Johan Santana Archives - River Avenue Blues

Free Agent Notes: Johan, Robertson, Olivera

January 28, 2015 by Mike 207 Comments

Got some miscellaneous free agent notes to pass along. One involves a former Yankees player who has signed elsewhere and two involve players who have yet to sign.

Johan Santana dealing with shoulder discomfort

Two weeks ago we learned two-time Cy Young award winner Johan Santana was on the comeback trail after missing all of 2013 and 2014 with shoulder and Achilles injuries, and that the Yankees were going to “keep an eye on him” during his stint in winter ball. Santana retired all six men he faced in his first outing and reportedly hit 90 on the radar gun.

Last week, however, Santana missed his scheduled start due to discomfort in his twice surgically repaired shoulder. Jon Heyman says no structural damage was found in Johan’s shoulder, and, although he threw a bullpen session last Friday, he will not make another start according to Jon Morosi. “He will be ready for Spring Training,” said his agent. There’s nothing to lose by giving Santana a minor league contract and seeing what happens in Spring Training, but this is a harsh little reminder that he’s far from a guarantee to contribute in any way going forward.

White Sox did not place high bid for Robertson

Earlier this offseason the Yankees lost closer David Robertson — well, they didn’t lose him, really, they let him go after signing Andrew Miller — to the White Sox, who gave him a four-year contract worth $46M. Last week though, ChiSox GM Rick Hahn confirmed to Dan Hayes they did not make Robertson the highest offer and he turned down more money elsewhere to go to Chicago’s south side.

There’s no word on who did place the high bid, but my guess is either the Astros or Blue Jays, most likely the former. More than a few players have turned down Houston this offseason and taken less money elsewhere, including Miller, Ryan Vogelsong, and possibly Chase Headley. The Blue Jays reportedly wanted Robertson as well, though it’s unclear if they ever seriously pursued him. Has to be the Astros, right? Turns out that treating players like numbers and not people hurts your image and doesn’t make you a desirable destination for free agents. Who’d a thunk it?

Yankees continue to show strong interest in Hector Olivera

In the Dominican Republic last week, free agent Cuban third baseman Hector Olivera held an open showcase event and more than 200 scouts were in attendance, according to Jesse Sanchez. The Yankees, along with the Giants, Padres, Rangers, and Braves, are among the teams showing “strong interest” in Olivera at this point. He is still waiting to be declared a free agent by MLB and unblocked by the Office of Foreign Assets Control so he can sign.

Olivera is not some kind of up-and-coming prospect — he turns 30 in April and is MLB ready. The Yankees don’t really have a spot for another third baseman on the roster, not unless they release A-Rod anyway, and I doubt Olivera is looking to sign with a team to be a bench player. A few weeks ago Ben Badler called Olivera a better player than outfielder Yasmany Tomas, who signed a six-year, $68.5M deal with the Diamondbacks this winter. New York’s interest seems to be due diligence more than anything.

Johan Santana worth a shot on minor league deal; Yankees will “keep an eye on him” during winter ball

January 14, 2015 by Mike 79 Comments

Can't picture him without the goatee. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty) — Can’t picture him without the goatee. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty)

Left-hander Johan Santana, who hasn’t pitched in a big league game since August 2012, is planning to attempt a comeback and the Yankees will “keep an eye on him” during his winter ball stint these next few weeks, reports Joel Sherman. Johan is pitching in his native Venezuela and the Yankees had someone at his first start last night.

Santana, who turns 36 in March, threw 18 pitches and retired all six batters he faced last night. His fastball hit 90 mph according to Jon Heyman. Here’s video of his first inning of work, which includes cameos by ex-Yankee Yangervis Solarte and current Yankees farmhand Ramon Flores:

Injuries have limited Santana to only 21 starts and 117 innings — all with the Mets in 2012 — over the last four seasons. He missed 2011 because of a torn shoulder capsule, two months in 2012 with an ankle sprain and lower back inflammation, all of 2013 with another torn shoulder capsule, and all of 2014 with the second torn capsule and a ruptured Achilles tendon. Ouch.

Shoulder capsule tears are usually the kiss of death and Santana has now torn his twice. He returned from the first tear to post a 4.85 ERA (4.09 FIP) back in 2012 — he had a 2.76 ERA (3.40 FIP) throughout his first 16 starts and a 15.63 ERA (7.62 FIP) in his last five starts after his ankle and back started acting up — and coming back from a second tear is going to be even more difficult.

