Results tagged ‘ Cardinals ’

Spring Training deadline in Pujols talks

Albert Pujols has no interest in continuing contract negotiations once Spring Training starts, general manager John Mozeliak told reporters on Saturday.

Mozeliak said that he had been told by Danny Lozano, Pujols’ agent, that there is a deadline for getting a new deal done.
“We have been notified that Spring Training would be the deadline,” Mozeliak said.
The GM declined to give any further specifics regarding negotiations. Pujols is entering the final year of a contract that will end up paying him $111 million over eight seasons.
–Matthew Leach

Roundup: Thome returns to Twins, helps get Pavano

We are now exactly one month away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training, but there is offseason work to be done. And several teams were busy on Friday.

The Twins made the most noise with one move, signing Jim Thome to a one-year, $3 million contract that includes performance incentives based on plate appearances. Now, not only do they have a productive, veteran lefty slugger — one who was critical for them while Justin Morneau went down for the final three months of the season — but they may have a nice recruiting chip.

Thome is back, but the Twins still want to resign right-handed starter Carl Pavano, who was big for the Twins rotation behind staff ace Francisco Liriano. Thome, of course, feels the same way. So on Friday, while addressing his own new contract, he said: “Trust me, when I get off the phone with you [reporters], I will definitely be recruiting him and be sending him some text messages.”

General manager Paul Smith said the Twins are continuing in their negotiations with Pavano’s representation and hope to get a decision one way or another next week. Bringing back Thome certaintly can’t hurt their chances.

Here’s more from around the league Friday…

* The Athletics beefed up a bullpen that was already brimming with talented young arms, signing righty Grant Balfour to a two-year deal
with a third-year club option. According to The Associated Press,
Balfour is guaranteed $3.75 million in 2011 and $4 million in 2012.

* The Royals helped their thin rotation, signing left-hander Jeff Francis to a one-year contract that’s worth $2 million and includes performance bonuses.

* The Nationals introduced first baseman Adam LaRoche at a Friday afternoon

news conference at Nationals Park. It came after the two sides agreed
to terms a two-year deal worth about $16 million last week.

* The Mets and Cardinals dished out a few interesting Minor League contracts. New York inked Willie Harris, who’s all but guaranteed to be the backup outfielder and get somewhere between 250 and 400 plate appearances. St. Louis, meanwhile, brought in right-handers Miguel Batista and Ian Snell.

– Alden Gonzalez   

Roundup: Garza too pricey for Yanks

The free agent market may be thinning, but some teams are still very much in the hunt for pitching as Spring Training looms in the not-too-distant future.
The Yankees are one such team that remains in the market for quality pitching at this stage of the game, especially with the growing uncertainty surrounding Andy Pettitte’s status. The Yanks did have interest in the recently-traded Matt Garza, but that quickly became unlikely after general manager Brian Cashman learned how much the Rays wanted for Garza, the New York Daily News reported on an otherwise quiet Saturday. 
“We never got off the dime, but strong impressions were that it would be something that would cost us more because we are in the division, kind of like Roy Halladay,” Cashman told the Daily News. “We like Matt Garza and I had a conversation early in the winter and it was clear that what it would take would be more significant than I wanted to do.
Their desire for pitching won’t drive the Yanks to sign a Type-A free agent and give up their 2011 first round Draft pick, as reported by multiple media outlets over the weekend. While there have been conflicting reports about what that means for their pursuit of reliever Rafael Soriano, Cashman seemed firm in his decision.
“I would’ve given up the draft pick for Cliff Lee,” Cashman said to the Daily News. “But I’m going to retain our No. 1 pick for ourselves. Once Cliff Lee came off the board, I called Damon [Oppenheimer, the Yanks' vice president for amateur scouting] and said, ‘You’re going to have your No. 1 pick, you’re in the hunt for a first-round pick.” 
Here’s a look at other news and notes from around the league on Sunday: 
- Left-hander Scott Schoeneweis still feels he can be successful in the Majors, the Boston Globe reported. Schoeneweis saw his performance on the field dip after the tragic death of his wife in 2009. The veteran, who was released by the Red Sox in May, believes he would be a fit somewhere as a situational lefty.
- The White Sox added some pitching depth on Sunday, agreeing to Minor League deals with Josh Kinney and Shane Lindsay, according to ESPN Chicago.com. Kinney, 32, has appeared in parts of three Major League seasons with the Cardinals, compiling a 4.56 ERA. Lindsay, an Australian-born hurler, has struggled with his control over the years.
- Last month, several teams were mentioned as having interest in reliever Brian Fuentes, including the Pirates. While the Bucs could be interested in adding another veteran reliever, Fuentes’s cost would likely be prohibitive at this point, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Sunday. 
– Bailey Stephens

Roundup: Rays looking to deal?

