Quick Hits: Pagan, Giants, Indians, Brewers,
A roundup of tonight's links as we have our eyes fixed on the Winter Meetings countdown clock..
- The Phillies continue to go hard on Angel Pagan while Giants look to be short right now on average annual value in a four-year deal, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com. Olney previous reported that the Phillies and Pagan have been talking for weeks.
- Indians General Manager Chris Antonetti says he has interest in re-signing Jack Hannahan, Rafael Perez, and Chris Seddon, tweets Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer. All three players were non-tendered on Friday.
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin says that he sees a Kameron Loe-type pitcher in the newly-acquired Burke Badenhop, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel. "He's a similar pitcher to Loe," said Melvin. "He might have been a non-tender, so we put the deal together late (Friday) night. Instead of letting him go out on the market where you don't know what might happen, we thought it best to make a trade for him."
American League Non-Tenders
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.
- The Rays have non-tendered Ben Francisco according to Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times (on Twitter).
- The Blue Jays have non-tendered Bobby Wilson, the team announced.
- The Mariners have non-tendered Robert Andino, the team announced. They acquired him from the Orioles less than two weeks ago.
- The Rangers have non-tendered Geovany Soto, Brandon Snyder, and Jacob Brigham according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan (on Twitter).
- The Orioles have non-tendered Mark Reynolds in addition to Omar Quintanilla and Stuart Pomeranz, the team announced (on Twitter).
- The Athletics have non-tendered Jermaine Mitchell, the team announced. Mitchell was designated for assignment earlier this week.
- The Red Sox have non-tendered Rich Hill, Ryan Sweeney, and Scott Atchison, the team announced. Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports had the Sweeney news earlier (on Twitter) while Rob Bradford of WEEI.com had the Atchison news.
- The Indians announced they non-tendered Jack Hannahan, Rafael Perez and Chris Seddon
- The White Sox announced that they've non-tendered right-hander pitcher Anthony Carter and infielder Dan Johnson.
- The Royals announced that they won't tender outfielder Derrick Robinson a contract for 2013 (Twitter link). Robinson has no MLB experience so he wasn't arbitration eligible.
- The Tigers announced that they will non-tender Daniel Schlereth. The left-hander was limited to six appearances this past season, which he mostly spent on the disabled list with shoulder tendinitis. Schlereth was not yet arbitration eligible.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Tuesday
Dozens of arbitration eligible players have agreed to deals with their respective teams today and we've been tracking all of the developments right here. Several teams, including the Rays, Nationals, Marlins, White Sox, Blue Jays, Braves, and perhaps Astros, are known for committing to going to hearings if they get to the point of filing. Keep track of all the madness with MLBTR's arbitration tracker, which shows settlement amounts, filing figures, and midpoints. Today's players to avoid arbitration on deals worth less than $4MM:
- The Cardinals avoided arbitration with pitcher Kyle McClellan, tweets B.J. Rains of FOX Sports Midwest. Joe Strauss of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (on Twitter) that the one-year deal is worth $2.5MM with incentives based on starts. MLBTR projected a $2.7MM for the Steve Comte client.
- MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith reports (on Twitter) that the Padres and Chase Headley agreed to a one-year deal worth $3.475MM, avoiding arbitration. Earlier this evening, the Padres announced that they avoided arbitration with Luke Gregerson, Edinson Volquez, Carlos Quentin and Will Venable. They also avoided arbitration with lefty reliever Joe Thatcher on a deal worth $700K, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. CAA announced catcher John Baker has signed for $750K. Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune first reported that the Padres reached agreements with Hundley, Chase Headley, and Tim Stauffer. Hundley will earn $2MM in 2012, MLB.com's Corey Brock tweets. Dan Hayes of the North County Times tweets the salaries for Volquez ($2.2375MM), Venable ($1.475MM), Gregerson ($1.55MM)
- The Rangers avoided arbitration with Matt Harrison, tweets Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. The ACES client gets $2.95MM on a one-year deal. MLBTR had projected a $2.9MM salary.
