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Rosenthal On White Sox, Stanton, Price, Collins

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Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has posted his latest edition of Full Count (video link) and we've got the highlights..

  • If the White Sox fall out of contention, they could be an interesting seller at the deadline.  Paul Konerko, Gavin Floyd, Matt Thornton, and Jesse Crain are among their attractive potential free agents.  Meanwhile, Alex Rios and Jake Peavy are signed only through next season.  However, their pitching means that they should be in the mix for at least the second wild card spot.  According to one team's internal calculations, their staff is currently the most productive in baseball.
  • The Rangers could face a problem if they try to put a deal together for Giancarlo Stanton or David Price.  Texas is thin on high-end pitching in the upper levels farm system, which will hurt them, particularly if they go after Price. 
  • Mets skipper Terry Collins is in the final year of his deal and one team official says he'll likely be judged on how much the team's young talent improves.  So far, so good as Daniel Murphy, Jordany Valdespin, Lucas Duda, and of course Matt Harvey are among the homegrown Mets off to decent starts.  Ruben Tejada and Ike Davis, on the other hand, appear to be question marks.  In any case, Collins' status likely won't be decided until the end of the season.
  • There was a lot of talk about Dan Haren's hip after the Cubs backed out of trading for him last November, but the pitcher has heard the talk and thinks its overblown.  He says that his hip is the same as it was when he was in Oakland and says that it hasn't gotten any better or worse since then.  He also noted that he has missed only three starts in ten seasons and doesn't plan to miss any in 2013.

NL Notes: Mets, Lincecum, Cardinals, Upton

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Let's start the last weekend in April with some notes from the National League:

  • As expected, offseason acquisition Shaun Marcum has been activated to make his first start for the Mets today, the team announced via Twitter. In a corresponding move, the team optioned 26-year-old lefty Josh Edgin to the minors, where he will try to sort out his poor start to the year. The Mets hope that Marcum, who came to New York on a one-year, $4MM deal, can stabilize the back of the team's rotation. While Matt Harvey has been lights out and Jon Niese has been solid, the remaining Mets starters have combined to allow well over five earned runs per nine innings.
  • Even with the mixed results from the team's starting staff, the Mets have gotten off to a fairly promising start. Meanwhile, the Nationals and Phillies have failed to live up to expectations in the early going. While acknowledging it is a long shot, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post looks at what it would take for the Mets to seize any opening should the Nats and Phils continue to underperform. Many variables would have to break right for the Mets, says Davidoff. The club must hold things together and hope that Travis d'Arnaud and Zack Wheeler arrive mid-summer, ready to contribute. (Of course, the d'Arnaud side of this already looks unlikely given his approximately two-month injury timetable.) If that happens, the Mets will face a test of their asserted willingness to take on salary — and/or even deal young talent — to make a run at a postseason appearance.
  • In the midst of what MLBTR's Mark Polishuk calls a make or break year, Giants starter Tim Lincecum has put together two consecutive quality starts. As Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com writes, last night Lincecum struck out nine Padres over seven innings, allowing just two runs. Lincecum, who currently stands ninth in Tim Dierkes's 2014 Free Agent Power Rankings, had struggled mightily in his first three outings. While he still ranks among baseball's worst in BB/9 (5.16), Lincecum has raised his strikeout rate to 9.71 K/9.
  • The Cardinals are not currently looking outside the organization to supplement their bullpen, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. While the club waits to learn the fate of injured closer Jason Motte, it has been rewarded for handing larger roles to Edward Mujica and Joe Kelly. GM John Mozeliak says that, while he is open to looking at the trade market, "that would not be in the near future."
  • Morosi also addressed the subject of Braves outfielder Justin Upton, wondering why exactly the Diamondbacks decided to trade him. While Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick publicly called Upton "an enigma," and manager Kirk Gibson purportedly did not see eye-to-eye with the young slugger, Morosi says there was no single moment that apparently caused a rift. In case you missed it, Upton is off to something of a solid start for his new ballclub.

Mets, Yankees Deny Making Offer To Valverde

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5:58pm: A National League source told Buster Olney of ESPN.com (on Twitter) that the Mets didn't make an offer to Valverde either.

