Players Tendered Contracts
Midnight ET is the non-tender deadline, so we'll keep track of all the players who are offered and/or agreed to contracts today in this post. Keep coming back throughout the day for updates.
- Washington tendered contracts to Josh Willingham, Jesus Flores, Wil Nieves, Jason Bergmann, and Sean Burnett.
- Zach Duke was tendered an offer by the Pirates.
- The Marlins reached an agreement with Ronny Paulino. The deal will be for one-year, $1.1MM.
- The Royals avoided arbitration by reaching one year deals with Brian Bannister ($2.3MM) Roman Colon ($660K), and Kyle Davies ($1.8MM).
- Dioner Navarro will remain with the Rays on a one-year deal worth $2.1MM.
- The White Sox will offer contracts to Bobby Jenks, John Danks, Carlos Quentin, and Tony Pena.
- Milwaukee will tender offers to six players: Dave Bush, Carlos Villanueva, Todd Coffey, Jody Gerut, Corey Hart, and Carlos Gomez.
- Toronto will tender an offer to Jeremy Accardo.
- Kevin Correia will remain with the Padres for one-year, $3.6MM.
- The Rangers have signed Esteban German to a 2010 contract. He'll earn $600K in the majors and $200K in the minors. They offered contracts to their other arbitration-eligible players including Scott Feldman, Chris Ray, Frank Francisco, C.J. Wilson, Dustin Nippert, Brandon McCarthy, and Josh Hamilton.
- Tampa Bay avoided arbitration with Lance Cormier by inking him to a one-year deal. The contract will pay Cormier $1.2MM.
- The Twins will tender contracts to all 30 unsigned players on their 40-man roster. That means Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier, J.J. Hardy, Brendan Harris, Francisco Liriano, Pat Neshek, Delmon Young, and many more figure to be in the Twins' plans in 2010.
- The following eight Cubs will receive offers from the team: Carlos Marmol, Ryan Theriot, Jeff Baker, Angel Guzman, Sean Marshall, Koyie Hill, Tom Gorzelanny, and Mike Fontenot.
- Atlanta tendered offers to relievers Peter Moylan and Boone Logan.
- The Marlins will tender offers to almost all of their arbitration-eligible players – Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu, Ricky Nolasco, Cody Ross, Josh Johnson, Leo Nunez, and Renyel Pinto.
- The Astros will tender offers to all remaining arbitration-eligible players. This means Michael Bourn, Hunter Pence, Wandy Rodriguez, Matt Lindstrom, Tim Byrdak, Chris Sampson, Jeff Keppinger, and Humberto Quintero are invited back.
- Matt Albers and Cla Meredith have agreed to terms with the Orioles. Albers' deal is worth $.68MM for one-year. Meanwhile, Meredith will recieve $.85MM in 2010.
- Randy Choate agreed to a one year deal. Terms of the deal are one-year, $700K.
Odds & Ends: Holliday, White Sox, Pirates
Good morning everybody! Let's check out some links…
- Matt Holliday has meshed beautifully with the Cardinals since being acquired in July, writes Matthew Leach of MLB.com.
- Ozzie Guillen says that Matt Thornton has "good enough equipment" to step into the closer role, but wants to learn more about his mental makeup as the season winds down, writes Dave van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune. Thornton may asked to be the White Sox' fireman in 2010 if the team trades Bobby Jenks, who is entering his second year of arbitration.
- If the Giants don't pick up his 2010 option, Freddy Sanchez doesn't anticipate coming back to the Pirates, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- More from Dejan Kovacevic as he says that the Pirates could be calling Matt Capps their closer for 2010 in an effort to boost his trade value. Capps has an ERA of 5.91 in 53.1 innings of work this year.
- There are indications that the Mets will keep pitching coach Dan Warthen and batting coach Howard Johnson on board, writes Marty Noble of MLB.com. There has been no such indication for third-base coach Razor Shines.
Cubs Not Looking To Retain Rich Harden?
The Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan writes that the Cubs have no plans to bring back Rich Harden, as alluded to by manager Lou Piniella. Prior to losing the final road game of the season to the San Francisco, Piniella ran down the 2010 rotation.
"You look at our starting pitching here for next year," Piniella said. "You've got (Carlos) Zambrano, you've got (Ryan) Dempster, you've got (Randy) Wells, you've got (Ted) Lilly, you've got (Tom) Gorzelanny, and you've got (Jeff) Samardzija…And if this kid keeps improving, he'll be right in the mix. So we've got six nice arms."
Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Piniella characterized the starting five as being "pretty settled." Wittenmyer feels that Gorzelanny has a leg up on Samardzija and Sean Marshall for the fifth slot.
Zambrano, despite his personal frustration, could once again be an elite pitcher. The 28-year-old ace is discouraged by his depressed win total, but still managed to post a 3.69 ERA with 8.0 K/9 – a marked improvement over his 6.2 K/9 in 2008. Lilly has had what you could call a career year at the age of 33, recording all-time bests with a 3.02 ERA and 4.21 K/BB ratio. Dempster's HR, BB and SO rates are in the neighborhood of where they were last year, when he garnered national attention. Wells put up a strong 3.18 ERA on the way to becoming the first Cubs rookie to notch 10 wins since Kerry Wood.
Are the Cubs in good enough shape to let Harden sign elsewhere without having to sift through the lackluster available starting pitchers? Let's hear your thoughts in the comments section.
Cubs Looking For A Lefty Reliever
With starter Ted Lilly on the shelf for approximately three weeks, ESPN Chicago's Bruce Levine says Cubs GM Jim Hendry may have been pushed in the direction of adding a starter before Friday's trade deadline. The team could opt to move Sean Marshall back into the rotation, but that would leave manager Lou Piniella without a reliable lefthanded option in the pen.
The Cubbies have spoken to the Pirates about reliever John Grabow, but Levine says a move for Zach Duke or Tom Gorzelanny "may be the right avenue to follow with the loss of Lilly." He lists Carl Pavano, Jon Garland and Doug Davis as other starters available right now.
Odds And Ends: Peavy, Mulder, Marshall
Links for Saturday…
- Padres CEO Sandy Alderson repeated a line we've heard a lot this offseason about Jake Peavy: "I think Jake will be with us on opening day."
- Buster Olney hears from some scouts who think Mark Mulder could be the "hidden gem" of this year's free agent class. Mulder's likely to throw for scouts within a couple weeks.
- Richard Durrett points out that Ian Kinsler's the only Texas infielder who has played as many as 52 MLB games at his current position. Michael Young, Chris Davis and Elvis Andrus round out the infield. This is no doubt part of the reason they're interested in Omar Vizquel.
- Rob Neyer suggests that Orlando Hudson's not getting the attention he deserves because his defense is undervalued.
- Lou Piniella hinted that Sean Marshall has a good shot at being the Cubs' fifth starter.
Marquis To Rockies Deal Finalized
TUESDAY, 3:21pm: The Marquis for Vizcaino swap has been finalized. Gordon Wittenmyer says the Cubs are sending $875K to the Rockies. Jim Hendry said today he hopes to add another pitcher before Opening Day.
MONDAY, 9:55pm: The Chicago Tribune’s Dave van Dyck says the Cubs are "actively seeking more live arms, whether it be Jake Peavy or another starter to replace the innings of Marquis."
5:05pm: Chicago Cubs pitcher Jason Marquis is close to becoming a Colorado Rockies starter, according to MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat.
Muskat believes the deal, which will ship Rockies reliever Luis Vizcaino to the Cubs, will be finalized Tuesday. The move will free up Cubs money for the newly-acquired Milton Bradley.
Marquis (11-9, 4.53 ERA) is scheduled to make $9.875MM in 2009, the final year of the three-year contract he signed with the Cubs in December 2006. The Cubs are expected to pay $1MM of Marquis’ ’09 salary; Vizcaino will make $4MM this year, Muskat continued.
Muskat also notes that moving Marquis does not mean the Cubs will resume talks with the Padres regarding Jake Peavy, but more likely, Sean Marshall will fill the fifth spot in the Cubs’ rotation.
Jake Peavy Rumors: Friday
Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times has a few notes on the failed Jake Peavy-Cubs trade talks.
He says Kevin Towers kept putting Sean Marshall on the table, but the Cubs never agreed to it. I received the same info in talking to a source yesterday (see the 5:02pm update). Cubs GM Jim Hendry wasn’t amused with Towers mentioning names of other teams’ players to the media.
De Luca adds that it was the Cubs’ 2010 payroll that was the real sticking point. They would’ve added Peavy’s $15MM, plus seen bumps for Alfonso Soriano, Ryan Dempster, and Kosuke Fukudome totaling $8MM.
