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White Sox Taking Offers On Avisail Garcia

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The White Sox have informed other teams that they are open to trading right fielder Avisail Garcia, Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com reports. Moving Gracia is just one option the team is considering, per the report, but Chicago has been fielding offers over the course of November.

While the club insists that it continues to believe in Garcia’s upside, says Hayes, it is confident in relying on Trayce Thompson as a replacement option. Both players come with their share of risk and reward, of course, and both are just 24 years of age.

The impetus to consider a Garcia trade comes in large part from the fact that the Sox have multiple areas of need elsewhere. Hayes writes that the club could be focused, in particular, on improving the left side of the infield, and may find it necessary to  utilize Garcia “to sweeten a deal to return major league talent.” That would imply, of course, that he could be packaged in a multi-player swap, rather than sold off for a prospect return.

Other clubs will certainly be intrigued by the possibility of rolling the dice on Garcia’s talent, as he’s a former top-100 talent who has at least shown the ability to produce at a league-average rate at a young age. While his defensive issues also limit his value, it’s possible to imagine that Garcia could be a useful part in the right trade. And Garcia comes with four seasons of control, though it won’t necessarily be cheap, as MLBTR projects that he’ll earn $2.3MM this year as a Super Two.

Giants, Dodgers Have Expressed Interest In Shelby Miller

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The Giants and Dodgers have “checked in” on Braves righty  Shelby Miller, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports on Twitter. We already heard recently of interest from another NL West club, the Diamondbacks, though those talks apparently did not progress (Twitter link).

It’s not entirely clear at this point what level of interest the Braves have in dealing the 25-year-old righty. He re-emerged last year in Atlanta after being acquired in the Jason Heyward trade, contributing 205 1/3 innings of 3.02 ERA pitching with 7.5 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9. MLBTR projects Miller to earn $4.9MM in his first of three trips through arbitration.

The Braves have already made clear that they’ll trade just about anyone on their roster, after a major sell-off last year and recent send-off of shortstop Andrelton Simmons. GM John Coppolella has said that the team will not trade first baseman Freddie Freeman, but it seems plausible to think that any other players could be had for the right price.

Young pitching has clearly been the focus of Atlanta’s acquisition efforts thus far, and the club has built an impressive stable of arms. Most recently, high-upside hurler Sean Newcomb headlined the Simmons swap. And a number of other pitchers were already installed in the upper reaches of the farm last winter.

On the surface, then, it might be asked why the Braves would have any interest in dealing players such as Miller and Julio Teheran, both of whom are affordable, well-regarded, younger pitchers. (You could say the same of already-dealt lefty Alex Wood.) The answer, perhaps, is that the value of these kinds of pitchers is arguably highest right now, when the club is simply not ready to compete, making it an opportune time to cash them in for assets that will be of greater utility down the line. It’s also worth noting that, as with Simmons, both Miller and Teheran will enjoy fairly significant raises over the coming seasons.

Both San Francisco and Los Angeles, of course, are said to be hunting for significant rotation upgrades this winter. The division rivals have both had their share of injuries in the rotation and seek multiple new arms. For the opposite reasons that might motivate the Braves to deal a player like Miller, it’s certainly plausible to imagine both clubs having interest in the concept of sacrificing near-future value for a mid-prime major leaguer who is at least controllable for a few seasons at a reasonable rate of pay. That’s all the more true, of course, given that both the Giants and Dodgers are said to be weighing significant free agent pitching investments.

It’s obviously not worth speculating too much about what kind of return might entice the Braves, but there’s little question that both prospective trade partners have the assets needed if the motivation is there. And it’s worth remembering that the Atlanta front office has proven itself highly creative in structuring deals. Of course, it remains to be seen whether there’s a match to be made with these — or other — teams.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/19/2015

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Time to catch up on some of the minor moves that have hit the books over the last several days …

