Heyman On Lee, Cabrera, Wells, Pujols, Hamilton
Owner Chuck Greenberg and the Rangers were slower to offer Cliff Lee a competitive deal than other interested clubs, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com. Lee's camp wanted to keep the Rangers involved in the bidding, though they started with a 'lowball' offer before offering $100MM and, eventually, even more. The Rangers justified their lower offers by pointing out that Texas has no state income tax, but Lee asked around and determined that he wouldn't save that much, since he lives in Arkansas.
Talks between Lee and the Phillies broke off twice before the sides reached an agreement. If the Phillies hadn't completed the deal, the Yankees would have been seen as the favorites to sign the lefty, according to Heyman. Here are the rest of his rumors:
- One GM says Orlando Cabrera isn't being reasonable. "I don't think he gets the position he's in," the GM said, alluding to the lack of job openings remaining for the shortstop.
- The Rangers didn't show serious interest in Vernon Wells, according to Heyman.
- Executives around the game believe that Albert Pujols will sign an extension with the Cardinals. If the sides don't reach a deal by Spring Training, Pujols will be a free agent after the season, in which case the Cubs may be "best positioned" to pursue him, in the opinion of one executive.
- The Angels are still interested in signing or trading for a leadoff hitter. Scott Podsednik is out there, and could be a fit in L.A.
- One executive believes the Rangers will lose to Josh Hamilton if the sides go to an arbitration hearing. Heyman hears that the Rangers won't bring up Hamilton's history of substance abuse in a hearing. Keep track of all the remaining arbitration cases using our Arb Tracker.
New York Notes: Beltran, Garcia, Pettitte
The Angels considered the possibility of trading for Carlos Beltran before they acquired Vernon Wells from the Blue Jays, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Here are the details on the Angels' interest in Beltran and other notes from New York City:
- Sherman hears that the Mets and Angels discussed Beltran, but the Angels preferred Wells despite the $86MM remaining on his contract. The Angels had more confidence in Wells' health and defense.
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman tells Sherman that he doesn't want to have to rely on pitching prospects Manuel Banuelos and Dellin Betances in the majors this season. “They shouldn’t be caught up in our major league problems,” Cashman said. But as Sherman points out, the Yankees have summoned prospects like Phil Hughes to the majors earlier than expected; once the season starts, it's tough to predict what will happen.
- In conversations with Yankees people, Sherman never got the impression that they liked Freddy Garcia that much. The team agreed to a minor league deal with Garcia Monday.
- There's "a pretty good likelihood" that Andy Pettitte returns and the Yankees trade for a starter during Spring Training, Sherman writes.
Quick Hits: Chavez, Vlad, Pierzynski, Royals
Happy 51st birthday to Steve Sax! Sax was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1982, played on two World Series champions, made five All-Star teams, and holds a special bit of pop culture history as one of Mr. Burns' softball ringers on The Simpsons.
Today's news tidbits…
- As part of a Dodgers-related mailbag, MLB.com's Ken Gurnick cites the Blue Jays, Marlins and Indians as teams that could offer Eric Chavez more playing time than the Dodgers could. Toronto's interest in Chavez is well-known, but Florida and Cleveland are new to the mix. Other teams known to be looking are Chavez include the Yankees, White Sox and Mariners.
- The Angels are looking for a leadoff man and bench help, and don't seem to be interested in Vladimir Guerrero, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.com. The Orioles look like they're Guerrero's most ardent suitors at this point.
- A.J. Pierzynski tells Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune that he was all but officially signed by the Dodgers before the White Sox swooped in with an offer to bring the catcher back to Chicago. "It all came together in a 15-minute span," Pierzynski said. "I was pretty much resigned to the fact I wasn't coming back." Had Pierzynski not returned, the White Sox would have focused on Miguel Olivo as a replacement behind the plate.
- The Chone Figgins-to-Oakland rumor looks to be dead, which Joe Pawlikowski of Fangraphs thinks may be a good thing for the A's.
- The Royals are converting prospect Wil Myers from catcher to outfielder, reports Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star.
AL West Notes: Moyer, Webb, Young, Angels
The Mariners, Rangers and Angels could all make moves between now and Opening Day, though the A's appear to have completed the bulk of their offseason shopping. Some updates on the AL West…
- Longtime Mariner Jamie Moyer told Seattle fans that he would consider returning to the Mariners in 2012, according to MLB.com's Greg Johns. The lefty is recovering from Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2011 season.
