SB Nation - Garrett Atkins

Did The Orioles Reach On Garrett Atkins?

Tommy Rancel — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:00:16 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

In addition to Mike Gonzalez, the Orioles have reportedly inked corner infielder, Garrett Atkins, to a one-year deal believed to be in the neighborhood of $4 million dollars. Andy MacPhail is easily one of my favorite GM's after Andrew Freidman, but in a market that has multiple cheaper alternatives, I question the signing of Atkins at $4 million dollars.

It's no secret that Atkins's numbers have declined in each of the last four seasons. It's also not a secret The Rockies have been trying to ship him out of Colorado for quite some time before finally non-tendering him last weekend. After posting a career high wOBA of .410 in 2006, Atkins bottomed out last season and finished with a .291 wOBA. Accompanying that wOBA dip, is a dip in ISO. Once again, after a career high in 2006 of .228, Atkins' ISO was a dismal .116 in 2009. It's true, his HR/FB rate was down around three percent from his normal 10%, but for a player that just recently turned 30, a rapidly declining ISO is not a good sign.

His 2009 BABIP shows there is some regression due for Atkins, but that wouldn't explain all of the power outage. It might produce some more doubles, but hard to see it justifying the major collapse. The good news is Atkins does show a decent batting eye. He will collect a walk nearly 10% of the time while keeping the strikeouts around 15%. Defensively, he is on a rare upward UZR swing for a player headed into his thirties, but a sample size warning; he has played less than 1,000 innings in the field each of the last two seasons.

Much like the Gonzalez deal, the Orioles aren't taking a big risk here; however, is this move really necessary? We know Joshua Bell isn't ready, but I don't see the reason to pay Atkins $4 million dollars to be the stop gap; especially in this market. The going rate on a win in this early market seems to be around $3-3.5 million. Nick Johnson, a likely 2-win player, is about to sign a one-year deal worth around $6 million. For five or six potential wins, the Orioles have spent at least $19 million dollars on Atkins, Gonzalez and Kevin Millwood. That is not much over the market's current rate, still given their likely standing in the division, I don't see the need to pay sticker price in what is shaping up as a buyer's market.

If the Orioles really wanted a corner infielder who could impact them winning the pennant in 2010, this guy is a free agent and can be had for less than $4 million.

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:09:33 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

LaTroy Hawkins and Glenn Robinson faced each other in high school. This is the kind of thing that passes for news in December.

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Some things to read while trying not to dance.

LaTroy Hawkins was in Milwaukee yesterday for his physical, making his deal official (FanShot). As mentioned previously, he's due $3.5 million in 2010 and $4 million in 2011, plus $550k available if he maximizes his incentives. One thing I didn't know until reading it afterwards: Hawkins grew up in Gary, Indiana and played basketball against former Buck Glenn Robinson.

I've mentioned previously that the bullpen situation is starting to fill up, but realized yesterday that I've been leaving Carlos Villanueva out of all of my projections. As Adam McCalvy noted in his story on Hawkins, the bullpen now has Trevor Hoffman, Hawkins, Todd Coffey, Mitch Stetter, Claudio Vargas, Carlos Villanueva and David Riske, and barring a trade or injury, it looks like Chris Smith, Chris Narveson, Chuck Lofgren and Zack Braddock, among others, are on the outside looking in.

While there may not be much competition for a spot in the bullpen, there will be an interesting race to see who opens the season as the backup catcher. View From Bernie's Chalet handicaps the candidates, and is hoping for George Kottoras to open the season in the majors, with Jonathan Lucroy in AAA and Angel Salome on the trading block. Two quick thoughts on that:

Kottoras is out of options, so unless one of the prospects blows him out of the water this spring, he'll likely make the team.
You can never have too many catchers, so don't be surprised if the Brewers hang onto both Lucroy and Salome and try to work out some kind of rotation in Nashville.

Speaking of competitions involving backup catchers, we need your vote to help select a backup catcher for the BCB All Decade Team. As of this writing, Mike Rivera leads Jason Kendall by 15 votes.

At Mike Cameron's press conference in Boston yesterday, we heard some insight for the first time into Ken Macha's feeling toward the running game last season. 2009 was the first time in Cameron's career he's had single-digit stolen bases, and he said he "ran into a little situation where I had to abide by the rules of the manager, even though I’ve been pretty successful, I mean, 80 percent of the time that I’ve ran." Macha has admitted he'll have to open up the running game a little more this season, but this is the first time I can recall hearing a player talk about restraints last season.

