Quick Hits: Manuel, Doumit, Twins, A’s
Some links to check out as you celebrate Valentine's Day…
- Phillies manager Charlie Manuel says he won't want to discuss an extension with the Phillies anymore if he doesn't have a new deal by the time the season starts, according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. Manuel's contract expires after the season and his agent has been discussing a deal with the Phillies.
- Yahoo's Tim Brown chronicles Giants manager Bruce Bochy's path to last year's World Series championship.
- Pirates GM Neal Huntington says Ryan Doumit "has value" to Pittsburgh, but admitted that the team could trade Doumit before Opening Day, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (on Twitter). As MLBTR's Mark Polishuk recently explained, it's a make or break year for the catcher/outfielder.
- The Twins agreed to sign Dominican right-hander Felix Jorge for $250K, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. Jorge has an 88-91 mph fastball with "a good delivery, a loose arm and [some] feel for spinning a solid curveball," according to Badler.
- A's GM Billy Beane told John Sickels of Minor League Ball that he likes the idea of trading draft picks. Click through for an interesting read on what Beane looks for in a pitcher and how he evaluates some of the current Athletics.
- Be sure to check out RotoAuthority if you're a fantasy player wondering how this year's crop of shortstops looks.
Quick Hits: D’Backs, Doumit, Wagner, Marlins
Chuck Tanner, manager of Pittsburgh's last World Series championship team, passed away today at age 81. Tanner played eight seasons in the majors but gained more fame as a manager, compiling a 401-414 record manning the benches of the White Sox, Athletics, Pirates and Braves from 1970 to 1988. Tanner's lone postseason appearance came in 1979 when he led the "We Are Family" Bucs to victory over the Orioles in a tight, seven-game World Series. The MLBTR team sends its condolences to Tanner's friends and family.
Some news to wrap up the week…
- Arizona CEO Derrick Hall tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that the Diamondbacks' payroll for next season will be "in the low $60s, approaching $65MM." Hall says the team has lost money in each of the last three years but is still open to potential new spending if the Snakes are in contention, since the club will only draw more fans if they put a winning product on the field. The article also notes the D'Backs "are budgeting for significant costs in this year's draft," given that Arizona holds the third and seventh overall picks.
- The Pirates have both received and sent out some "feelers" about Ryan Doumit, writes Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as part of a chat with fans. Dunlap thinks teams want to make sure Doumit is healthy during Spring Training before seriously pursuing the catcher/first baseman. I recently looked at how Doumit's 2011 season is a make-or-break campaign.
- Billy Wagner is taking his time filing retirement papers, but David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that Wagner's continued presence on the Braves' 40-man roster isn't preventing the club from making any moves.
- The Marlins are comfortable with their young rotation and have no need for a veteran innings-eater like Kevin Millwood or Jarrod Washburn, writes MLB.com's Joe Frisaro.
- Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com thinks that labeling either Albert Pujols or Michael Young as "greedy" is misguided.
- The Irving Picard lawsuit filed against the Mets' ownership group could result in the financial records of several, if not all, other Major League teams being examined in court, reports Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
- Jayson Stark of ESPN.com recaps the offseason and lists which teams he thought made the best and worst winter moves.
Make Or Break Year: Ryan Doumit
It's hard to imagine a scenario that would keep Ryan Doumit in a Pirates uniform past the 2011 season. Even if Doumit had a Jose Bautista-esque massive breakout next year, it would only hasten his depature from PNC Park, since the Bucs would jump at the chance to acquire some prospects for a suddenly-valuable asset.
Why is Doumit's future in Pittsburgh so dim? Doumit signed a three-year, $11.5MM extension following an impressive 2008 season that saw the catcher post a .318/.357/.501 slash line in 465 plate appearances. Since then, however, Doumit has been beset by injuries and has only managed a .728 OPS in 760 plate appearances over the last two seasons.
