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Pirates Acquire Allen Webster From Diamondbacks

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The Diamondbacks announced that they’ve traded right-hander Allen Webster to the Pirates in exchange for cash considerations. Webster was designated for assignment last week.

Webster, 26 in February, was once considered a consensus Top 100 prospect. The former 18th-round pick (Dodgers, 2008) has been involved in a pair of notable trades, first going to Boston from L.A. as part of the Adrian Gonzalez/Carl Crawford blockbuster and then being traded to the D-Backs last winter in the Wade Miley deal.

Webster displayed a penchant for strikeouts early in his minor league career but has struggled more recently, both at the upper levels of the minors and in the Major Leagues with Boston and Arizona. Control, in particular, has become a problem for Webster, who has averaged 4.9 walks per nine innings in parts of three big league seasons and walked more batters (20) than he struck out (17) in 31 innings with the D-Backs this year. All told, Webster has a 6.13 ERA in 120 1/3 big league innings.

When his prospect status was at its peak, Baseball America wrote that Webster showed the “best pure stuff of anyone in the Red Sox system,” praising a fastball that ranged from 93-98 mph with good sink as well as a plus changeup. BA noted, however, that while Webster’s “outrageous” stuff came with top-of-the-rotation potential, an inability to command his fastball and questions about his confidence were enough to wonder if he’d ever reach that ceiling.

Certainly, the Pirates will hope that realization is still possible, though Webster needn’t become more than a solid middle reliever for this to look like a shrewd pickup in hindsight. He’s out of minor league options, however, so he’ll need to stick with the Bucs out of camp next spring or again be exposed to waivers.

Diamondbacks Avoid Arbitration With Matt Reynolds

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The Diamondbacks have avoided arbitration with lefty Matt Reynolds, Zach Buchanan of AZCentral.com reports on Twitter. Reynolds will receive $675K next season, with a $25K bonus if he makes 55 appearances.

That number falls a bit shy of the $800K that MLBTR projected Reynolds to earn. Of course, the southpaw had seemed a plausible non-tender candidate even at that relatively low salary level, so agreeing to a slightly lower rate helps increase the likelihood that he’ll get a major league opportunity in 2016.

Reynolds, 31, pitched 13 2/3 major league innings last season for the D’backs, allowing seven earned runs and striking out 18 batters against seven walks. He had missed all of the 2014 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in the midst of a promising 2013 campaign.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/23/15

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Here are the day’s minor signings from around the league…

  • Infielder Steve Tolleson is headed to the Orioles on a minor league deal, Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports on Twitter. Tolleson will receive an invitation to major league camp. The 32-year-old owns a .245/.299/.372 slash in 363 career plate appearances in the bigs.
  • Shortstop Hak-Ju Lee is joining the Giants on a minor league deal, Matt Eddy reported as part of a slew of signings. (See his Twitter feed for these and more.) Formerly a top prospect with the Rays, the 25-year-old suffered a serious knee injury and has not hit much since at the Triple-A level. Among other deals, San Francisco also brought back lefty Ricky Romero, per Eddy.
  • The Diamondbacks have added righty Kyle Drabek on a minors deal, according to Eddy. He joins outfielder Kyle Jensen and third baseman Carlos Rivero as Arizona minor league free agent signees. Once one of the game’s best-regarded pitching prospects with the Blue Jays, the 27-year-old Drabek did not live up to his promise in Toronto. But he did toss a solid 137 1/3 innings last year at Triple-A for the White Sox, working to a 3.47 ERA with 5.5 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9.
  • The White Sox have signed righty Phillippe Aumont to a minor league pact, Josh Norris of Baseball America tweets. The former Phillies prospect lost his 40-man roster spot last year. He did put up a 3.14 ERA after moving back into the rotation at Triple-A, but continued to demonstrate serious control problems with 6.8 BB/9.

