National News: Lee, LaRoche, Pavano, Webb
Let's round up the latest from the nation's capital, courtesy of MLB.com's Bill Ladson…
- The Nats have expressed interest in free agent first baseman Derrek Lee, echoing a report from yesterday.
- All of their eggs are not in one basket however, Ladson says the team also maintains interest in Adam LaRoche. It appeared that a deal between the two sides was a go last week, but obviously nothing came from it.
- "We will explore both options, so it expands our pool a little bit more," said GM Mike Rizzo, referring to short and long-term first base options, not Lee and LaRoche. "I don't ever want to feel rushed to do a deal. I think when you feel rushed to do a deal, you make a deal that you may not have wanted to do. So we are going to look at our options. We feel there are still good options out there, and we will see where they take us."
- The Nats are still in on Carl Pavano and expect talks to get serious this week. Two days ago we learned that Washington wasn't thrilled with the idea of offering the right-hander a multiyear deal.
- Brandon Webb "remains excited" about the Nationals, and the two sides talked during the winter meetings.
Mutual Interest Between Orioles, Adam LaRoche
The Orioles and first baseman Adam LaRoche have mutual interest, tweets Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. No formal offer has been made yet.
The Nationals and LaRoche reportedly have mutual interest as well, so he seems likely to land with one of these teams.
Adam LaRoche-Nationals Deal Not Imminent
11:35am: A LaRoche-Nationals deal is not imminent and not at all a lock, tweets Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.
11:00am: It "sounds like Adam LaRoche [is] headed to [the] Nationals," tweets Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse. The market for first basemen is shrinking, with LaRoche and Derrek Lee the best two options still on the board.
Nationals Rumors: LaRoche, Lee, Pavano
MLB.com's Bill Ladson has some late night Nationals rumors. Let's take a look:
- In the wake of Carlos Pena's deal with the Cubs, the Nats will likely shift their focus to Adam LaRoche. LaRoche said on Monday that he'd have definite interest if he and Washington were on the same page. The free agent is coming off a season in which he hit .261/.320/468 with 25 HR in his age-30 season.
- A source told Ladson that Washington's chances of winning the Cliff Lee sweepstakes actually increased after the club signed Jayson Werth to his seven-year contract. He also said the Nationals won't offer Lee seven years.
- GM Mike Rizzo says the club likely won't acquire Lee, but Ladson's source says the Nats "are not out of it by any means." Washington won't, however, get into a bidding war like they did for Mark Teixeira in 2008.
- The Nationals appear to be out of the bidding for Carl Pavano's services, as they're not comfortable giving him a multiyear deal. A trade may be Washington's best bet at acquiring a starter.
Cubs Targeting LaRoche, Pena
11:28pm: The Cubs met with Carlos Pena's agent, Scott Boras, again tonight, according to MLB.com's Carrie Muskat (on Twitter). Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago reports that Boras is looking for a two or three-year deal.
2:06pm: The Cubs are targeting first baseman Adam LaRoche and would like to close a deal soon, reports CBS Sports' Scott Miller. The Nationals are known to be in on LaRoche as well. The 31-year-old hit .261/.320/.468 with 25 home runs in 615 plate appearances for the Diamondbacks this year, earning $6MM. His walk rate slipped while his strikeout rate rose.
Both clubs have also been linked to Carlos Pena; Cubs GM Jim Hendry met with Scott Boras on that front but did not exchange dollar figures, tweets MLB.com's Carrie Muskat.
Josh Willingham Likely To Be Moved
4:38pm: The Orioles have had internal discussions about Willingham, potentially as a first baseman, according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. The O's haven't ruled out bringing Ty Wigginton back.
1:56am: The Nationals added one huge piece to their outfield today, but could subtract another key contributor before Opening Day. MLB.com's Bill Ladson hears that Josh Willingham will "most likely" be traded by the Nationals sometime this offseason. The 31-year-old isn't the only National on the trade block either; earlier today, we heard that the club would listen to offers for everyone on its roster besides Werth and Ryan Zimmerman.
