Archives for June 2012

Astros Sign Carlos Correa

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 7, 2012 at 5:41pm CDT

5:41pm: Correa's bonus is worth $4.8MM, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link).

3:54pm: The deal is official, McTaggart tweets. Luhnow said it's a "monumental day" for the franchise.

THURSDAY, 3:30pm: Correa is in Houston and will sign shortly, Alyson Footer of the Astros reports (on Twitter). The Astros are announcing their deal with the top prospect today.

WEDNESDAY: The Astros have a verbal agreement to sign first overall selection Carlos Correa, according to owner Jim Crane, MLB.com's Brian McTaggart reports (on Twitter). GM Jeff Luhnow said earlier in the week that he expected to sign the Puerto Rican shortstop by Thursday.

Terms of the deal are not yet known but sources told Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com that it will likely be in the vicinity of $5MM. The Astros took signability into heavy consideration and reportedly didn't settle on selecting Correa until the eleventh hour. Pitcher Mark Appel, a Scott Boras client who fell to eighth overall, allegedly rejected a $6MM offer from Houston.

Crane says that the team's deal with Correa is structured in such a way that it will allow the club to also retain some of its favorite picks, according to Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). The Astros will likely need to spend big in order to sign No. 41 pick Lance McCullers Jr., a right-hander who has committed to play for the University of Florida.

Nationals Notes: Draft Signings, Mooneyham

By Mark Polishuk | June 7, 2012 at 5:01pm CDT

Nationals scouting director Kris Kline discussed his club's draft today with the media, including Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post….

The Nationals have agreed to terms with second baseman Tony Renda (second round), outfielder Brandon Miller (fourth round) and catcher Spencer Kieboom (fifth round). The team has also agreed to terms with "several college seniors taken in later rounds."
Kline believes third-round pick Brett Mooneyham will sign "relatively quickly." Mooneyham, a left-handed pitcher out of Stanford, is advised by Scott Boras. Kline spoke highly of Mooneyham's athleticism and potential, describing the pitcher as, at worst, "a Matt Thornton-type bullpen guy."
The team's draft day war room included a draft board charting prospects by how likely they were to sign. The Nationals called prospects each round with a set bonus figure in mind and asked if they would accept. “If it was a ‘no,’ we passed,” Kline said. “If they were hesitant at all, we passed. You just have to….We had to do our due diligence with signability with everybody with the new system in place, because you have limitations. There’s certain guys that were requiring too much money.”

Royals Sign Kyle Zimmer

By Mark Polishuk | June 7, 2012 at 4:52pm CDT

4:52pm: Zimmer signed for a $3MM bonus, reports Jim Callis of Baseball America (Twitter link).

4:07pm: The Royals have announced the signing of right-hander Kyle Zimmer, their first round pick (and the fifth pick overall) from the 2012 amateur draft. Terms of the deal were not announced, but the slot value for the fifth overall pick is $3.5MM. The Royals have already gone over slot on one pick today, third-rounder Colin Rodgers.

Zimmer, 20, was considered to be a prospect who could be on a relatively fast track to the big leagues. He is expected to make a few starts for the Royals' Arizona Rookie League team before heading to a higher-level minor league club. Zimmer has only been pitching since his freshman year at the University of San Francisco but possesses a strong curveball and a fastball that can reach the mid-90's.

Platform Years For First-Time Eligible Starters

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 7, 2012 at 3:38pm CDT

Clayton Kershaw's salary jumped from $500K to $7.5MM this year, and it wasn't just because of his Cy Young performance. Kershaw qualified for arbitration for the first time in his career over the winter, so he obtained the right to establish his salary by comparing his production to that of his peers.

Though $7MM raises are reserved for elite performers like Kershaw, many first-time eligible starting pitchers will see their salaries rise from $500K or so to $2-4.5MM this coming offseason. A player’s case depends in large part on his career numbers, but his most recent season, or platform year, matters a great deal.

