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Quick Hits: Mills, Madson, Twins, Danks, Prado

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On a day when the Blue Jays adopted a familiar-looking "new" logo, here are some news items to carry us into the weekend….

  • If the Astros fire Brad Mills, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports believes Mills could reunite with Terry Francona as the latter's bench coach for a future managing vacancy.  Morosi also lists Rangers executives A.J. Preller and Thad Levine and Rays executives Andrew Friedman and Gerry Hunsicker as wish list candidates for Jim Crane if he removes Ed Wade as Houston's general manager.  It would be the second stint as Astros' GM for Hunsicker, who ran the team from 1996-2004.
  • Ryan Madson could be one of several free agents to lose his Type A status under the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement, tweets Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com.  Such an adjustment would help Madson, as clubs with unprotected first-round draft picks currently have to give up that pick in order to sign the closer.
  • Twins GM Terry Ryan tells Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post that Denard Span and Ben Revere won't be traded this winter.  Minnesota could lose both Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel to free agency this offseason.
  • The White Sox didn't add Jordan Danks to their 40-man roster, and Jim Margalus of the South Side Sox speculates that this could be a hint that Chicago is preparing to part ways with John Danks.  The elder Danks brother has drawn strong interest on the trade market.
  • The Braves "seem to undervalue [Martin Prado's] skills," writes Fangraphs' Jason Roberts, who thinks Atlanta may not get proper market value in exchange for the utilityman in a deal. 
  • Right-hander Darrell Rasner has signed a new contract with the Rakuten Golden Eagles, reports NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman.  Matt Sosnick, Rasner's agent, tells Newman the contract is worth $1.5MM plus performance bonuses.  Rasner last appeared in the majors as a Yankee in 2008 and has pitched for Rakuten ever since.
  • The Blue Jays, Cardinals, Mariners, Red Sox and Twins are all listed as possible suitors for Kelly Shoppach by ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link).

Added To 40-Man Roster: Giants, Dodgers, Pirates

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Today is the deadline for teams to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from next month's Rule 5 draft. Here's more on which players need to be protected and here are the details on which players have had their contracts selected to the 40-man roster:

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Cordero Says Reds, Five Other Teams Still In “Hunt”

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In an interview with Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio, Francisco Cordero said that unless the Reds increase their most recent contract offer, he will leave Cincinnati.  The Reds are still in the "hunt," however, along with other teams who have shown interest in the free agent closer: the Angels, Blue Jays, Rangers, Rays and Red Sox (all Twitter links).

The Rays and Rangers are new additions to a busy market for Cordero that also includes the Dodgers, Marlins and Mets.  As a Type A free agent, Cordero would cost his new team a first round draft pick as compensation to the Reds if that new team didn't have a protected pick.  This presumes, of course, that Cordero turns down the Reds' offer of arbitration and that the Type A compensation rules aren't changed by the new collective bargaining agreement. 

Of Cordero's known suitors, the Angels, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Rangers, Rays and Red Sox all have unprotected picks, though the Jays and Sox each currently have two picks in the first round of next year's draft.  Toronto's extra pick is compensation for not signing Tyler Beede last year, while Boston currently possesses the Phillies' first round pick (31st overall) as compensation for Philadelphia's signing of Jonathan Papelbon.

Minor Moves: Bulger, Carpenter, Kimball

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Here's the list of players who have been added to 40-man rosters and here's the list of players who have been removed from them. Now for some moves that don't affect 40-man rosters at all…

  • The Twins announced that they signed right-hander Jason Bulger to a minor league deal.
  • The Blue Jays announced that they claimed right-hander Andrew Carpenter off of waivers from the Padres and lost right-hander Cole Kimball on waivers to the Nationals. The Blue Jays had claimed Kimball from the Nationals earlier this week and he's now back where he started. Carpenter, 26, appeared in 12 games for the Phillies and Padres in 2011. He spent most of the season at Triple-A, where he posted a 1.79 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 in 60 1/3 innings.
  • The Astros announced that they signed right-hander Lance Pendleton to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to Spring Training 2012. The Astros selected the Houston native in the 2010 Rule 5 draft and he spent this past Spring Training with Houston before being returned to the Yankees. The Astros claimed the 28-year-old off of waivers from the Yankees in September and he finished the season in the Major Leagues. Pendleton posted a 6.75 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 5.3 BB/9 in 18 2/3 innings for the Yankees and Astros in 2011.

