Nationals To Talk With Webb At Winter Meetings
A source tells MLB.com's Bill Ladson that the Nationals are still "strong candidates" to land Brandon Webb this offseason, though talks between the two sides are not expected to heat up until the Winter Meetings begin eight days from now. Washington GM Mike Rizzo was the Diamondbacks scouting director when the team drafted Webb in 2000, so the two long, prior relationship.
The Dodgers, Pirates, Twins, Rangers, and Cubs have all expressed interest in the 31-year-old righty, though we could probably cross the Dodgers off the list after the Jon Garland signing. The Nats have made it clear that they have money to spend on pitching, and Webb is just the latest free agent hurler on their radar. The former Cy Young Award winner has made just one start over the last two seasons due to shoulder trouble, and initial reports out of Instructional League had his fastball velocity in the low-80's. Tim Dierkes broke down his free agent stock earlier this month.
“Half-Dozen Teams In The Mix” For Cliff Lee
Cliff Lee has already generated a lot of buzz this winter, but according to ESPN's Buster Olney, the market for the star left-hander will "heat up" over the next week and Lee could be signed during the winter meetings. Darek Braunecker, Lee's agent, tells Olney that he and Lee are scheduled to meet with as many as three teams over the next week.
"We've got a fair number of teams trying to work through the process," Braunecker said. "It's probably fair to say we've got a half-dozen teams in the mix."
The Rangers and Yankees have already met with Lee, which is no surprise since they're the two biggest suitors for the free agent starter. The Nationals are also known to be interested, and other teams like the Angels, Astros, Cubs, Dodgers, Phillies and Red Sox have also at least checked in on Lee. Washington could make things interesting with a big offer, but it's a pretty safe bet that Lee will pitch in either New York or Texas next season. Though the Rangers have some extra revenue to work with, Olney points out that Lee alone could take up 20-30% of the Texas payroll next season. That's a major commitment for a team that isn't quite a big-market player and might also have to fit in a Josh Hamilton extension.
Stark On Tigers, Angels, Werth, Rangers
Teams have money to spend this offseason and ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark explains which clubs will spend more than others and what they’re going to devote their resources to. Here are the details:
- The Tigers, who announced the Victor Martinez signing today, are still “prowling” for a right-handed corner outfielder. Scott Boras clients Jayson Werth and Magglio Ordonez could be options for Detroit.
- One AL executive predicts that the Angels will “spend their butts off."
- Teams will be surprised if Carl Crawford doesn’t end up with the Angels, who could add Adrian Beltre, too.
- The Red Sox appear to be the favorites to sign Werth.
- Other clubs expect the Rangers to pursue Crawford or Zack Greinke if they can’t sign Cliff Lee.
- The Orioles, Nationals, A’s, Brewers and Pirates are also looking to spend this offseason.
Olney On Dunn, Lee, Greinke, Jeter, Pena
The Rangers have money to spend and ESPN.com's Buster Olney suggests they could spend it on Adam Dunn. GM Jon Daniels could pursue Carl Crawford or another free agent if Cliff Lee signs elsewhere, but Dunn would provide the Rangers with a formidable power threat. Here are the rest of Olney's rumors:
- The Rangers' priority is still to sign Lee.
- Rival executives see Texas as the team that's most likely to acquire Zack Greinke from the Royals.
- To create leverage with the Yankees, Derek Jeter will need another club to make a significantly better proposal than the three-year $45MM deal the Yankees are offering. Needless to say, it will be difficult for agent Casey Close to find such an offer for a 36-year-old coming off a down year.
- Olney hears that the Nationals are the most enthusiastic team about signing Carlos Pena.
Minor League Transactions
Here's a look at some notable names involved in minor transactions between November 16-21, as compiled by Baseball America's Matt Eddy…
- Left-hander Scott Rice signed with the Cubs. Rice was picked 44th overall by Baltimore in the 1999 amateur draft, but has yet to get a cup of coffee in the majors after appearing in 377 minor league games.
- Right-hander Jon Huber re-signed with the Dodgers. Huber last pitched in the majors in 2007 with Seattle.
