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Archives for February 2011

Pujols Wants “To Be A Cardinal Forever”

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Albert Pujols says he wants "to be a Cardinal forever," according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (on Twitter). The slugger, who failed to reach an agreement with the Cardinals before yesterday's deadline for an extension, arrived at Spring Training this morning and addressed the media.

Pujols says he isn't disappointed that he and agent Dan Lozano didn't come to an agreement with the Cardinals by his deadline, according to Scott Miller of CBS Sports.com (on Twitter). There's lots of time to work something out, as Pujols points out, but he has said he won't address his contract situation during the season. That means the Cardinals have to wait until the fall, when they'll have a five-day period of exclusive negotiating rights before Pujols hits free agency for the first time in his career. 

Pujols says he will not announce his decision on a TV special like NBA superstar LeBron James did, according to Yahoo's Jeff Passan (Twitter link).

Make Or Break Year: Casey Blake

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AQA10091411_Dodgers_at_Giants It's not quite as bad as Zambrano-for-Kazmir, but you have to think that Dodgers GM Ned Colletti would love to have a do-over on the trade that sent Carlos Santana and Jon Meloan to the Indians for Casey Blake and about $2MM in 2008. Two-and-a-half years later, Santana has developed into one of the two best young catchers in baseball while Blake finds himself at a career crossroads.

Following the trade, the now 37-year-old Blake hit .251/.313/.460 with ten homers in 233 plate appearances. The Dodgers re-signed him to a three-year, $17.5MM contract after the 2008 season, and Blake rewarded them in 2009. He hit .280/.363/.468 with 18 homers in 565 plate appearances, though he did battle nagging hamstring issues throughout the season.

Last season was a much different story. Blake came out of the gate well, hitting .273/.354/.482 in his first 39 games, but it all went downhill from there. His final 106 games featured a .238/.307/.378 batting line, and he struck out in 28 of his final 69 plate appearances of the season. The end result was a .248/.320/.407 line, a 99 OPS+ that was his worst in three years.

The Dodgers owe Blake a reasonable $5.25MM in 2011, then must decide whether to exercise his $6MM club option for 2012 or buy him out for $1.25MM. Given his declining performance and age, the latter looks more likely right now. The free agent market for players in their late-30's and relegated to the corner infield spots is not robust, so the best case scenario for Blake likely has him playing well enough that the team picks up that option. 

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Quick Hits: Wilson, Allen, Swisher, Maholm, Tigers

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Ten years ago today, the Angels signed Alberto Callaspo as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela. He spent four years in their farm system before being traded to the Diamondbacks for Jason Bulger. After a stint with the Royals, Callaspo ended up back with the Halos following a mid-summer trade last year.

Here are today's batch of links…

  • MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith appeared on this week's edition of the Beyond The Box Score Podcast, so head on over and give it a listen.
  • C.J. Wilson told MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan that he's not thinking about his upcoming free agency, mentioning that the Rangers has never offered him a long-term deal.
  • The Russell Branyan signing seems to indicate that the Diamondbacks don't see Brandon Allen as a fit anymore, says Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic (Twitter links). He adds that Arizona gauged Allen's trade value at the winter meetings, and he's heard that the Rays were high on him in the past.
  • Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher said he and former agent Joe Bick "just grew apart," which is why he signed on with Dan Lozano recently, reports Ken Davidoff of Newsday.
  • Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos told MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm that he's not a fan of performance-based incentives because of the uncertainty they create.
  • Paul Maholm told Rob Biertempfel of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he's willing to discuss an extension with the Pirates, which pleasantly surprised GM Neal Huntington. "Paul's done some good things for this organization," said the GM. "We'll give it due consideration." The team holds a $9.75MM club option for Maholm's services in 2012 after he earns $5.75MM in 2011.
  • John Lowe of The Detroit Free Press points out that there is no dead weight on the Tigers' $105MM payroll. Detroit paid close to $24MM for Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis last season, who gave them 43 1/3 IP with a 4.98 ERA (all by Willis).
  • Larry Stone of The Seattle Times spoke to Yankees GM Brian Cashman about last summer's near trade for Cliff Lee. Cashman said he's glad he didn't agree to Seattle's revised offer after seeing Lee sign with Philadelphia. "Now I'm like, I've got one of the premier hitting talents here, and I didn't have a two-month rental," said the GM, referring to top prospect Jesus Montero.

