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Cafardo On Napoli, Stanton, Marlins, Rockies

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The Red Sox, Rangers and Phillies are all struggling this season but for different reasons, and Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe touches on each team’s situation in his weekly Sunday notes column.  Boston’s young talent (as either lineup upgrades or trade chips) puts them “in the best shape” according to one AL executive, while Rangers GM Jon Daniels intends to address his team’s injury-riddled rotation at the deadline.  Philadelphia seems to be in the toughest shape of the three given that they both have a number of hard-to-move expensive veterans on the roster, plus Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley haven’t seemed willing to waive their no-trade clauses.

Here’s some more from Cafardo’s latest…

  • The Red Sox have received some calls about Mike Napoli.  The first baseman has spent some time on the DL this year but is still hitting .265/.386/.432 with 10 homers in 316 PA.  The two-year, $32MM contract that Napoli signed last winter carries some limited no-trade protection.  Though Napoli’s bat makes him an attractive commodity, I’d be surprised to see the Sox move him given their own need for power hitting both this season and beyond.
  • A recent Marlins slump led to a renewed series of calls about Giancarlo Stanton, and Miami GM Dan Jennings again reiterated that Stanton isn’t for sale.  Cafardo notes that the Stanton trade rumors won’t die down until he signs a big extension with the Marlins, something that seemed unlikely two offseasons ago when he was upset by the club’s fire sale trade with the Blue Jays.  Now, however, Jennings says, “I think some things have changed for Giancarlo.  He’s taken a leadership role here. He knows we’re serious about winning and how much we want him to be part of that. He’s seen the team come together and the young talent developing around him.”
  • Jennings told Cafardo on Friday that the Marlins would look to be trade deadline buyers if they were within five or six games of the NL East lead going into the All-Star break, and the GM was meeting with owner Jeffrey Loria this weekend.  Miami sits 6.5 games behind the tied Nationals and Braves heading into today’s action.
  • It seems unlikely that the Rockies will deal Troy Tulowitzki or Carlos Gonzalez since owner Charles Monfort feels moving either star would negatively hurt Colorado’s ticket sales and TV ratings.  “Monfort centers everything around Tulo and Cargo,” a Major League source tells Cafardo.  Dick Monfort, the other half of the club’s ownership team, recently said there were no plans to deal wither Tulowitzki or Gonzalez.

Rays Acquire Three International Bonus Slots From Marlins

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TODAY: The Rays will still face the full penalty for exceeding their pool money, explains Ben Badler of Baseball America. While Rondon’s signing did not push Tampa past its newly expanded allocation by itself, other international signings did. The acquisition will limit the overage tax owed by the club by about $1MM, however.

YESTERDAY: The Marlins have acquired right-hander Matt Ramsey from the Rays in exchange for international bonus money, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune tweets that the Rays will acquire Miami’s second, third and fourth bonus slots, which add up to a total of $1,000,800, tweets Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune.

Subsequently, the Rays have officially announced the signing of top international prospect Adrian Rondon, with who the team reportedly agree to terms last week, for $2.95MM (Twitter link). The additional money acquired from the Marlins bumps Tampa’s international bonus pool to $2,998,900, meaning that the Rondon signing will not push them over their limit.

Ramsey, 24, is enjoying a dominant season at Double-A Montgomery, having pitched to a 1.07 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 33 2/3 innings. He’s had some control issues, walking 23 batters in that time. Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper tweets that Ramsey runs his fastball up to 95 mph with a power curveball.

This is the second trade of international bonus money today, as the A’s shipped a bonus slot to the Brewers earlier this afternoon in exchange for minor leaguer Rodolfo Fernandez. For a refresher on how international free agent signings work, check out MLBTR’s 2014-15 International Signing Period Primer.

Red Sox Reluctant To Move Will Middlebrooks

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The Red Sox have been receiving decent trade interest in recent days in third baseman Will Middlebrooks, but Red Sox people are said to seem quite reluctant to deal him, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Middlebrooks is on injury rehab following his slow start in Boston but the Sox seem intent on keeping him past July.

Still only 25, Middlebrooks has power, and it isn’t easy to come by power bats in baseball these days. On top of that, if Middlebrooks can show something in the second half, he could be a piece if the Sox try and make a run at Marlins star Giancarlo Stanton.  It would obviously take much more than Middlebrooks to get a deal done, but Miami did have some interest in Middlebrooks last winter. Stanton would provide a huge boost for the Red Sox and Boston can build a package with some of the best prospects in baseball to entice Miami if they make Stanton available over the winter. In 21 games this season, Middlebrooks has hit just .197/.305/.324 with two homers.

