Uncategorized News & Rumors

Here's a look back at what's been a busy week at MLBTR:

• Lots of news regarding the CBA and the future structure of baseball. The owners and players agreed on a new five-year deal that they hope to announce on Tuesday. The minimum salary will increase to $480K, the number of Super Twos will increase, and HGH testing will be implemented.
• Teams that sign the remaining Type A relievers won't be required to forfeit a draft pick, but the Phillies will still have to because they signed Jonathan Papelbon prior to this decision. Type B compensation will remain for now, however.
• MLB will also add two wild card teams, and Bud Selig is hopeful it'll happen in the 2012 season.
• MLB owners also approved the sale of the Astros to Jim Crane, and Selig confirmed the team will move to the AL West in 2013.
• Matt Kemp signed the seventh-largest contract in MLB history, agreeing to an eight-year, $160MM extension with the Dodgers.
• Cuban center fielder Yoenis Cespedes may be looking for more than $60MM on an eight-year deal as a free agent.
• The Diamondbacks and Aaron Hill agreed to a new two-year deal worth $11MM, but the team's extension talks with Miguel Montero are at an impasse.
• The Dodgers picked up Mark Ellis on a two-year deal worth $8.75MM and also signed Matt Treanor to a one-year deal worth $1MM.
• Ryan Doumit turned down a one-year offer from the Dodgers that was believed to be worth around $3MM, then signed roughly the same deal (one year, $3MM) with the Twins later in the week.
• Gerald Laird agreed to a second stint with the Tigers, signing a one-year deal worth $1MM to back up Alex Avila.
• The Phillies retained their backup backstop of the past few seasons, re-upping with Brian Schneider on a one-year deal worth $800K that includes $200K in incentives.
• The Rays are close to signing a backup catcher of their own, as they near a one-year deal with AL East veteran Jose Molina.
• Mark Kotsay will return to the Padres on a one-year deal worth $1.25MM. Kotsay spent the 2001-2003 seasons calling San Diego his home.
• The Pirates are closing in on a two-year, $10.5MM deal with Clint Barmes.
• The Indians are in "serious discussions" to bring back Grady Sizemore on a one-year deal. Sizemore has spent his whole career in Cleveland.
• The Cardinals re-engaged contract discussions with Albert Pujols for the first time since last February.
• The Marlins made legitimate offers to Pujols and Jose Reyes, but we learned this week that their offer to Pujols was for less than $200MM over nine years. Their offer to Reyes was for $90MM over six years.
• The Cubs named Dale Sveum their new manager. Sveum was also thought to be high on the list of managerial candidates for the Red Sox.
• The Cardinals, meanwhile, made former catcher Mike Matheny their new manager last Sunday.
• Yu Darvish's father said this week that it's "about 50-50" as to whether or not his son will be posted for MLB teams to bid on.
• Korean right-hander Suk-min Yoon will not be posted this offseason, as many had speculated when he hired Scott Boras as his agent.
• Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, however, will be posted. The 29-year-old hit .297/.354/.433 last season and cracked 16 homers.
• The Brewers will explore contract extensions with both of the starters they acquired last offseason: Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum.
• The Giants find themselves in a similar situation, as they're trying to lock up Matt Cain before he reaches free agency next winter. San Francisco reportedly prefers a four-year deal.
• Mark Buehrle has said he's open to playing anywhere in the right situation, and that's a good thing for him because he's up to a reported thirteen suitors as a free agent.
• The Cubs are willing to listen to trade offers on any of their players under new president Theo Epstein and new GM Jed Hoyer.
• The Angels have "serious" interest in C.J. Wilson, but it doesn't appear that the market's top American pitcher will sign anytime soon.
• With the Rule 5 Draft coming, there were enough players added to teams' 40-man rosters to make your head spin. Here's the list.

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Commissioner Bud Selig announced that MLB will add two Wild Card teams — one in each league — for a total of ten playoff teams. Selig remains hopeful that the change will occur in 2012. 

