Earlier this week, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported that the Florida Marlins offered right-handed pitcher Ricky Nolasco a three-year offer, but at the time the two sides were $10 million apart. Juan C. Rodriguez of the Sun Sentinel says that the two sides are still far apart.
Nolasco’s agent, Matt Sosick, confirmed only that the the two sides have had substantive discussions, but nothing was imminent. Sosnick was Josh Johnson’s agent that finalized his four-year, $39 million deal in January. Other pitchers that signed similar deals at this stage of their career include Johan Santana’s four-year, $40 million deal with the Minnesota Twins (2005-2008) and Zach Greinke’s four-year, $38 million deal with the Kansas City Royals (2009-2012).
Nolasco, 27, is 14-9 with a 4.51 ERA in 26 starts this season.
Rodriguez adds that any multi-year deal with the Marlins requires the team to buy out at least one year of free agency.
Nolasco is arbitration-eligible for two more season, so the two sides could come to terms on a one-year deal and then revisit a multi-year deal next year.
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick says free-agent-to-be Jayson Werth has left his current agent, the Beverly Hills Sports Council, and is looking for a new agent. A source close to Crasnick says “He’s shopping.”
Crasnick adds, “Werth is one of top free agents on market this winter, so that’s led to the expected agent feeding frenzy. He hasn’t made his call yet.”
Teams that would like Werth’s services for years to come will have to open up their wallets in the next few months. Werth has been rumored to be target for the New York Yankees.
Fort Worth Star Telegram’s Jeff Wilson says the Texas Rangers have agreed to terms with Mark Prior on a Minor League deal. An official close to Wilson said the deal is for the long-term and not just for 2010.
Prior signed a deal with Orange County of the Independent Golden Baseball League in early August.
There were rumors in mid-May about Prior starting comback. At the time he took a line drive off of his pitching shoulder when throwing batting practice to a local team. He was shutdown for three weeks after the incident.
Prior, 29, last pitched for the Cubs in 2006 when he went 1-6 in nine games. He has a career 42-29 record with a 3.51 ERA. He had a promising start, but his career was derailed with several injuries.
Check out this video of a Tampa Bay Rays fan getting three separate chances at three foul balls during Wednesday’s Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays game:
Unfortunately, she takes the first one off her face. Ouch!
In the wake of Washington Nationals’ outfielder Nyjer Morgan’s 15-game suspension (7-games for throwing a ball at a fan and 8-games for his recent fight), Tim Kurkjian of ESPN thinks the Nationals will end up moving Morgan.
Kurkjian says that Morgan has progressively gotten more angry over the year. Part of the reason is because he’s 30-years-old, he’s not making a lot of money compared to others, he wants his career to go faster and he was recently dropped to eighth in the batting order. The Nationals now have to decide if he’s wroth keeping around or moving him.
“The bottom line is that the Nationals will have to look into the situation and say if this guy is worth keeping around or is it time to look into start moving him,” Kurkjian said via ESPN Video. “And I think they’re going to do that, and I think they probably should.”
Morgan is making $426,500 this season, and he’s under team control for next season should the Nationals decide to keep him around. He’s definitely a talented outfielder and speedy base runner, so he has value to other teams, but it’ll come down to whether or not another club wants to inherit a potential time bomb.
Morgan is hitting .257/.317/.318 and is 33-for-48 in successful stolen bases this season in 116 games.
Right-handed pitcher Chad Durbin will be a free-agent after this season, and his friends and family all want to know: What will happen this off-season?
“I definitely want to come back here,” he said, according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“He’s done a tremendous job for us,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “He’s been a big part of our team. We know that. The other part, from a financial standpoint and contract, that’s all up to the front office of course.”
Durbin is making $2.125 million this season, a nice raise from the $900,000 he made in 2008 and the $1.635 million he made in 2009. Being one of Manuel’s most trusted arms out of the bullpen, he’s likely to get another raise for the 2011 season with whichever team he decides to go with.
“It’ll be something that’s tough,” Durbin said. “If somebody is offering two or three years, it’ll be hard to say no to that to take a one-year deal where you really want to be.”
GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said internal discussions about Durbin and the Phillies’ other free agents will intensify during the season’s final weeks.
