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Diamondbacks Acquire Hill, McDonald For Johnson

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The Diamondbacks acquired second baseman Aaron Hill and shortstop John McDonald from the Blue Jays for Kelly Johnson, tweets John Gambadoro Sports 620 KTAR.  Both teams confirmed the trade in a press release.

Johnson, a favorite of Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos, has slumped to .209/.287/.412 in 481 plate appearances this year.  He has $1.16MM remaining on his contract and projects as a high Type B in the National League.  He's probably still at least a B in the AL, which has to be Toronto's motivation in acquiring the impending free agent.

Hill, 29, has been worse than Johnson at .225/.270/.313 in 429 plate appearances.  His $8MM club option is expected to be declined after the season, at which point he'd be a Type B free agent.  I'm not sure what Anthopoulos gets out of the swap.  Maybe he thinks Johnson will be a Type A and will decline arbitration, or maybe he's just more inclined to offer arbitration to Johnson than Hill.  Or, maybe he hopes to extend Johnson cheaply.  Hill has about $990K remaining on his contract.  McDonald, a defensive whiz, has about $300K remaining, so the money is pretty close.

From Arizona's point of view, McDonald can pitch in at shortstop with Willie Bloomquist, since Stephen Drew is out for the season.  As for liking Hill over Johnson, perhaps GM Kevin Towers feels a change of scenery will help, or he prefers Hill's defense.

The Diamondbacks and Blue Jays last matched up on a trade three years ago, when the Toronto acquired David Eckstein for Chad Beck.

GM Candidate: Tony LaCava

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MLBTR's list of general manager candidates introduced 20 people who were identified by their peers as potential Major League GMs. We’re bringing you closer to the candidates with a series of pieces. Today the series continues with Blue Jays executive Tony LaCava. 

If Tony LaCava becomes a general manager, he probably won’t have a particularly hard time assembling a front office. The Blue Jays’ vice president of baseball operations and assistant General Manager has also worked for the Angels, Braves, Expos and Indians in his two-plus decades in MLB front offices and is known by his peers as someone who’s personable and well-connected.

LaCava has interviewed for GM jobs in Pittsburgh and Seattle in the past and some say it’s a matter of when, not if he becomes a GM. He oversees player development and Latin American operations for the Blue Jays, who have one of the top-ranked farm systems in the game. That kind of experience could tempt owners who are interested in replicating Toronto’s aggressive model of talent acquisition.

LaCava started his MLB career as a scout for the Angels in 1989, eventually becoming a cross-checker for them before moving on to Atlanta, Montreal and Cleveland. He remains an active scout to this day – part of his job with the Blue Jays involves evaluating possible trade candidates and reporting back to Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos.

While working with the Expos, LaCava became acquainted with advanced metrics through contact with Baseball Prospectus writers. As a result, he doesn’t shy away from including advanced stats like xFIP and BABIP in his analysis of a player.

A couple of years ago, it appeared that the Nationals might make LaCava their GM, but it turned out to be a false alarm. The next time you hear similar rumors, they could very well come true.

Quick Hits: Anthopoulos, Marlins, Harden, Bogusevic

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Todd Helton celebrated his 38th birthday with a 3-for-6 performance (that included a homer) against the Dodgers today.  Best of all for Helton, the Rockies picked up a 7-6 win in a 13-inning affair against their NL West rivals.

Some news from around the majors….

