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Kennys Vargas

AL Central Notes: Bruce, Alomar, Sano, Vargas, Royals

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With Jay Bruce enjoying a big night in Game One of the ALDS, the Indians’ official Twitter account couldn’t resist a pretty pointed tweet at the Yankees, who came up short in their bid to acquire Bruce from the Mets last summer.  Ken Davidoff of the New York Post recaps how negotiations between the Mets and Yankees broke down, not only because Cleveland was willing to absorb all of Bruce’s remaining salary, but also because “the Mets didn’t like one bit the idea of Bruce helping the Yankees’ pennant drive” given the inter-Big Apple rivalry.  Bruce was a big contributor down the stretch for the Tribe (hitting .248/.331/.477 with seven homers over 169 PA) then went 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBI in last night’s victory.

More from around the AL Cenral…

  • In more Mets/Indians news, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports (Twitter link) that Tribe first base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. “has received strong consideration” for an interview about the Mets’ managerial opening.  Alomar has been a member of Cleveland’s coaching staff for eight years, serving at first base except for a two-year stint as bench coach in 2012-13 that also included a six-game stint as interim manager at the end of the 2012 season.  Alomar has been linked to several managerial jobs over the years and has links to the Mets — he played his last season with the Amazins and spent his first two years as a coach in the Mets organization as a roving catching instructor.
  • It wouldn’t be a surprise if Miguel Sano requires surgery this offseason, 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson (Twitter link) opines, given that the Twins third baseman is “in a lot more pain than many of us realized.”  Sano was sidelined on August 19 due to a stress reaction in his left shin, and while he returned for the final three games of the regular season, he didn’t make the roster for Minnesota’s wild card loss to the Yankees.
  • Kennys Vargas is interested in the idea of playing in Japan or Korea, and Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press wonders if the Twins could be more open to trading the first baseman overseas given their glut of first base/DH options.  The Twins rejected overtures about Vargas from NPB and the KBO two offseasons ago.
  • The Royals’ lease at Kaufman Stadium doesn’t expire until 2030, though the club has been in contact with parties exploring the possibility of a new ballpark in downtown Kansas City, Steve Vockrodt of the Kansas City Star reports.  According to Kevin Uhlich, the team’s senior vice president of business operations, the talks were merely to “touch base” with the project.  “We’re perfectly content where we are, we think it works well.  Thirteen years from now, who knows what the situation is going to be?  I can’t hold anybody back from doing what they’re doing on their side.  We would listen,” Uhlich said.  The city is currently funding a study to examine at least four downtown locations for a potential new park.  Kauffman Stadium is the sixth-oldest stadium in the majors, though it underwent significant renovations within the last decade.

Twins To Select Contract Of Bartolo Colon, Outright Dillon Gee

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The Twins have prepared their roster moves to accommodate the promotion of recently signed veteran Bartolo Colon. Minnesota will outright fellow righty Dillon Gee, per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (via Twitter), with slugger Kennys Vargas being optioned for an active roster spot.

Once that move is official, the 44-year-old Colon will be ready join his tenth MLB organization. The twenty-year MLB veteran signed on with the Twins on a minors deal after a disappointing start to the year with the Braves, who’ll remain responsible for the vast majority of his $12.5MM salary.

With the Minnesota front office eyeing possible pitching upgrades at the trade deadline — with a focus on controllable arms, per reports — it’ll have a few chances to see Colon pitch again in the majors before making any final decisions. It’s unlikely that the ageless wonder will significantly alter the club’s decisionmaking, but if he shows well the team would obviously have somewhat less incentive to consider giving up talent or taking on salary for a short-term rotation boost.

Though Colon was knocked around with the Braves, coughing up 57 earned runs on 92 hits in his 63 frames, he has been much better in recent years. In 2016, in fact, he spun 191 2/3 innings of 3.43 ERA ball. That kind of productivity isn’t to be expected, of course, but perhaps there’s reason to hope he can still turn in some reliable frames. That’d be a welcome development for the Twins, who hope to stay in the postseason hunt but surely don’t wish to push in too many chips to do so as the organization’s new front office keeps the focus on achieving sustainable contention.

Gee, 31, was briefly called up after joining the Twins on a minors deal. But he did not appear before being optioned back to Triple-A. He made four appearances earlier in the year with the Rangers, but has spent most of the season at Triple-A. Gee has been rather effective in his 66 innings over a dozen starts, working to a 3.00 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9. A veteran of eight MLB campaigns, Gee is looking to reestablish himself at the game’s highest level after a pair of rough seasons.

