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Quick Hits: Gonzalez, Cowgill, Iwakuma, Delgado

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While Ben Cherington was the only GM that was in attendance for Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez's audition yesterday, the Red Sox aren't the only team with interest in the Cuban right-hander.  The Dodgers sent three of their top scouts to Tijuana on Thursday to find out if they might have another exciting Cuban import to join Yasiel Puig, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.  Agent Jaime Torres declined to say how many clubs sent representatives to the Tijuana showcase but said there was "a great turnout."  Meanwhile, Gonzalez is scheduled to put on another display for teams next Friday where he could pitch five innings, tweets Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com.  Here's more from around baseball..

  • After designating him for assignment on Tuesday, Mets assistant GM John Ricco acknowledged that the club is soliciting trade offers for Collin Cowgill, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com.  Ricco added that the Mets would try to get Cowgill through waivers and send him to Triple-A Las Vegas if they were unable to get a suitable deal rather than release Cowgill.
  • Hisashi Iwakuma's name has popped up in rumors, but the Mariners intend to hang on to him. "Trust me," M's GM Jack Zduriencik told Peter Gammons (on Twitter), "we're not going to trade him."  The 32-year-old has a 2.06 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 through 15 starts this season.
  • Diamondbacks right-hander Randall Delgado hired Beverly Hills Sports Council, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter).  You can look up agency info for just about every major leaguer with MLBTR's Agency Database.

New York Notes: Bootcheck, Cano, Marcum, Harvey

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Earlier today it was reported that the MLBPA has officially certified Jay-Z's Roc Nation Sports to represent players. Roc Nation Sports, of course, will handle Robinson Cano's contract discussions with the Yankees (and other clubs if he reaches free agency). Here's the latest out of the Big Apple…

  • Right-hander Chris Bootcheck has been placed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Yankees on Tuesday, MLBTR's Chris Cotillo has learned. The waivers expire at 1 PM EST on Friday, at which point Bootcheck will learn if he has been claimed by a team or has cleared. If he clears waivers, he will likely be outrighted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he has posted a 5-2 record and 3.32 ERA in 11 starts on the season.
  • Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Jay-Z's certification allows him to be in the room during negotiations, but little else will change. CAA's Brodie Van Wagenen will still run point on all of the negotiations.
  • Removing Shaun Marcum from the rotation would actually save the Mets money instead of costing them money, writes ESPN's Adam Rubin. While some feel that his $4MM base salary is a reason to keep him in the rotation, Rubin provides a breakdown of Marcum's incentives in showing that the more Marcum pitches, the more costly he becomes.
  • Danny Knobler of CBS Sports spoke with a pair of scouts who watched Matt Harvey on Tuesday, and both said they would take Harvey over Stephen Strasburg, with one scout saying it's "not even close." Knobler's scouts weren't as optimistic about Zack Wheeler, with one saying that he should still be in Triple-A and another calling him a middle-of-the-rotation arm, likening him to Edwin Jackson.

Mets Acquire Eric Young Jr., Designate Collin Cowgill

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The Mets announced that they have acquired Eric Young Jr. from the Rockies in exchange for right-hander Collin McHugh.  In a related move, the Mets have also designated Collin Cowgill for assignment.

Young Jr. was designated for assignment last week in order to make room for the activation of right-hander Chris Volstad.  The outfielder posted a .316/.377/.448 slash line in 196 plate appearances last year but has hit just .242/.290/.352 with one homer in 180 PAs this year.  The 28-year-old has experience at all three outfield positions as well as 49 games at second base.

McHugh has 11 big league games under his belt but has spent the 2013 season with the Mets' Triple-A affiliate.  In nine starts for Las Vegas, McHugh has a 2.87 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9.  Despite his success there, he'll report to the Rockies' Double-A affiliate, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post (on Twitter).

Cowgill, 27, has a .173/.189/.327 slash line in 53 plate appearances this year.  In parts of three seasons at the Triple-A the outfielder has hit .307/.381/.476.