Albert Pujols Rumors: Wednesday

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The countdown that began weeks ago continues in earnest this morning as the Cardinals and Albert Pujols enter the final few hours before the Pujols-imposed deadline to reach an extension. If the sides don't agree to terms by 11am CDT, Pujols says he'll stop negotiating until after the season, when he'd become a highly-coveted free agent. There's "zero" momentum for a deal, though the talks still have a pulse. Here's the latest on the Cardinals and their first baseman:

  • Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that Pujols has informed the Cardinals that he's willing to revisit talks after the season (Twitter links). He doesn't want any distractions during the season.
  • Rival executives expect the Cubs to pursue Pujols, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com. One exec says “They'll give him the A-Rod deal'' and another guesses "They'll give him $33MM or $34MM for seven years.''
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hears from a source that St. Louis' offer would have given Pujols about the tenth-highest annual salary in the game, which translates to about $19-21MM (Twitter links). The exact length of the offer is unknown.
  • GM John Mozeliak said the team will not consider trading Pujols, reports SI.com's Jon Heyman (on Twitter). Pujols has already indicated that he would invoke his ten-and-five rights to veto any deal.
  • The Cardinals announced that they weren't able to reach a deal with Pujols and will meet with the media at 11:30 CDT. 
  • There's zero chance of a deal by the deadline, according to Nightengale (on Twitter).
  • The sides are not engaging in last-minute talks and there's no chance of a deal in the next hour, according to Scott Miller of CBS Sports (on Twitter).
  • The talks are over and the deadline will pass without a deal, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Twitter links). The sides have not exchanged proposals in the last four days or so and there's still a significant gap on annual salary.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports agrees: there will be no deal today (Twitter link).
  • The sides aren't expected to reach a deal by the deadline, writes Scott Miller of CBS Sports (on Twitter).
  • The Phillies anticipated this situation before locking Ryan Howard up, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Twitter links). The Phils discussed a possible Howard-Pujols trade internally.
  • Pujols doesn't have illusions of reaching a miraculous deal, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter).

Blue Jays Sign Scott Podsednik

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8:20pm: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that Podsednik will earn $1MM if he makes the team (Twitter link). Declining the option with the Dodgers definitely didn't work out the way he would have liked.

3:01pm: The Blue Jays have signed Scott Podsednik to a minor league deal with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, the team announced. The 34-year-old speedster joins the Blue Jays after back-to-back solid seasons spent in Chicago, Kansas City and Los Angeles. Sports One Athlete Management represents the Blue Jays' new addition.

Podsednik posted a .297/.342/.382 line in 595 plate appearances for the Royals and Dodgers last year. He stole 35 bases (50 attempts) so, along with fellow newcomer Rajai Davis, he'll help manager John Farrell realize his goal of creating a well-rounded offense instead of a homer-centric one.

Podsednik, a ten-year veteran, figures to be in competition with Davis and Juan Rivera for playing time. A left-handed hitter, Podsednik will provide Farrell with alternatives to Davis and Rivera, who both bat from the right side.

The Dodgers didn't offer Podsednik arbitration after the season, so they don't gain a pick for losing the Type B free agent. Podsednik turned down his side of his mutual option with the Dodgers after the team picked its side up for $2MM. Unless his minor league deal with Toronto is an unusually lucrative one, Podsednik would have obtained more guaranteed money by exercising his option back in November.

Blue Jays Close To Extension With Jose Bautista

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7:44pm: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that the contract would also include a sixth year club option that could push the total value of the deal to $78MM (Twitter link).

7:05pm: The Blue Jays and Jose Bautista are close to agreeing to a five-year contract extension worth approximately $65MM, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes. The deal would also include financial support for Bautista's charitable activities in Toronto and the Dominican Republic. Some details still need to be worked out and a physical must take place before the contract is finalized.  

As our Arbitration Tracker shows, Bautista filed for $10.5MM his final time through arbitration, the team $7.6MM. A five-year contract would buy out his final year of arbitration plus four free agent years. The two sides asked to have their arbitration hearing pushed back earlier this week, and indication that they were closing in on deal.

Bautista, 30, is coming off a historic 2010 season in which he hit 54 homers, the 19th highest single-season total in history. He also drew 100 walks, so his prodigous power output was backed up by a .378 OBP. Of course that was the first time Bautista performed at a star level. He'd hit just .238/.329/.400 with 59 homers in over 2,000 career plate appearances coming into 2010, so the Jays are clearly expecting Bautista to repeat last year's performance into his mid-30's.

