Padres Rumors

Waiver Rumors: Thome, Bell, White Sox, Wright

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | August 24, 2011 at 9:15pm CDT

The waiver wire is heating up with one week remaining for teams to trade for postseason reinforcements. Here’s a refresher on how August trades work and here are the latest rumors…

The Indians placed a claim on Jim Thome, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (on Twitter). However, the White Sox, who have a worse record than Cleveland, also placed a claim, so they would have priority over the Indians.
It appears unlikely that the Giants, who won the claim on Heath Bell, will complete a trade for the reliever, Jon Heyman of SI.com reports (on Twitter).
Though the Padres would find if difficult to accept a weak offer for Bell, it might beat the alternative of keeping him and potentially paying him big money in 2012, Ken Rosenthal writes at FOX Sports.
The White Sox placed John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Paul Konerko and Matt Thornton on waivers, according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com.
The Giants are a fit for the recently waived Ramon Hernandez, but the catcher will likely be a Type A free agent so a different team could claim him for draft picks, ESPN.com's Buster Olney notes (on Twitter).
Hoynes suggests the Indians likely claimed one of Thome and Jason Kubel (Twitter link). Unknown teams claimed both Twins sluggers this week.
The Rockies were one of the teams that put in a claim on David Wright this month, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post. Though it's unclear which team won the claim, it probably doesn't matter at the moment, since the Mets aren't trading their third baseman. As Renck points out, it's a reminder that the Rockies will be interested if the Mets ever make Wright available.

Heath Bell, Carlos Pena, Kubel Placed On Waivers

By Tim Dierkes | August 22, 2011 at 2:38pm CDT

Heath Bell, Jason Kubel, and Carlos Pena were placed on trade waivers today, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Rosenthal tweeted earlier about Jim Thome being placed, also. The placement on waivers starts a 48 hour period during which teams can put in claims. Hundreds of players are placed on waivers in August, but these four are notable because they do appear to be trade candidates.

Bell, the Padres' closer, sports a 2.60 ERA, 6.6 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 0.35 HR/9, and 42.9% groundball rate in 52 innings this year. That's a big dropoff from his typical strikeout rate. The 33-year-old has $1.5MM left on his contract. He projects as a Type A free agent, but has said he'd accept arbitration if the Padres offer. Owner Jeff Moorad said this month that Bell accepting arbitration would be preferable in some ways, but if the Padres aren't actually interested in a potential eight-figure one-year deal for Bell, they've got two days to move him. Dan Mennella took a look at the fantasy impact of the move at CloserNews.

Kubel, 29, is hitting .295/.350/.456 in 326 plate appearances for the Twins, playing right field and DH. The left-handed hitter has about $1MM plus incentives left on his contract and currently profiles as a Type B free agent in the American League. He earns more than Thome, but not so much that we can rule out a team claiming him mostly for the draft pick.

Pena, 33, is hitting .222/.342/.455 with 23 home runs in 480 plate appearances this year for the Cubs. Though he projects as a Type B, teams might be reluctant to offer arbitration given his salary. He's owed about $1MM for the rest of the year, and the Cubs will be on the hook for a deferred $5MM in January even if they trade him.

Two players who will not be traded this month: Oakland's Rich Harden and Coco Crisp, who were claimed on waivers but pulled back according to this report yesterday from Rosenthal. Today, ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that the Indians won the claim on Harden, but could not work out a deal.

Padres Designate Pat Neshek For Assignment

By Mark Polishuk | August 20, 2011 at 10:53pm CDT

The Padres have designated right-hander Pat Neshek for assignment, tweets Dan Hayes of the North County Times. In a corresponding move, Ernesto Frieri has been activated from the disabled list. Neshek was claimed by the Padres in March after the Twins put him on waivers.

Neshek, who turns 31 next month, has a 4.01 ERA in 25 appearances for San Diego this season. His peripheral stats aren't nearly as respectable — Neshek has allowed 22 walks against just 20 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings pitched. Control has been an issue for Neshek over the last two seasons as the reliever has battled to regain his form after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2008. Before the procedure, Neshek was a dominant force in the Twins' bullpen, posting a 2.68 ERA and a 10.6 K/9 rate over 106 appearances in 2006-07.