Mets Agree To Sign Dominic Smith

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2:54pm: Smith's deal is worth $2.6MM, according to Jim Callis of Baseball America (on Twitter).  That figure is just below the slot recommendation of $2.8MM for the No. 11 overall selection.

2:23pm: The Mets have reached agreement on a deal with first-rounder Dominic Smith, sources tell Marc Carig of Newsday (via Twitter).  An official announcement from the Mets is coming soon, according to Carig.

Terms of the deal are unknown, but the slot recommendation for the No. 11 pick is $2,840,300, according to Baseball America.  Smith, a high school first baseman out of California, is being advised by the MVP Sports Group.

ESPN's Keith Law ranked Smith as the No. 11 talent available, while Baseball America ranked him 14th, and MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo ranked him 15th.  All three noted the tremendous upside of Smith's bat and his plus defense at first, with Law in particular noting how rare it is for high school first basemen to be this highly regarded because they're already at the bottom of the defensive spectrum.

Matt Ehalt of ESPNNewYork.com reported last week that the Mets and Smith were close to a deal.

Steve Adams contributed to this post.

Mets To Promote Zack Wheeler

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Zack Wheeler was in uniform, wearing No. 45, as he addressed the media today to discuss his upcoming Major League debut. The Mets have announced that the 23-year-old Wheeler will make his debut in the second game of tomorrow's doubleheader.  Wheeler

ESPN's Adam Rubin was among the reporters in attendance as Wheeler discussed his expectations of himself and thoughts on the team:

"I don't think I'm the savior at all. We've got great arms here, and you've got great players. We might not be doing too well right now, but I know the talent of these guys, and hopefully we can turn it around soon."

Wheeler, drafted sixth overall by the Giants in 2009, was acquired in exchange for Carlos Beltran in what could be the best move of Sandy Alderson's tenure as GM of the Mets. Beltran's contract contained a clause that prevented him from being offered arbitration at the end of the season, so Wheeler was pillaged for 44 games of Beltran's services.

Wheeler ranked as the game's No. 11 prospect prior to this season, according to Baseball America. MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo ranked him eighth, and in a recently updated list of Top 25 MLB prospects from ESPN's Keith Law (Insider required), Wheeler placed 15th.

The Georgia native has fared well at Triple-A, though he hasn't exactly dominated opposing hitters. In a combined 101 2/3 innings dating back to 2012, Wheeler has a 3.72 ERA with 9.2 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9. Despite the somewhat pedestrian ERA, Law writes that Wheeler has top-of-the-rotation stuff, and his peers at BA and MLB.com agree.

When he is officially promoted tomorrow, Wheeler's service clock will start, meaning he would accumulate 104 days of service time over the course of the season if he sticks on the MLB roster. Much like another top prospect who is getting the call on Tuesday — Tampa Bay's Wil Myers — Wheeler seems likely to fall just shy of the projected Super Two cutoff. If that does indeed prove to be the case, he will qualify for arbitration just three times instead of four prior to being a free agent at the end of the 2019 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mets Sign Second-Rounder Andrew Church

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Baseball America's Jim Callis reports (on Twitter) that the Mets have signed second-round pick Andrew Church for $850K. That signing bonus is well below the assigned pick value of $1,138,800 reported by Baseball America back in April. Church is advised by Paul Cobbe and Jonathan Pridie of Sosnick & Cobbe.

Church, a high school right-hander out of Nevada, ranked 75th among draft prospects according to ESPN's Keith Law (Insider subscription required). Baseball America had the 6'1", 185-pound hurler ranked 89th on their Top 500. Law called Church "more arm strength than polished product, sitting 90-94 with some late life up," but noted that he doesn't have great command and has limited feel for his curveball and slider.

Saving roughly $300K on Church will help the Mets to compensate for the record-setting $550K bonus that the team gave to 11th-round selection Ty Bashlor – $450K of which will count against the team's bonus pool.

