Odds & Ends: Vazquez, A’s, Orioles, Marlins
A few links…
- ESPN's Keith Law rated David Ortiz signing with Boston as the best free agent pickup of the decade. Darren Dreifort's deal with the Dodgers was the worst, and he called the Erik Bedard trade the biggest of the decade. That last one is certainly debatable; I prefer the Bartolo Colon for Grady Sizemore (plus others) deal.
- Interestingly, Yankees' GM Brian Cashman noted today that the club tried to acquire Javier Vazquez from Arizona after 2005 and the White Sox after 2008, “but we just didn’t match up," reports Chad Jennings of The Journal News.
- Bruce Jenkins of The SF Chronicle says that the A's are winning the battle of the Bay Area this offseason. Of course, the regular season is the battle you really want to win.
- Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports that Orioles' president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said "My guess is I wouldn't think we'll be doing anything anytime soon, which is not to be interpreted as not doing anything between now and Sarasota." The O's finalized the Garrett Atkins deal today.
- MLB.com's Joe Frisaro writes about the Marlins' first base situation, noting that there's certainly no shortage of in-house options.
- Bill Ladson of MLB.com tweets that the Nationals continue to show interest in righty John Smoltz, "but they are not willing to break the bank to get him."
- Coco Crisp's physical with the A's was delayed because of travel issues, so the announcement of his signing will have to wait says Susan Slusser of The SF Chronicle.
- Maury Brown at The Biz of Baseball takes a look at the growth of player salaries over the last decade.
- Here's some news on a different kind of contract negotiation: According to the AP (via ESPN) MLB and the umpires hope to have a new agreement in place tomorrow, which will allow for greater flexibility with postseason assignments.
Nationals Notes: Garland, Orlando Hudson
So far this winter the Nationals have traded for reliever Brian Bruney and signed starter Jason Marquis and catcher Ivan Rodriguez. They're a finalist to sign reliever Matt Capps. They've also added Joel Peralta, Jamie Burke, and Doug Slaten, among others. What's next for GM Mike Rizzo?
- Chico Harlan of the Washington Post says the Nats initially targeted Jon Garland, but Garland prefers to sign with a West Coast team. He should have some options if he's willing to take a one-year deal in the $6-7MM range.
- MLB.com's Bill Ladson tweets that the Nationals still have interest in free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson. Signing Hudson would mean keeping Cristian Guzman at shortstop.
Nationals Sign Jason Marquis
The Nationals signed starting pitcher Jason Marquis to a two-year, $15MM deal today. MASN was first to report the agreement yesterday, with MLB Network's Hazel Mae adding the length and Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News tweeting the value. The Phillies and Mets were other clubs reportedly in the mix for the 31-year-old righty. Back on December 15th, Marquis explained to MLB.com's Bill Ladson that he found the ability to mentor the Nats' young pitching staff appealing.
Marquis racked up 216 innings for the Rockies this year with a 4.04 ERA, 4.8 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, and 55.6% groundball rate. The Rox will receive a supplemental draft pick for their loss. I have to wonder if Marquis agreed in advance to turn down their arbitration offer.
My take: this is an uninspired move by the Nationals. I understand that an innings-eater is needed to take pressure off young pitchers, but it's likely that similar pitchers will be available in March at a fraction of the commitment. Plus, unlike an Erik Bedard type gamble, Marquis doesn't have upside.
Odds & Ends: Gomes, Duchscherer, Chapman
Some links for your Tuesday…
- John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer says we shouldn't expect Jonny Gomes to sign any time soon.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the Giants are looking to add a catcher and a starter, along with a big bat. Matt Holliday and Jason Bay don't seem likely to sign in San Francisco.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that the Yankees checked in on Carlos Zambrano and Aaron Harang before acquiring Javier Vazquez.
- The Mariners signed Mike Koplove to a minor league deal, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter). The righty hasn't pitched in the majors since 2007.
- Stephen Strasburg signed a multi-year deal with Topps, according to Chico Harlan of the Washington Post.
- Harlan writes that the Nationals were hoping to sign Jon Garland, before turning to Jason Marquis.
- The Yankees were the only team to pay the luxury tax this season. Their $226MM payroll cost them nearly $26MM in luxury tax, according to the AP (via the Star Ledger).
- Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News tweets that the Yanks' trade of Melky Cabrera does not mean the club is likely to bring Johnny Damon back.
