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Re: The MLB Thread
Rockies sign Jamie Moyer, 49, to minor league/Spring invite deal
by Thomas Harding / MLB.com
DENVER -- The Rockies and veteran left-handed pitcher Jamie Moyer have agreed on a Minor League contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, the club announced on Wednesday evening.
Moyer missed last season because of Tommy John surgery in his throwing elbow but vowed to attempt a comeback this season at age 49. Before the injury in 2011, Moyer went 9-9 with a 4.84 ERA in 19 starts for the Phillies. Each season from '07-09, Moyer reached double figures in wins with the Phillies.
If he makes the club, Moyer will return to his post as his league's oldest player, a distinction he has held in five of the last eight years.
The Rockies are hoping Moyer can be a veteran anchor for an extremely young staff. In addition to a 24-season career during which he has made 686 appearances (628 starts), Moyer has been considered one of baseball's most respected humanitarians. He won the Major League Baseball Hutch Award, the Roberto Clemente Award and the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 2003, and the Branch Rickey Award -- as presented by the Rotary Club of Denver -- in 2004.
Moyer joins a spirited competition for rotation spots for a club that has little experience and must cover for the early-season absence of left-hander Jorge De La Rosa, himself coming off Tommy John surgery.
Jhoulys Chacin, coming off his first full Major League season, is expected to lead the staff. Competing for jobs will be right-handers Jason Hammel, Kevin Slowey, Tyler Chatwood, Alex White, Juan Nicasio, Guillermo Moscoso and Esmil Rogers, and left-handers Drew Pomeranz and Josh Outman. That's not counting lefty Christian Friedrich, who was the team's top Draft pick in 2008 and could be ready for Major League action at some point, if not at the start of the season.
Re: The MLB Thread
I hope this guy pitches forever, or at least until he hits 300 career wins at 55.
He's gonna be like Bill "Spaceman" Lee, pitching until he's in his 60's trying to get back to the majors.
In other news, even if Moyer makes the Rockies MLB club, he's gonna get SHELLED in Coors Field.
Re: The MLB Thread
Yu haul: Rangers land P Yu Darvish in 6-year / $112 million deal
by T.R. Sullivan / MLB.com
ARLINGTON -- Yu Darvish is undertaking the journey from Japan to the U.S. with the intention of helping the Rangers achieve their goal of winning a World Series championship.
That is one of the reasons why he is coming to Texas and why the Rangers are willing to invest approximately $112 million in the 25-year-old right-hander, who has spent the past seven years pitching for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan's Pacific League.
In the end it's all about winning, and that's why the Rangers worked so hard to bring negotiations to a successful conclusion before Wednesday's 4 p.m. CT deadline.
"This was a step-out deal," general manager Jon Daniels said. "This is a major investment in a player who we feel can get us back to the World Series and help us win it. Our ownership really stepped up, and our scouts did as thorough of a job with their homework as you possibly can.
"We look at this as a perfect fit for us. We're bringing in a player who we feel has proven himself on the big stage. It's all about winning, and we're bringing in a guy with a big arm, competitiveness and a work ethic that works well for what we are trying to do."
Darvish, a two-time Pacific League Most Valuable Player, agreed to a six-year, $60 million deal. The agreement came 30 days after the Rangers won the negotiating rights to him with a $51.7 million posting bid that goes directly to the Nippon Ham Fighters.
Darvish is guaranteed $54 million, with another $4 million possible in roster bonuses. There are other escalating clauses that raise the value of the contract, which he can opt out of after the fifth year depending on whether he wins or places high in the Cy Young Award voting.
A news conference at the Ballpark is planned for Friday, as Darvish is still in Japan.
The Rangers spent the past two years both scouting Darvish and developing a personal relationship with him. They also spent countless hours talking to as many people as possible to get a better feel as to how he would make the transition to the U.S.
"Our scouts did an unbelievable job," Daniels said. "It was more than just sitting behind home plate with a radar gun. Our guys really did their homework. We felt good about the process. In talking to everybody who knew him, we're getting a guy with a tremendous work ethic and conditioning, who is committed to his craft and wants to succeed on the big stage."
Daniels traveled to Japan to see Darvish pitch this season, but he was just one of 12 from the organization who watched Darvish in action in 2011.
The Rangers' commitment allowed them to make a successful sales pitch to both their own ownership group and to Darvish. That, in turn, allowed the negotiations to go smoothly, even though there were some points on Wednesday when things did not look as optimistic as they did at other times.
