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Nationals Release Jamey Carroll, Chris Young

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The Nationals have released veteran infielder Jamey Carroll, Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com tweets. They have also released pitcher Chris Young, tweets MASNsports.com's Dan Kolko.

Carroll, 40, collected 249 plate apppearances with the Twins and Royals last season, hitting a meager .211/.267/.251. He signed a minor-league deal with the Nationals in January. Young, 34, last appeared in the big leagues in 2012 with the Mets. He pitched sparingly in the Nats' system in an injury-plagued 2013 season.

NL Notes: Corbin, Guerrero, Young, Francisco, Matsuzaka, Fowler

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MLBTR's own Charlie Wilmoth has just released a new book. Titled "Dry Land," the volume traces the Pirates and their fans through the club's historic losing streak and recent renaissance. Be sure to check out this post for more details and how you can order a copy. On to the links:

  • In two expected moves out of the NL West, Patrick Corbin of the Diamondbacks underwent Tommy John surgery today, MLB.com's Steve Gilbert tweets, while the Dodgers optioned Alex Guerrero to Triple-A, as MLB.com's Ken Gurnick tweets.
  • The Nationals have received trade interest from three or four clubs in starter Chris Young, who has an opt-out in his contract this coming Thursday, reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. The 33-year-old has had an impressive spring, but seems unlikely to crack the Nats' rotation. 
  • The Pirates have no interest in signing Juan Francisco if he clears waivers, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. We learned earlier today that the team had chosen to go with Travis Ishikawa over Andrew Lambo as its left-handed bat at first.
  • For the Mets, giving Daisuke Matsuzaka a $100K bonus is in large part a strategic effort to protect the club in the event that Jon Niese is unable to make his first start, explains ESPN.com's Adam Rubin. This way, the team can rely on both Matsuzaka and Jenrry Mejia if the need arises, or can simply pick between them for the fifth starter slot.
  • The Rockies are better off without center fielder Dexter Fowler because he "isn't tough enough," opines Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post. (Fowler, of course was dealt to the Astros. As presented in my offseason review for the club, I have a different take on the subject of Fowler's departure from Colorado.) Though Kiszla initially credited Fowler with having "the determination to grind through pain" in mid-August of last year, he apparently adjusted his analysis after the 28-year-old missed twenty games late in the season with ongoing hand and wrist injuries. Manager Walt Weiss effectively pushed Fowler out of town, says Kiszla, because the latter "was not the kind of player Weiss needs on a team that must grind out victories in the National League West." Apparently referring obliquely to Fowler, Weiss emphasized the need for players "to compete and grind and play with grit," while assistant GM Bill Geivett explained that the manager "has got to feel comfortable in the weapons he has to attack the other team." 

Quick Hits: Tigers, Pirates, Hill, Young

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Fans shouldn't be angry over players' multimillion-dollar salaries, CBS Sports' Dayn Perry writes. That Albert Pujols is paid hundreds of millions of dollars to hit a baseball might seem frivolous, but exorbitant salaries for ballplayers and entertainers have been part of our culture for some time. "You might as well lament the tides of the ocean," Perry writes. Also, ticket prices aren't caused by high player salaries, but by demand. Fans are willing to pay high ticket prices (as they do even to college sporting events, where players are unpaid), so teams charge high ticket prices.  Here's more from around the big leagues.

  • Given the tone of the Tigers' press release on the Max Scherzer negotiations, it might not be a good time for Scott Boras to bring up Stephen Drew with the Tigers, tweets Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. The Tigers have been mentioned as a possible landing spot for the free agent shortstop but the club's unusual step of issuing a press release on the end of talks with their star pitcher might indicate some soured relations between them and the top agent.
  • Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski says his offer for Scherzer was the most he has ever offered a player that has been turned down, tweets Tom Gage of the Detroit News.  For his part, Scherzer says he wants to stay in Detroit long term (link).
  • Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter) notes that one of the big talking points on the Prince Fielder trade was that it freed up money for the Tigers to sign Scherzer.  With a new deal for Scherzer currently off the table, Passan wonders if Detroit might shift their attention to Miguel Cabrera.
  • After winning 94 games and advancing to the NL Division Series last season, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wonders if the Pirates are candidates for regression this season.  Despite losing free agents A.J. Burnett, Marlon Byrd and Justin Morneau, the Pirates didn't make any splasy moves to replace them this winter. 
  • Left-hander Rich Hill can opt out of his deal with the Red Sox on May 15th, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com.  
  • Agent Jon Fetterolf has left Williams & Connolly and is now running sports practice for the Zuckerman Spaeder firm, tweets Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com.  
  • Right-hander Chris Young, ostensibly in the competition for the Nationals’ fifth starter spot, can opt out of his minor league contract if the Nationals do not add him to the 25-man roster by Thursday, a person familiar with the contract told Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Mets Notes: Young, Shortstops

