Giants Contact Jeter’s Agent
The Giants have contacted Casey Close, the agent for Derek Jeter, according to Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal. However, the Giants are not seriously pursuing Jeter and there’s no evidence that a team other than the Yankees is bidding on the shortstop.
A rival executive tells Costa that he fully expects Jeter to re-sign in New York, even though his representatives are in contact with other teams. The Giants, who recently lost Juan Uribe to the rival Dodgers, are focusing on finding a shortstop. Though it's highly unlikely that the Giants sign Jeter, they do have a connection to him. When the Yankees drafted Jeter in 1992, current Giants GM Brian Sabean was their vice president of player development.
Jeter and the Yankees are far apart, though the team has made multiple proposals. GM Brian Cashman encouraged Close to talk to other clubs and it appears that the agent has acted accordingly.
The Mets’ Asking Price For Jose Reyes
MONDAY, 9:12am: The Mets' internal discussions about trading Reyes were just "normal due diligence," reports Andy Martino of the New York Daily News, and he's more likely to stay with the team for 2011.
WEDNESDAY, 4:37pm: Jose Reyes is available, but the Mets want three or four players in exchange for their shortstop, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). Reyes, 27, earns $11MM in 2011 before becoming a free agent. He hit .282/.321/.428 with 30 steals and 50 extra base hits in 603 plate appearances last year.
There's no indication that Mets GM Sandy Alderson is actively shopping Reyes, but there would be a market for him. Earlier today, Schulman reported that the Giants are focusing on finding a shortstop. Along with the Cardinals and Padres, they have interest in free agent Miguel Tejada. Tejada, Juan Uribe, Cesar Izturis Jason Bartlett, J.J. Hardy, Marco Scutaro and others are potentially available, but in general the shortstops available via trade or free agency aren't overly appealing.
Cardinals, Giants, Padres Interested In Tejada
The Cardinals, Giants and Padres are expressing varying degrees of interest in Miguel Tejada, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes (link in Spanish). Some teams see Tejada as a shortstop and others see him as a third baseman, according to Rojas' source.
The 36-year-old played 58 games at short for the Padres after they acquired him from Baltimore, where he was playing third base. The Giants are focused on finding a shortstop and the Cardinals could use middle infield help.
Tejada could have earned a raise from his 2010 salary of $6MM had the Padres offered arbitration. The Padres did not offer arbitration, so teams will not have to surrender a pick to sign Tejada, a Type A free agent.
The six-time All-Star batted .269/.312/.381 with 15 homers between Baltimore and San Diego last year. He appeared in over 150 games for the 11th time in 12 seasons.
Giants Focused On Finding A Shortstop
Now that the Giants have re-signed Aubrey Huff, they are focusing on finding a shortstop, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. They have serious interest in re-signing Juan Uribe, but GM Brian Sabean will also consider trades.
The Giants really wants Diamondbacks shortstop Stephen Drew, according to Schulman, who reports that Arizona GM Kevin Towers will not deal him. Alternatively, Jose Reyes, Jason Bartlett and Marco Scutaro could become trade targets or the Giants could ask Emmanuel Burriss to take on a bigger role.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman guaranteed to Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record that Derek Jeter’s representatives have called “every club out there.” Negotiations between Jeter and the Yankees appear to be souring, but it still seems unlikely that the shortstop would leave the Bronx or that a team like the Giants would match the Yankees $45MM offer.
National League Free Agent Arbitration Offers
11 National League teams have free agent arbitration offer decisions to make, and we'll group them in this post. For a fantastic customizable chart with all 65 Type A/B free agents and their decisions in real-time, click here.
- The Padres offered Jon Garland (B), Yorvit Torrealba (B) and Kevin Correia (B) arbitration, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (on Twitter). They did not offer Miguel Tejada (A) and David Eckstein (B) arbitration.
- The Reds declined to offer Orlando Cabrera (B) or Arthur Rhodes (A) arbitration, according to the team (on Twitter).
- The Dodgers declined to offer arbitration to Scott Podsednik (B), Rod Barajas (B) and Vicente Padilla (B), according to the team (on Twitter).
- The Giants offered Juan Uribe (B) arbitration, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
- In a surprising move, the Brewers decided to offer Trevor Hoffman (B) arbitration, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports that Hoffman has agreed to turn the offer down (Twitter link).
- The Diamondbacks announced that they offered arbitration to Adam LaRoche (B) and Aaron Heilman (B).
- The Rockies will offer arbitration to Jorge de la Rosa (A) and Octavio Dotel (B), according to Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post.
- The Braves will not offer arbitration to first baseman Derrek Lee (A), according to GM Frank Wren via David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Twitter.
- The Nationals offered arbitration to first baseman Adam Dunn (A), reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
- The Mets will offer arbitration to lefty Pedro Feliciano (B), tweets Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.
- Yesterday, MLB.com's Todd Zolecki learned that the Phillies will offer arbitration to Jayson Werth (A) but not Chad Durbin (B).
Sabean On Huff, Burrell, Uribe
Giants GM Brian Sabean spoke to reporters today on the Aubrey Huff conference call, and Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News has all the details.
- Sabean said he got clearance to match an offer Huff received from another team in making a two-year, $22MM proposal. You might think the Giants overpaid to retain Huff, but at least one other club was willing to offer him big money too.
- Pat Burrell has been informed by Sabean that the club will take care of other business before revisiting his situation.
- Talks with Juan Uribe are active but on a slower track. Sabean feels Uribe will have multiple offers as a shortstop or third baseman in the weak infield market. I expect Uribe to be offered arbitration today.
- The Giants had talks with a free agent shortstop from another club today, says Sabean. I suppose that could mean Orlando Cabrera or Cesar Izturis; there's not much out there. Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets that the Giants are not expected to bid on Tsuyoshi Nishioka before today's 4pm central deadline.
