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Giants, Romo Unlikely To Discuss Extension During Season

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The Giants are interested in locking up closer Sergio Romo, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, but the two sides aren’t likely to talk about a new contract during the season. According to Heyman, while the sides are “open” to re-engaging, Romo and the Giants have agreed to not let the talks disrupt the season for the time being.

That, of course, does not mean that the 31-year-old Romo is a lock to reach free agency. The Giants hammered out an extension for Hunter Pence last September just prior to the season’s completion, and they negotiated a new two-year deal for Tim Lincecum before he filed for free agency. San Francisco GM Brian Sabean has shown an affinity for retaining his players, recently signing Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro, Santiago Casilla, Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez to new multi-year deals upon the expiration of their previous deals with the Giants. He also signed Matt Cain to a five-year extension (with a sixth-year option) to keep the right-hander from hitting the open market.

Romo is off to a nice start to the 2014 season, having pitched to a 1.88 ERA with 7.5 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 and a 52.8 percent ground-ball rate. ERA estimators such as FIP and xFIP aren’t as bullish on his work to this point, but such metrics have, in the past, agreed that Romo’s skill set is that of an elite reliever. In 308 innings at the Major League level (all coming with the Giants), Romo has a 2.25 ERA (2.59 FIP, 2.98 xFIP) and has averaged better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

Should he hit the open market, Romo could be perceived as the prize of the reliever market next offseason. He’d be joined by names like Jason Grilli, LaTroy Hawkins, Jim Johnson, Casey Janssen and potentially Rafael Soriano, assuming his $14MM option is declined. Huston Street could hit the open market as well, though it stands to reason that his $7MM club option will be exercised as long as he is healthy. If not, he wouldn’t provide much competition for Romo anyhow.

Romo is a client of Meister Sports Management, as shown in MLBTR’s Agency Database. A look at MLBTR’s Extension Tracker shows that Meister Sports was the agency behind Romo’s previous two-year deal with the Giants (which bought out his remaining arbitration years) as well as the four-year, $12MM extension signed by Cory Luebke with the Padres and the three-year, $16.5MM pact inked by Sean Marshall with the Reds. Clearly, a deal to buy out multiple free agent seasons for Romo would top those contracts with relative ease.

NL West Notes: Williamson, Rockies, Gordon, D’Backs

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There have already been a pair of headlines coming out of the NL West tonight, with the Padres outrighting Alex Castellanos and the Diamondbacks acquiring Lucas Harrell from the Astros. Here’s a look at some more happenings from that division…

  • The Giants will lose one of their top prospects to Tommy John surgery, but it’s not a pitcher; Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that top hitting prospect Mac Williamson will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow and miss the 2014 season. Baseball America ranked Williamson as San Francisco’s No. 5 prospect heading into the year, and MLB.com ranked him ninth. The 23-year-old hit .292/.375/.504 with 25 homers at Class-A Advanced last season.
  • The latest notes column from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports highlights multiple storylines within the NL West but leads by discussing the dividends Colorado is already seeing from the offseason’s trade of Dexter Fowler. Not only are Jordan Lyles and Brandon Barnes both contributing nicely to this point, the trade paved the way for regular playing time for Charlie Blackmon. While Blackmon, of course, is due for some regression, he’s also shedding the “tweener” label that some had applied to him, Rosenthal writes.
  • Rosenthal also discusses Dee Gordon’s progress at second base, writing that the infielder worked hard on learning the position this winter after a “reality check” conversation with GM Ned Colletti last fall. Colletti told Gordon that Hanley Ramirez was going to be the club’s everyday shortstop, and the team hadn’t received any trade offers for Gordon that he felt made sense.
  • While a lot has been made about Archie Bradley, Rosenthal points out the top prospect’s 8.76 ERA over his past three starts — none of which has been more than five innings long. The D’Backs have drawn some ire for not promoting Bradley despite the team’s pitching needs, but GM Kevin Towers has maintained it’s strictly due to developmental reasons, and Bradley’s recent skid could speak to that.
  • Harrell spoke with MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and said: “I kind of got what I deserved because you don’t pitch well you don’t get an opportunity to stay.” Harrell thanked the Houston fans and said he is looking forward to a new start with Arizona.

