Houston’s Compensation For Losing Valverde
Hundreds of players remain on the open market, but only one of the unsigned Type A free agents received an offer of arbitration. Now that players like Jason Bay and Matt Holliday have signed, just Jose Valverde remains.
- 19th – The Tigers would have to give their first rounder up, but they've reportedly made an offer.
- 23rd – The Marlins consider Valverde too pricey right now.
- 49th - The Pirates have some interest, but don't like Valverde's asking price of $8MM per year.
- 53rd – The D'Backs, who are also interested, have their first round pick protected.
- 57th – The A's have a protected first rounder, but they may stick with 2009 Rookie of the Year Andrew Bailey.
- 58th – We haven't heard of definitive interest from the Blue Jays.
- The Phillies (27th), Yankees (32nd) and Nats (48th) would all surrender top-50 picks to sign Valverde, though those clubs don't appear to be likely destinations.
- The Red Sox haven't been connected to him either, and they'd rather avoid the luxury tax, but here's something to consider: they'd only have to give up their 107th overall pick to add the reliever. Valverde's ranked higher than John Lackey and Marco Scutaro, so the Astros get the 29th pick (now held by the Angels) if their former closer signs with the Red Sox. The Blue Jays and Angels are surely hoping to avoid this possibility because it would strengthen their rival's bullpen and diminish the value of their compensation picks.
- Confused? Check out our free agent compensation primer.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Bay, Holliday, Front Offices
On this date nine years ago, the A's, Royals, and Devil Rays pulled off a three-team trade that included seven big leaguers. Oakland acquired Johnny Damon, Mark Ellis, and the late Cory Lidle while Kansas City received Angel Berroa, A.J. Hinch, and Roberto Hernandez. Tampa Bay picked up just Ben Grieve. Even though Berroa went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award in 2003, Billy Beane's club walked away as the clear winner of this blockbuster.
Let's take a look at what's being written around the baseball blogosphere as Spring Training inches closer…
- Fenway Nation thinks the Red Sox made a mistake by not re-signing Jason Bay, and wants to see the club atone for it by trading for Adrian Gonzalez.
- Simon On Sports interviewed a blogger from each team about their squad's offseason.
- At Home Plate says the Cardinals overpaid for Matt Holliday not because he isn't worth the money, but because no one else was bidding for his services.
- Athletics Nation graded the front offices of the last decade.
- U.S.S. Mariner calls Franklin Gutierrez's contract extension a major bargain, and notes it's similarities to the deal Mike Cameron signed with Seattle a decade ago.
- DRays Bay wonders if the Rays could use Alfredo Amezaga.
- Phillies Nation takes a look at some of the cheaper free agent pitching options that could entice the two-time defending NL Champs.
- Twins Overlook examines the progression of Delmon Young since arriving in Minnesota.
- River Ave. Blues ranked the $100MM contracts given to position players.
- More Hardball has some New Year's resolutions for various people and teams in the game.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
Scott Eyre Retires
Scott Eyre tells MLB.com's Todd Zolecki that he's retiring after 13 seasons in the majors. The Phillies had offered the lefty a minor league deal, but Eyre, who only wanted to pitch for the Phils, chose retirement instead. Eyre originally asked for $2MM – the same amount he made in 2009 – but now says he'd prefer to spend time with his family.
"I think even if [Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr.] would have offered me a better contract I still don't think I would have taken it," Eyre told Zolecki.
Eyre pitched for the White Sox, Blue Jays, Giants and Cubs before joining the Phillies midway through 2008. He won the World Series with the Phillies just months after joining them and went on to have a strong 2009 season. Eyre allowed 22 hits and 16 walks in 30 innings, striking out 22 for an ERA of 1.50.
Odds & Ends: Phillies, Iannetta, Braves
Links for Tuesday…
- Phillies' GM Ruben Amaro said a lefty reliever and another starter are still on his wish list, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.
- Troy Renck of The Denver Post provides the details of Chris Iannetta's contract extension. The backstop can void the $5MM club option for 2013 if he is traded anytime before then.