  • The White Sox have signed outfielder Scott Hairston to a minor league deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. Hairston, 35, sat out the 2015 season but figures to have a chance at cracking a Chicago roster that appears to be in need of several position players. The eleven-year MLB veteran owns a lifetime .242/.296/.442 slash with 106 home runs, with most of that damage coming against left-handed pitching.
  • Righty Jim Miller signed a minor league pact with the Brewers, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports. He won’t receive an invite to major league camp, per McCalvy, but chose Milwaukee over three other interested teams because of his relationship with assistant GM Matt Arnold (who just came over from the Rays). The 33-year-old has never played in the big leagues with Tampa Bay, but put up good numbers at Triple-A for the organization last year. Miller has thrown 67 1/3 MLB innings over parts of five seasons, most of them coming in a productive 2012 with the Athletics.
  • Infielder Hernan Perez has also signed on to return to the Brewers, per the MLB.com transactions page. The 24-year-old got an extended look with Milwaukee last year, slashing .270/.281/.365 over 238 plate appearances, but lost his roster spot and elected free agency earlier this fall.
  • The Angels have inked lefty Lucas Luetge to a minor league deal with a spring invite, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports on Twitter. Luetge, 28, provides a potential southpaw pen piece for the Halos. He’s spent parts of each of the last four seasons in the majors, but his innings have dropped in every year. All told, Luetge owns a 4.35 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 4.8 BB/9 in the bigs.
  • There are five new non-roster invitees heading to Phillies camp, per a club announcement. Infielders Emmanuel Burriss and Ryan Jackson have both joined Philadelphia, as have righties Frank Herrmann, Chris Leroux, and Reinier Roibal. The infielders both come with MLB experience and could represent utility options for the rebuilding club. As for the pitchers, Herrmann and Leroux are both looking for a return to the bigs after having previously spent time in major league pens. And Roibal is a 26-year-old Cuban who put up good numbers — 1.64 ERA, 8.7 K/9 vs. 1.8 BB/9 — at the High-A and Double-A levels last year in the Phillies organization.

AL Central Notes: Indians’ Starters, Fister, Tigers, Sox, Soria

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The Blue Jays, Dodgers and Yankees are among the teams that have reached out to the Indians and had “preliminary” trade talks about Cleveland’s starting pitching, reports Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (links to Twitter). The still-very-early frameworks being discussed would each send a controllable starter away from Cleveland in exchange for an everyday outfielder, he continues. In an appearance on MLB Network (video link), Morosi noted that Brett Gardner’s name has come up in talks with Cleveland. Of course, Gardner alone wouldn’t fetch Carlos Carrasco or Danny Salazar, given the outfielder’s poor second half (though that was said to be injury-driven) and the more general fact that it makes little sense for Cleveland to part ways with five affordable years of either pitcher in exchange for three to four years of a well-compensated veteran. Other young and very well-regarded pieces would be a necessity. Trevor Bauer could be a more intriguing candidate in that scenario, as the soon-to-be 25-year-old was impressive in bursts in 2015 but continued his longstanding battle with control issues for most of the season. Other very speculative fits from the listed clubs could include Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Kevin Pillar, Dalton Pompey and Aaron Judge. Of course, each of those suggestions comes with varying degrees of uncertainty.

Some more notes from the AL Central…

  • The Tigers are among the teams with interest in free-agent right-hander Doug Fister, according to Buster Olney of ESPN (Twitter link). Fister is coming off a poor season in D.C. that saw his velocity dip to about 86 mph, causing him to lose his rotation spot. However, he enjoyed his best seasons in Detroit, and I can envision him being interested in a return on a make-good contract as he looks to rebuild his value, perhaps on a one-year deal in search of a larger contract among next year’s weak crop of free-agent starters.
  • MLB.com’s Jason Beck breaks down the Tigers’ options in their search for a left fielder. As Beck writes, fans should put to bed the notion of Jason Heyward, Justin Upton or a Yoenis Cespedes reunion, as all figure to be out of Detroit’s price range. Avila spoke highly of Tyler Collins recently, Beck notes, lending some credence to the possibility of simply acquiring a platoon partner for the left-handed-hitting 25-year-old. Beck lists Chris Young, former Tigers Ryan Raburn and Rajai Davis as possibilities. However, if the club feels an everyday left fielder would be an upgrade over a platoon of Collins and one of those righty bats, names like Nori Aoki and Gerardo Parra could come into play. Of course, it should be noted that Parra himself could benefit from a platoon partner, though he has a stronger defensive reputation than Collins (his surprising 2015 downturn in the view of defensive metrics not withstanding).
  • White Sox executive vice president Kenny Williams told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin that the team hasn’t made a definitive decision as to which direction it will go this offseason (Twitter link). While that will probably induce a large amount of Chris Sale and Jose Quintana trade speculation from fans of pitching-hungry teams, it does seem difficult to envision the White Sox changing course after spending so heavily last winter. Chicago’s core of Sale, Quintana, Carlos Rodon, Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton and David Robertson is an excellent start to a contending club. Previous reports have indicated that the Sox believe 2015 was just the first of a multi-year window to contend. Nonetheless, that Williams didn’t take the opportunity to firmly denounce the possibility of some retooling is notable.
  • The Twins have reached out to Joakim Soria’s agent and received his medical records for review, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN, though it’s not known whether the team is comfortable with a number anywhere near his reported $27MM asking price. (My guess: no.) In other Soria/AL Central news, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press tweeted today that while the Tigers were interested in Soria as recently as this past weekend, the two sides weren’t on the same page in contract talks. Detroit’s acquisition of Francisco Rodriguez seems likely to have diminished their interest in Soria anyhow.