Every now and then the Mug provides me an "Ask and you shall receive" moment. Yesterday I asked about differences in attendance at Miller Park based on the starting pitcher, and Wisconsin Sports Tap did the research, discovering no correlation. Many, if not most, Brewer tickets are probably purchased too far in advance to predict starting pitching assignments, so that's likely what I should have expected.

In the minors: FanGraphs unveiled their Top Ten Brewer Prospects yesterday. Alcides Escobar sits atop the list, as he likely will in just about every set of rankings coming out this winter, but Brett Lawrie climbed in front of Mat Gamel for the #2 spot. We'll be doing our Community Prospect Rankings in January, and I'm curious to see where Lawrie will rank there.

Around baseball:

D-Backs: Signed pitcher Rodrigo Lopez to a minor league deal.
Dodgers: Signed infielder Jamey Carroll to a two year deal worth $3.85 million and signed reliever Luis Ayala to a minor league deal.
Orioles: Signed reliever Mike Gonzalez to a two year deal worth $12 million, and third baseman Garrett Atkins to a one year deal.
Rangers: Signed pitcher Geoff Geary and infielder Ray Olmedo to minor league deals.
Tigers: Re-signed infielder Ramon Santiago to a two year deal.

The Blue Jays, Phillies, Mariners and A's also finalized their four way deal involving Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. It's been a time for change in Toronto over the last few months: Jordan Bastian noted that the Rogers Centre features three-story images of Alex Rios, Scott Rolen, B.J. Ryan and Roy Halladay. All four will now need to be removed.

In the interest of keeping conversation going and providing fresh content on the site each day, I occasionally post things that wouldn't be front page-worthy during the season, but keep things lively in December. Occasionally when I do that, someone stops by the comments to make sure I know I'm wasting their time, or ask why we're voting for bench players on the All Decade Team. Yes, I know those posts aren't hard-hitting news, but they beat spending a day ranking and discussing your favorite Pixar movies, like Keith Law and Rob Neyer did yesterday.

Earlier this week he celebrated a birthday, and today former Brewer Matt Kinney is the subject of Lookout Landing's Faces series.

Happy birthday today to 1986 and 1989 Brewer Bryan Clutterbuck, who turns 50.

Drink up.

Holliday's Mystery Suitor: Baltimore

DanUpBaby — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:51:00 -0000

Nothing says Lukewarm Stove season like a rebuilding team making bids on the biggest remaining free agent contract of the offseason. I don't want to start doubting Scott Boras now, because he's given me no reason to in the past, but if the Orioles are being floated as the other team this late in the game—well, the Yankees and Mets are presumably way under the radar on this one.

I actually wouldn't hate this move from Baltimore's standpoint. They've got a pretty good system, with some young pitching set to renovate what was a hilariously bad rotation—they collectively managed 58 quality starts, six fewer than the next team and 41 fewer than league leading Atlanta—and signing Garrett Atkins and trading for Kevin Millwood are low-risk moves that will be an easy upgrade from Melvin Mora and the back of that rotation's awful work. The Orioles, like the Pirates in the NL Central, simply can't afford to be terrible any more; their attendance has fallen into a huge hole and they're in a division that squashes the hopes and dreams of plucky fans as a matter of course. Their moves in this offseason have pushed them toward being respectable in the short term without hindering their chances of being good in the long term.

But while spending a ton of money on a free agent would be the perfect capper to an offseason designed to inspire fanbase confidence, this is not the right offseason, and Matt Holliday is not the right free agent. The Orioles already have too many cheap, effective outfielders—Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold, perpetual tradebait Luke Scott, and former Cubs super-prospect and erstwhile hometown discount inducer Felix Pie are all competing for at-bats—and all of their most pressing needs, and the easiest places to pick up runs against a troupe of very real replacement players, are on the pitching side. O's management seems to have understood that to this point, replacing their worst players with some potentially average players and Mike Gonzalez. Holliday would be a step back from that plan.

Of course, the Orioles not making their rumored move does not mean the Cardinals do sign him, as wonderful a system as that would be. All that implausibility still leaves Matt Holliday wanting more than $128 million, and the Cardinals (reasonably) not wanting quite that much Matt Holliday.

The payroll is not a gift card; the money DeWitt is planning to spend right now does not expire, and if he spends it all in the next thirty days he will not receive an even larger inheritance. But the Cardinals' other options are looking increasingly unappetizing. From a blurb about how the Cardinals are not interested in Chien-Ming Wang, but might be:

The Cardinals have said if they fail to re-sign Holliday they could turn to signing a veteran starting pitcher for the fifth spot in the rotation. Their preference would be to do so on a one-year deal.

