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Odds & Ends: Franklin, Red Sox, Cardinals, Mauer

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Some links for Sunday…

  • As A's were unable to land Adrian Beltre and Marco Scutaro this offseason, GM Billy Beane says that the club had to work harder than ever to fill their holes, writes MLB.com's Jane Lee. 
  • Cody Ross' arbitration hearing with the Marlins will take place tomorrow morning at 10:00, tweets Joe Frisaro of MLB.com.  Ross – who is one of seven remaining players who has an arbitration hearing scheduled – is seeking $4.45MM while the Marlins are countering with $4.2MM.
  • Maury Brown of Biz of Baseball brings us the record of each club in arbitration hearings since the process was first put into place in 1974.  In this span, the A's have had the most hearings with 35.
  • Brady Gardiner of Sirius XM Radio tweets that Ryan Franklin's agent said that in 2007, his client turned down a more lucrative offer from Toronto to sign with the Cardinals in order to play for Dave Duncan.  Franklin signed a one-year, $1MM deal with St. Louis in January of '07.
  • Dustin Pedroia takes exception to those who question Boston's offense in 2010, writes WEEI.com's Rob Bradford. Pedroia feels the Red Sox lineup can score more runs than the 2009 club. He also voices high praise for Josh Beckett and says he wants Beckett around "for a long time."
  • Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Dispatch answers 10 questions for Cardinals fans, and notes that Russ Springer would take a marked-down contract to return to St. Louis. St. Louis stands to enter camp with rougly a $92,625,000 payroll
  • Sid Hartman of The Minneapolis Star Tribune says that Twins' owner Jim Pohlad may have to change his policy of not deferring money if they want to re-sign Joe Mauer. Hartman says Mauer would save millions in income tax by deferring some payments until after he retires.
  • Joel Sherman of The New York Post names his winners and losers of the offseason. Roy Halladay and the Twins head the winners, while the Dodgers and Royals highlight the losers. 
  • Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe runs down each team's offseason, and looks at what lies ahead for each during the 2010 season.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Braves, Scutaro, Carroll

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On this date eight years ago, Major League Baseball acquired the Montreal Expos from owner Jeffrey Loria for $120MM, who then purchased the Marlins for $158MM. Loria took everything not nailed down in Montreal with him to Florida, including manager Jeff Torborg. MLB ran the Expos for the next four-plus years until ownership was transferred to Ted Lerner in July 2006.

Here's a look at what's being written around the web…

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

Mets Reach Agreement With Hisanori Takahashi

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The Mets reached an agreement with Hisanori Takahashi on a minor league deal that will pay the lefty $1MM if he's in the majors. The deal also includes up to $2MM in performance bonuses.

Takahashi, 35 in April, is a flyball/command pitcher who can fill a swingman role. The Mets, who signed Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi earlier this offseason, could start Takahashi in the minors. 

In 144 innings for the Yomiuri Giants, Takahashi pitched to a 2.94 ERA. He had good strikeout (7.9 K/9) and walk (2.3 BB/9) rates, too.

ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick reported that the sides reached an agreement after David Waldstein of the New York Times reported they were on the verge of one. Crasnick, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports and Waldstein added financial details (Twitter links). Before that, NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman passed along a Sports Hochi report indicating that Takahashi would sign with the Mets or Dodgers.

Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.

Nationals Favorite For Chien-Ming Wang

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5:49pm: Ken Davidoff of Newsday tweets that the Nationals will guarantee Wang $2MM, with a chance to more than double that through incentives.

12:37pm: Heyman now tweets that the Dodgers have "pulled out of the Wang derby."

10:32am: SI's Jon Heyman tweets that Dodgers execs Ned Colletti and Logan White are watching Wang throw today.  Heyman presumes the Dodgers are the second finalist for the righty.  Still, one Chico Harlan Nationals source seems to believe they're the favorite.

8:59am: MASN's Ben Goessling reports that Wang is still seven to ten days from a decision, and nothing has changed since yesterday.  MLB.com's Bill Ladson tweets that nothing is close between the Nationals and Wang, though they remain a finalist.  Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that the Nationals and one other team have made offers.

7:52am: Righty Chien-Ming Wang has chosen the Nationals and is close to a deal, tweets Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.

Wang, 30 in March, had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right shoulder capsule on July 29th of last year.  On January 28th, Wang's agent Alan Nero told ESPN's Jayson Stark that his client is expected to "make a major-league start sometime in the first two weeks of May."  Wang will join Jason Marquis and John Lannan in Washington's rotation, with the remaining spots to be determined during Spring Training.

The Dodgers, Phillies, Cardinals, and Mets were also linked to Wang this winter.

Wang Has Offers, Could Sign Soon

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5:04pm: MLB.com's Bill Ladson reports that the Nationals are "aggressively pursuing" Wang, and that they are one of the finalists for his services. Ladson adds that it's unknown if they've made him an offer, though.

4:02pm: Chien-Ming Wang has received offers from two clubs and could sign soon, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The Mets and Dodgers are not among the teams to offer Wang a contract. Rosenthal hears that the 29-year-old Wang would like to play for Joe Torre again, but Torre's Dodgers are lagging behind in their pursuit of the right-hander. As for the Mets, they're even further behind than the Dodgers.

The Orioles have discussed Wang and the Cardinals, Nationals and Phillies have all been connected to him this offseason. Rosenthal says the Blue Jays were in on Erik Bedard and wonders if they could pursue Wang, too.

Wang, who is recovering from arthroscopic shoulder surgery, will likely make a decision within a week or ten days.

