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AL East Notes: Ellsbury, Red Sox, Yankees, Breslow

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As we celebrate Memorial Day, we have a full slate of interleague baseball to take in.  It's Subway Series time in New York as the Yankees are in Queens to take on the Mets.  The Bombers are tied atop the AL East with the Red Sox thanks to Boston's three consecutive wins against the Indians, but the Yankees could gain some separation with a strong showing against their crosstown rivals.  Here's more out of the AL East…

  • Jacoby Ellsbury's free agency will be extra complicated thanks to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, something that Michael Bourn knows all about, Tim Britton of The Providence Journal writes.  “It was tough,” Bourn said of his value being affected by draft pick compensation. “You really can’t change anything about it. It affected people in different ways if you had that attached to you. It's part of the process and you just have to deal with it now. You aren't going to change anything by pouting about it.”
  • Before claiming left-handed reliever David Huff off waivers from the Indians, the Yankees asked the Pirates about Mike Zagurski, writes George A. King III of the New York Post.  The Bucs said no, however, and selected Zagurski's contract this morning after transferring Jeff Karstens to the 60-day disabled list.
  • After he was released from the Brewers' High-A affiliate in 2004, Craig Breslow almost gave up on baseball to pursue a career in orthopedic surgery or sports medicine, writes Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal.  Nine years later, Breslow is a bona fide major league reliever for the Red Sox.  The left-hander is in the first multi-year deal of his career, a two-year, $6.25MM pact with a $4MM team option for 2015.

AL East Notes: Rays, Red Sox, Uehara, Yankees

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Earlier today, we learned that while Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli has yet to hear from the club on an extension, he is open to talks with the club.  The veteran told his agent that the environment in Boston is better than the one in Texas, which is saying a lot considering how much he enjoyed his time with the Rangers.  Here's more out of the American League East..

  • The Rays' unusual pitching depth has proven to be quite valuable, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  "Compared to other organizations, there is a tremendous amount of depth," said pitcher Jake Odorizzi, who was brought over from the Royals. "The whole Triple-A pitching staff has the ability to be here. You usually don't see that with an entire staff at the upper levels."  There's always trade talk surrounding Tampa Bay and their surplus starters, but injuries have shown the value in hanging on to pitching depth.
  • The Red Sox's offseason pickups are looking strong so far in 2013, writes John Tomase of the Boston Herald.  Right-hander Koji Uehara gets an A on Tomase's report card as he has been the team's most consistent reliever.  Napoli gets an A-minus in spite of his high strikeout rate thanks to his overall offensive production.
  • While the Yankees and Mets are heading in different directions, Joe Girardi finds himself on equal footing with Terry Collins, writes Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record.
  • This morning, the Yankees designated Ben Francisco for assignment.

Yankees Designate Ben Francisco For Assignment

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The Yankees have designated Ben Francisco for assignment, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (via Twitter). The move will create room for the newly-acquired David Huff on the roster.

Francisco, 31, has hit just .114/.220/.182 in 50 plate appearances this season. The Bombers signed the outfielder to a minor league deal in March after he was cut loose by the Indians. Francisco played for the Blue Jays, Astros, and Rays in 2012 and posted a combined .240/.285/.385 batting line with four home runs in 207 total plate appearances.

Cafardo On Napoli, Red Sox, Royals, Yankees

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In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe credits Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly for not avoiding difficult subjects.  Mattingly has been less than thrilled with the club, which hasn't produced much despite its hefty price tag.  “They wanted to make a big splash with the new ownership,” said an American League executive. “They wanted to show their fans they were going to spend the money and put what they thought was the best team on the field money could buy. Well, not so much. You can win with All-Star teams. The Yankees have won with one. But the mix has to be right.”  As far as Cafardo is concerned, Mattingly doesn't deserve to be fired.  Here's more from today's column..

  • Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli has not heard from the club on an extension.  Meanwhile, he has told his agent, Brian Grieper, that the environment around the team is even better than it was in Texas, which Napoli thought was great.  Grieper said he’s open to talks, but “we’ll let it play out and show during the course of the season that Mike is healthy.”  
  • The combination of Elliot Johnson and Chris Getz at second base isn't getting it done for the Royals and they're on the lookout for help.  It won't be easy, however, and with Miguel Tejada now 39, he wouldn’t seem to be the answer, either.  The Royals knew coming into the season that they might struggle offensively at the position, and they have. 
  • Chris Bootcheck is having a resurgence at the Yankees’ Triple A affiliate, posting a 2.80 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.  The Yankees haven’t called the right-hander up yet and he has a late-June opt-out.  If he’s still pitching well, he would be in demand.
  • If Reid Ryan's thinking is similar to his father's, then there might not be much room for a lot of statistics-driven analysis with the Astros under their new regime.
  • Some have wondered if Roy Oswalt has lost the fire to pitch.  He'll have four starts for the Rockies' Double-A affiliate to show that he's still got it and worthy of a callup to the big league roster.

Yankees Claim David Huff, Designate Rondon

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The Yankees announced that they have claimed David Huff off of waivers.  To make room on the roster, the club designated Francisco Rondon for assignment.

Huff, 28, has a 5.40 ERA with 5.1 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 across 52 career big league starts and six relief appearances.  Huff was designated for assignment by the Indians just two days ago in order to make room on the roster for fellow southpaw Scott Barnes.  The hurler, who was drafted 39th overall in 2006, made just three relief appearances during his short stint with Cleveland's varsity squad.

Rondon, 25, has yet to reach the major leagues.  He has been with the club's' Double-A affiliate in Trenton with less-than-stellar results, posting a 7.46 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 6.4 BB/9 across 35 innings this season.

Quick Hits: Yankees, Dodgers

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The Yankees and Dodgers have far and away the game's highest Opening Day payrolls, but have had polar opposite results thus far. While the Yanks were supposed to be the team that failed to deliver performance commensurate with its big spending, they sit atop the AL East with a robust 29-18 record. The Dodgers, meanwhile, are buried seven games back in the basement of the NL West, sporting a 19-27 mark after a listless showing against the Cardinals last night at Dodger Stadium. Let's take a look at the latest on these clubs:

  • It has been a comedy of injuries this year for the Yankees, with a steady flow of DL stints nevertheless failing to slow the team's winning ways. Last night brought more of the same, as two key players — outfielder Curtis Granderson and starter David Phelps — left the team's 9-4 drubbing of the Rays. MLB.com's Bryan Hoch had the story. Phelps, who was hit on the arm by a come-backer, appears to have escaped significant injury and is expected to make his next scheduled start. Granderson was not so lucky. After suffering a broken forearm on a hit-by-pitch during Spring Training, causing him to miss the first month and a half of the year, Granderson only logged 31 big league plate appearances before being struck by another inside pitch. This time, the ball broke a knuckle on his left hand. The preliminary word is that he will miss a minimum of four weeks. The path to a substantial free agent pay day is now murkier for the big left-handed bat, who is set to hit the market after the season. It seems unlikely, at this point, that Granderson will have more than half of a season of performance in his walk year. While he has been a consistent home run and stolen base threat for much of his career, teams will certainly watch closely to see whether his arm and hand injuries sap his power as he finishes off his age-32 season.
  • For the Yankees, the loss of Granderson appears unlikely to warrant an immediate look outside the organization. As Hoch tweeted yesterday evening, and confirmed today, the club will call up outfielder Brennan Boesch. The Yanks nabbed Boesch late in the spring due in part to the fact that he still had an option year. He saw 45 unremarkable plate appearances early in the season, slashing .209/.244/.419, but was optioned in mid-May and has struggled to a .179/.343/.214 slash in limited action at Triple-A.
  • A swirl of news around a manager is generally not a good thing, and that is certainly the case with the Dodgers' Don Mattingly. Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times explains that, with Mattingly taking on an increasingly combative persona, the skipper may be going down with a fight, but seems to be going down nonetheless. Team president Stan Kasten, along with GM Ned Colletti, expressed agreement with Mattingly's attempts to light a fire under the team. And Kasten did say that Mattingly's job was not at risk. But he also made clear that it would be if the team can't reverse its fortunes: "I do expect us to turn it around, and because of that, I expect Donnie to be here for a long time. There's another side of that, if things don't go well."
  • Meanwhile, internal discord seemingly failed to die down after Mattingly recently called out highly-paid outfielder Andre Ethier. While Ethier expressed surprise and hurt at the public questioning of his effort and toughness, and said he had not even discussed the issue with Mattingly, the manager continued to see things differently. "Guys who play the game right, they don't have any problem with anything I'm saying," said Mattingly. "So I can't even come close to backing off things I said the other day. I feel exactly that way." But was Ethier right that the manager had not even talked about his comments with the player? "I'm getting old and my memory is going, but we definitely talked." Needless to say, this public feud only further reduces L.A.'s leverage should it look to move Ethier's big contract and so-far sluggish bat.

