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Odds & Ends: Dukes, Astros, Twins, Giants

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Some Saturday afternoon tidbits….

  • Nationals' manager Jim Riggleman spoke about what he thinks Elijah Dukes can do next season, writes Byron Kerr of MASNSports.com.
  • Satchel Price at Beyond The Box Score thinks the Astros have overpaid for the players they've picked up this offseason.
  • Kelly Thesier of MLB.com points out that for all of the talk about the Twins' need for a third baseman, the club is only looking for a "short-term stopgap" given the presence of top prospect Danny Valencia.  Thesier's mailbag piece also shoots downs a couple of Twins-related trade rumors and discusses the club's attempt to re-sign Joe Mauer.  
  • In another MLB.com mailbag, Chris Haft says there hasn't been any talk of the Giants signing Carlos Delgado (though he would fit their need for a left-handed bat) and proposes that Ryan Church would be a better outfield option for San Francisco than Rick Ankiel.
  • Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel spoke to Chris Capuano about the pitcher's attempt to return from (his second) Tommy John surgery.
  • The Reds' budget may limit them to just pinch-hitting options in their search for a hitter, reports MLB.com's Mark Sheldon.
  • John Sickels of MinorLeagueBall.com grades the top 20 prospects in the Mets and Indians systems.  The only player on either list to rate an A-grade was Cleveland catcher Carlos Santana.
  • Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com looks at the youngsters who will be fighting to be the Dodgers' No. 5 starter next season.  Jackson points out that these pitchers might be going for the No. 4 spot too if L.A. doesn't sign a veteran starter before Opening Day.

Dodgers Sign Russ Ortiz And Michael Restovich

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The Dodgers have signed righty Russ Ortiz and outfielder Michael Restovich to minor league contracts with invitations to Spring Training, according to MLB.com's Ken Gurnick.     

The 35-year-old Ortiz hasn't been an effective big leaguer since 2004, and even his minor league performance since then hasn't been anything special. The Dodgers do have some openings in the back of their rotation, so it stands to reason that Ortiz will compete for one of those spots.

Restovich, 31, has spent parts of six seasons in the big leagues, most recently with the Nationals in 2007. He's a career .239/.313/.377 hitter in the Majors, but a .285/.364/.501 hitter in the minors. 

Odds & Ends: Epstein, Cards, Contracts, Greene

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Links for a snowy Thursday…

Odds & Ends: Cantu, Lowry, Nationals, Braves

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Some links for Wednesday night…

  • The Marlins have no interest in trading Jorge Cantu to save money, even if they don't trade Dan Uggla before the season, tweets Clark Spencer of The Miami Herald. Yesterday we heard the team may "start taking calls" about Cantu if they can't unload Uggla. 
  • Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times says that the Dodgers are among the 14 teams that have asked for Noah Lowry's medical records according to his agent Damon Lara. We first heard of their interest in the lefty way back in early December.
  • Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said he is still looking for starting pitching and to improve his team's defense, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. 
  • MLB.com's Mark Bowman says that Braves' team president John Schuerholz indicated the team's payroll "won't be diminished at all." Bowman's rough estimate has the team's 2010 payroll at about $87MM after they spent roughly $95MM in 2009.
  • MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports (via Twitter) that the Brewers have outrighted pitcher Omar Aguilar to Triple-A, however assistant GM Gord Ash said the team has no move in the works to the fill the vacated 40-man roster spot according to Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel (again, via Twitter).
  • In response to a fan on Twitter, C.J. Wilson tweets that the Rangers have never offered him a long-term deal.
  • Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News says there's a chance Juan Uribe could be the Giants' starting third baseman, shifting Mark DeRosa to the outfield. He adds that the team plans to make more moves, however their lack of pitching depth will make it tough to swing a trade. 
  • Alex Speier of WEEI.com examines how the recent moves by the Red Sox impact their payroll with regard to the luxury tax.
  • The Diamondbacks have released minor league righthander Tony Barnette so he can pursue opportunities in Japan, according to MLB.com's Steve Gilbert (via Twitter).

GM Trade Histories: NL West

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Today Brendan Bianowicz updates the GM Trade History series for the NL West.  You can download the info-packed Excel spreadsheets below.

Odds & Ends: Rincon, Calero, Rangers, Encarnacion

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Here are some links to kick off the weekend…

  • Troy Renck of The Denver Post provides the details on Juan Rincon's contract with the Rockies. He'll earn $800K plus incentives in the big leagues, or $20K per month in the minors.
  • Satchel Price at Beyond The Box Score wonders why we haven't heard more about Kiko Calero this offseason. The Cubs and Giants were interested in the righthander at various times this offseason.
  • Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas reiterates what we heard yesterday: the Rangers are seeking a veteran catcher. He mentions that they've shown interest in both Rod Barajas and Dioner Navarro.
  • Edwin Encarnacion suffered burns to his face in a fireworks accident according to ESPN Deportes' Enrique Rojas. He will not require surgery, and will be ready to go in Spring Training.
  • Jeff Passan at Yahoo! Sports lists ten players we should keep an on eye to see how their market develops during the remainder of the offseason. His list is led by Matt Holliday and Aroldis Chapman.
  • MLB.com's Matthew Leach notes that if the Cardinals felt they weren't in a good position to re-sign Holliday, they would have moved on to other targets by now. 
  • Dick Kaegel of MLB.com says that "it would take a calamitous showing" for Royals' manager Trey Hillman to lose his job this season given his relationship with GM Dayton Moore.
  • Steve Slowinski at DRaysBay goes back in time to evaluate the Danys Baez and Lance Carter for Edwin Jackson and Chuck Tiffany trade.

