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Deadline Notes: Utley, Rollins, Mayberry, Royals, Yankees, Mets

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There’s been quite a bit of chatter regarding Jeff Samardzija and the rest of the Cubs’ pitchers over the past few days, due largely to the fact that everyone is aware the Cubs will be sellers at this summer’s non-waiver trade deadline. For other clubs, the trade picture isn’t so clear. Here are some notes on players that are potential trade targets and on which clubs should buy and which should sell…

  • Phillies president David Montgomery tells Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer that the club can’t be stubborn and close itself off from trading certain players if it’s the best thing for the team — and that includes longtime cornerstones Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins. Referring to Utley, Montgomery noted that he’d like his second baseman to remain with the club beyond his playing days. Of course, both players have 10-and-5 rights and can veto any trade.
  • For his part, Rollins softened his stance on waiving his no-trade rights after surpassing Mike Schmidt for the franchise hits lead this weekend, Gelb notes. Said Rollins: “It really depends if everything is blown up. Then, you take that into consideration. Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about that right now. But if that time does come, and it’s time to go … people move on.”
  • Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports that the Red Sox and Yankees have some interest in John Mayberry Jr. as outfield depth. Boston has scouted several recent Phillies games, and one “plugged-in Major League source” tells Salisbury that the Yankees are a team to watch in regards to Mayberry as well.
  • In an ESPN Insider piece, Dan Szymborski opines that the Royals need to make a bold acquisition in an attempt to take the AL Central. Szymborski’s ZiPS projection system has the Royals as a 50-50 chance to make the playoffs and a 29 percent chance to win the division right now. With five regular position players ranking at or below replacement level (per Baseball-Reference), the team needs to make a splash, as the Tigers are far more vulnerable than most expected. He suggests that third base and right field are the two most viable spots, listing Aaron Hill, Ben Zobrist and Chase Headley as possible targets.
  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman expects to make a trade or multiple trades this July, writes Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com. “I feel that we need to get better from within, and I think I can speed up the process if I run into something outside at the same time,” said Cashman. “We usually make moves every year, so I expect to make moves again.” Bloom runs down a list of trade targets and notes that the stock of Dellin Betances has skyrocketed this season, though he wonders if Cashman would be willing to include a potential future closer for a short-term fix. Cashman said he didn’t want to wait to make a move but added that prices are often highest early on in trade season.
  • Though Joel Sherman of the New York Post said not long ago that the Mets should act boldly as buyers, the team’s recent woes have him convinced that the opposite may now be true. After a 4-11 skid, he writes that the Mets should deal two of Jon Niese, Bartolo Colon and Dillon Gee this summer and also make Daniel Murphy available in trades. Doing so will bring back valuable offensive prospects and position the Mets well for a high draft pick in 2015. He notes that Sandy Alderson’s regime has done well in trades, bringing in Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, Travis d’Arnaud, Vic Black and Dilson Herrera by trading veteran pieces.

Royals To Sign Second Round Pick Scott Blewett

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The Royals have reached agreement with second-round choice (56th overall) Scott Blewett, according to Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (via Twitter). Blewett lands a $1.8MM bonus, reports MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter), which lands well above his draft slot allocation of just over $1MM.

The 6’6 high school righty was placed as high as 20th on the pre-draft lists of observers, with ESPN.com’s Keith Law making that lofty assessment. Blewett landed at 51st on the list of Baseball America and at 55th on that of MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis. He is said to have a mid-90s fastball.

The Royals entered with just over $8.6MM in possible achievable pool space. Blewett’s big payday still leaves Kansas City $113.5K beneath its total pool, according to a tweet from Callis, who notes that two draftees (first-rounder Brandon Finnegan and seventh-rounder Brandon Downes) are still playing in the College World Series.

Minor Moves: Brian Gordon, Alex Burnett

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Here are Sunday’s minor moves from around MLB:

  • The Yankees have released right-hander Brian Gordon from Triple-A, tweets Chad Jennings of LoHud.com. The 35-year-old made 14 appearances (13 starts) for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season compiling a 4.75 ERA, 5.8 K/9, and 3.2 BB/9 in 77 2/3 innings. Gordon last appeared in a MLB game with the Yankees in 2011.
  • Right-hander Alex Burnett has signed with the Sioux City Explorers, an independent league team, tweets Phil Miller of the StarTribune. The hope for the 26-year-old, according to Miller, is to draw a contract offer from the Royals. In over 177 Major League appearances, mostly with the Twins, Burnett owns a 4.70 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Royals To Sign Foster Griffin

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The Royals have agreed to terms with first-round selection Foster Griffin on a $1.925MM signing bonus that is above the No. 28 overall selection’s assigned slot value of $1.815MM, reports MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo (on Twitter).

Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com ranked Griffin as the draft’s No. 28 prospect, while Baseball America ranked him 27th and ESPN’s Keith Law ranked him 34th. A high school left-hander out of Orlando, Fla., Griffin had previously been committed to Ole Miss. Griffin, who stands 6’5″ and is listed at 190 pounds, sits in the low 90s with his heater and has touched 94 mph, per BA. Griffin’s changeup is ahead of his slider, per Callis and Mayo, though Law notes that he is a work in progress, mechanically speaking. Law calls him a potential No. 3 starter with a swing-man role or lefty specialist serving as his floow.