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Earlier today, the Mets inked outfielder Chris Young to a one-year, $7.25MM contract, marking their first Major League signing of the offseason. Here's more on Young and some other Mets-related issues…

  • GM Sandy Alderson flew to Houston to meet with Young personally last week and promised him regular playing time, though maybe not in center field, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).
  • ESPN's Keith Law breaks down the signing, calling Young an "imperfect fit" for the Mets (Insider subscription required and recommended). Young hasn't been the same since injuring his shoulder last April, writes Law, pointing out his .203/.282/.375 slash line since that time. In order to mitigate the risk of a replacement-level offensive performance from Young, Law argues that a team should be playing him in center field says. But for the Mets, he notes, Juan Lagares is too defensively gifted to move.
  • Dave Cameron of Fangraphs, meanwhile, sees things somewhat differently. He argues that Young "will likely go down as one of the best free agent signings of the off-season," even though his contract landed at the same dollars, but only half the years, of that predicted through Fangraphs reader crowdsourcing. Noting that Young suffered from a low BABIP last year, and arguing that his past platoon split may not be as much of an issue as some believe, Cameron says that this contract compares favorably to those given last year to Cody Ross (three years, $26MM), Ryan Ludwick ($15MM over two years) and Jonny Gomes ($10MM for two seasons).
  • Mike Puma of the New York Post reminds that the Mets' offseason shopping list has consisted of two bats, a starting pitcher and a reliever. Young likely qualifies as one of those bats, and Puma wonders if the Mets have backed off their pursuit of Stephen Drew and Jhonny Peralta due to their asking prices (Twitter links). Peralta is said to be seeking a surprising $56-75MM guarantee.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.

Nationals Sign Chris Young

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WEDNESDAY: Adam Kilgore of the Washington post tweets that Young would earn $1.5MM if he made the roster, and his deal could be worth as much as $6MM via incentives. He can opt out of his contract at the end of Spring Training.

TUESDAY: The Nationals have re-signed pitcher Chris Young to a minor league deal, according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com (via Twitter).  Young is represented by Williams & Connolly, as shown in the MLBTR Agency Database.

Young, 34, last appeared in the majors with the Mets, posting a 4.15 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 across 20 starts.  He spent last season in the Nats' minor league system but was sidelined for the majority of the year, making just nine starts in total.  Financial terms of the pact are not yet known.

Chris Young (OF) Switches Agencies

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Outfielder Chris Young has changed agents, switching from CAA Sports to Reynolds Sports Management, according to a tweet from Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Young played this year for the Athletics after spending all his previous big league time with the Diamondbacks. 

As Heyman notes, the A's hold an $11MM club option over Young for next season, but are highly likely to pay him a $1.5MM buyout instead. Young hit just .200/.280/379 in 375 plate appearances in his first go-round in Oakland, while knocking twelve long balls and swiping ten bases. He also saw a downturn in his once-stellar defensive metrics, though short-sample variation could be to blame there.

Assuming Young is indeed set free by A's GM Billy Beane, his new agent will be tasked with dangling the 30-year-old's multi-tool upside on the free agent market. Though Young suffered from a low BABIP in 2013, he also has failed to maintain the strikeout and walk rates that supported his strong campaigns in 2010-11.

Athletics Notes: Colon, Balfour, Crisp, Anderson

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Earlier today, Bartolo Colon told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that he'd like to return to the A's next season and feels that he could pitch another three years in the Majors. At the time, it wasn't known if the A's were interested in a reunion, but in their postseason address to the media, both manager Bob Melvin and GM Billy Beane said they are interested in bringing Colon back for a third season (via Slusser and John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group on Twitter). Beane went so far as to say it'd be "foolish" for the team not to be interested. Here's more from on the A's…