- Braves' GM Frank Wren said he's looking for just "one more small piece" to fill out his club's offensive needs, tweets MLB.com's Mark Bowman. Bowman notes that the Braves need a primary pinch hitter.
- Adrian Beltre will take his physical on Thursday, tweeted Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports.
- Joel Sherman of The New York Post provides some thoughts on the Mets' deal with Jason Bay. He notes that the team's scouts "contend Bay is a better defender than (Matt) Holliday," despite what the metrics and people outside the organization say.
- The Giants designated defensively-skilled shortstop Brian Bocock for assignment to make room for Juan Uribe, tweets Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- ESPN's Keith Law sees "very little downside" for the Red Sox with the Adrian Beltre deal. He notes that Boston's defense should be terrific this year. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs says Beltre is "in the conversation of the best defensive third baseman of all time." WEEI's Rob Bradford says the Red Sox considered signing Beltre after the '04 season, and even discussed trying him at shortstop. Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe says Beltre is, at the least, an upgrade over Casey Kotchman.
- Ken Davidoff of Newsday feels the Mets could raise payroll in 2011, so they won't be limited because of Jason Bay's contract. By the way, Bradford has the transcript from Bay's press conference today.
- Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball notes that the ten-day arbitration-filing period begins today. MLB.com's Doug Miller highlights the biggest eligible names.
- ESPN's Buster Olney suggests the Giants and Mets have been the slowest to adapt to advanced stats. He also notes that the proliferation of better defensive metrics could greatly benefit Carl Crawford as a free agent next offseason.
- MLB.com's Brian McTaggart talked to Astros GM Ed Wade, who said the trade market isn't great because of all the remaining free agents. Also, Wade is focused on one-year deals for arbitration-eligible players such as Michael Bourn, Wandy Rodriguez, and Hunter Pence.
- With Matt Holliday inching toward a large contact with the Cardinals, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks at other $100MM deals given to outfielders.
- MetsBlog's Matthew Cerrone has a summary of Peter Gammons' appearance on WFAN this morning.
- R.J. Anderson of DRays Bay interviewed Dan Feinstein, the Rays' Director of Baseball Operations.
Phillies Sign Danys Baez
The Phillies signed reliever Danys Baez to a two-year, $5.25MM deal today. SI's Jon Heyman first tweeted the agreement on Thursday of last week, while MLB.com's Todd Zolecki added the value today.
Baez, 32, posted a 5.0 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, and 4.02 ERA in 71.6 innings for the Orioles this year. Among free agents with 50 innings, Baez ranked behind only non-tenders Brian Bass and Mike MacDougal in terms of groundball rate. That makes him a good fit for Citizens Bank Park, though the multiyear commitment is questionable. Regardless, it's not nearly as bad as the three-year, $19MM deal the Orioles gave Baez in November of '06. In a September blog post, Stacey Long of Camden Chat reflected on that brutal $41.5MM commitment Mike Flanagan and Jim Duquette made to Baez, Chad Bradford, and Jamie Walker.
Tim Dierkes contributed to this post.
Odds & Ends: Lowe, Tigers, Halladay, Capps
Links for Monday…
- MLB.com's Mark Bowman says the Braves made it known they were willing to eat $9MM of the $45MM owed to Derek Lowe over the next three years, but found no takers.
- MLB.com's Jason Beck talked to Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski, who said nothing has changed in terms of using Scott Sizemore as the second baseman. Beck points out that if the Tigers wanted a veteran at the position they probably would've offered Placido Polanco arbitration.
- Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik told Murray Chass they he expressed interest in Roy Halladay a couple of times, before the trade deadline and at the Winter Meetings. It sounds like Halladay's no-trade clause was an obstacle.
- Chico Harlan of the Washington Post has a Q&A with new Nationals reliever Matt Capps, who agreed to a one-year, $3.5MM deal on Christmas Eve. MLB.com's Bill Ladson tweets that Capps' physical is scheduled for Tuesday.