The Hot Stove took a bit of a backseat on Wednesday, with the announcement that Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this July dominating the baseball headlines.

With Adrian Beltre‘s signing with the Rangers now official, the rumor mill did ramp up on the trade market — namely, on Tampa Bay starter Matt Garza and a possible deal to the Cubs, reported on Tuesday night by the Chicago Sun-Times. That story was news to the Cubs, according to MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat, who also reported that the Rays are more likely to wait until the summer to move Garza.

Here’s the rundown of the rest of the news from Wednesday:

- Staying in the NL Central, the Cardinals have resumed extension talks with their own potential Hall of Famer, first baseman Albert Pujols. Pujols could hit the free-agent market following the 2011 season.

- The latest out of Southern California is that the Angels have interest in signing Vladimir Guerrero.

On MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM, Angels manager Mike Scioscia told co-hots Jim Duquette and Kevin Kennedy that the Angels are not closing the door on the possibility of Guerrero returning to his former home after one season in Texas.

After hitting .300 with 29 homers and 115 RBIs in 2009, the Angels’ American League Most Valuable Player in 2004, accepted a one-year contract with the Rangers and helped the AL West rivals reach the World Series.

Guerrero, whose career began with nine games in Montreal in 1996, is a .320 career hitter with a .383 on-base percentage and .563 slugging mark.

- The Mariners are working on a potential two-year deal with recently acquired shortstop Brendan Ryan, according to MLB.com’s Greg Johns. Ryan, who came over from St. Louis in a December trade, is eligible for arbitration for the first time in his career.

- The Red Sox claimed catcher Max Ramirez off waivers from the Rangers, tweeted MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. Ramirez, you may remember, was close to going to Boston last off-season in exchange for Mike Lowell. Ramirez hit .217 in 28 games for the Rangers in 2010.

- The Blue Jays announced that they claimed left-handed reliever Wil Ledezma on waivers from the Pirates. Ledezma was 0-3 with a 6.86 ERA for Pittsburgh in 2010.

- The Diamondbacks resigned lefty reliever Clay Zavada to a Minor League deal, as reported by Baseball America. Zavada pitched in five games for Triple-A Reno in 2010 before undergoing Tommy John surgery. Zavada posted a 3.35 ERA in 49 games for Arizona in 2009.

- The Rangers and Beltre made it official on Wednesday, with the club announcing the addition of the third baseman in an afternoon press conference. The signing of Beltre means that the Rangers are no longer interested in their former DH Vladimir Guerrero, according to a tweet from the Dallas Star-Telegram’s Anthony Andro.

- Likewise, the Brewers finalized their deal with Takashi Saito. As reported by MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, the right-hander’s base salary will be under $2 million, but he can make more than $3 million in incentives.

- The Rockies have signed utilityman Hernan Iribarren to a Minor League contract. Iribarren, 26, last played in the Majors with Milwaukee in 2009, spending last season with Texas’ Triple-A affiliate.  The deal includes an invitation to Colorado’s Major League Spring Training camp.

-  The Padres signed versatile Kevin Frandsen and catcher Guillermo Quiroz Minor League contracts.  The deal will pay Frandsen $575,000 if he makes San Diego’s Major League roster, according to ESPN.

Frandsen, 28, has played several positions during his MLB career with the Giants and Angels, playing primarily third base last season for the Angels, who did not tender him a contract for 2011.

Quiroz, 29, has played parts of the last seven seasons in the Major Leagues with the Blue Jays, Mariners, Rangers and Orioles. He is a career .208 hitter in 255 at-bats.

–Tim Britton

Report: Pujols talks under way

After a holiday break, it appears that talks between the Cardinals and Albert Pujols’ agent are on. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday that negotiations between the parties “resumed this week” and that the conversations thus far “have taken on a ‘positive’ tone.”

