Minor Moves: Graham, Tejeda
The latest minor moves from around MLB…
- The Diamondbacks signed center fielder Tyler Graham Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. The Giants recently released Graham, who has a .297/.353/.376 batting line in four Triple-A seasons.
- The Indians announced that they released right-hander Robinson Tejeda. Tejeda, 30, appeared in one Triple-A game for Cleveland after signing a minor league deal with the team this offseason. The 6'2" Tejada owns a 4.42 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9 in seven MLB seasons.
Contract Details: Tejeda, Blue Jays, Phillies, Pirates
MLB.com's beat reporters have been digging up details on some recent minor league deals. Here are the latest updates:
- Robinson Tejeda will earn $825K if he makes the Indians' roster and can earn $50K for pitching in 50 games, 55 games, 60 games and 65 games, Jordan Bastian tweets. Tejeda would earn a $100K bonus for pitching in 70 games.
- Aaron Laffey will earn $800K if he makes the Blue Jays, Gregor Chisholm tweets. Brian Bocock would earn $480K at the Major League level.
- Todd Zolecki has the details on the Phillies' deals with Dontrelle Willis and Luis Montanez. Willis has many incentives, including bonuses for winning the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger.
- Jenifer Langosch reports what Anderson Hernandez ($500K), Logan Kensing ($675K) and Jose Morales ($650K) will earn if they make the Pirates' roster.
Indians Sign Robinson Tejeda
The Indians signed right-handed reliever Robinson Tejeda to a minor league deal with a spring training invite, reports MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. The 29-year-old entered the 2011 season as the Royals' setup man, but quickly lost the job partly due to a shoulder injury. He was removed from the team's 40-man roster in June and elected free agency in October.
When healthy Tejeda spent most of the 2011 season at Triple-A, posting a 3.80 ERA, 8.6 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, and 1.60 HR/9 in 45 relief innings. Tejeda did some solid work for the Royals at times in 2009-10, with a 9.6 K/9 and an average fastball around 94 miles per hour. His heater was down to 90.2 in 2011, probably in relation to his injury. The Indians' press release says he finished the season healthy at Omaha.
The Indians' other non-roster invitees so far include Luke Carlin, Michel Hernandez, Matt Pagnozzi, Andy LaRoche, Jose Lopez, and Felix Pie.
Robinson Tejeda Elects Free Agency
Robinson Tejeda has elected to become a free agent, reports Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link). The right-hander was designated for assignment by the Royals in May and spent the rest of the season pitching for Triple-A Omaha.
In seven Major League seasons with the Phillies, Rangers and Royals, Tejeda has a career ERA of 4.42 in 186 games (53 of them starts). Tejeda, 29, has averaged 7.6 K/9 in his career but has also had control problems, walking five batters per nine innings. Given his decent lifetime numbers and solid minor league campaign for Omaha this year, Tejeda is a likely candidate for a minor league deal from a club in search of bullpen help.
Tejeda earned $1.55MM in 2011 after signing an arbitration-avoiding one-year contract with the Royals in the offseason. The righty still has one year of arbitration eligibility remaining.
Outrighted To The Minors: Amezaga, Sosa, Tejeda
We'll keep track of all the day's outrighted players right here:
- Alfredo Amezaga, designated for assignment by the Rockies on May 29th to create a spot for Chris Nelson, cleared waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A, tweets the team.
- Henry Sosa, who was designated for assignment by the Giants last week, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Double-A, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
- Robinson Tejeda cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A, according to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter). The Royals designated Tejeda for assignment last week to create roster space for hard-throwing right-hander Felipe Paulino.
- Dallas McPherson cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, according to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (on Twitter). The White Sox designated the infielder for assignment Monday after he collected a pair of singles in 15 plate appearances over the course of 11 games. The 30-year-old former top prospect had a characteristically strong .305/.366/.458 line in Triple-A Charlotte before getting the call to the Majors.
Royals Acquire Paulino From Rockies, DFA Tejeda
The Rockies have traded right-hander Felipe Paulino to the Royals for cash considerations, according to the Rockies' official Twitter page. In a corresponding move, Kansas City designated right-handed pitcher Robinson Tejeda for assignment.
In 14.2 innings this season, Paulino has a 7.36 ERA with 8.6 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, and 14.1 H/9. The fireballer owns a 5.93 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 65 career games – 34 of them starts.
Meanwhile, Tejeda hasn't seen a great deal of action in 2011, allowing five runs in 7.1 innings of work. For his big league career, the 29-year-old has a 4.42 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9. While he's worked mostly out of the bullpen, he did make six starts for the Royals in 2009. His $1.55MM salary for '11 is likely to dissuade teams from picking him up.
Colorado designated Paulino for assignment late Saturday night after being initially being unable to find a taker for him. Days earlier, the Rox shipped Franklin Morales to the Red Sox for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
Players To Avoid Arbitration: Monday
Teams and players exchange arbitration figures tomorrow if they haven't already come to terms for 2011. That means plenty of players will likely avoid arbitration today. We'll keep track of them all right here and with our Arbitration Tracker; the latest updates are at the top of this post:
- The Blue Jays avoided arbitration with Shawn Camp, agreeing to a one-year, $2.25MM deal, according to MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm (on Twitter).
- The Tigers avoided arbitration with Armando Galarraga by agreeing to a one-year, $2.3MM deal, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.
- The Orioles and Jim Johnson have agreed to a one-year, $975K deal, according to Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun.
- The Blue Jays have reached agreement on a one-year, $830K deal with Jesse Litsch, according to Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star (Twitter links).
