Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Angels Rumors

Rockies Rumors: De La Rosa, Mora, Tulowitzki

By | at

When Ted Lilly finalized his three-year $33MM deal, he established a standard for other free agent left-handers. The agreement may not impact Cliff Lee, who figures to be in his own tier, but it could be a point of reference for Jorge de la Rosa's contract negotiations this winter. Here's the latest on de la Rosa and the Rockies:

Gammons On Red Sox, Crawford, Moreno, Liverpool

By | at

Peter Gammons made one of his regular appearances on WEEI's The Big Show today to discuss the playoffs and look ahead to Boston's winter moves.  Albert Vontz of WEEI.com has a partial transcript, and here are some highlights…

  • The Red Sox are "going to go real hard after Carl Crawford."  Gammons thinks one advantage Boston has is that they're looking at Crawford as middle-of-the-order bat rather than as a leadoff man, and Crawford "doesn’t want to be the guy trying to steal 70 bases."
  • The Angels are another team rumored to be pursuing Crawford this winter, and they'll have the money to do so.  Gammons hears that Angels owner Arte Moreno "is on the cusp" of a new local television deal worth approximately $4BB.  Gammon says Moreno and the Halos are moving fast to "swallow up even more of the Dodgers market" what with the Dodgers embroiled in the McCourt ownership dispute.
  • In the wake of the Red Sox ownership group's purchase of Liverpool FC of the English Premier League, Gammons thinks Red Sox fans will blame the soccer club if the Sox can't acquire and/or afford any major free agents this winter.  Gammons was told, however, that Liverpool is "a $1BB business that they bought for about $400MM" and surmises that majority owner John Henry sees the purchase as "a great business deal…[that] might help the Red Sox in a ten-year period."

Angels Owner Prepared To Spend

By | at

Angels owner Arte Moreno says he plans to spend aggressively to send his team back to the postseason. Moreno told Bill Plaschke of the LA Times that he dislikes losing and will do everything he can to improve the Angels.

"We know where our weaknesses are, we know where we are thin, we know where we have to go to market," Moreno said. "It's going to cost money, but our fans need to know what we're committed to winning."

Moreno said he hopes to sign an outfielder who creates runs. Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth, who are both free agents this winter, are potential targets for the Angels. Both will likely be expensive, but Moreno said he’s prepared to complement homegrown players like Jered Weaver with free agents.

"Championship teams develop their players like we have, we know that," Moreno said. "But sometimes when the prospects aren't there, you have to bridge that area, and I'm willing to do that."

GM Tony Reagins may pursue relievers, third basemen and outfielders this offseason as the Angels look to return to their winning ways. The team finished below .500 (80-82) for the first time since 2003 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006. It has been apparent for weeks that the Angels will be able to spend and it now seems like Reagins will have the flexibility to bid on whichever free agents fit the Angels' needs best.

Mike Napoli And The Arbitration Process

By | at

One area that's always been murky for baseball fans is the process by which salaries for arbitration-eligible players are determined.  Using Angels catcher Mike Napoli as an example, let's attempt to shed some light on arbitration.

The first conclusion I reached when looking into Napoli's comparables is that there aren't any good ones.  Do you know any catchers who went to arbitration for a third time in recent years?  All the good ones were locked up, and all the bad ones were non-tendered.  John Buck might have been a comparable, but the Royals cut him loose before he could go to arbitration a third time.  The only catcher we found who recently went to arbitration a third time was the Tigers' Gerald Laird.  Laird's offensive stats after the '09 season paled in comparision to Napoli's current body of work, so we need to look elsewhere.

If an agent and team are forced to go to an arbitration hearing over a player's salary, the statistics used to make arguments are simple.  For Napoli it might be his .251 batting average, 92 home runs, 249 RBIs, and 246 runs.  He's heading to arbitration for the third time.  He has four years and 151 days of service and will be building off his 2010 salary of $3.6MM.