- The Marlins are not in the mix for Matt Capps, according to Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The Marlins, coming off a year in which their $38MM payroll was the lowest in the game, don't have much to spend on relievers.
- Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post says outfielder Carlos Gonzalez should be the next Rockie to receive an extension. Saunders says there's no need to lock the 24-year-old up this offseason (Gonzalez won't likely be arbitration-eligible until after 2011).
- Marty Noble of MLB.com doesn't see indications that the Mets are all that interested in Joel Pineiro.
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the Pirates have yet to make Justin Duchscherer an offer. The righty is now deciding which offer to accept, so we can safely say he won't be signing with the Pirates.
- Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN.com expects Aroldis Chapman to sign where the money is (via Twitter).
Odds & Ends: Red Sox, Giants, Nationals
Lots to get to as we round out another Hot Stove Monday…
- Rob Bradford of WEEI.com has the backstory on Mike Lowell, his thumb injury and the trade that wasn't. Lowell expects to be ready for baseball activities by the first week of spring training, but has no idea if that will be with Boston or another team.
- MLB.com's Chris Haft answers mail from Giants' fans. He says, among other things, that the Giants are reluctant to trade Jonathan Sanchez straight-up for Dan Uggla-as well they should be.
- Washington Post Nationals beat reporter Chico Harlan weighs in on the Jason Marquis signing, noting that Marquis has more career victories than the other starters on the Washington 40-man roster combined.
- AOL Fanhouse's Ed Price says that "All we hear out of the Mets camp is that they don't want to be bidding against themselves. Well, the fact of the matter is, the Mets might just have to bid against themselves." This is hard to understand, considering that Jason Bay and Bengie Molina certainly aren't likely to sit out the season rather than accept offers from the Mets.
- Lyle Spencer of MLB.com speculates about what it would take for the Angels to acquire Derek Lowe.
Discussion: Battle Of The Upside Starters
With the signing of Jason Marquis, the free agent starting pitchers left on the board are all awfully similar in terms of likely value. If you like Doug Davis over Jon Garland, or Joel Pineiro over Davis, you're still not likely to get a frontline starting pitcher, and it is likely to cost a team roughly what Marquis cost the Nationals.
The two remaining starters with the chance to be much better than average- but carrying significant risk- are Ben Sheets and Pedro Martinez. With Martinez, we have a better sense of what he is looking for, contract-wise, thanks to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reporting earlier today that he wants "more than Brad Penny got"- more than $7.5MM base salary, in other words. That's still in line with Marquis and company, however.
As for Sheets, he's reportedly seeking $12MM next year. So the question becomes, is Sheets likely to be more than a third better than Martinez?
The major advantages for Sheets: he's posted an ERA of 3.39 since 2007, while Martinez is actually below average during that time, at 4.66. Sheets has also made at least 30 starts as recently as 2008; Martinez last accomplished the feat in 2005.
But Martinez may be a better bet than that would suggest. For one thing, Sheets didn't pitch at all last season, while Martinez was quite effective- a 3.63 ERA in the regular season, 3.70 ERA in the playoffs. Martinez has also had a better strikeout rate than Sheets since 2007, which is a strong indicator of future performance.
If the price tag is significantly lower for Martinez- and as of right now, it appears to be- he might be the more valuable upside candidate of the two.
And if risk isn't your game, there's always Jon Garland.
Odds & Ends: Nationals, Podsednik, Duchscherer
Links for Monday…
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets that the Nationals still have money left to sign Matt Capps, assuming he wants to go there. Morosi expects Capps to decide on his next team this week.
- In a separate tweet, Morosi notes that the Tigers are only interested in Scott Podsednik if it's a one-year deal. Detroit has no interest in Rick Ankiel.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick reports that Justin Duchscherer has received contract offers from three unnamed teams, and he expects to decide on his 2010 home within a week.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Royals are interested in free agent outfielder Brian Anderson on a minor league deal.
- Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle sees Rajai Davis and Ryan Sweeney retaining starting jobs in the wake of the impending Coco Crisp signing. Slusser suggests a possible reduced role or trade for Scott Hairston. FanGraphs' Dave Cameron doesn't understand the move, noting that Davis and Sweeney are similar to Crisp. Crisp's physical will take place tomorrow, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney.
