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Notes On Kendrys Morales Signing

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In case you missed it, the Twins finally brought an end to this year’s post-qualifying offer market, inking first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales to a deal that will pay him at a $12MM annual rate (around $7.5MM for the rest of the year). Morales will ultimately take home slightly less than Nelson Cruz takes home from the Orioles, though he’ll have to play much fewer games to earn it and will not be eligible for a qualifying offer next year. (Of course, he will also fall well shy of the $14.1MM qualifying offer that he rejected.)

Here’s the latest on the Morales signing:

  • The Mariners did make an offer to Morales within the last two days, tweets Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. The value of the offer was not reported. Seattle, of course, will not receive any draft compensation for losing Morales, since he waited to sign until after the first day of this year’s amateur draft.
  • Yankees manager Joe Girardi says that he was not involved in any discussions about the possibility of adding Morales, reports Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. “[W]e thought [Mark Teixeira’s] injury wasn’t going to keep him out for a long period of time,” explained Girardi. “We were pretty confident that we were going to get [Carlos Beltran] back.” While New York had been said to be a possible suitor, the most recent report indicated that the team had been rebuffed when it asked agent Scott Boras to hold off on signing while the team evaluated the health of Teixeira and Beltran.
  • Morales is likely to slot right into the Twins’ MLB lineup in spite of his layoff, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He figures to provide an immediate boost to the offense, even if he’s rusty, as Minnesota has received scant production from the first base and designated hitter slots in the lineup. On the other hand, it would be surprising to see the team take at bats away from Joe Mauer, and utilizing Morales as the primary DH will mean that the team can put only one of its two most productive hitters thus far (catchers Kurt Suzuki and Josmil Pinto) in the lineup. Of course, Suzuki remains a candidate to be traded away over the summer.
  • Adding Morales represents another move that increases the Twins’ ability to compete in the short term without sacrificing long-term value, writes Dan Szymborski for ESPN.com (Insider subscription required). Morales projects to be a roughly league-average DH, says Szymborski, but that sort of player would cost prospects to acquire via trade. And while the team may still have an uphill path to contention, it does sit just under .500, only five back in the AL Central and two-and-a-half out of the Wild Card. Like Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes, who were inked to long-term deals over the offseason, Morales does not require Minnesota to cough up a draft choice.

Kendrys Morales Expected To Sign Soon

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The Major League Baseball amateur draft is just hours away, and once it commences, free agent Kendrys Morales will no longer be burdened by the weight of draft pick compensation. While fellow draft-pick free agent Stephen Drew returned to the Red Sox recently, Morales elected to remain on the market and become the first free agent under the current CBA to wait beyond the draft to shed his associated compensation. He may not be waiting long, however, as Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports that Morales is likely to find a new home within the next day or two.

The Yankees have been connected to Morales of late, but Heyman reports that the team asked agent Scott Boras and Morales to wait on signing as they evaluate the health of injury-plagued switch hitters Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira. Morales isn’t inclined to play that waiting game, however, which makes other clubs more likely to end up with Morales.

Heyman lists the Brewers and Mariners as more likely destinations than the Yankees, noting that another team or two is in the mix at this time. The Rangers have indeed shown interest, he adds, but they aren’t as likely to sign Morales as Milwaukee, Seattle or the alleged “mystery team”(s). Morales has generated some interest on two-year deals, according to Heyman, but he may prefer a one-year deal to hit unencumbered free agency next winter.

Of course, many other reports have indicated that the Mariners simply don’t have the financial flexibility to add Morales after the large amounts they spent this offseason. The Orioles were said to have interest at one point, but executive VP Dan Duquette essentially closed those doors in an on-record interview with ESPN’s Buster Olney. Heyman also reported recently that the Royals could join the Morales bidding, though they’d likely need to clear some payroll first in order to make that happen.

Yankees Designate Scott Sizemore Off Active Roster

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12:06pm: The Yankees announced via press release that Sizemore has, in fact, been designated off the active roster and optioned to Triple-A. It would appear, then, that he will remain under team control, though it is not yet clear whether he has cleared optional assignment waivers. Because Sizemore does not have five years of MLB service, he would not have the right to refuse an optional assignment.

11:24am: Sizemore has actually been outrighted, according to the MLB.com transactions page. That would take him off the club’s 40-man (and active) roster, and leave Sizemore with the right to decline the assignment, since he has previously been outrighted.

10:57am: Sizemore has only been designated off of the 25-man roster, it would appear, as Dan Barbarasi of the Wall Street Journal tweets that he will be placed on optional assignment waivers.

10:09am: The Yankees have designated infielder Scott Sizemore for assignment, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). The move creates active roster space for Carlos Beltran, who was activated from the DL.