Though some housekeeping remains for the Cards this winter, the club has just about cleared all other major matters off of its docket, allowing the pressing matter of a new deal for Pujols to take center stage. The three-time Most Valuable Player is set to make $16 million in 2011, the final year of a contract that will end up paying him $111 million over eight seasons.
General manager John Mozeliak acknowledged during December’s Winter Meetings in Florida that club and agent spoke twice, but said that the first conversation was more preliminary, rather than any formal negotiation. The Post-Dispatch report Wednesday indicated that the latest discussions have progressed further than that.
It is exceedingly unlikely that Pujols would be willing to negotiate once Spring Training starts, which would leave the two parties approximately five or six weeks to agree to a deal. Otherwise, the club would likely risk Pujols actually reaching free agency at the end of the 2011 season.
Mozeliak made it very clear at the Winter Meetings that both the club and the agent had a desire to keep any negotiations as quiet as possible. Neither he nor Pujols’ representatives could be reached for comment on Wednesday afternoon.
–Matthew Leach

Roundup: O-Dog (fittingly) headed to PETCO

It turns out Orlando Hudson may be team-less no more.

Hudson broke the news himself on MLB Network Radio that his next destination is San Diego, and FOXSports.com reported that the Padres and the free-agent second baseman agreed to terms on a two-year, $11.5 million contract.

Hudson — a two-time All-Star joining his fourth team in four years — will fill the role played last year by David Eckstein, who’s a free agent and said recently that the Padres have not contacted him about a return.

Here’s more from around the league …

* The Yankees, according to multiple reports, have agreed on a two-year contract with veteran reliever Pedro Feliciano. Feliciano, the former Met who has led the Majors in appearances each of the last three seasons, joins Boone Logan to give the Yanks two lefties in the bullpen.

* Reigning World Series MVP Edgar Renteria was none-too-thrilled with the $1 million offer the Giants tendered him this offseason. “That offer from the Giants was a lack of respect,” Renteria told ESPNdeportes.com. “A total disrespect.” Renteria has previously stated he’d like to finish his career with the Marlins or Cardinals. 

* The Astros reached an agreement with the versatile Bill Hall to be their starting second baseman, sources told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. According to FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, the two sides agreed on a one-year contract worth about about $3 million and with a mutual option for 2012. 

* A couple of notable deals have been made official: The Cubs’ with Kerry Wood, and the Tigers’ with Magglio Ordonez.   

– Alden Gonzalez  

Laird-Cards could be in works, but may not quite be done

The Cardinals’ search for a backup catcher may well have come to a conclusion, and if it has, the new guy looks a good bit like his predecessors.
According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, Gerald Laird has agreed to a one-year pact with the Redbirds, a move which would continue the club’s long-standing fondness for catch-and-throw backstops. Laird is regarded as an exemplary defensive catcher, but his offense has dipped sharply over the past couple of years.
A club official said via email on Monday night that reports of a done deal with Laird are “news to me.” That does not mean, however, that an agreement is not imminent.
Laird, who turned 31 in November, batted .207 with a .263 on-base percentage and a .304 slugging percentage for the Tigers in 2010. For his career, he has a line of .242/.300/.358, highlighted by a 2006 season with the Rangers in which he hit .296 and slugged .473 in 78 games.
While the Cards had said early in the winter that they were interested in a more offensive-minded backup catcher than what they’ve had in recent years, Laird does fit the team’s desired profile in one other way. He has started at least 76 games behind the plate in each of the past four seasons. The Cardinals would like a backup catcher who can play a little more often than Jason LaRue has played in recent years, allowing Yadier Molina more days off as the season goes along.
–Matthew Leach

Cardinals, Theriot reach deal

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. —  The Cardinals agreed on Tuesday to a one-year contract with shortstop Ryan Theriot, avoiding arbitration.
The club announced the move on its official twitter feed.
The Cardinals do not reveal financial terms for player contracts, but Fanhouse.com reported that the deal is worth $3.3 million. Theriot made $2.6 million in 2010 as a first-year arbitration-eligible player. 
Despite a down year at the plate for the former Cub and Dodger, he was nonetheless due for a raise in his second year of arbitration eligibility, since arbitration-determined salaries. General manager John Mozeliak said on Monday that the club felt little urgency to ink Theriot to a multi-year deal, but on Tuesday the Cards did at least gain cost certainty on Theriot for 2011.
Reliever Kyle McClellan and infielder Brendan Ryan are the Cardinals’ only remaining arbitration-eligible players. The club is exploring trade options with Ryan, who has been replaced by Theriot as the starting shortstop.
–Matthew Leach

Mozeliak douses Bartlett notion

In his nightly powwow with reporters on Monday evening, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak touched on a wide range of topics — but before he even took the first question, he got right to one specific point.

