Odds & Ends: Phillies, Iannetta, Braves
Links for Tuesday…
- Phillies' GM Ruben Amaro said a lefty reliever and another starter are still on his wish list, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.
- Troy Renck of The Denver Post provides the details of Chris Iannetta's contract extension. The backstop can void the $5MM club option for 2013 if he is traded anytime before then.
- Braves' GM Frank Wren said he's looking for just "one more small piece" to fill out his club's offensive needs, tweets MLB.com's Mark Bowman. Bowman notes that the Braves need a primary pinch hitter.
- Adrian Beltre will take his physical on Thursday, tweeted Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports.
- Joel Sherman of The New York Post provides some thoughts on the Mets' deal with Jason Bay. He notes that the team's scouts "contend Bay is a better defender than (Matt) Holliday," despite what the metrics and people outside the organization say.
- The Giants designated defensively-skilled shortstop Brian Bocock for assignment to make room for Juan Uribe, tweets Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- ESPN's Keith Law sees "very little downside" for the Red Sox with the Adrian Beltre deal. He notes that Boston's defense should be terrific this year. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs says Beltre is "in the conversation of the best defensive third baseman of all time." WEEI's Rob Bradford says the Red Sox considered signing Beltre after the '04 season, and even discussed trying him at shortstop. Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe says Beltre is, at the least, an upgrade over Casey Kotchman.
- Ken Davidoff of Newsday feels the Mets could raise payroll in 2011, so they won't be limited because of Jason Bay's contract. By the way, Bradford has the transcript from Bay's press conference today.
- Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball notes that the ten-day arbitration-filing period begins today. MLB.com's Doug Miller highlights the biggest eligible names.
- ESPN's Buster Olney suggests the Giants and Mets have been the slowest to adapt to advanced stats. He also notes that the proliferation of better defensive metrics could greatly benefit Carl Crawford as a free agent next offseason.
- MLB.com's Brian McTaggart talked to Astros GM Ed Wade, who said the trade market isn't great because of all the remaining free agents. Also, Wade is focused on one-year deals for arbitration-eligible players such as Michael Bourn, Wandy Rodriguez, and Hunter Pence.
- With Matt Holliday inching toward a large contact with the Cardinals, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks at other $100MM deals given to outfielders.
- MetsBlog's Matthew Cerrone has a summary of Peter Gammons' appearance on WFAN this morning.
- R.J. Anderson of DRays Bay interviewed Dan Feinstein, the Rays' Director of Baseball Operations.
Astros Sign Josh Banks
The Astros signed righty Josh Banks to a minor league deal, tweeted MLB.com's Corey Brock last night. Banks, 27, has a 4.2 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 1.5 HR/9, and 5.38 ERA in his 115.3-inning big league career. For the Padres' Triple A affiliate this year he logged a 3.46 ERA in 125 innings. The Padres had claimed Banks off waivers from the Blue Jays in April of '08.
Banks made an appearance in Baseball America's 2008 Handbook, where his control, durability, and pitch efficiency were praised. However, they labeled his fastball as straight and suggested he "may be around the strike zone too much."
The Market For Jose Valverde
Jose Valverde and Juan Cruz have a lot in common. The two relievers were born within months of each other in the same country; they both pile up big strikeout totals; they even anchored Arizona's bullpen together for a couple seasons. Now Valverde's Type A status is limiting interest from potential suitors, just as Cruz's did a year ago.
Valverde has struck out over a batter per inning every year of his major league career, so he'd be a difference maker in any bullpen. The only season in which he has allowed more hits than innings pitched came in 2006 when he surrendered 50 hits in 49.1 innings. His fastball has been extremely effective and consistently hits the upper nineties.
The 31-year-old right-hander is one of the top free agents available, but he hasn't generated much buzz this offseason, partly because he'll cost teams a high draft pick. He could return to the D'Backs, who are keeping an eye on him, and it's too early in the winter to rule out a surprise bidder, but so far the market doesn't appear to have developed.