Durbin, 34, is 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 51 appearances this season for the Phillies.
Oakland Athletics infielder Eric Chavez met with team officials today, and it is likely that he will announced that he will not play again this year, as opposed to saying that he’s ready to hang it up for good. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle says that Chavez has his own personal “Brett Favre” rule. He will “wait until he’s been away at least two years before making any such decision official.”
Chavez has been out most of the year with a neck injury. He also has shoulder discomfort. He wanted to try to play again this season, but the injuries prevented him from doing so.
The 32-year-old has been limited to designated hitter duties this season. He is in the final year of his six-year, $66 million contract, and the A’s are unlikely to pick up his $12.5 million option for next season. Rather, they will likely pay his $3 million buyout.
There were rumors back in May that indicated that he was retiring. At the time Slusser found out via text message that Chavez was not retiring.
Chavez originally injured his neck during a Spring Training drill. He underwent an MRI exam earlier this season and the results were bulges in the C6 and C7 disks.
In 33 games this season, Chavez has hit .234/.276/.333 with one home run.
Major League Baseball handed out their ruling for the recent fight between the Florida Marlins and the Washington Nationals. If you missed the fight video, check it out here.
Here’s the skinny on the suspensions and fines, via MLB Press Release and Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post:
Nyjer Morgan (Nationals): eight-game suspension (this is in addition to the seven-game suspension and undisclosed fine issued to Morgan for throwing a ball at a fan on August 21st)
Chris Volstad (Marlins): six-game suspension
Alex Sanabia (Marlins): five-game suspension
Gaby Sanchez (Marlins): three-game suspension
Jose Veras (Marlins): fine for aggressive actions and comments during the incident.
Doug Slaten (Nationals): three-game suspension
Jim Riggleman (Nationals manager): two-game suspension and fine
Edwin Rodriguez (Marlins manager): one-game suspension and fine
Pat Listach (Nationals third base coach): three-game suspension and fine
Suspensions for most players are scheduled to start tonight (Friday).
The Pittsburgh Pirates are 44-89 and they are on pace to lose 109 games. The worst part about another losing season for the PIrates is that this will also be the 18th consecutive losing season for the organization. What does this mean for Pirates general manager Neal Huntington and manager John Russell? It probably means the Pirates will be looking for a new manager and GM, if President Frank Coonlley’s comments shed any light on the situation.
“I have been extremely disappointed in the team’s performance,” Coonelly told the Daily Pitch in an e-mail responding to whether Huntington and Russell would be retained. “We are evaluating every aspect of our operation in order to determine how we can get the club moving in the right direction immediately. “While we have made tremendous progress executing a sound plan to overhaul a broken system and return this once-proud franchise to its tradition of winning baseball, we have only one benchmark by which we measure ourselves and that is wins and losses at the Major League level. By that benchmark, we have badly underachieved.”
Huntington did take a few positive steps this season as he signed 16 year old pitching prospect Luis Heredia. They also shelled out $6.5 mm on Jameson Taillon who was the second pick of this years 2010.
The positive steps that have been taken this season may not be enough to save Huntington and Russell’s job. Both are signed through 2011 but could be looking for a new job after this season.
Information in this article was obtained from Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick says the Los Angeles Dodgers need to address their inconsistency in the middle of their lineup, so you should expect the team to go after a big bat this offseason.
“We need to be more productive in the middle of the lineup,” manager Joe Torre said.
The team lost Manny Ramirez earlier this week, and outfielder Matt Kemp has not lived up to his two-year, $10.95 million contract that he signed last spring, so the Dodgers may be looking at a big name free agent. Some names the team could go after include Carl Crawford, Adam Dunn, Jayson Werth, Paul Konerko and maybe Adrian Beltre. Each of these players will be in the 10-figure per year salary range – a number that Los Angeles has tried to avoid.
Gurnick says GM Ned Colletti has already agreed that a big bat is a high priority this winter, and he’s probably more likely to land one via trade than free agency. In addition to a big bat on his wish list, the Dodgers need a starting catcher and a third baseman, and starting pitching.
Luckily for the Dodgers, the team has $38 million coming off the books, but with the pending divorce the McCourt family, the team may be restricted from spending big dollars to attract big name talent.
