Astros Interested In Jesus Flores
The Astros are looking at the Nationals' Jesus Flores as a possible replacement for Jason Castro, reports Ben Goessling of MASNsports.com. The two teams face off today, so hopefully the Nationals will get Flores into the game for the Astros scouts on hand. The Astros are concerned about the condition of Flores' shoulder, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
Flores, 26, was signed by the Mets out of Venezuela nine years ago. Coming off a solid age 21 season in Low-A ball, Nationals GM Jim Bowden took Flores in the 2006 Rule 5 draft. Flores served his time in the Majors in '07 as Brian Schneider's backup, and by June of '08 he'd won the team's starting catcher job. In May of '09, a foul tip off the bat of Chris Young set in motion a major shoulder problem. The injury went from being labeled a bruise to a stress fracture to a torn labrum, resulting in September '09 surgery.
During Flores' long recovery, the Nationals signed Ivan Rodriguez, traded for Wilson Ramos, and saw major development from prospect Derek Norris. Now expendable for Washington, Flores is a great fit for an Astros club that can give him consistent at-bats with Castro out for the season with a torn ACL.
NL East Notes: Zimmermann, Marlins, Heyward
Players with zero to three years of service time are under team control and don't have the power to negotiate their salaries. Most of these players agree to terms with their clubs on deals worth $400-500K, but some don't agree to terms and their clubs renew their contracts instead (it doesn't affect the player's timeline for arbitration or free agency). Here's the latest on the NL East, including news on some contract renewals:
- The Nationals announced that they have renewed the contracts of right-handers Tyler Clippard and Jordan Zimmermann.
- The Marlins renewed the contracts of four of their own players, according to Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post (on Twitter). The team did not agree to terms with Logan Morrison, Gaby Sanchez, Mike Stanton or Ryan Webb.
- Yahoo's Jeff Passan shows that Jason Heyward is uncharacteristically mature for a 21-year-old. The Braves right fielder tells Passan that he can improve upon his standout rookie season, something that would please new manager Fredi Gonzalez.
Cla Meredith To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Nationals right-hander Cla Meredith will undergo Tommy John ligament replacement surgery on his right elbow in D.C. today, according to Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com (on Twitter). Washington signed the 27-year-old to a minor league deal a month ago.
Meredith posted a 5.40 ERA with 4.2 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 21 relief apppearances for Baltimore last year. He was a key member of the Padres' bullpen from 2006-09, when he posted a 3.26 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 237 1/3 total innings. The Orioles acquired Meredith for Oscar Salazar during the 2009 season.
Nationals Could Deal A Catcher
The Nationals are loaded with quality catchers and most likely will trade one of them for pitching, writes Bill Ladson of MLB.com. With Ivan Rodriguez, Jesus Flores, Wilson Ramos, and Derek Norris in the fold, Ladson writes that one of the backstops could be moved prior to Opening Day.
Now fully recovered from right shoulder surgery, the leading candidate to be traded could be Flores, who has been seen throwing the ball hard to second and third base. The injury cost the 26-year-old most of the 2010 season as he appeared in just 26 games.
The veteran Rodriguez will be the club's starting catcher to start the year while Ramos is being groomed as his heir apparent. Norris, 22, will probably start the season in the minors and is said to already possess a big league bat.
AL East Notes: Yankees, Werth, Pavano, Jays, Rays
Seven years ago today, the Yankees signed Eduardo Nunez as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic. Now 23, Nunez is in the mix to be New York's utility infielder in 2011 after hitting .280/.321/.360 with more walks (three) than strikeouts (two) in his brief big league debut last season (53 PA).
Here are some more notes that have to do with the Yanks and their fellow AL East clubs…
- Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports that the Yankees "have told their scouts to bear down on several teams they think could have starters available" in a trade this summer. The teams they are targeting include the Braves, Angels, A's, White Sox, and Cardinals according to Sherman.
- Jayson Werth told SI.com's Jon Heyman that he had a "great" meeting with the Red Sox earlier this offseason, after which he figured they would offer six years (Twitter link). They only offered five, so he ended up with the Nationals.
- Carl Pavano spoke to Kelsie Smith of The Pioneer Press about being pursued by the Yankees this offseason. "I don't think [the past] would be a hindrance, but there would have definitely been obstacles," said Pavano. "I'm not naïve enough to think that there wouldn't have been things I would have had to overcome, especially the trust of the fans and maybe some of the guys that were there. That's reality."
- Richard Griffin of The Toronto Star notes (on Twitter) that four of the Blue Jays' ten highest paid players are former closers: Jason Frasor, Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch, and Octavio Dotel.
- When asked about the payroll disparity between his Rays and other teams in the division, Joe Maddon told Ken Davidoff of Newsday that he's "never seen a dollar bill throw a strike, or hit a homer, or whatever." (Twitter link)
Phillies Have Asked Nationals About Mike Morse
1:23pm: Heyman says (on Twitter) the Nationals are not inclined to trade Morse to the Phillies, or anywhere else for that matter. They're intrigued by the work he's done with hitting coach Rick Eckstein.
12:29pm: After losing their top right-handed power threat this offseason, the Phillies have asked the Nationals about the availability of outfielder Mike Morse according to SI.com's Jon Heyman (on Twitter). Philadelphia's lineup is predominantly left-handed with Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez, and Domonic Brown, something that might be exposed with the departure of Jayson Werth.
