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Stark’s Latest: Lee, Phillies, Rays

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The latest from ESPN’s Jayson Stark…

  • Phillies ace Cliff Lee threw a bullpen session yesterday and is slated to return around the All-Star break, Stark writes for ESPN.com. Lee’s next step is to throw a simulated game this weekend before heading out on a minor league rehab assignment and returning either just before or just after the All-Star break. Rival teams tell Stark that they expect the Phillies to aggressively shop Lee, and they believe that Philadelphia would eat a significant amount of the remaining $50MM guarantee on Lee’s deal in order to net the right pieces.
  • The Tigers, Pirates, Blue Jays and Angels are scouting the Phillies this week, Stark tweets. The Phillies are telling other teams around the league that this week could determine their status as buyer or sellers next month.
  • Stark also tweets that he asked an unnamed club official if any teams other than the Cubs are aggressively selling at this point and was told him that in addition to Chicago, the Rays are “definitely open for business.” Stark’s colleague, Buster Olney, reported yesterday that the Rays would deal David Price “right now” if the right offer came along.

Angels Seek To Add Pen Lefty And Perhaps Closer

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JUNE 24:  Obtaining bullpen help in advance of the trade deadline is a top priority, GM Jerry Dipoto told Jim Bowden in an an appearance on Sirius XM MLB Network Radio (Twitter link).

In addition to indicating that a left-handed reliever is a definite need, Dipoto suggested that the Halos may be interested in adding a new 9th inning option as well. Incumbent closer Ernesto Frieri owns a 5.83 ERA on the year, though he has registered 11.0 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9, leading to mixed views from other metrics (5.00 FIP, 3.08 xFIP, 2.42 SIERA).

MAY 29: With the loss of southpaw Sean Burnett fresh on the heels of his return to the MLB roster, the Angels may explore the trade market for alternatives, according to a report from MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez (via Twitter). “If the chance at acquiring somebody is there, we’re certainly going to be open to the idea,” GM Jerry Dipoto said of the possibility of adding a southpaw via trade.

The need is exacerbated, Gonzalez notes, by the fact that the team’s lone current left-hander — Wade LeBlanc — “needs to be stretched out” as a starter, according to manager Mike Scioscia. Temporarily, at least, the club could give another chance to Nick Maronde, who has been hit hard at all levels this year, or go to one of its marginal minor league options: Buddy Boshers, Brandon Sisk, and Dustin Richardson. Alternatively, says Gonzalez, demoted starter Hector Santiago could be a hypothetical possibility, or the team could choose to lean on righties Michael Kohn and Ernesto Frieri, who have reverse platoon splits over their career.

Even if the Halos look internally at present, though, the club seems a good bet to look to add another left-handed pen piece over the summer. Looking ahead, Gonzalez notes that several arms could become available. He lists Antonio Bastardo of the Phillies, the recently-acquired Troy Patton of the Padres, and the Reds’ Sean Marshall as names to watch.

Minor Moves: Fisher, Clay, Diaz, Panik, Stinson

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Here’s a look at today’s minor moves from around the league.

  • The Braves have purchased the contract of Carlos Fisher from the Somerset Patriots and assigned him to Triple-A, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. Fisher, 31, previously spent parts of three seasons with the Reds, most recently in 2011. He posted a 4.74 ERA, 7.84 K/9, and 5.02 BB/9 in 98 2/3 innings.
  • The Angels have signed Caleb Clay from the Korean Baseball Organization’s Hanwha Eagles and assigned him to Triple-A, according to Cotillo (via Twitter). Clay was selected 44th overall by the Red Sox during the 2006 amateur draft. He’s since pitched for the Sox and Nationals organizations but never reached the majors. The 26-year-old right-hander struggled in his first season overseas, with a 8.33 ERA, 4.50 K/9, and 5.63 BB/9.
  • Once again from Cotillo (on Twitter), the Diamondbacks have signed 27-year-old Argenis Diaz to a minor league deal. Diaz was with the Reds until recently. Interestingly, Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate has only used Didi Gregorius and Nick Ahmed at shortstop to date in 2014. Diaz will presumably provide depth up the middle.