Quick Hits: Beltran, D’Backs, Montero, Draft, Cashner

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Epifanio "Epi" Guerrero, one of the key figures in the history of Dominican baseball, passed today at age 71.  Guerrero signed a number of notable international talents (including Cesar Cedeno, Carlos Delgado and Tony Fernandez) while working in the Astros, Yankees, Blue Jays and Brewers organizations as a scout and coach during a career that began in 1965.  Guerrero was one of the first scouts to be involved in the development of the academy system that gave countless young Dominican prospects chances at a professional career.  We here at MLBTR extend our condolences to Guerrero's friends and family on his passing.

Here are some news items from around the baseball world…

  • While it has been assumed that the Cardinals will part ways with Carlos Beltran after this season, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch thinks both Beltran and the Cardinals could benefit from Beltran re-signing a short-term contract, provided the veteran was willing to take a hometown discount.  While Miklasz has a point that Beltran is a surer thing to produce for a contender than youngsters like Oscar Taveras or Matt Adams, I would be surprised if Beltran returned to St. Louis in 2014.  If the Cards were confident enough in their young talent to let Albert Pujols and Kyle Lohse go, they'll do with the same with Beltran.
  • The Diamondbacks may not need to make any major moves before the trade deadline, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal writes.  The Snakes have depth at several positions and further reinforcements are coming as some injured players return from the disabled list.  The only possible area of need could be at closer given J.J. Putz's elbow problems but GM Kevin Towers is "100% confident" that Putz will recover.
  • The Mariners talked with Jesus Montero about a long-term contract before he was linked to the Biogenesis scandal, but nothing came of those conversations, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets.  Earlier today, the M's demoted the 23-year-old to Triple-A.
  • If MLB announces that an international draft will take place in 2014, Baseball America's Ben Badler notes that teams like the Rangers, Yankees, Cardinals or Reds (who are likely to pick near the end of that draft's first round) could be wise to exceed the spending cap on international prospects this year.  Such teams would lose their 2014 or '15 international draft first-rounder for going over the cap, but it could be worth it to get a jump on the non-American/Canadian talent market.
  • MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo profiles some of the top corner infielders in the upcoming amateur draft, a list led by University of San Diego third baseman Kris Bryant.
  • ESPN's Keith Law discusses draft prospects, minor leaguers and other moves from around the game in a live chat with fans.
  • Andrew Cashner is making great strides as a starting pitcher for the Padres, MLB.com's Corey Brock writes.  Cashner has a 2.80 ERA in six starts for the Friars in 2013 after being limited to mostly bullpen work over his first three seasons due to injuries and concerns about his arm strength.  If Cashner develops into a solid starter, it will obviously give the Padres a much greater return on the Anthony Rizzo trade from January 2012.
  • The Rays' pitching depth is the envy of baseball, MLB.com's Bill Chastain writes, and that depth at the Major League level gives all their minor league arms time to properly develop into the club's next generation of rotation stalwarts.

MLBTR's Zach Links contributed to this post

Mariners To Demote Jesus Montero

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Mariners catcher Jesus Montero will be sent to Triple-A Tacoma today, reports Ryan Divish of The News Tribune.  Catcher Jesus Sucre will be selected to join the big league club, and it appears Montero won't do much catching at Triple-A.

It was a blockbuster challenge trade of two extremely promising and valuable young players. Montero had 18 excellent big league games for the Yankees under his belt when he was sent to the Mariners in January 2012.  The principal player coming to New York in the deal was soon-to-be 23-year-old righty Michael Pineda, who had averaged nearly 95 miles per hour on his fastball as a rookie, made the All-Star team, and finished fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting.  Young players of this caliber are rarely traded.  Things went south quickly for Pineda, as decreased velocity in his second Spring Training start was a harbinger of a shoulder injury that would lead to surgery in May 2012.  What's more, Pineda was arrested for a DUI in August of that year.  Pineda continues to work his way back from the surgery, with the expectation of making his Yankee debut this year.  Whether Pineda's rookie campaign was the high point in his career is anybody's guess.

