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Injury Notes: Meadows, Lorenzen, Kopech, Boesch

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Pirates prospect Austin Meadows had surgery to fix an orbital fracture, Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. He will return to action in an estimated six to eight weeks. The injury occurred earlier this spring, when Meadows got hit by a ball while playing catch. MLB.com currently ranks Meadows the Pirates’ second-best prospect. After batting .307/.357/.407 for Class A+ Bradenton last year, Meadows will likely begin his 2016 season at Double-A Altoona, at least after he’s finished with any rehab assignments. Here are more quick injury notes.

  • Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen was examined earlier this week by Dr. Timothy Kremchek earlier this week, and he will not throw for “another couple of weeks,” MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon tweets. Lorenzen was previously diagnosed with a mild UCL sprain. He had been set to compete for a job in the Reds’ currently injury-riddled rotation. The 24-year-old Lorenzen posted a 5.40 ERA, 6.6 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 113 1/3 innings in his rookie season with the Reds last year.
  • Red Sox prospect Michael Kopech had a screw inserted into his right hand Tuesday to stabilize a fracture he suffered while fighting with a teammate, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes. He will be out about six weeks, at which point he will begin getting ready for the season. As Speier notes, 2016 will be the second straight shortened season for Kopech, who served a 50-game suspension last year for use of the stimulant Oxilofrine. The 2014 first-round pick posted a 2.63 ERA, 9.7 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 65 innings with Class A Greenville last year. He’s currently ranked the Red Sox’ fifth-best prospect.
  • Another Red Sock, outfielder Brennan Boesch, broke his wrist while attempting to make a catch on Friday, John Tomase of WEEI.com writes. Boesch’s return date is unknown. The Red Sox signed Boesch to a minor-league deal in January after he split the 2015 season between Cincinnati and Triple-A Louisville, hitting well in the minors but batting .146/.191/.202 in 94 plate appearances in the big leagues. The 30-year-old is best known for his three years of semi-regular duty with the Tigers from 2010-2012.

Market Notes: Simon, Lincecum, Harang, Jimenez, Gutierrez, Fernandez

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Before he signed on with the Reds, righty Alfredo Simon drew interest from some other organizations — which helps explains why Cincinnati ultimately gave him a guaranteed $2MM contract. Simon says that the Blue Jays were one team with interest, as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon tweets. And the Marlins also reached out, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, though the club wasn’t willing to promise that kind of money to the veteran.

Here’s more on some market situations around the game:

  • The Marlins appear unlikely to add Tim Lincecum despite long being said to have interest in the comeback candidate, Jackson adds in the above-linked piece. Miami expects the price will be too steep for him, too. The Fish are not being particularly aggressive in attempting to fill in for injured reliever Carter Capps, Jackson adds.
  • Righty Aaron Harang is “not planning to pitch this season,” according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link), though he’s also apparently not quite ready to sign his retirement papers. Harang is leaving open the possibility that he’ll change his mind, per the report. That could suggest that the 37-year-old would entertain an appealing opportunity, but he presumably wasn’t interested in taking a minor league offer to compete for a job in camp. Harang had a tough season last year with the Phillies, but is only one campaign removed from posting a 3.57 ERA over 204 1/3 frames for the Braves.
  • The Astros are among a few clubs taking a look at out-of-options Blue Jays catcher A.J. Jimenez, the Houston Chronicle’s Jose de Jesus Ortiz reports (via Twitter). Jimenez, 25, hasn’t yet cracked the majors and hasn’t done much at the plate in the upper minors while dealing with a string of injuries. But he’s a former top-30 Baseball America organizational prospect, and is said to be a high-quality defender. Houston, of course, has a need with Max Stassi sidelined by wrist surgery, and Toronto doesn’t appear to have any inclination to put Jimenez onto the active roster.
  • Cuban free agent Vladimir Gutierrez has re-established some of his lost sheen with an impressive recent showcase outing, Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper reports (subscription required and recommended). The 20-year-old has gone unsigned despite his strong prospect pedigree, with Cooper explaining that he’s churned through three agencies while struggling to show the same ability that first drew scouts to him in his homeland. In his most recent outing, Gutierrez touched the mid-90s with his fastball, showed a return to his typically excellent curve, and even demonstrated progress with his change, according to the report. He remains eligible to sign at any time, though he will still be subject to international bonus pools.
  • Speaking of international matters, the Padres have long been expected to make some big investments in the coming months. Cuban second baseman Jose Fernandez may well be a leading name that will head to San Diego, according to a recent report from Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com (Twitter link). Fernandez reportedly left the island in search of a major league opportunity, though he has apparently not yet been granted free agency. Of course, recent rule changes could significantly impact his timeline. Fernandez, 27, is viewed as being more or less ready for major league action, and he could constitute a significant near and long-term addition for a Padres organization that lacks much certainty in the infield.

