Latest On Padres’ Talks For Matt Kemp
The Dodgers and Padres are in continued discussions on the possibility of a Matt Kemp trade, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). One scenario that has been discussed would have Yasmani Grandal headed to the Dodgers (among other pieces, presumably) with Kemp and some cash headed back to the Friars. However, Rosenthal is also careful to note that the Dodgers are still discussing Kemp with multiple clubs, and a deal with the Padres isn’t necessarily any more likely than it is with a different team yet.
The Padres have made a number of attempts to add an impact bat to their ranks this offseason but have fallen short in pursuits of both Pablo Sandoval and Yasmany Tomas. They were also linked to Adam LaRoche before he signed with the White Sox. Adding impact bats on the open market is difficult for the Padres due to the fact that Petco Park is known to greatly suppress offense and perhaps also due to the team’s poor finishes over the past four seasons (eight or more games under .500 in each).
The remaining five years and $107MM on Kemp’s contract is a likely hurdle the Dodgers will need to overcome in any deal, but it’s in the same ballpark as the Padres’ offer to Sandoval, and as Rosenthal said, the Dodgers can kick in some cash to ease the contractual burden. Kemp has also been recently linked to the Orioles and Mariners, though the most recent indication was that Baltimore had gotten “nowhere” in talks for Kemp.
Grandal, on the other hand, is said to be among the Padres’ top trade chips, and the team is reportedly pushing him more aggressively than fellow backstops Rene Rivera and Austin Hedges. In the event that Grandal is traded, I’d expect the Padres to look at additional catchers (or perhaps take on the contract of A.J. Ellis, should a deal with the Dodgers be struck), as Hedges likely needs further minor league seasoning.
Mariners Sign Nelson Cruz
5:00pm: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Cruz will earn $14MM per season plus his $1MM signing bonus, making it a four-year, $57MM deal.
DECEMBER 4, 11:09am: The deal is official, with the team announcing the signing today.
DECEMBER 1: The Mariners have agreed to a multi-year deal with Nelson Cruz, reports Dominican journalist Yancen Pujols (Spanish link). According to Pujols, it’s a four-year, $57MM contract. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick hears that the deal is still pending a physical (Twitter link). Cruz is represented by agent Diego Bentz of Relativity Sports.
Cruz, 34, led the Majors in home runs this past season (40) while putting together an excellent .271/.333/.525 batting line. He ranked alongside Victor Martinez and Melky Cabrera as the best bats on the market this offseason, and he arguably provides the Mariners with the best power upgrade money could buy on the free agent market. Though he’s never approached the 40 homers he hit in 2014 previously, Cruz boasts a lifetime .232 isolated power mark and has averaged 37 homers per 162 games since 2009.
Of course, he’s also had difficulty staying on the field in that stretch. Cruz has a history of hamstring and quadriceps injuries in both legs, and he hit the DL for such maladies five times between 2010-11. He played a career-high 159 games in 2012 (a figure he matched in 2014) and was healthy in 2013 before a 50-game suspension cut his season short after he was connected to the Biogenesis PED scandal. Cruz admitted to making a mistake and taking a banned substance in 2012 after a bout with a bacterial infection called helicobacter pylori caused him to lose nearly 40 pounds in the 2011-12 offseason.
While many will forever connect Cruz to PEDs as a result of that infraction, he was tested extensively in 2013 and in 2014 without suspension, and he batted .269/.331/.518 in that time, so the Mariners are likely to have a significant offensive upgrade on their hands. He figures to see time in both right field and at DH with Seattle — two areas in which Seattle needed additional offense. Mariners DHs combined to bat just .190/.266/.301 last year, while their right fielders hit a pedestrian .255/.308/.413. Though the move to Seattle’s Safeco Field would appear to be a detriment to his right-handed pop, both ESPN Park Factors and Baseball Prospectus Park Factors indicated that in 2014, Orioles Park at Camden Yards was actually less homer-friendly for right-handed bats than Safeco Field. That’s not to say Cruz will repeat his career year, but the drop-off could be less significant than some are anticipating.
For all of the positives there are to say about Cruz’s offense, however, there are negatives when it comes to his defensive value. Cruz played a passable left field in a small, 500-inning sample with the Orioles in 2014, but he’s been below-average in right over the past four seasons and only figures to get worse as he ages. Given his history of leg injuries, it’s more than fair to wonder how much outfield time he can handle in 2015 and how much of his offensive value will be negated by his defense. Of course, if he spends much of his time at DH, there’s a chance he can still resemble the three to four win player he was in 2014.