Sizemore, 29, registered five base knocks for New York in 16 plate appearances over six games. He carries a .265/.333/.361 triple-slash in 165 trips to the dish at Triple-A on the year. Sizemore has seen time in parts of four MLB seasons, with his best work coming in 2011 when he compiled a .245/.342/.399 line through 429 plate appearances with the Tigers and Athletics.

Yankees Designate Alfredo Aceves For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that they have designated right-hander Alfredo Aceves for assignment as part of a series of roster moves. Wade LeBlanc, recently claimed off waivers, has been added as a long reliever, while hard-throwing Jose Ramirez has been recalled from Triple-A. Right-hander Preston Claiborne has been optioned to Triple-A.

Aceves, 31, signed with the Yankees after opting out of his minor league deal with the Orioles late in the spring. He had worked to a 6.52 ERA in 19 1/3 frames this year since returning to the Bronx after a stint with the rival Red Sox.

Though he has improved upon last year’s troubling 1.09 K:BB ratio, posting 7.4 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 in 2014, Aceves still owns an FIP mark (6.22) that supports his ERA, largely due to the fact that he’s allowing an unsightly 2.79 long balls per nine innings. (Other metrics see things somewhat less harshly, as he carries a 4.61 xFIP and 3.95 SIERA.) Aceves has generated an awful lot of fly balls, as his groundball rate stands at just 23.4%.

The flip-flopping of Ramirez for Claiborne, meanwhile, could be more about the former than the latter. Claiborne, 26, has been solid enough on the whole, throwing to a 3.57 ERA in 17 2/3 frames with 14 strikeouts and nine free passes. But the 24-year-old Ramirez has been lights out at Triple-A, allowing just one earned run while striking out 13 and walking  six over 10 2/3. Ramirez entered the year rated 13th among the organization’s prospects by Baseball America, which cited the “rail-thin” hurler’s big fastball and outstanding change.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Johan, Red Sox

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While the Yankees have had “at least” internal discussions regarding Kendrys Morales, his bat wouldn’t solve all of the problems with the team, writes Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. The Bombers’ bullpen has faltered of late and doesn’t have room for error given the lackluster offense, he opines. Meanwhile, Mark Teixeira’s wrist offers no certainty, even if he did homer last night. Davidoff notes that Teixeira looked “tentative” from both sides during batting practice and “fiddled” with his surgically repaired right wrist while others took their cuts.

More notes from the AL East…

  • The Orioles could be looking at a six-man rotation when Johan Santana is ready to join the club, manager Buck Showalter told reporters, including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko. As the Baltimore Sun’s Eduardo A. Encina notes, the plan for Santana, who was placed on the 15-day DL after his contract was purchased on Monday, is to make one more start in extended Spring Training before heading on a rehab assignment. After two starts, the former ace would be on track to join the team on June 20. Said Showalter: “I’ve been hinting at going to six starters anyway. It’s easy to solve. It’s not a problem. Any time there’s good pitchers available, I’m in, especially with his pedigree.”
  • The Red Sox continue to search high and low for an outfielder, reports Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, who points out that the Sox are on pace to field their least-productive outfield group of the 162-game era. Cafardo runs down a list of some names that might potentially be available as the summer wears on, and he also reports that the Phillies have had three scouts following the Sox for their past five series.

AL East Notes: Cano, Yankees, Cruz, Francisco

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Robinson Cano told reporters, including the New York Daily News’ Andy Martino, that he wasn’t bothered by the boos he received in returning to Yankee Stadium. Martino goes on to opine that the booing of Cano seems to be the only emotion the Yankee fanbase can muster due to the team’s lackluster performance. He asked Brett Gardner how the club could be more consistent at the plate and received a frustrated reply: “Well, if we knew that, we would have done it two days ago.” More on the Yankees’ decision to let Cano walk and the AL East…

  • Martino’s colleague, John Harper, wonders if the Yankees would let Cano walk again if they had a mulligan on the offseason. As he notes, there’s virtually no certainty next season in the infield with Derek Jeter retiring, Brian Roberts on a one-year deal, Mark Teixeira’s injuries, an unproven track record for Yangervis Solarte and Alex Rodriguez’s suspension. While the back-end of any Cano deal would surely look poor, he asks if that would be an acceptable price to pay for chasing greatness in the short term.
  • Rangers GM Jon Daniels appeared on The Afternoon Show with Cowlishaw and Moseley in Texas yesterday and discussed Nelson Cruz’s hot start with the Orioles. Daniels said he’s not surprised to see Cruz thriving — though they wouldn’t have expected 20 homers through this point in the season. He adds that Texas made multiple attempts to sign Cruz, making a qualifying offer and offering a multi-year deal at the Winter Meetings. Daniels adds: “…by the time it came down to Spring Training, when he was signing, there was some other factors at play. We made the decision that we did to give our own guys an opportunity and keep the draft pick.”
  • Shi Davidi of Sportsnet breaks down Juan Francisco’s strong play for the Blue Jays and wonders if the Jays could possibly have struck gold on a third low-cost slugger acquisition. Davidi points out that Toronto stumbled into franchise cornerstones Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, and Francisco is cut largely from the same cloth. Davidi looks at improvements to Francisco’s pitch selection — though his strikeout rate remains high — and changes to his approach made by the team’s coaching staff. Francisco, a close friend of Encarnacion, says he feels at home with the Jays. Davidi also reports that Toronto tried to acquire Francisco last season as well before Atlanta traded him to Milwaukee, suggesting he’s been on their radar for quite some time.

