West Links: Cruz, Mota, Padres, Abreu, Angels
We've already rounded up notes from the east and central divisions, now let's head out west…
- The Rangers and Nelson Cruz avoided arbitration by agreeing to a two-year, $16MM deal earlier today, and the outfielder told Anthony Andro of FOXSportsSouthWest.com that a long-term deal is still possible (Twitter link).
- The AP (via ESPN) reports that the Giants and Guillermo Mota have finalized their one-year, $1MM agreement. The two sides agreed to the contract in December. San Francisco's 40-man roster is now full.
- The Padres are poised to sign a new television contract with FOX Sports that will guarantee them $75MM annually for the next 20 years, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The deal is pending MLB's approval.
- ESPN's Jayson Stark listed five players that could get traded in Spring Training, including Bobby Abreu of the Angels. One executive told Stark: "There's no team in baseball more likely to make a deal this spring than the Angels."
Giants Designate Justin Christian For Assignment
The Giants designated outfielder Justin Christian for assignment, tweets Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. With the additions of Ryan Theriot and Guillermo Mota, the team's 40-man roster is now full.
Christian, 31, hit .294/.376/.459 in 589 plate appearances across Double and Triple-A in 2011, appearing at all three outfield positions.
Giants Notes: Cespedes, Ramirez, Torres
Yesterday, Giants GM Brian Sabean talked to the press about the possibility of signing Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum to contract extensions. Here's more on San Fran..
- Not a huge surprise here, but Sabean said that the Giants won't go after Yoenis Cespedes, tweets Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. "The price tag is probably beyond what his talent is," the GM said. The outfielder still has a number of suitors including the Marlins, Cubs, White Sox, Orioles, and Tigers.
- Sabean said that Ramon Ramirez was included in the Andres Torres–Angel Pagan trade in December to even out the money, Schulman tweets. Back in December, the GM admitted that if the Giants hadn't traded Ramirez, they would have tendered the right-hander a contract.
- Speaking of Torres, a competing baseball exec told Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter) that he sees the former Giant as a fifth outfielder, even though he is slated to start in center field for the Mets. Heyman agrees with that assertion.
Giants Notes: Cain, Lincecum, Payroll, Beltran
The Giants made their roster available to the media today, on the eve of the club's annual FanFest event. Here's latest on the 2010 World Champs…
- “We’ve talked … and it’s a process,” said Matt Cain to reporters (including Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News) when asked about an extension. “We’ll see what’s going to happen. We’re definitely here for this year.”
- The right-hander did stop short of saying he'll give the team a hometown discount. “That’s tough,” he said. “You definitely love being in San Francisco, and we do. We have a year till free agency. That’s something as a player you think about, having that opportunity. It’s hard to say what will happen in these next several months.”
- “Budget won’t be a factor," said GM Brian Sabean when asked about signing both Cain and Tim Lincecum long-term. "We’ll have enough wherewithal in the budget that we won’t have to pick. Whether that happens, I can’t predict. But we have it in the budget to sign both players.”
- Sabean also said that increasing payroll to add players in midseason has "always been possible with our ownership group" according to John Shea of The San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
- The Giants wanted Carlos Beltran back as a left fielder, says Shea (on Twitter). They were willing to give him two years, but not the $26MM the Cardinals gave him.
Bay Area Notes: Nady, Lincecum, Manny, Jackson
Moneyball received six Academy Award nominations on Tuesday, joining Pride Of The Yankees and Field Of Dreams as the only baseball-centric movies to ever be nominated for the prestigious Best Picture Oscar. While I'm not sure if I'd call Moneyball one of the very best films of the year, it's definitely a well-made, entertaining movie, as outlined in my review from last September.
Here are some non-cinematic notes from both the Athletics and the Giants in this roundup of Bay Area news…
- Xavier Nady and the Giants share a mutual interest on a minor league contract, tweets Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. The 33-year-old Nady hit .248/.287/.359 in 223 plate appearances for the Diamondbacks last season.
- Also from Schulman, he outlines the Giants' several shortstop/utility infield options for next season, which include Brandon Crawford, Emmanuel Burriss, Mike Fontenot and the newly-signed Ryan Theriot. Schulman also notes that Fontenot's $1.05MM contract with the team is non-guaranteed and that Burriss is out of options.
- Tim Lincecum's two-year, $40.5MM extension with the Giants was finalized today after the right-hander passed his physical.
- Manny Ramirez is "essentially a no-risk option" for the Athletics, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. A's managing partner Lew Wolff said yesterday that he would open to the possibility of his team signing the controversial Ramirez.
- From that same piece, Slusser notes the A's still have interest in bringing back Conor Jackson, despite the fact that the club just signed Jonny Gomes. Jackson played in Oakland from June 2010 to August 2011 before being dealt to the Red Sox for right-hander Jason Rice.
Giants Sign Tim Lincecum To Two-Year Deal
The Giants and Tim Lincecum have agreed to a two-year, $40.5MM contract extension, avoiding arbitration with the two-time Cy Young Award winner. The contract became official once Lincecum passed his physical with the team.
The two-year deal buys out Lincecum's final two seasons of arbitration eligibility and avoids a potentially historic hearing. The right-hander will earn $18MM in 2012 and $22MM in 2013 to go along with a $500K signing bonus. The deal includes a limited no-trade clause that allows Lincecum to select a certain number of teams to which he can block a trade. Both sides remain open to discussing a longer term contract in the near future.
