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Cubs To Designate Alberto Cabrera For Assignment

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The Cubs will designate Alberto Cabrera for assignment, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter). Cabrera lost the competition for the last bullpen slot to Brian Schlitter.

The 25-year-old has thrown 27 2/3 MLB innings over the last two years, all in relief, and posted a 5.20 ERA. He has split his time in the minors in recent years between starting and relieving. Signed as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2005, Cabrera has spent his entire career in the Cubs organization.

Minor Moves: Duncan, Manzella, Russell, Rauch

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Here are today's minor transactions, with the newest moves at the top of the page…

  • The Diamondbacks have released first baseman Shelley Duncan, shortstop Tommy Manzella and right-hander Adam Russell, Matt Eddy reports (via Twitter).  All three players signed minor league deals with the Snakes during the offseason.  Duncan had a .606 OPS in 64 PA with the Rays in 2013, while Russell and Manzella last appeared in the majors in 2011 and 2010, respectively.
  • The Royals released veteran reliever Jon Rauch, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star tweets.  Rauch, 35, signed a minor league deal with K.C. in January.  The right-hander posted a 7.56 ERA in 16 2/3 IP with the Marlins and a 2.89 ERA in 9 1/3 IP for the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate last season.
  • The Nationals released infielder Mike Fontenot.  The veteran last played in the Majors in 2012, spending last season with the Rays' Triple-A affiliate and then signing a minor league deal with Washington in January.  Formerly a staple of the Cubs infield, Fontenot has a .265/.332/.401 line over 1586 career PA with the Cubs, Giants and Phillies.
  • The Cardinals outrighted Joey Butler to Triple-A Memphis.  Butler, 28, made his Major League debut last season by appearing in eight games for the Rangers, following six years in the Texas farm system that saw him post a .291/.375/.442 slash line with 72 homers over 3036 PA.  The outfielder was claimed off waivers by St. Louis in October.
  • The Brewers released outfielder Greg Golson, who had been signed to a minor league contract in January.  Golson appeared in 40 Major League games with the Phillies, Rangers and Yankees from 2008-11 and has playing in the minors ever since.

Added To The 40-Man Roster: Thursday

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Between now and Opening Day, several minor league signees will win jobs with their clubs and earn 40-man roster spots. Here are today's additions:

  • As expected, the Mets have added lefty John Lannan to the 40-man roster, Newsday's Marc Carig tweets. The longtime starter is expected to work out of the pen for the first time in his career after serving exclusively as a starter for 148 games between 2007-13.
  • Jason Bartlett will make the Twins as a reserve infielder and center field option, tweets Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The 34-year-old had previously agreed to bump back his opt-out date. Though he has played exactly one MLB game at a position other than shortstop (a single 2004 appearance at second), Bartlett will apparently see some time in the outfield. He finds himself in position to break camp after taking just 98 professional plate appearances over the last two seasons.
  • 25-year-old outfielder Ryan Kalish will make the Cubs Opening Day roster and be added to its 40-man, tweets Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com. It was reported yesterday that the same was true of utilityman Emilio Bonifacio, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). Chicago has two open roster slots, so no corresponding move would appear to be necessary. As Rogers notes, third baseman Mike Olt will also be on the active roster to start the year.

Ryan Roberts Opts Out Of Deal With Cubs

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Utilityman Ryan Roberts has opted out of his contract with the Cubs and will become a free agent, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. The 33-year-old has spent time at second, third, and the corner outfield in his MLB career.

Though he has put up a few very strong seasons, Roberts has been underwhelming over the last two campaigns. Last year, with the Rays, he hit .247/.295/.377 in 173 plate appearances. Of course, Roberts looks like a more attractive possible bench piece when one considers his versatility and the fact that he is still capable of doing damage against lefties. In 87 trips to the plate against southpaws last year, he put up a .305/.345/.500 line with four home runs.

Quick Hits: Forbes, Castro, Mets, Luhnow

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The average value of a Major League Baseball franchise is now $811MM, a rise of nine percent from 2013 that can be largely attributed to an increase in TV revenue, according to Forbes Magazine's Mike Ozanian.  For the 17th straight year, the Yankees (worth $2.5 billion) top Forbes' annual valuation of baseball's franchises.  The Dodgers ($2 billion), Red Sox ($1.5 billion), Cubs ($1.2 billion) and Giants ($1 billion) also hit the ten-figure mark, while the Rays had the lowest value at $485MM.  The Mets, Marlins and Astros were the only three franchises who saw their values drop from last year's Forbes rankings.