Quick Hits: Pollock, Morales, Lester, Cubs

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The Diamondbacks announced today that outfielder A.J. Pollock underwent surgery to repair a right hand fracture and would not resume baseball activity for eight weeks. Pollock, 26, had been a rare bright spot on one of baseball’s most disappointing clubs, emerging with a .316/.366/.554 triple-slash with six home runs and eight stolen bases in 192 plate appearances. Here’s more from around the league:

  • The Royals could enter the running to sign first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales to bolster a sagging offense, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. While no serious discussions have happened to date, the club is not ruling out the possibility, adds Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star (via Twitter). According to Heyman, pursuit of Morales would require the Royals to move some salary off its books. Ticking through the team’s roster, the most obvious big-salary trade candidate (assuming, of course, that the team is looking to make a run) is DH Billy Butler, who earns $8.5MM this year and comes with a $12.5MM club option ($1MM buyout) for 2015. But his defensive limitations and serious struggles this year make it somewhat difficult to imagine that the team will be able to find a buyer willing to take on enough salary to make the switch-out plausible — especially since clubs looking at Butler would presumably also have interest in Morales. (Then, there’s the question whether Kansas City could both lock up Morales and dump Butler or another contract in early June.)
  • Meanwhile, the Yankees have made contact with Morales but are waiting to learn more on Mark Teixeira’s wrist re-aggravation before acting decisively, Heyman reports. Turning to analysis, Heyman writes that the Yankees have many reasons to pursue Morales strongly, whether or not they get good news on Teixeira in the coming days.
  • Informed of recent comments from Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino indicating that the club expects to re-engage him in extension talks, Jon Lester emphasized that he remains focused on the season at hand, reports Boston.com’s Maureen Mullen. “I think right now, obviously with us playing good baseball and us focused on what we need to do today, I think that’s where we need to stay,” he said. “The contract talks will come at the right time. … [T]hat time’ll come, whether it’s tomorrow, I don’t know. Whether it’s in the offseason, I don’t know. We’ll figure that out as we go.”
  • Carlos Villanueva of the Cubs says that he and fellow righty Jason Hammel hope to stay with the team but realize they could be traded, reports MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat. “What’s happened here the last couple years, you can’t help but wonder if you’re going to be one of those guys, too,” he said. “When they sign here, they know. They know the direction this team is going.” Both pitchers, explained Villanueva, have played with multiple clubs and understand the business of the game. “In a perfect world, we could stay here and build around the young guys, and we could be part of the upswing of the team,” he said. “That could still happen — we’re still here, we’re going to make the most of it.”

AL East Notes: Price, Blue Jays, Yankees

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Count FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal among those puzzled by David Price’s revived feud with David Ortiz, as Rosenthal notes that the two seemed to have buried the hatchet after last year’s controversy in the ALDS.  While Price has been no stranger to high-profile situations over his career and is widely considered to be a level-headed person, Rosenthal wonders how the Rays ace would deal with increased scrutiny if he is dealt to a more pressurized market than Tampa Bay.  Here’s some more from around the AL East…

  • The Blue Jays don’t have the prospect depth to pursue Price or Jeff Samardzija on the trade market this summer, ESPN’s Buster Olney writes (Insider subscription required).  Both aces are only under contract through 2015 and seem unlikely to sign extensions to stay in Toronto, so the Jays aren’t willing to pay the high price of several top prospects for such short-term acquisitions.
  • The Jays could look to add less-costly pitching help before the deadline, Olney writes, as well as an upgrade at second base, though the Brett Lawrie/Steve Tolleson/Juan Francisco rotation between 2B and 3B is working well.  Toronto could also add another bullpen arm (if Sergio Santos isn’t healthy or effective) either before the deadline or into the August waiver period.
  • “There’s no magic number for attendance” that will impact whether the Blue Jays make deadline deals or not, team president Paul Beeston tells Sportsnet’s Michael Grange.  “If there’s a deal it’s not going to be money that determines if it’s going to be done, it’s going to be wins. If we’re winning we’ll do it. I hope we have that opportunity,” Beeston said.
  • The big free agent deals signed by Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Jacoby Ellsbury last winter have yet to translate into an improved offense for the Yankees, Bill Madden of the New York Daily News writes.   Beltran has been injured, McCann has struggled and Ellsbury has been miscast as a No. 3 hitter, a lineup spot Ellsbury has often been forced to fill due to injuries.  Madden wonders why the Yankees didn’t pursue a first base backup for Mark Teixeira (again battling wrist problems) over the offseason and believes the team needs to sign Kendrys Morales to help the lineup.
  • Ken Davidoff of the New York Post also looked at the Yankees’ hitting woes and argues that the club could be better served by trading for starting pitching rather than offensive help.  If the Yankees’ veteran hitters are healthy, they’re at least known commodities, while New York has several unproven young arms in its injury-riddled rotation.

