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Free Agent Notes: Drew, Twins, Ayala, Wells

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ESPN's Buster Olney hears that the Yankees won't be making a run at Stephen Drew and are expected to maintain the status quo (Twitter link). Likewise, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Yanks are likely at their spending limit, adding in a second tweet that a more likely move would be to swap a bad contract such as Ichiro Suzuki's for a comparably priced reliever. More free-agent related notes from around the league…

  • Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN talked with Twins manager Ron Gardenhire yesterday and was told the team is circling back with one more notable free agent. "[Assistant GM] Rob [Antony] just called me the other day and told me they were gonna make another run at a guy, and I'm like, 'Wow that's pretty good,'" said Gardenhire. "So they did it, and whether it works out or not we'll see, and they're not done. … They're after it. I know that." Wolfson's hunch is that Gardenhire is not referring to Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana, but rather a bat or Bronson Arroyo (All links to Twitter).
  • Among the teams with interest in reliever Luis Ayala are the Indians, Tigers, and Mariners, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). The 36-year-old Mexican has unquestionably delivered results of late. Over the span of 2011-13, Ayala has a 2.58 ERA in 164 innings, landing him right outside the top 30 MLB relievers in ERA (min. 100 IP) over that time frame. Though Ayala's 3.85 FIP and 3.99 xFIP across the last three seasons may be cause to temper expectations, he has succeeded by consistently inducing grounders (51.4% GB%) and limiting homers (0.77 HR/9) at better than league average rates.
  • Three teams watched righty Jared Wells throw on Wednesday, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. The 32-year-old has not seen MLB action since a brief stint in 2008, and played in Independent ball last year after spending a few seasons in the upper minors.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.

AL East Links: Jays, Drew, Sizemore, Sox, Balfour

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Via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons told Jim Bowden and Casey Stern of MLB Network Radio that his team has about a 50/50 shot of adding a significant free agent pitcher. Nicholson-Smith writes that the Jays know the asking prices of pitchers like Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana but aren't prepared to overpay a free agent. Here's more out of the AL East…

  • The Yankees are weighing a run at Stephen Drew now that they've blown past the luxury tax threshold, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. A person familiar with the team's thinking told Heyman that a pursuit of Drew would still depend on the price, however. ESPN's Buster Olney reported the other day that the Yankees weren't likely to make any major additions following the Tanaka signing.
  • Red Sox GM Ben Cherington told Jason Mastrodonato of MassLive.com that despite signing Grady Sizemore to a Major League deal, there are no guarantees that the former Indians star will make the Opening Day roster. Cherington didn't rule out a minor league assignment for Sizemore.
  • Also from Mastrodonato (on Twitter), Red Sox manager John Farrell told reporters at tonight's BBWAA dinner, "We're going to have Jackie Bradley in center field." Mastrodonato adds that Cherington said, "We believe in Jackie Bradley."
  • WEEI.com's Alex Speier examines the Red Sox' wealth of pitching depth. Speier writes that while it would seem logical for the Sox to deal from their perceived surplus, the majority of top pitching prospects simply don't pan out. Speier points to a study from Camden Depot's Matt Perez that looks at the history of Baseball America's top prospects, revealing that even in the most successful stretch for those prospects, just over one of four became solid Major Leaguers.
  • Asked about his potential grievance with the Orioles at today's press conference, new Rays closer Grant Balfour told reporters, including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times: "I'm not going to comment on it. We'll see what happens. I'm here to stay. I have a contract with the Rays, and anything else that's going to happen on that part will be taken care of, and we'll move forward. That's not going to affect anything I've got going here. I'm moving on. I'm glad to be here, really happy to be here."

Quick Hits: Sizemore, Tanaka

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Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs took a stab at evaluating Grady Sizemore, who signed yesterday with the Red Sox, but ultimately concludes that there is too much uncertainty to make a projection reasonable. Here are some more notes on Sizemore and another notable signing from yesterday:

  • The Reds offered a big league deal to Grady Sizemore and expected to land him, tweets Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. "He changed his mind," GM Walt Jocketty told Sheldon.
  • Discussing his decision to sign with the Yankees, Masahiro Tanaka expressed excitement with joining the game's most historically prominent club, the Associated Press reports (via the New York Times; video available via MLB.com). "They gave me the highest evaluation and are a world famous team," said Tanaka, who said his goal is to win a World Series in pinstripes. 
  • One oft-mentioned concern with Tanaka was his heavy usage in Japan. Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker posted Tanaka's actual pitch counts from last season, which he found in an Isao Chiba article from Shukan Baseball. Last year, the hurler threw 2,981 pitches over over 211 innings in 27 starts, or 109.7 pitches per start last year. (He also threw one inning in relief.) For reference, Clayton Kershaw — who is less than a year older than Tanaka — has exceeded 3,000 pitches in each of the last five seasons (last year, 3,428) while averaging around 104 to 105 pitches per start in his last four campaigns.
  • The Cubs' final offer to Masahiro Tanaka was for six years and $120MM, a source tells Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com (Twitter link). That amount does not include the $20MM release fee. 
  • Chicago was competitive in terms of years and dollars, a source tells David Kaplan of CSN Chicago and WGN Radio (Twitter link), but the Cubs refused to include an opt-out after four years. That position certainly seems to make sense from the perspective of the rebuilding Cubs, especially, since much of the allure of Tanaka is in his ability to deliver value at the back end of his contract.

AL East Notes: Carp, Blue Jays, Yankees, Robertson

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The Yankees dominated the headlines in baseball today with their signing of Masahiro Tanaka.  Earlier today on MLBTR, we looked at some of the reaction and fallout to the big move, while MLBTR's Zach Links took part in a conference call with Yankees GM Brian Cashman.  Here's some more from around the AL East…

  • For now, Mike Carp's future with the Red Sox isn't likely to be impacted by the club's signing of Grady Sizemore, an industry source tells MLB Daily Dish's Chris Cotillo (Twitter link).  Carp received a lot of trade interest earlier this winter and now another left-handed outfield bat has joined the team, Carp could be the odd man out.  I'd guess that Boston wouldn't do anything with Carp, however, until they get a long look at the injury-plagued Sizemore during Spring Training.
  • The Blue Jays' self-imposed five-year limit on free agent contracts is hurting their ability to upgrade the roster, Sportsnet.ca's Shi Davidi opines.  The Jays' inability to develop young talent like the Rays or spend like the Yankees (or Red Sox) leaves them somewhat hamstrung in the tough AL East.
  • While the Yankees' big free agent splurge was necessary to improve the team, Joel Sherman of the New York Post thinks the club needs to focus on more cost-effective strategies.  "It is a horrible business plan, a caveman way to build a roster (no art, all financial bludgeoning). It is a tactic that leaves the Yankees susceptible to this current crew wilting and forcing a rinse, repeat, spend a half a billion in a few more years to cover up more malfeasance in drafting, international signings and development," Sherman writes.  Sherman further explores this idea in a separate piece, with quotes from co-owner Hal Steinbrenner.
  • David Robertson will be the Yankees' closer in 2014, Steinbrenner told Sherman and Dan Martin of the New York Post.  Cashman wasn't quite as firm during a media conference, saying that Robertson is "obviously…the odds-on favorite" but not ruling out any further bullpen additions.
  • In other AL East news from earlier today, the Yankees designated southpaw David Huff for assignment, the Red Sox signed Grady Sizemore and designated Brayan Villarreal for assignment, Zach Links spoke with Sizemore during a conference call, the Orioles may have hit a snag in their agreement with Tyler Colvin and the Rays officially announced a seven-player deal with the Padres.  We also collected more news from Baltimore and Tampa Bay in the latest editions of  Orioles Notes and Rays Notes.

Masahiro Tanaka Reactions And Fallout

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The Masahiro Tanaka saga has come to an end in record-setting fashion. Earlier today, Tanaka agreed to an enormous seven-year, $155MM contract with the Yankees that contains an opt-out clause after the fourth season. Tanaka's $155MM guarantee is the second-largest in history for a free agent pitcher (the largest for a right-hander) and is also the second-largest pitcher contract in history in terms of new money guaranteed. The Tanaka buzz is unlikely to die down in the next couple of days, as pundits dissect the contract and what it means for the Yankees and the free agent market. Here's a look at some of the early reactions to and fallout from the Yankees' staggering investment…

