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Archives for August 2012

Reds Designate Mike Costanzo For Assignment

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The Reds have designated Mike Costanzo for assignment, the team announced (on Twitter). The move creates room on the roster for Dioner Navarro.

Costanzo, 28, had one single and one walk in 21 plate appearances for Cincinnati this season, good for a .056/.095/.056 batting line. The infielder was involved in two high profile trades in 2007, first the Brad Lidge–Michael Bourn swap and then the Miguel Tejada–Luke Scott deal.

Quick Hits: Indians, Blum, Dodgers, Blue Jays

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The non-waiver trade deadline has passed, but August figures to be a busy month nonetheless. MLBTR has an explanation of how teams can make trades this month, plus reaction to yesterday’s deadline moves and a poll on which teams didn’t do enough. Here are today’s links…

  • It's time for the Indians to release Derek Lowe and Johnny Damon since the veterans are not producing enough to justify their roster spots, Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes.
  • Geoff Blum told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick that he’s in limbo now, but would love to play again "if the situation is right” (Twitter link). The Diamondbacks released the veteran infielder last month.
  • Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said his starting rotation remains "a concern," Alex Angert of MLB.com reports. Stephen Fife still has a rotation spot despite rumors that the Dodgers might acquire a starter such as Ryan Dempster or Matt Garza.
  • The Blue Jays voided the contract of Venezuelan shortstop Luis Castro after the prospect didn't pass his physical, Ben Badler of Baseball America writes. Castro, 16, had signed for $800K last month.
  • The Red Sox placed Nick Punto and Carl Crawford on waivers today, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Hundreds of players will be placed on waivers this month and only a small percentage of them will be traded.

AL West Notes: Iwakuma, Rangers, Dempster

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The Athletics and Angels are currently positioned as the American League's two Wild Card teams. Both clubs made trades with the Brewers in anticipation of the non-waiver trade deadline, but the Angels' acquisition (Zack Greinke) led to considerably more headlines than the player the A's obtained (George Kottaras). Here's the latest on the other two AL West teams…

  • Sosnick Cobbe Sports no longer represents Mariners right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports (on Twitter). Agent Paul Cobbe said it made sense for the sides to end their business relationship because of some personal differences.
  • Rangers GM Jon Daniels will look out for possible August trade targets this month, Bryan Dolgin of ESPNDallas.com writes. "It's unusual to find an everyday player, a starting pitcher, but you can find some quality role players or relief pitchers out there," Daniels said.
  • Recently-acquired Rangers starter Ryan Dempster said on ESPN 1000's The Waddle & Silvy Show that he never turned down a trade to Atlanta (link via ESPNChicago.com). "All I asked for was more time on one particular trade," the right-hander said. The Cubs sent Dempster to Texas for minor league third baseman Christian Villanueva and minor league right-hander Kyle Hendricks.

Rays Release Hideki Matsui

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The Rays released Hideki Matsui, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (on Twitter). Tampa Bay had designated Matsui for assignment one week ago.

The Rays signed Matsui to a minor league deal in April and he appeared in 34 games with the team. The 38-year-old posted a .147/.214/.221 batting line with two home runs in 103 plate appearances. Wasserman Media Group represents Matsui, who is now a free agent.

Phillies Designate Mike Fontenot For Assignment

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The Phillies announced that they designated infielder Mike Fontenot for assignment. The move creates roster space for utility player Michael Martinez, who has been recalled from Triple-A.

Fontenot, 32, has a .289/.343/.340 batting line in 105 plate appearances this year. He has split his time between second and third since signing a minor league deal with Philadelphia in April. Fontenot could interest teams seeking infield depth as a potential trade candidate.

Dodgers Designate Bobby Abreu For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced that they designated Bobby Abreu for assignment. The move creates room for Shane Victorino on Los Angeles' active roster.

The Angels released Abreu in April after a disappointing opening month, and the Dodgers signed him to a minor league deal a week later. Though Abreu's power has disappeared, he continues to get on base at an above-average rate. The 38-year-old has posted a .246/.347/.340 batting line in 236 total plate appearances this year. The 17-year MLB veteran earns a $9MM salary, but any team can sign him for a pro-rated portion of the MLB minimum if he reaches free agency.

Rockies Restructure Front Office

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12:27pm: The Rockies announced the changes, naming Geivett the senior VP of Major League operations (Twitter links). O'Dowd retains the title of executive VP/general manager and will still be the team's chief baseball executive.

12:00pm: The Rockies are expected to announce a restructuring of the front office today, reports Troy Renck of The Denver Post. Dan O'Dowd will remain the GM but will focus on the minor leagues and player development while assistant GM Bill Geivett receives expanded day-to-day duties with the big league roster.

