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.
Nats Notes: Pavano, Zimmerman, Pena
The Nationals shocked the world today, and they're not done yet..
- Even after shelling out $126MM over seven years for Jayson Werth, the Nationals are still looking to make a splash in free agency. The club is still in on pitcher Carl Pavano, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- Every player on the Nats, excluding Werth and Ryan Zimmerman, is being considered in trade talks, tweets MLB.com's Bill Ladson. Josh Willingham, who has long been talked about in trade rumors, seems especially likely to be headed elsewhere now.
- The Nationals are in the mix for Carlos Pena, but his preference is to stay in Tampa Bay, tweets Ladson.
Orioles Notes: Pena, Pitchers, Reimold, Gregg, Crain
Let's round up the latest from Charm City, courtesy of The Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec…
- Scott Boras' asking price for Carlos Pena remains "really high." The first baseman does have interest in Baltimore.
- Zrebiec hears that Andy MacPhail has made several calls to teams with starting pitching depth. Both he and manager Buck Showalter would feel more comfortable with another veteran arm behind Jeremy Guthrie.
- The Orioles aren't shopping Nolan Reimold, but they have at least gauged his value around the league. Reimold hit just .207/.282/.328 in 131 plate appearances last season before being demoted to the minors, and Zrebiec notes that they'd be selling low.
- The Orioles are "pretty interested" in Kevin Gregg, and they have an offer out to at least one free agent reliever besides Koji Uehara.
- The team is hoping to meet with the representatives for former Oriole George Sherrill during the winter meetings. "I had a horrendous year. I couldn’t get my mechanics right now matter what I tried," said Sherrill, who had a 6.69 ERA in 2010. "I’m ready to bounce back and help somebody no matter my role."
- Jesse Crain is said to be seeking a two or three-year deal similar to Joaquin Benoit's.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wants to know what the Orioles are going to do this offseason.
Cubs Interested In Carlos Pena
The Cubs enjoyed Derrek Lee's stellar defense for more than six seasons, and now they're showing interest in another strong defender at first. Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports hears from a source that the Cubbies are interested in Carlos Pena, whose power could fit in well with Wrigley Field.
Pena, 32, hit just .196/.325/.407 in 582 plate appearances this season, though he still hit 28 homers and walked 87 times. His left-handed pop would be a welcome addition to a righty heavy lineup, and Morosi notes that Pena might be looking to re-establish his value on a one-year contract similar to what fellow Scott Boras client Adrian Beltre did in 2010.
The Cubs expressed some interest in Lance Berkman earlier this week.
Olney On Dunn, Lee, Greinke, Jeter, Pena
The Rangers have money to spend and ESPN.com's Buster Olney suggests they could spend it on Adam Dunn. GM Jon Daniels could pursue Carl Crawford or another free agent if Cliff Lee signs elsewhere, but Dunn would provide the Rangers with a formidable power threat. Here are the rest of Olney's rumors:
- The Rangers' priority is still to sign Lee.
- Rival executives see Texas as the team that's most likely to acquire Zack Greinke from the Royals.
- To create leverage with the Yankees, Derek Jeter will need another club to make a significantly better proposal than the three-year $45MM deal the Yankees are offering. Needless to say, it will be difficult for agent Casey Close to find such an offer for a 36-year-old coming off a down year.
- Olney hears that the Nationals are the most enthusiastic team about signing Carlos Pena.
American League Free Agent Arbitration Offers
10 American 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 Blue Jays offered arbitration to Scott Downs (A) Jason Frasor (A) Kevin Gregg (B) Miguel Olivo (B), according to MLB.com's Gregor Chisolm (on Twitter).
- The Twins offered arbitration to Carl Pavano (A), Jesse Crain (B) and Orlando Hudson (B) and declined to offer arbitration to Matt Guerrier (A), Brian Fuentes (B) and Jon Rauch (B), according to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (on Twitter).
- The Rays offered arbitration to Grant Balfour (A), Carl Crawford (A), Rafael Soriano (A), Randy Choate (B), Brad Hawpe (B) and Chad Qualls (B), according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. They did not offer Dan Wheeler (A) or Carlos Pena (B) arbitration. It seems possible that Hawpe has agreed in advance to turn down arbitration.
- The Orioles won't offer arbitration to Koji Uehara (B) or Kevin Millwood (B), according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links).
- The Angels declined to offer Hideki Matsui (B) arbitration, the team announced.
- The Rangers offered arbitration to Cliff Lee (A) and Frank Francisco (A), but not to Vladimir Guerrero (A) and Bengie Molina (A), according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan.