The Mariners missed a Wild Card playoff berth by a mere game in 2014 after flirting with the idea of signing Cruz last winter but ultimately passing because they weren’t interested in adding any PED-linked players. That line of thinking has clearly changed now. It’s possible that Seattle decision-makers rightly realized that had they inked Cruz a year ago, they’d likely have made the playoffs. Whether that line of thinking justifies a four-year commitment to a defensively challenged player in his mid-30s is up for debate, but the M’s have every reason to make aggressive plays for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and Cruz should still be of significant help in those campaigns. This is the final season of Hisashi Iwakuma‘s contract, and superstar Robinson Cano is on the back end of his prime, so it makes sense for the Mariners to push for contention now, even if the moves contain some downside in the 2017-18 seasons, as this one likely does.
Cruz was also pursued heavily by the Orioles, but his former team wouldn’t budge from its unwillingness to guarantee a fourth season. Now, they’ll pick up a compensatory draft pick at the end of the first round next season, while the Mariners will surrender what would have been the 19th pick in the draft (they had been slated to pick 21st but moved up after the Mets and Blue Jays forfeited picks to sign Michael Cuddyer and Russell Martin, respectively). The departure of Cruz would seem to increase the chances that Nick Markakis will be back in Baltimore, and one would think it also lessens the likelihood of the Mariners acquiring Justin Upton from the Mariners — a player in whom they’ve reportedly shown interest. Speculatively speaking, Seattle could still pay a premium to acquire Upton as part of an aggressive run at the 2015 season, with Cruz spending most of his time at DH and Upton serving as the right fielder.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NL Notes: Martinez, MacDonald, Upton, Giants, Stauffer
Former Rays bench coach Dave Martinez, who left the organization after he was not selected as a finalist for their managerial opening, has joined the Cubs‘ coaching staff, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Martinez will assume the familiar role of serving as Joe Maddon’s bench coach, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports. That the well-respected Martinez wasn’t named a finalist in Tampa’s managerial search surprised many. He’s previously interviewed for other managerial gigs and is widely considered to be have a chance to manage in the Majors someday. Heyman also notes that Brandon Hyde, who was expected to serve as bench coach on what was a full Cubs staff, will be re-assigned, but the team is expected to move him to a significant role.
A few more notes from around the National League…
- The Braves announced today that former Padres vice president/assistant general manager Chad MacDonald will join the front office as a special assistant to president of baseball operations John Hart. MacDonald, according to the release, will be involved in all facets of Atlanta’s scouting efforts, including international, amateur and professional scouting. He’s previously served as the Mets’ director of scouting and both the assistant director of scouting and director of international scouting for the Diamondbacks.
- Interest in Justin Upton has increased since the Braves signed Nick Markakis, Heyman tweets. ESPN’s Jayson Stark hears that the Braves have fielded more than a dozen calls on Upton, who is considered by many to be the best available bat on the trade market (Twitter link). Atlanta is still in no hurry to move Upton, Stark adds.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, meanwhile, tweets that it’s still possible the Braves will trade Evan Gattis and hang onto Upton in order to at least position themselves to collect a draft pick should Upton depart following the 2015 season.
- The Giants‘ priorities at the Winter Meetings (and beyond) are third base and starting pitching, tweets Rosenthal. The team is in need of a left fielder but feels that Juan Perez, Gregor Blanco and Travis Ishikawa are all capable of handling the position. They’re not ruling out signing a free agent outfielder, but that priority has taken a back seat to the rotation and the hot corner.
- The Padres are one of a number of to reach out to free agent righty Tim Stauffer, tweets Jeff Saunders of the San Diego Union Tribune. The 32-year-old Stauffer, formerly the fourth overall pick in the draft, posted a 3.50 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 64 1/3 innings (three starts, 41 relief appearances) for the Friars this past season. Friar has worked as a reliever in recent seasons but hurled 185 2/3 innings of 3.73 ERA ball for San Diego back in 2011.
Giants Avoid Arbitration With Hector Sanchez
After avoiding arbitration with Travis Ishikawa earlier today, the Giants have also avoided arb with catcher Hector Sanchez by agreeing to a one-year, $800K contract, tweets Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The 25-year-old Sanchez served as a backup to Buster Posey for much of the season in 2014 and batted .196/.237/.301 with three homers in 177 trips to the plate. While those numbers represented a significant dip from the .267/.299/.370 batting line that Sanchez carried into the season, he rated as an average pitch-framer and threw out an above-average 31 percent of base stealers (14 of 45). He was also behind the plate for Tim Lincecum‘s no-hitter against the Padres on June 25.
