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AL Notes: A-Rod, Moreland, Twins, Figgins

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MLB was ready to pass expanded replay and eliminate home plate collisions at last month's Winter Meetings. However, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, the main hurdle is union approval. In an email to FOX Sports, MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark wrote the union's executive board discussed both issues "at length" during its December meeting, but "a consensus on both matters was not reached." Clark added "what has been contemplated exceeds what was agreed to" in regards to instant replay and "as it relates to home plate collisions, there are several points of view to explore with the players and we continue to do so." In today's news and notes from the American League:

  • The Yankees will not make a final decision about how to handle the possibility of Alex Rodriguez reporting to Spring Training until speaking with the comissioner's office, reports ESPNNewYork.com's Andrew Marchand. One baseball official told Marchand the Yankees could send Rodriguez to their minor league camp and even go as far as instructing coaches not to hit him grounders or throw him batting practice.  
  • The only reason for Rodriguez to attend Spring Training is to give the media even more A-Rod headlines next month, opines Jayson Stark of ESPN. Several industry sources familiar with baseball's Basic Agreement and Joint Drug Agreement tell Stark neither agreement explicitly gives a player suspended for the season the right to attend Spring Training with one official calling the wording "intentionally vague."
  • The Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League have released a statement on their Facebook page saying they will not sign A-Rod and doing so "would be a hurtful precedent." However, the San Rafael Pacifics of the independent Pacific Association are open to the possibility, tweets the San Francisco Chronicle's John Shea, who first wrote about the team's interest last August. In the article, Shea notes the Pacific Association does not adhere to MLB suspensions and has no mandatory drug testing.
  • Mitch Moreland told reporters, including Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com, he still isn't sure whether he will playing for the Rangers or elsewhere in 2014. "They’ve definitely made a lot of moves and have been very active this offseason," Moreland said. "From what I know right now, I’m still here and still a Texas Ranger and happy to be here and looking forward to the season." Earlier today, we learned Texas has been unwilling to discuss Moreland in trade talks. If that remains the case, Moreland says he has been told his role will be changing and he will use Spring Training to prepare himself to play first base, the outfield, and DH. 
  • The Twins are still showing no interest in exploring multi-year pacts with any of their three arbitration eligible players, tweets Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a total of $4.8MM for the trio of Trevor Plouffe, Brian Duensing, and Anthony Swarzak. In a separate tweet, Berardino reports an arbitration hearing will probably not be needed for Swarzak because the salary gap should be pretty narrow. The filing deadline is Tuesday. 
  • After sitting out 2013, Chone Figgins wants to play this season and will work out for teams in Tampa this week, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. After a .298/.395/.393 line with the Angels in 2009, Figgins signed a four-year, $36MM deal with the Mariners and proceeded to struggle in Seattle with a .227/.302/.283 slash over the life of the contract.

Yankees To Sign Scott Sizemore

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3:50pm: Sizemore has opt-out dates of May 1 and August 1, if he isn't on the Yankees' 25-man roster, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. In a second tweet, Sherman reports Sizemore had two Major League offers, but saw more opportunities with the Yankees. 

10:55am: The Yankees have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Scott Sizemore, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).  Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reported earlier today that the two sides were close to an agreement.  Sizemore is represented by ACES.

Sizemore missed the entire 2012 season after tearing his left ACL, and played in just two games in 2013 before suffering the same injury.  The Athletics outrighted Sizemore off their 40-man roster in November and the Marlins were rumored to be interested in his services this offseason.  Sizemore, 29, hit .239/.329/.382 with 14 homers over 592 career PA with the A's and Tigers in 2010-11 and was a contender to be an everyday player for Oakland before his knee injuries.

With his experience at both second and third base, Sizemore is a potential good depth fit for the Yankees' bench as the Bombers look to replace both Robinson Cano and the suspended Alex Rodriguez.  Kelly Johnson is the favorite for the starting job at one of the two infield positions, with Eduardo Nunez also capable of playing both positions and Brian Roberts in the mix at second.

Edward Creech contributed to this post.

Yankees Notes: Infield, A-Rod, Payroll

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The fallout over Alex Rodriguez's suspension for the entire 2014 season is still settling over both the Bronx and the entire baseball world.  Here's the latest on both A-Rod and other Yankee-related topics…

