After failing to make the team, Brian Anderson told the Royals today that he wants to try pitching, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. Anderson signed a $700K Major League deal with the Royals in December. Though Anderson pitched at the University of Arizona, the switch comes as a surprise. Baseball America noted in their '05 Handbook that Anderson threw in the low 90s as a college reliever.
Royals Rumors
Offseason Questions For The AL Central
All the offseason reviews are in the books, and today the AL Central takes the stand.
- Do White Sox acquisitions Juan Pierre and Mark Teahen deserve starting jobs and multiyear commitments? Will the Sox suffer subpar production at traditionally offensive spots in left field, third base, and designated hitter?
- With a respectable offense in place, should the Indians have signed a couple of veteran free agent starters and attempted a run?
- Will the Tigers moving Curtis Granderson hurt the 2010 club? Could the Edwin Jackson–Max Scherzer component have been facilitated without the Yankees being involved? Should the Tigers have added a free agent starter, and did they make the right choice in shipping out Nate Robertson instead of Dontrelle Willis?
- Could the Royals have acquired a similar veteran backstop for significantly less than the $6MM committed to Jason Kendall? Did they screw up in letting pitching prospect Juan Abreu hit the open market and sign with the Braves?
- Can the Twins' bullpen get by without a Joe Nathan replacement? Should they have upgraded at third base? Though he took less money to sign with the Twins, was Joe Mauer's eight-year, $184MM extension too risky?
Vance Wilson Retires
Catcher Vance Wilson exercised an out clause in his contract and retired, reports Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. Perhaps he'll move on to a coaching gig.
Wilson, 37, hit .270/.342/.461 in 229 Double A plate appearances for the Royals' affiliate last year after missing two years with a pair of elbow surgeries. He played eight seasons for the Mets and Tigers, earning about $4.9MM along the way.
Edgar Osuna Outrighted To Minors
LHP Edgar Osuna, Kansas City's first-round pick in the Rule 5 Draft last December, was outrighted to the Royals' Northwest Arkansas Double-A team today. Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star says (via Twitter) the move was made possible since Atlanta, Osuna's original team, declined their option to bring Osuna back. The southpaw then passed through waivers without being claimed.
Osuna posted a 3.37 ERA and 4.15 K-BB ratio over his four years in the Braves' organization, getting as high as the Double-A level last season. The 22-year-old has made 76 appearances, 48 of them starts.
Odds & Ends: Padron, Washburn, Moeller, Chapman
Links for Tuesday…
- I joined Jeff & Jeff on KNFS 590 St. Louis today; click here to listen to audio.
- Jorge Ebro of El Nuevo Herald tweets that the Red Sox signed 22-year-old Cuban outfielder Jorge Padron to a minor league deal with a $350K bonus. Cuban Ball Players has a bit on Padron here.
- SI's Jon Heyman tweets that the Royals will join the Mariners in the Jarrod Washburn bidding. Heyman first made the Royals-Washburn connection on January 11th, but nothing much came of it.
- Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times spoke to Orlando Cabrera, Tony Reagins, and Walt Jocketty about the decline in multiyear free agent contracts.
- Rays first baseman Dan Johnson cleared waivers and accepted a Triple A assignment, tweets Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune.
- Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun feels that Orioles catcher Chad Moeller is unlikely to accept a minor league assignment now that the team has chosen Craig Tatum to back up Matt Wieters.
- Aroldis Chapman is expected to begin the season in the minors, writes MLB.com's Mark Sheldon.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs praises the Rockies for their player development, but questions their offseason tweaking. For more on that topic, check out our Rockies offseason in review.
- Rich Hill, recently reassigned to Triple A, can elect free agency around June if he's not in the Majors according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Stark’s Latest: Trade Block, Mets, Phillies, Tigers
ESPN's Jayson Stark has a new blog post up with some trade rumor nuggets for us. It's behind the Insider wall (if you don't have a subscription yet, what are you waiting for?), so I can't give away too much…
- Stark lists 16 players currently on the trade block. Among the names we haven't seen mentioned recently: Willie Harris, Andy Marte, Tim Stauffer, Omir Santos, and Brad Thomas.
- The Mets are looking to move one of their extra catchers, either Santos or Chris Coste, and are looking to add "major league-ready triple-A pitching depth." Aren't we all…
- The Phillies are looking to add all sorts of pitching depth, and have interest in the recently released Chad Gaudin.
- Scott Sizemore's rocky spring has the Tigers looking for a second base upgrade.
- Kansas City is shopping Brayan Pena in their perpetual search for starting pitching.
- The Braves have told other clubs that David Ross is available, "possibly in a catcher-for-catcher swap for a younger backup-catcher type."
