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The Latest On Jarrod Washburn

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Don't rule out the possibility of Jarrod Washburn landing back in Seattle this year, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Washburn told FOX Sports last week that his chances of returning to the Mariners were "probably not great," but the club is still interested, according to Morosi's sources.

With Erik Bedard still recovering from shoulder surgery, the Mariners' rotation has some question marks behind its aces, Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee. Washburn spent most of the last four seasons in Seattle, posting a 2.64 ERA in 20 starts with the club last year before he was traded to the Tigers.

Morosi notes that Minnesota, the other club atop Washburn's wish list earlier this winter, may still be a suitor as well. Joe Nathan's health and the team's contingency plan will likely dictate their interest in Washburn. If Nathan's elbow requires surgery and the Twins decide to try Francisco Liriano as their closer, Morosi thinks Washburn could be a fit to fill out the Twins' rotation.

Execs Name Best, Worst Moves Of The Offseason

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Recently MLBTR spoke to several MLB executives to gather their nominations for the best and worst moves of the offseason.

Free agent signings that received mention for the best moves: Felipe Lopez, Adrian Beltre, Adam LaRoche, Chone Figgins, Hideki Matsui, and Aroldis Chapman.  Said one exec on Chapman: "He might truly live up to the hype."  It's hard not to praise the Cards for getting Lopez on a one-year, $1MM deal.

Three trades came up as choices for the best moves of the offseason: the Mariners' acquisition of Cliff Lee, the Royals' trade of Mark Teahen, and the Rangers' trade of Kevin Millwood.  One exec noted that the Mariners "didn't trade anyone that can hurt them in the next couple of years" for Lee, while another believed that "trading Lee and Kyle Drabek in the Roy Halladay deal will hurt [the Phillies] in the long run."  The Royals received props for "getting some value for Teahen," while the Rangers' increased payroll flexibility from the Millwood deal was noted.

Nominated for the worst moves: free agent deals for Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, Brandon Lyon, Jason Kendall, Aubrey Huff, Jason Marquis, Randy Wolf, and Garrett Atkins.  All the execs polled mentioned Holliday's seven year, $120MM deal when choosing their worst deals of the winter.  Said one: "The fear that he would sign a one-year deal elsewhere and take his chances a year from now — that just doesn't make sense to me."

Aside from Kendall and Huff, there was a vibe of "like the player, hate the contract" with the panned free agent signings.  One exec felt the Royals downgraded behind the plate with Kendall.  Huff was nominated as a small-scale misstep, in that the exec felt that "Hank Blalock is better and he couldn't get half that salary on a non-roster deal."

Odds & Ends: Ortiz, Brewers, Salcedo, Miller

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Links for Saturday…

Odds & Ends: Mauer, Strasburg, Towers, Washburn

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Thursday linkage…

Sweeney, Escobar Discuss Retirement

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It's no secret that veterans Mike Sweeney and Kelvim Escobar are nearing the end of their major league careers, but as both of these players discussed on Wednesday, their last days in the majors might have already occurred.

FOX Sports' Jon Paul Morosi reports that Sweeney will retire if he isn't on a major league roster by opening day.  The 15-year veteran signed a minor league deal with Seattle last month but told Morosi that he has no interest in going back to the minors or in taking a coaching job.  If Sweeney doesn't make the Mariners, he would try to catch on with another club and "would give priority to West Coast teams" so he could be closer to his family in San Diego. 

The injury-plagued Sweeney hasn't had more than 289 plate appearances in a season since 2005, but could still provide a team with a solid pinch-hitting option.  Sweeney hit .340/.377/.434 in 114 plate appearances against right-handers last season, and over his career has had success against both lefties and righties (.864 career OPS vs. RHP, .827 OPS vs. LHP).  Looking just at west coast options, the Angels could be in need of a right-handed compliment at DH if Hideki Matsui needs a day off.

Escobar, meanwhile, may have his career ended not by lack of opportunity, but by injury.  David Waldstein of the New York Times reports that Escobar has been bothered by shoulder pain following a four-week break from pitching after his stint in the Venezuelan winter league.  Such an injury is of particular concern to Escobar given that he has pitched just five major league innings since 2007 due to a number of shoulder problems and labrum surgery in July 2008.  Waldstein says that Escobar will get an MRI if the pain continues, and the right-hander is willing to undergo one more surgical procedure if doctors give him a decent chance of pitching again.  If not, then Escobar said he will call it a career after 12 seasons in the bigs.

Escobar signed a $1.5MM contract with the Mets in December, so it wouldn't be a major financial blow to the club if Escobar couldn't pitch.  It would, however, further weaken the already-thin New York bullpen and it certainly wouldn't look good on the Mets given the team's myriad of injuries last season.

Bowden Talks To Epstein, Zduriencik, Reagins, Wren

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Jim Bowden's weekly GM's Corner video pieces for FOX Sports make for good viewing.  This week he talked to Theo Epstein, Jack Zduriencik, Tony Reagins, and Frank Wren.  A few hot stove highlights:

  • Epstein admitted that new third baseman Adrian Beltre would "have to have a big year" to achieve Type A status after the season, but finds at least Type B likely.  Epstein noted that there's the possibility of signing Beltre long-term if he proves to be a good fit.
  • Zduriencik told Bowden he was aggressive in pursuing Chone Figgins, and got the deal done within 48 hours.  Also, Zduriencik mentioned that the Brewers were one pick away from taking Casey Kotchman in the first round in 2001; they instead took Mike Jones at #12 overall.  I wonder if the Brewers still would've drafted Prince Fielder in '02 if they had Kotchman.
  • Reagins is "not really concerned" about having a limited number of lefties in the bullpen, after the Halos lost Darren Oliver to the Rangers this offseason.
  • Wren believes the Braves have "improved quite a bit" offensively, and talked up Nate McLouth, Martin Prado, Jason Heyward, Melky Cabrera, and Troy Glaus.

