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Ben Francisco

Indians Sign Ben Francisco

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The Indians announced that they signed outfielder Ben Francisco to a minor league contract that includes an invitation to MLB Spring Training. The team also confirmed the signing of utility player Ryan Raburn.

Francisco played for the Blue Jays, Astros and Rays in 2012. The 31-year-old began the year in Toronto and joined the Astros in a July trade before being dealt to Tampa Bay in August. He posted a .240/.285/.385 batting line with four home runs in 207 total plate appearances, playing both corner outfield positions.

The Yankees and Mets were among the other teams interested in the John Boggs & Associates client. Francisco, a right-handed hitter, has a career line of .252/.329/.414 against left-handed pitching. 

New York Notes: Hairston, Pavano, Francisco

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Mark Hale of the New York Post has a number of updates related to New York’s two teams. Here’s the latest (all links go to Twitter)…

  • The Mets remain interested in Scott Hairston, Hale reports. GM Sandy Alderson has checked in on a number of outfielders, including Jason Kubel and Justin Upton of the Diamondbacks.
  • Agent Dave Pepe, who represents free agent right-hander Carl Pavano, said there’s some mutual interest between the Mets and his client. "We clearly have an interest and I think they do too,” Pepe told Hale. “We’ll see where it goes.” The agent added that Pavano’s workouts are going well and that he’s drawing interest from multiple teams.
  • The agent for Scott Podsednik said the Mets haven’t shown any interest in the free agent outfielder, Hale reports.
  • Agent John Boggs said the Yankees and Mets are among five teams to express interest in free agent outfielder Ben Francisco. Playing time will figure into Francisco’s decision, according to Boggs. The right-handed hitting Francisco has a career line of .252/.329/.414 against left-handed pitching.
  • The Yankees don’t have interest in Jim Thome, Hale reports.

Giants Rumors: Ichiro, Theriot, Swisher, Ben Francisco

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The Giants picked up 2014 options on manager Bruce Bochy and GM Brian Sabean today, and they're working to bring second baseman Marco Scutaro back.  More on the team:

American League Non-Tenders

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Here are today’s American League non-tenders. All decisions must be in by 11pm CT tonight. Be sure to track all tender decisions using MLBTR's Non-Tender Tracker. Related resources include our list of non-tender candidates, our projected arbitration salaries and our arbitration eligibles series.

Mike Axisa contributed to this post.

Rays Acquire Ben Francisco From Astros

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The Rays announced that they have acquired Ben Francisco from the Astros in exchange for a player to be named later.  Houston first acquired the outfielder from the Blue Jays in their ten-player trade on July 20th.

Francisco, 30, hit .244/.292/.370 with two homers in 144 plate appearances for the Astros and Blue Jays this season.  The veteran has now been a part of four trades in his big league career and will join his fifth club when he arrives in Tampa Bay.  Across six big league seasons, the outfielder owns a .258/.328/.425 slash line.

Astros, Blue Jays Complete Ten-Player Trade

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The Astros and Blue Jays have completed a ten-player trade, the teams announced. The Astros obtain seven players from Toronto: right-hander Francisco Cordero, outfielder Ben Francisco, minor leaguers Joe Musgrove, Asher Wojciechowski, David Rollins and Carlos Perez, and a player to be named. The Astros send left-hander J.A. Happ (pictured) and right-handed relievers Brandon Lyon and David Carpenter to Toronto in the trade.

J.A. Happ - Astros (PW)

“Once again we are adding depth to our minor league system with quality young players," GM Jeff Luhnow said in a team press release. "We really feel this will help us moving forward and are extremely excited about the players we’ve added to our organization.”

Cordero and Francisco don't have assurances of staying with the Astros beyond 2012. Cordero, 37, has a 5.77 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 34 1/3 innings this year. He signed a one-year deal with a base salary of $4.5MM before the season. Francisco, 30, earns $1.54MM this year and will be arbitration eligible again this coming offseason. He posted a .240/.296/.380 batting line in Toronto and battled a hamstring injury, so he could be considered a non-tender candidate.

The Blue Jays selected Wojciechowski in the supplementary first round of the 2010 draft. The 23-year-old has a 4.05 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in parts of three minor league seasons. He ranked tenth on Baseball America's offseason list of Toronto's best prospects. Musgrove, 19, was a supplementary first round selection of Toronto's in the 2011 draft. The 6'5" right-hander has a 3.31 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 32 2/3 innings over the course of two pro seasons.