Earlier Transactions

  • The Blue Jays have signed first baseman Casey Kotchman, second baseman David Adams and shortstop Jiovanni Mier to minor league contract with invitations to Major League Spring Training, writes Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The 32-year-old Kotchman comes with far and away the most big league experience, having served as an everyday first baseman (or close to it) with the Angels, Braves, Red Sox, Mariners, Rays and Indians from 2007-12. However, Kotchman hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2013 and hasn’t experienced much in the way of success since his career year with the 2011 Rays. He’s a lifetime .260/.326/.385 hitter in the Majors. Adams, meanwhile, was once a promising second base prospect with the Yankees but never received a consistent chance in the Majors (in part, due to injuries). The now-28-year-old did receive 152 PAs in New York in 2013 but batted just .193/.252/.286 in that short stint. Mier, meanwhile, is a former first-round pick and top 100 prospect, but his bat has never really come around. He’s now 25 years of age and is a career .239/.333/.340 hitter in the minors.

Details On Jay Bruce’s No-Trade Clause

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Last week, Reds outfielder Jay Bruce had an opportunity to update his limited no-trade clause by changing the list of eight teams that he can block deals to.  However, the 28-year-old decided to stand pat and keep the same clubs on his veto list, as Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com writes.  Bruce can block any proposed deal that would send him to the Red Sox, Rays, Yankees, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, Marlins, A’s, or Twins.

That mix of small and large-market teams presumably shields Bruce from destinations he may prefer not to play in while affording him leverage if a big-spending AL East club were to come calling.  Of course, the Orioles are the one AL East club that is not on the block list and they have become the most recent team to be linked to the Cincinnati outfielder.  There isn’t any “momentum” toward a trade at this time, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, but it seems that the talks are at least active.

Bruce, 29 in April, will earn $12.5MM in 2016 and can be controlled for the following year with a $13MM option — or be bought out for $1MM.  The Reds are willing to listen on everybody and GM Walt Jocketty said that he would “probably” be open to moving Bruce and Aroldis Chapman, despite his previous reluctance to do so.  Bruce slashed .226/.294/.434 in 2015, numbers that were well below his best offensive work from 2010-2013.

Relief Notes: O’Day, A’s, Chapman, D’Backs, Brothers

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In such a crowded market for Darren O’Day’s services, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman observes that the Dodgers, Braves and Nationals could each have an edge.  The Dodgers, of course, can offer the most money and have “big time” interest in the right-hander.  O’Day’s family lives near Atlanta, so the Braves could have something of a hometown advantage.  Then again, O’Day’s wife is a TV reporter working for a station in Washington D.C., which could help the Nats.  Here’s more about O’Day and others on the ever-churning bullpen rumor mill…

  • You can add the Athletics to the long list of teams with interest in O’Day, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.  While Oakland has a clear need for bullpen help, it would be a big surprise to see a small-payroll team like the A’s win the bidding for O’Day.  The right-hander has already received multiple offers and is looking for a four-year deal in the $28MM-$36MM range.
  • Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that Brad Ziegler may remain as the team’s closer.  “With Ziegler doing the job that he has, I am looking to better ourselves more than likely in the front end versus the back end (of the bullpen),” Stewart said.  The Snakes have been linked to several big-name relievers in offseason buzz, and their particular interest in Reds closer Aroldis Chapman goes back several months, though the Reds’ demand for two pre-arbitration Major Leaguers was too high for Arizona’s liking.  “I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m just not in the mood to give up three or four players for one guy at the back end of my bullpen,” Stewart said, speaking not specifically of Chapman but of ace relievers in general.
  • “Surprised would be an understatement” to describe how Rex Brothers felt when the Rockies designated him for assignment, the southpaw tells Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post.  Brothers has come to terms with the move, however, and is looking forward to a fresh start in the bigs.  It should be noted that Brothers has the choice of electing free agency since he has more than three years of service time, and while he doesn’t directly say so, it certainly sounds as if the lefty will indeed be hitting the open market.  Brothers posted very solid numbers out of Colorado’s bullpen from 2011-13 before struggling in 2014 and spending most of 2015 in the minors.

