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Odds & Ends: Brewers, Red Sox, Werth, Gonzalez

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Exactly one year ago, the Marlins signed Brendan Donnelly and the A's traded for Scott Hairston. Here are some links to check out today…

Octavio Dotel Addresses Trade Rumors

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Octavio Dotel would prefer not to hear about any trade rumors involving him unless he actually gets dealt, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Although the Marlins are rumored to be interested in the Pirates' closer, Dotel says "I just don't want to hear any of it, how I'm going here or there."

Given Dotel's contract and the Pirates' place in the standings, there has been speculation that the right-hander could be one of the more attractive bullpen trade chips on the market. The 36-year-old will earn $3.5MM this year, and has a $4.5MM club option ($500K buyout) for next season, though it becomes a mutual option if he's traded. With the Pirates already 23 games below .500 at the season's midpoint, Dotel discussed how the team's record affects his enthusiasm for playing in Pittsburgh:

"I like it here," Dotel said. "But I want to have more winning games. The past month, it wasn't that good for us…. I'll be honest with you: I don't want to be over here if we're going to play that way…. But if we're playing close games and fighting and trying hard like this week, yeah, of course, I want to be here. I love this town. I love this ballpark. It's good for me as a pitcher."

Kovacevic indicates that the Pirates aren't known to be shopping any of their relievers, but that could change in the coming weeks. Besides Dotel, D.J. Carrasco is another of the team's bullpen arms who signed a one-year contract and could appeal to a contender.

Marlins Inquired On Octavio Dotel

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The Marlins have asked the Pirates about Octavio Dotel, according to Ed Price of AOL FanHouse. Marlins relievers have combined for a 4.66 ERA and though Dotel's 4.55 mark doesn't appear much better, he is a reliable arm who still strikes more than one batter out per inning (though he is walking a characteristically high number of hitters this year). Dotel has 17 saves, while the Marlins have blown 12.

The 37-41 Marlins trail the Braves by 8.5 games in the NL East. They opened the season with a $47MM payroll, even after they were prompted to raise their payroll, so adding Dotel's $3.25MM salary will be a consideration. A trade wouldn't necessarily mean a payroll increase, though; the Rangers and Giants showed this week that payroll-neutral deals are possible. The Pirates' $4.5MM option for 2011 becomes mutual if he is traded, so the Marlins would not have the rights to him after this season if they made a deal. 

The Marlins have been looking for relievers for months and their search recently led them back to Armando Benitez. There's no indication that the Marlins are serious about acquiring Dotel, or even that they have decided to be buyers this summer. They and others teams considering relievers may pursue arms such as Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, Kevin Gregg, Matt Capps, D.J. Carrasco, Kerry Wood and Joakim Soria this month.

Blue Jays, Pirates Bidding On Luis Heredia

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The Pirates and Blue Jays are bidding on Mexican pitching prospect Luis Heredia, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A source tells Kovacevic that the Blue Jays offered the tall 15-year-old right-hander $2.8MM and the Pirates offered $2.5MM. The international signing period opens today, but Heredia cannot sign until August 16th of this year, when he turns 16.

Any teams interested in Heredia will have to negotiate with Veracruz, the Mexican team that currently owns his rights. Veracruz will keep three quarters of the bonus Heredia receives and controls the prospect’s future to a considerable extent.

The Yankees have also scouted Heredia, but the Pirates have been watching him for two years and are closer to the pitcher than any other team. Back in May, the Dodgers, Giants, Rangers and Mariners also appeared to have interest. The Pirates and Blue Jays have both scouted and invested in international prospects aggressively in recent years.

Dana Eveland Clears Waivers

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JULY 1: Eveland has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Indianapolis according to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch (Twitter link).

JUNE 24: The Pirates designated Dana Eveland for assignment, according to the team. The club, which placed Zach Duke on the DL yesterday, will announce corresponding moves later today.

It's the third time Eveland has been designated for assignment this year. The A's designated him in February and dealt him to the Blue Jays, who designated him in May and dealt him to the Pirates. Back in March, the D'Backs reportedly had interest in the left-hander, but that was before Eveland posted a 6.79 ERA in 54.1 major league innings with more walks (5.3 BB/9) than strikeouts (4.0 K/9). 

Revisiting The Burnett-Morgan-Hanrahan-Milledge Trade

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On June 30th, 2009, the Pirates traded reliever Sean Burnett and outfielder Nyjer Morgan to the Nationals for reliever Joel Hanrahan and outfielder Lastings Milledge.  With exactly one year in the books, which side is ahead?

Hanrahan has tossed 63 innings for the Pirates with a 3.00 ERA, 11.9 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, and 0.43 HR/9.  He's totaled 1.0 WAR for the Pirates.  His fastball velocity has increased since the trade, to the point where he's averaging 95.4 mph this year.  Hanrahan will be arbitration-eligible for the first time after this season, and he's under team control through 2013.  He's part of a strong late-game relief trio in Pittsburgh, along with Evan Meek and Octavio Dotel.

Milledge is hitting .281/.339/.384 in 490 plate appearances for the Pirates.  He's played 928 innings in left field, but has moved to right field since Jose Tabata's promotion.  He's totaled 1.2 WAR for the Pirates.  Like Hanrahan, Milledge is arbitration-eligible for the first time in 2011 and under control through 2013.

