By Ben Nicholson-Smith | at
The Nationals announced that they designated catcher Carlos Maldonado for assignment. The move creates 40-man roster space for recently-acquired catcher Kurt Suzuki.
Maldonado, 33, appeared in four games for the Nationals this May. He has spent most of the season at Triple-A Syracuse, where he has a .223/.343/.405 batting line in 146 plate appearances. Maldonado has a .254/.329/.359 line over the course of 17 minor league seasons.
By Ben Nicholson-Smith | at
The Athletics traded catcher Kurt Suzuki and cash considerations to the Nationals for catcher David Freitas, the teams announced. It sounds like the A's are picking up most of Suzuki's 2012 salary and a bit of next year's salary, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (on Twitter).
The move provides the Nationals with Major League catching depth to complement Jesus Flores and Sandy Leon. Washington manager Davey Johnson said Suzuki is a "number one catcher" who will bring a "veteran presence" to the Nationals, Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports (on Twitter).
Suzuki has posted a disappointing .218/.250/.286 batting line in 278 plate appearances so far in 2012. To his credit, he has prevented 38% of stolen base attempts against him this year (23 of 60) and the Athletics have an American League-best 3.43 ERA. The A's are now likely to rely more heavily on rookie catcher Derek Norris and recently-acquired backstop George Kottaras.
The 28-year-old Suzuki earns $5MM in 2012 and $6.45MM in 2013. His contract includes a $8.5MM club option for 2014 ($650K buyout). Evidently no American League team placed a claim on him when he hit the waiver wire. Every National League team but the Reds had to pass up chance to claim Suzuki for him to become available to Washington.
Freitas, 23, has a .271/.374/.407 batting line in 321 plate appearances at Class A Potomac this year. The Nationals selected him in the 15th round of the 2010 MLB draft.
By Ben Nicholson-Smith | at
At least one baseball person wonders if Ryan Dempster hurt his free agent stock by agreeing to join the Rangers, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports. The American League, referred to by one general manager as "the big boy league," features some high-powered offenses that could have impact Dempster’s numbers and diminish his leverage in offseason contract talks. Here are more notes from Olney…
By Ben Nicholson-Smith | at
6:24pm: The Red Sox are "still gathering info" before deciding whether or not to pursue Lowe, reports Scott Lauber of The Boston Herald. Meanwhile, the Nationals have no interest in the veteran right-hander according to Amanda Comak of The Washington Times (on Twitter).
3:20pm: Derek Lowe told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe that he just needs "a tuneup" before resuming his MLB career (Twitter links). The right-hander, who was officially designated for assignment today, would love to return to the Red Sox, where he pitched from 1997-2004. Boston GM Ben Cherington hasn't ruled out Lowe, but hasn't made a decision yet, Cafardo writes.
Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun suggests we shouldn’t be surprised if the Orioles make a big push for Lowe. “It makes a whole lot of sense,” one Orioles official told Connolly. Orioles executive Dan Duquette acquired Lowe for the Red Sox in 1997. Baltimore has been seeking starting pitching depth this summer.
By Ben Nicholson-Smith | at
The Phillies traded Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino this morning and the Marlins followed up those moves by trading Gaby Sanchez and Edward Mujica later in the day. The Braves welcomed new acquisitions Paul Maholm and Reed Johnson to Atlanta, but deadline day was relatively quiet for the Mets and Nationals. Here are the latest notes from the NL East…
By Tim Dierkes | at
11:20am: The Brewers aren't in on Shoppach, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reports (on Twitter).
8:21am: The Nationals and Brewers have interest in Red Sox catcher Kelly Shoppach, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. The 32-year-old backstop has performed well as Jarrod Saltalamacchia's backup, hitting .261/.343/.513 in 136 plate appearances. Shoppach has about $470K remaining on his contract this year.
By Tim Dierkes | at
8:26pm: The Cubs and Dodgers are still discussing scenarios involving Dempster and Soriano, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter). The Dodgers repeated today that they won't trade Webster for Dempster, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports (on Twitter).
4:57pm: There hasn't been any recent dialogue between the Dodgers and Cubs, ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports (on Twitter).
2:41pm: Dodgers pitching prospects Zach Lee, Allen Webster, and Chris Reed are all off the table in Dempster talks, tweets Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.
1:41pm: Talks between the Dodgers and Cubs for Dempster are gaining momentum, reports Scott Miller of CBS Sports. The Cubs are trying to bend over backwards to get Dempster to the Dodgers, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
1:09pm: The Nationals have positioned themselves as the perfect fallback option for the Cubs on Dempster, reports ESPN's Jayson Stark. It's unknown whether Dempster would approve a trade to the Nats.
12:08pm: The Cubs and Dodgers are still discussing righty Ryan Dempster, tweets Yahoo's Tim Brown. Left fielder Alfonso Soriano remains part of these trade talks, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The Dodgers are said to be Dempster's first choice, and he controls the process with 10-and-5 rights. Yesterday, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the Cubs' failed attempt to obtain pitching prospect Allen Webster from the Dodgers for Dempster left those talks stalemated. The Dodgers have had an offer on the table for Dempster since July 19th, writes Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com.
Last week, the Braves seemed close to acquiring Dempster for Randall Delgado, and Wittenmyer has a few details on that still-vague failed deal. Dempster said Sunday, "Who’s to say I was going to say no or yes to whatever team. All I said was that I just, at that time, needed to think about everything." From the Braves' end, there's no guarantee Delgado would still be available, writes MLB.com's Mark Bowman.
By Ben Nicholson-Smith | at
No team in baseball has a better ERA than the Nationals (3.25), who are seeking infield depth and monitoring the market for arms as the trade deadline approaches. Here are the latest links from the NL East, starting with the 61-40 Nationals…
By Ben Nicholson-Smith | at
The Nationals signed Mike MacDougal to a minor league contract, according to the transactions page at CBSSports.com. The right-hander will provide the Nationals with bullpen depth, presumably at the minor league level.
The Dodgers signed MacDougal to a one-year, $1MM deal before the season, but released him in May. The 35-year-old then signed a minor league deal with the Cubs, posted a 7.85 ERA with more walks than strikeouts at Triple-A, and got released again. The Hendricks Sports client has been a free agent since July 11th.
By Ben Nicholson-Smith | at
The Nationals announced that they have unconditionally released Xavier Nady. Washington had designated the outfielder/first baseman for assignment eight days ago.
A wrist issue had sidelined Nady since late-June. The 33-year-old posted a .157/.211/.275 batting line with three homers in 109 plate appearances for Washington this season. The Nationals signed him to a minor league contract during Spring Training.
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