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NL East Notes: Mets, Kendrick, Phillies, Nats

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After a week in which the Mets lost Matt Harvey for the season and traded Marlon Byrd and John Buck to the Pirates, GM Sandy Alderson sent out a letter to team season ticket holders.  The letter, which was passed along by Kristie Ackert of the Daily News, re-iterated the club's desire to win as many games as possible in 2013, even though they won't be playoff bound.  "This offseason, we will explore every possible way of improving our club. Trades and free agent signings always seem to get the most attention, but helping our current players also will be a key to improving in 2014 and beyond," Alderson wrote.  Here's more out of the NL East.. 

Quick Hits: Kubel, Athletics, Twins, Harper

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The Athletics should consider claiming outfielder Jason Kubel, InsideBayArea.com's John Hickey argues. The Diamondbacks designated Kubel for assignment Tuesday afternoon. After losing Josh Reddick to a wrist injury, the A's are short an outfielder. Their current plan is to slide Brandon Moss to the outfield and have Daric Barton play first base, but Hickey thinks it might be better to keep Moss at first and play Kubel in an outfield spot instead. He notes that exchanging Barton for Kubel would be a defensive downgrade, however, and it's questionable how much more offense Kubel might provide. He hit .220/.288/.324 for the Diamondbacks this year, and would have to make a significant rebound in the direction of his 2012 form to be an upgrade. Here are more notes from around the Majors.

  • Josh Willingham of the Twins says August waivers are "no big deal," Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports (via Twitter). The Twins placed Willingham on recovable trade waivers earlier today, raising the possibility (even if it isn't an incredibly likely one) that Willingham could be dealt. Willingham tells Miller he's in no hurry to leave Minnesota. The outfielder is hitting .214/.348/.393 this season.
  • It's still not impossible that the Twins could trade Justin Morneau. But Morneau is a free agent after the season, so even if the Twins dealt him, they could bring him back for 2014. That decision could be based on how often they want Joe Mauer to play first base, 1500ESPN's Phil Mackey argues (on Twitter). Mackey argues that, in any case, the Twins shouldn't consider more than a one-year deal for Morneau, who appears to be past his prime and doesn't stack up particularly well against other first basemen.
  • Scott Boras, who represents the Nationals' Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg, half-jokingly says he prefers "12-year deals" for his players, MASNsports.com's Dan Kolko reports. "I'm more into 12-year deals for young players," says Boras. "The M.O. is that you want to keep within the franchise, you want him there for a long time and you want to be there for the fans and be a marquee for them. … You're going to have to do something different if you're going to be a team of distinction." Boras was in Washington for the Nationals' game against the Marlins, and he seemed to be talking about Harper, although he did not name him directly.

Rosenthal On Nationals, Cruz, Peralta

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Here's the latest from FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal:

  • Nationals GM Mike Rizzo says he did not make a mistake in claiming David DeJesus, as some speculated at the time. "I wasn’t concerned about being stuck with David, as I like him a lot," says Rizzo. "The player from Tampa Bay is not nearly a sexy prospect, but we had solid reports on him and he will be, at worst, added depth. I would have liked (DeJesus) to go unclaimed — I think I could have made a better deal with several interested teams." After claiming DeJesus, the Nationals quickly sent him to the Rays for a player to be named.
  • One reason the Nationals might not be in any hurry to trade Dan Haren, Rosenthal suggests, is that they're still nominally in the playoff hunt. The Nats are currently eight games back of the last playoff spot, but they have a weak schedule down the stretch. Besides, Rosenthal notes, there hasn't been much interest in Haren in the first place.
  • Nelson Cruz has been working out at the Rangers' facility in the Dominican Republic. Cruz isn't forbidden to do that, even though he's currently serving a suspension for his involvement with the Biogenesis scandal. The Rangers want to have the option of turning to Cruz in the postseason.
  • The Tigers, meanwhile, have "not even discussed" using Jhonny Peralta in the playoffs, according to Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski.

NL East Notes: Harvey, Davis, Phillies, Werth

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The baseball world got some terrible news today when Mike Francesa of WFAN radio in New York reported that Mets ace Matt Harvey has a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and will be placed on the disabled list (hat tip: Ken Rosenthal on Twitter). A torn UCL, of course, is usually a precursor to Tommy John surgery, which would mean Harvey would miss most — if not all — of the 2014 season. It will also greatly impact the Mets' strategy for 2014, as the team had planned to make a big push for immediate contention this offseason. Here's more on the Mets and the rest of the NL East…

