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Rosenthal On Hammel, Pirates, Tigers, Gomez

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Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports points out that Jason Hammel has outperformed Jeremy Guthrie so far this season. The right-handers were traded for one another this offseason (with Matt Lindstrom also going to the Orioles) and Hammel has pitched well for Baltimore, while Guthrie is on Colorado’s disabled list. Here are more notes from Rosenthal:

  • Some considered Hammel a “passive competitor,” but Dan Duquette and the Orioles viewed him as a dependable innings eater. Hammel, 29, has a 1.73 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 through 26 innings for his new team.
  • Though Yankees GM Brian Cashman says his team did more background work than ever before acquiring Michael Pineda from Seattle, one rival executive says his club grew concerned. The right-hander showed diminished velocity in his final start of the 2011 season after struggling in the second half. Pineda will miss the 2012 season with a shoulder injury.
  • The Pirates aren’t scoring many runs, but rival executives like the trio of Alex Presley, Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutchen at the top of Pittsburgh's order, Rosenthal writes.
  • Tigers starters other than Justin Verlander and Drew Smyly have struggled so far this year, and rival executives expect Detroit to make a strong push for rotation help by the July trade deadline.
  • Brewers GM Doug Melvin told Rosenthal that Carlos Gomez would generate approximately as much interest as Yoenis Cespedes if you put him in a tryout camp. Gomez, who is two months younger than Cespedes, could be a late-bloomer, Melvin said.

Tigers Notes: Scherzer, Jackson, Inge

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The Orioles no-hit the Tigers on this date in 1967, but Detroit walked ten times and still managed a 2-1 win. Here are some Tigers-related notes to begin the week before tonight's game against the Royals…

  • Tigers manager Jim Leyland hinted that the Tigers could option Max Scherzer to the minor leagues for a time if his struggles continue. "There are always choices," the skipper said, according to Lynn Henning of the Detroit News. Scherzer has a 7.77 ERA with 10.0 K/9 and 4.8 BB/9 five starts into the season.
  • Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press says the three-way trade that sent Curtis Granderson  to New York for Scherzer, Austin Jackson and Daniel Schlereth “remains in the best long-range interests of the Tigers” because they cashed in their best trade chip for players with star potential.
  • Leyland says the Tigers need to get Scherzer going, according to Sharp. "There's no question about that,” Leyland said. “I'm not mad at him. I love the guy. But it's just the facts. We need to get him going.”
  • Longtime Tiger Brandon Inge is expected to join the Athletics in Boston today, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Inge agreed to terms with the A's yesterday.

Cafardo On Balfour, Hanrahan, Angels, Twins, Myers

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Older ballplayers are showing a lot of life so far this season, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  Veterans Paul Konerko, Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, and Jamie Moyer have all looked sharp in the month of April.  Ortiz lost 25 pounds to get himself into shape for this season and plans to keep up the hard work as he hopes to play for another two seasons.  Here's more from Cafardo..

  • The Angels have inquired on A’s pitcher Grant Balfour and he is becoming one of the more sought-after bullpen pieces.  The Halos have also shown interest in Joel Hanrahan of the Pirates and the Mariners' Brandon League, but Balfour seems the most logical.
  • If the Twins don’t turn things around by the trade deadline, Carl Pavano will be a highly sought-after pitcher.  The right-hander is earning $8.5MM in the final year of his contract and has limited no-trade protection. Jason Marquis, Matt Capps, and Francisco Liriano could also be used as chips to land prospects.
  • Teams probably have their eye on Astros right-hander Brett Myers.  Many teams, such as the Angels and Red Sox, could use the 31-year-old’s arm right now.  He has also shown that he can pitch in a big market with his time in Philadelphia.
  • If Tigers outfielder Delmon Young is convicted of a hate crime, it will be interesting to see whether the the club void his contract. They would be within their rights to do so under the collective bargaining agreement.  The 26-year-old earns $6.75MM this year and can become a free agent after the season.
  • The A's are a good bet to land Brandon Inge.
  • Most baseball people feel there’s no way the Red Sox let Aaron Cook hit the open market by not calling him up May 1.  The 33-year-old will earn the prorated portion of $1.5MM if he is called up to the majors.