Try not to be too excited about that sentence, or this one, because according to VEB's hit-tracker you're probably reading it at work: if the Cardinals do not manage to sign a popular, slugging outfielder to the largest contract in the history of the franchise, thereby setting its course for the next decade, they could sign a veteran starting pitcher like Chien-Ming Wang to a one-year deal. For all we know, this conditional has been around for the last several years—the Cardinals didn't sign Matt Holliday in any of them, and as a result picked up Kyle Lohse, Kip Wells, Brett Tomko, and Matt Clement.

I don't envy Mozeliak and DeWitt here; this is simply awful timing for the Cardinals' last serious free-payroll run at the free agent market before they need to worry about Pujols. Jason Bay, whose contractual demands—he might want five years—are relatively piddling, is the only other Big Name player on the market, and the defensive collapse brought on by his knee problems in 2007 makes him a much riskier upgrade. If Holliday falls through, that's it; for all their good intentions, the Cardinals will have little choice but to have a typical Cardinals offseason.

If that means an outfield cobbled together from spare parts, here's my current pick—a Jack Cust/Allen Craig platoon with a variation on the old Killer Bees tag team trick. La Russa has them both wear masks, and between innings Brendan Ryan is used to create a distraction; if pro wrestling has taught me anything, and it has, the umpire won't know that Craig has secretly taken left field while his back was turned.

Non-Holliday front: Future Redbirds has begun counting down their top twenty Cardinals prospects. Notable, given our discussion of Sickels's list: Bryan Anderson rates thirteenth.

Future Free Agent Mistake Power Rankings, 12/15

Grant — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:33:51 -0000

The offseason is quickly dividing the fanbase into two camps:

No moves is good moves. The longer we’re not hearing about a four-year deal to Adam LaRoche, the less likely we’re ever going to hear about one.
WHY AREN’T YOU DOING ANYTHING, SABES? THE MARINERS JUST SIGNED CLIFF LEE AND WE DON’T EVEN HAVE AN OFFER IN TO (hitter) YET?

In the interest of ruining that first sentence before I get a chance to back it up, I’m somewhere in the middle. When I watch the Mariners get a one-year rental to drastically upgrade their team, a part of me secretly envies them, even though I wouldn’t want the Giants to follow suit. They have a shiny new toy. I like shiny new toys. Scott Podsednik would be an itchy sweater made out of possum fur, but you knew that.

The big deals aren’t the only ones that are making me jealous, either. The Blue Jays acquired Michael Taylor from the Phillies for Roy Halladay, and then they turned right around and traded Taylor for Brett Wallace. Hot prospect-for-prospect action! The rarest kind! And while I have my guesses as to who came out ahead (the A’s), we won’t know for a few years. But right now, each team has a shiny new toy. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t trade Madison Bumgarner for Justin Smoak, but it’d be interesting, at least. We’re halfway through December, and we’re without any interesting. I could use some interesting.

You know what else is interesting? Scott Podsednik on a two-year deal. That’s interesting like a kitchen fire. Maybe interesting isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’m scared of interesting and the Giants.

So with no news directly relating to the Giants, but with plenty of news reducing the options the Giants have in free agency, it’s time for another Future Free Agent Mistake Power Rankings. Who will be the Aaron Rowand of 2011? Well, Aaron Rowand, for one. But maybe he’ll have some overpaid company!

Scott Podsednik -- OF -- ↑

Number one with a bullet. A signing that in the best case provides marginal upgrade while swallowing most of a limited budget? Oh, sure, I’ll take two. I think it’s disturbing that a team could seriously think about Eugenio Velez as a leadoff hitter and corner outfielder. More disturbing? That Velez could outproduce the Podsednik from ’07 and ’08 with his thumbs taped together. But don’t worry: when 34-year-olds drastically improve, those gains usually stick. Or is it the other way around? This baseball stuff is confusing!

Adam LaRoche-- 1b -- ↑

It’s hard to be this high on the list when you’re a player who would improve the team over the internal options, but LaRoche’s ridiculous contract demands, combined with merely decent production, makes this a great chance to rowand the Giants into a corner by the end of the contract.