Mets Notes: Zobrist, Murphy, Tejada, O’Day

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The Mets are “very interested” in Ben Zobrist and had a conference call with his representatives at Octagon today, reports Tim Rohan of the New York Times (links to Twitter). Rohan notes, however, that there are as many as 10 teams seriously interested in Zobrist, most of whom are also contenders. Zobrist, who is seeking a four-year deal, is listening to the pitches from each club and wants to play for a winning team. Newsday’s Marc Carig writes that there’s been a “steady dialogue” between the Mets and Zobrist’s camp, but there’s no indication that the Mets are willing to enter a bidding war for the versatile switch-hitter. And Adam Rubin of ESPN New York writes that Mets officials indicated to him last week that their internal expectation was for Zobrist’s robust market to price him out of their comfort zone. To this point, the Mets haven’t made a formal offer to a free agent, Rubin adds. (Although that’s probably true of several clubs.)

Here are a few more notes pertaining to the reigning NL champs…

  • The Mets are expected to make a “legitimate bid” for Daniel Murphy, writes Rubin in a second piece. He adds that some within the Mets organization feel that Murphy might consider an offer from the Mets even if they don’t make the strongest bid due to his longstanding relationship with the team. Carig tweets that it’s still unlikely there will be a reunion though, unless Murphy is willing to leave significant money on the table, adding that the Mets passed on the opportunity to discuss an in-season extension (to which Murphy was open). MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo tweets that the Mets seem to value Zobrist’s versatility (i.e. his outfield capability) over Murphy, but the team may very well get outbid on both free agents anyhow.
  • Rubin also writes that the Mets are moving toward a non-tender of shortstop Ruben Tejada, whose raise in arbitration is beyond what the team is interested in paying him coming off his second broken fibula and considering his rather light bat. MLBTR projects a $2.5MM salary for Tejada, though Rubin’s report is based on a $3MM+ figure that could come about if the team were to lose a hearing to Tejada.
  • Earlier this morning, Ken Rosenthal reported that Darren O’Day is seeking a four-year contract in the $28-36MM range, and while the Mets have been linked to O’Day, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that he was told New York “most likely” wouldn’t remain in the mix if the price escalated to those levels.
  • One more from Rubin, who writes that finding a left-handed complement to Juan Lagares in center field is currently the priority for the Mets, though they’re also “poking around” the trade market for a shortstop and considering setup men to add to the back end of their bullpen. The team doesn’t envision any major additions prior to the Winter Meetings, which begin on Dec. 7, Rubin adds.

Reds Hope To Move Chapman Before Winter Meetings

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8:51pm: In a full column, Rosecrans has transcribed the entire quote from Jocketty:

“Boston was probably a player in it, we talked to them, but we didn’t get close to anything. We’ve been talking to clubs, but I don’t think there’s anything that’s close. Hopefully we get something done with somebody before the Winter Meetings. We’d like to get moving on some things.”

8:29pm: Aroldis Chapman’s name has been frequently mentioned in rumors over the past few months, and he figures to become a more pressing issue in the coming weeks. C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets that president of baseball operations Walt Jocketty says there’s “nothing close” with Chapman at this time. Jocketty, though, hopes to get something completed before the onset of the Winter Meetings, according to Rosecrans. This year’s Winter Meetings take place from Dec. 7-10 in Nashville, Tenn.

The Tigers, Red Sox, Astros, Yankees, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays and Nationals have all been mentioned as potential trade partners, though the Tigers and Red Sox have, of course, already picked up late-inning relief help, which could remove them from the market. (Detroit acquired Francisco Rodriguez from the Brewers this morning while Boston landed Craig Kimbrel from the Padres in a weekend blockbuster.) Considering the caliber of arm in question, it’s highly likely that other clubs will enter the mix and have already done so while going unreported.

With one year of club control remaining at a projected $12.9MM rate, Chapman isn’t a long-term piece. But, he’s the type of overpowering arm that a team expecting to contend could acquire to significantly boost its playoff hopes, even if said team already has a closer in place. There’s a very strong case that Chapman is the best relief pitcher in baseball (he’s certainly among the top five or so), and adding him to a bullpen doesn’t remove the incumbent closer, but rather a team’s seventh-best reliever. The difference between Chapman and any club’s most disposable big league reliever, of course, is sizable.

