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Rosenthal On Hamilton, Hart, Pagan, Indians

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Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports spoke with agents and rival executives about where Josh Hamilton might land and the Nationals, Phillies, Mariners, and Orioles often came up in conversation.  The Phillies would appear to be a stretch for both financial and baseball reasons, but two industry sources say the club is quietly checking in on him.  It was reported earlier this week that the O's are targeting Hamilton but Rosenthal would be surprised if owner Peter Angelos, who emphasizes that his GMs find him players with a history of good conduct, can be talked into it.  Here's more from Rosenthal..

  • The Brewers are discussing a new deal with first baseman/right fielder Corey Hart.  The 30-year-old is seeking a three-year extension but the Brewers might prefer to give him two more years while increasing his 2013 salary.  Hart is under contract for one more season at $10MM.
  • Giants GM Brian Sabean expressed confidence that the team would re-sign free agents Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro, and Jeremy Affeldt.  Meanwhile, sources say that other teams are more aggressive than the Giants on Pagan right now.
  • It wouldn't be a surprise to see the Indians trade Shin-Soo Choo, Asdrubal Cabrera, Chris Perez, and Justin Masterson, all of whom have two or fewer years of control remaining.  However, catcher/first baseman Carlos Santana, signed for four more years, is more likely to stay.

Rosenthal On Rays, Dempster, Dickey, Nakajima

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Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has another batch of news items out of the general managers' meetings in Indian Wells, California…

  • While the Rays have the pitching depth to move two of their starters, they're likely to move just one of their pitchers.  David Price and James Shields are the biggest trade chips, though most in the industry feel Tampa Bay will keep both aces to make a play for the AL East title in 2013.  There is "no chance" Price is dealt this winter, one rival executive tells Rosenthal, though Price could be moved next offseason.
  • The Brewers are interested in free agent right-hander Ryan Dempster.
  • The Mets' willingness to trade R.A. Dickey is seen by "many in the industry" as a tactic to get Dickey to accept a club-friendly extension, which Rosenthal thinks is a flawed strategy.
  • Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima is now a free agent who can sign with Major League teams without going through the posting process.  Rosenthal says the shortstop-needy Diamondbacks and Athletics are "at least mildly intrigued" by Nakajima and the Giants could also pursue Nakajima as a second baseman if they can't re-sign Marco Scutaro.  The Yankees won the right to negotiate with Nakajima last winter after submitting a winning posting bid of $2MM, but Nakajima couldn't come to terms with New York and he re-signed with the Seibu Lions.  The 30-year-old Nakajima has a .310/.381/.474 batting line and 104 homers over the last six years with Seibu. 

Bay Area Notes: Athletics, Pence, Giants

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Congrats to Athletics GM Billy Beane, who was named the Executive of the Year by the Sporting News following his team's surprising run to the AL West title. Here's the latest out of the Bay Area…

  • "We're not going to do that," said Beane to MLB.com's Lyle Spencer when asked if the Athletics will trade one of their starting pitchers for a shortstop. "In years we've been successful, it's because we've had good young pitchers."
  • Giants GM Brian Sabean confirmed to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick that the team will tender a contract to Hunter Pence prior to the November 30th deadline. With a projected salary of $13.8MM, Pence will be this winter's most expensive arbitration case.
  • Sabean also told Crasnick that the Giants are "actively working" to re-sign Angel Pagan, Jeremy Affeldt, and Marco Scutaro. He said he's "optimistic" about all three but declined to go into detail about the talks.

Arbitration Eligibles: San Francisco Giants

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The Giants are next in our 2013 Arbitration Eligibles series.  Matt Swartz's salary projections are below.

Wilson represents a high-profile non-tender candidate for the World Champions.  The closer, 31 in March, had Tommy John surgery in April.  Though he missed most of the 2012 season, a salary decrease is unlikely, hence the $8.5MM figure.  It'd be a large commitment for a reliever coming off major elbow surgery, even if Wilson manages to beat the typical one-year recovery and be ready for Opening Day.  The Giants would still have Romo, Casilla, and Javier Lopez in next year's bullpen, though if they cut Wilson and lose Jeremy Affeldt via free agency they might feel compelled to make an addition. 

Casilla, and especially Romo, make for a formidable pair at the back end of the bullpen.  The Giants also have arbitration eligible relievers in Mijares and Hensley.  Mijares was solid following the Giants' August waiver claim, while Hensley is a non-tender candidate.

