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Central Notes: Gimenez, Young Twins, Cardinals

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Passing along a few notes from the Central divisions, where there was plenty of news earlier today. Kosuke Fukudome found a new home, the Brewers won an arbitration case, and the Royals picked up their manager's option. On with the links …

Outrighted To Triple-A: Esmerling Vasquez

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Here's where we'll keep track of the latest outright assignments…

  • Right-hander Esmerling Vasquez cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com tweets. The Twins, who designated the 28-year-old for assignment last week, have invited him to MLB Spring Training. He spent the 2011 season with the Diamondbacks, posting a 4.15 ERA with 5.9 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 30 1/3 innings.

Twins Designate Esmerling Vasquez For Assignment

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The Twins have designated Esmerling Vasquez for assignment, reports Joe Christensen of The Star Tribune. The move creates room on the 40-man roster for the recently claimed Darin Mastroianni.

Vasquez, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks back in September. He appeared in 31 games for Arizona last year, posting a 4.15 ERA with 5.9 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 and a 35.5% ground ball rate in 30 1/3 innings. The right-hander appeared in 50-plus games for the D'Backs in 2009 and 2010, when he posted higher strikeout rates, walk rates and ERAs than he did in 2011.

Twins Claim Darin Mastroianni

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The Twins announced that they claimed Darin Mastroianni from the Blue Jays, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com tweets. The Blue Jays designated the outfielder for assignment last week to create roster space for Francisco Cordero.

Mastroianni made his MLB debut with the 2011 Blue Jays after spending most of the season at Double-A and Triple-A. The 26-year-old posted a .268/.353/.377 line with 34 stolen bases (44 attempts) in the upper minors last year. He has minor league experience at all three outfield positions and has mostly played center field.

Alexi Casilla & Jed Lowrie Head To Arbitration

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Only two of the 13 remaining unsigned arbitration eligible players filed for less than $2MM: Alexi Casilla and Jed Lowrie. Though they’re reasonably similar in terms of career stats, Casilla is arbitration eligible for the second time, so the players relevant to his case are different than the players relevant to Lowrie’s.

Casilla, who earned $865K in 2011, posted a .260/.322/.368 line with two home runs in 365 plate appearances while playing second base and shortstop last year. He filed for $1.75MM, while the Twins countered with a $1.065MM submission for a midpoint of $1.407MM. 

Current infielders who put together similar Arb 1 seasons to Casilla’s 2011 campaign include Aaron Miles, whose salary jumped from $1MM to $1.4MM after the 2007 season, Alfredo Amezaga, whose salary jumped from $945K to $1.3MM after the 2008 season, and Jeff Baker, whose salary jumped from $975K to $1.175MM after the 2010 season. All three are among the possible comparables for Casilla's case, in my view, though his representatives may focus on similar players who settled above the midpoint.

Lowrie filed for $1.5MM after a season in which he posted a .252/.303/.382 line with six home runs as a shortstop/third baseman in Boston. The Astros offered their new infielder $900K for a midpoint of $1.2MM.

Mike Aviles, who essentially replaces Lowrie on Boston’s roster, may be his top comp in arbitration. Aviles settled at $1.2MM — Lowrie's midpoint — after a highly similar platform season. Aviles has better career numbers across the board, and that should help the Astros build their case. On either side of Aviles, we have two first-time eligible infielders from the current service class: Robert Andino at $1.3MM and Blake DeWitt at $1.1MM. Andino had a strong platform year, while DeWitt has the career bulk and both will figure in to Lowrie's case.

AL Central Links: Indians, Fielder, Span, Thome

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Happy birthday to right-hander Gavin Floyd, who is 29 years old today.  With the number of Floyd trade rumors we've heard this winter, you wonder if this could be Floyd's last birthday as a member of the White Sox.  Here's the latest from the AL Central…

  • Indians manager Manny Acta told reporters at a Town Hall event today (including MLB.com's Jordan Bastian) that he wants the team to pick up another bat.  "I do hope that something happens," Acta said.  "Chris [Antonetti] has worked really hard…about trying to acquire a hitter or two. It's not a secret, we need some help offensively."  For his part, Antonetti said he was "hopeful that we'll be able to improve the team between now and the start of Spring Training," (all Twitter links).
  • The Tigers' nine-year, $214MM contract with Prince Fielder "was an ownership-driven, impulsive deal, which is why the Tigers will contend for a World Series and why the contract makes poor baseball sense," writes Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci.
  • John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press recounts the history between Tigers owner Mike Illitch and agent Scott Boras.
  • The Tigers apparently have no plans to move Brandon Inge, reports MLB.com's Jason Beck.  The team sees Inge as a fallback option if Miguel Cabrera can't handle playing third base.
  • Denard Span told media (including MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger) he's feeling better after suffering a concussion last July and offered to play a different position if it helps the Twins.  Manager Ron Gardenhire, however, said he plans to use Span in his usual center field spot.
  • White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf tells Chuck Garfien of CSNChicago.com that he and Jim Thome have a handshake deal in place for Thome to work for the Sox in some capacity after he retires.
  • White Sox GM Kenny Williams said his club is "maxed out" of money for the Major League roster, reports Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter).  Williams "played coy" when discussing Cuban free agents, however — the Sox are known to be one of Yoenis Cespedes' suitors.

