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Quick Hits; Qualifying Offers, Replay, A-Rod, Hawkins

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With ESPN's Buster Olney on vacation, Scott Boras stepped in as a guest blogger for ESPN today and wrote about his take on the new collective bargaining agreement, specifically the qualifying offer system and draft pools. Boras writes that the qualifying offer system is flawed because it punishes veteran players for having strong years. Veterans who receive qualifying offers but are on the wrong side of 30 are punished due to the "artificial scarcity" of draft dollars. Boras also tackles the hard slotting system and how he feels young American talent is punished under the new CBA in his blog, which is an excellent read. Here's more from around the league…

  • MLB owners are meeting today to discuss a massive expansion of instant replay in Major League Baseball, writes Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The proposed expansion would make replay available on virtually every aspect of the game with the exception of balls and strikes, but it would also be costly to implement. One executive said the start-up fee would likely be $25-40MM.
  • Alex Rodriguez has to be extremely careful if he brings a federal lawsuit against MLB, writes Tom Harvey of the New York Daily News.  If the Yankees veteran goes through with it, he'll be forced to address his allegations of drug use and his link to the Biogenesis clinic.
  • Mets reliever LaTroy Hawkins was convinced two months ago that this season would be his last, but the 40-year-old now sees himself pitching in 2014, writes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Quick Hits: Declining Prospects, Waivers, Phillies, Valdespin

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In his latest Insider-only piece for ESPN, Keith Law examines some of the prospects whose stock has fallen this season due to poor performance and diminished tools. Cleveland's Trevor Bauer and Kansas City's Bubba Starling are the first mentioned on Law's list of eight. Here's more from around the league…

  • Rangers general manager Jon Daniels appeared on the Inside Pitch show with MLB Network Radio's Jim Bowden today and told him that teams are waiting longer to place players on waivers in August in recent years. Teams are waiting for there to be fewer buyers before attempting to sneak players through waivers, he elaborated (Twitter links).
  • The bullpen will once again be an area of focus for Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. this offseason, writes Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Gelb examines the struggles the Phillies have had in developing relievers, noting that Ryan Madson and Antonio Bastardo have been the only two reliable bullpen arms developed in-house by the Phils over the past decade.
  • The Mets have given no consideration to releasing troubled utility man Jordany Valdespin in light of his 50-game suspension and recent temper issues, GM Sandy Alderson told MLB.com's Anthony DiComo (Twitter link).
  • Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic spoke with new Diamondbacks reliever Matt Stites about his inclusion in last week's Ian Kennedy trade. Stites is likely done for the season after an emergency appendectomy, but the Snakes have high hopes that he will be a big factor in their bullpen for years to come, writes Piecoro.

Quick Hits: Flores, Rowland-Smith, Cherington, Cruz

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Top Mets prospect Wilmer Flores will be promoted to the Majors on Tuesday, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York reports. Flores, an infielder, didn't rank in any major outlets' top 100 prospect lists at the beginning of the season, but he might if those lists were published now — he's hitting .322/.358/.532 in Triple-A (albeit in the excellent hitting environment of Las Vegas), and today is his 22nd birthday. Newsday's Marc Carig notes (on Twitter) that with David Wright on the disabled list, the Mets will likely use Flores at third base. Here are more notes from around the Majors.

  • Pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith had an August 5 out clause in his minor-league deal with the Red Sox, but he will not exercise it, and will instead stay with Triple-A Pawtucket, Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish tweets. Rowland-Smith has a 1.58 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 for Pawtucket this season. His opt-out date had been pushed back to August after he missed most of July following an appendectomy. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick tweets that, now that the August 5 date has passed, Rowland-Smith can opt out of his deal if any team offers him a spot on its active roster.
  • Red Sox GM Ben Cherington has emerged as one of baseball's best executives, WEEI.com's Mike Salk writes. After an awful 2012 season, the Sox have the third-best record in the Majors, behind only the Pirates and Braves. Salk chalks that up to the addition of more depth, character and chemistry to the roster, as well as to Cherington's hiring of John Farrell as the Red Sox's manager.
  • The Rangers are preparing to be without Nelson Cruz now that Cruz has been suspended for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal, T.R. Sullivan and William Boor of MLB.com report. The Rangers have promoted outfielders Joey Butler and Engel Beltre, and on Monday they started Beltre along with Leonys Martin and David Murphy, giving the Rangers an all-left-handed outfield. That left three righties — Butler, Craig Gentry and Jeff Baker — on the Rangers' bench, suggesting the possibility of platooning all three outfield spots. "We're going to use the whole roster and continue to play Texas Rangers baseball," says Rangers manager Ron Washington. The Rangers are still trying to trade for an outfielder, but GM Jon Daniels suggests that the waiver rules governing August trades will make it difficult for Texas to pull off a deal.