From earlier…

  • The Tigers will promote lefty Pat McCoy, Mark Anderson of TigsTown.com tweets. McCoy will have to be added to their 40-man roster. McCoy, 25, has posted a 2.94 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 33 2/3 innings this season divided between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo. The Tigers signed McCoy, a product of the Nationals system, to a minor league deal last fall.
  • The Giants will promote prospect Joe Panik, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Panik, the team’s first-round pick in 2011, will need to be added to the Giants’ 40-man roster. The second baseman was hitting .321/.382/.447 in 326 plate appearances for Triple-A Fresno.
  • The Orioles have announced that pitcher Josh Stinson has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk. The Orioles designated Stinson for assignment on Tuesday. He has pitched 13 innings for the Orioles this season, allowing nine runs while striking out six and walking six.
  • The Rockies have purchased the contract of pitcher Wilton Lopez, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding tweets. They’ve made space for Lopez by optioning pitching Chris Martin to Triple-A Colorado Springs and moving Michael Cuddyer to the 60-day DL. The Rockies outrighted Lopez last week.
  • The Yankees have released 1B/OF Russ Canzler, Donnie Collins of the Scranton Times-Tribune tweets. Canzler last appeared in the big leagues with the Indians in 2012. He hit .263/.332/.389 in 199 plate appearances for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2014.
  • The Royals have added selected the contract of OF Justin Maxwell, Jeffrey Flanagan of FOX Sports Kansas City tweets. Maxwell will take Norichika Aoki’s place on the active roster as Aoki heads to the disabled list with a groin injury. The Royals outrighted Maxwell in May, and he’s hit .316/.358/.541 in 106 plate appearances since then.
  • The Astros will add Jake Buchanan to their 40-man roster to start Saturday, and Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle notes (via Twitter) that fellow pitcher Jose Cisnero will head to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Buchanan on the 40-man roster. Buchanan, 24, has posted 5.2 K/9 and 1.2 BB/9 in 76 1/3 innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City this season.

Angels Release Raul Ibanez

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The Angels have announced that they’ve released Raul Ibanez. Ibanez collected 190 plate appearances with the Angels this season and hit .157/.258/.265. The Angels have endured criticism recently for playing Ibanez at designated hitter ahead of the much younger C.J. Cron.

The Angels signed Ibanez to a big-league deal in December, paying him $2.75MM plus bonuses based on playing time. Ibanez was effective offensively for the Mariners last season, hitting .242/.306/.487 with 29 homers in 596 plate appearances, but he never got untracked with the Angels, and he has been a consistently weak defender and baserunner for years, so he doesn’t add value if he’s not hitting. Ibanez, 42, has played in parts of 19 seasons with the Mariners, Royals, Phillies, Yankees and Angels.

AL Notes: Downs, Angels, Blue Jays, Rays

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Here’s the latest out of the American League:

  • White Sox reliever Scott Downs would see his 2015 option vest if he appears in 55 games this year and does not end the season on the DL, reports MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes (via Twitter). The 39-year-old southpaw has seen action in 35 contests (after tonight’s outing), meaning that he has just 20 left to go to trigger the $4.25MM option. MLBTR’s Steve Adams looked yesterday at vesting option situations around the league.
  • The Angels bullpen has not only been unreliable, but currently lacks a lefty, writes ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Insider subscription required). The club may well look to a trade market that Olney says “should be comparatively flush” with attractive bullpen arms.
  • You won’t see the Blue Jays in October if GM Alex Anthopoulos stands pat this summer, writes Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star.  With Juan Francisco’s offensive struggles (.586 OPS in the month of June), Griffin wants to see Toronto go out and get a second baseman that can play every day.  Among the second baseman that might be available in July, he says, are Nick Franklin of the Mariners, Ramon Santiago of the Reds, Darwin Barney of the Cubs, and Ramiro Pena of the Braves.
  • Gary Shelton of the Tampa Bay Times says the Rays need to start selling.  With the club mired in last place, Shelton says it needs to move David Price, Ben Zobrist, Matt Joyce, and anything not nailed down. Meanwhile, a host of teams with a heavier-than-usual scouting presence for Price’s start tonight included the Blue Jays, Cardinals, Giants, Indians, and Yankees, tweets the Times’ Marc Topkin.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

2015 Vesting Options Update

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The state of next year’s free agent class will be impacted by whether or not players with vesting options in their contracts achieve the necessary playing time to trigger those conditional options. Here’s a rundown of these players and their progress toward triggering their options…