- Veteran right-hander Scott Patterson re-signed with the Mariners. Patterson has four major league games to his name, with the Padres and Yankees in 2008.
- The Marlins re-signed Vinny Rottino, and also signed relievers Victor Garate and Frank Mata. The Fish also removed right-hander Brett Sinkbeil from their 40-man roster. Sinkbeil was Florida's first-round pick (19th overall) in the 2006 draft, drafted ahead of such notables as Daniel Bard, Joba Chamberlain and Chris Perez.
- Former Tigers outfielder Jeff Frazier signed with the Nationals. Frazier made his major league debut with Detroit last season, posting a .511 OPS in 24 plate appearances.
- The Orioles removed right-hander Armando Gabino and first baseman Rhyne Hughes from their 40-man roster, and Gabino elected free agency. Gabino has a 15.12 ERA in 8 1/3 major league innings with Baltimore and Minnesota. Hughes posted a .530 OPS in 51 plate appearances for the O's last season.
- Pittsburgh released a number of minor leaguers, including a few notable international players. Taiwanese prospects Sheng-Cin Hong and Chih-Wei Hsu, both signed by the Pirates at the start of the 2009 international signing period, have been let go by the club. Also released was Dinesh Patel, signed by Pittsburgh in 2008 after being a finalist on the Indian reality show "Million Dollar Arm." Patel, a cricket player, had never pitched or even picked up a baseball before appearing on the show.
- The Rangers reinstated Nathan Haynes from the inactive list and released the outfielder. Haynes hasn't actually played since 2008. Drafted 32nd overall by Oakland in the 1997 amateur draft, Haynes never caught on in the bigs, managing 95 career plate appearances with the Angels and Rays in 2007-08.
- Right-hander Chad Reineke, best known for being traded straight-up for Randy Wolf in 2008, has re-signed with the Reds.
- The Tigers outrighted Fu-Te Ni to Triple-A and removed the Taiwanese southpaw from their 40-man roster. Ni had an impressive 2.61 ERA in 36 outings in his 2009 rookie season, but his ERA ballooned to 6.65 in 22 games with Detroit last year.
Renck On De La Rosa, Floyd, Nationals
Troy Renck of the Denver Post shared a few Rockies-related items and opinions with his Twitter followers today. All links within quote marks are tweets unless noted otherwise…
- Renck feels it's "highly unlikely" that Jorge de la Rosa will re-sign with Colorado. As we heard last week, the Rockies aren't prepared to offer the free agent starter anything more than a three-year contract, and one of the many clubs interested in De La Rosa will offer him at least four years.
- Renck personally would have pursued De La Rosa had he been the Rockies GM, but he thinks the club should "shift toward" trading for Gavin Floyd and acquiring two of Kevin Kouzmanoff, Jose Lopez or Josh Willingham. Kouzmanoff and Lopez have drawn some interest from the Rockies already.
- The White Sox "like Ian Stewart," Renck said in regards to rumors from earlier in the week that Chicago and Colorado had at least discussed swapping the third baseman for Floyd. Stewart would give the Sox some left-handed pop, possibly in a third base platoon with Dayan Viciedo.
- Also noted in Renck's previous Twitter link was the fact that the Nationals "want pitching in every trade. Either big league pitching or guys who are close [to the majors]."
- Type A free agent Carl Pavano will turn 35 in January and would cost the Rockies a draft pick to sign him, but Renck feels Pavano is "worth the risk" if the Rockies can't get Floyd.
Minor Deals: Parraz, Mattheus, Boggs
We'll keep track of the latest minor deals right here:
- The Red Sox claimed outfielder Jordan Parraz off of waivers from the Royals, the teams announced. The 26-year-old has yet to appear in the majors, but he posted solid numbers at Triple-A last year. In his second stint at Omaha, he batted .266/.350/.410 with 27 doubles.
- The Royals also outrighted right-handers Gaby Hernandez and Victor Marte to Omaha.
- The Nationals announced on Twitter that they outrighted right-hander Ryan Mattheus to Triple-A.