I do think it’s worth noting Santana’s shoulder has been healthy for at least six months. The Orioles signed him last offseason and he was pitching in minor league games when he was hit by a line drive in an Extended Spring Training outing in June, then tore his Achilles when he slipped while going after the ball. Baltimore had actually added him to the 40-man roster days before the injury to prevent him from opting out of his minor league contract.

“He was pitching well,” said Orioles GM Dan Duquette to the Associated Press after the injury. “The last time out he had his velocity and he was able to back-door his slider. I think he had eight strikeouts and no walks, so he was right on schedule. After (the ExST game), he was going to come up and join the Major League team and we were going to continue the rehab in (Double-A) … The skills are there. He’s been able to rehab his arm, but now he’s got another challenge.”

Obviously the torn Achilles is a very severe injury as well. We shouldn’t forget that. The second torn shoulder capsule is the more career-threatening injury, however, and the Achilles injury might have actually been beneficial to the health of Santana’s shoulder because it gave him more time to rehab. That make some sense? Johan was very aggressive with his rehab while with the Mets — he and the team were very publicly butting heads over his timetable — and I’m sure that was the case last year. The Achilles injury forced him to slow down.

I can’t say I’m all that confident in Santana being able to return to MLB and be an effective pitcher, but the Yankees could use some rotation depth, and a minor league contract carries zero risk. They could bring him to Spring Training, see what he looks like, and if it’s not good, they can walk away no string attached. If he looks good, maybe Santana can give them some decent starts until Ivan Nova returns or a better option comes along.

Whenever there’s a veteran, former ace-caliber starter like this recovering from a serious injury and looking for an opportunity, I can’t help but think back to Bartolo Colon in 2011. He was more or less out of baseball due to arm problems, the Yankees plucked him out of winter ball, we all had a good laugh about it, then he went out and pitched well during the regular season. Heck, it’s 2015 and Colon is still pitching.

Given the injury risk in the Yankees rotation right now, I think it’s worth the minor league contract to see if Johan comes back and has a 2011 Colon type of effort in him. He was never a pitcher who lived and died with velocity, and he’s always been a top notch competitor/leave it all out on the field type. That seems like the kind of guy who can make this comeback attempt work.

King: Johan Santana barely cracks 80 mph during workout with Yankees

February 25, 2014 by Mike 29 Comments

Via George King: The Yankees were one of seven teams in attendance for Johan Santana’s workout at a Florida high school earlier today. He topped out at 81 mph and sat mostly in the 77-78 mph range, though his changeup was said to be “impressive.” Scout Tim Naehring was at the workout for the team.

Santana, 35 next month, had surgery to repair a torn shoulder capsule last April, his second such procedure. He is still in rehab mode, so it’s no surprise his arm strength was less than stellar, but torn capsules are usually the kiss of death and Johan has now had two of them. There is no such thing as too much pitching depth but the Yankees do have plenty of fifth starter candidates at the moment. No reason to give Santana even a minor league deal until he shows more arm strength.

McCullough: Yankees monitoring Johan’s rehab; could repeat 2011 pitching strategy

January 10, 2014 by Mike 19 Comments

Via Andy McCullough: The Yankees are one of several teams monitoring Johan Santana as he rehabs from his second torn shoulder capsule. He has not yet thrown off a mound. “I don’t know what to think of Johan right now. I haven’t looked at his medicals,” said Brian Cashman at the Winter Meetings. Joe wrote about Santana as a potential target last month.

Aside from monitoring Johan, McCullough also mentions Cashman has discussed replicating the team’s 2010-11 offseason pitching plan. They signed cheap guys like Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon after missing out on Cliff Lee, as I’m sure you remember. If the Yankees fail to sign Masahiro Tanaka before his deadline in two weeks, the alternative might not be Ubaldo Jimenez or Matt Garza. They could target cheaper options and that’s not necessarily a bad idea.

Johan Santana? Why not?

December 12, 2013 by Joe Pawlikowski 53 Comments

It appears that Phil Hughes and Johan Santana simply couldn’t be in the Bronx at the same time. In 2007 the Yankees declined to include Hughes in a trade for the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner. Now that they’re both free agents, could Hughes and Santana effectively make that swap? Hughes has already signed with the Twins. According to ESPN NY, the Yankees have interest in signing Santana.

Any potential deal would come towards the end of the off-season, as the Yankees fill out their non-roster invitee list. Santana might be a household name, but at this point he doesn’t warrant a guaranteed contract. After missing all of last season, and all of 2011, with shoulder injuries. Those have been the kiss of death for so many pitchers that any amount of guaranteed money could be essentially flushed down the toilet. The only way to justify a rotation spot for Santana is to watch him first-hand in spring training.

