Francis Chooses Royals Over Other Suitors
Jeff Francis says he drew interest from "a bunch" of teams this offseason before agreeing to sign in Kansas City. His suitors reportedly included the Yankees and Rockies, but Francis chose the Royals instead of a team with a legitimate chance to contend in 2011.
As he explained on a conference call with reporters this afternoon, the left-hander chose the Royals because they offered him the opportunity to start and boast the game's most impressive collection of minor league prospects.
"From everything I've been able to learn, they certainly have the talent available," Francis said, comparing the current group of Royals prospects to the young Rockies players who made it to the 2007 World Series. "I've seen [a quick turnaround] happen before and I know it can be done."
Francis turned 30 over the weekend, but it wasn't long ago that he was a top prospect like current Royals lefties Mike Montgomery, John Lamb, Danny Duffy and Chris Dwyer. Though he doesn't consider himself much of a mentor yet, Francis knows what it's like to be a top prospect. As the 9th overall pick of the 2002 draft, Francis arrived in Colorado with lots of fanfare.
He leaves the Rockies – the only franchise he has ever known – for the American League. Francis says there could be an adjustment period and that he expects to succeed as long as he throws strikes, keeps hitters off-balance and stays healthy.
Injuries have been a problem throughout Francis' six-year big league career, but he says his left shoulder has been "feeling really good" and that he expects to be ready for Spring Training next month. The left-hander spent the entire 2009 season recovering from shoulder surgery and says he experienced some soreness again at the end of the 2010 campaign.
Royals, Alex Gordon Avoid Arbitration
The Royals and Alex Gordon agreed to a one-year deal for 2011, avoiding arbitration, the team announced. Gordon made $1.15MM last year in his first campaign as an arbitration eligible player.
Gordon, the second overall pick in the 2005 draft, transitioned to the outfield last year after spending his entire career as a corner infielder. The 26-year-old hit .215/.315/.355 with eight homers in 281 plate appearances in 2010, so it seems unlikely that he got more than a token raise from the Royals.
Billy Butler, Kyle Davies and Rob Tejeda are Kansas City's remaining unsigned arbitration-eligible players, as MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows.
Royals To Sign Jeff Francis
The Royals have agreed to sign Jeff Francis to a one-year deal, the team announced. ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick first reported the deal and adds that it's for $2MM guaranteed plus $2MM in incentives (Twitter link). The agreement with the Frontline client is pending a physical.
Francis drew interest from at least seven teams this offseason before agreeing to sign in Kansas City. The lefty logged 104 1/3 innings and posted a 5.00 ERA with 5.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a healthy 46.8% ground ball rate last year. He missed the entire 2009 season as he recovered from shoulder surgery.
Once the Royals dealt Zack Greinke, their need for starting pitching became even more apparent. Their internal rotation candidates include Kyle Davies, Luke Hochevar, Sean O'Sullivan, Vin Mazzaro and Zach Miner, but GM Dayton Moore needed more starting pitching depth. Kansas City expressed interest in Kevin Millwood earlier in the winter and the Scott Boras client remains unsigned.
With Francis off the board and Carl Pavano nearing an agreement to return to Minnesota, there are virtually no free agent groundballers remaining.
As MLBTR's Transaction Tracker shows, the Royals have signed Jeff Francoeur and Melky Cabrera, traded David DeJesus and Greinke away and made a number of minor deals since the offseason began.
Royals Agree To Terms With Luke Hochevar
The Royals have avoided arbitration with Luke Hochevar, agreeing to a one-year contract with the right-hander, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. The club has confirmed the signing in a press release, and Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated tweets the deal is worth $1.76MM.
Hochevar, the first overall pick of the 2006 draft, is still looking for the breakout season that would pay off that high draft selection. He missed over two months of the 2010 season with an elbow strain but contributed a 4.81 ERA and a 2.05 K/BB ratio in 18 games, 17 of them starts. This was Hochevar's first year of arbitration eligibility.