The Giants have a few utility types up for arbitration in Blanco, Arias, and Burriss.  Blanco and Arias seem safe, while Burriss was on and off the team's 40-man roster in 2012 and will be let go.

In Pence, the Giants have the most expensive arbitration eligible player in all of baseball.  A former Super Two, the right fielder took a larger-than-usual salary leap by winning his 2011 arbitration case.  For some reason, the Astros and Phillies never hammered out an extension with Pence and he's continued going year-to-year.  He was a trade deadline acquisition for the Giants, and unlike his Phillies' post-deadline stint in '11, Pence struggled.  The Giants don't seem to be considering non-tendering him; instead they'll hope for a return to career levels in 2013. 

Posey was the NL's Comeback Player of the Year after missing most of 2011 due to a major ankle injury.  He's also an MVP candidate, an award that would further boost his arbitration salary.  We don't project Posey to sniff Ryan Howard's first-time arbitration record of $10MM, but the Super Two backstop will set a first-time record for catchers and would get expensive in a hurry going year-to-year.  Carlos Gonzalez signed the biggest extension for a player with less than three years service, a seven-year, $80MM deal.  Since he's a Super Two player, Posey would deserve about that much on a six-year contract.  However, Posey's agents at CAA Sports could have a $100MM+ deal in their sights, assuming an extension is on the table for both parties.

Assuming the Giants tender contracts to only Posey, Casilla, Romo, Mijares, Blanco, and Arias, they're looking at an estimated $18.6MM for six arbitration eligible players.

Matt Swartz's arbitration projections are available exclusively at MLB Trade Rumors.  To read more about his projection model, check out this series of posts.

Yankees Claim Eli Whiteside

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The Yankees announced that they claimed catcher Eli Whiteside off of waivers from the Giants.

Whiteside appeared in 12 games with the Giants this past season and played another 60 contests with San Francisco's Triple-A affiliate. In parts of five seasons at the MLB level, the 33-year-old has a .215/.273/.335 batting line. Whiteside, a right-handed hitter, became San Francisco's primary catcher in 2011 after Buster Posey went on the disabled list. He's arbitration eligible with a projected 2013 salary of $600K.

Quick Hits: Dickey, White Sox, Pence

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MLB executives are fascinated by many of the same questions that preoccupy fans, so ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick checked in with a variety of baseball officials to get their thoughts on some offseason issues. The execs prefer Michael Bourn to B.J. Upton and they expect Zack Greinke to re-sign with the Angels. Here are today's links…

  • R.A. Dickey could draw interest from ten or more teams if the Mets make him available in trades this offseason, rival executives tell Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.
  • White Sox GM Rick Hahn expects to hear from many teams interested in acquiring some of Chicago’s starting pitching depth, Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com reports. “We will absolutely listen on any ideas and trades will be one of the avenues we pursue to potentially fill some of our holes,” Hahn said. Gavin Floyd could be among the pitchers drawing trade interest this year, Hayes writes.
  • The Giants aren’t going to non-tender Hunter Pence, even though he’ll cost $13-14MM as an arbitration eligible player, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). MLBTR projects a $13.8MM salary for Pence in 2013.
  • Tim Britton of the Providence Journal analyzes the first base market to determine some possible fits for the Red Sox.
  • Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com suggests it wouldn't make sense for the Rangers to offer Josh Hamilton more than three guaranteed years with a vesting option for a fourth year. It doesn't sound as though that'll be enough to sign Hamilton, despite the questions surrounding his ability to stay healthy.

Olney On Hunter, Pagan, Padres

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MLB executives expressed surprise that Torii Hunter, Edwin Jackson, Angel Pagan and Mike Napoli didn’t get qualifying offers by Friday’s deadline, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports. Here are more notes and rumors from Olney…

  • One high-ranking executive suggested Hunter will get some two or three-year offers as a free agent. The outfielder ranked 20th on MLBTR's list of top 50 free agents.
  • Evaluators were puzzled by the Nationals’ decision not to make Jackson a qualifying offer. An offer would have set them up for draft pick compensation or another affordable one-year deal.
  • GMs and agents expect Pagan to get multiple offers for three years. A four or five-year deal doesn’t seem out of reach for the center fielder.
  • Some rival officials expected the Rangers to make Napoli a one-year qualifying offer and set themselves up for draft pick compensation.
  • Brad Ausmus, one of the top managerial prospects in MLB, told Olney that it’s important for managers to remember how difficult it is to play at the highest level. “The managers who understood the patience involved are the managers who have related to the players best on teams I have been a part of, and garnered their respect,” Ausmus said.
  • The Padres have had some extension talks with Chase Headley, Olney reports. While both sides are interested in a deal, it’s hard to value Headley following his impressive second half performance.
  • The Padres will focus on adding starting pitching this offseason, Olney reports. Rival executives like San Diego’s pitching depth, but GM Josh Byrnes will still pursue additions.