A baseball source gave me two comparables he thought Napoli's agent Brian Grieper might be able to use: Jorge Cantu after '09 and Xavier Nady after '08.  The criteria for an arbitration comparison talks about service levels, but not positions.  It's already been proven that catchers get extra credit in arbitration for being catchers – in his first year of arbitration, Russell Martin got $3.9MM.  You might expect that salary for a 30 home run, 100 RBI player, not a 13 home run, 69 RBI guy like Martin.  Napoli himself got $2MM in his first arbitration year coming off a season in which he played 78 games.

So even though Napoli falls short of Cantu and Nady in most basic offensive categories, they're workable comparables given the lack of similar catchers.  Napoli has a half-season of playing first base on his resume, so that might strengthen the comparison.  Cantu went from $3.5MM to $6MM, while Nady went from $3.35MM to $6.55MM.  Their raises were between $2.5-3.2MM, or 71-96%.  Napoli's agent might be able to argue for a $6-7MM salary for 2011, unless the Angels find more similar players who were paid less.

Could Napoli be non-tendered by the Angels this winter? One baseball source agreed with my estimate of a 10% chance, while another put it below 5%.  We all agreed Napoli is more likely to be traded than cut loose, though one of them remarked, "I think if they are stuck with him they will wish they would have non-tendered him."  The Angels won't be desperate – they can afford Napoli if no one wants him, but they should be able to find a taker for a 26 home run catcher even if his defense is poorly-regarded.  Keep in mind that even though Napoli is technically under team control through 2012, his 2011 salary could make him a likely non-tender.

Odds & Ends: Iwakuma, Ichiro, Red Sox, Barmes

By | at

Links for Sunday evening, with the regular season behind us and the playoff picture defined…

  • Angels GM Tony Reagins tells Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times he's "confident we'll be able to add an important piece."
  • As passed along by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman on Twitter, Sanspo reports that a posting announcement will come soon regarding Japanese pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma.  The righty, 30 in April, posted a 2.82 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, and 0.49 HR/9 in 201 innings this year for Rakuten. 
  • Ichiro Suzuki's 10-and-5 rights kicked in today after the Mariners' game, tweets Larry Stone of the Seattle Times.
  • In his end-of-the-season press conference, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein indicated fixing the bullpen and retaining important free agents are his offseason priorities (WEEI's Alex Speier reporting).  Epstein fielded all kinds of questions and was noncommittal in most cases, but the transcript is still worth a read.
  • Clint Barmes would like to return to the Rockies if he can't find an everyday role elsewhere, he explained to Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post.  We discussed Barmes' non-tender candidacy in August, and 79% of MLBTR readers predicted he'll be cut loose.
  • The Dodgers officially announced Brad Ausmus' retirement with a press release.  Ausmus revealed his decision to reporters in July.

Odds & Ends: Blue Jays, Orioles, Nationals, Darvish

By | at

Friday night links, as Jered Weaver takes over the AL strikeout lead in Texas….

Gammons On Ortiz, Beltre, Dunn, Crawford, Dice-K

By | at

In his latest appearance on WEEI's Big Show, Peter Gammons discussed the playoffs, the offseason, and, of course, the Red Sox. Here are the highlights:

  • The Red Sox will likely pick up David Ortiz's 2011 option in part because they'd be afraid to see him playing for the Yankees or Rays if they let him go.
  • Adrian Beltre was never comfortable in Seattle like he was in Los Angeles and is in Boston. Gammons thinks the third baseman could end up signing with the Tigers this winter and wonders if he'd be uncomfortable in Detroit's spacious home park.
  • Although Adam Dunn insists he doesn't want to DH, he may end up having no other choice. The Nationals appear unlikely to re-sign Dunn because "they don’t know where to play him in the field," according to Gammons, who says the Yankees are a potential destination for the slugger.
  • If they pursue either player, the Red Sox are more likely to go after Carl Crawford than Jayson Werth.
  • Crawford signing with the Angels may not be as likely as people think, Gammons says, since owner Arte Moreno "isn’t always great with free agents."
  • Daisuke Matsuzaka is a trade candidate this winter, and Gammons can envision Boston dealing him to the Mets for Carlos Beltran.