Quick Hits: Young, Cook, Dodgers, Cashman, Beltran

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It was on this day in 1956 that Frank Robinson hit his first Major League home run, en route to 586 career homers and a legacy as one of baseball's all-time greats.  Today, the Orioles are honoring Robinson with a statue at Camden Yards that will be unveiled before tonight's game with the A's.

Some notes from around the Majors…

  • The Reds have made it a priority to establish a strong bond with their fans — and hopefully increase attendance — by retaining popular players like Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips, explains Tyler Kepner of the New York Times.
  • Former Expos/Nationals closer Chad Cordero told reporters, including Bill Ladson of MLB.com, that he'd like to make a comeback next season (Twitter link).
  • Delmon Young could be activated from the Tigers' restricted list by Tuesday or possibly even Monday night depending on the outcome of his evaluation by a counselor on Monday, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told reporters, including Chris Iott of MLive.com.  If Young is judged to require treatment for anger management and/or alcohol abuse, however, he would be sidelined for an indeterminate amount of time.
  • Bobby Valentine told reporters (including WEEI.com's Rob Bradford) that the Red Sox are considering using Aaron Cook as a reliever.  Cook can opt out of his contract if he is not called up to Boston's Major League roster by May 1 and the Sox have no clear spot for Cook in the rotation.  Cook has made just one relief appearance in the last eight seasons but recently said he's open to the idea.
  • There's no language in Cook's contract that would preclude a trade, notes Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal, although he adds there's no reason to think the Red Sox would want to do that (via Twitter).
  • The sale of the Dodgers to the Magic Johnson/Stan Kasten/Mark Walter ownership group is expected to be closed by Monday, reports Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
  • "This is a massive decision gone wrong right now," Yankees GM Brian Cashman told ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews in regards to the Michael Pineda/Jesus Montero deal and Pineda's subsequent season-ending shoulder injury.  "So all scrutiny is fair….Our fans are right to be upset about this. I'm devastated by it," Cashman said.
  • Besides the Cardinals, Carlos Beltran said the Indians pursued him the hardest in the offseason, reports FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter).  Beltran said he ultimately chose to sign with St. Louis because he wanted to play for the World Series champions and remain in the National League.
  • The Brewers have transferred Chris Narveson to the 60-day DL and called up reliever Vinnie Chulk to take Narveson's spot on the 40-man roster, the team announced via Twitter.  Mike McClendon was optioned to Triple-A in another corresponding move.  Narveson will undergo shoulder surgery on Tuesday that will sideline him for the rest of the 2012 season.

MLBTR's Dan Mennella contributed to this post.

Tigers Release Brandon Inge

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The Tigers announced that they've released infielder Brandon Inge (Twitter link). Detroit will call up Brad Eldred to take Inge's place on the active roster.

Inge, the Tigers' primary third baseman for much of the past eight seasons, was the team's longest tenured player. However, the Tigers didn't have an obvious role for him after signing Prince Fielder and moving Miguel Cabrera to third base. The ever-versatile Inge learned second base this Spring Training, earning praise from his bosses for his defensive work. However, he has just two hits in 20 trips to the plate so far this season and he posted a .548 OPS last year, so the Tigers weren't getting much from him on offense. 

Inge, an All-Star in 2009, has two 27-homer seasons to his name. He has considerable MLB experience at third, catcher and center field, plus recent experience as a second baseman. I'd be surprised if teams view him as anything but a third baseman, though. Inge will earn $5.5MM this season and his contract includes a $6MM club option ($500K) buyout for 2012.

Inge made it clear that he wants to continue playing, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com (via Twitter). Any team that signs him would only owe him a pro-rated portion of the MLB minimum for the remainder of the season. Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com first reported the news (Twitter links).

