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Rosenthal On Gonzalez, Peavy, DeJesus, Lohse

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Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports released his latest Full Count video today. Let's take a look:

  • Discussing the Phillies' ongoing negotiations with Cuban righty Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, Rosenthal notes that that delays of this kind typically develop after a team finds a problem with a player's physical. If there is cause for concern, the Phillies could incorporate protective language into the contract or sign Gonzalez to a smaller deal than the six-year, $48MM pact that was reported last month.
  • Recent Red Sox acquisition Jake Peavy told Rosenthal that he was prepared to move money around in his contract to facilitate a trade from the White Sox to the Cardinals, or any other team that asked him to do so. However, the Cardinals never made an offer for Peavy.
  • Rival executives suggest to Rosenthal that the Nationals' waiver claim of David DeJesus may have been a mistake. The quality of prospect that the Nats obtain from the Rays for DeJesus could hint at the impetus behind the deal, Rosenthal says.
  • The Braves were the team that claimed Kyle Lohse after the Brewers placed him on waivers earlier this month, and hoped to use him as a replacement for the injured Tim Hudson. However, the Brewers opted not to try to work out a deal. They may attempt to move him in the offseason, however, as the two years and $22MM remaining on his deal could be attractive in the weak free agent market.

NL Central Links: Braun, Mozeliak, Alvarez, Baez

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Ryan Braun today issued his first public statements since he accepted a 65-game suspension for PED use in connection with the Biogenesis scandal.  The Brewers slugger issued one statement specifically to fans and another to the baseball world in general (both links to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).  The latter statement outlined the circumstances of Braun's PED usage, some of the reasoning behind his public claims of playing clean and apologized to several parties, including Major League Baseball officials, the Brewers organization, his teammates, Dino Laurenzi Jr. (the urine test collector Braun disparaged in the appeal of his initial suspension in the 2011-12 offseason), baseball fans and any supporters who believed in his innocence.  The statement includes this passage:

"I understand it's a blessing and a tremendous honor to play this game at the Major League level. I also understand the intensity of the disappointment from teammates, fans, and other players. When it comes to both my actions and my words, I made some very serious mistakes and I can only ask for the forgiveness of everyone I let down. I will never make the same errors again and I intend to share the lessons I learned with others so they don't repeat my mistakes. Moving forward, I want to be part of the solution and no longer part of the problem."

Here's the latest from around the NL Central…

  • The Cardinals are in need of pitching reinforcements and GM John Mozeliak is pessimistic that such help could be found on the trade or waiver market.  Mozeliak told reporters (including Derrick Gould of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) that "trying to get help from the outside is going to be difficult for multiple reasons.  Right now this team is going to have to find a way to do it from within."
  • The Pirates have been patient with Pedro Alvarez's development and the young slugger has at least delivered in the power department, CBS Sports' Scott Miller writes.  Alvarez has a .233/.296/.482 line with a league-leading 154 strikeouts in 477 PA, but his 31 homers is tied with Paul Goldschmidt for the National League lead.
  • Javier Baez is having a huge minor league season but it seems unlikely that the Cubs will call up the star shortstop when rosters expand in September.  Manager Dale Sveum praised Baez's season but he told reporters (including Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times) that while the front office has the final say on Baez's future, “I don’t see it happening.”  Baez, the ninth overall pick of the 2011 draft, was rated as the 16th-best prospect in the sport by both Baseball America and MLB.com's preseason prospect rankings and has hit a combined .286/.348/.581 with 33 homers, 100 RBI and 19 steals in 531 PA at high-A ball and Double-A this year.  Since Baez is only 20 and hasn't hit Triple-A yet, it makes sense that the Cubs aren't yet willing to start his service clock.
  • With Jonathan Broxton out for the season, the Reds make a lot of sense as a suitor for Rafael Betancourt, The Denver Post's Troy Renck opines (Twitter link).  The Rockies put Betancourt on revocable waivers earlier today.  The veteran closer is owed roughly $785K for the remainder of the season and has a $4.25MM club option for 2014.  Renck notes that the Rockies plan to exercise Betancourt's option, and they'll explore bringing him back in 2014 even if he leaves on a waiver deal for the remainder of this season.
  • Rickie Weeks' future, international signings, pitching development, the Braun controversy and other Brewers-related topics are all addressed by Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an online chat with readers.
  • In NL Central news from earlier today, we learned that the Cubs plan to go after Shin-Soo Choo in free agency during the offseason.