While shoulder injuries spell trouble for all pitchers, Santana at least has one mitigating factor: he’s pitched reasonably well with diminished velocity. Through his first 16 starts in 2011 he threw 98 innings to a 2.76 ERA, holding opponents to a .618 OPS. While the narrative is that he fell apart after he threw the first no-hitter in Mets history, he did have quite a few good starts after that (12 ER in 30 IP) before completely falling apart in July. It’s not much of a stretch to speculate that his shoulder started becoming a problem right around that time.

The Yankees aren’t the only team with interest in a potential Santana resurgence. Both his former teams, the Twins and Mets, have expressed interest, as have the Rays, Orioles, Royals, Brewers, and Pirates. With that many teams in the hunt, there’s a non-zero chance that one team makes the crazy move of giving Santana a guaranteed contract. His agent, Peter Greenberg, has indicated that if a team does offer a guarantee, Santana could sign now. Absent one, he’ll throw in January for interested teams. At that point teams will get a better idea, and one could certainly offer a guaranteed contract.

The Johan Santana who dazzled the league for years with his devastating changeup is long gone. He started his fade in 2009, and by 2011 he was completely gone. This is a different Santana, one dealing with physical limitations. Yet he has shown, for at least half a season in 2011, that he has the ability to succeed even with diminished stuff. A second shoulder surgery certainly changes things, but Santana is still worth a peek, at least. I wouldn’t bet on the Yankees coming away with him, but in a search for low-cost, potentially valuable assets, they could do a lot worse.

2013 Winter Meetings Day Three Open Thread

December 11, 2013 by Mike 233 Comments

Could Ackley be less awful outside of Seattle? (Ronald Martinez/Getty) — Ack. (ley) (Ronald Martinez/Getty)

The Yankees did most of their heavy offseason lifting over the last few weeks, so the first two days of the Winter Meetings have been a bit of a bore. That’s been the case around the entire league, really. Hopefully things pick up over the next 36 hours — the Winter Meetings unofficially end following the Rule 5 Draft tomorrow morning — just to add some excitement to the week. This is supposed to be the most fun time of the offseason.

Anyway, here are Monday’s and Tuesday’s Yankees-related rumors. The most important thing we’ve learned so far this week is that the club is getting a ton of calls on Brett Gardner but they’re likely to keep him. They’re pushing Ichiro Suzuki in trades instead. Good luck with that. Guys like Joaquin Benoit, Mark Reynolds, Dustin Ackley, Danny Espinosa, and Michael Young are on their radar as well. We’ll keep track of the Wednesday’s rumors right here, so make sure you check back often. All times are ET.

10:15pm: The Yankees rejected a Gardner-for-Phillips offer from the Reds. Happy to see the team values Gardner so highly, it would have been very easy to say yes to that offer following Robinson Cano’s defection. [Heyman]
6:47pm: The Reds are indeed interested in Gardner right now. The Yankees do not have interest in lefty reliever Sean Marshall, however. He was almost traded to the Rockies earlier this week before something popped up in his medicals. [Sherman]
5:23pm: If you were hoping the Yankees would sign Bartolo Colon, forget it. He agreed to a two-year, $20M contract (!) with the Mets. That’s a lot. [Rosenthal]
5:04pm: The Yankees were interested in Jason Vargas before he took a four-year, $32M deal from the Royals a few weeks ago. Weird. The soft-tossing, pitch-to-contact types are not usually the guys they target. [Nightengale]
4:59pm: Freddy Garcia’s agent reached out to the Yankees, but they said they weren’t interested. With all due respect to Sweaty Freddy, there’s no need for a reunion. [Marchand]
4:05pm: Brian Cashman told reported the Yankees are “ready to rock ‘n roll” when asked if they are holding back money for Masahiro Tanaka. He also indicated they may fill out their rotation and bench with low cost pickups later in the offseason, similar to 2011. [Sherman & Andy McCullough]
2:27pm: The Yankees have no intention of giving Infante a four-year contract, and rightfully so. He’s sticking to that demand though. [Feinsand]
2:25pm: The Reds have “little interest” in Gardner, surprisingly. They need a leadoff man and center fielder. [Sherman]
12:24pm: The Yankees like Diamondbacks shortstop Didi Gregorius. He could play second this year before taking over as the long-term Derek Jeter replacement, at least in theory. Whether he’s attainable is another matter. [Joel Sherman]
10:34am: There are “no active talks” between the Yankees and Reds about Brandon Phillips at the moment. They can do better. [Ken Rosenthal]
10:22am: The Yankees are one of eight teams with interest in Johan Santana. All talks are in the preliminary stages and it would be a minor league contract. Johan is returning from his second torn shoulder capsule. [Andrew Marchand]
10:03am: Apparently the Yankees and Tigers are discussing a deal involving Gardner and Austin Jackson. That seems … weird. I wonder if Detroit thinks it’ll be easier to sign Gardner long-term or something. [Peter Gammons]
9:52am: There “are no legs” to any talks about Masterson between the Yankees and Indians. They only need his arm anyway, amirite? [Buster Olney]
9:30am: The Yankees would like to get their hands on the available Justin Masterson. The Indians want young, controllable pitching in return, and since they already have three center fielders on their roster, a trade involving Gardner would require a third team. [Bob Nightengale]
No surprise here, but the Yankees are no longer in on Nelson Cruz or Shin-Soo Choo after signing Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran. They remain engaged with free agent infielder Omar Infante. [Mark Feinsand]

