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Athletics Open Bidding On Beltre At Five Years?

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2:48pm: SI.com's Jon Heyman hears that Beltre's camp is using Torii Hunter's five year, $90MM contract as a comparable for their expectations (Twitter link).

2:01pm: Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes tweets that Oakland offered Beltre five years and $64MM, the same contract he signed with Seattle before the 2005 season.

12:06pm: The Athletics made an initial offer of $45MM over five years to third baseman Adrian Beltre, according to Juan Mercado at the Dominican daily El Dia (link in Spanish).  Enrique Rojas at ESPN Deportes recently identified the team as a serious suitor for Beltre.

Opening the bidding at five years for the 31-year-old is certainly an aggressive opening salvo toward the dozen or so teams that reportedly hope to land Beltre. Mercado cites a source saying this is the first offer made thus far to Beltre, though at $9MM annually, the A's offer is a good step below the four years, $52MM that Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe recently labeled a likely ceiling for the Red Sox.

Torrealba Cutting Ties With Padres

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The Padres view Nick Hundley as their starting catcher of the future, and Yorvit Torrealba isn't looking to take a diminshed role or salary. While the 32-year-old had already declined his side of a $3.5MM mutual option, he further confirmed his bachelorhood in a phone interview with Carlos Alberto Gonzalez of Lider en Deportes (link in Spanish) yesterday, saying:

"It's not very likely that I'll continue with the Padres, because they want to reduce payroll and they're offering me much less than I had hoped; in fact, they want to give me less than I made this year."

And it's not just his own case that soured Torrealba on the Padres. He also questioned the team's approach to its star players, saying, "It seems like they want to get rid of Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell." In the short term, Torrealba said his agent will be at the winter meetings this week trying to wrangle a two-year deal, preferably from a National League team. His former team the Rockies are the only NL team he noted as having called him thus far, while from the American League he has received queries from the Mariners, Rangers, and Red Sox.

In platoon duty with the Rockies and Padres over the last two years, Torrealba has shown he can still get on base at around a .350 clip and respectably control the running game. He threw out 37% of would-be base stealers last season in just under 800 innings, his best marks in both categories since 2007 and 2006, respectively. Torrealba generally shows more power against right-handed pitching, but his OBP has actually been higher against left-handers in three of the last four seasons, and his .698 OPS against lefties this season was higher than a number of higher-profile regulars, including fellow free agent A.J. Pierzynski.

MLBTR's Tim Dierkes sees Torrealba taking over first-string catching duties from Russell Martin in Los Angeles, though a reuinion of the Torrealba/Chris Iannetta platoon that put the Rockies near the top in catcher OPS leaguewide in 2008 and 2009 could also be interesting. However, if the catcher has his eyes on something closer to a full-time role than he had in San Diego, one of the AL squads he mentioned could be his best bet. On the Padres' side, they have one more week to offer Torrealba arbitration and potentially earn another draft pick if the catcher—who is a type B free agent—follows through and signs elsewhere.

Vlad Looking For Multi-Year Deal

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Vladimir Guerrero was hoping to sign a two-year contract last winter, but after finding surprisingly limited interest, found himself settling for one year, $5.5MM plus incentives. As MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith noted last week, Guerrero made the Rangers look quite the clever shoppers, but the 35-year-old slugger told Hector Gomez at the Dominican paper Listin Diario (link in Spanish) yesterday that his resurgent year at the plate has once again raised his expectations for the offseason.

"I want a two-or three-year contract," Guerrero said, "but I'm not going to say the amount of money I want, just that I want a contract in line with the type of season I had." The first half of that season saw Guerrero looking like the beast of old, putting up a .319/.364/.554 line, and even after his .278/.322/.426 second half, he joins Jim Thome at the head of the free agent DH class this offseason. Guerrero told Gomez his primary remaining goal in baseball is to hit the 64 home runs he needs to reach 500, which would be feasible over a three-year deal. However, a glance at this year's free agents reveals all the same names that Guerrero was up against last winter, showing how rare multi-year deals have become at the position.

Latin Links: Beltre, Renteria, V-Mart, Balentien

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Links from Spanish-language news sources, highlighted by a rumor-packed tweet from un hombre de Bristol (links in Spanish).

