Brewers Sign Two Pre-Arb Players
According to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, the Brewers have finalized one-year contracts with reliever Carlos Villanueva and catcher Mike Rivera.
Yovani Gallardo is the club’s last unsigned pre-arbitration player. As we’ve mentioned before, these are guys with zero to three years of MLB service time. Most pre-arb players receive contracts in the $450K-$550K range.
Thursday Pre-Arbitration Signings
7:41pm: The Miami Herald has a list of eight players who agreed to terms with the A’s for 2009. Daric Barton, Kurt Suzuki, Dallas Braden, Dana Eveland, Gio Gonzalez, Sean Gallagher, Henry Rodriguez and Landon Powell all agreed to one-year contracts.
12:27pm: According to a press release, via the Miami Herald, the Brewers have inked Tony Gwynn Jr., Manny Parra, Hernan Iribarren and Chase Wright to one-year contracts.
11:48am: The Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett has a few more from the Angels. Howie Kendrick, Dustin Moseley, Kevin Jepsen and Matt Brown have been signed to ’09 contracts.
9:53am: MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert reports that the Diamondbacks have agreed to one-year contracts with Yusmeiro Petit, Leo Rosales and Kyler Newby. They’ll each make around $400K this year.
9:50am: According to a press release, via the Miami Herald, the Cubs have now settled with all 20 of their pre-arbitration players. Sean Marshall, Mike Fontenot and Micah Hoffpauir are some of the bigger names on the list.
9:49am: Jose De Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle reports that the Astros have renewed Hunter Pence‘s contract. He’ll earn $450K in ’09.
9:41am: SI.com’s Jon Heyman has a few more pre-arbitration signings. 2008 Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum was inked for $650K, Angels pitcher Joe Saunders settled for $475K, Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol for $575K and Cubs infielder Ryan Theriot for $500K.
These are all guys without enough MLB service time to be eligible for salary arbitration.
Chad Cordero To Audition Again
As reported by Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, free agent Chad Cordero will hold another workout for interested teams on Friday.
The Rangers will be in attendance. You can bet the Twins will also be there. The Marlins, Royals and Brewers are also likely to send scouts. Cordero, who will turn 27 in March, missed most of the 2008 season after undergoing shoulder surgery. He racked up 113 saves for the Nationals between 2005 and 2007.
Odds and Ends: Pirates, Royals, Gagne
Links for Wednesday…
- Joe Torre plans to retire as a manager after the 2010 season, learned MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick.
- Braves blog Talking Chop talked to ESPN’s Keith Law about the farm system.
- Baseball America’s Jim Callis spoke to one assistant GM who believes teams will cut back in the international market, partially because they can do so without a major backlash from fans. Callis also has the ’09 draft order at that link.
- Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball looks at the $69MM+ teams spent on first-round draft picks last year.
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the Pirates have anywhere from $41.75-$75.15MM tied up in Nate McLouth, Paul Maholm, and Ryan Doumit, all of whom were signed this winter. In a blog post, Kovacevic notes how the McLouth talks did a 180 when Frank Coonelly stepped in.
- Alex Speier of WEEI talked to Red Sox execs John Henry and Larry Lucchino about the salary cap idea as well as the team’s offseason.
- Aubrey Huff, a free agent after the season, isn’t worried about the future according to Roch Kubatko of MASN.
- Chris Forsberg of the Boston Globe relays quotes from Jonathan Papelbon about the long-term deal that did not materialize this winter.
- Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star discusses the idea of releasing Mark Teahen and John Buck to sign Orlando Hudson, which some Royals fans are pushing for.
- Pitcher Kevin Correia turned down better deals to sign with his hometown Padres, according to MLB.com’s Corey Brock.
- Newly signed Brewers reliever Eric Gagne hopes to atone for his 2008 season, says Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Brewers Sign Eric Gagne
8:09pm: Haudricourt has the details on Gagne’s contract:
If he makes the Brewers’ roster, he will receive a $1.5 million base salary. He could make another $2 million in incentives, based on games pitched from 25 to 60. He’d get another $1 million based on games finished from 50-65, but something really bad would have to happen to Trevor Hoffman for that to happen.
5:02pm: Brewers GM Doug Melvin backed up the Gagne signing this afternoon in a conversation with Haudricourt, saying:
"He’ll have to come in and make the club. He pitched a lot better at the end of the year last year. He pulled me aside afterward and basically apologized for not performing the way we expected… We’ve got a long spring training this year. You never know when you might have an injury. Another veteran arm doesn’t hurt."
Gagne’s contract includes an opt-out near the end of Spring Training if he’s not on the 40-man roster.
3:45pm: Surprisingly, the Brewers signed Eric Gagne to a minor league deal today (Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporting). Perhaps Gagne wants to finish what he started, after the Brewers paid him $10MM in ’08.
The Scott Boras Corp. still has Garret Anderson, Joe Crede, Manny Ramirez, Ivan Rodriguez, and Ron Villone on the free agent market.
Brewers Not Interested In Izzy
According to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, the Brewers are not interested in free agent reliever Jason Isringhausen.
That could have something to do with their signing of Eric Gagne earlier today. At the start of this week, the Cardinals, Brewers and Dodgers were the only teams known to have interest in the 36-year-old former closer. With the Cards and Brew Crew out, let’s see what the Dodgers do now.
Brewers Avoid Arb With Corey Hart
Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the Brewers have agreed to terms with Corey Hart on a one-year, $3.25MM contract.
Hart requested $3.8MM and the Brewers offered $2.7MM back when arbitration numbers were filed. His hearing was scheduled for Wednesday. The 26-year-old outfielder hit .268/.300/.459 last season with 20 home runs and 91 RBI. He also stole 23 bases.
D’Backs Working On Sign-And-Trade Deal?
According to Steve Gilbert of MLB.com, the Diamondbacks could be hammering out a sign-and-trade deal with reliever Juan Cruz.
"I can’t say too much," Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes said Monday. "But of late, they’ve talked to the union, we have talked to the Commissioner’s Office to see if there is a way where they could sign through us and then we would receive in trade what we would deem as enough value."
Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic also has a column on the topic. Ken Rosenthal and La Velle E. Neal III have done a nice job of explaining this complicated situation. As Neal notes, the Twins may be interested in Cruz if they aren’t forced to surrender a high draft pick for his services. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan says the Brewers and Rangers also have interest in Cruz.
Brewers Monitoring Chad Cordero
Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the Brewers will have a scout on hand for Chad Cordero‘s next throwing session.
"We have interest in him,” said GM Doug Melvin. "This will be his first workout off the mound. We’ll wait until we get the report."
Cordero, 27, missed most of the 2008 season after undergoing shoulder surgery. He has a 2.78 career ERA and 128 total saves in six MLB seasons. He’ll throw for several teams on Wednesday in California.
Corey Hart Hopes To Avoid Hearing
On Saturday, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel learned that a new offer was made to Corey Hart for ’09 and his agent turned it down. The sides remain $1.1MM apart ($3.8MM vs. $2.7MM) with a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. Brewers assistant GM Gord Ash thinks it will be difficult to avoid. Hart’s comparables are said to be Andre Ethier (Tuesday hearing) and Josh Willingham (Wednesday).
However, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy quoted Hart yesterday as saying:
"I think [a compromise] is going to happen. I’m trying to stay out of it as much as I can, but I think we’re all hoping that something is going to happen. Obviously, nobody wants a hearing and I love everything about Milwaukee from the owner on down. I have nothing to say to put them down because I’ve enjoyed it, and I think they know that."