The Marlins, Pirates and Tigers could use closers, but as ESPN.com's Buster Olney recently pointed out, those three teams seem unlikely to spend big on Valverde or any other reliever. Plus, Valverde would cost the Tigers and Marlins their first round picks and the Pirates would have to give up a second rounder to sign him. The Nationals and Orioles were connected to Valverde earlier in the month, but they've moved on and signed Matt Capps and Mike Gonzalez, respectively.
The market for Valverde doesn't look good now, but there's some hope for him: Cruz did sign a multi-year deal in the end.
Odds & Ends: Indians, Maya, Sadowski
Saturday night linkage..
- In his latest mailbag, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is asked about the Tribe's inactivity this winter. Hoynes says that there are two reasons for this. First, the team is rebuilding. Secondly, ownership has little, if any, money to spend on free agents. Hoynes says to look for the Indians to do something in January and February after the first and second-tier free agents have signed.
- Cuban pitcher Yuniesky Maya put himself on display in the Dominican Republic last week. Jorge Arangure of ESPN spoke to a scout in attendance who said the 28-year-old threw in the range of 88-92 MPH while showcasing a fastball, two-seamer, slider, curveball, and changeup. According to a report from Globedia.com, passed along by Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog, the Mets and White Sox are the frontrunners to sign him. Arangure notes that Deinys Suarez, who was also on display, has not generated as much interest as Maya.
- Former Giants pitcher Ryan Sadowski has signed a deal to pitch for Korea's Lotte Giants in 2010, according to a report from The Korea Herald passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. Sadowski signed with Houston earlier this offseason, so it appears that the Astros have let the 27-year-old out of his contract.
Odds & Ends: Johnson, Kouzmanoff, Berkman
Here's a stocking stuffed with news items on this Christmas Eve…
- Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues breaks down the details of Nick Johnson's contract with the Yankees. If Johnson reaches all of his incentives and his mutual option for 2011 is picked up, he can make a total of $14.5MM over his two-year deal.
- MLB.com's Corey Brock says the Kevin Kouzmanoff trade talks that were swirling at the winter meetings have "cooled," and he thinks Kouzmanoff will remain a Padre unless San Diego receives an overwhelmingly good offer. Perhaps the Padres want to keep Kouzmanoff to anchor their lineup in case they happen to deal away Adrian Gonzalez.
- In a discussion of Lance Berkman's future plans, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com says that "the older [Berkman] gets, I think the less likely he is to play elsewhere." The Astros star is under contract next season and the team has a $15MM option on Berkman for the 2011 season that it will surely pick up if Berkman matches his 2009 line of .274/.399/.509. McTaggart notes that the Astros have been hesitant to rebuild since they still feel they can contend with quality veterans like Berkman and Roy Oswalt in their relative primes. As we learned last September, however, Berkman might rather retire after 2011 than be a burden on the organization.
- From that same piece, McTaggart says Houston's acquistions of Mike Hampton and Russ Ortiz last winter have made the team leery of signing another injury-prone starter like Ben Sheets, especially since Sheets would come at a much higher price.
- Top Reds prospect Todd Frazier seems to be capable of playing anywhere on the field, but doesn't appear to be Cincinnati's answer at shortstop, reports MLB.com's Mark Sheldon.
- What team made the best trades in the 20th century? According to one author, it was the Cleveland Indians.
- Speaking of Cleveland, Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com says the Tribe will put Rafael Perez back in the bullpen next season in spite of the left-hander's excellent starting outings in winter ball.
Where Will Jose Valverde End Up?
MLB.com's Brian McTaggart writes in his latest piece about Jose Valverde's struggle to find a multi-year contract, or even a one-year deal equivalent to the $10MM salary he was likely to receive had he accepted Houston's offer of arbitration.
McTaggart describes Valverde, 30, as the latest in a tradition of arbitration-eligible players who turn down the offer, only to find the marketplace a far colder place.
Valverde's problem isn't effectiveness- he pitched to a 2.33 ERA last year as Houston's closer, and has posted better than a strikeout per inning every season he's been in the majors- but rather finding a team willing to pay him and give up a draft pick, since Valverde is one of three remaining Type A free agents who were offered arbitration (Jason Bay and Matt Holliday are the others).