- Mariners assistant GM Jeff Kingston says the team could still add a veteran pitcher or two as non-roster invitees, according to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times (on Twitter).
- Brandon Webb told the Ben and Skin radio show that he has made "dramatic strides," and that he has been pleased with "awesome" results so far this offseason. The Dallas Morning News passes along the quotes from Webb, who is recovering from shoulder injuries.
- Rangers president Nolan Ryan says he expects Michael Young to be on the team as the regular DH on Opening Day, according to Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (on Twitter).
- Scott Boras told Bill Shaikin of the LA Times that he has had "great," discussions with the Angels this offseason. Team owner Arte Moreno said yesterday that he had no interest in meeting with Boras and suggested he doesn't have "anything nice" to say about the agent.
Angels, Weaver Begin Talks About Long-Term Deal
The Angels and Jered Weaver have opened talks about a long-term contract extension according to team owner Arte Moreno, reports Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles. Moreno also commented on the reported bad blood between the team and Weaver's agent, Scott Boras…
"My mother always told me, 'If you don't have something nice to say about somebody, don't say anything,'" said Moreno. "I don't have to deal with anybody I don't have to deal with. That's the way I live my life."
Weaver filed for $8.8MM in salary arbitration last week while the team countered with $7.37MM, as our Arbitration Tracker shows. Ben Nicholson-Smith called his case one of ten arbitration cases to watch just a few days ago.
The 28-year-old Weaver finished fifth in the Cy Young voting and made his first All-Star Game in 2010, pitching to a 3.01 ERA in 224 1/3 innings. He struck out 9.3 batters per nine innings and walks just 2.2 per nine. The 2010 AL strikeout king is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2012 season. GM Tony Reagins told Saxon that it's too early predict if a deal will be reached, but he did say "Any time you have dialogue, it's positive."
Vernon Wells Notes: Rangers, Blue Jays, Angels
You know a trade is big when Sports Illustrated, ESPN and the Wall Street Journal are chattering about it nearly a week later. Here are some Vernon Wells-related links from around the Internet…
- Angels owner Arte Moreno says the Angels and Blue Jays discussed a Wells deal a couple weeks ago, let talks simmer for a while and revived the trade last week, according to Bill Shaikin of the LA Times (Twitter links). Moreno says the flood of criticism directed his team's way has not bothered him.
- The Blue Jays discussed a potential deal with the Rangers, but would likely have had to pay more money to make the trade happen, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com. Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos told Heyman that the Blue Jays front office ”never engaged significantly" with clubs other than the Angels. "The other teams just were inquiring and that's how far the conversation went," Anthopoulos said.
- A longtime talent evaluator reminded ESPN.com's Buster Olney that Wells is, in fact, a good player. "The Angels should've been able to get the Jays to eat some money in the trade, but what I think is being forgotten is that Anaheim is getting a pretty good player. He makes them better than what they were going to be," the evaluator told Olney.
- In a piece for the Wall Street Journal Dave Cameron points out just how expensive the Angels' outfield has become (don't forget about Gary Matthews Jr.).
Los Angeles Notes: Trout, Wells, Padilla, Gores
This year's Oscar nominations were announced today, so it's only fitting that we check out the latest baseball news from Hollywood. The envelope please…
- Mike Trout holds the #1 spot on MLB.com's 2011 Top 50 Prospects list. Trout is the only Angel on the list, while Dee Gordon (#44) is the only Dodger.
- Toronto sent $5MM to the Angels as part of the Vernon Wells trade, tweets Jon Heyman of Sports Ilustrated. The cash transaction wasn't officially reported since the clubs "apparently just didn't want to" do so.
- News of the $5MM payment might have changed Fangraphs' Matt Klaassen's analysis of the Wells trade against the Giants' signing of Barry Zito in a "which move was worse?" breakdown.
- If Jonathan Broxton loses the closer's job and Hong-Chih Kuo can't stay healthy, Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com suggests Vicente Padilla as an outside-the-box closing candidate.
- Billionaire Alec Gores may have an interest in buying the Dodgers, but his equally-rich brother Tom won't be joining the bid, reports Gregg Krupa of the Detroit News. Tom Gores is reportedly focusing his attention on buying the NBA's Detroit Pistons.
- ESPN NFL Insider Chris Sprow finds "it hard to fathom" that Jake Locker would consider leaving the NFL behind to refocus on his baseball career. Locker was a 10th round pick of the Angels in the 2009 draft, but is projected to be one of the first quarterbacks taken in this spring's NFL draft. ESPN.com's Jason A. Churchill opined that Locker could look to baseball as a fallback option if the NFL's labor troubles threaten the 2011-12 season.
