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Cafardo On Dodgers, Upton, Doumit, Red Sox

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Do not expect Dodgers owner Frank McCourt to go quietly into the night, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  The McCourt-Bud Selig saga could turn out to be one of the great sports legal battles of the 21st century.  While he's been silent publicly, major league sources close to McCourt indicate he is flabbergasted by Selig’s actions, and that he has not been able to discuss the issues with the commissioner face-to-face.  Here's more from Cafardo's Sunday column..

  • A couple of major league evaluators say the Rays could explore moving B.J. Upton if they fall out of contention, or even if they’re in contention.  They’d like to make a deal similar to the Matt Garza trade, in which they received good talent, including Sam Fuld.
  • The Pirates received calls on catcher Ryan Doumit this winter but the talks eventually petered out.  The Red Sox could be in the market for a backstop, but one talent evaluator says that Doumit isn't a great receiver and the club is better off sticking with Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  Pittsburgh’s Chris Snyder, who is off to a hot start, could also be available.
  • The Nationals are thought to be in the market for a center fielder and/or someone who can add give a boost to the Nats offense.
  • The White Sox lead the majors with six blown saves, but one club exec stands by the team's decision to let Bobby Jenks go.  Even though Jenks may do very well with Boston, it was the right decision, even if it doesn't look like it right now.
  • Cafardo was surprised to see BoSox chariman Tom Werner issue a statement that he wasn’t interested in pursuing ownership of the Dodgers.  Werner has Los Angeles roots and was once the owner of the Padres.  The chairman himself pointed out that his business and personal relationships with John Henry are too good to walk away from.

Pirates Designate Josh Rodriguez For Assignment

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SATURDAY: Pirates GM Neal Huntington told Colin Dunlap of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette there "is a process that we have to go through," when asked about Rodriguez's future. "The first is the ability to see if there's a trade partner out there. The second is he'd have to clear waivers. We will work through those two processes first and go from there."

FRIDAY: The Pirates designated infielder Josh Rodriguez for assignment and recalled Pedro Ciriaco from Triple-A, according to the team.  Ciriaco appears to be a placeholder for new Pirate Brandon Wood, who was claimed today from the Angels.

Rodriguez, 26, was claimed by the Pirates from the Indians as the first pick in the December Rule 5 draft.  If he's not traded or claimed in the next ten days, the Pirates have to offer him back to the Indians for $25K or work out a trade to keep him.  If another team picks up Rodriguez, they'll still be subject to the Rule 5 restriction of keeping him in the Majors all year.

Rodriguez received only 14 big league plate appearances this year.  Last year at Triple-A he hit .293/.372/.486 in 364 plate appearances, spending most of his time at shortstop.  Baseball America ranked him 24th among Pirates prospects, noting that "his upside appears to be as a utility player."

Pirates Claim Brandon Wood

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The Pirates claimed shortstop Brandon Wood off waivers from the Angels, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Wood had been designated for assignment by the Halos late Tuesday, and the Pirates were first in line in the waiver order.

Wood

The former top prospect is now 26 years old, and in 494 big league plate appearances with the Angels he hasn't had success.  The Pirates present the perfect opportunity for redemption, as they're one of few teams that can give Wood regular at-bats at shortstop with some leeway for struggling.  The scouting report is three years old, but before the '08 season Baseball America said Wood had unexceptional range but could "handle shortstop just fine" defensively.  Though he's a shortstop by trade, Wood has played third base as well.  MLB.com's Lyle Spencer wrote recently, "It was fascinating to see how different he was when he was in the lineup at shortstop rather than at third."

The claim was a no-brainer for Pittsburgh, a team with few interesting players in the shortstop pipeline.  Ronny Cedeno is currently the starter, though the club sought upgrades all winter.  The Pirates were able to get Wood for nothing, after the Angels seemingly kept the asking price high on him for years.  The Pirates will have to open up a 40-man roster spot to accommodate Wood, and they've said they'll make the corresponding move this afternoon.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Brandon Wood Rumors: Pirates, Blue Jays

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26-year-old infielder Brandon Wood was designated for assignment late Tuesday by the Angels, and there is "zero chance of him clearing waivers," tweets USA Today's Bob Nightengale.  He'd be a fit for many clubs at shortstop or third base, as I outlined here, but he's more likely to land with a club that can give him some leeway to struggle in the Majors.  Claims are due in by noon eastern time today, reports Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  The latest:

  • The Blue Jays "expressed interest in trading for Wood as recently as this offseason," according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, so they could be interested now.
  • The Pirates will "almost surely" place a claim, tweets Dunlap.  They have first dibs, as 2010 records are used within the first 30 days of this season to determine waiver order.  The team's 40-man roster is currently full, so they'll either have to designate someone for assignment or put someone on the 60-day DL if they win a claim on Wood.  Keep in mind that claims might not come into play if a team simply trades for Wood.
  • Brewers GM Doug Melvin told MLB.com's Adam McCalvy (Twitter link) that his team discussed going after Wood, but demurred since Milwaukee has no spot for him.  I named the Brewers as one potential candidate for Wood yesterday.

