Uncategorized News & Rumors

It was just last month that the Astros selected Carlos Correa with the first overall pick in the amateur draft, and Houston's already on track for another top draft choice. The Astros have the worst record in baseball, which means they're favored to select first in the 2013 draft. The Cubs aren't far behind their division rivals and the Rockies are also in the mix for the top pick in '13.

MLBTR's Reverse Standings page offers a simple way of following the action, as teams vie for the for the best draft picks in June of 2013 by losing the most games in 2012. The standings will be updated every morning through the end of the season, and even calculate tiebreakers by looking at last year's standings. You will always be able to find the link under MLBTR Features in the right sidebar.

The Phillies have designated outfielder Jason Pridie for assignment, the club announced.  In a related move, Laynce Nix has been activated from the disabled list.

Pridie, 28, has appeared in just nine games for the Phillies this season after seeing action in 101 games for the Mets in 2011.  The outfielder signed with the A's over the winter but didn't play in a game for them following a 50-game suspension for a drug violation.  Pridie posted a .231/.309/.370 batting line in 236 plate appearances for the Mets last year.

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NL West

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Transactions only: Twitter / RSS

You may have noticed that we have enabled Disqus 2012 for the commenting section here at MLBTR.  It includes real-time commenting, up and down-voting of comments, and a bunch of other stuff.  You can check out all the features here.  We welcome your feedback on Disqus 2012 in the comments section of this post.  By the way, if you want to continue to see the oldest comments first, choose that under the Discussion dropdown.

An explanation of the many ways to enjoy MLB Trade Rumors:

• If the main site doesn't load perfectly on your cell phone, try the more mobile-friendly mlbtraderumors.mobi.  It's a simple page that shows you just the headlines and lets you click through to what you want to read.
• If you're an iPhone user, be sure to pick up our app for the latest news and rumors. MLBTR just introduced an Android app as well.
• If you want only the hard news in the form of transactions, our transactions page is the ticket.  You can also get only the transactions via Twitter or RSS. 
• To return to the main page at any time, just click on the title or the Home button on the navigation bar below the title. 
• The navigation bar will cover many of your needs.  Use the About dropdown to learn about this site or any of its writers. 
• The Contact button takes you to a page where you can write an email message to the MLBTR writers.  If you have a link to a rumor we've missed, please send it in through the Contact page!  Also use the Contact page to inquire about advertising on MLBTR.
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• The Tools dropdown takes you to a number of different places. The MLBTR Widget allows website owners to easily add a constantly updated box with all of MLBTR's headlines to their sites.
• Also under the tools tab is our Transaction Tracker, which enables you to search about anything and everything to do with baseball trades, signings and extensions. 
• Under the tools tab, you'll find a link to our Forums, a message board community of MLBTR readers with over 9,100 members.  You can discuss any baseball-related topic on the Forums, and start your own thread too.
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• Feeds By Team is a very useful dropdown.  Hover over it to see all 30 teams.  Click on the team name to bring up a page of every post containing information about that team, with the latest on top.  These are the same pages you'll find if you go to the Rumors By Team section on the sidebar and select A's Rumors, Angels Rumors, etc.  
• Also under the Feeds By Team dropdown, you'll find RSS and Twitter buttons.  Those links allow you to follow a single team's rumors via RSS or Twitter.  Did you know we have a separate Twitter account for each of the 30 teams?  For example you can follow @mlbtrtigers, where you would get the latest Tigers updates.
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Recently, Joel Sherman of the New York Post talked to an NL GM who said he does not expect a robust market for rental players this summer.  Under the previous collective bargaining agreement, players acquired in their contract years could still be more than rentals due to draft pick compensation.  But due to a rule in the new CBA, a rental is truly a rental for the 2012 trade deadline: traded players are not eligible for draft pick compensation.  As Sherman notes, that adds extra appeal for someone like Matt Garza — a team acquiring Garza can enjoy him for the rest of 2012 and all of 2013 and then receive a draft pick as compensation if he departs as a free agent.