  • New York GM Brian Cashman discussed the deal from the team's perspective in a conference call today, and MLBTR's Zach Links reported on the highlights.
  • ESPN's Buster Olney reports that the Yankees' internal sense is that this concludes their pursuit of major free agents this offseason (Twitter link). 
  • It's little surprise that the team with the biggest need and one of the two biggest revenue bases from which to draw wound up landing Tanaka, writes ESPN's Keith Law (Insider required). Law feels that Tanaka will be one of the 20 to 25 best starters in Major League Baseball in 2014 and notes that the opt-out clause works to the Yankees' advantage, in a way.
  • SB Nation's Rob Neyer writes that while Tanaka is a significant upgrade for the Yankees, it's hyperbolic to suggest that this signing will change the balance of power in the American League.
  • The Cubs were the runner-up in the Tanaka sweepstakes, according to David Kaplan of CSN Chicago (Twitter link). Ultimately, the fact that they're not ready to win in 2014 ended their chances, he elaborates.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Yankees separated themselves, but not by a wide margin. The Dodgers, Cubs, White Sox, Astros and Diamondbacks were all involved in the end. According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, all teams that participated in the second round of bidding had to come in above the six-year, $120MM level.
  • Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com reports that the seventh guaranteed year is what separated the Yankees from the rest of the pack (on Twitter). According to Kaplan (via Twitter), other factors "trumped the possibility of more money," including the influence of Ichiro Suzuki and Hiroki Kuroda and the attractiveness of playing for the game's highest-profile franchise. 
  • The Dodgers wanted Tanaka, but drew a financial line, reports Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times. As Dilbeck explains, the team does have financial limitations that it intends to abide by. "We went as far as we thought we could go," said GM Ned Colletti. 
  • For the White Sox, GM Rick Hahn says that reports of the team's efforts to land Tanaka largely seemed "accurate," reports Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago. Ultimately, however, Hahn says that the money reached a level that the club was not comfortable reaching. The resources that the club would have used to sign Tanaka remain available for a similarly attractive opportunity in the future, Hahn said, but he does not see any in the current market. (Links to Twitter.)
  • MLB.com's Brian McTaggart reports that the Astros' offer to Tanaka exceeded $100MM. McTaggart adds that GM Jeff Luhnow, owner Jim Crane and seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens were among the Astros contingent that went to meet with Tanaka in Los Angeles. 
  • Jack Magruder of FOX Sports Arizona was told that the Diamondbacks would not pursue other free-agent starters if they missed out on Tanaka, as the front office believes the asking prices to be too high (Twitter link). 
  • The Blue Jays were involved initially on Tanaka, but had "no way to compete" once it became clear that he would command seven years, reports John Lott of the National Post. Toronto had been willing to pay the $20MM fee, but was only interested in going to five years on the contract, Lott says. The team was also troubled by the opt-out clause, Lott tweets. Toronto figures to be among the most active teams on remaining free agent starters.
  • Angels GM Jerry Dipoto told reporters, including MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez, that his team was never very involved with Tanaka and did not make a formal offer (Twitter link). As Gonzalez further explains, the Halos will instead either try to fit Matt Garza within the team's approximately $15MM of 2014 budget space or hunt for a good deal from amongst the cheaper open-market options.
  • The Tanaka signing caps a nice run for Casey Close and the Excel Sports Management agency, notes Darren Heitner of Forbes. With an estimated 4% take, those two contracts would deliver a total of $14.8MM to the agency. Heitner notes also that Excel has worked out several notable deals with the Yankees in the past, given its representation of Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira. With its latest run of big contracts, says Heitner, Excel will surely climb the Forbes agency valuation chart.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.

Brian Cashman On Signing Masahiro Tanaka

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Earlier today, the Yankees gave Masahiro Tanaka the largest ever open-market deal for a right-handed free agent pitcher – a seven-year, $155MM pact.  It's the sort of contract that Yankees fans have come to expect from the club over the years, but there were serious doubts heading into this offseason that they would be writing those kinds of checks after about a year of talk of staying under the $189MM luxury tax threshold.  Now, with free agents Tanaka, Carlos Beltran (three years, $45MM), Brian McCann (five years, $85MM), and Jacoby Ellsbury (seven years, $153MM) in the fold, it's hard to see the Bombers staying beneath that line.  On today's conference call, I asked General Manager Brian Cashman when the Yankees decided that they would scrap their fiscally conservative plan. He responded:

"I think Hal Steinbrenner has spoken to that on a number of occasions now, the new basic agreement provided certain benefits if we were on our way to under $189MM, he conveyed that it was a goal, but he has reiterated that it wouldn't come at the expense of putting together a championship team. I think our fans can recognize that Hal Steinbrenner and Hank Steinbrenner [mean it] when they say they intend to put a team on the field that can compete on a yearly basis."

Indeed, the Yankees showed this winter that they were not going to accept a repeat of last season, which ended with an 85-77 finish and no postseason berth.  I asked Cashman if this was the last starting pitcher or significant free agent that the Bombers would add, and while he was largely non-committal, he did acknowledge that "much of the heavy lifting" has already taken place.

