Mets Sign Three To Minor League Deals
After reaching the majors for the first time last season at age 31, Jesus Feliciano was dropped from the Mets' 40-man roster shortly after the season. A few months later, however, Feliciano is returning to New York. The team re-signed the outfielder on a minor league deal, tweets Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork. The Mets also inked Chris Shelton and Kent Tsujimoto to minor league contracts.
Before making his major league debut last June, Feliciano had spent his last four seasons playing for the Mets' Triple-A affiliate. Though he doesn't hit for much power, slugging just 18 homers in more than 5,000 minor league plate appearances, the lefty has hit .317 in AAA for the Mets over the last four years.
Shelton, 30, has seen time in the majors with the Tigers, Rangers, and Mariners. The first baseman is perhaps best remembered for his torrid start in Detroit in 2006, when he homered nine times in his first 13 games. He hasn't played in the bigs since he earned 28 plate appearances for Seattle in 2009.
Tsujimoto, a 22-year-old Japanese right-hander, pitched for Na Koa Ikaika Maui of the Golden Baseball League in 2010, recording a 2.88 ERA and 12.6 K/9 in 32 relief appearances.
Astros Sign Gary Majewski
1:49pm: Credit on the Majewski signing goes to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart, who had it on Tuesday. At that time he mentioned that the Astros also signed Ryan Sadowski, Roy Corcoran, Casey Daigle, Chris Shelton, Alex Romero, Drew Meyer, and Oswaldo Navarro. Romero, 26, hit .248/.306/.338 in 157 plate appearances for the D'Backs this year.
10:11am: Add one more reliever to the Astros' pickups – they've seen Gary Majewski to a minor league deal, reports Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post. Majewski can earn $650K in the Majors. Majewski, 30 in February, spent the season with the Phillies' Triple A club. He posted a 4.02 ERA, 6.2 K/9, and 3.4 BB/9 in 62.6 innings.
Odds & Ends: Sandberg, Indians, Red Sox, Yankees, McCoy
A few links for Thursday evening.
- Ryne Sandberg, the only Hall of Famer currently managing in the minors, wants to make it back to The Show, according to the Associated Press.
- Chris Shelton cleared waivers and reported to AAA Tacoma Rainiers, according to Larry LaRue of the Tacoma News Tribune. The first baseman was designated for assignment by the Mariners to make room for pitcher Luke French.
- Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes that the Indians have used 28 different pitchers this year, the most of any team in the majors.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that the Red Sox have a thin lead over the Yankees in July trades in the AL from 2000 to 2009. The score stands at 26 to 25.
- And on a sad note, Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy announced today that he will retire from the Dayton Daily News, which has decided to stop covering the Reds.
Mariners DFA Chris Shelton
The Mariners designated first baseman Chris Shelton for assignment today, according to a team press release.The move frees up a roster spot for lefty Luke French, who the M's acquired in the Jarrod Washburn trade yesterday.
Shelton hit .231-.286-.308 in just 28 plate appearances with Seattle, spending most of the year in Triple-A Tacoma.
Odds and Ends: Shelton, Laird, Baldelli
Links for Monday – Winter Meetings, Day 1.
- Check out the minor league signings for the week at Baseball America. Hey, Jerome Williams to the A’s! Also, Chris Shelton signed with the Mariners.
- Funny quote from Scott Boras: "There can be a lot of late-night meetings where you’re in a room and people are falling asleep. And you’ll have some late-night GMs who want you to drink. I’ll allow them to do it, but I won’t do it. I do have some interesting things written on napkins over the years."
- Dave Cameron likes the Tigers’ acquisition of Gerald Laird.
- Buster Olney talked to some agents who believe "the stated concern about the economy is providing a nice cover for Major League Baseball to roll back salaries." Another note from Olney, he’d be "shocked" if Rocco Baldelli doesn’t sign with Boston.
- Tony Massarotti makes five recommendations for the Red Sox.
- David Murphy asks ten questions about the Phillies.
Odds and Ends: Stewart, Shelton, LaRoche
Today’s smattering of random rumors and links. Question for you readers: how do you feel about the Odds and Ends posts in general? Interesting? Lame? Do you skip them, or are they worthwhile?
- Friend of MLBTR Susan Slusser quotes Shannon Stewart as saying the A’s are one of several teams in the running for his services. If you browse the ol’ free agent list, you’ll see that the other available free agent left fielders include Barry Bonds, Luis Gonzalez, Kevin Mench, Reggie Sanders, and Brad Wilkerson.
- Chris Shelton, we hardly knew ye – the Rangers have already DFA’d him. Career OPS of .825, seems the guy deserves a decent shot somewhere. Other Rangers news, Jason Jennings seems like a lock at this point.
- The Pirates and Adam LaRoche agreed at $5MM for ’08. They could still work out an extension that starts with the ’09 season.
- Wondering which service to use for your fantasy league this March? I merely started the discussion at RotoAuthority, and then commenters weighed in with tons of excellent feedback.
Odds and Ends: Guzman, Shelton, Garcia, Jones
Rounding up some smaller rumors…
- The Phillies talked to the Pirates today about Nate McLouth, Damaso Marte, and John Grabow. Grabow remains a possibility.
- There’s some ill will between the Marlins and Angels.
- Aaron Rowand, Andruw Jones, and Hiroki Kuroda are all asking for more years than GMs are willing to give.
- The Tigers picked up Freddy Guzman from the Rangers for first baseman Chris Shelton. Maybe Shelton can work his way into the team’s first base mix.
- Interesting note from MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan – the Rangers considered trying to acquire Adam Jones, but Bill Bavasi said, "You don’t want to see Jones kicking your tail for the next 10 years."
- The Mets and roughly five other teams looked at Freddy Garcia’s medical records, according to Joel Sherman. The Rangers are one other interested party.
Shelton May Be Trade Bait
Chris Shelton is 7 for 14 this spring, and the fine start could get him traded. I’m not sure why the Tigers are dead set on the lifeless bat of Sean Casey instead, but here we are. It appears Marcus Thames is the backup plan, leaving no room for Shelton.
With a .263/.352/.480 PECOTA, Shelton can still be an affordable league average first baseman. And there’s a legitimate chance he bumps it up to a Mo Vaughn/Pat Burrell level for a few seasons.
The problem for the Tigers is that it’s not terribly hard to find a 1B who can hit like this. Guys like Josh Phelps are freely available, so I wouldn’t expect an impressive bounty for Shelton. It may make sense to keep him at Triple A for a month or two and deal him once an injury creates a need for another club.