Hochevar is the third arbitration-eligible player to reach a deal with Kansas City this winter, following Wilson Betemit and Brayan Pena. That's three players down and four to go for the Royals, as you can follow on the MLBTR Arb Tracker.
Royals Prioritizing Rotation Depth
It'll be impossible for the Royals to replace Zack Greinke's production, but the team still needs someone to soak up all those innings he leaves behind. Unsurprisingly, GM Dayton Moore told MLB.com's Dick Kaegel that rotation help is "the only area that we're focusing on," and that adding a starter(s) is his top priority before Spring Training begins.
Kansas City has lost not only Greinke this offseason, but also Bryan Bullington and Brian Bannister to Japan. Bruce Chen, who pitched to a 4.17 ERA in 140 1/3 innings last year, remains a free agent as well, though Moore left the door open to re-signing him. "We're still open-minded with that. He performed very well with us last year and he showed us what he had, and we've got a comfort level there," said the GM.
So far the only starting pitching help the team has imported this offseason is Zach Miner (on a minor league deal) and Vin Mazzaro (from the David DeJesus trade), though Moore said he doesn't expect the former to be ready until about June. He's open to improving his starting staff via trade however, and he has the game's best farm system to use as ammo.
On the free agent front, the Royals have been linked to Carl Pavano and Jeff Francis in recent weeks. Pavano looks to be heading back to the Twins, but Francis remains in play. Brad Penny could also be coming off the board. An interesting solution could be to convert Joakim Soria to a starter, something that close to 2,000 MLBTR readers would support, but so far the team has shown no inclination of making such a move.
New York Notes: Castillo, Choate, Garza, Soria
In his Insider-only ESPN.com blog, Buster Olney writes that the Mets have internally discussed the possibility of simply releasing Luis Castillo. The team has repeatedly tried to free up some money by trading the second baseman, but has yet to find a taker. Olney indicates that it's possible the Mets could drop both Castillo and Oliver Perez before Opening Day. Here are this morning's other New York-related notes:
- The Mets were one of the teams pursuing Randy Choate before the southpaw signed with the Marlins, according to Newsday's Ken Davidoff. Davidoff says the Mets made Choate a one-year offer worth about $1.4MM, but the veteran lefty accepted more years and more guaranteed money from Florida. If the Mets still intend to add a Pedro Feliciano replacement, Davidoff continues, it'll probably be someone on a minor-league deal, since the market is thinning.
- Brian Cashman told Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News that he felt the asking price for Matt Garza was too high to seriously pursue a trade with the Rays. "We never got off the dime, but strong impressions were that it would be something that would cost us more because we are in the division, kind of like Roy Halladay," said the Yankees GM.
- Considering Andrew Friedman's comments about using the money saved in the Garza deal to sign other players, Chad Jennings of the Journal News wonders if the Rays' targets could overlap with the Yankees'.
- The Royals have told interested clubs that Joakim Soria will not be traded, a stance which Bill Madden of the New York Daily News finds puzzling. Madden suggests the Yankees were willing to part with Jesus Montero and Eduardo Nunez for Soria.
- In his blog entry linked above, Olney disagrees with Madden's argument that the Royals need to trade Soria. According to Olney, Soria's contract is so team-friendly it makes it nearly impossible for the Royals to get equal value from the Yankees or anyone else at the moment.
Poll: Greinke Or Garza?
As the reactions to yesterday's Matt Garza trade poured in, ESPN's Keith Law said he believes the Rays received more in return for their young right-hander than the Royals did when they traded Zack Greinke to the Brewers. He explained that Tampa "focused less on position and more on overall value" after saying the exact opposite about the deal Kansas City made (Insider req'd for the last link).
Obviously, the trades are not equal in a number of ways. The Cubs are receiving two young players in addition to Garza, one being Fernando Perez. Greinke, however, is a former Cy Young Award winner and according to WAR, his last three seasons were all better than Garza's best season (2009) by a considerable margin. He does lack Garza's postseason experience though. The pitchers were born less than a month apart, but the Cubs will get three years of Garza while the Brewers get just two of Greinke (at a higher salary).