Chicago Notes: Konerko, Pierzynski, Zambrano

By | at

Both the Cubs and White Sox are playing out the string on 2010, but long-time stars from both clubs could be on the move this winter.  Here's an update on a few of them…

  • Paul Konerko talked to the media (including Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune) on Thursday about his pending free agency.  Konerko was non-committal about the idea of taking a hometown discount to remain in Chicago and said the White Sox have to make some organizational upgrades to match the division-winning Twins.  He was open to the idea of being a full-time DH, though he still wants to play first base.
  • Gonzales also notes that "there has been an assumption" that Konerko will go to the Angels to play for old colleague Mike Scioscia or to the Diamondbacks, as he lives in Arizona during the offseason.
  • Another pending White Sox free agent, A.J. Pierzynski, is more open to a return, writes Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com.  Padilla thinks Pierzynski could be brought back on a one-year, $4.5MM contract to give Chicago more time to polish Tyler Flowers in the minors, but you'd think Pierzynski could find a multi-year deal elsewhere.
  • Carlos Zambrano's red-hot second half (he's 7-0 with a 1.46 ERA in 10 post-All Star break starts) has been "the perfect showcase" to drum up a trade market for the right-hander, says CBSSports.com's Scott Miller.  As Miller points out, the Cubs' quest to deal Zambrano won't be easy given Zambrano's contract, but the team may be helped by the fact that the free agent starting market is short of ace-caliber pitchers aside from Cliff Lee.

Olney On Crawford, Rangers, D’Backs

By | at

Home field advantage in the Division Series and League Championship Series hasn't given teams the advantage you might expect, as ESPN.com's Buster Olney shows. But the Rays, Yankees and Twins presumably want home field advantage anyways and there's no question that the teams' respective owners would like the extra revenue. Here are the rest of Olney's rumors:

  • Some MLB executives expect the Red Sox and Angels to get into a bidding war over Carl Crawford this offseason. He’d be a good fit on either team, though Mike Cameron would likely become a bench player if the Red Sox signed Crawford or Jayson Werth.
  • High-ranking executives wouldn’t be surprised to see the Rangers’ payroll rise to $90-100MM. The team opened the 2010 season with a $65MM payroll, so that would be a substantial increase.
  • There seems to be a very good chance that Adam LaRoche and Mark Reynolds, who have combined  to strike out 375 times this season, will not be on the D’Backs in 2011. LaRoche will probably hit free agency this winter, but Reynolds has $13MM remaining on his contract and would have to be traded.

Odds & Ends: K-Rod, Angels, Tamura, Matsui

By | at

Links for Wednesday, before the Giants ask Tim Lincecum to help extend their NL West lead…

  • Lawyers from the MLB Players Association and MLB will meet in New York tomorrow to discuss the union's grievance with the Mets. As the AP reports, the sides will discuss the team's decision to place Francisco Rodriguez on the disqualified list.
  • Top prospect Mike Moustakas told reporters that he and other Royals minor leaguers welcome the attention they're attracting this year. 
  • The Angels let scouting director Eddie Bane go, according to John Manuel of Baseball America. Bane was a candidate for the D'Backs GM job earlier in the month.
  • Japanese outfielder Hitoshi Tamura has interest in playing major league baseball, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. The 33-year-old has 27 homers this year and represented the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks at the All-Star game.
  • Jason Varitek told reporters, including MLB.com's Ian Browne, that he's well aware of the fact that he may only have a handful of games remaining in a Red Sox uniform.
  • Through an interpreter, Hideki Matsui told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that he'd consider signing with the A's if they expressed interest in him this offseason.
  • Todd Helton made it clear to Troy Renck of the Denver Post that he isn't retiring after the season.
  • Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic heard that Brandon Webb was throwing just 81 mph in his instructional league outing (Twitter link). Webb told MLB.com's Steve Gilbert that he had fun and felt good.
  • The D'Backs, who will see Webb and Rodrigo Lopez hit free agency this winter, will look to add starting pitching, but GM Kevin Towers told MLB.com's Steve Gilbert that he believes starters may be easier to obtain through trades than major league free agency.
Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top