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Los Angeles Notes: Beltre, Napoli, Dodgers

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Both the Angels (86 vs. 80) and Dodgers (81 vs. 80) have already improved on last year's win totals with one game to play. Here's a look back at a couple moves that shaped the Angels' season and a look ahead to the Dodgers' offseason…

  • Adrian Beltre, who lives 30 minutes from Angel Stadium, begged the Angels to sign him last offseason, according to Peter Gammons of MLB Network (on Twitter). Instead, he signed a five-year deal with the AL West Champion Rangers and has a .296/.332/.563 line with 32 home runs. It won't be surprising if the Angels are on the lookout for third base help this offseason. 
  • Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times explains that there's reason to consider the Vernon Wells–Mike Napoli trade one of the worst deals in Angels history. Wells is expensive and has struggled offensively, Napoli has had the best offensive season of his career and the Angels finished second to the Rangers. Manager Mike Scioscia says we should give the deal some time before calling it a poor one for Los Angeles.
  • Dodgers GM Ned Colletti told Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times that he understands Los Angeles is a star-driven city and will consider the best players out there this winter, even if they cost $100MM or more. Still, Colletti says he's "very conscious" of the Dodgers' drop in attendance.

West Notes: Kuroda, Lopez, Sanchez, Harden, Angels

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Here are some notes from both divisions out west…

  • Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda shrugged off speculation from the Japanese media that he'll return to Japan to pitch a farewell season with Hiroshima in 2012, writes Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.  Kuroda put the odds of him pitching in MLB or going home next season at 50-50.
  • Expect lots of teams to talk with the agent of Giants reliever Javier Lopez, writes ESPN.com's Buster Olney.  The 34-year-old has postseason experience and teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, Brewers, and Cardinals have been after a good matchup lefty this year.
  • Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez expect to be ready for opening day but manager Bruce Bochy and GM Brian Sabean already have discussed the importance of covering themselves with other options at the position, writes Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News. 
  • Rich Harden would like to return to the Athletics and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle says that’s something that could happen.  The injury-prone veteran would likely sign for an inexpensive one-year deal.
  • With his strong work down the stretch, Jerome Williams has become the leading in-house candidate to assume one of the spots behind Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, and Ervin Santana in the Angels' 2012 rotation, writes Lyle Spencer of MLB.com.

AL West Notes: Wells, Mariners, Young

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Brad Pitt says he now feels "a little bit romantic about the A's" after portraying GM Billy Beane in the Moneyball movie, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Here's the latest from Oakland's division…

  • Vernon Wells, who could opt out of his contract this offseason, told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register that he doesn't expect to walk away from the three years and $63MM remaining on his deal. It will be a shock if he opts out given his .219/.252/.406 season line.
  • The Mariners named Joe McIlvaine an assistant to GM Jack Zduriencik. The 64-year-old former Mets and Padres GM has spent the last 12 seasons working for the Twins. When MLBTR’s Howard Megdal ranked every GM in Mets history last October, McIlvaine placed fourth.
  • Michael Young was the subject of near-constant trade rumors last offseason. He tells the Associated Press (link via ESPN) that he never really wanted to leave Texas, even after he requested a trade. The Rangers are glad they held on to Young, who has a .331/.374/.472 line with 40 doubles this year.

Quick Hits: Clippard, Storen, Ellsbury, Braves

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B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and Casey Kotchman all homered for the Rays tonight as Tampa Bay defeated Boston, 9-2, in the opener of a big four-game series.  The Red Sox now have just a three-game lead over the Rays (and a four-game lead over the idle Angels) for the AL Wild Card.

Some notes from around the league….

Arbitration Eligibles: Los Angeles Angels

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The Angels are next in our arbitration eligibles series.

Mathis is a non-tender candidate, though the Angels retained him last year and his performance hasn't changed much.  His salary would be virtually the same, around $1.8MM.  Though it's only been 30 innings, Williams has done a nice job and would cost only $700K or so to retain.

The Angels' entire projected infield (aside from Mark Trumbo) is arbitration eligible.  Having missed all of 2011, Morales projects to stay at the same salary, $2.975MM.  We've got Kendrick for $5.1MM, Aybar for $4.5MM, and Callaspo for $3MM.  The middle infield tandem of Kendrick and Aybar will be entering their walk years.

If Mathis is cut loose, the Angels' five arbitration eligible players could cost $16.275MM.  Adding in players under contract for 2012, the team's commitments could total about $118MM not including minimum salary players.  The Angels' Opening Day payroll in 2011 was about $23MM above that point, so GM Tony Reagins should have flexibility this winter.   