Reds To Sign Alfredo Simon To Major League Deal

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1:15pm: MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports that Simon receives a $2MM base salary on the deal and can take home another $1.5MM worth of incentives (Twitter link).

11:01am: The Reds and right-hander Alfredo Simon are in agreement on a Major League contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). The MVP Sports client will return to the Reds, where he pitched from 2012-14 before being traded to the Tigers in exchange for Eugenio Suarez and minor league righty Jonathon Crawford.

Alfredo Simon

Simon, 35 in May, tallied 345 innings and a 3.16 ERA in his three years with the Reds, averaging 6.3 strikeouts and 2.7 walks per nine innings pitched to go along with a 48.5 percent ground-ball rate. Simon spent the first two years of his Reds tenure in the bullpen, but he made the jump to the rotation in 2014 and yielded better results than perhaps even the most optimistic expectations could’ve predicted. Simon made the first All-Star team of his career at the age of 33 that season, pitching to a 3.44 ERA in 196 2/3 innings. The outstanding work was enough to pique the Tigers’ trade interest and convince Detroit to cede a pair of intriguing young players for the final year of Simon’s club control.

Simon’s excellent season in ’14, though, looked to be largely smoke and mirrors, even at the time. The veteran benefited greatly from a minuscule .232 BABIP and 85 percent strand rate in the first half — neither of which appeared to make his 2.70 first-half ERA sustainable. That production did indeed prove too much to maintain, as Simon’s BABIP regressed to .309 in the second half, and his ERA after the break was a more pedestrian 4.52.

None of that, however, is to say that Simon can’t provide on-field value to the Reds’ pitching staff in 2016. (His off-field history, on the other hand, is a separate and lengthy issue.) The right-hander struggled to a 5.05 ERA with the Tigers last season, but that was partly due to a dip in strikeout rate and an increased walk rate. A move back to the NL could aid both of those factors, and despite the lackluster ERA, it has to be noted that Simon still racked up 187 innings in the Detroit rotation in what was another healthy year in the rotation. Making roughly 30 starts and delivering an ERA in the low- to mid-4.00 range would still be a boost to an uncertain Reds staff.

Indeed, Cincinnati has upside but also plenty of question marks beyond right-handers Anthony DeSclafani and Raisel Iglesias, so there’s certainly cause to add some depth in the form of Simon. While the club has a number of interesting young arms — Robert Stephenson, Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb, Michael Lorenzen and Cody Reed, to name a few — it’s difficult to rely on such an unproven mix to round out the rotation. That’s especially true in light of a UCL sprain for Lorenzen and a delayed start to the year for Lamb, who is recovering from offseason back surgery. The Reds, of course, also have veteran Homer Bailey on the mend from Tommy John surgery, but he figures to miss at least a couple of months this season as he works his way back, so there’s no telling exactly how many innings the club can receive from him.

Simon’s late start might mean that he won’t quite be ready to step into the Opening Day rotation, but even if that’s the case, it’s easy enough to see him jumping into the starting mix by the middle of next month and providing a stabilizing presence to an otherwise youthful staff. The Reds needn’t make a 40-man roster move to accommodate the addition of Simon, as that roster will stand at just 39 players, even after Simon’s return is finalized.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Reds Release Carlos Contreras

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The Reds have released right-handed reliever Carlos Contreras, tweets Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Buchanan further notes that Contreras had been placed on waivers upon being optioned to the minors earlier in the week, and he subsequently cleared, paving the way for his release. The team’s 40-man roster now stands at 38 players.

