The Giants are close to re-signing reliever Guillermo Mota, tweets John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. Mota, 38, posted a 3.81 ERA, 8.6 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 1.12 HR/9, and 40.8% groundball rate in 80 1/3 innings for the Giants this year, earning $925K.
Guillermo Mota
Giants Have Shown Interest In Yorvit Torrealba
The Giants have scored the fewest runs in baseball in part due to Buster Posey's season-ending injury, so it's not surprising that both Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports are reporting that a catcher upgrade is the team's focus right now. They've specifically shown interest in Rangers' backstop Yorvit Torrealba, who started his career in San Francisco.
There are two significant roadblocks to a deal according to the FOX scribes. First, Texas can not seriously consider moving Torrealba until Mike Napoli comes off the disabled list, at the very least. Secondly, the Giants are reluctant to pay the $3.25MM he's owned next season. The Rangers would want a bullpen arm in return, but San Francisco is hesitant to part with any of their relievers other than Guillermo Mota.
Rosenthal and Morosi say that Ivan Rodriguez, Ronny Paulino, and Ramon Hernandez have also been discussed internally by the Giants. The Reds are unikely to part with Hernandez even though Ryan Hanigan gets the majority of the playing time behind the plate.
NL West Notes: D’Backs, Mota, Padres
Let's check out the latest from the NL West…
- The Diamondbacks are putting some serious money into upgrading their player development system, writes Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. "We spend more now on scouting and player development than we ever have," said Jerry Dipoto, Arizona's senior VP of scouting & player development. "We made that an internal focus, that these are areas where we can create an advantage in the industry. I don't think it's short-term. I think it's something we're going to do over and over for many years."
- In another piece, Piecoro looks at "the interconnectedness" of the Snakes' coaching and development process throughout the organization, using 2009 third-round draft pick Keon Broxton as an example.
- Guillermo Mota tells Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle that the Giants' World Series victory last year was a major reason he chose to re-sign with San Francisco rather than accept one of the other four offers he received in the winter.
- In his latest mailbag for CSNBayArea.com, Mychael Urban looks at such Giants-related topics as how the team will shuffle its roster when Cody Ross is healthy. Urban shot down a reader suggestion that San Francisco could release Mark DeRosa to make room.
- Anthony Rizzo, Casey Kelly and Reymond Fuentes (the three prospects the Padres acquired from the Red Sox in the Adrian Gonzalez trade) are off to good starts in the minors, reports Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com. Rizzo is at Triple-A, Kelly at Double-A and Fuentes is at Class A Lake Elsinore.
Giants To Sign Guillermo Mota
The Giants have agreed to sign Guillermo Mota to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, tweets Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes. The Dodgers and Rays were also considered finalists for his services.
Mota, 37, appeared in 56 games for the World Champion Giants in 2010, pitching to a 4.33 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9. He then chipped in another 2.1 scoreless innings in the postseason. According to PitchFX, he was still flirting with the mid-90's with his fastball.
Dodgers, Giants, Rays Finalists For Guillermo Mota
Guillermo Mota has been offered minor league contracts from five clubs and the "finalists" for his services are the Dodgers, Giants and Rays, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes (Twitter link). Mota, 37, signed a $750K minor league deal with San Francisco last winter, but it paid off in the form of his first World Series ring. Mota posted a 4.33 ERA in 56 relief appearances last season, including 2 1/3 scoreless innings in the Fall Classic.
The well-traveled Mota has pitched for seven teams in his 12-year career, and it would be his third stint in Dodger blue if he were to sign with Los Angeles. The Rays have already added one veteran reliever today in Joel Peralta, but have a clear need for more bullpen help given how many of their 2010 relievers are testing the free agent waters.
Giants Sign Guillermo Mota
The Giants signed Guillermo Mota to a minor league deal, according to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. Unlike Horacio Ramirez and Byung-Hyun Kim, who also agreed to deals with the Giants today, Mota receives an invitation to Spring Training.
The Dodgers didn't offer Mota arbitration after the righty posted a 3.44 ERA for them last year in 65.1 innings of relief. The 36-year-old's rate stats – 5.4 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 – are nothing special, but his average fastball is about 94 mph.
Dodgers Make No Arb Offers To Free Agents
The Dodgers aren't offering arbitration to any of their free agents, team spokesman Josh Rawitch told Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times. They've got Type As with Orlando Hudson and Randy Wolf, and Type Bs with Guillermo Mota, Jon Garland, Ronnie Belliard, Vicente Padilla, and Will Ohman.
Wolf in particular seemed a lock to receive an offer. It's difficult to understand why the Dodgers chose not to; Jon Weisman of Dodgers Thoughts is depressed. Oddly enough, Wolf has avoided an arb offer for two years running despite being worthy both times. Surely he's not complaining; he's now more attractive to other teams. Ditto for Hudson.
Dodgers Finalize Contract With Mota
9:13pm: Jackson has made a correction to the report. Mota can earn only $300,000 in performance bonuses.
7:41pm: The Dodgers finalized their one-year deal with reliever Guillermo Mota on Wednesday and released the terms of his contract. The 35-year-old right-hander will make $2.35MM in ’09 and can earn up to $750,000 in performance bonuses. Terms are courtesy of Tony Jackson with the Los Angeles Daily News.
Dodgers Sign Guillermo Mota
TUESDAY: Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times says the Dodgers agreed to terms with Mota on a one-year deal.
MONDAY: According to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick, the Dodgers are very close to a deal that would bring free agent reliever Guillermo Mota back to Los Angeles. Mota, 35, posted a 4.11 ERA in 57 innings for the Brewers in ’08 after coming over from the Mets in a deal for Johnny Estrada. Mota still throws hard, but control and home runs allowed remain a problem.
Dodgers Made Offer To Dennys Reyes
According to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, the Dodgers made an offer to free agent lefty Dennys Reyes. He says they also want a right-handed setup man – Guillermo Mota or Juan Cruz are possibilities (Cruz would cost a draft pick).
Various reports stated earlier today that the Dodgers made a one-year offer to Trevor Hoffman.