Marlon Byrd -- OF -- ↓

With Mike Cameron off the market, Byrd is one of the better center fielders, and it’s been almost two years since Sabean has signed a center fielder. His palms are sweaty, his mouth is dry, and his sponsor isn’t returning his calls. Mmmmm. An overpriced center fielder sounds pretty good right about now, especially when you’re still kicking yourself for missing out on Gary Matthews, Jr.

Jermaine Dye -- OF -- ↓

Sabean explicitly mentioned Dye as someone the Giants aren’t interested in. But I think that’s like when I tell my wife something like, "No, I don’t even really find Jessica Alba that attractive. Her earlobes aren’t symmetrical, and you know how I am about that." I have trust issues with our intrepid GM.

Mark DeRosa—3B/LF -- ↑

At the right price, I’d welcome DeRosa. He’s not going to get the right price. DeRosa’s decline last year might have been age related, but it might have been a BABIP-influenced fluke. I sure as heck wouldn’t commit millions to the latter theory, but if he’s starting in left field instead of Velez, I might be able to ignore the horrible contract for a year. And it will be a horrible contract.

Jason Bay-- OF -- ↑

He says he has no interest in the Giants. The Giants say they have no interest in him. There are still rumors floating around that the Giants really are interested. So when I read that Bay said he’s not interested in San Francisco, I’m guessing he said it while doing that money pantomime thing, rubbing his thumb and fingers together while he raises his eyebrows and gives you that look.

Garrett Atkins -- DH -- ↑

I’ll admit, the 2006 and 2007 versions are intriguing, but chasing after past glories only makes sense if it’s cheap. That, and Atkins is the worst defensive third baseman in the history of the game. Would it be in poor taste to suggest that Ron Santo has better range, even today? Yes? Okay, then I won’t write that. But Atkins is an abomination. Maybe he’s better at first, but he isn’t that likely to be a good enough hitter to displace Travis Ishikawa. I’d take Atkins over Ishikawa, but only for a few hundred thousand dollars’ difference.

Inconsequential Sub-Mediocre Free Agent Catcher -- C -- ↓

It’s going to happen, so the exact one – Miguel Olivo, Rod Barajas, Mike Sadek – doesn’t really matter. And as long as it isn’t a two-year deal, I can almost accept it, but you know whomever they acquire will play 150 games under Bochy. In GiantsLand, a catcher can make up for a .290 on-base percentage by calling a good game and handling a staff, so there’s no question that SMFAC will be more valuable than Buster Posey next year.

Johnny Damon -- OF -- ↓

He can probably still hit, and he isn’t Scott Podsednik. Heck, I think I might be in favor of a Damon deal at this point. The only problem is that if he’s going to take two years, he’ll probably just take it from the Yankees.

Hank Blalock -- 3B? -- ↓

No one is talking about him, and that scares me. I can imagine DeRosa, Nick Johnson, and LaRoche all taking other offers on the same day, leaving the Giants in a Garkoless panic.

I guess these rankings are, by design, doom-and-gloom. Maybe that’s not fair. But the Giants and free agency in the past few years have mixed like diarrhea and first dates. So, please, forgive me and the black cloud over my head.

Tuesday Rockpile: Roy Halladay will pitch at Coors Field in 2010 (maybe)

Poseidon's Fist — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:24:35 -0000

More photos » by Brian Blanco - AP

By now, Doc surely must be having nightmares of being chased by mic booms

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I know everyone is waking up in hopes of hearing the final details of the Halladay/Lee blockbuster, but alas, there's nothing to report yet. Here's some appetizers while you wait:

If the trade is finalized, Halladay has a 60% chance of taking the mound once during the regular season next year. Philadelphia comes to town May 10-12.

It must be terrible to play in Toronto, where a meteor striking New England provides the only chance of playoff action. Not surprisingly, Roy Halladay wants postseason action (Dusty Saunders, Denver Post). One interesting line:

He has never pitched in a single major-league postseason game. Not one. That's about to change.

When is the last time an NL team was so supremely awesome on paper in November that playoff tickets could already be printed?

Someoned analyzed the Halladay/Lee insanity with Trade Value Calculator at Beyond the Box Score. If Blicks' calculations are correct, the trade heavily favors Toronto (though their value is most volatile as it is chiefly tied to prospects) while Philly paid over $23million in value for a 1.0 WAR increase. Of course, Cliff Lee's reluctance to sign on longterm and Halladay's requisite 3-year extension in place changes the motives.

RJ Anderson at Fangraphs writes about Cliff Lee. One thing is certain - Halladay cannot be more dominant against the Rockies than Lee was. It's not like Halladay dominated the Rockies the one time he pitched against us. Oh, wait.

