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Yankees To Sign First-Rounder Judge

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THURSDAY: The Yankees reached an agreement with Judge on a slightly over-slot $1.8MM signing bonus, writes George A. King III of the New York Post.  Judge is advised by PSI Sports Management.

WEDNESDAY: The Yankees are close to a deal with slugging Fresno State outfielder Aaron Judge, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.  The Yankees selected Judge with the No. 32 overall pick in the draft.

The Yankees offered Judge the slot amount of about $1.6MM weeks ago and have been waiting to get something done. The 6-foot-7, 255-pound slugger has big power potential and has earned physical comparisons to the NBA's Blake Griffin, according to Baseball America.  BA had him ranked as the 30th best prospect in the draft while Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com had him ranked at No. 24, and ESPN.com's Keith Law put him at No. 17.

The Yankees have already signed thieir other first round picks – Notre Dame third baseman Eric Jagielo and San Diego prep lefty Ian Clarkin – to slot deals.  Judge's No. 32 selection is the pick the Yankees received for losing Nick Swisher in free agency.

Heyman On Perez, Mariners, Morales, Yankees

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Here's a look at the latest news from Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com..

  • Mariners reliever Oliver Perez has drawn interest from the Orioles, Braves, and other clubs, according to Heyman.  Perez has reinvented himself as a bullpen arm in the last two years with the Mariners, posting a 2.00 ERA with 10.0 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 across 63 innings in Seattle.  Competing execs note that Perez is more cost-efficient in terms of prospects and cash than a guy like Matt Thornton.  The veteran would cost another team the prorated portion of his $1.5MM for the rest of the year.
  • Kendrys Morales and Raul Ibanez could also bring a strong return to General Manager Jack Zduriencik & Co and the Rays are among the clubs that have inquired on their hitters.  However, parting with them would cause them to go into a free fall and also adversely affect the top prospects on the big league roster.  For his part, Jack Z isn't anxious to move anyone.  "We'll see how this week goes. I'm not going to be the aggressor,'' the GM told Heyman earlier this week. "I'm not shopping anyone.''
  • Seattle people have been wondering if the Yankees might call about Morales thanks to their rash of injuries.  The Rangers could also come calling.
  • A Mariners person said they've gotten calls on injured center fielder Franklin Gutierrez, but his injury history hurts his value.  Closer Tom Wilhelmsen has drawn interest and the Red Sox have had interest in the past, but Zduriencik is said to be hesitant to trade him since he's under control for a few more years. Brendan Ryan, who is no longer the starting shortstop, could also be of interest to someone as a defensive specialist in the infield.
  • Opinions are mixed, but one rival executive tells Heyman that Phil Hughes could fetch quite a bit in a trade.  Another rival exec quipped that the Bombers might trade Joba Chamberlain for a pine-tar rag.  We learned earlier today that the Yankees are aggressively pushing both pitchers.

Phillies Expressed Interest In Joba Chamberlain?

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WEDNESDAY, 1:27pm: A source tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter) that the Phillies are not among the clubs pursuing Chamberlain.

TUESDAY, 9:05am: The Phillies are amenable to trading infielder Michael Young and have expressed interest in Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain, writes Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.  Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz may be available as well, since the 34-year-old is a free agent after the season.  He'd make sense for the Yankees, one of few contenders with a clear need behind the plate.

So what's getting in the way of a deal?  The Phillies' status as a team on the bubble is one factor, as they have three weeks remaining until the trade deadline to pull closer than their current 7.5 games out.  Lack of interest from the Yankees seems to be another — GM Brian Cashman's interest "has been lukewarm at best," writes Feinsand.     

The Chamberlain-Young-Ruiz trade scenario only makes sense if the Phillies are looking for a way to dump Young's salary, as Feinsand suggests, and/or if they also receive a prospect in return.  Otherwise, renting Chamberlain in his contract year only makes sense for the Phillies if they're making a push toward contention.  That's the general problem with the idea of Chamberlain and Phil Hughes as trade chips for the Yankees: non-contenders have little need for players in contract years.  A contender-to-contender deal could work; for example, the Braves were reportedly interested in Chamberlain earlier this month.