- The Brewers signed Brandon Boggs, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (on Twitter). The 27-year-old outfielder hasn't played much in the past two seasons, but he posted a .733 OPS in 334 plate appearances for the 2008 Rangers.
- The Mariners and Astros also made minor deals today.
National League Free Agent Arbitration Offers
11 National League teams have free agent arbitration offer decisions to make, and we'll group them in this post. For a fantastic customizable chart with all 65 Type A/B free agents and their decisions in real-time, click here.
- The Padres offered Jon Garland (B), Yorvit Torrealba (B) and Kevin Correia (B) arbitration, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (on Twitter). They did not offer Miguel Tejada (A) and David Eckstein (B) arbitration.
- The Reds declined to offer Orlando Cabrera (B) or Arthur Rhodes (A) arbitration, according to the team (on Twitter).
- The Dodgers declined to offer arbitration to Scott Podsednik (B), Rod Barajas (B) and Vicente Padilla (B), according to the team (on Twitter).
- The Giants offered Juan Uribe (B) arbitration, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
- In a surprising move, the Brewers decided to offer Trevor Hoffman (B) arbitration, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports that Hoffman has agreed to turn the offer down (Twitter link).
- The Diamondbacks announced that they offered arbitration to Adam LaRoche (B) and Aaron Heilman (B).
- The Rockies will offer arbitration to Jorge de la Rosa (A) and Octavio Dotel (B), according to Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post.
- The Braves will not offer arbitration to first baseman Derrek Lee (A), according to GM Frank Wren via David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Twitter.
- The Nationals offered arbitration to first baseman Adam Dunn (A), reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
- The Mets will offer arbitration to lefty Pedro Feliciano (B), tweets Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.
- Yesterday, MLB.com's Todd Zolecki learned that the Phillies will offer arbitration to Jayson Werth (A) but not Chad Durbin (B).
Odds & Ends: Dodgers, Boras, Francisco, Dunn
Links for Tuesday night, one year after the White Sox signed Omar Vizquel. One year later, the White Sox have already re-signed the 43-year-old infielder for 2011…
- The Dodgers are open to re-signing Rod Barajas, Vicente Padilla and Scott Podsednik, though they didn’t offer the players arbitration. Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times reports on Twitter that the team remains in contact with all three.
- Scott Boras' company provided families of poor Dominican prospects with tens of thousands of dollars, reports Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times. Boras tells Yahoo's Tim Brown that he was helping prospects out when their careers were on the line, but MLB will investigate the issue.
- The Rangers expect Frank Francisco to accept their offer of arbitration, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (on Twitter).
- The Nationals are no longer pursuing Adam Dunn aggressively and they appear to be a fringe suitor for him, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
- Brian Moehler tells MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that he intends to play in 2011 and has interest in returning to the Astros. But Moehler has never pitched in the playoffs, so he'd like to sign with a team that has a good chance of making a playoff run.
- The divorce between Frank and Jamie McCourt is now final, according to the AP (on ESPN). The McCourts await a decision that will determine whether Frank has sole ownership of the Dodgers or whether he shares the club with his ex-wife.
- Don Nomura, the agent for Japanese pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma, told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that he "deeply" hopes to complete a deal between his client and the A's. Oakland, who won the bidding for Iwakuma, broke off talks earlier in the week because the sides were too far apart.
Vazquez Seeks One-Year Deal; Marlins In Pursuit
Javier Vazquez wants a one-year deal, according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. The right-hander could be looking to re-establish his value and hit the open market a year from now in search of a bigger payday.
Vazquez has turned down at least one offer worth about $20MM over two years, according to Stark. The Nationals, Cubs and Rockies have expressed interest in Vazquez, but another club appears to be in the lead for his services.
Talks with the Marlins have gotten "hot," according to Stark. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports confirms on Twitter that the sides had extensive discussions about a deal. We heard last week that there's mutual interest between the team and the pitcher, partly since the Marlins play relatively close to Vazquez's native Puerto Rico.
The Yankees offered Vazquez arbitration, but he appears to have agreed to turn it down and, because he is a Type B free agent, no team will have to surrender a pick to sign the 34-year-old.