Pirates Claim Hefner, Jeroloman

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The Pirates announced that they claimed right-hander Jeremy Hefner off of waivers from the Padres and claimed catcher Brian Jeroloman off of waivers from the Blue Jays. Pittsburgh has 36 players on its 40-man roster after outrighting Matt Pagnozzi to Triple-A.

Hefner, 25, started 28 games for the Padres' Triple-A affiliate in 2011, posting a 4.98 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 157 1/3 innings. He has a 3.84 ERA with 7.9 K/0 and 2.8 BB/9 in 688 2/3 career minor league innings over the course of five seasons.

Jeroloman joined the Blue Jays at the end of the 2011 season, but never entered a game. The 26-year-old, who has a career .378 OBP after six years in the minors, posted a .240/.335/.295 line at Triple-A Las Vegas this past season

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Maddon, Darvish, Ortiz

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Some interesting items to pass along from around the AL "Beast" …

  • The Red Sox were gauging trade interest in some of their out-of-options pitchers at the GM Meetings this week, a source tells Alex Speier of WEEI.com. Franklin Morales, Andrew Miller, Felix Doubront, Michael Bowden and Scott Atchison are all out of options but aren't locks to make next year's bullpen, according to Speier, so Boston may decide to add or remove some of these players from the 40-man roster based on relative trade interest.
  • The Rays are hopeful of extending the contract of manager Joe Maddon, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.com. Maddon is entering the final year of a three-year extension he signed in 2009.
  • The Yankees may shy away from pursuing Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish if he's posted because of the club's history with busts Hideki Irabu and Kei Igawa, opines Heyman (Twitter link), although owner Hal Steinbrenner told reporters, such as the New York Post's Joel Sherman and Newsday's Ken Davidoff, that the team will evaluate each player on a case-by-case basis.
  • The Blue Jays are interested in free agent DH David Ortiz, tweets Scott Miller of CBSSports.com.
  • Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano said that last month's rumors that he was angling for a contract extension was the result of a joke gone awry, according to Spanish-language Web site DiarioLibre.com. “I’m not thinking about the contract. My lawyer told a journalist as a joke that I was looking for a contract extension, and that’s what got published… I’m not thinking about that. The team has a $14MM option for next year." Thanks to MLBTR's Nick Collias for the translation.

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Rays, Orioles, Jays

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Dale Sveum interviewed with the Red Sox for a second time today, and the team expects to bring in at least one more managerial finalist for a second interview. However, it's still a mystery who that finalist will be. Pete Mackanin has been told he's no longer in the running, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (on Twitter), and Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com tweets that Sandy Alomar Jr. and Gene Lamont hadn't heard anything from the team about a second interview as of this evening. Torey Lovullo rounded out Boston's original five interviewees, but Larry Lucchino said tonight that the Sox could "absolutely" expand their search, tweets Rob Bradford of WEEI.

While we wait to see where Boston's hunt for Terry Francona's replacement takes them, let's check out a few more AL East links….

Minor Moves: Kimball, Corporan, Rottino, Pascucci

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Today's minor moves…

  • The Twins re-signed left-hander Phil Dumatrait, according to the Sosnick Cobbe Twitter page. Dumatrait appeared in 45 games for the Twins last season, posting a 3.92 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9.
  • The Blue Jays claimed right-hander Cole Kimball off of waivers from Washington, according to the Nationals' official Twitter feed.  Meanwhile, the Nats outrighted outfielder Corey Brown to Triple-A Syracuse.
  • Astros catcher Carlos Corporan cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City, tweets Alyson Footer of the Astros.  Corporan has the right to elect free agency due to previously being outrighted.
  • The Mets signed catcher/left fielder/first baseman Vinny Rottino and first baseman/DH Val Pascucci to minor league deals, reports ESPN's Adam Rubin.  Both players saw their first big league action in several years in 2011.
  • Eric Duncan, drafted in the first round by the Yankees in 2003, has signed with the Royals, tweets Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.  The 26-year-old played mostly first base, second base, and left field this year for the Cardinals' Double-A affiliate, hitting .274/.322/.527 in 385 plate appearances.
  • The White Sox re-signed Leyson Septimo, tweets Goldstein.  The Sox claimed the hard-throwing 26-year-old southpaw off waivers from Arizona in June but removed him from their 40-man roster in October.
  • The Giants signed center fielder Gregor Blanco, according to his agency (via Matt Eddy of Baseball America on Twitter).  The 27-year-old spent the year with the Triple-A affiliates of the Nationals and Royals, hitting .201/.350/.327 in 252 plate appearances.
  • The Phillies acquired righty Adam Worthington from the Diamondbacks to complete the September Mike Zagurski trade, tweets Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com.  Worthington, 24, posted a 4.48 ERA, 10.0 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, and 0.6 HR/9 in 62 1/3 High-A relief innings this year.
  • The Yankees signed lefty reliever Mike O'Connor, tweets SI's Jon Heyman.  The 31-year-old appeared briefly in the Majors for the Mets this year, also posting a 5.22 ERA, 9.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, and 1.0 HR/9 in 60 1/3 Triple-A innings.

