AL West Notes: Sizemore, Ka’aihue, Abreu, Rangers
This time next year the Houston Astros will be about to join the AL West, but for now it remains baseball's only four-team division. Here's the latest news, starting with a serious injury…
- The Athletics announced that third baseman Scott Sizemore has a torn ACL in his left knee and will miss the 2012 season.
- An A's official tells Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that the club is high on Josh Donaldson as a possible replacement for Sizemore (Twitter link). However, today's news makes the A's person "want to vomit."
- The Athletics would likely have interest in Angels infielder Alberto Callaspo if they explore the trade market for a third baseman, Slusser wrote Sunday. The A's probably wouldn't part with a significant prospect for him, however.
- Athletics first baseman Kila Ka'aihue told Jane Lee of MLB.com that he was always looking over his shoulder with the Royals. "They never really wanted me there," he said. "I always did well enough to hang around but was always passed up." Ka'aihue is competing for the first base job in Oakland.
- The Angels plan to find Bobby Abreu regular playing time –perhaps 400 plate appearances or so — and the left-handed hitter is ‘fine’ with the arrangement, Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com writes. Earlier this month Abreu told ESPN Deportes that he would like to be traded if the Angels don't find him an everyday role.
- Not counting team president Nolan Ryan and special assistant Greg Maddux, do the Rangers have an ace? Jerry Crasnick asks this question at ESPN.com, pointing out that the two-time defending AL Champions have lost Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson to free agency since 2010. "If we don't have a No. 1, we're stacked with 2s," pitching coach Mike Maddux said. "And that's OK.''
NL West Links: Cain, Giants, Ethier, Quentin
On this date in 1999, the Diamondbacks acquired Tony Womack from the Pirates for Jason Boyd and a minor leaguer. Womack hit .269/.314/.362 in five seasons with the D'Backs, helping the club to the 2001 World Championship. Here's the latest from the NL West…
- Giants CEO Larry Baer wouldn't give away much regarding contract talks with Matt Cain except to say that they are "back and forth" and "ongoing," tweets Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com.
- "I'm going to be respectful of the process here," said Baer to reporters (including MLB.com's Chris Haft) when asked about the Giants potentially relinquishing territorial rights to San Jose, allowing the Athletics to move. "You know, I think that's really important. The game is bigger than any internal machinations."
- "I can't tell you what will happen with that," said Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier to MLB.com's Ken Gurnick when asked about signing a contract extension after the team is sold at the end of April. "The only thing I can change is the way I play. Today is today, and that's all I can handle. I'm here to play for today." Ethier can become a free agent after the season.
- Carlos Quentin is returning home to Southern California following his trade to the Padres, and Don Norcross of The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote about the excitement he brings to the team.
AL West Notes: Abreu, Uehara, Manny
The AL West saw no shortage of action this offseason, with notables Albert Pujols, Yu Darvish and Yoenis Cespedes joining the ranks, but the division may yet make a few more transactions headlines before Opening Day. Here's the latest …
- Angels outfielder/DH Bobby Abreu told Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com that he'd like to be traded if he's not assured of an everyday role this season — this after Halos skipper Mike Scioscia said Sunday that Abreu will split time at DH with Mark Trumbo and/or Kendrys Morales. GM Jerry Dipoto responded by saying Abreu has "no right" to issue an ultimatum, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels said Texas has no trades in the works right now, including any involving releiver Koji Uehara, and still has no plans to sign right-hander Roy Oswalt, according to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. Uehara has long been rumored to be on the trade block.
- Athletics GM Billy Beane said there are no guarantees for DH Manny Ramirez, recently signed to a minor league contract, beyond Day 1, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Beane also told reporters, including Jane Lee of MLB.com, that signing Manny was strictly a baseball decision — not for PR — and that "we couldn't come up with a reason not to sign him" (Twitter links).
AL West Notes: Kinsler, Ramirez, Abreu
We've already looked at the NL West tonight, so let's stay on the left side of the map to check in on the latest from the AL West…
- Ian Kinsler and the Rangers had "one serious conversation" about a contract extension this offseason but that was "about it," reports MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. Kinsler expects the club to re-open talks during Spring Training and said he wants to stay in Texas, noting that a possible switch from second base would be "open for discussion." The Rangers will pay Kinsler $7MM this season and they hold a $10MM option on him for 2013.
- Manny Ramirez's deal with the A's has led to some "mixed results" in the Athletics' clubhouse, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Ramirez's ex-teammates Coco Crisp and Bartolo Colon are in favor of the move, while one unnamed player "expressed concern" that if Ramirez makes the team, he'll be taking away at-bats from younger players who will be a bigger part of Oakland's future.
- Angels manager Mike Scioscia talked to Bobby Abreu last month to discuss his role on the team, reports Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles. "In talking to Bobby, he does want to play every day, but he's tempered that with an understanding of the potential of this team to win and he understands the situation," Scioscia said. Abreu is expected to split time with Kendrys Morales and/or Mark Trumbo at DH this season and last week the Halos explored a deal that would've sent Abreu to the Yankees in exchange for A.J. Burnett. I recently looked at the fantasy implications of the Halos' DH situation in a post for MLBTR's sister site Roto Authority.