Jake Peavy Rumors: Thursday
10:56pm: Axelrod suggestion the Giants as a possible destination for Peavy in a talk with Tim Sullivan. He said, "I think they’ve got the money. But I don’t know if they’ve got the prospects."
8:20pm: Jon Heyman says that Peavy is frustrated by the team’s inability to trade him. His agent, Barry Axelrod, says that Peavy had begun to get used to the idea of being a Cub, and now that opportunity is apparently gone. Axelrod says if the Padres approach he and his client with a trade, they’ll consider it, but there won’t be any more lists of approved teams.
Axelrod also criticizes the majority of baseball executives for their lack of action at the Winter Meetings.
"It’s amazing to me how many people can waste time, money and resources, and get nothing done," Axelrod said. "Baseball moved lock, stock and barrel into that town, and absolutely nothing happened."
6:45: Mike DiGiovanna at the LA Times says that the Angels are now in the mix for Peavy. Trade talks could begin as soon as next week, with Brandon Wood, Erick Aybar, Reggie Willits, Nick Adenhart, and Kevin Jepsen all names that could be talked about. The Angels will only pursue Peavy if they can’t re-sign Mark Teixeira.
5:02pm: Talked to a person familiar with the Cubs’ thinking…he really could not see the Cubs revisiting a Peavy trade. The Padres need to get Peavy’s $63MM off the books soon, yet were trying to swing 6-for-1 or 7-for-1 deals for him despite the extremely limited market. Marshall was never in the mix, by the way.
3:27pm: MLB.com’s Mark Bowman says the Braves "won’t even think about renewing their pursuit of Peavy unless the talks are initiated by the Padres, who will no longer find a compensation package that includes Yunel Escobar." Escobar is apparently off the table because the Braves no longer have Brent Lillibridge.
2:56pm: Tim Brown and Gordon Edes say the Cubs "remain optimistic that they can acquire Peavy, all but ignored Towers’ self-imposed deadline." Meanwhile, Gerry Fraley says the Angels have already put together a package for the Padres to consider.
12:01pm: Kevin Towers told reporters the proposed Peavy deal with the Cubs is dead. The Cubs pulled out. Mike DiGiovanna heard earlier that the Angels remain interested. Towers is not certain he wants to engage in further Peavy discussions at this time. I think even hot stove junkies wouldn’t mind a respite.
11:30am: Towers still hasn’t heard back from Hendry on the Peavy deal. Ken Rosenthal says eight to ten teams have called on DeRosa, adding the A’s to the mix of known suitors.
12:33am: Multiple reports suggested yesterday that the Cubs would not trade Mark DeRosa. But new stories in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times do not support that notion.
Paul Sullivan of the Trib says DeRosa "appears to be the key to any Peavy deal." Gordon Wittenmyer of the Sun-Times heard the Cubs would only trade DeRosa as part of a Peavy deal, and Jim Hendry inquired on Chone Figgins as a possible replacement. And La Velle E. Neal III believes DeRosa is fair game in a Peavy deal or separately for the Twins or Phillies. As far as Jason Marquis, both Chicago writers see him landing in San Diego with the Cubs eating about half his salary (one sign that the Cubs have "hand," as George Costanza would say).
Padres GM Kevin Towers wants to get a framework in place today. The Cubs have the leverage, with Wittenmyer suggesting they also want to keep Sean Marshall. One player most writers believe will be sent from the Cubs to the Padres is Josh Vitters. But Towers says it’s in the Cubs’ hands.
Jake Peavy Rumors: Monday
11:02pm: Jim Salisbury backs up the idea that the Phils could receive DeRosa and the Padres could get Happ. It’s worth noting that the Cubs could trim $5.5MM off the payroll by sending out DeRosa and using Fontenot at second base.
10:31pm: MLB.com’s Lyle Spencer says the Angels have not taken themselves out of the Peavy sweepstakes.
Also, Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune supplies more info. A third team would definitely be involved in a Cubs trade. DeRosa could wind up a Phillie, and Michael Wuertz is a new name of interest for the Padres. Peavy’s agent Barry Axelrod said again that Peavy will require a full no-trade clause upon a deal. One more thing – Towers said trading Peavy could free up money for Trevor Hoffman.
9:00pm: MLB.com’s Corey Brock says the legwork on this trade "has essentially been completed." No deal has been reached, but Towers says he’s facilitated a three or possibly four-team deal. The third and possibly fourth teams (Orioles, Phillies) have agreed to players. There could be some haggling remaining on players sent from the Cubs to Padres.