  • The Yankees will "most likely" not sign another infielder to a Major League contract, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).  As Rosenthal notes, that would take the Yankees out of the running for Stephen Drew and Michael Young.  Drew might've been a long shot anyway given Scott Boras' salary demands and the fact that Drew is a natural shortstop, though Young and Mark Reynolds were reportedly both on the Yankees' radar.  Reynolds, however, has already rejected a minor league offer from the club and only wants a Major League deal.
  • The 162-game suspension will reduce Rodriguez's salary to just under $2.87MM for 2014, though Forbes Magazine's Maury Brown notes that the Yankees will pay A-Rod $3MM on Wednesday in the last instalment of his original $10MM signing bonus.  Brown's piece also looks at several other facets of Rodriguez's suspension, including possible implications for the MLBPA and future PED testing rules.
  • Rodriguez's suspension gives the Yankees millions in salary relief, a situation that The Denver Post's Troy Renck and FOX Sports' Gabe Kapler both see as a sign that MLB needs to do more to penalize teams who have players suspended for PED violations.  Renck suggests that wins could be removed from a team's record, while Kapler suggests that a team should pay a suspended player his full salary, but the player would then have to donate his salary while under suspension to an MLB-approved charity.
  • "The hard reality is that no matter what you think of A-Rod, the Yankees brought this situation upon themselves, purely out of greed," ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews writes, noting that Rodriguez's contract was negotiated by Yankees upper management above GM Brian Cashman's objections.  Matthews suggests that the club could just release Rodriguez and pay the remaining $61MM on his contract just to avoid the distractions if A-Rod shows up at Spring Training as planned.
  • From earlier today, the Yankees agreed to sign infielder Scott Sizemore to a minor league deal.

Yankees Close To Agreement With Scott Sizemore

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The Yankees and infielder Scott Sizemore are close to an agreement on a minor league contract, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reports (via Twitter).  Sizemore, who just turned 29 years old last week, is represented by ACES.

Sizemore played in 91 games as a third baseman in 2011 and he'd give New York some more depth at the hot corner in the wake of Alex Rodriguez's suspension for the entire 2014 season.  Most of Sizemore's pro experience has some at second base, so he could be an option at that spot as well should Kelly Johnson end up getting the call at third.

Of course, just getting back to the field at all would be an accomplishment for Sizemore, who has missed all but two games of the 2012-13 seasons due to two seperate tears of his left ACL.  Prior to the injuries, Sizemore had hit .239/.329/.382 with 14 homers over 592 career PA with Oakland and Detroit, joining the A's in May 2011 in a swap that sent David Purcey to the Tigers.  The Athletics outrighted Sizemore off their 40-man roster in November and the Marlins were rumored to be interested in his services this offseason.

Reynolds Unlikely To Return To Yankees

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Mark Reynolds is unlikely to return to the Yankees, Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News tweets, citing a source who says the Yanks have only offered the infielder a minor-league deal. "He won't take that," Feinsand says.

Reynolds, 30, clubbed six homers for the Yankees in 36 games after they brought him on in August, compiling a .236/.300/.455 line in New York overall. While that OBP is a step down from Reynolds' .329 career average, it's generally a vintage Reynolds line: big power and a low batting average fueled by one of the game's highest strikeout rates. Some have speculated that the Bombers might try to re-up with Reynolds now that they can be certain Alex Rodriguez won't be manning third base for the club in 2014. However, it now appears that they're not interested in anything beyond a minimal commitment.

Stephen Drew is the top left-side infielder remaining on the free agent market, though the Red Sox extended him a qualifying offer. Michael Young is another option, and the Yanks already have Kelly Johnson in the fold.

More React To Rodriguez Suspension

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Let's round up more reactions to the news that Alex Rodriguez will be suspended for 162 games:

  • Wendy Thurm writes for Fangraphs that the Rodriguez affair has brought uncertainty to how baseball treats PED-related offenses. For example, it's still unclear what provisions of the Joint Drug Agreement and the Collective Bargaining Agreement Commissioner Bud Selig used to decide on his original suspension of 211 games. And unless arbitrator Frederic Horowitz's opinion is released, we won't know what JDA and CBA sections were cited when that penalty was reduced to 162 games.
  • Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports opines that MLB's victory obscures a larger problem for baseball: that PED-related stories threaten to overwhelm the sport. Stars like Rodriguez and Ryan Braun have become "corporations of one" who "keep PEDs in the news — first by using, then by perpetuating legal challenges because they have the resources to do so."
  • Dave D'Alessandro of The Star-Ledger says it's time for A-Rod and the Yankees to negotiate a buyout for the rest of his contract. While Rodriguez has threatened further litigation, doing so would merely allow the Yankees to file a countersuit for the $61MM that he's owed from 2015-2017, according to D'Alessandro.
  • A-Rod's career may be over, Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes. Rodriguez will be 39 1/2 years old when he's reinstated in 2015 and have just two months' worth of games on his resume since the end of the 2012 season. 
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says several factors in the case portend a contentious round of negotiations when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires in 2016. Baseball managed to obtain the largest PED suspension in the game's history even though A-Rod never tested positive, and used questionable investigative tactics to build its case against the infielder. "Now more than ever, [players] need to fight for due process and protect their rights," Rosenthal warns.