Lincecum, a Beverly Hills Sports Council client, filed for a $21.5MM salary through arbitration and the Giants countered at $17MM, as MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows. Both figures set new records for players with less than six years of service time. Derek Jeter ($18.5MM) and the Yankees ($14.25MM) had established the previous marks more than a decade ago, in 2001.
Lincecum, 27, has a 2.98 ERA with 9.9 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 47.1% ground ball rate in 1028 career innings. He already has two Cy Young Awards and four All-Star Game selections to his name. Only four pitchers – Roy Halladay, C.C. Sabathia, Justin Verlander and Dan Haren – have produced more wins above replacement since 2007, Lincecum's rookie season.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle was the first to report that an agreement had been reached, with Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reporting earlier on Tuesday that the sides were "very, very close" to a two-year deal worth a little more than $40MM. Schulman, his Chronicle colleague John Shea and Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News all added contract details (all links are via Twitter).
Giants To Sign Ryan Theriot
The Giants have agreed to sign free agent infielder Ryan Theriot, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports on Twitter. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client obtains a one-year deal worth $1.25MM that includes $750K in incentives.
Theriot spent the 2011 season playing shortstop and second base for the Cardinals, who non-tendered him in December. At the plate, the 32-year-old posted a .271/.321/.342 line in 483 plate appearances. He will join middle infielders Freddy Sanchez, Brandon Crawford and Emmanuel Burriss in San Francisco, where he'll also be reunited with former Cubs teammate Mike Fontenot. Theriot owns a .282/.344/.353 line in seven MLB seasons.
Giants Agree To Sign Clay Hensley
8:02pm: The contract is non-guaranteed, tweets Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, meaning Hensley will have to win a job in Spring Training.
7:34pm: The Giants have agreed to terms with reliever Clay Hensley on a Major League contract, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN, who adds the deal is worth $750K in base salary with an additional $300K at stake in incentives (Twitter links).
Hensley, 32, became a free agent when he was non-tendered by the Marlins in December. He was projected to earn $1.4MM in his second trip through arbitration, a price tag that Miami was apparently uncomfortable with.
In 466 1/3 career innings with the Padres and Marlins, the right-hander has posted a 3.94 ERA and 1.35 WHIP, spending some of that time as a starter. His best season out of the bullpen came in 2010 with the Fish, when he posted a strong 9.24 K/9, 3.48 BB/9 and 53.4% GB rate.
For all you trivia buffs, Hensley served up Barry Bonds' 755th career homer, which tied the slugger with Hank Aaron on the all-time leaderboard.
Reactions To The Prince Fielder Signing
Scott Boras did it again. Just when it looked like the market for Prince Fielder had slowed late in the offseason, Boras got his prized client the fourth richest contract in baseball history. The Tigers agreed to sign the slugger to a nine-year contract worth $214MM today, giving them the most devastating 3-4 lineup tandem in the game. Here's a recap of what's been said about the deal…
- "In some sense, I'm glad he got a good contract that he's satisfied with. We knew early on that we probably weren't going to be in it. I think Prince probably knew that, too," said Brewers GM Doug Melvin to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. Melvin confirmed they hadn't had serious extension talks with Fielder since Spring Training of 2010, and he credited the slugger with helping the team get back to being contenders.
- Rival executives told Joel Sherman of The New York Post that they think the signing came from ownership, not GM Dave Dombrowski (Twitter link). He says deals for other Boras clients — Johnny Damon, Ivan Rodriguez, and Magglio Ordonez — happened the same way. Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports heard that owner Mike Illitch influenced the signing "100%" (Twitter link).
- The Nationals and a mystery team were strongly in on Fielder, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (Twitter links). The Mariners, meanwhile, told teams they didn't have money to spend on a hitter of Prince's caliber, which is why they traded for Jesus Montero according to Sherman.
- Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News says (on Twitter) that the Giants were never really in on Fielder.
- ESPN's Keith Law, Dave Cameron of FanGraphs, and SI.com's Cliff Corcoran agree that Fielder will improve the Tigers in the short-term, but the last few years of the contract could be messy.
Rosenthal On Lincecum, Jackson, Red Sox, Abreu
The Prince Fielder sweepstakes are nearing an end, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wrote earlier this morning. Click here for the latest on Fielder and continue reading for Rosenthal’s rumors…
- It appears likely that Giants starter Tim Lincecum will sign a two-year deal in the $41-42MM range, Rosenthal writes. The Giants and their ace right-hander exchanged arbitration submissions last week and the club has since offered Lincecum a deal worth $100MM-plus.
- It’s possible that Edwin Jackson will sign a one-year contract, like fellow Scott Boras client Ryan Madson. The Red Sox and Mariners could be interested in Jackson if he’s willing to sign for one year.
- The Red Sox aren’t pursuing Wandy Rodriguez, according to Rosenthal.
- The Orioles could be a logical trade partner for Yankees right-hander A.J. Burnett in Rosenthal’s estimation.
- The Red Sox seem to have interest in acquiring an everyday shortstop and the Reds, Giants and Rays are looking for veteran shortstop help, Rosenthal writes.
- Free agent infielder Ryan Theriot would prefer to stay in the National League, unless he can obtain a starting job.
- Earlier in the offseason the Astros inquired about Ian Desmond, who hasn’t convinced everyone with the Nationals that he’s their long-term solution at shortstop.
- Some teams would play Gordon Beckham at short, according to Rosenthal. Beckham has only played second and third in three seasons at the MLB level.
- The Angels aren’t ready to trade Bobby Abreu, who could be a fit for Detroit’s DH opening.