- Baseball America's Jim Callis gives us a couple of prospect "All-Bust" teams for the 2000s.
- MLB.com's Todd Zolecki notes that the Phillies have a minor league offer out to Scott Eyre.
- MLB.com's Mark Sheldon talked to Reds GM Walt Jocketty, who will be looking at minor league deal possibilities. Sheldon indicated that the Reds' interest in Noah Lowry is now less than minimal.
- MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan fills us in on the Rangers' offseason plans and potential targets in his mailbag.
- Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues would like to see the Yankees buy low on Oakland's Travis Buck. Buck made our list of right field trade candidates back in November.
GM Trade Histories: NL East
Brendan Bianowicz is back with a bunch of updates to the GM Trade History series. The Excel spreadsheets linked below cover each GM's trades, free agent signings, and top draft picks via tabs along the bottom. It's interesting to see each GM's most frequent trade partner – for example, Omar Minaya has matched up with Larry Beinfest and Mark Shapiro most often in his career.
Odds & Ends: Byrd, Werth, Tigers, Brewers
Here's your first batch of links for 2010…
- Marlon Byrd signed with the Cubs partly because of hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, according to MLB.com's Carrie Muskat. Jaramillo worked with Byrd in Texas.
- The Marlins are willing to spend on Aroldis Chapman because they don't anticipate handing big bucks over to their first round pick next year, tweets MLB.com's Joe Frisaro. The Marlins have the 23rd overall pick in the draft.
- Jayson Werth is set to become a free agent after the 2010 season, and MLB.com's Todd Zolecki says he isn't sure the Phillies could retain him if he goes looking for a deal similar to what the Mets gave Jason Bay.
- Jason Beck of MLB.com says he'd be surprised if the Tigers didn't trade for a veteran reliever on a short-term contract to fill in at the back of the bullpen.
- Don't discount the idea of Brewers' GM Doug Melvin making another move to bolster his pitching staff, says Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Such a move could come before the season, or ahead of the trade deadline.
- MLB.com's Corey Brock notes that Padres' GM Jed Hoyer has talked about finding players that fit Petco Park, which would be "an athletic one, has doubles-power, someone who can run … if it's an outfielder, someone who can go get a ball, someone who won't clog the bases."
- The Rangers will bring in "at least one and possibly two" veteran catchers, writes T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. He notes that the team has talked about Rod Barajas and Yorvit Torrealba, but both are looking for two-year deals.
- In an interview with Dave O'Brien of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chipper Jones says that he's told team officials he'll only change positions if the team brings in "the right personnel." Chipper also reiterated that he's going year-to-year at this point of his career, and admits there's parts of being a ballplayer that he's sick of.
- Here's the current 2010 draft order based on the free agent signings that are official. At the moment, the Angels have five of the first 37 picks.
Odds & Ends: Bay, Byrd, Baez
Happy New Year everyone! Here are some links to close out 2009..
- MLB.com's Marty Noble isn't buying into the talk suggesting that Jason Bay won't be able to hit home runs in Citi Field.
- Cubs GM Jim Hendry will come to regret signing Marlon Byrd, writes Keith Law of ESPN. Law says that while Byrd could play everyday for a non-contender, he's not worthy of being the everyday center fielder for a team with playoff aspirations.
- Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com wishes Danys Baez good luck with the Phillies, his sixth major league club. Although he hopes that Baez will find success with the 2008 World Champions, Kubatko says that they might come to regret the contract they gave him.
Phillies Sign Tagg Bozied
The Phillies signed Tagg Bozied today, MLBTR has learned. Bozied, 30, hit .288/.360/.447 in 240 plate appearances for the Pirates' Triple A club this year after starting the year in Taiwan. He mainly played first base and the outfield corners. Bozied hit .306/.382/.569 for the Marlins' Triple A club in '08.
Bozied was a big-time power prospect in the Padres system several years ago, but he ruptured the patella tendon in his left knee in July of '04 jumping on home plate to celebrate a game-winning grand slam.