“I guess I should start with an opening statement,” Mozeliak said, “that the Bartlett rumor is not true.”
The “Bartlett rumor” was a renewal of reports that the Cards are pursuing Tampa Bay infielder Jason Bartlett. Jon Heyman of SI.com and Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch were among those who reported that things might heat up once again.
However, Mozeliak explained that from his perspective, any notion of Bartlett coming to St. Louis is simply not realistic at this point.
He pointed to the fact that the club is happy with its recent acquisition of Ryan Theriot, and also noted that by spending $8 million on Lance Berkman, St. Louis is rapidly approaching the upper bounds of its 2011 player payroll.
“It’s twofold,” Mozeliak said. “One is, we’ve already made a trade for a player. And number two is after we did the Berkman deal, that [money] is becoming something that we have to be aware of too. We’re pretty comfortable now with what we’ve done in the middle infield.
“When we actually did that deal [trading for Theriot], there was still the potential to do something else in the middle infield. But then since then, subsequently, we’ve added Berkman and we don’t anticipate doing an additional move.”
–Matthew Leach

Cardinals odds and ends

A few odds and ends from the Cardinals on day one of the Winter Meetings:

* The Padres’ interest in Brendan Ryan is real and acknowledged. What exactly would constitute a fit between the two teams remains to be determined, but if the Cardinals decide to move Ryan, San Diego looks like a prime landing spot. Pittsburgh is a possibility, but the Pirates’ interest seems less ardent.
Moreover, it’s worth noting that the Cardinals and Padres have a good relationship, having dealt with one another several times in recent years.
Manager Tony La Russa said in a radio interview on Monday that one way or another, Ryan will not be the Cardinals’ starting shortstop. The skipper seemed to indicate that Ryan would be best suited by getting a change of scenery.
“If he stays with us, he’s a utility player,” La Russa said on the Bernie Miklasz show on WXOS radio in St. Louis. “I think he would
be useful as a utility player. I don’t know at this point in his career if that
something that would fire him up to come to the ballpark. I think ‘Mo’ is going to
be checking out to see where his value is. If there’s value in an area that we
can do some good, then that’s probably a better situation, to get him a place
where he can play. He would be an excellent utility man, but I don’t know that
that would motivate him to be excited to come to the park. He’s young and he
wants to be a regular.”
* A couple of outlets today reported that the Cards should not be ruled out as a suitor for Rays infielder Jason Bartlett. SI.com’s Jon Heyman tweeted “don’t coun’t them out,” while the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the Cardinals “retain interest” in Bartlett.
However, in the same radio interview, La Russa dashed that notion.
“We’re not chasing Bartlett,” La Russa told WXOS. “I just don’t think that that makes sense for us. We probably need to figure out what we’re going to do in the utility role. We’ve still got Brendan and stuff like that, but I don’t think that… nor do we have the resources to try to add a multimillion dollar player. What we’ve got here is now finishing up and complementing the roster.  But I don’t think that’s accurate [that the Cardinals are pursuing Bartlett].”
* Yahoo! Sports’ Tim Brown tweeted Monday that Gregg Zaun is a player of interest to the Cardinals, and that’s one rumor that makes some sense. Zaun is a well-regarded veteran, widely considered an excellent clubhouse guy — and that’s clearly one of the aims of the front office in reshaping the roster for 2011. 
Additionally, Zaun can hit. In 2010, he put up a 265/350/392 line. Over the past seven seasons, he’s at 256/353/401, which is outstanding for any catcher.
The question is Zaun’s health. He didn’t play after May of last year, and underwent surgery on the labrum of his throwing shoulder in early June. That could be off-putting to a team that places a great deal of emphasis on stopping the opponent’s running game.
–Matthew Leach
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