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Gio Gonzalez Rumors: Monday

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The Athletics have already traded one of their young starting pitchers this offseason, but it wasn't Gio Gonzalez even though his name is popular on the trade rumor circuit. Here's the latest on the 26-year-old left-hander…

  • The Mets are unlikely to pursue Gonzalez according to Andy Martino of the New York Daily News, with one team official saying talks never moved passed the preliminary phase. “Nothing serious,” said the official, with another source saying they are "unlikely" to continue pursuing the southpaw.
  • Martino says the Athletics asked the Yankees for Jesus Montero and top pitching prospects in exchange for Gonzalez when they discussed his availability earlier this winter.

Yu Darvish Rumors: Sunday

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We're likely still a couple days from receiving any official word from MLB and the Nippon-Ham Fighters on the Yu Darvish bidding results. But in the meantime, rumors continue to swirl. Yesterday, we heard the winning bid for Darvish exceeded the $51MM+ posting record set by the Red Sox on Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2006. With the Blue Jays, Rangers, Yankees, and Cubs among the contenders for the Japanese righty, here are today's Darvish rumors, with the latest up top:

  • The Yankees are "not getting [Darvish]" according to Marc Carig of The Star Ledger, citing a person close to the situation. The winning bid was a "ridiculous number," added Carig's source.
  • Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that he'd be "shocked" if a team besides the Rangers or Blue Jays submitted the highest bid for Darvish.
  • The Cubs' bid was "very low" and they have no illusions of winning the rights to negotiate with Darvish, a source tells Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.

AL East Notes: Beltran, Blue Jays, Orioles, Rays

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Here's the latest from the AL East…

  • The Blue Jays are one of Carlos Beltran's suitors, but ESPN's Buster Olney (Twitter link) wonders if Beltran is similarly serious about coming to Toronto "or if (like some players) he has no interest in playing there."
  • The Orioles re-assigned six pro scouts to their amateur scouting department, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  General manager Dan Duquette says the move is part of the club's push to incorporate more video and statistical analysis in their Major League scouting.
  • To that same sabermetric end, the Orioles have also hired economic advisor Stephen Walters to help gauge players' true values, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun.  Walters, an economics professor at Loyola, worked under Duquette with the Red Sox in 2002 and has also worked for the Cubs organization.
  • John Romano of the St. Petersburg Times thinks the Rays are just one hitter away from the AL pennant.
  • The Red Sox and Yankees have both been relatively quiet this winter, and MLB.com's Anthony Castovince explores how it's unusual to see the two clubs explore more cost-efficient strategies.

Gio Gonzalez Rumors: Friday

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No MLB pitcher has walked more opponents in the past two seasons than Gio Gonzalez and he's about to get expensive through arbitration, yet the Athletics are drawing strong interest in the left-hander. In fairness to Gonzalez, he has reached the 200-inning plateau in each of the past two seasons without posting an ERA above 3.23 and capable pitchers aren't easy to find (though Dave Cameron of FanGraphs has an alternative for teams who don't like the asking price on Gonzalez). Here are the latest rumors on Gonzalez:

  • The Nationals are "all but out" of the Gonzalez sweepstakes, according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com. The Athletics' asking price is "way out of line," Ladson hears.
  • The Mets told the A's they won't include Jonathon Niese, Ike Davis, Matt Harvey, Jenrry Mejia or Jeurys Familia in a deal for Gio Gonzalez, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.
  • The Tigers are on the "outskirts" of the Gonzalez sweepstakes, tweets ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. They aren't upbeat about their chances of trading for him.
  • The A's would love to get a future third baseman in a deal for Gonzalez, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Rangers prospect Mike Olt is one possibility.
  • The A's continue seeking a huge package for Gonzalez, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. Though the Yankees "love" him, they aren't eager to surrender prospects such as Jesus Montero, Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances.
  • The Rangers, who are pursuing Gonzalez and Andrew Bailey, can be expected to try to trade for Gonzalez or Matt Garza if they don't win the bidding on Yu Darvish, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
  • ESPN.com's Buster Olney also reports that the Rangers are likely to pursue Gonzalez if they miss out on Darvish. He tweets that 20-year-old left-hander Martin Perez would "almost have to be" in a deal between the A's and Rangers.
  • The market for Gonzalez and John Danks may pick up once the winner in the Darvish bidding is announced and the Rays decide which of their starting pitchers are available, tweets ESPN.com's Jayson Stark.