Contreras, 25, has spent parts of the past two seasons in the Cincinnati ’pen, compiling a 5.51 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against a more troublesome 7.0 BB/9 across 47 1/3 innings. The 5’11”, 215-pound right-hander has averaged nearly 93 mph on his heater in that time, and he missed plenty of bats at the Triple-A level last season, albeit with the same lack of control he’s displayed in the Majors. In 39 2/3 innings with Triple-A Louisville in 2015, Contreras posted a 55-to-30 K/BB ratio to complement a strong 2.95 ERA.

Baseball America previously ranked Contreras as highly as seventh among Reds farmhands. Their scouting report that year, prior to the 2014 campaign, praised his plus fastball and changeup, also noting an improved slider that gave him a chance to remain in the rotation. However, BA also noted that Cabrera’s arm action led to control problems that could impact his future, and clearly those concerns have diminished his contributions to this point.

It’s unclear at this time what prompted the Reds to release Contreras rather than keep him in the minor leagues. It seems possible that an overseas club had some interest in Contreras, given his quality ERA and strikeout marks in the upper minors. If that’s not the case, Contreras will look to latch on with another organization. Having just turned 25 in January, Contreras would figure to pique the interest of other teams on a minors contract.

Injury Notes: Ryu, McCullers, Lorenzen, Arroyo, Weaver, Wieters

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Dodgers lefty Hyun-jin Ryu will likely not be able to get up to speed in time to participate in any spring action, manager Dave Roberts tells reporters, including Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). Ryu had hoped to make his way back to big league action by May, but the skipper says that timetable is now “unrealistic.” Needless to say, the Dodgers were hoping that Ryu’s shoulder would respond better, and he represents one of several notable question marks for the big-budget club.

Here are some more notes on some injury situations around the game:

  • Exciting young Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. will open the year on the DL, manager A.J. Hinch said today, as Richard Justice of MLB.com was among those to tweet. He, too, has dealt with shoulder issues, though hopefully not as severe as those that drove Ryu to surgery. Houston has options to step in, including Doug Fister, Scott Feldman, and Mike Fiers, and will surely be cautious in handling the 22-year-old, who upped his career-high annual innings tally by over fifty frames last season.
  • The Reds are hopeful that one of their young hurlers, Michael Lorenzen, can stave off Tommy John surgery after an MRI revealed a mild UCL sprain, Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Lorenzen will need to rest and almost certainly won’t open the season in the rotation, but it seems that he was rather fortunate not to find a more significant injury after experiencing soreness for some time this spring.
  • Nationals right-hander Bronson Arroyo was scratched from his start today with shoulder soreness, as James Wagner of the Washington Post reports. For now, the 39-year-old will rest and see how it responds, but any absence certainly puts a dent in his hopes of beating out Tanner Roark and Joe Ross for a rotation gig. Arroyo, who signed a minor-league deal full of incentives if he makes the majors, had some work done in his shoulder when he was out for Tommy John surgery, according to skipper Dusty Baker.
  • Meanwhile, Angels righty Jered Weaver dismissed any thought that he wouldn’t be prepared to open the year, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. Recent medical evaluations don’t seem to offer many clues as to the reason for his precipitous velocity decline. Manager Mike Scioscia wasn’t quite as conclusive as the righty as to his availability out of camp, stressing that the organization was taking things one step at a time, but did suggest that Weaver will have every opportunity to try to perform on the hill.
  • Orioles catcher Matt Wieters seems to be clear of any structural concerns in his right elbow, as MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli reports. In an update to that story, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com notes that Dr. James Andrews concurred with the organization’s doctors. For now, then, Wieters will work on eliminating any discomfort before getting back to work behind the dish.

Injury Notes: Lorenzen, Wilson, Giants, Cardinals

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Reds right-hander Michael Lorenzen recently sat out a few days after due to tenderness in his right elbow, and while an ultrasound initially came back clean, Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Lorenzen experienced a setback when playing catch yesterday and will now undergo an MRI. The severity of the injury won’t be known until the Reds announce the results of the MRI, but clearly it’s troubling news for the team and the 24-year-old Lorenzen — one of Cincinnati’s most promising young arms. Lorenzen, formerly selected 38th overall in the 2013 draft, debuted with the Reds and pitched 113 1/3 innings for the Reds last season. While Lorenzen’s 5.40 ERA ultimately didn’t impress, the righty does own a strong 2.83 ERA in 184 2/3 career minor league innings.

