash out when clubs such as the Mets, Cubs, and Astros will be able to contend.
- The biggest area of uncertainty for the Nationals, outside of their surplus of starting pitchers, seems to be their bench, writes Amanda Comak of The Washington Times.
- Free agent Sergio Mitre will work out for teams in March or April and expects to play in the majors this year, according to Tim (via Twitter).
John Lannan Drawing Interest
The Red Sox, Tigers and Astros are watching John Lannan and a deal involving the left-hander is "likely" Danny Knobler of CBS Sports tweets. The Mets and Padres had interest, but balked at his $5MM salary.
Lannan doesn't have a guaranteed rotation spot in Washington after posting a 3.70 ERA with 5.2 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 184 2/3 innings last year, so he's a potential trade candidate this spring. The Blue Jays, Royals and Tigers are among the teams monitoring the market for starting pitching, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported today.
Central Notes: Beltran, Lopez, Astros
On this day in 2005, Rick Ankiel of the Cardinals collected a base hit in his first Grapefruit League game as a position player after beginning his career as a pitcher. He'd later make it back to the Majors in 2007. On with a few links from MLB's Central divisions …
- Carlos Beltran drew interest from several teams this offseason but ultimately signed with the Cardinals because he wanted to play for a winning team with a grass home ballpark, and because the Redbirds offered him a no-trade clause, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Beltran was conflicted as to which team to sign with, writes Goold, but he ultimately settled on the Cards when his wife urged him to go wherever he'd be happy.
- Indians utility man Jose Lopez is impressing so far in camp and likes his odds of making the big league roster out of Spring Training, according to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Lopez signed a minor league deal with the Tribe this offseason and had offers from other teams: "A couple teams asked me to sign with them," Lopez said. "Cleveland had more opportunity. … They're giving me a chance, and now I'm fighting for a spot."
- The Astros have two players in camp under the scrutiny of being a Rule 5 picks in Marwin Gonzalez and Rhiner Cruz, writes Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. The chances of both players lasting on Houston's 25-man roster all season is pretty slim, something GM Jeff Luhnow touched on: "You lose a lot of flexibility by keeping the Rule 5 guys and that's something you have to put into the equation. … To keep two is something very few teams are able to do."
Central Notes: Perkins, Quade, Luhnow
Three of the four teams that reached last year's League Championship Series play in MLB's central divisions. Let's check in on the central with less than four weeks to go before Opening Day…
- Glen Perkins will earn $2.5MM in 2013 and $3.75MM in 2014 and 2015 on his new extension with the Twins, Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune tweets. The deal includes a $4.5MM club option for 2016 with a $300K buyout.
- Former Cubs manager Mike Quade told Yahoo’s Tim Brown that he may take the summer off, but will coach again eventually (Twitter link). The Cubs dismissed Quade early in the offseason before hiring Dale Sveum to manage the team.
- Astros GM Jeff Luhnow apologized to Rangers president Nolan Ryan and GM Jon Daniels after saying last week that the Rangers spend on the international market “like drunken sailors.” Luhnow said his remarks were taken out of context, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. “It was not a dig against that organization because they’ve done a great job there,” Luhnow said.
Nationals Inquired On Jason Bourgeois
The Nationals are interested in outfielder Jason Bourgeois and have asked the Astros about him at least three times since the Winter Meetings took place in December, Bill Ladson of MLB.com reports. The two clubs are not close to a deal and one of Ladson’s sources suggests there’s no more than a 50% chance of a trade.
Bourgeois would be a ‘stopgap’ solution for Washington, according to Ladson. However, GM Mike Rizzo said last week that he's looking for a long-term solution in center field. “We won’t make the change for a short-term answer,” he told Adam Kilgore.
Nationals manager Davey Johnson has been pleased with internal candidates for the center field job such as Roger Bernadina, Brett Carroll and Rick Ankiel, according to Ladson. Jayson Werth could also play center for Washington.
Bourgeois posted a .294/.323/.357 line with 31 stolen bases last year, while playing all three outfield positions and appearing at second base. The 30-year-old will be arbitration eligible for the first time after the 2012 season.
2013 Vesting Options
Which players can lock in 2013 contract options based on their 2012 performance? Let's take a look.
- Jason Bartlett, Padres: $5.5MM option vests with 432 plate appearances.
- Alex Gonzalez, Brewers: $4MM option vests with 525 plate appearances.
- Chipper Jones, Braves: $9MM+ option vests with 123 games.
