Odds & Ends: Jackson, Norman, Dye, Lester, Manny
Some links for Friday night…
- MLB.com's Steve Gilbert tweets that the Diamondbacks and Edwin Jackson have made no progress towards reaching an agreement to avoid arbitration. A hearing is set for February 17th.
- Chuck Finder of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette passes along a report from the independent St. Paul Saints that says that the Pirates have signed 25-year-old outfielder Anthony Norman to a minor league deal.
- Several executives told Morosi that they expect Jermaine Dye to sign with an AL club, though no one's sure which one.
- WEEI.com's Alex Speier says that Jon Lester's contract is one of the biggest bargains in baseball when you look at the deals Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander just received. Lester signed a five-year deal last March that guaranteed him at least $30MM.
- Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times wonders if 2010 could be the final year of Manny Ramirez's career. If so, he has a chance to be just the eighth player in history to retire with a career OPS over 1.000.
- ESPN's Keith Law says that the Orlando Hudson signing is a major upgrade for the Twins, likely enough to make them preseason favorites in the AL Central.
- Meanwhile, Law thinks it's too risky for the Diamondbacks to give Mark Reynolds a multi-year contract right now. The two-sides have been discussing such a deal recently.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com says the Mets are more likely to sign a pitcher rather than another catcher this month.
- Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle has some quotes from Travis Buck regarding his standing with the A's following all of their outfield additions, and adds that the team has found some interest in Dana Eveland and Gregorio Petit, both of whom were recently designated for assignment.
Mark Reynolds, D’Backs Talking Multi-Year Deal
1:22pm: Reynolds expects to be talking in terms of formal offers by the week of February 15th, according to Piecoro.
12:37pm: The D'Backs are discussing a multi-year deal with Reynolds, tweets MLB.com's Steve Gilbert. Reynolds tells Gilbert that the sides have discussed two and three-year deals. If the D'Backs come at him with a fair offer, Reynolds says he's "willing to take a look." The sides aren't talking money yet, but Reynolds tells Gilbert that they're discussing a two or three-year deal with options.
9:15am: The D'Backs and Mark Reynolds have mutual interest in a multi-year deal, writes Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The club is expected to make an offer before Spring Training and there are indications the sides could discuss a three-year deal. Managing general partner Ken Kendrick told MLB.com's Steve Gilbert that Reynolds is one player the club would prefer to lock up.
"We would like to not have to go through year-by-year arbitration with [Reynolds], if we can agree on a multiyear deal," Kendrick said.
D’Backs Notes: Kendrick, Byrnes, Reynolds
The Diamondbacks' main additions this offseason have been Adam LaRoche, Edwin Jackson, Ian Kennedy, Kelly Johnson, Aaron Heilman, and Bob Howry. They also exercised Brandon Webb's option and received Tony Abreu as the player to be named later in the Jon Garland trade. On the flip side, they subtracted Max Scherzer, Doug Davis, Yusmeiro Petit, and Daniel Schlereth from the pitching staff.
MLB.com's Steve Gilbert interviewed D'Backs managing general partner Ken Kendrick, while AZ Snakepit's Jim McLennan talked to GM Josh Byrnes. Hot stove notes:
- Regarding LaRoche, Kendrick said, "There were a couple of other possibilities, and we were going to be able to do one of them."
- Given the losses of Webb and Conor Jackson last year, Kendrick considers them on par with big free agent additions for 2010.
- Kendrick spoke of four or five guys the D'Backs would prefer not to go year-to-year with, third baseman Mark Reynolds among them. Kendrick believes the time for those discussions is before the season begins. Reynolds will be arbitration-eligible for the first time in 2011, as he just missed the cutoff this time around.
- Byrnes spoke of "a pendulum in the game," where some teams chase a new philosophy to the extent that it creates a market inefficiency.
- Byrnes carefully explained why he traded Scherzer, suggesting Jackson has gotten "to that next level" while Scherzer hasn't. He also explained how that three-way deal came together – 90% was done quickly, and then there was "about a month of starting at each other and seeing if there were another deal, improvements or alternatives out there either club liked."
Nightengale On Holliday, Sheets, Yankees
USA's Today's Bob Nightengale is cranking out the tweets…put this stuff in a column, Bob!
- He says the Red Sox met with Scott Boras about Matt Holliday, as a Jason Bay contingency.
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin told Nightengale no one has heard from Ben Sheets or his agent. Back in October, assistant GM Gord Ash told the AP, "There's been once and a while conversations with his agent to remind that we still have that ongoing interest."
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Nightengale he didn't sit down with a single agent. Seems kind of weird.
- Talking to Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik, Nightengale learned that the team is still open to acquiring a DH despite re-signing Ken Griffey Jr.
- D'Backs GM Josh Byrnes told Nightengale the Super Two cutoff is two years, 139 days, leaving Mark Reynolds one day shy. That saves the team some bucks. But it looks as though Adam Jones, Mike Fontenot, and Micah Owings will be arbitration-eligible. Are Fontenot and Owings non-tender candidates?
Cafardo On Drew, Reynolds, Gonzalez
In his piece on Don Mattingly's interest in a managerial position, the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo brings us some nuggets of information from around the majors:
- Stephen Drew is expected to be shopped by the Diamondbacks this offseason and "there should be" discussions with the Red Sox. Cafardo wonders if hitting in a more patient lineup could boost his OPS (.748 in 2009).
