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Archives for January 2012

Mets Re-Sign Miguel Batista

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The Mets re-signed righty Miguel Batista to a minor league deal, tweets Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.  They also added Fernando Cabrera, tweets MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.

Batista, 41 in February, posted a 3.60 ERA, 4.7 K/9, 5.0 BB/9, 0.30 HR/9, and 44.9% groundball rate in 60 innings for the Mets and Cardinals last year.  He ended the Mets' season on a high note with a shutout against the Reds.

Cabrera, 30, posted a 2.71 ERA, 10.4 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, and 0.86 HR/9 in 63 innings for the Athletics' Triple-A affiliate last year.

So far this offseason, the Mets have also signed Chuck James, Garrett Olson, Rob Johnson, Lucas May, Val Pascucci, Omar Quintanilla, Mike Baxter, Adam Loewen, and Vinny Rottino to minor league deals.

Latest On Kerry Wood

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10:38am: The Cubs offered Wood a "substantial" raise, GM Jed Hoyer told reporters today.  Wood had a below-market base salary of $1.5MM in 2011.

9:34am: Kerry Wood's "days as a Cub appear all but over," writes Dave Kaplan of CSNChicago.com after talking to a source with knowledge of the reliever's negotiations with the team.  Kaplan quotes his source:

"Woody wanted to be here despite the rebuilding process but while the Cubs were saying they wanted him back they were unwilling to pay him the market value for a solid set up man.  He has heard from a number of teams that are World Series contenders and they are all willing to pay him a very fair salary to strengthen their bullpen. The Cubs expected him to pitch for another hometown discount. He has already done that for them a couple of times before. There is no reason that he should have to do that again."

Wood told Kaplan last night on WGN Sports Radio that his family plans on staying in the Chicago area for a long time whether or not he finishes his career with the Cubs.  Last week Cubs president Theo Epstein said he was "actively involved in negotations" to bring Wood back, noting, "I think this one should work out."  If Epstein and Wood fail to find common ground, Kaplan says the Tigers, Phillies, Reds, Angels, and others are interested.

Cubs Sign Paul Maholm

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The Cubs' revamped rotation has gotten deeper, as they've officially signed lefty Paul Maholm to a one-year, $4.75MM deal that includes a 2013 club option for $6.5MM with a $500K buyout.  He can earn up to $550K in incentives each year, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  With Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, Chris Volstad, Travis Wood, and Randy Wells already on the club, the new Cubs management has accumulated much-improved rotation depth.  The Maholm signing isn't a precursor to another move, GM Jed Hoyer told reporters today.

Maholm

As a member of the Pirates for seven seasons, Maholm has logged 64 career innings at Wrigley Field. The 29-year-old posted a 3.66 ERA, 5.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.61 HR/9, and 49.9% groundball rate in 162 1/3 innings for the Bucs in 2011. I ranked him as the ninth-best free agent starter in October. Maholm, a Bo McKinnis client, had his 2011 season cut short in August due to a shoulder strain. After the season the Pirates chose a $750K buyout over his $9.75MM club option.

So far this offseason Cubs president Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer have signed David DeJesus, Reed Johnson, Manny Corpas, and Andy Sonnanstine via free agency. They've added Ian Stewart, Casey Weathers, Ronald Torreyes, Dave Sappelt, Wood, Volstad, Zach Cates, and Anthony Rizzo via trade.

Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago first reported the near-agreement, with Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune adding contract details.  Mike Axisa contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Extension Candidate: Michael Morse

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Michael Morse's emergence for the Nationals began in 2010, when he hit 15 home runs in a half-season.  Given the chance to play every day in 2011, Morse's production more than held up.  The first baseman/left fielder hit .303/.360/.550 with 31 home runs in 575 plate appearances, snagging a couple of down-ballot MVP votes.

Morse

Morse turns 30 in March and has four years and 114 days of Major League service time.  Matt Swartz's projections for MLBTR call for approximately a $3.9MM salary for 2012, Morse's second time through arbitration.  The Nationals control him for the 2013 season as well.

Morse is represented by ACES, an agency that has shown an openness to extensions in the past.  Nationals GM Mike Rizzo has a few on his ledger as well, for Ryan Zimmerman and Sean Burnett.  As a player who will be 30 when the season begins with one full strong season on his resume, I imagine Morse will be more open than most to signing an extension two years away from free agency.

Comparables will be hard to come by.  Two players who signed three-year deals with between four and five years of service might be factors: Michael Cuddyer and Carlos Pena.  Cuddyer and Pena signed three-year extensions for about $24MM in January of 2008, guaranteeing two arbitration years and one free agent season.  Cuddyer's contract had a club option for a second free agent season.

Cuddyer and Pena actually weren't directly comparable.  Cuddyer was not coming off his best season, and had accumulated his service in a normal way.  Pena was coming off a monster 46 home run, 121 RBI campaign after spending most of 2006 in the minors.  Morse's platform year sits between that of Cuddyer and Pena, and his career AVG/OBP/SLG tops Pena if batting average is considered.  However, Morse gets crushed in career counting stats, having only one full season to his credit.  Morse has 383 career games and 1260 plate appearances, compared to 600+ games and 2300+ plate appearances each for Cuddyer and Pena.  Plus, Cuddyer and Pena signed four years ago.