Garrett Olson Clears Waivers

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WEDNESDAY: Olson cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A, tweets Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

FRIDAY: The Pirates announced that they designated Garrett Olson for assignment to create roster space for another southpaw, Joe Beimel. After a stint on the disabled list due to elbow inflammation, Beimel is set to pitch for the Pirates for the first time since 2003.

Pittsburgh claimed Olson from the Mariners in March and he allowed two hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings, striking out four and posting a 2.08 ERA. Last year, the 27-year-old posted a 4.54 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 37.1% ground ball rate in 37 2/3 innings of relief with the Mariners. Olson, a 2005 first rounder, started 33 games for the Orioles in 2007-08 before they traded him.

Pirates Sign Blaine Boyer, Brett Sinkbeil

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The Pirates signed pitchers Blaine Boyer and Brett Sinkbeil to minor league deals, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy.

Boyer, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in January after being non-tendered by the Diamondbacks, but was designated for assignment on April 10th.  He elected free agency rather than accept an assignment to the Mets' Triple-A club.  Boyer posted a 4.26 ERA, 4.6 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 0.5 HR/9, and 65.8% groundball rate in 57 relief innings for Arizona last year.  His groundball rate ranked third in baseball among those with 50 innings, and he averages around 94 miles per hour on his fastball, so he'll keep getting chances.

Sinkbeil, the 19th overall pick in the 2006 draft, was released by the Marlins in late March.

Quick Hits: Mariners, Indians, Orioles

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Links on a rainy Saturday afternoon in New York..

Draft Notes: Cole, Rendon, Hultzen, Gray

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It's far too early in the spring for teams to have their draft boards finalized, as Keith Law pointed out at ESPN.com this week. With nearly two months remaining between now and the draft, a lot can change, but that doesn't stop Law from passing along the latest on the early intentions of some teams with high picks:

  • Law hears that the Mariners will take either Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon with the second pick in the draft, depending on which player is available after the Pirates select first overall.
  • The D'Backs, who pick third, covet Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen, according to Law. 
  • The Orioles are 'extremely likely' to take a college pitcher with the fourth overall pick. They could take Hultzen or Georgia Tech left-hander Jed Bradley.
  • The Royals (5th pick) are also likely to take a college arn and they're interested in UConn right-hander Matt Barnes, Hultzen and Bradley.
  • The D'Backs (7th pick) and Cubs (9th pick) have Vanderbilt right-hander Sonny Gray high on their internal rankings, according to Law.

2012 Contract Issues: Pittsburgh Pirates

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The 2012 Contract Issues series kicks off with a look at the Pirates.

Eligible For Free Agency (1)

  • First baseman Lyle Overbay is the one Pirates player who is eligible for free agency after the season with no strings attached.
  • GM Neal Huntington is also signed through 2011.  Team president Frank Coonelly told Rob Biertempfel in February, "He is under contract for this season and it’s our expectation that Neal will be here for a long time.  He has hot been extended at this point. We’ll continue to evaluate it as we move forward."

Contract Options (5)

  • Chris Snyder: $6.75MM club option with a $750K buyout.  It's difficult to picture Snyder being retained at a $6MM net price.
  • Paul Maholm: $9.75MM club option with a $750K buyout.  Maholm is a prime summer trade candidate, but his option will probably be declined.
  • Ryan Doumit: $7.25MM club option for '12, $8.25MM club option with '13, $500K buyout.  Another trade candidate, Doumit's options figure to be declined.
  • Ronny Cedeno: $3MM club option with a $200K buyout.  Though the price is reasonable, I can see the Pirates declining and trying someone else at shortstop next year.
  • Scott Olsen: $4MM club option with a $100K buyout.  Olsen appears headed to the bullpen once he recovers from a hamstring injury.  This option is unlikely to be exercised.  If it's declined, the Pirates must then decide whether to tender him a contract.

Arbitration Eligible (12)

Not all of these players will make it to arbitration, as some could fail to accrue the necessary service time and others will be non-tendered in December or cut loose beforehand.  Using CAA's Super Two cutoff projection of 2.146 years of service, Andrew McCutchen's first big payday won't come until 2013.

2012 Payroll Obligation

Cot's Baseball Contracts sets the Pirates' 2012 payroll obligation at just $10.625MM, with Kevin Correia accounting for more than a third of that.  You can pencil in another $4MM or so for Hanrahan and Meek.  If the Pirates want to be around $40MM again they should have about $25MM to play with.

Quick Hits: Buchholz, Ishikawa, Tabata, Rivera

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Rounding up Sunday's links, as Andre Ethier celebrates his 29th birthday….

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