Draft Notes: Austin, Pirates, Hultzen

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | August 19, 2011 at 4:45pm CDT

The deadline for signing draft picks has passed, but there’s still lots of news about 2011 draftees. The latest:

Padres draftee Brett Austin turned down $1.5MM from San Diego to play for North Carolina State, according to Tom Krasovic of Inside the Padres (Twitter link). San Diego selected the catcher with the 54th overall pick in the draft.
As Jim Callis of Baseball America shows, the Pirates, Nationals and Royals lead all MLB teams in bonus expenditures from 2007-11. Four AL East teams – everyone but the Yankees – are next on the list.
Callis also details this year's expenditures, with the Pirates, Nationals and Royals again leading the way.
2011 draftees Gerrit Cole, Bubba Starling and Danny Hultzen obtained three of the top five bonuses in draft history, according to Callis.

NL West Notes: D’Backs, Padres, Uribe

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | August 17, 2011 at 8:15pm CDT

The Diamondbacks and Padres were two of the ten teams that cracked $10MM on draft bonus spending this year, according to Baseball America. Here's the latest on those two clubs and their NL West rivals…

It's wouldn't be surprising to see the D'Backs look into the possibility of acquiring a shortstop this month, despite Willie Bloomquist's solid play in place of the injured Stephen Drew. But Edgar Renteria? One D'Backs source tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that the Reds "won't move him" (Twitter link).
Corey Brock of MLB.com tells the story of Drew Cumberland, the 46th overall draft pick in 2007, who had to retire because of a medical condition that disrupts balance in the inner ears. Hearing the news was understandably tough for the 22-year-old former Padres prospect. "Baseball … it's my passion. It's what I love," he told Brock.
Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness responds to Tim Dierkes’ recent suggestion that the Dodgers could trade Juan Uribe for Carlos Zambrano. The Dodgers don’t have sure things on the infield going forward, so they may prefer to hold onto Uribe to ensure that they have at least one regular they can count on heading in to 2012.

Teams Spend $236MM On Draft

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | August 17, 2011 at 2:51pm CDT

The totals are in and Major League teams have again broken draft spending records. According to figures compiled by Jim Callis of Baseball America, MLB teams spent a combined $227.94MM on this year's draft bonuses and $235.99MM including additional guaranteed money in MLB deals for Danny Hultzen, Trevor Bauer, Dylan Bundy, Anthony Rendon and Matt Purke.

A year ago, MLB teams spent about $35MM less: $195.78MM, or $201.83MM including additional guaranteed money in big league deals. The Pirates led the way in 2011, spending over $17MM and breaking the $11.93MM record the Nationals set a year ago. Washington also broke its previous record, spending over $15MM on Rendon, Purke, Alex Meyer, Brian Goodwin and others.

Though only seven teams had ever spent over $10MM on the draft before this year, ten teams did so in 2011, according to Baseball America. Along with the Pirates and Nationals, the Royals ($14.01MM), Cubs ($11.95MM), Diamondbacks ($11.93MM), Rays ($11.48MM), Mariners ($11.33MM), Padres ($11.02MM), Blue Jays ($11.00MM) and Red Sox ($10.98MM) spent eight figures on the draft.

The Tigers ($2.88MM), who didn’t select until the second round, and White Sox ($2.76MM) were the only clubs to spend less than $3MM, according to Baseball America.

