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Quick Hits: Buchholz, Duaner Sanchez, Royals

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Links for Monday, as Angels number two prospect Tyler Chatwood prepares for his big league debut against the first place Indians…

  • The Red Sox were non-negotiable on getting two club options on Clay Buchholz's contract, reports Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald.  Buchholz explained, "If it was me and I didn’t have a wife and a kid that I had to take care of, it might have been a decision that we would have thought about a little bit more."
  • Teams are locking up their best players earlier and placing increased emphasis on club options, writes Dave Cameron of FanGraphs, and the result may be that "the best players in the game are going to be significantly underpaid during their primes," while the free agent market could become even more inflated.
  • Reliever Duaner Sanchez signed with the Long Island Ducks, the team announced.  Sanchez hasn't pitched in the Majors since May of '09, his career derailed by a July '06 taxi cab accident.  His Ducks teammates include Ruddy Lugo, J.R. House, Lew Ford, and John Rodriguez.
  • Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star writes about how Royals owner David Glass changed his tightfisted ways upon hiring Dayton Moore as GM about five years ago.  Glass won't rule out keeping his talented wave of top prospects together on long-term deals "regardless of who their agent is."
  • Baseball America links: Conor Glassey chatted with potential top draft pick Anthony Rendon, while J.J. Cooper lists the youngest players in every league.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has details on the iPads Carl Crawford's agent Brian Peters distributed as a promotional tool early in the outfielder's free agency.  Though GM Theo Epstein said the iPad didn't change his evaluation of Crawford, he was compelled to return the favor with some Red Sox Beats By Dre headphones.  First Dr. Dre mention in MLBTR history?

Olney On Castro, Escobar, Wells, Pineda

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The Red Sox should complete a seven-year extension worth $154MM or so with Adrian Gonzalez at some point in the next ten days, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reminds us. On a lighter note, Olney points out that Boston appears to be functioning despite a winless week for the Red Sox. Here are the rest of Olney’s rumors.

  • Starlin Castro has “made the adjustment” to the big leagues and is no longer phased to be playing at the highest level, Cubs GM Jim Hendry says. 
  • Another young shortstop, Alcides Escobar of the Royals, may be the best defensive shortstop in the American League, according to at least one scout. 
  • Angels fans may not like hearing it, but one evaluator says that in sending Mike Napoli elsewhere they “traded a player who would've given them similar production to what they'll get out of Vernon Wells , except it'll cost them about $75 million more." 
  • Instead of delaying Michael Pineda’s service time and/or arbitration, the Mariners called him up to start the season in Seattle. "He earned the right to be on the club," GM Jack Zduriencik said. "We actually talked about calling him up last September."

Minor League Transactions

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There was a slew of minor league transactions from March 30 to April 5, and Matt Eddy of Baseball America has written them up and included info on some noteworthy names. Here's more on those …

  • The Cubs released righty Chris Huseby, an 11th-round draft pick in 2006 who signed for a hefty $1.3MM. Huseby wasn't panning out as a pitcher and saw action in the outfield in recent seasons.
  • The Indians released third baseman Matt Cusick, one of the two players they received from the Yankees in last season's swap for Kerry Wood. The other player – Andrew Shive – had been previously released.
  • The Rockies released reliever Craig Baker, who led the Minors in saves in 2009 with 33. A fourth-round pick 2006, Baker's 2010 was derailed by the injuries that haunted him earlier in his career.
  • The Astros released reliever Bubbie Buzachero, who is among the active career leaders in minor league saves.
  • The Royals released speedy outfielder Hilton Richardson, a seventh-round pick in 2007 who has 77 steals in the minors in 100 attempts. The Braves then signed Richardson.
  • The Dodgers released lefty reliever James Adkins, a sandwich-round pick in 2007 out of Tennessee. The southpaw is the Volunteers' career leader in strikeouts but has struggled with control and against righties in the minors.
  • The Brewers released hard-throwing lefty Evan Frederickson, the 35th overall pick in 2008. Frederickson has been excessively wild in his minors career, never walking fewer than 7.6 batters per nine, according to Eddy.
  • Twins righty Chris Province, acquired from the Red Sox in the Boof Bonser trade in 2009, voluntarily retired. Province surrendered a lot of hits in 2010, but seeing as he posted solid groundball rates for two poor teams, Eddy wonders whether he might have fared better with a better defense behind him.
  • The Padres released catcher Mitch Canham, the 57th overall pick in 2007. The Friars hoped Canham would develop into an offense-first backstop, but he was abused by basestealers, and his production with the bat didn't hold up at other positions.
  • The Giants released righty Craig Whitaker, a supplemental-round pick in 2003. Whitaker, as Eddy notes, is something of a rarity as an unsuccessful power arm drafted by San Francisco. Outfielder Ben Copeland, the Giants' first pick (fourth round) in 2005, was also released.
  • The Rangers released righty Danny Gutierrez, formerly one of their top-10 prospects. Gutierrez had been acquired from the Royals, but his stuff has diminished and was suspended 50 games for amphetamines prior to the 2010 season.
  • The Blue Jays released speedy outfielder Eric Eiland, a second-round pick in 2007. Eiland has been an efficient basestealer but has struggled overall offensively.

