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Quick Hits: Commissioner, Rollins, Diamondbacks

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Now that Bud Selig has announced he will retire following the 2014 season, speculation has already begun about who will be Major League Baseball's next commissioner.  ESPN's Jayson Stark thinks it would be "a monumental upset" if MLB doesn't go with an internal candidate, and the favorites are league executive vice-presidents Rob Manfred and Tim Brosnan, and MLB Advanced Media CEO Bob Bowman.  Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan hears that Manfred is the safest and most well-rounded pick, though some sources consider Brosnan to be the better candidate.  Stark and Passan list such names as Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski, Mets GM Sandy Alderson, Indians president Mark Shapiro and Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall as other possible choices.

Here are some notes as Yankee Stadium says goodbye to Mariano Rivera…

  • Jimmy Rollins is confident that the Phillies already have the pieces they need to succeed thanks to their emerging youth, CSNPhilly.com's Corey Seidman writes.  “That old window's closed," Rollins admitted. "This is a brand new thing. You've still got the pieces, but this is a brand new thing going forward. Obviously we would love to have that right-handed bat, but Darin Ruf has come up and done that so far. We're going to get Ryan [Howard] back, hopefully a healthy Ryan back on his legs and strong."
  • Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers will recommend to ownership that manager Kirk Gibson be retained for next season, Towers told reporters (including MLB.com's Steve Gilbert).  Gibson has a 289-277 record since taking over as Arizona's manager halfway through the 2010 season and he led the team to an NL West title in 2011.  Both Gibson and Towers are only under contract through the end of the 2014 season.
  • While Brad Ziegler has enjoyed being the Diamondbacks' closer, he tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that it doesn't matter if he's closing or in his usual set-up role next season.  Ziegler has a 2.28 ERA and 12 saves over 71 IP and a league-best 76 games this season.  He's going into his third and final year of arbitration eligibility though there has been talk that Arizona will try to work out a contract extension.
  • Jack Zduriencik's mistakes as the Mariners' general manager are recapped by Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times in a piece that chronicles the team's strategies and major transactions over the last several years.  While Baker holds Zduriencik accountable for his own mistakes, he also points the finger at the club's upper management for the larger issues surrounding the Mariners' lack of recent success.
  • John Danks is "embarrassed" by his performance since signing a five-year, $65MM extension with the White Sox before the 2012 season, the southpaw tells MLB.com's Scott Merkin.  "The goal is always to throw 200-plus innings, take the ball every day and give us a chance to win. I've got three years to make everyone believe it was worth it," Danks said.  "That's part of my motivating factor. I want to be the productive player I'm expected to be."
  • "The Cubs are the last-place team poised to contend the soonest. The Astros are the one with the brightest future," Jim Callis writes for MLB.com in his analysis of both teams' young talent.

MLBTR's Zach Links contributed to this post

Central Rumors: Girardi, Dunn, Perkins, Pirates

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Could Joe Girardi leave the Yankees to become the next manager of the Cubs?  It's all speculative right now, but Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com sizes up both jobs and the challenges that each one figures to bring over the next few years.  Here's tonight's look at the Central divisions after Michael Wacha came ever so close to a no-hitter..

  • Adam Dunn's $15MM salary for 2014 almost assures his return to the White Sox in 2014 and talk of him being platooned next season sounds premature, writes Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. "I don't think we're at that point yet," GM Rick Hahn said. "I think we need to see what the roster looks like, see how he comes back, how he looks and see what the options are for Robin. Ultimately the lineup is his call, so especially given that we aren't sure what the roster is going to look like, it's premature to pigeonhole anyone into a lesser role than they have right now."
  • Twins closer Glen Perkins' outstanding season has boosted his 2013 salary from $2.5MM to $2.975MM and boosted his 2014 salary from $3.75MM to $3.9875MM, according to Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter links).
  • Dave Cameron of Fangraphs looks at five components of the Pirates' construction of a playoff team. Among Cameron's components are the fact that the Pirates bought into the predictive power of stats like xFIP, adopted aggressive defensive shifts and ignored positional stereotypes with players like Neil Walker and Starling Marte.

Steve Adams contributed to this post.

Central Notes: Chen, Konerko, Brewers, Axford

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For the first time since 1992, the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to the postseason.  The Buccos and Reds each clinched playoff spots tonight, though it remains to be seen if those two clubs will face each other in the Wild Card game, or if one of them can catch the Cardinals for the NL Central lead.  Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis all won on Monday, so the Cards retained their two-game lead.