Rockies Links

Rockies are among Capps' suitors | ColoradoRockies.com: News (Thomas Harding)
Colorado has apparently called Matt Capps' agent, which naturally could mean anything. There is apparent mutual interest, as Capps enjoyed playing for Jim Tracy in 2006-07 and the Rockies need a right-handed reliever. The late inning roles are filled, so Capps would have to be filling the role Jose Contreras would leave. I assume O'Dowd would have mentioned this in the call he placed to agent Paul Kinzer, so the fact there remains "mutual interest" suggests to me that the former Pirate isn't shutting the door on a massively reduced role. However, if he still wants to pitch late in games, one of the other eight teams that have expressed interest will likely give him that opportunity. If the Rockies do acquire him, he could be next in line for the Bob Apodaca tune up. Something tells me 'Dac could get Capps to throw his fastball for strikes again.

Jon Heyman of SI.com writes of Yorvit Torrealba's grievance suit against the New York Mets from 2007. The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow regarding Omar Minaya backing out on a 3-year $14.4million contract following the 2007 season. Torrealba claims "the Mets falsely created the impression that [he] was an injury risk."

Atkins Non-Tendered | FanGraphs Baseball - Dave Allen tries to analyze Atkins' decline. While acknowledging his numbers have dropped each year since 2006, he lumps 2006-08 and compares is BABIP to 2009. The result - his fly balls aren't turning into home runs or hits anymore, effectively meaning he has lost his ability to hit the ball hard.

Reward Retrospective: The 2007 National League MVP - Beyond the Box Score
A hot topic during the NLDS was Matt Holliday's loss to Jimmy Rollins for NL MVP. Should Rollins have won? No. But should Holliday have won? Turns out he wasn't even a clear choice for second (nointangiblesjuststatisticallyWARspeaking).

Santana In Venezuela Applesauce - Chapman To Throw, Non-Tender-Palooza and Kendall Tweets

James Kannengieser — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:02:40 -0000

A slow weekend means abbreviated Applesauce.

Meet the Mets

Johan Santana made a trip home to Venezuela to hold his annual Cy Youngazo ("Great Cy Young") event, where he hands out Christmas presents and organizes baseball and soccer tournaments. A nice read on this Monday.

Aroldis Chapman will throw a side session for teams on Tuesday.

Jason Bay's agent says his client has moved on from the Red Sox and at least one team has offered more than four years to the slugging left fielder.

Metsmerized interviews Brian McRae, a good guy whose greatest contribution to the Mets was being traded for surprisingly productive Darryl Hamilton.

Around the NL East

Braves blogs Talking Chop and Capitol Avenue Club provide input on the Kelly Johnson non-tendering.

The Nationals brought back Scott Olsen after non-tendering him.

The Good Phight looks at some low-risk, high-reward free agent targets.

Around MLB

Brew Crew Ball links to some of the funnier Tweets about the Jason Kendall signing.

Garrett Atkins celebrated his 30th birthday on Saturday by being non-tendered. No word if the Rockies will offer him a membership to the Jelly-Of-The-Month Club as a parting gift.

McCovey Chronicles is incredulous about the possibility of the Giants signing Scott Podsednik. The first two paragraphs are gold.

Monday Morning Post-Meetings Link Fest

davoag — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:00:24 -0000

More photos » by Billy Smith II - AP

New Brandon Lyon puts on a 15 million dollar jersey. Prices at the team store sure have gone up!

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Have we all recovered? That was a hectic week as the Astros wheeled and dealed in Indianapolis. Houston came away with two relievers and a shiny new third baseman, while losing two prospects in trade and two more in the Rule V draft. Kudos to every contributor on TCB for covering all those moves during the Winter Meetings with both timeliness and depth of analysis. We all certainly have much to discuss between now and February when pitchers and catchers report. Until then, here's all the links fit to print from the past few days:

