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Minor Moves: Wagner, Angels, Rhymes, Wood

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Some minor league deals from around the baseball world…

  • The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Neil Wagner to a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training, MLBTR has learned.  Wagner has a 3.77 ERA, 2.95 K:BB ratio and 10.2 K/9 rate in 312 career minor league relief appearances in the Padres, A's, and Indians' systems, plus pitched five Major League innings with Oakland in 2011.
  • The Angels signed Billy Buckner, Luke Carlin, Brendan Harris, Trent Oeltjen, Jo-Jo Reyes and J.B. Shuck to minor league contracts with invites to the Major League Spring Training camp, reports MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez.
  • The Nationals have signed infielder Will Rhymes to a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite, reports the Beverly Hills Sports Council's Twitter page.  (Rhymes is represented by the BHSC.)  Rhymes was designated for assignment by Tampa Bay in September and has a .266/.328/.343 line in 449 career plate appearances over three seasons with the Tigers and Rays.
  • Matt Eddy of Baseball America recaps the week's minor league transactions, including news of Brandon Wood signing a minor league deal with the Royals.  Wood, the former Angels third baseman who was once considered one of the top prospects in the game, last appeared in the Majors with the Pirates in 2011 and posted a .722 OPS for the Rockies' Triple-A team in 2012.

Angels Interested In Hiroki Kuroda

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3:16pm: The Angels are interested in Kuroda but only as a fall-back option in case they're unable to re-sign Zack Greinke, reports MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez. They probably can't afford to sign both right-handers.

12:02pm: The Angels have joined the Yankees, Dodgers, and Red Sox as teams with interest in Hiroki Kuroda, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. The Yankees are still negotiating and hope to bring him back for 2013 before he finishes his career in Japan, which the right-hander says he will do.

Kuroda, 37, pitched to a 3.32 ERA in a career-high 219 2/3 innings for New York this season. He's open to signing another one-year contract so he can remain flexible and return to Japan after the season, if he chooses. The Yankees made Kuroda a qualifying offer and would receive draft pick compensation if he signs with another team.

Tim Dierkes ranked Kuroda as the ninth best free agent in his Top 50 Free Agents List, predicting he would re-sign with New York.

AL Links: Sanchez, Hunter, Yankees, Price, Red Sox

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With Torii Hunter joining the club on a two-year deal, the Tigers will now focus on re-signing Anibal Sanchez according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com. They're unlikely to pursue another big name pitcher if they can't bring the right-hander back, however. Here's the latest from the American League, starting with some more on Hunter…

  • Hunter told teams he wasn't interested in talking to them unless things didn't work out with the Tigers, reports Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com (on Twitter).
  • The Yankees saw Hunter as a good fit but never made him an offer, reports Erik Boland of Newsday (on Twitter). They don't have any offers out to position players at the moment and are focused on re-signing Hiroki Kuroda and Mariano Rivera.
  • Hunter would have taken less than $26MM he received from Detroit to re-sign with the Angels, but a one-year contract was a non-starter at any price according to Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times (on Twitter).
  • Knobler listed the pros and cons of trading David Price just a few hours after the left-hander took home the Cy Young Award. Some people with the Rays even identified the Rangers as the ideal trade partner.
  • The Red Sox won't alter their rebuilding plan in the wake of the Blue Jays-Marlins blockbuster, said GM Ben Cherington to WEEI.com's Rob Bradford. "We know we have a plan this offseason and we're going to see how much we can execute it … We've started that and we'll continue to do that," said Cherington, who mentioned he found out about the blockbuster through MLBTR.

Hunter Likely To Leave Angels; 13 Teams Interested

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As many as 13-14 teams have checked in on Torii Hunter, and the 37-year-old is likely to play for a new team in 2013, according to Scott Miller of CBS Sports. The Tigers, Rangers and Braves are being the most aggressive, according to Miller's sources.

Miller reports that back on Sept. 17, the Angels made Hunter a token one-year offer worth $5MM. That number didn't sit well with Hunter:

"They never offered me anything worth considering," Hunter says. "It actually was very disrespectful, what was offered."

Prior to the Angels' modest offer, Hunter was open to re-signing with the team for less, according to Miller, but that bridge appears to have been burned. Hunter says that he isn't looking to break the bank, and he's more concerned with winning a World Series ring for a "fair" price. Whether that pursuit of a championship comes in the American League or National League doesn't seem to matter to Hunter:

"I'm open," Hunter said. "If the National League has a team that's going to win, I'm all for it."

