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Cubs, Cardinals, Angels Among Finalists For Jason Heyward

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2:29pm: MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez hears that the Angels aren’t seriously involved in the market for Heyward at this point (or for any top outfielder, for that matter), though he does add that said stance can change quickly (Twitter link).

1:31pm: ESPN’s Jayson Stark hears that Heyward isn’t looking for a 10-year deal in the $200MM range as has oft been speculated, but rather something more like eight or nine years at $24MM per season (Twitter link).

1:17pm: The Angels are also among the finalists for Heyward, reports Morosi (via Twitter).

11:37am: Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said he hasn’t been given any sort of indication as to the timing of a Heyward decision, tweets Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

10:00am: Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweets that the Giants checked in with Heyward but never got to the point of making an offer. There’s a sense in Nashville that Heyward will come off the board today, Pavlovic adds.

9:34am: Talks between Jason Heyward and interested parties are beginning to progress, according to Jon Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports report (Twitter link). The Cubs and Cardinals are among the finalists, per the report, but there are other yet-unnamed clubs in the mix for Heyward’s services.

Heyward’s name has come up most frequently in connection to the Cardinals and Cubs as of late, though he’s also been linked to the Angels and Giants in various reports, as each club could use a left-handed corner bat. The Giants, in particular, were said to prefer Heyward to some of the other bats on the market at present due to his glovework, though it remains to be seen if they’ll be among the top bidders in the end.

Angels, Nationals Discussing Yunel Escobar Trade

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The Angels and Nationals are in talks on a trade that would send infielder Yunel Escobar to Anaheim, reports Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter link).

Escobar, 33, is coming off one of the strongest seasons of his career, having batted .314/.375/.415 with nine home runs in his first season with the Nats. He’s certainly a reasonable target for Halos GM Billy Eppler to pursue, given the team’s needs around the infield and Escobar’s defensive versatility. Escobar could hold down the fort at either second base or third base for the Angels next season, which would allow Eppler to maintain flexibility as he continues plotting the Angels’ course this offseason.

Royals, Reds Have Discussed Todd Frazier

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The Royals have reached out to the Reds to discuss a Todd Frazier trade, reports Jayson Stark of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Clearly, the presence of Mike Moustakas makes the proposition a seemingly unusual fit, but Stark notes that the Royals would likely use Frazier in left field in the event that a trade is completed. (There’s no indication from his report that talks are even serious, however.)

The Reds are said to have a high asking price on Frazier, who has two years of club control and will earn $7.5MM next season in the second year of a two-year, $12MM contract. That would certainly fit into the Royals’ budget, though it remains to be seen if Kansas City would be willing to part with the MLB-ready talent Cincinnati is said to covet in a trade of Frazier.

Looking at the larger picture, the interest in Frazier gives some insight into the Royals’ level of belief that they can ultimately retain Alex Gordon. Multiple reports have indicated that the Royals’ hope has been to retain Gordon on a three- or possibly four-year pact, but that would seemingly represent a team-friendly compromise on Gordon’s behalf, and the argument that he already made such a concession with his first contract is certainly valid. GM Dayton Moore and his staff could simply be performing due diligence and exploring all of their options while waiting for the Gordon market to take shape, but the interest in alternative solutions — and outside-the-box alternatives at that — nonetheless is, as Stark said, a rather fascinating wrinkle, even if it ends up as a footnote in the overall scheme of the offseason.

Brewers Acquire Manny Pina To Complete Francisco Rodriguez Trade

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The Brewers announced that they’ve acquired catcher Manny Pina from the Tigers as the player to be named later in last month’s Francisco Rodriguez trade. Milwaukee also picked up minor league infielder Javier Betancourt in the deal.

Pina, 28, received a pair of brief call-ups with the Royals back in 2011-12 but hasn’t appeared in the Majors since. He enjoyed a productive 2015 campaign with Triple-A Toledo, where he batted .305/.379/.461 with seven homers, and on the defensive side of the coin, he also caught 46 percent of attempted base-stealers. Pina has caught 37 percent of attempted runners over the life of his minor league career, and he’s a .264/.343/.395 hitter in 232 games at Triple-A. Pina will give the Brewers additional depth in the event of a trade or further injuries to Jonathan Lucroy.

NL East Notes: Inciarte, Storen, Blackmon, Span, Colon, Braves

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The Braves’ impressive haul for right-hander Shelby Miller is one one of the biggest storylines of the past week, but there are already rumblings about one of the key pieces of the deal; Ender Inciarte has drawn a lot of interest since the trade, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link), who adds that the Cubs are one team that has inquired. Rosenthal reports that they haven’t engaged in any type of serious trade discussions, although ESPN’s Jayson Stark tweets that he got the sense that the Braves are at least open to the idea of flipping Inciarte to another team in a further trade. One executive told Stark that as many as 12 teams have inquired on Inciarte, though he does add that rival teams don’t consider a trade to be particularly likely.