Doumit has club options worth $7.25MM in 2012 and $8.25MM in 2013, and the Pirates must decide on both options at once following this season. It's a no-brainer that Pittsburgh will take the $500K buyout rather than exercise the two options, given Doumit's struggles and durability issues since 2008. The Pirates have already been openly shopping the switch-hitter this winter and last, and have offered to pay a healthy chunk of Doumit's salary, but no takers have been found.
The challenge for Doumit in 2011 is to both stay healthy and to play well enough to impress his next team. Even if Doumit avoids the DL next year, though, playing time could be hard to come by for the 29-year-old despite his experience at three positions. Garrett Jones and Matt Diaz comprise a lefty-righty platoon in right field, Lyle Overbay will start most days at first base (with right-handed hitting Steve Pearce as the top backup) and Chris Snyder is slated to catch.
Doumit's best chance at playing time is a platoon with Snyder. Doumit has a .796 career OPS against right-handed pitching, including an .832 OPS against righties last year. (Snyder's career OPS against righties is just .687.) The downside to that plan is Doumit's career-long defensive struggles as a catcher, which is why the Pirates tried him at other positions in the first place.
When it comes to a catcher with pop, however, most teams are willing to overlook defensive problems on a short-term basis, especially for a catcher that can hit right-handed pitching. A catcher-needy team could make a move for Doumit at the trade deadline, and for Doumit's sake, an AL team would be the best option so he could get off the field and pick up a few DH at-bats.
Doumit is too much of a defensive liability to be an everyday catcher and a .796 OPS against right-handers isn't enough to sustain a full-time job at first base or in right field either. Doumit's future is likely as a platoon or bench option, but if he hits well next season, he should have no trouble finding a Major League contract in 2012 given his multi-positional experience and solid bat from the left side of the plate.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI
Pirates Rumors: Maholm, Hall, Doumit, Colon
The Pirates appear to have added Kevin Correia, Matt Diaz, and possibly Scott Olsen at the Winter Meetings, and they're not done. They've made an offer to Kevin Gregg and have also been linked to Aaron Heilman, Jeremy Accardo, Justin Duchscherer, and Brendan Ryan. The latest:
- The Pirates are offering Paul Maholm in potential trades, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link).
- The Rockies aren't interested in Doumit, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post (Twitter link).
- Nick Cafardo implies that the Pirates have an offer out to Bill Hall and he could become their regular second baseman, which would be surprising to me given Neil Walker's presence. MLBTR has learned that Hall would not displace Walker at second if the Pirates sign him.
- The Pirates are trying hard to trade Ryan Doumit and are willing to eat salary, reports MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch.
- The Pirates are currently scouting Bartolo Colon in the Dominican Republic, reports Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. For more on Colon, check out Nick Collias' November article.
- Kovacevic says the Pirates expressed interest in utility man Alfredo Amezaga, but it's "pretty preliminary." Amezaga is trying to come back from microfracture knee surgery performed in July of last year. He appeared in one minor league game in 2010.
Pirates Rumors: Correia, Accardo, Duchscherer
4:05pm: The Pirates are interested in Kevin Correia, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).
3:25pm: The Pirates are aggressively pursuing Accardo, according to Kovacevic (on Twitter).
2:51pm: The latest on the Pirates:
- The Pirates are deeply interested in Jeremy Accardo, reports Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Dodgers are also known to be in on the recently non-tendered reliever.
- A couple of teams have approached the Pirates about center fielder Andrew McCutchen, tweets ESPN's Gordon Edes, but they'd have to be overwhelmed.
- The Pirates and Justin Duchscherer have mutual interest, reports Kovacevic.
- The Pirates have shown some interest in Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami, reports MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch. She estimates Kawakami would only cost the Pirates $1-2MM and no significant players, as the Braves are just looking to unload part of his $6.667MM salary.
- Langosch says the Pirates have mild interest in Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan. Kovacevic says the Pirates continue to discuss shortstops with many teams, including J.J. Hardy with the Twins.
- Kovacevic adds that the Pirates would love to trade Ryan Doumit. He says they'd only trade Evan Meek or Joel Hanrahan for a very significant return.