Odds & Ends: Grudzielanek, Royals, Fielder, Calero

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Links for Sunday….

  • In his latest mailbag, MLB.com's Jim Street writes that he could see Chad Cordero hooking on with a major league club if he continues to stay healthy and perform well in Spring Training.  Cordero is in camp with the Mariners and competing for a job, but is unlikely to make the team as the bullpen is already stocked with quality right-handers.
  • Mark Grudzielanek is eager to hook on with the Indians, writes Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com.  The 39-year-old second baseman, who was absent from the majors in 2009, says he has his eye on the starting job.
  • MLB.com's Dick Kaegel reports that Royals shortstop prospect Jeff Bianchi will miss the 2010 season with elbow surgery. Danny Duffy, a left-handed pitcher and the organization's #8 prospect according to Baseball America, will be shut down as well for the time being due to elbow stiffness.
  • Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel talks to Brewers GM Doug Melvin about Prince Fielder's future. Melvin reiterates that the team hopes to keep Fielder around for many years, and revisits an instance during his stint as the Rangers' GM when he had to trade a heavy hitter.
  • Questions about Kiko Calero's health might have kept him on the market longer than expected this winter, but Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News says that the righty has been throwing off a mound and looks okay for now. "Conditioning-wise he's pretty good," pitching coach Dan Warthen said. "He just hasn't seen hitters."
  • Newly-acquired Melvin Mora could end up playing nearly every position on the diamond for the Rockies this year, writes Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post.
  • WEEI's Alex Speier reports that Brian Shouse's minor league contract will earn him $800K if he makes the Red Sox' major league roster.

Heyman On Lee, Reynolds, Mauer

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The Mariners and Cliff Lee will likely wait until the season ends before discussing a deal to keep the lefty in Seattle long-term, but both sides tell Jon Heyman of SI.com that such an agreement is possible. GM Jack Zduriencik said there’s “no doubt” he’d like to have Lee around after he hits free agency this offseason. And Lee can imagine extending his stay in Seattle, too.

"So far I like it a lot,'' Lee said. "Obviously, free agency is where you want to be as a player … I'm not going to rule anything out.''

Lee says the Phillies offered him a deal “close” to the three-year $60MM extension they gave Roy Halladay after trading for him. Heyman notes that Zduriencik tried to acquire Halladay before the Phillies did, only to discover that Doc didn’t want to join the Mariners. Here are a couple more rumors from Heyman:
  • Mark Reynolds would like a two-year $18MM deal to cover his first two arbitration years. That's Prince Fielder money, but the D'Backs would prefer to pay him $13MM or so, which would be closer to what Dan Uggla made for the same stretch of his career.
  • There has been no acrimony between the Twins and Joe Mauer. That's a good thing for Twins fans, but other than that we know very little about the negotiations.

Offseason In Review: Seattle Mariners

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Next up in our Offseason In Review series, the Mariners.

Major League Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Trades and Claims

Notable Losses

Summary

The Mariners' offseason kicked off with a big positive on October 19th: they were freed of the $16MM left on Kenji Johjima's contract.  GM Jack Zduriencik went on to remake his team, spending over $51MM on free agent contracts and acquiring Lee, Bradley, League, and Kotchman via trade.

The Mariners spent big on their two extensions, guaranteeing almost $100MM to Felix and Gutierrez.  It's hard to argue with securing one of the best pitchers in baseball.  The Gutierrez extension made me shrug – the savings over going year-to-year probably weren't big.

Most of the free agent spending was used to lock down the left side of the infield with two plus defenders in Figgins and Wilson.  Figgins brings on-base skills as well, and should be worth the commitment.

On a team projected to have one of the worst offenses in the AL, the Griffey signing strikes me as unwise.  Bradley, at least, comes with the promise of his 2007-08 seasons.  By signing Griffey and acquiring Kotchman, the Ms didn't add much hitting at traditionally offensive spots.  Could that $5.8MM have gone toward a more productive free agent bat or two?  Zduriencik got three seasons of League plus a prospect for Morrow; were no interesting hitters being offered?  The Mariners must have decided that Morrow could not provide 25 respectable starts in 2010.

The front end of the Ms rotation, of course, looks fantastic.  Acquiring Lee, who was hardly known to be available, was a huge win for the Mariners.  The rotation lacks depth; Bedard can't be counted on for 100 innings.  The bright side is that projection systems think Ryan Rowland-Smith and Ian Snell can provide over 325 innings of 4.30 ball.  If they stumble, a midseason acquisition may be necessary.

The Mariners have some similarities to their division rival A's – questionable offenses, plus defenses.  It wouldn't be surprising to see a tight AL West race with all four clubs in the mix.

Heyman On Adrian, Jeter, Hamilton

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SI's Jon Heyman leads his latest column with a discussion about Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who he feels is likely to be shopped hard at this year's trade deadline.  I've noted before that Gonzalez's market should not be limited to big-spending clubs, as he's set to earn just $10.25MM for 2010-11.  It's fitting that Heyman believes as many as 10 to 12 teams already inquired, including the Red Sox, Mets, Mariners, and Dodgers.  On to Heyman's other rumors…

  • Heyman spoke to "two executives from competing teams" who believe Derek Jeter "could ask for a six-year deal."  The idea is that a six-year extension would take Jeter to age 42, as Alex Rodriguez's contract does.
  • Heyman notes that Josh Hamilton turned down a four-year, $24MM offer from the Rangers last year.  The security might've made sense for Hamilton given his injury problems.
  • One executive Heyman spoke to believes the availability of decent free agents, perhaps continuing into the season, could reduce trading.
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