NL Notes: Johnson, Ishikawa, Garza

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Padres pitcher Josh Johnson had Tommy John surgery Thursday, MLB.com’s Corey Brock notes. The surgery marks the end of another lost year for Johnson, who the Padres signed to an $8MM deal over the offseason. Because Johnson will start fewer than seven games this year, the Padres will have a $4MM option on him for 2015. It’s not yet clear whether they’ll exercise it, however. “We still have a lot of hurdles to clear before we make a decision on that,” says assistant GM A.J. Hinch. Here are more notes from the National League.

  • After being designated for assignment by the Pirates, Travis Ishikawa became a free agent and signed with the Giants, who sent him to Triple-A Fresno. That’s an assignment with which Ishikawa is familiar, Bryant-Jon Anteola of the Fresno Bee reports. Ishikawa also played for Fresno in the 2008 and 2011 seasons. Ishikawa is, of course, aiming higher than Triple-A, however. “When I was looking around, the Giants made contact, and I noticed there wasn’t a lot of left-handed hitting on the bench up there,” he says. “Figured this was a good chance to get back up there and try to repeat what I was able to do before with the Giants.”
    Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/04/25/3896134/ishikawa-lands-back-with-grizzlies.html#storylink=cpy
  • Matt Garza, now with the Brewers, “[ran] out of hope” when he was with the Cubs, writes Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. “You go through three years of constantly hoping (with the Cubs), you kind of run out of hope,” he says. “You come to a team like this [the Brewers] where every day we’re going to win. We’re not going out to hope to win. We’re going out with the attitude we’re going to win.” Garza, who signed a $50MM contract with Milwaukee in the offseason, defeated his former team on Friday.

West Notes: Appel, Trumbo, Sandoval

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The Astros have sent 2013 top overall pick Mark Appel to extended spring training, Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle reports (Twitter links). The Astros say Appel isn’t injured, and they attribute his struggles to his adjustments to their tandem rotation system, but GM Jeff Luhnow calls Appel’s performance so far “a little unsettling.” Appel has posted a 6.23 ERA with 13 strikeouts and four walks so far with Class A+ Lancaster. Here are more notes from the West divisions.

  • Diamondbacks outfielder Mark Trumbo will be out six weeks with a fracture in his foot, Jack Magruder of FOX Sports Arizona tweets. Trumbo’s absence is yet another blow for the Diamondbacks, who are off to a 7-18 start and will now be without one of their key offseason acquisitions (along with Bronson Arroyo and Addison Reed) for an extended period.
  • It appears that the price for free-agent-to-be Pablo Sandoval may have increased, and the Giants perhaps should have considered signing him for something close to the five years and $90MM he was reportedly seeking before, Grant Brisbee of McCovey Chronicles writes. Given the lack of good third base options available either internally or on the 2014-15 free-agent market, signing Sandoval to an extension seems to be the Giants’ best bet, Brisbee argues.

Latest On Pablo Sandoval

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Though Pablo Sandoval and the Giants have tabled extension talks during the season, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports that the two sides at least got a bit closer together in terms of contract length during negotiations.  The Giants initially pitched a “conversation-starting” three-year, $40MM extension and then expressed an openness to do a four-year deal with an option for a fifth year.

Sandoval and agent Gustavo Vasquez were known to be looking for “at least” a five-year, $90MM deal and Heyman hears that they’re actually aiming for a five-year contract in the $100MM range or more.  As MLBTR’s Transaction Tracker indicates, only a few third baseman have found five-year/$100MM+ contracts in recent years and none of those big deals came on the free agent market.  (Alex Rodriguez was a shortstop when he signed his initial free agent deal with Texas, and obviously that contract isn’t at all comparable to Sandoval’s situation.)  The Giants have been proactive in signing their own stars to extensions, though as Heyman observes, the fact that they haven’t yet done so with Sandoval and are seemingly taking a harder line in negotiations is rather telling.