Minor Transactions: Madrigal, Lane, Vasquez
Tobi Stoner and Jason Pridie both cleared waivers and were outrighted to the Mets' Triple-A affiliate today, reports Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger (Twitter link). The duo were designated for assignment earlier this week.
Here are some other minor moves from around baseball today, courtesy of Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus. All contracts are minor league deals, and all links are to Goldstein's Twitter feed.
- The Yankees signed right-hander Warner Madrigal, who last pitched in the majors with Texas in 2009. Madrigal originally broke into pro ball as an outfielder, but converted to pitching in 2006. He posted a 3.73 ERA in 35 games with the Rangers' Double-A and Triple-A teams last year.
- The Blue Jays re-signed Jason Lane. Best known for his 26-homer season with Houston in 2005, Lane hasn't played in the big leagues since 2007 and has played for the Padres, Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays and Marlins organizations since leaving the Astros.
- The Angels signed Virgil Vasquez. The right-hander pitched in Tampa Bay's system last year. A seventh-round pick of the Tigers in the 2003 draft, Vasquez has a 6.60 ERA in 19 career Major League games (10 of them starts) with Detroit and Pittsburgh.
- The Rangers signed catcher Robinzon Diaz, who is best known for being the player to be named later that Toronto sent to Pittsburgh for Jose Bautista in 2009. Diaz had 139 plate appearances with the Bucs before being released in the offseason. He played Triple-A ball for Detroit last year.
- The Rockies signed Kala Ka'aihue. Ka'aihue was putting up minor league numbers akin to those of his older brother Kila through the 2008 season, but has struggled the last two years.
AL West Notes: Guerrero, Wells, Mariners
Some notes on the AL West with an update on a potential Hall of Famer and another take on the Vernon Wells trade…
- Rangers president Nolan Ryan told the Dallas Morning News that he hasn't ruled out bringing Vladimir Guerrero back. Ryan likes the idea of adding another powerful bat, but suggests Vlad may seek more playing time elsewhere.
- Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com examines this prediction of Ryan's: Texas will win 90-95 regular season games in 2011.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs wonders if the Vernon Wells trade is, at least from the Angels' perspective, the most inexplicable deal in recent history.
- The Mariners, who select second in this June's draft, will consider amateur players including Anthony Rendon, Gerrit Cole, Matt Purke and George Springer, according to MLB.com's Greg Johns.
Make Or Break Year: Scott Kazmir
It's hard to believe that it's been almost seven years since the infamous Victor Zambrano-for-Scott Kazmir swap. The Mets received just 202 2/3 serviceable innings out of Zambrano (4.42 ERA) while Kazmir was busy establishing himself as one of the game's best young hurlers in Tampa. Before his 24th birthday, the hard-throwing southpaw had 97 big league starts to his credit, and he owned a 3.64 ERA with 9.7 K/9 in the AL East. At 23, he took home the AL strikeout crown with 239 whiffs.
The Rays rewarded Kazmir with a four-year contract extension after that season, but things have gone downhill since. He missed the first month of the 2008 season with an elbow issue, and then battled a quad strain in 2009. With his ERA sitting at 5.92 at the end of August '09, the Rays traded Kazmir and the two years left on his contract to the Angels for three young players.
Although he pitched well after the trade (1.73 ERA in six starts), things really fell apart in 2010. Kazmir hit the disabled list twice for shoulder soreness/fatigue last season, and when he was on the mound he was rarely effective. His velocity had declined considerably and the strikeouts were proving harder to come by. All told, Kazmir pitched to a 5.94 ERA with nearly as many walks (79) as strikeouts (93) in 150 innings last season, and only eight times in 28 starts did he complete six innings of work.
Kazmir's stock is at an all-time low, which is not where you want it to be with free agency coming up after the season. The Halos are unlikely to exercise his $13.5MM option for 2012, and unless he regains his pre-2009 form, Kazmir is in danger of falling into the Jeremy Bonderman category of reclamation free agent starters.
It's not all bad news though. Kazmir will turn just 27 years old tomorrow, and his 39.1% ground ball rate in 2010 was his best in three years. AL East and World Series experience works in his favor, and an offseason of rest could also do wonders for his achy wing. Next winter's crop of free agent pitchers is weak, so Kazmir could parlay a strong 2011 season in a nice contract. A lot has to change for that to happen, though.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.