AL East Notes: Tanaka, Orioles, Reimold, Maddon
Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka told reporters (including the New York Post’s Dan Martin) that he expects his velocity to drop a bit this season, though this may have as much to do with pitch selection as it does with concerns about his slightly torn UCL. “Because of the fact I’m throwing more two-seamers, that would obviously make the velocity go down a bit,” Tanaka said through an interpreter. “As for my pitching style and my mechanics, I’m trying to relax a little bit more when I’m throwing, so that might have something to do with it.” Tanaka averaged 91.2 mph on his fastball last season, as well as 88.9 mph on his cutter and 86.5 mph on his split-fingered fastball.
Here’s some more from the AL East…
- The Orioles are hoping to make at least one trade before Opening Day to move some of their roster excess, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports. Kubatko feels Steve Clevenger has the advantage over T.J. McFarland for the final spot on the Orioles’ roster, though the O’s could also deal Clevenger given their depth at catcher. Nolan Reimold will probably be assigned to Baltimore’s minor league camp to avoid putting the out-of-options outfielder through waivers, as the O’s are worried Reimold would be claimed by another team.
- Speaking of Reimold, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun shares the somewhat unique details of the opt-out clause in Reimold’s minor league deal with the Orioles. If Reimold isn’t on the Orioles’ 25-man roster by July 11, the O’s must send an e-mail to all 29 other teams asking if they’re interested in Reimold. If a team responds in the affirmative, the O’s must either “assign” him to that club in a cash transaction or put him on their 25-man roster themselves. If no team shows interest, Reimold stays with the Orioles.
- Major League Baseball’s investigation of the Rays‘ tampering charge against the Cubs will continue past Opening Day, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune reports. The Rays accused the Cubs of tampering with Joe Maddon when he was still under contract as Tampa Bay’s manager, and the matter is still unresolved after over five months of investigating.
Yankees Designate Austin Romine For Assignment
The Yankees have designated catcher Austin Romine for assignment, Andy Martino of the New York Daily News tweets. The move means that John Ryan Murphy will be the Yankees’ second catcher, backing up Brian McCann.
Romine, 26, was the Yankees’ second-round pick in the 2007 draft and was ranked as the 98th-best prospect in the sport by Baseball America prior to the 2011 season. Despite this solid pedigree and a .275/.330/.407 slash line over 2284 minor league games, Romine has yet to break through on the MLB level, posting only a .529 OPS over 181 PA with New York.
When MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes examined the AL East’s out of options players, he noted that Romine could be a trade candidate given his promise, youth and four years of team control. While Romine hasn’t done much to establish himself in the bigs, it’s also worth noting that he’s had to battle through a rather crowded catching picture with the Yankees over the last couple of seasons.
With catching depth in short supply, one would think a few teams will be asking the Yankees about Romine over his 10 days in DFA limbo. The Phillies and Padres have already shown some interest in Romine earlier this offseason.
Yankees Acquire Gregorio Petit
The Astros announced that they’ve traded infielder Gregorio Petit to the Yankees in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
The 30-year-old Petit returned to the Majors for the first time since 2009 last year, batting .278/.300/.423 with a pair of homers in 100 trips to the plate. Petit has never much in the Majors outside of that sample, or in Triple-A for that matter, though he does bring some defensive versatility to the table, as he is capable of handling second base, shortstop or third base. The addition of Petit could be tied to the fact that the Yankees learned earlier today that Brendan Ryan will likely open the season on the disabled list after suffering a calf strain.
NL Central Notes: Maholm, Bucs, Bryant, EJax, Ricketts
Lefty Paul Maholm has a “standing offer” at Triple-A with the Reds, tweets Jon Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. At present, however, Maholm is looking to secure a big league deal if possible. He was released yesterday by Cincinnati.
Here’s more from the NL Central:
- The Pirates have pillaged the Yankees in recent seasons, particularly in the catching department, as Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. Both teams have placed significant value on pitch framing, but Sawchik suggests that perhaps Pittsburgh has remained more willing to commit to its ideas in that area. “I’m not sure if they were ahead of us, we were ahead of them or if we arrived at this way of thinking at the same time. Actually, they were probably first,” said club GM Neal Huntington. “The two clubs evaluate catchers similarly.”
- The agent for Cubs third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant, Scott Boras, says that starting the season without the game’s top big-league-ready prospect in the majors is tantamount to staging “ersatz baseball,” Jon Morosi of FOX Sports tweets. “MLB is not MLB without the best players,” said Boras.
- Cubs starter Edwin Jackson, himself a former Boras client, is still waiting to learn what his role will be in 2015, as ESPNChicago.com’s Jesse Rogers reports. It seems likely that he’s headed to a middle relief spot, in spite of the fact that he’s still owed $22MM by the team.