MLB Officially Announces Biogenesis Suspensions

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After months of speculation, we have some finality for a dozen of the players implicated in the Biogenesis scandal.  Major League Baseball has officially announced 50-game suspensions for Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta, Everth Cabrera, Antonio Bastardo, Jesus Montero, Francisco Cervelli, Jordany Valdespin, Fautino De Los Santos, Jordan Norberto, Cesar Puello, Fernando Martinez and Sergio Escalona.

All of those players will accept their suspensions, while Alex Rodriguez, who was suspended for 211 games (effective Aug. 8), will appeal his suspension and be eligible to play until that process is complete.

The suspensions carry particular weight for the Rangers and Tigers. The Rangers, who are 2.5 games back of the A's in the AL West and just a half-game behind the Indians for a Wild Card berth, will lose their starting right-fielder and club home run leader in Cruz for the remainder of the regular season.

The Tigers will lose Peralta, their starting shortstop, for the remainder of the season as they look to fend off surging Cleveland and Kansas City clubs and win the American League Central division. Detroit safeguarded itself somewhat against the loss of Perata by acquiring Jose Iglesias in a three-team deal with the White Sox and Red Sox prior to the trade deadline.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today was the first to tweet that Cruz would accept his suspension. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first tweeted that Peralta, Cabrera, Bastardo and Valdespin would also accept 50-game bans. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports added Escalona to the list (Twitter link), and Rosenthal reported that Cervelli, Montero, Puello, De Los Santos, Martinez and Norberto would do the same (on Twitter).

2014 Vesting Options Update

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As we turn to August, here's a look at the players who have vesting options for the 2014 season..

  • Kurt Suzuki, Nationals: $9.25MM option vests with 113 starts in 2013.  The Nats were relying on Suzuki during the first half of the season when Wilson Ramos was sidelined, but Ramos returned to action on July 4th, sliding Suzuki back down the depth chart.  The 29-year-old is 45 starts shy of the needed mark with 52 games remaining, so Suzuki's chances aren't too strong.  if/when the option doesn't vest, it'll become a club option worth $8.5MM with a modest $650K buyout.
  • Jamey Carroll, Twins: $2MM option vests with 401 plate appearances. Carroll has 185 PAs in 53 games this season.  The veteran has had more than his needed total in each of the last three seasons with 500+ plate appearances in each of the last two years, but he'll have his work cut out for him in 2013.
  • Wilson Betemit, Orioles: $3.2MM option vests with 324 plate appearances (combined 700 between 2012 and 2013). Betemit underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on March 26th and he'll begin a rehab assignment on Tuesday.  Needless to say, his option won't vest.
  • Lance Berkman, Rangers: $13MM option vests with 550 plate appearances.  Berkman has 282 plate appearances to his credit and the good news is that despite whispers that he might call it quits after his latest hip troubles, he pledges to return this season.  Unfortunately for him, his rehab assignment isn't scheduled to get underway until the end of this week and 550 sounds like a longshot.
  • Roy Halladay, Phillies: $20MM option vests with 259 innings pitched (combined 415 innings pitched between '12 and '13).  This was a longshot to begin with, but shoulder surgery earlier this season makes this one impossible.
  • Brett Myers, Indians: $8MM option vests with 200 innings pitched in 2013 and a passed physical after the season.  After logging 21 and 1/3 innings in 2013, Myers was sidelined with tendinitis and a mild ligament sprain in his right elbow and has yet to return.  When he does come back, it's possible that the Tribe will move him to the bullpen.
  • Barry Zito, Giants: $18MM option vests with 200 innings pitched. Zito has racked up 111 and 1/3 innings through 21 starts this season.  Zito probably won't get to lock in his sizable 2014 salary.
  • Johan Santana, Mets: His $25MM option could have vested with 215 innings pitched or winning the 2013 Cy Young Award, but he won't have a chance at that thanks to a season-ending tear in his pitching shoulder.

It's also worth noting that Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano has a $8MM club option for 2014, but it can vest at any of three levels – $5MM, $6MM, or $8MM – based on the number of days he is not on the DL this year with a recurrence of his right arm injury.  It's not known how many days the hurler must steer clear of right arm trouble in order to trigger each level of his option, however.  The left-hander made his season debut on May 11th and has a 2.02 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 through 16 starts this season.