4:31pm: WFAN's Sweeny Murti tweets that Yankees GM Brian Cashman denied the claims made by Valverde. Cashman said that not only did the Yankees not make an offer, they didn't even have discussions with Valverde and Boras.

3:55pm: Jose Valverde is back in a familiar role as the Tigers' closer, but he could've been in a very different situation had wanted to this offseason. The 35-year-old told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports today that the Yankees and Mets both offered him a Major League contract this offseason (Twitter link).

Neither the Mets or Yankees wound up adding much in the way of bullpen help on Major League deals. The Mets reportedly had interest in Brian Wilson at various points throughout the winter. Ultimately, they elected to sign Brandon Lyon and add Scott Atchison and LaTroy Hawkins on minor league commitments. The Yankees, meanwhile, re-signed Mariano Rivera and swung a deal with the Mariners to land right-hander Shawn Kelley.

Valverde signed a minor league contract with the Tigers in early April which was re-worked into a Major League deal yesterday. The Scott Boras client clearly would not have been a candidate to close for the Yankees with Rivera in the fold, though it seems possible that he could've gotten some save opportunities for the Mets.

Minor Moves: D.J. Mitchell, Anthony Ortega

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Your daily rundown of minor transactions from around the league…

  • The Mets have signed right-hander D.J. Mitchell, tweets ESPN's Adam Rubin. Mitchell was designated for assignment by the Mariners earlier in the month and elected free agency after clearing waivers. The 25-year-old has a 3.72 ERA in 317 1/3 Triple-A innings and was one of the pitchers Seattle received from the Yankees in last year's Ichiro Suzuki trade.
  • The Dodgers signed right-hander Anthony Ortega to a minor league contract to fill Stephen Fife's spot in Triple-A, tweets MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. The 27-year-old Venezuelan was originally signed by the Angels and made three rough starts for the Halos in 2009. He has a 4.41 career ERA in six minor league seasons to go along with a 6.4 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9.

Mets Designate Aaron Laffey For Assignment

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The Mets have designated Aaron Laffey for assignment, according to Marc Carig of Newsday (on Twitter).  The left-hander saw less than an inning of work against the Nationals last night as he allowed a walk and a double to set up a three-run homer from Adam LaRoche.

Laffey, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in December.  The veteran pitched to a 4.56 ERA with 4.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 16 starts and six relief appearances for the Blue Jays last season.  He also made eleven starts for Triple-A Las Vegas, posting a 4.52 ERA with 5.4 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9.

Quick Hits: Agents, Lilly, Harvey

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Agent Jamie Murphy of TWC Sports, in an interview on Buster Olney's Baseball Tonight podcast on ESPN, says that client-stealing by other agents isn't particularly prevalent in baseball. When players do change agents, Murphy says, it's mostly "for the right reasons," such as, for example, a player changing from an inexperienced agent to a more experienced one. Murphy represents Nick Markakis, Mark Ellis and David Aardsma. Here are more notes from around the big leagues.

  • Ted Lilly will start for the Dodgers next Wednesday, with Chris Capuano heading to the disabled list with a calf strain, J.P. Hoornstra of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. The Dodgers had a brief standoff with Lilly last weekend when the lefty refused a minor-league rehab assignment. That flareup was resolved, but it still wasn't clear whether the Dodgers might trade Lilly. But with Zack Greinke and Capuano on the DL and Aaron Harang gone via trade, the Dodgers' quandary about what to do with Lilly appears to be resolved, at least for now.
  • Former Mets GM Omar Minaya credits former scouting director Rudy Terrasas with advocating for Matt Harvey when New York picked him No. 7 overall in the 2010 draft, Andy Martino of the New York Daily News reports. "Rudy Terrasas was the one who brought him to my attention. Rudy deserves a lot of the credit for this one," Minaya says. "The thing that impressed me most about Harvey was the way he sustained velocity. He was throwing 96, 97 late in the game. He’s doing that now, and he had that when I saw him in college." Harvey has pitched brilliantly so far this season, posting an 0.82 ERA while striking out 25 batters and walking six in his first 22 innings.

