Edinson Volquez Looking For $20MM Deal
Free agent starter Edinson Volquez is looking for a two-year, $20MM contract this offseason, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets. Volquez, 31, is coming off a strong season with the Pirates in which he pitched 192 2/3 innings with a 3.04 ERA, 6.5 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 while also posting an excellent 50.1% ground ball rate.
Prior to the 2014 season, Volquez had struggled badly with his control, posting BB/9 rates of 4.0 or greater in his previous six seasons and leading the NL with 105 walks in 2012. His always-tantalizing stuff and good work in Pittsburgh should earn him a healthy deal, however — two years and $20MM isn’t at all out of line with the two years and $18MM MLBTR’s Zach Links predicted for Volquez in October. The Twins have shown interest in Volquez, and the Pirates would also reportedly like to retain him.
Pat Neshek Talking To Three Teams, Could Sign Soon
Free agent reliever Pat Neshek is in the midst of talks with the Astros and two other teams, and he could soon agree to terms, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. Recent reports have connected the Blue Jays and Pirates to Neshek, although it’s unclear if those are the other two teams in negotiations. The Astros, meanwhile, have lately been linked to relievers like Tyler Clippard, Sergio Romo and Luke Gregerson.
Neshek is coming off an outstanding season with the Cardinals in which he posted a 1.87 ERA, 9.1 K/9 and a measly 1.2 BB/9 in 67 1/3 innings. MLBTR’s Steve Adams predicted in October that Neshek’s breakout season at age 33 would earn him a two-year, $10MM deal this offseason.
Red Sox, Marlins Interested In Wade Miley
The Red Sox and Marlins have interest in Diamondbacks lefty Wade Miley, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports tweet. (Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald noted in November that the Marlins had interest in Miley.) Rosenthal and Morosi add that the offers the Diamondbacks have received for Miley are significant, increasing the likelihood of a deal. The Blue Jays and Rangers also could have interest in Miley.
Miley, 28, posted a 4.34 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 last season, which was the third straight year in which he threw at least 194 innings. Miley also keeps the ball on the ground, with a GB% of 51.1 last season. He’s projected to make $4.3MM this offseason in his first year of arbitration eligibility. The news that the Red Sox are interested in Miley broke before news of Jon Lester‘s decision to sign with the Cubs rather than returning to Boston. It’s hard to imagine Lester’s decision hurting the Red Sox’ chances of dealing for Miley, but they’ll probably seek to replace Lester by also acquiring an obvious ace.
Max Scherzer Looking For $200MM+ Contract
Max Scherzer is looking to break the $200MM threshold in his next contract, according to FOX Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi (Twitter link). If Scherzer and agent Scott Boras have their way, the right-hander will join Clayton Kershaw (who signed a seven-year, $215MM extension with the Dodgers last winter) as the only pitchers to receive a deal worth more than $200MM in guaranteed money.
It’s no surprise that Scherzer and Boras are aiming high, and indeed most pundits figured the former Cy Young winner would receive the richest free agent deal of the 2014-15 offseason — MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes, for instance, projected Scherzer for a seven-year, $185MM contract. While the $200MM figure is eye-popping, it’s not that outlandish if you consider the numbers being speculated around Jon Lester‘s next contract, Morosi notes, and “if you believe Scherzer deserves ~15% more.” (A reasonable argument if you go by pitch counts, as Boras does.)
There has been relatively little buzz about Scherzer this winter since Boras is expected to pursue his usual tactic of waiting until deeper into the offseason to land a deal for his high-profile client. There’s also the fact that virtually the entire pitching market is waiting for Lester to sign, as his decision will impact countless teams’ future plans. The big-market teams that who miss out on Lester, for instance, could naturally turn their attention to Scherzer in their search for a top-of-the-rotation ace. There’s also teams like the Yankees who haven’t been involved in the Lester hunt but are rumored to prefer Scherzer.
Red Sox Discussing Trade For Antonio Bastardo
The Red Sox and Phillies have explored a deal that would send lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo to Boston in exchange for prospect Sean Coyle, CSNNE.com’s Sean McAdam reports. SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo reported earlier today that the two sides were talking about such a trade, though it was unclear if the discussions were still ongoing.
Bastardo has a 3.36 ERA, 2.61 K/BB rate and an 11.6 K/9 in 216 2/3 IP out of the Philadelphia bullpen over the last four seasons. He’s been almost as equally effective against right-handed batters (holding them to a career .664 OPS) as he has against left-handed batters (career .621 OPS), though control has been an issue, as evidenced by his career 4.3 BB/9.
Coyle, a third-round pick in the 2010 draft, has played mostly second base in his career but saw a bit of action at third last season. He’s shown a lot of pop in his pro career, with a .258/.344/.458 slash line over 1622 minor league PA, none above the Double-A level. Baseball America ranked Coyle as the 30th-best prospect in Boston’s system prior to the 2014 season.
Giants, Dodgers Out Of Running For Jon Lester
9:10pm: The Dodgers aren’t in on Lester, Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times tweets. It indeed seems that the Cubs and Red Sox are the two finalists for Lester’s services.
8:36pm: Lester is still finalizing his choice between the Cubs and Red Sox, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets.