Sign-And-Trade Involving Nakajima Possible

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FRIDAY: The Yankees have not discussed a sign-and-trade with Nakajima since winning the bidding for him, ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports (on Twitter).

WEDNESDAY: The Yankees won the bidding for Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be wearing pinstripes in 2012. Agent Greg Genske has approached the Yankees about the possibility of a sign-and-trade, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The Giants and Cubs like Nakajima, according to Rosenthal.

The Yankees won the rights to Nakajima with a bid in the $2MM range last week. They now have 30 days to reach an agreement with the 29-year-old, who will return to the Seibu Lions for another year if he doesn’t sign. Nakajima would like to play every day, but he’s not ruling anything out — even a backup role with the Yankees.

Heyman On Fielder, Moreland, Kuroda

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Agent Scott Boras hasn’t explicitly stated Prince Fielder’s asking price, but one GM with some interest in the free agent first baseman says he knows the target figure. "Isn't it obvious?," the GM asked Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, implying that Fielder will look to approach Albert Pujols’ $254MM deal. Here’s the latest on Fielder, plus other notes from Heyman:

  • Though Rangers people have suggested they're focused on pitching and trades, Heyman says the team talked about deals involving Mitch Moreland. Barring an addition at first base, the Rangers will be relying on Moreland in 2012.
  • The Blue Jays “are said to be thinking long and hard about Fielder.”
  • There’s “no way” Adam Jones is going to Atlanta for Jair Jurrjens, an Orioles person says. The Braves and Orioles discussed a deal involving Jurrjens and Martin Prado, according to FOX Sports. It should be noted that FOX didn’t say Jones was available in trade talks with the Braves.
  • The Yankees seem to like Hiroki Kuroda more than the other free agent pitchers, according to Heyman.

Bidding Period For Yu Darvish Ends

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The deadline for teams to submit bids to the Nippon Ham Fighters for the exclusive rights to negotiate with Yu Darvish passed at 4pm central time today.  Nippon Ham has until 4pm CDT on December 20th to accept or reject the high bid, according to a Japanese report passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker (on Twitter).  The latest updates:

  • The Giants did not bid on Darvish, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link).
  • The A's didn't bid on Darvish, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
  • The Marlins did not bid on Darvish, according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald (on Twitter).
  • The Mets didn't place a bid, Howard Megdal of the Journal News reports.
  • The Yankees' bid is modest, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Indications are the winning bid is "sky high."
  • Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reports (on Twitter) that the Fighters plan to accept the posting bid no matter how large it is.
  • The Nippon Ham Fighters were very excited by how large the high bid was according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Still no word on the the money, though.
  • The Yankees did post a bid, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Twitter link). 
  • The Rays did not bid, according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times (on Twitter).
  • The Angels did not bid on Darvish, according to MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez (on Twitter).
  • Three MLB executives speculated that the Blue Jays and Rangers are candidates to win the bidding for Darvish, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (on Twitter).
  • The Twins did not bid on Darvish, according to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (on Twitter).
  • The Red Sox did not bid on Darvish, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (on Twitter).
  • At least one team submitted a bid on Darvish, according to Jack Curry of the YES Network (on Twitter).  Nippon, which doesn't know the identity of the MLB team that won the bidding, must decide whether to accept the high bid by Tuesday.
  • One MLB official expects an announcement regarding the winning bid tonight or tomorrow morning, tweets Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.
  • The Orioles are not bidding on Darvish, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports (on Twitter).
  • Darvish has more leverage than any previous player coming from Japan to MLB, one executive tells Yahoo's Jeff Passan, because the righty seems willing to stay with the Fighters.  In October, my poll of five agents and one team executive showed that they felt he has the leverage to extract a five or six-year deal worth $72-75MM from the winning team, on top of a posting fee for the Fighters ranging from $30-55MM.  Passan's survey of six executives suggests the Rangers and Blue Jays are favorites for Darvish and the Nationals, Yankees, and Mariners may submit bids.  Darvish appears to have a strong preference for the West Coast.  Passan feels that the higher the posting fee gets, the less likely Darvish is to sign.
  • In a poll of over 26,000 MLBTR readers yesterday, 27% felt the Yankees would win the bid, followed by 17% for the Blue Jays and 15% for the Rangers.