Quick Hits: Trade Targets, Marlins, Garcia

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The Independence Day trade that sent Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Athletics is definitely the top story of the day. When we polled MLBTR readers last week over which pitcher would be traded first, Hammel was the resounding top choice with 31.05% of readers picking the right-hander. Samardzija came in third with 16.19% of the vote. David Price (24.07%) was the only other pitcher to finish with over 10% of the vote, and it very well could have been Price headed to Oakland. Let’s focus our attention on some of the other rumors and notes of the day.

  • Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reports the Tigers are interested in re-acquiring Joaquin Benoit (via Twitter). Of course, Benoit is in the midst of a fantastic season with the Padres. He’s pitched to a 1.26 ERA with 10.09 K/9 and 1.77 BB/9.
  • The Angels are also interested in Benoit according to Morosi (Twitter). It’s unclear if that interest remains after the acquisitions of Jason Grilli and Joe Thatcher.
  • Morosi (also on Twitter) notes that the Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Giants are interested in Diamondbacks infielders. Veterans Aaron Hill and Martin Prado have been frequently connected to rumors, although the club does have additional shortstop depth too.
  • Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com writes that the Twins are expected to make Josh Willingham and Kevin Correia available barring a sudden turnaround. Both players will be free agents after the season and aren’t good candidates for a qualifying offer. Willingham has been productive when healthy including a .228/.377/.441 batting line in 162 plate appearances this season. Heyman mentions the Red Sox and Mariners as two clubs in need of offense. To me, Correia looks more like a roster patch for a contender with his 4.95 ERA and 4.11 FIP.
  • The Marlins made a club record number of moves in June writes MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. A total of 45 transactions were made in June. The previous one-month record was 30 moves. July could bring more of the same for the Fish with Tom Koehler and Adeiny Hechavarria scheduled to return soon.
  • Oft-injured Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia will undergo season ending surgery to address his thoracic outlet syndrome according to Derrick Goold and Joe Trezza of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The club wasn’t counting on a return by Garcia, who has been on the disabled list since late June. The news provides additional incentive for the club to explore the trade market.

NL East Notes: Mets, Detwiler, Penny

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We heard earlier today about Bartolo Colon possibly being a trade candidate this summer, and now here’s some more items from around the NL East…

  • There isn’t any reason for the Mets to fire GM Sandy Alderson or manager Terry Collins since such moves would only prolong the club’s rebuilding process, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post opines.  While the Mets are on pace for another losing, the team is in good shape for the future with young talent on the rise and Chris Young’s contract seems to be the only true mistake on the current roster.
  • Nationals lefty Ross Detwiler could be a trade target for teams looking to add rotation help, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link).  Detwiler “could start for most” teams, as Heyman notes, and the southpaw has had trouble finding a spot in Washington’s deep rotation despite some good career numbers.  Detwiler currently has a 4.00 ERA, 1.29 K/BB rate and 5.5 K/9 in 36 relief innings for the Nats, and he’s had control issues, as his 4.3 BB/9 is markedly up from his 2.6 BB/9 over the previous three seasons.
  • Brad Penny and Marlins GM Dan Jennings talk to Greg Stoda of the Palm Beach Post about Penny’s minor league comeback attempt and why Miami brought Penny back to his original franchise.
  • The impending trade of minor league right-hander Andrew Robinson from the Astros to the Braves is taking an unusually long time to complete for a move outside the 40-man roster, which makes MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo think Robinson could be part of a larger transaction between the two clubs.  Cotillo makes it clear that he is just speculating, however.

Minor Moves: Keys, Escalona, Coello, O’Sullivan

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Marlins have outrighted center fielder Brent Keys to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to the club’s transactions page. Miami designated Keys for assignment over the weekend when they acquired lefty Donnie Joseph from the Royals.
  • The Yankees have signed right-hander Edgmer Escalona to a minor league deal, according to the club’s transactions page. The hard-throwing 27-year-old rejected an outright assignment from the division-rival Orioles and elected free agency a couple weeks back. Curiously, the Orioles transitioned Escalona to their Triple-A rotation, where he made the first three starts of his professional career. He didn’t fare particularly well, posting a 6.10 ERA in 20 2/3 innings. He has some MLB experience with the Rockies and averaged 94.2 mph on his heater from 2012-13.
  • Escalona will take the roster spot of righty Robert Coello at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, after Coello opted out of his minor league deal, the team has officially announced (hat tip: Donnie Collins of the Scranton Tribune-Times on Twitter). Coello posted a pristine 1.69 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 32 innings, but he also walked a troubling 21 batters in that time.
  • Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish reports (via Twitter) that right-hander Sean O’Sullivan has accepted his outright assignment with the Phillies. O’Sullivan was outrighted yesterday after being designated for assignment last week and had the option to elect free agency.