Athletics To Sign Manny Ramirez
Manny Ramirez has agreed to terms with the A's on a minor league deal, the team announced today. The deal is worth about $500K in the Majors, reports ESPN's Pedro Gomez. The signing has been expected for several weeks. Though the story is interesting, the A's took an insignificant financial risk and didn't commit a roster spot, and the likely reward is small as well. Ramirez is represented by Praver/Shapiro.
Manny must first serve a 50-game suspension for violating MLB's performance-enhancing drug policy a second time, making his earliest possible debut June 2nd at Kansas City, according to Gomez. Ramirez retired when news of the suspension hit in April of last year, but was reinstated in December.
Ramirez, 39, would be a certain Hall of Famer if not for his PED issues. He owns a .312/.411/.585 line with 555 home runs in 19 seasons for the Indians, Red Sox, Dodgers, White Sox, and Rays. He's projected to serve as the A's designated hitter for the latter two-thirds of the season.
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports was the first to report that the agreement had been made (both Twitter links).
Extension Candidate: Brandon McCarthy
The Athletics' one-year, $1MM base salary deal with righty Brandon McCarthy turned out to be one of the best contracts of the 2010-11 offseason, as the 28-year-old went on to rank 13th in the American League with a 3.32 ERA. McCarthy showed an ability to go deep into games, ranking 10th in the league with 6.83 innings per start. Despite having fewer than 550 career big league innings on his resume, McCarthy will reach six years of service this season. It's been a long road to traditional free agency.
Prior to the 2005 season, Baseball America ranked McCarthy the 49th-best prospect in the game, though on the White Sox he was outranked by Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney. In February of that year, manager Ozzie Guillen compared McCarthy to Jack McDowell, adding, "He's going to be something special." By May, McCarthy made his big league debut, replacing an injured Orlando Hernandez to face Mark Prior. McCarthy continued to fill in for El Duque periodically as a rookie, but the Sox went with Hernandez on the playoff roster and he came up big as a reliever in the team's World Championship run.
McCarthy spent most of '06 in Chicago's bullpen, and GM Kenny Williams noted he was "very much a part of our future" when July trade rumors swirled. It seemed McCarthy finally had his full-time rotation spot when Williams traded Freddy Garcia to the Phillies in December of that year, but then the GM shipped McCarthy to the Rangers for John Danks and others in a bold trade a few weeks later.
A blister problem affected McCarthy for much of '07, but a bigger concern was revealed in August when he hit the DL for a stress fracture in his right shoulder. The injury seemed minor at first, but then elbow soreness surfaced the following spring. He pitched only 53 2/3 innings in '08 and was sidelined again in each of the '09 and '10 seasons due to the stress fracture in his shoulder. By November of 2010, Rangers GM Jon Daniels decided to remove McCarthy from the 40-man roster, making him a free agent.
Toward the end of '09, McCarthy began to consider major changes to his repertoire and mechanics, he told Ryan Campbell of FanGraphs. By the time he was pitching in Winter Ball in what amounted to a free agent audition in 2010, McCarthy had fine-tuned his new approach. He scored a Major League contract with the A's and won their fifth starter job out of spring training. That same shoulder stress reaction came back in May, leading to a six-week DL stint. McCarthy stayed healthy and effective thereafter, earning a total of $1.95MM with incentives. He received a $4.275MM contract for 2012, an arbitration raise of more than $2.3MM on his '11 earnings.
McCarthy has been a free agent before, but if he impresses again in 2012, this time will be different. To date, it does not appear the A's have had extension talks with McCarthy. Their hesitation is understandable, with McCarthy having totaled 229 pro innings from 2008-10. He hasn't had an injury-free campaign since '06, and the same shoulder problem continues to affect him.
Still, there's a ton to like about McCarthy, who in 25 starts provided over $20MM worth of value last year according to FanGraphs. Even with the DL stint last year, he tossed 170 2/3 innings over 25 starts. He's 28 and comes with the pedigree of a top prospect. He's got excellent command and posted a career-best 46.7% groundball rate last year, suppressing career-long home run concerns. And for those thinking his success is owed to the Oakland Coliseum, consider McCarthy's 3.40 xFIP away from home last year.
In terms of starting pitchers extended entering walk years, Ryan Vogelsong, R.A. Dickey, Wandy Rodriguez, and Joe Blanton could be comparables, as our extension tracker shows. Vogelsong and Dickey were feel-good stories who had unexpected success in one season, and both signed two-year deals in the $8MM range with club options attached. Both, however, were coming off seasons in which they earned under a million bucks. McCarthy earned almost $2MM last year, and makes $4.275MM this year. Short of a completely lost 2012 season, he could at least replicate that salary on the free agent market. He may not feel the urgency to cash in that Vogelsong and Dickey did.
