Five Teams Interested In Jeff Francis
Free agent lefty Jeff Francis is drawing interest from at least five clubs, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick: the Pirates, Mariners, Brewers, Astros, and Rockies.
Francis, 30 in January, posted a 5.00 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, and 47% groundball rate in 104 1/3 innings this year for the Rockies. Baseball Prospectus' SIERA stat suggests Francis' work was more deserving of an ERA around 4.00. Francis missed all of last season after having shoulder surgery in February of '09, and had some lingering issues this year. The Rockies declined his $7MM club option earlier this month. If Francis' shoulder checks out, many teams will have interest in plugging him into the back end of their rotation on a one-year, incentive-laden deal.
Odds & Ends: De La Rosa, Mariners, Thames
Links for Tuesday, as the GM Meetings commence in Orlando and we await the announcement of the NL Cy Young winner…
- The Pirates' top free agent target is Jorge de la Rosa, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The Brewers, Rangers, Nationals, Yankees, and Rockies have also been linked to the lefty. Correct me if I'm wrong, Pirates fans, but aside from Yoslan Herrera it seems the team's last multiyear free agent pitcher signing was Pete Schourek in December of 1998.
- The Mariners are expected to be limited to bargain bin shopping this winter, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. They've got plenty of needs, but expensive free agents don't make sense until they're closer to contention.
- Meanwhile the Softbank Hawks are working on signing Marcus Thames, according to a Sponichi report passed along by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman on Twitter. Thames, 34 in March, was productive in a part-time role for the Yankees this year.
- Brandon Backe intends to pitch in 2011, his agent told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter link). He's recovering from a rotator cuff injury.
- The Rockies will keep an eye on Bartolo Colon in the Dominican Republic, GM Dan O'Dowd told Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, but Renck finds a signing a long shot (Twitter link). MLBTR's Nick Collias filled us in on Colon yesterday.
- The Chiba Lotte Marines re-signed pitchers Hayden Penn and Bill Murphy, tweets Jason Coskrey of the Japan Times.
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman ruled out Leo Mazzone but not Rick Peterson for the team's new pitching coach, reports Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post muses on how the Mets should handle well-paid veterans Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, and Jose Reyes.
Pirates Hire Clint Hurdle
The Pirates have hired Clint Hurdle to fill their managerial opening, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (via Twitter). The deal is for three years, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch (Twitter link) adds that the team will hold a press conference on Monday to make the official announcement.
Hurdle managed the Rockies from April 2002 to May of 2009, before being hired as the Rangers' hitting coach last offseason. During his time in Colorado, Hurdle compiled a 534-625 (.457) record, leading the club to the World Series once, in 2007.
Earlier this month, Pittsburgh narrowed their managerial search to two finalists – Hurdle and internal candidate Jeff Banister. Yesterday, Rosenthal reported that the Pirates had ramped up their efforts to land Hurdle.
With the hiring, Hurdle is of course out of the running for the Mets' managerial opening. In a separate tweet, Heyman suggests that New York's list of finalists will include Terry Collins, Bob Melvin, and perhaps Chip Hale, with Jose Oquendo to be interviewed tomorrow.
Odds & Ends: Lopes, Maybin, Farrell, Cubs, Cousins
Links for Saturday…
- Newsday's Ken Davidoff provides a primer for next week's GM Meetings in Orlando. MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith will be on the scene there Tuesday and Wednesday.
- Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times tweets that former Phillies' first base coach Davey Lopes is close to joining the Dodgers' coaching staff in an unknown capacity.
- Tom Krasovic of AOL FanHouse analyzes the Cameron Maybin trade, saying the outfielder doesn't need to develop into a star to represent an upgrade for the Padres.
- Richard Griffin of The Star has a one-on-one interview with new Blue Jays manager John Farrell.
- Cubs GM Jim Hendry told Gordon Wittenmyer of The Chicago Sun Times that he's not worried about making a splash this offseason, but that it's "really imperative that we have two or three really good moves."
- MLB.com's Joe Frisaro says that in the wake of the Maybin deal, the Marlins will give Scott Cousins a long look in center field next year (Twitter link).