Brock says all Towers needs now is the go-ahead from Hendry. Peavy, by the way, was spotted at the Meetings.
8:35pm: Jayson Stark gives his take on the Peavy-Cubs situation. He says Hendry is dealing with restrictions due to the team’s ownership situation, despite his comments.
8:01pm: Scott Miller of CBSSports.com says Jason Marquis and Angel Guzman (among others) could end up with the Padres in the three-team deal. The Padres could get J.A. Happ and/or Chris Coste from the Phils. Miller adds that the Phils are known to have interest in Mark DeRosa.
6:53pm: Rosenthal says the Phillies are now in the mix as a possible third team in a Peavy trade. Those talks are preliminary. Rosenthal says the Cubs can’t complete a deal for Peavy until their new owner is decided.
5:33pm: Roch Kubatko says the O’s are still interested in Pie, but may only get him for Olson straight up if Olson is to be flipped to San Diego in a Peavy trade.
2:37pm: Joel Sherman learned from Towers that if he doesn’t reach an agreement on a Peavy deal with the Cubs at the Meetings, he will keep the pitcher to start the season. The Dodgers are apparently the only other team to which Peavy has approved a trade.
Sherman adds that the Cubs "are willing to let [Peavy] keep his no-trade clause." Not sure if Sherman is trying to say the Cubs would replace Peavy’s partial no-trade rights for 2011 and part of 2012 with full no-trade powers.
2:33pm: Kevin Towers told Ken Rosenthal he’s talking to only the Cubs about Peavy. He expects to have a good idea on whether to drop it or move forward by the end of the Meetings. Towers approached Ned Colletti but talks didn’t get far.
12:22pm: Jerry Crasnick says Kevin Towers and Peavy’s agent Barry Axelrod drove together for the 4.5 hour ride from San Diego to Las Vegas, but Axelrod says they only talked about Peavy for about three minutes. Also, Axelrod brought a sweet mix CD.
11:44am: Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald says the Cubs and Padres did not talk about Peavy on Sunday but will today. He’s heard the Padres might be concerned with Vitters’ hand/wrist.
1:14am: Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times says the Cubs first want to trade Jason Marquis and acquire their left-handed hitting outfielder before Peavy. Wittenmyer’s sources do believe the Cubs will eventually acquire San Diego’s ace. However, his sources say the Tom Krasovic report about a five-for-one framework being in place is exaggerated.
Wittenmyer hears that the Orioles would be willing to swap Garrett Olson for Felix Pie; the Cubs would then send Olson to the Padres in the Peavy deal.
12:54am: According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, Padres GM Kevin Towers "envisions a way to do a [Jake Peavy] deal now only with the Cubs." We’ve heard rumors of the Padres and Cubs trying to rope in the Orioles or Rays as a third team.
Heyman adds that Peavy would approve a trade to Chicago "without any significant reworking of his contract or other major concessions." Does that imply that the Cubs would not have to guarantee Peavy’s 2013 option ($22MM) or grant him a full no-trade clause?
Keep in mind that despite all the virtual ink that will be spilled on Peavy over the next four days, Jayson Stark sees "just about a zero chance" he’s dealt at the Meetings. Still, the Cubs and Padres seem to already have a framework in place involving Sean Marshall, Kevin Hart, Josh Vitters, and maybe Ronny Cedeno.
Jake Peavy Rumors: Monday
8:42pm: Towers gave Tom Krasovic a Peavy update. Towers believes that the Braves’ unwillingness to grant Peavy a no-trade clause remains on obstacle in that potential match. Plus, a Krasovic source wonders whether Peavy would even OK a trade to Atlanta.
Krasovic adds that the Cubs and Padres discussed a 5-for-1 deal, where the Orioles would be involved to route more pitching to San Diego. However, Towers noted the Cubs’ current payroll concerns.
10:35am: Murray Chass snagged a good quote from Padres GM Kevin Towers regarding the Jake Peavy trade talks:
"I would say the Cubs are still in it. Lou said they’re not in it, but their general manager says they’re in it. The Dodgers have bigger fish to fry. That’s not to say they might not circle back later in the winter. Our primary goal is to trade Peavy."
One Cubs source spoke of a "two-year window to win," according to Dave van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune. Chass quotes Towers as seeking established players back for Peavy, which is why the Cubs would need to get a third team involved. Van Dyck says the Cubs hope to hang on to Mike Fontenot and Sean Marshall.