Here's the latest from both the NL and AL Central divisions…

  • Bruce Chen loves pitching for the Royals and wants to re-sign the team this winter, the veteran southpaw tells Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.  Chen said that he hasn't yet sat down with agent Scott Boras to determine his market and that the Royals "haven’t talked to me" about a new contract, but Chen said he hopes to pitch for at least another four or five seasons.  The 36-year-old has a 3.13 ERA, 5.7 K/9 and 2.30 K/BB ratio in 109 1/3 IP this season, making 13 starts and 19 appearances out of the bullpen.  Dutton shared some more Royals items earlier today.
  • Paul Konerko won't decide on his playing future until after the season, a source tells ESPN Chicago's Bruce Levine.  Konerko has been toying with the idea of retirement all season, though he has reportedly told friends he intends to play in 2014.
  • Norichika Aoki earned a $250K bonus upon making his 140th start of the season tonight, MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports.  This ups Aoki's salary to $1.5MM for the season, and he can earn $0.5875MM for playing in one more game this year.  The Brewers have already gotten a huge bargain from Aoki's original two-year, $2.5MM contract and they hold a $1.5MM team option on the outfielder for 2014.
  • In other Brewers contract news from McCalvy, right-hander Kyle Lohse will earn a $350K bonus on Wednesday when he retires his first batter and reaches the 190-inning mark for the season.
  • John Axford is "open to discussing something with the Cardinals" about a new contract this offseason but for now is just looking forward to the postseason, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.  Axford has posted a 1.93 ERA in 9 1/3 IP since joining the Cards three weeks ago but he could be a non-tender candidate due to his high arbitration number.  Axford is arbitration-eligible for the second time this winter and will earn a raise on his $5MM salary, plus he has two more arb years remaining after that as a Super Two player.

Quick Hits: Rangers, Angels, Carter, Baker

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In an article for ESPN.com, Jayson Stark collects opinions from around baseball on the new wild card game. While the arrangement motivates teams to win their divisions, Braves catcher Brian McCann, a veteran of last year's NL wild card contest, tells Stark that the game doesn't have a playoff atmosphere. "I just feel like, you play 162 games, you win 90-plus, and all of a sudden, it's one game and you're home?" McCann said. Stark's article also covers suggestions on how to address complaints with the one-game format. Here's more links from around the majors:

  • For the Rangers, the season is increasingly looking like a troubling repeat of last year's collapse down the stretch. Looking ahead at possible free agent targets, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that the team could pursue one of the top international free agents — first baseman Jose Abreu and pitcher Masahiro Tanaka — but not both. Brian McCann will be the team's primary target, however, Grant predicts in another tweet.
  • The Angels' decision to give Friday's start to minor-leaguer Matt Shoemaker isn't an encouraging sign for Tommy Hanson or Joe Blanton, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times writes. Hanson was recalled from Triple-A on Monday, while Blanton has spent the last two months in the bullpen. Though manager Mike Scioscia indicated the club merely wanted to get a look at Shoemaker, DiGiovanna says there's a good chance that Blanton will be released before the 2014 season, while Hanson is a non-tender candidate.
  • The Astros' Chris Carter is aware of his high strikeout total this season, which currently sits at 202 and is the highest in the majors, Gene Duffey writes in an article for MLB.com. "Everybody's talking about it, but I just try to have good at-bats," Carter said. "I want to be around .290. I want to be a complete hitter. I've got to get the strikeouts down and the average up." While Carter's batted just .221 this season, he leads the Astros with 67 walks.
  • White Sox GM Rick Hahn addressed his team's long-term plans in an interview with Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Two of the most significant items in the Sox's budget will be spending in the draft and international market, Hahn says. "Spending to our max in those two areas is important to the long-term sustaining of our success that we are trying to build to," the GM said. "Those will be kind of the first two items, and [they will be] significantly more than the past."
  • Cubs righty Scott Baker says he'd like to return to the club next season, Manny Randhawa of MLB.com reports. "I think it's a wonderful place to play," Baker said. "I kind of feel like with these last few starts, there's less of a question mark about me next year than there was going into this year … Hopefully, whether it's the Cubs or other teams, [they] feel the same way." Baker made just three starts for the Cubs in 2013 after spending most of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.

