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Archives for March 2010

Offseason In Review: St. Louis Cardinals

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Next in our Offseason In Review series, the Cardinals.

Major League Signings

  • Matt Holliday, LF: seven years, $120MM.  Includes $17MM club option for 2017 with a $1MM buyout.  Includes deferred money. 
  • Brad Penny, SP: one year, $7.5MM.
  • Felipe Lopez, IF: one year, $1MM.
  • Jason LaRue, C: one year, $950K.
  • Total spend: $129.45MM.

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Trades and Claims

  • Claimed Rule 5 P Ben Jukich off waivers from Reds; returned on 3/18/10

Notable Losses

Summary

The Cardinals' offseason was mostly about re-signing Holliday, which finally occurred on January 5th.  GM John Mozeliak also overpaid Penny by a few million, but made up for it by getting Lopez at a bargain price.

Summing up the concerns about the Holliday signing: the Cardinals significantly overpaid given the lack of competition, it may be difficult to pay Holliday and Albert Pujols a combined $40MM+ starting in 2012, and the last few years of the contract will not provide good value.  ESPN's Jayson Stark says Holliday's only other offers were one-year deals in the $18MM range.  The Cardinals-Holliday contract was panned by most executives to whom Buster Olney spoke.

Prior to the Holliday signing, Mozeliak guaranteed a surprising $7.5MM to Penny.  Penny offers upside under Dave Duncan's tutelage, though replacing Joel Pineiro's 214 innings of 3.49 ball will be nearly impossible.  Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cards never made Pineiro an offer, because the pitcher wanted multiple years and the team already has three such rotation commitments.

The Lopez signing was easily one of the best of the offseason.  The Cardinals waited him out until late February and guaranteed less than many utility players and half-season pitchers received.

The Holliday contract is questionable, but he certainly makes the Cardinals much better in the near future.  Their offense projects as one of the best in the NL, and the worst projected ERA among their front four starters is Kyle Lohse's 4.18.  The Cardinals are easily the NL Central favorite in 2010.

Yankees Place Chad Gaudin On Waivers

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The Yankees placed righty Chad Gaudin on waivers, tweets Ed Price of AOL FanHouse.  Assuming he's not picked up, the Yankees can then release him and pay a quarter of his $2.95MM salary ($737,500) or send him to the minors and pay his full salary.

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News wrote yesterday of whispers of the Yanks sending Gaudin or Sergio Mitre to the Dodgers for Jamie Hoffmann, though you have to think Gaudin's salary would be an issue.  A year ago, after the Cubs released Gaudin, the Nationals, Rockies, and Athletics expressed interest before he signed with the Padres.  The Rockies went in a different direction with their acquisition of Jason Hammel, one of the best trades of the year.

Marlins Release Mike MacDougal

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The Marlins released reliever Mike MacDougal, according to the team's media relations department.  MacDougal had signed a minor league deal on February 18th.  He was knocked around in five spring appearances.

MacDougal provided an interesting test case for how highly teams value saves, as he saved 20 in 21 tries last year but walked more than he struck out.  The save total didn't get MacDougal very far, though Fernando Rodney appears to have earned several million extra for his.  MacDougal does share a couple of positive traits with Rodney: he averages over 95 mph on his fastball, and he gets tons of groundballs.

Odds & Ends: Helton, Gaudin, Hensley, Papelbon

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Links for Monday…

  • Troy Renck of The Denver Post has the details of Todd Helton's new contract extension. He can void the deal if two of three general partners sell their controlling interest in the team, and it contains $13.1MM in deferred money at three percent interest.
  • The Yankees could look to move Chad Gaudin soon, according to Rosenthal (via Twitter). In another tweet, he mentions that Clay Hensley can opt out of his contract with the Marlins if he's not on the roster by April 1st.
  • Jim Bowden shows off his post-trade fist pump in his latest GM's Corner video for FOX Sports.  Bowden asked a slew of GMs about their processes for making deals; Frank Wren estimated that less than ten percent of discussions lead to trades.
  • In considering Jonathan Papelbon's future, WEEI's Alex Speier demonstrates just how risky large multiyear deals for relievers have been.
  • FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says the Blue Jays "will not settle for fringe prospects in return" for relievers Scott Downs and Jason Frasor, and they could use them to continue the rebuilding effort.
  • Rosenthal adds that Gary Sheffield is talking to a NL club, though it's not clear which one. 
  • Meanwhile, Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com notes that both Jamey Wright and Austin Kearns have out clauses in their contracts, but a club official said the provisions will not impact the makeup of the team. A source added that there are "no trades on the horizon" for Cleveland.

Could Mauer’s Deal Impact Fielder?

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Joe Mauer's contract sent a ripple though baseball over the weekend, as it effectively shed Minnesota's "small market team" label. Not only was it fourth largest contract in baseball history, but it was also the largest contract ever signed by a catcher. As Satchel Price at Beyond The Box Score shows, it's not even close.

Could Mauer's deal have a trickle down affect on Prince Fielder, who is two years away from free agency? Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel spoke to several members of the Brewers' organization about the possibility, including Prince himself. When asked if he thought about how Mauer's deal effects him, Fielder replied "Not really because I don't really think about it. I'm just focused on getting ready. It doesn't really make me think about myself. It's just cool for him."