- Matthew Carruth of Lookout Landing explains that Mariners fans fully understand the dangers of Milton Bradley. The Seattle Times' Geoff Baker reflects on Carlos Silva's time with the club.
- Patrick Newman joins FanGraphs with a look at Japanese baseball imports and exports for 2010. Speaking of which, new Met Ryota Igarashi would like to be Francisco Rodriguez's set-up man.
Capps To Select Finalists Soon
SATURDAY, 7:13pm: Capps confirmed to ESPN Radio Chicago today that he has had preliminary discussions with the Cubs about joining the club.
THURSDAY, 6:26pm: The Washington Nationals are one of Capps' finalists, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson. Of all the interested teams, Washington should provide one of the clearest paths to a closing role for Capps.
4:51pm: The Pirates non-tendered reliever Matt Capps Saturday night, and roughly half the teams in baseball have inquired. Pirates GM Neal Huntington explained the non-tender decision in an MLB.com chat today:
Despite wanting to retain Matt and making an aggressive offer that we believed would be at or near his free-agent value prior to the tender deadline, we felt that the risk of an arbitration award at a substantially higher amount was not a good business decision for us…Obviously, we would have preferred to get something of value in trade for Matt, but given his track record beginning in the second half of 2008, his trade value was limited throughout the summer and again this offseason.
Capps may be able to find a two-year deal. While he'd like to close, his agent Paul Kinzer told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that he'd accept a set-up role with a contender. The following teams have been linked to Capps: the D'Backs, Cubs, Orioles, Rangers, Rockies, Marlins, Nationals, Mets, Tigers, and Yankees (we're still about six teams short, five if you count the Pirates). Kinzer told Rosenthal Capps "plans to select five or six finalists by the weekend, then make his decision."
Nationals Making A Run At Garland
The Nationals are making a "strong run" at free agent hurler Jon Garland according to FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal. The righthander is looking for a three year deal, however the Nats would prefer to limit a contract to two years. Rosenthal also lists Jason Marquis and Doug Davis and possible targets for Washington.
GM Mike Rizzo confirmed the team's interest in Garland earlier this month, saying "He's one of the 10 names we've been talking about throughout the whole winter." The 30-year-old landed just one year and a guaranteed $7.25MM last offseason, so a three year deal may be a little too ambitious.
Odds & Ends: Treanor, Barton, Damon, Kelly Johnson
More links as the weekend draws closer…
- MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports that the Brewers signed catcher Matt Treanor to a minor league deal. The former Tiger struggled to stay healthy this year.
- The Dodgers signed outfielder Brian Barton to a minor league deal, according to Hernandez. The 27-year-old has hit just .268/.354/.392 in 179 big league plate appearances, all coming in 2008.
- MLB.com's Bill Ladson has learned that the Nationals are not interested in Johnny Damon because they're trying to improve their defense.
- David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution tweets that Damon has some interest in signing with the Braves. The outfielder would have to be willing to take a pay cut to join the club, in O'Brien's opinion.
- Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that the D'Backs have made Kelly Johnson an offer. The details aren't clear, but Piecoro guesses it's a one-year deal worth $2MM.
- Dodgers' GM Ned Colletti said that any talks with Cincinnati are "all but dead," according to Dylan Hernandez of The LA Times. Yesterday we heard the two teams were exploring an Aaron Harang trade.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets that the Tigers, Giants and Royals have interest in Jack Cust. ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick says the Mariners may be the favorites to sign Cust.
- Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN.com hears that Jose Contreras is narrowing his options down and preparing to sign. His agent says "there are some interesting opportunities in the bullpen."
- Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com says that with his options dwindling, Miguel Tejada might have to slide over to third to be rewarded with a contract.
- Claudio Vargas' deal with the Brewers is worth $900K, says Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel. The righty could also earn another $400K in incentives.
- O'Brien mentions that Adam LaRoche said there's been no contact from the Braves that he knows of. Earlier we learned that some teams were put off by LaRoche's asking price.
- Corey Brock of MLB.com reports that the Padres have named Jaron Madison scouting director. Madison spent the last two years working as the assistant scouting director in St. Louis.
- Venezuelan reporter Efrain Zavarce says that Kelvim Escobar has signed with…a Venezuelan Winter League team. He'll pitch in relief tomorrow, and the Rays will have someone in attendance.