Hunter has already spoken with his close friend Jason Heyward about the Braves, who are a clear fit for the former Gold Glover. As Miller notes, Hunter grew up in Arkansas watching the Braves on a regular basis. Earlier today, it was reported that the Braves were among the teams that were very interested in Hunter. The Tigers, Rangers and Yankees are also mentioned in that report, and the Red Sox have been linked to Hunter as well. The Dodgers, however, appear to be out of the discussion.

Trout, Harper Win Rookie Of The Year Awards

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Angels center fielder Mike Trout and Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper have been named AL and NL Rookies of the Year, respectively, the Baseball Writers Association of America has announced.

Trout becomes the youngest player in league history to become the AL Rookie of the Year and joins Tim Salmon as the only Rookie of the Year winner in Angels history. He batted an incredible .326/.399/.564 with 30 homers and a league-leading 49 stolen bases in his age-20 season. Yoenis Cespedes, Yu Darvish, Wei-Yin Chen and Jarrod Parker rounded out the ballot (in that order).

The 19-year-old Harper is the second-youngest National League player to ever win the award behind Doc Gooden. He recovered from an extended slump over the summer with a monstrous final month that pushed his season batting line to .270/.340/.477. He also added 22 homers and 18 stolen bases. Wade Miley, Todd Frazier, Wilin Rosario, Norichika Aoki, Yonder Alonso, Matt Carpenter and Jordan Pacheco rounded out the ballot (in that order). Harper finished with 16 of 32 first-place votes. His 112 points gave him a narrow victory over Miley, who finished with 105 points.

Last year's honors went to Jeremy Hellickson and Craig Kimbrel. The BBWAA has posted the full ballots of all voters in both the AL and NL races on its official web site.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Upton, Rays, Youkilis, Dodgers

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Here's the latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…

  • The Rangers continue to insist that they will not trade either Elvis Andrus or Jurickson Profar for Justin Upton, which could allow the Rays to emerge as the front-runner. They could offer the Diamondbacks James Shields or Jeremy Hellickson in addition to shortstop prospect Hak-Ju Lee.
  • The White Sox and Phillies are interested in Kevin Youkilis, and the Dodgers are considering him as well. Rosenthal says other clubs are concerned whenever Los Angeles is reportedly in on a player given their financial might.
  • The Orioles and Nationals are still engaged in a dispute over money received from MASN — both clubs own the network, but Baltimore's stake is nearly 90% — though Nats GM Mike Rizzo said that will not limit the club's ability to spend.
  • Angels GM Jerry Dipoto is not concerned about finding a pure closer. He intends to add the best bullpen arms he can and let things figure themselves out.
  • A rival executive told Rosenthal that he expects Dan Haren to sign with the Padres. Haren is a West Coast guy and Padres GM Josh Byrnes originally acquired him from the Athletics while running the Diamondbacks a few years ago.
  • “Like him. Don’t love him," said a Red Sox official when asked about Adam LaRoche. Boston is reportedly pursuing the first baseman.
  • Joakim Soria and Ryan Madson will not be ready to pitch at the start of the season. Both right-handers are coming off Tommy John surgery.

Quick Hits: Giambi, Cano, Arencibia, Phillies, Angels

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Jason Giambi was a surprise candidate to become the Rockies' next manager, but now that the job has gone to Walt Weiss, the team has offered Giambi the job of hitting coach, reports Troy Renck of the Denver Post.  Giambi had said he would continue playing if he wasn't hired as manager, though he's taking a few days to consider Colorado's offer.  If he turns it down and wants to keep playing, agent Joel Wolfe tells ESPN's Jerry Crasnick that "several teams" have shown interest in his client, who will be 42 years old on Opening Day.