Reminder: Your trade proposal sucks.

2013 Winter Meetings Day One Open Thread

December 9, 2013 by Mike 99 Comments

It’s hard to believe that after everything that happened last week, today is the first day of the Winter Meetings in Orlando. These next three days — the fourth day of the Winter Meetings is always slow because teams head home around noon-ish — might be a little slower than usual only because some of the very top free agents are always off the board. I still expect this week to be pretty busy, with lots of rumors and trades and signings with whatnot.

Robinson Cano is leaving for the Mariners and Curtis Granderson is going across town to the Mets, but the Yankees have already inked Jacoby Ellsbury (seven years, $153M), Brian McCann (five years, $85M), Carlos Beltran (three years, $45M), Hiroki Kuroda (one year, $16M), and Kelly Johnson (one year, $3M). They still need another infielder to help replace Cano as well as another starting pitcher — Yu Darvish was posted during the 2011 Winter Meetings, so hopefully we get some clarification about Masahiro Tanaka this week — and some bullpen help. General depth is always something to monitor as well.

Brian Cashman is not expected to arrive in Orlando until this afternoon according to Andy McCullough, but that’s pretty typical. A few clubs and executives are already there but most trickle in throughout Monday. We’re going to keep track of any Yankees-related news right here throughout the day, so make sure you check back often. All of the timestamps are ET.

10:58pm: The Yankees have not changed their stance on Gardner. They will listen to offers but aren’t overly motivated to trade him. [Jack Curry]
7:47pm: The asking price for Gardner is “through (the) roof” and the Giants don’t have much interest in Ichiro Suzuki. Not surprised on either count. [John Shea]
6:58pm: The Giants are intrigued by Gardner. One person involved in talks called a trade “not likely, but not impossible.” [Sherman]
6:38pm: The most likely return for Gardner would be a number four starter, according to rival executives. A number three would be a strong return. Just keep him in that case. [McCullough]
5:05pm: The Yankees are looking for relievers and they have stayed in contact with Boone Logan. He had a bone spur removed from his elbow after the season and is expected to start throwing this month. [McCullough]
5:01pm: Cuban shortstop Aledmys Diaz will be eligible to sign on February 19th after being suspended for falsifying his age. The Yankees had a “large presence” at the 23-year-old’s recent showcase events in Mexico. Some teams like him more as a second baseman. [Jeff Passan]
11:10am: The Yankees have not expressed interest in Johan Santana. He’s coming off his second torn shoulder capsule and the first is usually the kiss of death. [McCullough]
11:03am: Thinking about Roy Halladay? Forget it. He’s retiring. Halladay will sign a one-day contract with the Blue Jays and make the official announcement later today. [Jon Heyman]
The Yankees are one of the teams with interest in trading for Cubs right-hander Jeff Samardzija. I wrote about him around the trade deadline. [Bruce Levine]
9:00am: “That’s the last thing I’m worried about,” said Cashman when asked about acquiring a closer. He acknowledged they’re seeking another starter and bullpen help in general. “Listen, we have enough voids that you don’t have to prioritize any of it. You hope to run into something sooner than later that makes you better.” [Dan Martin]
The Yankees did look into a reunion with Raul Ibanez but he isn’t much of a fit now. The outfield is crowded and there’s no room for another DH-type. Ibanez is expected to sign this week. [Joel Sherman]
The Yankees still have interest in Omar Infante as a Cano replacement. They are not talking to Mark Ellis, however. [Ken Rosenthal]

Reminder: Your trade proposal sucks.