Mets Rumors: Reyes, Wilpon, Hampson

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Here's the latest from Flushing…

  • SI.com's Jon Heyman hears that Bud Selig will give the Wilpons time to work through their Madoff-related issues, but there is real concern that they will not be able to keep the team in the end (Twitter links).
  • Jose Reyes told ESPN New York's Adam Rubin that he prefers to wait until after the season to talk about a contract extension. "You know, this is my first time I'm going to be a free agent," said Reyes. "So I don't know what's going to happen, to be honest with you."
  • Reyes later joked with MLB.com's Anthony DiComo about having a hard deadline for contract talks, saying "I'm not Albert Pujols, man." (Twitter link) Yesterday we heard that the two sides were unlikely to talk about a contract before Opening Day.
  • Team owner Jeff Wilpon reiterated today that they are not going to sell controlling interest in the team, reports Andy Martino of The New York Daily News. "It's not on the table," said Wilpon.
  • Rays owner Stuart Sternberg is not interested in buying the Mets, tweets Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe. Sternberg has New York roots and has been speculated as a potential buyer.
  • Baseball America's Matt Eddy reports that the Mets have signed lefty reliever Justin Hampson (on Twitter). The 29-year-old last appeared in the big league with the Padres in 2008. He spent last season with the independent Long Island Ducks.

Michael Young Rumors: Wednesday

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The Diamondbacks have discussed Michael Young with the Rangers, though a trade to Arizona remains a longshot. The Marlins have interest in Young, too, but like the D'Backs, they aren't eager to assume responsibility for the $48MM remaining on Young's contract. Here's the latest on Young, with the most recent updates up top:

  • Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com spoke to an executive that said the Rangers would have to eat half of the money left on Young's contract to trade him, then predicted they wouldn't (Twitter link).
  • Jeff Wilson of The Star Telegram spoke to GM Jon Daniels, who said the club will try to reach out to Young in the coming days to update him on trade talks and help clear the air. "We're not going to set a deadline or anything like that," said Daniels. "Once he's here (in Spring Training), we're going to move forward with the business of baseball. If something happens after that point, we'll address it. That's where we are." 
  • A source tells Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports that there is "nothing really going on" between the Angels and Rangers regarding Young (Twitter link).
  • Morosi adds that talks between the Rangers and Rockies are dormant, though they could restart if Texas offers to take on more money (Twitter link).
  • Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News explored three teams the Rangers could still work out a trade with.
  • The Rangers are still evaluating possible Young deals, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Twitter link).
  • A Rockies source tells Troy Renck of the Denver Post that Colorado doesn't have much hope of restarting talks with Texas (Twitter link).

Reactions To Albert Pujols & The Cardinals

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The Cardinals and franchise player Albert Pujols failed to come to an agreement on a long-term extension before today's deadline, meaning the first baseman will hit the free agent market after the season. As you'd expect, plenty of reactions have poured in, some from team executives. Let's recap…

  • Team owner Bill DeWitt says the club "will honor [Pujols'] wishes and not discuss this matter until the completion of the season," reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). "[We] remain hopeful that Albert will finish his career in St. Louis," added DeWitt, according to Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (on Twitter).
  • "Albert is an iconic player," said DeWitt at an afternoon press conference. "We made every effort to extend his contract." Jon Heyman of SI.com passed along that quote (on Twitter).
  • Pujols' agent Dan Lozano released a statement, saying the "expiration of today's deadline does not eliminate the possibility of Albert returning to the Cardinals in 2012, but simply delays negotiations until the conclusion of the Cardinals' season." Bob Nightengale of USA Today passed that along.
  • GM John Mozeliak told Heyman that he believes Pujols wants to test the free agent market (Twitter link).
  • Joel Sherman of The New York Post compares a Pujols extension to Derek Jeter's new contract with the Yankees, saying that "teams have to stop paying for what players did and concentrate on what players are likely to do over the course of a contract."
  • Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports says that rejecting the team's offer(s) was the right move for Pujols.
  • Jeff Gordon of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cardinals should now go "all in" to win in 2011.
  • A source told ESPN's Andrew Marchand that the Yankees have no plans to look into Pujols' availability. Earlier today we heard that the Cardinals have no intention of trading their superstar despite not reaching a deal.
  • Cubs manager Mike Quade wouldn't comment on the Pujols situation when asked by Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune. Chicago's north siders are believed to be a potential match for Pujols if he does hit the market. 
  • Rosenthal says the Cardinals are taking a big risk by letting Pujols hit the open market.

Phillies, Royals Showing Interest In Maine

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4:45pm: The Royals are showing interest in signing Maine to a minor league deal, according to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter).

2:30pm: Maine will sign in the next day or two according to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com (on Twitter). The Phillies are on the short list, though the right-hander has several possibilities. 

9:34am: The Phillies remain the most likely destination for John Maine, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. The right-hander was auditioning for teams late last month, but remains a free agent.

The Phillies are the only team that has been publicly linked to Maine since the Mets non-tendered him last December. The 29-year-old struggled with injuries and poor performance last year, though he pitched to a 4.01 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 87 starts from 2006-09. 

Maine struggled through nine early-season starts last year and didn't pitch after injuring his shoulder in May. He underwent season-ending arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder in July.

 

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