Tanaka was widely regarded as the best free agent pitcher on the open market this offseason, despite never having thrown a major league pitch.  His upside and his age made him an extremely hot commodity, but his odometer is of concern to some.  For instance, the Rakuten Golden Eagles allowed him to toss a 160-pitch complete-game loss in Game 6 of the Japanese championship series before throwing 15 pitches in relief the next day.  Cashman says that he and his staff have taken those concerns into account and were willing to forge ahead anyway:

"You always have concerns.  That's always something you can't ignore or deny.  But, I think that as you can see clearly by the competitve bidding on him as a free agent, with his age, talent, the scouting assessments on him, and the pitching market the way it is, it's certainly something that we're still willing to take the risk by acknowledging, yeah, there's a workload there."

The Yankees, despite their worries, came out on top in the bidding process, but Cashman isn't quite sure how much he beat the second-highest bidder by.  The GM was informed that the bidding was "very competitive," but he isn't sure how the other finalists (reportedly including the Dodgers, White Sox, Cubs, and D'Backs) stacked up.  He also confirmed that the opt-out clause included in the deal wasn't initially part of their pitch but instead was requested by agent Casey Close.  Close told Cashman that all of the other serious offers included an opt-out clause and would more-or-less be mandatory if he hoped to land the hurler.

When asked if he shied away from fellow Japanese star Yu Darvish before the 2012 season due to concerns over some of his fellow countrymen not making the grade, Cashman was adamant that he was very interested in his services.  The scouting department was extremely high on the right-hander, but the $50MM+ posting fee that was required was too rich for their blood at the time.  

This time around, the Yankees got their man with a much more reasonable $20MM fee, though the total commitment to Tanaka is much higher than the roughly $108MM the Rangers committed to land Darvish ($51.7MM posting fee and $56MM salary guarantee).  Needless to say, it's a sizable committment, and one that the Yankees made after years of homework. According to Cashman:

"We started evaluating him back in 2007, certainly paying close attention to him in the '09 [World Baseball Classic].  This year we went to 15 of his games including the WBC and we sent a scout to evaluate him in the playoffs as well.  We made a determined effort to know as much as we possibly could."

Yankees Sign Masahiro Tanaka

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After months of drama and speculation, the Masahiro Tanaka saga has come to an end. The Yankees today officially announced that they've signed the Japanese righty to a seven-year contract that is reportedly worth a massive $155MM. The contract provides Tanaka with an opt-out clause after the fourth season and also contains a full no-trade clause. Tanaka is represented by Excel Sports Management — the same agents that negotiated Clayton Kershaw's record-setting extension.

Tanaka-Masahiro

Tanaka's contract is the largest ever open-market deal for a right-handed free agent pitcher and trails only CC Sabathia's $161MM contract (also issued by the Yankees) for the largest free-agent contract ever signed by a pitcher. In terms of "new money," Tanaka's deal eclipses all previous pitcher contracts with the exception of Kershaw and Sabathia. While the total contract values of Justin Verlander ($180MM) and Felix Hernandez ($175MM) both exceed $155MM, each of those deals was an extension on top of two guaranteed years, meaning they contain $140MM and $135.5MM of "new money," respectively, as outlined last year by MLBTR's Tim Dierkes.

Of course, the Yankees are paying more than just $155MM for Tanaka, as they will also owe a $20MM posting fee to the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball — Tanaka's former team in Japan. The Yankees are placing a great deal of faith in Tanaka, making a Felix-Hernandez-sized $175MM investment in order to secure his services.

Tanaka's stats in Japan indicate that he's worth the risk. The 6'2", 205-pound right-hander famously went 24-0 this past season with an unthinkable 1.27 ERA, averaging 7.8 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 0.3 HR/9 and just 7.1 H/9. In his 212 regular-season innings last year, Tanaka's electric fastball and lethal splitter — which is the regarded by some scouts as the best splitter in the world — led to just six home runs by opposing batters. Despite those gaudy numbers, Tanaka is seen by most scouts and evaluators as a No. 2 type of starter in the Major Leagues. While many will be quick to compare him to countryman Yu Darvish, Tanaka is not said to carry that level of upside.

Tanaka suffered just one loss overall in his historic 2013 season — a 160-pitch (yes, 160) complete-game loss in Game 6 of the Japan Series (NPB's championship series). Incredibly, Tanaka asked for the ball the very next day and closed out the Golden Eagles' championship victory by throwing 15 pitches in the series clincher.

Overall, his career numbers are almost as impressive as his 2013 campaign. Tanaka debuted as an 18-year-old in 2007 but still hurled 186 1/3 innings. Since that time, he's pitched to a 2.30 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 1315 career regular-season innings — all coming with the Golden Eagles.