Yankees Notes: Kuroda, Third Base, A-Rod

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Hiroki Kuroda gave the Yankees "top priority" this offseason after he decided to pitch another year, the hurler tells Sponichi (via an article by Mike Axisa of River Avenue Blues). Kuroda says the Yankees approached him about an extension as early as August. As Axisa notes, the episode is another indication that the Yankees have abandoned their "no extensions" policy. Here's more Yankees notes, with a heavy emphasis on Alex Rodriguez, who will be suspended for the entire 2014 season:

  • The A-Rod suspension gives the Yanks a much better chance of getting under the $189MM luxury tax threshold, but they'll also need to find someone to play third base, Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News writes. While the Yankees have Kelly Johnson in the fold, he's played just 16 games at third in his Major League career. 
  • Other potential fits include Mark Reynolds and Michael Young. Reynolds, you may remember, played 36 games in pinstripes last season. There's also Dustin Ackley and Nick Franklin of the Mariners, whom another source says the Yankees expressed interest in at the Winter Meetings. A trade may not be in the cards, however, McCarron says.
  • ESPN's Jerry Crasnick examines the fallout from the suspension, noting that cases such as Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro indicate A-Rod has little chance of entering the Hall of Fame. Meanwhile, Commissioner Bud Selig can now argue that he's left the game "in a better place."
  • While Rodriguez plans to take his case to federal court, Ian O'Connor of ESPN New York opines that such a bid is also unlikely to succeed. "Federal judges historically have little interest in hearing cases already settled in collectively bargained arbitration," O'Connor writes.
  • Daniel Lazaroff, a professor at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, says A-Rod winning an injunction that would allow him to play in 2014 "is about as likely as the 'steroid-era' players being elected to the Hall of Fame." Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times has more from Lazaroff in his column on the suspension.
  • Peter Schmuck of The Baltimore Sun expects a long court battle, which might be A-Rod's "only chance to preserve any semblance of a legacy."

Minor Moves: Coello, Braddock, Keppel, Manzella

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Here are today's minor moves from around baseball.

  • The Yankees have signed righty reliever Robert Coello to a minor-league deal, Baseball America's Matt Eddy tweets. Coello, 29, pitched 17 innings for the Angels in 2013, posting a 3.71 ERA with 12.2 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9.
  • The Padres have signed lefty Zach Braddock, tweets Eddy. Braddock last appeared in the Majors with the Brewers in 2011. He spent last season pitching for the Lancaster Barnstormers in the independent Atlantic League.
  • The Reds have signed pitcher Bobby Keppel to a minor-league deal, Eddy tweets. Keppel, 31, has pitched for the Royals, Rockies and Twins, but he spent the past four season with the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan. Last season, he posted a 6.14 ERA with 3.9 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9 in 36 2/3 innings there.
  • The Diamondbacks have signed shortstop Tommy Manzella to a minor-league deal that does not include a spring training update, according to MLB Daily Dish's Chris Cotillo (on Twitter). The light-hitting Manzella, who last appeared in the big leagues with the 2010 Astros, played in the Rockies, Blue Jays and White Sox organizations in 2013, splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A.

Reactions To A-Rod Suspension Decision

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Now that the results of Alex Rodriguez's appeal have been released, the Yankees' relationship to the 2014 luxury tax is somewhat clearer. Their balance so far is about $151.5MM, via Joel Sherman and Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. That figure does not include arbitration-eligible players and other costs, including insurance as well as in-season player promotions. Here are more notes on Rodriguez's suspension, which now covers the entire 2014 regular season and postseason.

  • Even though he is not allowed to play in 2014, A-Rod still plans to attend Spring Training, tweets ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews, who cites sources close to A-Rod who believe the Yankees can't prevent him from doing so.
  • Major League Baseball has not yet said what it thinks about Rodriguez attending spring training, FOX Sports' Jon Morosi tweets.
  • A-Rod's suspension could end his career, Sherman writes. He won't be eligible to play again until he's 39, and he'll have been away from MLB action for the better part of two seasons. If the Yankees were to let him go, it's questionable whether any other team would pick him up, even at the minimum salary, given the "carnival" that surrounds him.

Alex Rodriguez Suspension Now 162 Games

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The result of Alex Rodriguez's appeal is in, and he will be suspended for 162 games, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. Rodriguez plans to appeal the suspension in federal court. The suspension will cover the full 2014 season, and also the postseason, Yahoo! Sports' Tim Brown tweets. The suspension previously was 211 games. Even though the suspension was reduced, the decision by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz appears to be a victory for Major League Baseball, which won a suspension for A-Rod that goes far beyond those of other first-time PED offenders.

"The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one," says Rodriguez in a statement released on his Facebook page. "I am confident that when a Federal Judge reviews the entirety of the record … the judge will find that the panel blatantly disregarded the law and facts, and will overturn the suspension."

The MLBPA, meanwhile, says in a statement that it disagrees with the arbitrator's decision, but respects the process that led to it. "We recognize that a final and binding decision has been reached, however, and we respect the collectively-bargained arbitration process which led to the decision," says the union.

A-Rod's suspension for the entire season means the Yankees will save about $24.3MM against the 2014 luxury tax threshold. Rodriguez's luxury-tax figure is $27.5MM, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post notes (via Twitter) that the Yankees will be assessed about $3.16MM of that, since 183 days, and not 162, counts as a year. In any case, the suspension could help the Yankees get below the $189MM threshold, if they choose. The Yankees will also save $25MM in salary.

That savings could give the Yankees more flexibility to pursue Masahiro Tanaka or other free agents. Also, the Yankees may now look for another option at third base, even though they have Kelly Johnson — a report earlier today indicated that they could consider Michael Young or Mark Reynolds, both of whom are free agents.

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