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Central Links: Danks, Twins, Indians, Royals, Cubs

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Here are some links from baseball's two central divisions…

  • The White Sox have been shopping left-hander John Danks in advance of the winter meetings, reports Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. He won't come cheap though, with one of Cowley's sources saying: "[ChiSox GM Kenny Williams] asked for everyone on our roster in return."
  • Yesterday we heard about the Twins' interest in retaining Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel, and today Joe Mauer told MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger that he's willing to help recruit free agents to Minnesota. "I told [GM Terry Ryan] and everybody here that I'm here to do everything I can to help out," said Mauer. "I want to be part of the solution that gets us back to where we need to get to."
  • The Indians are not expected to bid on any Japanese players going through the posting process, reports Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain-Dealer (on Twitter). That would include Hiroyuki Nakajima (who was posted on Monday) and possibly Yu Darvish.
  • ESPN's Buster Olney says (on Twitter) that the Royals are looking to a utilityman, preferably someone that hits left-handed. As our Free Agent Tracker shows, players like Andres Blanco, Craig Counsell, and Willie Harris are available.
  • Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune reports that the Cubs have hired Chris Bosio to be their new pitching coach. President of baseball operations Theo Epstein confirmed that the rest of the coaching staff would be announced at the winter meetings next week.

Quick Hits: Pena, Zumaya, Soler, Peterson

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Some news items to wrap up the evening as we inch closer to the Winter Meetings….

  • Carlos Pena would be a fit with the Blue Jays, Brewers, Cubs, Mariners, Nationals, Rangers, Red Sox and Yankees, opines SBNation's Rob Neyer.  The Yankees tried to claim Pena on waivers last August but the Cubs pulled him back.
  • Joel Zumaya said the Red Sox expressed an interest in him as soon as he hit free agency, reports MLB.com's Jason Beck.  Boston will be one of the 10 or more teams present when Zumaya throws a mound session in two weeks.  The right-hander underwent elbow surgery in March and didn't pitch last season.
  • Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (via Twitter) lists, in order, the Yankees, Rangers and Phillies as the top candidates to sign Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler.
  • The Orioles interviewed Rick Peterson for their open minor league pitching coordinator's position, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Peterson (former pitching coach of the Brewers, Mets and Athletics) is also a candidate to be Bobby Valentine's new pitching coach with the Red Sox.
  • Also from Rosenthal, the Royals "backed off" pursuing free agent starters due to their large number of minor league pitching prospects and also because the club wants to remain flexible since they know not every young arm will properly develop.  The Royals re-signed Bruce Chen and their other major starting acquistion this winter (Jonathan Sanchez) came via a trade.
  • The Cardinals could make an acquisition or look internally to fill their middle infield needs, writes MLB.com's Matthew Leach, but the team won't know how much they have to spend until Albert Pujols makes his decision.

Minor Moves: Nunez, Palmer, Moss, Mock

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The latest minor moves from around MLB…

  • The Rays signed righty Jhonny Nunez to a minor league deal, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy.
  • The Padres signed right-hander Matt Palmer to a minor league deal, reports MLB.com's Corey Brock (Twitter link).
  • The Brewers signed outfielder Miguel Velazquez to a minor league deal, according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (all links go to Twitter).
  • The A’s signed outfielder Brandon Moss to a minor league deal, according to Goldstein.
  • The Padres signed left-hander Alex Hinshaw to a minor league deal, according to Goldstein.
  • The Blue Jays signed former Nationals prospect Garrett Mock to a minor league deal, according to Goldstein.
  • The Royals announced that they signed right-hander Zach Miner, infielders Jamie Romak, Eric Duncan, Sharlon Schoop and Tony Abreu and left-handers Marlon Arias and Tommy Hottovy to minor league contracts. Miner, Abreu and Hottovy have big league experience, though only Hottovy appeared in the Major Leagues this past season. Duncan, once a highly-regarded prospect, posted a .849 OPS at Double-A as a utility player in 2011. Romak posted an .803 OPS for the Royals in 2011 and even pitched on two occasions.

Latest On Astros’ GM Search: Friedman, Picollo

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The Astros will interview Rockies assistant GM Bill Geivett for their general manager job, but Rangers assistant GM Thad Levine withdrew his name from consideration. Here's the latest on Houston's search:

  • Rays executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman declined to address the Astros' interest in him, according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times (on Twitter). The Astros have obtained permission to speak to Friedman.
  • Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo is drawing attention from the Astros as a GM candidate, according to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter).