Any club acquiring Chapman now likely feels that it’s acquiring a 2017 draft pick as well, considering the fact that Chapman is the rare reliever that represents an easy call when it comes to a potential qualifying offer. So long as Chapman doesn’t blow out his arm in 2016, it feels like a given that he’ll be worthy of a QO next November. Trading him this winter, then, would be Cincinnati’s best bet at maximizing a return for the soon-to-be 28-year-old Chapman, who owns a 1.90 ERA with 16.1 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and 145 saves over the past four seasons with the Reds.

Dallas Keuchel, Jake Arrieta Win Cy Young Awards

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Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel and Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta have won the Cy Young Awards in their respective leagues, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced tonight.

Keuchel placed in the top two on all 30 ballots (22 first-place votes, eight second-place), earning a total of 186 points. (Weighted seven points for first place, four for second, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth.) David Price came in a reasonably close second place, landing 21 second place votes and eight first place votes (plus one third place) for a total of 143 points. Sonny Gray, the only other recipient of a second-place vote, finished third with 82 points. Rounding out the ballot were Chris Sale, Chris Archer, Wade Davis, Felix Hernandez, Collin McHugh, Corey Kluber, Marco Estrada, Andrew Miller, Shawn Tolleson, Carlos Carrasco and Dellin Betances, in that order. (Full voting breakdown here.)

The 27-year-old Keuchel was fighting for a rotation spot as recently as Spring Training 2014, but his remarkable transformation into a bona fide ace atop the Houston rotation was completed with a dominant follow-up to a breakout 2014 season. Keuchel led the AL with 232 innings (trailing only Clayton Kershaw’s 232 2/3 innings for the MLB lead) and worked to a pristine 2.48 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and an AL-best 61.7 percent ground-ball rate. While pitcher wins are no longer as significantly emphasized as they once were, Keuchel’s 20 victories likely still held some weight with many voters (as evidenced, perhaps, by teammate and 19-game winner McHugh receiving votes despite logging a 3.89 ERA).

In the National League, voting was even closer, as most would expect. Arrieta’s 169 points narrowly edged out Zack Greinke’s 147 points, with Clayton Kershaw coming in third with a total of 101. Rounding out the ballot, in order, were Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, Madison Bumgarner, Jacob deGrom, Mark Melancon and John Lackey. (Full voting breakdown.)

Arrieta delivered a strong first half of the season but ratcheted things up with an historic second half, yielding a breathtaking four earned runs in his final 88 1/3 innings. Arrieta recorded an 89-to-14 K/BB ratio over that dominant stretch and shrank his earned run average from 2.62 to 1.77 in the process. He also led the Senior Circuit with 22 wins, four complete games and three shutouts.

There was a split camp between Arrieta and Greinke, the latter of whom posted a 1.66 ERA — the lowest earned run average since Greg Maddux 20 years ago. Greinke recorded 19 wins and averaged 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings against just 1.6 walks per nine in 222 2/3 innings with the Dodgers this season and also enjoyed an otherworldly run of 45 2/3 scoreless innings over the middle portion of the season. Incredibly, Greinke allowed just 19 runs over his first 19 starts this season.

Soria Eyeing Three-Year Deal In Vicinity Of $27MM

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Right-hander Joakim Soria is one of the top names on the free-agent market for relievers and is aiming to be compensated accordingly in the form of a three-year deal in the $27MM range, according to ESPN’s Jayson Stark (Twitter link).

Soria, 32 next May, is considered by many to be the top relief arm on the market outside of Darren O’Day, who as of today is said to be seeking a four-year deal in the $28-36MM range himself. It’s perhaps no coincidence that the asking price for Soria has come out shortly after the same information on O’Day, though Stark does cite teams that are active on the relief market as the source of his intel.

A wide number of clubs have been linked to Soria in the early stages of the offseason, including the Tigers, Rangers, Red Sox, Twins and Royals, though SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweeted today that the Red Sox are out of the running in the wake of their Craig Kimbrel acquisition. He adds that Soria is open to closing or setting up — a sentiment also heard by ESPN’s Buster Olney (Twitter link), who notes that Soria will still seek a “closer-like contract” even if he accepts an eighth-inning role. The number reported by Stark would seem to reflect that thinking.