NL International Signings: Cuadrado, Gonzalez, Rosario

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Here are the day’s most notable international prospect signings from the National League (rankings via MLB.com and Baseball America):

  • The Dodgers have signed Venezuelan corner outfielder Romer Cuadrado and given him a $750K signing bonus, reports Ben Badler of Baseball America. Cuardado didn’t crack either Top 30 list, though Badler did note in a report (subscription required) that he has an “extra-large frame” for a 16-year-old (6’4″, 195 pounds) with room to add size. Badler noted that Cuardado has projectable raw power from the right side.
  • Shortstops Pedro Gonzalez ($1.3MM) and Yeremy Rosario ($800K) have agreed to terms with the Rockies, according to Dionisio Soldevila of ESPNDeportes.com (via Twitter) and MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (Twitter link), respectively. Gonzalez was rated the 12th-best prospect available by both Baseball America and MLB.com. Rosario, meanwhile, landed at 22nd on the MLB.com list, with opinions varying on whether he is a top young player or instead lacks the ability to stick up the middle.
  • Shortstop Kenny Hernandez has signed with the Mets for $1MM, Sanchez reports on Twitter. Hernandez was the 27th-rated prospect by MLB.com but rose all the way to 13th on the Baseball America board.
  • The Giants have inked outfielder Sandro Fabian for $500K, reports Sanchez (via Twitter). Fabian hails from the Dominican Republic and can generate hard contact but needs to work on his plate discipline and will likely need to move from center to left field, according to Badler (subscription required).
  • The Phillies have signed shortstop Arquimedes Gamboa to a $900K bonus, reports Sanchez (via Twitter). The switch-hitting Venezuelan checked in at eighth on BA’s list and 15th on that of MLB.com. His value appears to be in his legs and defensive ability, though Gamboa is said to be a capable contact hitter. Philadelphia has also inked fellow Venezuelan shortstop Daniel Brito, who was rated 29th overall by BA, according to a report from Badler. Brito receives a healthy $650K bonus, according to Badler.
  • The Padres have agreed to terms with catcher Ricardo Rodriguez, who came in at the very bottom of MLB.com’s top-30 prospect list, tweets Sanchez. San Diego also landed a $500K contract with shortstop Elvis Sabala, per another Sanchez tweet.
  • Outfielder Christian Capellan has agreed to a $500K deal with the Marlins, tweets Sanchez. The club has also inked Venezuelan outfielder Anderson Castro for $650K, according to MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro (via Twitter). Miami is expected to land as many as twelve players today while wielding a bonus that is triple the club’s previous levels, tweets Frisaro. The Fish have just over $4.6MM in available pool space, second-most in the league.

Steve Adams contributed to this post.

Reactions To The Astros’ Data Leak

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Yesterday’s leak of roughly 10 months worth of Astros trade notes and discussions made plenty of headlines around the nation. Not only was information that was sensitive to the Astros revealed, but other teams found their own executives and trade discussions included in the data. Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle has a full transcript of GM Jeff Luhnow’s response to the situation. Luhnow says that he’s been on the phone with other clubs since the information leaked and said that “in general, they’re understanding and supportive,” though he added that he’s sure other clubs aren’t happy to have seen their names in place. Luhnow mentions multiple times that not all of the info in the data leak is accurate, adding that the team is working with the FBI to determine who stole the information and will press criminal charges. He also says that the Astros have since upgraded the security on their databases, but he still used a pencil and paper to take notes in all conversations he had yesterday. “I think we were prepared,” Luhnow told Drellich after being asked if the Astros should’ve been better prepared. “We had security in place, and when you’re talking about criminals we just never know if we have enough. I think we were prepared as we could have been.”