Cafardo On Morneau, Lincecum, Pence, Polanco

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In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that he is surprised to see the Yankees still in the wild card hunt despite all of the chaos they have endured this season.  The chaos he refers to, of course, mostly has to do with Alex Rodriguez.  The silver lining there is that if they throw the book at A-Rod, then they'll be in position to add to the team via free agency.  “The one thing the Yankees don’t have, they don’t have those guys in the minors that can come up and make an impact for them,” said an American League exec. “They won’t have that for a couple of years. So, if they’re going to do a Red Sox-type rebuild, they have a disadvantage. Where Boston has a number of pitchers and positional prospects ready to make an impact, the Yankees don’t. So, they still have to make their impact through free agency and possibly trades.”  Here's more from today's column..

  • The Twins believe they had enough interest in Justin Morneau that if he continues to hit well and shows power, he could be moved to a contender in a waiver deal.  The Blue Jays might claim him but the Rays, Orioles, and Indians might also have some interest.
  • Giants righty Tim Lincecum could be a big fish that goes in a waiver deal as some teams like him as a valuable bullpen piece down the stretch. The Giants weren’t offered anything good enough at the deadline, but given his $22MM salary and the fact he’s in the final year of his deal, the Giants may want to free themselves shortly. 
  • Giants outfielder Hunter Pence will be a free agent but he really wants to stay put and he has expressed that to GM Brian Sabean.  However, Sabean told him that if something knocked their socks off they would move him — but nothing materialized.  He could be another movable part during August, but the Giants plan to make him a qualifying offer and then try to re-sign him long term.
  • Marlins third baseman Placido Polanco is 37 and isn't the strongest fielder, but he remains a possible target for teams such as the Red Sox and Yankees, who need a veteran presence and a guy who can still hit from the right side.
  • Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman tried to get Michael Young and Carlos Ruiz from the Phillies.  Though neither deal happened, they are both possibilities as waiver deals during the month of August.  However, Cafardo notes that Ruiz might not make it past the NL teams in the waiver process.
  • Royals right-hander Ervin Santana could theoretically be moved during the waiver period, but it looks like he’s in Kansas City to stay.  As one GM said, “He might be the biggest target going in August. Doubt he gets too far, though.” 
  • When asking General Managers which former GM they miss the most, J.P. Ricciardi got the most responses.  Many believe Ricciardi will be a GM again, whether it’s taking over for Sandy Alderson when he wants to step down with the Mets, or with another club.  Cafardo runs down Ricciardi's highlights in Toronto and notes that he was working with the club when their wasn't money to work with.

Quick Hits: Deadline, Traded Prospects, Buyers/Sellers

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After one of the slowest trade deadlines in recent history, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet spoke with 22 Major League executives (most of whom were GMs and assistant GMs) on whether or not they felt the deadline should be moved back. The idea behind a later trade deadline would be allowing fringe contenders a bit more time to assess their status, now that a second Wild Card has been implemented in each league. Of the 22 surveyed, 13 were in favor of moving the deadline back for various reasons. Here's more from around the league…

  • Baseball America's Jim Callis ranked the Top 10 prospects who exchanged hands at this season's deadline, and Mike Olt, who is now property of the Cubs following the Matt Garza trade, headlines the list (subscription required).
  • ESPN's Keith Law offers up his rationale for thinking that the Phillies, Brewers, Mets, Rockies and Mariners should have sold. He adds that the Royals, Pirates and Rangers should have been more aggressive buyers in the final days of this year's deadline (ESPN Insider required).
  • Bud Norris went through the strange experience of being traded from the Astros to the Orioles while the two teams were playing each other, and MLB.com's Alyson Footer looks at other examples of this rarity.

July Trade Recap: NL East

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Last to go in recapping the month's trade activity is the all-around disappointing National League East, which was far and away the quietest of baseball's six divisions over the month of July …

Braves

Marlins

Mets

  • Did not make a trade.

Nationals

Phillies

  • Did not make a trade.

Synopsis

Seriously, that's it: four deals among five teams. Given the way things have shaken out in the division over the past two years, however, this result is somewhat less surprising than at first blush.