Soria just completed a solid season split as the Tigers’ closer and a setup man for Pirates’ closer Mark Melancon. Both Soria’s 2.53 ERA and 67 1/3 innings pitched represent the best marks he has posted since an All-Star season with the Royals back in 2010. Soria missed the 2012 campaign with Tommy John surgery and struggled a bit upon returning late in the 2013 season, but his overall body of work since returning from the procedure is strong. In 135 2/3 innings post-TJ, Soria has logged a 2.99 ERA with 9.3 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 to go along with 42 saves.

Latest On Angels’ Front Office

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4:36pm: Eppler tells Fletcher that the Angels “have not hired Bud Black” and are still in the process of assembling their front office unit (links to Twitter). However, Fletcher notes that it won’t be a surprise if Black ultimately does land in the Angels’ front office, calling him a natural fit.

Notably, Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times has tweeted that Black will join the front office even after Eppler’s comment, so perhaps in light of the drama with the Nationals, the Angels are just being careful to limit talk of Black’s return until everything is official.

4:09pm: Former Padres skipper and Angels pitching coach Bud Black will return to the Halos as a member of their front office, reports MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez. Black’s specific role isn’t clear just yet, though Gonzalez says he’ll likely be a special assistant to GM Billy Eppler. Additionally, Jeff Fletcher of the O.C. Register reports that the Angels have hired Yankees manager of pro scouting as their new assistant general manager.

Black, 58, was fired by the Padres in June of this past season after serving as the team’s skipper for parts of the past nine seasons. He drew offseason interest from both the Nationals and Dodgers in the clubs’ respective managerial searches and was even reported at one point to be the Nats’ choice as their new manager. However, contract discussions between the two sides broke down, and Washington ultimately tabbed Dusty Baker as its new manager. Following that, Black was reported to be one of a handful of finalists for the Dodgers, but the field has since been narrowed to two (Gabe Kapler and Black’s former bench coach Dave Roberts).

Black began his coaching career with the Angels, serving as Mike Scioscia’s pitching coach from 2000-06 before being named Padres’ manager. While his exact duties aren’t yet known, one can envision him working with the club’s young pitchers in Spring Training and going on advance scouting assignments to weigh in on pitchers over the course of the regular season.

Martone, of course, has a connection to Eppler from the pair’s time together in the front office, where Eppler recently held the title of assistant GM. He’ll absorb many of the duties that were shared by Angels assistant GMs Matt Klentak and Scott Servais, who recently left the Halos’ front office to become GM of the Phillies and manager of the Mariners, respectively. Fletcher notes that Martone has been with the Yankees dating back to 2007 and was largely responsible for identifying trade and free-agent targets in New York.

Gonzalez also reports that Ron Roenicke, who served as the Angels’ third base coach from 2000-05 but has more recently been manager of the Brewers and third base coach for the Dodgers, will also return to the Angels. He’ll assume his former duties as the third base coach in Anaheim after missing out on the Dodgers’ managerial gig himself.

David Carpenter Elects Free Agency After Being Outrighted By Nationals

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The Nationals announced today that they have outrighted veteran right-hander David Carpenter off the 40-man roster. Carpenter elected free agency rather than taking the minor league assignment, as is his right as a player with three-plus years of Major League service time. He’d have been arbitration eligible this offseason, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a salary of $1.5MM.

The 30-year-old Carpenter has had a whirlwind calendar year. After enjoying an excellent run with the Braves from 2013-14 –2.63 ERA, 10.0 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 in 126 2/3 innings — Carpenter found himself traded to the Yankees alongside lefty Chasen Shreve in exchange for Manny Banuelos. Things didn’t go well for Carpenter in his brief Bronx stay, as he pitched to a 4.82 ERA with an 11-to-7 K/BB ratio in 18 2/3 innings. The Nationals, though, perhaps intrigued by the strong 94.9 mph average on Carpenter’s heater and increased ground-ball rate, swung a trade to acquire him from New York after he was designated for assignment.

With the Nationals, Carpenter surrendered just one run in his first six innings but quickly landed on the disabled list due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. That injury eventually led to a transfer to the 60-day DL and would ultimately prove to be a season-ender for the right-hander.

Carpenter and his agents at Sports One Athlete Management will now have the ability to test the open market earlier than expected. As a player with four-plus years of big league service, Carpenter comes with the bonus of being controllable via the arbitration process following the 2016 season for any team that wishes to buy low on a minor league pact in hopes that he can rediscover the for he displayed in his peak seasons with the Braves. A one-year deal with a low base salary is also a possibility, though Carpenter passed through outright waivers unclaimed with a projected price tag of just $1.5MM.

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