By Tim Dierkes | at
The Nationals released reliever Logan Kensing, tweets NatsTown News. Kensing had re-signed on a minor league deal on December 15th and tossed one scoreless inning this spring. The 27-year-old righty posted an 8.92 ERA, 4.8 K/9, and 4.3 BB/9 in 35.3 innings for the Nats and Marlins last year, but was impressive in 33.3 minor league frames.
The Nationals also released Shawn Estes, Eddie Guardado, and Ron Villone in the last week.
By Tim Dierkes | at
Links to kick off the work week…
By Luke Adams 2 | at
No teams have formally inquired about trading for Andy Sonnanstine, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. However, the right-hander could become the topic of a few trade rumors before the season begins, given Tampa Bay's surplus of starting pitching.
Morosi tweets a few teams that could use another starting pitcher: the Diamondbacks, Mariners, Mets, Twins, Dodgers and Nationals. That list could easily double by Opening Day, with spring performances and injuries potentially raising depth concerns for a few more clubs.
The Rays shouldn't feel any pressure to deal Sonnanstine though. Even if there's no room for him in their rotation, their starting pitching depth is a luxury. As the FOX report suggests, the Rays could use Sonnanstine out of the bullpen as a long reliever, or even send him to Triple-A to start the year, since he has options remaining.
If you were running the Rays, what's your move here? Would you start shopping Sonnanstine, hoping to get some value in return? Or would you keep the right-hander around, providing insurance in case youngsters like Wade Davis and Jeremy Hellickson struggle?
By Tim Dierkes | at
The Nationals released lefty reliever Ron Villone, tweets NatsTown News. Villone, 40, was given three spring appearances to show his stuff. He at least got more of a look than Eddie Guardado, who the Nats cut after two games.
Villone posted a 4.25 ERA, 6.1 K/9, and 5.4 BB/9 in 48.6 innings for the Nationals last year. Lefties have hit .293/.379/.414 against him over the past three seasons.
By Tim Dierkes | at
Recently MLBTR spoke to several MLB executives to gather their nominations for the best and worst moves of the offseason.
Free agent signings that received mention for the best moves: Felipe Lopez, Adrian Beltre, Adam LaRoche, Chone Figgins, Hideki Matsui, and Aroldis Chapman. Said one exec on Chapman: "He might truly live up to the hype." It's hard not to praise the Cards for getting Lopez on a one-year, $1MM deal.
Three trades came up as choices for the best moves of the offseason: the Mariners' acquisition of Cliff Lee, the Royals' trade of Mark Teahen, and the Rangers' trade of Kevin Millwood. One exec noted that the Mariners "didn't trade anyone that can hurt them in the next couple of years" for Lee, while another believed that "trading Lee and Kyle Drabek in the Roy Halladay deal will hurt [the Phillies] in the long run." The Royals received props for "getting some value for Teahen," while the Rangers' increased payroll flexibility from the Millwood deal was noted.
Nominated for the worst moves: free agent deals for Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, Brandon Lyon, Jason Kendall, Aubrey Huff, Jason Marquis, Randy Wolf, and Garrett Atkins. All the execs polled mentioned Holliday's seven year, $120MM deal when choosing their worst deals of the winter. Said one: "The fear that he would sign a one-year deal elsewhere and take his chances a year from now — that just doesn't make sense to me."
Aside from Kendall and Huff, there was a vibe of "like the player, hate the contract" with the panned free agent signings. One exec felt the Royals downgraded behind the plate with Kendall. Huff was nominated as a small-scale misstep, in that the exec felt that "Hank Blalock is better and he couldn't get half that salary on a non-roster deal."
By Zachary Links | at
Sunday night linkage..
By Luke Adams 2 | at
Some links to browse, as teams continue to make spring cuts….
By Zachary Links | at
Friday night linkage..
By Tim Dierkes | at
Thursday linkage…
By Tim Dierkes | at
Next up in our Offseason In Review series, the Nationals.
Major League Signings
Notable Minor League Signings
Trades and Claims
Notable Losses
Summary
I have similar feelings toward the Nationals' offseason as I did with the Orioles. I understand $20-30MM spent on short-term free agent acquisitions won't set the franchises back in the rebuilding process much. But if the goal is mainly veteran respectability, couldn't it have been done at half the price?
In particular I am not a fan of the $21MM the Nationals committed to Marquis and Pudge over the next two years. They're mediocre players who don't figure to bring much back in trades or draft picks. The Nats could've gotten similar mentoring from, say, Doug Davis and Yorvit Torrealba for one year and $6.5MM total. Or even John Lannan and Jamie Burke.
On the other hand, the signings of Capps, Wang, and Kennedy are sensible. The guarantees were minimal, and these players are more likely to have trade value. Plus, the arbitration-eligibility of Capps and Wang for 2011 essentially serves as a club option. One complaint with the signing of Walker: it led to the loss of Estrada. Estrada may never pan out in the bigs, but why swap your #18 prospect for a year or two of Walker?
If we eliminated the top two from the Major League Signings ledger, I'd say GM Mike Rizzo had a solid offseason. However, I'm not sure what the plan is here: the Nationals have Keith Law's #23-ranked farm system and should probably launch a full-blown rebuild, but they're adding relatively pricey free agents.
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