- Cubs owner Tom Ricketts indicates that his organization is still executing on its plan to build steadily, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. “We knew that if we’re ever going to bring a World Series to Chicago, it’s to be disciplined, and build things the right way,” said Ricketts. “We’ve done that. Now, it’s up to us to deliver that promise.” That goes for the team’s player assets as well as its efforts to rehabilitate Wrigley Field, as Nightengale explains.
Minor Moves: Burton, Garner, Toles
Here are Sunday’s minor moves from around MLB:
- Three days after releasing him, the Yankees have signed right-hander Jared Burton to a minor league deal, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Burton was an Article XX(B) free agent, so the release/re-signing allows the Yankees to avoid paying the reliever a $100K retention bonus to remain in the organization.
- The Phillies have released their 2010 second-round pick right-hander Perci Garner, tweets CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury. Garner never advanced beyond Double-A and compiled a mark of 4.50 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 5.1 BB/9 during 87 appearances (73 starts) in his five seasons in the Philadelphia organization.
- The Rays have released outfielder Andrew Toles, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Toles, the Rays’ 2013 minor league player of the year, posted a line of .261/.302/.337 in 218 plate appearances last year at Class A-Advanced Charlotte despite missing two months for personal reasons. The 22-year-old was a third-round selection of the Rays in the 2012 draft.
Yankees To Release Scott Baker
The Yankees have released Scott Baker, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (via Twitter). The Yankees signed Baker to a minor league pact back in January.
Baker was a mainstay in the Twins’ rotation during their run at the top of the division, but he underwent Tommy John surgery in Spring Training of 2012 and has yet to re-establish himself as a reliable rotation cog in the Major Leagues. The 33-year-old has spent the past two seasons in the Cubs and Rangers organizations, working to a combined 5.17 ERA in 95 2/3 innings of work.
Prior to those struggles and his surgery, however, Baker was a solid, if unspectacular mid-rotation arm for Minnesota. He averaged 181 innings of 4.11 ERA ball (103 ERA+) from 2008-10 with the Twins before seemingly taking a significant step forward in a 2011 season that was cut short by injury. Baker notched just 134 2/3 innings that year but had turned in a pristine 3.14 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 prior to being shut down. Metrics such as his 3.45 FIP and 3.43 SIERA reflected genuine improvement as well.
The former second-round pick had an opportunity to help fill in a questionable Yankees rotation, but he’ll now be seeking employment elsewhere. Had he made the Bombers’ big league roster, Baker would have earned a $1.5MM salary.
NL Notes: Bryant, Garcia, Villanueva, Nats, Mets
The Cubs‘ impending decision about whether to have Kris Bryant start the season in the minors has players around baseball talking about service-time rules, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune writes in a story that collects responses to Bryant’s situation from players from several teams. “Hey, we have a chance to make a lot of money in this game, but the rules are the rules,” says Yankees reliever Andrew Miller. “If that works in the Cubs favor, and the Cubs are a better team for that, they’re entitled to (use the rule to their favor). We negotiated that. It’s the reality of what our collective bargaining agreement says.” Here’s more from the National League.
- Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia will miss his start due to a shoulder issue, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reports. Garcia likely will not be in the team’s Opening Day rotation. Garcia had impressed the team in camp and might well have made the Cardinals’ rotation, particularly since having him start rather than Marco Gonzales or Carlos Martinez would have been the best way for the Cards to protect their assets — they could have easily just optioned Gonzales to the minors, put Martinez in the bullpen and kept all three pitchers. Instead, it’s yet another injury for Garcia, who’s dealt with plenty of them in the past few seasons. There is, however, reason to hope it won’t be serious — GM John Mozeliak (via Langosch on Twitter) characterizes the injury as fatigue and the missed start as “more of a pause than anything.”
- Pitcher Carlos Villanueva, who’s on a minor-league deal with the Cardinals, can opt out of that deal Monday, Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch notes (via Twitter). Villanueva has gotten fairly good results in camp and has a track record of providing solid performances in a swingman role, so the Cardinals could try to find space for him on their roster.
- Intentionally or not, the Nationals, who have lefty relievers available, gave the lefty-starved Mets a look at Jerry Blevins Saturday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. (Blevins struck out Curtis Granderson but gave up a triple to Lucas Duda.) The Nationals have Blevins, along with Xavier Cedeno and Matt Thornton, and all are out of options, so they could end up trading one.
