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Yoenis Cespedes

Quick Hits: Cespedes, Fielder, Lee, Nationals, Indians

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On this day in 2006, the Mets traded Kris Benson to the Orioles for Jorge Julio and John Maine.  Benson, who pitched for five different teams in his 12-year career, announced his retirement earlier this month.  Here's a look at today's links..

  • Yoenis Cespedes has yet to establish residency in the Dominican Republic and a source tells Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter) there is no guarantee it will happen this week.
  • A surprising number of baseball executives think that the Dodgers will ultimately be in play for Prince Fielder, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
  • More from Sherman (via Twitter) as he writes that some executives think Derrek Lee could end up in something of a forced retirement, similar to Jermaine Dye.   Lee wants to continue playing, but only at price that he likely won't get.
  • The silence surrounding the Nationals' pursuit of Fielder is in line with GM Mike Rizzo's standard operating procedure, writes Pete Kerzel of MASNsports.com.
  • The oft-traded Aaron Cunningham has a positive outlook on getting dealt and views each deal as an opportunity to start fresh, writes Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer.  The 25-year-old, who was recently acquired by the Indians, has been dealt four times in his career.
  • No team has gone through a more significant clubhouse-culture makeover this winter than the Rockies, who have added Michael Cuddyer, Casey Blake, Ramon Hernandez, and Marco Scutaro, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com.

Quick Hits: Rizzo, Rangers, Garza, Johnson

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It was one year ago today that the Angels and Blue Jays pulled off the huge trade that sent Vernon Wells to Anaheim in exchange for Juan Rivera and Mike Napoli.  The Jays were considered immediate winners for getting Wells' huge contract off their payroll and the swap looks even better for Toronto given Wells' .218/.248/.412 season in 2011.

Some news from around the majors…

  • New Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo holds the top spot on this list of baseball's top 10 first base prospects from MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo.
  • Rangers assistant GM Thad Levine acknowledged that there are "active discussions internally" about improving the team when speaking with Todd Hollandsworth and Jim Memolo on MLB Network Radio (mp3 link), but it's unlikely the Rangers will make another significant move. "It won't be from a lack of creativity," he said.
  • Matt Garza told Hollandsworth and Memolo that he's "definitely open" to signing an extension with the Cubs (mp3 link).
  • Josh Johnson tells Glenn Geffner of the Marlins Insider 790 AM radio show (and passed on by Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post) that he will begin throwing off a mound next week, the first time the Marlins ace has done so since September.  Johnson was limited to nine starts last season due to shoulder injuries.
  • Yoenis Cespedes is still not an established resident of the Dominican Republic, which is holding up his free agency, reports MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez.
  • Kyle Blanks may only realize his potential if he leaves the Padres, opines Fangraphs' Paul Swydan.
  • Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune is back with his weekly online chat about the Padres.
  • The Tigers, Indians and the "sleeper choice" Brewers are all possible fits for Derrek Lee, writes Tony Andracki of CSNChicago.com.

MLBTR's Mike Axisa also contributed to this post

Tigers Notes: Damon, Cespedes, Turner

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The Tigers announced this week that Victor Martinez is likely to miss the 2012 season with a torn ACL and though GM Dave Dombrowski said the team won’t act rashly, the Tigers figure to be on the lookout for a bat. Here’s the latest on the defending AL Central Champions…