Huntington On Rotation, Doumit, McCutchen
Pittsburgh GM Neal Huntington describes the market for available starters as "thin," but says the Pirates "need" to upgrade their rotation. Huntington told MLBTR that he is mindful of pitching prospects such as Rudy Owens, Jeff Locke, Bryan Morris, Jameson Taillon, Stetson Allie and Luis Heredia who are rising through the Pirates system. But they won't prevent him from offering multi-year deals to free agents.
"We're not opposed to multi-year deals for the right player," Huntington said. "But what we can't do is vastly overpay in terms of years and/or dollars just to get somebody … to make ourselves feel better in November. We've got to pay players for what they're going to do, not what they've done."
The Pirates don't have a distinct preference for left-handers or right-handers. Ideally, they'd get a pitcher who can strike people out, but as Huntington points out, every other team wants just that. Recent reports suggest the Pirates are interested in former Rockies lefties Jeff Francis and Jorge de la Rosa.
Former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, now the Pirates' skipper, has not yet discussed Ryan Doumit's 2011 role with Huntington in detail. At this point, Huntington says the Pirates can see him filling a number of roles in 2011.
"We've got the ability to have him catch some; he can be the complement to Chris Snyder; he's got the ability with some Spring Training work to maybe go play some at first and then also the opportunity to go play out in right field. So he's got some versatility," Huntington said.
Huntington declined to comment specifically on Andrew McCutchen, but he acknowledged that the Pirates generally have interest in giving top players security with extensions that cover some free agent seasons.
Pirates Notes: Pitching, McDonald, Jones, Doumit
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette touched on several Buc-related hot stove topics in an online chat with fans. Here are a few of the highlights…
- If the Pirates make any significant winter moves, Kovacevic thinks "there's a better chance that you'll see money invested in pitching than in offense," both because Pittsburgh has more of a pressing need for quality arms and since finding pitching help could be easier. Kovacevic notes, however, that GM Neal Huntington needs to work at "upgrading the team's mechanisms for finding real pitching talents."
- Speaking of acquiring pitching, Kovacevic calls the deal that brought James McDonald and Andrew Lambo to Pittsburgh for Octavio Dotel "outstanding." McDonald has a 3.49 ERA and 2.44 K/BB ratio in eight starts since joining the Bucs.
- The Pirates may be in the market for a right handed-hitting first baseman or right fielder to be a platoon partner for Garrett Jones. Kovacevic's Post-Gazette colleague Chuck Finder reported over the weekend that the team was no longer looking at Jones as an everyday player.
- Kovacevic believes that Ryan Doumit's starts in right field over the last two months have been intended to showcase Doumit for a potential trade. Doumit is slated to earn $5.1MM next season, the third-highest salary of any player projected to be on the 2011 roster (behind Chris Snyder and Paul Maholm).
Odds & Ends: Cardinals, Blue Jays, Morrow, Delgado
Some links to check out as Brandon Morrow just misses no-hitting the Rays…
- Jim Callis of Baseball America (via Twitter) doesn't like the chances of the Cards signing their 12th-round pick, outfielder Austin Wilson.
- Toronto's negotiations with first-round pick Deck McGuire will likely go down to the wire, writes MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.
- Morrow told FOX Sports' Jim Bowden (Twitter link) that he was happy to be traded to the Blue Jays this offseason because he knew he would be a starter and not a reliever.
- Baseball America's Jim Callis tweets that the Indians signed 13th-rounder Michael Goodnight for $315K. Goodnight has a fastball that reaches 94 mph and a plus slider.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets that the Tigers aren't pursuing the recently DFA'ed Jose Guillen.
- Carlos Delgado told Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal that he and his agent spoke to the White Sox, Rockies, and Mariners before deciding to sign with the Red Sox. In a separate article, WEEI's DJ Bean writes that Delgado is more focused on winning a championship than anything else.
- Joel Sherman of The New York Post explains how the Yankees have to develop their own bench players because no free agents want to sign with them only to sit on the bench most of the time.
- Jason Churchill and Keith Law of ESPN take a look at some teams that need to land a few of their tough-to-sign draft picks before the August 16th deadline (Insider req'd).