  • Enrique Rojas at ESPN Deportes says the A's are working hard to sign yet another third baseman. Only this time, it's Adrian Beltre, who reportedly turned down a three-year, $24MM offer from the team last winter.
  • In the same tweet, Rojas says the Dodgers are interested in Edgar Renteria and his willingness to play second base, notes that there is a "good market" for Miguel Tejada, and revives an old rumor with a question: "Vic-Mart with the Rays?"
  • According to Jorge Ebro at El Nuevo Herald, 17-year old Cuban centerfielder Yasiel Balaguer has defected to Nicaragua with hopes of signing with a Major League team. Ebro cites reports saying Balaguer's big draws are his explosive speed and throwing arm, though he has shown some offensive power as well in the Cuban National Series.
  • Former Mariner and Red Wladimir Balentien has told his usual Venezuelan Winter League team, the Leones de Caracas, that he can't play this winter because he has signed with a team in Japan, reports Cesar Augusto Marquez at Lider en Deportes. Marquez doesn't say which team Balentien has joined.

Bartolo Colon Back On The Radar

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Bartolo Colon looked sharp in the most recent step of his return to action last night, holding the defending Dominican Winter League and Carribean Series champions the Leones del Escogido to a pair of singles in five scoreless innings. Colon struck out six for the Alguiles del Cibao, according to Jose Caceres' recap in the Dominican daily Hoy (link in Spanish), as he generally overwhelmed hitters with a mixture of fastballs and sinkers.

Colon announced he was attempting a comeback to Yoel Adames of ESPN Deportes in late October while pitching for the champion Dominican team in the Pan-American Games qualifier. He said at the time that he "maintains conversations" with the Yankees, Rockies, Cardinals, and Tigers, though other teams approached him following his complete game victory over Nicaragua on October 10. The 37-year-old right-hander was solid in three of his four appearances in Puerto Rico, the only exception being a 2.3-inning, six-run drubbing by Team USA that Colon chalked up to inadequate rest. 

Though he hasn't pitched in the majors since 2009, Colon pointed to the offseason following the 2005 season as the focal point of his decline. That winter, Colon pitched for the Dominican Republic in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, fresh off of his 21-win, 222 inning Cy Young campaign. The extra workload, he said, left a lingering soreness in his pitching elbow that marred his ensuing three seasons with the Angels and Red Sox, culminating in surgery to remove bone spurs in 2009.

After signing with the White Sox in January 2009, Colon was effective through 19 starts, pitching to a 4.19 ERA before a knee injury ended his season in July. He said he has devoted the ensuing year to training in the Domincan Republic, and he claims to be throwing pain-free at his customary "full velocity." If Colon continues to pitch well and is willing to sign for around the $1MM that he received from the White Sox in 2009, he could make sense for the teams on his contact list and a number of others looking to add some upside to the back end of their rotation.

Renteria Wants To Retire With Cardinals Or Marlins

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One way or another, Edgar Renteria wants to bring his career full circle and return to the site of his postseason heroics. Few other players could say this and still keep their options open, but Renteria has some choices. Changing course from a recent statement that he would prefer to return to the Giants, Renteria told reporters in his hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia yesterday that he would like to retire playing either for the Cardinals or the Marlins (link in Spanish).

Over the course of nearly an hour of questioning, Renteria explained that he had been undecided about retirement following the World Series, so he sought the opinions of the baseball minds he admired most. "God sent me a message through the MVP, and I don't know if he did it so that I would retire or so that I would keep going," Renteria said. "In any case, I spoke with important baseball people like Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox, and Manny Mota, and they suggested that I continue, and I'm motivated."

Renteria reiterated that he is willing to play second base as well as shortstop, though even after his down 2009 campaign, the 35-year-old stands out as a feasible backup and occasional starter on both sides of the bag. Both the Cardinals and the Marlins have their 2009 and 2010 starting middle infields under contract for 2011, though the Cardinal duo of Skip Schumaker and Brendan Ryan customarily leave more opportunities for spot-starts and substitutions than the Marlins' steady Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez. Though the Marlins aren't a fit for Renteria now, a spot could open up if they are unable to reach an agreement with Uggla and explore trading the second baseman.

Puerto Rican Links: Beltran, Delgado, Listach

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'Tis the season for Puerto Rican players to head back to the island for winter ball and home cooking. Links are in Spanish…

  • At the opening of a baseball academy yesterday, Carlos Beltran told Fernando Ribas Reyes of El Nuevo Dia that the Mets have invited the center fielder to meet with new GM Sandy Alderson. Beltran was non-committal about his approach, saying, "It doesn't matter what I think. The organization is going to do what they think is best for them. The way I can control it is to have a good year. If I do, I know there will be teams interested in me. For my part, I'd like to play in New York a few years more."
  • In a separate piece, Carlos Delgado told Reyes he hasn't been approached by any major league teams so far this offseason. Delgado insisted he has no preferences about where he plays, and admited that he has had a few doubts about his ability to return to the majors.
  • Pat Listach, former Nationals third base coach and recent candidate for the Brewers managerial opening, told Junior Lugo Marrero at Periodico La Perla that making the jump from base coach to manager remains one of his goals. At the moment, Listach is managing the Ponce Lions in Puerto Rico, and he described his style as that of "an aggressive manager who likes the hit and run and moving players around the bases." In the shorter term, Listach will be joining the Cubs as bench coach, reported Rhett Bollinger at MLB.com two days ago.