Quick Hits: Konerko, Cameron, Rockies

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Congratulations to Tim Wakefield, who won his 200th career game tonight. Here are this evening's links, starting with updates on two players who were traded for one another 13 years ago…

  • White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports that he might retire after 2013, when his current contract expires. The 35-year-old has a terrific .308/.395/.528 line with 29 homers in the first season of the three-year, $37.5MM deal he signed last offseason.
  • The Marlins released Mike Cameron because of conduct detrimental to the team, according to MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. 
  • The Braves have increased the responsibilities of three front office members following the departure of director of player personnel Kurt Kemp, according to Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Assistant GM Bruce Manno will oversee player development, Ronnie Richardson was promoted to director of minor league operations and John Coppolella was promoted to director of professional scouting.
  • Troy Renck of the Denver Post can see the Rockies pursuing Michael Cuddyer and Josh Willingham this offseason (Twitter links). 
  • Renck also suggests Jason Hammel is available. Hammel's strikeout rate (5.0 K/9) and ground ball rate (43.5%) dropped this season, while his ERA (4.91) and walk rate (3.7 BB/9) rose, so his trade value is considerably lower than it would have been last winter. The 29-year-old is under contract for $4.75MM in 2012.
  • Fernando Rodney told Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com that he would have liked more chances to close with the Angels this year. The right-hander will look to sign with a team that can provide him with more regular work when his two-year contract expires after the season.

AL West Notes: Delabar, Seager, Trout

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On this date in 1998, Ken Griffey Jr. reached the 50-homer plateau for the second consecutive season. No one in the AL West will reach 50 homers this year – Nelson Cruz of the Rangers leads the division with 28. Here are today's AL West links… 

  • Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times tells the story of right-hander Steve Delabar, who was substitute teaching not long ago and has now joined the Mariners' big league pitching staff. 
  • Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner would like to see the Mariners play Kyle Seager at third on a daily basis. Alex Liddi, another option, appears to need more Triple-A seasoning despite the 30 minor league homers he hit this year. 
  • Mike Trout is Baseball America's minor league player of the year and B.A.’s J.J. Cooper explains that the Angels outfielder stood out as a big league prospect when he was just 16 years old. Click through for old scouting reports on Trout, who’s still just 20.

Heyman On Pujols, Huntington, C.J. Wilson

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SI's Jon Heyman leads his latest column with a discussion of the Albert Pujols situation, which is due to flare up once the season ends.  Heyman's sources say the Cardinals are "not overly confident" about retaining Pujols.  Heyman hears the Cardinals are not inclined to increase their offer much from nine years and around $210MM, although the SI writer thinks the team could reduce the number of years to boost the average annual value past the $23MM range.  Heyman hears Pujols is "not overly thrilled" that the Cardinals' offer last winter wouldn't place him in the top ten among MLB player salaries, though by my count there are only five players currently averaging $23MM or more as their AAV.

Heyman has plenty more musings on the Pujols topic in the column; here are a few other highlights…

  • The Pirates intend to extend the contract of GM Neal Huntington.  He says the Bucs have waited for the draft and trade deadlines to pass.  Huntington was hired four years ago.
  • "There are some who could see" Rangers ace C.J. Wilson "wanting to go to his native Southern California."  Heyman views the Angels as a threat for Wilson.
  • Heyman says Angels people suggest they would have been willing to resume extension talks with Jered Weaver next year if they hadn't reached a deal by the team's deadline this year.  
  • The Twins are interested in re-signing reliever Joe Nathan, though they won't be picking up his $12MM option.

Torii Hunter Considering Retirement After 2012

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Torii Hunter is thinking about retiring once his contract is up after the 2012 season.  In an interview with Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Angels outfielder says there is about a 40% chance that next season will be his last.

'I am going to retire an Angel," he said. ''Next year is my last year, and I'm going to retire an Angel. I'm going to evaluate it this offseason. That's when I'll know. It's 60-40, to the positive, that I'll keep playing."

Hunter has a .261/.332/.423 line for Los Angeles this year and was hampered in the early part of the season by a quad injury.  Since getting back to better health, however, Hunter has been on fire, posting a 1.013 OPS in 118 plate appearances since August 2.  Hunter will be 37 at the end of the 2012 campaign and told Souhan that he doesn't want to keep playing just for the sake of playing: "You don't want to see your skills diminish. You don't want to linger."

If Hunter did decide to return for 2013, he would give the Angels "first dibs" on bringing him back but also noted that he would enjoy returning to Minnesota, where he spent the first 11 seasons of his career.  This isn't the first time Hunter has talked of rejoining the Twins, but a return could be difficult given Hunter's feelings about Twins GM Bill Smith, who he describes as having "no heart, no compassion, no nothing." 

Hunter said he would have re-signed with Minnesota as a free agent after the 2007 season had the club offered him a four or five-year deal, but Smith's largest offer was for three years.  Hunter believes Smith's offer was just a token effort and thinks the Twins are making a similarly half-hearted attempt to re-sign Michael Cuddyer, who is a free agent after this season and was reportedly offered a two-year, $16MM contract by the club earlier this month.

"Cuddyer is going to make less, as a free agent?" Hunter said.  "I told him before, 'They'll make an offer and people will say, 'You turned down the money, you could have stayed, you're money-hungry.' "

Outright To Triple-A: Matt Palmer

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It's September call-up season, so there's lots of 40-man roster movement going on. We'll keep track of the day's outright assignments right here…

  • The Angels have outrighted Matt Palmer to Triple-A according to Pacific Coast League transactions page. The 32-year-old right-hander made three generally ineffective spot starts for the Halos in April, and he's spent the majority of the season with their Triple-A club (6.70 ERA in 23 starts). 
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