More on some troublesome injuries around the league…

  • Angels lefty C.J. Wilson suffered another setback in his recovery from shoulder pain, and his status for the first month or two of the season is “in question,” reports Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. Wilson felt discomfort in his shoulder after a bullpen session on Saturday and will only play catch on flat ground for the time being. A date hasn’t been set for another bullpen session, per manager Mike Scioscia, who simply said, “He’ll be ready when he’s ready.” Wilson is slated to earn $20MM this season in the final year of a five-year, $77.5MM contract signed prior to the 2012 season. His 2015 season came to an end when he underwent surgery to remove bone spurs in his elbow.
  • Giants prospect Ian Gardeck will require Tommy John surgery to fix a torn ligament in his elbow, tweets Carl Steward of the Bay Area News Group. The right-handed reliever wasn’t likely to factor into the Giants’ plans in 2016, having spent the 2015 season at Class-A Advanced, but his loss is a hit to the club’s farm, as he ranked 17th among Giants farmhands, per Baseball America. BA noted that Gardeck overcame alarming control problems in 2015 and could move quickly through the system thanks to his newfound ability to spot his upper-90s fastball (which touches 100 mph at its best). San Francisco added him to its 40-man roster this offseason after a 3.54 ERA, 10.8 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 86 1/3 innings last season.
  • Jhonny Peralta’s timeline to return to the Cardinals after thumb surgery is set at 10 to 12 weeks, writes ESPN’s Mark Saxon. That was the initial timeline came with his injury, though reports at the time of his surgical procedure speculated that a return closer to the All-Star break was possible. Rather, the 10- to 12-week period would set Peralta up for a return in late May or mid June, barring setbacks in his recovery. Peralta tells Saxon that he’s listening to advice from teammate Yadier Molina, who had a similar injury in each of the past two seasons. Speaking of Molina, Saxon notes that he took batting practice for the first time on Monday, though his Opening Day status remains uncertain.

Walt Jocketty On Reds’ Offseason, Rebuild

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Reds president of baseball operations Walt Jocketty sat down with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports this weekend to discuss his club’s rebuild. The entire column is well worth checking out, but perhaps the most interesting component of the interview is that Jocketty said the Reds aren’t necessarily entering a full tear-down of the organization and are instead aiming for more of a short-term retooling. Jocketty explained that he feels the team will be more competitive in 2016 than most pundits expect, and he implied that the club isn’t necessarily going to ship out all of its big league assets this summer as the trade deadline nears.

“We didn’t want to take it too far back,” Jocketty told Rosenthal. “[Devin] Mesoraco is still young (27) and under control. Same with [Billy] Hamilton. We didn’t want to do a complete teardown and rebuild. This was more of a transition and an attempt to retool and add to what we have.”

That line of thinking, said Jocketty, is what prompted the Reds to target players at the upper levels of the minor leagues as opposed to lower-level players with higher ceilings. Regarding the 2016 roster, Jocketty offered high praise for Eugenio Suarez and expressed confidence that returns to health from both Mesoraco and Zack Cozart will be a boon for the club’s offense. Relief pitching is Jocketty’s biggest concern at this stage, but the club will take a look at what’s available late in Spring Training to make some moves to fortify the ’pen, according to Jocketty (presumably referring to potential waiver pick-ups or veterans on minor league deals that will inevitably opt out of their current situation).

Jocketty is entering his final year as the club’s president of baseball operations, after which newly minted GM Dick Williams is in line to take over as the top decision-maker in the baseball ops department. It’s possible that a worse-than-expected performance in 2016 or differing views from Williams will lead to a change in the club’s approach, but Rosenthal notes that owner Bob Castellini has been averse to rebuilding in the past.