There would be room in the Nationals' outfield for both Willingham, a left fielder, and Werth, who is expected to play right. However, Ladson writes that Washington would like to get something back for Willingham rather than letting him leave via free agency after the 2011 season.
Last month, it appeared Willingham and the Nationals would be unable to work out an extension to keep the outfielder in Washington. GM Mike Rizzo indicated that the team would go year to year on Willingham, with Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post suggesting that a trade was also a possibility.
According to Ladson, the Nats are also eyeing first base options, and Carlos Pena remains their top choice. If they can't lock up Pena, the team might like Adam LaRoche as an alternative.
Padres Checking In On Free Agent First Basemen
Part of the calculus in trading Adrian Gonzalez was the pool of available free agent first basemen, Padres GM Jed Hoyer told ESPN's Jayson Stark (Twitter link). Stark feels Adam LaRoche and former Padre Derrek Lee are viable options.
Nationals Rumors: Closer, Adam LaRoche
The latest on the Nationals, who have plenty of work left after signing Jayson Werth…
- The Nationals would like to add a closer, reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. That'd help ease Drew Storen into the role and perhaps trade the veteran signee midseason as they did with Matt Capps.
- First baseman Adam LaRoche told MLB.com's Bill Ladson he has interest in playing for the Nationals and his agent will meet with the team in the next few days.
National League Free Agent Arbitration Decisions
12 National League free agents were offered arbitration on November 23rd. Four of those – Jorge de la Rosa, Jon Garland, Yorvit Torrealba, and Juan Uribe – have new contract agreements. Another three – Kevin Correia, Octavio Dotel, and Trevor Hoffman – have already decided to decline. The remaining five NL free agents offered arbitration will have their decisions noted here and in our tracker.
- Jayson Werth (A) will decline the Phillies' offer.
- Adam LaRoche (B) appears to have declined arbitration from the Diamondbacks. Aaron Heilman (B) will decline arbitration, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Heilman is drawing interest in his preferred role as a starter, his agent Mark Rodgers explained to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic yesterday.
- Adam Dunn (A) will decline arbitration from the Nationals, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter).
- Pedro Feliciano (B) has declined arbitration from the Mets, tweets Ken Davidoff of Newsday.
National League Free Agent Arbitration Offers
11 National League teams have free agent arbitration offer decisions to make, and we'll group them in this post. For a fantastic customizable chart with all 65 Type A/B free agents and their decisions in real-time, click here.
- The Padres offered Jon Garland (B), Yorvit Torrealba (B) and Kevin Correia (B) arbitration, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (on Twitter). They did not offer Miguel Tejada (A) and David Eckstein (B) arbitration.
- The Reds declined to offer Orlando Cabrera (B) or Arthur Rhodes (A) arbitration, according to the team (on Twitter).
- The Dodgers declined to offer arbitration to Scott Podsednik (B), Rod Barajas (B) and Vicente Padilla (B), according to the team (on Twitter).
- The Giants offered Juan Uribe (B) arbitration, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
- In a surprising move, the Brewers decided to offer Trevor Hoffman (B) arbitration, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports that Hoffman has agreed to turn the offer down (Twitter link).
- The Diamondbacks announced that they offered arbitration to Adam LaRoche (B) and Aaron Heilman (B).
- The Rockies will offer arbitration to Jorge de la Rosa (A) and Octavio Dotel (B), according to Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post.
- The Braves will not offer arbitration to first baseman Derrek Lee (A), according to GM Frank Wren via David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Twitter.
- The Nationals offered arbitration to first baseman Adam Dunn (A), reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
- The Mets will offer arbitration to lefty Pedro Feliciano (B), tweets Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.
- Yesterday, MLB.com's Todd Zolecki learned that the Phillies will offer arbitration to Jayson Werth (A) but not Chad Durbin (B).