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Athletics Designate Eveland, Taveras, Petit For Assignment

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4:59pm: Via Twitter, Lee adds that the A's designated infielder Gregorio Petit for assignment as well.  The 25-year-old hit .244/.292/.336 in Triple A last year, playing second base, shortstop, and third base.

12:39pm: The A's designated lefty Dana Eveland for assignment, tweets MLB.com's Jane Lee.  Newly-acquired Willy Taveras was designated too, tweets SI's Jon Heyman.  Joe Stiglich of the Oakland Tribune adds that the A's deal for Gabe Gross is official, and they've claimed versatile minor leaguer Steve Tolleson off waivers from the Twins.  Let's break down the A's busy morning…

  • Eveland, 26, is headed elsewhere unless he clears waivers.  In 2009 he was terrible in the Majors and lousy at Triple A as well.  He joined the A's in December of '07 as part of the huge Dan Haren swap with the D'Backs.  Eveland did give the A's 29 starts of 4.34 ball in '08, despite a 1.53 K/BB ratio.
  • Taveras and Aaron Miles were just passing through, acquired temporarily to facilitate deals for Adam Rosales and Jake Fox.
  • Tolleson, 26, hit .266/.340/.380 between Double A and Triple A in the Twins organization in '09.  He played both middle infield positions, left field, and a little bit at the outfield corners.  Before the season, Baseball America suggested Tolleson's best possible outcome would be Ryan Freel's career.  The loss should clear a roster spot for Jim Thome, notes MLB.com's Kelly Thesier. 

Athletics Sign Gabe Gross

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The Athletics officially signed outfielder Gabe Gross to a one-year, $750K deal.  He can earn another $250K in incentives.  Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported serious discussions Saturday night, with Jane Lee of MLB.com reporting the agreement and contract details.

Gross, 30, hit .227/.326/.355 in 326 plate appearances for the Rays last year, logging 638.6 innings in right field.  He has experience at the other two outfield positions, and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle feels he's the favorite for Oakland's fourth outfielder job.  Gross has struggled mightily against lefties in his career; he's hit 242/.338/.409 against righties the last three years.

Tim Dierkes contributed to this post.

Reds, A’s Swap Taveras & Rosales For Miles & More

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The Reds traded outfielder Willy Taveras and infielder Adam Rosales to the Athletics today for infielder Aaron Miles and a player to be named later or cash, reports ESPN's Buster Olney.  Let's break down this bad contract swap.

Taveras will earn $4MM in 2010.  The speedy 28-year-old was a bust for the Reds in '09, hitting .240/.275/.285 in 437 plate appearances.  Rosales did not hit well in the bigs either, but he did crush Triple A pitching in 125 plate appearances.  Before the season Baseball America said he profiles as a "good utiltyman."  He's played all around the infield in the minors.  Rosales' inclusion might even out the salary gap between Taveras and Miles.

Miles will earn $2.7MM in 2010, though the Cubs sent $1MM to the A's as part of a December '09 trade.  Like Taveras, he was signed to a two-year deal despite being non-tendered by his former club and proceeded to have a terrible season.  AOL FanHouse's Ed Price tweets that there's "zero chance" this trade opens a spot for Johnny Damon on the Reds.

Olney posits that the Reds' $1.3MM savings may go toward Orlando Cabrera.  The A's were looking to add a cheap utlityman in Rosales.  The A's have taken a $3MM hit on Taveras and given up Jeff Gray, Ronny Morla, Matt Spencer, and a PTBNL or cash to get Jake Fox and Rosales.  They're not done, though, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that Oakland is "not expected to hang on to Taveras for long."

Still, we don't have all the details on this trade yet.  What else will be sent to Cincinnati?  What will the A's do with so many outfielders?

Minor League Transactions: Clark, Hammock, Loux

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Baseball America's Matt Eddy has the minor league transactions for the period of January 19-24.  A few notables from him, after the Knoedler and Giese bullets:

  • The Dodgers signed catcher Justin Knoedler, reports MLB.com's Ken Gurnick.
  • According to MiLB.com, the A's re-signed pitcher Dan Giese on January 27th.  Giese, 33 in May, tossed 22 innings for the big league club last year but learned in June he'd need Tommy John surgery.
  • The Braves signed reliever Chris Resop, who spent '09 with the Hanshin Tigers.
  • The White Sox added Brady Clark, who once scored 94 runs as a member of the '05 Brewers.  It was the Brewers' December '04 Scott Podsednik–Carlos Lee trade with the Sox that gave Clark a starting opportunity in '05.
  • The Rockies signed catcher Robby Hammock, who spent last season with Baltimore's Triple A club.
  • Pitcher Shane Loux signed with the Astros.  The 30-year-old posted a 5.86 ERA, 19 walks, and 19 strikeouts in 58.3 innings for the Angels last year.