Dodgers, Matt Kemp Talk Multi-Year Deal

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The Dodgers have begun discussing a multi-year contract with Matt Kemp, writes Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.  However, his agent Dave Stewart says that Kemp might prefer to go year-to-year via arbitration.

Kemp is one of nine Dodgers eligible for arbitration this winter and one of five eligible for the first time in their careers.  Gurnick writes that signing position players like Kemp, James Loney, and Andre Ethier to long-term deals would provide the club with a degree of cost certainty.  GM Ned Colletti approached Russell Martin two years ago about a multiyear agreement but was rebuffed.

The 25-year-old Kemp hit .297/.352/.490 with 26 HRs in 2009 while playing an above average center field.

Olney On Gonzalez, Holliday, Dodgers

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ESPN.com's Buster Olney offers some storylines to look for in 2010 and turns up some rumors along the way. Here they are:

  • The Padres will, "in all likelihood," gauge the market for Adrian Gonzalez this summer and deal him before the July 31st trade deadline. The Mets, Mariners and Red Sox could all bid for the slugger, but the list of suitors could change drastically by mid-summer.
  • One GM expects the Mariners to consider offers for Felix Hernandez if they don't lock him up long-term. "They may seriously have to think about trading him," the GM said. Locking Felix up won't be cheap, either. As Olney notes, Hernandez could command C.C. Sabathia-type money ($161MM) if he were a free agent. Luckily for Mariners fans, Felix won't hit the open market until after the 2011 season at the earliest.
  • Olney says the Orioles offered Matt Holliday $70MM or so at one point before moving on. Here's a look at some other offers Holliday has received.
  • Executives tell Olney that the Dodgers' quiet offseason is giving other teams confidence and emboldening them to make more moves. 

Discussion: Los Angeles Dodgers

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Ever since the news of Frank and Jamie McCourt's divorce proceedings broke last October, Dodgers fans have been wondering (and dreading) if the ownership dispute would impact the team's operations.  The first two months of the offseason have been quiet enough in L.A. to make it look like the Dodgers are themselves also still waiting to see how things will play out with the McCourts and have thus been in a holding pattern in regards to next season's payroll.

This isn't to say that Los Angeles hasn't been active.  The Dodgers traded Juan Pierre to the White Sox, were involved in the Roy Halladay sweepstakes, tried to acquire Aaron Harang from Cincinnati and signed utilityman Jamey Carroll.  But, as Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports pointed out today, the club is playing even-steven with its offseason moves in order to steady the budget.  For instance, the Dodgers saved $8MM over the next two seasons by dealing Pierre, and spent $3.85MM of those savings to sign Carroll.  Acquiring another notable free agent (such as Rosenthal's example of Joel Pineiro) would require L.A. to make another move to free up the cash to sign the right-hander.

We've already seen a bit of penny-pinching from the team this winter when they didn't offer arbitration to any of their free agents, passing on the chance to acquire compensatory draft picks for Type A free agents Orlando Hudson and Randy Wolf out of fear that Hudson or Wolf might accept the offer.  The bright side for Dodgers fans is that the team is at least keeping the payroll stable, rather than shifting into outright cost-cutting mode.  Rosenthal notes that there are no plans to deal any of L.A.'s young stars before their arbitration years — trading the likes of Andre Ethier, for example, would be "counter-productive" given Ethier's reasonable arbitration number and Manny Ramirez's slight decline. 

This stand-pat strategy will force Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti to be creative in filling the holes on a club that has lost the NLCS to Philadelphia in each of the last two seasons.  Rosenthal said that George Sherrill is "a candidate to be traded," but L.A. wouldn't save much money from the deal and getting rid of Sherrill would weaken their bullpen. There is also a need to sign a veteran like Pineiro to anchor the otherwise young starting rotation.

Olney On Adrian, Pineiro, Holliday, Orioles

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The latest from Buster Olney's ESPN blog…

  • Despite preliminary talks, Olney finds a Padres extension for Adrian Gonzalez to be "very, very unlikely."
  • The Dodgers "are in the chase" for free agent starter Joel Pineiro, with the Angels and Mets other suitors.  The Dodgers were first linked to Pineiro by MLB.com's Ken Gurnick on December 8th.  With a chunk of the Juan Pierre savings already spent on Jamey Carroll, Pineiro seems out of their price range.
  • Olney guesses that Matt Holliday will ultimately sign for five years and $82.5-85MM, with options and/or incentives that could "dress it up as a deal that could be worth over $100MM."
  • The Orioles continue to hunt for a pitcher and corner infielder.  I should note that they were initially linked to Pineiro, but maybe the $9MM committed to Kevin Millwood takes them out of the mix.  An Erik Bedard reunion could be a possibility.
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