  • "There is a strong belief" that the Blue Jays have discussed a contract extension with general manager Alex Anthopoulos, writes Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star.  The catch is, the terms of Anthopoulos' original deal in 2009 were never made public, so the end date of the GM's current contract is unknown to all but himself and the club.  Anthopoulos' quotes to Griffin would seem to indicate that he is staying in Toronto for years to come. 
  • The Marlins have denied several requests from teams to interview GM Michael Hill and VP of player personnel Dan Jennings for open front office positions over the last few years, reports Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  Rodriguez feels the two men have earned the right to run their own team since Larry Beinfest calls the shots in Florida, though in Hill's case, he would have to be offered a president position to leave since he's already a general manager.
  • If Rich Harden is traded this month or just reaches the end of his one-year contract, he's still a candidate to return to the Athletics in the offseason, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.  Harden has family in the Bay Area, enjoys pitching in Oakland and has "a great relationship with pitching coach Ron Romanick."
  • Slusser also notes that the A's were looking for a first baseman for Harden at the deadline (like Lars Anderson from Boston), but since they've acquired Brandon Allen in the interim, the A's could ask for an outfielder or third baseman in a potential Harden trade package.
  • Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle looks at how Brian Bogusevic went from a failing minor league pitcher to a productive member of the Astros' outfield.
  • "It's important to have talented players in uniform in Pittsburgh," Pirates owner Robert Nutting told Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.  "That's exactly what we're trying to do, whether it's through a long-term assurance in a contract or whether it's bringing in great talent (through the draft)."  The Bucs have had an expensive week, spending $17MM on draft picks, signing Jose Tabata to a contract extension and closing in on another multiyear deal with Neil Walker.
  • The Rockies have dealt some notable right-handed prospects in recent years, but as Rich M of Inside The Rockies details, the club hasn't lost any significant arms.
  • Scott Van Slyke's impressive minor league campaign should earn him a chance at the Dodgers' first base job in Spring Training, argues Jon Weisman of ESPN Los Angeles.  Van Slyke, 25, has a .343/.424/.576 line in 474 plate appearances for Double-A Chattanooga this season.  Incumbent first baseman James Loney is expected to be non-tendered by L.A. this winter.
  • Ryan Madson's meltdown against the Nationals on Friday night is a sign that the Phillies need to stop using him on three consecutive days, opines Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  You can catch up on all the latest info about the Phillies' bullpen and every other late-game situation in baseball on MLBTR's sister site, Closer News.

Blue Jays Sign Kyle Davies To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Kyle Davies to a minor league deal, reports Jason Martinez of MLB Depth Charts.  (Twitter link)  Davies became a free agent yesterday after clearing release waivers from the Royals.

In 151 career games (144 of them starts) with the Royals and Braves, Davies has a 5.59 ERA.  Davies, who turns 28 next month, had a 6.75 ERA in 13 starts for Kansas City this season, though his xFIP was over two runs lower (4.43).  While he posted career highs in K/BB ratio (1.92) and K/9 (7.3), Davies couldn't keep men off base, allowing an ungainly 12.3 H/9. 

Davies actually earned the fourth-highest salary of any Kansas City player this season, earning $3.2MM.  He was in his final season of arbitration and is eligible for free agency next year.

Teams Spend $236MM On Draft

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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

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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.

Blue Jays Designate Trever Miller For Assignment

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The Blue Jays designated lefty Trever Miller for assignment, according to a team press release.  The Jays placed Jon Rauch on the DL and purchased the contracts of Wil Ledezma and Rommie Lewis in the series of moves, leaving their 40-man roster at 39. Dan Mennella examined the fantasy consequences of the Jays' roster moves at CloserNews earlier today.

Miller, 38, tossed only 3 2/3 innings since coming over from the Cardinals in the Colby Rasmus trade.  On the season he has a 4.19 ERA, 5.1 K/9, 5.6 BB/9, 0.93 HR/9, and 38.8% groundball rate in 19 1/3 innings. He hasn't been able to shut down lefties since '09.

Revisiting The Mike Napoli Trades

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Typically when you take on most of one of the worst contracts in baseball, you don't have to give up anything of value.  However, the Angels did just that by including catcher/first baseman Mike Napoli in their January trade with Toronto for outfielder Vernon Wells.

Napoli

The Halos probably weren't keen on paying Napoli $5.8MM in 2011.  They were never big on his work behind the plate, and at the time of the trade probably expected first baseman Kendrys Morales to be ready for Spring Training.  The Angels were committed to Bobby Abreu and understandably wanted to move him to DH, another role Napoli can fill.  Still, even at the time, it seemed plausible that the Angels would have found Napoli 400 plate appearances at his various spots.   He'd hit 20+ home runs for three consecutive years, and it's surprising the Angels felt they could spare the power bat.  Even if the Angels were dead set on acquiring Wells, I doubt Napoli was a requirement for the Blue Jays.

The Angels failed to get value for Napoli, but the Jays didn't consider him an ideal fit either.  In theory, Napoli could have complemented Adam Lind at first base, backed up J.P. Arencibia behind the plate, and filled in at DH for Edwin Encarnacion or Juan Rivera when needed.  Perhaps if the Blue Jays had found an immediate taker for Rivera, they would have kept Napoli.