Quick Hits: Morneau, Matsuzaka, Red Sox, Padres

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We'll round out the evening with some links from around baseball:

  • With a big night at the plate putting an exclamation point on his torrid run over August, Twins first baseman Justin Morneau is drawing increased attention on the trade market, 1500ESPN.com's Darren Wolfson reports on Twitter. According to a source, the resurgent Yankees are "back in" on Morneau, which could also increase the pressure on the Orioles to make a move on the veteran slugger. The Yanks are now just one game back of Baltimore, though both clubs have significant ground to gain in both the AL East and Wild Card hunt.
  • Recently-released pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka expects to link up with a new team shortly with the hopes of returning to the big leagues, tweets Scott Miller of CBSSports.com. In a series of tweets, Miller quotes Indians GM Chris Antonetti: "We didn't have an immediate opportunity. Dice-K was throwing well in Triple-A and thought he may have a better opportunity." 
  • One team that will not be in on Matsuzaka is the Brewers, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. GM Doug Melvin did say that Dice-K's agent, Scott Boras, had reached out to Milwaukee. "I told Boras I didn't have a spot for him," said Melvin. "We already have six starters for September."
  • Looking ahead at the first base position for the Red Sox in 2014, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says he expects the club to "stay in-house" rather than chasing a new player such as Jose Dariel Abreu. Cafardo opines that the club is most likely to shift Will Middlebrooks to first or employ a platoon of Daniel Nava and Mike Carp. Cafardo finds it less likely that Mike Napoli will be re-signed, but says a big September could lead the club in that direction.
  • Mike Dee, the new president and CEO of the Padres, says that the club is poised to "invest more in the team moving forward," reports MLB.com's AJ Cassavell. Emphasizing that dealing with the team's less-than-perfect TV situation will be "a priority," Dee said that the baseball operations focus will be "to draft well and to develop [the team's] own talent." For his part, GM Josh Byrnes explained that more money did not just mean more big league spending: "Payroll is certainly part of it. But it's also investment spending, whether it's player development, medical or the international side; anything that we can do to give ourselves a better chance to produce talent."

Quick Hits: Braun, Phillies, Manuel, Cuba

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Can anyone stop the Dodgers?  The Chavez Ravine side extended their winning streak to nine games with a 4-0 win over the Phillies tonight.  The Dodgers are an incredible 41-8 since June 22 — no team has put together such a 49-game hot streak since the 1944 Cardinals.  Here's the latest from around baseball as we head into the weekend…

  • Ryan Braun soon plans to admit his PED use and publicly apologize, sources tell USA Today's Bob Nightengale.  It will be Braun's first public statement since he was suspended for 65 games (the remainder of the 2013 season) on July 22 for his part in the Biogenesis PED scandal.  The Brewers outfielder wants to be "the anti-Alex Rodriguez," sources close to the Brewers slugger say, as Rodriguez is drawing even more scorn for appealing his own 211-game suspension.
  • While it seems as if this was always intended to be Charlie Manuel's last season as the Phillies manager, Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer believes Manuel's early departure could've been avoided has GM Ruben Amaro put together a stronger roster.
  • In a must-read piece for MLB.com, Jesse Sanchez details the process and risks that modern Cuban players take in both escaping the country and going through the proper channels for a shot at reaching the majors.
  • In an Insider-only piece for ESPN, Jim Bowden polled several executives around the league to find two managers and two GMs who could be fired unless their teams have strong finishes to the 2013 season.

Lohse Claimed On Waivers, Pulled Back By Brewers

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Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that Kyle Lohse was claimed on trade waivers but pulled back by the Brewers after Milwaukee deemed that there wasn't a potential match for a trade (Twitter link). Lohse will not be traded now, as the Brewers would lose the right to pull him back if they tried to pass him through a second time.

The 34-year-old Lohse has a 3.23 ERA with 5.8 K/9, 1.5 BB/9 and a 39.2 percent ground-ball rate in 139 1/3 innings for the Brewers in 2013. He signed a three-year, $33MM contract with Milwaukee late in Spring Training and is owed $11MM in 2014 and again in 2015. That salary seems more than a fair price to pay for Lohse, whose 2013 numbers are nearly identical to his overall numbers since the onset of the 2011 campaign (3.14 ERA, 5.7 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 in 538 2/3 innings). As such, he's likely to have more trade value to the Brewers this offseason when they can negotiate with any team in the Majors.