  • "First base is in flux," one Mets official told Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. The Mets are currently unsure as to who will man the position in 2014. Martino profiles their in-house options — Ike Davis, Lucas Duda, Josh Satin and Wilmer Flores — but also notes that general manager Sandy Alderson could seek a first baseman outside the organization. Martino adds that Davis' poor play almost earned him a second demotion to Triple-A earlier in the summer.
  • Roy Halladay thinks brighter days are ahead for the Phillies, writes Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Daily News. Said Halladay: "…we have some young players who are really kind of coming into their own and some veteran guys who are starting to produce again. I think there's just a few pieces that if we can add we're right there." Halladay, of course, is a free agent at season's end. He made his return to the Phillies' rotation over the weekend, allowing two runs on four hits and a pair of walks with two strikeouts in six innings of work.
  • Many things have gone wrong for the Nationals this season, but Matt Klaassen of Fangraphs points out that Jayson Werth is having a fantastic season and earning the value of his salary this year. While the contract is still likely to be "ugly" by the end, in Klaassen's opinion, Werth is a good bet to provide above-average production for the next couple seasons if he remains healthy.

Quick Hits: Sabathia, Red Sox, Indians, Cardinals

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C.C. Sabathia's deal with the Yankees could turn out to be an ugly one, Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com writes. "That contract might not be a disaster of A-Rod-ian proportions, but unless Sabathia finds a way to turn it all round, it might turn out to be the next-worst thing," Matthews writes. Sabathia has three years left on his contract, plus a vesting option for 2017 that the Yankees can avoid only if Sabathia has a left shoulder injury. All told, the Yankees are likely to be on the hook for $96MM after this season. Sabathia's season arguably isn't as bad as his 4.81 ERA makes it look — his peripherals are indicative of ERA about a run lower. But his declining velocity is a serious concern. Here are more notes from around the big leagues.

  • The Red Sox's huge trade of Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto to the Dodgers one year ago gave them the payroll flexibility to acquire Ryan Dempster, Shane Victorino, Mike Napoli, Stephen Drew, Koji Uehara, and Jonny Gomes, Scott Miller of CBS Sports writes. But that doesn't mean the Dodgers are unhappy with their end of the deal — Miller notes that it "changed the path of both franchises." Miller also quotes Dodgers manager Don Mattingly noting that his team likely would have pursued Victorino (for whom they had traded in July 2012) as a free agent if they hadn't acquired Crawford.
  • The trade also gave the Sox the flexibility to acquire Jake Peavy, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal notes. Peavy's matchup against Chris Capuano on Sunday reminds MacPherson that the Red Sox made a "desperate attempt" to acquire Capuano from the Mets in 2011. The talent gap between Peavy and Capuano is significant, and MacPherson argues that the trade with the Dodgers made the difference in acquiring Peavy this time.
  • There will be interest in Asdrubal Cabrera and Chris Perez this offseason if the Indians want to trade them, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes. Cabrera has struggled this season, hitting .237/.292/.389, and he's set to make $10MM in the last year of his contract in 2014. Perez, meanwhile, is set to earn a raise in arbitration on his $7.3MM 2013 salary before becoming a free agent after 2014. His pitching hasn't been stellar in 2013 — he has a 3.30 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9. Hoynes may be right that the Indians could deal Perez if they wanted to. For example, the Red Sox's offseason trade for Joel Hanrahan, a pitcher with a similar salary and contract situation, perhaps shows that teams are always willing to deal for an established closer. But that deal also demonstrates just how volatile closers can be, and Perez has never been dominant in the way Hanrahan once was.
  • As the August trade deadline approaches, Cardinals GM John Mozeliak says that his team is unlikely to make a trade, Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch tweets. That makes it unlikely that the Cards will wind up with Dan Haren of the Nationals. The Cardinals recently lost Jake Westbrook to injury and have replaced him in the rotation with Tyler Lyons, at least for now.

NL East Links: DeJesus, Suzuki, Haren, Phillies

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Adam Kilgore has plenty on the Nationals' recent trades of David DeJesus and Kurt Suzuki in an article for The Washington Post. According to Kilgore, GM Mike Rizzo anticipated from the beginning that he would be able to acquire a prospect for DeJesus after putting in a claim on the outfielder. “Whenever you can net a good, young 22-year-old controllable guy, that’s what we’re trying to do,” Rizzo said, referring to one of two pitching prospects that the Nats will receive from the Rays in exchange for DeJesus. "It’s acquiring assets. That’s really the reason you utilize your positioning on the waiver wire."  Earlier this evening, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports heard from a few executives who wondered aloud if the claim might have been a mistake by the Nats.  Here's some more Saturday night NL East links…