- Meanwhile, Padres GM Jed Hoyer told Dan Hayes of The North County Times that Maybin is "exactly the type of player we hoped to acquire for Petco Park." (Twitter link)
- MLB.com's Jason Beck states the obvious, saying that the Marlins probably would have been better off keeping Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis and then taking the draft picks when they left as free agents. I'm not sure that keeping those two would have been financially possible, though.
- Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com writes that after catcher Erik Kratz signed with the Phillies, the Pirates will now have to bring in a catcher or two to provide depth at the Triple-A level.
- The Nationals have signed righty reliever Tim Wood to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com. Wood, who turns 28 on Tuesday, appeared in 44 games with the Marlins over the last two seasons, pitching to a 4.32 ERA with nearly as many walks (25) as strikeouts (26) in 50 innings.
- ESPN's Buster Olney expects the Cardinals to aggressively pursue Juan Uribe since they could use him at pretty much any of their non-first base infield positions (Twitter link).
- Michael Silverman of The Boston Herald reports that GM Theo Epstein said the team has talked to Kevin Youkilis about moving to third base in the event that they are unable to re-sign Adrian Beltre, who we learned is one of their priorities.
- Meanwhile, Alex Speier of WEEI.com separates fact from fiction with regards to Scott Boras' claims about Beltre.
- SI.com's Melissa Segura tweets that a new league launched in the Dominican Republic yesterday, and it features the top young free agent players the country has to offer.
Manager Rumors: Mets, Pirates
Here's the latest on the managerial searches in New York and Pittsburgh..
Mets
Jose Oquendo will be the last of the first round interviews when he meets with the Mets on Monday, tweets Jon Heyman of SI. The second round of interviews, he says, could begin this week in Orlando.
Meanwhile, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter) keeps hearing that Terry Collins is the most likely to land the job. We learned yesterday that Collins, Clint Hurdle, and Bob Melvin are all expected to receive second interviews.
Pirates
Speaking of Hurdle, the Pirates have ramped up their efforts to land him, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com. Along with in-house candidate Jeff Banister, Hurdle is believed to be one of the finalists for the job.
Odds & Ends: Royals, Pena, Alderson, De La Rosa
Happy 133rd birthday to Archie "Moonlight" Graham. Arguably baseball's most famous one-game player (Eddie Gaedel also has a great case for this distinction), Moonlight Graham's only taste of the majors was one half-inning as a defensive replacement for the 1905 New York Giants. That half-inning grew into immortality thanks to his characterization in W.P. Kinsella's novel Shoeless Joe and its film adaptation Field Of Dreams. Graham, who passed away in 1965, went on to become a doctor in Chisholm, Minnesota following his brief playing career.
Onto some news items…
- Dayton Moore tells Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star that the David DeJesus trade won't deepen the Royals' interest in the free agent market. “It’s not cost effective at this time for us to be real aggressive with major-league free agents,” Moore said.
- Even if Aubrey Huff re-signs with the Giants, CSNBayArea.com's Mychael Urban thinks the team should look into signing Carlos Pena.
- Fanhouse's Tom Krasovic looks at the pros and cons of Sandy Alderson's tenure as CEO of the Padres and what Mets fans might expect from their new general manager.
- Add the Brewers, Pirates and Rangers to the list of teams believed to be interested in Jorge de la Rosa, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post. We know that list already includes the Nationals, Rockies and Yankees.
- If San Francisco really has soured on Pablo Sandoval due to the Panda's conditioning issues, Fangraphs' Matt Klassen thinks other teams should be contacting the Giants about a buy-low trade.
- During the season, an American League executive told Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com that Adam Dunn will stay in the NL since he genuinely wants to keep playing in the field. However, this executive predicted "Dunn will consider AL teams at least long enough to try to use them as leverage."
- The Mets will interview Jose Oquendo about the manager's job on Monday, tweets ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin.
- Chad Durbin is receiving interest from teams as both a bullpen and rotation option, tweets ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. Durbin has made 75 starts in his career, but none since 2007.
- Most of the free agent catching crop will wait until "the lead domino" (Victor Martinez) signs before they look at joining new teams, says Newsday's Ken Davidoff. (Twitter link)
- Chris Coghlan will move to third base next year, reports MLB.com's Joe Frisaro. You can tentatively cross the Marlins off the list of teams exploring the free agent market for help at the hot corner, though it's possible Coghlan could be needed to play second if Florida trades Dan Uggla.