So, knowing what we know about the players, do you prefer the package of Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jeremy Jeffress, and Jake Odorizzi or the package of Chris Archer, Brandon Guyer,Robinson Chirinos, Hak-Ju Lee, and Sam Fuld?
Which team got a better return for their young right-hander?
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Rays 59% (9,185)
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Royals 30% (4,620)
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The packages are about equal 12% (1,817)
Total votes: 15,622
Brian Bannister Heading To Japan
Free-agent starter Brian Bannister has agreed to a one-year deal (plus a club option) with the Tokyo Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
Bannister, a five-year veteran of the big leagues, pitched for one season with the Mets and the past four with the Royals, to largely underwhelming results, and made 108 starts in his four-year stint with Kansas City. He'll turn 30 in February.
A second-generation Major Leaguer, Bannister was selected by the Mets in the seventh round of the 2003 draft.
Minor Deals: Iribarren, Yankees, Zavada, Hernandez
The latest minor league deals, with fresh updates up top:
- The Rockies have signed utilityman Hernan Iribarren to a minor league contract, reports MLB.com's Thomas Harding. Iribarren, 26, last played in the majors with Milwaukee in 2009, and spent last season playing with Texas' Triple-A affiliate. Harding says Iribarren's deal includes an invitation to Colorado's Major League Spring Training camp.
- The Yankees claimed righty Brian Schlitter from the Cubs, according to MLB.com's Carrie Muskat (on Twitter). Schlitter, 25, appeared in seven games for the Cubs last year. He spent most of the season at Triple-A Iowa, where he posted a 3.15 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 45 2/3 innings.
- The D'Backs re-signed lefty Clay Zavada. The 26-year-old thrived in 49 relief appearances in 2009, posting 9.2 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9. He spent part of the 2010 season at Triple-A Reno, but appeared in just five games before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
- The Royals re-signed right-hander Gaby Hernandez. Hernandez started 22 games for Kansas City's Triple-A affiliate in 2010, posting a 4.91 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 144 2/3 innings. The Mets selected Hernandez in the third round of the 2004 draft and he has also spent time in the Marlins and Mariners organizations.
- The Padres added some catching depth, signing Guillermo Quiroz. The 29-year-old, who has big league experisnce with the Mariners, Blue Jays, Rangers and Orioles, spent last year in Seattle's minor league system. The backstop hit .286/.347/.431 in 361 minor league plate appearances. The Mariners have added two former Padres catchers this winter: Miguel Olivo and Josh Bard (a player I thought could have fit well on the 2011 Padres). San Diego already has former Mariner Rob Johnson, and the Padres continue to look for catching depth.
Pavano “Talking A Lot” With Twins; Pirates, Royals Are Options
Carl Pavano is "talking a lot" with the Twins about re-signing with the club, reports SI.com's Jon Heyman (Twitter link). Most of the Pavano rumors this winter have centered around the Nationals showing interest in the veteran starter, but given Pavano's stated desire to return to Minnesota, it's possible the Twins were just biding their time to gauge the market for the free agent. In an MLBTR poll taken last month, close to 46% of respondents predicted Pavano would re-sign with the Twins, and it's safe to say Minnesota is still the front-runner.
Between Milwaukee acquiring Zack Greinke, Texas turning their attention to the lineup by signing Adrian Beltre, and Detroit's lack of interest, it seemed like the Pavano market had shrunk to just Minnesota and Washington. Heyman's tweet, however, lists the Pirates and Royals as "other options" for the right-hander. This isn't the first we've heard of Pittsburgh possibly being interested in Pavano, but the Royals are a new suitor, though they're known to be looking for pitching to replace Greinke's innings.
Pavano ending up in either Kansas City or Pittsburgh would be, to say the least, a surprise. If one of the two teams gives him the three-year contract he's looking for, however, the extra guaranteed year could be enough to sway Pavano to join a team that isn't likely to contend over the lifetime of the deal. The Pirates and Royals might see a Pavano signing as a bellwether move to announce to players and agents that the small-market clubs are ready to be active in the market, though it could be argued that just being active in bidding achieves that same goal.