McTaggart writes, "The hard truth for Valverde is that although he is the most talented and accomplished of the available closers, it may very well be that turning down arbitration from the Astros — and the likely $10 million salary that he would have netted for 2010 — was a bad gamble. He may end up having to accept a one-year deal anyway, as Wagner did, and potentially at significantly less than he would have made in arbitration."
The Astros moved on, signing Brandon Lyon to a three-year, $15MM deal to close. As for Valverde, his destination is still to-be-determined. If/when his price comes down, he could be one of the real bargains of the winter.
Chapman Works Out In Front Of 15 Teams
WEDNESDAY, 9:03pm: That workout session must've really turned some heads. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus tweets that "an insider" predicted Chapman's eventual contract may be worth as much as $30MM.
WEDNESDAY, 3:18pm: Arangure Jr.'s latest blog post is a must-read; it contains learnings from the Chapman throwing session yesterday. Among them: Chapman is in good shape, he's made some mechanical adjustments, and he doesn't come off as someone with makeup issues. Chapman is now up for bidding.
TUESDAY, 1:38pm: Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman worked out in front of about 15 teams in Houston today, according to Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN.com. The Astros and Pirates were there, along with the Angels, Marlins, Pirates, Orioles, Yankees, Red Sox, Nationals and others.
The Dodgers weren't there because they don't have the money, according to Arangure Jr.'s Twitter. We shouldn't expect the Pirates to sign Chapman, either. They're not serious players for him according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The teams saw the 21-year-old throw for five minutes two different times. Chapman's fastball topped out at 96 mph and he also threw his slider and change-up. Arangure Jr. expects several teams to meet with him today.
Another note, again from Arangure Jr.: Chapman's previous agency, API, is suing the pitcher's current agency, the Hendricks brothers. The lawsuit alleges that the Hendricks brothers interfered with API.
McLane Nearly Sold Astros Last Year
3:39pm: MLB.com's Brian McTaggart has more from McLane. The Astros' owner says the team is not for sale, but if a credible person or organization approached him he'd talk.
8:46am: We mentioned this briefly yesterday, but here's a link to an article from Jose de Jesus Ortiz and Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle. In the article, Astros owner Drayton McLane admits he had a tentative deal to sell the Astros to Jim Crane after the 2008 season concluded. Crane backed out of the deal. McLane told the writers the Astros are not currently on the market, but he left the door open by saying, "nothing lasts forever."
In a blog post, Justice explains that McLane is "pretty much announcing the club is for sale" by confirming last year's Crane deal. He'd like to see a spending spree follow, since it'd be "other people's money." We saw how well that strategy played out with the Cubs, who binged in the '06-'07 offseason. The Ricketts family probably didn't consider the $90MM owed over the next five years to Alfonso Soriano to be a positive.
Greenberg Group Selected To Purchase Rangers
10:11pm: Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News answers some of the questions surrounding the decision by Hicks to negotiate exclusively with Greenberg's group, noting that Greenberg's group altered their bid at the last moment when it appeared as though Crane and Gilbert would get the bid.
7:58pm: Maury Brown of Biz of Baseball reports that Tom Hicks has chosen the bid from Chuck Greenberg's group over the bid from Jim Crane and Dennis Gilbert. Greenberg's group includes current Rangers president Nolan Ryan. Greenberg's group now has exclusive rights to negotiate for the purchase of the Rangers. The amount of the bid is unknown, however, previously Brown reported that the bid could reach $530MM.
Brown adds that Hicks may have chosen Greenberg's group over the Crane and Gilbert in part because the former will keep Hicks on board as a minority owner. Earlier, Brown believed Crane had the highest bid.
The final deal would need approval from 75% of the league's owners.
Evan Grant says the Greenberg Group will have 45 days to reach an agreement.
Jose de Jesus Ortiz reports that Crane had a "handshake deal" last year to purchase the Astros but backed out. Astros owner Drayton McLane says he was furious at Crane for not going through with the deal.
Astros Sign Edgar Ferreira
The Astros have inked Dominican pitching prospect Edgar Ferreira, reports Jorge Arangure of ESPN.com (via Twitter).
GM Ed Wade confirmed the signing to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, who says the signing bonus is rumored to be $350K. The 17-year-old Ferreira has a fastball that sits in the low-90s and touches 94 on occasion.