Here’s the latest from the NL East…

  • The Twins have reached out to the Nationals to inquire on right-hander Drew Storen, reports James Wagner of the Washington Post (Twitter link). There’s nothing on the horizon at this point, however, he adds. Still, Minnesota has been prominently linked to Storen in previous seasons, so it’ll be interesting to see if they take that interest to another level this winter, when Storen is said to be available in trades.
  • Sticking with the Nats, Pete Kerzel of MASNsports.com tweets that Washington has talked with the Rockies about outfielder Charlie Blackmon, but the asking price on the 29-year-old center fielder is said to be quite high. Corey Dickerson could be in play, too, Kerzel notes, though he doesn’t specify that the Nationals have spoken to Colorado about him, specifically.
  • The Mets still have interest in both Denard Span and Gerardo Parra, reports Newsday’s Marc Carig, and the club hasn’t completely ruled out a multi-year deal for either player if it proves necessary (Twitter link). A multi-year deal would seem to be imperative in talks with either player, as Parra reportedly has three-year offers in hand already, while agent Scott Boras dismissed the notion of a one-year deal for Span yesterday when asked by MLBTR’s Zach Links.
  • The Mets have had preliminary talks with right-hander Bartolo Colon’s camp about a reunion, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. While Colon probably wouldn’t hold down a rotation spot all season in Queens barring an injury to one of the Mets’ excellent young starters, he could be a valuable stopgap early in the year as Zack Wheeler progresses in his Tommy John rehab.
  • Braves president John Hart and GM John Coppolella explained the team’s rebuilding process to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman while at the Winter Meetings in Nashville. Coppolella likened the rebuild to constructing a skyscraper, stressing the importance of building from the ground up in an an effort to deliver a sustainable run of success to Braves fans. He added that building a deep core of talent will help to prevent second-half collapses like the Braves have endured in recent seasons. Hart called many of the trades made by Atlanta “painful” but explained that each has been made with the same goal in mind: constructing a perennial World Series contender.

MLBTR Podcast: More From the Winter Meetings

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On this week’s edition, MLBTR’s Zach Links, who is on site in Nashville, checks back in with Jeff to discuss the moves that have gone down at the Winter Meetings as well as how the remaining pieces might fall.

Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.

The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.

Padres Acquire Luis Perdomo From Rockies

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The Padres announced that they have acquired right-hander Luis Perdomo from the Rockies in exchange for cash considerations of a player to be named later. Colorado took Perdomo with the fourth pick in today’s Rule 5 Draft.

The 22-year-old Perdomo, not to be confused with the journeyman right-hander of the same name, split this past season across the Cardinals’ Class-A affiliates in the Midwest League and Florida State League. Perdomo posted a combined 3.98 ERA with 8.4 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 while working almost exclusively out of the rotation. (He did make one relief appearance.)

Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper recently wrote that Perdomo sits 93-95 mph with his fastball and features a tight slider. While he’s yet to appear above Class-A Advanced, Cooper noted that a club could select Perdomo with the hopes that he could thrive in a bullpen role by focusing only on those two pitches. MLB.com’s Corey Brock, however, tweets that GM A.J. Preller says Perdomo will come to Spring Training as a starter and possibly moved to the bullpen if necessary. MLB.com’s Jim Callis called Perdomo’s slider a plus pitch and offered a similar take on his velocity in his own preview.

By acquiring Perdomo, the Padres have added their fourth player from today’s Rule 5 pick. San Diego made two picks of its own — right-handers Josh Martin and Blake Smith — and also acquired outfielder Jabari Blash from the Athletics. All four players will have to be carried on the active roster, lest they be exposed to waivers and, if they clear, offered back to their original organization for $50K.

Diamondbacks Still In On Mike Leake

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DEC. 10:  The D-backs circled back with Leake’s representatives last night, reports MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (Twitter link). GM Dave Stewart spoke highly of Leake to Fanragsports.com’s Jack Magruder (Twitter link), who echoes Gilbert’s report that the D-backs are still in the mix.

DEC. 9: Right-hander Mike Leake has been an oft-cited target of the Diamondbacks, but ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that Arizona is no longer pursuing him. It was reported early on Tuesday that the Diamondbacks (and Cardinals) were interested in Leake.

Given the day’s events, though, it perhaps comes as no surprise that Leake is no longer in the Diamondbacks’ plans. Arizona continued revamping its starting pitching with a huge trade to acquire Braves righty Shelby Miller, who will join Zack Greinke atop a new-look rotation. The commitments the Diamondbacks have already made to improve their pitching have been substantial, in terms of both dollars and young talent.