I know lots of stuff happened, but does baseball need the winter meetings? Dejan Kovasevic doesn't think so.
If you missed clack's excellent breakdown on the newest Astro Pedro Feliz and what to expect from him offensively, here it is. Look for some more analysis about Brandon Lyon from a Pitch f/x perspective later this week.
One of the biggest announcements out of Indy was that Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN for MLB Network and MLB.com. This is good news for all of us since keeping one of the best in the business around has to be a top priority. Whenever I write a story/column like this (roundup-style), I think about how Gammons pretty much invented it. Now that's influence. His final column is definitely worth reading.
Saturday was the deadline to offer contracts to arbitration-eligible players. Houston offered contracts to all their eligible guys, but that was not the case with all the teams around the league. In fact, the Matt Capps-Pittsburgh saga turned out to be the most compelling storyline of the night. There was a long list of interesting guys that were released Saturday and Tim Dierkes over at MLBTradeRumors.com runs them down here.
Of course, the Astros have no need of a guy like Garrett Atkins anymore, but Ryan Church is available and needed on this roster. Another interesting guy is Ryan Garko, who is listed as a first baseman, but did play 12 games in the outfield last season and could be a good lefty matchup guy off the bench. Two of the guys on that list were re-signed by the Indians, so that list could dwindle quickly.
Here is an updated version of the 2010 Draft Order. Go ahead and bookmark this page, since it will be updated as more guys sign.
One bad sign for the Astros' 2010 draft hopes is this report from the Boston Globe implying that Jose Valverde may have priced himself out of the market. I am aghast that his agent thinks he can get 12-13 million for Valverde, or that Fernando Rodney asked for 30m over three years from the Astros. If you were incredulous after the Lyon signing, can you imagine the apoplectic shock if Rodney signed for that much? Sheesh.
FanGraphs' Dave Cameron on the marginal value of a win. The article is ostensibly about the Rays trading and paying Rafael Soriano, but Cameron name-drops the Astros to illustrate how silly it is to overpay for wins in their situation.
Another excellent read for anyone who is on this esteemed website. Print this out and refer to it every time you read an article on here. Especially mine, since I'm often wrong, as my wife always reminds me.
Did you ever want to ask Brad Mills five questions about the upcoming season? Well, hopefully they were these five questions. If not, you may or may not be out of luck.
The Harvard boys bring it again, breaking down the payroll efficiency of major league teams in 2009. Of course, the Astros fall into that bottom 15 category and really don't get a lot out of wins out of their large payroll. This isn't because they don't spend money, it's because they spend their money the wrong way (re: Lee, Carlos and Matsui, Kazuo).
Here's a roundup of the local bloggers and storymongers, as Brian McTaggart weighs in on what the 2010 roster could look like. Alyson Footer talks about many doings around the team, including Milo Hamilton winning yet another award. The picture Astros County had up the other day with Milo in a crown was priceless. Richie Justice likes the Feliz signing, but thinks the team will still give Chris Johnson a shot at the everyday job. I know the organization has high hopes for him, but I wish the local guys would stop touting Johnson. He's never shown good power, has a history of injuries and didn't hit much at Round Rock. Why should this guy get a shot at the starting job with the big league club? I'd rather see Mark Saccomanno there than Johnson.
Farmstros does a good job breaking down the Astros prospective Rule V selections next season. Jose Altuve is a really interesting addition to that list, since he had an excellent season in 2009, but hasn't played past Low A ball yet.
I wonder what Houston offers on the post-game buffet? Really, though, can these players be expected to give up full-sized candy bars? Where are we living, Communist Russia?
Finally, a little tidbit from Buster Olney's latest blog post sent me to this really neat website run by former MLB catcher Brent Mayne. The Art of Catching provides tips and tricks on playing one of the hardest to define defensive positions on the field. This is why I like being a baseball fan.

Non-tender roundup: Miller and Reyes signed to minor league deals

Jay — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:10:39 -0000

Vaporstarter Adam Miller and the oft-injured Anthony Reyes were not tendered contracts by the Indians yesterday, rendering them free agents, but both pitchers signed minor league deals with the Indians just hours later. These transactions remove both pitchers from the 40-man roster while retaining their services for at least one more year. In the (admittedly unlikely) event Miller's career gets back on track this season, this series of moves avoids using up one of his option years, and should the Indians choose in the next year to restore him to the 40-man roster, he will have at least one option year left and will remain under club control at least through 2016. Reyes remains optionless, of course, but still hypothetically could remain under club control through 2013.

The Indians also declined to offer a contract to reliever Jose Veras, who was arbitration eligible, rendering him a free agent, and there is no indication he will be re-signed. Cleveland's 40-man roster now stands at 37, with 18 pitchers and 19 position players.

The Indians did tender a contract to pitcher Rafael Perez, who is eligible for arbitration (and to the other 28 players on the 40-man roster who are not yet eligible). The non-non-tender to Perez was non-unexpected, despite a disastrous season in which he was the fourth-worst reliever in the majors (min. 30 IP) per WXRL, which estimates a reliever's actual impact on the chance of his team winning or losing games. (That's "Win Expectation above Replacement, Lineup-adjusted," if you must know. BP rates Perez as merely the 10th-worst reliever at preventing runs from scoring, but because he blew more runs than his peers in high-leverage game situations, his negative impact on wins and losses was more substantial.)