  • Tigers manager Jim Leyland said on MLB Network Radio that the Tigers probably aren’t going to find someone as good as Martinez. “So if you say it’s not gonna hurt us, you’re lying,” he added. Hat tip to Jason Beck of MLB.com, who has a partial transcript of Leyland's comments.
  • Leyland said Johnny Damon’s name will likely come up since he can contribute to a club, even if he's not a "prototype DH."
  • Leyland knows there are a lot of options remaining for teams in search of hitters. “How good they produce anymore, I don’t know,” he said. “And I always ultimately leave that up to Dave. We’ve already had some discussions, I won’t say who they are, of some guys internally.”
  • John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press suggests Vladimir Guerrero and Raul Ibanez could be fits for the Tigers and notes that it remains to be seen whether Martinez's injury will affect the Tigers' pursuit of Yoenis Cespedes.
  • Right-hander Jacob Turner, third baseman Nick Castellanos, left-hander Drew Smyly and left-hander Casey Crosby top Baseball America's list of the Tigers' best prospects entering the season.
  • Leyland said the Tigers could round out their rotation with a trade or a free agent acquisition, James Schmehl of MLive.com writes. Turner and others would compete for the team's final rotation spot if Dombrowski doesn't add a starter.
  • Right-hander Max Scherzer is an extension candidate and I previewed a possible deal last night.

Quick Hits: Motte, Cespedes, Garcia, Angels

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On this date last year, the White Sox selected Philip Humber off of waivers from the Athletics. The right-hander posted a 3.75 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 163 innings in 2011 and projects to start for Chicago in 2012. We didn't see anyone claimed on waivers today, but we do have these links…

  • A multiyear deal between the Cardinals and Jason Motte is ‘in play,’ though nothing is close, Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets. Motte filed for $2.4MM in arbitration, with the Cardinals countering at $1.5MM, as our Arbitration Tracker shows.
  • Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes hit his first home run since joining the Dominican Winter League and you can view a clip of it here (hat tip: Keith Law).
  • Another Cuban, left-hander Onelkis Garcia, will be eligible for the 2012 amateur draft, Ben Badler of Baseball America reports. MLB made Garcia eligible to MLB teams as last year's draft approached, before making him ineligible at the last minute. Scouts tell Badler the 22-year-old projects as a reliever and could be selected in the third round this June.
  • Angels GM Jerry Dipoto explained to Lance Pugmire of the LA Times that at one point during the Winter Meetings, the Angels had people negotiating with representatives for C.J. Wilson, LaTroy Hawkins and Albert Pujols in three different places.
  • Indians president Mark Shapiro, who is depicted in the Moneyball movie, told Jordan Bastian of MLB.com that he enjoyed the film for what it was. "I appreciate why most people would like it,” Shapiro said. “But I felt like it was an oversimplified kind of view, which is kind of what you have to do when you take a lot of history and condense it into an hour and a half."

Quick Hits: White Sox, Guerrero, Gonzalez, Hart

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By this time tomorrow, we'll know whether the Rangers were able to work out a deal with Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish. In the meantime, here are tonight's links…

Cespedes: Cubs Are Leading Suitors

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Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes says the Cubs are his most serious suitor, according to Dionisio Soldevila of the Associated Press (link via DiarioLibre.com). The free agent outfielder isn’t yet a free agent, but he’s playing Winter Ball in the Dominican Republic and MLB teams continue eyeing him. 

"Of all the teams who have come, the Chicago Cubs have been most interested in me," Cespedes said.

Last week Cespedes said the six teams with "more interest" in signing him were the Marlins, Cubs, White Sox, Orioles, Tigers and Indians. The Yankees, Phillies, Blue Jays and Rangers also have some interest in Cespedes, but the Nationals aren’t involved. Marlins president David Samson recently acknowledged that his team intends to make an aggressive run at Cespedes, who is represented by Adam Katz of Wasserman Media Group.

Quick Hits: Orioles, Cespedes, Dodgers

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Links for Monday, as teams and players continue avoiding arbitration in advance of tomorrow's deadline for exchanging figures…