White Sox Acquire Frank De Los Santos

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The White Sox have acquired pitcher Frank De Los Santos from the Rays, according to Roger Mooney of The Tampa Tribune (on Twitter).  The Rays will receive cash considerations or a player to be named later in return.

De Los Santos, 25, had a 5.34 ERA in 32 innings pitched for the Rays' Triple-A affiliate this year. He has yet to appear in the majors. The left-hander has seven seasons on his minor league resume. His best may have been 2012, when he posted a 2.11 ERA in 81 innings across stops at Double-A and Triple-A.

The 6-foot Dominican didn't feature on Baseball America's Rays' top 10 prospects list over the winter.

Manager Notes: Weiss, Yost, Ventura, Sandberg, Johnson

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With the regular season drawing to a close, let's take a look at a few managerial situations around the league:

  • Walt Weiss is expected to return for a second year as the Rockies manager, reports Troy Renck of the Denver Post. Colorado owner Dick Monfort says the club has been pleased with Weiss's growth in the role, and Weiss says he has every intention of staying on. Though Renck clarifies via Twitter that pen has not yet gone to paper, he says that a new deal is largely a formality. The Rockies, in turn, have stated through their team Twitter account that, while there is mutual interest in a return, "nothing is official as of now."
  • The fate of Royals manager Ned Yost is entirely in the hands of general manager Dayton Moore, owner David Glass told Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. Glass added that he feels both Moore and Yost have performed their jobs well. Moore told Dutton that he won't discuss the contracts of Yost and the coaching staff until after the season.
  • Though he declined a contract extension opportunity just last winter, White Sox manager Robin Ventura says he wants to keep his post for the foreseeable future, reports Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com. Ventura's current deal runs through the end of next season.
  • The early returns are positive on Ryne Sandberg's run as interim manager of the Phillies, but he says he has yet to hear from the front office on his future, reports Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Zolecki opines that it is a "near certainty" that the Phils will look to keep Sandberg on for next year, as he has led the team to an 18-14 mark since taking over for the fired Charlie Manuel.
  • Nationals manager Davey Johnson says he would have offered to step aside if the team had not made a run to return to the fringes of the Wild Card race, writes Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. Though GM Mike Rizzo has made clear he had no intentions of dismissing the veteran from his post, Johnson explained that he would have wanted to afford bench coach Randy Knorr or third base coach Trent Jewett a chance to take an audition at the helm. Kilgore notes that Knorr seems to be the most likely internal option to take over next year.

Steve Adams contributed to this post.

AL Notes: Twins, White Sox, Wedge

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The Twins could have as much as $40MM to spend this offseason, Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN writes. The contracts of Justin Morneau ($14MM in 2013), Nick Blackburn ($5.5MM) and Mike Pelfrey ($4MM) won't be on the books anymore, and Mackey points out that the Twins have $90-100MM budgeted for payroll in 2014. That doesn't mean they'll actually spend it all, and they haven't been big free-agent spenders in the past. But the possibility should make the offseason an interesting one for Twins fans. Here are more notes from the American League.

  • GM Rick Hahn of the White Sox doesn't feel his predecessor, Kenny Williams (who was promoted to executive vice president after the 2012 season), left the organization in a tough spot, reports MLB.com's Scott Merkin. "He left the position of general manager with a club that was in first place for [117] days," says Hahn. "He left us in a position to have a nine-digit payroll. You are not going to hear any gripes about the condition he left us in." Hahn points to the White Sox's crop of starting pitchers — which includes Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Hector Santiago — as evidence that the White Sox aren't in that unfavorable a position.
  • Manager Eric Wedge says that "the kids," meaning young players, and their struggles with fundamentals have been a big part of the Mariners' struggles during his tenure. But Dave Cameron of USS Mariner points out that, while the Mariners have given playing time to lots of young hitters in recent years, those hitters — including players like Kyle Seager and Brad Miller — have mostly played at least passably, if not well. It's hitters over 25 who have really struggled. Cameron doesn't address how the Mariners' young pitchers have done, but it's clear that the Mariners' young hitters, at least, don't deserve a large portion of the blame for the team's performance.

Chicago Notes: Cubs, Sveum, Konerko

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Here's a look at the latest out of the Windy City..