Rollins, 22, has a 2.46 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in parts of two pro seasons. The Blue Jays selected the left-hander in the 24th round of the 2011 draft. Perez, 21, has a .275/.358/.447 batting line at Class A Lansing this year. The Venezuelan catcher has a career .777 OPS in parts of five minor league seasons.

Lyon, 32, is also on track to hit free agency this coming offseason. The former Blue Jays reliever has a 3.25 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 36 innings with Houston this year. Lyon, who pitched in Toronto from 2001-02, earns $5.5MM this year in the final season of a three-year, $15MM contract.

This marks the second time in three years that Happ has been involved in a midseason trade. The Astros acquired the left-hander from Philadelphia along with current Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Gose for Roy Oswalt in 2010. Happ, 29, has a 4.83 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 104 1/3 innings so far in 2012. He's earning a salary of $2.35MM this year and will remain under team control through 2014.

Carpenter, 27, has a 6.07 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 29 2/3 innings out of the bullpen this year. The right-hander has a strong minor league record: a 2.97 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in five seasons.

The Blue Jays announced that they called up Travis Snider. The 24-year-old had a .335/.423/.598 batting line at Triple-A Las Vegas.

Photo courtesy of US Presswire.

AL East Links: Rasmus, Jays, Scott, Red Sox, Madson

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Some links from the AL East…

  • The Blue Jays have sent the Cardinals cash considerations rather than players to be named later to complete this summer's Colby Rasmus trade, reports MLB.com Gregor Chisholm (Twitter links). St. Louis was supposed to received three players to be named later in the deal.
  • Chisholm also reports that the Blue Jays intend to go with five outfielders next year, so it's unclear what that means for Mark Teahen or the recently acquired Ben Francisco (Twitter links). There will be lots of competition in Spring Training.
  • Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos told Chisholm that his priority is to upgrade the bullpen and starting rotation, but there's no guarantee that he'll be able to do so this offseason (Twitter link).
  • The Orioles non-tendered Luke Scott earlier today, but GM Dan Duquette told MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli that they'd like "to leave the door open" for him to return to Baltimore (Twitter link).
  • The Red Sox have some interest in Kelly Shoppach, reports Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe (on Twitter). Shoppach started his career in Boston.
  • Left-hander Rich Hill is a non-tender candidate, but he told WEEI.com's Alex Speier that he hopes the Red Sox will retain him for next year. Hill is currently rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
  • CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman says (on Twitter) that the Red Sox still have their eye on Ryan Madson since Daniel Bard will be preparing to work as a starter next year.
  • Roger Mooney of The Tampa Tribute writes that the Rays bank on potential when handing out long-term contracts to young players, like the one just signed by left-hander Matt Moore.

Blue Jays Acquire Ben Francisco

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The Blue Jays acquired outfielder Ben Francisco from the Phillies for minor league lefty Frank Gailey, announced the team.  The Jays also designated reliever Jesse Chavez for assignment.

Francisco, 30, hit .244/.340/.364 in 293 plate appearances for the Phillies this year.  As a right-handed hitter he's gotten a disproportionate share of at-bats against lefties in his career, but he hasn't done markedly better against them.  Francisco is set to earn an estimated $1.5MM through arbitration in 2012, and perhaps the Phillies would have cut him loose had they not found a trade partner.  He'll be under team control for 2013 as well if the Blue Jays want him.  With Francisco filling the role of Toronto's fourth outfielder, Rajai Davis may be expendable.

Gailey, 26, posted a 3.41 ERA, 7.4 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, and 0.6 HR/9 in 74 relief innings across High and Double-A this year.  A Philadelphia native, Gailey must be excited about the deal.

Chavez, 28, spent most of 2011 with the Royals' Triple-A affiliate.  There he posted a 3.75 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 in 57 2/3 innings.  The Blue Jays claimed him off waivers from Kansas City in late October.

Quick Hits: Jones, Stanton, Francisco

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The Cardinals acquired Larry Walker from the Rockies seven years ago today. The waiver trade sent minor leaguer Jason Burch and two players to be named later to Colorado, one of whom turned out to be Chris Narveson. 

Will we see any big name players dealt in waiver trades this month? I'm thinking yes. Until then, here are the links for Saturday…

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