Mets Intend To Keep Parnell

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The Mets are 14 games below .500 and 13.5 games out of first place in the NL East, but Andy Martino of the New York Daily news reports that the team is unlikely to make closer Bobby Parnell available this summer as the trade deadline draws near.

Martino writes that Mets GM Sandy Alderson considers Parnell a valuable piece for 2014 and is focused on building a team that can contend in the near future rather than loading up on prospects. Rather than deal Parnell, the Mets figure to be on the lookout to acquire outfielders who can help them this year and beyond.

The 28-year-old Parnell has been dominant since the beginning of the 2012 season, posting a 2.56 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 to go along with a 59 percent ground-ball rate. For those who are more sabermetrically inclined, Parnell's sparkling ERA in that time is backed up by FIP (2.76), xFIP (3.19) and SIERA (2.89). As Martino notes, teams like the Reds and Tigers would likely be very interested in Parnell should he become available, but that looks to be an unlikely scenario at this juncture.

Parnell is controlled through the 2015 season and avoided arbitration for the first time this past offseason, agreeing to a $1.7MM salary for the 2013 campaign.

Dodgers Notes: Kershaw, Puig, Crawford

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Yesterday we learned that the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw are making progress on a contract extension that will be worth at least $180MM.  In fact, deals for up to 12 years and $300MM have been discussed, in addition to the seven-year deal already being worked on.  Here's more on the Dodgers' star pitcher and other news out of L.A…

  • The Dodgers have been waiting for the resolution of their TV contract situation wtih Major League Baseball before picking up talks with Kershaw in earnest, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.com (on Twitter).  It initially appeared that the Dodgers' massive TV deal was going to be largely immune to revenue sharing, but they'll now have to kick in an additional $1B over the course of 25 years.
  • In speaking with reporters, including Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter), Kershaw sounded upset with what he believed to be a leak from the organization and called it a "distraction".
  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post recounted the bizarre story of how the Dodgers wound up signing Yasiel Puig, despite having very little intel on him.  Within the story, Sherman writes that the Mets were never involved with him and the Yankees didn't make an offer.
  • Not much of a surprise here, but manager Don Mattingly says that Puig will probably remain in the majors even if/when Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford return to action, tweets Hernandez.

NL East Notes: Mets, Lopez, Eovaldi

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Earlier today, the Mets made some roster moves, designating Collin McHugh for assignment to create a 40-man roster spot for newly promoted Carlos Torres.  Here's tonight's notes from the Mets and the rest of the NL East..

  • MetsBlog has a recap of Mets GM Sandy Alderson's Q&A session with fans and media today, including comments that the club may soon be ready to invest at the big league level.  With a young crop of players beginning to emerge, Alderson indicated that the time may be near when the team will add veteran talent to the roster.
  • The Phillies nearly acquired right-hander Wilton Lopez from the Astros during the offseason, reminisced Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  The Phillies staged a comeback against Lopez and the Rockies yesterday, with Gelb noting that it was a rare favorable turn of events for the Phillies bullpen situation.  Lopez has pitched to a 4.25 ERA, 5.3 K/9, and 2.0 BB/9 over 36 innings in Colorado.
  • Nathan Eovaldi will make his 2013 debut for the Marlins Tuesday, reports George Richards of the Miami Herald.  Eovaldi was a major piece of the deal that saw Hanley Ramirez go to the Dodgers, but has seen his first full season in Miami derailed by injuries. The 22-year-old right-hander has a 4.15 ERA, 5.9 K/9, and 3.9 BB/9 in 154 career innings. 

Mets Designate Collin McHugh For Assignment

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The Mets have designated right-handed pitcher Collin McHugh for assignment, according to the team (Twitter link).  The move clears a roster space for Carlos Torres, who was promoted earlier today.

McHugh had appeared with the Mets briefly this season, pitching to a 10.29 ERA, 3.9 K/9, and 3.5 BB/9 over seven innings.  The 25-year-old performed much better in Triple-A Las Vegas this year, with a 2.87 ERA, 6.9 K/9, and 2.2 BB/9 across 53 1/3 innings. 

 

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