Draft Reactions

By Tim Dierkes | August 16, 2011 at 3:14pm CDT

If the owners have their way, we won't see the heavy over slot spending we did in yesterday's draft for a long time: ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that a draft slotting system is the top priority of MLB in the current labor talks. However, Olney's colleague Keith Law notes that the majority of scouts and directors he's spoken to are opposed to hard slotting. That's a major issue for the near future, but for now let's focus on yesterday's signings…

Baseball America's John Manuel provides a nice summary of the major events of yesterday's deadline. He praises the big-spending Pirates, Royals, and Nationals, but expressed surprise at the dollar amounts the Nats committed to Brian Goodwin and Matt Purke. Manuel notes that other clubs must be surprised the Pirates managed to sign Josh Bell for $5MM. Overall, Manuel opines that baseball's August 15th deadline is not suppressing bonuses as intended, and should be moved earlier. He also advocates dropping the idea of a slotting system, trusting teams to evaluate and price talent.
Law looks at Tyler Beede's decision to turn down Toronto's offer, and also examines strong drafts from the Cubs, Pirates, Nationals, and Padres. Like Manuel, Law questions Washington's Purke deal.
Beede was one of six players not to sign within the first three rounds; BA's Jim Callis has details on the compensation picks the Jays, Padres, Yankees, Mariners, Marlins, and Rockies will receive next year.
Law wrote that he's "surprised by how little [Dylan Bundy and Archie Bradley] got relative to their talent levels." It may have had no bearing on the contracts of those two players, but I confirmed today that their agency BBI Sports Group is dealing with some turmoil, having recently fired Jeff Frye and another agent.
Speaking of agencies, I've updated our database to include pretty much all major draft picks from this year.
ESPN's Jim Bowden has an interesting article showing how the D'Backs, Padres, Rays, and Nationals re-allocated money from unsigned draft picks, and also discusses his Jeremy Sowers situation from '01 with the Reds.

Padres Sign Austin Hedges

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | August 16, 2011 at 12:01am CDT

The Padres announced that they have signed catcher Austin Hedges. They selected the 18-year-old in the second round of the draft after Baseball America named him the 12th-best position player prospect available and praised his defense. Tom Krasovic of Inside the Padres, who first reported the deal, says the agreement is worth $3MM (Twitter link).

You can keep track of which top picks have signed with MLBTR's list.

Padres Sign Joe Ross

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | August 15, 2011 at 11:12pm CDT

The Padres signed first rounder Joe Ross for $2.75MM according to Jim Callis of Baseball America (on Twitter). Wasserman Media Group represents the high school right-hander, the 25th overall pick in this year's draft. The California native had committed to UCLA, which produced two 2011 first rounders, top pick Gerrit Cole and third overall selection Trevor Bauer.

You can keep track of which top picks have signed with MLBTR's list.

Supplemental Draft Pick Signings

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | August 15, 2011 at 10:59pm CDT

When teams lose ranked free agents after offering arbitration, they obtain supplemental first round picks in the following year's amateur draft. The teams then have until August 15th to sign the picks. Today is the last day for teams to sign this year's draft picks and we'll keep track of the latest deals for supplemental first rounders right here:

The Rays signed Tyler Goedell, according to the team. The third baseman obtains $1.5MM, according to Callis. The Rays also signed Grayson Garvin, according to Conor Glassey of Baseball America (on Twitter). It's a $370K deal, according to Callis (on Twitter). Tampa Bay obtained the 59th overall pick for the loss of Brad Hawpe.
The Padres signed Michael Kelly, according to Callis (Twitter links). It's a $718K deal.
The Red Sox signed 36th overall pick Henry Owens for $1.55MM, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com (on Twitter). They also signed Jackie Bradley Jr. for $1.1MM, according to John Manuel of Baseball America (on Twitter).
The Nationals agreed to terms with Brian Goodwin, the 34th overall pick, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). The outfielder's bonus is believed to be $3MM.
The Twins will sign supplemental first rounder Travis Harrison to a deal worth $1.05MM, according Zoodig, an athlete digital media platform, on Twitter. The Twins also signed supplemental first rounder Hudson Boyd for $1MM, according to Callis (onTwitter). The Twins obtained the 55th overall pick for losing Orlando Hudson.
The Diamondbacks agreed to sign Andrew Chafin for $875K, according to Jim Callis of Baseball America. The D'Backs obtained the 43rd overall pick as compensation for Adam LaRoche.

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