Advanced statistics like xFIP, wins above replacement and swinging strike rate don't generally figure in to arbitration cases. Instead, traditional stats such as innings, starts, wins and ERA determine players' salaries.

With one third of the season now complete, let’s check in on the prominent starting pitchers on track to be first-time arbitration eligible this coming offseason:

Injuries have limited Jhoulys Chacin, Doug Fister, Marco Estrada, Chris Narveson and Neftali Feliz. All of these pitchers are on the disabled list, none of them are on pace to complete 150 innings, and three of them — Estrada, Fister and Chacin — remain winless.

Phil Humber and Tommy Hunter have stayed healthy, but they’re off to disappointing starts that include losing records and ERAs above 5.50. The homer-prone Hunter is pitching at Triple-A, and could soon be recalled. The collective bargaining recognizes special accomplishments, and Humber's perfect game definitely qualifies, so his representatives at Moye Sports Associates could play it up should the sides go to a hearing. Yet there's no clear conversion rate in place to help value Humber's perfecto.

Brian Matusz and Ross Detwiler both spent considerable time in the minor leagues last year, but they've responded with solid seasons to date. Both will head to arbitration with losing records, however, and Matusz's career ERA sits at 5.32.

Bud Norris, Ian Kennedy, Tommy Hanson, Mat Latos and, to a lesser extent, Mike Leake all entered the season with the bulk innings totals that often lead to generous salaries in arbitration. All five pitchers continue piling up innings, though Leake, Latos and Norris have ERAs above 4.50. The pitchers in this group figure to be compared against one another over and over this coming winter.

Former top prospects Jeff Samardzija and James McDonald (pictured) are enjoying breakout seasons. Both right-handers have career-best walk rates and are averaging one strikeout per inning. If they can keep this up — or at least come reasonably close to doing so — their paychecks will reflect the improvements in 2013 and beyond. Unfortunately for Samardzija, starters Rick Porcello and David Price didn't seem to be able to use their generous pre-arbitration salaries to boost their arbitration earnings this past offseason, so his current $2.64MM salary probably won't help much.

It's early enough for the fortunes of these pitchers to change dramatically. Feliz could return to the bullpen, Fister could replicate last year's second half success, or Samardzija could regress. But, ten-plus starts into the season, these pitchers' platform seasons have started taking shape.

Photo courtesy of US Presswire. Stats via Baseball-Reference.com. Note that Derek Holland and Jonathon Niese signed extensions covering what would have been their first arb years. Madison Bumgarner, Stephen Strasburg and Daniel Hudson are expected to fall just shy of super two eligibility, though that's not official.

Braves Sign Lucas Sims

By Zachary Links | June 7, 2012 at 2:35pm CDT

THURSDAY: Sims will obtain a bonus of $1.65MM, David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (on Twitter). The Braves announced that they have signed Sims (Twitter link).

WEDNESDAY: Braves scouting director Tony DeMacio revealed that the club agreed to sign first round pick Lucas Sims, according to Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The right-hander from Georgia's Brookwood High School was tabbed with the 21st overall pick. Terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed but the pick has a suggested bonus of $1.825MM.

In addition to Sims, the Braves also reached agreement with their other top five selections. That includes second round pick Alex Wood (left-handed pitcher), third round pick Bryan De La Rosa (catcher), fourth round selection Justin Black (center fielder, already signed), fifth rounder Blake Brown (right fielder), and sixth round pick Josh Elander (catcher).

Royals Sign Third-Round Pick Colin Rodgers

By Tim Dierkes | June 7, 2012 at 1:37pm CDT

The Royals have signed third-round draft pick Colin Rodgers, MLBTR has learned. The Louisiana high school southpaw signed for $700K, exceeding MLB's slot of $476,500 for the 100th overall pick. Rodgers is represented by Tripper Johnson of Sosnick Cobbe Sports.