  • Theo Epstein told reporters, including Carrie Muskat of MLB.com, that even though manager Dale Sveum has done a “remarkable job” maintaining a good clubhouse over two rough seasons, no decision has been made on his future beyond this season.  Epstein says that the skipper was never being evaluated on wins and losses this season but rather the development of young players and other factors.
  • Epstein went on to explain that while he'll be looking to have a more productive lineup in 2014, he won't lean on the open market to make that happen, Muskat writes.  “I don’t think we’re going to get to where we need to be through free agency for the short term, honestly,” Epstein said. “Given the needs that we have and where we are and the likely price tags on the market, I don’t think we’ll have the ability to add multiple impact pieces in free agency."
  • White Sox veteran Paul Konerko still refuses to address his future beyond this season, Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com.  Konerko has reportedly told friends that he plans on coming back in 2014, however.

Rosenthal On Gardenhire, McCann, Saltalamacchia

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Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports brings us yet another edition of Full Count, let's dive in and take a look at the highlights..

  • Of all of the pending managerial situations to watch in the majors, the Twins might be the most interesting club to keep an eye on.  Ron Gardenhire is trying to avoid his third-straight 90-loss season and he's extremely unlikely to accept a one-year deal and serve as a lame duck in 2014.  By the same token, the Twins might not be willing to give him another multi-year pact.  For what it's worth, GM Terry Ryan has taken full responsibility for the team's poor roster.
  • Catchers generally don't do well in free agency, but two prominent ones are about to hit the open market with prominent teams bidding for their services: the Braves' Brian McCann and the Red Sox's Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  The Phillies and Rangers figures to be in the mix as they could lose free agent backstops of their own.  The White Sox badly need to upgrade behind the plate, though it's not clear how much they'll spend.  The Yankees could be involved too.  They want to stay under the $189MM luxury tax threshold, but they could use one of the two to finally give themselves an adequate replacement for Russell Martin.
  • It's not a huge surprise to see the Marlins contemplating a front office shakeup in September, but regardless of what they do with Baseball Operations President Larry Beinfest, Miami has bigger fish to fry.  The Marlins have to decide if they will part with Giancarlo Stanton as he's still unlikely to sign an extension.  Rosenthal also wonders why they have been bystanders when it comes to going after Cuban free agents that have come and gone like Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Cespedes, and Alexander Guerrero.  One has to imagine that a notable Cuban import would be a sizable draw in Miami.
  • Even though all of the focus is on the playoff chase, there's still a matter of who will get the final protected pick in next year's draft.  The Phillies, if they win too much, can wind up losers.  The difference is critical for Ruben Amaro & Co. as they have an older club and they'll want to sign free agents, but, of course, they don't want to lose a first rounder.  You can keep track of the other September race with MLBTR's Reverse Standings.

Central Notes: Duncan, Brewers, Garcia, McCutchen

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Former Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan isn't sure whether he wants to return to baseball, but he's listening, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. "I’ve had several clubs call me and talk to me not so much about coaching, but joining them in some other capacity," says Duncan. "I really don’t think I would coach again — not right now, anyway. But if someone is interested, I’d listen to whatever they’re thinking about." Duncan left the game in January 2012 as his wife Jeanine was suffering from cancer. Duncan still has an excellent reputation as a pitching coach, but he does not want to return to coaching, calling it "a grind." Here are more notes from the Central divisions.

  • It's unclear whether the Brewers will go with Scooter Gennett or Rickie Weeks at second base next season, Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel writes. Haurdicourt wonders if Weeks' $11MM 2014 salary might be a factor. (Weeks also has a vesting option for 2015.) Weeks has struggled all season, hitting .209/.306/.357 with poor defense, while Gennett has hit brilliantly in his rookie year.
  • Leury Garcia, who the White Sox acquired from the Rangers last month in the Alex Rios deal, is impressing his new teammates, Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com writes. His defense at second base has played well so far, and although he hasn't yet provided much offense (he's hitting .214/.303/.214 in a small sample of 33 plate appearances so far), manager Robin Ventura says he thinks that will improve.
  • Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who experienced four losing seasons in Pittsburgh before the Bucs finally broke through this year, advises Cubs players to worry about their own play and let management take care of the rest, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reports. The Cubs are 22 games below .500, but McCutchen suggests players remember that, one day, things might be different. "When you lose for so long, you hope those things that happen in the minors, that those guys get the work they need to get done so when they get the chance to come here and play, they're ready to go," says McCutchen. "It's not fun when you are losing, but it's a process that down the road that things are going to get better.''
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