GM Meetings Notes: Kelly Johnson, Carlos Zambrano

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Here are some notes from the GM Meetings as team owners and presidents check in to Milwaukee’s Pfister Hotel in anticipation of the quarterly Owners Meetings:

  • Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is strongly considering re-signing free agent second baseman Kelly Johnson. “There’s a lot of scenarios and ways that we could go and bringing Kelly back is certainly one of them,” Anthopoulos said. He declined to comment on possible changes to the Elias rankings system, but it’s something the Blue Jays will monitor closely given the many ranked free agents they have this offseason. Johnson is a Type A free agent, but he may become a Type B under the upcoming CBA.
  • The Blue Jays would like to add starting pitching, but they don’t intend to force an acquisition, since they consider it more of a want than a need. “If we can get a front-to-mid-rotation starter, we’d love to do that,” Anthopoulos told MLBTR. “At the same time I think every team would tell you the same thing. Everyone’s going to look for that.”
  • Carlos Zambrano met with Cubs president Theo Epstein this week to discuss his future with the team. GM Jed Hoyer says the Cubs are still in the process of determining how the right-hander fits in to the 2012 plan. “He’s in very good shape,” Hoyer said. “He had a very good lunch with Theo the other day. He’s had some incidents here — we can’t ignore the past, but at the same time we talked about a lot of things we can do. It’s too early to make a decision, but so far it’s been positive.”

Rosenthal/Morosi On Dodgers, Astros, Blue Jays

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The latest from Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports…

  • The Dodgers' payroll will be well under $100MM in 2012, sources tell the FOX writers.  If James Loney and Hiroki Kuroda return, there will be little left to spend.  On the plus side, the Dodgers were able to reduce Matt Kemp's '12 salary to slightly more than $10MM as part of his new multiyear deal, in a year where as much as $16MM seemed possible through arbitration.  Rosenthal and Morosi say the Dodgers would want to buy out at least two free agent years in a long-term deal for Clayton Kershaw, who may take home the NL Cy Young award tomorrow.  With Kershaw under team control for three more years, the Dodgers don't have the same urgency to lock him up as they did Kemp.  In MLBTR's exclusive arbitration salary projections, Kershaw was pegged at $8.4MM, easily a first-time record for a pitcher.
  • The Astros "probably will acquire a shortstop and add low-cost relief pitching" this offseason, write Rosenthal and Morosi.  GM Ed Wade told the FOX writers he plans to stick with Mark Melancon at closer.  The GM explained his team's corner outfield situation: "From the standpoint of corner outfield, there are going to be guys out there, looking for opportunities.  We’re pretty much the land of opportunity right now."
  • Chipper Jones still enjoys playing, says Braves GM Frank Wren.  The 39-year-old third baseman is signed through 2012 with a '13 vesting option.  Rosenthal and Morosi say Martin Prado is available in the right deal, but the Braves value his versatility, including his ability to back up Jones.
  • Yoenis Cespesdes could petition baseball to declare him a free agent fairly quickly, after he establishes temporary residence in the Dominican Republic.  The residency part is expected to happen within 10 to 14 days.
  • The Blue Jays have expressed interest in trading for Rockies reliever Huston Street.  Street has one year and $8MM remaining on his contract.  Rosenthal and Morosi say the Rockies remain interested in a deal for Prado, which would require Seth Smith and another piece.
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