News that Lohse was on revocable waivers broke yesterday at the same time it was learned that Dan Haren had also been placed on waivers. So far, only three players have reportedly cleared waivers: Michael Young, Jimmy Rollins and Adam Dunn.

Placed On Waivers: Kyle Lohse, Dan Haren

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Here is Thursday's rundown of names that have been placed on revocable trade waivers…

  • Kyle Lohse: The Brewers placed Lohse on waivers yesterday, tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. The claiming period for him ends tomorrow. The 34-year-old Lohse is enjoying another fine campaign in his first season with Milwaukee. He's pitched to a 3.23 ERA with 5.8 K/9, 1.5 BB/9 and a 39.2 percent ground-ball rate in 139 1/3 innings on the season. Lohse is owed $11MM in each of the next two seasons and is earning $11MM this season as well. However, $7MM of that total is deferred to 2016-18, so he's technically only owed $1.136MM of this year's $4MM guarantee. Lohse's cost isn't exorbitant, but an additional $22MM for his age-35 and age-36 seasons may give some teams pause.
  • Dan Haren: Knobler also tweets that the Nationals placed Haren on waivers today. Washington was clearly expecting more when they signed Haren to a one-year, $13MM contract this offseason. The former ace has just a 5.14 ERA, though he's posted a strong 8.0 K/9 rate with his usual elite command (1.7 BB/9). Haren has been bitten by the homer bug, allowing an NL-leading 21 bombs this season. Haren's past five starts have showed promise, though. He's sporting a 2.40 ERA in that time with 32 strikeouts against eight walks in 30 innings. Most importantly, he's surrendered just two homers in that time. He's owed just under $3.7MM for the remainder of the year.

For a reminder on how revocable trade waivers and August trades work, check out MLBTR's August trades primer.

NL Central Notes: Brewers, Huntington, Ramirez

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Here's a look at the latest out of the National League Central..

  • Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes the right side of the infield and filling out the starting rotation are the major decision points for the Brewers' brain trust before the team gathers next spring in Phoenix.
  • Within the same piece, Haudricourt notes the rationale of Pirates GM Neal Huntington for not trading away prized prospects for a much-needed outfield bat. "We were willing to do something stupid," Huntington said. "We just weren't willing to do something insane."
  • While the players involved in the Matt Garza trade are getting settled in with their new clubs, there are still Rangers players that could wind up joining the Cubs, including Neil Ramirez.  Ramirez, who could be the PTBNL if the Cubs don't instead opt for a duo of different Texas pitchers, is waiting to learn his fate, write T.R. Sullivan and Master Tesfatsion of MLB.com.

Ed Creech contributed to this post.

Quick Hits: Deadline, Traded Prospects, Buyers/Sellers

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After one of the slowest trade deadlines in recent history, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet spoke with 22 Major League executives (most of whom were GMs and assistant GMs) on whether or not they felt the deadline should be moved back. The idea behind a later trade deadline would be allowing fringe contenders a bit more time to assess their status, now that a second Wild Card has been implemented in each league. Of the 22 surveyed, 13 were in favor of moving the deadline back for various reasons. Here's more from around the league…

  • Baseball America's Jim Callis ranked the Top 10 prospects who exchanged hands at this season's deadline, and Mike Olt, who is now property of the Cubs following the Matt Garza trade, headlines the list (subscription required).
  • ESPN's Keith Law offers up his rationale for thinking that the Phillies, Brewers, Mets, Rockies and Mariners should have sold. He adds that the Royals, Pirates and Rangers should have been more aggressive buyers in the final days of this year's deadline (ESPN Insider required).
  • Bud Norris went through the strange experience of being traded from the Astros to the Orioles while the two teams were playing each other, and MLB.com's Alyson Footer looks at other examples of this rarity.

Placed On Revocable Waivers: Gonzalez, Polanco, Harang

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Each August, teams will place a large number of players on revocable waivers to gauge interest in their trade value. Because the waivers are revocable, if a claiming team doesn't make a suitable offer, the player's original team can simply pull him back for nothing. Should that player be placed on waivers a second time, they are then irrevocable, so most players only hit waivers once. Should that player clear waivers, however, he's eligible to be traded to any team.