Four Clubs Offer Minor League Deal To Takahashi

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9:01pm: The Pirates have emerged as a destination for Takahashi, according to a report from Sanspo passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker.  The report also notes that the Dodgers are targeting other pitchers and the Mets were "moving towards an MLB contract," but couldn't agree on money.

Meanwhile, Takahashi was set to throw for teams today in Arizona, according to an article from Sponichi passed along by Newman.

2:32pm: Japaneseballplayers.com reports that Takahashi has turned down the Mets' offer as well. NPB Tracker tweets that Takahashi prefers to play on the West coast.

SUNDAY, 11:01pm: Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun reports that Takahashi has turned down the Orioles' offer of a minor league deal, but that doesn't mean the two sides can't work something out down the road.

SATURDAY, 4:53pm: Takahashi is being considered by the Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox, Giants, Pirates, and Padres tweets Jon Heyman of SI.  Heyman also writes that Takahashi will pick his team soon.

Meanwhile, Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reports (via Twitter) that the Giants are assuming that Takahashi will sign elsewhere.

FRIDAY, 7:19pm: NPB Tracker passes along a report (via Twitter) from the Japanese publication Sponichi Annex saying that the Giants and Dodgers are in the lead for Takahashi's services, however Henry Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle tweets that the the Giants are still waiting to hear back about their minor league offer.

THURSDAY, 2:38pm: Free agent lefty Hisanori Takahashi has minor league offers from the Red Sox, Giants, Padres, and Dodgers, according to a Sports Hochi report passed along on Twitter by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman.

Last week, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick wrote that Takahashi seeks a big league deal and has drawn interest from the Orioles, Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox, and Giants.  Takahashi, 35 in April, profiles as a flyball/command pitcher who can fill a swingman role.

Cafardo’s Latest: Beckett, Red Sox, Twins, Lowry

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The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo has plenty of rumors from around the league for us this morning, so let's round them all up…

  • The Red Sox are likely to use Roy Halladay's three-year, $60MM deal "minus $6 million-$8 million" as a guideline for a potential Josh Beckett extension rather than John Lackey's five-year, $82.5MM deal. The reason being that they have some concern about the long-term health of his shoulder.
  • If another team comes offering Beckett big money after the season, the Sox will move on just as they did with Jason Bay. They could then look into free agents like Cliff Lee, who they pursued at the trade deadline, or even Ben Sheets and Brandon Webb if they bounce back from injury problems of their own.
  • With all of their additions this offseason, the Twins' payroll will jump from $65M to about $96M as they move into Target Field this year. GM Bill Smith said it will be up to manager Ron Gardenhire to determine how they use Jim Thome, and that they did their homework on Orlando Hudson's left wrist, which has given him trouble the last few seasons.
  • Minnesota's payroll will be larger than the Dodgers' this year.
  • The Red Sox watched Noah Lowry's recent workout, but "don't appear interested in signing him."
  • Dodgers' third base coach Larry Bowa said he knows that Manny Ramirez still wants to play another three or four years.
  • Two big league executives feel that the Giants and Tim Lincecum will settle on a contract before an arbitration hearing.
  • One reason the Cubs signed Kevin Millar was to loosen up the clubhouse after the Milton Bradley fiasco last season.
  • Drayton McLane is reportedly seeking $700MM to part with the Astros, but it's tough to see someone coming up with that when the Rangers sold for approximately $575MM.

Dodgers Sign Brian Giles

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The Dodgers signed outfielder Brian Giles to a minor league deal, reports MLB.com's Ken Gurnick.  In a pair of tweets, ESPN's Buster Olney reports that Giles would get a $550K base salary with another $200K in performance bonuses. If the Dodgers aren't going to keep him on the roster at the end of Spring Training, he can ask for his release.  Giles will compete for a fifth outfielder or pinch-hitter role.

Giles, 39, hit .191/.277/.271 in 253 plate appearances for the Padres last year, struggling defensively as well.  His season ended in June with a knee injury.  Giles had a strong season in 2008 - his .398 OBP ranked sixth in the league.  Former Padres GM Kevin Towers picked up his $9MM option for '09, despite the outfielder's off-the-field concerns.

Interesting note from Gurnick – "Giles nearly was general manager Ned Colletti's first acquisition after he took over the Dodgers in the winter of 2005, but the San Diego native re-signed with the Padres and Colletti turned to shortstop Rafael Furcal."  This time around Giles reportedly drew interest from eight to ten teams, including the Yankees and Reds.

Odds & Ends: Kielty, Ruiz, Gillick, Santos

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Saturday morning links…

  • Arangure (via Twitter) writes that the A's have agreed to terms with Michael Feliz, a right-hander from the Dominican Republic.  The deal, which is still pending a physical and an age investigation, will provide Feliz with an $800K bonus.  The Dominican Prospect League website says that the 6'4, 200-pound hurler is 16-years-old.
  • Tim tweets that Bobby Kielty is converting to pitching, and that his slider is actually pretty good. The 33-year-old last played in the big leagues back in 2007, when he was still an outfielder of course.
  • ESPN's Jorge Arangure tweets that the Blue Jays, Rockies, and Rangers are the teams most interested in Cuban first baseman Jose Julio Ruiz. Ruiz was recently cleared to sign by the Office of Foreign Asset Control.
  • Pat Gillick has returned to the Phillies as a senior advisor to president Dave Montgomery, reports Bob Elliott of The Toronto Sun. Gillick was the team's GM from 2006-2008. 
  • ESPN's Buster Olney spoke to several talent evaluators, none of whom think Omir Santos is equipped to be a number one catcher. If the season started today, Santos would likely be behind the plate for the Mets. 

Odds & Ends: Jackson, Norman, Dye, Lester, Manny

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Some links for Friday night…

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