O'Dowd willl receive assistance from Geivett on the MLB side, according to Renck. Geivett, the Rockies' assistant GM since 2000, will work closely with manager Jim Tracy and continue answering to O’Dowd. For more on Geivett, check out Tim Dierkes’ piece from MLBTR’s 2011 series on potential GM Candidates around MLB.

Deadline Reaction: Dodgers, Angels, Mets, Phillies

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After last year’s non-waiver trade deadline passed I was asked on various radio shows to break down the day’s winners and losers. I listed the Braves as big winners, citing the Michael Bourn trade as a particularly promising move. Little did I know, the Braves would go 26-27 in August and September and miss the playoffs. Meanwhile, Doug Fister, would go 8-1 with a 1.79 ERA and a 57K/5BB ratio in 70 1/3 innings for the Tigers after being acquired from Seattle in a trade that got relatively little fanfare. Detroit pulled away from the rest of the AL Central on the way to an ALCS appearance thanks, in part, to Fister’s tremendous finish. In retrospect the Tigers were definitely trade deadline winners, even though it wasn’t apparent on August 1st, 2011. 

Assessing a flurry of trades so soon after they happen isn’t always easy, but it’s still fun to check out reaction to the trade deadline. Here’s what’s being said about the recent MLB moves…

  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the White Sox, Angels, Dodgers, Yankees and Astros can be considered trade deadline winners. But as Sherman points out, we tend to declare teams winners if they spend money and acquire big names, even though that’s hardly a surefire predictor of success. Sherman isn't so high on moves made by teams such as the Mets, Tigers and Phillies.
  • The Pirates, Rangers and White Sox are among this year's deadline winners, Yahoo's Jeff Passan writes. Passan breaks down each team's deadline moves (or non-moves), writing that the Phillies, Twins and Indians were among the year's losers.
  • Jayson Stark of ESPN.com likes what both L.A. teams did, but he's not impressed by the moves the Marlins and Phillies made. Stark groups the Cubs with Miami and Philadelphia in his 'losers' division.
  • The Nationals would have done well to add some experienced players, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports writes. The Blue Jays, Orioles, Indians and Red Sox came up short at this year's deadline, while the Phillies and Angels did well, Morosi writes.
  • The Dodgers, White Sox and Astros are among this year's winners, Dave Cameron of FanGraphs writes. The Nationals and Rockies didn't do so well in Cameron's estimation.
  • Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reacts to the deadline without providing a definitive list of winners and losers. Instead, he explains the role of the new collective bargaining agreement and examines the role of ownership in midseason trades.
  • Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus ranks the 43 prospects traded in an article at ESPN.com. Jacob Turner and Jean Segura top his list.
  • Matt Eddy of Baseball America recaps this year's trade action with an easy-to-follow guide.
  • Trade season isn’t over yet, and Jed Lowrie and Cliff Lee are among the players who could be traded in August, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes. Here’s MLBTR’s primer on trading in August.

Poll: Which Team Should Have Made A Trade?

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The last ten days have featured dozens of trades, and most of baseball’s 30 teams were responsible for a share of the action. But four clubs — the Orioles, Nationals, Mets and Padres — decided not to make trades. The Orioles (starting pitching, third base), Nationals (bench depth, starting pitching) and Mets (bullpen help) considered upgrades with 2012 in mind, while the Padres considered trading established players such as Chase Headley. In each case the clubs ultimately decided against making major trades. 

Which of these teams, if any, should have made a move?

August Trades

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Teams can still deal after the July 31st trade deadline passes. This MLBTR Glossary entry explains how trading in August works:

  • Teams have to pass players through revocable waivers to trade them after the July 31st deadline.
  • Players acquired after August 31st can't play in the postseason.
  • Teams will often put most of their players on waivers to determine interest, since they don't have to give up every player who's claimed.
  • Unclaimed players can be traded to any club in August (or even September).
  • Teams don't have to trade players who are claimed. They can hand the player and his salary over for nothing.
  • If a team places a player on waivers after he is claimed, but not traded, the team loses the right to pull its player back. In other words, the waivers are revocable at first, but not revocable afterwards.
  • Clubs have two days (48.5 hours) to deal claimed players, but they can only negotiate a trade with one team. Teams have two days to complete a deal regardless of which day of the week the claim takes place on.
  • If only one team claims a player, he can only be dealt to that team.
  • If more than one team claims a player, he can only be traded to the claiming team in his league with the worst record.
  • If a player's only claimed by teams in the other league, he can only be dealt to the claiming team with the worst record.
  • Teams cannot pass players on the disabled list through waivers.

Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts and this article by ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. This post was first published on June 25th, 2009.

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