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AL Central Notes: Perez, Uribe, White Sox, Tigers

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Here’s the latest from around the AL Central…

  • Indians catcher Roberto Perez has drawn trade interest from several teams, Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.  That said, the Tribe is “very reluctant” to move Perez since their organizational catching depth behind starter Yan Gomes is pretty thin, plus they like Perez’s pop and throwing arm.
  • The Indians’ talks with Juan Uribe are believed to be in regards a one-year contract, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes.  That’s not a surprise given Uribe’s age (he’ll be 37 on Opening Day) and the fact that the Tribe have him slated for a part-time role, sharing time with Giovanny Urshela at third base.
  • The White Sox have struggled to develop homegrown everyday players over the last several years, though front office members talk to JJ Stankevitz of CSN Chicago about some of the promising young position players currently in the Pale Hose system.
  • In more prospect talk, Baseball America’s Ben Badler discusses BA’s list of the top 10 Tigers minor leaguers in a chat with fans (subscription required).  While Badler describes Detroit as a “bottom five system,” but at least “the overall inventory of young, controllable talent is better than it was a year ago.”
  • Jay Sartori, the Tigers’ senior director of baseball operations and co-head of the club’s upgraded analytics division, talks to Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press about his return to baseball.  Sartori, a former Blue Jays assistant GM and Nationals director of baseball ops, was hired by the Tigers in November after working for Apple since 2013.

Central Notes: Cubs, Perez, Nolasco, Reds

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Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein says his team’s deal with Ben Zobrist and its trade of Starlin Castro to the Yankees were a matched pair, Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago writes. “This was a multiple-bank shot,” says Epstein. “We needed all the components of both deals to line up. That included the medicals and timing to sync up. We were not counting any chickens before they had hatched.” The pair of moves, in which the Cubs essentially used the money they would have had to pay Castro to fund most of Zobrist’s contract, will not limit the team’s options as its offseason continues to unfold, Epstein says. “Really, all the moves we were pursuing previously are still potentially alive for us,” Epstein said. “We don’t have to act out of need or desperation now. We now can be pretty selective.” Here’s more from the Central divisions.

  • The Rangers have had recent trade talks with the Indians, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tweets. The Rangers are looking for a catcher, Sullivan notes, and the Indians’ Roberto Perez would make sense for them — he’s a good defender with a bit of hitting ability.
  • Ricky Nolasco’s contract with the Twins allows him to block trades to three teams each year, and Darren Wolfson of 1500ESPN tweets that those three teams are the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays. As Wolfson suggests, that might not matter much right now — Nolasco has two years and $25MM remaining on his contract, and it doesn’t appear likely the Twins could trade him after two ineffective seasons, except perhaps in a swap of bad contracts.
  • The Reds have promoted Nick Krall and Sam Grossman to assistant GM, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Krall had been the Reds’ senior director of baseball operations, and Grossman their senior director of baseball analytics. The team recently promoted assistant GM Dick Williams to GM.

AL Central Notes: Atkins, Picollo, Mauer, Tribe

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The Royals’ backs are against the wall after losing Game Three of their ALDS matchup with the Astros today, and Houston now holds a 2-1 edge in the series.  Dallas Keuchel continued his Minute Maid Park dominance by holding K.C. to one run (on five hits and three walks) over seven innings, striking out seven.  Solo homers from Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon accounted for all of the Royals’ offense in the 4-2 defeat.  Yordano Ventura will take the mound against Lance McCullers tomorrow as the Royals hope to force a fifth game on Wednesday back in Kansas City.

Some news from around the AL Central…

  • Indians VP of player personnel Ross Atkins will interview for the Phillies GM job this week, Jon Heyman reports in his latest notes column (which contained several other interesting hot stove items).  Atkins has worked in various capacities within Cleveland’s organization over the last 15 years, and he also interviewed for the Angels’ open GM position last month before the Halos hired Billy Eppler.  Atkins is the third known candidate to interview for the job, along with Kim Ng and Larry Beinfest.
  • Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo has also been mentioned as a contender for the Phillies position, and one talent evaluator predicts to ESPN’s Buster Olney (Twitter link) that Picollo will indeed be Philadelphia’s next general manager.  Picollo has worked with the Royals since 2006 and spent seven years in the Braves front office prior his arrival in Kansas City.
  • The time has come for Joe Mauer to be moved as both as No. 3 hitter in the Twins’ lineup and as an everyday first baseman, Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune opines.  Souhan suggests that Mauer could best help the Twins in a super-sub role (rotating between first, third, left field, right field and DH in five starts per week) and his declining production is better suited for hitting seventh or perhaps occasionally at second since he still takes a lot of pitches.  While I agree with Souhan that a drop in the batting order is probably needed at this point, I’m not sure the position switching is a good plan.  It’s a lot to ask of a long-time catcher/first baseman who turns 33 in April to suddenly learn two new brand-new positions, and added versatility won’t help anyone if Mauer is a defensive liability.
  • Indians backup catcher Roberto Perez could be an interesting piece to be shopped as part of a trade package this offseason, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes.  That said, Hoynes notes that Perez is well-liked by the Indians braintrust and “Perez is probably more valuable to the Indians than to any other team.”  Perez had a solid .228/.348/.402 slash line and seven homers in 226 PA for Cleveland in 2015, seeing quite a bit of playing time with Yan Gomes on the DL.
  • Also from Hoynes’ mailbag piece, he thinks the Indians will test Carlos Santana’s trade value this winter.  A deal may not be too likely given that the Tribe is already hurting for bats, however, and a better move might be to acquire a solid hitter to help complement Santana in the lineup.

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