"People can be critical. I understand that," said Selig to reporters (including Danny Knobler of CBS Sports and MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince, both Twitter links). "It will be dramatic." 

Selig also confirmed that the creation of two 15-team leagues means there will be interleague play "from Opening Day on," but he doesn't believe it will water down the World Series according to Andy Martino of The New York Daily News and Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentintel (Twitter links). Designated hitter rules will remain the same, and it would take a "catalytic event" for them to change reports Knobler (on Twitter).

The two Wild Card clubs are expected to meet in a one-game playoff prior to the League Division Series round, which increases the importance of winning the division.

Mike Axisa contributed to this post.

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Meetings scheduled for the Players Association this week have been postponed in order to focus on the negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement, league sources told Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com.  Agents were set to meet Tuesday in Los Angeles and Wednesday in Chicago but instead, the sessions have been put on hold.

The postponement is due in part to a lack of manpower for the MLBPA.  MLBPA leadership also didn’t want to go before player agents without being able to share the terms of the new basic agreement before it's established.

One source with close knowledge of the CBA talks said the two parties remain hopeful that a deal can be struck this week.  In recent days, the players and owners reached near agreement on amateur draft spending which is one of the most significant hurdles to reaching a new deal.

The collective bargaining agreement talks are at the ten-yard line, a source tells ESPN's Buster Olney. The latest…

• There will be no agreement this week, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today.  Look for a deal around Thanksgiving, tweets Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.
• One idea discussed is a ceiling for draft bonuses based on slot recommendations for the first ten rounds, reports Olney.  There would be no need to adhere to slot for individual picks, but if a team exceeded the recommended ten-round total they'd be taxed the first time and would "lose a top pick" the second time.
• Negotiations are in progress for first-round draft pick compensation to disappear, according to Olney.  I take this to mean that a team signing a Type A free agent would never have to surrender its first round pick.

By my count, 195 players are currently arbitration eligible.  More than 50 of those can be considered non-tender candidates.  The deadline for teams to decide is December 12th.  Non-tendering a player makes him a free agent.  Below is my subjective list of non-tender candidates.  Please note that not all of them will actually be non-tendered.  Click here for MLBTR's projected salaries for these players, if they are tendered contracts.

Position Players

John Baker
Daric Barton
Emmanuel Burriss
Jesus Flores
Mike Fontenot
Chris Getz
Alberto Gonzalez
Tony Gwynn Jr.
Jeremy Hermida
Koyie Hill
Paul Janish
George Kottaras
James Loney
Jeff Mathis
Donnie Murphy
Angel Pagan
Ronny Paulino
Brayan Pena
Landon Powell
Adam Rosales
Skip Schumaker
Luke Scott
Ryan Spilborghs
Ian Stewart
Ryan Theriot
Andres Torres
Wilson Valdez
Eli Whiteside

Pitchers

Matt Albers
Brad Bergesen
Taylor Buchholz
Dana Eveland
Willie Eyre
Tom Gorzelanny
Clay Hensley
Rich Hill
J.P. Howell
Hong-Chih Kuo
Jose Mijares
Andrew Miller
Peter Moylan
Ross Ohlendorf
Juan Carlos Oviedo
Micah Owings
Manny Parra
Mike Pelfrey
Jo-Jo Reyes
Joe Saunders
Doug Slaten
Kevin Slowey
Andy Sonnanstine
Joe Thatcher
Chris Volstad
Jerome Williams

Though GMs are flying into Milwaukee today, the GM Meetings will take place in earnest on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Today MLB's focus is on the Rookie of the Year awards, which will be announced by the BBWAA at 1pm central time.  MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith will be reporting from Milwaukee Tuesday and Wednesday.  Here are a few potential stories to watch:

• Owners meet on Thursday, at which point the sale of the Astros to Jim Crane is expected to be approved.
• With significant progress last week, a new collective bargaining agreement could be announced at the meetings.  The Astros are expected to move to the American League in 2013, creating two 15-team leagues each with three five-team divisions.  Two more playoff teams are expected to be added.  Changes are also expected in free agent draft pick compensation and perhaps draft spending.
• The Cardinals named Mike Matheny manager yesterday, while the Cubs and Red Sox still have openings.  The Cubs are considering Sandy Alomar Jr., Pete Mackanin, Mike Maddux, and Dale Sveum.  With a second interview coming this week, Sveum is the frontrunner for Boston's job, though Alomar, Mackanin, Torey Lovullo, and Gene Lamont are also in the mix.
• The Miami Marlins have offers out to Jose Reyes, Albert Pujols, and Mark Buehrle.  Will any of them sign on the dotted line this week?  The Marlins were active at last year's GM Meetings, trading Dan Uggla and signing John Buck.  Assuming they're not bringing him back, the White Sox wouldn't mind Buehrle signing before November 23rd, because that would guarantee them a supplemental draft pick.
• Click here to see the remaining free agents.  Aside from the Marlins' targets, big names include Prince Fielder, Aramis Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, C.J. Wilson, Edwin Jackson, and Carlos Beltran.
• The Chunichi Dragons are up 2-0 in the Nippon Series over the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.  If the series concludes this week, will the Nippon Ham Fighters post Yu Darvish shortly thereafter?
• Look for a couple of trades at the GM Meetings.  Last year we had trades involving Uggla and Rajai Davis, as well as the Felipe Paulino–Clint Barmes swap.  Paulino and Barmes were non-tender candidates.  I've got some tentative candidates in this spreadsheet, but my list will be published this week.
• Last year the Joaquin Benoit contract, signed during the GM Meetings, shook up the market for free agent relievers.  Jonathan Papelbon's record deal with the Phillies has done that for the high-end of the market already, but will it have a ripple effect for all decent free agent relievers?
• Six teams have new GMs: the Orioles (Dan Duquette), Red Sox (Ben Cherington), Twins (Terry Ryan), Angels (Jerry Dipoto), Cubs (Jed Hoyer), and Padres (Josh Byrnes).  Former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein is now president of baseball operations for the Cubs.  The Dodgers' Ned Colletti and the Astros' Ed Wade are operating under uncertainty with ownership changes on the horizon.

Players and owners are in near-agreement on draft-related issues, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  A deal could be struck as soon as today or Monday but other significant issues remain, making it possible that the negotiations will stretch into the latter part of the week.

The two sides would like to reach an agreement Sunday or Monday as the general managers’ meetings start Tuesday in Milwaukee, the owners meet Thursday, and the union is holding meetings for agents Monday through Wednesday.  The new deal is expected to put a lid on the amount of money teams spend on draft picks and overhaul draft-pick compensation for free agents.

The current deal expires on December 11th but it would be a shock if the two sides did not hammer out a new five-year deal before then.  Significant progress was made in the talks last week.

If you're a regular MLBTR reader, you'll be familiar with our chats, our Week In Review posts and Mike Axisa's Baseball Blogs Weigh In feature. Here's some more detail on when you'll see our weekly features and exactly what to expect from them:

• MLBTR Chats – Come by every Wednesday at 2pm CDT to chat about the latest trades, signings and rumblings around the Major Leagues.
• Baseball Blogs Weigh In – Every Friday morning, Mike Axisa directs you to some of the best writing on baseball blogs around the web. Whether it's opinion, stats or something else entirely, you can connect to the best of the blogosphere once a week on MLBTR. If you want to send Mike a post of yours, reach him at: mike@riveraveblues.com.
• Week In Review – It's remarkable how much happens in seven days. Every Sunday night, we summarize the week's biggest stories in our Week In Review posts.
• MLBTR Originals – We gather all our original analysis and reporting in one place every Sunday night.