NL East Notes: Wheeler, D’Arnaud, Simmons, Nolasco

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The day after he was rocked for six earned runs in 1 2/3 innings, the Phillies placed lefty John Lannan on the DL with a strained quadriceps in his left knee.  There's no word yet on who will replace him in the rotation, but he could be out six-to-eight weeks.  Tonight, the fourth-place Phillies and Cole Hamels host Adam Wainwright and the first-place Cardinals.  Elsewhere in the NL East:

  • "Let's just say if this continues, certainly we've gotta start visiting that here pretty soon," Mets manager Terry Collins told Mike Francesa of WFAN in regard to a question about quality reinforcements including top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler.  The Mets' rotation has struggled beyond Matt Harvey and Jon Niese.  GM Sandy Alderson was noncommittal, telling Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News, "It was always a case that it would be Zack’s sufficiency and the major-league team’s need.  If those two things merge, the need and the performance converge, then it is a possibility.  That could happen sooner or it could happen later."  Ackert hears that people within the organization privately do not feel Wheeler is ready, plus the Mets would like to avoid the pitcher achieving Super Two status after the 2015 season (necessitating a promotion in mid-June or later).
  • Meanwhile, another top Mets prospect won't be seeing Citi Field anytime soon.  Catcher Travis D'Arnaud, acquired from Toronto in the R.A. Dickey trade, fractured a bone in his left foot yesterday in a Triple-A game.
  • The Nationals' depth is on display, explains James Wagner of the Washington Post, with Kurt Suzuki seamlessly taking over as the starting catcher after Wilson Ramos suffered a hamstring injury.     
  • Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons is now represented by SFX, MLBTR has learned.  He'd previously been with The Sparta Group, up until the August switch.  A few new additions to our agency database include Jonathan Gray (advised by Jay Franklin of BBI Sports Group), Oswaldo Arcia (Martin Arburua), and Tony Cingrani (Curtis Dishman).
  • "He's decent for a club that needs a starter. There are worse No. 5 starters in the big leagues right now, but he's not the pitcher he used to be," a scout told Jon Heyman of CBS Sports in reference to the Marlins' Ricky Nolasco.  Nolasco, Miami's highest-paid player by a long-shot at $11.5MM, is a strong candidate to be traded this summer.

Julio Borbon Hits Waivers

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1:01pm: Borbon will be placed on outright waivers after the Rangers were unable to work out a trade, Heyman tweets. That means the Astros will have the first crack at him should they wish to make a claim.

12:53pm: A trade now looks unlikely, writes MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, who notes that teams like Borbon but don't have fits on their roster. Borbon looks to be headed for waivers.

12:50pm: The Orioles won't pull the trigger on a Borbon trade, tweets Heyman.

11:16am: The Rangers are still expecting to trade Julio Borbon, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, who adds the Mets and Astros into the mix in addition to the previously reported Orioles.

After designating Borbon for assignment eight days ago, general manager Jon Daniels has until 2pm ET to pull off a trade for Borbon. Otherwise Borbon will be subjected to waivers, and teams (presumably the Astros) will have a shot at acquiring him for nothing.

The 27-year-old Borbon is a career .283/.324/.358 hitter whose value comes primarily from a strong glove and plus speed. He's stolen 40 bases in 53 career attempts (75 percent), and both The Fielding Bible and UZR suggest that he's saved seven to eight runs in 1,365 career innings in center field.

It's also been reported that the Twins have kicked the tires on Borbon but were more interested in a waiver claim than a trade. It's possible that the prolonged struggles of Aaron Hicks and an injury to Darin Mastroianni have altered that thinking, though that's just me speculating.

The Rangers are said to be seeking a pitcher with options remaining in any deal for Borbon.