Here are some reactions from around the baseball world…

  • Jim Margalus of SB Nation’s South Side Sox looks at the mentions of the White Sox within the leak and makes some educated guesses as to how the team’s offseason trade talks played out. He points back to a December comment from Sox GM Rick Hahn in which Hahn noted that the club almost swapped one of its pitchers for a position player before the other team decided it preferred a position player from another club. Margalus speculates that, based on data leaked yesterday and Hahn’s prior comments, that a Hector Santiago/Peter Bourjos swap (or a different three-team deal involving those players) may have been in play at one point.
  • Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports that the Blue Jays will review the safeguards on their own proprietary database — entitled “The BEST.” He describes the system as a “one stop catch-all for scouting reports, video, medical records, analytics and dialogue with various clubs.”
  • Twins GM Terry Ryan tells Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he’s thankful to have escaped from the situation unscathed, as he’s “certainly talked to the Astros about various things.” The Twins have had internal discussions about communications security since the breach.
  • George Springer, whose name appeared in supposed trade talks in the leaked information, offered little comment when asked by Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “I’m just here to play baseball. That’s it,” Springer said.
  • MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reminds that the Marlins made it clear prior to last offseason’s GM Meetings that Giancarlo Stanton wasn’t on the market. Still, he continues, teams commonly throw out feelers, but that hardly means the noted discussion of Stanton for Springer and Carlos Correa ever had any real legs to it. Marlins GM Dan Jennings dismissed the information yesterday, calling it “laughable.”
  • Rob Neyer of FOX Sports writes that he simply doesn’t believe Jennings’ claim that the two sides never discussed anything involving Stanton. Neyer points out that it does behoove Jennings and the Marlins to deny the report in an effort not to upset fans or Stanton himself, but the better route to take would be to simply acknowledge that he’d have been doing the Marlins a disservice not to float the idea of two elite prospects as headliners for a Stanton trade package.

Trade Deadline Rumors: Headley, Sandoval, D’backs, Marlins, Quintana

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Former Orioles and Mets GM Frank Cashen has passed away at the age of 91. As Baseball America’s Vince Lara-Cinisomo writes, Cashen played an important role in composing Baltimore’s outstanding teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s before wheeling and dealing to put together the Mets’ 1986 World Series-winning roster. MLBTR sends its condolences to Cashen’s family and friends around the game.

Here are the latest rumblings as we turn the page to July …

  • The Yankees are regularly scouting Padres third baseman Chase Headley, tweets Jon Morosi of FOX Sports. Should they pursue the struggling veteran, New York could have competition from a division rival, as it was recently reported that the Blue Jays are also interested in Headley. Yankees GM Brian Cashman said today that he is preparing to act aggressively in upgrading the club’s roster, as Jorge Castillo of the Star-Ledger reports. Nevertheless, Cashman did not sound inclined to pay a heavy surcharge to make acquisitions well in advance of the deadline.
  • Of course, whether or not he is dealt, all signs point to Headley hitting the open market following this season, where he will be joined by Giants third bagger Pablo Sandoval. At present, there are no ongoing extension talks between San Francisco and Sandoval, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish. Of course, GM Brian Sabean locked up two prominent free agents-to-be (Hunter Pence and Tim Lincecum) at the last minute last year.
  • The Diamondbacks are looking to set their club up for 2015 rather than launching a full rebuild, reports MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert. GM Kevin Towers indicated that the club hopes to shed some salary, but will focus on achieving a useful return. “We’re not payroll dumping, we’re looking to get good players back,” he said. “It would be nice to be able to save some payroll and get good players back. I know how [managing partner Ken Kendrick] and [CEO Derrick Hall] are and they are always going to lean towards getting the better players instead of trying to save money.” Towers said that the market is still developing, with just “a couple of clubs that are trying to get in front of people.”
  • The Marlins are surveying the market with an eye on landing an established starting pitcher, writes MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro.  Miami would also like to add an experienced veteran middle infielder in the wake of Rafael Furcal’s injury.
  • White Sox hurler Jose Quintana could become what Doug Fister was in 2011, opines Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter).  Quintana has little trade hype, but like Fister, says Morosi, he could wind up getting traded and help his new team win its division. Of course, with Chicago now looking a threat to field a young and talented team in coming seasons, it is doubtful that the 25-year-old lefty (who is under club control through 2018) will come cheap.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Astros’ Trade Discussion Notes Leaked

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4:30pm: The Astros have issued the following statement regarding the leaked notes:

“Last month, we were made aware that proprietary information held on Astros’ servers and in Astros’ applications had been illegally obtained. Upon learning of the security breach, we immediately notified MLB security who, in turn, notified the FBI.  Since that time, we have been working closely with MLB security and the FBI to the determine the party, or parties, responsible.  This information was illegally obtained and published, and we intend to prosecute those involved to the fullest extent.

“It is unfortunate and extremely disappointing that an outside source has illegally obtained confidential information.  While it does appear that some of the content released was based on trade conversations, a portion of the material was embellished or completely fabricated.”