Montero's first full season in 2012 was disappointing.  Known almost entirely for his offensive prowess, he posted a .260/.298/.386 line in 553 plate appearances.  Montero caught in 56 games, serving as DH in 78.  In a full-time catching role this year, he did even less with the bat.  As "a man without a position," as Divish puts it, the bar for Montero to become a regular designated hitter in the Majors is quite high.  Oh, and the reported connection to Biogenesis doesn't help.

There were a couple of additional players in the Montero-Pineda swap.  The Mariners acquired righty Hector Noesi, who hasn't impressed in 120 1/3 big league innings so far.  The Yankees added prospect Jose Campos, rated their fifth-best by Baseball America prior to the season.  Campos made only five starts last year in low A ball, missing most of the season due to a bone bruise or a small fracture in his elbow.  The injury has Campos on an innings limit in the 85-90 range this year.

One year and four months after the exciting Montero-Pineda swap, the players involved in the trade are a mess across the board, which leads to today's poll: which pair of players do you prefer moving forward? 

Which pair of players do you prefer moving forward?
Michael Pineda and Jose Campos 67.79% (6,933 votes)
Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi 32.21% (3,294 votes)
Total Votes: 10,227

Yankees Notes: Kuroda, Bullpen, Adams

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The Yankees have turned reclamation projects such as Travis Hafner, Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells into a 1.5 game lead over the Red Sox for first place in the American League East. They'll face the rival Orioles today as Hiroki Kuroda heads to the mound. Here's more on Kuroda and the Bronx Bombers for your Wednesday morning reading…

  • Kuroda has quietly become one of the best free agent signings in Yankees history, writes Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal. Kuroda wasn't even the top Yankees headline on the day he signed, Costa notes, as that contract came on the same day as the Michael Pineda/Jesus Montero trade. However, Kuroda's dominance on one-year deals with no long-term risk makes him an incredible value.
  • The success of the non-Mariano Rivera members of the Yankees' bullpen will help Hal Steinbrenner come close to achieving his goal of getting under the $189MM luxury tax threshhold in 2014, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. David Robertson should have the first crack as Rivera's successor, but beyond his salary, the Yankees will have little in the way of payroll commitment in the bullpen. Rivera, Joba Chamberlain and Boone Logan all figure to be off the books, and the Yankees have solid in-house alternatives.
  • David Adams is a rarity among the current crop of Yankees, writes Scott Cacciola of the New York Times, as he was drafted and developed by the organization rather than acquired via free agency or trade. Cacciola spoke with Adams and manager Joe Girardi about the 26-year-old's recent promotion.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Red Sox, Ellsbury

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The Yankees will now be partners in a new Major League Soccer franchise, as announced on MLB.com. "We look forward to the opportunity to work with Manchester City to create something very special for the soccer fans of New York — and to bringing another terrific team to this city for all sports fans to enjoy," stated Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner.  This isn't the Bombers' first foray into the world of soccer as they had a marketing partnership with Manchester United during their "YankeeNets" phase.  Here's a look at tonight's other news from the American League East..

  • Ben Francisco's days with the Yankees may be coming to an end, opines Mike Axisa of the River Avenue Blues blog. The 31-year-old outfielder has struggled to provide an impact in New York, hitting for just a .114/220/.182 line in 50 plate appearances so far this season.  
  • Jacoby Ellsbury has not played as the Red Sox would have hoped in his contract year, notes Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald. Lauber compares Ellsbury to Red Sox teammates Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino, as both performed below expectations during their final seasons before hitting free agency.  Ellsbury is off to a .241/.303/.335 start in a league-leading 208 PA.  
  • Lauber also discusses how the two-year, $10MM deal Jonny Gomes signed with the Red Sox has affected the outfielder.  While Gomes has gotten off to a slow start in 2013, Lauber argues that the security of a multiyear deal has helped the 32-year-old focus on providing leadership to younger Red Sox players.  
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