  • Former A's, Mets and Brewers pitching coach Rick Peterson has accepted a job with the Orioles, MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko reports. The sides have been discussing a pitching-related role since last month.
  • ESPN.com’s Buster Olney suggests the Yankees could use their DH spot to see what Jorge Vazquez can do at the big league level or to give Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter partial days off (all Twitter links). The 29-year-old Vazquez posted a .262/.314/.516 line with 32 homers at Triple-A in 2011.
  • The Orioles aren’t very high on the idea of having a DH-only player, Olney tweets. Because teams like the Orioles and Yankees are shying away from traditional DHs, veterans such as Vladimir Guerrero, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Manny Ramirez aren't finding a robust market for their services.
  • Yoenis Cespedes has two hits with six strikeouts in 19 at bats in the Dominican Winter League, tweets Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com.
  • Jim Callis of Baseball America includes Devin Mesoraco, Yonder Alonso, Mike Trout and Matt Moore on his 2012 all-rookie team in this week's edition of Ask BA.
  • Many see Steve Cohen, whose net worth likely exceeds $5 billion, as the biggest threat to buy the Dodgers, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets.

Nationals Still In On Fielder, Out On Cespedes

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The Nationals continue to be in on the Prince Fielder sweepstakes, although the club is not willing to give him a ten-year deal like Albert Pujols got from the Angels, a baseball source tells Bill Ladson of MLB.com. Ladson also writes that the Nats are out on Yoenis Cespedes.

While the Nationals won't go to a ten-year deal for Fielder it does appear that the club is willing to give the slugger a no-trade clause.  An industry source believes that the Nats want to give Fielder a six- or seven-year deal.  

Ladson notes that contract length was also a stumbling block when Washington went after left-hander Mark Buehrle. The club offered a three-year deal but Buehrle ended up signing a four-year, $58MM contract with the Marlins instead.

As for Cespedes, the Nats believe that he is best suited for a corner outfield position and they already have Michael Morse, Jayson Werth, and Bryce Harper as viable options for the corner spots.

Olney’s Latest: Montero, Cespedes, Indians

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Last night's news was highlighted by the Yankees' signing of Hiroki Kuroda and the four-player trade that sent Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi to the Mariners in exchange for Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that it might not be until next week that the trade is announced (as teams wait for completion of physicals), and opines that it may be the Blue Jays who are hurt most by this trade, as their rotation once again looks too thin to compete in the AL East. Here's a look at the highlights from Olney's latest blog (ESPN Insider required)…

  • Both the Yankees and Mariners believe that Montero will be able to stick at catcher, which many in the industry feel is a must in order for the trade to make sense for Seattle.
  • One executive posed the question: "Why is Yoenis Cespedes playing in any Winter ball games?" Olney says Cespedes' first few games have looked rough, as he hasn't played for a long time. With questions about his ability to pick up a breaking ball, he could potentially hurt his value with a poor showing, and doesn't stand to gain much if he plays well.
  • The Indians seem to be in position to land a good first baseman, writes Olney. Casey Kotchman, Carlos Pena, and Derrek Lee all remain unsigned, and if the Nationals sign Prince Fielder, Adam LaRoche will become available as well. Olney points out that all four are regarded as good fielders, which is crucial to Cleveland's groundball staff (Justin Masterson, Derek Lowe, and Fausto Carmona are all extreme groundball pitchers). Olney writes that there were indications earlier this offseason that Lee did not want to play for the Tribe.
  • With the Diamondbacks showing interest in Bartolo Colon, GM Kevin Towers, who spent a year working for the Yankees, will "presumably get an honest read about what [the Yankees] feel Colon could contribute."

Yoenis Cespedes Talks Free Agency

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Yoenis Cespedes says the six teams with "more interest" in signing him are the Marlins, Cubs, White Sox, Orioles, Tigers and Indians, tweets Dionisio Soldevila of the Associated Press. The Cuban outfielder, who struck out in each of his three at bats in the Dominican Winter League last night, will likely become a free agent soon. Cespedes said he isn't worried that his performance in the Winter League will reduce his bargaining power, Soldevila tweets.

Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports hears from people in the know that the Yankees, Phillies, Blue Jays, Rangers and Nationals also have some level of interest in Cespedes. Marlins president David Samson recently acknowledged that his team intends to make an aggressive run at Cespedes, who is represented by Adam Katz of Wasserman Media Group. 

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