Firstly, the Braves and Nationals are both balanced teams that lack areas ripe for upgrades. To be sure, only one of those teams has performed to expectations, but the point stands. Atlanta had some space open in its bullpen after losing some key setup men earlier in the year, and it made a relatively simply move to shore up its relief corps. Starting pitching and reserve infielder were both areas where the Braves could have made a move, but the team certainly has adequate internal options in those spots and the division is pretty well in hand. Likewise, for the underperforming Nationals, there were no obvious holes to plug once the team added a veteran right-handed bench bat in Hairston. While there was some talk that the team could shop for a starter, the organization is hardly without options and would have been ill-advised to give up much of anything given its current playoff prospects. On the other side of the coin, the Nats are largely devoid of obvious sell options, particularly since the team figures to maintain the bulk of its roster makeup going into next season.

On the bottom of the division, meanwhile, the Marlins shipped out their last obvious trade piece when they sent Nolasco to the Dodgers. While relievers Steve Cishek and Mike Dunn both could have been deal, they are cheap and under team control for the next several seasons. Outfielder Justin Ruggiano and third baseman Placido Polanco both were plausible trade candidates, but neither would have brought much of anything in return. Of course, the elephant in the Marlins' shiny new ballpark is star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. While he would have been the undisputed prize of the deadline season, conflicting reports have emerged on whether or not the team ever really considered dealing him. Certainly, Miami can achieve plenty of value from their superstar should they decide to market him in the offseason, and it is not difficult to imagine that the team would prefer to keep him (along with those fans that have stuck with the club through some difficult recent times).

On the opposite end of the spectrum from the Marlins — who have already shed virtually all substantial present and future salary commitments — is the Phillies. Full of high-priced veterans of varying degress of attractiveness to other teams, the club did nothing at the deadline, much to the consternation of many interested observers. Philadelphia seems sunk for this season, and next year does not look much more promising. The team reportedly was unwilling to part with aging-but-productive franchise cornerstone Chase Utley and placed a high price on expensive ace Cliff Lee, both of whom likely would have brought back nice returns. (The team is apparently exploring an extension with Utley, though it should be noted that he would be a candidate for a qualifying offer that could return value.) GM Ruben Amaro Jr. also refused to budge on veterans Michael Young and Carlos Ruiz; while neither would have yielded much in prospect value, it would have been nice to shed their fairly sizable salaries. All in all, barring some action in the August trade market, it has been a confounding mid-season for the Phils.

It is tempting to view the inaction of the Mets in the same light as that of the Phillies. After all, the team is going nowhere this season. But only low-priced outfielder Marlon Byrd was a glaring trade candidate amongst the team's veterans, and with no salary to shed there was little reason to move him if nothing worthwhile was offered. Apparently, there was little interest in other possibilities like Daniel Murphy, John Buck, and Eric Young Jr., and there were good reasons to hang onto all three. (Murphy and Young both have several years of team control remaining and likely have more upside than whatever they might have returned, while Buck is handling the team's prized young pitchers.) Likewise, closer Bobby Parnell is relatively cheap, young, and under team control. Without knowing what (if anything) was offered for any of New York's assets, it is hard to judge the club too harshly for standing pat. 

Teams Showing Interest In Marlon Byrd

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12:48pm: There are suitors for Byrd but right now, but no one seems to be willing to meet the Mets' asking price, tweets Marc Carig of Newsday.  Meanwhile, Byrd is the only Mets player that has come up in trade conversations (Twitter link).

Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (on Twitter) notes that the Reds were kicking the tires on Byrd at one point but have since backed off.

12:28pm: While things were quiet on the Marlon Byrd front, the Mets are suddenly getting hits on the veteran, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter).  The Mets have made counteroffers to clubs and are waiting to see if anyone budges.  The Pirates are believed to be among the teams interested in Byrd.

Earlier this week we heard that the Orioles also had some interest in Byrd, but the Mets were unlikely to move him unless they were really blown away by an offer.  This morning, the Mets were contending that they still weren't planning to make any moves, but things might have changed this afternoon.

Mets Likely To Stand Pat

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The Mets are still saying they will almost certainly remain quiet today and not make any trades, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  The Mets have been giving off the impression that they won't make any moves for several weeks.

Meanwhile, the Mets had a few calls on Dillon Gee earlier this month, but nothing materialized, according to David Lennon of Newsday (on Twitter).  Now that the Mets need to limit Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler's innings, they'll hold off on parting with the 27-year-old.

Marlon Byrd has drawn the interest of multiple clubs, including the Orioles, but the Mets have maintained a high asking price with the intention of hanging on to the outfielder unless someone makes an offer too good to walk away from.  The Mets have also received nibbles on closer Bobby Parnell, but haven't gotten anything good enough to seriously consider a deal.

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