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Archives for April 2011

Pat Misch Clears Waivers

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WEDNESDAY, 12:48pm: Misch cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A, tweets Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.

SUNDAY, 8:43am: The Mets have made the move official, according to the team's Twitter.

SATURDAY, 9:46pm: The Mets will designate left-hander Pat Misch for assignment to make room for Dillon Gee before tomorrow's game, reports Andy Martino of The New York Daily News (on Twitter).

Misch, 29, was called up earlier today to serve as bullpen depth during the Mets-Braves doubleheader. He appeared in the first game, allowing one run across two innings of work. The Mets outrighted Misch to Triple-A at the end of Spring Training, and he opted to remain with the team instead of becoming a free agent after clearing waivers. They did the same thing to him last season as well.

Pirates Sign Blaine Boyer, Brett Sinkbeil

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The Pirates signed pitchers Blaine Boyer and Brett Sinkbeil to minor league deals, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy.

Boyer, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in January after being non-tendered by the Diamondbacks, but was designated for assignment on April 10th.  He elected free agency rather than accept an assignment to the Mets' Triple-A club.  Boyer posted a 4.26 ERA, 4.6 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 0.5 HR/9, and 65.8% groundball rate in 57 relief innings for Arizona last year.  His groundball rate ranked third in baseball among those with 50 innings, and he averages around 94 miles per hour on his fastball, so he'll keep getting chances.

Sinkbeil, the 19th overall pick in the 2006 draft, was released by the Marlins in late March.

Tigers Outright Enrique Gonzalez

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The Tigers outrighted righty Enrique Gonzalez to Triple-A Toledo, tweets MLB.com's Jason Beck.  The move was done to create a 25-man roster spot for reliever Ryan Perry, who came off the DL today.

One side benefit: the Tigers' 40-man roster now stands at 39, so they can make a waiver claim without losing anyone.

Undoing One Fateful Diamondbacks Trade

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Former Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes made many trades that dramatically altered the team's future, but none more so than the 2007 deal to acquire Dan Haren.  Hindsight is always 20/20, but what would the team look like if we undid this trade?

On December 14th, 2007, the Diamondbacks shipped Brett Anderson, Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Carter, Aaron Cunningham, Dana Eveland, and Greg Smith to the Athletics for Haren and Connor Robertson.  At the time I called this a win for the Diamondbacks, failing to fully realize what Gonzalez and Anderson would become.  So I can't knock Byrnes for pulling the trigger, especially since he was adding a second ace to pair with Brandon Webb without hurting his big league club.  Plus, Haren was signed at a third of his market value for three seasons.  You have to give up a ton to get a guy like that.

Still, let's undo the Haren trade and put CarGo in left field for Arizona.  We can also take Joe Saunders out of the rotation and slide Anderson in.  Those are a couple of huge upgrades.  WAR might peg the total upgrade over what the Diamondbacks have now at five wins or so, but I have to admit that intuitively it feels like the difference would be about twice that.  Just undoing the one Haren deal, the D'Backs have a fantastic, affordable front three of Anderson, Kennedy, and Hudson in their rotation plus a pair of superstars at the outfield corners. 

What else would be different right now?  Would Byrnes still have his job?  Would Mark Reynolds still be manning third base?  Would the team have made a more serious offseason push toward contending in 2011?  It's fun to wonder, unless you root for the Diamondbacks.

2012 Contract Issues: Atlanta Braves

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The Braves are next in our 2012 Contract Issues series.

Eligible For Free Agency (3)

Contract Options (2)

  • Nate McLouth: $10.65MM club option with a $1.25MM buyout.  This figures to be declined.
  • Eric Hinske: $1.5MM club option with a $100K buyout.  There's a good chance the Braves pick this one up.

Arbitration Eligible (5)

Jurrjens will be the best-paid of the group, with $6MM a possibility depending on how this season goes.  The Braves' arbitration eligible players could cost around $15MM in total.

2012 Payroll Obligation

The Braves' 2012 payroll obligation, according to Cot's, is $62.742MM excluding Hinske's buyout.  Add in Hinske and the arbitration eligible players and you're in the $80MM range.  That'd leave $15MM to spend assuming payroll is around $95MM.  The Braves could add $6-15MM in flexibility (minus the salaries of the players coming back) by trading Jurrjens, Tim Hudson, or Derek Lowe, as they have great rotation depth.  They might be in the market for a shortstop, a center fielder, and a reliever or two.

Which Teams Could Use Brandon Wood?

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Brandon Wood seems like he's been an Angels prospect forever.  However, at this point he's 26 years old with 494 career big league plate appearances and a .168/.197/.259 line to his name.  The Halos designated him for assignment last night, and a trade or claim seems likely.

Wood

Since Wood is out of options, any team giving up a prospect of value for him will have to be able to keep him in the Majors rather than risk exposing him to waivers.  Wood can probably play an acceptable shortstop or third base.  This scouting report is three years old, but before the '08 season Baseball America said Wood had unexceptional range but could "handle shortstop just fine," and he was "solid if unspectacular at third base."  He's never played second base, but he might be passable there as well.

I'd like to see a non-contending team install Wood as the starting shortstop and just let him rip for 500 plate appearances.  That plan might be unfair to players who don't have the "advantage" of being out of options.  But the Pirates might as well try him over Ronny Cedeno.  The Mets could be a fit, if they're thinking of trading Jose Reyes in a few months.  Wood could man a middle infield position for the Astros, though they might consider themselves booked between Clint Barmes, Bill Hall, Angel Sanchez, and Jeff Keppinger.  Likewise, the Mariners aren't contenders but would have to do some shuffling to get Wood regular at-bats.