Quick Hits: Collins, Red Sox, K-Rod, Dodgers

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Links for Thursday, as the minor league season opens and Bryce Harper and others make their pro debuts…

  • Yahoo's Jeff Passan explains how 5'7" left-hander Tim Collins went from being an aspiring carpenter to a promising rookie in the Royals' 'pen.
  • Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports know the winless Red Sox aren't as bad as they've seemed for the first five games of the season, but he argues they aren't as good as they seemed in January.
  • The Mets and Francisco Rodriguez continue to say they aren't worried about the reliever's vesting option for 2012, according to Dan Martin of the New York Post. Rodriguez finished his first game of the season last night and with 54 more games finished, he'll have his $17.5MM option vest.
  • MLB’s main concern with the deal Dodgers owner Frank McCourt recently proposed is that it would relieve McCourt’s debt without necessarily improving the product on the field at Dodger Stadium, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney.
  • ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick anticipates some milestones that players may reach in 2011.

Outrighted To Triple-A: Ekstrom, Wagner, Ishikawa

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The Pacific Coast League's transactions page gives us the update on three recently-designated players.

Offseason In Review: Kansas City Royals

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The Royals are next in our Offseason In Review series.

Major League Signings

International Signings

  • Darwin Castillo, Igor Feliz

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Trades and Claims

Notable Losses

Summary

Once again Royals GM Dayton Moore spent the offseason focusing on the long-term health of the organization.  Moore accommodated Greinke's trade demand, moved Royals mainstay DeJesus, locked up Butler, and dabbled with a few stopgap free agents.

There is a sense that Greinke forced the Royals' hand with his trade demand, but as ESPN's Keith Law points out, they weren't obligated to do anything.  Law felt the package received from Milwaukee was more about "bulk and fit, but not impact."  Granted, Law likes Jeffress and Odorizzi less than other prospect gurus, but it was surprising to see the Royals trade two years of an ace starter and not receive one top 50 prospect in return.  Perhaps the Royals felt that Greinke's desire to move on would adversely affect his 2011 performance and reduce his trade value, and that their backs were up against the wall due to the pitcher's no-trade clause.  He'd already rejected a trade to the Nationals that might have been superior.

Law was also down on the DeJesus return, as Mazzaro does not project as even a "medium-impact pitcher" in his mind.  Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein profiled Mazzaro as "a solid fourth starter who can eat up innings," ranking him tenth among the organization's strong group of 25-and-under players.  Ten Royals prospects appeared on a top 100 prospect list compiled by Law, Goldstein, or Baseball America, so the Royals can be forgiven for not shooting for the moon for one year of DeJesus, who was coming off thumb surgery.  Not that a team can ever acquire too much upside, but innings guys are needed too.