Quick Hits: Borbon, Cubs, Rendon, Profar

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Here are a few notes from around baseball:

  • The Orioles have had ongoing discussions with the Rangers about trading for outfielder Julio Borbon, writes MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli. Borbon will need to be placed on outright waivers by 2pm ET tomorrow if he is not traded beforehand, but the Rangers appear confident that they will strike a deal. While Texas is interested in a major league capable pitcher with options, the Orioles are reluctant to give up arms and are waiting for the asking price to drop. For the O's, Borbon would bring depth, speed, and another lefty bat in the outfield mix. 
  • The Mets and Astros have also expressed interest in Borbon, Ghiroli further reports. Both clubs entered the season with among the least-entrenched outfield mixes in baseball.
  • Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein spoke about what the club's Wrigley Field renovation deal could mean for the quality of the squad that takes the field at the friendly confines, as reported by Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com. According to Epstein, the club "need[s] revenues to increase in order for us to execute our baseball plan. We expect them to [increase]." Epstein added: "We are not where we want to be right now from a revenue standpoint and therefore we are not where we want to be from a payroll standpoint." While Epstein said that revenue was not the sole "determining factor in our success," he needs it to allow the front office to supplement homegrown talent with "some aggression in free agency."
  • For his part, Cubs owner Tom Ricketts says that, "if [the deal] is approved, we will win the World Series." As Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times explains, however, there is some cause for skepticism. The Cubs' ownership has continued to push out its promised timeline for a championship. And with the Cubs topping Forbes' list of most profitable franchises in 2012, Wittenmyer questions Ricketts' continued unwillingness to be more specific about when and to what extent the budget will expand. 
  • Most big league second baggers do not start out at the position. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that several teams are considering moving big-name young players to second base, with major potential hot stove implications. ESPN's Keith Law (on ESPN Insider) broke down the possible in-season transition of the Blue Jays' Brett Lawrie, as well as two prospects who are keystone candidates: Anthony Rendon of the Nationals and Jurickson Profar of the Rangers. A Lawrie move would be motivated by gaps elsewhere in the Jays' lineup, with the primary impact being on Toronto's affirmative trade plans. The two highly-rated prospects, on the other hand, find themselves blocked at their natural positions. For Rendon and Profar, then, a move to second could be the only viable alternative to an eventual trade. 
  • With Rendon presumably blocked by Ryan Zimmerman at his natural third base, and with a Zimmerman move to first blocked for at least two seasons by Adam LaRoche, a switch to second seems attractive at first blush. Rendon is known as a very good fielder, and may soon be knocking on the door after starting the year destroying Double-A pitching. But even putting aside the presence of young incumbent Danny Espinosa, Law says that Rendon's lack of agility and suspect ankles should preclude such a move. Unless some drastic change intervenes — Zimmerman's throwing woes worsen; the NL adopts the DH; unforeseen injury — the Nationals could be forced to consider dealing Rendon after this season. 
  • On the other hand, Law explains that the shortstop Profar, blocked by Elvis Andrus, can certainly handle second. But he would be less valuable there, and the Rangers would need to convince Ian Kinsler to become a first baseman or outfielder. Law goes so far as to suggest that Profar has the capacity to be shifted to centerfield, despite having never seen time in the outfield as a professional. Of course, Profar has already established his value at a premium defensive position. Such a move would not only be risky, but would keep Profar out of the big league lineup for longer while he adapted to a totally new position. Law says that bringing Profar up to man second would add value to the Rangers right now. Certainly, if the club is unwilling to make such a move this season, it is reasonable to wonder (as many have) whether Texas might instead dangle Profar as the centerpiece of a blockbuster deal to acquire a top-flight starter or outfielder.

Marlins “Not Interested” In Trading Giancarlo Stanton

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Teams that have inquired about Giancarlo Stanton have been told by the Marlins they are "not interested" in dealing their star outfielder, tweets Peter Gammons of MLB Network. Gammons specifically lists the Red Sox, Mets, and Rangers as teams who have checked in with Miami.

Yesterday, we learned the Rangers are reportedly doing early reconnaissance and prep work for what it would take to land Stanton while Mets GM Sandy Alderson said he hasn't had any conversations with the Marlins since early spring. Stanton has become the hottest name on the pages of MLBTR and more than 70% of our readers feel the Marlins will trade the 22-year-old sometime before Spring Training opens next year.

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