Since they sit atop the AL Central at the moment, I won't rule out the Indians and Royals as contenders.  But the Tribe might be able to get Wood some third base at-bats until they deem Lonnie Chisenhall ready.  Wood could also keep the seat warm at the hot corner for Royals prospect Mike Moustakas.

The Twins, Brewers, and Dodgers were regarded as preseason contenders, but haven't been spectacular in the early going.  All three clubs have question marks at shortstop, though Wood is certainly not a clear upgrade.  The Marlins are cobbling together a solution at third base, though it's actually going well overall.

In the end, I expect Wood to land with a non-contending team like the Pirates.  Like the Royals, the Bucs should still be thinking long-term even though they're technically in contention at the moment.  But even in a lower-pressure environment I'm not sure Wood will get regular playing time, given how far his stock has fallen. 

2012 Contract Issues: Chicago White Sox

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The White Sox are next in our 2012 Contract Issues series.

Eligible For Free Agency (5)

  • Mark Buehrle is a 10-and-5 player, so if the White Sox trade him they need his permission.  I mention this because his contract has a unique clause that adds on a guaranteed $15MM for 2012 only if he's traded.  If he does reach free agency, Buehrle is inclined to play for a contender and in a place that is comfortable for his family.  Retirement isn't out of the question.  Buehrle told Dan McNeil of the Chicago Tribune last month that he doesn't know what the White Sox are thinking, and speculated that maybe they think Chris Sale could do a better job for a lot less money.
  • Edwin Jackson, a Scott Boras client, seems very likely to test the open market.  A breakout season would be nice for his wallet, but so far he's been his inconsistent self.  Though they could lose two starters to free agency, the Sox don't necessarily have to bring two in, if they want to try Sale or Jake Peavy is healthy.
  • Left fielder Juan Pierre is eligible for free agency, so the Sox may need a corner outfielder this offseason.
  • Omar Vizquel and Ramon Castro will also be eligible for free agency.

Contract Options (0)

Arbitration Eligible (3)

The White Sox may have to pay Danks, Quentin, and Pena $20MM for 2012.  That includes a $10MM estimate for Danks, which could be light.  Comparables are scarce for front-end starters in their final arbitration year, but Carlos Zambrano made the leap from $6.5MM to $12.4MM.

2012 Payroll Obligation

The White Sox have a $94.75MM payroll obligation for 2012, according to Cot's, with four $12MM+ salaries locked in.  Throw in another $20MM for the arbitration eligible players, and the team would have roughly $13MM to play with in 2012 salaries if payroll is held constant at $128MM.  The team might need a starter or two, a corner outfielder, and some veteran reserves, but GM Kenny Williams will have to be creative (perhaps by backloading contracts) if he wants to bring in high-salary players, unless payroll is increased again.

Angels Designate Brandon Wood For Assignment

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The Angels designated Brandon Wood for assignment to create roster space for Erick Aybar, who is coming off of the disabled list, according to Angels TV announcer Victor Rojas (on Twitter). After five years of disappointing performances in the majors, the Angels are finally ready to cut ties with the former first round pick, who is now out of options.

Wood followed up his poor 2010 season (.146/.174/.208 line) with a remarkably similar performance in 14 appearances this season (.154/.154/.231). The one-time top prospect will likely draw interest now that he's available; he has 161 minor league homers to his name, including 43 in 2005.

A History Of Upton Brothers Trade Rumors

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B.J. Upton has spent nearly a decade in the Rays organization. His brother, Justin, has spent all six years of his pro career with Arizona. Neither one has ever been traded, B.J. has shown interest in signing a long term deal and Justin signed an extension that keeps him under team control through 2015. Yet without fail, one of the Upton brothers always seems to be all over MLBTR.

Just about every team has been linked to at least one of the two brothers over the years, as you can see below. Here's a historical look at the Upton brothers' involvement in trade rumors:

B.J. Upton

Justin Upton

  • The Red Sox were linked to the younger Upton throughout this past offseason. By some accounts they were the only team to seriously discuss an Upton trade last winter.
  • You thought B.J. drew lots of interest? 15 or 16 teams approached the D'Backs about Justin this November.
  • The Mariners, Marlins, Orioles and Yankees showed interest and even the Rockies inquired. He was also on the Blue Jays' radar last offseason.

D'Backs GM Kevin Towers maintained over the winter that he'd have to be overwhelmed to move Justin. B.J., meanwhile, earns $4.8MM this year and becomes a free agent after the 2012 season. He'll become even more expensive through arbitration next year and the Rays are on a tight budget. That can only mean one thing: B.J. will continue to be a regular in trade rumors this summer.

Nationals Scouted Upton; Haven’t Talked Trade

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The Nationals have scouted B.J. Upton, but aren’t interested in acquiring him now and haven’t discussed a possible trade with the Rays, according to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson. Ladson’s source says the Nationals scouted Upton on routine assignments.

The Nationals are eyeing center field help around the league, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. However, they’re happy with the play of Rick Ankiel, who has become the everyday center fielder since the Nationals sent Nyjer Morgan to Milwaukee. 

GM Mike Rizzo is a supporter of Ankiel’s because he can handle right-handers (.778 career OPS) and plays strong defense, though he struggles to hit left-handers and always has (.658 career OPS). Jerry Hairston Jr. and Roger Bernadina are other internal options for the Nationals to consider.

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