Agents Don Nomura and Arn Tellem both said that Darvish was hoping the Rangers would win negotiating rights when he asked to be posted earlier this winter.
"The Rangers, more so than any other club, showed not only a scouting interest in Yu but also really developed a relationship with him," Tellem said. "There was an intimate connection between Yu, his family and the Rangers organization that was a positive going forward. It's also a great team that is intent on taking the next step, and with Yu, hopefully they can achieve that goal. Yu is excited about helping them get there."
Darvish went 18-6 with a 1.44 ERA in 28 games and 232 innings for the Fighters last year. It was his fifth straight season with an ERA under 2.00, and his 276 strikeouts were the highest by a Japanese pitcher since Hideo Nomo recorded that many in 1993.
Over the past five seasons, Darvish is 76-28 with a 1.72 ERA in 1,024 innings. He struck out 1,083 and walked 221 while holding opponents to a .192 batting average. He twice led the Pacific League in ERA and in 2007 won the Eiji Sawamura Award, given to the top pitcher in Japan.
He has all the credentials to be a No. 1 starter, although the Rangers aren't ready to bestow that status on him.
"He certainly has the potential to be that, but it's not fair to say that I see him as a No. 1 starter," Rangers president Nolan Ryan said. "I don't want to put that type of pressure on him.
"We're very excited about having him join us. He's extremely talented, one of the most talented young pitchers we've seen. We feel he has a bright future ahead of him. What that will equal to, we don't know. Once he gets settled in and gets rolling, we'll see what he is capable of doing."
Darvish replaces C.J. Wilson in the Rangers' overall pitching scheme. Wilson, 31, was the Opening Day starter last season and won 31 games for Texas the past two years but ended up signing a $77.5 million contract with the Angels.
The Rangers made a much more sizable financial investment in Darvish.
"I don't want to compare Yu to anyone," Daniels said. "But the total package, we felt it was worth it. We felt he was a 25-year-old pitcher who had already established his credentials but also has tremendous upside. You don't have a chance to get that kind of opportunity very often, so we acted on it."
Re: The MLB Thread
Prince Fielder could still join Yu Darvish with Rangers
by Tim Brown / Yahoo! Sports
Round about the time the Los Angeles Angels reclaimed the American League West, the Texas Rangers took it back again with Wednesday’s signing of Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish, and still have room – on the roster and, believe it or not, in the budget – for slugger Prince Fielder.
Whether they choose to spend either on the free-agent first baseman will play out over the next week or so.
Either way, the Rangers continue to evolve into what the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox used to be, which is to say the offseason isn’t over until they say it is, until the last free agent is signed and the last available piece is traded and the last dollar is cast.
Of course, they don’t spend anywhere near what those Goliaths do (or the Angels, for that matter). And yet they manage to insert themselves into every conversation, romance nearly every significant free agent, dance all over every trading deadline, and then go to the World Series. Twice. In a row.
It’s been a decade since the Yankees did that and almost a century for the Red Sox.
The Rangers, who did nothing for 50 years – no matter where the franchise rested – are the geeky kid who grew up to run the joint. A little Nolan Ryan, a little Jon Daniels, a little TV money – OK, a lot of TV money – and suddenly they’ve got the cattle to match the hats.
Look, I don’t know what Darvish is going to look like on a big league mound. Presumably, he’ll still be 6-foot-5, still throw gas, and still get plenty of hitters out. He’ll also be 25, making more starts than he did in Japan, pitching in a hitters’ park and facing lineups loaded with sluggers for the first time in his life. The world changes. Ask Daisuke Matsuzaka. Ask Hideo Nomo. Historically, Japanese pitchers have two or three good seasons in the majors and then become bat-shy journeymen, or worse. Hiroki Kuroda, whose numbers have sustained or improved over four major league seasons, is the rare counterpoint, which the Yankees are now counting on.
The point is, for $111 million in posting and contract money, Darvish – over the life of his six-year contract – is a risk, the kind the Yankees and Red Sox used to take. They could afford to make the big mistake. Nobody kills the Yankees over the money they spent on, say, Irabu or Kei Igawa; they kill them for thinking those pitchers would get people out in the big leagues. The money is incidental in New York. Just like it is in Boston. Matsuzaka helped the Red Sox win a World Series. That’s good enough. Now he’s just annoying to watch pitch, but not much more detrimental than that, particularly since he doesn’t pitch that often anymore.