Olney On The Damon Negotiations

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When the offseason began, Johnny Damon was not interested in seeing offers for deals that would pay him less than the $13MM he made in 2009, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney. The Yankees offered Damon $14MM over two years ealier in the winter and lowered the offer to $6MM for a single year recently.

Olney says those two offers are similar to or better than offers Damon has seen from other clubs. Several prominent teams were interested in Damon, but some decided to pass since they weren't confident he could maintain his level of production outside of Yankee Stadium.

The A's, who were connected to Damon this week, are moving on from Damon to address other needs, Olney writes. They're pursuing Gabe Gross, for example.

Athletics Agree To Deal With Michael Wuertz

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The Athletics agreed to a two-year  $5.25MM deal with reliever Michael Wuertz. Wuertz will get $2.2MM in 2010, $2.8MM in 2011 and either $250K or $3.5MM in 2012, depending on whether the A's pick up their club option. The 31-year-old righty had filed for $2.9MM in arbitration, while the club submitted $1.9MM. He was the team's last remaining arbitration eligible player. 

Wuertz posted a 2.63 ERA in 78.2 innings last season, as batters made contact on just 58.9% of the swings they took against him. As you can imagine, that was far and away the best rate in baseball.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and the AP added details after MLB.com's Jane Lee first tweeted the agreement.

Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.

Stark On Damon, Bedard, Phillies, Smoltz, Gregg

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Jayson Stark of ESPN.com points out that teams aren't handing out long-term contracts as liberally as they were a few years ago. We've seen just eight contracts of three-plus years this offseason, after seeing 13 such contracts in each of the previous two winters. The offseason before that? Players signed 29 contracts of three years or more. Here are Stark's rumors:

  • Detroit doesn't seem that interested in Johnny Damon and the Braves haven't spoken with Damon's agent, Scott Boras, in a month and a half. The Rays have checked in, but they have little to spend.
  • Erik Bedard and the Orioles have mutual interest in a reunion, Stark hears. 
  • The Phillies would like to add a veteran left-handed reliever on a minor league deal, but Alan Embree and Ron Mahay are holding out for big league deals at this point, despite the Phillies' interest. 
  • Kevin Gregg is high on the Rockies' shopping list. They're looking at infield options and hoping to save enough money to shore up their bullpen, too. 
  • The Blue Jays have told clubs that Scott Downs and Jason Frasor are available. The Cubs have checked in on the pair of relievers. 
  • The Royals have told teams they're "open minded" about moving Gil Meche or Brian Bannister. 
  • John Smoltz is in no rush to sign. He's open to waiting for a few months, since he'd like a starting job and some execs question his ability to start for an entire season. 
  • Ben Sheets will be the first A's pitcher to make $10MM (though some believe Sheets will be traded before the end of the year).
  • Mark Prior is throwing off a mound and would like to make a comeback. 

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Mets, Damon, Burrell, Lopez

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On this date two years ago, the Mets and Twins agreed to a five player deal sending two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana to New York. The Mets and Santana had a 72-hour window to finalize a contract extension, and the two sides eventually agreed to a six-year, $137.5MM contract to make the trade official. Santana has given the Mets over 400 innings of 2.78 ERA ball, while just one of the four players the Twins received in the deal is still with the organization.

Here's some links from around the baseball blogosphere…

  • Blogging Mets isn't sure where the Mets can turn for pitching help now that Jon Garland and Ben Sheets are off the market.
  • The Baseball Opinion wonders if the Sheets and Justin Duchscherer signings were calculated moves by Billy Beane made with the intention of flipping both at the trade deadline.
  • Royals Authority takes a look a Kansas City's crowded outfield.
  • Camden Crazies goes through some different roster permutations for the Orioles.
  • The Sports Banter comes up with some possible destinations for Johnny Damon.
  • Meanwhile, U.S.S. Mariner thinks Damon would be a cost effective way to upgrade Seattle's roster.
  • Rays Index takes the latest Rays' rumors as a sign that they're still trying to trade Pat Burrell.
  • Pro Ball NW gives us five reasons why the Mariners should trade Jose Lopez.
  • TAUNTR chimes in on some of the latest hot stove news.

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

Odds & Ends: Calero, Nats, Byrnes, Fogg, Timlin

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Links for Thursday…

Odds & Ends: Street, Nelson, Prospects, Mets

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Links for Wednesday…

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