Bengie Molina Still Thinking Retirement

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With a World Series ring and two Gold Gloves, Bengie Molina doesn't have much left to prove where hardware is concerned. Yet it still surprised many, including Molina's then-manager Bruce Bochy, when the 36-year-old announced in May that he would likely retire at the end of the season. At the time, Bochy dismissed the prediction as "posturing" in the midst of the veteran's uprooting by Buster Posey, but Molina has held firm through the end of the season.

"I'd like to say [I'm coming back], but the way this year is going, I think it's going to be my last year," Molina told the Spanish Baseball Network's Rolando Nichols (link and video in Spanish) in late September. Pressed for details, Molina added a few disclaimers and plenty of shrugs, saying, "I'm not sure. If someone needs me and they want me to play, for the right price, why not? I can play. I'm still in good shape."  It bears mentioning that Molina was trolling for a two-year deal last winter, though he didn't like what he found and ended up accepting a one-year, $4.5MM deal with the Giants. After putting up a .249/.297/.326 combined line with the Giants and Rangers this season, with his fewest innings in five years and fewer home runs and RBIs than in any season since the millenium, Molina could have trouble finding that kind of payday again.

Reyes Open To Playing Other Positions

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Jose Reyes told Constantino Viloria at the Spanish-language New York paper La Opinion that he is open-minded about his future with the Mets. As in past interviews, Reyes dismissed the possibility that he would play anywhere but with the Mets, the organization that scouted and signed him as a teenager in the Dominican Republic. The team holds an $11MM option on Reyes for 2011, which seems a no-brainer given the options on the free agent market.

However, Reyes added a new twist by telling Viloria that while he would prefer to stay at short, he "hasn't ruled out" changing positions. More specifically, Reyes mentions that "I played several games at second base for the Mets," referring to the 43 games he logged at the keystone in 2004.

Reyes' preferences aside, there is an argument to be made for bumping the 27-year-old one slot to the right. First of all, one of the team's top position prospects (along with Fernando Martinez and others) is 18-year-old shortstop Wilmer Flores, who has been showing promise at the lower levels of the Mets system—though some see his future outside of the infield. In any event, once the Mets are free of their commitment to Luis Castillo at the end of 2011 (or sooner by trade), there is no ready replacement within the upper levels of the system save Ruben Tejada, a natural shortstop like Reyes but without his speed or offensive ceiling.

In terms of offense, Reyes' .735 OPS this season compares little better to other second basemen than it would have back in 2004, when the likes of Jeff Kent and Alfonso Soriano were setting the power bar. For now, his production puts him firmly on the Orlando Hudson watershed line (.729 OPS), well below boppers like Cano/Pedroia/Kinsler/Utley but still above the slappy types like Schumaker/Theriot/Barmes.

However, after a few more months of an injured Castillo, Alex Cora and fliers like Tejada, Reyes' willingness to switch could resurface as a topic of discussion, especially as it may give the team the flexibility to either finally trade Castillo or package one of the shortstop prospects for pitching, as has been bandied recently.

Mets Sign Two From Venezuela

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7:02pm: Baseball America's Ben Badler reports that Lupo will receive a bonus in the low-to-mid six figures.

1:41pm: The Mets made their first foray into this season's post-July 2 international prospect market yesterday, signing Venezuelan outfielder Vicente Lupo and infielder Leon Jackson Canelon, reports Miguel Bastidas at El Informador de Barquisimeto (link in Spanish). Mets scout Hector Rincones told Bastidas the Mets considered the two among the top talents in this year's bumper crop of Venezuelan prospects, though he didn't announce the terms of the contracts.

Lupo is the more-heralded of the pair, as the Royals and Mets have both been reported to be pursuing him. He ranked 25th on Baseball America's list of international prospects, and Rincones gave a frank appraisal of what put him there: "Vicente Lupo is so strong," he said, repeating it twice for effect. "That drew much of our attention." Canelon, on the other hand, is a contact hitter whose soft hands and speed appealed to Mets scouts. Both players will now head to the Mets team in the Dominican Summer League.

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