While a five-year, $100MM deal could be available to Sandoval on the open market given the relative lack of impact free agent bats next winter, a number of factors could cloud Sandoval’s case.  He’ll obviously need to improve from his slow start to the 2014 campaign, his market could be dampened by a qualifying offer from the Giants and teams around the league (like the Giants themselves) have concerns about Sandoval’s conditioning.  Heyman quotes both an NL scout and an NL executive praising Sandoval’s hitting ability but questioning his ability to stay in shape.

Vasquez implied to Heyman that he isn’t planning to reopen talks, as the Giants “know what they have [in Sandoval], I’m sure.”  The agent also said that the Giants wanted to settle the extension “in a rush,” which would seem to counter the belief that the team was waiting to determine if Sandoval’s offseason weight loss would stick before deciding on whether to offer an extension.

Giants Sign Travis Ishikawa

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The Giants have signed first baseman Travis Ishikawa to a minor league contract, MLBTR’s Zach Links reports (Twitter links).  Ishikawa will report to Triple-A Fresno after taking his physical today, and the contract contains an out clause if Ishikawa doesn’t make the club’s 25-man roster.  Ishikawa is represented by Jim McDowell.

Ishikawa chose to become a free agent on Wednesday after he was outrighted off the Pirates’ roster and the 30-year-old now returns to the team that originally drafted him in the 21st round of the 2002 amateur draft.  Ishikawa made 665 PA for San Francisco between 2006-10, earning a World Series ring as part of the Giants’ championship team in 2010.  He has bounced around since then, spending time with the Brewers, Orioles, Yankees and Pirates over the last two seasons.

The left-handed hitting Ishikawa has a .259/.326/.407 career line against right-handed pitching and just a .603 OPS against southpaws, which is why Pittsburgh used him as a platoon partner for Gaby Sanchez at first base.  The Giants, of course, already have a notable lefty-swinging first baseman in Brandon Belt, though since Belt has virtually equal career numbers against left- and right-handed pitching, there’s room for Ishikawa to potentially win a job as a defensive-minded (career +13 UZR/150) backup to occasionally spell Belt at first base when a righty is on the mound.

West Notes: Scutaro, Singleton, Martinez

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Due to his back injury, Marco Scutaro still isn't playing in extended spring training games, but it's unlikely the Giants will make a trade to replace him anytime soon, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. This week's Ike Davis trade aside, deals involving valuable players generally aren't made in April, and the Giants would likely have to pay heavily to acquire a talented infielder. Later this summer, the Giants still might not make second base their top priority, Schulman suggests — they may instead focus on their bench. Here are more notes from the West divisions.

  • The Astros are excited about first baseman Jonathan Singleton's performance at Triple-A Oklahoma City, writes MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. The Astros recently promoted top prospect George Springer, and Singleton, who is hitting .343/.449/.776 so far, might not be far behind. "When we sent him down at Spring Training, we told him he was going to let us know when he was ready to come up here by his performance, and so far he's doing an outstanding job," says assistant GM David Stearns. "We'd like to give him more time to continue to work on the aspects of his game that we identified with him that needed some improvement. So far he's addressing them."
  • Former Astros outfielder J.D. Martinez is making a strong case to make it back to the big leagues with the Tigers, MLive.com's James Schmehl writes. Martinez is hitting .308/.366/.846 with a remarkable ten home runs in 71 plate appearances for Triple-A Toledo, and the Tigers are currently playing with only three bench players. The Astros somewhat surprisingly released Martinez last month, even though he wasn't on their 40-man roster at the time and was a 26-year-old with 975 plate appearances of big-league experience. Martinez's salary at Triple-A was apparently a factor in the Astros not being able to find another organization for him. 

Minor Moves: Giants Release Dontrelle Willis

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Here are the day's minor moves:

  • The Giants have released veteran pitcher Dontrelle Willis, according to the International League transactions page. Willis, 32, has not seen MLB time since 2011, but had several outstanding seasons early in his career with the Marlins. He had thrown just 2/3 of an inning in two appearances for the Giants' Triple-A affiliate, though he uncorked three wild pitches in that span. More importantly, Willis reportedly suffered what appeared to be a serious arm injury during his outing Sunday.
  • As reflected on the MLBTR DFA Tracker, two fairly interesting players — Lucas Harrell (Astros) and Sam Fuld (Athletics) — remain in DFA limbo. 