Here are some more items from a very busy day around baseball…

Chicago Notes: Youkilis, Pierzynski, Samardzija, Haren

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Here's the latest out of the Windy City from both the White Sox and the Cubs…

  • The Sox are talking to Kevin Youkilis about returning to fill their hole at third base, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.  The Phillies and Indians are also in the mix for Youkilis, who had his $13MM option for 2013 bought out by the White Sox for $1MM.
  • Four rival executives name Gordon Beckham, Alejandro De Aza, Gavin Floyd and Dayan Viciedo as players the White Sox would be open to trading, reports Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com.  If the Sox were looking for salary relief, two executives say that trading Alex Rios and the $26MM remaining on his contract will be much easier after Rios' strong 2012 season, though neither exec is certain that Rios is available. 
  • A.J. Pierzynski tells Dan Hayes that he is much more prepared for free agency now than he was in 2010.  Pierzynski said he would like to return to the White Sox or possibly play for the Rays in his home state of Florida, though his childhood dream of playing for the Braves is unlikely with Brian McCann on board.
  • The Cubs have reached out to Jeff Samardzija about a multiyear extension, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.  Samardzija, who enjoyed a breakout year in 2012 in his first season as a starting pitcher, is arb-eligible for the first time this winter and is under team control through 2015.
  • The proposed trade between the Angels and Cubs and would've brought Dan Haren to Chicago indeed fell through due to the Cubs' concerns about Haren's recent injury history, reports CSNChicago.com's David Kaplan.
  • Haren denied that he was injured in an e-mail to Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times.  “I’ve never missed any time because of injury other than the three weeks this year because of my back," Haren said.  "When I came back, I had to be cleared by doctors, so obviously, I was healthy." 

AL West Notes: Hamilton, Fujikawa, Soria, Ryu

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Josh Hamilton's asking price of seven years and $175MM is too rich for the Mariners' blood, but if that price drops to $80-85MM over four or five years, Larry Stone of the Seattle Times feels the M's should make a play for the outfielder.  We heard yesterday that the Mariners were interested in Hamilton, as the club continues to pursue free agent hitters for the less pitcher-friendly Safeco Field.

Some more news from around the AL West…

  • Angels GM Jerry DiPoto said that his team is interested in Japanese right-hander Kyuji Fujikawa and that the feeling is apparently mutual, reports Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times.  Fujikawa has been considered to be Japan's top closer for the better part of a decade and is available to be signed without a posting fee.  The Dodgers and Red Sox have also been rumored to be interested in Fujikawa.
  • The Rangers apparently made a posting bid on Korean left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, reports Evan P. Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter), though he doesn't have full confirmation.  Teams had until 4PM CT today to place a bid on Ryu, and if the KBO's Hanwha Eagles accepted the highest bid, Ryu and agent Scott Boras could then negotiate a contract with that MLB team.
  • The Rangers are interested in right-hander Joakim Soria, reports FOX Sports' Jon Paul Morosi (Twitter link).  At least eight teams have checked in on the former Royals closer thus far, and Soria has also said he would be happy to pitch for the Yankees as Mariano Rivera's set-up man.
  • The Astros project to have a very low payroll in 2013, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Houston's payroll could be around $30MM, a big drop from the Padres' $55.2MM league-low payroll on Opening Day 2012, though Rosenthal notes that the MLBPA and Commissioner's Office aren't likely to object given that the Astros are in the first stages of a major rebuild.

Minor Moves: Stetter, Bray, Valdez, Hernandez

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Here are a few of the day's minor transactions…

  • The Angels signed Mitch Stetter to a minor league contract, reports Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.  The 31-year-old southpaw last pitched in the majors in 2011 with the Brewers, and he has a 4.08 ERA, a 9.3 K/9 rate and a 5.4 BB/9 rate over 86 career Major League innings since 2007.  Stetter spent last season pitching in Milwaukee's minor league system.
  • Left-hander Bill Bray and infielder Wilson Valdez have elected to become free agents, according to MLB.com's transactions page.  With Valdez entering his second year of arbitration-eligibility and Bray his third, both players were seen as non-tender candidates by MLBTR's Tim Dierkes following their disappointing seasons for the Reds.  Valdez, 34, posted a .463 OPS in 208 plate appearances as a backup infielder.  Bray was limited to just 14 games due to groin and back injuries, but he'll surely draw interest from teams looking for lefty relief help; Bray posted a 2.98 ERA and recorded 44 strikeouts over 48 1/3 innings for Cincinnati in 2011.
  • The Indians re-signed right-hander Hector Rondon and signed infielder Luis Hernandez to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training camp, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Rondon originally signed with the Tribe as an 18-year-old in 2006 and has a 4.16 ERA, an 8.1 K/9 rate and a 4.17 K/BB ratio in seven minor league seasons, though he has only pitched in 13 games since 2010 due to a fractured elbow and Tommy John surgery.  Hernandez appeared in two games for the Rangers last year and has a .580 OPS in 292 career PAs with the Rangers, Mets, Royals and Orioles.
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