- Sabean says he might have to move money around and may not be able to tender contracts to all eight of his arbitration eligible players. The Giants have Andres Torres, Javier Lopez, Jonathan Sanchez, Ramon Ramirez, Mike Fontenot, Santiago Casilla, Cody Ross, and Chris Ray up for arbitration. The non-tender deadline is December 2nd.
Giants Re-Sign Aubrey Huff
The Giants re-signed first baseman Aubrey Huff to a two-year, $22MM deal today. The contract pays $10MM per year and includes a $10MM club option for 2013 with a $2MM buyout. The deal does not include a no-trade clause, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Huff, 34 next month, hit .290/.385/.506 in 668 plate appearances for the World Champion Giants in a resurgent season.
The Giants inked Huff to a one-year, $3MM deal in January of this year, which turned out to be one of that offseason's top bargains after he finished seventh in the NL MVP voting. Given Huff's age, defensive abilities, and struggles in 2009, plus the robust free agent market for first basemen, the new commitment comes with plenty of risk at $11MM per year. Huff hired Ed Hayes as his agent a few weeks ago, clearly a smart move. Giants GM Brian Sabean told reporters that he got clearance to match an offer Huff received from another team.
Four of five MLBTR writers polled on November 10th predicted Huff would re-sign with the Giants.
Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports was first to report Huff's agreement today, while Tribune News Services added contract details.
Odds & Ends: Padres, Choo, Willis, Guillen
Links for Monday night. with just one day remaining for teams to determine whether to offer arbitration to their ranked free agents…
- There's a good chance the Padres offer Kevin Correia, Jon Garland and Yorvit Torrealba arbitration, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (on Twitter).
- The Indians got some good news today. As expected, Shin-Soo Choo received a military exemption from South Korea for winning the gold medal at the Asian Games last week, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
- Before the Reds signed Dontrelle Willis, the Giants had interest in re-signing the left-hander, according to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News (on Twitter).
- On his personal blog, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen writes that he was "confused" and "proud" to have appeared in trade rumors, even though he doesn't consider himself "untradeable like Michael Jordan."
- The Orioles are negotiating a deal that would add Willie Randolph to the team's coaching staff. The former Mets manager could become Buck Showalter's bench coach, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun.
Minor Deals: Mariners, Sutton, Braves, Burroughs
Here is today's batch of minor league deals, with the most recent updates at the top:
- The Mariners signed Luis Rodriguez, a shortstop who played in the majors from 2005-09 with the Twins and Padres, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (on Twitter). The light-hitting 30-year-old exploded with 16 homers and 17 doubles in 400 plate appearances for the White Sox at Triple-A in 2010.
- The Yankees signed Neal Cotts, the Marlins signed Josh Kroeger and the A's signed Adam Heether and Anthony Lerew, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (all links go to Twitter). Cotts, a 30-year-old left-hander, has pitched parts of seven seasons in the majors, but he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2009 and didn't pitch in 2010 because of hip surgery. Kroeger, 28, has 47 homers and 51 steals over the course of the past three seasons at Triple-A.
- The Red Sox signed former Reds outfielder Drew Sutton, according to Eddy (on Twitter). The 27-year old has a .229/.302/.381 line in 118 major league plate appearances, but he did hit 20 homers at Double-A two seasons ago.
- Eddy reports that the Cubs have re-signed longtime minor leaguer Bobby Scales (Twitter link).
- The Braves have signed four players, according to Eddy (all links go to Twitter). Outfielder Jose Constanza, 27, batted .319/.373/.394 at Triple-A for the Indians; 28-year-old infielder Ed Lucas hit .307/.398/.480 at Triple-A for the Royals; utilityman Wilkin Castillo can catch and play in the infield and outfield, but hasn't hit Triple-A pitching and Shawn Bowman, 25, hit 22 homers at Double-A.
- The Mariners signed left-hander Fabio Castro to a minor league contract, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes (on Twitter). The 25-year-old hasn't appeared in the majors since 2007; he posted a 4.93 ERA with 8.8 K/9 for Boston's Triple-A affiliate in 2010.
- The White Sox claimed releiver Waldis Joaquin off of waivers from the Giants, according to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. The 23-year-old made the Giants' Opening Day roster, but allowed six earned runs and seven walks in 4 2/3 innings, so he was demoted to the minors. He posted a 4.43 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 5.5 BB/9 in 40 2/3 innings split between Rookie ball and Triple-A.
- The Brewers signed signed right-hander Zack Segovia to a minor league deal and invited him to Spring Training, according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. The 27-year-old has big league experience with the Phillies and Nationals. He spent the 2010 season with the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate and posted a 4.19 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 62 1/3 innings.
- The D'Backs signed Sean Burroughs, according to minor league transactions cited by Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (on Twitter). The third baseman is reunited with GM Kevin Towers, who signed Burroughs in 1998 to what was then the biggest amateur bonus in team history. Now 30, Burroughs hasn't played pro ball since 2007.
Cardinals, Padres Interested In Bartlett
The Cardinals and Padres are among the teams showing some interest in Jason Bartlett, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The Nationals, Giants and Orioles also reportedly have interest in the Rays shortstop.
As Morosi notes, we should soon learn which team won the bidding for Japanese infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka. Once the Rays know which teams missed out on Nishioka, they’ll be better-positioned to consider offers for Bartlett.
The 31-year-old earned $4MM in 2010 and will likely earn over $5MM through arbitration in 2011, his final season before hitting free agency. After a 2009 season in which he hit .320/.389/.490, Bartlett slumped to .254/.324/.350 in 2010. His career line (.281/.345/.385) suggests he's capable of bouncing back in 2011.