Minor Moves: Sweeney, Tuiasosopo, Redding, Cabrera

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The latest minor league deals…

  • The Mariners signed former MLB reliever Brian Sweeney to a minor league contract, MLB.com's Greg Johns reports. Sweeney spent the 2011 season with the Mets' top affiliate and last appeared in the Majors with the 2010 Mariners.
  • The Twins signed left-hander Luke French, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports (Twitter links). French owns a 4.99 ERA with 4.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 155 Major League innings.
  • The Mets signed infielder Matt Tuiasosopo, who picked up MLB experience with the Mariners from 2008-10, Eddy reports.
  • The Blue Jays signed right-hander Tim Redding and left-hander Bill Murphy, according to Eddy. Redding has substantial MLB experience as a starter for the Astros, Nationals and Mets.
  • Eddy reports that four catchers signed minor league deals: Mitch Canham joined the Rockies, Orlando Mercado agreed to terms with the Marlins, Kyle Phillips caught on with the Blue Jays and Max St. Pierre signed with the Red Sox. Phillips appeared in 36 games for the 2011 Padres and St. Pierre made his debut with the 2010 Tigers after 14 minor league seasons.
  • Former MLB starter Daniel Cabrera signed a minor league deal with the Pirates, Mario Rojas of CandelaDeportiva reports. Cabrera, 30, was a fixture in Baltimore's rotation from 2004-08, but hasn't pitched in MLB since 2009.
  • The Cubs re-signed infielder Bobby Scales, who started the 2011 season in Chicago before going to Japan, Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus tweets.
  • The Phillies re-signed former Tigers outfielder Brent Clevlen, Goldstein tweets.
  • The Orioles signed 18-year-old outfielder Andres Aguilar, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. The speedy Guatemala native has a strong throwing arm.

Quick Hits: Zimmerman, McCutchen, Cespedes, Sano

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MLB has announced that Tony La Russa will manage the NL team during the All-Star Game in 2012, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). La Russa retired from managing earlier this offseason, but he'll continue the tradition of the pennant winning managers from the prior year managing the two All-Star clubs. Here's the latest from around the league…

  • Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post reports that Ryan Zimmerman is open to a creative contract extension that would allow the Nationals to build a strong team around him. "We want to do a deal so it helps me and the team at the same time, so they can go out and sign guys like Prince Fielder or other free agents," said Zimmerman. Fielder is off the table now, and the Nats know what it'll take to sign their star third baseman long-term.
  • "Never say never," said Pirates GM Neal Huntington to Jeff Nelson and Jim Memolo of MLB Network Radio when asked about a potential Andrew McCutchen trade. "If someone wants to back up the truck and give us one of those organization-altering deals, it's something that we'd have to listen to…It would have to be a dramatic overpay on the part of the other club."
  • The Nationals consider Yoenis Cespedes a corner outfielder or even a first baseman, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson (on Twitter). Earlier today we learned that Cespedes has gained residency in the Dominican Republic, and now awaits MLB's approval to become a free agent.
  • The Indians are "making the necessary moves to get [Robert Hernandez Heredia] to the United States," reports the AP (via ESPN). Heredia, better known as Fausto Carmona, faces a judicial process in the Dominican Republic after lying about his identity.
  • Twins top prospect Miguel Sano has changed representation according to SI.com's Melissa Segura (on Twitter). He is now with SFX agent Troy Caradonna.

NL West Notes: Dodgers Owners, Lincecum, Rockies

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Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays were both elected into the Hall Of Fame on this day in 1962 and 1979, respectively.  As you might expect, both legends went to Cooperstown in their first year of eligibility.  Mays received 409 of 432 votes; at the time, only inaugural inductees Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner had received a higher percentage of the vote.

While we ponder how in the world anyone could leave Mays, Robinson or any of the original HOF class off a ballot, here are some items from around the NL West…

AL Central Notes: Twins, Royals, Pena, Kotchman

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Earlier today we learned that 28-year-old Fausto Carmona is actually 31-year-old Roberto Hernandez Heredia, and that the right-hander might not be able to secure a visa to the United States anytime soon. MLB.com's Jordan Bastian says (on Twitter) that it's unclear if the Indians will be able to void Heredia's contract, plus he's not sure they would do that even if it is an option. Here's the latest from the AL Central…

  • Twins GM Terry Ryan told MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger that he's not ruling out the possibility of adding some more pitching (Twitter link). "I don't think you should ever say you're set to go," said Ryan.
  • A top Royals official told Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star that he'd "be really surprised" if the team signs or trades for another starting pitcher before Spring Training (Twitter link). Dutton says the team wants to get a look at its in-house options.
  • Royals GM Dayton Moore confirmed Dutton's report, telling Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports: “We could have probably jumped in there on some pitchers who were traded, but we need another year to find out what we have here with guys like Chris Dwyer, Jake Odorizzi and [Mike] Montgomery … We may be more receptive to a deal like that next year"
  • The Indians remain interested in Carlos Pena and Casey Kotchman, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). We've heard about their interest in both players throughout the offseason.
  • The Indians signed Jeremy Accardo to a minor league contract earlier today, and Tom Withers of The AP has the details (on Twitter). Accardo will make $825K if he's on the 40-man roster, with another $300K in incentives.
  • Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN provides the details of Joel Zumaya's contract with the Twins (on Twitter). The right-hander is guaranteed $400K of his $850K base salary, and he'll get all of it if he makes the team to start the season.
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