Minor League Transactions: Clevlen, Moss, Cash
The latest minor league transactions include a number of familiar names. Matt Eddy of Baseball America has the details:
- The Braves re-signed Brent Clevlen and signed independent leaguer Beau Torbert, who posted tremendous numbers in the American Association this year. Earlier in the week, Torbert told David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he's excited to be joining the Braves.
- The Astros signed right-hander Casey Fien. Fien has appeared in 11 games for the Tigers, but the 27-year-old has not proven himself against big league hitters.
- Former Yankees lefty Royce Ring elected free agency.
- The Pirates released Chris Jakubauskas and saw Brandon Moss elect free agency. Moss arrived in Pittsburgh in the Jason Bay trade, but he hit just .228/.295/.373 in parts of three seasons for the Pirates.
- Former Mariners catcher Guillermo Quiroz became a free agent.
- The Rangers signed Kevin Cash. The 32-year-old backstop posted a .483 OPS for the Astros and Red Sox last year and threw out an uncharacteristically low percentage of would be base stealers.
Odds & Ends: Messenger, Martin, LaRoche, Branyan
Some links for Veterans Day…
- MLBTR echoes commissioner Bud Selig's thoughts on the death of a legendary Mariners broadcaster: “All of Baseball is terribly saddened … by the tragic news that Dave Niehaus, the voice of the Seattle Mariners, has passed away."
- Randy Messenger has agreed to a deal with the Hanshin Tigers, according to Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The five-year MLB veteran pitched for the Mariners in 2009.
- Three former White Sox employees were indicted on federal fraud charges yesterday, according to Melissa Segura of SI.com. They allegedly accepted $400K worth of signing bonuses intended for Latin American prospects.
- Russell Martin's agent repeated to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times that the catcher wants to play for the Dodgers in 2011. There's been extensive speculation that the Dodgers could non-tender or trade Martin.
- Pirates GM Neal Huntington told MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch that Andy LaRoche has to prove his worth to the Pirates, who are attempting to determine the best way to maximize the 27-year-old's value.
- Russell Branyan has left Dan Lozano and is now represented by ACES, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter).
Red Sox, Pirates Express Interest In Duchscherer
Yesterday it was Jayson Werth; today the Red Sox have expressed interest in free agent righty Justin Duchscherer according to WEEI's Rob Bradford. Bradford adds that Duchscherer "has made it clear to clubs that he is only interested in pursuing opportunities as a starter." The Pirates have also expressed interest, reports Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
We examined Duchscherer's free agent stock here. The 32-year-old righty has made only 32 starts over the past three years due to injuries and clinical depression, but after having both hips and his elbow surgically repaired he remarked to MLB.com's Jane Lee, "I can't imagine what else could go wrong." He should require less than this year's $1.75MM guarantee, I imagine. The Red Sox and Pirates had interest in him a year ago as well.
Odds & Ends: Beltre, Crawford, Mets, Konerko
Links for Tuesday night, as free agents Adam Dunn and Dave Bush celebrate birthdays…
- Adrian Gonzalez said on XX 1090 in San Diego that he had surgery in October and may not swing a bat until late March, according to Dan Hayes of the North County Times (on Twitter). The Padres have said they’re willing to listen to offers on Gonzalez, but the surgery could limit the number of offers GM Jed Hoyer gets.
- MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch explains why the Pirates might have some interest in Adrian Beltre and why the third baseman isn't likely to end up in Pittsburgh.
- Free agent outfielder Carl Crawford says he's "just kind of sitting back waiting" to hear from interested teams, according to Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune.
- Dennis Sarfate, Scott Moore, Joel Guzman, Chris George and Mike Hinckley became minor league free agents over the weekend, according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun.
- ESPN.com's Mark Simon explains that we aren't necessarily going to see "a strict adherence to baseball analytics and a formulaic, stats-over-scouts approach" from the Mets, who now have Sandy Alderson, Paul DePodesta and J.P. Ricciardi in their revamped front office.
- The friendship between free agent first baseman Paul Konerko and White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf likely means Chicago will have the chance to match any offers Konerko receives from other teams, according to Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com.
- Patrick Newman of FanGraphs says Tsuyoshi Nishioka is a pretty good player who can hit well from both sides of the plate and handle second base. The Chiba Lotte Marines may post the Pacific League batting champion and make him available to MLB teams.