- Karen Price of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes about the newest Pirates and the difficult transition they've had to make following the trade deadline.
- Meanwhile, the Chris Snyder pick up does not make a Ryan Doumit trade inevitable, says Dejan Kovacevic of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times says that Ozzie Guillen and Paul Konerko are happy with the moves the White Sox did not make.
- The Cardinals are trying to find a long-term fix at the hot corner, writes Joe Strauss of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. David Freese will be out indefinitely after suffering a setback as he rehabbed from an ankle injury.
Pirates Notes: Bullpen, Payroll, Doumit
Pirates GM Neal Huntington talked about the state of the club following the Trade Deadline on his radio show this afternoon. MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch has the goods..
- In the past week the Pirates have subtracted four veteran relievers, most notably trading Octavio Dotel to the Dodgers and Javier Lopez to the Giants. In addition to counting on their starters to go deeper into games, Huntington acknowledged that the club may need some outside help:
"We are a little bit concerned that we're going to throw some young, inexperienced pitchers into situations they're not ready to handle. We may explore some options outside the organization to bring in a guy or two who has some experience back there. Or we might just go with the guys that we have to see if they can show us if they can be a part of this team this year and beyond," said Huntington.
- The GM said that none of the deals that the Pirates made were financially driven and pointed out that Pittsburgh actually sent some cash to the Dodgers in the Dotel deal. On the whole, the Pirates have loosened their belt somewhat and taken on payroll this year.
- Upon their acquisition of catcher Chris Snyder, some wondered what the future might hold for Ryan Doumit. Doumit would have a better chance of factoring into the Bucs' future plans if he could switch positions, but Huntington said that the club hasn't gotten a chance to evaluate his glove in one of the corner outfield spots. It's possible that Huntington meant to say that he personally hasn't gotten to evaluate Doumit's defense in the outfield as the 29-year-old started 33 games in right field for Pittsburgh in 2007. Huntington was named the team's GM in September of that year.
Odds & Ends: Lerew, Cuba, Coonelly, Hechavarria
Links for Wednesday…
- Anthony Lerew cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A, tweets Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star. The Royals designated Lerew for assignment over the weekend.
- Kat O'Brien of The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote a very interesting piece about what happens in Cuba once their players defect. Said one local cab driver: "[Aroldis] Chapman doesn't exist. He never existed."
- Pirates' team president Frank Coonelly chatted with fans at MLB.com. He fielded a question about what the Pirates would do with the second overall pick in June's draft if for some reason the Nationals pass on Bryce Harper.
- The Tigers released minor leaguer Kory Casto, reports Tom Gage of The Detroit News. Casto had been signed to a minor league deal after a .271/.334/.378 performance for the Nationals' Triple A club. Baseball America ranked him fourth among Nats prospects heading into the '07 season.
- Which of Zach Duke, Paul Maholm, and Ryan Doumit is most likely to be traded this summer? Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tackles the question.
- SI's Jon Heyman speculates that the Phillies would probably have to trade Raul Ibanez to be able to retain Jayson Werth after this season.
- Adeiny Hechavarria's visa has been approved and he's headed to the U.S. to take his physical this week for the Blue Jays, tweets ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr.
- Yahoo's Jeff Passan suggests the Rays will have long-term difficulty competing, while Jonah Keri offers a rebuttal.
- Rocco Baldelli still has hopes of playing baseball, according to this FOX Sports Florida article. He's currently rehabbing a shoulder injury and working with Rays minor leaguers.
- ESPN's Adam Rubin says the Mets will not place Canadian third base prospect Shawn Bowman on waivers until they've exhausted trade possibilites.
- In search of an accurate Mariners payroll number, Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times arrives at about $93MM.
- Tracy Ringolsby of Inside The Rockies explains why free agent Braden Looper would be a good fit for Colorado. On a related note, Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post learned that the Rockies are not interested in Jarrod Washburn.
- Elsewhere on the "nothing brewing" front, Jim Bowden of FOX Sports tweets that Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik told him the team has had no discussions regarding Pedro Martinez.