GM Doug Melvin responded with the rather boring (yet true) line of “You can keep anybody if you want to pay the market price." Milwaukee already has its other franchise player, Ryan Braun, locked up through 2015 at more than affordable annual salaries, though if they give Fielder a Mauer-esque contract, they'll have roughly 40% of their payroll tied up in just two players, assuming they maintain the same $80MM payroll they've had the last two seasons.

Of course, the differences between Mauer and Fielder are obvious. Mauer plays the more premium position and doesn't share the same long-term concerns about his size and athleticism. He also has more hardware, and doesn't employ Scott Boras as an agent. Both are among the best young players in the game, no doubt, but in the end, we're talking about a unique situation when it comes to Joe Mauer because of his status as a true homegrown player.

Marlins Return Jorge Jimenez To Red Sox

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MONDAY, 5:39pm: Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com tweets that the two sides discussed several names in a trade that would have allowed the Marlins to keep Jimenez, and that it's possible they'll revisit a deal later.

SUNDAY, 9:15am: Rule 5 pick Jorge Jimenez has been returned to the Boston Red Sox by the Florida Marlins, tweets Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post. MLB.com's Joe Frisaro notes that Boston will return $25K to the Marlins, half of the $50K the Sox received for Jimenez.

Jimenez was acquired from the Astros, as part of the Matt Lindstrom trade. The Astros selected Jimenez from Boston's roster in the Rule 5 draft and sent him to Florida.

The 25-year-old Jimenez is a career .298/.377/.423 hitter in the minors, and had been hoping to earn the starting job third base job in Florida. With Jimenez now out of the picture, it appears likely that Jorge Cantu will start at third for the Marlins, with Gaby Sanchez the favorite to win the first base job.

Could The Yankees Get Hoffmann Back?

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Earlier today the Yankees returned Rule 5 selection Jamie Hoffmann to the Dodgers, however the doesn't mean they lost him forever. Mark Feinsand of The New York Daily News notes that there have been "plenty of whispers in recent weeks" about the two teams working out a trade to keep Hoffmann in pinstripes, possibly involving Chad Gaudin or Sergio Mitre.

Los Angeles already has plenty of options in camp for the back of their rotation, though many of those pitchers have unfavorable contract situations. Both Gaudin and Mitre are out of options, but there's a chance the Dodgers' brass feels more comfortable with one of them in the rotation instead of their current fifth starter hodgepodge. Last week we heard that the Yanks were "almost certain" to deal one of Gaudin or Mitre.

If a trade is made, it would allow the Yankees to stash Hoffmann in Triple-A, something they couldn't do with the Rule 5 strings attached. After dealing both Melky Cabrera and Austin Jackson earlier this offseason, the team is looking to rebuild some outfield depth.

Heyman’s Latest: Crawford, Yankees, Werth, Twins

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Jon Heyman has a new column up at SI.com, so let's dive on in…

  • The Rays tried hard to sign Carl Crawford to a contract extension this offseason, but they got nowhere."That's something we spent a good amount of time on this winter and, obviously, wasn't something that came together quickly or easily," said GM Andrew Friedman.  Owner Stuart Sternberg added "We're going to do everything we can within our means to keep him a Ray," referring of course to his leftfielder.
  • The Yankees "absolutely love" Crawford according to a rival executive, and they also like Jayson Werth, who is set to become a free agent after the season. Heyman mentions that they didn't want to re-sign Johnny Damon to a two-year deal this past offseason to potentially keep a spot open for Crawford.
  • Heyman thinks the Twins will probably go out and acquire a bona fide closer since, as he puts it, it would be the smart thing to do with close to a $100MM payroll. Minnesota has inquired about Heath Bell and Jason Frasor within the last week or two.

Dodgers Release Angel Berroa

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The Dodgers have released infielder Angel Berroa, reports MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. The club is confident they have a long-term fill-in for Rafael Furcal in-house if needed, and they wanted to give Berroa enough time to catch on with another team before the season starts.

Berroa, 30, hasn't been a productive big leaguer since his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2003. He's a .249/.291/.353 hitter in over 2,000 plate appearances since then, though his numbers at Triple-A during the last three years are promising. At the very least, he can play all over the infield.

Rangers Acquire Matt Treanor

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The Rangers have acquired catcher Matt Treanor from the Brewers in exchange for infielder Ray Olmedo, tweets Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel. Jeff Wilson of The Forth Worth Star Telegram says (via Twitter) that the Rangers don't expect Treanor to exercise the March 30th opt-out clause in his contract.

Texas had been looking for some catching depth all offseason as Jarrod Saltalamacchia recovers from shoulder surgery. The 34-year-old Treanor missed most of the 2009 season with a bone spur in his right hip, and is a career .232/.318/.311 hitter in the big leagues. 

Olmedo, 29 in May, is a .228/.276/.293 career hitter in 442 big league plate appearances, but at least he can play all over the infield. He last appeared in the majors in 2007, and he's spent the last two years playing in Triple-A for the Nationals and Rays. He was promptly sent to minor league camp.

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