Perez spent almost two months in the minors but still qualified for arbitration as a Super Two player with several weeks to spare. As a relief pitcher coming off a terrible season with barely enough service time to qualify, Perez is in line to be awarded perhaps the smallest salary of any player going to arbitration, probably less than $1 million. It's worth recalling, at this point, how outstanding Perez was in his truly super two-plus seasons prior to this one. He had a 2.89 ERA (and 152 ERA+) over 149.1 IP. He struck out 9.8 batters per nine innings, with 3.7 strikeouts for every walk. He held lefties to a .241 slugging percentage and allowed them only nine extra-base hits in 249 PA. As long as we keep tendering him contracts, he remains under club control through 2013, and there is a reasonable chance he will re-emerge as an impact reliever, or at the very least a useful one, at some point in that span.

Other notable non-tenders include former Indians Ryan Garko and Ryan Church. Garko of course was traded to the Giants only months ago for a decent enough pitching prospect. Just 115 abysmal AB later, Giants GM Brian Sabean is now saying he doesn't want to pay upwards of $3 million to a guy who isn't really an everyday player. I'm not saying he's wrong, but it's a pretty hilarious statement to make for a guy who will still owes $83 million to Barry Zito for the next four seasons. McCovey Chronicles has a pretty dead-on take on Sabean's curious sequence of decisions. My theory is that you just can't understand how slow this guy is on the basepaths until he's actually on your team, and maybe Wedge actually deked the Giants with respect to Garko's athleticism by playing him in the outfield.

Expect the cleveland.com crowd to clamor for Garko's return, oblivious to the fact that two teams have now deemed him unworthy of an everyday role in the space of just a few months. Despite high regard for his character, I would be surprised if Shapiro brought him back, even at a substantially reduced salary. I rather expect Garko will be signed by a GM who scouted him as a college player and was impressed with his stroke. As a lefty batter, Church doesn't really fit in with the Indians' plans. Other interesting non-tenders include Pirates closer Matt Capps, Yankees sinkerballer Chien-Ming Wang, and third baseman Garrett Atkins. Atkins is perhaps best remembered as the guy that the Indians never even considered trading Aaron Laffey to get. I wouldn't be surprised if the Indians took an interest in Mike MacDougal; they seem to like guys who used to be closers.

As for Miller, these moves were unusual, reflecting an unusual situation. The "non-tender" deadline traditionally involves only players who are arbitration-eligible, as there is little reason not to tender a contract to any player on the 40-man roster who isn't eligible, since the most the team can be compelled to pay such a player is the minimum salary, which will remain $400,000 for the 2010 season. Many such players will make less than half that much, if they don't spend much time in the majors.

The latest in Miller's deathless progression of rehab setbacks occurred after rosters were frozen for the Rule 5 draft. Otherwise, the Indians might have chosen to DFA Miller prior to that point, exposing him to waivers. That might have cost the Indians the rights to Chuck Lofgren — but then again, maybe not. The Indians might have protected some other on-the-bubble prospect like Yohan Pino, in which case, Miller's delayed setback actually saved the Indians from burning an option year on whoever-that-would-have-been. And even if Miller clears waivers (and later, presumably, also clears the Rule 5 draft), he would have been granted minor league free agency anyway, since he was originally signed more than six years ago.

In that sense, non-tendering Miller, while unusually, was actually a more straightforward path to the same destination. Either way, he ends up as a free agent, free to sign with any club, but this way, he doesn't have to pass through waivers first. Miller obviously felt some combination of organizational loyalty and faith in the club's ability to rehab him back into a prospect, assuming that's even possible. Reyes has spent far less time in the Indians organization, but he had the same options as Miller and made the same choice. If either player was actually worth something anymore, we might consider feeling good about that.

Teams already interested Garrett Atkins

Eli Greenspan — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:44:38 -0000

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The Rockies decided to cut ties with third baseman Garrett Atkins after weeks of trying to move the .289 career hitter.

Atkins lost his spot to young up-and-comer Ian Stewart, and had the opportunity to contend to take over at first base, but a disappointing .226 average reduced his time significantly.