- Kevin Gregg, Orioles: $6MM option vests with 50 games finished.
- Brett Myers, Astros: $10MM option vests based on unknown starting or relieving milestones.
NL Central Notes: Molina, Astros, Das
There's been lots of Pirates buzz today, following Andrew McCutchen's six year, $51.5MM contract extension. Here are some notes on the rest of the division…
- Yadier Molina's representatives were preparing to aim for a seven-year deal in the $140MM range if the catcher had reached free agency, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Some teams might have been willing to part with that kind of cash for Molina, an elite two-way player. "He's like the Deion Sanders of catchers,'' one executive told Heyman. Molina, who would have been eligible for free agency following the 2012 season, signed a five-year, $75MM extension with the Cardinals last week.
- Astros GM Jeff Luhnow tells Tyler Kepner of the New York Times that he believes discipline is necessary for building an MLB team. “The analogy I use is blackjack,” Luhnow said. “You play perfect strategy over a long haul, that’s going to be your best outcome." Tim Dierkes spoke with Luhnow last week.
- Arbitrator Shyam Das was recently in the news for ruling in favor of Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun, but as Cary Spivak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explains, the 67-year-old former law professor has ruled on a number of important MLB issues in the past. Das has dealt with trades, player discipline and other disputes between the players' union and MLB. Spivak's piece offers a personal look at the low-profile arbitrator.
The Next Frontier Of Baseball Analysis
The Sloan Sports Analytics Conference assembled an excellent baseball panel this year in Boston. Host Rob Neyer asked participants their thoughts on the next frontier in baseball analysis, and a few highlights follow.
Red Sox senior advisor of baseball operations Bill James gave a two-part answer. First, James feels "one of the things we most need to understand better is how levels of competition fit together so that the information we get from one level can be interpreted at another level in a way that is more helpful." James says "we really don't have a clue" how levels such as college, Double-A, and Japan fit together. Second, James believes that teams and players act in their best interest, even if it's not beneficial for the game as a whole. He gave an example of a player stepping out of the box to regain his focus. That 30 second break helps the player perform his best, but delays of this nature are bad for baseball in general, because they cause many to consider the game boring to watch.
Astros GM Jeff Luhnow wasn't actually answering Neyer's question at the time, but he volunteered his thoughts, saying, "The frontier from my perspective is really turning that player evaluation into player valuation. When Scott [Boras] and I have a conversation about a player, this player may be 12 runs above average and another player might be 10 runs above average, but there's so many other factors that go into whether I'm going to be willing to pay more or less for that player. For example, we always talk about the most likely outcome for this player, but what's the distribution look like? Is there a 10% chance that he's below replacement level, is there a 10% chance that he's above superstar level?"
Indians president Mark Shapiro spoke of an "infinite number of things that I don't know," but mentioned during the conference that "medical is an absolute separator." Agent Scott Boras focused on psychology, as a means to increasing the chances of players reaching their potential. Rays baseball operations special assistant Rocco Baldelli wonders why some players develop the ability to hit, and some do not.
The panel provided a wide array of answers, but Luhnow's resonated most with me. We often apply straightforward methods to determine what constitutes a good free agent signing, but projecting a player's WAR and multiplying by the price of a win is just a starting point. Both Luhnow and Shapiro lamented the inability to tell fans all the factors that went into a decision, so unfortunately there will always be missing information for those outside the front office.
Central Notes: Luhnow, Hart, Braun, Zumaya
Some links from baseball's Central Divisions for your Sunday reading…
- New Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow has the right outlook, but very few pieces to work with, writes Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. One scout told Heyman that aside from Carlos Lee, only two players in the Astros' projected lineup have a chance to be even league-average hitters: Jason Castro and Chris Johnson.
- Corey Hart has torn cartilage in his knee that will require arthroscopic surgery and sideline him for three-to-four weeks, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said they won't rush Hart back like they did from an oblique injury that cost him his 2011 Spring Training, and that Hart will likely open the season on the disabled list.
- MLBPA executive director Michael Weiner told Haudricourt that the leak in Ryan Braun's positive drug test was an isolated, case-specific incident and that the process doesn't have a confidentiality problem.
- Joel Zumaya has opted for Tommy John surgery, writes MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger. Dr James Andrews will perform the operation at the end of March, and the Twins have yet to decide if they'll place Zumaya on the 60-day DL or release him, assistant GM Rob Antony told Bollinger.