Agency Notes: Scutaro, Gonzalez, Young Jr.

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On a busy night in baseball, we've also seen some changes in representation.  Of course, you can keep up on all agency news with MLBTR's Agency Database.  Here's the latest..

  • Marco Scutaro is now represented by agent Barry Praver, tweets Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com.  The Giants hope to re-sign the infielder this winter and by all accounts the interest appears to be mutual.  
  • Nationals left-hander Mike Gonzalez is now represented by Dan Lozano of MVP Sports Group, according to Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).  Gonzalez was a client of Scott Boras last season when he joined the club on a minor league deal.  The Nats would like to re-tool their bullpen this winter but are said to have interest in retaining the 34-year-old.
  • Rockies outfielder Eric Young Jr. has left CAA to hook on with Dan Lozano at MVP, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (via Twitter).  Young is not yet arbitration eligible and won't hit the open market until after the 2016 season.

NL West Links: Giants, Affeldt, Rockies, D’Backs

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The Giants don't plan on making qualifying offers to Marco Scutaro, Jeremy Affeldt or Angel Pagan by tomorrow's deadline, reports Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com.  MLBTR's Tim Dierkes predicted that Pagan would get a qualifying offer (a one-year, $13.3MM contract) that would ultimately be rejected by the outfielder as he will no doubt receive multiyear offers on the open market.  Without a qualifying offer, Pagan can sign elsewhere and the Giants wouldn't receive any draft picks as compensation.

Here's some more news from around the NL West…

  • The Giants want to bring back all three players, though Baggarly reports that team officials "are less confident about their ability to" re-sign Pagan given how much interest the outfielder is likely to get from other teams.
  • Scutaro, Affeldt and Pagan all want to return to the Giants, though Affeldt specified that he's looking for a multiyear contract, writes Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle.
  • The Giants are talking to the agents of the three players to see if a deal can be struck before the end of the team's exclusive negotiating period, tweets Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.  None of the deals are close and Schulman predicts that Pagan will test the market, while Scutaro is the player with the best chance to re-sign quickly.
  • Walt Weiss, Jason Giambi and Matt Williams will all meet with Rockies owner Dick Monfort and GM Dan O'Dowd, reports Troy Renck of the Denver Post.  These three and Tom Runnells (who has already met with management) appear to be the final candidates to be the next Rockies manager.  (Both links are to Twitter).
  • The Rockies are unlikely to pick a new manager by the end of the week, writes MLB.com's Thomas Harding, as O'Dowd is currently out of town and will then be attending next week's GM meetings.
  • The Astros have claimed right-hander Sam Demel and infielder Jake Elmore off waivers from the Diamondbacks, according to an Astros media release.  Demel, who came to Arizona in the 2010 trade that sent Conor Jackson to Oakland, has a 4.95 ERA in 72 relief appearances for the Snakes since 2010, with a 1.85 K/BB ratio and 48 strikeouts in 63 2/3 innings.  Elmore, 25, was a 34th-round pick of the D'Backs in 2008 who made his Major League debut this season, posting a .497 OPS in 73 plate appearances.
  • In news from earlier today, the Giants declined their 2013 option on Aubrey Huff and I posted a collection of Diamondbacks notes.

Giants Decline Aubrey Huff’s Option

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The Giants have declined their $10MM club option on Aubrey Huff for 2013, buying the veteran outfielder out for $2MM, reports Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com.  The move was seen as a foregone conclusion given Huff's lack of performance over the last two seasons.

Huff signed a one-year, $3MM with San Francisco before the 2010 season and exploded for a .290/.385/.506 campaign (plus a .957 OPS in 20 World Series plate appearances), helping lead the Giants to a championship.  Huff signed a two-year, $22MM contract with a $10MM option for 2013 in the aftermath of his big season but hasn't produced nearly as well since, hitting just .239/.309/.359 in 674 plate appearances and struggling with both an anxiety disorder and a knee injury.  It's possible that Huff could consider retirement given his injuries, his age (he turns 36 in December) and the chance to go out on the high note of another World Series title. 

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