NL Central: Garza, Wigginton, Cardinals, Braun

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In today's column, Buster Olney of ESPN.com (Insider sub. required and recommended) explains that many teams have "Zack Wheeler Syndrome" as they approach the deadline.  As he describes it, It’s the tendency of GMs to wait for a club to get desperate and overpay for a player.  That's what the Mets were able to do in 2011, when they demanded that they get a top-tier prospect in return for Carlos Beltran and wound up prying Wheeler from the Giants.  Today, one exec tells Olney that the asking price for the Cubs' Matt Garza (as well as the Yankees' Phil Hughes) is "incredibly high" because of that thinking.  Chicago knows they will at least present a qualifying offer to Garza after the season if they keep him, which will net them a compensatory draft pick if he signs elsewhere.  Anyone who wants to land Garza has to match, and probably exceed, the value of that pick.  Here's more out of the NL Central.. 

  • Ty Wigginton wound up as the low man on the totem pole with the Cardinals, writes Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  While his disappointing tenure in St. Louis ended with his release yesterday, manager Mike Matheny is an adamant supporter of the veteran and says that his career is far from done.
  • The Cardinals made reliever Mitchell Boggs available because he has struggled so far in 2013, but he could bounce back and regain his 2012 form, writes Troy Renck of the Denver Post.  St. Louis shipped Boggs to the Rockies yesterday for roughly $206K in international bonus slot money.
  • The Biogenesis suspensions could make for a messy second-half of the season, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.  However, despite the negative attention surrounding the Brewers' Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, and others, the game has been quite resilient through this and other PED scandals.

Yankees Aggressively Pushing Chamberlain, Hughes

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The Yankees are aggressively pushing trades involving Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes, an AL executive tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter).  In fact, a deal sending Chamberlain to a National League team could happen soon, though nothing is imminent on either front.

Yesterday we learned that the Phillies have expressed interest in Chamberlain as they feel out the market for Michael Young.  However, as Tim Dierkes noted yesterday, the market for the 27=year-olds is somewhat limited as they are in their walk years and not of much use to non-contenders.  In the case of the Phillies, they may see themselves as buyers with a real chance to win this year, as ESPN.com's Buster Olney hears.

Chamberlain typically wouldn't garner trade attention, but a team in need of bullpen help could bite.  The right-hander has a 5.75 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 22 relief appearances this year.  Hughes, meanwhile, has a 4.55 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 17 starts. 

MLB To Suspend Braun, Rodriguez, Others

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5:21pm: An MLB spokesperson tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (via Twitter) that the news on Braun is premature and no decisions have been made.

5:07pm: Major League Baseball is expected to suspend Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, and as many as 20 players connected to the Biogenesis clinic sometime after next week's All-Star break, several sources told T.J. Quinn and Mike Fish of ESPN.com. Commissioner Bud Selig's office is considering 100-game bans for Braun and Rodriguez, the punishment for a second offense, despite neither player receiving a previous suspension for violating MLB drug rules.

Suspensions appear to be a certainty for both players and the only issue in question is the length of time that they'll be sidelined.  One source said that the league's argument would be that they, and possibly other players, committed multiple offenses by receiving PEDs from Tony Bosch's clinic and lying about it.

As Quinn explains on Twitter, suspensions are usually levied, appealed, and ruled upon by an arbitrator months later before becoming public, but MLB is allowed to announce suspensions publicly because case has been public.  Players who appeal the forthcoming suspensions may continue playing until an arbitrator rules, however.

Braun, who has repeatedly denied using PEDs, refused to answer questions during a recent meeting with the league office about his connection to Bosch, according to sources.  Rodriguez will meet with baseball officials on Friday, sources familiar with the meeting tell Michael O'Keeffe, BIll Madden, Nathaniel Vinton, and Teri Thompson of the Daily News.

Late last month, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported that suspensions were likely in the Biogenesis case.  Nelson Cruz, Everth Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, Jesus Montero, and Bartolo Colon were among the other players linked to Biogenesis in the initial report.

New York Notes: Trades, Parnell, Alderson, Aramis

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It could be a quiet trade deadline for the Mets, as a team insider tells ESPN New York's Adam Rubin that the team may not be buyers or major sellers by July 31.  The Mets "are not actively shopping anyone," including controllable players like Bobby Parnell, Daniel Murphy or Ike Davis.  The club doesn't have any major salaries that can realistically be unloaded — even a veteran like Marlon Byrd is just making $700K and wouldn't be moved for anything less than a quality prospect since the Mets don't want to "sacrifice 2013 competitiveness" by trading their viable Major League parts.  As for acquiring a slugging outfielder, the Mets will keep an eye on big names like Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Gonzalez and Andre Ethier though a trade isn't likely any time soon.

