The Athletics signed Brian Fuentes to a two-year, $10.5MM contract on this date last year. The veteran left-hander posted a 3.70 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 36.7% ground ball rate in 58 1/3 innings for the A's and is set to earn $5MM this coming season. Here are the latest links from the AL West…
- The Rangers want Prince Fielder to go along with Yu Darvish, but are wary of saying so publicly, Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes. Though they don’t want to offer an Albert Pujols-like $240MM deal, they’d like to sign Fielder, the top free agent remaining.
- The Angels are likely to add a late-inning reliever before Opening Day, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweets. Francisco Cordero and Brad Lidge are among the relievers who have been linked to the Angels this month.
- The Mariners, who signed Oliver Perez yesterday, view the lefty as a reliever, Morosi of FOX Sports tweets.
- Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times explains that before Darvish turned pro, the Angels were willing to offer a lucrative bonus to lure him to MLB. The Dodgers had been scouting Darvish since he was 15 and Tommy Lasorda was intrigued by the right-hander’s stuff.
- The A's are shopping first baseman Brandon Allen, Jerry Crasnick reported this morning.
That is actually interesting. Due to his high K rate, and that bullpen duties should increase the speed on his fastball, Oliver Perez might actually make an interesting lefty out of the pen.
His numbers against lefties weren’t that bad, at least I don’t think they were.
That and if he starts tanking it you can give him a quick hook without worrying too much about taxing the entire pen.
Of course the Rangers want to sign Fielder! For 2 years, 10 million.
They could still make him a significant offer, but if it’s completely about the money, then he’ll probably be a Nat.
it is about the money. or his agent wouldnt be demanding pujols money. but i still believe he will stay in the NL. and the nats would be perfect as their about set to contend in a year or two. if harper gets into the majors on opening day i could see them really giving florida i mean miami and philly a run for thier money.
Well, if the Rangers weren’t too far off from matching the Nats’ offer, I have a hard time believing he’d rather go to D.C.
He knows what offense he’d be a part of in Texas, and he knows his chances of winning a championship would be much higher (as of right now. I’m not knocking the Nats).
but see the rangers have to be interested, but on ESPN just now i seen the rangers GM say they are not interested in signing him.
Lol there’s no point in even reading quotes from most GMs. Of course he wouldn’t want people to know the extent of his interest, nor show Boras how much money he has.
I’m not saying Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan are flat-out lying, but you just have to take what most GMs say with a grain of salt.
I can’t even begin to tell you how many times a year a GM says they have no interest in a guy then sign that guy a week or two later. If Nolan and gang wants him, and the price is reasonable (15-18 mill a year, which is probably unreasonable with Boras running meetings), the. I think Texas gets this done. Especially with how cheap Darvish ended up being.
I still wouldn’t rule out the Mariners on Fielder. They have about 15M to spend if they want to match last seasons payroll. And they could get creative with the details of a contract. If they view Montero as a catcher, acquiring him has little affect on their interest in Prince.
Montero will be a 1B/DH.
Says who? The M’s have Smoak at 1B. And he is a good bet to get as many PA’s as Montero. If they sign Fielder then Smoak is probably the DH with Fielder playing 1B.
Except that M’s have stated that they don’t have the budget to sign Fielder (continuing a trend of cutting payroll to match declining attendance), and Fielder is known to prefer a destination closer to his home in Florida (of which Washington and Texas would suffice, and Seattle…well, not so much).
And yes, Montero would definitely be an offensive upgrade at catcher, but I’ve heard his defense described as a “brutal.” If he could spend the majority of time at catcher it would certainly help the M’s ease a log jam they already have at lf/1b/dh (Smoak, Carp, Wells, T. Robinson), but if he impacts the defense or pitching negatively, that might not be realistic.
While it’s possible that the M’s could reduce player payroll, reducing it by 15M seems unlikely. I think that Wells could see playing time with Seattle in 2012, but Robinson will probably play at AAA Tacoma. I’m still waiting to see the M’s upgrade at 3B and LF. Carlos Guillen could be a cheap addition for either position.
They state they don’t have the money in the budget but further investigating revealed they actually do have the money. They have plenty of money. They just aren’t fully committed to putting a winner out there like the Angels and Rangers. Why? I don’t know.
Jeff, the Mariners have consistently been in the top half of baseball in payroll. However, one can’t always say they spent wisely, and the not-so-hot results on the field have caused dwindling attendance and financial losses each season. The M’s don’t have the radio/tv contract of a large market team to cover any shortfalls. The Mariners also have a rightfielder with diminishing skills who is taking up $18 M (nearly one-fourth) of the projected payroll.
Eric, Jack Z has been quoted as saying the Mariners only have an additional $3-4 M to spend on payroll. Maybe that gets them a Guillen, but no way would it allow them to being in Fielder. My guess is that they take that money and look for some kind of a veteran starter to replace Pineda. And every projection I’ve seen has Robinson included as one of the 25 making the team out of spring training. His spot is by no means certain, but short of Jack Z going dumpster diving and adding a last minute, twistng in the wind guy like Spilborghs or Damon, I think he’s in the Mariners plans for 2012.
I still wouldn’t rule out the Mariners on Fielder. They have about 15M to spend if they want to match last seasons payroll. And they could get creative with the details of a contract. If they view Montero as a catcher, acquiring him has little affect on their interest in Prince.
I’ve heard so many different things regarding Fielder that I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve heard everything from the Rangers aren’t interested/don’t have the money, to the “don’t have the money” being a ploy to keep the asking price down, to the Rangers waiting on Fielder to approach them.
I also heard that he turned down a pretty lucrative offer from the Nationals, which was supposedly his way of saying he wanted to play for the Rangers.
From what we are hearing in North Texas the Rangers want Fielder in a 4-6 yr deal that would be loaded heavy on the back end. Say 12-15m yr 1,2 and then 30m 3,4,5 with options. This would work with the expiring contract of Michael Young which takes the needed gap off the books.
Obviously the agent will drive the top price considering it benefits him too…
Maybe he will go to the Nat’s or Balt, but seems something such as a WS would be a nice cherry on top of a $100m deal.
Where did you see that? I live here too and haven’t seen anything about the years that Texas would offer.
How would you like to be an Astros fan? Your team gets blackmailed into switching to the Arena League but you *still* have to face Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder in your division as if you never left the NL Central? Thanks, Bud Selig. I hope somebody super glues your sphincter shut.
The Astros are being paid $80 million to switch leagues. If that’s blackmail, I’d most happily submit.
lol reverse blackmail?
How would you like to be an Astros fan? Your team gets blackmailed into switching to the Arena League but you *still* have to face Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder in your division as if you never left the NL Central? Thanks, Bud Selig. I hope somebody super glues your sphincter shut.
A lucrative, long-term contract would be ideal for him, but I don’t think Fielder is going to get that. The Nat’s and M’s have the money for it, but it seems like their interest is fading somewhat. If that’s the case, he should sign a short-term deal with the Rangers. The Rangers probably can’t, and if they can shouldn’t, offer Fielder a long-term deal. With his prodigious power, and Texas’ ballpark dimensions, he could put up some legendary numbers. And when his deal is up, he could hit free agency again with even more value. That’s just what I would think would be the best for Fielder if the Nats or M’s don’t pony up.
Brandon Allen to the Pirates? Just fishing and it’s late so no clear thought on this one.
The angels are obviously in the running for Fielder. 4 first basemen makes perfect sense. I heard Fielder is looking leaner too, so if aybar doesn’t sign an extension, we have our new SS.
Yankees should try to get Allen on the cheap to play DH, is he the next Willy-Mo or is he better?