While the club does have a host of intriguing upper-level arms (e.g. Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb, Cody Reed, Michael Lorenzen, Robert Stephenson) to fill in the rotation behind Anthony DeSclafani, Raisel Iglesias and a hopefully healthy Homer Bailey, the pitching staff as a whole is rife with uncertainty. The outfield, too, is filled with question marks (Hamilton’s OBP struggles, Jay Bruce’s production and future with the club). That, on paper, would seem to point to further trades, but the most obvious candidates (e.g. Bruce, Brandon Phillips) come with roadblocks. Phillips vetoed a pair of trades this offseason with his 10-and-5 rights, and Bruce’s value was said to be low when the Reds nearly sent him to Toronto in a since-collapsed three-team deal. Williams recently went on-record stating that he doesn’t plan to trade Joey Votto, either (though his own no-trade clause would be an impediment anyhow), so don’t expect to see his name pop up on the rumor circuit.

Considering the division in which they play — the Cubs, Pirates and Cardinals each won 97 or more games last year — the Reds have an uphill battle should they seek to return to contention in the near term. That is Jocketty’s plainly stated goal, however, so it’ll be interesting to see how the team operates come July and next year in free agency. The Reds have just $67MM committed to the 2017 payroll — nearly $50MM less than their 2015 Opening Day payroll — so there would certainly be room to take on some salary via trades or free agency. The 2016 season, then, could be a test run to see what young players like Stephenson, Finnegan, Lamb, Reed, Scott Schebler, Jose Peraza and Jesse Winker bring to the table so the Reds know precisely where they need to fill in the remainder of the roster to take a shot at contending in 2017. They’ll need a few gems to emerge from that group in order to do so, because as it stands right now, the Reds seem further than just a year away from a return to prominence in their top-heavy division.

NL Central Notes: Freese, Votto, Murton, Brewers

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Newly signed Pirates infielder David Freese was “hungry” to join the organization, GM Neal Huntington told Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Freese spoke with Nesbitt as well, explaining that the organization’s recent surge and track record of making the postseason appealed to him when the Bucs approached. Freese added that it’s been interesting to watch the club’s rise to prominence, having seen the early stages as a member of the Cardinals. “We came to Pittsburgh early on in [2011], and then we showed up two or three months later and it was sold out,” said Freese. “I think that’s kinda when things started to change a little bit. That was an atmosphere I wanted to be a part of. To see where this organization has come the last four or five years, that’s special.” Nesbitt notes that the plan for Freese is for him to play third base while Jung Ho Kang is out for the first month of the season, and he’ll then shift across the diamond and platoon with John Jaso.

More from the NL Central…

  • The Reds have no intention of moving Joey Votto as part of their rebuild, GM Dick Williams tells MLB.com’s Barry Bloom. “Joey’s the cornerstone of our lineup right now, and [he] will be in the future,” said Williams when asked about the possibility of trading Votto. “I think the contract we have him signed to is very reasonable for a small-market team, making that kind of commitment. The way salaries have gone, it looks like a very reasonable and fair contract. … I wouldn’t say ’never,’ but having Joey in the middle of the lineup is pretty special.” Votto has eight years and $199MM remaining on his 10-year, $225MM extension. That deal also included a full no-trade clause, so the possibility of trading Votto isn’t entirely in the club’s hands anyway.
  • ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick interviews Cubs non-roster invitee Matt Murton, who returned to the team this winter on a minor league deal after six successful seasons with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Murton, who missed the first two weeks of camp recovering from an appendectomy, discusses his time in Japan and explains that he initially expected to spend just one season overseas. As Crasnick notes, though, Murton’s success led him to be one of the league’s highest-paid players, earning a bit shy of $4MM at his peak. Though that’s a relatively small sum in today’s Major League landscape, it’s significantly more than he’d earn even if he were to make the Majors. That might’ve made it tempting to stay, but Murton still has big league aspirations. “I reached a point where if I stayed there too much longer, this window was going to close,” he tells Crasnick. “My goal right now is living in the moment, competing today. I really do think I have something left. I think I can be an asset. But that’s all talk. I’ve got to get out there and do it.”
  • Brewers manager Craig Counsell chatted with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt about two of the young players they acquired in offseason trades — Jacob Nottingham and Keon Broxton. While some have questioned whether Nottingham can stick behind the plate, Counsell emphatically voiced that there is “no question” in the minds of the Brewers that Nottingham is a catcher in the long haul. He also offered high praise for the 25-year-old Broxton, who could be the early favorite to play center field for the club.