Morse, 29 next month, hit .289/.352/.519 with 12 doubles and 15 homers in just 293 plate appearances for Washington last year, his first regular playing time in the big leagues since 2005. He crushed lefty pitching, hitting .295/.374/.625 with eight long balls against them in just under a hundred trips to the plate. Although he has experience on the infield, most of Morse's playing time has come in the corner outfield spots in recent years. He'll earn $1.05MM in 2011, the first time he was eligible for arbitration.
The Nationals outfield is pretty crowded right now, with only Werth guaranteed a full-time job. The other two spots will go to some combination of Morse, Rick Ankiel, Roger Bernadina, and Nyjer Morgan. Jerry Hairston Jr. can also play the outfield, and the Nats have both Matt Stairs and Laynce Nix in camp on minor league contracts.
Quick Hits: Rockies, Dodgers, McDonald, Clippard
Links for Thursday night..
- While I wondered if the Braves could be a match for the Cardinals as they look for pitching, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports suggests that the Rockies could be a match. A major league source told Rosenthal that the Cards will first explore internal options before looking out-of-house.
- Commissioner Bud Selig has rejected a proposal under which FOX would have loaned about $200MM to Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, three people familiar with the talks told Bill Shaikin of the LA Times.
- Ex-Giant Juan Uribe is happy to be aboard with the Dodgers, writes John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- Former Dodgers pitcher James McDonald is excited to turn over a new leaf with the Pirates, writes Evan Drellich of MLB.com. McDonald was shipped to Pittsburgh along with Andrew Lambo for Octavio Dotel last season.
- Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard says that he will continue to be represented by agent Casey Close, who is leaving CAA Sports, writes MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
- Brewers right-handers Justin James and Shaun Marcum were drafted by Toronto in the same year but took very different paths to wind up in Milwaukee, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. James claimed off waivers by the Brewers from the A's this offseason.
Nats Agree To Terms With 14 International Prospects
In addition to the previously reported Randy Novas and Raudy Reed, the Nationals have agreed to terms with 14 international free agents per a team press release. Here is the list of players, per the release…
Left-handed pitchers Joel Barrientos (17, Dominican Republic), Brian Escolastico (18, Dominican Republic) and Hector Silvestre (18, Dominican Republic); right-handed pitchers Anderson Martinez (18, Venezuela), Gilberto Mendez (18, Dominican Republic) and Felix Moscat (20, Dominican Republic); catchers Pedro Severino (17, Dominican Republic) and Jorge Tillero (17, Venezuela); first baseman Arialdi Peguero (18, Dominican Republic); shortstop Yewri Guillen (18, Dominican Republic); third baseman Diomedes Eusebio (18, Dominican Republic); and outfielders Juan De Los Santos (17, Venezuela), Wilman Rodriguez (19, Dominican Republic) and Dioncio Rosario (17, Dominican Republic).
Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post wrote about the team's efforts to improve its presence in Latin America earlier this month.
Werth Thinks Phillies Could Have Had Him & Lee
The Phillies added one $100MM player this offseason in Cliff Lee, but they lost another in Jayson Werth. The former Phillies outfielder told Paul Hagen of The Philadephia Daily News that he believes the team could have had both he and Lee if they'd planned things out better…
"I think if they would have played it right they would have had us both," said Werth. "I mean, they traded Cliff away for prospects and then realized that was probably not what they should have done. They ended up paying him a lot more than they would have if they'd signed him the year before. Then we would have had him. Chances are if they had signed him before they traded him, it probably would have made it a little easier to sign me."
Werth said that there are no hard feelings and he understands that the game is a business. Once he learned of Philadelphia's interest in Lee, he concluded that he wasn't coming back. "[It] kind of made it seem like they were playing us against each other a little bit," he added.
The 31-year-old Werth signed with the Nationals about ten days before the Phillies brought Lee back.
NL East Notes: Werth, K-Rod, Phillies, Nationals
Some notes from the NL East as MLBPA leader Michael Weiner meets with the Mets in Florida…
- Jayson Werth told Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer that he accepted the Nationals' seven-year, $126MM offer partly because he wanted to help his fellow players. "I think once you get to free agency, you're in a big pool of players and we all really play in one organization and that's MLB," Werth said. "I guess that's how you look at it, so in that respect I was trying to maximize things and also trying to get into a situation I wanted to be in and I think Philly was going in a different direction."
- Weiner told ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin that he expects the Mets to honor Francisco Rodriguez's contract, which vests at $17.5MM for 2012 if he finishes 55 games in 2011.
- Bobby Bonilla, who is still on the Mets' payroll is meeting with the team today as an MLBPA representative, according to Newsday's David Lennon (on Twitter).
- Mike Puma of the New York Post explains that new manager Terry Collins is fiery and ready to get mad. "I give a [expletive] about how this team plays," Collins said.
- Cliff Lee tells David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News that his side feels fine, though he felt some minor pain earlier.
- Brookover points out that "guaranteed money does not mean guaranteed success or perfect health," though the Phillies' investment in Lee was understandable.
- Nationals GM Mike Rizzo told Ben Goessling of MASNSports.com that he hopes first overall draft pick Bryce Harper finds out how Spring Training works and learns "what it takes to be a big leaguer" in Nationals camp this year.