The Rangers live in a different economic world than the Yankees and Red Sox (and Angels), but have mitigated their risk just the same. See, it’s called “depth.”
The Darvish signing likely means Matt Harrison or Alexi Ogando will be in the bullpen in 2012, so either the 14-game winner or the 13-game winner isn’t good enough to stick in a rotation with Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Neftali Feliz and Darvish.
They basically flipped C.J. Wilson for Darvish. Their lineup remains better than the Angels’, even with Albert Pujols in Anaheim. Their bullpen is deeper, though the ninth inning – Joe Nathan in Arlington, Jordan Walden in Anaheim – is sketchy for both.
Imagine, then, what Fielder could do for the Rangers, for an already muscular offense, and then what the Rangers could do for Fielder.
After all, he’s done his time in the market where everything must go right in order to contend. And he has his suitors in Seattle, Washington, maybe Chicago (North Side), Miami, Baltimore and Toronto. Through no fault of his own, it appears his timing is simply crummy. The Yankees and Red Sox are both set at first base and perhaps diving for the luxury tax threshold. The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets are utter wrecks financially. The Chicago White Sox are, well, I don’t know what they are. The Angels opted for Pujols.
That leaves among the high-powered, sexy and capable franchises, the previously low-powered, unsexy and incapable Rangers.
They’ll pitch. They’ll win. And they’ll keep doing it. That’s with or without Fielder, which is exactly what Fielder should be looking for.
Re: The MLB Thread
I saw on twitter that Fausto Carmona got arrested today (ala Leo Nunez), only his name is actually Roberto Hernandez. I guess that just doesn't have the same ring as Fausto.
Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona arrested for using false identity
by Spencer Fordin / MLB.com
The pitcher known to date as Fausto Carmona was arrested on Thursday for falsifying his identity in his native Dominican Republic after attempting to renew his visa in order to return to the United States for Spring Training.
His real name was reported to be Roberto Hernandez Heredia.
The Indians pitcher was arrested while he was leaving the American consulate in Santo Domingo, where he had gone to renew his visa so that he could return to the United States, police spokesman Maximo Baez Aybar told The Associated Press. The right-hander, entering his seventh Major League season, had been listed as being 28 years old, but AP reported that he is believed to be 31.
"We were recently made aware of the situation that occurred today in the Dominican Republic and are currently in the process of gathering information," Indians general manager Chris Antonetti said. "We are not prepared to make any additional comment at this time."
It remains to be seen if the arrest will impact Carmona's availability for Spring Training or the regular season. In November, the Indians picked up a $7 million club option on the right-hander for the 2012 season.
Marlins reliever Juan Carlos Oviedo played under the name Leo Nunez before being arrested in the Dominican in December. Oviedo was later released from jail and signed a contract with Miami worth $6 million for the upcoming season.
Carmona broke in with the Indians as a reliever in 2006, and he finished fourth in the American League Cy Young balloting after going 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA in the 2007 campaign. He's been erratic over the last few seasons, notching a 33-48 record and a 5.01 ERA in 111 starts between 2008 and 2011.
The Indians hold club options on his contract for 2013 and 2014.
The Little League World Series had a famous fake-identity scandal in 2001, when Danny Almonte was found to be 14 years old instead of 12, as he was listed on his birth records. But the practice is hardly restricted to baseball, and it's been around since long before the modern era.
Boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson fought under an assumed name. Robinson was born Walker Smith Jr., and he borrowed a friend's identity card in order to fight in a boxing tournament at the age of 14. Sixteen, at the time, was the minimum age for participation.
Re: The MLB Thread
Gary Carter's health takes turn for worse
by AP
NEW YORK (AP)—Gary Carter’s health has taken a turn for the worse.
The 57-year-old Hall of Fame catcher, diagnosed last May with a malignant brain tumor, received results of his latest MRI exam Thursday, according to the online journal of his daughter, Kimmy Bloemers.
She writes: “I wish I could say that the results were good. … There are now several new spots/tumors on my dad’s brain. I write these words with tears because I am so sad for my dad.”
“Dr. Jimmy Harris will be coming to my parent’s house this evening to talk to the family about the next step,” she wrote.
Carter had the MRIs Friday in North Palm Beach, Fla., and the results were sent to his doctors at Duke University for evaluation.
A day earlier, he fell at a doctor’s appointment and completely tore a rotator cuff, Bloemers wrote, adding that he also fell on Christmas Eve.
“It is very painful and needs surgery, but all dad can do right now is rehab to heal,” she wrote.