Yankees May Have Interest In Kendrys Morales

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FRIDAY: Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner wouldn’t rule out a pursuit of Morales when asked by George A. King III of the New York Post. “We never say never,” he told King. “We always look at all possibilities.” Steinbrenner did add that the current plan is to remain internal, but his answer was far more open-minded than the recent comments by Orioles executive VP Dan Duquette, who plainly stated that his team’s signing of Nelson Cruz closed the door on speculation regarding Morales.

King adds that while the Yankees aren’t too concerned about Teixeira’s ability to play — GM Brian Cashman termed him day to day — the outlook on Beltran is much cloudier. Cashman said it isn’t fair to speculate on Beltran either way. Beltran was able to handle a 25-swing soft toss session with hitting coach Kevin Long and is expected to try the exercise again today. Cashman said he’s hopeful that Beltran can graduate to rehab games soon, but as King notes, if the cortisone shots Beltran has received don’t do the job, he could miss more than two months with elbow surgery.

THURSDAY: The draft pick compensation that is hanging over Kendrys Morales’ head is roughly a week away from being lifted, and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hears from multiple Major League sources that the Yankees are among the teams with potential interest in the switch-hitting Scott Boras client.

The Yankees are concerned about injuries to first baseman Mark Teixeira (wrist inflammation) and Carlos Beltran (bone spurs in his elbow), and they lack a true backup first baseman, which caused them to play Brian McCann at first base for the first time in his pro career yesterday.

Rosenthal notes that the Mariners continue to signal that they don’t have the financial wherewithal to sign Morales, and the Brewers, among other NL clubs are concerned with his defense at first place. That concern isn’t as big for the Yankees, as Morales would still be an upgrade over McCann or Kelly Johnson, who are the current backups to Teixeira.

As Newsday’s David Lennon writes, Morales might seem an expensive insurance policy for the Yankees, but it’s also a potentially costly gamble to play the team’s $85MM catcher out of position. McCann, Lennon notes, indicated in the offseason that his preference was to delay any time at first base until later in his contract. He did admit to the fact that first base was less taxing on his body and a nice mental break, but he also told reporters that he was glad whenever a ball wasn’t hit to him.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post says that he’d be surprised if the Yankees signed Morales, as every indication he’s received from the club is that they expect Beltran and Teixeira to be back and healthy (Twitter links). In that instance, signing Morales would create a logjam of first base/DH/corner outfield types with Teixeira, Beltran, and Alfonso Soriano already on the roster.

AL Notes: Royals, Yankees, Athletics

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The Royals have once again shuffled their coaching staff in hopes of sparking a dormant offense, reports Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star (via Twitter). Dale Sveum will take over for Pedro Grifol as the hitting coach, with Grifol becoming the catching instructor and Mike Jirschele taking over at third. Oddly, the news comes just one day shy of the anniversary of the club’s shake-up last year, in which Hall of Famer George Brett temporarily took over as the batting instructor. (For what it’s worth, the Royals had a 21-29 record when they tapped Brett — who held the role for about two months — and ended up finishing the year ten games over .500.)

Here’s more from the American League:

  • Contrary to popular opinion, the Yankees have the prospect pieces necessary to pull off one or more significant trades, rival GMs tell ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden (Insider subscription required). Bowden says he expects the team to be most interested in adding rotation help, and lists a few hypothetical targets. On the other side of the ledger, says Bowden, New York can offer up young power arms like Dellin Betances and Adam Warren, though those players are obviously useful at the MLB level. Otherwise, potential trade pieces include catchers Gary Sanchez and Peter O’Brien, 20-year-old righty Luis Severino, and the team’s three first-round picks from last year’s draft.
  • The Athletics have essentially done the opposite of the prevailing turnaround model of collecting and developing prospects, then selling them off when they get expensive, writes R.J. Anderson for FOX Sports. Since the end of 2012, Oakland GM Billy Beane has repeatedly swapped top prospects for useful, non-star big leaguers who generally did not come with extended team control. While that could lead to a talent deficit in future years, Anderson says that the club should be applauded for aggressively seeking to build a winner rather than waiting and hoping that its young talent pans out.
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