Griffin was the second left-handed pitcher selected in the first round by the Royals, who took TCU southpaw Brandon Finnegan 17th overall. Kansas City received the No. 28 selection as compensation for losing Ervin Santana to the Braves in free agency.

Royals To Sign Chase Vallot

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The Royals have an agreement in place with competitive balance round A choice Chase Vallot, reports Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (via Twitter). Vallot was taken with the 40th overall slot, which carries a slot value of $1.42MM.

Bonus terms remain unreported for Vallot, a Louisiana high school catcher who had been committed to Mississippi State. Ranking him 49th overall among draft prospects, MLB.com writes that Vallot has a power bat and arm. He could still stick behind the dish, but could ultimately transition to first base or the outfield. Baseball America similarly placed him as the 47th overall draft-eligible player, while ESPN.com’s Keith Law saw him as the 33rd best player available.

Kansas City agreed to an at-slot deal with third-rounder Erik Skoglund yesterday, after adding its fourth through sixth-round picks the day before. The team’s top two choices, lefties Brandon Finnegan and Foster Griffin, and second-round righty Scott Blewett have yet to agree to terms.

Draft Signings: Skoglund, Rays, Helmink, Bukauskas

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Here are today’s notable draft news and signings:

  • The Royals have agreed to terms with third-round pick Erik Skoglund, who will get the bonus pool amount of $576K, MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Skoglund is a projectable lefty and a junior out of Central Florida.
  • The Rays have signed their sixth- through ninth-round draft choices, the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin tweets. Sixth-rounder Mac James, a catcher from Oklaholma, is a junior, but the other three players (RHP Mike Franco of Florida International, 3B Daniel Miles of Tennessee Tech, and RHP Chris Pike of Oklahoma City University) are all seniors, so the Rays will likely save money against their bonus pool with those picks.
  • The Diamondbacks have agreed to terms with 12th-round pick Holden Helmink, a righty from a Texas junior college, on a deal worth $100K, Cotillo tweets. $100K is the maximum a team can pay a player drafted after the tenth round without it counting against the team’s bonus pool.
  • The Dodgers have agreed to terms with fifth-rounder Jared Walker, a lefty-hitting third baseman from a Georgia high school, on a deal for the bonus pool value of $297K, Cotillo tweets. Walker was committed to Kennesaw State.
  • The Rangers have signed sixth-round pick Jose Trevino, Trevino himself tweets. Texas selected the Oral Roberts junior third baseman at No. 186 overall. The bonus pool value of that pick is about $229K.
  • The Rockies have agreed to terms with sixth-rounder Max George, Neil Devlin of the Denver Post tweets. The 5-foot-9 shortstop is a local product, hailing from Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora. There was no immediate word on George’s bonus, but the pool value of the pick is about $259K.
  • The Blue Jays have announced the first signings of their 2014 draft class: prep catcher Matt Morgan (4th round) and Florida right-hander Justin Shafer (8th round). No terms were released, but the slot value (per Baseball America) for the two picks are $458K and $159.9K, respectively.
  • Right-hander J.B. Bukauskas tweeted he will honor his commitment to the University of North Carolina and not sign with the Diamondbacks. Bukauskas, rated #33 by Baseball America and #38 by MLB.com, lasted until the 20th round (#600 overall) after asking teams last month not to draft him because he wanted to attend UNC.

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Draft Signings: Twins, Royals, Rangers, D’Backs, Cubs

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Here’s a roundup of today’s key news regarding signings from the draft.

  • The Twins have agreed to a slightly below-slot bonus with 9th rounder Max Murphy, tweets Cotillo. The Bradley outfielder will get $130K, just over $20K below his slot amount.
  • A few more drafted players have agreed to terms with the Royals, per Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link), though bonus amounts have not yet been reported. High school shortstop Dawon Burt (fourth round; $420K slot) and Texas A&M righty Corey Ray (fifth round; $314K slot) are both in agreement, joining sixth-rounder Logan Moon (see below).
  • The Rangers have agreed to terms with fourth-rounder Brett Martin on a $475K deal, MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets. The deal comes in $67K above the $408K bonus pool value of the pick. The lefty Martin hails from a Tennessee junior college.
  • The Rangers have also agreed to terms with tenth-rounder and Abilene Christian catcher Seth Spivey for $10K, tweets MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo. The signing would allow the Rangers to save about $128K against their bonus pool, which would appear to help them balance their budget after the Martin signing is complete.
  • The Diamondbacks have signed third-rounder Matt Railey, the outfielder himself tweets. Railey, a Florida high-schooler, had a commitment to Florida State. There is no immediate word on his bonus, but the pool value of the pick is $603K.
  • The Cubs have agreed to terms with third-rounder and Virginia Tech catcher Mark Zagunis for $615K, Cotillo tweets. The deal saves the Cubs about $100K against the draft pool value of the pick.
  • The Astros have agreed to terms with eighth-rounder Bobby Boyd, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reports. There is no immediate word on a bonus for the junior outfielder from West Virginia University, but pool value for that pick is around $163K. McTaggart also reports that the Astros have agreed to terms with tenth-rounder Jay Gause, a junior pitcher from Faulkner University. The pool value for Gause’s pick is $142K.
  • Georgia high school lefty Mac Marshall plans to head to LSU rather than going pro, the pitcher himself tweets. MLB.com had ranked Marshall the No. 66 prospect in the draft, but he was not taken until the 21st round by Houston, surely due in large part to teams’ awareness of his reluctance to sign.
  • The Reds have agreed to terms with fifth-rounder Tejay Antone, a tall righty from a Texas community college, at the bonus-pool figure of $308K, Cotillo tweets. Antone had planned to head to Auburn next year if he didn’t end up signing.
  • The Royals have agreed to terms with sixth-round pick Logan Moon, Cotillo tweets. The senior outfielder from Missouri Southern will get less than the bonus pool value of about $235K.