- The Cubs announced that they have avoided arbitration with Jeff Baker ($1.375MM), Blake DeWitt ($1.1MM), Ian Stewart ($2.237MM) Chris Volstad ($2.655MM), and Randy Wells ($2.705MM). MLB.com's Carrie Muskat tweeted the salary figures.
Antonetti On Brantley, Kipnis, Chisenhall
Cleveland GM Chris Antonetti has an adaptable approach to this offseason’s free agent market. Players such as Michael Brantley offer defensive versatility, so the Indians aren’t about to limit their search for position players so early in the offseason.
“We can either go left field, center field or first base,” Antonetti said. “And we have some creative ideas for other positions as well.”
The Indians feel “very comfortable” with Brantley in center field, since he played for a month and a half with a serious wrist injury but still posted a .702 OPS in 2011. Brantley will play center field or left field in 2012, depending on the rest of Cleveland’s offseason.
The Indians’ winter will revolve around the search for position players, since they have a full five-man rotation heading into Spring Training 2012. However, the Indians aren’t content with their pitching depth.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be satisfied with our pitching,” he said. “We’ll always look for opportunities to improve.”
The Indians enter the 2011 season with Ubaldo Jimenez, Justin Masterson, Fausto Carmona, Derek Lowe and Josh Tomlin in the rotation. Since Masterson, Carmona and Lowe induce so many ground balls, the Indians intend on lining their infield with above-average defenders.
Jason Kipnis appears to be the leading candidate for the starting second base job and Antonetti says he has the chance to become an above-average defender. Jack Hannahan, a pleasant surprise in 2011, is an “elite” defender, according to Antonetti. He could start at third for Cleveland and Lonnie Chisenhall is also in the mix for regular work at the hot corner. However, the Indians aren’t going to finalize decisions before Spring Training.
Indians Notes: Durbin, Rodriguez, Tomlin
A round of Indians-themed links as Cleveland plays Kansas City in Arizona…
- As Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer explains, Indians reliever Chad Durbin was surprised to take a paycut this year given the robust market for relievers. "I didn't think my year dictated it should have been that way. I'm not saying I needed three years for 12 [million] – that's ridiculous – but we were fishing for whatever we could get," Durbin said.
- The Indians expect the Pirates to return Josh Rodriguez, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Rule 5 pick would be a welcome addition to one of the Indians' top affiliates.
- In a mailbag for MLB.com, Jordan Bastian explains that Josh Tomlin appears to have a good chance of cracking the Indians' rotation.
- On the infield, Jack Hannahan has a chance to be the Indians' Opening Day third baseman, Bastian reports.
Odds & Ends: Hannahan, Votto, Cargo, Angels
Three years ago today, the Marlins and Tigers completed a six player trade that sent slugger Miguel Cabrera (and Dontrelle Willis) to Detroit. It appears another slugging first baseman will be on the move shortly, but here's some other tidbits from around the league…
- The Indians have signed infielder Jack Hannahan to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training according to the team. Hannahan, 31 in March, hit .237/.340/.374 in 392 Triple-A plate appearances this year while playing all around the infield.
- When asked about contract talks, Joey Votto told John Fay of The Cincinnati Enquirer "[The Reds] said they wanted to do a contract. They haven't said one year or million years. How can I comment on that?" (Twitter link)
- The Rockies, meanwhile, continue to talk to Carlos Gonzalez about a long-term contract, says Troy Renck of The Denver Post. He cautions that nothing is imminent, and it's unlikely that a deal would go beyond his arbitration years. Agent Scott Boras is known for taking his clients to free agency whenever possible.
- The Angels are not setting deadlines with free agents this winter, a change from their previous way of doing things according to ESPN's Buster Olney (Twitter links).
- Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel looks at what the impending Adrian Gonzalez trade means for Prince Fielder. Brewers GM Doug Melvin acknowledged that teams just aren't making young pitching available in trades.
- Lynn Henning of The Detroit News and Joe Strauss of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch write that the Tigers and Cardinals, respectively, expect to be busy during the upcoming winter meetings.
- Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer looks at how some moves might impact the Phillies in the coming weeks.
- MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo takes a look back at some Rule 5 Draft gems. This year's Rule 5 Draft takes place this coming Thursday.
Brewers Notes: Peterson, Hannahan, James
The latest on the Brewers…
- Rick Peterson is officially out as the team's pitching coach, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Peterson was let go with a year remaining on his contract; Rosenthal notes that the Pirates, Mets, and Yankees have openings. ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that Peterson will not be the Yankees' next pitching coach. Rick Kranitz will replace Peterson for the Brewers, according to a team press release.
- The Brewers have interest in infielder Jack Hannahan on a minor league deal, tweets Rosenthal's colleague Jon Paul Morosi. Hannahan, 31 in March, hit .237/.340/.374 in 392 Triple-A plate appearances this year while playing all around the infield. UZR, an advanced defensive stat, indicates he's done good work at the hot corner in the bigs.
- The Brewers claimed reliever Justin James off waivers from the Athletics earlier this month; Baseball America's Casey Tefertiller digs into the righty's underdog story.
- A review: the Brewers have eight arbitration eligible players – Manny Parra, Joe Inglett, Kameron Loe, Carlos Gomez, Carlos Villanueva, Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, and Todd Coffey. Inglett and Coffey are non-tender candidates, in my estimation. The team's six free agents: Dave Bush, Craig Counsell, Chris Capuano, Trevor Hoffman, Doug Davis, and Gregg Zaun. Counsell and Capuano are candidates to return.
Red Sox Acquire Jack Hannahan
Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe writes that "various reports" have indicated that Boston has acquired Jack Hannahan from Seattle in exchange for either money or a player to be named later. Pawtucket Red Sox radio announcer Dan Hoard was the first to break the news via his Twitter feed.
Hannahan has a .658 OPS in 981 career major league plate appearances with Detroit, Oakland and Seattle, though the injury-plagued Red Sox no doubt value Hannahan's versatility over his bat. Hannahan has played at least 10 games at shortstop, third base and second base this season for Triple-A Tacoma, and also has significant experience playing first in both the minors and majors. He has spent the entire season in Tacoma and was actually designated for assignment by the Mariners last month.
Jack Hannahan Clears Waivers
TUESDAY, 1:41pm: Hannahan cleared waivers and will head to Triple A, according to a press release.
FRIDAY, 5:37pm: The Mariners have designated Jack Hannahan for assignment, according to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. The move cleared a spot on the 40-man roster for Eliezer Alfonzo, who was selected from Triple A Tacoma.
Hannahan suffered a groin injury in spring training and, despite the Mariners' offensive struggles, was unable to earn a shot with the big-league club this season. Baker writes that Hannahan appeared to be a lock to make Seattle's roster as a utility player, but the 30-year-old hit just .190/.297/.270 in 118 plate appearances for Tacoma.
Helping The Mariners Find Some Offense
It's no secret that the Mariners came into the season with a plan for extreme run prevention through pitching and top shelf defense, but through 23 games they've scored the third fewest runs in the American League (82) thanks to a paltry .312 team OBP. The problem was as obvious as can be last night, when the Mariners twice had the bases loaded with less than two outs in extra innings, but scored a total of zero runs.
Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider took a look at the team's offensive plight, noting that the farm system offers a little help and that the arrival of Jack Hannahan and possibly Ramon Vazquez will provide just a marginal improvement for the bench. Seattle's designated hitters are hitting just .186/.263/.198, so Churchill offers up some trade suggests to help that situation. Note that the trade talk is based on his speculation only.
The names are not strangers to this space, including Josh Willingham, Adam Dunn, Luke Scott, and Jorge Cantu. All four would represent a demonstrative offensive upgrade, and by slotting them in at DH the team would maintain their run prevention strategy. Seattle has good but not great trade chips, but they might have the ability to absorb some salary, the best trade chip of all.
The Mariners are just half a game back in the league's most winnable division after the season's first month, so it's hardly time to panic. Though the sooner they can improve the DH position, the better.