Leake, 28, is among the year’s younger free agents and is coming off a solid season and a nice three-year platform spent mostly with the Reds, but his market hasn’t fully come together yet as much of the early focus this offseason was on top names like David Price, Greinke and Jordan Zimmermann. The crowded trade market has also perhaps slowed some of the traction on Leake, though with Miller and those three aforementioned free agents (plus Jeff Samardzija, John Lackey, Hisashi Iwakuma and J.A. Happ) off the board, Leake is increasingly becoming one of the more desirable free agents on the market.

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Orioles’ Offer To Chris Davis No Longer On The Table

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10:07am: ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets that the Orioles didn’t raise their most recent offer to Davis — “not one nickel,” as his source put it. Not only that, but Baltimore’s offer to Davis is no longer on the table, according to Olney, though he adds that they’re willing to pick up the past thread of talks. MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko tweets that a club source denies their offer was increased as well.

DEC. 10, 8:40am: Baltimore has reportedly increased its offer to Davis, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, who hears they may be willing to go as high as $168MM over seven years — a $24MM average annual value. It’s uncertain whether or not the previously reported deferrals are still included in the revamped offer.

It was reported last night that Davis is seeking as much as $200MM over an eight-year term.

DEC. 9: Baltimore’s previously-reported offer of around $150MM was for seven years, Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. The O’s are “currently not willing” to exceed a $22MM average annual value to Davis, Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports on Twitter. The Orioles’ offer may also have some deferred money involved, per Kubatko.

As was recently reported, the team may not be willing to wait forever for Davis to decide and is pursuing other options as well.

DEC. 8: Orioles owner Peter Angelos and executive VP Dan Duquette have made their desire to retain Chris Davis abundantly clear, and Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com sheds some light on just how serious they are in their quest to retain Davis, tweeting that the Orioles offered their former first baseman “in the neighborhood” of $150MM at today’s previously reported meeting with agent Scott Boras. Despite the sizable nature of that offer, talks between the two sides have yet to progress, Kubatko adds.

The reported offer is a staggering number from an Orioles organization that has never given out a contract larger than the six-year, $86.5MM contract signed by Adam Jones back in 2012. Of course, it’s not known how long the term of that contract is, and the differences between a six-year, $150MM offer and a seven- or eight-year $150MM offer are considerable from the perspective of Davis and Boras.

The 29-year-old Davis is the top power bat on the open market, as he leads the Majors in homers over the past three seasons. He’s also considered to be a plus defender at first base, and ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick recently wrote that some scouts consider him athletic enough to play a competent, albeit below-average corner outfield for a season or two should a team need to play him there in order to wait for a spot at first base to open up.

Given Boras’ history with top-tier free agents, it’s perhaps not surprising to see Davis pass on an early offer of that magnitude. Nevertheless, the offer does seem to demonstrate legitimate interest on Baltimore’s behalf, when at the onset of the 2015-16 offseason, most believed that the team did not possess the financial flexibility to keep Davis in Maryland. That line of thinking was strengthened when Matt Wieters accepted a qualifying offer and when the Orioles struck a four-year, $31MM agreement to retain setup ace Darren O’Day.

In spite of those costly contracts, the Orioles seem to be firmly in the thick of the still-developing market for Davis. The Cardinals have also been linked to Davis, and the Red Sox are said to have had internal discussions about him as well (though they’d first need to move Hanley Ramirez). ESPN’s Buster Olney also reported last month that the Giants have interest in Davis.

Brewers Acquire Garin Cecchini From Red Sox

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The Red Sox have traded third baseman/outfielder Garin Cecchini to the Brewers in exchange for cash considerations, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). The former top prospect was recently designated for assignment in Boston.

Cecchini, 25 next April, will provide the Brewers with an option at third base or first base, where they’re quite thin on MLB-ready talent. The 2010 fourth-rounder has received 40 plate appearances in Boston over the past two seasons and batted .229/.325/.400, but his bat never really came around in two seasons at the Triple-A level. Viewed as a consensus top 100 prospect heading into the 2014 season, Cecchini has batted just .238/.314/.333 in two seasons at the top minor league level.

Following the 2013 season Baseball America lauded Cecchini for his knowledge of the strike zone and ability to barrel up pitches and hit to the opposite field, projecting that even if his glove would cause him to move to first base or left field, his on-base skills and high averages could make him a big league regular. Last winter, BA wrote that he still had considerable offensive upside even as his defensive question marks grew, but he struggled a great deal in Triple-A this year.

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