2:29pm: Extensive trade discussion notes, apparently logged by Astros executives about their talks with other teams, have been leaked onto the site AnonBin here and here, with Deadspin breaking the story and Yahoo’s Jeff Passan verifying the authenticity of the logs.  The earliest notes are from June 2013, and the latest are from March of this year.  The Astros have yet to comment on the leak, which provides unprecedented detail into how the team values players and approaches trade discussions.  According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Astros have been reaching out to people around baseball apologizing for the leaks, and plan to issue a statement soon.

A March feature by Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle outlines Ground Control, the Astros’ confidential internal database from which the trade discussion notes were likely taken.  At this time, it’s unclear whether the information reached the Internet via a rogue employee of the team, or by some kind of security vulnerability in Ground Control.  The trade discussion information, mostly from last summer and offseason, is somewhat dated in the fast-moving baseball hot stove world.  The larger ramification is the breach of trust experienced by the many non-Astros executives cited in the notes.  It’s unlikely any team would rule out the Astros as a trading partner based on this breach, but some teams could approach talks with added caution.  Additionally, I imagine the many other teams with such highly sensitive material online are doubling down on security right now.

The Astros’ trade notes from last summer and offseason range from the blockbuster to the mundane; here are some highlights.

  • On November 15th, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow expressed interest with Marlins GM Dan Jennings in slugger Giancarlo Stanton.  From the notes: “[Jennings] said he doesn’t think he’ll trade Stanton and the only deal he could think of from us that would work would be [George] Springer and [Carlos] Correa. [Luhnow] said that would not work. [Luhnow] posited a deal around [Jarred] Cosart and [Delino] DeShields.”  It’s not a big surprise that Luhnow rejected Jennings’ proposal out of hand, as Correa and Springer were ranked #4 and #19 on Keith Law’s top 100 prospects list for ESPN, and are major building blocks for Houston.  That Luhnow didn’t appear to offer either player suggests he was mostly gauging Stanton’s price after an off-year with three years of control remaining.  UPDATE: Jennings has commented to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, saying it’s fabricated that they ever offered Stanton to the Astros or any other team, also using the word “laughable.”
  • Interest in Astros catcher Jason Castro was strong last offseason, with a few surprising suitors.  The Blue Jays and Rangers reached out in mid-October to gauge Castro’s price, the White Sox had “definite high interest,” and Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik told Luhnow in November that he was getting calls from other teams asking if he could get Castro from the Astros for those teams.  Zduriencik offered Dustin Ackley and was turned down.
  • Notes for the Astros’ summer trade discussions begin at June 17th, 2013.  The team ultimately went on to acquire Ronald Torreyes from the Cubs in June, and also dealt veterans Jose Veras, Bud Norris, and Justin Maxwell near the July deadline.  The Astros did not end up acquiring any top 100-type prospects, but they sure did ask for the moon.  For Norris, the Astros sought Kyle Crick and Clayton Blackburn from the Giants, Dylan Bundy or Kevin Gausman from the Orioles, Marcus Stroman and more from the Blue Jays, Xander Bogaerts, Allen Webster, Jackie Bradley Jr., or Garin Cecchini from the Red Sox, and Tyler Glasnow plus Luis Heredia or Nick Kingham from the Pirates.  The Red Sox offered Ryan Lavarnway or Deven Marrero for Norris and were turned down.  In the end, the Astros traded Norris and an international draft slot to the Orioles for L.J. Hoes, Josh Hader, and a 2014 competitive balance pick.
  • When Nationals GM Mike Rizzo called to express interest in middling Astros starting pitcher Lucas Harrell, who had a 5.17 ERA at the time and nearly as many walks as strikeouts, “[Luhnow] told him we would still need a headliner like [Lucas] Giolito because we still value Harrell highly. Rizzo did not respond immediately.”
    Harrell was designated for assignment, outrighted, and traded for a pittance nine months later, so the Astros might have overplayed their hand.
  • “Untouchable” players from other teams were revealed through conversations with their executives.  White Sox GM Rick Hahn wouldn’t consider trading Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Jose Abreu, or Avisail Garcia.  Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos considered Brett Lawrie off-limits.  Pirates outfield prospect Gregory Polanco came up as well, in that GM Neal Huntington wouldn’t include him in any Norris deal.  In December talks regarding Harrell, the Giants said they would not discuss Brandon Belt.
  • More random notes: Mets executive Paul DePodesta asked Luhnow if the Astros would consider trading shortstop Jonathan Villar in a Daniel Murphy deal in December…the Marlins expressed interest in Jose Altuve, Matt Dominguez, and others in December.
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