NL West Notes: Rockies, Cueto, Puig, Padres

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With the Rockies in need of starting pitching and the Indians in need of outfield help, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post wonders if the two clubs could fit as trade partners.  Carlos Gonzalez and Corey Dickerson could both be available if Colorado could land the right arm (or arms) in return, and Danny Salazar, Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer have all been mentioned as possible trade chips for the Tribe this winter.  As Saunders notes, Cleveland could balk at the remaining $37MM on Gonzalez’s contract and the fact that he’d only be controlled through 2017.  Dickerson comes with four years of control and isn’t even eligible for arbitration until next winter, though he’s obviously a much less proven asset than Gonzalez and also missed a lot of time with injuries last season.  Here’s some more from around the NL West…

  • The Diamondbacks have had internal discussions about possibly signing Johnny Cueto, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports (Insider subscription required).  It’s no secret that Arizona has been targeting pitching this offseason, as they’ve been linked to such names as Shelby Miller, Yovani Gallardo and John Lackey on the trade and free agency fronts.  Those pitchers carry a much lower price tag than Cueto would on the open market, however, and it would be surprising to see the mid-market Snakes make a big splurge on the type of nine-figure contract it would take to land Cueto.
  • The Dodgers aren’t likely to trade Yasiel Puig this offseason since his potential is still so high, his contract is reasonably priced and he brings some right-handed hitting balance to an L.A. outfield full of left-handed bats, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times writes.  The Dodgers would also be selling low on Puig in the wake of his disappointing 2015 season.
  • Olney also addresses the Puig situation in his previously-linked column, reporting that Dodgers upper management “is much more open to the idea of moving Puig than they would’ve been, say, 18 months ago.”  If Puig is really a clubhouse problem, Olney feels the Dodgers should cut their losses and trade him this winter, since they’re one of the few teams with the financial muscle to not have to worry about getting the best possible return back for a sell-low player.
  • The trades of Craig Kimbrel and Joaquin Benoit would seem to open the door for Brandon Maurer to take on a bigger late-game role in the Padres bullpen, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes.  The Padres are reportedly looking to add a mid-range bullpen arm, though Lin notes that the team could simply keep Maurer in relief to address that need.  The team hasn’t closed the door on shifting Maurer back to starting pitching, however, since the Padres have rotation needs both this year and in coming seasons.
  • Also from Lin, he reports that the Padres are in talks with Mark McGwire about the ex-slugger becoming the team’s new bench coach, with a source calling McGwire “a very strong candidate for the job.”  McGwire is currently the Dodgers’ hitting coach, though his role with that club is up in the air as they search for a new manager.  Lin reports that the Diamondbacks were also considering McGwire as their new hitting coach but McGwire took himself out of consideration for that position.  Ron Gardenhire had previously been linked to San Diego’s bench coach job, though it now appears as though if he was to join the club, it would be in a front office capacity rather than in the dugout.

Diamondbacks Designate Allen Webster

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The Diamondbacks have designated righty Allen Webster for assignment, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports on Twitter. Righties Jake Barrett and Matt Koch will take up 40-man roster spots along with outfielder Gabby Guerrero, Piecoro adds on Twitter.

Webster, of course, was an important part of the deal that sent Wade Miley to the Red Sox. Unlike the other young righty acquired in that deal, Rubby De La Rosa, he hasn’t shown the ability to transition into a MLB pitcher.

The 25-year-old owns a 6.13 ERA over 120 1/3 total MLB innings, with a miserable 5.7 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9. It’s probably fair to call this past season his worst as a professional, as Webster walked more batters than he struck out in the majors and was bombed for 70 earned runs in his 77 Triple-A frames. Notably, also, his average fastball velocity at the major league level is nearly three miles per hour slower than it was with the Red Sox in 2013.

Nevertheless, there ought to be more than one club with interest in attempting to turn things around for the still-young hurler.