  • The Nats “most definitely” plan to try to sign DeJesus this offseason if the Rays decline his $6MM option for 2014, Rizzo says.  The GM essentially told DeJesus so when they spoke Friday morning, according to Kilgore.
  • Trading Suzuki to the A's is a suggestion of the confidence the Nats have in catcher Wilson Ramos moving forward, Kilgore says. “[Ramos] wants to be that guy who plays each and every game," Rizzo said. "We thought it was a good opportunity for us to forego four weeks or so of Suzuki and get ourselves a prospect out of it.” MLBTR's Jeff Todd profiled Ramos as an extension candidate earlier this evening.
  • Rizzo will require a significant package of talent in any trade for Dan Haren, who has a 2.16 ERA in 50 innings since returning from the DL and will become a free agent after the season. Haren is owed approximately $2.63MM for the remainder of the season. 
  • GM Ruben Amaro Jr. faces the unenviable task of rebuilding the Phillies' bullpen this offseason, Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer says, calling the club's relief corps one of baseball's worst. Gelb suggests that a "total re-evaluation of the team's scouting methods and developmental strategy" may be necessary, but says he expects Amaro to again pursue veteran relievers in free agency after the season's end. Pitching coach Rich Dubee, whose contract expires at the end of the season, isn't likely to remain with the club in 2014, Gelb adds.
  • Amaro may look to bolster the Phillies' statistics department, according to an article by Tyler Kepner of The New York Times. “We may be looking to fortify some of our information with some more statistical analysis," Amaro said. "I’m not so stubborn that we can’t try to do things a little bit different, or think that we can’t make better decisions." However, scouting and player development will remain the Phils' focus, Amaro added.

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.

Extension Candidate: Wilson Ramos

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The Nationals' 2013 season has hardly gone the way the team hoped and expected. Some of the contributing causes — Ryan Zimmerman's throwing issues; the underwhelming performances of newcomers Denard Span and Rafael Soriano; Danny Espinosa's collapse at the plate — remain concerns going forward. Wilson Ramos's missed time, however, is a factor that promises to turn in the Nats' favor next year. With Ramos set to enter his first year of arbitration eligibility, could this be an opportune time for the Nationals to lock him down for the future? 

Ramos

Ramos's importance to the club is undeniable. While he recovered from ACL surgery and battled a hamstring injury, the recently-departed Kurt Suzuki handled the Nats' primary catching duties. Both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference grade Suzuki right around replacement level over his 79 games and 281 plate appearances in 2013. Meanwhile, in just 47 games and 181 plate appearances, Ramos has been worth about a win and a half over replacement level (1.2 fWAR; 1.8 rWAR). His .289/.320/.480 triple-slash is good for a 120 wRC+ — 11th among catchers with at least 150 plate appearances. Certainly, Washington would have loved to play Ramos for a full season in 2013. Having dealt Suzuki, the team seems poised to do just that next year.

Looking ahead, Ramos seems a good bet to continue to perform. Only recently turning 26, he has a career .273/.330/.443 line over 794 big league plate appearances, well above average for a catcher. Though his defensive performance has had its ups and downs, the Washington Post's Thomas Boswell recently composed an interesting argument that Ramos has consistently enhanced the performances of the Nats' pitchers through his presence behind the dish. 

Of course, Ramos is one of several young Nationals who could warrant long-term commitments, even before considering headline stars Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg. MLBTR recently looked at the two primary candidates, with Steve Adams profiling the extension possibilities for starter Jordan Zimmermann back in May and Tim Dierkes exploring the case for shortstop Ian Desmond in April. With the price only rising on those two players as they get closer to free agency and continue to perform at a high level, Ramos could represent an even better value proposition for the team.

Previous first-time arbitration-eligible extensions for established backstops are somewhat sparse, but there are a few potential comparables. Suzuki, for instance, signed a four-year, $16.25MM deal before the 2010 season after two solid platform years. The contract bought out his arbitration eligibility at an average of $4.95MM per season, and included a $8.5MM team option season (as well as a vesting component). More recently, coming off of a strong 2011 offensive campaign, Nick Hundley inked a three-year pact that guaranteed the Padres backstop $9MM over three arbitration-eligible seasons and included a $5MM team option for his first free agent year. (Carlos Ruiz and Chris Iannetta both received similarly-valued, three-year deals.)

By depressing his statistical accumulation, Ramos's injury history will reduce the price he might expect to command through arbitration — and, presumably, the price of an extension. Notably, while Suzuki had logged about 600 plate appearances in the two years before he reached arbitration eligibility, Hundley only managed about 300 plate appearances in his three pre-arb seasons. Ramos, on the other hand, has logged less than 300 total plate appearances since his 113-game rookie campaign. 

If the Nats could structure a deal along the lines of the Hundley contract, the team could reasonably expect to achieve significant excess value. For his part, Ramos could well be motivated to seek guaranteed money; he has never earned more than league minimum, has experienced significant injuries, and already faces prospective arbitration earnings that likely understate his true value. And Ramos is represented by an agency, SFX, that has worked out several recent extensions for its clients.