- The Yankees will offer arbitration to Javier Vazquez (B), but not to any of their other free agents, according to Ken Davidoff of Newsday on Twitter. Andy Pettitte (A), Derek Jeter (A), Mariano Rivera (A), Lance Berkman (B) and Kerry Wood (B) were the team's other ranked free agents. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that the Yankees would offer Vazquez arbitration and noted that the right-hander has agreed to reject the offer, a common gentleman's agreement that can take place with Type B free agents. Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger first reported on Twitter that the Yankees would not offer Jeter arbitration.
- The Red Sox offered arbitration to Adrian Beltre (A), Victor Martinez (A) and Felipe Lopez (B), but not to Mike Lowell (B) or Jason Varitek (B), according to the team.
- The White Sox offered arbitration to Paul Konerko (A) and J.J. Putz (B), but not to A.J. Pierzynski (A) or Manny Ramirez (A) according to the team (on Twitter).
- As expected, the Tigers announced that they will not offer arbitration to any of their free agents, including Scott Boras clients Magglio Ordonez (A), Johnny Damon (B), and Gerald Laird (B).
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.
Odds & Ends: Beltre, Counsell, Greinke, Kuroda
Thursday night linkage..
- Agent Scott Boras said in an interview on MLB Network Radio that he has never seen more interest in a player than he has for client Adrian Beltre.
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journel-Sentinel (via Twitter) that he is "making progress" towards a deal with Craig Counsell.
- Zack Greinke has yet to present the Royals with his list of clubs that he refuses to be traded to, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that A's GM Billy Beane said that no move will be ruled out this winter except for dealing starters Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, Gio Gonzalez, and Dallas Braden.
- A source told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter) that he thinks the Diamondbacks will look for a short-term solution at first base. As Morosi points out, this would mean that Paul Konerko would not be the answer in Arizona.
- John Romano of the St. Petersburg Times thinks the Rays should re-sign Carlos Pena.
- Nats reliever Joe Bisenius has elected free agency after being outrighted, according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com. The fireballer was a September call-up this year but made just five appearances.
- Jayson Stark of ESPN (via Twitter) expects free agent Hiroki Kuroda to remain with the Dodgers.
- While Justin Marks may not blossom into a superstar, some think that he could develop into a No. 3 or 4 starter, writes MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo. The Royals acquired the left-hander from Oakland along with Vin Mazzaro in exchange for David DeJesus.
- In an interview on MLB Network Radio, free agent Craig Counsell said there's a "definite possibility" that he could return to the Brewers.
Rizzo Talks Nationals First Base Outlook
For a six minute segment, Nationals Mike Rizzo provided a lot of good hot stove insight to Kevin Kennedy and Jim Duquette on MLB Network/Sirius XM Radio today. We've got Rizzo's full thoughts on Cliff Lee here, but here's what else he had to say:
- Asked about Adam Dunn, Rizzo began his answer by talking about how the Nationals believe "championship teams are built on pitching, defense, speed, and athleticism" – none of which Dunn is known for. The extended comments about the team's philosophy seemed to be prepping fans for Dunn's departure, but then Rizzo added, "We love Adam Dunn. We've certainly had interest throughout the year, and he's a guy that we continue to have communications with."
- Asked about other first base options, Rizzo replied that it's a good year to be looking, with several viable options out there. He added, "As always, we're looking for a guy that plays both sides of the ball, that can produce offensively and play good defense for us also."
- Fittingly, Kennedy then recommended Carlos Pena. Rizzo commented, "We've been Carlos Pena guys here. He fits what we're doing. He's one of a handful of guys that would give us what we're looking for." However, Rizzo then reiterated the the team remains in communication with Dunn, adding "He's been our first choice all along." Pena certainly fits Rizzo's description, while James Loney and Derrek Lee might too.
- Rizzo spoke again about his desire to improve the depth and quality of his rotation, whether via free agency or trade. He noted that he'd like to improve the bullpen as well.
Nationals Offered Dunn Three-Year Deal
The Nationals have had a three-year contract offer on the table to Adam Dunn for the last three months, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. Now that the Nats' exclusivity window has closed, Dunn is free to negotiate with any club, but it doesn't appear that the Nats will add the fourth year that the slugger is seeking. A person "familiar with Dunn's thinking" tells Ladson that there's less than a 50/50 chance the first baseman returns to Washington.
Reports throughout the year have gone back and forth on the likelihood of Dunn playing for the Nats in 2011. In August, it appeared certain he was headed for the open market, while in September, Dunn seemed optimistic about working something out with the team. Now, it appears that the length of the deal is the primary sticking point.
Ladson says not to expect the Nationals to wait too long on Dunn now that they're allowed to negotiate with other free agents. There are other first base options that interest the club, including Carlos Pena, Aubrey Huff, and Adam LaRoche, so they won't want to miss out on the opportunity to pursue those players.