Free Agent Notes: Cespedes, Lackey, Asdrubal, Oh

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ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick has a fascinating new column on the lengths to which Yoenis Cespedes’ agents at CAA and Roc Nation Sports have gone to market the outfielder to clubs. Cespedes’ representatives have distributed a roughly 100-page, cloth-covered book entitled “52 Reviews” (a hat tip to Cesepedes’ jersey number) that contains testimonials from managers, coaches, teammates, executives and media members on Cespedes. The book also has a video player embedded on the inside cover which plays a highlight reel set to music. (One can only hope it is as majestic as Cespedes’ initial 20-minute showcase video as an amateur.) While Crasnick notes that such materials don’t necessarily provide increasingly analytic teams with any data of which they were previously unaware, one assistant GM offered an interesting take on the book’s purpose: “I think the agents are hoping these things will find a way into hands of the owners and have an impact on people who are writing the checks. And it’s such a cutthroat industry, the agents want to make it 100 percent clear they’re doing everything they can and more than the next guy will do.” Crasnick spoke to officials who are familiar with Cespedes that downplayed any clubhouse concerns and also talked with CAA head Brodie Van Wagenen about the effect that “52 Reviews” has had, with Van Wagenen noting that more than anything, it has sparked dialogue about Cespedes’ talent, which is the primary purpose. Crasnick’s column is well worth checking out in full, of course.

A few more notes on the free agent market…

  • The Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Rangers, Red Sox and Dodgers have all “at least checked in” with John Lackey’s representatives, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Each of the listed teams has a well-known desire to add pitching help either via free agency or trade this winter (or, in some cases, likely both).
  • Asdrubal Cabrera is currently getting interest from four clubs, tweets SB Nations’ Chris Cotillo. The Rays aren’t believed to have ruled out a reunion, he adds, though it seems unlikely to me that Tampa Bay would not only bring Cabrera back but likely give him a raise after already acquiring Brad Miller this offseason. Miller gives the Rays an option at shortstop, and Logan Forsythe, of course, had a breakout season at second base. A Cabrera return would jam up the payroll and also push Miller into a utility role, which doesn’t make much sense after he was the key piece acquired from Seattle in exchange for Nate Karns — a quality, young right-handed starter.
  • Newsday’s Marc Carig tweets that Korean closer Seung-hwan Oh is on the Mets’ radar, but the team isn’t planning an aggressive pursuit of him at this time. New York is said to be eyeing relievers to bolster its setup core.
  • Dave Cameron of Fangraphs lists the five free agents that he would avoid this season, citing Dexter Fowler, Yovani Gallardo, Justin Upton, Jordan Zimmermann and Chris Davis as potential landmines and explaining his rationale for skepticism in each case.

Coppolella: “We Are Not Trading Freddie Freeman”

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The Braves have come under quite a bit of fire, with many stating that the team is tanking in order to accelerate its rebuild in the wake of last week’s Andrelton Simmons trade. Freddie Freeman’s name has come up in frequent trade speculation over the past week, Braves GM John Coppolella adamantly denied to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale that the Braves will even entertain the notion of trading their first baseman.

“I cannot make it any more clear: We are not trading Freddie Freeman,” Coppolella said. “We are not. I’d give my right arm before we trade Freddie Freeman. It is not happening.”

While Twitter skeptics will undoubtedly have their fun by responding to that quote saying Freeman will be traded by this coming weekend, that type of on-record, absolutist statement is rare for a top-ranking baseball ops exec to make. (For instance, there’s a misconception that A’s president Billy Beane said last offseason that he wouldn’t trade Josh Donaldson, but the comments pertaining to Donaldson were made by an anonymous team official.)

Of course, a team could still completely bowl the Braves over with a trade proposal for Freeman that would put Coppolella and president of baseball operations John Hart in a tough position, but the strong likelihood in light of a statement of this magnitude is that Freeman will indeed remain in Atlanta. The reason for hanging onto Freeman, Coppolella explains, is that the “tanking” crowd has a fundamental misunderstanding of the Braves’ intentions.