AL Notes: Rays, Twins, Athletics

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The Rays are on the lookout for a right-handed bat, which would come in the form of either a shortstop or an outfielder, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Their preference is to to land an outfielder who has options and can back up center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, per Topkin, who lists Bryce Brentz, Peter Bourjos, Austin Jackson, Rob Refsnyder and Justin Ruggiano as possibilities. Former Ray Melvin Upton Jr. might be a candidate, too, if the Blue Jays dump him, Topkin writes.

Elsewhere on the Rays front, Jesus Sucre is likely to join the newly signed Derek Norris as one of their two catchers, according to Topkin. Tampa Bay still needs to add Norris and Sucre to its 40-man roster, which means the club could look to trade one of its other backstops, Curt Casali or Luke Maile (probably Casali), relays Topkin.

The latest on two other American League clubs:

  • The Twins optioned right-hander Jose Berrios to Triple-A Rochester on Saturday, thus eliminating him from the competition for the final spot in their rotation. The job will go to either Adalberto Mejia or Tyler Duffey, whom Berrios fell behind while he was with Team Puerto Rico for 18 days at the World Baseball Classic. Berrios only threw 6 2/3 innings during that nearly three-week span, which hurt his chances of beginning the season in Minnesota, but he doesn’t regret participating in the tournament. “Playing for Puerto Rico is an honor; it makes me proud,” Berrios told Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press through an interpreter. “I know this is my team, it’s my job. This is who drafted me. This is who I’m going to make it with, but you don’t get to play for Puerto Rico every day or every year. That’s not how it is.” The 22-year-old Berrios, who has dominated in the minors, still seems likely to end up in the Twins’ rotation sometime in 2017. If that happens, the former premier prospect will try to bounce back from a rough rookie year in which he posted an 8.02 ERA, 7.56 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9 over 58 innings.
  • It came as a surprise when the Twins designated DH Byung Ho Park for assignment in February, but he ultimately remained with the organization after clearing waivers. Nearly two months later, he has the inside track on a big league roster spot on account of Kennys Vargas’ less-than-ideal spring, per Berardino. Vargas, who was also with Puerto Rico at the WBC, has gone just 1 for 15 with three walks during the Twins’ exhibition season. His situation worsened when he fouled a ball off his left foot Friday, and is now on crutches. Although initial X-rays were negative, the Twins will send Vargas for further testing, writes Berardino. “If he doesn’t play for a week, it’s going to have an impact,” manager Paul Molitor said of Vargas’ chances of earning a place with the Twins. “He just hasn’t had many at-bats.”
  • Righty Jesse Hahn looks like the odd man out in the Athletics’ rotation battle, observes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Judging by the A’s pitching schedule, they appear poised to go with Andrew Triggs and Raul Alcantara for their final two starting spots, Slusser notes. Hahn was subpar at both the major league and Triple-A levels last season, and he hasn’t bounced back with a decent spring. The 27-year-old has yielded 15 earned runs on 25 hits in 15 1/3 innings.

Central Notes: Quintana, Guerra, Perkins, Park, Williams

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The Pirates, Astros and Braves are among multiple teams still showing interest in White Sox lefty Jose Quintana, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reports.  Pittsburgh and Houston have been widely linked to Quintana on the rumor mill all winter long, while connections between Quintana and the Braves have been largely quiet since December, when Atlanta reportedly balked at Chicago’s very high asking price for the southpaw.  Several evaluators tell Passan that the Braves aren’t a great trade fit for the Sox, as while Atlanta’s farm system is very deep, its top prospects (Dansby Swanson, Ozzie Albies and Kevin Maitan) are all middle infielders, and Chicago already has Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada slated as their up-the-middle combo of the future.  In short, not much has really changed on the Quintana front, as the Sox are in no rush to make a deal unless someone meets their price.  “The White Sox have dispatched more scouts than usual” to minor league camps, Passan writes, in a sign of due diligence should a good trade offer suddenly emerge.