For more info on how waiver trades work, refer to the August trade primer that I posted yesterday. In the meantime, here is Friday's list of players who have reportedly been placed on revocable waivers…

  • Mike Gonzalez: The 35-year-old Gonzalez was the most likely trade candidate of this group in July and is therefore the most likely to be claimed. He's earning a $2.25MM base salary this season, of which roughly $713K remains (his contract also contains incentives). He's appeared in a league-leading 54 games this season, en route to a 3.76 ERA with 10.8 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 through 38 1/3 innings.
  • Placido Polanco: Polanco, 37, is on a one-year deal worth $2.75MM with the Marlins. He's owed about $872K over the rest of the season but is hitting just .259/.313/.301. UZR hasn't been a fan of his glove work at third this season, but The Fielding Bible still considers him a plus defender.
  • Aaron Harang: The 35-year-old Harang is owed roughly $2.22MM through the end of the season plus a $2MM buyout of his mutual option. He's posted a 4.89 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 95 2/3 innings since being acquired by Seattle, and advanced metrics like FIP (4.32) and xFIP (4.27) feel his ERA should be lower. A claim seems unlikely given his salary.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe was the first to report that Gonzalez, Polanco and Harang were among today's waived players (Twitter link).

July Trade Recap: NL Central

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With three of the league's best teams at the top of its standings and two of the worst at the bottom, the National League's Central division was certainly worth keeping a close eye on. Let's see what ultimately transpired as we continue to look back at baseball's just-completed July trade season …

Brewers

Cardinals

Cubs

Pirates

  • Acquired infielder/outfielder Russ Canzler from the Orioles in exchange for right-hander Tim Alderson. 
  • Acquired infielder Robert Andino from the Mariners in exchange for a player to be named later. (This deal occurred after the expiration of the non-waiver trade period.)

Reds

Synopsis

What stands out from even a glance at the list above is, of course, the degree to which the Cubs outpaced the remainder of baseball in shedding veterans. Setting aside the unique Guerrier-Marmol swap, the Cubs put together four deals that shed salary and brought in young talent. While each deal was very different in the nature of the return, the net benefit to the organization is undeniable given its current makeup. Of course, the Cubbies failed to offload a series of other veterans that seemed primed to change hands, including outfielders David DeJesus and Nate Schierholtz (under team control next year), reliever Kevin Gregg, and catcher Dioner Navarro. Somewhat less surprisingly, Chicago decided to hold onto two younger, cost-controlled pitchers that had been mentioned in rumors in James Russell and Jeff Samardzija.

The other obvious seller of the division, the Brewers, scored last year's biggest heist by snatching shortstop Jean Segura from the Angels for a few months of Zack Greinke. This year, they managed to pull off only one deal, due in part to the fact that some potential high-salary trade chips (Yovani Gallardo, Aramis Ramirez, and Corey Hart, in particular) were not movable due to performance and/or injury issues. However, with other relievers staying put or going for a modest price, Milwaukee seems to have done well to pick up Delmonico. The youngster entered the season as the O's fourth-ranked prospect (per Baseball America) and was hitting .243/.350/.469 with thirteen home runs and five stolen bases at High-A as a 20-year-old. Rodriguez was of no use to the Brewers for the rest of this season, cost them virtually nothing to sign, and was set to become a free agent. The lesson from the Cubs and Brewers seems to be that striking early paid dividends for sellers this year.

While budget, history, and performance kept down expectations of major moves from the remainder of the division, it seems odd that the Bucs, Cards, and Redlegs all failed to make even a supplemental addition. (In the case of the Cardinals, the team actually saw a net outflow of players with big league chops.) To be sure, the prospects of St. Louis upgrading at shortstop or adding a veteran starter always seemed to be a matter of GM John Mozeliak unearthing value in a tight market. And the Reds do not have any glaring holes that lack internal answers. But for a Pirates team that possesses the best record in baseball, a highly regarded farm, and an ongoing lineup hole out in right field, the lack of any substantial acquisition is surprising. Looking at the division as a whole, an awful lot of major league talent left, and virtually none came back.

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