Rodgers, who had committed to Auburn, told Justin Hokanson of AuburnSports.com he had a tentative agreement with the Royals but had yet to make a final decision. Baseball America ranked Rodgers 207th on their top 500, grading the lefty's curveball as plus when he's at his best.

Rangers Designate John Gaub For Assignment

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 7, 2012 at 11:13am CDT

The Rangers designated left-hander John Gaub for assignment, Anthony Andro of FOXSportsSouthwest.com reports (on Twitter). The team is placing Derek Holland on the disabled list and calling up Tanner Scheppers in corresponding moves.

The Rangers recently claimed Gaub off of waivers from the Rays, who had claimed him from the Cubs earlier this year. Gaub, 27, has a 3.43 ERA with 10.7 K/9 and 6.0 BB/9 in 21 innings for the top affiliates of the Rays and Rangers in 2012. He appeared in four games for the Cubs last season and has a 3.69 ERA with 11.7 K/9 and 6.3 BB/9 across parts of four Triple-A seasons.

Regular MLBTR Features

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 7, 2012 at 11:06am CDT

If you're a regular MLBTR reader, you'll be familiar with our chats, our Week In Review posts and Mike Axisa's Baseball Blogs Weigh In feature. Here's some more detail on when you'll see our weekly features and exactly what to expect from them:

MLBTR Chats - Come by every Wednesday at 2pm CDT to chat about the latest trades, signings and rumblings around the Major Leagues.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In - Every Friday morning, Mike Axisa directs you to some of the best writing on baseball blogs around the web. Whether it's opinion, stats or something else entirely, you can connect to the best of the blogosphere once a week on MLBTR. If you want to send Mike a post of yours, reach him at: mike@riveraveblues.com.
Week In Review - It's remarkable how much happens in seven days. Every Sunday night, we summarize the week's biggest stories in our Week In Review posts.
MLBTR Originals - We gather all our original analysis and reporting in one place every Sunday night.

NL East Notes: Galvis, Halladay, Harper

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 7, 2012 at 9:50am CDT

The Phillies announced that they placed infielder Freddy Galvis on the 15-day disabled list and recalled utility player Michael Martinez from Triple-A. Here are some links from the NL East…

Roy Halladay intends to win a World Series in Philadelphia, but Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports doesn't consider the Phillies a championship caliber team given their age and declining performances. Halladay said he aims to retire as a Phillie — a more attainable goal in Morosi's view. Because of Halladay's DL stint, he's on track for free agency following the 2013 season unless he completes 225 innings next year and 415 innings total over 2012-13.
Bryce Harper's historically hot start has caught his teammates' attention, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. The 19-year-old outfielder is on track to finish the season with a historically high OPS for someone so young. Harper, who knows fellow top prospect Mike Trout personally, says he'd enjoy playing with Trout — as long as it's with the Nationals. “I don’t want to leave here, I can tell you that,” Harper said.
The Nationals announced that they recalled Tyler Moore from Triple-A and placed Carlos Maldonado on the 15-day disabled list.

Diamondbacks Notes: Drew, Upton, Bauer, Trahan

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 7, 2012 at 8:12am CDT

It’s been a busy week for the Diamondbacks, not only because of the draft, but because of the public admission from managing partner Ken Kendrick that he’s disappointed in Stephen Drew and Justin Upton. Here are some notes on the team via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic…

GM Kevin Towers said Kendrick has the right to make bold comments, even if they don’t often occur in Arizona. “That happens in New York City about once a month, and in Boston and other places,” Towers said. “It kind of shocks everybody when it happens out here because you don’t see it happen that often.”
Towers said the Diamondbacks aren’t really looking for ways to add top pitching prospect Trevor Bauer to the big league team. The GM noted that Bauer has done basically everything the team has asked of him in the upper minors.
Scouting director Ray Montgomery said the Diamondbacks and first round selection Stryker Trahan are “in an area where [the sides] both feel like [they're] going to get something done,” as we heard from Piecoro last night.

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