AL Central Notes: Royals, Tigers, Humber

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Adam Dunn (.916 OPS) and Alex Rios (.934 OPS) are off to strong starts for the 10-6 White Sox. If Dunn and Rios keep this up, their team may be much more interesting than most pundits expected. Here are the latest links from the AL Central…

  • Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star takes a long look at the Royals and points out that their abundance of minor league talent hasn't yet translated into a compelling on-field product. The Royals "deserve every bit of venom you can muster for a franchise that’s been a ubiquitous letdown for most of the last two decades," Mellinger writes. The team is in the midst of an 11-game losing streak and has started to pull back some of its "Our Time" marketing. “We’ve got to win games," GM Dayton Moore said. "Because we can’t lose our fans for the summer.”
  • Dave Cameron of FanGraphs suggests the Royals resemble a .500 team much more than it seems at first glance.
  • The Tigers announced that they have transferred right-hander Al Alburquerque to the 60-day DL. The move opens up a 40-man roster spot for Detroit.
  • Tom Verducci of SI.com points out that Philip Humber, author of the 21st perfect game in MLB history, is in many ways every general manager's dream. The White Sox didn't have to pay for the right-hander's signing bonus or wait for him to recover from Tommy John surgery, but they’ve developed him into a valuable MLB starter. White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper told Verducci that he and Humber kept things relatively simple. "What we tried to do was tap into his best asset: his stuff," Cooper said.
  • Cameron explained Humber’s evolution as a pitcher at FanGraphs yesterday. The 29-year-old has been using his slider effectively and his fastball velocity is up.

Quick Hits: Rays, Inge, Red Sox, Indians

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On this day in 1997, the Yankees traded Ruben Rivera, Rafael Medina, and $3MM to the Padres for players to be named later, Homer Bush, and minor leaguer Gordon Amerson.  A little more than a month later, the Padres later sent Hideki Irabu to the Yankees as one of the PTBNLs to complete the deal.  Here's a look at today's links..

Dombrowski On Avila, Pudge, V-Mart

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Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski joined Jim Bowden and Casey Stern of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this afternoon.  Here are a few highlights from Dombrowski's appearance…

  • When asked about signing Alex Avila to a multiyear contract, Dombrowski hinted that the team will wait until the offseason before deciding about extensions for the Tigers' young stars.  "We've got a lot of guys who are in that two-to-three year [of service time] group.  You need to look at your whole group and see how things fit.  You're probably talking about a lot of guys that warrant those type of long-term deals," Dombrowski said, citing Avila along with Brennan Boesch, Doug Fister, Austin Jackson, Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer.  "For us right now we're in a situation where we're very comfortable to go throughout the year and we can address those situations as we approach the wintertime."
  • The recently-retired Ivan Rodriguez holds "a special place in the hearts" of the Tigers front office.  Rodriguez signed with the Tigers in the 2003-04 offseason, going from the World Series champion Marlins to a Detroit team coming off an AL-record 119 losses.  Dombrowski credits the Rodriguez signing as the first move that helped return the club to respectability. 
  • From Bowden's Twitter account, Dombrowski said that Victor Martinez could possibly return to action in August or September based on his latest medicals.  Martinez suffered a torn ACL in January that was expected to cost him the entire 2012 season, and also spurred the Tigers' acquisition of Prince Fielder.

Minor Moves: Pettit, Hester, Miner

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We'll keep track of the day's minor (and Miner) moves right here…

  • The Mariners have signed outfielder Chris Pettit to a minor league deal, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnicktweets. Pettit, who has MLB experience with the Angels, was released by the Dodgers at the end of Spring Training.
  • The Orioles released minor league catcher John Hester, Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com tweets. Baltimore’s Norfolk affiliate let Hester go to create roster space for the recently claimed Luis Exposito.
  • The Tigers have acquired right-hander Zach Miner from the Royals, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star tweets. The Royals confirmed the deal, noting that they'll obtain cash for Miner (Twitter link). The 30-year-old pitched in the Royals' minor league system last year after pitching for the Tigers from 2006-09. Miner has a 4.24 ERA with 5.5 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 as a big leaguer, but posted a 5.26 ERA with 5.9 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 as a minor leaguer in 2011.