AL Central Notes: Cespedes, Royals, Cuddyer

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The Tigers, who agreed to sign Ramon Santiago to a two-year deal today, have interest in Coco Crisp. Here are the latest updates from their division, starting with a note on another possible outfield target for Detroit:

  • Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski will watch Yoenis Cespedes play in the Dominican Republic, according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com, who suggests this is “very unusual” for Dombrowski (Twitter link). Cespedes isn’t yet a free agent, but he’s in the process of establishing temporary residency in the Dominican and may hit the open market soon.
  • Before the Royals signed Jonathan Broxton, outfielder Jeff Francoeur and manager Ned Yost went hunting with the right-hander in Georgia, according to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post. The outing helped convince Broxton to join the Royals.
  • Twins manager Ron Gardenhire says the team is "making a mad effort" to sign Michael Cuddyer, according to Phil Mackey of ESPN 1500 (on Twitter).
  • Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle hears Josh Willingham may be a fit in Minnesota if the Twins don’t re-sign Cuddyer. Similarly, the Red Sox may have interest if they don’t re-sign David Ortiz, Slusser writes.

Royals Designate Jeff Bianchi For Assignment

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The Royals have designated infielder Jeff Bianchi for assignment to create 40-man roster space for Jonathan Broxton, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports (Twitter link). Kansas City's 40-man roster remains full.

The Royals selected Bianchi in the second round of the 2005 draft. The 25-year-old posted a .259/.320/.333 line with 23 doubles in 499 plate appearances at Double-A in 2011 and has a career line of .281/.335/.410 over the course of six minor league seasons. He has spent considerable time at both shortstop and second base.

13 Teams Eligible For First Competitive Balance Lottery

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The new collective bargaining agreement calls for a competitive balance draft pick lottery beginning in 2013, and MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo has details.  13 teams will be eligible for the first lottery based on their market size and revenue: the Diamondbacks, Orioles, Indians, Royals, Athletics, Pirates, Padres, Rays, Reds, Rockies, Marlins, Brewers, and Cardinals.  The lottery gives each of these teams the chance to win one of six extra picks in the 2013 draft, which will come after the compensation picks for free agents.  The odds of winning a pick will be based on each team's winning percentage in the previous season.

There will be another group of six picks after the draft's second round.  The teams in the mix for these will be the ones that did not win a pick in the first lottery, as well as any other team that receives revenue sharing.

Mayo says lottery picks can be traded, but only once by a team and only during the regular season.  The picks cannot be sold for cash.

A third lottery will be held for picks forfeited by teams that exceeded their bonus pools.  Teams that did not exceed their pools will be eligible, with odds based on a formula of revenue and winning percentage.  Got all that?  There will be a quiz tomorrow.

Royals Links: Infielder, Rotation, Bullpen

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Some links from Kansas City on the day the Royals added Jonathan Broxton to their bullpen…

  • In an interview with Jim Duquette and Kevin Kennedy on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (audio link), GM Dayton Moore said he is looking for someone to backup Alcides Escobar at short, as well as a right-handed bat that can play third base to give Mike Moustakas the occasional break. 
  • "We will be open minded with continuing to improve our rotation," added Moore during the interview. He expects any upgrades to come via trade (like the Jonathan Sanchez acquisition) rather than free agency.
  • Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star hears that the Royals believe the price to add an impact starting pitcher is too high, so they're attempting to build a lock-down bullpen (Twitter link). 
  • In a another tweet, Dutton says infielder Jeff Bianchi and outfielder Derrick Robinson are the leading candidates to be removed from the 40-man roster when the Royals make the Broxton deal official.

Blue Jays, Others Interested In Greg Holland

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The Blue Jays are in the market for a closer, and they have interest in Greg Holland of the Royals according to Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star (Twitter links). They don't have interest in Joakim Soria, and yesterday we heard that Kansas City has some interest in Colby Rasmus.

Dutton says that other clubs are interested in Holland as well, but the Royals are not inclined to move him unless they're overwhelmed with an offer. The 26-year-old right-hander broke out as Soria's setup man last season, pitching to a 1.80 ERA in 60 IP. He struck out 11.10 batters per nine innings and walked just 2.85 per nine, getting a ground ball 44.9% of the time. Holland is under team control through 2016.

Royals To Sign Jonathan Broxton

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The Royals announced that they have agreed to sign Jonathan Broxton to a one-year deal, pending a physical. The deal is worth $4MM and includes $1MM in incentives based on games pitched for the 27-year-old right-hander, who will be Kansas City's setup man in 2012.

“We are delighted to add someone as talented as Jonathan to our bullpen,” Royals GM Dayton Moore said. “He will be used in a setup role to closer Joakim Soria and will help solidify what we feel is a young and talented bullpen.”

Broxton’s 2011 season ended in May after just 12 2/3 innings with a 5.68 ERA and nearly as many walks (9) as strikeouts (10). He had arthroscopic elbow surgery in September and was expected to begin an offseason throwing program this month. A dominant reliever for the Dodgers from 2006 to the early part of 2010, Broxton will look to rebuild value on a one-year contract in Kansas City.  

Other than the Royals, the Mets, Rangers and Rays pursued Broxton most intently, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (Twitter links). Overall, at least ten teams expressed interest in Broxton, who's represented by B.B. Abbott of Jet Sports Management.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the agreement (Twitter link) and Jon Heyman of SI.com added the terms of the deal (Twitter links). Dan Mennella explains the fantasy baseball implications of the move at CloserNews.com, the destination for all reliever-related fantasy baseball news and analysis.

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