The Giants have a somewhat crowded situation at catcher with well-regarded rookie Andrew Susac also in the mix for playing time next season. However, as Schulman notes in a second tweet, arb contracts aren’t fully guaranteed, and it’s possible still that Sanchez could be traded or optioned to Triple-A to begin the season.
Giants Avoid Arbitration With Travis Ishikawa
The Giants have agreed on terms to avoid arbitration with surprise postseason hero Travis Ishikawa, Chris Haft of MLB.com reports on Twitter. It will be a $1.1MM, one-year deal. The 31-year-old left-handed hitter was projected by MLBTR/Matt Swartz to earn $800K.
Ishikawa slashed .252/.311/.393 last year over just 119 MLB plate appearances, good for a precisely league average 100 OPS+. It seems likely that he will function as a bench bat and spot starter for the defending World Series champs.
Free Agent Notes: Melky, Gomes, White Sox
As we wait for word on several fast-moving free agent situations, here’s the latest out of the market:
- Outfielder Melky Cabrera is looking for a five-year deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. That is not surprising as an asking price, given that Cabrera is just 30 years of age, though it remains to be seen whether he can get that fifth year guaranteed.
- More surprising, perhaps, is that the Giants have expressed in Cabrera, per another Rosenthal tweet. While the match makes sense on paper, Cabrera left San Francisco on somewhat strained terms a few years back. But with options quickly disappearing to fill San Francisco’s void in left field, Cabrera could hold renewed appeal. Of course, San Francisco has been said to be casing a wide net in its search for upgrades, and it is not yet clear how seriously it intends to pursue Cabrera.
- The Rangers and Mariners join the previously-reported Cubs as teams to have checked in on outfielder Jonny Gomes, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com tweets. The veteran lefty-masher should have his choice of several landing spots, and will no doubt look to maximize his expected role.
- As the White Sox look to add a right-handed starter, the team is not ruling out pursuit of high-end free agents, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. That includes quality arms up to and including Max Scherzer, says Heyman, who notes that Chicago remains unlikely to make the massive outlay that will be required to add the consensus best arm available. The South Siders are also exploring the trade market, of course, and are looking not only at controllable options but also a variety of veterans with just one year remaining on their deals.
Rangers Re-Sign Colby Lewis, Michael Kirkman
As expected, the Rangers have agreed to re-sign free agent pitcher Colby Lewis, the club announced today (via MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan). The deal is for one year and $4MM. Texas has also re-signed the recently non-tendered Michael Kirkman to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite, the team announced.
Lewis, a 35-year-old righty, has been with the Rangers since returning stateside after a two-year run with in Japan. He was a sturdy, high-value presence in the team’s rotation until being derailed by elbow issues in the middle of 2012.
Lewis worked back to throw 170 1/3 innings last year, proving that he could carry the load of a big league starter. The results were not there, with a 5.18 ERA, but his peripherals (7.0 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9) led ERA estimators to value his contribution at about a run per nine lower than the earned runs he actually permitted.
Kirkman, meanwhile, lost his 40-man spot but obviously still held interest to the Rangers. The club seemingly took advantage of the non-tender deadline as a way to move him off the roster without exposing him to waivers, a process explained recently by Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper. Last year saw Kirkman’s lowest MLB innings tally since he broke into the league in 2010, though he had a fairly typical season at Triple-A and should have every opportunity to crack the big league pen in the spring.
AL Notes: Donaldson, Moss, Markakis, Tigers, Twins, Smoak
Athletics GM Billy Beane firmly rejected the recently-suggested idea that some kind of tension between he and Josh Donaldson played any role in the latter’s recent trade, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports. “It is so absurd to respond further is to give it credibility,” said Beane. We’ll take a closer look at Oakland on today’s podcast, which features beat reporter Jane Lee of MLB.com.
Here’s more from the American League:
- The Athletics are “going to trade Brandon Moss,” an executive told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark last night (Twitter link). We heard yesterday that the Indians were making a run at the slugger, and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the pursuit continues today. Of course, as Lee reported last night (via Twitter), there are other teams looking into Moss.
- Lingering concerns over neck issues may have played a role in the Orioles‘ decision not to top the Braves’ offer to Nick Markakis, Rosenthal reports. Markakis has been quite durable over the last two seasons since being diagnosed with a “small disc herniation,” but of course he has also failed to deliver much pop in that time.
