Pirates To Sign Brian Burres, Neal Cotts, Tyler Yates
The Pirates agreed to terms on minor league contracts with pitchers Brian Burres, Neal Cotts, and Tyler Yates today, according to a team press release.
Burres, 29 in April, spent the season with the Blue Jays' Triple A affiliate after being claimed off waivers from Baltimore in February. He posted a 7.0 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, and seemingly-undeserved 4.76 ERA in 107.6 innings.
Cotts, 30 in March, had Tommy John surgery in July and was non-tendered by the Cubs after the season. Yates, 32, also had Tommy John surgery in July and was outrighted by the Bucs in October.
Non-Tendered Players
The deadline for teams to offer contract to their players with less than six years of service time is midnight ET tonight, so let's keep track off all the non-tenders here in one post. Make sure you check back in, we'll be updating this post throughout the day.
- Rough day for Jose Arredondo. First it was announced that he would have surgery and miss 2010. Then right at the deadline, the Angels decided against tendering him an offer. Matt Brown and Dustin Moseley were given their walking papers as well.
- The Giants non-tendered Ryan Garko.
- Clay Condrey has been non-tendered by the Phillies.
- Josh Whitesell, though not arbitration-eligible, was non-tendered.
- The Indians non-tendered Adam Miller, Anthony Reyes, and Jose Veras.
- The Pirates made Matt Capps and Phil Dumatrait walk the plank.
- Raul Chavez is the only player not brought back by Toronto.
- The Royals have non-tendered John Buck and Josh Anderson.
- Mark Worrell and Jackson Quezada have been non-tendered by the Padres.
- Shawn Riggans was not offered a contract by Tampa Bay.
- Rays have non-tendered Gabe Gross.
- Seattle has non-tendered outfielder Ryan Langerhans.
- Milwaukee will non-tender Mark DiFelice and Mike Rivera.
- The Metropolitans have non-tendered Cory Sullivan, Tim Redding, Jeremy Reed, and Lance Broadway.
- The BoSox did not tender an offer to outfielder Brian Anderson.
- Oakland has parted ways with Jack Cust.
- The Nationals announced that they will not tender a contract to Mike MacDougal.
- Let's welcome D.J. Carrasco to the list.
- The Orioles bid Brian Bass farewell.
- The Cubs will non-tender Neal Cotts.
- Jonny Gomes has been non-tendered by the Reds.
- Raise your hand if you're an arbitration-eligible Marlin who has been tendered an offer. Not so fast, Alfredo Amezaga.
- Scott Olsen will not be invited back by the Nats.
- The Yankees non-tendered Chien-Ming Wang.
- The Braves gave Kelly Johnson and Ryan Church their walking papers.
- Garrett Atkins has been cut loose.
- Seth McClung tweeted a classy goodbye to the Brewers organization this morning, noting it was not his choice to leave.
Odds & Ends: Diaz, Cedeno, German, Ojeda
A few tidbits from around the majors….
- Blue Jays reliever Jeremy Accardo hopes to be non-tendered tomorrow, writes MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. The righty, 28 this month, dealt with a groin injury and bounced up and down between Triple A and the Majors this year. He earned $900K.
- Cases of players avoiding arbitration and signing for 2010, according to the AP: Matt Diaz of the Braves at $2.55MM, Ronny Cedeno of the Pirates at $1.125MM, and Esteban German of the Rangers at $600K. Diaz gets a 106% raise, heading into his third arbitration year.
- The AP also notes that the Nationals signed pitcher Ryan Speier for $425K. The 30-year-old toiled at Triple A for the Rockies this year, mainly.
- MLB.com's Steve Gilbert (via Twitter) reports that the Diamondbacks have avoided going to arbitration with Augie Ojeda by re-signing the veteran infielder to a one-year deal. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic says the contract is worth $825K. Ojeda, 34, has spent the last three seasons with Arizona and hit .246/.340/.345 in 309 plate appearances in 2009. The defensive specialist is a valuable utilityman, able to play second, third and shortstop.
- Twins GM Bill Smith tells Kelsie Smith of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that his traditionally low-spending team has "substantial funds" to cover arbitration raises and potential signings that could raise Minnesota's payroll into the $90MM neighborhood for next season. The general manager was predictably non-committal when asked if "substantial" translated to "enough to extend Joe Mauer."
- NPB Tracker passes on news from Japanese site Sanspo.com that the Yakult Swallows will announce next week that they have signed Eulogio De La Cruz. The right-hander was released by the Padres on Wednesday. De La Cruz has an 11.84 ERA in 15 appearances over three seasons with San Diego, Florida and Detroit.