Here’s more from both the NL and AL Central…

  • Also from Passan’s piece, two sources believe that after Quintana, the Brewers’ Junior Guerra is the best starter available on the trade market.  Guerra received a bit of trade buzz at the trade deadline and back in November, though there wasn’t much chatter about the righty.  Guerra came out of nowhere to post a 2.81 ERA, 7.4 K/9 and 2.33 K/BB rate as a 31-year-old rookie last season.  Despite his rather advanced age, his good performance and five remaining years of team control make him an interesting trade chip for Milwaukee.
  • Glen Perkins will meet with Twins trainers and coaches later this week to determine the next step of his rehab from shoulder surgery, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports, and a 60-day DL stint is a possibility.  Perkins would have to give his consent to be placed on the disabled list, as per the rules of the collective bargaining agreement.  That placement would allow Minnesota to open up a 40-man roster spot for another player, though Perkins wouldn’t be able to return until June 1 at the earliest.  The veteran lefty has been limited to 20-pitch bullpen sessions every four days during Spring Training, and will start the season on at least the 10-day DL, though he is hopeful of being able to pitch much earlier than June 1.
  • Byung Ho Park was outrighted off the Twins’ 40-man roster last month, but the first baseman is trying to work himself back into the club’s immediate plans with a big Spring Training, MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger writes.  Park has recovered from a wrist injury that hampered him during his rookie season, and he also seems generally more relaxed now that he is more used to MLB pitching.  According to South Korean reporters who followed Park in the KBO League, Bollinger writes that Park similarly put a lot of pressure on himself early in his career before settling in and becoming a major star for Nexen Heroes.  Since Kennys Vargas has one more option year remaining, Minnesota has the flexibility to send Vargas to Triple-A if Park impresses enough to win the DH job.
  • White Sox VP and former general manager Ken Williams has “not been this excited about the White Sox’ future in a long, long time,” he told media (including Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times).  Williams was resistant to GM Rick Hahn’s idea for a rebuild, though he noted that “a lot of us around here needed this kind of jolt” brought on by the franchise’s youth movement.  “To talk to Rick about the possibilities trade-wise we may have out there in the future, free agency, international signing wise…we’re in full-go mode. And it’s exciting,” Williams said.

Trevor Plouffe To 15-Day DL With “Cracked Rib”

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10:28am: Minnesota skipper Paul Molitor says he’s expecting Plouffe to miss something on the order of three or four weeks, Bollinger tweets. That would seem likely to take him off the trade table, though an August deal could be possible given his reasonably steep salary.

9:32am: Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe has been placed on the 15-day DL with a “cracked rib,” MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reports on Twitter. Slugger Kennys Vargas will return to the majors to take his place on the active roster.

[Related: Updated Twins Depth Chart]

Plouffe had been dealing with some rib soreness, with some concern that a DL stint may be required. While it’s a bit difficult to assess the severity of the injury at this point in time, it seems that it could be more significant than had been hoped.

Minnesota has resisted trading Plouffe in the past, but it seemed that this summer might present an opportunity to make a move — particularly with Miguel Sano failing to take to right field after shifting off of the hot corner. Now, though, he may not be a viable candidate to move in the coming weeks.

Despite taking him out of immediate trade contention, the injury could actually help pave the way for an eventual deal, at least in theory. Sano ought to have a chance to cement himself at third, which would seemingly make Plouffe extraneous. Of course, that had seemed to be a reasonable line of thinking last winter, too.

Plouffe is owed $7.25MM this year and can be controlled for another campaign via arbitration, which had made him a worthwhile target for teams looking to plug a gap now and in 2017. He has typically presented as a solid all-around player with twenty homer pop, but this year has been a struggle. Plouffe owns a .252/.283/.399 bating line with seven home runs over 231 plate appearances for the season.

AL Notes: Angels, Freeman, Astros, Vargas

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It was on this day in 1973 that George Steinbrenner and a group of investors purchased the Yankees from CBS.  While the amount of money in the game has unquestionably risen by leaps and bounds in the last 43 years, it’s still stunning to realize that Steinbrenner and company paid only $10MM to buy a team that Forbes now values a whopping $1.85 billion in their most recent ranking of the world’s most valuable sports franchises.  (The Yankees tied with the Dallas Cowboys for third on that list, by the way, behind only soccer giants Manchester United and Real Madrid.)  Here’s some news from around the American League…