  • Closer Grant Balfour isn't satisfied with only making the playoffs, he told reporters, including MLB.com's Jane Lee. Balfour said he intends to keep playing until he can win a World Series (Twitter link).
  • Balfour also acknowledged to CSNBayArea.com's Casey Pratt that he wanted to make sure the inning he pitched in Game 5 last night was a good one, because he knew it may have been his last frame with the team (also on Twitter).
  • Melvin said today that the A's are well-equipped to handle the potential loss of Balfour, as internal options Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle could take over as closer (via CSN California's Joe Stiglich on Twitter). As Stiglich goes on to caution, that comment doesn't mean Doolittle or Cook will close in 2014. The A's would likely explore the free agent relief market in that scenario for an additional arm to plug into the mix.
  • Beane said that the A's will exercise Coco Crisp's $7.5MM option following the season and implied that they will do the same with Brett Anderson's $8MM option (via Slusser).
  • Crisp said that he'd like to think the A's would want to discuss retaining him beyond the 2014 season (via Hickey).
  • Top prospect Addison Russell will open 2014 at Double-A "at the lowest," according to Beane, who then added that "anything can happen" once a player reaches Double-A (Stiglich reporting).
  • Beane feels that if Chris Young, whose contract contains an $11MM club option, doesn't return to the team, Michael Choice can serve as a right-handed outfielder for the team (Lee reporting). It seems logical that the A's would decline the option after Young batted just .200/.280/.379 this season.

New York Notes: Yankees, Chris Young

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The Mets kicked off the 2013 campaign with a 2-1 series victory over the Padres while the Yankees fell to 1-2 at the hands of the Red Sox. Here's some news on both teams as they prepare for their second series of the season…

  • The Yankees are focused on getting younger, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, and they'll have a great opportunity to do so in this year's draft. The Yankees hold three of the first 33 picks in this year's draft — an almost unheard of feat for the Bronx Bombers. Rosenthal notes that the Yanks haven't had a Top 10 pick since selecting Derek Jeter in 1992 and have had just one Top 20 pick since.
  • One scout told Andy Martino of the New York Daily News that he won't believe the Yankees are dead "until he sees the body." Other scouts he talked to, however, were down on both CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda.
  • Within that same piece, Martino writes that the Mets passed on Chris Young after seeing his fastball sit between 79-82 mph in his final Spring Training start. While Young has never had much velocity, he was at least able to average 84.6 mph on his fastball last season.

Nationals Sign Chris Young

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6:58pm: Young will receive a $2MM prorated base salary if he joins the big league club, reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post (via Twitter). The deal also includes up to $4.7MM in incentives, according to Kilgore.

12:18pm: The Nationals announced that they have agreed to terms with right-handed pitcher Chris Young on a minor league contract.  Young is a client of Williams & Connolly according to the MLBTR Agency Database.

Young, 34 in May, spent the spring with the Nationals and will soon report to Triple-A Syracuse.  The right-hander made 20 starts for the Mets last season and posted a 4.15 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9.  The Mets offered Young a minor league deal before he first signed with the Nats but weren't interested this time around, according to Andy Martino of the New York Daily News (on Twitter).

Young does not have an out clause in his contract, GM Mike Rizzo told reporters including Amanda Comak of the Washington Times, but if a team came to him with a Major League deal, the Nationals would consider it.

NL Notes: Reds, Mets, Diamondbacks

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Outfielder Ryan Ludwick injured his right shoulder in the Reds' season opener and will need surgery. The Reds could promote Derrick Robinson or Denis Phipps to take Ludwick's place on the roster, Jon Fay of Cincinnati.com writes. Chris Heisey will take the bulk of Ludwick's playing time in left, so that makes an option like prospect Donald Lutz somewhat unlikely, since the Reds might prefer that he play every day. The Reds appear to have enough depth to avoid pursuing an option from outside the organization. Ludwick re-signed with the Reds for two years and $15MM in December. Here are more notes from around the National League.

  • Pitcher Shaun Marcum is on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis, and the Mets will need to add another starting pitcher, ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin contends (on Twitter). Chris Young, who pitched 115 innings for the Mets in 2012, is a free agent after being released by the Nationals, but the Mets did not appear interested (Twitter link) in Young several days ago, and as yet there have been no indications that Marcum's injury changes their stance.
  • Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers guarantees his team will win at least 90 games, Dan Bickley of AZCentral.com reports. "In 2011, I put down 85 and we won 94. Last year, I had 89 (wins) and we won 81," Towers says. "But I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve got a pretty good idea. I guarantee it’s going to start with a nine." The Diamondbacks are coming off an offseason filled with what Bickley calls "debatable, combustible maneuvers," including the trades of Justin Upton and Trevor Bauer.
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