- The White Sox seem ready to stick with Randy Williams as the only left-handed reliever (besides, of course, set-up man Matt Thornton) next season, as Chicago GM Kenny Williams told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. Gonzales notes that if the club changes its mind, a possible target could be former White Sox reliever Neal Cotts, who will be non-tendered by the Cubs tomorrow.
Odds & Ends: Boyer, Chapman, Non-Tenders, Cubs
Links for Friday…
- The D'Backs agreed to a one-year deal with arbitration-eligible righty Blaine Boyer, tweets MLB.com's Steve Gilbert.
- ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. analyzes Aroldis Chapman's upcoming bullpen session – does it represent a loss of leverage? Arangure Jr. notes that Chapman received one offer so far – $15.5MM – from the Red Sox back when he was represented by Edwin Mejia.
- SI's Jon Heyman names his winners and losers of the Winter Meetings.
- Royals GM Dayton Moore expects a bigger non-tender group than years past, writes Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.
- Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald expects the Cubs to tender contracts to Mike Fontenot, Koyie Hill, Sean Marshall, Jeff Baker, and Angel Guzman, but not lefty Neal Cotts. Cotts is coming back from Tommy John surgery, and the Cubs could re-sign him to a minor league deal.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post criticizes the New York Times for letting his good friend Jack Curry go.
- MLB.com's Carrie Muskat says the Cubs acquired righty Arismendy Mota from the Nationals for cash considerations. Mota was taken by the Nats from the White Sox with the first pick of the Triple A phase of the Rule 5 draft yesterday.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick believes that while the free agent dollars are flowing now, "the euphoria will fade after the New Year."
- The Nationals officially announced their two-year deal for Ivan Rodriguez today.
Odds & Ends: McCourts, Strasburg, Cotts
Some tidbits from around baseball as we enjoy Game One of the ALCS…
- Bill Shaikin and Harriet Ryan of the L.A. Times have some ominous news for Dodgers fans surrounding the separation of Frank and Jamie McCourt: his attorneys claim he is the sole owner of the Dodgers, while her lawyers say the team's ownership is split 50-50 between the soon-to-be ex-couple.
- On the night of Stephen Strasburg's professional debut in the Arizona Fall League, Jack Magruder of the Washington Times notes that Strasburg won't pitch much in the AFL.
- Reliever Neal Cotts doesn't know if the Cubs will non-tender him, but he is just focused on pitching somewhere in 2010 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in July, reports MLB.com's Carrie Muskat.
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel relates a nice anecdote about Craig Counsell to illustrate why he thinks the Brewers should bring back the veteran infielder in 2010.
- MLB.com's Mychael Urban praised the young, talented and affordable Oakland bullpen in his ongoing team report card series.
- Manny Acta and Bob Melvin "have to be 1-2" for the Houston manager's job thus far, says MLB.com's Brian McTaggart (via Twitter)
Odds And Ends: Blue Jays, Cotts, Indians
Manny's back to help celebrate the Fourth of July weekend! Here are some links to start the day off…
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that Blue Jays execs will decide what course of action to take this month once they see how the team performs on its ten-game road trip against divisional rivals.
- Jamey Newberg ranks this week's top 20 Rangers prospects for MLB.com. Texas just keeps churning out quality players; this week it's Julio Borbon.
- Cubs reliever Neal Cotts underwent Tommy John surgery, according to the Sports Network, via the Miami Herald.
- Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times says the Mariners and Angels have a serious advantage over the Rangers when it comes to making deadline deals now that the Rangers are borrowing money from MLB.
- Steve Kornacki of MLive provides five reasons why the Tigers may not make the playoffs and five reasons why they're in first.
- As Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes, Seth McClung's preformance has made the Brewers' need for a starter more glaring.
- Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says the Indians would need a "staggering" return for either Cliff Lee or Victor Martinez.
Cubs Looking At Hamilton, McLouth
The Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan has a new column up discussing a couple of outfielders in the Cubs’ sights aside from Kosuke Fukudome. Apparently they’re after someone who can handle center field in case Felix Pie falters.
- Those Josh Hamilton rumors are real – and the Reds are asking for Sean Marshall. I think the Cubs would pull the trigger on that one. Jerry Crasnick first suggested this match about five hours ago. He thought Marshall wouldn’t be enough and I agreed. Guess we’ll see. Sullivan notes that Lou Piniella had some contact with Hamilton back when he managed the Devil Rays.
- The Cubs are also in talks regarding Nate McLouth. Sullivan thinks McLouth would come cheap – for a reliever like Carmen Pignatiello, Neal Cotts, or Will Ohman. Damn, that’s cheap. We learned today that the Giants, Padres, and Marlins like McLouth; Sullivan adds the Braves to the mix as well.