NL West Notes: Francoeur, D’Backs, Sandoval, Hedges

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Rookies are usually the easiest targets for clubhouse pranks, yet veteran Jeff Francoeur was the victim of a month-long running gag from his teammates on the Padres' Triple-A affiliate.  Padres farmhand Cody Decker created a short YouTube video chronicling the prank, and it's definitely good for a few chuckles.  Here's some news from around the majors…

  • The Diamondbacks' slow start has made them "candidates for early change" in the view of executives from around the league, ESPN's Buster Olney tweets.  Manager Kirk Gibson and GM Kevin Towers both signed extensions in February that kept both men from being lame ducks in 2014, though there was speculation that this was a make-or-break year for the two men following consecutive .500 seasons for the Snakes.
  • Pablo Sandoval is off to a slow start in his contract year, and given how much speculation has already swirled about Sandoval's contract talks with the Giants, manager Bruce Bochy hopes that his third baseman is keeping his focus.  "He's the only one who can answer that I guess, if it's on his mind," Bochy tells MLB.com's Alex Espinoza.  "The one thing you don't want Pablo to do is to get away from playing the game the way he normally plays it — with a lot of passion and enthusiasm. Thinking about the contract, it can be a distraction. He assured me it's not."
  • Padres catching prospect Austin Hedges continued to impress scouts during Spring Training, Tom Krasovic writes for Baseball America.  While the catcher still has a bit of work to do with the bat, a scout tells Krasovic that “Hedges probably could have caught in the big leagues two years ago. He is so advanced from a receiving and throwing standpoint. He was a treat to watch. Barring injury, he is going to be a big leaguer for a long time."  Hedges is one of the game's consensus top prospects (ranked 24th by MLB.com, 27th by Baseball America and 33rd by ESPN's Keith Law in their preseason lists) and he'll start the season at Double-A.

Minor Moves: Clement, Hensley, Threets

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We'll round up tonight's minor moves here:

  • Jeff Clement has retired, The Des Moines Register reports. Originally drafted third overall in 2005 by the Mariners, Clement never caught on in the majors, and ends his career with a .218/.277/.371 Major League line. His last big league appearance came in 2012 with the Pirates. Now a father of four, the 30-year-old tells The Register that he plans to return to school.
  • The Orioles have signed Steven Hensley, who was released by the Rockies in March, Baseball America's Matt Eddy reports. The 27-year-old has never appeared in the majors. He worked almost entirely out of the bullpen for upper-level affiliates of the Rockies and Mariners last season, compiling a 4.24 ERA.
  • The Dodgers have signed lefty Erick Threets, who was pitching for the independent Long Island Ducks, according to Eddy. Last we heard, Threets was looking for a job in Asia.
  • The Marlins have inked infielder Rich Poythress, who was released by the Mariners in March, per Eddy. Poythress, who has yet to reach the majors, was sent to Double-A.
  • The A's have signed second baseman Colin Walsh, who was let go by the Cardinals last month, Eddy reports. The 24-year-old reached Double-A for the Cardinals last season.
  • Dontrelle Willis was added to the active roster of the Fresno Grizzlies, the Giants' Triple-A club, according to a tweet from the team. D-Train struggled in 21 innings with the Angels' Triple-A affiliate in 2013, posting a 6.43 ERA. 
  • The Nationals have selected the contract of starter Blake Treinen, the International League transactions page shows. Treinen was pitching at Triple-A, and has never appeared in the majors. The right-hander came over in last winter's three-team trade with the Mariners and A's. He's been used almost exclusively as a starter in recent years in the minors, where he owns a 3.73 ERA. Baseball America ranked him as the Nats' 23rd-best prospect this year, but wrote that most evaluators expect him to end up in middle relief.
  • The Nats have inked right-hander Paolo Espino, formerly of the Cubs organization, according to Eddy. The right-hander, who works as a swingman, has yet to reach the majors but has significant Triple-A experience.
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