The signing of Tanaka should put to bed any hope of the Yankees remaining under the $189MM luxury tax threshold. Despite losing Robinson Cano to the Mariners this offseason, the Yankees have made mammoth free-agent commitments to Tanaka, Carlos Beltran (three years, $45MM), Brian McCann (five years, $85MM) and Jacoby Ellsbury (seven years, $153MM). Additionally, as shown in MLBTR's Transaction Tracker, they've brought back Hiroki Kuroda (one year, $16MM) and Derek Jeter (one year, $12MM) and signed Matt Thornton (two years, $7MM), Brendan Ryan (two years, $5MM), Kelly Johnson (one year, $3MM) and Brian Roberts (one year, $2MM). That's a total of $483MM in guaranteed money, and the free-agent expenditure jumps to more than half a billion dollars when factoring in Tanaka's $20MM posting fee — although that will be paid in four installments, some of which will come in 2015.

Tanaka was seen as a must-sign pitcher by the Yankees, after seeing Sabathia struggle through the worst season of his career in 2014, seeing Andy Pettitte retire and possessing little in the way of impact arms in their farm system. Tanaka will join Sabathia, Kuroda (who floundered down the stretch in 2013 as well) and Ivan Nova in the Yankees' rotation, with candidates for the fifth spot including Michael Pineda, David Phelps and Vidal Nuno.

Of course, the Yankees could elect to pursue any of the remaining big-name free agent starters as well; Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza, Ervin Santana and Bronson Arroyo are all still free agents, as are less-expensive options such as Paul Maholm and Chris Capuano. The market for free agent starters has been completely halted by the Tanaka saga. Teams have been waiting to see whether or not they will land Tanaka — their top option — while agents for Jimenez, Garza, Santana, etc. have been waiting to make sure they know exactly how many suitors are out there for their clients. For instance, had the D-Backs won the Tanaka sweepstakes, they'd have been out of the bidding for other free agent pitchers. Instead, they now figure to be heavily interested in Garza, as they were at last month's Winter Meetings.

Information on the bidding for Tanaka was kept largely under wraps by the teams and his agents at Excel Sports Management, but the Cubs, White Sox, Dodgers and Diamondbacks were all known to have been players for his services. Tanaka was said to prefer a large market, and while there were rumors that his wife preferred to be on the West Coast, he will instead don Yankee pinstripes for at least four years upon finalizing the record-setting offer. Tanaka will likely fly to the U.S. to take a physical with the Yankees' team doctors between now and the Friday, 5pm ET deadline for completion of his contract.

For Tanaka, this contract affords him the luxury to opt out of his deal and once again test the open market heading into just his age-29 season. Though he may not have an ace-caliber ceiling, should Tanaka pitch to expectations, he would have no trouble eclipsing the remaining three years and $67MM on his contract as a free agent in the 2017-18 offseason.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the agreement and terms of the contract (on Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post provided the year-to-year salaries (Twitter link), and Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported the no-trade clause (also on Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Yankees Designate David Huff For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that they've designated left-hander David Huff for assignment in order to clear a 40-man roster spot for Masahiro Tanaka.

The 29-year-old Huff posted a 4.67 ERA with a 26-to-8 K/BB ratio in 34 2/3 innings for the Yankees in 2013 after being selected off waivers from the Indians. The former supplemental-round pick was taken 39th overall in 2006 but has a career 5.32 ERA in 323 innings between Cleveland and New York. Huff's struggles have primarily come against fellow left-handers, as lefties have clubbed him to the tune of a .311/.381/.519 triple-slash line in his career.

Diamondbacks No Longer In Running For Tanaka

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Reports yesterday indicated that the bidding for Masahiro Tanaka will reach six to seven years and $20MM per season, with the Red Sox and Astros mentioned to seemingly be long shots. Here are today's Tanaka-related links, as the deadline for a decision now looms less than 60 hours away…

  • MLB.com's Steve Gilbert reports that the Diamondbacks are no longer in the running for Tanaka, though he's not sure where exactly Tanaka will end up. This is somewhat of a surprise, as the Snakes were rumored to have made an offer of $120MM over six years, which should certainly be competitive, if accurate. However, Tanaka is said to prefer a major market, so it's fair to speculate that Phoenix may not have appealed to him as much as some of the larger markets that are still in play.
  • Yesterday, the New York Post's Joel Sherman ran down the striking similarity between the Yankees' 2008 pursuit of CC Sabathia and their current pursuit of Tanaka, cautioning that this time, the perception that the Yankees can get what they want by flexing unmatchable financial muscle no longer exists. Sherman also speculates that it's likely that Tanaka's agency, Excel Sports, is seeking an opt-out clause similar to the ones they negotiated for Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.

AL East Notes: Orioles, Yankees, Red Sox

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Here's the latest out of the AL East:

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