Here's some more news from around baseball…

  • Starlin Castro says he's open to moving from shortstop to accommodate star prospect Javier Baez, CSN Chicago's David Kaplan reports.  "If I need to move positions, I'm OK with that," Castro said.  "If he is on our team and him being there helps the team win, then I am fine with that. I just want our team to win. That's it."  There had been speculation that Baez would see time at second base at Triple-A this season in preparation for a position switch of his own, though Cubs manager Rick Renteria stated that Baez would play short in the minors.  Widely considered one of baseball's top prospects, Baez has a .903 OPS in 916 minor league PA and hit even better during the Cubs' Spring Training camp this year.
  • The Mets' inability to find a trade partner for Ike Davis last winter means that the club is now in the awkward situation of finding playing time for both Davis and Lucas Duda at first base, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes.  Neither left-handed slugger hits southpaws well, so while Josh Satin will start against lefties, Davis and Duda will have to divvy up the starts against right-handers.
  • Astros manager Bo Porter said today that the club's top waiver claim priority was keeping them from finalizing the rotation, and general manager Jeff Luhnow went into more detail with reporters (including Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle) about his team's examination of the waiver wire.  "I will tell you that these days we’re meeting every day at least once…probably twice, and we get input from the staff and do our research," Luhnow said.  “This is the time of year with clubs setting their 25-man roster in the next couple days that every other guy that’s out of options comes available, and we’re going to look at it seriously because it’s a way that we can fill the team.”
  • The Rangers, Athletics, Rockies, Angels and Diamondbacks all made notable moves this offseason that could prove to be mistakes within a few seasons or even in 2014, opines ESPN's Jim Bowden (Insider subscription required).  Colorado might've broken even in Bowden's eyes, though, since the Rockies are also on the good end of one of those "backfire" transactions.
  • When a number of scouts, managers and other baseball personnel were asked “Were there any young players you watched and said, ‘this guy has a chance to be a star?’” by Peter Gammons, the name most often cited was Carlos Correa.  The Astros shortstop headlines the top 10 list, though Cubs fans will be excited to know that Kris Bryant, Baez and Albert Almora all cracked the top seven.

Cubs Release George Kottaras

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The Cubs have requested release waivers on catcher George Kottaras, reports Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com (via Twitter). He had been picked up for cash from the Royals earlier in the offseason, and would have been owed $1.075MM for the coming season.

The 30-year-old backstop had a .180/.349/.370 line in 126 plate appearances last year. He has a lifetime mark of .214/.324/.406. For what it's worth, the Oliver projection system actually likes Kottaras to be an above-average MLB regular if he was given a full season of plate appearances.

Rangers Acquire Donnie Murphy From Cubs

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12:24pm: The transaction was actually a waiver claim by Texas, reports MLB.com's Carrie Muskat (on Twitter). The Rangers will take on Murphy's $825K salary. Meanwhile, for the Cubs, prospect Mike Olt, who was acquired from Texas last year, could be headed for an Opening Day gig.

12:16pm: The Rangers have acquired infielder Donnie Murphy from the Cubs, reports ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). Presumably, Murphy will serve as the fill-in for Jurickson Profar while he rehabs.

Murphy, 31, saw the most extensive action of his career last season, posting a surprising .255/.319/.530 line in 163 plate appearances. Over parts of eight years in the bigs, Murphy has accumulated a .215/.280/.405 line in 803 trips to the plate.

Rangers Seek Depth At Second And Catcher

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11:43pm: The Rangers are scouting the Cubs, MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan reports, and perhaps not just because of Kottaras. The Cubs also have infielders Darwin Barney and Donnie Murphy. The Rangers like Barney better, Sullivan writes.

4:50pm: In the wake of Soto's injury, the Rangers are considering acquiring George Kottaras of the Cubs, Bruce Levine of 670TheScore.com tweets. Kottaras currently projects to back up Welington Castillo in Chicago, but the Cubs are reportedly considering rostering John Baker instead. Kottaras, 30, hit .180/.349/.370 in 126 plate appearances for the Royals last year. In response to Soto's injury, the Rangers have already signed Chris Snyder to a minor-league deal.

The Rangers also looked at Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks today, Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel tweets. As Haudricourt notes, Weeks' $11MM salary could be an impediment to a trade. Weeks hit .209/.306/.357 in 399 plate appearances with the Brewers last year.

12:08pm: Texas has checked in with several clubs with catching depth, including the Yankees, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com. Though Francisco Cervelli may be available, Olney says that there does not appear to be a fit between those two clubs.