- Nevertheless, the Orioles did have the second-highest offer on the table to Markakis, per Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs (Twitter link). He hears that Baltimore offered four years and $40MM.
- The Tigers are receiving strong interest in David Price and Rick Porcello, Rosenthal reports (links to Twitter). What Detroit would ask for in return for these starters remains a mystery, Rosenthal adds. Of course, there are several other big-name, 5+ service time pitchers who could potentially be had, and Rosenthal notes that all are still “in play.” He adds that the primary appeal of such arms is their generally below-market salary and the achievement of a year of exclusive negotiating rights. Implicit, of course, is that teams are interested not only in a reasonable hope of achieving excess value on the contract, but also in doing so without exposure to the massive downside risk of a longer-term deal.
- The Twins will turn their attention to the pitching staff during the Winter Meetings, reports MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. When asked what the team’s priority is, GM Terry Ryan left little doubt how he feels: “Pitching is, and I don’t think there’s any question. We’ve had our struggles on the mound, so we’ll continue to look at pitching first.”
- Justin Smoak left money on the table to join the Blue Jays, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports. Agent Dustin Bledsoe told Nicholson-Smith that his client wanted the chance at everyday playing time at first more than the possibility of increasing his guarantee next year.
Andrew Miller Nearing Decision
TODAY, 7:59am: Miller is expected to make a decision today or tomorrow, an executive who had been involved with the bidding tells Sherman (Twitter link).
YESTERDAY, 10:00pm: The Astros appear unlikely to land Miller, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports.
9:40pm: New York appears to be willing to give Miller a fourth year, Heyman adds on Twitter.
8:08pm: The Yankees appear to be one of two or three finalists, Heyman writes. He says that the Dodgers seem to be back in the pack now, while the Astros remain a “possible threat.” The Red Sox, meanwhile, “seem to be out on Miller at the moment,” according to Heyman.
2:25pm: Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that the Yankees do have serious interest in Miller, but their stance is much the same as it is regarding David Robertson: they’ll give three guaranteed years but are hesitant to lock in the fourth season.
1:38pm: Andrew Miller is moving closer to a contract that will guarantee him close to $40MM over a four-year term, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, and the Yankees and Dodgers are two of the teams in play. Heyman writes that the Red Sox appear to be out of the bidding at this point, and Miller could reach an agreement within the next 48 hours.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports recently indicated that the Red Sox are still showing strong interest, and he also listed the Astros as a club with serious interest. The 29-year-old Miller is coming off an elite season in which he posted a combined 2.02 ERA with 14.9 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 62 1/3 regular season innings between the Red Sox and Orioles. He added 7 1/3 scoreless frames with an 8-to-1 K/BB ratio in the postseason as well.
The proposed figures would shatter the record for a non-closing reliever. Scott Linebrink previously signed a four-year, $19MM with the White Sox, which stands out as the largest guarantee. Tim Dierkes made a fairly aggressive four-year, $32MM projection back in late October, and it seems that Miller is poised to top that number.
Minor Moves: Beavan, Herrera, Sitton, Kohn, Carrera, Obispo
Here are the latest minor moves …
- The Diamondbacks have signed righty Blake Beavan to a minor league deal, via the MLB.com transactions page. The former first-round pick was outrighted by the Marines back in August.
- The Cubs inked second baseman Jonathan Herrera, per the same source. Herrera lost his roster spot with the Red Sox a month ago after a fairly disappointing campaign in Boston.
- The Angels re-signed righty Yoslan Herrera on a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite, Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com reports on Twitter. Herrera had been non-tendered yesterday.
- Likewise, southpaw Kraig Sitton has re-signed with the Rockies on a minor league deal a day after being non-tendered, the club announced via Twitter. Sitton posted a 3.68 ERA last year at the Double-A level.
- Righty Michael Kohn has gone to the Braves on a minor league deal with a big league camp invite, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports on Twitter. Kohn originally signed with the Rays but was designated off the 40-man roster.
- The Blue Jays announced the signing of outfielder Ezequiel Carrera to a minor league deal. Carrera was designated recently to clear space for the Tigers’ claim of Josh Zeid.
- The Brewers have signed righty Wirfin Obispo, the club’s player development account tweeted. Obispo, 30, spent last year with the Braves and Pirates organizations and worked to a 4.12 ERA over 48 Triple-A frames.