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Garrett Atkins	126	354	37	80	12	1	9	48	41	58	0	0	.226	.308	.342

While teams are interested, sources say the teams that are pursuing him will only have him on "their own terms." Atkins is just a .252 career hitter on the road, so teams may be hesitant when looking at him.

The Twins, Orioles, and Red Sox are interested in the third baseman, who can now sign with any team. While the Mariners have signed Chone Figgins, sources say they are exploring the possibility of bringing in another third baseman, moving Figgins to second, and sliding Jose Lopez over to first.

He went on to say, however, that that would only happen if the team fails to sign free agent first baseman Russell Branyan.

(Non-)Tender is the Night

Jim McLennan — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:00:18 -0000

10pm Arizona time today marks the non-tender deadline: the last chance for teams to offer contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man roster. If they opt not to do so, players become free agents, and can sign with any club. It looks like the Diamondbacks will offer deals to all their players in this category, such as Conor Jackson, but might there be a chance for the team to pick someone up, released by another club? There are usually some useful pieces that get cut loose, and it can be a chance to pick someone up for a relative song.

Tim Dierkes has put up a list of potential non-tenders at MLBTradeRumors.com. Some of these will certainly be given contracts (his list contains Jackson, and you can take it to the bank that the team will not let him walk away from Arizona), and others we might not want to touch with someone else's ten-foot bargepole. However, after the jump, we'll take a look at some interesting names in the positions the D-backs need help, on on whom we may want to kick the tires if they become available.

Jeremy Accardo. Over the past three seasons, Accardo has an ERA+ of 160 for the Blue Jays, though admittedly, he only threw 37 major-league innings in 2008 and 2009 combined, and spent most of last year in Triple-A [posting an ERA of 3.00 in 27 appearances]. A local boy - born in Mesa - he could be a useful arm to add to the Diamondbacks bullpen.
Garrett Atkins. Purple Row says he has been officially non-tendered by the Rockies. Last year was a disaster for him - OPS+ of just 66 - but his career numbers are still solid. He's only 30, is a career .289 hitter, averaging 20 homers per season, and even adjusting for Coors, has a career OPS+ of 102. Of particular interest to Arizona because he murders LHP, so could be a nice platoon-mate for Allen at first-base.
Taylor Buchholz. While we're pillaging Coors Field, maybe they'll let Buchholz slip through. This may seem unlikely, since he was lights-out in the Rockies bullpen last season, posting an ERA of 2.17 over 63 games. Normally, there'd be little chance of that kind of performance being non-tendered, but the Rockies have to find an awful lof of arbitration money for 2010.
Jack Cust. A former Diamondbacks' top-draft pick, I should stress there's absolutely no chance of us taking on Mr. Hands of Stone. But I just think it would be amusing to have the 2008 and 2009 K leaders from both leagues playing on the Diamondbacks next year...
Ryan Garko. While he flopped badly with the Giants down the stretch, he has produced four straight season of 100+ OPS+. He's another who kills southpaws - Garko's career line vs. LHP is .313/.392/.495, though he's never going to win any Gold Gloves at first. Will probably still be in SF: Grant from McCC reckons, "If the Giants start 2010 with Garko as the starting first baseman, that's just fine."
Kelly Johnson. Like Atkins, a poor 2009 derailed what was looking like a decent career - an OPS+ of 108 prior to last season is excellent for a second-baseman, and he has a good defensive reputation as wel;. Ken Rosenthal reports that the Braves are trying to trade Johnson, but will non-tender him if a deal can not be worked out before the deadline.
John Maine. 28-years old, ERA+ of 106 in his four seasons with the Mets. Should be a no-brainer to keep that guy in the Big Apple, right? Apparently not. New York have been dangling him in trade talks, such as with the Brewers for outfielder Corey Hart. Still, even if that falls through, you'd have to be stupid to let him walk away. However, we are talking about the Mets...
Brandon Medders. A tale of two Brandons, both former D-backs who'll be aged 30 next Opening Day. B. Lyon, career ERA+ of 111, gets a three-year, $15m deal from the Astros. B. Medders, career ERA+ 136, is a possible non-tender candidate from the Giants. Seems fairly certain he will be offered a contract though, and the Giants would be mental not to do so.
Chien-Ming Wang. Perhaps the most intriguing name on the list, this would have seemed unthinkable last year, with career numbers of 54-20 and an ERA+ of 117. However, Wang imploded - his first three starts led to 23 earned runs in just six IP, and he had season-ending shoulder surgery on July 30. Some team will offer the sinkerballer an incentive-laden contract: 50/50 whether its a bargain or a bust.