10:50am: The Rangers have had trade talks in a bid to add depth at catcher and/or second base, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. The expected starters at those two spots — catcher Geovany Soto and second baseman Jurickson Profar — are each expected to miss ten to twelve weeks to open the year.

While it would be pure speculation to guess at possible trade partners in this kind of scenario, we can look at the available free agent pool for other alternatives. With the list growing as final roster decisions are made, Texas could look to players like Tony Abreu, Ronny Cedeno, or Cesar Izturis for the middle infield. Meanwhile, available catching options include recently-released players like Ramon Hernandez, Chris Snyder, and Yorvit Torrealba.

Of course, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wrote yesterday, it could be that the greater concern is with the state of the rotation. That is all the more true now, with this morning's report (via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) that ace Yu Darvish will miss his Opening Day start and undergo an MRI to determine the cause of his stiff neck.

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Minor Moves: Galarraga, Wada, Lim

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Here are today's minor moves:

  • The Rangers have released righty Armando Galarraga, Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News reports (via Twitter). The 32-year-old of near-perfect-game fame had a 3.64 ERA in 121 Triple-A innings last year. In spite of the rash of starting pitching injuries in Texas, Galarraga never got a chance to throw in an MLB Spring Training game.
  • Just one day after releasing him, the Cubs have re-signed lefty Tsuyoshi Wada, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Wada was originally signed as an Article XX(B) free agent, and it appears that club and player merely used the release and re-sign as a procedural mechanism to reach different terms.
  • The Cubs have also released another reliever in Chang-Yong Lim, tweets Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. Lim, 37, had already been re-assigned to Triple-A. Lim's contract was sold to the Samsung Lions of South Korea's KBO, tweets Gonzales. In six MLB games last year, he threw 5 innings and allowed three earned runs, walking seven and striking out five. He was solid in his first run at the Triple-A level after coming over from Japan, throwing 22 1/3 innings of 1.61 ERA ball with 9.7 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9. 

AL Notes: Pierzynski, Harang, Ichiro, Orioles, Rangers

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New Red Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski is virtually the peer of special advisor Jason Varitek — the two are only four years apart in age. But Pierzynski has still sought out Varitek's advice this spring, Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald writes. "He’s one of those guys, he came before me, so you kind of always looked up to him," Pierzynski says. "To be able to be in the same organization and be able to talk to him and learn things from him, it's huge. You can always get better and he was one of the best, so anything he can bring to the table to help me I’m definitely going to take and use." Here are more notes from the American League.

  • The Indians have told starting pitcher Aaron Harang, who had been competing for their fifth starter job, that he won't make the team's 25-man roster, MLB.com's Jordan Bastian tweets. Harang has the ability to opt out of minor-league deal on Monday.
  • The Yankees are willing to eat part of Ichiro Suzuki's $6.5MM 2014 salary in the right trade, CBS Sports' Jon Heyman writes. No deal appears to be imminent, however. Ichiro, who hit .262/.297/.342 with the Yankees in 2013, does not have a starting role this season.
  • Orioles manager Buck Showalter says "vultures" are interested in his team's out-of-options players, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes. "I know a lot of vultures are lurking around with our out-of-option guys. We've got quite an attendance here," Showalter says. "I get a list of the scouts every day, and if anything, it's gotten more. We had 17 here the other day." Two weeks ago, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes noted that the Orioles' out-of-options players included Edgmer Escalona, Chris Davis, Tommy Hunter, Troy Patton, Nolan Reimold, Chris Tillman, Zach Britton, David Lough, Brian Matusz, Steve Pearce, Francisco Peguero and Josh Stinson. Obviously, the Orioles are in no danger of losing someone like Davis, and Escalona and Peguero appear likely to start the season on the disabled list. But the Orioles will have to make decisions about players like Pearce and some of the pitchers. The team recently designated another out-of-options player, Kelvin De La Cruz, for assignment.
  • "I thought way too short term with the Garza deal last year.  That one's got a chance to haunt us and haunt me," Rangers GM Jon Daniels told Zach Buchanan of the Arizona Republic in reference to his trade with the Cubs.  Daniels gave up C.J. Edwards, Mike Olt, Justin Grimm and Neil Ramirez for Garza.  Olt could soon make an impact in the big leagues, but it's Edwards and Ramirez who might turn out to be the keys to the deal — Edwards was terrific down the stretch last year for Class A+ Daytona, and Ramirez has pitched well in spring training after posting a terrific strikeout rate in Double-A last season.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

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