Top First-Time Arbitration Eligible Catchers For 2013

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Carlos Santana and Jonathan Lucroy recently signed extensions, but some other catchers are on track for year to year raises through arbitration. Three of the game's top young backstops will be arbitration eligible for the first time following the 2012 season. Matt Wieters, Alex Avila, Buster Posey are well-positioned for 2013 salaries in excess of $2MM if they stay healthy this year.

Matt Wieters - Orioles (PW)

Deals from long ago, players from different service classes and long-term extensions won't generally have sway in the arbitration cases for players such as Wieters, Avila and Posey who determine salaries year to year. Catchers are typically self-contained in arbitration, meaning players at other positions don't figure into the discussion most of the time. For comps to have pull with agents (and the MLBPA) and teams (and the Labor Relations Department), they have to be recent and relevant.

What's relevant? First-time eligible catchers who agreed to one-year deals via the arbitration system provide the framework within which the salaries for Wieters, Avila and Posey will be determined. Reaching back more than five years would be pushing it, which further limits the selection of comparables. Many top catchers (Brian McCann, Yadier Molina) signed long-term deals and other potentially comparable catchers like A.J. Pierzynski went to arbitration long ago (post-2003). These cases aren't centrally important to Wieters, Avila and Posey.

We're left with the Arb-1 salaries for Russell Martin ($3.9MM), Geovany Soto ($3MM), Nick Hundley ($2MM), Miguel Montero ($2MM) and Mike Napoli ($2MM). Each of those settlements came within the last five years and could help determine the earnings for this offseason's first-time eligible backstops. Before signing his first extension, Joe Mauer and the Twins exchanged arbitration submissions and arrived at a $3.9MM midpoint ($4.5MM vs. $3.3MM). Those six-year-old filing numbers could also figure in to next winter's cases.

Posey didn't play after a gruesome home-plate collision ended his season last May, so there's no way he'll measure up to players such as Avila, Wieters, Soto and Martin in terms of bulk stats like games, plate appearances and RBI. Posey resembles Soto, another NL Rookie of the Year winner, on a per-game basis, but he probably won't catch up to the Cubs backstop in terms of counting stats.

With a full season, Posey should have better bulk numbers than Hundley, Napoli and Montero did as first-time eligible catchers. Each member of that trio obtained $2MM their first time through the arbitration process, so a salary in the $2-3MM range is within reach for Posey.

If Avila plays in 104 games, makes 470 plate appearances, hits 23 homers and drives in 69 this season, he’ll have matched the career stats Soto had as a first-time eligible player. Avila could match Martin in homers, and a better platform year is within reach. But in terms of most significant counting stats, Avila won't measure up to Wieters and Martin, the record holder for first-time eligible catchers. Still, Avila's similarity to Soto should set him up for a comparable payday in the $3MM range.

Wieters will have distinguished himself from $2MM catchers such as Hundley, Montero, Napoli and John Buck by the time the season ends. In fact, it's not hard to argue that he has already done so. The switch hitter currently compares well with Soto's post-2010 career numbers despite his relative inexperience. He'll match Soto's career numbers with eight more homers and 21 RBI, but the Cubs backstop had a better career batting line. Even so, $3MM seems quite attainable for Wieters.

With a healthy season, Wieters would surpass some of the numbers Martin had as a first-time eligible player. The Orioles catcher is on track to have more games, plate appearances and RBI than Martin did when he set his record after the 2008 season. And Wieters' bulk numbers are already superior to those Mauer had as a first-time eligible player. However, Wieters doesn't offer Martin's speed or the batting average and on-base percentage that Martin and Mauer both had. Wieters' 2013 salary could be closer to $4MM than it is to $3MM, but it's unreasonable to expect him to break any records just yet.

These informal projections could change quickly. As Posey knows all too well, injuries can interrupt seasons and limit bargaining power. Playing time is one of the most important determinants of a hitter's salary, so these three catchers must stay healthy to remain on track. If all goes well, their salaries will climb above $2MM following the 2012 season.

Photo courtesy of US Presswire.

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