- The Indians have avoided arbitration with Asdrubal Cabrera, agreeing to a one-year deal, according to the team's Twitter feed. The deal is worth $2.025MM, according to the Associated Press.
- The Marlins have agreed to terms one-year deals with Leo Nunez and Edward Mujica, according to Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post (via Twitter). Nunez will earn $3.65MM, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com tweets. Meanwhile, Mujica will make $800K according to Juan C. Rodriguez of the Sun Sentinel (via Twitter).
- The Blue Jays and Casey Janssen have agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.095MM, according to the Associated Press.
- The Rays and B.J. Upton avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $4.825MM, according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times (Twitter links).
- The Nationals avoided arbitration with John Lannan, agreeing to a one-year, $2.75MM deal, according to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.
- The Rockies and Matt Lindstrom agreed to a two-year deal.
- The Royals avoided arbitration with Robinson Tejeda, agreeing to a one-year contract, the team announced. It's worth $1.55MM, according to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter). The deal leaves Billy Butler and Kyle Davies as Kansas City's remaining unsigned arbitration eligible players.
Odds & Ends: Tejeda, Tigers, Lee, Pena
Wednesday night linkage..
- The Royals could use Robinson Tejeda as a trade chip, writes Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.
- Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets that the Tigers signed first baseman Scott Thorman. Thorman belted 22 homers for the Royals' Triple-A affiliate last season.
- Joel Zumaya and Armando Galarraga are unlikely to be nontendered, writes MLB.com's Jason Beck.
- It's going to be a while before we see Cliff Lee sign with a team, a league source told Scott Miller of CBSSports.com.
- Sam Merten of the Dallas Observer wonders if the Rangers have the money and desire to keep up their winning ways.
- It makes sense for the Tigers to retain Magglio Ordonez, writes MLB.com's Jason Beck.
- Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic likes the D-Backs' signing of Wily Mo Pena.
Odds & Ends: Tigers, Orioles, Manny, Astros, Uribe
Happy birthday to two former All-Star catchers! Future Hall-of-Famer Ivan Rodriguez turns 39 today, while Angels manager Mike Scioscia turns 52.
Some news items…
- Count Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer as unimpressed by Detroit's contracts with Joaquin Benoit and Jhonny Peralta. Pluto cites Benoit's 4.47 career ERA and Peralta's .696 OPS over his last two seasons.
- The Orioles' failed pursuit of Victor Martinez proves "the issue isn't how much money the Orioles are willing to give somebody. It's whether somebody suitable is willing to take it," writes The Baltimore Sun's Peter Schmuck.
- Mike Axisa of the River Ave Blues blog thinks Manny Ramirez would be a bad fit on the Yankees.
- By the time the sale of the Astros is finalized, the new ownership group should have few salary commitments to deal with, reports Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle.
- The Giants are betting that other teams don't value Juan Uribe as highly as they do, says CSNBayArea.com's Mychael Urban, which is why the club offered the infielder (a Type B free agent) arbitration. San Francisco thinks Uribe won't be able to find a multi-year deal elsewhere and will thus accept arbitration or re-sign for a $5MM, one-year contract. Even if Uribe does leave for another club, at least the Giants would get a draft pick in compensation.
- Urban also notes that the Giants are "tire-kicking" J.J. Hardy and Miguel Tejada as other infield options. Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun predicts Tejada will be the best free agent bargain of the winter.
- In his look at the offseason needs of the AL Central clubs, The Kansas City Star's Bob Dutton names Detroit prospects Andy Oliver and Jacob Turner, Minnesota outfield prospects Joe Benson, Aaron Hicks and Ben Revere, and Kansas City's Robinson Tejeda and Alex Gordon as young players within the division who could be dealt. (Oliver and Turner only in "major trade talks" since "neither will be cheap.") Dutton adds that Grady Sizemore probably won't be dealt in the winter but "interest should quickly escalate" if Sizemore gets off to a healthy and productive start in 2011.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Ichiro, Garza, Greinke, Bell
On this date two years ago, the Mariners named former Brewers vice president Jack Zduriencik as their new general manager. His defense-heavy approach resulted in a 24 win increase in his first season at the helm, though team scoring dropped by 31 runs. The Mariners won just 61 games and scored a mere 513 runs in 2010, the fewest by any team in the DH era. Unsurprisingly, there's already talk that Jack Z. is on the hot seat.
These links don't have to worry about being on the hot seat, they've made this week's edition of BBWI…
- Speaking of the Mariners, Prospect Insider discusses the possibility of trading Ichiro.
- DRays Bay speculates about what the Rays could get in return for Matt Garza.
- Meanwhile, The Process Report looks ahead to Tampa's 2011 bullpen.
- The Tao Of Stieb wonders if the Blue Jays should get involved in trade talks for Zack Greinke.
- Redleg Nation asks the same Greinke question for the Reds.
- The Friarhood debates whether the Padres should trade or extend Heath Bell.
- Disciples of Uecker re-lives the history of Nelson Cruz.
- Monkey With A Halo reviews Angels GM Tony Reagins' 2010 moves.
- Royals Review wonders if Robinson Tejeda turned the corner in 2010.
- Yankeeist breaks down Cliff Lee as he approaches his massive payday.
- River Ave. Blues writes that Lance Berkman and Kerry Wood have gone from spare parts to important pieces for the Yankees.
- Cubs Packs wants to know if Jim Hendry can fix the team's bullpen.
- 1 Blue Jays Way offers up a quick take on Toronto's options.
- The Hardball Times looks at some players whose best position is DH.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.