Instead, Napoli was quickly sent to the Rangers for reliever Frank Francisco and less than $1MM in cash.  The Rangers were perhaps the worst fit for Napoli of the three teams, as they had Yorvit Torrealba and Matt Treanor behind the plate, Mitch Moreland and Chris Davis as first base options, and Michael Young to DH and rove around the infield.  Acquired as a bench player in January, Napoli has started all but nine of his 77 games to date with Texas (he missed almost a month with an oblique strain).  

It's only been 285 plate appearances, but Napoli has flourished with the Rangers, hitting .290/.386/.592 with 19 home runs.  His chance of being tendered a contract after the '11 season was once in doubt, but now seems like a lock.  Depending on how many plate appearances he ends up with, a salary approaching $8MM for 2012 is possible for Napoli.  Unlike the Angels and Blue Jays, the Rangers are happy to have him.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

American League Over Slot Signings

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Most teams will exceed MLB's slot recommendations on at least a few players.  Here's the latest on such signings from the American League:

  • The Mariners signed second rounder Brad Miller for $750K, according to Callis (on Twitter).
  • The Orioles signed sixth rounder Nicky Delmonico for $1.525MM, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter). Earlier on, the Orioles agreed to sign second rounder Jason Esposito for $600K, according to MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo (on Twitter). Before that, the Orioles signed 26th round pick Zach Davies for $575K, reports Baseball America's Jim Callis.  The high school righty has drawn some Mike Leake comparisons, writes Callis.  Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun was told last night that this deal isn't done, but it could be headed in the right direction.
  • Red Sox seventh rounder Cody Kukuk signed for $800K, according to Callis (on Twitter). Boston also signed fourth rounder Noe Ramirez, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com. The right-hander obtains a $625K bonus, according to Speier and Callis.
  • The Blue Jays signed seventh rounder Christian Lopes for $800K, according to Jim Callis of Baseball America (on Twitter). The Blue Jays also signed 13th round pick Matt Dean, tweets Callis.  The high school third baseman signed for $737.5K, tweets ESPN's Keith Law.  BA considers him the best prep third base prospect in the draft.
  • The Yankees signed Greg Bird for $1.1MM, according to Zoodig, an athlete digital media platform, on Twitter. The Yankees signed sixth rounder Jake Cave for $825K, according to Callis (on Twitter). The Yankees also signed third rounder Jordan Cote for $725K, according to Callis. The high school right-hander has a fastball in the 90 mph range and stands 6'5". Earlier today, the Yankees signed 20th round pick and high school lefty Daniel Camarena for $335K, tweets Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game USA.
  • The Indians signed 18th rounder Shawn Armstrong for $325K, according to Rogers (on Twitter). The Indians also announced that they have signed second round right-hander Dillon Howard. He gets a $1.85MM bonus, according to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com (on Twitter).
  • The Royals signed 16th rounder Jack Lopez for $750K, according to Callis (on Twitter). The Royals have also signed third rounder Bryan Brickhouse for $1.5MM, reports Callis. The high school right-hander received the second largest bonus outside of the top 18 picks so far. Earlier today, the Royals signed fourth round pick and high school righty Kyle Smith for $695K, reports Callis.  The Royals also signed 29th round pick Jake Junis for $675K, reports Callis.  Junis, an athletic high school righty from Illinois, is represented by Frontline.
  • The Angels have agreed to terms with sixth rounder Austin Wood, tweets Mike DiGiovanna of The Los Angeles Times (on Twitter). The USC righty got $150K.
  • The Twins signed tenth rounder Brett Lee for $150K, according to John Manuel and Jim Callis of Baseball America (on Twitter).
  • The Tigers signed 15th round pick and high school outfielder Tyler Gibson for $525K, tweets Rogers.

Blue Jays Sign Daniel Norris, Kevin Comer

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The Blue Jays did not sign top pick Tyler Beede, but they did come to terms with two other high picks on substantial deals. They signed left-hander Daniel Norris for $2MM, according to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com (on Twitter) and they signed right-hander Kevin Comer for $1.65MM, according to ESPN.com's Keith Law (on Twitter). The Blue Jays have confirmed the move via press release and noted that they also signed infielder Christian Lopes and third baseman Matt Dean.

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

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