  • With the Angels uneasy about surpassing the luxury tax threshold, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez looks at how the club can upgrade itself.  Gonzalez thinks the Halos will move a starter (at least one of Hector Santiago, C.J. Wilson, Tyler Skaggs, Nick Tropeano or Matt Shoemaker) in order to acquire a left fielder or second baseman.  Then again, the Angels may also be comfortable in having Johnny Giavotella return as the regular second baseman so that position may not be as major an area of need.
  • A Craig Gentry/Daniel Nava platoon is currently in the cards for left field, though Gonzalez won’t rule out the idea of Anaheim signing a big name like Justin Upton, Alex Gordon or Yoenis Cespedes.  With the Halos only around $4MM under the tax limit, however, signing any of those players (or even second-tier outfielders like Gerardo Parra or Denard Span) would put the club in danger of exceeding the tax threshold in 2017 as well, and thus paying a bigger penalty.  With a much thinner free agent class in 2016-17, however, Gonzalez believes “this is the time to strike” for the Angels to land a big left field bat, and they’ll have some hope of getting under the tax limit with roughly $48MM coming off the books next winter.
  • An Astros trade for Freddie Freeman is “simply not going to happen,” a source tells ESPN’s Jim Bowden (subscription-only column).  The Astros and Braves had discussions about the first baseman earlier this winter, though those talks “went nowhere” and Atlanta GM John Coppolella has since flatly denied the possibility of Freeman playing elsewhere in 2016.  While Freeman would check a lot of boxes for Houston, it would clearly take a major trade package to pry him away from the Braves, and the Astros may have already expended a lot of their available prospect capital in their trade for Ken Giles.
  • Bowden’s piece examines all 30 teams and the missing piece (or pieces) Bowden feels they still need to address on their roster.  For instance, Bowden isn’t sold on Rusney Castillo and thinks the Red Sox should make a play for Justin Upton, though he’s heard that the Sox are “not looking to make any more moves.”
  • There were some rumors swirling about the Twins dealing Kennys Vargas to Japan or Korea earlier this winter, though MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger feels it would be a mistake for Minnesota to move Vargas while he still has a minor league option remaining.  Still, Vargas is running out of time to show he belongs on the 25-man roster, especially now that the Twins have signed Byung-ho Park.

International Notes: Vargas, Ona, Twins

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As we await the outcome of the Twins’ negotiations with Korean slugger Byung-ho Park and the posting of fellow Korean All-Star Ah-seop Son, let’s take a look at some other news pertaining to the international market:

  • Another exciting young Cuban player could soon be on his way to a major league organization, according to a report from MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez. 16-year-old infielder Miguel Vargas — the son of former Cuban star Lazaro Vargas — has defected from the island with his father. (The elder Vargas is no minor figure in the country: he played on two gold medal-winning teams and was the manager and director of the Havana Industriales.) As Sanchez notes, Vargas is one of several younger players who will look to become eligible for this July 2 period (if they can secure an exemption) or the one that follows it. While most prominent Cuban players who have joined the league in recent years were older and more established, we seem to be experiencing an increasing trend of younger players looking to sign at the same age as their counterparts in other parts of Latin America.
  • 19-year-old Cuban outfielder Jorge Ona falls in between the veteran types and the just-eligible teenagers. As Ben Badler of Baseball America writes, Ona took the sixth spot on BA’s latest ranking of Cuban talent, and he’s the best player who has left the island in search of a big league job. Ona is still waiting to be declared a free agent, but Badler says he stands a good chance of qualifying to sign during the present signing period. There’s new video of the youngster available at the link.
  • Twins slugger Kennys Vargas — no known relation to the gentlemen of the same surname discussed above — has drawn interest from the Korea Baseball Organization, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reports. Selling the rights to the 25-year-old slugger could help balance out the team’s prospective signing of Park, who would in some regards take the place of Vargas in the organization. Club VP of player personnel Mike Radcliff said that moving Vargas “wouldn’t be in play unless or until we got Park done.” Of couse, Vargas himself would need to agree to a move and reach a contract with a KBO club. The Twins have been among the most active MLB teams in sending players to Korea. (From a player’s perspective, there’s often quite a bit more money and fame to be found abroad. Eric Thames, for example, has turned into a KBO star.)
  • Meanwhile, 24-year-old Twins outfielder Oswaldo Arcia has told the team that he is not interested in going to Asia at this point. “The player has to agree,” Radcliff said. “He has no interest in doing that. He wants to be a major league star.” Arcia is coming off of a tough season — he was demoted and struggled at Triple-A — but has shown himself to be at least a competent major league hitter already. While he’s also a poorly-regarded defender, Arcia would still presumably draw interest from other big league clubs. He may well end up getting a chance elsewhere, as Berardino notes that he’s out of minor league options.

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