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At Least Seven Teams Interested In Brandon McCarthy

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The Athletics, Astros, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Padres, Mariners, and Tigers are among the teams interested in free agent righty Brandon McCarthy, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.  The Rangers acquired McCarthy four years ago mainly for John Danks and Nick Masset in what I described at the time as an offer Kenny Williams couldn't refuse.  McCarthy's Rangers career was ruined by injuries, and he was outrighted and elected free agency earlier this month.

Morosi notes that McCarthy has thrown well in the Dominican Winter League, and teams have been scouting him heavily.  McCarthy has a history of shoulder injuries, but Morosi says he's subject to a "buy-low frenzy."  Since the 6'7" righty has less than five years of big league service time, he could be controlled by his new team through 2012 as an arbitration eligible player.

McCarthy, 27, posted a 3.36 ERA, 7.0 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, and 1.3 HR/9 in 56 1/3 Triple-A innings this year.  He tossed 119 innings between the Majors and minors in 2009.

McLane Puts Astros Up For Sale

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Drayton McLane, who bought the Astros in 1992, officially announced his decision to put the team up for sale. The Astros have posted the fourth-best record in the National League since McLane bought the team and reached the 2005 World Series under his ownership. The Astros, who played in the Astrodome when McLane purchased the team, moved into Minute Maid Park in 2000.

The Astros don't figure to be big spenders this offseason, so it seems unlikely that the sale will impact the organization's offseason moves. However, uncertain ownership situations can handcuff teams, as fans of Texas' other MLB team know well.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle that he isn't interested in buying the Astros (Twitter link).

Odds & Ends: Dodgers, Barmes, Thornton, Braves

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Links for Thursday night..

Astros, Rockies Swap Paulino & Barmes

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The Astros acquired Clint Barmes from the Rockies for Felipe Paulino, according to the team. GM Ed Wade says he pursued Barmes for his defensive versatility and gap power. Barmes said on a conference call that he's been told he'll mostly play shortstop, his preferred position.

The Rockies, who were not necessarily going to offer Barmes arbitration, get something in return for the 31-year-old. Barmes said that he had hoped to work something out with the Rockies, since he has enjoyed playing in Denver, but is looking forward to joining a young Astros team that finished the 2010 season strong.

Barmes was a non-tender candidate heading into his final season of arbitration eligibility. After hitting 23 homers in 2009, he hit just 8 homers this year and his batting line fell to .235/.305/.351. Barmes earned $3.33MM in 2010 and figures to pocket $4MM or so in 2011.

Paulino, 27, posted a 5.11 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 91 2/3 innings for the Astros this year. He'll be arbitration eligible for the first time this offseason (as a Super Two). In each of the past three seasons, his average fastball velocity has surpassed 95 mph. Paulino struggles against lefties, but is considerably more effective against right-handed hitters.

Five Teams Interested In Jeff Francis

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Free agent lefty Jeff Francis is drawing interest from at least five clubs, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick: the Pirates, Mariners, Brewers, Astros, and Rockies.

Francis, 30 in January, posted a 5.00 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, and 47% groundball rate in 104 1/3 innings this year for the Rockies.  Baseball Prospectus' SIERA stat suggests Francis' work was more deserving of an ERA around 4.00.  Francis missed all of last season after having shoulder surgery in February of '09, and had some lingering issues this year.  The Rockies declined his $7MM club option earlier this month.  If Francis' shoulder checks out, many teams will have interest in plugging him into the back end of their rotation on a one-year, incentive-laden deal.

Astros Notes: Wade, Infielders, Wolf

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Houston GM Ed Wade discussed some offseason plans with Dan Duqette and Kevin Kennedy on MLB Network Radio.  Here are a few of the major topics…

  • "We need to figure out a way to improve offensively," Wade said.  He noted that the Astros are looking for a left-handed hitter and may either look internally or wait until later in the offseason to find left-handed bats "that fit our profile both from a performance and an economic standpoint."
  • The "primary external focus" is to find better-hitting middle infielders, though Wade said he was happy with Jeff Keppinger's play last season.
  • Wade is pleased with Houston's 2011 rotation but "everybody’s always looking for the starting pitcher.  We’d love to be able to replicate the Brett Myers experience of last year where you get the guy in a one-year deal and he finds his groove the way that Brett did for us."

In other Astros news, Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle reports the club extended spring training invites to eight players, three of whom weren't with Houston last season.  One is Casey Fien, whose acquisition was reported yesterday, and the other two newcomers are right-handers Ross Wolf and Fernando Rodriguez.  Wolf posted a 4.26 ERA in 11 appearances with Oakland last season after coming over from the Orioles in the Jake Fox trade last June.  Rodriguez has pitched in the Angels system since 2003, and has just one major league appearance to his credit.

Minor League Transactions: Clevlen, Moss, Cash

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The latest minor league transactions include a number of familiar names. Matt Eddy of Baseball America has the details:

  • The Braves
 re-signed Brent Clevlen and signed independent leaguer Beau Torbert, who posted tremendous numbers in the American Association this year. Earlier in the week, Torbert told David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he's excited to be joining the Braves.
  • The Astros signed right-hander Casey Fien. Fien has appeared in 11 games for the Tigers, but the 27-year-old has not proven himself against big league hitters.
  • Former Yankees lefty Royce Ring elected free agency.
  • The Pirates released Chris Jakubauskas and saw Brandon Moss elect free agency. Moss arrived in Pittsburgh in the Jason Bay trade, but he hit just .228/.295/.373 in parts of three seasons for the Pirates.
  • Former Mariners catcher Guillermo Quiroz became a free agent.
  • The Rangers signed Kevin Cash. The 32-year-old backstop posted a .483 OPS for the Astros and Red Sox last year and threw out an uncharacteristically low percentage of would be base stealers.

Brown On Red Sox, Reynolds, Beckham

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Agent Scott Boras tells Yahoo’s Tim Brown that the changes to the offseason schedule mean he’s fielding offers for his clients earlier than usual. Here are the rest of Brown’s rumors:

  • The Astros appear to be close to re-signing Geoff Blum.
  • The Red Sox will determine how available Adrian Gonzalez and Prince Fielder are before they start serious negotiations with top free agents. It sounds like the Padres and Brewers will at least listen to offers for their respective first basemen.
  • The D’Backs are “shopping” Mark Reynolds and looking for relievers and contact hitters.
  • Rival teams believe the White Sox will listen to offers for Gordon Beckham.
  • Gary Matthews Jr. hopes to continue playing, according to Brown.

 

Odds & Ends: Werth, A’s, Yankees, Berkman, D’Backs

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A few more Saturday night links….

Astros Will Not Pursue Lance Berkman

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The Astros will not make an attempt to bring Lance Berkman back to Houston this offseason, reports Mark Berman of FOX 26. Here's what GM Ed Wade had to say…

"I heard from (Berkman's agent) Mike Moye and he inquired about whether we had interest in bringing Lance back and I was candid with him and told him it didn't fit for us," said Wade. "As much as we love and respect Lance and what he's done for our organization, We had these internal conversations in July when we made the decision to go ahead and move him."

Berkman, 35 in February, spent parts of 12 seasons in Houston, hitting .296/.410/.549 with five All Star appearances and four top five finishes in the MVP voting. The Astros traded him to the Yankees for a pair of minor leagues at the trade deadline, and they declined his 2011 option a week or so ago.

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