Keep in mind that for a team to receive draft pick compensation for a departing free agent after the 2012 season, a qualifying offer in the $12.5MM range must be tendered.  Since that amount represents an average of the top 125 salaries, it will increase every year.  It could be dangerous to surrender quality prospects for Garza now partly due to the assumption that he'll be worthy of a $13-14MM qualifying offer after the 2013 season.

Still, take a look at our list of players who, like Garza, project to be eligible for free agency after the 2013 season.  Which could be acquired with a partial eye on draft pick compensation after '13?  Chase Utley has a good amount of no-trade protection, and given time missed due to injury and reduced production, it'd be optimistic to expect a qualifying offer.  Hunter Pence, on the other hand, is a decent bet for such an offer.  Among position players, Corey Hart also has a shot.  Both outfielders figure to be part of their team's 2013 plans, however.

Aside from Garza, Josh Johnson is a starting pitcher to consider.  Johnson has been uncharacteristically hittable this year, but he has been healthy and stands as a candidate for a qualifying offer after '13, should the Marlins decline to extend him again.  Despite their all-in offseason, the Marlins appear a long shot for the playoffs, it is possible they could move Johnson for MLB-ready players.  Jason Vargas has been a hot name on the trade market.  While I think GMs would find it appealing to control Vargas for 2013, I doubt they would have any expectation of making him a qualifying offer afterward.

We haven't discussed Justin Upton types, players who are under control beyond 2013 and seem to be reasonable candidates for future draft pick compensation.  Those are rare players.  Looking only at trade targets eligible for free agency after 2013, the qualifying offer will be a pretty high bar, and future draft pick compensation can't be a primary consideration for an acquiring team. 

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.

MLBTR is increasing efforts to enforce our commenting policy.  The goal is to raise the level of discourse in the comments, part of which involves eliminating inappropriate language and insults.

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If you see comments that fit the above criteria, please flag them and/or contact us.  Those who repeatedly violate the policy can be banned at any time.  Bans may be handed out liberally by our moderators, without second chances.  Remaining civil is not that difficult, though, and most commenters have no problems doing so as well as helping rein each other in.  We at MLBTR are grateful for long-time commenters and readers, though this policy applies equally regardless of tenure.  This policy is always available at the bottom of the site, and will be re-posted monthly.

Dodgers right-hander Todd Coffey will miss the rest of the season and undergo his second Tommy John surgery according to multiple reports. Los Angeles figures to be in the hunt for a bat at the deadline, but relief help could also be a priority with Coffey, Javy Guerra, and Matt Guerrier all hurt. Here are some links from baseball's two West divisions…

• Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports says it's time for the Giants to explore the trade market for a starting pitcher given Tim Lincecum's continued struggles. He allowed eight runs in 3 1/3 innings to Nationals last night and now owns a 6.08 ERA.
• Jeremy Guthrie will return to the Rockies' rotation tonight and Troy Renck of The Denver Post says he has a chance to reignite trade interest. Guthrie has pitched to a 6.56 ERA in 11 starts and four relief appearances for Colorado this season.
• MLB.com's Tyler Emerick writes that both the Angels and Padres are benefitting from last month's Ernesto Frieri trade. Frieri has yet to allow an earned run in 24 appearances with his new team while Alexi Amarista is hitting .290/.320/.527 for San Diego.

Xavier Paul has opted out of his contract with the Nationals and elected free agency, MLBTR has learned. The 27-year-old outfielder had been playing at Syracuse for Washington's Triple-A affiliate.

Paul, who appeared in 128 games for the Pirates and Dodgers last year, has spent the entire 2012 campaign at Syracuse. He has a .318/.379/.517 batting line with eight home runs in 235 plate appearances and has played both corner outfield positions. He played all three outfield positions last year, when he posted a .255/.292/.346 batting line for Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.