  • Nick Punto: Punto has a $2.75MM club option that will automatically vest if he spends fewer than 30 days on the disabled list, assistant GM David Forst told reporters at the time of the signing. He did add that there are other ways for Punto’s option to vest, though for the time being, he’s on pace to see his option vest simply due to the fact that he’s avoided the DL entirely. If the option doesn’t vest, the A’s have the choice of picking him up at $2.75MM or buying him out for $250K.
  • Rickie Weeks: Weeks has an $11.5MM option that won’t be vesting, as he would need to total 600 PA in 2014 or 1,200 PA in 2013-14 and finish the season healthy. He’s being platooned heavily with Scooter Gennett and has just 112 PAs on the season, so he’ll fall well shy of that mark. Should he reach 400 PAs (which only seems likely in the event of Gennett injury), Weeks would be entitled to a $1MM buyout of his option.
  • Jimmy Rollins: Rollins’ option vests if he reaches 600 PA in 2014 or if he totals 1,100 options from 2013-14 and finishes the season on the active roster. He’s 141 PA shy of that combined 1,100 number, meaning he’s highly likely to end up with an $11MM guarantee for 2015.
  • Dan Haren: If Haren pitches 180 innings or more in 2014, he triggers a $10MM player option for the 2015 season. He’s averaging just over six innings per start, so he’s on pace to clear that mark given 30-31 starts. However, if he finishes the season anywhere near his current 3.54 ERA, he may prefer to test the open market in search of a multi-year deal.
  • Mike Adams: Adams’ $6MM club option for 2015 vests with 60 innings pitched in 2014, but he’s once again on the disabled list for the Phillies and has thrown just 17 innings. Adams has thrown 42 innings in his season-and-a-half with the Phils, and it seems highly unlikely that they would pick him up at $6MM given his injury troubles.
  • Rafael Soriano: Soriano’s $14MM club option will vest if he finishes 120 games combined in 2013-14. He’s currently at 81 games finished on the season, meaning he’d need to finish a rather unlikely 39 of his team’s final 92 games (42 percent) this season. Should the option vest, half of his salary will be deferred and paid in annual installments from 2018-25.
  • Kyuji Fujikawa: The Cubs hoped that Fujikawa, one of the best relievers in Japanese history, would help to fortify their bullpen when they signed him to a two-year, $9.5MM contract in the 2012-13 offseason. Instead, both player and team received a hefty dose of bad luck when Fujikawa needed Tommy John surgery after just 12 innings last season. He has a vesting option based on games finished, but the 33-year-old hasn’t pitched in 2014 and surely won’t be crossing that threshold.
  • Sean Burnett: Burnett’s $4.5MM club option vests if he appears in a total of 110 games between 2013-14, but like Fujikawa, he’s been plagued by injury and has no chance of that happening. Burnett has appeared in just 16 games total over the past two seasons and underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this month. The Halos will certainly be paying the $500K buyout on his club option.
  • Scott Downs: Downs has a $4MM vesting option, and while the specifics haven’t been reported, Ken Rosenthal noted at the time of the deal that it would vest were Downs to pitch “a normal workload.” He’s headed in that direction, as he’s on pace for his highest innings total since 2011. Downs has pitched to a 5.48 ERA in his 23 innings, so the White Sox may not wish to see that option vest. Then again, he has a 3.95 ERA dating back to May 3, so he’s shown some signs of improvement.

Rosenthal On A’s, Angels, Rasmus, Indians

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Somehow, someway, Athletics GM Billy Beane is going to pull something off between now and the deadline, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Between the inexperience of Sonny Gray and Jesse Chavez, Scott Kazmir’s past health troubles, and other question marks, the A’s could use some rotation reinforcements.  Oakland isn’t deep enough in minor league talent to land the Cubs’ Jeff Samardzija or Rays’ David Price, but Rosenthal is certain that Beane will find something out there.  Here’s more from his always informative column..

  • The Angels don’t necessarily need rotation help, but they’d like to add a starter nonetheless.  They are currently without a lefty reliever, and another rotation piece would allow them to move left-hander Hector Santiago to the bullpen.  Rosenthal speculates that Padres righty Ian Kennedy and Mets righty Dillon Gee could be fits.
  • The qualifying offer reduces the desire of some teams to trade QO candidates before they hit the open market.  Blue Jays center fielder Colby Rasmus and Rockies left-hander Jorge De La Rosa are examples of potential free agents who are unlikely to be moved since their clubs would like the option of making an offer and an acquiring team would not be able to extend one.  If not for the QO possibility, Toronto might opt to move Rasmus for a pitcher and re-install a platoon of Anthony Gose and Kevin Pillar in center.
  • The Indians are in difficult spots with potential free agents shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and right-hander Justin Masterson.  Cabrera isn’t a strong QO candidate thanks to his so-so defense, so one option would be to trade him for another infielder to alternate with Mike Aviles.  The same goes for Masterson, though he probably doesn’t have much trade value with an ERA of 5.05 with 8.1 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9.