For the Nationals, lefty reliever Sean Burnett has a 2.96 ERA, 7.7 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, and 0.70 HR/9 in 51.6 innings.  He's totaled 0.4 WAR for the Nats.  That value came entirely from 2010, as he's increased his K/9 to 8.1.  He's earning $775K this year after losing an arbitration hearing in February.  Burnett is under team control through 2012.

Morgan is hitting .291/.345/.368 in 530 plate appearances with 41 stolen bases in 59 attempts for the Nationals since the trade.  His 2.7 WAR comes entirely from 2009, as he's actually had negative value in 2010.  Morgan's '09 season ended in late August with a broken wrist.  It's been a rough 2010 season offensively, and Morgan leads the league with 11 times caught stealing.  Morgan has tallied 1,000 innings in center field in his time with Washington.  After the season it appears that he'll miss the Super Two cutoff by a few days, meaning he will not be arbitration-eligible until after the 2011 season.  Morgan is under team control through 2014.

I'd rather have Hanrahan than Burnett at this point, and the Pirates' reliever is under team control for an extra season.  Morgan's last two months have been discouraging, but he might be better than Milledge defensively and is under control for an extra year.  While the Nationals are ahead 0.9 in WAR, this challenge trade remains something of a toss-up a year later.

Cafardo On Baylor, Haren, Konerko, Bedard

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With the Marlins and Orioles searching for new managers, Don Baylor wonders why he isn't being considered for either job, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Baylor would love a chance to manage Baltimore, the franchise that drafted him over four decades ago, in the second round of the 1967 amateur draft. Let's check out Cafardo's other notes….

  • The Yankees, Twins, Nationals, Cardinals, and Tigers had scouts watching Dan Haren's most recent start.
  • There were a few teams hoping Paul Konerko would be available this summer, but with the White Sox suddenly just a game and a half out of first place, they obviously don't plan to trade their home run leader.
  • Cliff Lee may not be the only Seattle left-hander on the trade block next month. Erik Bedard is due back soon, and Cafardo thinks that the Mariners could try to move him if he looks healthy in July.
  • Scott Schoeneweis would like to catch on with a club as a situational lefty, but "his phone isn't ringing."
  • D.J. Carrasco could be traded before the deadline. Carrasco's numbers this season haven't been overly impressive (4.12 ERA, 1.76 K/BB), but if the relief market is as thin as Buster Olney indicated this morning, the right-hander should draw some interest.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Jenkins, Twins, Eveland

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On this date 11 years ago, Orioles lefty Jesse Orosco set the Major League record for career relief appearances when he came into the 8th inning of a game against the Yankees to face Tino Martinez and Paul O'Neill. It was his 1,051st career appearance, surpassing Kent Tekulve's record. The then-42-year-old Orosco went on to pitch another four years after setting the mark, and retired with 1,252 career appearances, 74 more than anyone else. 

Here are a few links from around the baseball blogosphere…

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

Pirates Designate Iwamura, Send Him To Minors

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TUESDAY, 9:07pm: Langosch tweets that the Bucs weren't able to find a trade partner for Iwamura, and thus the infielder will be optioned to Triple-A.

5:27pm: ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that the Pirates are in fact willing to eat a lot of the money owed to Iwamura in order to trade him.

4:50pm: The Associated Press reports (via ESPN) that the Pirates will actively try to trade Iwamura. They would presumably pay most of the $2.5MM remaining on his salary in any deal.

WEDNESDAY, 2:43pm: The Pirates have designated Akinori Iwamura for assignment, according to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch (via Twitter).

With top prospect Pedro Alvarez joining the team today and Andy LaRoche sliding into a utility role, there was no room left on the roster for the underachieving Iwamura. The Pirates acquired the 31-year-old infielder from the Rays in the offseason, making him their highest-paid player. However, in 193 plate appearances for Pittsburgh this season, Iwamura hit just .182/.292/.267.

The Pirates will be on the hook for the rest of Iwamura's $4.85MM salary, less the pro-rated portion of the major league minimum if he catches on with another club.

Amateur Draft Signings: Tuesday

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Here's the round-up of today's mass signings and individual agreements between teams and players from the 2010 Amateur Draft.  The list of first-rounders and supplemental round picks to sign can be found here.

  • Pittsburgh has signed 14th-rounder Bryce Weidman and 22nd-rounder Adalberto Santos, reports Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
  • John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Reds have signed two more of their picks.
  • Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times tweets that the Dodgers signed their second and seventh round selections — namely, right-hander Ralston Cash and right-hander Ryan Christenson. 
  • The Cubs agreed to terms with five draft picks today, according to a team press release.  Third-rounder Micah Gibbs was the highest-drafted player amongst the new Cubs.
  • Corey Brock of MLB.com tweets that the Padres signed fifth-round pick Rico Noel and eleventh-rounder Brian Guinn.
  • A Padres team press release confirmed the signings of Noel and Guinn, and also announced that the club had agreed to terms with six other draft picks.
  • Anthony Andro of the Dallas Morning News reports that Texas agreed to terms with sixth-rounder Brett Nicholas.
  • According to an Angels press release, the team has signed second-rounder (81st overall) Daniel Tillman, a right-handed pitcher from Florida Southern College.
  • Chris Sale passed his team physical and thus his contract with the White Sox was officially announced by the club today, via press release.
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