Here are some more items about both the Mets and Yankees…

  • The Mets will probably call up a veteran lefty reliever sometime in July, Rubin writes, so that reliever would become trade bait.  Rubin suspects that Tim Byrdak is likely to get the call over Pedro Feliciano.
  • Parnell would be a valuable trade chip, as Bill Madden of the New York Daily News notes that the AL East alone has three teams (the Rays, Orioles and Red Sox) that would covet a hard-throwing young closer.  “I’m sure those clubs could really tempt the Mets on Parnell — the Red Sox with the outfielder, Jackie Bradley Jr, and one of their top pitching prospects like (Rubby) De La Rosa, but that remains to be seen, and if they want to be able to compete next year, as they say they do, there’s no way they can trade him," a rival scout tells Madden.
  • Also from Madden, Michael Young is "by far the best fit for the Yankees" since his contract is up after this season, he has a strong clubhouse presence and Young can play both first and third base.  The Yankees had a scout watching the Phillies over the weekend.
  • The Yankees consider Aramis Ramirez to be too expensive and they aren't in pursuit of the Brewers' third baseman, CBS Sports' Jon Heyman reports.  The 35-year-old Ramirez was just placed on the disabled list today with a left knee injury, the same knee that has already cost him a month on the DL earlier this season.  Though Ramirez is hitting a solid .271/.359/.414 in 209 PA, he has only five homers and is guaranteed approximately $20MM through the end of the 2014 season, plus a 2015 mutual option with a $4MM buyout.
  • With Sandy Alderson having "all but promised" to spend on a major trade acquisition or free agent signing this winter, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post notes that Alderson's two most expensive free agent signings as Mets GM (Frank Francisco and Shaun Marcum) have both been busts.  "This upcoming expenditure (or plural expenditures) will be a large part of his legacy. And the Mets probably have to hit on this player or players for the plan to succeed," Davidoff writes.  On the plus side, Davidoff notes that the Mets have gotten a lot of recent production from under-the-radar inexpensive signings.

Rosenthal On Buyers/Sellers, Arrieta, Ruggiano

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Ken Rosenthal's latest column for FOX Sports begins with a look at the Phillies, Giants, Rockies, Padres, and Blue Jays, five teams currently on the bubble of buying and selling.  The Padres have been eager to buy, rival executives tell Rosenthal.  Other notes from the article:

  • Rosenthal provides insight into the July 2011 three-team deal that sent Erik Bedard to Boston.  As it turns out, the Dodgers are looking pretty good now with big leaguers Stephen Fife and Tim Federowicz.  At the time of the deal, they were questioned for including Trayvon Robinson.
  • "I thought it was an awesome trade by the Cubs," Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis told Rosenthal of Chicago's acquisition of Jake Arrieta from Baltimore.
  • The Reds have "thinned out their talent base" in trades over the last several years, opines Rosenthal, which could make significant acquisitions this summer difficult.
  • The Rangers and Yankees are among the teams that have expressed interest in Marlins outfielder Justin Ruggiano.  Ruggiano, a 31-year-old right-handed hitter, is at .225/.290/.414 in 273 plate appearances this year. 
  • The Mariners have put a high price tag on Tom Wilhelmsen and it seems like they want to keep the closer in the fold.  Rosenthal notes that another team recently asked about Wilhelmsen and the M's wanted that club's top pitching prospect in return.

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Johnson, Yankees, Ishikawa

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Let's take a look at the latest news and notes involving the American League East:

Yankees Claim Travis Ishikawa

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The Yankees have claimed Travis Ishikawa off of waivers from the Orioles, an industry source tells Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun (via Twitter).  The O's designated the first baseman for assignment towards the end of June.

Ishikawa signed a minor league deal with Baltimore and, as MLBTR first reported, had an opt out clause in his contract.  The Orioles promoted him rather than let him go elsewhere, but he was DFA'd after just six games in uniform for the major league team.  In 208 plate appearances for Triple-A Norfolk, the 29-year-old slashed .316/.413/.525 with seven homers.

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