Meche made the classy decision to forfeit the $12MM remaining on his contract, preferring not to have the Royals pay him to rehab from shoulder surgery.  Moore did not spend the found money on pointless free agent signings, though on January 18th there wasn't much out there anyway.  Moore's free agent strategy was to commit the paltry sum of $7.75MM to Francoeur, Chen, Francis, and Cabrera.  These four aren't going to take playing time from top prospects, and Francis could even have trade value if he stays healthy.  Moore has been knocked for finally signing his boy Francoeur, but at that price there's little harm in seeing if he has another 2007 in him.

Butler

Unlike many extensions, I don't believe the Butler contract was about arbitration savings.  The deal pays Butler (pictured) $19MM for his three arbitration years, which represents minimal savings over what he might have gotten year-to-year assuming campaigns in the .300, 20 home run, 80 RBI range.  Instead, the contract is about projection: the arbitration years become a bargain if Butler develops more power, which seems possible since he turns 25 this month.  Plus, the Royals have a free agent season for $8MM and a club option for another at $12.5MM.  At worst the contract provides mild savings and a free agent year, but there is potential here for big savings.  And if Kila Ka'aihue and Eric Hosmer both prove big-league capable soon, that's a good problem to have.

The Royals have the consensus top farm system in baseball by a wide margin.  Moore has earned the opportunity to build a competitive club around his top young players as they graduate to the Majors beginning this year.  The Royals have lost consistently since Moore took over in 2006 and while they're a lousy team again this year, their farm system should catalyze a turnaround in the near future. 

Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.  Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Royals Sign Jeff Suppan

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The Royals signed Jeff Suppan to a minor league deal, reports MLB.com's Dick Kaegel.  The 36-year-old righty will report to Triple-A Omaha.  Suppan was a workhorse for the 1999-2002 Royals, averaging 33 starts per year.  He later moved on to the Pirates, Red Sox, Cardinals, and Brewers, most recently parting ways with the Giants last week after signing a minor league deal.

Suppan was drafted by the Red Sox in '93, joining the Diamondbacks in '97 as the third overall pick in the expansion draft.  He was dealt to the Royals late in the '98 season as part of a three-way trade, and by 2000 he earned the Opening Day nod.  Though he earned a temporary bullpen demotion in July of that year, Suppan was still named the team's pitcher of the year after the season.  He also snagged a two-year deal and the Opening Day assignments in '01 and '02.  The Royals non-tendered Suppan after the '02 season.

More recently, Suppan posted a 5.06 ERA, 4.5 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 1.2 HR/9, and 40.3% groundball rate for the Brewers and Cardinals in 2010.  Milwaukee released him in June of last year with about $10MM remaining on a contract signed in December of '06.  With serious rotation uncertainty for 2011, the Royals are a good fit for Suppan as he looks for big league starts.

Minor Deals: Swaggerty, Cruz, Brewers, Pirates

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Teams are making procedural moves left and right as they finalize their Opening Day rosters. Here's the latest on some minor deals from around the majors…

  • The Royals granted minor league left-hander Ben Swaggerty his release, according to MLB Reports (on Twitter). The 28-year-old has a 3.35 ERA with 10.4 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 in four minor league seasons as a reliever.
  • The Rangers signed Luis Cruz after the Brewers released him, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (on Twitter). The infielder is playing short for the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate tonight.
  • The Brewers released a number of minor leaguers besides Cruz and Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has all the details.
  • The Pirates are "looking hard" into an external move, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter links). Pittsburgh would like to add pitching.

Procedural Notes: Abreu, Blanco, Evans, Hernandez

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The latest procedural notes…

Royals Designate Lucas May For Assignment

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The Royals designated catcher Lucas May for assignment, the team announced. In corresponding moves, the Royals placed Jason Kendall on the 15-day DL, selected the contract of Tim Collins and outrighted Gregor Blanco to Triple-A. Kansas City now has 39 players on its 40-man roster.

The Royals acquired May from the Dodgers with Elisaul Pimentel for Scott Podsednik last July and the backstop debuted with the Royals as a September callup. He seemed ready to become a big league backup, but the Royals acquired Matt Treanor this week and he will take May's place.

May hit .283/.349/.483 for three teams in the upper minors last year, adding 16 homers and 21 doubles. The 26-year-old has thrown out 28% of would-be base stealers in his minor league career. He is out of options.

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