Nationals Rumors

Nationals Sign Rafael Martin

By Mark Polishuk | February 25, 2010 at 5:23pm CDT

Washington has purchased the contract of right-handed reliever Rafael Martin from his Mexican League team, Saltillo. ESPN's Jorge Arangure was the first to break the news (via Twitter), and said the Nationals "agreed to terms" with Martin for a deal worth $450K a "couple weeks ago." MLB.com's Bill Ladson tweeted that Martin just passed his physical today, which may have been the reason for the delay in announcing the move.

Martin, 26, posted a 4.12 ERA in 63 1/3 innings for Saltillo last season and recorded 65 strikeouts. Ladson reported that Martin will start the season in Double or Triple-A, and that the Nats see the reliever as a possible set-up man behind Drew Storen. Ladson also said the Mariners and Yankees had been interested in acquiring Martin.

Odds & Ends: Nationals, Yankees, Red Sox

By Howard Megdal | February 24, 2010 at 7:30pm CDT

If you read these very slowly, maybe they'll last until Opening Day!

MLB.com's Bill Ladson has a terrific Q&A up with Nationals President Stan Kasten. Among the topics covered: will Stephen Strasburg make the Opening Day roster (almost certainly not) and early returns on GM Mike Rizzo (positive).
ESPN.com's Jayson Stark provides an entertaining look at just how certain Derek Jeter is to stay with the Yankees, even though his contract is up at the end of the season. Stark quotes one Yankee official as giving Jeter's chances of leaving as "zero", but then amending them to "none and none".
The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham describes just how well the Billy Wagner trade has worked out for the Red Sox. In short: the 20th and 57th picks in next year's draft belong to them, they got fifteen terrific appearances from Wagner, and all they gave up were a pair of low-level prospects. Abraham also covets Adrian Gonzalez for the Red Sox here.
Ryan Franklin is considering retirement after the 2011 season, writes Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. Mark Buehrle might, too, according to Chicago Breaking Sports.

Nationals Reach Agreement With Livan Hernandez

By Tim Dierkes | February 24, 2010 at 11:27am CDT

The Nationals agreed to terms with righty Livan Hernandez on a minor league deal, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson. SI's Jon Heyman tweets that the deal is worth "$900K plus many incentives." Hernandez signed with the Nats in August of last year after being released by the Mets; he previously pitched in the organization from 2003-06.

Hernandez, 35, posted a 5.44 ERA, 5.0 K/9, and 3.3 BB/9 in 183.6 innings last year. Fellow non-roster invitee Miguel Batista will also compete for a rotation spot.

Discussion: Adam Dunn

By Mike Axisa | February 23, 2010 at 6:20pm CDT

The free agent market is no longer kind to lumbering, defensively challenged players, as guys like Jermaine Dye and Hank Blalock sit here unemployed during the last week of February. Next year's free agent class naturally features a few players like that, one of whom is Adam Dunn.

The king of the three true outcomes, the 30-year-old Dunn leads all of baseball in walks (673) and strikeouts (1,063) while hitting the second most homers (244) over the last six years. As productive as he was offensively, Dunn gave a lot of it back with his outfield defense (-66.9 UZR since 2007). That's not much of a problem anymore, because he moved to first base full-time following Washington's trade of Nick Johnson.

Dunn is in the second year of the two-year, $20MM deal he signed last February, however GM Mike Rizzo has already made it known that he'd like to lock him up with a contract extension. What kind of extension do you think is fair for Dunn and the team? Perhaps something in the neighborhood of three-years, $39MM?

Odds & Ends: Boone, Smoltz, Benson

By Tim Dierkes | February 23, 2010 at 12:31pm CDT

Links for Tuesday…

SI's Tom Verducci lists his 13 most interesting non-roster invitees.
Aaron Boone has officially retired and joined ESPN as an analyst. USA Today's Bob Nightengale first reported in October that Boone was likely to hang up the spikes.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says that John Smoltz currently prefers to start, but he'll be more open to relieving if he signs midseason. The Cardinals apparently do not have the funds to re-sign Smoltz.
MLB.com's Bill Ladson tweets that Kris Benson is no longer talking to the Nationals, despite the pitcher's assertion yesterday.
WEEI's Alex Speier tweets that the Red Sox released southpaw Jose Capellan.
MLB.com's transactions page says Boston also released righty Edwin Moreno, who they signed to a minor league deal a month ago. Augusto Cardenas first tweeted of the move on Thursday, saying that Moreno will play in Mexico instead.
Speier also has an article about David Ortiz reaching a career crossroads. Speier finds it unlikely that the Sox exercise Ortiz's $12.5MM club option for 2011.

Odds & Ends: Tigers, White Sox, Lannan, Looper

By Zachary Links | February 22, 2010 at 10:37pm CDT

Monday night linkage..

The Tigers went from sellers to buyers this offseason, writes MLB.com's Jason Beck.
Hank Blalock's former teammates are surprised to see him still without a job, writes T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. Earlier today we heard that the Rays and Marlins are thought to have interest in the 29-year-old.
Pitcher Cha Seung Baek tried out for the Mariners today, tweets Corey Brock of MLB.com. Baek last pitched in the majors in 2008 and was released by San Diego in October of 2009.
Chuck Garfien of CSNChicago.com spoke to White Sox GM Ken Williams, who said that he nearly pulled off a deal that would have possibly given the club the best rotation in the history of the game. Williams wouldn't name names, but Garfien believes that he was referring to Roy Halladay.
Nats pitcher John Lannan has decided to part ways with agent Andrew Mongelluzzi and latch on with Brodie Van Wagenen of Creative Artists Agency, according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com. Lannan will be arbitration-eligible after the 2010 season and become a free agent after the 2013 campaign.
While the Dodgers remain in contact with Braden Looper's representation, the chances for a deal are slim as they cannot offer him a spot in the rotation or the salary he wants, writes MLB.com's Ken Gurnick.