“If we truly were going to tank, we wouldn’t have had [Erick] Aybar come back in the [Simmons] trade,” said Coppolella. “If we were trying to tank, we wouldn’t have signed A.J. Pierzynski. If we were trying to tank, we would have traded [Cameron] Maybin at the deadline last year, and we had plenty of offers.”

Coppolella maintains that the Braves strongly want to win in the near future and urges critics not to judge the results of the trades immediately upon their completion but rather to wait a couple of years. The Atlanta GM acknowledges that his club won’t win 100-plus games in 2016 but voices a strong belief that the team can win more next season than it did in 2015.

While Coppolella is adamant that there’s a method to all of the Braves’ perceived madness and staunchly rejects the idea of trading Freeman, Nightengale does write that further trades from Atlanta could be on the horizon. The team still hopes to shed the contracts of Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn — two players acquired to accelerate the alleviation of the financial burden that Chris Johnson’s contract had presented — and a strong offer for Maybin could pry him away from Atlanta as well.

Likewise, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reported tonight that the Diamondbacks and Braves had discussions about Shelby Miller, but the D-Backs balked at the asking price, which Rosenthal says would’ve come from Arizona’s big league roster and could have been standout center fielder A.J. Pollock (links to Rosenthal on Twitter).

AL East Notes: Boxberger, McGee, Yankees, O’s, Blue Jays

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Rays relievers Jake McGee and Brad Boxberger are two of the more coveted relief arms on the trade market, and ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports that the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Nationals are among the interested teams (Twitter link). The Astros and Tigers have also been listed as possible suitors for Tampa Bay’s excellent eighth/ninth-inning duo. The left-handed McGee, 29, is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $4.7MM this offseason. The right-handed Boxberger, 27, is not yet arbitration eligible. Both have seen significant time in the ninth inning over the past two seasons, as McGee collected 25 saves from 2014-15, and Boxberger led the AL with 41 saves in 2015. McGee seems like the more obvious trade candidate, on paper, due to his projected 2016 salary, but Boxberger’s first-year arbitration price could be huge if he serves as manager Kevin Cash’s primary closer in 2016 and racks up 35 to 40 more saves. The Rays could simply elect to hold the pair as well; spending a combined $5.2MM or so for the pair certainly isn’t exorbitant, though it’s hard to envision both relievers in the mix beyond 2016, as they’ll probably be too expensive a pairing after next winter’s arb raises.

A few more notes from the AL East…

  • Ken Davidoff of the New York Post writes that Yankees GM Brian Cashman should be worrying about regression from players like Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez when constructing the roster this winter. Cashman said last week at the GM Meetings that his goal is to “upgrade our roster and not worry about regression on certain guys,” but Davidoff notes that it would be exceptionally risky to bank on Teixeira and A-Rod repeating both the health and the production they displayed in 2015, reminding how greatly they outperformed their preseason projections.
  • Filling all of the holes on the Orioles’ roster is a near-impossible task for GM Dan Duquette without a significant payroll hike, writes Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com. Melewski points out that after Matt Wieters surprisingly accepted a qualifying offer last Friday, the team now has $57.6MM committed to four players — Wieters, J.J. Hardy, Adam Jones and Ubaldo Jimenez — plus $34.9MM worth of arbitration salaries (based on MLBTR’s projections). That places the Orioles at $92.5MM without even factoring in league-minimum players to round out the roster. Melewski uses Chris Davis and Alex Gordon as highly theoretical examples of players that could be brought in as major offseason signings (or, in Davis’ case, a re-signing), noting that that pair alone could cause Baltimore’s payroll to soar over $135MM while still leaving holes in the rotation and bullpen. Duquette has hinted that a payroll increase is certainly possible; over the weekend he discussed having the resources to not only re-sign Davis but also to bring in a No. 2 or No. 3 starter. The O’s opened the 2015 season with a $119MM payroll.
  • The Blue Jays’ entire coaching staff will return in 2016 after agreeing to new contracts, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Davidi notes that the news isn’t necessarily a surprise, as Shapiro said during his recent introductory press conference that the entire staff had been invited back, but the finalization of the contracts is nonetheless noteworthy.
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