East Notes: Papelbon, Warren, Victorino
Here’s the latest from the game’s eastern divisions to wrap up the day’s news:
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos was notably on hand to watch Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon work early in his outing today against the Yankees, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports. While Salisbury notes that it is impossible to know the reason for the visit, Toronto obviously has some questions at the back of its pen and has been mentioned as a plausible suitor for the veteran righty. Papelbon has looked strong this spring, as the report further notes, though his contract (and, in particular, its vesting clause for next year) remains the largest factor in his trade value.
- Though the Yankees have yet to say so officially, Adam Warren appears ticketed for the team’s fifth starter role, as Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports. If he does indeed take that slot, the out-of-options Esmil Rogers will either need to lock up a pen slot or, perhaps, find another team.
- Shane Victorino‘s recent comments about the possibility of the Red Sox dealing for Cole Hamels led to a bit of a dust-up in Boston, due in part to a seemingly strained interpretation suggesting that Victorino was advocating for the departure of phenom Mookie Betts. As Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports, Victorino vehemently denies that reading of his words. Regardless, of course, as Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal explains, Boston’s front office understandably has little interest in shipping away its most prized young talent for expensive veterans.
Quick Hits: Forbes, Yankees, Alvarez, Kluber
“Overall, baseball has never been as big or as profitable” as it is now, Forbes’ Mike Ozanian writes in the magazine’s annual valuation of MLB franchises. The average value of a Major League team is $1.2 billion, a massive increase from Forbes’ last calculation (of $811MM) just a year ago. Fifteen teams were valued at least a billion dollars, with the Yankees leading the way at $3.2 billion. Here’s some more from around baseball…
- Despite the Yankees‘ incredible value, Hal Steinbrenner said the team is not for sale in an ESPN radio interview with Michael Kay and Don LaGreca (hat tip to Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News). Selling the club is “not enticing in any way shape or form,” Steinbrenner said. “It’s a family business. Many of us are involved from the family and we know this is what our dad would want, to carry on the tradition.”
- Cuban right-hander Yadier Alvarez is drawing “serious interest” from the Nationals, The Washington Post’s James Wagner writes. “The Nationals like Alvarez’s frame and stuff,” Wagner notes about the 18-year-old Alvarez, who is listed at 6’3″ and 175 pounds. The Nats and Diamondbacks were cited as the top contenders for Alvarez by MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez last month, and if Alvarez will indeed be ineligible to sign until July 2, that will eliminate the D’Backs from contention due to penalties for going over slot in this signing period to land Yoan Lopez. Even if Arizona is out of the running, however, the Nats will still have to bid against several other interested teams for Alvarez’s services.
- The MLBPA has been encouraging players to look for other means of achieving guaranteed financial security rather than accept below-market extensions, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports. One of those means is taking out a “loss-of-value” insurance policy to protect against injury (Max Scherzer took out such a policy last season) and Rosenthal suggests that Corey Kluber could explore doing the same this year to gain some leverage in contract talks with the Indians. Kluber could cash in by signing an extension now, but waiting even one season to get into his arbitration-eligible years would greatly increase the value of a multi-year deal, Rosenthal argues. With the loss-of-value policy backing him up, Kluber would have fewer worries about getting hurt this season and missing out on a chance at a big contract.
- Brady Aiken‘s Tommy John surgery will lower his draft stock and potentially make him a risk for teams picking near the top of the first round, though Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal thinks the Red Sox could take a chance on Aiken with the seventh overall pick. The addition of a first-round caliber talent in Yoan Moncada and an overall deep minor league system gives Boston the luxury to take a risk on Aiken and hopes that, if he recovers, they’ll have fallen into a future ace.
- Jake Fox is trying to land a regular minor league job with the Blue Jays, and the veteran talks to Sportsnet.com’s Arden Zwelling about some of the ups and downs of being a baseball journeyman.
Yankees Release Jared Burton
The Yankees announced that they’ve released right-hander Jared Burton from his minor league contract. The former Twins and Reds setup man had been vying for a spot in the club’s bullpen and pitched well, throwing four scoreless innings with just two hits and no walks to go along with a pair of strikeouts. Presumably, the 33-year-old righty will look for an opportunity with a club that has a clearer path to a spot in the bullpen.
After enjoying strong seasons in 2012-13 with the Twins (particularly in 2012), Burton’s K/9 rate dipped to 6.5, and his BB/9 rate ticked up to 3.5. Meanwhile, his ground-ball rate (38.5 percent) and fastball velocity deteriorated (92.9 mph in 2012; 91.5 in 2014). However, Burton still possesses an effective split-finger changeup (which he’s termed a “splangeup” in the past) that has been his best pitch in recent years. If he can rediscover some of his fastball effectiveness and/or some of his control, he could again re-emerge as a successful bullpen arm in a big league bullpen.