Of course, Ramos's injury history could also be cause for some hesitation on the part of the team. While his ACL tear was something of a fluke, he has followed that up with two long DL stints for hamstring strains this season. Both Ramos and the Nats seem confident in his durability, however, with manager Davey Johnson calling him "a horse." Nationals GM and president Mike Rizzo, meanwhile, has made clear that he views Ramos as a long-term solution behind the dish.

It will be interesting to see whether Rizzo will seek to turn that expectation into a commitment in the coming months, especially with other extension candidates on the docket. Either way, after paying Suzuki $6.45MM for replacement-level play this year, the Nationals should expect to see a substantially better return on investment behind the dish in 2014.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images/Rick Osentoski.

Quick Hits: Dodgers, Nationals, DeJesus, Ripken

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Last August's blockbuster Adrian Gonzalez / Carl Crawford / Josh Beckett deal between the Dodgers and Red Sox is a winner for both teams, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal writes. Despite Gonzalez, Crawford and Nick Punto all playing fairly well and the Dodgers having a very successful season so far, however, there is still a case to be made that the Dodgers would have been better off to hold onto James Loney and their prospects and spend their money elsewhere — Rosenthal notes that the deal may have helped the Red Sox, themselves in the midst of a strong season, to pursue veterans like Shane Victorino and Jake Peavy. In any case, Rosenthal's article is a fascinating look behind a major deal. He chronicles how conversations involving the two teams' presidents and even Red Sox owner John Henry helped shape the trade. Here are more notes from around the big leagues.

  • The Nationals recently traded outfielder David DeJesus to the Rays, but the Nats could try to acquire DeJesus again in the offseason if the Rays don't pick up his 2014 option, MLB.com's Bill Ladson writes (via Twitter). DeJesus is owed $6.5MM in 2014, with a $1.5MM buyout.
  • The Nats are open to trading Dan Haren, but GM Mike Rizzo says they would want "a good package of players" in return, Ladson reports. It seems unlikely that any team would meet that price, since Haren has already cleared waivers. In 132 innings this season, Haren has a 4.64 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9. He has about $3MM remaining on his contract before he becomes a free agent at the end of the year.
  • Rays manager Joe Maddon says the depth DeJesus has added to the team makes his job "more difficult — in a good way," Sam Strong and Bryan Hoch of MLB.com report. "We have to be creative in resting people," says Maddon. "I don't want anyone too tired. We've taken advantage of these off-days to keep everyone spiffy to this point, but we have to be careful moving forward. New players help that. It takes more than nine people to win a World Series." DeJesus started in left field for the Rays as they took on the Yankees on Friday, while rookie Wil Myers did not play.
  • Former Orioles great Cal Ripken is more interested in a big-league managerial job than he has been in the past, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports. His interest could extend to the Nationals job, which will be open once Davey Johnson retires at the end of the season. "I’ve been asked to interview for many managing jobs, and I never said yes because I was never serious about it, and I thought it would be wrong to go through that process," says Ripken. "I haven’t been asked by [the Nationals]. … I think I would be more curious at this stage in my life than I have been."

Rays Acquire David DeJesus

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2:51pm: The Nats will choose a PTBNL from a list with fewer than five names, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter).

12:11pm: David DeJesus' stay in Washington was brief, to say the least. After acquiring him from the Cubs on Monday, the Nationals  and Rays have both announced that DeJesus has been traded to Tampa Bay in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. 

DeJesusDeJesus went 0-for-3 with a walk in his brief tenure with the Nationals.

DeJesus was placed on waivers immediately following his acquisition by the Nationals, who many speculated may never have been keen on acquiring him in the first place. Yesterday, Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago reported that he'd been claimed off waivers by the Rays.

In 322 plate appearances this season, the 33-year-old DeJesus is batting .247/.327/.397. Nearly all of his damage has come against right-handed pitching, as evidenced by his .264/.346/.438 batting line against opposite-handed pitching. Ultimate Zone Rating has graded his center field defense as a positive this season (The Fielding Bible has not), which is a rarity, considering his -0.6 career UZR/150 in center. Both metrics suggest that he's a plus corner defender.

DeJesus is in the final season of a two-year, $10MM contract that he signed with the Cubs prior to the 2012 campaign, though the Rays will hold a $6.5MM club option on him with a $1.5MM buyout. Essentially, they'll make a $5MM decision on DeJesus this offseason. In terms of 2013 salary, he is owed roughly $883K, bringing Tampa Bay's total commitment to him to $2.383MM. From the Nationals' point of view, it's an odd sequence of events, though it'd be worth it if the player they acquire from the Rays is superior (in their opinion) to the player they will ultimately send to the Cubs.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported that the two sides had agreed to a trade to send DeJesus to the Rays (on Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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