Stark On Rays, Zobrist, Utley, Cubs, Padres

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The trade deadline is rapidly approaching and while things figure to get exciting over the next month and change, not everyone is drooling over what might be available.  “To be honest, I don’t see much out there,” an official of one contender told Jayson Stark of ESPN.com. “Who’s even selling? And what are they selling? I know there will be guys to trade for. But where’s the quality?”  The whole column is worth a read, but here are some of the highlights from Stark’s latest..

  • The Rays front office believed that they had the talent to win it all this year and that optimism could play into how they approach the deadline.  The Rays aren’t selling and Stark writes that if they believe what they have can power them to a championship next season, they might stand pat and keep the band together.  Teams that have spoken with Tampa Bay see a fire sale as unlikely.
  • The Rays might listen on Ben Zobrist, but one exec who has spoken with the club gets the sense that it would be “really, really difficult” for them to part with him.  The exception to all of this, of course, is David Price.
  • The Phillies are expected to be open for business between now and the deadline, but they might not like the offers that come in.  “Look at their trade chips,” said an NL executive. “Even if they blow it up, dangle [Cole] Hamels and dangle all these other guys, each one of those guys has some reason it will be hard for them to get back what they want.“
  • Meanwhile, one exec flatly said a Chase Utley trade is “not happening.”  The sticker price might not be met on Phillies like Cliff Lee, Jonathan Papelbon, and Jimmy Rollins, but teams see Domonic Brown as someone whom the Phillies would like to swap for a different young change-of-scenery candidate.
  • Teams that have spoken with the Cubs expect them to move pitcher Jason Hammel in the next two weeks.  That could just be the warm up for Jeff Samardzija, but they continue to tell teams that they’d like to hammer out a new contract with him.  This week we learned that the Cubs ace rejected a five-year, $85MM+ offer.
  • While some teams are beating around the bush, the Padres are aggressively letting teams know that they want to sell.  All of their outfielders, except Cameron Maybin, are available, and that includes Seth Smith, Chris Denorfia, and Will Venable.
  • Several teams report the Dodgers are telling them they’ll listen right now on every one of their outfielders except Yasiel Puig.
  • The Yankees have been asking almost exclusively about starting pitching in their preliminary conversations.
  • Teams that have talked with the Tigers say they’re focused on bullpen upgrades, not shortstop.
  • The Angels are in the bullpen market, but they’re looking hard at left-handed-relief options, not closers.
  • Things are murky around the D’Backs since no one really knows who is in charge their or what their goals are.
  • Royals GM Dayton Moore has indicated that the Royals can add payroll, but clubs believe that he won’t get to go-ahead to spend until mid-July.  When and if KC starts buying, they are expected to target right fielders and bullpen arms since that is what they’ve been asking about in conversations.

Angels Sign Wade LeBlanc

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The Angels have brought back lefty Wade LeBlanc on a minor league deal, according to the MLB.com transactions page. He was recently lost to the Yankees through waivers, but elected free agency after he was outrighted off of New York’s 40-man roster.

LeBlanc, 29, made only one appearance during his tenure with the Yankees. On the year, he has allowed six earned runs through 7 1/3 MLB frames, with four strikeouts and three walks.

Presumably, the Halos will look to have LeBlanc stretch out as a starter in the minors, since that was reportedly the team’s hope at the time he was originally placed on outright waivers. At Triple-A for Los Angeles, he had tossed 53 2/3 innings with a 3.69 ERA and 7.2 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9.

Giants Showing Strong Interest In Jeff Samardzija

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The Giants are showing strong interest in Cubs ace Jeff Samardzija, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter).  Other clubs in the picture include the Yankees, Orioles, Angels, Red Sox, and Blue Jays.

Yesterday it was reported that the Cubs have already started discussing trades involving Samardzija and Jason Hammel with at least two teams.  Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times cited the Braves, Blue Jays, and Mariners as clubs that have interest in bolstering their pitching through a deal with Chicago.  Seattle is viewed as the most likely landing spot for Hammel at present.

Samardzija, who is eligible for free agency following the 2015 season, currently has a 2.77 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 91 innings.  It has been long expected that the Cubs would dangle the 29-year-old and the future-minded club should find a ripe market this summer.  The Red Sox could be a suitable trade partner given their strong pitching and catching depth in the minors and Theo Epstein’s familiarity with their system.  The Orioles, meanwhile, have top-tier pitching prospects such as Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman, Hunter Harvey, and Eduardo Rodriguez that they can use to entice Theo & Co.

While some of the Samardzija suitors are playing catchup, the Giants are enjoying a 6.5 game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West and the top record in baseball.  Adding the Cubs ace to their rotation would further bolster their already strong pitching.  The Giants have a team ERA of 3.22, the third best in the majors.

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