MLBTR Podcast: Reds Talk With C. Trent Rosencrans

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C. Trent Rosencrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer joins host Jeff Todd to discuss the state of the Reds. It was a fairly quiet winter, but the club still has plenty of intrigue entering the season. Among the many topics considered are Cincinnati’s offseason trades, the status of some key players looking to bounce back from injuries or under-performance, and the team’s interesting crop of young pitchers.

MLBTR’s Steve Adams then hops on the line to discuss the ramifications of early injuries around the league. While we don’t often see many notable spring swaps, the forthcoming DL stints of players like Jhonny Peralta, Brett Anderson, and Carter Capps raise questions for their respective teams.

Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link. Download this episode directly here.

The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.

AL Central Notes: Naquin, Royals, White Sox, Quentin

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Indians prospect Tyler Naquin, a former first-round pick, is positioning himself to contend for the Opening Day center field job in the wake of Michael Brantley’s injury and Abraham Almonte’s suspension, writes Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal. Manager Terry Francona explained that Naquin has caught his eye early on, though he still has plenty of work to do before he’s earned a roster spot. “The fist week, he’s been very impressive, and that’s good because you’re looking for that,” said Francona. “But I don’t think you just make your team out the first week of camp, either.” Lewis notes that while Naquin might not be as highly regarded as top organizational prospects Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier (both outfielders by trade, as well), that could actually play into Naquin’s favor in a strange way, as the team might not have the same service time reservations with him that it would have with No. 1 and 2 prospects. Naquin, 24, split the 2015 campaign between Double-A and Triple-A, batting a combined .300/.381/.446 in 378 plate appearances.

Here’s more from the AL Central…

  • While the Pirates have a reputation for making good on reclamation projects on which the club buys low, the Associated Press notes that the Royals have experienced some similar succes in recent years, pointing to signings like Chris Young, Ryan Madson and Joe Blanton as outstanding bargains. “[General manager Dayton Moore] really shows you that he wants you here and he’s going to give you every chance to prove that you still have something left,” non-roster invitee Peter Moylan told the AP. “For me, that was a big reason why I came here.” While Moore certainly deserves some credit for the outstanding value pickups, the GM praised his manager and coaching staff for their success as well. “[Manager Ned Yost] and the coaching staff embrace the players we bring into the organization,” Moore said. “They trust in the opinions of our scouts, and then the (current) players’ attitudes and mindset is everyone is in this together, so they bring guys in.” Other reclamation projects in camp with the Royals this season include right-hander Dillon Gee, outfielder Travis Snider and veteran infielder Clint Barmes.
  • The White Sox and Reds haven’t had any recent talks about Jay Bruce now that Chicago has added Austin Jackson on a one-year deal, tweets Jon Heyman. Following the addition of Jackson, the Sox are done with their pursuit of starting-caliber outfielders, Heyman notes. That would eliminate yet another suitor for Bruce, who looks increasingly likely to begin the year with the Reds now that Jackson is in Chicago and the Orioles have reportedly agreed to add Pedro Alvarez on a one-year deal (thus pushing Mark Trumbo or Chris Davis to the outfield). Earlier today, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes looked at the Jackson signing as part of his review of the White Sox’ offseason.
  • Carlos Quentin genuinely believed that his playing days were over when he announced that he planned to retire last May, he explained to Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. However, Quentin said he was surprised by how quickly his body began to feel better in his absence from playing. His knees and shoulder, both problematic in the past, returned to normal, and his agent spread the word that Quentin could seek a comeback in 2016. Interestingly, Quentin said that he received non-roster invitations based solely on his track record, but while he was flattered, he didn’t want to sign with a team until the club had seen him and he had earned the invite. “You don’t want to waste anyone’s time,” he said. The Twins offered that chance, sending a scout to watch him near his San Diego home. Hitting coach and former big leaguer Tom Brunansky, who lived nearby, also attended the workout and was impressed by Quentin’s bat speed. “They said they’re looking for a veteran presence, someone to come off the bench and give a good at-bat,” said Quentin of the Twins. “…They were honest, and I appreciate them giving me a fair shake. I said I’ll come and give it my best effort.”
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