Nationals Notes: Benson, Smoltz, Starting Pitcher

By Zachary Links | February 22, 2010 at 8:33pm CDT

Some Nationals news from SIRIUS XM'S MLB Home Plate Channel and Bill Ladson of MLB.com…

In an interview with Rob Dibble and Steve Davis, Kris Benson said that he and the Nationals were "still talking." There's been word of the Nats' interest in the 35-year-old as of late, though Benson says he's not in a rush to sign anywhere.
Ladson writes that Washington has not had any recent conversations with John Smoltz. The Nationals are reportedly one of ten teams that have expressed interest in the 42-year-old.
On his blog, Ladson writes that the Nationals are trying hard to add another veteran starter after striking out on Chan Ho Park and Braden Looper. It should be noted that the Nationals did not confirm extending offers to either pitcher.

Odds & Ends: Floyd, Looper, El Duque, Manny

By Tim Dierkes | February 22, 2010 at 1:16pm CDT

Links for Monday…

Cliff Floyd is currently doing TV work, writes Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post.
MLB.com's Bill Ladson tweeted that the Nationals offered contracts to Chan Ho Park and Braden Looper. Park went with the Yankees, while Looper told the Nats he's going in a different direction.
Orlando Hernandez is looking to get back in the game, tweets Yahoo's Tim Brown.
Magglio Ordonez wants to play at least four more years, reports Tom Gage of the Detroit News.
FOX Sports' Jim Bowden questioned Justin Upton, Theo Epstein, Jon Daniels, Dayton Moore, Kevin Goldstein, and Dave Cameron about modern statistics, and it made for an amusing video segment.
Chico Harlan of the Washington Post talked to several Nationals players about their arbitration hearings, which were not enjoyable. ESPN's Rob Neyer doesn't think it makes sense for players to attend.
Manny Ramirez believes this is his last year with the Dodgers, reports Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times.
Duaner Sanchez signed with the Mexico City Red Devils, reports Noroeste. Though Sanchez is said to be throwing "an easy 90 mph," his shoulder is still not 100 percent. He hopes to find his way back to the bigs after being released by the Padres in May of '09. Thanks to Nick Collias for the translation.
Jesse Lund of the Twinkie Town blog has an excellent discussion with Twins assistant GM Rob Antony. Antony provided details on the J.J. Hardy trade talks, and also noted that the Kevin Kouzmanoff rumors were "a little blown out of proportion."
Joel Sherman of the New York Post doesn't buy the idea that the pressure will be off for Javier Vazquez as the Yankees #4 starter.
Regarding catcher A.J. Pierzynski entering his contract year, White Sox GM Kenny Williams told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, "At some point, we'll check in with A.J. and his guys on expectations."
The Diamondbacks offered Dominican shortstop Edward Salcedo around $1MM, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.

Odds & Ends: Dunn, Delgado, Pujols, Mets

By Mike Axisa | February 20, 2010 at 9:04pm CDT

Links for Saturday…

Rizzo reiterated to Ladson that he'd like to sign Adam Dunn to a contract extension, however he declined to talk about how the negotiations were going. The two sides first discussed an extension a few weeks ago.
Carlos Delgado's agent David Sloane tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that his client will be out of action for four months after undergoing hip surgery. Last week, prior to his recent procedure becoming public knowledge, Sloane told Rosenthal that Delgado might wait until mid-season to sign.
Ladson tweets that Nats president Stan Kasten was seen talking to Cristian Guzman's agent on Saturrday afternoon, though neither party would comment on the conversation (via Twitter). Guzman is in the final year of a two-year, $16MM contract.
MLB.com's Bill Ladson says (via Twitter) that Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo indicated that he's not finished trying to improve his team, and that's he's still on the look out from some pitching.
GM Ed Wade wasn't the only Astros' executive to have his contract extended today. Assistants Ricky Bennett, David Gottfried, and Bobby Heck were all extended through 2011, tweets Houston's Senior Director of Social Media Alyson Footer.
Mets' owner Fred Wilpon called the team's offseason "torture," according to Adam Rubin of The New York Daily News (via Twitter). Wilpon also said he expects the team to stay within the family for generations.
SI.com's Jon Heyman tweets that Victor Martinez said he "definitely" wants to stay in Boston beyond this season. We previewed V-Mart's impending free agency a few weeks ago.
The A's will officially name Grady Fuson as a special advisor today, tweets Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle. Fuson was fired as the Padres' VP of scouting and player development by new GM Jed Hoyer back in October.

Nationals Sign Chien-Ming Wang

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | February 19, 2010 at 12:15pm CDT

The Nationals officially signed Chien-Ming Wang to a one-year $2MM deal that includes up to $3MM in performance bonuses.

MLB.com's Bill Ladson reported the agreement and Ronald Blum of the AP added the terms of the deal. Last week Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe tweeted that Wang had picked the Nationals and Ken Davidoff of Newsday tweeted that Wang would earn $2MM with the chance to more than double that amount in incentives. Wang's agent insisted that no deal was in place after those initial reports emerged.

Shoulder and hip injuries limited Wang to 12 appearances last year, and the Yankees non-tendered him. Wang, 30 next month, could be a major contributor for the Nationals if he can return to form. The two-time 19 game winner has a long way to go, as last year's 9.64 ERA indicates.

Once healthy, he will join new addition Jason Marquis in the team's rotation. Wang has less than five years' service time, so he won't be a free agent until after the 2011 season unless the Nationals non-tender him, too.

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