Morse, ACES, and the Nationals might have to forge somewhat new territory.  I propose $3.5MM for 2012, $6MM for 2013, and $9MM for 2014, for a total of $18.5MM over three years.  The Nationals will probably want a club option for a fourth year, perhaps at $10MM.  If the $18.5MM range seems low, remember that Morse earned only $1.35MM in 2011 and his 2012-13 salaries will stem from that amount.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Orioles Sign Wei-Yin Chen

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The Orioles reached an agreement with lefty Wei-Yin Chen on a three-year deal worth less than $12MM, tweets Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun.  The Orioles have since announced the deal, noting that Chen is the first Taiwanese player in team history and the contract includes a club option for 2015.

As a Taiwanese player in Nippon Professional Baseball, Chen had free agency negotiated into his contract with the Chunichi Dragons.  Last year in Japan, Chen posted a 2.68 ERA, 5.1 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, and 0.49 HR/9 in 164 2/3 innings.  He ranked 19th on Keith Law's top 50 free agents list.  Law offered a positive scouting report, concluding that Chen "offers more upside than the typical NPB refugee, both due to age and the chance for the slider to become a consistently plus pitch."  Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette described Chen in a statement: "Chen works off of a 92-94 mile per hour fastball and he uses a hard, slurve-like breaking ball as an out-pitch.  He has exceptional command and we like the quality of his pitches to help our team."

Duquette has gone the international route to supplement his rotation, having already added an NPB starter in December in Tsuyoshi Wada.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that the Orioles were close to a multiyear deal with Chen.

Orioles Designate Kyle Hudson For Assignment

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The Orioles announced they've designated outfielder Kyle Hudson for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot for newly-signed lefty Wei-Ying Chen.

In the minors Hudson hit .296/.375/.336 in 485 plate appearances, ascending from High-A to the Majors with stops at each level along the way.  Hudson, 25, played mostly center and left field.  In a chat yesterday, Baseball America's Will Lingo wrote that the speedy Hudson is "a premium athlete, but he's still refining his baseball skills, particularly his swing."

Orioles Re-Sign Willie Eyre

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The Orioles re-signed righty reliever Willie Eyre to a minor league deal with a spring training invite, tweets Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com.  The Orioles had designated Eyre for assignment upon acquiring Dana Eveland in December, and non-tendered him a few days later.

Eyre, a 33-year-old Sosnick Cobbe client, had 18 1/3 big league innings in 2011.  For the Athletics' Triple-A affiliate, he posted a 3.48 ERA, 6.5 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, and 0.73 HR/9 in 62 innings.

Red Sox Sign Justin Germano

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The Red Sox have signed Justin Germano, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). The 29-year-old righty finished last season in Korea, and Heyman says he turned down more than $1MM overseas for a chance to make the Sox.

Germano allowed eight runs in 12 2/3 innings for the Indians last season before joining the Samsung Lions. He owns a 5.02 ERA in 253 career innings for the Tribe, Reds, and Padres. He also spent time in Japan earlier in his career. The Red Sox recently added Aaron Cook as well, as they look to build some pitching depth.

Quick Hits: La Russa, Cordero, Ayala, Oliver, Vizquel

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Some links as Monday turns into Tuesday…

  • Joe Strauss of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says (on Twitter) Tony La Russa is seriously weighing his career options and hopes to have an answer soon, perhaps before Spring Training. It's been speculated that La Russa could join a team in a front office role after retiring from managing.
  • The Angels have talked to Francisco Cordero's representatives recently according to MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez. He says it's hard to gauge where the team is in the race for the right-hander given all the money they've already spent this offseason, among other things.
  • The Yankees maintain interest in re-signing reliever Luis Ayala according to MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith (on Twitter). Ayala posted a 2.09 ERA with a 50% ground ball rate in 56 IP for New York last season. Last month we learned that six teams were pursuing the righty.
  • Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter) that the Rangers didn't offer Darren Oliver anything close to the $4.5MM he got from the Blue Jays. He says they remain in the market for left-handed bullpen help, and Mike Gonzalez still fits.
  • Omar Vizquel hinted at retirement on his Twitter account today, saying "[if] there is no contract [offer] there will be no other option but to start a new career, [as a] coach," according to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes (link in Spanish).
  • Troy Renck of The Denver Post reports that Casey Blake will have to come to the plate 550 times this season to max out the $1MM in incentives in his contract with the Rockies. He'll earn the first $350K in bonuses at 350 plate appearances.
  • Within the same piece, Renck says that Aaron Cook's minor league deal with the Red Sox will pay him $20K per month in the minors. He can make an additional $2MM by making 30 starts in the big leagues, and the escalators kick in at 15 starts. Cook can request his release if he's not on the 25-man roster on May 1st and again on June 1st.

Hiroyuki Nakajima Re-Signs With Seibu Lions

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After failing to come to a contract agreement with the Yankees, Hiroyuki Nakajima has returned to the Seibu Lions on a one-year contract worth $3.64MM plus incentives according to a Sanspo report passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The 29-year-old shortstop will become an international free agent after the season and is expected to pursue a deal with an MLB team.

The Yankees won Nakajima's negotiating rights with a $2MM bid in early-December. They offered a one-year contract but money was reportedly not the reason they failed to come to terms on a contract, instead it was years. Nakajima wanted to become a free agent after the deal expired while the Yankees wanted standard control (six years). He hit .297/.354/.433 with 16 home runs and 27 doubles in 633 plate appearances for Seibu in 2011. 

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