Blanton and Rodriguez had provided innings and made decent money going year-to-year through arbitration. Blanton, the lesser of the two, had his free agent years valued at $8.5MM apiece. I don't think McCarthy can get to that level right now, but he's probably worth more than Vogelsong, who gave up a free agent year for $5MM. $12-13MM over two years would be a reasonable risk for the A's on McCarthy, if they're OK with the condition of his shoulder. Otherwise, McCarthy will be pitching with free agency on the horizon and the possibility of becoming one of several solid options for teams unable to afford what's left of Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, Zack Greinke, and Anibal Sanchez.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
Quick Hits: Athletics, Phillies, Burnett, Drew, D’Backs
Here's a look at today's links as players settle in for Spring Training..
- Athletics skipper Bob Melvin expects to see roster additions on pitching and position player sides before the full camp opens, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter).
- The Phillies were exploring a three-way trade to land A.J. Burnett, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. A third team would have been brought in to allow the club to unload Joe Blanton.
- The Diamondbacks might have to find a more permanent solution at shortstop if Stephen Drew doesn't fully recover from his ankle injury, writes Buster Olney of ESPN.com. Arizona holds a $10MM mutual option on Drew for 2013.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter) be surprised to see the Angels make two trades before the end of Spring Training due to the amount of redundancy on their roster.
- Manny Ramirez worked out for the Athletics and the club could sign the slugger within the next week, writes Jane Lee of MLB.com.
Quick Hits: Kazmir, McCann, Padres, Athletics
Here are some notes from around the majors as we head into Friday evening…
- ESPN's Jayson Stark looks back at the offseason, surveying 20 baseball personnel people about which teams made the best and worst moves of the winter. A sample: the Phillies' deal with Jonathan Papelbon was judged to be the offseason's worst free agent signing.
- About 10 scouts attended Scott Kazmir's workout session today, reports ESPN's Buster Olney (Twitter links). The southpaw threw between 86-89 mph, with his top pitch reportedly hitting 91 mph by one scout's measurements.
- The Mets aren't interested in Kazmir "at this time," a source tells Newsday's David Lennon. According to Andy Martino of the New York Daily News, the Mets didn't send a scout to see Kazmir throw, though on Wednesday a "high ranking person" with the Mets said they would have someone in attendance (both Twitter links).
- The Braves haven't begun extension talks with catcher Brian McCann, reports David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 2012 is McCann's last season under contract, though Atlanta holds a $12MM option on him for 2013 that looks like a strong bet to be exercised. O'Brien thinks the Braves could wait until next winter to begin negotiations.
- Padres owner Jeff Moorad and GM Josh Byrnes are both very pleased with the club's offseason, reports Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
- The Athletics seem focused on acquiring young talent this offseason, but Casey Tefertiller of Baseball America notes that some of these prospects are being blocked by Oakland's veteran signings.
Rangers, Athletics Getting Closer To Uehara Deal
4:05pm: A deal between the A's and Rangers is unlikely today, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link), since the Rangers are talking to another team. More progress could be made over the weekend.
2:48pm: Several clubs, including the A's, are talking to the Rangers about Uehara, reports T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com.
12:57pm: The Rangers and Athletics are "getting close" to a trade involving reliever Koji Uehara, reports Joe Stiglich of the San Jose Mercury News (via Twitter). The A's are known to be looking for relief help, with Uehara and free agent Mike Gonzalez the two names most frequently connected to the club. Texas has also been connected to Gonzalez and in fact have been trying to create payroll space for that signing by dealing Uehara.
Uehara has a partial no-trade clause in his contract and has already blocked one deal this winter that would've sent him to Toronto. It's unknown if the A's are one of the other five teams on Uehara's no-trade list.
The two AL West rivals last completed a trade with each other in January 2011, a swap that sent Guillermo Moscoso to Oakland. The Rangers were one of several teams who talked to the A's about Andrew Bailey before Bailey was eventually dealt to the Red Sox earlier this winter.
Rangers Notes: Uehara, Oswalt, Organization
Here's the latest from the Lone Star State….
- The Rangers may be looking to sign Roy Oswalt with the money they'll save by dealing Koji Uehara, reports Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. We heard earlier today that Texas is talking to several teams about Uehara, with the Athletics possibly being in the lead, and the Rangers could instead be planning to sign Mike Gonzalez once Uehara's salary has been moved. Wilson says the Rangers want prospects for Uehara, but could also look for a middle infielder from Oakland, with the A's preferring to deal Adam Rosales rather than Eric Sogard.
- Besides rejecting a trade to the Blue Jays, Uehara has also used his limited no-trade clause to block another potential deal, Wilson reports.
- Oswalt's chances of becoming a Ranger are still "slim," tweets Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com.
- Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas looks at the major trades, strategies and management hirings in recent Rangers history that has helped the team become one of the top franchises in baseball.