Athletics Acquire Justin Marks

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The Athletics announced (on Twitter) that they’ve acquired lefty Justin Marks from the Royals in exchange for cash considerations and optioned him to Triple-A Sacramento. As the Bay Area News Group’s John Hickey tweets, Oakland’s 40-man roster is full, meaning they’ll have to make a move to accommodate Marks.

For Marks, this is a return to the organization that selected him out of Louisville in the third round of the 2009 draft. Oakland shipped him to Kansas City along with Vin Mazzaro (who accepted an outright with the Pirates earlier today) in exchange for David DeJesus back in 2009.

Marks was designated for assignment  earlier this week to clear a 40-man spot for right-hander Wilking Rodriguez. He was solid in his time at Class-A Advanced and Double-A in the minors, but he’s struggled to a 5.23 ERA in 161 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Marks averaged 8.6 strikeouts and 3.7 walks per nine innings in his minor league career and held opposing lefties to a .568 OPS in 2013.

AL West Notes: Ogando, Moss, Butler, Carbonell

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It almost doesn’t seem fathomable, but the Rangers received even more bad news on the injury front today, as MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes that Alexi Ogando will be shut down for three weeks and could miss up to two months with inflammation and some minor ligament damage in his right elbow. An MRI showed “wear and tear” on the ligament, but not enough to require surgery, he adds. Anthony Andro of FOX Sports Southwest tweets that the Rangers are officially terming the injury “acute inflammation.”

Here’s more from the American League West…

  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports takes an excellent in-depth look at Athletics slugger Brandon Moss, who admits that he almost quit the game on multiple occasions before latching on with the A’s. Moss tells Rosenthal that he initially chose to sign with Oakland because he knew he’d be hitting in the Pacific Coast League at Triple-A after his minor league deal, and he thought that league’s notoriously hitter-friendly environments would boost his power numbers and draw some interest from Japanese teams. Moss adds that he was preparing to become a firefighter in his native Georgia, should his last attempt with the A’s not pan out.
  • The Mariners could be a potential landing spot for Billy Butler if the Royals end up moving him, reports Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. The team has long coveted Butler but would need to be convinced that his season-long slump is just that — a slump — rather than the beginning of a decline. Some scouts have told Dutton they don’t see diminished bat speed for Butler, which is a good sign. He adds that Kansas City has shown interest in Nick Franklin, though clearly a Butler-for-Franklin 1-for-1 swap isn’t realistic.
  • Dutton adds that Mariners officials dismissed previous reports that have connected the team to Cuban outfielder Daniel Carbonell. It’s been reported previously that Seattle is one of two finalists for Carbonell’s services. Dutton does note that the Seattle front office’s denial could merely be gamesmanship.

Minor Moves: Horst, Tomko, McClendon

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Here are the day’s notable minor moves …

  • Phillies lefty Jeremy Horst has cleared outright waivers and accepted his assignment at Triple-A, the club announced today. Horst, 28, was designated two days ago to clear 40-man roster space. He has pitched to a 4.35 ERA (8.3 K/9 vs. 7.0 BB/9) across 20 2/3 innings at Triple-A this year.
  • 41-year-old righty Brett Tomko has been released by the Royals, according to the PCL transactions page. Tomko, a 14-year MLB veteran, had worked to a 3.80 ERA in 47 1/3 Triple-A innings (including eight starts) since hooking on with Kansas City.
  • The Rockies signed righty Mike McClendon, according to the MLB transactions page. McClendon, 29, tossed 48 2/3 MLB innings over 2010-12 with the Brewers, working to a 3.88 ERA with 6.5 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 overall. He had been playing with the independent league York Revolution this year after spending 2013 with Colorado’s Triple-A affiliate.
  • With Horst no longer on the list, MLBTR’s DFA Tracker now features Vin Mazzaro of the Pirates, Justin Marks of the Royals, and Jose Veras of the Cubs as players in DFA limbo.
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