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Nakajima, Martin, Ortiz

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Alex Rodriguez signed the largest contract in baseball history on this date four years ago, going back to the Yankees for $275MM over ten years. He did help the Yankees to a World Championship two seasons ago, but it's tough to see that deal having a happy ending. Here's the latest from the AL East…

  • The Red Sox are expected to exceed the $178MM luxury tax threshold next season according to WEEI.com's Alex Speier. The team will try to stay close to the threshold to minimize the penalty, however.
  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman told David Waldstein of The New York Times that he has continued to negotiate with the agent for Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, but the two sides aren't close to a deal. The Yankees won Nakajima's negotiating rights last week.
  • Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com says (on Twitter) that people with the Orioles have given him the impression they were unwilling to offer David Ortiz a two-year contract before he accepted the Red Sox's offer of arbitration.
  • “We will see, I couldn’t say because it hasn’t been discussed," said Cashman to George A. King III of The New York Post when asked if a multi-year deal for Russell Martin was possible. The Yankees tendered all of their eligible players contracts yesterday, including Martin, who is arbitration-eligible for the fourth time as a Super Two.

Minor Moves: Yankees, Jeroloman, Carpenter

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Today's minor moves…

  • The Yankees outrighted Colin Curtis to Triple-A and announced that Greg Golson is now a free agent, according to Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger (on Twitter).
  • The Twins confirmed the loss of Jim Hoey, adding that they outrighted recently-claimed shortstop Pedro Florimon to bring their 40-man roster count to 38.
  • The Blue Jays also confirmed the claim of Jim Hoey today, also noting they've outrighted catcher Brian Jeroloman and righty Drew Carpenter.  Their 40-man roster is now full.
  • The Brewers announced they've signed first baseman Travis Ishikawa to a minor league deal, and also confirmed their signing of Mike Rivera.  Ishikawa was designated for assignment by the Giants in March, and after clearing waivers went on to hit .251/.368/.383 in 211 Triple-A plate appearances.  Ishikawa injured his non-throwing shoulder in June while playing right field and had surgery that month.  His agent Jim McDowell tells MLBTR Ishikawa was cleared for baseball activities two months ago and will be at full strength for 2012.

Yankees Win Rights To Hiroyuki Nakajima

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Saturday, 2:41pm: Nakajima spoke to Nikkan Sports (Japanese link) about the Yankees submitting the top bid.  "I thought 'whoa!'. I got a bid from a great team," said the shortstop before adding that he doesn't know how everything will turn out.  Thanks to Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker for the translation.

Thursday, 6:18am: ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that the question is being explored as to whether or not the Yankees will trade Nakajima, as they don't really have a role for them on their club.

Wednesday, 6:43pm: Given the low salary Nakajima figures to receive, the Yankees aren't confident they'll sign the infielder, tweets Heyman. Nakajima could decide to stay in Japan.

11:34am: The Yankees won the bid for about $2MM, tweets Jon Heyman.  Noting Nakajima's preference to play for a West Coast team, Rosenthal wonders if he'll be willing to be a utility player for the Yankees.  

11:18am: The Yankees won the rights to negotiate with Nakajima, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  They now have 30 days to work out a deal with him.

11:08am: The Yankees submitted a posting bid on Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima with an eye on using him in a utility role, tweets David Waldstein.  One person believes the Yankees won the bid, but Waldstein has not yet confirmed that.  The Seibu Lions should announce the winning bidder today.

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