8:21pm: The Giants were called by Lester earlier tonight to inform them that he was signing elsewhere, assistant GM Bobby Evans told reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of the Bay Area News Group). As Evans put it, “We did not receive a rose.”
7:36pm: CSN Chicago’s David Kaplan hears from “two very good MLB sources” who believe the Cubs are the leading contenders to sign Lester. An executive connected to at least one of the teams in the hunt, however, tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link) that he thinks Lester is leaning towards San Francisco.
5:31pm: The Lester sweepstakes “is nearing [the] finish line” and there is a “reasonable belief” that Lester could pick his new team by tonight, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets. Olney adds that Lester will soon be presented with his final offers from teams, though WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports that Lester’s agents are not quite ready to present those final offers to their client. There’s “still a strong possibility” that Lester make his decision until Wednesday, Bradford writes.
4:41pm: Giants GM Brian Sabean thinks his team is still “very much in” the hunt for Lester, The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo tweets.
2:58pm: Giants assistant GM Bobby Evans says that he has been led to believe that lefty Jon Lester is leaning toward signing with another club, Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM reports (links to Twitter). San Francisco is “in the back seat” in negotiations at present, Evans said.
Lester has told the Giants that he is not going to simply take the highest bid, as has previously been reported. Evans left Bowden with the impression that San Francisco believes the starter is drawn to joining the Cubs or Red Sox.
Various reports have suggested that Lester’s decision would continue to be delayed as the teams involved — up to and including their owners — make a final push to land him. With the bidding said to be at or even above the $150MM level, Lester will surely feel comfortable that he has earned a market-value deal regardless of where he ends up.
Astros Extended Jeff Luhnow Last Winter
The Astros extended the contract of GM Jeff Luhnow within the last year, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports. Club owner Jim Crane didn’t exactly remember when the extension was finalized but he believed it to be last offseason.
Luhnow was hired following the 2011 season, and has since presided over an extensive rebuilding plan that saw the Astros almost completely strip their roster of Major League veterans in order to reload with young talent. The results haven’t been pretty on the field (Houston is 176-310 over the last three seasons) but the franchise has amassed one of the deeper prospect pools in baseball and now seems to be looking to again spend on veteran talent. As Drellich notes, the 2014 season was a troublesome one for Luhnow, who faced criticism for the team’s failure to sign first overall draft pick Brady Aiken, a personality clash with ex-manager Bo Porter and a leak of trade discussions with other teams.
Latest On Tigers, Max Scherzer
7:03pm: Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told reporters (including MLive.com’s Chris Iott) denied Olney’s report, saying “I don’t know where he got that. That’s not accurate….I can 100 percent guarantee you that our situation has not changed whatsoever.” The Tigers haven’t had any new talks with Scherzer or gotten involved with any major free agents, Dombrowski said.
1:39pm: The Tigers are focused on retaining starter Max Scherzer, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports on Twitter. Detroit is “prepared to spend big” to do so, Olney adds.
There had been some speculation that Detroit would not be willing or able to bring both Scherzer and David Price into 2015, but Olney shoots down that notion as well. He says the club intends to keep the recently-added Price for next year.
The report is unsurprising on some levels: the Tigers are, of course, a big-spending, win-now team that has agreed to massive deals with its own players. And it could still use the added rotation arm even after dealing for Shane Greene.
On the other, it is hard to imagine what the Detroit balance sheet will look like if a Scherzer deal is added to it. The club’s enormous commitments to Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander both pose significant long-term risk. After bringing back Victor Martinez for four years and $68MM, the Tigers are within shouting distance of the Dodgers in terms of total future payroll commitments, and would likely overtake Los Angeles by adding Scherzer.
Cubs To Shop Welington Castillo
6:53pm: The Cubs received a few inquiries about Castillo after the Montero trade but the club isn’t actively shopping him, Theo Epstein told reporters (including Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune).
3:39pm: After adding Miguel Montero via trade, the Cubs will shop incumbent starter Welington Castillo, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports on Twitter. Chicago had already participated in exploratory talks earlier in the offseason when the team was pursuing Russell Martin.
Castillo, 27, comes with three years of control. MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz project him to earn $2.1MM this year, a modest sum for a starting-caliber backstop.
The right-handed-hitting catcher posted two straight above-average years of offensive production before stepping back slightly in 2014. He slashed .237/.296/.389 last year, with a career-best 13 home runs in 417 plate appearances. StatCorner was down on his pitch framing work, though Baseball Prospectus had a more optimistic overall outlook on his defensive value.
Reds Drawing Interest In Cueto, Chapman
Reds ace Johnny Cueto and closer Aroldis Chapman are each drawing a lot of trade interest, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter links). The Reds are at least listening on Cueto, though they’re trying to direct trade discussions to other starting pitchers like Mat Latos, Mike Leake or Alfredo Simon.
As I wrote back in September, all four of those Reds starters projected as possible trade candidates since they’re all eligible for free agency after the 2015 season. While Cueto would bring the most back in a trade, he’s also the one Cincinnati is least likely to deal since they want him atop their rotation next year.
Chapman is projected to earn $8.3MM in 2015 through salary arbitration (per MLBTR’s Matt Swartz) and he still has another arb-eligible year left before hitting free agency after the 2016 season. This could make him an expensive luxury for the Reds, and as Rosenthal notes, other teams know that the Reds want to cut payroll.