- More on the D-Backs as Mark Reynolds fell three days shy of being classified as a Super Two. Reynolds will earn $425,000 in 2010 instead of something in the neighborhood of $5MM.
- Cafardo suspects that Boston will go after Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez but asks, "do the Sox have enough players to give San Diego?"
- Twins pitcher Ron Mahay wants to stay in Minnesota but won't rule out a return to Boston.
- Speaking of returns, Mike Hargrove is campaigning for another opportunity in Cleveland but might be "too old school". According to a report from Terry Pluto earlier today, Hargrove has not been interviewed for the job.
- Cafardo says to look for former Padres general manager Kevin Towers to become an assistant or special adviser with another club. Towers said earlier this month that he doesn't want to be in an office if he isn't the GM.
Odds & Ends: Reynolds, Gammons, Orioles
Some late night links after Jake Peavy allowed three runs in five innings in his first start for the White Sox…
- Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic notes that Mark Reynolds is likely to fall short of qualifying as a Super Two, meaning he'll have to wait until after 2010 to become arbitration eligible. He also says that it "does not appear there have been any discussions about a long-term deal with Reynolds, but the club does not seem averse to the idea of an extension."
- ESPN's Peter Gammons writes about how great Victor Martinez has been for the Red Sox since being acquired at the trade deadline. He also praises Casey Kotchman, but I think I'd rather have Adam LaRoche, who has a 1.053 OPS since the trade.
- Orioles Manager Dave Trembley indicated that the team needs someone to hit behind Nick Markakis until some younger players like Matt Wieters and Adam Jones are ready to do it, according to MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko.
- If you aren't already, make sure you follow MLBTR on Twitter.
D’Backs Looking At Second Base Options
Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic talked to Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes, who says the team will explore second base options rather than move Mark Reynolds from third base.
One option is Ramon Vazquez, whose agent has spoken with the D’Backs. Vazquez seeks a two-year deal. The 32 year-old hit .290/.365/.430 in 347 plate appearances, but struggled against lefties. He’s played mostly third base in recent years.
Blocked Prospects: Joe Koshansky
25 year-old first baseman Joe Koshansky played for the same University of Virginia team as Ryan Zimmerman and Mark Reynolds. Like Reynolds he was drafted in 2004, falling (to the surprise of some) to the sixth round (pick 190).
He’s moved steadily through the Rockies system and in 2005 was named Baseball America’s Rockies Minor League Player of the Year after hitting .291/.373/.603 with 36 home runs in 453 A ball at bats. He’s maintained similar averages at Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Colorado Springs, although his power has steadily declined. On top of that, Koshansky plays at the highest elevation of any pro park in the country.
He’s also a bit of a stikeout artist — once every four plate appearances through his minor league career. In this sense he’s the antithesis of Todd Helton, the guy currently occupying first for the Rockies. Unless Helton (signed through 2011 for a mountain of money) goes into severe mid-30s decline or is injured Koshansky is officially blocked at first.
Koshansky has said he’s open to moving to a corner outfield position, but with Brad Hawpe having signed an extension, and ongoing talks to sign Matt Holliday long term, a switch to the outfield is even less likely than getting past Helton. For the time being he’s stuck in Colorado Springs where he’s currently leading the team in both HRs and total bases to go along with a .441 OBP.
Time to cast this line out and see who’s biting. With Franklin Morales off to a terrible start and Mark Redman being Mark Redman, one would think the Rockies might be on the lookout for a starter come July. Flipping Koshansky could be the ticket. The Rox were able to snag a couple of live arms back in ’06 when they traded Ryan Shealy to KC.
Aaron Shinsano writes for East Windup Chronicle.
Dan Haren Rumors: Wednesday
UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 11:20am: Joel Sherman says Stephen Drew, Mark Reynolds, and Tony Pena are also off the table in the Haren talks.
UPDATE, 12-5-07 at 8:09am: Susan Slusser adds that the A’s aren’t being unreasonable with Arizona – they haven’t asked for Justin Upton or Chris Young. Slusser also notes that Billy Beane wouldn’t sit down with the Tigers unless they’d discuss Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin. That’s when the Tigers turned to the Marlins. Beane downplayed the chances of trading Haren, but what else is he going to say?
FROM 12-5-07 at 12:09am:
Technically it’s Wednesday now, and some of the more rumor-filled threads were getting really long. So I’m happy to start a set of new ones. You can check out Tuesday’s Dan Haren thread here.
According to Jack Magruder of the East Valley Tribune, the D’Backs are willing to discuss a package of Carlos Gonzalez, Emilio Bonifacio, and Brett Anderson for Haren. That the D’Backs could spare these three very talented youngsters without skipping a beat speaks to how deep their farm system is. Magruder’s source says the A’s could ask for a staggering six players.
Jose Valverde, Dustin Nippert, and/or Alberto Callaspo could be involved to give the A’s some MLB-ready talent. From previous reports, we know that Conor Jackson and Max Scherzer will not be involved. Ken Rosenthal had suggested last night that the A’s initial request scared the D’Backs off, but he’s since corrected that information.
The A’s, however, want to wait for something to happen with Johan Santana before trading Haren.
Additionally, Magruder adds that the D’Backs have a touch of interest in Noah Lowry.