Orioles Acquire Steven Lerud
Bob Dutton tweets that the Royals have traded minor league catcher Steven Lerud to the Orioles for a player to be named later.
Lerud, 24, was a third-round draft pick of the Pirates in 2003 and posted a line of .240/.339/.336 in 95 games for the Pirates' AA affiliate in Altoona last season. The Royals signed him as a minor league free agent back in December. Over six minor league seasons, Lerud owns a line of .228/.314/.363.
Odds & Ends: Dye, Arguelles, Royals, Astros
Upset over seeing your Syracuse-topped bracket get ruined tonight? Cheer up by reading these news items!
- MLB.com's Bill Ladson thinks the Nationals will make a move to bolster their current right-field platoon. He thinks Jermaine Dye would help the team, though Washington denied any interest in the veteran last week.
- Noel Arguelles hasn't shown much in camp with Kansas City, but ESPN's Keith Law says it's part of the Royals' strategy to take it easy on the 20-year-old.
- Rany Jazayerli of the Rany On The Royals blog looks at how K.C. has only recently gotten back into the habit of drafting local prospects. He also lists some of the local talent that the Royals didn't draft between 1988 and 2003, such as (sorry to mention it again, Royals fans) Albert Pujols.
- The Astros are putting a greater emphasis on foreign scouting, writes The Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice.
- Tracy Ringolsby of FOXSports.com lists 10 notable scouts who could be future general managers.
- The Cubs could wait until the trade deadline before getting their desired set-up man, says FOXSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi.
Odds & Ends: Stanton, Daigle, Bell, Mariners
A round-up of some of Wednesday's newsbits….
- The Marlins assigned top prospect Mike Stanton to Double-A, but MLB.com's Joe Frisaro writes that by keeping Stanton in the minors until "around Memorial Day, or June 1," the club can delay Stanton's Super Two status.
- RHP Casey Daigle, a non-roster invitee signed by the Astros in December, has a shot at winning a spot on the Houston roster, writes Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Daigle last pitched in the majors in 2006.
- MLB.com's Corey Brock (via Twitter) hears from GM Jed Hoyer that the Padres haven't heard from other teams interested in Heath Bell, nor are they "actively shopping" the closer themselves.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports calls the Mariners "a disappointment waiting to happen" and feels they won't live up to the hype generated by their busy offseason.
- Carroll Rogers of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on new TBS analyst John Smoltz popping by the Braves camp. Smoltz said he is "not officially [retired], but close" and noted that the Nationals offered a deal over the winter for him to pitch and eventually coach for the club.
- MLB.com's Steve Gilbert writes that Arizona GM Josh Byrnes' interest in Kelly Johnson dated back to the infielder's high school days, and that Byrnes tried to deal for Johnson back in 2006.
- LHP Danny Duffy, one of Kansas City's top pitching prospects, is quitting baseball, reports Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star.
- WEEI.com's Rob Bradford reports that reliever Joe Nelson has an opt-out clause in his contract with the Red Sox that allows him to become a free agent if he isn't on Boston's major league roster by June 1.
- Prospective Rangers owner Chuck Greenberg won't have the deal finalized to buy the team by Opening Day, reports Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com. Mid-April is the new target date.
- Matt Klaassen of Fangraphs looks at the battle for the last spot on the Oakland roster, while also dropping several hints that the A's would be helping themselves by releasing Eric Chavez.
- Matt Eddy of Baseball America looks at seven out-of-options players who he figures will either make their team's roster or be traded in the coming days. Eddy also gave us a shout-out by linking to MLBTR's full list of players who are out of options.
Odds & Ends: Royals, Dodgers, Mauer, Reyes
Sunday night linkage..
- Rookie left-hander and Rule 5 draftee Edgar Osuna has impressed in Kansas City and will likely stick with the club, writes Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.
- Joe Torre has suspended contract extension talks with the Dodgers to avoid becoming a distraction during the season, writes Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
- Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner (via Twitter) believes that the Twins are paying Joe Mauer what he's worth. Meanwhile, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that Minnesota's payroll will likely top $100MM in 2011.
- Social media can be a real headache for GMs, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- The Hanshin Tigers are looking at three major league pitchers to bolster their rotation, according to a report from Sports Hochi passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The report lists Jo-Jo Reyes, Eric Stults, and Seth McClung as possibilities. You may recall that another Japanese club, the Chiba Lotte Marines, has previously shown interest in Stults.
- Bobby Jenks will be on a short leash this season, writes Barry Rozner of the Daily Herald. Jenks, who turned 29 on March 14th, is set to earn $7.5MM in 2010 after avoiding arbitration with the White Sox.
- The Padres' Adrian Gonzalez is ignoring all of the trade talk that surrounds him, writes Peter Gammons in a column for MLB.com.
